What is Jardine Libaire reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Jardine Libaire, author of White Fur.

Her entry begins:

I have a little stash of books I’m gleefully reading now. It’s summertime, and it’s too hot to do anything else! I just finished Eve Babitz’s Slow Days, Fast Company, which begins with a brilliant introduction by Matthew Specktor. Why oh why did it take me so long to find Eve? From the lavender jacaranda to the honest talk about love and sex, this book...[read on]

About White Fur, from the publisher:

A stunning star-crossed love story set against the glitz and grit of 1980s New York City

When Elise Perez meets Jamey Hyde on a desolate winter afternoon, fate implodes, and neither of their lives will ever be the same. Although they are next-door neighbors in New Haven, they come from different worlds. Elise grew up in a housing project without a father and didn’t graduate from high school; Jamey is a junior at Yale, heir to a private investment bank fortune and beholden to high family expectations. Nevertheless, the attraction is instant, and what starts out as sexual obsession turns into something greater, stranger, and impossible to ignore.

The unlikely couple moves to Manhattan in hopes of forging an adult life together, but Jamey’s family intervenes in desperation, and the consequences of staying together are suddenly severe. And when a night out with old friends takes a shocking turn, Jamey and Elise find themselves fighting not just for their love, but also for their lives.

White Fur follows these indelible characters on their wild race through Newport mansions and downtown NYC nightspots, SoHo bars and WASP-establishment yacht clubs, through bedrooms and hospital rooms, as they explore, love, play, and suffer. Jardine Libaire combines the electricity of Less Than Zero with the timeless intensity of Romeo and Juliet in this searing, gorgeously written novel that perfectly captures the ferocity of young love.

Visit Jardine Libaire's website.

Writers Read: Jardine Libaire.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Jennifer Fenn's "Flight Risk"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Flight Risk by Jennifer Fenn.

About the book, from the publisher:

Jennifer Fenn's debut novel inspired by true events, about a teenage boy who has stolen—and crashed—not one, but three airplanes. And each time he’s walked away unscathed.

Who is Robert Jackson Kelly? Is he a juvenile delinquent? A criminal mastermind? A folk hero? One thing is clear: Robert always defies what people think of him. And now, the kid who failed at school, relationships, and almost everything in life, is determined to successfully steal and land a plane.

Told as an investigation into Robert’s psyche, the narrative includes multiple points of view as well as documentary elements like emails, official records, and interviews with people who knew Robert. Ultimately, Flight Risk is a thrilling story about one teenager who is determined to find a moment of transcendence after everyone else has written him off as lost.

Visit Jennifer Fenn's website.

The Page 69 Test: Flight Risk.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight YA books that take you on a trip through the 20th century

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and semi-professional nerd.

At the B & N Teen Blog she tagged eight YA novels for a guided tour through the 20th century, including:

1944: Rose Under Fire, by Elizabeth Wein

From the author that brought us the magic that is Code Name Verity, Rose Under Fire is another stunning WWII thriller about the power of friendship and hope. When 18-year-old Rose Justice is shot down while flying an Allied plane from Paris to England, she’s captured by the Nazis and sent to a notorious women’s concentration camp. There, she meets women from France, Poland, and Germany, developing friendships as she comes face to face with atrocities beyond our imagining. It’s a story about what it means to survive crimes beyond the endurance of the human spirit.

Read about another book on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eric Kurlander's "Hitler’s Monsters," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Hitler's Monsters: A Supernatural History of the Third Reich by Eric Kurlander.

The entry begins:

In making Hitler’s Monsters into a movie, we would have to cast supporting roles for prominent Nazis central to the plot–– Hitler, Himmler, Hess, and Goebbels, among others. But I would reserve five of lead roles for important characters whose unique stories help define the supernatural history of the Third Reich.

First, I would cast Jason Isaacs, of Harry Potter fame, as the aging horror writer, Hanns Heinz Ewers. A renowned louche whose penchant for seedier side of Berlin night life was legendary, Ewers’ politics in the Weimar Republic ranged from progressive sex reformer to rightwing nationalist and Nazi. In November 1931, on the occasion of his 60th birthday, Ewers used his connections with Hitler’s Harvard-educated limousine driver, ‘Putzi’ Hanfstaengl, to organize a meeting with the Führer. After a lively discussion during which he impressed Hitler with his charm and commitment to the cause, the leader of the NSDAP commissioned the horror writer–– author of salacious, sex and violence filled books about vampires, homunculi, and Satanists–– to produce propaganda for the party, including a popular biography of the Nazi martyr, Horst Wessel (which Joseph Goebbels later optioned into a 1934 biopic).

For the role of Ewers’ friend, the pro-Nazi–– and secretly Jewish–– clairvoyant Erik Hanussen, I would cast....[read on]

Learn more about Hitler's Monsters at the Yale University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Eric Kurlander's Living with Hitler.

The Page 99 Test: Hitler's Monsters.

My Book, The Movie: Hitler's Monsters.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Mike Brooks reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Mike Brooks, author of Dark Sky.

His entry begins:

Anyone who’s read anything like this written by me will probably be aware that Tad Williams’ Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy was a huge influence on me. As a result, I was incredibly excited at the announcement that he was going back to that world, and I gleefully devoured The Heart Of What Was Lost earlier this year. I have to admit that it took a little while to settle – the start of it seemed a little stilted, as though he wasn’t quite comfortable back in Osten Ard yet – but it smoothed out and I ended up enjoying it a lot. He’s excellent at evoking the timeless, alien nature of the non-human beings he writes about, and it gave a wonderful glimpse into...[read on]

About Dark Sky, from the publisher:

In the sequel to the thrilling Dark Run, which Publishers Weekly called “a terrific debut,” Ichabod Drift and his crew sign on for a new smuggling job that soon goes south when they are separated and caught up in a dangerous civil war.

When Ichabod Drift and the Keiko crew sign on for a new smuggling job to a mining planet, they don’t realize what they are up against. The miners, badly treated for years by the corporation, are staging a rebellion. Split into two groups, one with the authorities and one with the rebels, Drift and his crew support their respective sides in the conflict. But when they are cut off from each other due to a communication blackout, both halves of the crew don’t realize that they have begun fighting themselves…

Visit Mike Brooks's website.

My Book, The Movie: Dark Run.

The Page 69 Test: Dark Run.

Writers Read: Mike Brooks.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eighteen books with the most unusual narrators

At Entertainment Weekly, Eric King tagged 18 books with the most unusual narrators, including:

Continental Drift, Russell Banks

Narrator: A voodoo spirit
Widely considered a literary classic, this 1986 novel focuses on a disillusioned New Hampshire repairman who moves his family to Florida for a better life. There he encounters a Hatitian refugee and her family who have traveled as far for the same reason. This portrait of globalization is conveyed by a Haitian voodoo spirit narrator.

Read about another entry on the list.

See also: Lucy Scholes's ten novels told by unusual narrators.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Wendy Pearlman's "We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from Syria by Wendy Pearlman.

About the book, from the publisher:

Reminiscent of the work of Nobel Prize winner Svetlana Alexievich, an astonishing collection of intimate wartime testimonies and poetic fragments from a cross-section of Syrians whose lives have been transformed by revolution, war, and flight.

Against the backdrop of the wave of demonstrations known as the Arab Spring, in 2011 hundreds of thousands of Syrians took to the streets demanding freedom, democracy and human rights. The government’s ferocious response, and the refusal of the demonstrators to back down, sparked a brutal civil war that over the past five years has escalated into the worst humanitarian catastrophe of our times.

Yet despite all the reporting, the video, and the wrenching photography, the stories of ordinary Syrians remain unheard, while the stories told about them have been distorted by broad brush dread and political expediency. This fierce and poignant collection changes that. Based on interviews with hundreds of displaced Syrians conducted over four years across the Middle East and Europe, We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled is a breathtaking mosaic of first-hand testimonials from the frontlines. Some of the testimonies are several pages long, eloquent narratives that could stand alone as short stories; others are only a few sentences, poetic and aphoristic. Together, they cohere into an unforgettable chronicle that is not only a testament to the power of storytelling but to the strength of those who face darkness with hope, courage, and moral conviction.

Learn more about We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled and follow Wendy Pearlman on Twitter.

The Page 99 Test: Violence, Nonviolence, and the Palestinian National Movement.

Writers Read: Wendy Pearlman (November 2011).

The Page 99 Test: We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled.

--Marshal Zeringue

Three top books on Haiti

At the Guardian, Pushpinder Khaneka tagged three top books on Haiti. One title on the list:

The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat

Danticat's novel moves back and forth between 1960s Haiti and present-day New York as it tells the story of a Dew Breaker, a name given to torturers during the repressive regime of François "Papa Doc" Duvalier, who takes victims away "before dawn, as the dew is settling on the leaves".

Nine chapters, each of which could be a standalone short story, provide fragments of the Dew Breaker's life as seen through the eyes of his family and his victims. These fractured vignettes draw the reader into a larger, more complex tale.

The Dew Breaker is now hiding from his bloody past, working as a barber in Brooklyn. But he daily faces the threat of being recognised by one of his victims and exposed for what he once was.

In the novel's final chapter, the disparate stories satisfyingly come together as we meet the Dew Breaker preparing for his final killing before leaving Haiti.

This clever and powerful novel shows how hunter and prey – who are seeking new lives in the US – find their present and future circumscribed by a brutal past.

Danticat was born in Haiti and moved to the US when she was 12. In the acknowledgements, she writes: "For my father, who, thank goodness, is not in this book."

Read about another book on the list.

See also Ben Fountain's top ten books about Haiti and Amy Wilentz's ten best books on Haiti.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Dave Boling's "The Lost History of Stars"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Lost History of Stars by Dave Boling.

About The Lost History of Stars, from the publisher:

From a forgotten moment in history comes an inspiring novel about finding strength and courage in the most unimaginable places.

In turn-of-the-century South Africa, fourteen-year-old Lettie, her younger brother, and her mother are Dutch Afrikaner settlers who have been taken from their farm by British soldiers and are being held in a concentration camp. It is early in the Boer War, and Lettie’s father, grandfather, and brother are off fighting the British as thousands of Afrikaner women and children are detained. The camps are cramped and disease ridden; the threat of illness and starvation are ever present. Determined to dictate their own fate, Lettie and her family give each other strength and hope as they fight to survive amid increasingly dire conditions.

Brave and defiant, Lettie finds comfort in memories of stargazing with her grandfather, in her plan to be a writer, and in surprising new friendships that will both nourish and challenge her. A beautiful testament to love, family, and sheer force of will, The Lost History of Stars was inspired by Dave Boling’s grandfather’s own experience as a soldier during the Boer War. Lettie is a figure of abiding grace, and her story is richly drawn and impossible to forget.

Visit Dave Boling's website.

Writers Read: Dave Boling.

The Page 69 Test: The Lost History of Stars.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight new novels with a travel theme

At Condé Nast Traveler, Marisa Meltzer tagged eight new reads "that will transport you across the globe," including:

Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Meloy

Liv and Nora take their husbands and young children on a cruise. The luxury of a floating resort makes everyone happy, so when they all disembark for an adventure in Panama, everything seems like a good idea. Until it isn’t, and the kids vanish. The thriller that ensues is told from the point of view of both the parents and the children. Meloy, whose short stories were the basis of last year’s indie film Certain Women, writes a tense book in her signature sparing prose, and may have the book of the summer on her hands.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Beth McMullen reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Beth McMullen, author of Mrs. Smith’s Spy School for Girls.

Her entry begins:

I’ve been binging on middle grade action/adventure books with strong girl protagonists this summer. I think I’ve been influenced by the Wonder Woman movie! What an absolute delight to see a female superhero saving the day. A Dash of Dragon, a new release by Heidi Lang and Kati Bartkowski, fits right into my theme. Plus, a novel written by sisters just has to be...[read on]

About Mrs. Smith’s Spy School for Girls, from the publisher:

A girl discovers her boarding school is actually an elite spy-training program, and she must learn the skills of the trade in order to find her mother in this action-packed middle grade debut.

After a botched escape plan from her boarding school, Abigail is stunned to discover the school is actually a cover for an elite spy ring called The Center, along with being training grounds for future spies. Even more shocking? Abigail’s mother is a top agent for The Center and she has gone MIA, with valuable information that many people would like to have—at any cost. Along with a former nemesis and charming boy from her grade, Abigail goes through a crash course in Spy Training 101, often with hilarious—and sometimes painful—results. But Abigail realizes she might be a better spy-in-training than she thought—and the answers to her mother’s whereabouts are a lot closer than she thinks…A girl discovers her boarding school is actually an elite spy-training program, and she must learn the skills of the trade in order to find her mother in this action-packed middle grade debut. After a botched escape plan from her boarding school, Abigail is stunned to discover the school is actually a cover for an elite spy ring called The Center, along with being training grounds for future spies. Even more shocking? Abigail’s mother is a top agent for The Center and she has gone MIA, with valuable information that many people would like to have—at any cost. Along with a former nemesis and charming boy from her grade, Abigail goes through a crash course in Spy Training 101, often with hilarious—and sometimes painful—results. But Abigail realizes she might be a better spy-in-training than she thought—and the answers to her mother’s whereabouts are a lot closer than she thinks…

Visit Beth McMullen's website.

The Page 69 Test: Mrs. Smith’s Spy School for Girls.

My Book, The Movie: Mrs. Smith’s Spy School for Girls.

Writers Read: Beth McMullen.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five top books about extreme worlds

Michael Johnston's new novel is Soleri.

One of the author's five favorite books about extreme worlds, as shared at Tor.com:

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

Here we encounter another world wrecked by flooding and eco-disasters, a world in which biological plagues wreak havoc on the population and strange, genetic experiments run wild (a population of feral Cheshire Cats). We are in the drowned world of 23rd century Thailand, a place that is powered (literally) by springs (check the title of the book). Food sources are controlled by vast global conglomerates (this one is just a fact of the modern world) and the last remaining seed bank is a treasure our protagonist will do anything to acquire. The Windup Girl might just be the future of agriculture or our present.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Windup Girl is among the Guardian editors' five best climate change novels, Maddie Stone's seven great novels that show the real terrifying prospect of climate change, Diana Biller's 22 great science fiction and fantasy stories that can help you make sense of economics, Torie Bosch's twelve great pandemic novels, Madeleine Monson-Rosen's top 15 books that take place in science fiction and fantasy versions of the most fascinating places on Earth and Annalee Newitz's lists of books to prepare you for the economic apocalypse and the 35 essential posthuman novels.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: David Papineau's "Knowing the Score"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Knowing the Score: What Sports Can Teach Us About Philosophy (And What Philosophy Can Teach Us About Sports) by David Papineau.

About the book, from the publisher:

In Knowing the Score, philosopher David Papineau uses sports to illuminate some of modern philosophy's most perplexing questions. As Papineau demonstrates, the study of sports clarifies, challenges, and sometimes confuses crucial issues in philosophy. The tactics of road bicycle racing shed new light on questions of altruism, while sporting family dynasties reorient the nature v. nurture debate. Why do sports competitors choke? Why do fans think God will favor their team over their rivals? How can it be moral to deceive the umpire by framing a pitch? From all of these questions, and many more, philosophy has a great deal to learn.

An entertaining and erudite book that ranges far and wide through the sporting world, Knowing the Score is perfect reading for armchair philosophers and Monday morning quarterbacks alike.

Visit David Papineau's website.

The Page 99 Test: Philosophical Devices.

The Page 99 Test: Knowing the Score.

--Marshal Zeringue

Rosemary Ashton's "One Hot Summer," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: One Hot Summer: Dickens, Darwin, Disraeli, and the Great Stink of 1858 by Rosemary Ashton.

The entry begins:

If my book One Hot Summer: Dickens, Darwin, Disraeli, and the Great Stink of 1858 were to be adapted as a film, I would choose some of Britain’s most admired and award-winning actors, and an award-winning director.

My first choice of director would be Sir Nicholas Hytner, until recently Director of the National Theatre in London, and now Director of a new theatre, the Bridge Theatre, which is due to open in October 2017. Hytner has directed for theatre, opera, and film. Two of his most acclaimed films are adaptations of plays by Alan Bennett: the award-winning The Madness of King George (1994) adapted from the stage play, The Madness of George III, which Hytner also directed, at the National Theatre in 1991, and The History Boys (National Theatre 2004, film version 2006). He also directed the hugely successful farce by Richard Bean, One Man, Two Guvnors (2011).

I would choose fine English actors to play the three main characters.

Charles Dickens was 46 in summer 1858 and undergoing a crisis in his domestic life, fearing he would lose his adoring public when his separation from his wife of 22 years, and rumours about his affair with an 18-year-old actress, became headline news. Dickens would be played by Rufus...[read on]

Rosemary Ashton is Emeritus Quain Professor of English Language and Literature, University College London.

Learn more about One Hot Summer at the Yale University Press website.

My Book, The Movie: One Hot Summer.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven top YA books that reimagine existing cities

At the BN Teen blog Sarah Hannah Gómez tagged seven books that reimagine existing cities or countries, including:

Scandinavia

The Kingdom of Little Wounds, by Susann Cokal, is not for anyone who faints at the sight of blood or a pimple popping, but it is a fascinating take on medieval politics and “medicine.” A king deteriorates, a maid misses her home in Africa, and a seamstress worries about her place in the social hierarchy after pricking the queen’s finger. You may not recognize the particular physical setting, but students of European history will find a lot to dig into with royal history and Scandinavian cultures.

Read about another entry on the list.

Writers Read: Susann Cokal (October 2013).

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Dave Boling reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Dave Boling, author of The Lost History of Stars.

His entry begins:

Fearing a cross-contamination of styles, I don’t read novels much when I’m working on one of my own. I may dip into a dozen books a day while checking for margin notes and underlined passages that inspire me. But, being suggestible, I fear I might fall victim to the power of somebody else’s words and tempo and style, and it will disrupt the “voice” of the story I’m working on.

But I do like to start a writing day by reading poetry, hoping to be influenced by the concision of words, the clarity and the insight. Tony Hoagland is a current favorite because of his vision and wit, and his ability to decode contemporary absurdities.

At the moment I was invited to identify the book I was reading, it was The Blue Buick, a collection by B.H. Fairchild. I’ve been a fan since reading “Body and Soul,” a lengthy narrative poem that may be the best piece of sports-adjacent writing I know. It’s a remembrance of a group of hardscrabble Oklahoma laborers and an existential sandlot baseball outing on summer Sunday afternoon.

They are looking back to the dusty day when they became victims to...[read on]

About The Lost History of Stars, from the publisher:

From a forgotten moment in history comes an inspiring novel about finding strength and courage in the most unimaginable places.

In turn-of-the-century South Africa, fourteen-year-old Lettie, her younger brother, and her mother are Dutch Afrikaner settlers who have been taken from their farm by British soldiers and are being held in a concentration camp. It is early in the Boer War, and Lettie’s father, grandfather, and brother are off fighting the British as thousands of Afrikaner women and children are detained. The camps are cramped and disease ridden; the threat of illness and starvation are ever present. Determined to dictate their own fate, Lettie and her family give each other strength and hope as they fight to survive amid increasingly dire conditions.

Brave and defiant, Lettie finds comfort in memories of stargazing with her grandfather, in her plan to be a writer, and in surprising new friendships that will both nourish and challenge her. A beautiful testament to love, family, and sheer force of will, The Lost History of Stars was inspired by Dave Boling’s grandfather’s own experience as a soldier during the Boer War. Lettie is a figure of abiding grace, and her story is richly drawn and impossible to forget.

Visit Dave Boling's website.

Writers Read: Dave Boling.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Jason Hewitt's "Devastation Road"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Devastation Road: A Novel by Jason Hewitt.

About the book, from the publisher:

A deeply compelling and poignant story about the tragic lessons of war and the endurance of memory.

In the last months of World War II, a man wakes in a field in a country he does not know. Injured and with only flashes of memory coming back to him, he pulls himself to his feet and starts to walk, setting out on an extraordinary journey in search of his home, his past, and himself.

His name is Owen. A war he has only a vague recollection of joining is in its dying days, and as he tries to get back to England, he becomes caught up in the flood of rootless people pouring through Europe. Among them is a teenage boy, and together they form an unlikely alliance as they cross battle-worn Germany.

When they meet a troubled young woman, tempers flare and scars are revealed as Owen gathers up the shattered pieces of his life. No one is as he remembers, not even himself. How can he truly return home when he hardly recalls what home is?

Visit Jason Hewitt's website.

My Book, The Movie: Devastation Road.

The Page 69 Test: Devastation Road.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten top female detectives in fiction

Kristen Lepionka's new novel is The Last Place You Look.

One of her top ten female detectives in fiction, as shared at the Guardian:

Antoinette Conway
(The Secret Place and The Trespasser by Tana French)

A Dublin murder squad detective with a massive working-class chip on her shoulder, Antoinette is cynical, blunt, perceptive, and tenacious – and nobody likes her. At least not most of her colleagues, and because of the exact same qualities that make her good at her job. Constantly at odds with her squadmates and assuming they’re all waiting for her to fail, Antoinette’s obsession with proving them wrong verges on paranoia at times. But she’s also, usually, right – something all women can relate to.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Secret Place is among the B&N Reads editors' five favorite fun, fearless femmes fatales in fiction and Kelly Anderson's seven amazing female friendships in fiction.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Anne Corlett reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Anne Corlett, author of The Space Between the Stars.

Her entry begins:

What have I been reading recently?

The honest answer is ‘not enough’. My current novel is proving quite slow going due to a fairly complicated structure which seems to involve long periods of staring at the computer screen, muttering so if person X knows this in chapter 3, then why does person Y behave like that in chapter 7? As a result, I’ve fallen into the trap of thinking of all non-writing time as time wasted, when the reality is that if you’re going to write, you have to read!

Despite my reading dry patch, I did recently get through Megan Hunter’s The End We Start From. To be fair, not getting through it would have taken things to a whole new level of not making time to read, because it’s very short – novella length really. But despite its length, it covers a lot of ground, due in no small part to...[read on]

About The Space Between the Stars, from the publisher:

In a breathtakingly vivid and emotionally gripping debut novel, one woman must confront the emptiness in the universe—and in her own heart—when a devastating virus reduces most of humanity to dust and memories.

All Jamie Allenby ever wanted was space. Even though she wasn’t forced to emigrate from Earth, she willingly left the overpopulated, claustrophobic planet. And when a long relationship devolved into silence and suffocating sadness, she found work on a frontier world on the edges of civilization. Then the virus hit…

Now Jamie finds herself dreadfully alone, with all that’s left of the dead. Until a garbled message from Earth gives her hope that someone from her past might still be alive.

Soon Jamie finds other survivors, and their ragtag group will travel through the vast reaches of space, drawn to the promise of a new beginning on Earth. But their dream will pit them against those desperately clinging to the old ways. And Jamie’s own journey home will help her close the distance between who she has become and who she is meant to be…

Visit Anne Corlett's website.

Writers Read: Anne Corlett.

--Marshal Zeringue

Sam Kean's six favorite surprising books

Sam Kean's books The Disappearing Spoon and The Violinist’s Thumb were national bestsellers, and both were named an Amazon “Top 5” science books of the year. The Disappearing Spoon was nominated by the Royal Society for one of the top science books of 2010, while both The Violinist’s Thumb and The Dueling Neurosurgeons were nominated for PEN’s literary science writing award.

Kean's new book is Caesar’s Last Breath: Decoding the Secrets of the Air Around Us.

One of the author's six favorite surprising books, as shared at The Week magazine:

Darwin's Dangerous Idea by Daniel C. Dennett

I was like Kant reading Hume when I opened this book, because it woke me from small-minded slumber. Before Darwin's Dangerous Idea, I thought biology was basically just memorizing different parts of cells. Dennett opened my mind to the intricacies of evolutionary theory, and did so with wit and elegance.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Eric Kurlander's "Hitler’s Monsters"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Hitler's Monsters: A Supernatural History of the Third Reich by Eric Kurlander.

About the book, from the publisher:

The definitive history of the supernatural in Nazi Germany, exploring the occult ideas, esoteric sciences, and pagan religions touted by the Third Reich in the service of power

The Nazi fascination with the occult is legendary, yet today it is often dismissed as Himmler’s personal obsession or wildly overstated for its novelty. Preposterous though it was, however, supernatural thinking was inextricable from the Nazi project. The regime enlisted astrology and the paranormal, paganism, Indo-Aryan mythology, witchcraft, miracle weapons, and the lost kingdom of Atlantis in reimagining German politics and society and recasting German science and religion. In this eye-opening history, Eric Kurlander reveals how the Third Reich’s relationship to the supernatural was far from straightforward. Even as popular occultism and superstition were intermittently rooted out, suppressed, and outlawed, the Nazis drew upon a wide variety of occult practices and esoteric sciences to gain power, shape propaganda and policy, and pursue their dreams of racial utopia and empire.

Learn more about Hitler's Monsters at the Yale University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Eric Kurlander's Living with Hitler.

The Page 99 Test: Hitler's Monsters.

--Marshal Zeringue

Victoria Houston's "Dead Spider," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Dead Spider by Victoria Houston.

Her entry begins:

The retired, widowed Dr. Paul “Doc” Osborne would be played by George Clooney (only ten years older than he is at the moment!).

His neighbor and nemesis, the 32-year-old fishing guide, Ray Pradt, should be played by a young Robert...[read on]

Learn more about the book and author at Victoria Houston's website.

The Page 69 Test: Dead Insider.

My Book, The Movie: Dead Insider.

My Book, The Movie: Dead Spider.

--Marshal Zeringue

Coffee with a canine: Kendra Elliot & Max and Liesel

Featured at Coffee with a Canine: Kendra Elliot & Max and Liesel.

The author, on how she and Max and Liesel start the day:

We have coffee every day together. Liesel is an early bird who gets us up at the latest by six—Max prefers to sleep in and doesn’t join us until later. Liesel is hyper; Max is mellow. When Max goes down the stairs in the morning, he always stops on the second to last stair and looks over his shoulder at me because Liesel is spazzing out at the bottom, thrilled to see him and unable to climb up the stairs. The look in Max’s eyes says “Dude. There isn’t enough coffee in the world to deal with her first thing in the morning.” As soon as he hops off the last step, she attacks and chews on his ears and feet. It’s all in love, but Max doesn’t appreciate...[read on]

About A Merciful Truth, from the publisher:

Raised by a family of survivalists, FBI agent Mercy Kilpatrick can take on any challenge—even the hostile reception to her homecoming. But she’s not the only one causing chaos in the rural community of Eagle’s Nest, Oregon. At first believed to be teenage pranks, a series of fires takes a deadly turn with the murder of two sheriff’s deputies. Now, along with Police Chief Truman Daly, Mercy is on the hunt for an arsonist turned killer.

Still shunned by her family and members of the community, Mercy must keep her ear close to the ground to pick up any leads. And it’s not long before she hears rumors of the area’s growing antigovernment militia movement. If the arsonist is among their ranks, Mercy is determined to smoke the culprit out. But when her investigation uncovers a shocking secret, will this hunt for a madman turn into her own trial by fire?

Visit Kendra Elliot's website.

The Page 69 Test: A Merciful Truth.

Writers Read: Kendra Elliot.

Coffee with a Canine: Kendra Elliot & Max and Liesel.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Jo Perry reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Jo Perry, author of Dead is Good.

Her entry begins:

I am reading a bunch of things at once, among them Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, Mary Roach's hilarious history and account of the search for life after death––and when it's not found––a catalogue the inventive and grotesque fakes produced to con the gullible, the heartbroken and the wishful. I've learned that the desire for the immortal is...[read on]

About Dead Is Good, from the publisher:

A woman opens fire on the North Hollywood Police Precinct and is almost immediately shot dead by the L.A.P.D.

Another woman throws herself off the edge of Santa Monica Pier.

One is suicide, one is art…

Welcome to the world of Charlie & Rose, everyone’s favourite ghost detectives.

Summoned once again from the afterlife, and cursed by death to only ever be on-lookers into the lives of the living, Charlie and his dog companion Rose do their best to protect the only woman Charlie has ever loved.

Life, it seems, is much more complicated than death, and very quickly Charlie & Rose find themselves attempting to untangle a complicated and deadly web of suicide, art, drug gangs and the illegal sweat-shops of downtown Los Angeles.

Visit Jo Perry's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Jo Perry & Lola and Lucy.

My Book, The Movie: Dead is Better.

The Page 69 Test: Dead is Better.

My Book, The Movie: Dead is Best.

The Page 69 Test: Dead is Best.

My Book, The Movie: Dead Is Good.

The Page 69 Test: Dead Is Good.

Writers Read: Jo Perry.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight top works of fiction for foodies

At B&N Reads Madina Papadopoulos tagged "eight works of fiction that are an escapist trip for both the heart and the stomach," including:

Feast of Sorrow, by Crystal King

Crystal King’s newly released debut novel delights readers with its vivid descriptions of daily life in ancient Rome, particularly its food. The story centers on Roman gourmand Apicius. It’s told from the first-person perspective of Apicius’ slave, Thrasius, who imparts his cooking knowledge to the characters as well as the readers, with recipes like patina of small fry and honey cakes. Feast of Sorrow makes for a great summer read, particularly if one’s summer trip is to Rome.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Sara Ella's "Unraveling"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Unraveling by Sara Ella.

About the book, from the publisher:

What happens when happily ever after starts to unravel?

Eliyana Ember doesn’t believe in true love. Not anymore. After defeating her grandfather and saving the Second Reflection, El only trusts what’s right in front of her. The tangible. The real. Not some unexplained Kiss of Infinity she once shared with the ghost of a boy she’s trying to forget. She has more important things to worry about—like becoming queen of the Second Reflection, a role she is so not prepared to fill.

Now that the Verity is intertwined with her soul and Joshua’s finally by her side, El is ready to learn more about her mysterious birth land, the land she now rules. So why does she feel like something—or someone—is missing?

When the thresholds begin to drain and the Callings, those powerful magical gifts, begin to fail, El wonders if her link to Ky Rhyen may have something to do with it. For light and darkness cannot coexist. She needs answers before the Callings disappear altogether. Can El find a way to sever her connection to Ky and save the Reflections—and keep herself from falling for him in the process?

Visit Sara Ella's website.

The Page 69 Test: Unblemished.

The Page 69 Test: Unraveling.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eleven creepy novels set in summer

At Bustle Emma Oulton tagged eleven "scorchingly scary novels set in the summer heat," including:

Fierce Kingdom by Gin Phillips

The events in Fierce Kingdom aren't given an explicit place on the calendar, but it all takes place over the course of three hours on one sunny evening at the zoo: a location you may well find yourself this summer. But this is a trip to the zoo more terrifying than any you've had before — because an active shooter situation keeps the main character Joan and her four-year-old son running for their lives throughout the entire length of the novel.

Read about another book on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Jason Hewitt's "Devastation Road," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Devastation Road: A Novel by Jason Hewitt.

The entry begins:

Writing Devastation Road I always had James McAvoy in mind for Owen, probably because I had a picture of him from Atonement on my Inspiration Board. Now, he’s probably a little old for the role, or certainly would be by the time any movie version was put into production. Waking up in a field in May 1945 with no idea of where he is or why, Owen is a complex character that needs to have an air of bewildered innocence about him; however there is darker side to him too and he holds within him a deeply buried guilt. Age-wise Jeremy Irvine is probably better suited now, if only we could make him a little scrawnier and a bit dirty behind the ears. Ideally, Owen would not be played by an actor who is instantly recognisable. (Daniel Radcliffe, sorry, but you need not apply.) The whole point of Owen is his ordinariness. He’s just a man trying to get home but finding himself in extraordinary circumstances and with little idea of who he is going home to.

The first travelling companion Owen meets is Janek, a 16-year old Czech boy who speaks little English. Janek was inspired in part by Jamie...[read on]

Visit Jason Hewitt's website.

My Book, The Movie: Devastation Road.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Heather Vrana's "This City Belongs to You"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: This City Belongs to You: A History of Student Activism in Guatemala, 1944-1996 by Heather Vrana.

About the book, from the publisher:

Between 1944 and 1996, Guatemala experienced a revolution, counterrevolution, and civil war. Playing a pivotal role within these national shifts were students from Guatemala’s only public university, the University of San Carlos (USAC). USAC students served in, advised, protested, and were later persecuted by the government, all while crafting a powerful student nationalism. In no other moment in Guatemalan history has the relationship between the university and the state been so mutable, yet so mutually formative. By showing how the very notion of the middle class in Guatemala emerged from these student movements, this book places an often-marginalized region and period at the center of histories of class, protest, and youth movements and provides an entirely new way to think about the role of universities and student bodies in the formation of liberal democracy throughout Latin America.

Visit Heather Vrana's website.

The Page 99 Test: This City Belongs to You.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Gary Corby reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Gary Corby, author of Death on Delos.

His entry begins:

The Road To Gandolfo, by Michael Shepherd, who was in fact Robert Ludlum. This is the most un-Ludlum-like book that he ever wrote. It is in fact a comedy, almost a farce, about a crazy plot to kidnap the Pope!

As you can probably tell, I'm as likely to read books that are...[read on]

About Death on Delos, from the publisher:

In the seventh in Gary Corby’s Athenian Mystery series, Nico and Diotima must solve a murder case while also preparing to have a baby. Set on the sacred island of Delos in 5th century BC, Death on Delos is full of humor and historical intrigue.

Greece, 454 BC: The sacred isle of Delos, the birthplace of the divine twins Apollo and Artemis, has been a most holy pilgrimage site for centuries. Delos is also home to the military fund kept by the Delian League, the alliance of city-states that defended Greece against the Persians, and that vast treasury is protected only by the priests and priestesses of the tiny isle and a scant armed guard.

Then one day the charismatic Athenian statesman Pericles arrives at the head of a small army to forcibly take the treasury back to the safety of Athens. With him are Nico, the only private agent in ancient Athens, and his heavily pregnant wife and partner in sleuthing, the priestess Diotima. She has been selected to give this year’s annual offering to holy Artemis.

In the face of righteous resistance from the priests, Pericles assigns Nico to bribe their leader. But before he can get very far with this dubiously unholy task, Nico ends up with a murder on his hands.

It is a crime against the gods to die or be born on the sacred island. Thanks to the violence over the treasury, the first blasphemy has already been committed. Can Nico solve the murder and get Diotima off the island before they accidentally commit the second?

Visit Gary Corby's website.

Five books that changed Gary Corby.

The Page 69 Test: The Pericles Commission.

My Book, The Movie: The Pericles Commission.

My Book, The Movie: The Ionia Sanction.

The Page 69 Test: The Ionia Sanction.

The Page 69 Test: Sacred Games.

My Book, The Movie: Sacred Games.

The Page 69 Test: The Marathon Conspiracy.

My Book, The Movie: The Marathon Conspiracy.

My Book, The Movie: Death Ex Machina.

The Page 69 Test: Death Ex Machina.

My Book, The Movie: The Singer from Memphis.

The Page 69 Test: The Singer from Memphis.

My Book, The Movie: Death on Delos.

The Page 69 Test: Death on Delos.

Writers Read: Gary Corby.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six top books about losing treasured stuffed animals

At the BN Kids Blog Erin Jones tagged six of the best books about losing treasured stuffed animals, including:

Olivia ... and the Missing Toy, by Ian Falconer

Our favorite precocious three-year-old pig, Olivia, has lost her favorite toy. The green and red rag doll goes missing, after Olivia insists it was last seen on her bed. A pighunt ensues and couches are lifted, cushions are moved, and a relentless piglet even looks under the family cat. Finally, on a dark and stormy night, Olivia hears a noise and sees a scary shadow. It turns out the family dog found the doll and has chewed it to bits. Rather than getting upset, Olivia mends her doll and adores it with all the imperfections. Your little detective will love following along with Olivia and searching for clever clues within the illustrations.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Beth McMullen's "Mrs. Smith's Spy School for Girls," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Mrs. Smith’s Spy School for Girls by Beth McMullen.

The entry begins:

This is a tough one! I’m finding out how few actresses under the age of fifteen I can actually identify.

For Abby Hunter, maybe Siena Agudong, who is…[read on]

Visit Beth McMullen's website.

The Page 69 Test: Mrs. Smith’s Spy School for Girls.

My Book, The Movie: Mrs. Smith’s Spy School for Girls.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Jo Perry's "Dead Is Good"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Dead Is Good by Jo Perry.

About the book, from the publisher:

A woman opens fire on the North Hollywood Police Precinct and is almost immediately shot dead by the L.A.P.D.

Another woman throws herself off the edge of Santa Monica Pier.

One is suicide, one is art…

Welcome to the world of Charlie & Rose, everyone’s favourite ghost detectives.

Summoned once again from the afterlife, and cursed by death to only ever be on-lookers into the lives of the living, Charlie and his dog companion Rose do their best to protect the only woman Charlie has ever loved.

Life, it seems, is much more complicated than death, and very quickly Charlie & Rose find themselves attempting to untangle a complicated and deadly web of suicide, art, drug gangs and the illegal sweat-shops of downtown Los Angeles.

Visit Jo Perry's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Jo Perry & Lola and Lucy.

My Book, The Movie: Dead is Better.

The Page 69 Test: Dead is Better.

My Book, The Movie: Dead is Best.

The Page 69 Test: Dead is Best.

My Book, The Movie: Dead Is Good.

The Page 69 Test: Dead Is Good.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven classic books about cycling

Bella Bathurst is a writer and photojournalist. Her books include The Lighthouse Stevensons, which won the 1999 Somerset Maugham Award, The Wreckers, which became a BBC Timewatch documentary, and The Bicycle Book, which was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2011.

For the Guardian she tagged seven of the best books about cycling, including:

Lance Armstrong: It’s Not About the Bike

Controversial. But in truth there can be very few keen cyclists who didn’t have a copy of this on their bookshelves at one time, and who since Armstrong’s Miltonian fall from grace have not hurled it with great force towards the nearest charity shop. Reading it now, knowing that every motivational phrase, every ultra-alpha anecdote, every straight-up clear-eyed statement is untrue, is like reading a reversed image of the original text. If nothing else, it functions as a perfect psychological template of the lengths to which fear can push us.

Read about another book on the list.

It’s Not About the Bike is one of Matt Seaton's top ten books about cycling.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Claire Booth reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Claire Booth, author of Another Man's Ground.

Her entry begins:

Right now, I’m reading Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America, by Jill Leovy. Frankly, I’m embarrassed that I missed this when it first came out in 2015. It is an absolutely phenomenal piece of reporting. Leovy spent years covering South Central LA, and she turns her reporting into a tour de force indictment of how the system fails communities like South Central. She argues that...[read on]

About Another Man's Ground, from the publisher:

It starts out as an interesting little theft case. Branson, Missouri’s new Sheriff Hank Worth is called out to look at stands of trees that have been stripped of their bark, which the property owner had planned to harvest for the booming herbal supplement market. At first, Hank easily balances the demands of the investigation with his fledging political career. He was appointed several months earlier to the vacant sheriff position, but he needs to win the fast-approaching election in order to keep his job. He thinks the campaign will go well, as long as he’s able to keep secret the fact that a group of undocumented immigrants – hired to cut down the stripped trees – have fled into the forest and he’s deliberately not looking for them.

But then the discovery of a murder victim deep in the Ozark backwoods sets him in the middle of a generations-old feud that explodes into danger not only for him, but also for the immigrants, his deputies, and his family. He must rush to find a murderer before election day, and protect the vulnerable in Branson County, where politicking is hell and trespassing can get you killed.

In Another Man's Ground, her next novel featuring Sheriff Hank Worth, acclaimed author Claire Booth delivers a taut, witty mystery that will grip readers from the opening pages to the breathless conclusion.

Visit Claire Booth's website.

My Book, The Movie: Another Man's Ground.

The Page 69 Test: Another Man's Ground.

Writers Read: Claire Booth.

--Marshal Zeringue