Alex Scarrow's "A Thousand Suns," the movie

Now showing at My Book, The Movie: Alex Scarrow's A Thousand Suns.

Scarrow's entry opens:

The book started out as a screenplay anyway, so writing it as a novel, it already had the movie pace, and chapters that were effectively scenes. As I wrote the book, from page one I already had the cast in my head - something screenwriters do, more than novel writers I think. Anyway then, let's get on with casting...

Chris Roland, a wildlife photographer who explores the submerged ruins of a B-17 bomber off the coast of America. That role was always going to be played by Paul Bettany (Wimbledon, Da Vinci Code, Master and Commander). He's very English and self-effacing.

Max Kleinman, pilot and leader of a Luftwaffe crew, tasked with flying a captured B-17 bomber to America to drop the Nazis' one and only atom bomb on New York in the last few days of the war. I saw this character being played by .... [read on]

Alex Scarrow is the author of A Thousand Suns, Last Light, and Ellie Quin.

Visit the Scarrow Brothers' website, Alex Scarrow's blog, and read reviews of A Thousand Suns.

The Page 69 Test: A Thousand Suns.

My Book, The Movie: A Thousand Suns.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ray French: top 10 black comedies

Ray French is a novelist and short story writer. He named his top 10 black comedies for the Guardian.

His rationale underlying the selections:

"If you consider how absurd the world often is, laughter is surely the only appropriate response. Really good comedy should be capable of looking the things we fear most straight in the eye, and still making us laugh. My list, which I can't possibly put in any definitive order, includes books that deal with insanity, murder, suicide, and dictatorships. Several also take a long, hard, uncomfortable look at the family - that human laboratory of the emotions where we first learn about love, hate, jealousy and loyalty. Most include moments that simultaneously made me laugh out loud and thank the higher power that I wasn't in the same position as the characters. As Will Rogers said, 'Everything is funny as long as it is happening to somebody else'."

One title from French's list:

The Joke by Milan Kundera

"A difference of taste in jokes" wrote George Eliot, "is a great strain on the affections." It's rather more than that in Kundera's novel. Ludvik sends a postcard containing a joke about Trotsky to a young woman with whom he's infatuated. Not such a good idea in 1950s Czechoslovakia, where a Stalinist regime is in power. Ludvik is expelled from the Communist Party, loses his job at the university and is sent to work in the mines for a decade. He comes out thirsting for revenge, but the regime is beginning to thaw and life has a few more surprises in store for him.

Read about another title to make the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Robert Aronowitz's "Unnatural History"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: Robert Aronowitz's Unnatural History: Breast Cancer and American Society.

About the book, from the publisher:

In the early nineteenth century in the United States, cancer in the breast was a rare disease. Now it seems that breast cancer is everywhere. Written by a medical historian who is also a doctor, Unnatural History tells how and why this happened. Rather than there simply being more disease, breast cancer has entered the bodies of so many American women and the concerns of nearly all the rest, mostly as a result of how we have detected, labeled, and responded to the disease. The book traces changing definitions and understandings of breast cancer, the experience of breast cancer sufferers, clinical and public health practices, and individual and societal fears.

Among the praise for Unnatural History:

"Providing extensive research and case histories, including that of author and environmentalist Rachel Carson, Aronowitz presents his findings here to a national audience."
--Library Journal

"From the perspective of a physician who is also a trained historian and social scientist, and a gifted narrator, Robert Aronowitz has written an illuminating and moving account of what has, and has not changed in the knowledge and understanding of breast cancer, its diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, and prevention, and in its lived experience in American society over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Drawing principally on rich case studies of women with breast cancer, and the clinical records and correspondence of physicians who have been pathmakers in this field of medicine, he vividly demonstrates the entwined influence of scientific, technological, social, and cultural factors on this history. He does it in a way that not only provides first-hand insights into the attitudes and values of patients afflicted with breast cancer, their suffering and decision-making, but of their doctors and families as well."
--Renée C. Fox, PhD, Annenberg Professor Emerita of the Social Sciences, University of Pennsylvania

"A fascinating and thought-provoking study of the clinical experience of breast cancer patients and their physicians. Through an imaginative reconstruction of that experience, Aronowitz shows how culture -- in terms of values and medical ideas and practices -- has changed over the past two centuries, while shaping the perceived choices of both doctor and patient. The author wants us to think critically and circumstantially about how we evaluate risk and he succeeds admirably; this is an outstanding contribution to our understanding of medicine past and present."
--Charles Rosenberg

"Fear, risk, and the biology of disease are all critical actors in Robert Aronowitz’s path breaking new assessment of breast cancer in American society, Unnatural History. He brilliantly demonstrates how the experience of disease cannot be “resected” from time, place, and culture. Patients, clinicians, and historians will greatly benefit from his insight and compassion."
--Allan M. Brandt, Kass Professor of the History of Medicine, Harvard University

"The evolution of medicine's understanding of the biology and natural history of breast cancer as well as societal attitudes toward its detection, prevention, and treatment is a fascinating story. Dr. Aronowitz's erudite and relatively unapologetic and honest account of how 'the more things change, the more they stay the same' offers a sobering testament of how this story has unfolded over the past 2 centuries. It reflects the frustration of trying to drive at night without headlights (i.e., managing breast cancer in the 1800s, without sufficient understanding of the biology of the disease), and the delicate dance between physician and patient with respect to managing this disease during a time of growing, but often conflicting data. Both those involved in the care of breast cancer patients, and patients and their families should find the journey that Dr. Aronowitz's book takes them on to be most illuminating."
--Andrew D. Seidman, MD, Attending Physician, Breast Cancer Medicine Service Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

"Dr. Aronowitz has written a compelling and rich history, so much so that a review can barely skim the highlights. In addition, he wants us to think critically about risk evaluation. Aronowitz hopes that knowledge of this history will help clinicians and patients respond more thoughtfully to the challenges presented by the many options we have for confronting breast cancer."
--Shelf Awareness, Marilyn Dahl

Read an excerpt from Unnatural History and learn more about the book at the Cambridge University Press website.

Robert Aronowitz, M.D., is Associate Professor in the Department of History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania.

The Page 99 Test: Unnatural History: Breast Cancer and American Society.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Jonathan Hayes' "Precious Blood"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: Precious Blood by Jonathan Hayes.

About the novel, from the author's website:

New York City Medical Examiner Edward Jenner thought he’d got out, turning his back forever on forensics after the nightmare of 9/11. But then the students started turning up dead, their bodies forced into bizarre poses, and Jenner is dragged back onto the city's dark streets in a nightmare race against the clock — and the twisted imagination of a psychopath. College sophomore Ana DeJong survived the attack that killed her roommate; she thought she’d escaped, but the killer has other plans…

Among the praise for Precious Blood:

“One of New York’s hottest authors!“
—New York Post

“First-time novelist Jonathan Hayes seems poised to claim a solid reputation in the subgenre of forensics crime fiction with his well-plotted Precious Blood. A New York City pathologist for more than 20 years, Hayes puts the focus on character and plot while melding in enough crime scene detection to give his novel authenticity and validity. While at times those grisly behind-the-scenes forensics details play an important role in Precious Blood, Hayes’ real triumph is his careful focus on the fragile emotional state and recovery of his hero. Precious Blood is a dark, hard-boiled procedural that soars.”
—Oline Cogdill, The Sun-Sentinel

“Precious Blood is a brilliant debut… an intelligent thriller that takes you down the meanest streets, peopled by complex characters, pacing that doesn't let up until you’ve turned the last page, and dialogue that crackles and cuts to the bone…”
—Linda Fairstein, author of the New York Times bestsellers Bad Blood and Death Dance

“Taut and chilling… a fast-paced thriller written by a real player in the game of forensic sleuthing.”
—Kathy Reichs, author of the New York Times bestseller Deja Dead and Bones to Ashes

Read an excerpt from Precious Blood -- or listen to an excerpt -- and learn more about the author and his work at his website and the Precious Blog.

Jonathan Hayes is an English freelance writer living in New York City, a career forensic pathologist, a Senior Medical Examiner in the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Manhattan, and a clinical assistant professor at New York University School of Medicine.

The Page 69 Test: Precious Blood.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Simon Haynes reading?

The latest contributor to Writers Read: Simon Haynes, author of three Hal Spacejock novels, a number of articles on writing and publishing, and several short stories, one of which collected an Aurealis Award in 2001.

Part of his entry:

I always have several books on the go at any one time, and I switch between them depending on my mood, how much time I have available and how much I want to pick up a particular book again. Currently in progress? Stephen King's It, John Scalzi's The Android's Dream, Asimov's Bicentennial Man short story collection, Issue 31 of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke. [read on]

Visit Simon Haynes' website and his blog, MySpace page, and Facebook page.

The Page 99 Test: Just Desserts (volume 3 in the Hal Spacejock series).

Writers Read: Simon Haynes.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Katherine Marsh's "The Night Tourist"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: Katherine Marsh's The Night Tourist.

About the book, from the author's website:

Jack Perdu, a ninth grade classics prodigy, lives with his father on the Yale University campus. Smart and introverted, Jack spends most of his time alone, his nose buried in a book. But one winter evening, a near-fatal accident changes Jack’s life forever.

His father sends him to see a mysterious doctor in New York City — a place Jack hasn’t been since his mother died there eight years ago. In Grand Central Terminal, he meets Euri, a girl who offers to show him the train station’s hidden places, the ones only true urban explorers know about. Eight floors below the station, however, Jack discovers more than just hidden tracks and mysterious staircases…

Among the early praise for The Night Tourist:

"Marsh, a New Republic editor making her children's book debut, reworks the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in a supernatural tale about a 14-year-old boy's quest through an underworld in New York City, in search of his late mother's spirit. After introverted ninth-grade prodigy Jack Perdu is involved in a near-fatal accident, he is sent to see a specialist in Manhattan. There he meets Euri, a self-proclaimed “urban explorer” who reveals herself to be a ghost — part of a vast and complex community of people who have died in NYC. (Euri tells Jack that he might be able to find his mother if she has not completed her unfinished business in the world and “moved on” to Elysium, which is “somewhere in the Hamptons,” by her best guess.) Euri becomes his personal tour guide as they explore the city by night, when ghosts can leave the underworld to roam unseen. The pair tries to avoid capture by underworld authorities as they seek Jack's mother, in the process unraveling mysteries surrounding his parents' relationship and Jack's ability to infiltrate the spirit world. Mixing numerous references to mythology and classical literature with deft touches of humor and extensive historical details (former mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, Dylan Thomas and corrupt police captain “Clubber” Williams, among others, make cameo appearances), this intelligent and self-assured debut will compel readers from its outset, and leave them satisfied as it explores universal themes of love, loss and closure."
--Publishers Weekly, starred review

“'It was just after dusk when the accident happened.' This alluring first sentence grabs readers’ attention, and the compelling story line will hold that interest. Marsh’s story focuses on ninth-grader Jack Perdu, a prodigy of classic mythology. Absorbed in a book, Jack fails to see the car that knocks him down. He’s physically okay, but after the accident he sees ghostly beings. In New York City’s subway, he meets Euri, a spectral girl who leads him eight stories below Grand Central Station, and together they enter the residence of hundreds of ghosts. The spirits, several dead for more than 200 years, are suspicious of Jack, because to them he appears to be alive. Is Jack actually dead? If so, will he be able to locate his mother who disappeared years before? Both Jack and readers will simultaneously unravel the mystery surrounding the author’s surreal setting as he learns how to enter and exit this supernatural world. Teenagers knowledgeable about mythology and appreciative of sophisticated wordplay will especially enjoy this intricate read.'"
-Kirkus Review

Listen to an excerpt from The Night Tourist, and learn more about the book and author at Katherine Marsh's website.

Katherine Marsh is managing editor at The New Republic magazine in Washington, D.C., where she edits stories and essays on politics and culture. Her writing has appeared in Rolling Stone magazine, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times magazine.

The Page 99 Test: The Night Tourist.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Nadeau et Barlow's "The Story of French"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow's The Story of French.

About the book, from the authors' website.

Imagine a language that is watched over by a group of forty “Immortals” wearing Napoleonic hats and carrying swords, with rules so complex that few people ever completely master it. Its speakers are so insecure they pass laws banning other languages while they spend millions of taxpayers’ dollars making sure their own language gets used in literature, music and film.

Now imagine a language that is second only to English for the number of countries where it is spoken officially, a language that is the official tongue of two G-8 countries and three European nations — with two million teachers and 100 million students worldwide, and whose number of speakers has tripled in the last fifty years, reaching 175 million, in sixty-three countries.

This paradoxical picture is the backdrop for The Story of French. In a narrative that spans from Charlemagne to the Cirque du Soleil, Canadian authors Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow unravel the mysteries of French and answer the question: why has French remained so influential even though it’s only the world’s 9th language in number of speakers?

As in any good story, The Story of French has spectacular failures and unexpected successes: the tenacity of William the Conqueror, the staunchness of Cardinal de Richelieu, the personality clashes of Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau and Quebec Premier René Lévesque, and the activism of figures like Senegal's president Léopold Sédar Senghor or U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali. Through this colourful history, Nadeau and Barlow show how French acquired its own peculiar culture – one that includes intense politicization of language, rigid grammar rules, and a sense of cultural exceptionalism.

Nadeau and Barlow show how French became the first language of a state, then the language of Europe’s elite, of international diplomacy, of liberty and the rights of man, and of travel, cuisine, luxury and high culture. They explain how the culture of the language spread among francophones the world over, yet why it still remains curiously centered on Paris. As the authors discovered traveling not only in France, but in Algeria, Tunisia, Israel, Senegal, Monaco, Belgium, Louisiana, New Brunswick, Sudbury and more, French is thriving, and still maintaining its centuries-old influence on English.

As entertaining as it is fascinating, The Story of French challenges certainties about French and shows why French is still the world’s other global language.

Among the praise for The Story of French:

"...a well-told, highly accessible history of the French language that leads to a spirited discussion of the prospects for French in an increasingly English-dominated world."
--William Grimes, New York Times

"...fascinating reading for French immersion school teachers and students, and actually for everyone with a personal interest in culture and linguistics."
--Lysiane Gagnon, Globe and Mail

"...a mind altering experience... Every Canadian should read this book."
--Pat Donnelly, The Montreal Gazette

"...clearly written, well-organized ... an illuminating portrait of Gallic sensibility."
--Publishers Weekly

"...chockablock with [...] intriguing facts about the language and its evolution."
--Booklist

"...an excellent book on the history of the French language, stuffed with surprises, insight and humour."
--The Independent

Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow's work has appeared in the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, the International Herald Tribune and the French Canadian public affairs magazine L’actualité. Their first book was the bestselling Sixty Million Frenchmen Can’t Be Wrong.

Read an excerpt from The Story of French and learn more about the authors and their writing at their official website.

The Page 69 Test: The Story of French.

--Marshal Zeringue

Kate DiCamillo's most important books

Kate DiCamillo is the author of popular kid-lit titles such as Because of Winn-Dixie and the newly released picture book Great Joy.

She recently told Newsweek about her five most important books. And answered two related questions:

A classic that, upon rereading, disappointed:

Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi.I feel so guilty saying this. It was so disjointed. I wanted to edit the whole thing, which is horrible, but there you go.

A book you hope parents will read to their kids:

Charlotte's Web by E. B. White. It tells the truth and it makes the truth bearable. It shows you how to love the world.

Read about DiCamillo's five most important books.

Visit Kate DiCamillo's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Jack Getze's "Big Numbers," the movie

Now showing at My Book, The Movie: Jack Getze's Big Numbers.

Jack Getze sold stocks and bonds for a regional securities firm on the New Jersey Shore after a career as a reporter for the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner and the Los Angeles Times, where he covered financial and economic issues for more than 15 years.

Big Numbers is based on his experiences as a retail broker, sales manager, and financial executive.

About the casting of a film version of the novel, he writes:

I can't remember who I had in mind as Austin Carr twenty years ago when I started Big Numbers. But I rewrote Austin's first-person account two years ago with several pictures of Vince Vaughn pinned above my computer. I even have a shot of Vince posted on my Austin Carr's Crime Diary blog. The headline -- Only a Rumor Vince Wants the Part.

In fact, since Big Numbers is the first in a series, and I'm working on number three right now, the pictures of Vince Vaughn are still up. He's obviously my choice to play Austin in any movie. Vince's ability to crack wise with a straight face, the natural way he wears a business suit, and his ability to charm the ladies make him perfect for the part.

For the part of Kelly Burns, the pretty redhead who lures Austin astray, I've always had in mind...[read on]

Learn more about Jack Getze, Big Numbers, and Big Money -- the second Austin Carr Mystery due out in February 2008 -- at Getze's website and The Crimes of Austin Carr blog.

The Page 69 Test: Big Numbers.

My Book, The Movie: Big Numbers.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Ronald M. Green's "Babies by Design"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: Ronald M. Green's Babies by Design: The Ethics of Genetic Choice.

About the book, from Yale University Press:

We stand on the brink of unprecedented growth in our ability to understand and change the human genome. New reproductive technologies now enable parents to select some genetic traits for their children, and soon it will be possible to begin to shape ourselves as a species. Despite the loud cries of alarm that such a prospect inspires, Ronald Green argues that we will — and we should — undertake the direction of our own evolution.

A leader in the bioethics community, Green offers a scientifically and ethically informed view of human genetic self-modification and the possibilities it opens up for a better future. Fears of a terrible Brave New World or a new eugenics movement are overblown, he maintains, and in the more likely future, genetic modifications may improve parents’ ability to enhance children’s lives and may even promote social justice.

The author outlines the new capabilities of genomic science, addresses urgent questions of safety that genetic interventions pose, and explores questions of parenting and justice. He also examines the religious implications of gene modification. Babies by design are assuredly in the future, Green concludes, and by making responsible choices as we enter that future, we can incorporate gene technology in a new age of human adventure.

Among the early praise for Babies by Design:

“Green has actively engaged the topic of genetic engineering by not only providing the latest science, but by presenting arguments with all their attendant emotional baggage. The combination is a powerful one, but comes off exceptionally well.”
—Eric M. Meslin, Indiana University Center for Bioethics

“Not only is Green’s scholarship rock-solid, he is also the most balanced and thoughtful of the many analysts in this area — neither an avid supporter who believes in science above all, nor an arch conservative who would take us back to the dark ages.”
—Dean H. Hamer, molecular biologist and author of The Science of Desire, Living with Our Genes and The God Gene

“Green presents ethical positions and arguments in the context of modern thought, and in a language that will be accessible to scholars, scientists and lay-people.”
—Lee Silver, Princeton University

"With his close and sound attention to the relevant science and his attention to the relevant religious, ethical, and policy perspectives and debates, Green has offered a well-integrated set of arguments that can serve to educate and guide students in courses in college and policy makers alike."
—James F. Childress, John Allen Hollingsworth Professor of Ethics, Institute for Practical Ethics and Public Life, University of Virginia

“This is a brilliant and provocative book by one of the top — and most visionary — bioethicists in the world. It takes us into the era of directed human evolution, which may soon redefine people’s relationships, capabilities, and even our concepts of freedom and justice.”
—Robert Lanza, Vice President of Research and Scientific Development at Advanced Cell Technology

Read an excerpt from Babies by Design: The Ethics of Genetic Choice, and learn more about the book at the Yale University Press website.

Ronald M. Green is Eunice and Julian Cohen Professor for the Study of Ethics and Human Values and Director of the Ethics Institute at Dartmouth College. He was founding director of the Office of Genome Ethics at the National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health. He is the author of six previous books, most recently The Human Embryo Research Debates: Bioethics and the Vortex of Controversy.

The Page 99 Test: Babies by Design: The Ethics of Genetic Choice.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Karen E. Olson's "Dead of the Day"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: Karen E. Olson's Dead of the Day.

About the book, from the author's website:

April has hit New Haven, Connecticut, bringing with it something less fragrant than May flowers: An unidentified body in the harbor.

The strange fact that there were bee stings on the floater gives New Haven Herald police reporter Annie Seymour an intriguing excuse to put her profile of the new police chief on hold — although the piece does become a lot more interesting when the subject is gunned down.

And this is only the beginning of a killer expose. As she connects the dots between the John Doe, police chief, and the city’s struggling immigrant population, Annie draws a line between herself and someone who doesn’t want her to learn the truth … or live to report it.

Among the early praise for the novel:

"A delightful dance with the devil: dangerous, dark, romantic."
-- Reed Farrel Coleman

"Olson is the real thing...a natural storyteller with a lucid style and a wonderful sense of place."
--Laura Lippman

"Karen E. Olson knows this beat like the back of her hand. I really enjoyed Dead of the Day.”
--Michael Connelly

“Absolutely everything a first-rate crime novel should be.”
--Lee Child

Dead of the Day is the third Annie Seymour novel. Previous books in the series include Sacred Cows and Secondhand Smoke.

Read an excerpt from Dead of the Day and visit Karen E. Olson's website to learn more about her and her books.

And a film adaptation? See: My Book, The Movie: The "Annie Seymour" mysteries.

The Page 69 Test: Dead of the Day.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five best books: extraordinary journeys of discovery

Dava Sobel, author of The Planets (2005), Galileo's Daughter (1999) and Longitude (1995), named a five best list of books which "record extraordinary journeys of discovery" for Opinion Journal.

Number Two on the list:

The Path by Chet Raymo (Walker, 2003).

Chet Raymo turns a mile-long wooded path -- from his house to Stonehill College in Easton, Mass., where he is a professor emeritus of physics -- into a crucible for all his acquired knowledge of the world. On a wooden bridge over a brook, he stops to consider "the algae scum, the fiddleheads, the ducks, the turtles, the gush of life," but then Raymo, who is also an astronomer, turns his thoughts to a view of the Atlantic from 30,000 feet and an appreciation of Earth as Water Planet. He traces the source of water back to the origin of the universe and ponders the properties of ice and the effect of cloud-cover on global climate. And he praises the world's "quintillions of tons of life-giving water" -- some of which he watches "purl in languorous eddies under the plank bridge across Queset Brook."

Read about the book that tops Sobel's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Craig Davidson's "The Fighter"

The latest feature at the Page 99 Test: Craig Davidson's The Fighter.

About the book, from the official website:

Paul Harris leads a sheltered existence. The son of a Niagara winery owner, his suits and cars are paid for, his career in the family business assured. He is insulated from the rough realities of life — until a vicious barroom beating sets him down a new path.

Rob Tully also feels that his life is on a set course. A born boxer with natural talent, Rob trains with his father, Reuben, and his uncle Tommy, both of whom believe that a gift like his can change their lives.

Rob and Paul's fathers want so much more for their sons than they ever had themselves, but both sons are determined to find their own way. While Paul descends into the world of hardcore bodybuilders and boxing gyms, Rob struggles under the expectations set upon his young shoulders.

Their disparate paths lead to The Barn, an underground fight venue where vicious and hopeless men brawl for cold hard cash. No rules, no limits, no brakes. And when two fighters step into a ring where anything goes, sometimes only one walks out.

Set in the violent world of illegal bare-knuckle boxing, The Fighter unflinchingly captures that world's colourful denizens, its bleakness, its bracing and bloody violence. Written with the power and originality of Craig Davidson's debut fiction, Rust and Bone, The Fighter secures his reputation as a talent to watch with this reflection on fathers and sons and on the ultimate question of how a modern man makes his way in today's society.

Among the praise for The Fighter:

"This is more than a stunning debut. It reminds me how vacuous, banal and insipid most highly-touted fiction is. Craig Davidson asks — and answers — some big, uncomfortable questions about the nature of our humanity. The Fighter is an essential novel, destined for cult status at the very least."
—Irvine Welsh

"[Craig Davidson is] a long-time fan of what might be called amicable violence, who will fight you 'if you are here to kick ass and chew bubble gum (and you're all out of bubble gum)' but not if you're a 'noodle-armed fancy lad.'"
—The Globe & Mail

"This is one macho-man Canadian scribe ... [and] that has won literary pats-on-the-back from the likes of Bret Easton Ellis and Clive Barker."
—National Post

"I've gotten a lot of e-mails from people who are trained boxers wanting to fight me. One's a poet in Toronto, another's a horror writer from Atlanta who wanted me to come down there for this fight party, kind of a Fight Club thing where people brawl."
—Craig Davidson

"...a welcome corrective to the polite, staid, respectable nature of much Canadian fiction these days. The Fighter is a tough, brutal, blood-soaked book that leaves its reader feeling pummelled, battered, and beaten, but nonetheless strangely exhilarated."
—Quill & Quire

"Perhaps the best possible praise I can heap upon Davidson's debut novel is that The Fighter is less about the bloody, brutal scenes of bare-knuckle boxing than about what it means to be a man - and have some degree of manhood - at a time when many upper-middle-class families will do anything in their power to shield their children from having to pull up any sort of bootstraps and engage in hard work and labor. For that, I must thank Davidson profusely."
—Sarah Weinman

Read more about the author and the novel at the official website for The Fighter and at Craig Davidson's website and blog.

Davidson's stories have been published in The Fiddlehead, Event, Prairie Fire, and SubTerrain. His debut collection of stories, Rust and Bone, was called "remarkable ... challenging and upsetting, but never boring" by Chuck Palahniuk and "the best I've read in a long time from a young writer" by Bret Easton Ellis. He also writes horror fiction under a pseudonym.

The Page 99 Test: The Fighter.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Christopher Coyne reading?

The latest contributor to Writers Read: Christopher Coyne, Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at West Virginia University and author of the new book, After War: The Political Economy of Exporting Democracy.

About the book, from the publisher:

Why does liberal democracy take hold in some countries but not in others? Why do we observe such different outcomes in military interventions, from Germany and Japan to Afghanistan and Iraq? Do efforts to export democracy help as much as they hurt? These are some of the most enduring questions of our time.

Historically, the United States has attempted to generate change in foreign countries by exporting liberal democratic institutions through military occupation and reconstruction. Despite these efforts, the record of U.S.-led reconstructions has been mixed, at best. For every West Germany or Japan, there is a Cuba, Haiti, Somalia, or Vietnam.

After War seeks to answer these critical foreign policy questions by bringing an economic mindset to a topic that has been traditionally tackled by historians, policymakers, and political scientists. Economics focuses on how incentives influence human action. Therefore, within an economic context, a successful reconstruction entails finding and establishing a set of incentives that makes citizens prefer a liberal democratic order. Coyne examines the mechanisms and institutions that contribute to the success of reconstruction programs by creating incentives for sustained cooperation.

Coyne emphasizes that the main threat to Western nations in the post-Cold War period will not come from a superpower, but rather from weak, failed, and conflict-torn states — and rogue groups within them. It is also critical to recognize that the dynamics at work — cultural, historical, and social — in these modern states are fundamentally different from those that the United States faced in the reconstructions of West Germany and Japan. As such, these historical cases of successful reconstruction are poor models for todays challenges. In Coynes view, policymakers and occupiers face an array of internal and external constraints in dealing with rogue states. These constraints are often greatest in the countries most in need of the political, economic, and social change. The irony is that these projects are least likely to succeed precisely where they are most needed.

Coyne offers two bold alternatives to reconstruction programs that could serve as catalysts for social change: principled non-intervention and unilateral free trade. Coyne points to major differences in these preferred approaches; whereas reconstruction projects involve a period of coerced military occupation, free trade-led reforms are voluntary. The book goes on to highlight the economic and cultural benefits of free trade.

While Coyne contends that a commitment to non-intervention and free trade may not lead to Western-style liberal democracies in conflict-torn countries, such a strategy could lay the groundwork for global peace.

Read Chapter One from After War and learn more about the book at the Stanford University Press website. Find out more about Coyne's research at his website.

Writers Read: Christopher Coyne.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Rachael King's "The Sound of Butterflies"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: Rachael King's The Sound of Butterflies.

About the book, from the publisher:

Amateur naturalist Thomas Edgar is offered the chance of a lifetime: to travel to the Amazon as part of a scientific exploration. Hoping to discover the mythical butterfly of which he has long dreamed — his Papilio sophia — he eagerly accepts. Yet when he returns, the optimistic young Edwardian gentleman is gone, replaced by a weak, nearly mute shadow of the man.

Unable to break through Thomas's silence, his beloved wife, Sophie, is forced to take drastic measures to discover what has happened. But as she gleans what she can from Thomas's diaries and boxes of exquisite butterflies, she learns as much about herself and their marriage as about the secrets he harbors.

Written in rich, sensuous prose and taking the reader from the demure gentility of turn-of-the-twentieth-century England to the lush, dangerous jungles of Brazil, The Sound of Butterflies is a breathtaking and compelling debut.

Among the praise for The Sound of Butterflies:

“[Rachael King's] mesmerizing combination of narrative, diary pages and letters reveals the true terror that Edgar experienced in the Amazon, where he witnessed one man's inhumanity to his own people... a captivating story."
--Washington Post

“Mordantly magnetic... Thomas's almost sacred quest for a particularly beautiful and elusive butterfly sets up an unforgettably bittersweet story, with its elliptical search for meaning in a world where one kills the thing one loves, and the victim is silent... King's jungle descriptions are masterful.... Her rippling prose builds to a wave of intrigue and danger."
--Book Page

“Compelling... the brutal world of an abusive Brazilian rubber baron and the secrets of exotic jungle love are steamy and sensuous. And timeless."
--USA Today

“In this debut novel about love, betrayal and devotion, King offers a vibrant portrayal of a jungle inner-world and the characters who roam within it… Sensuous descriptions and multidimensional characters carry the novel. Gross displays of wealth, intense bloodlust and the immense beauty and danger of the jungle enrapture, providing a sharp contrast to the tightly-corseted society of early 20th-century England. As Thomas’s quest for his perfect butterfly becomes a symbol for flawlessness that does not exist, both he and Sophie must learn to live with their imperfections and adopt a more real, honest love. As lush and captivating as the jungle in which it is set.”
--Kirkus Reviews

“There's plenty of life in their strained marriage, making this a noteworthy debut, and King a writer to watch.”
--Publishers Weekly

“The Sound of Butterflies fuses Edwardian gentility with obsession, murder, and a glimpse of the giddy excess of the Brazilian rubber boom…. It's convincing, told in prose as opulent as one of Thomas's specimens.”
-- Observer, UK

“King's easy narrative moves back and forth from the stultifying social confines of early 20th-century England to the sultry and seductive world of the rainforest - with all the cruelty and corruption that it feeds. Rich and evocative, The Sound of Butterflies is an enjoyable debut.”
--Financial Times

"King won a major prize in her native New Zealand for this debut and it's understandable as to why: there's a frayed love story, a chilling mystery and a sense of epic adventure as amateur naturalist Thomas Edgar leaves England in search of elusive butterflies and gets caught up in island rhythms sensual and dangerous. If a book gets me completely lost in its world, of course I have to tell people to read it."
--Sarah Weinman

Read an excerpt from The Sound of Butterflies, and learn more about the novel and its author at Rachael King's website and her blog.

The Page 69 Test: The Sound of Butterflies.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Wallace Stroby's "The Heartbreak Lounge"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: Wallace Stroby's The Heartbreak Lounge.

About the book, from the author's website:

Johnny Harrow is back home in New Jersey after seven years in a Florida prison - and he has some scores to settle. Foremost is with his ex girlfriend, Nikki Ellis, who gave their child up for adoption and wants Johnny out of her life forever. As Johnny follows her trail through the back alleys and barrooms of the Jersey Shore, Nikki turns to ex-state trooper Harry Rane to protect her. But even Harry isn't quite prepared for the murderous force of nature that is Johnny Harrow...

Among the praise for The Heartbreak Lounge:

"In a brilliant follow-up to his impressive debut ("The Barbed-Wire Kiss"), Stroby continues the hard-boiled adventures of Harry Rane...The denouement is bloody, explosive, and deeply satisfying. Harry Rane walks these mean streets perfectly at home with the icons: Spade, Marlowe, and Archer."

--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Stroby worked the formula of the noir crime novel like an old pro in "The Barbed-Wire Kiss,' which captured the bleak aura of desolation in Jersey Shore communities where petty crooks and racketeers rub elbows with car dealers and fishermen at the local topless bar. Stroby is back on this marginal social turf...writing with such fierce originality that he rejuvenates genre conventions. Johnny Harrow is an electrifying character."
--New York Times

"The Heartbreak Lounge is a great pleasure, a crime novel full of fully realized characters - good guys and bad - plot moves as complex and surprising as real life, and raw, tough, gritty prose and scenes. This is the real stuff. It makes the Sopranos seem like a domestic spat at a family picnic in the park. I loved it."
--James Crumley, author of The Last Good Kiss

"Wallace Stroby's first book about ex-New Jersey State Trooper Harry Rane, "The Barbed-Wire Kiss," found some tough, sharp new things to say ... The Heartbreak Lounge is even better."
--Chicago Tribune

"Straight-ahead, no-frills noir just the way I like it. Stroby combines two interlocking narratives with just the right amount of tension, builds character development and plot points through the use of dialogue, and adds even more melancholic layers to Harry Rane's lonely life. Where he'll go from here, it's hard to say, but he better come back soon."
--Sarah Weinman

Wallace Stroby is an award-winning journalist and the author of the novels The Heartbreak Lounge and The Barbed-Wire Kiss. A graduate of Rutgers University, Stroby is an editor at the Star-Ledger of Newark, Tony Soprano's hometown newspaper.

Learn more about the author and his novels at the official Wallace Stroby website and The Heartbreak Blog.

The Page 99 Test: The Heartbreak Lounge.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: David Mizner's "Hartsburg, USA"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: David Mizner's Hartsburg, USA.

About the book, from the publisher:

A virtuosic story of a school board election in a small town in Ohio that reveals the humor and conflict of contemporary American life.

Hartsburg, Ohio, is a vintage rust-belt town on the wane; the factories and foundries are closed. And as the local cineplex gives way to yet another fundamentalist church, an ideological turf war has begun.

Oppressed by a dominant culture hostile to her values, born-again Christian mom Bevy Baer decides to run for a spot on the school board. Her plucky door-to-door campaign finds trouble when it runs into Wallace Cormier. A failed Hollywood screenwriter who has returned to his hometown to raise his daughter and churn out an uninspired newspaper column, Cormier fears that he’s gone soft. When Bevy knocks on his door, he decides to fight for his town and his beliefs. But has he jumped in over his head? Signs are posted, debates scheduled, sausage-making contests endured…and then big-time political advisers get involved. Soon Cormier and Bevy find themselves in a passionate, nationally televised, tooth-and-nail battle that leaves voters wondering which candidate, if either, is on the side of the angels. It’s red versus blue, Christian versus atheist, and the future of the country — or at least of one town and two families — seems to hang in the balance.

Hartsburg, USA is at once absurd and utterly believable, a portrait of people on both sides of the American political divide, their stark differences and common humanity.

Among the praise for Hartsburg, USA:

"[An] engagingly warm novel that humanizes the country's culture wars [Hartsburg] could have been a slapstick satire, as it details a school-board campaign pitting a born-again Christian with a questionable past against a failed screenwriter who has returned to his Ohio hometown, bringing some of his Hollywood values with him. Though Mizner has fun with his characters, he is more concerned with illuminating them than with making fun of them... This is fun to read."
—Kirkus Review (starred review)

"Hartsburg, USA is smart, funny, and provocative, a closely observed, big hearted novel about small town America. David Mizner’s eye for detail and compassion for his characters, make this book bigger than the red state/blue state debate or democrats and republicans. He dives into the complexities and contradictions of his characters’ political and personal lives with bold prose and a fierce wit. David Mizner is a young novelist to watch and Hartsburg, USA is a novel to savor."
—Lisa Glatt, author of A Girl Becomes a Comma Like That

"The story is sad and funny, pathetic and compelling by turns. It shows, as voters everywhere have learned, that all politics are local. Recommended."
—Library Journal

"David Mizner's novel, built around a school board election, is about nothing less than the soul of American democracy.This is a wry and moving story that manages to be funny, enthralling,and about real issues all the while keeping us on tenterhooks about a hotly contested election at its heart. Mizner's feat — allowing red state readers to care about wholly convincing blue state characters, and bringing red state characters vividly to life for blue readers — is an unusually accomplished piece of fiction, impossible to put down, highly relevant to us all today."
—Neil Gordon, author of The Company You Keep and Sacrifice of Isaac

Read an excerpt from the novel, and learn more about the book and author at David Mizner's website.

The Page 69 Test: Hartsburg, USA.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is David Estlund reading?

The latest contributor to Writers Read: David M. Estlund, professor of philosophy and chair of the Department of Philosophy at Brown University and author of a new book from Princeton University Press, Democratic Authority: A Philosophical Framework.

About the book, from the publisher:

Democracy is not naturally plausible. Why turn such important matters over to masses of people who have no expertise? Theories of democracy often try to answer this objection by appealing to the intrinsic value of democratic procedure itself, disregarding whether or not it tends toward good decisions. In Democratic Authority, David Estlund shows why this procedural justification of democratic procedure doesn't work, and he offers a groundbreaking alternative based on the idea that democratic authority and legitimacy must depend partly on democracy's tendency to make good decisions.

Just as with verdicts in jury trials, Estlund argues, the authority and legitimacy of a political decision does not depend on the particular decision being good or correct. But the "epistemic value" of the procedure -- the degree to which it can generally be accepted as tending toward a good decision--is nevertheless crucial. Yet if this were all that mattered, one might wonder why those who know best shouldn't simply rule. Estlund's theory -- which he calls "epistemic proceduralism" -- avoids epistocracy, or the rule of those who know. He argues that while some few people probably do know best, this can be used in political justification only if their expertise is acceptable from all reasonable points of view. If we seek the best epistemic arrangement in this respect, it will be recognizably democratic -- with laws and policies actually authorized by the people subject to them.

Read more about the book at the Princeton University Press website, and learn about what the author has been reading lately at Writers Read: David M. Estlund.

--Marshal Zeringue

Billie Livingston's "Cease to Blush," the movie

Now showing at My Book, The Movie: Billie Livingston's Cease to Blush.

About the book, from the publisher:

Hugely entertaining, irreverent and challenging, Billie Livingston’s new novel drives the bumpy road from the burlesque stages of Rat Pack Vegas to the bedroom Internet porn scenes of today, exploring just how far women have really come.

Vivian is late to her own mother’s funeral. Wearing a skintight lipstick-red suit, Vivian stands out like a pornographer’s dream amongst the raven collection of West Coast intellectuals mourning the untimely death of the famous feminist Josie Callwood. Self-medicating grief with vodka, Vivian can’t help trying to stick her finger in the eye of her dead mother’s expectations.

Dead people have a hard time protecting their secrets, and Josie has left one big surprise for her troubled daughter. When she opens a trunk in her mother’s basement, Vivian discovers that Josie wasn’t who she seemed – and that she had a flaming sexual past more exotic than anything Vivian has been able to pull off. Chasing the lies her mother told her, Vivian sets off on a road trip in which memory, reality and imagination collide to recreate the kaleidoscope world of America in the sixties. In disbelief and dawning admiration, she follows her mother’s trail through the Vegas nexus where movie stars, pop singers, strippers, politicians and the mob mingled, where the Rat Pack ruled and girls were arm and eye candy.

As she uncovers her mother’s true story, Vivian ends up confronting her own sexual lies and spiritual evasions. Billie Livingston’s fine novel leads us to consider the nature of our hidden desires – and to question whether the sky would really fall if we admitted our true needs and ceased to blush.

And Livingston's ideas for a film adaptation?

When I’m in the middle of a book, I use my crow brain a lot. I take pictures of things and places so I can load them onto my laptop and refer to them as I write; I scribble down strangers’ conversations and stick their words in my characters’ mouths. Actors are easy to swipe because they’re always hanging around on my TV so I often make them act out what’s in my head to see if it will work or not.

When I was writing Cease to Blush, Angelina Jolie’s public and film personas often came to mind for the book’s narrator, Vivian. Especially a few years ago, Jolie seemed to be a bit of a train wreck, a flamboyantly rebellious and self-destructive woman yet one who had an obvious native intelligence and a scared, swollen heart. Every move she made struck me as a big F.U. to the world. That’s Vivian all over. [read on]

Among the praise for the novel:

“Provocative but wildly fun, [Livingston’s] second novel ably depicts the frustratingly circular route womankind has taken over the last 50 years, from a world where Barbara Billingsley vacuumed in pearls to one where Jessica Simpson vacuums in panties... Cease to Blush is proof that issue fiction is still being written, and very well too."
--Globe and Mail

"With Cease to Blush, Livingston has made her rep as one of the most dangerous writers you will ever be lucky enough to encounter."
--The Vancouver Review

"Livingston writes beautifully, even soulfully and Cease to Blush is her best work to date."
--January Magazine (Best of 2006 Fiction)

Read more about the author and her books at the official Billie Livingston website.

My Book, The Movie: Cease to Blush.

--Marshal Zeringue

Nabokov & Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

From Debra Bruno's Legal Times profile of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg:

On taking an undergraduate class with Vladimir Nabokov at Cornell:
"He was an incredible character. I thought many times that he changed the way I read and the way I write. I loved his class; I can still hear the things he said. When I read Lolita, I could just imagine how he said those syllables."

She remembers his advice on good writing: "'Have the reader ready for what you're going to say.' He gave an example of why he liked the English language. He said, think of French (which was his first language): If you say 'white horse' in French, it's 'cheval blanc.' And you immediately hear 'horse' and you're thinking 'brown.' But in English it's 'white horse,' so you don't see a brown horse and have to displace it. He was big on the written word and on making word pictures."

She thinks about Nabokov when she writes today: "I do fuss over my opinions, and I hope I never stop."

Read the full profile.

(h/t to NABOKV-L)

--Marshal Zeringue