Pg. 69: Joanne Lessner's "Pandora's Bottle"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: Pandora's Bottle by Joanne Sydney Lessner.

About the book, from the publisher:

What happens when you pin all your hopes on a single event—and it all goes terribly wrong? When that event is the uncorking of a fabled bottle of 1787 Château Lafite once owned by Thomas Jefferson, the repercussions are emotional, financial, theatrical and, in every way, unexpected. In this tale of hubris and redemption, aspiration and perseverance, first-time novelist Joanne Sydney Lessner provides a provocative glimpse into the world of fine wine, from the whirl of New York City haute cuisine to the historic vineyards of the Hudson Valley.

When Sy Hampton purchases this legendary bottle—which, through a quirk of preservation, may yet be drinkable—he shocks the wine community by choosing to uncork it privately with a female companion, rather than at a special public event. Sy intends the evening to be a quiet reassertion of his virility in the throes of middle age, but for ambitious restaurateur Annette Lecocq, the event offers an irresistible opportunity for much-needed publicity. Their competing agendas are not the only things to collide on the fateful night. Caught in the crossfire are Tripp Macgregor, a waiter on the verge of his long-awaited Broadway debut, and Valentina D’Ambrosio, the beautiful but unworldly working girl from Brooklyn Sy hopes to impress.

Visit Joanne Sydney Lessner's website.

Writers Read: Joanne Lessner.

The Page 69 Test: Pandora's Bottle.

--Marshal Zeringue

What Lindsay Lohan should read in jail

Avi Steinberg, a former prison librarian, is the author of the forthcoming book, Running the Books, due out in November.

For The Daily Beast, he named a brief list of books Lindsay Lohan should read while serving her jail sentence. One book on the list:

Super Sad True Love Story
by Gary Shteyngart

We live in a world where a grainy YouTube clip of Lindsay Lohan shopping for books draws a bigger audience than Colum McCann’s Let the Great World Spin, this year’s National Book Award Winner. Lohan’s personal life seems frightening close to the consumerist dystopia imagined in Gary Shteyngart’s new novel, Super Sad True Love Story. In this painfully funny satire, set in the not-too-distant future, the word “Media” has come to replace “cool,” as in, “that guy is so Media.” Often these words are spoken by Eunice Park, a clever 24-year-old woman who communicates in a constant flow of hip abbreviations, whose beauty belies deep family pain, and who is described as having (literally) “majored in Images, with a minor in Assertiveness.” There is, in short, a good deal of Lindsay in Eunice. If Lohan wants to come to grips with the culture that has created her, and which she has helped create, she should read this book in the quiet of her cell. In other words, before she’s thrust back out into the noise and the cameras.

There are also some books Lohan should not read. She shouldn’t read Sylvia Plath, for example. After doing a photo shoot in which Lohan posed as Marilyn Monroe, one of her heroes, she may be tempted to read, assuming she can get an advanced galley, the forthcoming Fragments, a collection of Marilyn’s personal writings, letters, poems. This is going to be an interesting book, no doubt. With the right perspective, it may even be helpful to Ms. Lohan. But it’s worth skipping. Any time she feels the impulse to read about Marilyn, my advice is this: take out a prison-issue bendy pen and write an old-fashioned letter to Meryl Streep. Whatever reply she gets back will be worth hundreds of books.

Read about another book on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Thomas L. Carson's "Lying and Deception"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: Lying and Deception: Theory and Practice by Thomas L. Carson.

About the book, from the publisher:

Thomas Carson offers the most comprehensive and up-to-date investigation of moral and conceptual questions about lying and deception. Part I addresses conceptual questions and offers definitions of lying, deception, and related concepts such as withholding information, "keeping someone in the dark," and "half truths." Part II deals with questions in ethical theory. Carson argues that standard debates about lying and deception between act-utilitarians and their critics are inconclusive because they rest on appeals to disputed moral intuitions. He defends a version of the golden rule and a theory of moral reasoning. His theory implies that there is a moral presumption against lying and deception that causes harm -- a presumption at least as strong as that endorsed by act-utilitarianism. He uses this theory to justify his claims about the issues he addresses in Part III: deception and withholding information in sales, deception in advertising, bluffing in negotiations, the duties of professionals to inform clients, lying and deception by leaders as a pretext for fighting wars (with special attention to the case of Bush and Cheney), and lying and deception about history (with special attention to the Holocaust), and cases of distorting the historical record by telling half-truths. The book concludes with a qualified defence of the view that honesty is a virtue.

See Thomas L. Carson's Loyola University webpage for more information about him and to see a list of some of his favorite books.

Learn more about Lying and Deception at the Oxford University Press website.

Writers Read: Thomas L. Carson.

The Page 99 Test: Lying and Deception.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Susan Wiggs reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Susan Wiggs, author of the RITA Award-winning novels Lakeside Cottage, Lord of the Night and The Mistress.

Her entry begins:

I always have a book within reach, and my tastes are eclectic. A couple of memorable recent reads for me: A Castle in the Backyard: The Dream of a House in France by Betsy Draine, about her summer home in southwestern France. I'm heading to Bordeaux and St. Cirq Lapopie later this month, so this incredibly charming memoir fed my excitement. It's perfect for armchair travelers, too, and for fans of books like Under the Tuscan Sun and...[read on]

Susan Wiggs' first book was published by Zebra in 1987, and since then she has been published by Avon, Tor, HarperCollins, Harlequin, Warner and Mira Books. Unable to completely abandon her beloved teaching profession, Wiggs is a frequent workshop leader and speaker at writers' conferences, including the literary institution Fields End and the legendary Maui Writers Conference. Her novel The Charm School was voted one of RWA's Favorite Books of the Year.

Wiggs' many books to be named RITA finalists include: Vows Made in Wine, Home Before Dark, Halfway to Heaven, Summer by the Sea, The Ocean Between Us, and Table for Five.

Of The Ocean Between Us (re-issued this year), she wrote:

The Ocean Between Us was shaped by the lives and loves of families in the military. They are a special class of women and men who respond instantly to the call of duty, who can pack up and move an entire household halfway around the world at a moment’s notice, only to do it again every couple of years. I was privileged to meet a number of Navy wives, and I came to admire their sturdy spirit, their sense of commitment, their take-charge attitude and their unabashed patriotism. Women who have known each other only a short time learn to bond quickly and deeply, to help each other through rough times and celebrate the good. I watched Navy wives support one another, snipe at one another and show the steeliest backbones I’ve ever seen in a group of women.

Visit Susan Wiggs' website and blog.

Writers Read: Susan Wiggs.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top 10 autobiographies that remind us of our mortality

Greg Baxter is a fiction writer and essayist who lives in Dublin. He is the author of A Preparation for Death (Penguin Ireland, 2010). He worked as a Creative Writing tutor in the Irish Writers’ Centre from 2006 to 2009, before launching the Workshops at Some Blind Alleys. He has published essays and short stories in journals such as the Dublin Review, Cincinnati Review, and Southwest Review. He regularly reviews for the Irish Times.

For the Guardian, he named his top ten momento mori. One title on the list:

Death of Wisdom: Essays by Michel de Montaigne

If aliens ever attack earth, and we have one opportunity to prove that the human species deserves a second chance, we must give them Montaigne, the humblest and most noble thinker and writer who ever lived. His incomparable exploration of the human condition begins with one fearless question: What do I know?

Read about another entry on Baxter's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Coffee with a canine: Carolyn J. Rose & Bubba

The current featured couple at Coffee with a Canine: Carolyn J. Rose and Bubba.

Rose, on how she and Bubba were united:

I’d always wanted a small, cuddly dog. But Mike, who’d had his ankles assaulted by a friend’s tiny mixed breed, argued that small dogs were always yapping and biting and didn’t like men.

Back in the 1990s, I had a reaction to medication and was quite sick for a week. Mike was so worried about me that he caved in and agreed that we could have a small dog—but not until the last member of our mid-sized fleet of three passed on.

We take excellent care of our dogs, and it wasn’t until 2000 that the last dog died at age 15 1/2. About that time we sold our house in Portland, Oregon; dogless, moved across the Columbia River to Vancouver, Washington. While we were in the process of unpacking, a reporter I worked with called to say, “Turn on your TV and check out the pet of the week.”

There she was, a bit of gray fluff with a pink ribbon in her hair, sitting on the anchor desk of our local cable channel. Five minutes later I’d prodded Mike into the car and we were on our way to the Southwest Washington Humane Society.

When the woman behind the desk told us there would be fees totalling about $90, Mike laughed. “You could charge us $590,” he said, “and we’d still get that dog.”

I took that as a sign that...[read on]

View the video trailer for Hemlock Lake, and learn more about Carolyn J. Rose and Bubba at the website, Deadly Duo Mysteries.

Read--Coffee with a Canine: Carolyn J. Rose and Bubba.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Meg Gardiner's "The Liar's Lullaby"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: The Liar's Lullaby by Meg Gardiner.

About the book, from the publisher:

Edgar Award winner Meg Gardiner returns with a third propulsive, groundbreaking thriller about forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett and the lies that are even more dangerous than fame.

Tasia McFarland is a washed-up country-pop singer desperate for the break that will get her topping the charts again. The tabloids have raked over every part of Tasia's rocky life, following every high and low, her addictions, her breakdowns, her increasingly erratic behavior-and every broken relationship. The highlight of this lowlight reel: her failed marriage to an ambitious Army officer whose political talents earned him a spot in the nation's highest office. Tasia McFarland is the ex-wife of the President of the United States.

So when Tasia writes a song with politically-charged lyrics, people take note and her star begins to rise anew. In the spectacle-driven opener of her comeback tour, she is lowered into a stadium on a zip line and as helicopters fly overhead she fires her prop Colt 45 at the fireworks-filled stage. Tasia is riding high.

Until she's killed by a bullet to the neck, before the shocked crowd of 40,000.

When video can't prove that the shot came from Tasia's own Colt .45 and the ballistics report comes up empty, the authorities call on forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett to do a psychological autopsy and clean up the potential political disaster. But as Jo sifts through the facts, she only finds more questions. Was Tasia's gun loaded? Did she kill herself in one last cry for attention? Were her politically-charged lyrics the rantings of a paranoid woman losing her grip? Or warnings from a woman afraid and in danger? For Jo, pouring over Tasia's past quickly becomes a race to extinguish the conspiracy rumor mill before it incites a level of violence that reaches America's highest corridors of power-and tears apart the very fabric of our nation.

Learn more about the author and her work at Meg Gardiner's website and blog.

The Page 69 Test: The Dirty Secrets Club.

The Page 69 Test: The Memory Collector.

My Book, The Movie: Meg Gardiner's Evan Delaney series.

Writers Read: Meg Gardiner.

The Page 69 Test: The Liar's Lullaby.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: John Hartigan Jr.'s "What Can You Say?"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: What Can You Say?: America's National Conversation on Race by John Hartigan Jr.

About the book, from the publisher:

We are in a transitional moment in our national conversation on race. "Despite optimistic predictions that Barack Obama's election would signal the end of race as an issue in America, the race-related news stories just keep coming. Race remains a political and polarizing issue, and the sprawling, unwieldy, and often maddening means we have developed to discuss and evaluate what counts as "racial" can be frustrating. In What Can You Say?, John Hartigan Jr. examines a watershed year of news stories, taking these events as a way to understand American culture and challenge our existing notions of what is racial—or not.

The book follows race stories that have made news headlines—including Don Imus's remarks about the Rutgers women's basketball team, protests in Jena, Louisiana, and Barack Obama's presidential campaign—to trace the shifting contours of mainstream U.S. public discussions of race as they incorporate new voices, words, and images. Focused on the underlying dynamics of American culture that shape this conversation, this book aims to make us more fluent in assessing the stories we consume about race.

Advancing our conversation on race hinges on recognizing and challenging the cultural conventions governing the ways we speak about and recognize race. In drawing attention to this curious cultural artifact, our national conversation on race, Hartigan ultimately offers a way to to understand race in the totality of American culture, as a constantly evolving debate. As this book demonstrates, the conversation is far from over.

Learn more about What Can You Say? at the Stanford University Press website.

John Hartigan Jr. is Director of the Américo Paredes Center for Cultural Studies and Professor of Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin.

The Page 99 Test: What Can You Say?.

--Marshal Zeringue

Twelve uniquely American sci-fi & fantasy novels and stories

John T. Ottinger of Grasping For The Wind came up with a list of 12 science fiction and fantasy novels and stories that are uniquely American.

One title on the list:

Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes is about two 13-year-old boys, Jim Nightshade and William Halloway, who have a harrowing experience with a nightmarish traveling carnival that comes to their Midwestern town one October. The carnival's leader is the mysterious "Mr. Dark" who bears a tattoo for each person who, lured by the offer to live out his secret fantasies, has become bound in service to the carnival. Mr. Dark's malevolent presence is countered by that of Will's father, Charles Halloway, who harbors his own secret desire to regain his youth." (Wikipedia) Bradbury's work is the quintessential small-town-meets-the-fantastic style novel that so many talespinners have emulated since.

Read about another book on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Caroline Clemmons reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Caroline Clemmons, author of historical romances, contemporary romantic suspense, mysteries, and paranormals.

Part of her entry:

The Daisy Dalrymple series by Carola Dunn is on my nightstand. Yes, all of them. My daughter collected this series and loaned it to me so that I can read them in order, something she knows I enjoy. I've read the first two of the series and adore Daisy. She is an Honorable who is penniless but doing something about it. These books remind me of Rhys Bowen's Her Royal Spyness series. The heroine is just as spunky, just as poor, and just as bound by the rules of an outdated peerage system. Okay, I'll admit it, I'm an anglophile and an admirer of Queen Elizabeth II. In addition, I love reading about the 1920's and 1930's. These are...[read on]

About Caroline Clemmons' The Texan's Irish Bride, available September 3, 2010:

Cenora Rose O’Neill knows her father somehow arranged the trap for Dallas, but she agrees to wed the handsome stranger. She’d do anything to protect her family, and she wants to save herself from the bully Tom Williams. A fine settled man like Dallas will rid himself of her soon enough, but at least she and her family will be safely away from Tom Williams.

Texas rancher Dallas McClintock has no plans to wed for several years. Right now, he’s trying to establish himself as a successful horse breeder. Severely wounded rescuing Cenora from kidnappers, Dallas is taken to her family’s wagon to be tended. He is trapped into marrying Cenora, but he is not a man who goes back on his word. His wife has a silly superstition for everything, but passion-filled nights with her make up for everything—even when her eccentric family drives him to distraction.

Caroline Clemmons lives in North Central Texas and writes full-time, unless life interferes. You can learn more about her and about her books at her website. Visit her blog and comment to enter her weekly prize drawing.

Writers Read: Caroline Clemmons.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Susan Hasler's "Intelligence"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: Intelligence by Susan Hasler.

About the book, from the publisher:

A team of Intelligence agents try to prevent an impending terrorist attack, but are thwarted by bureaucratic hurdles in this darkly humorous debut written by a former CIA agent

Maddie James and her colleagues are terrorism experts working in a crumbling intelligence agency. They are certain another big terrorist attack is coming, but in a post-9/11 election year the Administration is stressing its victories in the War on Terror—and few want to hear the team’s warnings.

Reluctantly, Maddie’s given a team of five analysts to focus on the impending threat. The crew labors through bureaucratic obstacles, personal problems, and a blossoming romance between its senior members, Doc and Fran. They come heartbreakingly close to stopping the attack, but fail to predict a surprising twist in the terrorists’ plot.

In the wake of tragedy, the Administration pins blame on Iran despite lack of evidence—so Maddie and her team try to investigate. With dark humor and a razor-sharp tone, they fight back against office politics, government cover-ups and blackmail in order to set the record straight. A keenly crafted debut that could only be written by an ex-CIA agent, Intelligence will please fans of Wag the Dog and Primary Colors.

Learn more about the book and author at Susan Hasler's website.

Writers Read: Susan Hasler.

The Page 69 Test: Intelligence.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten of the best card games in literature

For the Guardian, John Mullan named ten of the best card games in literature.

One title on the list:

Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens

Young Pip is invited by rich Miss Havisham to play cards with beautiful Estella and to be mocked. "'He calls the knaves Jacks, this boy!' said Estella with disdain." The contest is torment. "She won the game, and I dealt. I misdealt, as was only natural, when I knew she was lying in wait for me to do wrong." Naturally he falls for her.

Read about another novel on the list.

Great Expectations also made Tony Parsons' list of the top ten troubled males in fiction, John Mullan's ten best list of fights in fiction, David Nicholls' top ten list of literary tear jerkers, and numbers among Kurt Anderson's five most essential books. It is #1 on Melissa Katsoulis' list of "twenty-five films that made it from the book shelf to the box office with credibility intact."

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Miliann Kang's "The Managed Hand"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: The Managed Hand: Race, Gender, and the Body in Beauty Service Work by Miliann Kang.

About the book, from the publisher:

Two women, virtual strangers, sit hand-in-hand across a narrow table, both intent on the same thing-achieving the perfect manicure. Encounters like this occur thousands of times across the United States in nail salons increasingly owned and operated by Asian immigrants. This study looks closely for the first time at these intimate encounters, focusing on New York City, where such nail salons have become ubiquitous. Drawing from rich and compelling interviews, Miliann Kang takes us inside the nail industry, asking such questions as: Why have nail salons become so popular? Why do so many Asian women, and Korean women in particular, provide these services? Kang discovers multiple motivations for the manicure-from the pampering of white middle class women to the artistic self-expression of working class African American women to the mass consumption of body-related services. Contrary to notions of beauty service establishments as spaces for building community among women, The Managed Hand finds that while tentative and fragile solidarities can emerge across the manicure table, they generally give way to even more powerful divisions of race, class, and immigration.

Learn more about The Managed Hand at the University of California Press website.

Miliann Kang is Associate Professor of Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

The Page 99 Test: The Managed Hand.

--Marshal Zeringue

David Moody's "Dog Blood," the movie

Now showing at My Book, The Movie: Dog Blood by David Moody.

The entry begins:

The movie rights to Hater were acquired by Mark Johnson (producer of the Narnia films) and Guillermo del Toro (director of Hellboy 1 and 2, Pan’s Labyrinth), so I’ve spent endless hours thinking about who I’d like to star in the film.

Both Hater and its sequel, Dog Blood, centre on the character of Danny McCoyne, an average guy: he lives in a small, rented apartment with his partner and (too many) kids, has a job he despises, no cash, no social life etc. etc., until ‘the Hate’ tears his world apart and turns everything on its head. Danny is such an ordinary fellow, such an everyman, that I’ve struggled to think of a current movie star who could portray him effectively. At the beginning of the story he is anonymous and unimportant, and for that reason I’d really like him to be portrayed by an unknown. Danny is certainly no Tom Cruise!

Danny’s close family also play an integral part of the story. His father-in-law, Harry, is a cantankerous old bugger who constantly looks down on him with disappointment and dismay. The character was written with Michael Caine in mind. Caine’s career has been unprecedented and he continues to take great roles. I envisage him as Harry being a cross between his portrayals of Jasper in Children of Men, and as the titular pensioner-turned-vigilante in Harry Brown.

Danny has three children. Like many parents he dearly loves his kids, but they also drive him to distraction. He shares an important bond with his young daughter, Ellis, and, during the writing of Dog Blood, I became aware of...[read on]

Learn more about the books and author at David Moody's website.

The Page 69 Test: Hater.

The Page 69 Test: Dog Blood.

My Book, The Movie: Dog Blood.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Lori Handeland reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Lori Handeland, author of Shakespeare Undead.

Her entry begins:

As summer approached I kept hearing whispers about an upcoming "big" summer vampire book, The Passage. It sounded like something I would like, but when I caught a glimpse of the length (766 pages) I put the thought aside. I like to carry my books around with me and at that size, I might hurt myself!

However, I kept hearing about the book. Everything I heard, I liked. When I saw the quote from Stephen King: "It has the vividness that only epic works of fantasy and imagination can achieve. Read this book and the ordinary world disappears" I...[read on]

Among the early praise for Shakespeare Undead:

"... laugh out loud moments! ... the book is shameless fun, with a decent grounding in the Bard's work."
--Kirkus Reviews

"The legend of Shakespeare will never be the same. It's a fun read set against the streets of Elizabethan London."
--Romantic Times-4 stars

"Handeland blends Elizabethan and contemporary language skillfully ... the romance sizzles between the intriguing leads."
--Publishers Weekly

Lori Handeland has written nearly fifty novels, novellas and short stories in several genres--historical, contemporary, series and paranormal romance, as well as urban fantasy.

Visit Lori Handeland's website.

My Book, The Movie: Any Given Doomsday.

Coffee with a Canine: Lori Handeland and Elwood.

Writers Read: Lori Handeland.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five best Australian novels

Nicholas Jose has published short stories, essays, several acclaimed novels, and a memoir. He is Chair in Writing at the University of Western Sydney and Visiting Chair of Australian Studies at Harvard University for 2009-2010. He is general editor of the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature which is published internationally as The Literature of Australia.

At FiveBooks, Daisy Banks asked him about his five best Australian novels. One title they discussed:

[Banks:] You’ve chosen Peter Carey’s Bliss, which is less well known than Oscar and Lucinda.

[Jose:] Peter Carey is an endlessly inventive novelist who is still writing. I think this is his first novel and I like the way he introduces the dimension of fantasy and magical realism. It is set in the very lush rainforest of northern New South Wales, but suburbia and corporate life creep in. The main character was in advertising. You have also got all the craziness of an alternative lifestyle and breaking free and going into the rainforest. It is almost an environmental novel. The man has been through a near-death experience which is what drives him to break free from his corporate existence. And it has that magical Carey inventiveness which I really like.

So what do you think makes Carey such a great novelist?

He loves weird stories and he is not a truth-teller. He just spins on into lies and fantasy. In Oscar and Lucinda he has marvellous description of a glass church floating down a river. So for me it’s the way he allows his imagination to play and to fill the space. He is also a very elegant writer.

Read about another book on Jose's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Julian Cole's "The Amateur Historian"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: The Amateur Historian by Julian Cole.

About the book, from the publisher:

Rick Rounder returns to his hometown a decade after failing to save a young girl from her suicidal father. He sets up as a private eye, much to the envy of his policeman brother Sam, who has risen up the ranks to chief. The two brothers square up across the sibling divide as they are both drawn into the case of a missing girl.

But the case gets more complicated as Rick’s past catches up with him, and the only clues that the brothers have, relate to a girl who lived—and died—in poverty one hundred years ago. The amateur historian has one last lesson to teach.

Learn more about The Amateur Historian at the publisher's website.

Julian Cole is a journalist and columnist with The Evening Press. He spent three years writing and researching The Amateur Historian, his first novel.

The Page 69 Test: The Amateur Historian.

--Marshal Zeringue

Stella Rimington's six favorite secret agent novels

Stella Rimington joined Britain’s Security Service (MI5) in 1969. During her nearly thirty-year career she worked in all the main fields of the Service’s responsibilities—counter subversion, counter espionage and counter terrorism—and successively became Director of all three branches. Appointed Director General of MI5 in 1992, she was the first woman to hold the post and the first Director General whose name was publicly announced on appointment. Following her retirement from MI5 in 1996, she published her autobiography, Open Secret, in the United Kingdom. She is also the author of the novels: At Risk, Secret Asset, Illegal Action and the newly released Dead Line.

She named her 6 favorite secret agent novels for The Week magazine. One title on the list:

Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene

Insiders can portray spying as it is, exaggerate it, or laugh at it. Graham Greene chose to laugh cynically. Mr. Wormold, a vacuum-cleaner salesman in Havana, is recruited as an agent by British intelligence. He begins making up his intelligence. But when it all becomes true, he becomes a star. Then it all starts to unravel.

Read about another book on the list.

Our Man in Havana also made Alan Furst's five best list of spy books.

Also see Rimington's five best list of books about spies in Britain and a 2009 list of her six best books.

Read Rimington's answer to the question: Which fictional character most resembles you?

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Gregg Hurwitz reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Gregg Hurwitz, the author of several novels, including Trust No One and the newly released They're Watching.

His entry begins:

I am reading a graphic novel called Chew, about a detective who can solve crimes -- by tasting the dead flesh of the victims! It's a crazy little comic and really takes advantage of the medium. Good sense of humor, great underlying conspiracy/mythology, and in the middle of it all, a protagonist gnawing on...[read on]

Among the early praise for They're Watching:

“Always a master of the gripping setup, Hurwitz outdoes himself in this ultra-suspenseful thriller…. Hurwitz sure-handedly leads everyone…through this tale of mystery and murder, serving up one shocking surprise after another…A rousing conclusion ties up all the intriguing threads.”
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Scary fun, handled with skill by veteran Hurwitz.”
--Library Journal (starred review)

“This is a very well constructed thriller, full of twists and turns and unexpected revelations. Hurwitz frequently sets us up to expect one thing but delivers something entirely different. He keeps us constantly on our toes, and—this is especially good—he keeps us guessing right until the very last pages about exactly who has targeted Patrick and why. Highly recommended, especially for fans of Dean Koontz, Linwood Barclay, and Harlan Coben.”
--Booklist (starred review)

“Simply put, Gregg Hurwitz is one of my favorite writers. And They’re Watching is the perfect example why. Riveting, emotionally rich, original, and beautifully written, this book kept me up too late reading, had me sneaking in pages the next day. As a writer, sometimes it’s easy to forget that you were a reader first. They’re Watching reminded me what it’s like to be in the thrall of a great story: helpless until the end, loving every minute of it.”
--Lisa Unger

“Buckle up and get ready for a wild ride! From the anxiety-inducing first page to the nerve-wracking last, They’re Watching will keep you riveted as one man fights for his family, his career and his very life.”
--Lisa Gardner

Visit Gregg Hurwitz's website and blog.

My Book, The Movie: The Crime Writer.

The Page 69 Test: Trust No One.

Writers Read: Gregg Hurwitz.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Amanda H. Podany's "Brotherhood of Kings"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: Brotherhood of Kings: How International Relations Shaped the Ancient Near East by Amanda H. Podany.

About the book, from the publisher:

Amanda Podany here takes readers on a vivid tour through a thousand years of ancient Near Eastern history, from 2300 to 1300 BCE, paying particular attention to the lively interactions that took place between the great kings of the day.

Allowing them to speak in their own words, Podany reveals how these leaders and their ambassadors devised a remarkably sophisticated system of diplomacy and trade. What the kings forged, as they saw it, was a relationship of friends-brothers-across hundreds of miles. Over centuries they worked out ways for their ambassadors to travel safely to one another's capitals, they created formal rules of interaction and ways to work out disagreements, they agreed to treaties and abided by them, and their efforts had paid off with the exchange of luxury goods that each country wanted from the other. Tied to one another through peace treaties and powerful obligations, they were also often bound together as in-laws, as a result of marrying one another's daughters. These rulers had almost never met one another in person, but they felt a strong connection -- a real brotherhood -- which gradually made wars between them less common. Indeed, any one of the great powers of the time could have tried to take over the others through warfare, but diplomacy usually prevailed and provided a respite from bloodshed. Instead of fighting, the kings learned from one another, and cooperated in peace.

A remarkable account of a pivotal moment in world history -- the establishment of international diplomacy thousands of years before the United Nations -- Brotherhood of Kings offers a vibrantly written history of the region often known as the "cradle of civilization."

Read more about Brotherhood of Kings at the Oxford University Press website.

Amanda H. Podany is Professor of History at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. She has published a number of books and articles on topics in ancient Near Eastern history, including The Ancient Near Eastern World.

The Page 99 Test: Brotherhood of Kings.

--Marshal Zeringue