Pg. 69: Laura Lippman's "Another Thing to Fall"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: Laura Lippman's Another Thing to Fall.

About the book, from the publisher:

The California dream weavers have invaded Charm City with their cameras, their stars, and their controversy....

When private investigator Tess Monaghan literally runs into the crew of the fledgling TV series Mann of Steel while sculling, she expects sharp words and evil looks, not an assignment. But the company has been plagued by a series of disturbing incidents since its arrival on location in Baltimore: bad press, union threats, and small, costly on-set "accidents" that have wreaked havoc with its shooting schedule. As a result, Mann's creator, Flip Tumulty, the son of a Hollywood legend, is worried for the safety of his young female lead, Selene Waites, and asks Tess to serve as her bodyguard/babysitter. Tumulty's concern may be well founded. Not long ago a Baltimore man was discovered dead in his own home, surrounded by photos of the beautiful, difficult superstar-in-the-making.

In the past, Tess has had enough trouble guarding her own body. Keeping a spoiled movie princess under wraps may be more than she can handle — even with the help of Tess's icily unflappable friend Whitney — since Selene is not as naive as everyone seems to think, and far more devious than she initially appears to be. This is not Tess's world. And these are not her kind of people, with their vanities, their self-serving agendas and invented personas, and their remarkably skewed visions of reality — from the series' aging, shallow, former pretty-boy leading man to its resentful, always-on-the-make cowriter to the officious young assistant who may be too hungry for her own good.

But the fish-out-of-water P.I. is abruptly pulled back in by an occurrence she's all too familiar with — murder. Suddenly the wall of secrets around Mann of Steel is in danger of toppling, leaving shattered dreams, careers, and lives scattered among the ruins — a catastrophe that threatens the people Tess cares about ... and the city she loves.

Among the early praise for Another Thing to Fall:

"An early morning rowing accident lands Baltimore PI Tess Monaghan (No Good Deeds, 2006, etc.) what may be the worst job of her life. When a film crew's motorboat upends her scull into the Patapsco, Tess Monaghan gets more than a good dunking. She also gets the untempting offer of a job as bodyguard to Selene Waites, bratty young star of the TV show Mann of Steel, the saga of a steelworker who time-travels in order to woo 18th-century Baltimore belle Betsy Patterson. Anorexic Selene doesn't have much body to guard, and the stalker who took creepy pictures of her killed himself. The only reason Tess even considers head writer Flip Tumulty's proposition is the hope of snagging some work on the show for Floyd Jupiter, a former street kid who, absent gainful employment, is fast reverting to his evil ways. Even when Floyd is stuck with the job of unpaid intern and a womanizing writer calls Tess an asshole, the work still seems worth her while-at least until whoever's pulling a series of annoying pranks, like putting hair remover in the male lead's face cream, takes it a step too far, and a production assistant ends up dead. Like lunch at Atwater's, Tess's latest leaves you fully satisfied but looking forward to next time."
--Kirkus

"Tess’s latest case builds up a thrilling momentum, and packs a surprise you won’t easily find on TV."
--Amy Plitt, Time Out New York

"Laura Lippman knows Charm City, inside and out. Her mysteries are as much about the complexities of Baltimore as they are about crime, who commits it and why. Another Thing to Fall, the former Sun reporter's 10th novel featuring P.I. Tess Monaghan, reveals yet another side to Charm City. And perhaps its seamiest yet.... Lippman is incapable of writing an un-compelling mystery."
--Victoria Bronworth, Baltimore Sun

"Another Thing to Fall is a fun (and occasionally funny), entertaining mystery. Drawing on her knowledge of the television industry, Lippman has Monaghan working as a bodyguard for a spoiled young Hollywood diva who's in town to film a TV show. The mystery plot is fine, the Hollywood satire is excellent, and Tess is a joy as always."
--David J. Montgomery

Read more about Another Thing to Fall and the author at Laura Lippman's website.

Lippman's 2007 novel, What the Dead Know, was a New York Times bestseller. Her Tess Monaghan books — By a Spider's Thread, The Last Place, The Sugar House, Baltimore Blues, Charm City, Butchers Hill, In Big Trouble, and No Good Deeds — have won the Edgar, Agatha, Shamus, Anthony, and Nero Wolfe awards, and In a Strange City was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Lippman is also the author of the critically acclaimed stand-alone novel Every Secret Thing.

The Page 69 Test: Another Thing to Fall.

--Marshal Zeringue

Most important books: Russell Banks

Russell Banks, whose many books include the novels Continental Drift, Rule of the Bone, Cloudsplitter, The Sweet Hereafter, Affliction, and the newly-released The Reserve, recently told Newsweek about his five most important books.

And answered a couple of related questions:

A book you always return to:

Ernest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast. It makes the reader feel young again.

A book you hope parents will read to their children:

Thornton Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis Rey, a fable about the two questions that all children ask: why are we here and why must we leave?

Read about Banks' most important books.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Walter Hixson's "The Myth of American Diplomacy"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: Pg. 99: Walter Hixson's The Myth of American Diplomacy: National Identity and U.S. Foreign Policy.

About the book, from the publisher:

In this major reconceptualization of the history of U.S. foreign policy, Walter Hixson engages with the entire sweep of that history, from its Puritan beginnings to the twenty-first century’s war on terror. He contends that a mythical national identity, which includes the notion of American moral superiority and the duty to protect all of humanity, has had remarkable continuity through the centuries, repeatedly propelling America into war against an endless series of external enemies. As this myth has supported violence, violence in turn has supported the myth.

The Myth of American Diplomacy shows the deep connections between American foreign policy and the domestic culture from which it springs. Hixson investigates the national narratives that help to explain ethnic cleansing of Indians, nineteenth-century imperial thrusts in Mexico and the Philippines, the two World Wars, the Cold War, the Iraq War, and today’s war on terror. He examines the discourses within America that have continuously inspired what he calls our “pathologically violent foreign policy.” The presumption that, as an exceptionally virtuous nation, the United States possesses a special right to exert power only encourages violence, Hixson concludes, and he suggests some fruitful ways to redirect foreign policy toward a more just and peaceful world.

Among the early praise for the book:

“Hixson offers a provocative and comprehensive interpretation of the history of U.S. foreign affairs. It is about time that a radically different perspective on the Myth of America was presented.”
—Akira Iriye, Harvard University

“Hixson wants the country to understand the extent to which its nationalism depends on war and violence for sustenance. His may be the first thoroughly ‘culturalist’ reading of the entire history of American foreign policy.”
—Andrew M. Johnston,Carleton University, Ottawa

“Reminiscent of William A. Williams's The Tragedy of American Diplomacy, but with all the tools of current scholarship, The Myth of American Diplomacy makes a sweeping case that Americans' sense of their national destiny, more than threats from others, account for their long record of war, conquest, and expansion. It's an important rebuttal to other scholars and a timely warning to other Americans.”
—Michael Sherry, Northwestern University

“Emphasizing cultural construction and hegemony, Walter Hixson presents a spirited and provocative new interpretive history of U.S. diplomacy.”
—Emily S. Rosenberg, author of Financial Missionaries to the World: The Politics and Culture of Dollar Diplomacy, 1900-1930

"The Myth of American Diplomacy is a much-needed, highly innovative, and deeply enthralling synthesis of the cultural turn in diplomatic history. It is destined to become a standard, indispensable work for historians of American foreign relations."
—Andrew Preston, Cambridge University

Learn more about The Myth of American Diplomacy at the Yale University Press website, and visit Walter Hixson's faculty webpage.

Walter Hixson is professor and chair of the Department of History, University of Akron. He has published numerous books and articles on the history of U.S. foreign policy, including the prize-winning George F. Kennan: Cold War Iconoclast.

The Page 99 Test: The Myth of American Diplomacy.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Roy Foster reading?

The latest contributor to Writers Read: Roy Foster, author, most recently, of Luck and the Irish: A Brief History of Change from 1970.

Two books from his entry:

God's Architect: Pugin and the Building of Romantic Britain by Rosemary Hill [Penguin] and Talleyrand: Betrayer and Saviour of France by Robin Harris [John Murray], because I'm a judge of a prize for literary biography & have to produce a shortlist in a week or so.... [read on]

Roy Foster is Carroll Professor of Irish History, an endowed Chair founded in 1991 and attached to Hertford College, University of Oxford. He is the author of many books on the political, social, cultural and literary history of Ireland, and the two-volume authorized biography of W.B.Yeats.

His most recent work, Luck and the Irish: A Brief History of Change from 1970, concerns social and political change in Ireland in the late twentieth century.

Read more about Luck and the Irish at the Oxford University Press website.

Learn more about Roy Foster's research and other publications at his Oxford faculty webpage.

Writers Read: Roy Foster.

--Marshal Zeringue

Tara McKelvey's "Monstering," the movie

Now showing at My Book, The Movie: Monstering: Inside America's Policy of Secret Interrogations and Torture in the Terror War by Tara McKelvey.

Her entry opens:

My book Monstering is about Abu Ghraib, which is not a topic that an American moviegoing audience would naturally gravitate toward. But Abu Ghraib, and the use of so-called "enhanced" interrogation techniques, is an important subject, and I think Americans should have a chance to talk about these issues In fact, it seems that Americans are ready to examine the subject of torture and to look at this dark chapter in our history, especially since a documentary film on the subject, Taxi to the Dark Side, has just won an Academy Award. [read on]

Read more about Monstering, including excerpts, reviews, and interviews, at Tara McKelvey's website.

McKelvey is a senior editor at The American Prospect and a frequent reviewer for the New York Times Book Review and a contributing writer for Marie Claire. She is also a research fellow at New York University School of Law’s Center on Law and Security. She has edited a collection about female soldiers and torturers called One of the Guys.

The Page 69 Test: Monstering.

My Book, The Movie: Monstering.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Kelly Simmons' "Standing Still"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: Standing Still by Kelly Simmons.

About the book, from the publisher:

Journalist and suburban mom Claire Cooper suffers from panic disorder. Most of her anxieties seem irrational, nothing that can't be fixed with the help of some Xanax. But late one stormy summer night, when her husband, Sam, is away on one of his frequent business trips, Claire's fears come to life. She discovers an intruder has broken into her young daughter's bedroom. She watches helplessly as he picks up her sleeping child from her bed. Desperate to protect her family, Claire puts herself in the line of fire and utters the plea that will undo her: "Take me instead."

As she drives away in the kidnapper's car, Claire fears for her children, but not for herself. And she can't help noticing the reversal in her marriage -- for the first time in ten years, Sam will not know where she is.

For the next week, Claire is tied to a bed in a strange motel room, the intruder her only companion. She is forced to lie still and contemplate the reasons for this assault on her family. Is this just a random crime, or something more sinister? Has the shadowy past that she tried so hard to leave behind finally caught up with her? Day after day, she goes deeper into herself, reevaluating her marriage and her role as a mother, and unburying the source of her crippling anxiety. In seven days she will step out to the very brink of her soul -- perhaps never to return.

A riveting debut novel that will appeal to fans of Sue Miller and Janet Fitch, Standing Still is a powerful exploration of the darker side of mother-hood and marriage.

Among the early acclaim for Standing Still:

"Invigorating prose. Like Midnight Run with a female Charles Grodin."
--Entertainment Weekly, B+

"What mother wouldn't sacrifice herself for her child? In Simmons's electrifying debut, the answer is delivered through the harrowing ordeal of a mother held for ransom by an anonymous kidnapper. A former globetrotting journalist now working for a Midwest TV station, Claire has a comfortable life with her husband, Sam, a successful co-owner of a PR/marketing firm, and their three young daughters, but she's unhappy with Sam and struggles with a secret past. On one of the frequent nights Sam isn't home, an intruder crashes through the skylight of the couple's newly renovated house. The man planned to kidnap their oldest girl, but Claire persuades him to take her instead. An intense bond develops between Claire and her abductor, a widower mourning the loss of his wife, during the eerie seven-day odyssey that follows. As Claire waits for the ransom to be paid, she faces some hard truths about the choices everyone makes that sometimes require lies to endure. The perfect read for a stormy night, Simmons's suspenseful tale contains nary a wasted word."
--Publishers Weekly, starred review

Read an excerpt or watch the trailer at Kelly Simmons' website.

Kelly Simmons is a former journalist and current novelist/advertising creative director. Standing Still is her first novel.

The Page 69 Test: Standing Still.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five best: books about gambling

Sports Illustrated's Richard Hoffer is the author of Jackpot Nation: Rambling and Gambling Across Our Landscape of Luck and A Savage Business: The Comeback and Comedown of Mike Tyson.

For the Wall Street Journal, he tagged five "books about gambling [that] hit the jackpot."

One book on Hoffer's list:

Bringing Down the House
By Ben Mezrich
Free Press, 2002

Here a half-dozen MIT students put their considerable minds to the game of blackjack and, in a series of carefully orchestrated raids on casinos in Las Vegas, Connecticut and the Gulf Coast, score duffel bags full of cash. The crew is counting cards -- a practice that casinos deplore, even though it is a memory feat and not "cheating" in the word's normal sense. As writer Ben Mezrich notes in his account of their exploits, these geniuses are smart enough to realize, even as they revel in winning more than $3 million, that they won't be able to extract something from nothing indefinitely. With a casino security team tracking their movements and intimidating them, the card-counters fold their operation and, presumably, return full time to engineering something other than blackjacks.

Read about the book that topped Hoffer's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: David Maine's "Monster, 1959"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: David Maine's Monster, 1959.

About the book, from the publisher:

From the critically acclaimed author of The Preservationist and The Book of Samson, Monster, 1959 is an extraordinary tale of 1950s America -- flawed, conflicted, and poised to enter the most culturally upended decade of the century.

The United States government has been testing the long-term effects of high-level radiation on a few select islands in the South Pacific. Their efforts have produced killer plants, mole people, and a forty-foot creature named K. Covered in fur and feathers, gifted with unusable butterfly wings and the mental capacity of a goldfish, K. is an evolutionary experiment gone very awry. Although he has no real understanding of his world, he knows when he’s hungry, and he knows to follow the drumbeats that lead him, every time, to the tree where a woman is offered to him as a sacrifice by the natives. When a group of American hunters stumble across the island, it’s bound to get interesting, especially when the natives offer up the guide’s beautiful wife to K. Not to be outdone, the Americans manage to capture him. Back in the States, they start a traveling show. The main attraction: K.

Among the early praise for Monster, 1959:

"The monster of the title, known only as "K," is an amalgam of Hollywood clichés: shaggy fur, antennae, feathers, scales, butterfly wings. He lives on an island of nuclear-test mutants, worshipped by the natives and relatively at peace, until he falls afoul of a central-casting blonde and her lantern-jawed beau in a scene from the outtakes of King Kong. It's not long before he's trussed up and carried across the ocean to be exhibited on tour for the masses. What makes this story interesting, though, is where it departs from formula. Betty (the blonde) and Johnny (the beau) have a relationship nearly as twisted as K's features. Billy, their friend and K's impresario, has a thing for money that goes far beyond mere greed. Each of the five years the novel spans is introduced with a montage of world events, focusing on the questionable foreign policies of Western leaders. Clearly, Maine (The Preservationist) intends us to ask whether the vegetarian K is the real monster. Recommended for most fiction collections."
—Karl G. Siewert, Library Journal

"Maine's achievement is to revisit an American myth with fresh eyes, creating an affecting parable for troubled times."
--O, The Oprah Magazine

Read more about Monster, 1959 -- and learn more about the author and his work -- at David Maine's blog, The Party Never Stops.

David Maine is the author of The Preservationist, Fallen, and The Book of Samson.

The Page 99 Test: Monster, 1959.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Maile Meloy reading?

The latest contributor to Writers Read: Maile Meloy, author of the story collection Half in Love and the novel Liars and Saints, and the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Last year, Meloy applied the "Page 99 Test" to her third book, A Family Daughter.

Her entry opens:

I’ve been reading the Aubrey and Maturin novels by Patrick O’Brian, the series that begins with Master and Commander. For those who don’t already know and love them, the books are set during the Napoleonic wars at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and follow the adventures of Jack Aubrey, a captain in the Royal Navy, and Stephen Maturin, an Irish-Catalonian ship’s surgeon and naturalist. Aubrey is brave, skillful, and lucky at sea, and easy prey for swindlers on land. Maturin is a brilliant linguist and spy, and an occasional addict, who can’t tell starboard from larboard and tends to fall into the water. Aubrey is wholehearted and bearish, Maturin sharp-tongued and secretive and reflective. But that’s simplifying the appeal of their twenty-book friendship. I have no particular interest in the sailing or fighting of square-rigged ships, but I’ve never been so attached to any fictional characters in my life. [read on]

Visit Maile Meloy's website.

The Page 99 Test: A Family Daughter.

Writers Read: Maile Meloy.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Brian Freeman's "Stalked"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: Brian Freeman's Stalked.

About the novel, from the author's website:

OBSESSION. BLACKMAIL. MURDER. IN ZERO DEGREES.

Lieutenant Jonathan Stride knows his partner Maggie Bei is in trouble when she reports a deadly crime on a bitter winter night. She's obviously hiding a terrible secret. And her silence only feeds suspicion.

Maggie isn't the only one keeping secrets in Duluth. A seductive young woman has disappeared, leaving behind a stash of lurid fantasies and a cryptic message. I know who it is.

Following a twisted trail, Stride uncovers a sordid web of violence and voyeurism that someone is willing to kill to keep hidden. Stride isn't alone. His lover Serena Dial – a homicide cop turned private investigator – is chasing a blackmailer who knows all the city's dirty secrets. Even Maggie's.

But as Stride and Serena hunt for a killer, a predator with a vicious past is hunting them – with a terrifying plan for revenge. Now every step they take to expose the truth brings them closer to a showdown amid the howling winds of a winter storm. Where survival in the blinding snow is measured in seconds. Where crimes can be buried forever.

Among the early praise for Stalked:

"Brian Freeman is a first-rate storyteller. Stalked is scary, fast-paced, and refreshingly well written. The characters are so sharply drawn and interesting, we can't wait to meet the next one in the story. Freeman has another winner.
A really great read."
—#1 bestselling author Nelson DeMille

"Freeman just keeps outdoing himself with each book….a striking display of skilled storytelling that will have readers surprised more than once well before the shocking ending."
—Library Journal

"Chilling….a strong narrative crammed with twists and studded with sex and violence; a mysterious, even mystical, sense of place; and a well-crafted set of characters and relationships."
—Publishers Weekly

"Freeman's latest should be on the to-read list of anyone who enjoys novels by authors like Harlan Coben, David Baldacci and Jeff Abbott — a perfect blend of psychological suspense and crime fiction."
—Chicago Tribune

"Freeman delivers a swift plot packed with satisfying twists."
—Booklist

Read an excerpt from Stalked, and learn more about the book and author at Brian Freeman's website and his blog.

Brian Freeman is the international bestselling author of psychological suspense novels featuring detectives Jonathan Stride and Serena Dial. Immoral, his debut thriller, won the Macavity Award for Best First Novel and was a finalist for the Edgar, Dagger, Anthony, and Barry Awards. His second novel, Stripped, was named among the top 10 mysteries of 2006 by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

The Page 69 Test: Stripped.

My Book, The Movie: Stripped.

The Page 69 Test: Stalked.

--Marshal Zeringue

Julia Alvarez's most important books

Julia Alvarez grew up in the Dominican Republic before emigrating to the United States at the age of 10. She is the award-winning author of How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, ¡Yo!, Once Upon a Quinceañera, and the National Book Critics Circle Award finalist, In the Time of the Butterflies.

She named her five most important books for Newsweek, and addressed a couple of related questions:

A classic book that, upon revisiting, disappointed:

The Arabian Nights, I'm sorry to say. There are too many dull stories, plus all the kowtowing to the male ego is enough to make your hair curl.

A book that you always return to:

T. S. Eliot's The Four Quartets, a long, mystical poem that reboots my spirit.

Read about Alvarez's most important books.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Allen C. Guelzo's "Lincoln and Douglas"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: Allen C. Guelzo's Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates That Defined America.

About the book, from the publisher:

In 1858, Abraham Lincoln was known as a successful Illinois lawyer who had achieved some prominence in state politics as a leader in the new Republican Party. Two years later, he was elected president and was on his way to becoming the greatest chief executive in American history.

What carried this one-term congressman from obscurity to fame was the campaign he mounted for the United States Senate against the country's most formidable politician, Stephen A. Douglas, in the summer and fall of 1858. Lincoln challenged Douglas directly in one of his greatest speeches -- "A house divided against itself cannot stand" -- and confronted Douglas on the questions of slavery and the inviolability of the Union in seven fierce debates. As this brilliant narrative by the prize-winning Lincoln scholar Allen Guelzo dramatizes, Lincoln would emerge a predominant national figure, the leader of his party, the man who would bear the burden of the national confrontation.

Of course, the great issue between Lincoln and Douglas was slavery. Douglas was the champion of "popular sovereignty," of letting states and territories decide for themselves whether to legalize slavery. Lincoln drew a moral line, arguing that slavery was a violation both of natural law and of the principles expressed in the Declaration of Independence. No majority could ever make slavery right, he argued.

Lincoln lost that Senate race to Douglas, though he came close to toppling the "Little Giant," whom almost everyone thought was unbeatable. Guelzo's Lincoln and Douglas brings alive their debates and this whole year of campaigns and underscores their centrality in the greatest conflict in American history.

The encounters between Lincoln and Douglas engage a key question in American political life: What is democracy's purpose? Is it to satisfy the desires of the majority? Or is it to achieve a just and moral public order? These were the real questions in 1858 that led to the Civil War. They remain questions for Americans today.

Among the early acclaim for the book:

"Guelzo (Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America) gives us an astute, gracefully written account of the celebrated Lincoln–Douglas debates of 1858. These seven debates between two powerful attorneys and statesmen, Abraham Lincoln and Sen. Stephen A. Douglas, starkly defined the stakes between sharply different positions on slavery and union on the eve of civil war and offered examples of serious, deeply reasoned exchanges of views rarely seen in American politics. As Guelzo wisely shows, the debates did not stand alone but were part of a larger Illinois senatorial campaign. Douglas won re-election that year, but Lincoln gained national recognition despite losing and then defeated Douglas three years later for the presidency. Perhaps more important, the views that Lincoln enunciated in 1858—that the government, heeding the majority's will, should halt slavery's further spread—laid the foundation for emancipation and a new era in the nation's history. Guelzo's smoothly narrated history of this segment of Lincoln's career, packed full of illustrative quotes from primary sources, will become a standard."
--Publishers Weekly

"In his searching and illuminating “Lincoln and Douglas” the eminent Lincoln historian Allen C. Guelzo does the great service of bringing the debates back down to earth, placing them in the context of a brutal four-month senatorial campaign."
--William Grimes, New York Times

"This year marks the sesquicentennial of the great debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas, which transformed a contest for a Senate seat into a battle for the future of the republic. Allen C. Guelzo, already in the front rank of Lincoln historians and author of the best book about the Emancipation Proclamation, has now written an important one about this legendary campaign."
--Michael F. Bishop, Washington Post

Learn more about Lincoln and Douglas at the publisher's website, and read Guelzo's short essay, "Lincoln-Douglas: The Real Thing."

Allen C. Guelzo is the Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era at Gettysburg College, where he also directs the Civil War Era Studies Program and The Gettysburg Semester. He is the author of Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President (1999) and Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America (2004), both of which won the Lincoln Prize. He has written essays and reviews for the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Time, the Journal of American History, and many other publications.

The Page 99 Test: Lincoln and Douglas.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Rachel Cline's "My Liar"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: My Liar by Rachel Cline.

About the book, from the publisher:

Rachel Cline’s debut novel, What to Keep, was praised as “striking ... lovely” (Entertainment Weekly), “tangibly real” (Los Angeles Times), and “eminently readable” (Salon). Set in 1990s Hollywood, My Liar portrays the complex connection between two talented women, each striving to realize her own vision of success in work and in love.

Annabeth Jensen, thirty-three, is a film editor. A native Minnesotan, she is most comfortable playing nice and working behind the scenes, even after ten years in Los Angeles. Then she crosses paths with up-and-coming director Laura Katz. Self-confident, assertive, and alluring, Laura seems to be the perfect mentor and the ideal best friend – especially after she hires Annabeth to edit her new film, Trouble Doll.

Yet as Annabeth cuts and recuts the film that both women hope will assure their futures, she finds herself wanting creative control almost as badly as she craves Laura’s approval. Meanwhile, Laura, who trusts almost no one (certainly not her slippery producer, her brittle screenwriter, or her wayward husband), finds herself increasingly reliant on Annabeth. And when Trouble Doll emerges from their collaboration, uncomfortable truths about both women’s lives are forced into the light.

Rachel Cline illuminates the world of moviemaking with keen insight and wry wit. But My Liar looks far beyond the HOLLYWOOD sign. Its real subject is self-deception–in friendship, art, and life–and the enmeshed nature of communication and competition between women.

Among the early praise for the novel:

“A seductive charmer of a novel–funny, knowing, poignant, inclusively hip and gratifylingly adult at the same time. It is impossible not to be drawn in immediately by the various dramas at the book's center, including the main character's adolescent crush of a friendship with the glamorous and tough-as-nails director she works for. This is one of the most enjoyable novels I've read in an age.”
--Daphne Merkin, author of Enchantment

“Looking with an outsider's fresh eye on that elusive place where Hollywood and Los Angeles–dreams and reality–intersect, Rachel Cline gives us an entirely new story of female friendships and careers in the movie business. This books shines as an architectural, literary, and cinematic discovery.”
--Carolyn See, author of There Will Never Be Another You

“A rueful tale of complicated people in a complicated city. Cline's characters are wonderfully real, and through them she makes a case for kindness, self-forgiveness, and artistic integrity. That would be impressive enough, but the book contains a secret treat: its gorgeous and precise descriptions of Los Angeles make the city itself seem like a living being. A terrific read. I finished it in one day, and I had other things to do.”
--Martha Moody, author of Best Friends and The Office of Desire

“Funny and tragic, satiric and deeply sympathetic, often in the same breath. With assured and compelling insight into the world of filmmaking–and into the fickleness of the human heart–Cline has written a beautifully balanced work, at once deftly entertaining and deeply felt..”
--Katharine Noel, author of Halfway House

Read an excerpt from My Liar and learn more the author and her work at Rachel Cline's website.

Brooklyn native Rachel Cline lived in Los Angeles from 1990 to 1999. During that time she wrote screenplays and teleplays, designed interactive media, and taught screenwriting at USC. Her first novel, What to Keep, was published in 2004.

The Page 69 Test: My Liar.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Michael Novacek reading?

The current featured contributor to Writers Read: Michael Novacek, Senior Vice-President and Provost of Science at the American Museum of Natural History and author of Time Traveler, Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs, and the recently released Terra: Our 100-Million-Year-Old Ecosystem--and the Threats That Now Put It at Risk.

Neil Shubin wrote of Novacek's new book: "Terra is one of the important books of our time—and it will change the way you think about the world around you. Novacek’s coup is that he not only brings the past to life but shows how it holds the keys to our future. The extraordinary breadth of his accomplishments as a scientist gives his book a powerful combination of authority, wit, and humanity. Reading Terra, it is hard not to feel humbled being a steward of a planet so ancient, wondrous, and fragile as our own."

One book mentioned in his entry:

I just finished reading Tim Krabbé’s novel The Rider, a spare, gut-wrenching, first-person description, meter-by-meter, of the hundred-and thirty-seven kilometer Tour de Mont Aigoul. This sinuous course through frigid mountain passes, terrifying hairpin downhills, and sun-scorched plateaus is reputedly the most grueling stage of the Tour de France. Krabbé, famous for his disturbing story of psychological horror in The Vanishing, shows he is also good for drama and suspense when comes to exhausting hill climbs, tire blowouts, cycle crashes, and the combination of relentless drive, arrogance, and race savvy it takes to win, or even finish. The pages, like the bikes, fly by. I was a good way through this 160-pager by the time my delayed flight at LaGuardia got to the head of the queue for takeoff. [read on]

Read more about Terra at the publisher's website, and listen to Novacek discuss the book on NPR's Talk of the Nation.

Learn more about Michael Novacek's research and many publications.

Writers Read: Michael Novacek.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: C.J. Lyons' "Lifelines"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: C.J. Lyons' Lifelines.

About the book, from the publisher:

A gripping behind-the-scenes drama of four women who face life and death every day

On her first day at Pittsburgh's Angels of Mercy Medical Center, L.A.-transplant Lydia Fiore, the new ER attending physician, loses a patient: the Chief of Surgery's son. Now, to save her career, Lydia must discover the truth behind her patient's death, even as it leads her into unfamiliar-and risky-territory.

At least she's not alone. There's med student Amanda, a sweet Southern belle with problems of her own; Gina, a resident with a chip on her shoulder; and Nora, the no-nonsense charge nurse with a cool head but a fiery temper. Not to mention the paramedic who'd like to try out his bedside manner on Lydia.

Among the early acclaim for Lifelines:

"A spot-on debut....Lyons delivers a breathtakingly fast-paced medical thriller."
--Publishers Weekly

"Pittsburgh's Angel of Mercy Hospital comes brilliantly alive in Lyons' debut novel. This enthralling medical mystery offers an intimate view of the personal and professional lives of its characters. It's a winner." Top Pick, 4 1/2 Stars
--Romantic Times Book Reviews

"If you're looking for tense, whip-smart medical scenes, look no further. Lifelines takes you into the E.R. for a gripping view of doctors at work, and doctors in crisis. CJ Lyons knows her medicine -- and she knows how to bring it to vivid life on the page."
--Tess Gerritsen, NYT-bestselling author of The Bone Garden

"A pulse-pounding adrenaline rush! Loved the pacing, loved the characters, loved the whirlwind action scenes and top notch medical details. Reminds me of ER back in the days of George Clooney and Julianna Margulies."
--Lisa Gardner, New York Times bestselling author of Hide

"Prepare to be swept away on a pulse-pounding adventure. My favorite kind of medical thriller -- harrowing, emotional, action-packed and brilliantly realized. CJ Lyons writes with the authority only a trained physician can bring to a story, blending suspense, passion and friendship into an irresistible read."
--New York Times bestselling author Susan Wiggs

"Packed with adrenalin. I can't recall a hospital novel that so thrilled me."
--David Morrell, New York Times bestselling author of First Blood and Creepers

"CJ Lyons' debut medical thriller is a fantastic and wild journey through the fast-paced world of a big-city ER. With rich, fascinating and complex characters and a thoroughly compelling mystery, Lifelines is an adrenalin rush and an all-around great read."
--New York Times bestselling author Allison Brennan

"Readers who prefer their medical thrillers to have characters with beating hearts and three dimensions are well advised to pick up this series debut by Lyons, a veteran of trauma centers and pediatric emergency medicine... Lyons captures the frenetic setting of the ER with a smooth style that demands the reader move forward to keep up with the piece, but she also creates winning portraits of the supporting players set to anchor the series."
--Sarah Weinman

Read an excerpt from Lifelines, and learn more about the author and her work at C.J. Lyons' website and her blog, Vital Signs.

C.J. Lyons is a physician trained in Pediatric Emergency Medicine. Lifelines is her first novel.

Read C.J. Lyons' story of how she went from doctor to novelist, in January Magazine.

The Page 99 Test: Lifelines.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Wagner James Au's "The Making of Second Life"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: Wagner James Au's The Making of Second Life: Notes from the New World.

About the book, from the publisher:

The wholly virtual world known as Second Life has attracted more than a million active users, millions of dollars, and created its own—very real—economy.

The Making of Second Life is the behind-the-scenes story of the Web 2.0 revolution's most improbable enterprise: the creation of a virtual 3-D world with its own industries, culture, and social systems. Now the toast of the Internet economy, and the subject of countless news articles, profiles, and television shows, Second Life is usually known for the wealth of real-world companies (Reuters, Pontiac, IBM) that have created "virtual offices" within it, and the number of users ("avatars") who have become wealthy through their user-created content.

What sets Second Life apart from other online worlds, and what has made it such a success (one million-plus monthly users and growing) is its simple user-centered philosophy. Instead of attempting to control the activities of those who enter it, the creators of Second Life turned them loose: users (also known as Residents) own the rights to the intellectual content they create in-world, and the in-world currency of Linden Dollars is freely exchangeable for U.S. currency. Residents have responded by generating millions of dollars of economic activity through their in-world designs and purchases—currently, the Second Life economy averages more than one million U.S. dollars in transactions every day, while dozens of real-world companies and projects have evolved and developed around content originated in Second Life.

Wagner James Au explores the long, implausible road behind that success, and looks at the road ahead, where many believe that user-created worlds like Second Life will become the Net's next generation and the fulcrum for a revolution in the way we shop, work, and interact. Au's story is narrated from both within the corporate offices of Linden Lab, Second Life's creator, and from within Second Life itself, revealing all the fascinating, outrageous, brilliant, and aggravating personalities who make Second Life a very real place­—and an illuminating mirror on the real (physical) world. Au writes about the wars they fought (sometimes literally), the transformations they underwent, the empires of land and commerce they developed, and above all, the collaborative creativity that makes their society an imperfect utopia, better in some ways than the one beyond their computer screens.

Among the early praise for The Making of Second Life:

"Au’s book is full of rich details about some of Second Life’s most important people."
—New York Post

"[Au] presents a comprehensive account that shows why Second Life may be the next great frontier and why it is so appealing to individuals and enterprises worldwide."
—Library Journal

"Even while you sleep, Second Life continues to grow. Since its 2003 launch, the three-dimensional Internet virtual world has become a veritable expanding alternate universe for millions of registered users. No one is better qualified to make sense of the headline-making SL phenomenon than Wagner James Au, the world's first embedded Internet journalist. The extensive time that Au spent inside SL's Linden Lab enable him to plot the seemingly implausible rise of this relatively new vortex of web activity. Vivid snapshots of where the 3D action is."
—Barnes & Noble

"Linden Labs gave Au, a highly accomplished technology journalist, the opportunity to describe the growth, from launch, of its highly popular virtual 3-D product Second Life.... Au has drawn on his own extensive Second Life experience, including online interviews with avatars and offline interviews with the persons behind them. He presents a comprehensive account that shows why Second Life may be the next great frontier and why it is so appealing to individuals and enterprises worldwide. Au also discusses the interaction between real life and this online world, the many ethical and policymaking issues Linden Labs has encountered, and the future of Second Life."
—Caroline Geck, School Library Journal

Wagner James Au is the online games editor for GigaOM.com, and for the last five years, has been writing about the user-created online virtual world Second Life, first as an embedded journalist with the company that started it, and now on his own blog, New World Notes.

The Page 69 Test: The Making of Second Life.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five best: books about composers' lives

James Penrose writes about music for The New Criterion. For the Wall Street Journal, he tagged a five best list of books about composers' lives.

One title on Penrose's list:

Evening in the Palace of Reason
By James R. Gaines
Fourth Estate, 2005

There is no requirement that a good biography be exhaustive. A narrowly gauged approach may also capture the essence of the subject. James Gaines's "Evening in the Palace of Reason" does just this in its portrait of J.S. Bach (1685-1750). The point of departure is a meeting between Bach and Frederick the Great of Prussia in 1747. As an elaborate joke (or snub) Frederick summoned "Old Bach" to his Potsdam palace and commanded the greatest improviser of his age to improvise a fugue on a special theme, one designed to be "counterpoint proof." When Bach nevertheless extemporized a three-part fugue (complete with ornaments in Frederick's affected style -- Bach's own little gibe), the emperor petulantly demanded one in six voices, at which point Bach excused himself and then produced one of his greatest works, "A Musical Offering." Mr. Gaines gives us the parallel lives of the devout and mystical Bach, who believed that the principles of music were rooted in the divine, and the rationalist Frederick, who oozed contempt at everything not based in empiricism and reason -- a struggle as timely then as it is now.

Read about another book on Penrose's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Ha-Joon Chang's "Bad Samaritans"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: Ha-Joon Chang's Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism.

About the book, from the publisher:

A rising young star in the field of economics attacks the free-trade orthodoxy of The World Is Flat head-on — a crisp, contrarian history of global capitalism.

One economist has called Ha-Joon Chang “the most exciting thinker our profession has turned out in the past fifteen years.” With Bad Samaritans, this provocative scholar bursts into the debate on globalization and economic justice.

Using irreverent wit, an engagingly personal style, and a battery of examples, Chang blasts holes in the “World Is Flat” orthodoxy of Thomas Friedman and other liberal economists who argue that only unfettered capitalism and wide-open international trade can lift struggling nations out of poverty. On the contrary, Chang shows, today’s economic superpowers — from the U.S. to Britain to his native Korea — all attained prosperity by shameless protectionism and government intervention in industry. We have conveniently forgotten this fact, telling ourselves a fairy tale about the magic of free trade and — via our proxies such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and World Trade Organization — ramming policies that suit ourselves down the throat of the developing world.

Unlike typical economists who construct models of how the marketplace should work, Chang examines the past: what has actually happened. His pungently contrarian history demolishes one pillar after another of free-market mythology. We treat patents and copyrights as sacrosanct — but developed our own industries by studiously copying others’ technologies. We insist that centrally planned economies stifle growth — but many developing countries had higher GDP growth before they were pressured into deregulating their economies. Both justice and common sense, Chang argues, demand that we reevaluate the policies we force on nations that are struggling to follow in our footsteps.

Among the early acclaim for Bad Samaritans:

"In the 1950s, South Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world, suffering the aftereffects of decades of brutal Japanese colonialism and war with its northern counterpart. During his childhood, Chang (Kicking Away the Ladder), a respected economist at the University of Cambridge, witnessed the beginnings of Korea's postwar economic miracle as Gen. Park Chung-Hee's dictatorship (despite its corrupt machinations) set the economic groundwork that would lift Korea out of poverty. Though Korea's strategies are heretical to first world, free-market economists, Chang argues that the world's wealthiest nations historically relied on the same heavy-handed protectionist approaches in their quests for economic hegemony. These wealthy, first world economies, which preach free market and free trade to the poor countries in order to capture larger shares of the latter's markets and to pre-empt the emergence of possible competitors are Chang's bad Samaritans. Chang builds his outsider stance through a history of capitalism and globalization and stories of other struggling countries' economic transformations. The resulting polemic about the shortcomings of neoliberal economic theory's belief in unlimited free-market competition and its effect on the developing world is provocative and may hold the key to similar miracles for some of the world's most troubled economies."
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

"the best riposte from the critics that I have seen...Readers who are leery of open-market orthodoxy will rejoice at the cogency of Bad Samaritans. Ha-Joon Chang has the credentials -- he's on the economics faculty at Cambridge University -- and the storytelling skill to make a well-informed, engaging case against the dogma propagated by globalization's cheerleaders. Believers in free trade will find that the book forces them to recalibrate and maybe even backpedal a bit….Chang's book deserves a wide readership for illuminating the need for humility about the virtues of private markets and free trade, especially in the developing world.”

—Paul Blustein, Washington Post

“a lively addition to the protectionist side of the debate…well written and far more serious than most anti-globalization gibberish.”

— New York Sun

“A smart, lively, and provocative book that offers us compelling new ways of looking at globalization.”

—Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel laureate in economics, 2001

“I recommend this book to people who have any interest in these issues—i.e. everyone.”
—Bob Geldof

“Every orthodoxy needs effective critics. Ha-Joon Chang is probably the world’s most effective critic of globalization. He does not deny the benefits to developing countries of integration into the world economy. But he draws on the lessons of history to argue that they must be allowed to integrate on their own terms.”
—Martin Wolf, Financial Times, author of Why Globalization Works

Read an excerpt from Bad Samaritans, and learn more about the book at the publisher's website.

Watch a video of Ha-Joon Chang discussing his book.

Ha-Joon Chang is Reader in the Political Economy of Development at the University of Cambridge. Learn more about his research and publications at his Cambridge webpage.

The Page 99 Test: Bad Samaritans.

--Marshal Zeringue

Deanna Raybourn's "Silent in the Grave," the movie

Now showing at My Book, The Movie: Deanna Raybourn's Silent in the Grave and Silent in the Sanctuary, the first two installments of the Lady Julia Grey series.

Raybourn's entry opens:

The funny thing about imagining the late Victorian Julia Grey series as a movie is that nobody ever picks anybody to play Lady Julia Grey, the aristocratic amateur sleuth. I blame Nicholas Brisbane. He’s Julia’s partner in detection and more, a mysterious private inquiry agent, tall, dark, handsome, and enigmatic — a devastating combination. Women like to cast his role endlessly, and they have very strong opinions on the matter. Just this week I got an e-mail from an Australian reader who included a picture of “local boy Hugh Jackman” as her pick. (Not that I would have any say whatsoever in casting, but it was nice to have a little eye candy at my desk.) The top choices to play Nicholas are — in no particular order because otherwise there would be a serious catfight — Hugh Jackman...[read on]

Learn more about Silent in the Grave and Silent in the Sanctuary at the publisher's website.

Visit Deanna Raybourn's website, Blog A Go-Go.

My Book, The Movie: Silent in the Grave and Silent in the Sanctuary.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Juliet Lapidos reading?

The current featured contributor to Writers Read: Juliet Lapidos, a writer and editorial assistant at Slate.

One book tagged in her entry:

Le Rouge et le Noir (The Red and the Black), Stendhal’s masterpiece about French society during the end days of the Restoration. His protagonist is Julien Sorel, an ambitious carpenter’s son who idolizes Napoleon, but who realizes that the path to power is no longer through the army (as during Napoleon’s time), but through the Church. He’s good at acting the part of a young priest in training (he even memorizes the gospels in Latin) but he has no innate sense of devotion or traditional moral compass. [read on]

Among the issues Lapidos has cleared up for Slate readers: Does Hitchcock get too much credit?, Can a Man Become a Magnet?, How they count tigers in the wild, and Why Is Florida God's Waiting Room?.

Read more Slate articles by Juliet Lapidos.

Writers Read: Juliet Lapidos.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Wendy Walker's "Four Wives"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: Wendy Walker's Four Wives.

About the book, from the publisher:

In Wendy Walker’s brilliant debut, the lives of four wives and mothers intertwine and collide in a tale of suburban angst among outrageous wealth.

On the outside, it appears as though Love Welsh, Marie Passetti, Gayle Beck and Janie Kirk lead enviable lives, with marriages to handsome, successful men; bright, happy children; and homes right out of Architectural Digest. But in the wealthy suburb of Hunting Ridge, appearances mask a deeper truth: These four wives are anything but perfect. As they try to maintain a façade of bliss, behind closed doors they each face their own crises — infidelity, dissatisfaction, self-doubt. As springtime draws to an end, doors are both opened and closed and the women come face to face with the most difficult and heartbreaking challenge of their lives — to reconcile their innermost desires with the lives that each of them has chosen.

Among the early praise for Four Wives:

"Walker's first novel is a treat. It's well written and features great characters, lots of humor, and dead-on analysis of friendship, marriage, and motherhood."
–Library Journal

“Four Wives is a brilliantly clever and accurate study in domestic discontentment. Acutely well-observed and suspenseful, it's a stunning reflection of life in an affluent American suburb, where the women seem to have everything...except happiness. A great read.”
–Jane Green, author of Swapping Lives

“A cleverly woven, sexy debut that is a fascinating peek inside the gilded cages of suburban matrimony....A true page-turner treat.”
–Jill Kargman, author of Momzillas and co-author of The Right Address

“A fascinating read. Wendy Walker delivers a blistering dissection of modern suburban marriage. I couldn't put it down.”
–Danielle Ganek, author of Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him

Read an excerpt from Four Wives, and learn more about the author and her novel at Wendy Walker's website.

Wendy Walker is a former commercial litigator turned stay-at-home-mom turned fiction writer. Four Wives is her first novel.

The Page 69 Test: Four Wives.

--Marshal Zeringue

An exchange on "Forgiveness"

Forgiveness: A Philosophical Exploration by Charles L. Griswold, Jr. is now available in paperback.

Last year I was lucky enough to learn more about this book from two contributions to the CftAR sites by the author.

Griswold contributed an entry to the Page 69 Test for Forgiveness.

Then he participated in an interview conducted by the political philosopher Eduardo Velásquez.

Now I've learned of a fascinating exchange in Tikkun between Griswold and Father William Meninger, a Trappist monk at St. Benedict's Monastery in Snowmass, Colorado, who is himself an authority on the subject of forgiveness.

At one point, Meninger writes:

As for Professor Griswold’s concern with unconditional forgiveness condoning or excusing harmful activity, I cannot answer him philosophically but only practically. Is there anyone who would say that the Amish community condoned or excused the murder of their children when they forgave him?

Can you guess what Griswold's answer is to the question?

Read the Griswold-Meninger exchange.

Read the complete Velásquez-Griswold interview.

Read an excerpt from Forgiveness and learn more about the book at the Cambridge University Press website. Also see the Page 69 Test: Forgiveness.

Charles Griswold is Professor of Philosophy at Boston University.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Steve Hockensmith's "The Black Dove"

This weekend's feature at the Page 99 Test: Steve Hockensmith's The Black Dove.

About the book, from the publisher:

In the summer of 1893, Gustav “Old Red” Amlingmeyer and his brother Otto (a.k.a. “Big Red”) find themselves down and out in San Francisco. Though cowpokes by training, the brothers are devotees of the late, great Sherlock Holmes and his trademark method of “deducifying.” But when they set out to land jobs as professional detectives, they land themselves in hot water, instead.

First their friend Dr. Chan mysteriously takes a potshot at them, fatally wounding Big Red’s new hat. Then a secretive young woman from their past pops up and convinces them that Chan’s in trouble -- and they’re just the men to get him out of it. Unfortunately, they’re too late: By the time they track Chan down again, he’s dead. The police call it a suicide. Old Red calls that a lie. When he and his brother set out to prove it, they put themselves on a collision course with shady S.F.P.D. cops, brutal Barbary Coast hoodlums and the deadly Chinatown tongs.

Before long, all sides are in a race to uncover the secret that could rock the city. And their only clue to what’s actually going on is the enigmatic, exotic and extremely difficult to find “Black Dove.”

Among the early praise for The Black Dove:

"[Big Red’s] foot-in-a-bucket narration will keep the reader snorting with laughter... Hockensmith has been nominated for the Edgar Award, and if he keeps writing like this, he'll win one soon."
--Library Journal (starred review)

"Don’t mistake this for just Sherlock Holmes dressed up in spurs and six-guns: Hockensmith’s creations earn a genuine depth of character, and the mystery can be a delight to untangle."
--Booklist

"Rollicking... Readers will delight in the hilarious climactic ‘Mandarin standoff’ between Chinatown's underworld and Frisco's hapless police force."
--Publishers Weekly

"Buoyant and consistently entertaining."
--Kirkus Reviews

The Black Dove was one of Pierce's Picks at January Magazine as well as a Book of the Week at David Montgomery's Crime Fiction Dossier.

Read an excerpt from The Black Dove, and visit Big Red's blog to learn more about Steve Hockensmith and his writing.

Hockensmith's previous novels include Holmes on the Range and On the Wrong Track. Holmes on the Range, the first novel featuring Big Red and Old Red, was a finalist for the Edgar, the Anthony, the Shamus and the Dilys Award.

The Page 69 Test: On the Wrong Track.

My Book, The Movie: Holmes on the Range.

The Page 99 Test: The Black Dove.

--Marshal Zeringue