What is Philip Matyszak reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Philip Matyszak, author of Ancient Athens on Five Drachmas a Day, Ancient Rome on Five Denarii a Day, The Classical Compendium: A Miscellany of Scandalous Gossip, Bawdy Jokes, Peculiar Facts, and Bad Behavior from the Ancient Greeks and Romans, and other works.

His entry begins:

Usually I have several books on the go at once ... my current crop consists of:

The Breath of Hades by Gregg Loomis - I wanted something light and trashy for reading by the lake, and certainly got trashy. This horribly predictable 'thriller' is riddled with factual errors and bizarre right-wing views. There's a hilarious two-page anti-Canadian rant which is totally irrelevant to the plot, but which the writer evidently needed to get off his chest. It's a library book, but I might still do future readers a favour and drop it in the lake when I'm done.

The Man from Pomegranate Street by Caroline Lawrence - Yes, it's a kid's book, but a fun read for adults too. The adventures of Flavia Gemina and friends combine rock-solid research with a good plot and interesting...[read on]

Visit Philip Matyszak's website and blog.

See: The Page XCIX Test: Ancient Rome on Five Denarii a Day.

Writers Read: Philip Matyszak.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten of the best saints in literature

At the Guardian, John Mullan named ten of the best saints in literature.

One saint on his list:

St John the Baptist

In Oscar Wilde's Salome, "Iokanaan", as the saint is called, is a hairy, scary prophet who thrills Salome but rubs her mother Herodias up the wrong way. "Go, bid her rise up from the bed of her abominations, from the bed of her incestuousness, that she may hear the words of him who prepareth the way of the Lord, that she may repent her of her iniquities". Not surprisingly, Herod's wife decides to do in the saint.

Read about another saint on Mullan's list.

Related: Ten of the best devils.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: James Livesey's "Civil Society and Empire"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: Civil Society and Empire: Ireland and Scotland in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World by James Livesey.

About the book, from the publisher:

James Livesey traces the origins of the modern conception of civil society—an ideal of collective life between the family and politics—not to England or France, as many of his predecessors have done, but to the provincial societies of Ireland and Scotland in the eighteenth century. Livesey shows how civil society was first invented as an idea of renewed community for the provincial and defeated elites in the provinces of the British Empire and how this innovation allowed them to enjoy liberty without directly participating in the empire’s governance, until the limits of the concept were revealed.

The concept of civil society continues to have direct relevance for contemporary political theory and action. Livesey demonstrates how western governments, for example, have appealed to the values of civil society in their projections of power in Bosnia and Iraq. Civil society has become an object central to current ideological debate, and this book offers a thought-provoking discussion of its beginnings, objectives, and current nature.

Read more about Civil Society and Empire at the Yale University Press website.

James Livesey has taught at Trinity College Dublin and Harvard University and is Reader at the University of Sussex.

The Page 99 Test: Civil Society and Empire.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Sheldon Russell's "The Yard Dog"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: The Yard Dog by Sheldon Russell.

About the book, from the publisher:

The Yard Dog takes place near the close of World War II, when a large number of Nazi POWs were incarcerated in camps scattered across the prairies of the United States.

At Waynoka Divisional Point, near POW Camp Alva, the disillusioned Hook Runyon is assigned by the railroad to run off hobos and arrest pickpockets. Left behind in the war because of the loss of his arm in a car accident, Hook lives in a caboose, collects rare books, and drinks busthead liquor. When a coal picker by the name of Spark Dugan is found run over by a reefer car, Hook and his sidekick, Runt, the local moonshiner, suspect foul play and are drawn into a scheme far greater than either could have imagined. This conspiracy reaches the highest echelons of the camp and beyond and will push Hook and Runt to their physical and mental limits.

Hook is a complex character, equal parts rough and vulnerable, an unlikely and unwilling hero. He is more than matched by Dr. Reina Kaplan, a Jewish big-city transplant to Camp Alva who is battling her own demons and has been put in charge of educating the Nazi inmates in the basics of democracy before their eventual return to Germany.

Vivid descriptions of period detail, stark landscapes, and unique characters make this first book in the Hook Runyon series a fascinating mystery full of tension and deep insight.

Read an excerpt from The Yard Dog, and learn more about the book at the publisher's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Yard Dog.

--Marshal Zeringue

David Rabe's best books

David Rabe is the award-winning author of the Tony Award-nominated plays Streamers, Hurlyburly, and Sticks and Bones, which won the award. His novel Dinosaurs on the Roof and his recent plays The Black Monk and The Dog Problem have just been released in paperback.

For The Week magazine he named his best books. One title on the list:

Song of Napalm: Poems by Bruce Weigl (Atlantic Monthly, $11).

Weigl served with the 1st Air Cavalry in Vietnam. Whether he writes of events on the ground, or in the haunted space of aftermath he carried with him, his poems here and in What Saves Us convey a fierce, visceral immediacy that is strangely meditative.

Read about another book on Rabe's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Margot Livesey reading?

This weekend's featured contributor at Writers Read: Margot Livesey, author of six novels--Homework, Criminals, The Missing World, Eva Moves the Furniture, Banishing Verona and The House on Fortune Street--and a collection of stories titled Learning By Heart.

Her entry begins:

I don't read as many books as I should by Antipodean writers. Richard Flanagan's gorgeously written novel Wanting made me want to correct this failing. Flanagan is a Tasmanian writer and Wanting is set in the nineteenth century, partly in Tasmania and partly in London. In 1854 Lady Jane Franklin, the widow of the famous polar explorer Sir John Franklin, visited the novelist Charles Dickens, then at the height of his fame, and asked him to rebut an article that suggested that her husband's crew had turned to cannibalism during the last days of their desperate expedition. This meeting provides the dark spark that ignites Flanagan's novel. In alternating chapters he explores Dickens's relationship with his wife, Sir John Franklin and a young actress named Ellen Tiernan and the Franklins' relationship with a young aboriginal girl named Mathinna. Flanagan succeeds in making both Dickens's inner life and the genocide of the aborigines in his native Tasmania equally...[read on]

Among the acclaim for Livesey's writing:

“Every novel of Margot Livesey’s is, for her readers, a joyous discovery. Her work radiates with compassion and intelligence and always, deliciously, mystery.”
—Alice Sebold

"Livesey is writing at her very best."
—Ann Patchett on The House on Fortune Street

Learn more about Margot Livesey and her work, and watch a video of the author discussing The House on Fortune Street.

Writers Read: Margot Livesey.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Cheers" writer Rob Long's 5 favorite TV books

In 2005 Cheers writer Rob Long named his five favorite TV books for the Wall Street Journal.

One title on the list:

"Gasping for Airtime" by Jay Mohr (Hyperion, 2004).

I'm awfully fond of the actor and comedian Jay Mohr's account of his dismal two years on "Saturday Night Live." "Gasping for Airtime" is a book only marginally about trying to break out and become famous. It's really about the cruelty and despair that exists on every show, in every cast and in every conversation in Hollywood, just beneath the surface. But I'll bet people come up to him and say, "I loved your book! It's what made me want to be on 'Saturday Night Live'!" I wonder how he responds to that.

Read about another book on Long's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Karen Miller's "The Prodigal Mage"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: The Prodigal Mage by Karen Miller.

About the book, from the publisher:

Many years have passed since the last great Mage War. It has been a time of great change. But not all changes are for the best, and Asher's world is in peril once more.

The weather magic that holds Lur safe is failing, and the earth feels broken to those with the power to see. Among Lur's sorcerers, only Asher has the skill to mend the antique weather map that governs the seasons, keeping the land from being crushed by natural forces. Yet, when Asher risks his life to meddle with these dangerous magics, the crisis is merely delayed, not averted.

Asher's son Rafel has inherited the father's talents, but has been forbidden to use them. Many died in the last Mage War and these abilities aren't to be loosed lightly into the world. But when Asher's last desperate attempt to repair the damage leaves him on his deathbed, Rafel's powers may not be denied. For his countrymen are facing famine, devastation, and a rift in the very fabric of their land.

Read an excerpt from The Prodigal Mage, and learn more about the author and her work at Karen Miller's website and her LiveJournal.

My Book, The Movie: Karen Miller's Empress.

The Page 69 Test: The Prodigal Mage.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Ann Cleeves' "Red Bones"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: Red Bones by Ann Cleeves.

About the book, from the publisher:

When a young archaeologist discovers a set of human remains, the locals are intrigued. Is it an ancient find—or a more contemporary mystery? Then an elderly woman is fatally shot and Ann Cleeves’s popular series detective Jimmy Perez is called in. As claustrophobic mists swirl around the island, Inspector Perez finds himself totally in the dark.

Red Bones is the third volume in the Shetland Island Quartet.

Raven Black, the first volume in the series, received crime fiction’s highest monetary honor, the Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award. Booklist called White Nights “[g]ripping from start to finish.”

Read an excerpt from Red Bones, and learn more about the novel and author at Ann Cleeves's website and online diary.

The Page 99 Test: Raven Black.

The Page 99 Test: White Nights.

The Page 99 Test: Red Bones.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Pamela Redmond Satran reading?

The current featured contributor to Writers Read: Pamela Redmond Satran, author of the New York Times bestseller How Not To Act Old.

One paragraph from her entry:

Perfection, by Julie Metz – This memoir of a wife who discovers her husband’s many affairs after he drops unexpectedly dead was one of the summer’s big beach reads, which is exactly where I devoured it in less than two days. I’ve been thinking of doing a marriage memoir of my own, so I was reading it with part of my brain meditating such questions as whether I’d be willing to reveal as much as Metz did, and if my story was intrinsically as juicy as hers. But – and this is great testament to an author from a fellow writer – ultimately I was able to get out of thoughts about my own theoretical project and be transported by...[read on]

Satran's book How Not To Act Old is based on her blog of the same name. She is also the author of five novels and the coauthor of ten baby name guides. Satran also developed the website nameberry.com and is the cowriter of The Glamour List.

Among the early praise for How Not To Act Old:

"Shimmers with a multitude of wise and hilarious insights on the pitfalls of acting your age. Don’t just read it, memorize it. And buy it for everyone you love. It’s original and brilliant!"
—Dorothea Benton Frank, New York Times bestselling author

"A welcome jolt of fresh wit: wryly, smartly, and crisply devoted to the subject that dare not speak its name among those of us who fully expected, against all odds, to never become unhip. With How Not To Act Old, we’ll get our wish."
—Sheila Weller, author of the New York Times bestseller Girls Like Us

Visit Pamela Redmond Satran's website.

Writers Read: Pamela Redmond Satran.

--Marshal Zeringue

Aaron Elkins' "Gideon Oliver" novels, the TV series

Now showing at My Book, The Movie: Aaron Elkins' "Gideon Oliver" novels.

The entry begins:

Actually, my books have been made into movies--five big-production TV movies--back a few years. I think the reason so few people remember them is the same reason people supposedly forget the real pain of childbirth or dental procedures: they are too wretched to bear remembering. In 1990 (I think), ABC TV brought Columbo back for another round, along with two other shows with which it would alternate. The other shows were B.L. Stryker, with Burt Reynolds, and Gideon Oliver, with Louis Gossett, Jr., which was based--very loosely--on my Gideon Oliver series. They all flopped, deservedly, and never returned for a second season.

In my case, they changed the protagonist from white to black; they moved him from the University of Washington to Columbia University; they converted him from a physical anthropologist to a cultural anthropologist; they changed him from a joyfully married man to a widower, but gave him a nineteen-year-old daughter to compensate; and they awarded him a black belt in kick-boxing or karate--I forget which.

Other than that, of course, they stuck quite closely to my character.

They took a few interesting liberties with the tenor of my stories too. Those of...[read on]

Fellowship of Fear is the first Gideon Oliver novel; the latest (#16 in the series) is Skull Duggery, new in bookstores this month.

Visit Aaron J. Elkins' website.

My Book, The Movie: Aaron Elkins' "Gideon Oliver" novels.

--Marshal Zeringue

Favorite adaptations: Oprah's Book Club

Oprah's Book Club compiled a short list of books they liked that were adapted to movies they liked.

One book on the list:

White Oleander
by Janet Fitch

Astrid, the only child of a single mother who is alternately brilliant but self-obsessed, worships her mother until their world is shattered after Astrid's mother, devestated after she's rejected by a lover, murders him and is sent to jail. Alison Lohman plays Astrid, the young girl who is subsequently shuttled between foster homes, struggling to find an identity of her own and cope with the circumstances around her. Michelle Pfeiffer, Renée Zellweger, Robin Wright Penn and Noah Wyle co-star in this 2002 film, based on Janet Fitch's 1999 book, a 1999 Oprah's Book Club pick.

Read about another book on the list.

Related: The Page 99 Test: Janet Fitch's Paint It Black.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Lucinda Rosenfeld's "I'm So Happy for You"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: I'm So Happy for You by Lucinda Rosenfeld.

About the book, from the publisher:

What if your best friend, whom you've always counted on to flounder in life and love (making your own modest accomplishments look not so bad), suddenly starts to surpass you in every way?

Wendy's best friend, Daphne, has always been dependably prone to catastrophe. And Wendy has always been there to help. If Daphne veers from suicidal to madly in love, Wendy offers encouragement. But when Daphne is suddenly engaged, pregnant, and decorating a fabulous town house in no time at all, Wendy is...not so happy for her. Caught between wanting to be the best friend she prides herself on being and crippling jealousy of flighty Daphne, Wendy takes things to the extreme, waging a full-scale attack on her best friend-all the while wearing her best, I'm-so-happy-for-you smile-and ends up in way over her head.

Rosenfeld has a knack for exposing the not-always-pretty side of being best friends--in writing that is glittering and diamond-sharp. I'M SO HAPPY FOR YOU is a smart, darkly humorous, and uncannily dead-on novel about female friendship.

Read an excerpt from I'm So Happy for You, and learn more about the book and author at Lucinda Rosenfeld's website and blog.

The Page 69 Test: I'm So Happy for You.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Paul Davidson's "The Keynes Solution"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: The Keynes Solution: The Path to Global Economic Prosperity by Paul Davidson.

About the book, from the publisher:

Today’s financial crisis has led to a widespread lack of confidence in the laissez faire style of economic policy. In The Keynes Solution author Paul Davidson provides insights into how we got into the crisis—but more importantly how to use Keynes economic philosophy to get out of this mess. John Maynard Keynes was committed to making the market economy work—but our current system has been a dismal failure. Keynes advocated for an interventionalist government role, in cooperation with private initiative, to mitigate the adverse effects of recessions, depressions and booms. His economic policy helped the world out of the great depression and was an important influencer in the thinking behind FDR’s new deal policies. In this book Keynesian expert Davidson makes recommendations and details plans for spending, monetary policy, financial market rules and regulation, and wages—all to reverse the effects of our past policies. Keynes renewed influence can be seen everywhere: in Barack Obama’s planned stimulus package, for example—and this book explains the basic tenant of Keynesian economics as well as applied solutions to today’s critical situation.

Read more about The Keynes Solution at the publisher's website.

The Page 99 Test: The Keynes Solution.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Jordan Christy reading?

The current featured contributor to Writers Read: Jordan Christy, author of the newly released How to Be a Hepburn in a Hilton World: The Art of Living with Style, Class, and Grace.

Her entry begins:

I just finished Nora Ephron's I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts On Being A Woman and am happy to report that it elicited twelve chuckles and six laugh-out-louds (which is not easy to do). I am a non-fiction reader at heart, and prefer those non-fiction books to be funny, if at all possible. Nora Ephron delivers every time. Nora, if you're listening, I would like you to write the screenplay when my book gets made into...[read on]

About How to Be a Hepburn in a Hilton World, from the publisher:

In a society driven by celebutante news and myspace profiles, women of class, style and charm are hard to come by. The Audrey and Katharines of the world continue to lose their lustre as thongs, rehab and outrageous behaviour burn up the daily headlines. But, despite appearances, guys still want a girl they can take home to their mother, employers still like to see a tailored suit and peers still respect classy conduct. So is it possible to maintain old fashioned virtues in a modern world without looking like a starchy Amish grandma? Christy shows women how in this guide to glamorous style, professional success and true love ... the classy way. Full of fun assignments, notable names and real-life examples, Christy offers a new look at seemingly 'old fashioned' advice. She covers diet, speech, work ethic, friends, relationships, manners, makeup and fashionable yet modest clothing, showing modern ladies how they can be beautiful, intelligent and fun while retaining values and morals.

Visit Jordan Christy's website, blog, and Facebook page.

Writers Read: Jordan Christy.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top 10 books on Lenin

Helen Rappaport is an historian and Russianist with a specialization in the Victorians and revolutionary Russia. Her books include Ekaterinburg: The Last Days of the Romanovs and No Place for Ladies: The Untold Story of Women in the Crimean War. Her latest book, Conspirator: Lenin in Exile, which reconstructs Lenin's years in exile, moving from city to city across Europe fomenting revolution, is just out in the UK.

For the Guardian, she named a top ten list of books on Lenin. One title on the list:

Days With Lenin by Maxim Gorky

The best literary memoir of Lenin by the great socialist writer; at first a friend and admirer of Lenin and later an outspoken critic of the Bolshevik takeover. Brief but telling in its detail, especially of Lenin at the London Congress of the RSDLP in 1907 and during his visits to Gorky on Capri in 1908 and 1910. Essential reading.

Read about another book on Rappaport's list.

Visit Helen Rappaport's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Steven M. Thomas' "Criminal Karma"

Today's feature at the Page 69 Test: Criminal Karma by Steven M. Thomas.

About the book, from the publisher:

With Criminal Paradise, his gritty, satirical take on the criminal underworld and the society it preys on, Steven M. Thomas earned comparison to such masters as Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen. Now Thomas has devised a new adventure for his charismatic hero, the small-time crook Robert Rivers, who has dreams of making the big score and the brains to pull it off–if only his partner, Reggie, wouldn’t keep getting in the way.

Indeed, Rivers is back and the stakes are high: He’s on the trail of a diamond necklace worth a small fortune. The necklace belongs to beautiful Southern California socialite Evelyn Evermore, but Rivers has a foolproof plan to remedy that. Unfortunately, the plan is not Reggie-proof, and when the dust clears, the necklace is gone and the cops are in hot pursuit.

But when Rivers learns that Evelyn is mixed up with a Venice Beach spiritual guru known as Baba Raba, the necklace seems to be within reach once more. Only the deeper Rivers digs, the more it appears that Baba Raba is a dangerous fraud intent on the same prize Rivers is pursuing. Worse, Rivers finds himself developing a soft spot for Evelyn, who isn’t the shallow socialite she seems to be.

Soon Rivers and Reggie are barreling headlong into the not-so-harmonious heart of a Southern California crime cabal–an adventure full of safecracking, gunslinging, seduction, treachery, family drama, and even a touch of romance.

With Criminal Karma, Steven M. Thomas has written a smart and sexy crime thriller that more than meets the promise of his acclaimed debut.

Read an excerpt from Criminal Karma, and learn more about the book and author at the official Steven M. Thomas website.

The Page 69 Test: Criminal Karma.

--Marshal Zeringue

Coffee with a canine: Jen Calonita & Captain Jack Sparrow

Today's featured duo at Coffee with a Canine: Jen Calonita and Captain Jack Sparrow.

How did a chihuahua get a name like Captain Jack Sparrow?

Calonita: My husband and I loved Pirates of the Caribbean and felt Captain Jack Sparrow was a cool name for such a little dude. We like to joke that if we ever get Jack a female companion, we'd name her Liz, for Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley's character).[read on]

Calonita's first novel, Secrets of My Hollywood Life, was about a teen starlet named Kaitlin Burke who tires of the fame game and decides to hide out in high school disguised as someone else. Us Weekly's Mara Reinstein said about Secrets: "At last! A witty, entertaining and refreshingly honest take on what it's really like to be a celebrity 'It' girl." The sequel to Secrets, On Location, was published in May 2008. It was followed by Family Affairs; the fourth novel in the series, Paparazzi Princess, came out in March 2009. Broadway Lights, the next Secrets of My Hollywood Life book, will be released in March 2010.

Calonita has also written a stand-alone book about camp counselors-in-training called Sleepaway Girls, which was published in May.

Read more about Jen Calonita's teen series Secrets of My Hollywood Life and Sleepaway Girls.

Visit Jen Calonita's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Jen Calonita and Captain Jack Sparrow.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five best books on what the Internet means for business

In 2005 Dow Jones executive L. Gordon Crovitz named a five best list of books on what the Internet means for business.

One book on his list:

"The Victorian Internet" by Tom Standage (Walker, 1998).

With every new technology, we overestimate how quickly people change their behavior. This dot-com cult classic compares Web fever to the awe of the telegraph. When Queen Victoria sent the first transatlantic cable to President Buchanan in 1858, the London Times said that the invention "has half undone the Revolution of 1776," and torch-bearing revelers, celebrating the cable's completion, nearly burned down New York's City Hall. Publisher James Gordon Bennett rued: "Mere newspapers must submit to destiny and go out of existence." What was the best way to profit? Faster communications created our Information Age, but the telegraph industry was a short-lived wonder. By 1880, Western Union carried 80% of the traffic. Then came the phone.

Read about another title on Crovitz's list.

The Victorian Internet also appears on Jason Kottke's best books list and Evgeny Morozov's list of ten books to learn how technology shapes the world.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Robert Kunzman's "Write These Laws on Your Children"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: Write These Laws on Your Children: Inside the World of Conservative Christian Homeschooling by Robert Kunzman.

About the book, from the publisher:

A compelling look at conservative Christian homeschooling families—and the worldview that could radically alter American political and intellectual life

Homeschooling is a large and growing phenomenon in American society-between 1999 and 2007 it grew at twelve times the rate of public school enrollments, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Current estimates suggest that about two million kids are homeschooled, but information about this booming population is terribly incomplete. Nearly a fourth of states don't even require parents to notify authorities if they homeschool their children, much less offer any sort of verification that they are doing so.

Of all the diverse groups of homeschooling families in the United States, conservative Christians are the largest subset, and it is this group that most influences public perception of and rhetoric about this movement. In Write These Laws on Your Children, Robert Kunzman uses his unprecedented access to six conservative Christian homeschooling families to explore this elusive world, from the day-to-day lives of its adherents to its broader aspirations to transform American culture and politics. Drawing from hundreds of hours of interviews and observations of parents and children, their churches, movement leaders, and related activities, Kunzman offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse into one of the fastest-growing education movements of the last twenty years.

With Kunzman we visit homeschoolers in urban Los Angeles, central Vermont, rural Tennessee, northwest Indiana, and central Oregon. The families we meet range in size from one child to ten, and include parents who are professional teachers with advanced degrees as well as those who never finished high school. Their reasons for homeschooling are as varied as their families, and Kunzman takes on the invaluable task of showing us what their homeschooling experiences look like firsthand, what their political and religious beliefs are, and what their kids learn. This extraordinary access allows us to see conservative Christian homeschooling families not only as part of a larger political phenomenon-which is how they're usually discussed-but also as unique entities with fascinating stories to tell.

The growing popularity of homeschooling raises important questions about the value of ethical diversity, what it means to think for oneself, how we prepare our young people to be democratic citizens, and what role (if any) the state should have in the education of children. Beyond competing visions about the proper aims of education, Kunzman shows, lies a complicated relationship between faith, freedom, and citizenship.

Learn more about Write These Laws on Your Children at the publisher's website.

Visit Robert Kunzman's Homeschooling Research and Scholarship website.

The Page 99 Test: Write These Laws on Your Children.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Dan Waddell's "Blood Atonement"

Today's feature at the Page 69 Test: Blood Atonement by Dan Waddell.

About the book, from the publisher:

Genealogist Nigel Barnes’s second case leads him into the dark heart of the Mormon church and a gruesome, century-old secret.

Detective Chief Inspector Grant Foster is called to a homicide at the home of a single mother in Queens Park, London. Her throat has been cut from ear to ear and her body dumped in the garden. Her daughter and only child, Naomi, who has just turned fourteen that day, is missing. As the hours tick by, the feeling grows among Foster’s colleagues that this is most likely becoming a double-murder inquiry. With nothing in the present to indicate a motive, Foster decides to delve into the dead woman’s past only to find out she does not have one. He calls on genealogist Nigel Barnes. The trail takes Barnes back to late Victorian England where it abruptly ends with a young couple who came from the United States to England. Nigel’s quest takes him on trip through the violent history of the Mormon church as he and Foster race to solve a shameful, long-kept secret that is about to have bloody repercussions in the present, and for which someone is seeking vengeance.

Dan Waddell delivers another gritty, suspenseful mystery that will keep readers guessing until the last page.

Read an excerpt from Blood Atonement, and learn more about the book and author at Dan Waddell's website.

Blood Atonement is Waddell's second novel featuring genealogist Nigel Barnes, following The Blood Detective.

The Page 69 Test: Blood Atonement.

--Marshal Zeringue

Jessica Andersen's "Skykeepers," the TV series

Now showing at My Book, The Movie: Skykeepers by Jessica Andersen.

The entry begins:

I’m often asked how I would cast the movie version of Skykeepers, which is the third book in a sexy series about a group of magic-wielding warriors, called Nightkeepers, who must fight the demon creatures of the underworld to prevent the annihilation of mankind on the December 21, 2012 doomsday hinted at by the ancient Mayan calendar.

First off, I’d far rather see it be a TV series than a movie. The interwoven storylines, intricate mythology and constantly developing arcs would be tough (imho) to pull off in a two-hour format, but would lend themselves to a (new) Battlestar Galactica-like gritty, character-driven TV series. With more sex. And, as was done in BSG with a few exceptions, I wouldn’t necessarily look to cast known faces in the roles.

Instead, I would look for non-headliner actors who evoke the various Nightkeepers, who are larger than life, sexy, charismatic and tough, with a warrior’s edge and an adrenaline junkie’s lust for adventure. But that isn’t to say that I don’t have a few faces in mind, or some pictures in my head when I write. For example, the Nightkeepers’ king, Strike, is...[read on]

Read an excerpt from Skykeepers.

For more information on the Keepers books, check out Jessica Andersen's website.

My Book, The Movie: Skykeepers.

--Marshal Zeringue

Books that made a difference to Jennifer Garner

Actor Jennifer Garner told O, The Oprah Magazine about five books that made a difference in her life.

One title on the list:

Possession
by A.S. Byatt

When I was starting out in my career, I lived in San Francisco. My friend and I were unemployed for chunks of time, and we'd tell each other: "Instead of panicking, go read. You won't have another chance in your whole life to dive into books." I got a lot of books read during those years, and Possession was one of them. I love the way the two main relationships—one in the present day and the other between two Victorian poets—are intertwined and counterpoints for each other. The sentences are all drippy with words that you have to look up in a dictionary, but they're so beautiful that it's worth taking the time. It almost doesn't matter what the story is about—it's one sentence at a time. Just stop and enjoy every single one.

Read about another book on Garner's list.

Possession also appears on John Mullan's lists of ten of the best locks of hair in fiction and ten of the best graveyard scenes in fiction, and Christina Koning's list of six top romances.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Jeff Parker reading?

The current featured contributor to Writers Read: Jeff Parker, author of the novel Ovenman and co-editor of the newly released Rasskazy: New Fiction from a New Russia.

His entry begins:

The last great book I read in English was Roberto Bolano's Savage Detectives. He is really, I think, the true heir to Borges and Marquez. I turned a friend on to him who preceded to read everything he has in translation. He kicked me the story collection Last Evenings on Earth, which I devoured in just a couple sittings. The thing is, formally speaking, they're not such great stories. And Bolano is not a stylist at all. In fact, if the translation is on, then his style is rather crude. But he has that kind of inexplicable magic that some writers have: he creates alternate realities that manage, despite their formal experimentation--and I know this sounds cheesy as hell--to transport you completely. I have 2666 sitting on my shelf but do not have the time quite yet to make the commitment, but I will. I will. I should say my typical habit, upon discovering a book I like a lot by a writer I've never read before, is to stop there. I am easily disappointed and a disappointment in subsequent work reflects back on the previous and so I like to...[read on]

Parker is the author of the novel Ovenman and, with artist William Powhida, the collection of stories and images The Back of the Line. His short fiction and nonfiction have been published in The Best American Nonrequired Reading, The Walrus, Ploughshares, Tin House, Spin, The Indiana Review, Columbia, Billiards Digest, and other magazines. He has co-edited two volumes of new Russian writing, Rasskazy: New Fiction from a New Russia and Amerika: Russian Writers View the United States. He is currently working on a new novel and nonfiction book about Russia to be published by Harper Collins in 2010.

He served as the program director of Summer Literary Seminars in St. Petersburg, Russia, and is currently the acting director of the Master’s Program in the Field of Creative Writing at the University of Toronto.

Writers Read: Jeff Parker.

--Marshal Zeringue

Coffee with a canine: Nicholas Dodman & Rusty

Today's featured duo at Coffee with a Canine: Nicholas Dodman & Rusty.

Dodman is one of the world's most noted and celebrated veterinary behaviorists. He grew-up in England and trained to be a vet in Scotland. He is a veterinary behaviorist at Tufts University near Boston, MA.

His books include The Dog Who Loved Too Much, Dogs Behaving Badly, If Only They Could Speak, and The Well-Adjusted Dog. If Only They Could Speak is on the Wall Street Journal's list of the five best books about dogs.

Rusty is a 9-month-old neutered male mixed-breed who was rescued from the Baypath Humane Society shelter in Hopkinton, MA.

Rusty's best quality, according to Dodman: "He's a really a gentle soul."

Learn more about Nicholas Dodman at The Pet Docs website and at his Tufts faculty webpage.

Read--Coffee with a Canine: Nicholas Dodman & Rusty.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: P. D. Martin's "Fan Mail"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: Fan Mail by P. D. Martin.

About the book, from the publisher:

Aussie FBI profiler Sophie Anderson is ready for a new life – a new home and a new job at the Bureau’s Los Angeles office. She hopes working in the field again will bring her closer to her cases…and her ability to see into the minds of killers and victims.

Within days of Sophie’s arrival in LA, her theory is put to the test when a best-selling crime novelist is murdered – strangled with a pair of stockings, just like the character in her last book. Before her death, the writer received letters from ‘A fan’ that had grown increasingly disturbing. When Sophie discovers a link to the murder of a second crime novelist, and another goes missing, she must get inside the mind of the crazed fan.

Read an excerpt from Fan Mail, and learn more about the book and author at P. D. Martin's website, blog, and Facebook page.

Among the Aussie praise for Fan Mail:

“gripping read…” Herald Sun

“best book in the series so far..." The Age

"...twisted, intriguing and brilliant plot." Sunday Territorian

"Martin ratchets up the fear and the tension expertly." Courier Mail

The Page 69 Test: The Murderers' Club.

The Page 69 Test: Fan Mail.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten of the best devils in literature

At the Guardian, John Mullan named ten of the best devils in literature.

One devil on the list:

Milton's Satan

The Devil to inspire all others. Milton's moody, broody soliloquist has seduced many a would-be rebel who has been stirred by his eloquent twaddle about it being "better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven". His fans talk less about what appears of his character when he sees human love, a leering voyeur "turned aside for envy".

Satan from Paradise Lost is also among the 50 greatest villains in literature according to the (London) Telegraph.

Read about another devil to make Mullan's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: John Kenneth White's "Barack Obama's America"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: Barack Obama's America: How New Conceptions of Race, Family, and Religion Ended the Reagan Era by John Kenneth White.

About the book, from the publisher:

The election of Barack Obama to the presidency marks a conclusive end to the Reagan era, writes John Kenneth White in Barack Obama's America. Reagan symbolized a 1950s and 1960s America, largely white and suburban, with married couples and kids at home, who attended church more often than not.

Obama's election marks a new era, the author writes. Whites will be a minority by 2042. Marriage is at an all-time low. Cohabitation has increased from a half-million couples in 1960 to more than 5 million in 2000 to even more this year. Gay marriages and civil unions are redefining what it means to be a family. And organized religions are suffering, even as Americans continue to think of themselves as a religious people. Obama's inauguration was a defining moment in the political destiny of this country, based largely on demographic shifts, as described in Barack Obama's America.

Learn more about Barack Obama's America at the publisher's website.

John Kenneth White is Professor of Politics at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

The Page 99 Test: Barack Obama's America.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Jen Calonita reading?

This weekend's featured contributor at Writers Read: Jen Calonita, author of the teen series Secrets of My Hollywood Life and the new novel Sleepaway Girls.

One book from her entry:

The Glamorous (Double) Life of Isabel Bookbinder: A Novel by Holly McQueen -- I tend to go for chicklit novels that will make me laugh out loud. I can't help it -- if it's light, funny and sweet, it's my type of book and this one by first-time author McQueen doesn't disappoint. It's about quirky girl named Isabel who dreams of being a successful author. Only problem? She hasn't written a single word yet. First she wants to perfect her author "look." Hilarious![read on]

Among the early reviews for Sleepaway Girls:

"After her best friend attaches herself to Samantha's first boyfriend, Sam is determined to spend her summer elsewhere. She ends up as a counselor-in-training at Whispering Pines, where she gets to participate in all camp activities while assisting the counselors with the younger campers. By the end of the summer, Sam acquires an arch-enemy, as well as three best buds (the Sleepaway Girls) and a gorgeous boyfriend. Calonita offers a quintessential feel-good read, from Sam's earliest crush on the camp's gorgeous bad boy to her gradual realization that good men are the best boyfriends; from her initial jealous encounter with the camp director's daughter to their forced, uneasy truce; and from her early video postcards back home to her ultimate Sleepaway Girls testament to the camp season. The picture-perfect setting, the sweet little kids, the seductive freedom from parents, and the lure of adult-like responsibility make this the perfect read-alike to suggest to fans of Ann Brashares' Traveling Pants series."
--Frances Bradburn for Booklist

Learn more about the novel and the author's work at Jen Calonita's website.

Writers Read: Jen Calonita.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five best novels on political conspiracy

Joseph Finder is a member of the ­Association of Former Intelligence Officers. His ­novels include Paranoia, High Crimes, and the recently released suspense thriller Vanished.

For the Wall Street Journal, he named a five best list of books on political conspiracy. One title on the list:

The Ministry of Fear
by Graham Greene
Viking, 1943

Set in London during the Blitz, "The Ministry of Fear"—the only novel Graham Greene wrote during the war years—opens with a ­now-familiar Hitchcockian gambit: An innocent man stumbles upon a secret and is marked for death. Arthur Rowe, a loner who has just been released from an insane asylum, wins a cake at a carnival by guessing its precise weight. Concealed in the cake is a spool of film intended for a Nazi spy. Rowe becomes the target of a ­shadowy international espionage ring bent on stealing vital British war plans. On this slim armature Greene constructs a richly atmospheric thriller, one of the classics of the genre. His prose is spare and elegant, his pacing masterly. The protagonist, haunted by a terrible crime in his past, loses his memory and comes to feel "directed, controlled, molded, by some agency with a surrealist imagination," pursued through a city where entire buildings can disappear overnight in a bombing raid.

Read about another novel on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Freda Warrington's "Elfland"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: Freda Warrington's Elfland.

About the book, from the publisher:

Elfland is an intimate, sensual novel of people—both human and Aetherial—caught between duty and desire. It’s a story of families, and of Rose Fox, a woman born to magic but tormented by her place in her adopted world.

Led by Auberon Fox, a group of Aetherials—call them the Fair Folk, if you will—live among us, indistinguishable from humans. Every seven years, on the Night of the Summer Stars, Lawrence Wilder, the Gatekeeper, throws open all gates to the Other World. But this time, something has gone wrong. Wilder has sealed the gates, warning of a great danger lurking in the realm beyond them. The Aetherial community is outraged. What will become of them, deprived of the home realm from which their essential life force flows?

Rose Fox and Sam Wilder are drawn to the lands beyond the gates, even as their families feud over Lawrence’s refusal to do his duty. Struggling with their own too-human urges, they discover hidden truths that draw them together in a forbidden alliance. Only by breaching the dreaded gates and daring the danger beyond can they confront that which they fear most— their otherness—and claim their birthright.

Learn more about the author and her work at Freda Warrington's website and blog.

The Page 69 Test: Elfland.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: John Buntin's "L.A. Noir"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City by John Buntin.

About the book, from the publisher:

Other cities have histories. Los Angeles has legends.

Midcentury Los Angeles. A city sold to the world as "the white spot of America," a land of sunshine and orange groves, wholesome Midwestern values and Hollywood stars, protected by the world’s most famous police force, the Dragnet-era LAPD. Behind this public image lies a hidden world of "pleasure girls" and crooked cops, ruthless newspaper tycoons, corrupt politicians, and East Coast gangsters on the make. Into this underworld came two men–one L.A.’s most notorious gangster, the other its most famous police chief–each prepared to battle the other for the soul of the city.

Former street thug turned featherweight boxer Mickey Cohen left the ring for the rackets, first as mobster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel’s enforcer, then as his protégé. A fastidious dresser and unrepentant killer, the diminutive Cohen was Hollywood’s favorite gangster–and L.A.’s preeminent underworld boss. Frank Sinatra, Robert Mitchum, and Sammy Davis Jr. palled around with him; TV journalist Mike Wallace wanted his stories; evangelist Billy Graham sought his soul.

William H. Parker was the proud son of a pioneering law-enforcement family from the fabled frontier town of Deadwood. As a rookie patrolman in the Roaring Twenties, he discovered that L.A. was ruled by a shadowy "Combination"–a triumvirate of tycoons, politicians, and underworld figures where alliances were shifting, loyalties uncertain, and politics were practiced with shotguns and dynamite. Parker’s life mission became to topple it–and to create a police force that would never answer to elected officials again.

These two men, one morally unflinching, the other unflinchingly immoral, would soon come head-to-head in a struggle to control the city–a struggle that echoes unforgettably through the fiction of Raymond Chandler and movies such as The Big Sleep, Chinatown, and L.A. Confidential.

For more than three decades, from Prohibition through the Watts Riots, the battle between the underworld and the police played out amid the nightclubs of the Sunset Strip and the mansions of Beverly Hills, from the gritty streets of Boyle Heights to the manicured lawns of Brentwood, intersecting in the process with the agendas and ambitions of J. Edgar Hoover, Robert F. Kennedy, and Malcolm X. The outcome of this decades-long entanglement shaped modern American policing–for better and for worse–and helped create the Los Angeles we know today.

A fascinating examination of Los Angeles’s underbelly, the Mob, and America’s most admired–and reviled–police department, L.A. Noir is an enlightening, entertaining, and richly detailed narrative about the city originally known as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles, "The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels."

Read more about L.A. Noir at John Buntin's website.

The Page 99 Test: L.A. Noir.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top 10 books about the Berlin Wall

At the Guardian's books blog, Suzanne Munshower named a top ten list of books which "can provide a better understanding of the geography of, the history behind and the collateral damage caused by this monument to humankind's perversity."

One book on the list:

The starting point for me is Frederick Taylor's The Berlin Wall because of its masterful detailing of events leading to the Wall's construction and demolition. This lively and thought-provoking book is a must for experiencing divided Berlin not just with politicos such as Willy Brandt, John F Kennedy and Lyndon B Johnson, but with the multitudes who woke one morning to find friends, neighbours and even family suddenly a world away.

Read about a novel on Munshower's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Amber Kizer's "Meridian"

Today's feature at the Page 69 Test: Meridian by Amber Kizer.

About the book, from the publisher:

Half-human, half-angel, Meridian Sozu has a dark responsibility.

Sixteen-year-old Meridian has been surrounded by death ever since she can remember. As a child, insects, mice, and salamanders would burrow into her bedclothes and die. At her elementary school, she was blamed for a classmate’s tragic accident. And on her sixteenth birthday, a car crashes in front of her family home—and Meridian’s body explodes in pain.

Before she can fully recover, Meridian is told that she’s a danger to her family and hustled off to her great-aunt’s house in Revelation, Colorado. It’s there that she learns that she is a Fenestra—the half-angel, half-human link between the living and the dead. But Meridian and her sworn protector and love, Tens, face great danger from the Aternocti, a band of dark forces who capture vulnerable souls on the brink of death and cause chaos.

Read excerpts from Meridian, and learn more about the book and author at the Meridian website and Amber Kizer's website.

The Page 69 Test: Meridian.

--Marshal Zeringue

Coffee with a canine: Eileen McVety & Shamrock

The current featured duo at Coffee with a Canine: Eileen McVety & Shamrock.

Eileen McVety's first book, Welcome to the Company (or what it's really like working here) was published by Inkwater Press in March 2009. A professional writer with more than 20 years of communications writing experience, McVety is the founder of Spot-on Writing, inc. She has developed award-winning branding campaigns and communications materials for clients in both the pharmaceutical and business-to-business sectors.

McVety holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia College Chicago and is a published essayist and short-story writer whose work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Tiny Lights, Career Woman, Philosophical Mother, and The Minetta Review.

Shamrock is her 2-1/2-year-old male golden retriever.

His proudest moment, according to McVety:

I’d say that his proudest moment was the first time he barked. He was about 6 months old at the time and was initially startled by the rich guttural sound that his throat produced. That feeling was quickly replaced by a proud glow of accomplishment, like, “Hey, I just became a dog today.”

Learn more about Eileen McVety at the Spot-on Writing website.

Read--Coffee with a Canine: Eileen McVety & Shamrock.

--Marshal Zeringue