Pg. 99: "The Elephant’s Secret Sense"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: Caitlin O'Connell's The Elephant’s Secret Sense: The Hidden Life of the Wild Herds of Africa.

About the book, from the publisher:

While observing a family group of elephants in the wild, Caitlin O'Connell, a young field scientist, noticed a peculiar listening behavior. A matriarch she had been watching for months turned her massive head and lifted her foot off the ground. As she scanned the horizon, the other elephants followed suit, all facing the same direction. O'Connell soon made a groundbreaking discovery: the elephants were "listening through limbs," feeling the ripples of the earth's surface for approaching friends and enemies. Through their feet, toenails, trunks, and other, subtler modes of communication, these enormous animals were communicating to one another, demonstrating the vital importance of social relationships in their lives.

Yet this grand revelation about the intelligence of wild animals is also a story of the relationship between humans and elephants as neighbors, vying for the same resources of an increasingly crowded continent. For when O'Connell was first contracted by the Namibian government to develop new methods to deter elephants from raiding villagers' crops, she was unprepared for what she would encounter -- political upheaval, tribal disputes, inhumane poachers, and a fundamentally ineffective approach to wildlife conservation. Despite these setbacks, she came to know and love each of the fascinating, unique elephants under her watchful eye, while at the same time witnessing a change in attitude and policy, providing hope for the elephant's future.

An unforgettable journey of scientific discovery, The Elephant's Secret Sense takes you deep into the wilds of Namibia, from the tops of isolated, desert observation towers to the jaws and claws of ravenous lions to aerial expeditions and dusty highways, where the naturalists do their difficult work in a troubled land threatened by expanding human populations and unstable politics. Resonant with the powerful calls of the mysterious elephant, this is a story about the resilience of nature and the inspiring, astonishing, and often heartbreaking places where humans and wild animals come together.

Among the praise for The Elephant’s Secret Sense:

"The legendary naturalist Niko Tinbergen once defined the study of animal behavior as the process of interviewing an animal in its own language. In this book about her years of research in Southwestern Africa, Caitlin O'Connell recounts how she discovered a new way with which elephants communicate, one that seems implausible if we can only imagine 'interviewing' an animal within the constraints of our impoverished human senses. But the book is far more than just this marvelous discovery and its role in the social lives of elephants. O'Connell also tells hauntingly of having to navigate the increasing conflict between the world of wild elephants and the world of humans trying to eke out survival from the soils of Africa, and how both sides lose in the process. This is a deeply engaging book."
--Robert Sapolsky, Ph.D., professor of biology and neurology, Stanford University, and author of A Primate's Memoir, Monkeyluv, and Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers

"When an elephant tries to pick up distant sounds, all it needs to do is press its feet to the ground. The surprising way in which these giant sensitive souls communicate is described here by its discoverer, Caitlin O'Connell, along with a warm, admiring account of their social life on the African savanna."
--Frans de Waal, Ph.D., author of Our Inner Ape

"Every once in a while a researcher has enough courage and intellectual curiosity to risk everything -- terrorists, tusks, claws, fire, drought, tsetse flies, poachers, disease, and worst of all failure -- to discover one of Nature's greater truths, and to write poignantly about it. By living under the feet of her research subjects and documenting with careful painstaking study that elephants communicate seismically -- through their toenails: Who knew! -- Dr. O'Connell has given us a captivating, humbling, and intimate insight into the social mind of the African elephant. Her life studying elephants is as profound and exciting as her discoveries. This book is a must-read for anyone wanting to know what it takes to do research on a large mammal in conflict with Man, and in a remote and dangerous setting. Dr. O'Connell is as intrepid as she is tenacious and ingenious. Brava!"
--Mark J. Owens, coauthor with Cordelia Owens of Cry of the Kalahari, The Eye of the Elephant, and Secrets of the Savanna

Caitlin O'Connell's discoveries have been published and reported in various periodicals, including Science, Science News, Natural History, National Geographic, The Economist, and Discover. She has appeared on National Geographic, the BBC, PBS/Nature, and the Discovery Channel. O'Connell and her husband direct the nonprofit organization Utopia Scientific, which promotes elephant conservation and scientific understanding around the world.

Read an excerpt from The Elephant’s Secret Sense and learn more about the book at the publisher's website.

The Page 99 Test: The Elephant’s Secret Sense.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five best guides to China and its history

Oliver August, author of Inside the Red Mansion: On the Trail of China's Most Wanted Man, selected a five best "guides to China and its history" list for Opinion Journal.

One title from his list:

River Town by Peter Hessler

Peter Hessler was on occasion called a "foreign devil" on the streets of Fuling, the town along the Yangtse River where he taught English for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in the mid-1990s. But in his fascinating and touching account of the experience he doesn't come across as very foreign, much less a Mephisto intent on leading his students astray. He sketches the gentle rhythms of life along the Yangtse -- under the shadow of the looming Three Gorges dam project -- with the sureness of someone who might have lived by the river all his life. In a telling moment, he asks his students what would happen if Robin Hood came to China today. "A few followed the Party line," claiming that in the economic paradise of the People's Republic, Robin Hood would have nothing to do. "But most of them kept Robin Hood busy stealing from corrupt cadres and greedy businessmen," Mr. Hessler writes. Even in the upper valleys of the Yangtse, it seems, Chinese now prefer wanted men to Party men.

Read about Number One on August's list.

See the Page 69 Test: Oliver August's Inside the Red Mansion.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Timothy Hallinan "A Nail Through the Heart"

Today's feature at the Page 69 Test: Timothy Hallinan's A Nail Through the Heart.

About the book, from the publisher:

Travel writer Poke Rafferty was good at looking for trouble –– so good that he made a little money writing a few offbeat travel guides for the young and terminally bored. But that was before Bangkok stole his heart. Now the expat American is happily playing family with Rose, the former go–go dancer he wants to marry, and with Miaow, the wary street child he wants to adopt. Yet just when everything is beginning to work out, trouble comes looking for Poke in the guise of good intentions. First he takes in Miaow's friend, a troubled and terrifying street urchin named Superman. Then he agrees to find a distraught Aussie woman's missing uncle –– and accept an old woman's generous payment to find a blackmailing theif. Soon, these three seemingly disparate events begin to overlap, pulling Poke deeper into dark, unfamiliar terrain. Gradually he realizes that he's been gliding across the surface of a culture he really doesn't understand –– and that what he doesn't know is about to hurt him and everyone he loves.

Beautifully crafted, relentlessly paced, A Nail Through the Heart is an exciting and enticing read that will leave readers hungry for more from the gifted Timothy Hallinan.

Among the early praise for A Nail Through the Heart:

"In the first of a truly remarkable series. Hallinan takes you to Thailand with a vengeance. This one of the best novels I have read in years, and it will be a true, long-lasting favorite."
--Booksense.com (monthly pick)

"Mystery writer Hallinan scores big-time with a fast-moving thriller set in Thailand.... Dark, often funny and ultimately enthralling."
--Kirkus Reviews

"... a compelling new protagonist.... The narrative is deeply felt. If this opens a new series, Hallinan is off to a surefooted start with a supporting cast (including Poke’s precocious, pugnacious, almost-daughter Miaow) well worth getting to know."
--Booklist

"Excellent ... thriller from Hallinan ... the rich depictions of Bangkok's seedy side recall John Burdett's visceral mysteries."
--Publishers Weekly

"Don't miss your chance to read A Nail Through the Heart before it starts winning all its awards .... every page shimmers with life and light. Hallinan's is a writer's writer, and this is great stuff!"
--John Lescroart, New York Times bestselling author

“A Nail Through the Heart is a haunting novel that takes place way out on the fringe of the moral landscape. It’s fast, bold, disturbing and beautifully written. Hallinan is terrific.”
--T. Jefferson Parker, New York Times bestselling author

Timothy Hallinan wrote a well-received series of six Los Angeles-based detective novels in the nineties. A Nail Through the Heart is the first of a new series set in Bangkok, where he's lived off and on for more than 25 years.

Read an excerpt from A Nail Through the Heart and learn more about the book at the author's website. And check out Poke Rafferty's own site.

The Page 69 Test: A Nail Through the Heart.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Terese Svoboda reading?

The current featured contributor to Writers Read: Terese Svoboda, author of several books of prose and poetry, including Trailer Girl and Other Stories, Cannibal, Treason, Tin God, and the forthcoming Black Glasses Like Clark Kent.

Svoboda's writing has been featured in The New Yorker, the New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, Slate.com, Bomb, Lit, Columbia, Yale Review and The Paris Review. Her honors include an O. Henry for the short story, a nonfiction Pushcart Prize, a translation National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship, a PEN/ColumbiaFellowship, two New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships in poetry and fiction, a New York State Council on the Arts grant and a Jerome Foundation grant in video, the John Golden Award in playwriting, the Bobst Prize in fiction and the Iowa Prize in poetry. A University of British Columbia and Columbia graduate, she has taught at Sarah Lawrence, Fordham, Williams, the College of William and Mary, the University of Hawaii, the University of Miami, the New School, St. Petersburg, Russia, and will hold the McGhee Professorship at Davidson College in spring 2008.

Read more about Svoboda and her work, and check out what she has been reading.

The Page 99 Test: Tin God.

Writers Read: Terese Svoboda.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Beth Kohl's "Embryo Culture"

Today's feature at the Page 99 Test: Beth Kohl's Embryo Culture: Making Babies in the Twenty-first Century.

About the book, from the publisher:

“Injections + Appointments + Egg Retrieval + Embryo Transfer = Resources (Energy x Time x Emotion)”

That’s the equation that was projected onto the screen when Beth Kohl and her husband first showed up at the in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinic. “Good evening,” the program’s psychologist told the gathered infertile couples. “Before you begin your treatment, you should know that this program is emotionally and psychologically stressful.”

And how.

In this marvelously unconventional account of her struggles to bear children, Kohl leads the reader on an oh-so-up-close tour of fertilization in America, and the ways in which science and miracle, technology and faith, converge to create life in the twentyfirst century. Along the way, Kohl wrestles with a new world of medical ethics: Should she “selectively reduce” the number of embryos successfully implanted in the womb in order to prevent a potentially complicated pregnancy? How much genetic testing of fertilized eggs is too much? What is she supposed to do with the seven embryos left over from the IVF process?

When Andrew Solomon wrote The Noonday Demon, he opened the world of depression to readers as no writer had done before. And when Stephen L. Carter wrote Reflections of an Affirmative Action Baby, many readers were forced to completely rethink race and prejudice. Kohl’s spirited and rich exploration of “embryo culture” will completely revise how we see modern motherhood.

Among the early praise for Embryo Culture:

"A book of bold precision. Beth Kohl has always been a writer of clarity and intelligence, and the intersection of our hearts and minds with the dramas of our medicalized bodies is our new modern story."
—Lorrie Moore

"The miracle of birth? The immaculate conception? Whatever. Beth Kohl's revealing new memoir takes us on a terrifying, hilarious, tender and profoundly erotic journey to the crossroads of biology, science and love. Don't miss a page or a minute of it."
—Jim McManus, author of Physical and Positively Fifth Street

"With wit, sympathy, and a healthy dose of information, Beth Kohl offers a story that is at once intensely personal and universal -- infertility and its treatment. Her quest for motherhood is sometimes heartbreaking, but her spirit and humor make her a terrific guide through the dizzying maze of treatment options available today. A touching and timely book."
—Robin Marantz Henig, author of Pandora's Baby: How the First Test Tube Babies Sparked the Reproductive Revolution

"How do you tell a vivid, engaging story about trying with all your heart, mind, pocketbook, and sense of humor to have a baby and integrate into it just about everything known about Assisted Reproductive Technology (unironically known as ART)? Embryo Culture is the very entertaining answer to that question. Remarkably, it's as instructive as it is fun to read."
—Michael Ryan, author of Baby B and Secret Life

"By personalizing complex issues of faith, family, and the politics of femaleness, Beth Kohl turns Embryo Culture: Making Babies in the Twenty-First Century into not only an enlightened account of her brave struggle for motherhood, but also a first-class read about the painful, costly, controversial history of in vitro fertilization, 29 years after the birth of the world's first successful test-tube baby."
—Elle

"In this insightful and honest narrative, Kohl shares her experience and offers comfort and companionship for readers dealing with physical challenges, personal and marital stress, and ambivalent answers to heavy questions."
—Publishers Weekly

Read an excerpt from Embryo Culture.

Beth Kohl has an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, an MA from Northwestern University, and a BA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her work has appeared in Tulane Review and Chicago Reader.

Learn more about Beth Kohl and her new book at her website.

The Page 99 Test: Embryo Culture.

--Marshal Zeringue

Betsy Carter's list

Betsy Carter, the founding editor of New York Woman magazine, is the author of the memoir Nothing to Fall Back On. Her second novel, Swim to Me, has just been published by Algonquin. She contributed "The List" to The Week magazine this week.

One title on her list:

A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean

Even before Robert Redford and Brad Pitt got their beautiful hands on it, this story was as dazzling in its setting as it was in its storytelling.

Read more about Carter's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Ehud Havazelet's "Bearing the Body"

Today's feature at the Page 99 Test: Ehud Havazelet's Bearing the Body.

About the book, from the publisher:

Growing up, Daniel seemed like a model son: a student activist blessed with easy charm and a fluid intelligence, who believed that he was heir to a better and brighter future. When that dream faded, he drifted from his family and into a rootless life, marked by wasted possibility.

Bearing the Body begins when Daniel’s younger brother, Nathan, a medical resident in Boston, learns that Daniel has died in San Francisco. The circumstances are unclear, and the police are involved. Nathan, who suffers from chronic anger and uncontrollable compulsions, travels to New York to inform their father, Sol, of Daniel’s death. Sol is an Auschwitz survivor who has spent most of his adult energy compiling an archive of the fates of Hitler’s victims. Due in part to this obsessive research, he has lost touch with his sons. He nevertheless decides to join Nathan on a trip to the West Coast, where both men hope to learn more about Daniel’s untimely death. In San Francisco they meet Abby and her son, Ben, who were Daniel’s companions in a life that his family never knew about or shared.

A moving study of isolation and its costs, Bearing the Body is a book about history and memory, about family and loss. Most of all, it is a book about the past, which, far from receding quietly, weighs ever more heavily on those who hope to leave it behind.

Among the early praise for Bearing the Body:

“Ehud Havazelet has the gift of creating characters that live on in the reader’s mind, characters so deeply human you’ll suddenly catch yourself, weeks later, wondering what they’re doing. As much about the possibility of hope as it is about the legacy of suffering, Bearing the Body first breaks your heart, then heals it, leaving it larger, expanded in its sympathies, more capable of understanding, and of enduring that understanding. It is a brave and beautiful book.”
—Mark Slouka, author of The Visible World

“Bearing the Body unpacks one family's American dream as if the angel of history herself were guiding us through the wreckage. A moving and unusual novel.”
—Andrea Barrett, author of Ship Fever

“Bearing the Body is an ambitious novel driven by a wonderfully talented writer's sense of history, coupled with a deep compassion for his characters, every one of which is rendered fully and with great wisdom.”
—Richard Russo

“Havazelet writes with a kind of anatomical precision, his scalpel slicing at his characters to expose the dark reality beneath.... The realization of a striking talent.”
—Richard Bernstein, New York Times

Ehud Havazelet is the author of two critically acclaimed short-story collections: What Is It Then Between Us? and Like Never Before. His stories have appeared in such journals as DoubleTake, New England Review, The Southern Review, ZYZZYVA, Iowa Review, Ontario Review, and Crazyhorse, and have been chosen for the Pushcart Prize. He is the winner of both the California Book Award and the Oregon Book Award for fiction. He is an Associate Professor at the University of Oregon where he teaches creative writing.

The Page 99 Test: Bearing the Body.

--Marshal Zeringue

"A Consumer’s Guide to the Apocalypse"

There is now a blog for Eduardo Velásquez's new book, A Consumer’s Guide to the Apocalypse.

Read:

more about the book

more about the author

an excerpt from the introduction, "A Primer for Annihilation"

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Matt Bai's "The Argument"

Today's feature at the Page 69 Test: Matt Bai's The Argument: Billionaires, Bloggers, and the Battle to Remake Democratic Politics.

About the book, from the publisher:

Drawing on remarkable access to myriad factions of the Democratic Party, The New York Times Magazine writer Matt Bai distills the party's future prospects and current dilemmas in this raucous and devastating account of the party's search for The Argument that fits the twenty-first century.

Great political movements need more than a bunch of shared principles; they need an argument. The New Dealers had one. So did the Goldwater conservatives. So what's the progressive argument? What new path are Democrats urging us to choose in the era of Wal-Mart, Al Qaeda, and YouTube? Matt Bai seeks answers in The Argument, a book that brings you deep inside the turbulent, confusing new world of Democratic politics, where billionaires and bloggers are battling politicians and consultants over the future of a once-great party.

Beginning with the devastating election of 2004 and ending with an unexpected triumph in the 2006 congressional elections and the run-up to the 2008 campaign, Bai's book follows such memorable power brokers as Howard Dean, the billionaire George Soros, the union leader Andy Stern, the blogger Markos Moulitsas, and the leaders of moveon.org as they vie for control of the new Democratic landscape. In the pages of The Argument, we are introduced to these activists not just as political figures but as fascinating and flawed characters-ordinary people motivated by ideology or ambition or even personal tragedy.

At stake is the future of the Democratic Party and, quite possibly, of American politics itself. At a time when assorted pundits offer their own prescriptions for Democratic success in the 2008 presidential election, Bai uses rich narrative and vivid portraits to illuminate the party's challenges. In scene after scene from around the country -- with union bosses in Chicago, with Dean in Alaska, with movie stars in Hollywood and financiers in New York -- Bai reveals a movement that is learning how to win again, even as it struggles to articulate a compelling argument for progressive government in a confusing new century.

Readers of The Argument will recognize the unsparing insight and gift for storytelling that have made Matt Bai one of the country's most widely read observers of the American political scene -- and its most trusted authority on the Democratic Party.

Among the early praise for The Argument:

"What a terrific book! Matt Bai has written the semi-secret history of the Democratic Party as it has writhed toward success in the first decade of 21st century. Filled with hilariously strange characters and situations, this is also a thoroughly reported -- and dead serious -- look at the direction politics is headed at an important moment in our history. If you want to understand what promises to be a crucial political year in 2008, The Argument is certainly the place to start."

-- Joe Klein, Time Magazine political columnist and author of Politics Lost

"Matt Bai has written a wonderful book -- honest, insightful, and funny. Democrats should read it and weep -- or learn from it."

-- Evan Thomas

"This is both an original and a significant book -- something very hard to come by. Matt Bai has not only disclosed the dead zones in the Democratic Party; he also has hit upon the questions that could bring the Party -- and the country -- back to life. As if that were not sufficient, he writes succinctly yet beautifully. The Argument is probably the most important political study of recent years. "

-- Roger Rosenblatt

"One of the most fascinating, underreported, and misunderstood political stories of the Bush era has been the liberal effort to push the Democratic Party to be more aggressive and to stop getting rolled by conservatives... Matt Bai conveys this important behind-the-scenes story with unmatched insight, wisdom, and sympathy."

--Michael Tomasky

Matt Bai writes on national politics for the New York Times Magazine.

Visit Matt Bai's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Argument.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Jonathan Santlofer reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Jonathan Santlofer.

Santlofer is a highly respected artist whose work has been written about and reviewed in the New York Times, Art in America, Artforum, and Arts, and appears in many public, private, and corporate collections such as Chase Manhattan Bank and the Art Institute of Chicago. He serves on the board of Yaddo, one of the oldest artist communities in the country.

His books are Color Blind, The Death Artist, The Killing Art, and Anatomy of Fear.

Visit Santlofer's official website, and read his take on Anatomy of Fear and the Page 99 and Page 69 Tests.

Watch the Anatomy of Fear video.

Writers Read: Jonathan Santlofer.

--Marshal Zeringue

The "Elizabeth Goodweather" books, the movie

Vicki Lane, author of three "Elizabeth Goodweather" novels (with a fourth on the way in the coming year), ran her novels through the "My Book, The Movie" exercise.

Here's how her entry opens:

I’ll ask the Coen Bros. to direct simply because a.) I adore them and b.) if they can do a movie around a pregnant sheriff from a small town in Minnesota, a fifty-something Appalachian widow with a law enforcement significant other ought not to be too much of a stretch for those boys.

There are only two of my characters in the current three books that I’ve actually visualized as looking like actors. Phillip Hawkins, the burly, balding ex-detective friend/love interest of my protagonist Elizabeth Goodweather, is described as looking “like Danny DeVito, but tall.”

The other is Aidan, a performance artist in Art’s Blood, of whom an onlooker drools, “that blond boy ... quite delicious. Just like that gorgeous elf in the Lord of the Rings films.” That, of course, would be Orlando Bloom.

There's more -- much more -- so please read on.

Read more about the "Elizabeth Goodweather" books at Vicki Lane's website and her blog.

The Page 69 Test: Art's Blood.

My Book, The Movie: the "Elizabeth Goodweather" books .

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: David Anthony Durham's "Acacia"

Today's feature at the Page 69 Test: David Anthony Durham's Acacia.

About the book, from the author's website:

Leodan Akaran, ruler of the Known World, has inherited generations of apparent peace and prosperity, won ages ago by his ancestors. A widower of high intelligence, he presides over an empire called Acacia, after the idyllic island from which he rules. He dotes on his four children and hides from them the dark realities of traffic in drugs and human lives on which their prosperity depends. He hopes that he might change this, but powerful forces stand in his way. And then a deadly assassin sent from a race called the Mein, exiled long ago to an ice-locked stronghold in the frozen north, strikes at Leodan in the heart of Acacia while they unleash surprise attacks across the empire. On his deathbed, Leodan puts into play a plan to allow his children to escape, each to their separate destiny. And so his children begin a quest to avenge their father's death and restore the Acacian empire — this time on the basis of universal freedom.

Acacia is a thrilling work of literary imagination that creates an all-enveloping and mythic world that will carry readers away. It is a timeless tale of heroism and betrayal, of treachery and revenge, of primal wrongs and ultimate redemption. David Durham has reimagined the epic narrative for our time in a book that will surely mark his breakthrough to a wide audience.

Among the praise for Acacia:

"In this sprawling and vividly imagined fantasy, historical novelist Durham (Pride of Carthage) chronicles the downfall and reinvention of the Akaran Dynasty, whose empire, called Acacia, was built on conquest, slaving and drug trade. The Acacian empire, encompassing "The Known World," is hated by its subjugated peoples, especially the Mein, who 22 generations earlier were exiled to the icy northland. Having sent an assassin to kill the Acacian king, Leodan, the rebel chieftain, Hanish Mein, declares war on the empire. As Acacia falls, Leodan's treasonous but conflicted chancellor, Thaddeus Clegg, spirits the king's four children to safety. When the Mein's rule proves even more tyrannical than the old, the former chancellor seeks to reunite the now adult Akaran heirs — the oldest son Aliver (once heir to the throne), the beautiful elder daughter Corinn, their younger sister, Mena, and youngest brother, Dariel — to lead a war to regain the empire. Durham has created a richly detailed alternate reality leavened with a dollop of magic and populated by complicated personalities grappling with issues of freedom and oppression."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Treachery in the throne room, princes in hiding, ancestors reaching from beyond the grave, wars of succession — this is a novel that Shakespeare would have loved. David Anthony Durham is rebuilding epic fantasy from the ground up. There are books that you visit for a vacation and then there are books that you live in. Get ready to have your mail forwarded to Acacia."
--James Patrick Kelly, Hugo Award Winner

"It's the rare novel indeed that overwhelms and absorbs us to the point that we live fully within it. I read Acacia in four long wondrous days, unable to leave the book. Durham has created a world so familiar and distant at once that the reader is transported and transfixed — the braiding together of this world through numerable plotlines is effortlessly accomplished and compelling, with magnificent prose that illuminates crisply and cinematically. Acacia is full of wonders, brought to us by a masterful writer, a wizard of mind and place."
--Jeffrey Lent, author of In the Fall and A Peculiar Grace

"Something genuinely new from the author of historical novels about the black American experience (Gabriel's Story, 2001; Walk Through Darkness, 2002) and the Second Punic War (Pride of Carthage, 2005).... The novel's strong echoes of Homer and Virgil, Tolkien, Norse mythology's Twilight of the Gods and America's compromised history as a republic built on slavery fuse into an enthralling, literate and increasingly suspenseful narrative."
--Kirkus (starred review)

Read an excerpt from Acacia and more about it and David Anthony Durham's other work at his website.

David Anthony Durham is the award-winning author of the novels Gabriel's Story, Walk Through Darkness, and Pride of Carthage.

The Page 69 Test: Acacia.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Pat Shipman's "Femme Fatale"

Today's feature at the Page 99 Test: Pat Shipman's Femme Fatale: Love, Lies, and the Unknown Life of Mata Hari.

About the book, from the publisher:

In 1917, the notorious Oriental dancer Mata Hari was arrested on the charge of espionage; less than one year later she was tried and executed — charged with the deaths of at least 50,000 gallant French soldiers. The mistress of many senior Allied officers and government officials, even the French minister of war, she had a sharp intellect and a golden tongue fluent in several languages; she also traveled widely throughout wartorn Europe, with seeming disregard for the political and strategic alliances and borders. But was she actually a spy? In this persuasive new biography, Pat Shipman explores the life and times of the mythic and deeply misunderstood dark-eyed siren to find the truth.

Her blissful Dutch childhood as Margaretha Zelle ended abruptly with her parents' emotionally scarring divorce and, shortly after, her mother's death. Shuttled off to reluctant relations, Margaretha impulsively married a much older man, who gave her syphilis (then incurable) and took her to the Dutch East Indies, where the unhappy marriage exploded into vicious hatred following the death of their oldest child. Fleeing her tragic marriage, she reinvented herself as Mata Hari, a scandalously sensual dancer with an Indies name and an Indies aura about her novel "artistic" dances.

Mata Hari's life reads like both an action-packed adventure tale and passionate, poignant romance. Shipman reveals new information about this beautiful, brilliant, and dangerous woman, tracing the web of connections between her professional and personal lives. Once called "an orchid in a field of dandelions," Mata Hari was one of a kind, a rich and multifaceted personality whose ambitions and talents propelled her breathtaking rise — and her tragic fall.

Among the early praise for the book:

"The melodramatic true story of a mythic grand horizontal, told with clarity and understanding."
--Kirkus Reviews

"[A]n engrossing biography of an unusual woman for whom ... the truth was whatever she wanted it to be...."
--Publishers Weekly

Listen to Diane Rehm's interview with Pat Shipman.

Read an excerpt from Femme Fatale and learn more about the book at the publisher's website.

Pat Shipman is the author of eight previous books, including To the Heart of the Nile, The Man Who Found the Missing Link, and Taking Wing, which won the Phi Beta Kappa Prize for science and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award and named a New York Times Notable Book for 1998.

The Page 99 Test: Femme Fatale.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Jeff Abbott's "Fear"

Today's feature at the Page 69 Test: Jeff Abbott's Fear.

About the book, from the author's website:

What if you could forget the worst moment of your life?

Miles Kendrick is a federal witness hiding from the mob, constantly haunted by the horrifying memories of his best friend's death. While helping his psychiatrist with a mysterious favor, Miles stumbles into a murder — and an illegal medical research program that could free him and millions of others with post-traumatic stress disorder from their crippling fears. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Miles ends up in the cross-hairs of Dennis Groote, an ex-FBI agent turned hitman. Groote is determined to find a cure for his traumatized daughter — and determined to gain control of a secret drug formula worth billions on the open market, a formula he believes Miles possesses.

Pursued by both Groote and government agents, Miles runs for his life. He draws on his old skills as a mobster's spy to survive a deadly duel of strike and counterstrike with the unrelenting and brutal Groote. Miles finds two unlikely allies: a mentally broken ex-soldier and a reclusive woman whose life was destroyed by violence. To save them all — and with one last chance to be the man he once was — Miles takes the battle back to the powerful, murderous forces who want to silence one troubled man before he can get his life back...

Among the praise for Fear:

"Hypercharged... few who start this book will stop turning the pages."
—Publishers Weekly

"...Fear is an adrenaline-inducing suspense thriller of the highest order. Told in staccato, action-packed chapters that are seething with angst, obsession, shocking brutality, and compassion in the unlikeliest of places, Fear will have readers on the edge of their collective seats until the very last pages, which includes some jaw-dropping plot twists that would make even O. Henry proud — yet another hair-raising gem by the new master of suspense."
—Paul Goat Allen, Barnes & Noble Ransom Notes

"Fear's nonstop action delivers a unique premise with fully-developed characters and, as a bonus, terrific scenery... Abbott ratchets up Fear with surprising twists and hairpin turns, while remembering the human factor."
—Oline Cogdill, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

"Exciting and terrifying"
—Austin American-Statesman

"Heart-stopping"
—Cleveland Plain Dealer

Read an excerpt from Fear and more about Jeff Abbott's books at his website and MySpace page.

Abbott is a three-time nominee for the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Allan Poe Award and a two-time nominee for the Anthony Award, given at Bouchercon (aka the World Mystery Conference.) All of Jeff's Whit Mosley suspense novels have been honored with nominations for major writing awards: A Kiss Gone Bad was short-listed for the Anthony Award; Black Jack Point was nominated for the Edgar, Anthony, and Barry Awards; and Cut and Run was nominated for the Edgar Award. Jeff's first novel, Do Unto Others, won both the Agatha Award and the Macavity Award for Best First Novel. His other books include The Only Good Yankee, Promises of Home, and Distant Blood.

The Page 69 Test: Fear.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Laura Moriarty's "The Rest of Her Life"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: Laura Moriarty's The Rest of Her Life.

About the novel, from the publisher:

In The Rest of Her Life, Laura Moriarty delivers a luminous, compassionate, and provocative look at how mothers and daughters with the best intentions can be blind to the harm they do to one another.

Leigh is the mother of high-achieving, popular high school senior Kara. Their relationship is already strained for reasons Leigh does not fully understand when, in a moment of carelessness, Kara makes a mistake that ends in tragedy -- the effects of which not only divide Leigh’s family, but polarize the entire community. We see the story from Leigh’s perspective, as she grapples with the hard reality of what her daughter has done and the devastating consequences her actions have on the family of another teenage girl in town, all while struggling to protect Kara in the face of rising public outcry.

Like the best works of Jane Hamilton, Jodi Picoult, and Alice Sebold, Laura Moriarty’s The Rest of Her Life is a novel of complex moral dilemma, filled with nuanced characters and a page-turning plot that makes readers ask themselves, “What would I do?”

Among the early praise for The Rest of Her Life:

“Are the sins of the parents visited upon the children, or vice versa? Laura Moriarty’s raw, honest novel about an ordinary family whose life changes in one extraordinary moment resonates like an emotional tuning fork. You’ll be asking yourself what you would do in this situation, long after you’ve finished reading.”
--Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of My Sister’s Keeper and Nineteen Minutes

“Laura Moriarty writes with unflinching honesty and clear-eyed compassion … Her characters are as real as mirrors, and sentiment never crosses the lines to sentimentality. Laura Moriarty can do this surpassingly well. I carried this book everywhere I went.”
--Jacquelyn Mitchard, New York Times bestselling author of The Deep End of the Ocean and Cage of Stars

"[A]n intelligent, provocative and memorable novel."
--Kansas City Star

"Powerful, original, and utterly absorbing, Moriarty's novel will stay with the reader long after the final page is turned."
--Booklist

Read Chapter One from The Rest of Her Life and learn more about the book at Laura Moriarty's website.

The Page 99 Test: The Rest of Her Life.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Walt Mossberg reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Walt Mossberg, the Personal Technology columnist for the Wall Street Journal.

As a preface to naming a couple of titles, Mossberg explains his general interest in a particular area of history:

While I write about technology, one of my major interests is the American Revolution. I find it inspiring, both in a political and military sense, and believe it has had a profound impact, not only in the U.S., but around the world. It is simply extraordinary that so many amazing people, from different backgrounds, were able to come together to challenge and defeat the mightiest power on earth, in a principled struggle that was almost lost many times.

Read on to discover the books Mossberg has been reading.

In addition to the columns he writes and edits for the Wall Street Journal, Mossberg also publishes periodic interviews for the Journal and occasional blog posts at his website. With Kara Swisher, he co-produces and co-hosts D: All Things Digital, a major high-tech and media conference.

Writers Read: Walt Mossberg.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Harold Lee Wise's "Inside the Danger Zone"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: Harold Lee Wise's Inside the Danger Zone: The U.S. Military in the Persian Gulf 1987-88.

About the book, from the publisher:

In May 1987, an Iraqi plane fired two missiles into USS Stark, a lone U.S. Navy frigate on patrol in the Gulf. The missiles severely damaged the ship and killed thirty-seven sailors. This deadly attack, which Iraq claimed was accidental, brought heightened attention to the Persian Gulf and heralded the beginning of a new era in U.S. Middle Eastern policy. From then until the end of the Iran-Iraq War, American forces carried out an unprecedented series of military operations in the Gulf. A planned tanker protection mission evolved into a naval quasi-war with Iran and culminated in the largest sea-air battle since World War II.

Inside the Danger Zone is a history of U.S. military involvement in the Persian Gulf in 1987 and 1988 — a time of burning ships, air strikes, and secret missions — the prelude to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, Desert Storm, and the most recent U.S. invasion of Iraq. Based largely on first-hand accounts from veterans of that era, it is an up-close, detailed report from the front lines of “a guerrilla war at sea.” Many of the dramatic incidents of this period are told in depth, with new information and details never before seen in print.

Among the praise for Inside the Danger Zone:

“By including sufficient background and detailing the strategic aims of Washington policy makers as well as the tactical moves by the on-scene commanders, Wise conveys both the complexities of U.S. operations and the fighting and dying that routinely occurred. A fast-moving page turner, Inside the Danger Zone is a must read for the naval history buff or anyone seeking to probe more deeply into the complexities of American involvement in Middle East war and politics.”
--Rear Adm. Harold J. Bernsen, USN (Ret.), Commander, Middle East Force, 1986-88

“Between the occupation of the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979 and the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, the United States Navy navigated the dangerous waters of the Persian Gulf, protecting the sea lanes and the flow of oil while Iran and Iraq slugged it out in a bloody war for supremacy in the region. Inside the Danger Zone is a clearly written and thoughtfully conceived account of naval operations there during the late 1980s. Harold Wise interviewed the key figures on the American side and has seamlessly blended their accounts with the relevant U.S. Navy documents. For anyone interested in understanding how the politics of oil, international rivalries, and naval policy intersect, Inside the Danger Zone is a must read.”
--James S. Olson, Distinguished Professor of History, Sam Houston State University

Harold Lee Wise is an adjunct professor at Elizabeth City State University.

Read the Prologue to Inside the Danger Zone and learn more about the book at Harold Lee Wise's website.

The Page 99 Test: Inside the Danger Zone.

--Marshal Zeringue

Most important books: Jonathan Safran Foer

Jonathan Safran Foer, author of Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Everything Is Illuminated, and other works, recently told Newsweek about his five most important books.

And he addressed two other book-related issues:

A Certified Important Book you still haven't read:

I haven't read most of them. The Qur'an might take the prize, though. It's hard to think of a more important book these days.

A book you would like to share with your children:

I have a small library of books about circumcision, which, when the time comes — that is, when I suddenly find myself with a lot of explaining to do — I will defer to. And then one day he can pass them on to his son. And so on and so on ...

Read about Foer's most important books.

--Marshal Zeringue

Cheryl Kaye Tardif's "Whale Song," the movie

The latest entry at My Book, The Movie: Cheryl Kaye Tardif's Whale Song.

About the book, from the author's website:

A haunting story of love, tragedy and transformation that will change the way you view life ... and death.

Two cultures clash in a world where native tradition and modern law cannot co-exist. How can a young girl deal with the assisted suicide of her own mother?

Whale Song is a haunting tale of change and choice.

Thirteen years ago, Sarah Richardson’s life was shattered after the tragic assisted suicide of her mother. The shocking tragedy left a grief-stricken teen-aged Sarah with partial amnesia.

Some things are easier to forget.

But now a familiar voice from her past sends Sarah, a talented mid-twenties ad exec, back to her past. A past that she had thought was long buried.

Some things are meant to be buried.

Torn by nightmares and visions of a yellow-eyed wolf, yet aided by the creatures of the Earth and by the killer whales that call to her in the night, Sarah must face her fears and uncover the truth ― even if it destroys her.

Some things are meant to be remembered ― at all cost.

Read an excerpt from Whale Song and visit Cheryl Kaye Tardif's website.

My Book, The Movie: Whale Song.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Christine Kenneally's "The First Word"

Today's feature at the Page 99 Test: Christine Kenneally's The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language.

About the book, from the publisher:

A compelling look at the quest for the origins of human language from an accomplished linguist

Language is a distinctly human gift. However, because it leaves no permanent trace, its evolution has long been a mystery, and it is only in the last fifteen years that we have begun to understand how language came into being.

The First Word is the compelling story of the quest for the origins of human language. The book follows two intertwined narratives. The first is an account of how language developed — how the random and layered processes of evolution wound together to produce a talking animal: us. The second addresses why scientists are at last able to explore the subject. For more than a hundred years, language evolution was considered a scientific taboo. Kenneally focuses on figures like Noam Chomsky and Steven Pinker, along with cognitive scientists, biologists, geneticists, and animal researchers, in order to answer the fundamental question: Is language a uniquely human phenomenon?

The First Word is the first book of its kind written for a general audience. Sure to appeal to fans of Steven Pinker’s The Language Instinct and Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel, Kenneally’s book is set to join them as a seminal account of human history.

Among the praise for The First Word:

"[A] lucid survey of this expanding field... covers an enormous expanse of ground as she brings the reader up to date on developments in a wide variety of disciplines touching on language evolution... explains difficult ideas concisely and clearly... scrupulously fair-minded... zeroes in on a host of fascinating experiments."
--New York Times

"The book's wit and sophistication will appeal to anyone interested in talking about talk."
--Slate

"...an elegant parcel that makes the abstract concrete -- and, like an imperative, it is eminently worthy of attention."
--Psychology Today

"...deftly traces [an] ideological shift, weaving history with hard science, to provide an expansive account of what we know about the beginnings of language and how we came to know it."
--Seed Magazine

"...a useful introduction to the exciting new field of evolutionary linguistics."
--Wired

"...lucidly explains how scientists explore language... Lively portrait of a fascinating new scientific field."
--Kirkus

"...intriguing accounts of research not just about humans but about primates, dolphins, and parrots as well. ...stands out among numerous recent publications."
--Library Journal

"...seeing the human capacity for speech on an evolutionary continuum of communication that includes all other animal species provides a respite from ideological declamations about human supremacy..."
--Publishers Weekly

"A clear and splendidly written account of a new field of research on a central question about the human species."
--Steven Pinker

"The First Word is a rare and delightful mix: both a probing exploration of one of the great remaining mysteries of life, and a riveting story of the battles and breakthroughs that drive scientific progress."
--Steven Johnson

Christine Kenneally is a freelance journalist and author who has written for The New Yorker, the New York Times, Discover, Slate and Salon, as well as other publications.

Read more about Kenneally's journalism and The First Word at her website.

The Page 99 Test: The First Word.

--Marshal Zeringue