Alice Waters' most important books

Alice Waters is the founder of Chez Panisse and author or co-author of several books, including Chez Panisse Vegetables, Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook, Fanny at Chez Panisse, a storybook and cookbook for children, and most recently, The Art of Simple Food.

She told Newsweek about her five most important books. And answered a couple of related questions:

A much-recommended book you haven't read:

Jonathan Kozol's The Shame of the Nation, a book about the disgraceful inequalities in our public-education system. I have yet to steel myself.

A book you hope parents will read to their children:

Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson's Chew on This, an accessible and engaging book that will make kids understand why not to reach for the Happy Meal.

Read more about Alice Waters' most important books.

--Marshal Zeringue

Corey Redekop's "Shelf Monkey," the movie

Now showing at My Book, The Movie: Shelf Monkey by Corey Redekop.

In October 2007, Corey Redekop applied the Page 99 Test to his novel, Shelf Monkey.

Now he's shared some thoughts on a film adaptation of the novel. His entry opens:

Shelf Monkey is about obsession and the perils inherent in becoming too emotionally attached to any one point of view. Any cast member would have to have that certain mania which accompanies that extreme viewpoint of everything I believe in is right, and everything you believe in is wrong.

The lead character Thomas at one point opines on who should portray him in the eventual movie, laying out Jake Gyllenhaal and Ewan McGregor as his favored candidates. Nice try, but Thomas as a personality does not have that kind of Hollywood heft, and should not get played by a personality that would overwhelm the character (although Ewan would be a good choice in any event). He’s kind of a sarcastic milquetoast, and Paul Rudd would be a fine choice, if possibly a little too old (sorry Paul). In a few years, Michael Cera would be absolutely perfect. And seriously, how good is Cera anyway? I can’t get enough of the guy. Also, he’s Canadian, and as Shelf Monkey is a shaggy little Canadian novel, it would be nice to get an actor with that je ne c’est quoi sensibility. Or Topher Grace. [read on]

Read more about the novel and author at the Shelf Monkey blog and listen to podcasts of two excerpts.

The Page 99 Test: Shelf Monkey.

My Book, The Movie: Shelf Monkey.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Seth Harwood's "Jack Wakes Up"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: Seth Harwood's Jack Wakes Up.

About the book, from the publisher:

Four years ago, when his first action movie, Shake ‘Em Down, came out, Jack Palms had everything he could want. But after his wife brought him up on false charges of assault, then filed for a divorce, he bottomed out on drugs and his sequel got scrapped. No one in Hollywood would return Jack’s calls.

Since then, in the three years since Jack went clean—no drugs, no drinking, no life—he’s added seventeen pounds of muscle, read 83 books, and played it straight down the line. Now he’s bored, has gone through most of his money and doesn’t know what comes next, but wants to leave his self-imposed exile.

When an old friend offers him a chance to work one big score, a single drug trade that’s going to set them up for life, he finds himself introduced to a trio of Eastern Europeans looking to score enough coke to settle down and start their own business. All Jack has to do is keep them entertained and get them through their purchase. But when people start turning up dead, and an old nemesis on the police starts calling, Jack finds himself in danger. With the cop giving him just 24 hours to find San Francisco’s biggest drug supplier or face charges that will put him behind bars, Jack has to find out quickly which side of acting and action he’s really on.

Ad libbing his way through a minefield of Colombian drug men, San Francisco gangsters and ex-KGB agents, Jack comes to see that the only way to know exactly what’s real—who’s doing the killing, what’s actually going on, and where he’s headed with the beautiful bartender who brought him home—is to see this thing through to its end, no matter what. He’s waking up to a whole new version of his life… however long it’s going to last.

Among the early praise for Jack Wakes Up:

"Seth Harwood has created a thrilling noir story that pulls the listener into the dark world of Jack Palms."
--Spinetingler Magazine

“Harwood sucker-punches crime fiction. It’s not a fair fight…”
--Scott Sigler, bestselling author of Ancestor and Infected

“A supercool cocktail of chicks, Czechs, cars and coke, Jack Wakes Up is an immaculately paced thrill-ride by a writer to watch.”
--Allan Guthrie, author of Savage Night

"Thumbs up. It's a firecracker of a novel, powered by jet fuel. Never lets up. And this Palms fellow, he's an interesting guy--hang around him for five minutes, and trouble will find you both, no doubt. Makes for a fun vacation."
--Anthony Neil Smith

Read an excerpt from Jack Wakes Up at Spinetingler Magazine, and learn more about the book and its author at Seth Harwood's website, his blog, and his MySpace page.

Seth Harwood teaches writing and literature at the City College of San Francisco and Chabot College. In July 2006, he began the Jack Palms Crime Podcast Series.

Read more the Palm/Palms Sunday Jack Wakes Up sales chart offensive at The Rap Sheet or at Harwood's blog.

The Page 99 Test: Jack Wakes Up.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Will Lavender's "Obedience"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: Will Lavender's Obedience.

About the book, from the author's website:

When the students in Winchester University’s Logic and Reasoning 204 arrive for their first day of class, they are greeted not with a syllabus or texts, but with a startling assignment from Professor Williams: Find a hypothetical missing girl named Polly. If after being given a series of clues and details the class has not found her before the end of the term in six weeks, she will be murdered.

At first the students are as intrigued by the premise of their puzzle as they are wary of the strange and slightly creepy Professor Williams. But as they delve deeper into the mystery, they begin to wonder: Is the Polly story simply a logic exercise, designed to teach them rational thinking skills, or could it be something more sinister and dangerous? The mystery soon takes over the lives of three students as they find disturbing connections between Polly and themselves. Characters that were supposedly fictitious begin to emerge in reality. Soon, the boundary between the classroom assignment and the real world becomes blurred — and the students wonder if it is their own lives they are being asked to save.

Among the praise for Obedience:

“[Lavender] gets his hooks in deep with this arresting debut… An inspired thriller about cognitive dissonance, conjectural misdirection and the conspicuous dichotomy between academia and the real world.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“A devilishly inventive debut that reads like a house of mirrors. Nothing is what it seems, right up to the devastating finale.”
—Brian Freeman, author of Stripped and Immoral

“It’s a genuine, if slightly perverse, kick to follow every byzantine clue in this bizarre game. If you solve this one without peeking at the last chapter, it’s an automatic A.”
—New York Times Book Review

“Obedience draws you in and never lets go—-and what a ride!”
—David Baldacci

“In his dream-like and labyrinthine debut, Will Lavender delivers a clever, intricate page-turner... A gripping exploration of human nature and all its foibles told in Lavender's fresh and original voice...”
—Lisa Unger

“Obedience is a very scary story set on the border where good meets evil, located in this case in that scariest of places, academia. Taut, twisty, and highly original: the pages turned themselves.”
—Peter Abrahams

“A taut and timely thriller that explores the dark side of academia, where classrooms are dangerous and paranoia abounds...”
—Karin Slaughter

“[E]vidence that crime fiction is hardly a played-out genre…A mystery as ambitious as one could imagine.”
—Wall Street Journal

Read an excerpt from Obedience, and learn more about the author and his work at Will Lavender's website.

The Page 69 Test: Obedience.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five best: books about ambition

Novelist, short story writer and playwright Warren Adler tagged five "favorite works about ambition, political and otherwise" for the Wall Street Journal.

One book on the list:

Dutch
by Edmund Morris
Random House, 1999

Edmund Morris, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1980 for his life of Theodore Roosevelt, was for his next book given unusual access to Ronald Reagan. Morris later admitted that he was baffled by the president, and the result was this somewhat bizarre "biography." Reagan, I believe, was far more nuanced and subtle than the media ever grasped. Although Morris might have glimpsed the power and ambition behind the mask, I suspect that he knew he couldn't quite harvest the man's essence. Thus he attempted to get at the Reagan story in an unusual way, creating a kind of Greek chorus and introducing himself as a fictional character in the narrative. He was naturally excoriated by critics and the Reagan family, but even though "Dutch" may be dubious as a nonfiction work, it is insightful and deeply compelling.

Read about the oldest title on Adler's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Pamela Erens reading?

The current featured contributor to Writers Read: Pamela Erens, author of the novel, The Understory, which won the Ironweed Press Fiction Prize and is a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for First Fiction.

Erens's short fiction has been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes and has appeared or is forthcoming in Chicago Review, Boston Review, The Literary Review, Bellingham Review, Upstreet, Skidrow Penthouse and Redivider. She will be featured in the short-story anthology Visiting Hours (Press 53, 2008).

One book mentioned in her entry:

Evan Connell’s Mrs. Bridge, written in 1959. I’d already read the sequel to this book, the longer Mr. Bridge, and I think Mrs. B is even better. The novel is constructed as a series of very short chapters about an upper-middle-class, Midwestern family between the 1920s and the early 1940s. The effect is that of a mosaic, although the progression is linear, beginning with Mrs. Bridge’s marriage, moving through the childhood and adolescence of her three children, and ending when everyone has flown the coop. What’s astonishing about the Bridge books is that the Bridges and their neighbors live such ordinary, even stultifying, lives, and yet reading about them is completely absorbing. Connell’s success here is partly due to his gift for compression, but it also has to do with his compassion for his characters, his sly humor, and his ability to plug into deep and universal currents of feeling that his characters can hardly name, much less freely acknowledge. The bewilderment and loneliness that Mrs. Bridge so often experiences in the midst of her very proper life is somehow also mine, living though I do decades later and within a completely different set of circumstances. I read this short book quickly and with delight but when I was done I felt a terrible grief. [read on]

Visit Pamela Erens's website to read more about The Understory and her short stories, essays, and journalism.

Writers Read: Pamela Erens.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: "Seneca Falls and the Origins of the Women’s Rights Movement"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: Seneca Falls and the Origins of the Women’s Rights Movement by Sally McMillen.

About the book, from the publisher:

In a quiet town of Seneca Falls, New York, over the course of two days in July, 1848, a small group of women and men, led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, held a convention that would launch the woman's rights movement and change the course of history. The implications of that remarkable convention would be felt around the world and indeed are still being felt today.

In Seneca Falls and the Origins of the Woman's Rights Movement, the latest contribution to Oxford's acclaimed Pivotal Moments in American History series, Sally McMillen unpacks, for the first time, the full significance of that revolutionary convention and the enormous changes it produced. The book covers 50 years of women's activism, from 1840-1890, focusing on four extraordinary figures--Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, and Susan B. Anthony. McMillen tells the stories of their lives, how they came to take up the cause of women's rights, the astonishing advances they made during their lifetimes, and the lasting and transformative effects of the work they did. At the convention they asserted full equality with men, argued for greater legal rights, greater professional and education opportunities, and the right to vote--ideas considered wildly radical at the time. Indeed, looking back at the convention two years later, Anthony called it "the grandest and greatest reform of all time--and destined to be thus regarded by the future historian." In this lively and warmly written study, Sally McMillen may well be the future historian Anthony was hoping to find.

A vibrant portrait of a major turning point in American women's history, and in human history, this book is essential reading for anyone wishing to fully understand the origins of the woman's rights movement.

Among the early acclaim for the book:

"Sally McMillen offers the most complete discussion yet of the origins and the impact of this event that started the American women's movement and would change the world."
--Marjorie Julian Spruill, The University of South Carolina

"McMillen deftly demonstrates how ordinary women transformed their lives and America's future by rejecting the pedestal to join the rough and tumble of nineteenth century reform politics. Her achievement is to make this transformation accessible yet complex, commonplace yet extraordinary."
--Catherine Clinton, Queen's University-Belfast

"McMillen...presents a fine history of the 1848 Seneca Falls convention ... a well-written and cogent synthesis accessible to the general reader while remaining firmly grounded in primary sources."
--Publishers Weekly

"Sally McMillen weaves together compelling biographies of colorful leaders with an engaging analysis of the broader reform movements that transformed the texture and trajectory of American society. It is an extraordinary story of ideals and energies that continue to shape American life. In short, McMillen offers a learned and lucid overview of a movement that still moves us."
--David Emory Shi, President of Furman University; author of Facing Facts: Realism in American Thought and Culture, 1850-1900

"Tracing the developments that led up to and away from the Woman's Rights Convention of 1848, the volume makes a major contribution to women's history and to American history."
--Nancy A. Hewitt, Rutgers University

"This book provides a compulsively readable history of nineteenth-century American feminism--its origins, struggles, achievements, and legacies. I know of no more insightful account of the birth and evolution of the movement to overcome gender inequality."
--Steven Mintz, John and Rebecca Moores Professor of History, University of Houston

Read more about Seneca Falls and the Origins of the Women’s Rights Movement at the Oxford University Press website.

Sally McMillen is the Mary Reynolds Babcock Professor of History and Department Chair at Davidson College. She specializes in Southern and women's history, with an emphasis on the nineteenth century. Among her publications are Motherhood in the Old South: Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Infant Rearing, Southern Women: Black and White in the Old South, and To Raise Up the South: Sunday Schools in Black and White Churches, 1865-1915.

The Page 99 Test: Seneca Falls and the Origins of the Women’s Rights Movement.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top 10: books about civil war

Michael Symmons Roberts has published four highly acclaimed volumes of poetry to date. He won the 2004 Whitbread poetry prize for his collection Corpus. He is currently working on a project for Welsh National Opera with composer James Macmillan, and his second novel, Breath.

For the Guardian, he compiled a top 10 list of books about civil war, with particular attention to "books that explored the particular challenge of peace in the aftermath."

One novel on his list:

Disgrace by JM Coetzee

A remarkable novel set in post-apartheid South Africa. Not directly addressing civil war, but it is a vivid exploration of the aftermath of civil conflict, the sheer difficulty of reconciliation and healing.

Read about the book that topped Michael Symmons Roberts's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Jefferson Bass' "The Devil's Bones"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: The Devil's Bones by Jefferson Bass.

About the book, from the publisher:

In two previous New York Times bestselling novels, Jefferson Bass enthralled readers with ripped-from-the-headlines forensic cases, memorable characters, and plots that "rival Kathy Reichs and Patricia Cornwell" (Seattle Post-Intelligencer). Drawing on research at the Body Farm—three acres of land in the backwoods of Tennessee, where bodies are left to the elements to illuminate human decomposition—Bass has moved fiction to a fascinating new realm, with forensics expertise drawn from his five decades of work as the world's leading forensic anthropologist. But this latest novel cements Jefferson Bass as one of the finest writers of suspense working today, and in a work of drama, cunning, and heartbreak, thrills the reader with fiction that feels all too real.

A woman's charred body has been found inside a burned car perched atop a hill in Knoxville. Is it accidental death, or murder followed by arson? Forensic anthropologist Bill Brockton's quest for answers prompts an experiment straight from Dante's Inferno: In the dark of night, he puts bodies to the torch, researching how fire consumes flesh and bone.

In the meantime, Brockton is sent a mysterious package—a set of cremated remains that looks entirely unreal. With the help of a local crematorium, he investigates and discovers a truth too horrifying to believe: A facility in another state has not been disposing of bodies properly, instead scattering them all around the grounds.

Little does Brockton know that his research is about to collide with reality—with the force of a lit match meeting spilled gasoline. En route to trial, his nemesis, medical examiner Garland Hamilton, has escaped from custody. What follows is a deadly game of cat and mouse, played for the ultimate stakes: Brockton's own life. With help from his loyal graduate assistant, Miranda, and ace criminalist Art Bohanan, Brockton eventually tracks Hamilton, but when the police arrive, they find only a smoldering ruin. Sifting through the ashes, Brockton finds the incinerated remains of Hamilton ... or does he? The answer—along with Brockton's ultimate test—comes in a searing moment of truth.

Among the novel's early reviews:

"As this third thriller (after Carved in Bone and Flesh and Bone) by the pseudonymous Bass (the writing team of Dr. Bill Bass, forensic anthropologist and founder of University of Tennessee's Body Farm, and science writer Jon Jefferson) opens, Bill Brockton is back at work on the Body Farm after the recent murder of his lover and an attempt on his own life. The killer, Garland Hamilton, nurses a fanatical grudge against Brockton. Before his trial begins, Hamilton escapes and is presumed to have died in a mountain cabin fire. In the meantime, Brockton uses his skills and those of his graduate student Miranda in various unrelated cases, including that of a Georgia crematorium stacking bodies in the woods and providing fake ashes to the families. The authors juggle several quickly moving narratives until the final confrontation between Brockton and his nemesis. Buy wherever forensic fiction is popular, and be aware of several graphic scenes and descriptions."
—A.J. Wright, School Library Journal

A "page-turning, nail-biting thriller ... you'll want to burn the midnight oil reading it!"
—Douglas R. Cobb, BestsellersWorld.com

Read an excerpt from The Devil's Bones.

Jefferson Bass is the writing team of Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson. Dr. Bass, a world-renowned forensic anthropologist, founded the University of Tennessee's Anthropology Research Facility -- the Body Farm -- a quarter-century ago. Jon Jefferson is a veteran journalist, writer, and documentary filmmaker.

For more about the authors and their work, including video footage of the real-life Body Farm, visit JeffersonBass.com.

The Page 69 Test: The Devil's Bones.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Ann Wilson reading?

Ann Wilson, the lead singer of Heart, talked to the Christian Science Monitor about the movies she's been watching, the reunion concert she saw before Christmas, and what's on her iPod.

And what she's been reading:

The last book I read was called Sway [a novel by Zachary Lazar]. It was a very dark, very interesting, intense book. I just started reading The Dangerous Book for Dogs. It's a take-off on The Dangerous Book for Boys. So far I think it's hilarious. It's just really lighthearted. My dogs lie there on the bed and I laugh about it.

Read more about what Ann Wilson has been watching and listening to.

Check out the Page 69 Test: Zachary Lazar's Sway.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Kim Harrison's "The Outlaw Demon Wails"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: Kim Harrison's The Outlaw Demon Wails.

About the book, from the publisher:

To save the lives of her friends, Rachel did the unthinkable: she willingly trafficked in forbidden demon magic. And now her sins are coming home to haunt her.

As Rachel searches for the truth behind a terrifying murder, an even greater menace threatens, for the demon Algaliarept will stop at nothing to claim her, and the discovery of a shocking family secret throws Rachel's entire life into question. If she is ever to live free, Rachel must first walk willingly into the demonic ever-after in search of long-lost ancient knowledge.

But when you dance with demons, you lay your soul on the line ... and there are some lines that should never be crossed.

Among the early praise for The Outlaw Demon Wails:

"Red-headed witch Rachel Morgan has a demon after her, but that's just one of her many troubles in this action-packed sixth installment of Harrison's Hollows series (after 2007's For a Few Demons More). A nice guy might be moving into Rachel's town and life, but she's still getting over her last boyfriend, whose murder she has yet to solve. Elf politician Trent Kalamack wants her to go to the ever-after on a dangerous mission. Rynn Cormel, Cincinnati's new master vampire and ex-leader of the free world, is interfering in her life. Her friend, former demon familiar Ceri, is unexpectedly pregnant, by an unexpected partner. On top of all this, Rachel worries she may have had a too close encounter with a vampire and soon becomes concerned about her own abilities with demon magic. With the help of her feisty mother, Alice, and her pixy partner, Jenks, Rachel boldly tackles every challenge amid a cascade of plot twists that will delight Harrison's fans."
--Publishers Weekly

"Her work can read like a smoldering combination of Alice Waters and Ozzy Osbourne."
--New York Times Book Review

"Harrison makes Rachel’s conflicts real and poignant without turning them into melodramatic slush. .. Harrison devotees should find ample emotional revelations and plot resolution, with enough loose ends to have them eagerly awaiting the next installment."
--Kirkus

"The Outlaw Demon Wails is the sixth book in the Rachel Morgan series. Rachel’s talents have continued to grow and with it the danger she attracts has grown as well.... While the ending in the previous installment was shocking, readers will be surprised to find that the climax in The Outlaw Demon Wails will take the heroine’s future in a whole new direction that will have fans counting down to the next release."
--Darque Reviews

Browse inside The Outlaw Demon Wails, and learn more about the author and her work at Kim Harrison's website.

Harrison's other works include the New York Times bestselling For a Few Demons More.

The Page 99 Test: The Outlaw Demon Wails.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Marcus du Sautoy's "Symmetry"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: Marcus du Sautoy's Symmetry: A Journey Into the Patterns of Nature (Finding Moonshine, UK title).

About the book, from the publisher:

Symmetry is all around us. Our eyes and minds are drawn to symmetrical objects, from the pyramid to the pentagon. Of fundamental significance to the way we interpret the world, this unique, pervasive phenomenon indicates a dynamic relationship between objects. In chemistry and physics, the concept of symmetry explains the structure of crystals or the theory of fundamental particles; in evolutionary biology, the natural world exploits symmetry in the fight for survival; and symmetry—and the breaking of it—is central to ideas in art, architecture, and music.

Combining a rich historical narrative with his own personal journey as a mathematician, Marcus du Sautoy takes a unique look into the mathematical mind as he explores deep conjectures about symmetry and brings us face-to-face with the oddball mathematicians, both past and present, who have battled to understand symmetry's elusive qualities. He explores what is perhaps the most exciting discovery to date—the summit of mathematicians' mastery in the field—the Monster, a huge snowflake that exists in 196,883-dimensional space with more symmetries than there are atoms in the sun.

What is it like to solve an ancient mathematical problem in a flash of inspiration? What is it like to be shown, ten minutes later, that you've made a mistake? What is it like to see the world in mathematical terms, and what can that tell us about life itself? In Symmetry, Marcus du Sautoy investigates these questions and shows mathematical novices what it feels like to grapple with some of the most complex ideas the human mind can comprehend.

Among the praise for Symmetry:

"Du Sautoy… is not your typical nerdy mathematician. If you have seen him lecture in the flesh, or perhaps watched his fabulous 2006 Royal Institution Christmas lectures on Channel 5, you will know that he looks a bit like the lead singer from Radiohead, plays the trumpet (and footy in a Sunday league) and that he is articulate, fluent, funny and personable. He is also absolutely passionate about mathematics, with a burning desire to make the rest of us as excited as he is about its problems, its patterns and its beauty... He captures for us with brilliant vividness the excitement of the pursuit of a solution to a difficult problem, the extraordinary optimism and patience that modern mathematics requires, when such solutions often involve years of painstaking compilation of partial solutions that might eventually contribute to a successful final outcome. We experience the thrill of a step made towards uncovering ultimate mathematical beauty and share his sense of wonder at the intricacies and patterns that the search reveals. We are drawn into the curious lives of virtuosi from the past, whose brilliant discoveries continue to underpin modern mathematics.”
--Sunday Times

“A fascinating account of the long quest to unearth the mathematics of symmetry… an illuminating account of the life of a mathematician… FINDING MOONSHINE is full of insight into the nature of symmetry and the people who study it. It makes for a fascinating and absorbing read.”
--The Economist

“Idiosyncratic but illuminating…Even if you understand little of the mathematics involved, it’s a fascinating tale… Non-mathematicians will be awestruck by this account of the kind of minds capable of conceiving the Monster and all its symmetries.”
--Financial Times

"Even if the thought of sitting down to a quintic equation makes you want to cry, it would still be hard to resist Moonshine's cocktail of anecdote, swashbuckling potted history and haphazard self-revelation... However, it's the moments of autobiographical intimacy that bring the book to life. Ever wondered what mathematicians do all day? Du Sautoy potters about listening to Strauss and knocks off in time to pick the kids up from school; his colleagues play a lot of backgammon. It sounds like a racket. But perhaps you were curious to learn how du Sautoy and his wife came to adopt those kids? Or which of those colleagues most probably has Asperger's? Or how the author, somnambulant, once tried to strangle his PhD supervisor? These indiscretions transform the book. Without them, it would be a superlatively interesting lecture. With them, it's a joy.”
-- Sunday Telegraph

"A monster hit for the maths world… At the book's core is the mathematical story, which du Sautoy tells with the narrative flair and storyteller's sense of detail, development and suspense also exhibited in his first book, THE MUSIC OF THE PRIMES… FINDING MOONSHINE is one of the few popular first-person accounts - I'd be hard-pressed to name a single other - from the frontiers of modern mathematics. Moving from the highs of illumination leading to new discoveries, to the lows of professional rivalries and peregrinations in intellectual labyrinths, it gives an inspiring testimony of what it is like to be a research mathematician."
--The Independent

"A marvellous account of a 4,000-year obsession with symmetry and the secret language of nature."

--The Guardian

“FINDING MOONSHINE is a superlative mathematical entertainment; not pretty to the purist eye, but oh, so effective”
--The Independent on Sunday

Read more about the book and its author at Marcus Du Sautoy's website and the Finding Moonshine blog.

Marcus du Sautoy is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Wadham College. He is also The Music of the Primes. He is Senior Media Fellow at the EPSRC. He has been named by the Independent on Sunday as one of the UK's leading scientists. In 2001 he won the prestigious Berwick Prize of the London Mathematical Society awarded every two years to reward the best mathematical research made by a mathematician under 40. In 2004 Esquire Magazine chose him as one of the 100 most influential people under 40 in Britain and in 2008 he was included in the prestigious directory Who’s Who. He is author of numerous academic articles and books on mathematics.

The Page 69 Test: Symmetry.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Mark Harris reading?

The latest featured contributor to Writers Read: Mark Harris, a writer and editor covering movies, television and books for Entertainment Weekly, and the author of Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood.

His entry begins:

How do you write about a relationship you never witnessed between two people you never met when those two people seem to have left almost no written trace of their history together? Judith Freeman sets that steep challenge for herself in The Long Embrace: Raymond Chandler and the Woman He Loved, in which she tries to explain -- to herself as much as to us -- the thirty-year marriage of the alcoholic, philandering, possibly bisexual Chandler to a woman eighteen years his senior. It's an act of biographical speculation in some ways, but it's speculation of a very thoughtful and responsible order, and Freeman goes about her task in a completely original way: The Chandlers, for reasons that remain as elusive as their relationship, never stopped moving, and Freeman retraces their path to and from the nearly three dozen houses and apartments in and around Los Angeles where they lived. [read on]

Read more about Mark Harris and his work at the Pictures at a Revolution website.

Among the praise for Pictures at a Revolution:

"An exhilarating read for anyone who cares about the myriad ways movies can shape popular and political culture. I loved it."
—Christine Vachon, producer, author of Shooting to Kill

"While one might think that the films discussed in this book have been thoroughly plumbed (The Graduate; Bonnie and Clyde; In the Heat of the Night; Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?), Entertainment Weekly writer Harris offers his take in this thorough and engaging narrative. Instead of simply retelling old war stories about the production of these five Best Picture nominees at the 1968 Oscars, Harris tells a much wider story. Hollywood was on the brink of obsolescence throughout the 1960s as it faced artistic competition from European art films and financial implosion due to an outdated production system and rising budgets. Harris doesn't shy away from complexity in favor of easy answers, and the personalities that he profiles — among them Sidney Poitier, Mike Nichols, Warren Beatty and Richard Zanuck — are certainly worthy of the three dimensional approach. Harris also peppers his narrative with moments that capture the rising cultural tide that broke in the late '60s: chipping away at the moralistic Production Code, and Hollywood's inconsistent engagement with the Civil Rights movement are continuous sources of interest throughout this fascinating book."
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Pictures at a Revolution is exactly what its title promises: an in-depth, up-close view of the films and filmmakers that transformed American cinema during an extraordinary period of innovation and insurrection. What we have here is a clash of the titans — Old Hollywood versus the New — with the entire enterprise of American filmmaking hanging in the balance. Like a skilled novelist, Mark Harris keeps us turning the pages, with heroes to root for, villains to hiss, and plenty of intrigue along the way — all set against the psychedelic backdrop of the turbulent 1960s. A remarkable reconstruction of perhaps the most significant artistic moment in the history of American film."
—William J. Mann, author of Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn and Edge of Midnight: The Life of John Schlesinger

Writers Read: Mark Harris.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: David Perlmutter's "Blogwars"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: David Perlmutter's Blogwars: The New Political Battleground.

About the book, from the publisher:

Political blogs have grown astronomically in the last half-decade. In just one month in 2005, for example, popular blog DailyKos received more unique visitors than the population of Iowa and New Hampshire combined. But how much political impact do bloggers really have?

In Blogwars, David D. Perlmutter examines this rapidly burgeoning phenomenon, exploring the degree to which blogs influence -- or fail to influence -- American political life. Challenging the hype, Perlmutter points out that blogs are not that powerful by traditional political measures: while bloggers can offer cogent and convincing arguments and bring before their readers information not readily available elsewhere, they have no financial, moral, social, or cultural leverage to compel readers to engage in any particular political behavior. Indeed, blogs have scored mixed results in their past political crusades. But in the end, Perlmutter argues that blogs, in their wide dissemination of information and opinions, actually serve to improve democracy and enrich political culture. He highlights a number of the particularly noteworthy blogs from the specialty to the superblog-including popular sites such as Daily Kos, The Huffington Post, Powerlineblog, Instapundit, and Talking Points Memo -- and shows how blogs are becoming part of the tool kit of political professionals, from presidential candidates to advertising consultants. While the political future may be uncertain, it will not be unblogged.

For many Internet users, blogs are the news and editorial sites of record, replacing traditional newspapers, magazines, and television news programs. Blogwars offers the first full examination of this new and controversial force on America's political landscape.

Among the praise for Blogwars:

"David Perlmutter brings the analytical bent of a scholar on the phenomenon of blogging. As a lover of news as well as the new, he also brings a fan's passion to the subject. I am most grateful for both the scholarly perspective and the fan's passion."
--Scott. W. Johnson, powerlineblog.com

"Would blogs really matter that much, and if so would they alter the American political system for the better or worse? David Perlmutter, a professor of journalism at the University of Kansas, has plunged into cyberspace as both a researcher and blogger to look for answers...For readers unfamiliar with the political-blogging terrain, his book serves as a worthy introduction."
--Boston Globe

"David Perlmutter 'gets' the blogosphere in a way that few outside observers do, going beyond the tired arguments about whether bloggers are damaging the civil debate by their partisanship and volume, about whether nonprofessional journalists and pundits should have a say in that debate, and about whether the phenomenon is just a flash in the pan. Perlmutter recognizes what these new media-blogs, YouTube, social networking sites-bring to the table: a reinvigoration of the public side of the public debate, a real and profound demonstration of the political process."
--Joan McCarter (mcjoan), Contributing Editor, DailyKos

"Perlmutter's Blogwars is an impressive primer on the politics and political implications of the blogs and the blogosphere."
--Kathleen Jamieson, University of Pennsylvania

"Books on blogs by bloggers vastly overstate their case and overpromote their cause. David Perlmutter, however, puts blogs in the proper perspective, giving an insightful and highly useful account of how blogs actually are changing American politics as a new tool in a growing arsenal of weapons for political operatives and pundits."
--Erick-Woods Erickson, Editor, RedState.com

Read more about Blogwars at the Oxford University Press website.

David D. Perlmutter is professor and associate dean for graduate studies and research at the William Allen White School of Journalism & Mass Communications, University of Kansas.

Learn more about David Perlmutter and his work at his faculty webpage, at PolicyByBlog, and at the blog of the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas, which he edits.

The Page 99 Test: Blogwars.

--Marshal Zeringue

Mark Hodkinson's favorite rock music in fiction

Mark Hodkinson, author of The Last Mad Surge of Youth, a forthcoming book about the music industry, named a critic's chart of rock music in fiction for the (London) Times.

One title on the list:

The Harder They Come by Michael Thelwell

Local (Jamaican) boy from woodsmoke-logged village makes good.

Read about Number One on Hodkinson's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

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

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

About the book, from the publisher:

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

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

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

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

Among the early praise for Another Thing to Fall:

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Page 69 Test: Another Thing to Fall.

--Marshal Zeringue

Most important books: Russell Banks

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

And answered a couple of related questions:

A book you always return to:

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

A book you hope parents will read to their children:

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

Read about Banks' most important books.

--Marshal Zeringue

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

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

About the book, from the publisher:

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

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

Among the early praise for the book:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Page 99 Test: The Myth of American Diplomacy.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Roy Foster reading?

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

Two books from his entry:

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

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

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

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

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

Writers Read: Roy Foster.

--Marshal Zeringue

Tara McKelvey's "Monstering," the movie

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

Her entry opens:

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

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

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

The Page 69 Test: Monstering.

My Book, The Movie: Monstering.

--Marshal Zeringue