Best books: John Krasinski

Actor John Krasinski, of NBC’s The Office, recently made his film-directing debut with Brief Interviews With Hideous Men, an adaptation of a short-story collection by David Foster Wallace.

He named his six best books for The Week magazine. One novel on the list:

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Simon & Schuster, $14).

My highest recommendation in the “reread” category. Sure, you’ve read Fitzgerald’s masterpiece somewhere between freshman and senior year in high school, but I can guarantee it will mean so much more now. Reading this again, when you’re a little older and a little wiser, is like being in a room you’ve been in before. Only this time the lights are on.

Read about the book that Krasinski calls "without a doubt, one of the greatest books about making movies."

The Great Gatsby appears among Kate Atkinson's top ten novels and on the American Book Review's list of the 100 best last lines from novels.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Don Waters reading?

The current featured contributor to Writers Read: Don Waters, author of the award-winning story collection, Desert Gothic.

His entry begins:

The Night of the Gun, by David Carr

I recently spent time in a small town on the coast of Oregon, where my girlfriend and I were working on various writing projects. There was a library in town, just a two-room building, run by an all-volunteer group of dedicated people. I went there a lot. Not much to do in that town; plus, I love tiny libraries.

The Night of the Gun, a memoir by David Carr, was on the library’s shelves. Each time I walked through the door, the rolled up dollar bill on the book’s cover, resembling the barrel of a gun, seemed to be pointing at me. I finally checked it out, not knowing what to expect. What I read jolted and fascinated and, by the book’s end, amazed me.

Carr’s memoir tells of his journey – and it is a journey – out of cocaine and alcohol addiction to responsible parent and journalist with The New York Times. If you really think about that, that’s some transformation. Beyond the book’s sensational selling points—cocaine bum turned loving father—Carr’s memoir is an exploration of truth and memory. No one ever has the same memory of the same event. Carr illustrates this by turning his life’s story into reportage. He reports from front lines of old battlegrounds, returning to past haunts to interview friends and family. Out of this he achieves partial...[read on]

Don Waters' story collection, Desert Gothic, won the Iowa Short Fiction Award. Stories from the collection have been anthologized in Pushcart Prize XXXIII and Best of the West 2009. He's the recipient of the Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers Award (in fiction) and a Lannan Foundation writing fellowship, as well as other honors.

Among the praise for Desert Gothic:

"Don Waters locates the decency in the undersung. He does a brilliant job of showing the small heroic acts that reverberate in the lives of his characters and in the mind of a reader."
—Amy Hempel, author, The Collected Stories

"Desert Gothic is a brilliant book."
—Ben Fountain, author, Brief Encounters with Che Guevara

Waters' essays and book reviews have appeared or are forthcoming in Tin House, The Believer, High Country News, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the New York Times Book Review.

Visit Don Waters' website.

Writers Read: Don Waters.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Jeri Westerson's "Serpent in the Thorns"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: Serpent in the Thorns by Jeri Westerson.

About the book, from the publisher:

Convicted of treason, Crispin Guest was stripped of his title, his land, his money and his friends. Now with only his considerable wits to sustain him, Guest works the mean streets of 14th century London, building a small reputation for his skill. In 1383, a simple-minded tavern girl comes to his door—a body was found where she works and she’s the only person who could have killed him. Except for the fact that the man was killed in place by a precisely aimed crossbow bolt. Making matters worse, the murdered man was one of three couriers from the French king, transporting a relic intended to smooth the troubled relations between France and England. Events quickly spin out of control and Guest now finds himself the prime suspect in the murder, one with terrible diplomatic implications. As the drumbeat of war between the two countries grow, Guest must unravel the con spiracy behind the murder to save not only his country, but himself as well.

Read an excerpt from Serpent in the Thorns, and learn more about the book and author at Jeri Westerson's website, her "Getting Medieval" blog, and the Crispin Guest Medieval Noir blog.

Westerson wrote about Crispin Guest's place among fictional detectives for The Rap Sheet.

The Page 69 Test: Veil of Lies.

The Page 69 Test: Serpent in the Thorns.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top 10 most pirated eBooks of 2009

At the Independent, Marjorie Kehe reports on the 10 books most downloaded on BitTorrent (a free file-sharing application). The list isn't very inspiring.

But most best-selling authors need not worry that they're missing out on royalties or on readers, writes Kehe: the "list doesn’t mean that readers aren’t seeking out high-quality e-books – it just means that they’re not pirating them. "

One title on the list:

Twilight: The Complete Illustrated Movie Companion by Mark Cotta Vaz

Read about another book on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Lesley Hazleton's "After the Prophet"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split in Islam by Lesley Hazleton.

About the book, from the publisher:

Narrative history at its most compelling, After the Prophet relates the dramatic tragic story at the heart of the ongoing rivalry between Shia and Sunni Islam.

Even as Muhammad lay dying, the battle over his successor had begun. Pitting the family of his favorite wife, the controversial Aisha, against supporters of his son-in-law, the philosopher-warrior Ali, the struggle would reach its breaking point fifty years later in Iraq, when soldiers of the first Sunni dynasty massacred seventy-two warriors led by Muhammad's grandson Hussein at Karbala. Hussein's agonizing ordeal at Karbala was soon to become the Passion story at the core of Shia Islam.

Hazleton's vivid, gripping prose provides extraordinary insight into the origins of the world's most volatile blend of politics and religion. Balancing past and present, she shows how these seventh-century events are as alive in Middle Eastern hearts and minds today as though they had just happened, shaping modern headlines from Iran's Islamic Revolution to the civil war in Iraq.

After the Prophet is narrative nonfiction at its finest, and an emotional and political revelation for Western readers.

Read an excerpt from After the Prophet, and learn more about the book and author at the official After the Prophet website.

The Page 99 Test: After the Prophet.

--Marshal Zeringue

Coffee with a canine: Nicola Morgan & Amber

Today's featured couple at Coffee with a Canine: Nicola Morgan & Amber.

On how Morgan and Amber were united:

We went to choose her from a local breeder and all the puppies looked as cute as each other. So I picked them all up in turn and Amber was the one who didn’t want to be put back again. She snuggled up and went to sleep. How could we refuse?? Then, we were incredibly glad that we got her and no one else, because a two weeks later we realised she had something seriously wrong with her legs - hips and elbows, so all four legs - and we knew that if someone who wanted to show her or breed from her had got her they wouldn’t have wanted to keep her and I don’t like to think what would have happened. We have to keep her weight down as low as possible and be careful about the levels of exercise; she did have some surgery but it didn’t work. We adore her. She’s very special and we wouldn’t change …[read on]

Nicola Morgan has written a number of critically acclaimed books for teens, including the Scottish Arts Council Award-winning Fleshmarket, Mondays Are Red, Chicken Friend, The Leaving Home Survival Guide and Sleepwalking, winner of the 2005 Scottish Arts Council Children's Book of the Year Award.

The Scotsman review of Deathwatch, her newly released YA novel, suggested the novel would appeal to readers "who find Twilight and its ilk too wimpy."

Her books about the teenage brain are Blame my Brain and Know Your Brain.

Learn more about the author and her work at Nicola Morgan's website and blog.

Writers Read: Nicola Morgan.

Read Coffee with a Canine: Nicola Morgan & Amber.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69 & 99: Libby Hellmann's "Doubleback"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test and the Page 99 Test: Doubleback by Libby Fischer Hellmann.

About the book, from the publisher:

Little Molly Messenger is kidnapped on a sunny June morning. Three days later she's returned, apparently unharmed. Molly's mother, Chris, is so grateful to have her daughter back that she's willing to overlook the odd circumstances.

A few days later, the brakes go out on Chris's car.

An accident? Maybe. Except that it turns out that Chris, the IT manager at a large Chicago bank, may have misappropriated three million dollars. Not convinced that his daughter is safe, Molly's father hires PI Georgia Davis to follow the money and investigate Chris's death.

Doubleback reunites PI Georgia Davis with video producer Ellie Foreman. The two women track leads from Northern Wisconsin to an Arizona border town, where illegal immigrants, smuggled drugs, and an independent contractor called Delton Security come into play. Georgia and Ellie go to great lengths to find the truth, and Georgia discovers that you can cross a line, but sometimes you have to double back.

Read an excerpt from Doubleback and watch the video trailer.

My Book, The Movie: A Shot To Die For.

The Page 69 Test: Easy Innocence.

My Book, The Movie: Easy Innocence.

Visit Libby Fischer Hellmann's website and group blog, The Outfit.

The Page 69 Test and the Page 99 Test: Doubleback.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top 10 books about cycling

Matt Seaton, author of the memoir The Escape Artist, is editor of the Guardian's "Comment is free," a former cycling columnist, and a self-proclaimed "all-round bike nut."

In 2005 he named a top ten list of books about cycling for the Guardian. One title on the list:

It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life by Lance Armstrong

It slightly goes against the grain to nominate Lance's bestseller - after all, doesn't he win enough? But this is just too big a book to ignore. We all now know the story in outline: world-class athlete discovers he has advanced cancer and may be weeks away from death; against the odds and with incredible grit, he makes a full recovery and, astonishingly, rides his way back to winning ways. Whatever you think of Lance, it is an inspirational tale. The title was a stroke of genius: aided by an excellent ghostwriter, Lance achieved that rare thing - a bike book that non-bikies wanted to read.

Read about another book on Seaton's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Jennifer Brown reading?

The current featured contributor to Writers Read: Jennifer Brown, author the recently released YA novel, Hate List.

Her entry begins:

I'm currently reading two debut YA novels, both of which just happen to be written by "house sisters" of mine (AKA: authors published by Little, Brown and Co.) -- Ash by Malinda Lo and Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler. Both excellent 2009 debuts. Both with strong characters, unique narrative voices, and compelling storylines. Both totally engrossing. And both ... nothing at all like the other!

Ash is a re-telling of Cinderella (you can never go wrong re-telling Cinderella, if you ask me!). But Lo's Cinderella story has a twist. Ash doesn't find herself falling head over heels with the prince on the white horse, but with a hunter... or make that the King's huntress... a female. What I like about Ash is not only that it's a bold re-telling of a classic story and not only that Lo is brave enough to tackle lesbian romance for a young adult audience, but...[read on]

Jennifer Brown is a two-time winner of the Erma Bombeck Global Humor Award (2005 & 2006), humor columnist for The Kansas City Star (winning the Missouri Writer's Guild 2008 Conference Award for Best Newspaper Column), and Saturday Featured Blogger for Mom2Mom KC.

Among the early praise for Hate List:

"Jennifer Brown's Hate List is a compulsive read. Who and why do we hate? Deep, dark and sometimes uncomfortable, this thought-provoking book is a must read!"
--Gail Giles, author of Right Behind You and What Happened to Cass McBride?

"Riveting debut!"
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Authentic and relevant, this debut is one to top the charts."
--Kirkus

Watch the Hate List video trailer, and learn more about the book and author at Jennifer Brown's website and blog.

Writers Read: Jennifer Brown.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Mark Goodale's "Surrendering to Utopia"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: Surrendering to Utopia: An Anthropology of Human Rights by Mark Goodale.

About the book, from the publisher:

Surrendering to Utopia is a critical and wide-ranging study of anthropology's contributions to human rights. Providing a unique window into the underlying political and intellectual currents that have shaped human rights in the postwar period, this ambitious work opens up new opportunities for research, analysis, and political action. At the book's core, the author describes a "well-tempered human rights"—an orientation to human rights in the twenty-first century that is shaped by a sense of humility, an appreciation for the disorienting fact of multiplicity, and a willingness to make the mundaneness of social practice a source of ethical inspiration.

In examining the curious history of anthropology's engagement with human rights, this book moves from more traditional anthropological topics within the broader human rights community—for example, relativism and the problem of culture—to consider a wider range of theoretical and empirical topics. Among others, it examines the link between anthropology and the emergence of "neoliberal" human rights, explores the claim that anthropology has played an important role in legitimizing these rights, and gauges whether or not this is evidence of anthropology's potential to transform human rights theory and practice more generally.

Read an excerpt from Surrendering to Utopia, and learn more about the book at the Stanford University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Surrendering to Utopia.

--Marshal Zeringue

Louise Penny's "The Brutal Telling," the movie

Now showing at My Book, The Movie: The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny.

The entry begins:

I love this idea, and have given several answers depending on the book. None of them, truth be told, very serious. Though John Travolta as Ruth still appeals to me. And I think Mo'Nique or Oprah for Myrna would be great fun! But, suddenly, unexpectedly while watching a film I found my Gamache.

I wasn't looking - but there on the screen he was. It was while watching this wonderful, fairly modest British film called Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. It stars Amy Adams and Frances McDormand, as Miss Pettigrew, a middle-aged British nanny in the late 1930's, who finds herself taken on by a giddy American singer. It's hilarious, and wonderful. There's a character named Joe. And I suddenly realized Joe was Gamache, in slightly different circumstances. The same warmth, dignity, humour but with a touch of sadness. A happy man, but one who has seen more than anyone should.

And while the actor, physically, wasn't perfect he was close. The right age, the right height, the right body type.

His name is...[read on]

Learn more about the book and author at Louise Penny's website and blog.

Coffee with a Canine: Louise Penny & Trudy.

The Page 69 Test: Still Life.

My Book, The Movie: A Fatal Grace.

The Page 99 Test: The Cruelest Month.

The Page 99 Test: A Rule Against Murder.

The Page 69 Test: The Brutal Telling.

My Book, The Movie: The Brutal Telling.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Evie Wyld's "After the Fire, a Still Small Voice"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: After the Fire, a Still Small Voice by Evie Wyld.

About the novel, from the publisher:

Set in the haunting landscape of eastern Australia, this is a stunningly accomplished debut novel about the inescapable past: the ineffable ties of family, the wars fought by fathers and sons, and what goes unsaid.

After the departure of the woman he loves, Frank drives out to a shack by the ocean that he had last visited as a teenager. There, among the sugarcane and sand dunes, he struggles to rebuild his life.

Forty years earlier, Leon is growing up in Sydney, turning out treacle tarts at his parents’ bakery and flirting with one of the local girls. But when he’s drafted to serve in Vietnam, he finds himself suddenly confronting the same experiences that haunt his war-veteran father.

As these two stories weave around each other–each narrated in a voice as tender as it is fierce–we learn what binds Frank and Leon together, and what may end up keeping them apart.

Read an excerpt from After the Fire, a Still Small Voice, and learn more about the book and author at Evie Wyld's website.

The Page 69 Test: After the Fire, a Still Small Voice.

--Marshal Zeringue

The best books on global warming

For the Guardian, Felicity Lawrence, John Vidal and Sarah Crown came up with "a stimulating and manageable reading list from the profusion of green books on the shelves."

Their choices for non-fiction:

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
Development as Freedom by Amartya Sen
Soil Not Oil by Vandana Sheeva
The Revenge of Gaia by James Lovelock
The Selected Works of Arne Naess
So Shall We Reap by Colin Tudge
Feeding People is Easy by Colin Tudge
Collapse by Jared Diamond
Six Degrees by Mark Lynas
Heat by George Monbiot

Read about the fiction on the list.

Collapse appears on Andrew Ellson's critic's chart of books on "cash crashes."

Also see--Ten of the best: green stories in literature.

--Marshal Zeringue

Coffee with a canine: Christina Baker Kline & Lucy

Today's featured duo at Coffee with a Canine: Christina Baker Kline & Lucy.

On Lucy's influence on the author's writing:

Every morning, Lucy roams around trying to get a feel for whether anyone will be at home, and in which rooms. She tries out one spot – splayed on the hall landing, a watchful eye toward the front door – but soon abandons it for another. She jumps on an unmade bed and turns around three times, sinks down, curls into a ball. After a while she stretches out long, her belly as rounded and freckled as a cow’s.

I have my own version of this routine: a mug of hot coffee, a comfortable chair – no, perhaps the old chaise in the sunroom window – a college-ruled notepad (faint blue lines on white paper, a firm pink margin), an old-fashioned micro-point Uniball pen. Circle three times, curl in a ball...[read on]

Christina Baker Kline is the author of four novels, including, most recently, Bird in Hand and The Way Life Should Be. She is Writer-in-Residence at Fordham University and lives outside of New York City.

Among the praise for Bird in Hand:

“I hesitate to call Kline a ‘serious novelist’ for fear of obscuring her easy style and fluid metaphor-making...but she’s the real deal. Kline dramatizes private life, from the charged crosscurrents of broken families to the robust intimacies of sex, with a generous, knowing appreciation of human nature.”
—Boston Globe

The Page 69 Test: Bird in Hand.

Learn more about Christina Baker Kline's work at her website and her blog, A Writing Life: Conversations about the Creative Process.

Read--Coffee with a Canine: Christina Baker Kline & Lucy.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Lawrence Badash's "A Nuclear Winter's Tale"

Today's feature at the Page 99 Test: A Nuclear Winter's Tale: Science and Politics in the 1980s by Lawrence Badash.

About the book, from the publisher:

The nuclear winter phenomenon burst upon the public's consciousness in 1983. Added to the horror of a nuclear war's immediate effects was the fear that the smoke from fires ignited by the explosions would block the sun, creating an extended "winter" that might kill more people worldwide than the initial nuclear strikes. In A Nuclear Winter's Tale, Lawrence Badash maps the rise and fall of the science of nuclear winter, examining research activity, the popularization of the concept, and the Reagan-era politics that combined to influence policy and public opinion.

Badash traces the several sciences (including studies of volcanic eruptions, ozone depletion, and dinosaur extinction) that merged to allow computer modeling of nuclear winter and its development as a scientific specialty. He places this in the political context of the Reagan years, discussing congressional interest, media attention, the administration's plans for a research program, and the Defense Department's claims that the arms buildup underway would prevent nuclear war, and thus nuclear winter.

A Nuclear Winter's Tale tells an important story but also provides a useful illustration of the complex relationship between science and society. It examines the behavior of scientists in the public arena and in the scientific community, and raises questions about the problems faced by scientific Cassandras, the implications when scientists go public with worst-case scenarios, and the timing of government reaction to startling scientific findings.

Read excerpts from A Nuclear Winter's Tale, and learn more about the book at the MIT Press website.

The Page 99 Test: A Nuclear Winter's Tale.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Stephanie Kuehnert reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Stephanie Kuehnert, author of I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone and Ballads of Suburbia.

Her entry begins:

I just finished reading my first Sarah Dessen book. I've heard so many good things about Sarah Dessen and since she's a real master of contemporary YA and that is what I write, I was curious to see what her writing was like. The book I chose to check out was Just Listen. It's got a music theme to it and that's my big thing so it seemed perfect.

Just Listen is the story of Annabel, the youngest of three sisters, all of whom modeled. Her middle sister Whitney is struggling with anorexia, which has changed the dynamics at home. And Annabel has changed too. Something happened at the beginning of the summer, something Annabel refuses to talk or think about, but it involves her best friend Sophie's boyfriend Will Cash and now Sophie's not speaking to Annabel. In fact no one is speaking to her until...[read on]

Learn more about Stephanie Kuehnert's writing at her website and blog.

Read her interview at the Simon & Schuster website.

Booklist called Ballads of Suburbia "....an intensely real and painfully honest novel of high-school anxiety."

I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone made Cecil Castellucci's LA Times list of YA Books that rock. Charles R. Cross, New York Times bestselling author of Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain, wrote: "Kuehnert's love of music is apparent on every page in this powerful and moving story. Her fresh voice makes this novel stand out in the genre, and she writes as authentically about coming of age as she does punk rock."

Writers Read: Stephanie Kuehnert.

--Marshal Zeringue

The ten bloodiest bedtime stories

At the Independent, Matilda Battersby compiled a list of the ten bloodiest bedtime stories. She cautions:

[T]he tales you remember fondly are actually pretty gruesome.

From the Little Mermaid’s suicide to Geppetto the child hating carpenter in Pinocchio, the sheen applied to the Disney versions soon wears away upon closer inspection.

The horrors include fathers selling daughters, matricide, serial wife killing and cannibalism. Sleep well...

One title on the list:

The Little Mermaid

Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Mermaid is much darker than the Disney cartoon would have you believe. A young mermaid, who is entranced by humans living on the shore, makes a deal with a sea witch to change her fish tail for human legs. The witch gives the Little Mermaid a magical potion to drink in exchange for her voice, leaving her mute. As a condition of the magic the Little Mermaid will be capable of dancing beautifully but it will feel as though swords are constantly passing through her feet. Once on land the Little Mermaid is discovered by a prince who immediately falls in love with her. She dances for him despite her pain, but is unable to explain her condition as she has no voice. The prince's father has arranged for him to marry a neighbouring princess and despite his protests the marriage goes ahead, breaking the Little Mermaid's heart. She despairs but her sisters bring her a knife procured from the sea witch in exchange for their long hair. They tell her to stab the prince to death and let his blood drip on her feet so that her mermaid?s tail can reform and she can return to the sea. But the Little Mermaid cannot bring herself to kill the prince whom she loves so she hurls herself back into the sea and dies, her body dissolving into foam on the waves.

Read about another bloody bedtime story.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Patricia Gussin's "The Test"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: The Test by Patricia Gussin.

About the book, from the publisher:

Renowned philanthropist and billionaire Paul Parnell had reached the pinnacle of monetary success, but not without cost. Had he put too much emphasis on work, and spent too little time with his family?

Determined to leave something far more valuable than money to his six children, Paul instructs his lawyers to create an unusual last will and testament. This unorthodox will, which stipulates that the lion’s share of Paul’s 2 billion dollar estate be given to the heirs who pass “the test,” was Paul’s last hope of creating a lasting legacy by inspiring his children to give back to society and embrace a code of moral values.

The six children, Rory, Frank, Dan, Monica, Carla, and Ashley, have only one year to make a difference. But what a difference one year will make.

Before these six very different siblings can complete the test, they’ll be forced to face their personal demons, and the incredibly evil influence that could claim one of their own.

Learn more about the book and author at Patricia Gussin's website. Gussin's previous novels include Shadow of Death, Thriller Award nominee for “Best First Novel,” and Twisted Justice.

The Page 69 Test: Shadow of Death.

My Book, The Movie: Twisted Justice.

The Page 69 Test: The Test.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Barry Friedman's "The Will of the People"

This weekend's feature at the Page 99 Test: The Will of the People: How Public Opinion Has Influenced the Supreme Court and Shaped the Meaning of the Constitution by Barry Friedman.

About the book, from the publisher:

In recent years, the justices of the Supreme Court have ruled definitively on such issues as abortion, school prayer, and military tribunals in the war on terror. They decided one of American history’s most contested presidential elections. Yet for all their power, the justices never face election and hold their offices for life. This combination of influence and apparent unaccountability has led many to complain that there is something illegitimate—even undemocratic—about judicial authority.

In The Will of the People, Barry Friedman challenges that claim by showing that the Court has always been subject to a higher power: the American public. Judicial positions have been abolished, the justices’ jurisdiction has been stripped, the Court has been packed, and unpopular decisions have been defied. For at least the past sixty years, the justices have made sure that their decisions do not stray too far from public opinion.

Friedman’s pathbreaking account of the relationship between popular opinion and the Supreme Court—from the Declaration of Independence to the end of the Rehnquist court in 2005—details how the American people came to accept their most controversial institution and shaped the meaning of the Constitution.

Read an excerpt from The Will of the People, and learn more about the book and author at the book's official website and Barry Friedman's blog.

Friedman is the Vice Dean and Jacob D. Fuchsberg Professor of Law at New York University School of Law. He has taught, written and litigated about the Constitution for twenty-five years.

The Page 99 Test: The Will of the People.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five best books about working in television

Seth Freeman, a multiple Emmy-winning writer for television, created the series Lincoln Heights.

For the Wall Street Journal he named a five best list of books on working in television.

One title on the list:

Artistic Differences
by Charlie Hauck
William Morrow, 1993

Geneva Holloway is a beautiful and talented actress with the lead in a television series. In other words, as Charles Hauck deftly shows us in this wonderfully funny novel about the excesses of power and fame, she is a dangerous psychopath. Hauck, who wrote for many successful series, including "Maude" and "Home Improvement," also created several shows with a string of television divas. "Artistic Differences" combines, in fiction, several such stars into one irresistible and accurate portrait of an actress whose popularity enables a lethal self-centeredness. The novel is also the story of a marriage of sorts—or of a relationship that in Hollywood is often deeper than a marriage—between a team of comedy writers.

Read about another book on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue