Eleven novels that will creep you out

Christopher Buehlman's new novel is The Necromancer's House.

For the Huffington Post, he named 11 novels that will creep you out, including:

The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters

While "The Last Policeman" is technically a mystery, not a horror novel, there’s something wrong with you if you’re not at least a little ooked out by the pre-apocalyptic dystopia Ben H. Winters delivers. Pandemic suicide, staggering inflation and food rationing are only a few of the spasms civilization suffers when a comet’s approach pronounces its death sentence. Luckily, at least one cop in your town is still willing to track down a killer.

Learn about the other novels Buehlman tagged.

My Book, The Movie: The Last Policeman.

The Page 69 Test: The Last Policeman.

The Page 69 Test: Countdown City.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five top cowboy love stories adapted for film

At The Barnes & Noble Book Blog Melissa Albert tagged five top cowboy love stories that were made into movies, including:

All the Pretty Horses, by Cormac McCarthy.

Though considered by some to be McCarthy’s most accessible work, it doesn’t dispense with the author’s sharp insights into the culture of the American Southwest. In the adaptation, directed by Billy Bob Thornton, there’s a certain spark lacking in the romance between aspiring cowboy Matt Damon and love interest Penelope Cruz, but it’s still a decent pick for a Saturday night.

Read about the other entries on the list.

All the Pretty Horses is on Rick Bass's top five list of books about Texas, Simon Akin's list of the ten most attractive women in literature, and Meg Rosoff's top 10 list of adult books for teenagers.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top ten children's poetry books

John Hegley's latest collection of poems for children is I Am a Poetato: An A-Z of Poems About People, Pets, and Other Creatures.

He named his top ten children's poetry books for the Guardian. One title on the list:

The Dangerous Journey by Tove Jansson

Lovely palette and very lively balette of language. Stories for girls and boys and Moomins of all ages.

Bob quite agreed. 'A mightful fress! Hite quorribly foncusing! Whoever's glaying pames with us, they're linning and we're wusing.'

Read about the other titles on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six nonfiction books that may give you nightmares

Claire Zulkey is a writer who lives in Chicago.  Her books include the novel An Off Year. She also edits the aptly named website, Zulkey.com.

At The Barnes & Noble Book Blog Zulkey tagged six nonfiction books that will give you nightmares, including:

In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and its Consequences, by Truman Capote

I don’t like being alone out in the country, and part of that is due to In Cold Blood, which many people claim is one of the first, best examples of creative nonfiction out there. In it Truman Capote pieces together the story of the Clutter family murders, committed by Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, who were out of prison on parole. I always found Capote’s re-creation of the Clutter family’s last moments (all were murdered by shotgun) chilling, and the randomness of the crime terrifying. Hickock and Smith never intended to murder the Clutters, and in fact were only there based on bad information they had received from another former inmate. Just picturing Hickock and Perry creeping up on the Clutter farmhouse in Kansas is enough to scare me away from living in a secluded area.

Read about the other titles on Zulkey's list.

In Cold Blood also appears on Lauren Passell's top 20 list of peanut butter & jelly reads, Kit Whitfield's top ten list of genre-defying novels, Sarah Weinman's list of best true crime books, Catherine Crier's five top crime books list, Ann Rule's five best list of true-crime books, and Bryan Burrough's six best books list. Kansas' first poet laureate Jonathan Holden's chose In Cold Blood for The Great Kansas novel.

--Marshal Zeringue

The five best Tom Clancy novels

At the Guardian John Dugdale named his five best Tom Clancy novels, including:

The Hunt for Red October (1984)

Clancy's debut introduces CIA analyst Jack Ryan in a tale of a Soviet nuclear submarine commander, Marko Ramius, (played by Alec Baldwin and Sean Connery respectively in the movie) who wants to defect to the US with his sub, while convincing his bosses that it has been sunk. The novel sets the template for Clancy's blend of espionage and military thriller, inaugurating a series that will influence film and TV as well as other authors – not by chance is the hero of 24 called Jack Bauer, and Homeland's apocalyptic second-season finale was highly Clancy-esque.

Read about the other books on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five top books on Congress in crisis

One title on the Barnes & Noble Review's list of five top books on Congress in crisis:

Act of Congress: How America's Essential Institution Works, and How It Doesn't
by Robert G. Kaiser

As evidenced by recent events, Congress isn't always a well-oiled machine -- in fact, it sometimes functions like a rusted iron plow. In Act of Congress, Washington Post reporter Robert G. Kaiser delivers a scathing criticism -- and occasional commendation -- of the backbone of our democracy following the fiscal crisis of 2008. Profiling the key House and Senate players who spearheaded the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, Kaiser reveals the shortcomings of lobbying and bipartisanship in the passing of legislature and encourages the reform of a fundamental -- yet archaic -- entity, unchanged for over 200 years.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Isla Blair's six best books

In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Isla Blair played the wife of Walter Donovan, a wealthy American industrialist and collector of antiquities who allied himself with the Nazis in order to get the Holy Grail, which he sought for its fabled gift of immortality. Today in Britain she may be better known for television roles in The History Man, The Final Cut, A Touch Of Frost and Single Father.

One of her six best books, as told to the Daily Express:

ATONEMENT by Ian McEwan

McEwan's storytelling is terrific. He pulls you right in. A girl thinks her sister was attacked by a man when, in fact they were having a passionate embrace and she realises too late that she's made a mistake. It has huge consequences.

Read about the other books on Blair's list.

Atonement also appears on Jessica Soffer's top ten list of book endings, Jane Ciabattari's list of five masterpieces of fiction that also worked as films, and on John Mullan's lists of ten of the best birthday parties in literature, ten of the best misdirected messages in literature, ten of the best scenes on London Underground, ten of the best breakages in literature, ten of the best weddings in literature, and ten of the best identical twins in fiction. It is one of Stephanie Beacham's six best books.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top ten true crime books

Charles Graeber is a New York Times bestselling author, an award winning journalist and contributor to numerous publications including Wired, GQ, The New Yorker, New York Magazine, Vogue, National Geographic, Men’s Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek, and the New York Times. His latest book is The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder.

One of Graeber's top ten true crime books, as published in the Guardian:

Columbine, by Dave Cullen

Like most folk, I thought I knew what happened during the Columbine, Colorado "trenchcoat mafia" school shooting in on 20 April, 1999. Dave Cullen proved me wrong. He spent a decade pulling out fresh sources and details about the lives of teen murderers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, then artfully pieced them into a ticking narrative which culminates in a moment-by-moment account of the massacre itself. You'll be ducking under your desk as you read.

Read about the other books on Graeber's list.

Columbine is one of Lauren Passell's top nine books for the true-crime obsessed.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five of the best coming-of-age novels

Judith Mackrell has been one of Britain’s leading dance critics since 1986, writing first for The Independent and currently for The Guardian. She broadcasts regularly on TV and radio and has written several critically acclaimed books on dance. Her first biography, Bloomsbury Ballerina, a portrait of the Russian ballerina Lydia Lopokova, was published 2008 and was short-listed for the Costa Biography Award. Her latest book is Flappers: Six Women of a Dangerous Generation.

For the Telegraph, Mackrell named five young fictional heroines in coming-of-age novels, including:

[F]or a brilliantly gamed argument in how our lives are shaped by random events, Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life (2013) plots the coming of age of Ursula Todd, through a puzzle of what-might-have-beens.

Read about the other young heroines Mackrell tagged.

Also see: Janice Clark's top seven timeless coming-of-age novels; Kate Clanchy's top ten coming-of-age novels; Shani Boianjiu's five top novels about coming of age, Emily Bazelon's five top coming-of-age stories, and A.E. Hotchner's five favorite coming-of-age tales.

--Marshal Zeringue

The 20 best underappreciated books in translation

Chad W. Post is director of Open Letter Books, which specializes in great books in translation, as well as the Web Site Three Percent. At Publishers Weekly he named his twenty best books in translation, including:

Five Spice Street, Can Xue, translated from the Chinese by Karen Gernant and Zeping Chen

It’s safe to say that there’s no other writer in China like Can Xue. Over the past thirty years she’s produced a ton of work—120 stories, a dozen novellas, five novels—all of which are strange, surreal, and very compelling. Reading Can Xue is like participating in a literary performance as you puzzle out the logic beneath these engrossing dreamscapes. A number of her works are available in English, but this novel is probably the best place to start.

Read about the other books on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven of the best wedding themes from literature

At The Barnes & Noble Book Blog Nicole Hill tagged seven favorite literary moments that could make your wedding shine, including:

The Hunger Games

Katniss’ gowns, as designed by Cinna, are to die for (almost literally); they’d make any bride the star of the show. The spectacle and absurdity of the Capitol and its denizens have the trappings of an unforgettable ceremony, filled with bombast and lots and lots of primary colors. Surely the caterers would be down for gem-tone skins and whiskers. What’s more, the Cornucopia, with its bountiful harvest, could make a real statement piece for the reception, as well as prove a money-saver: First come, first serve on refreshments, as guests hurl themselves at the piles of provisions.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Hunger Games also appears on Robert McCrum's top ten list of books with teenage narrators, Sophie McKenzie's top ten list of teen thrillers, Gregg Olsen's top ten list of deadly YA books, Annalee Newitz's list of ten great American dystopias, Philip Webb's top ten list of pulse-racing adventure books, Charlie Higson's top ten list of fantasy books for children, and Megan Wasson's list of five fantasy series geared towards teens that adults will love too.

--Marshal Zeringue

Four of the best romance novels

At The Barnes & Noble Book Blog Sara Brady tagged four of the best romance novels, including:

One of my favorite historical writers, Joanna Bourne, [has] published just five books, but each is a gem. (Bourne’s sixth novel is due fall 2014, and I have had to stop myself from marking each day off the calendar like a crazy person.) Her most recent, The Black Hawk, is a decade-spanning love story of emotionally damaged French spy Justine and equally effed up (but dashing—oh, so very dashing!) English spy Hawker as they wrangle their way through the Napoleonic wars. This is the book I whack people over the head with and scream, “READ IT I LOVE IT YOU’LL LOVE IT OH MY GOD JUST READ IT!” My histrionics aside, the precision and beauty of Bourne’s writing is summed up in one spare, perfect paragraph:

She did not think he was truly surprised. Hawker would always know what she was going to do before she did it. They had worked together and against each other for too many years. They knew even the small crevices of each other’s minds.

You cannot hear the noise I am making just thinking about this book. Read it. Please.

Learn about the other books on the list.

Read--Coffee with a Canine: Joanna Bourne and Brittany.

--Marshal Zeringue