Six great female short story writers

Sarah Crown is the editor of guardian.co.uk/books. One of the six female short story writers she recently profiled:

Helen Simpson

Simpson's work exhibits a profound fascination with the modern domestic sphere: how we organise it; how we arrange ourselves within it. Childbirth is considered from every angle (an over-due mother is described as "a bulbous bottle, unreliably stoppered"); the grind and elation of motherhood is anatomised; marital compromises, compensations and indignities are dissected in razor-sharp prose that veers between unbearable poignancy and side-splitting wit, often in the same sentence. The British writer has won several awards for her short fiction; her next collection, In-Flight Entertainment, is due out next year.

Three to read: Dear George and Heavy Weather (both from Dear George), Cafe Society (from Hey Yeah Right Get A Life).

Read about the other writers in Crown's feature.

--Marshal Zeringue

Books that made a difference to Rachel McAdams

The actor Rachel McAdams told O, The Oprah Magazine about a few books that made a difference to her.

One book on her list:

David Boring
by Daniel Clowes

David Boring opened me up to the world of graphic novels. Clowes creates quirky characters who are ordinary and flawed. They get themselves into the most extraordinary and bizarre predicaments. The main character is seeking the perfect woman, and there are many mishaps along the way. I still can't believe how deeply you can fall into these novels, which I had, sadly, dismissed as picture books. The emotion conveyed in the illustrations is so intense—the experience is a whole new way of reading.

Read about the other books on McAdams' list.

Adam Gittlin could see McAdams in an adaptation of his novel The Deal. For her "mix of beauty, intelligence and something that edges close to shyness, something that might be surprising," Andrea MacPherson's might cast McAdams in a movie based on her novel Beyond the Blue. Because McAdams "can cover the sarcastic angle and can also play frazzled when necessary, which is important," Wendy French would consider her in the film version of Full of It.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five most influential sports books of the decade

One title on Sports Illustrated's list of the most influential sports books of the decade:

How Soccer Explains the World (2004)

New Republic editor Franklin Foer uses soccer's many-sided role in various cultures as a metaphor to explain the effects of globalization. Tireless reporting, memorable characters and countless colorful anecdotes make Foer's book a compelling read for soccer junkies and neophytes alike -- even if you disagree with the overreaching thesis.

Read about the other four books on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Carol Drinkwater's six best books

Carol Drinkwater starred in BBC1’s All Creatures Great And Small before becoming an author. She lives in the south of France with her film-maker husband Michel. Her books include The Olive Tree: A Personal Journey Through Mediterranean Olive Groves.

She named her six best books for the Daily Express. One title on the list:

SUPER-CANNES
by JG Ballard

I like most of Ballard’s books but this is set in my neck of the woods and is the one I wish I’d written. It’s a very visionary book and his images pierce your skin. His prose is perceptive and searing, too, and one of his greatest talents was the ability to go right to the heart of a person.

Read about the other five books on Drinkwater's list.

Super-Cannes also appears on Peter Bradshaw's top 10 list of books "to help you imagine yourself" at the Cannes film festival.

--Marshal Zeringue

Alan Cheuse: books to warm a winter's night

For NPR, Alan Cheuse named a short list of books to warm a winter's night.

One title on the list:

Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father and Son, by Michael Chabon, hardcover, 320 pages, Harper, list price: $25.99

Pulitzer-Prize winning novelist Michael Chabon's essays in Manhood for Amateurs — on the realities of coming of age, marriage and fatherhood — were originally published in Details magazine. And it's in the details that the truth of these essays lies, as you'll find out when you read these seemingly offhand pieces in which he employs an insouciant, confessional style.

Whether it's having an affair as a teenager with his mother's best friend, or talking to his kids about drugs, or helping his wife get through the hardest times, or musing on what he calls "the fundamental axioms of masculine self-regard," he often stands naked before the reader. Or at least he makes you believe that he's revealing a lot. Which is a kind of genius in itself and, on the subjects that he chooses here, enormously rewarding. (Read Michael Chabon's essay about meeting his (first) father-in-law.)

Read about the other books on Cheuse's list.

Learn about Michael Chabon's 12 favorite works of adventure fiction.

See the Independent's list of the fifty best winter reads.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five books about chocolate

One book from the Barnes and Noble Review mini-feature, five books about chocolate:

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
by Roald Dahl

If you've only seen the movie versions, you've yet to taste the real magic in Roald Dahl’s irresistible story. With his legendary amalgam of zany energy and arch wit, the author takes the wide-eyed child in everyone on a hilarious ride through Willy Wonka’s mysterious factory. Charlie Bucket is the hero, but of course the real treats from the reader are the fates delivered to the ill-mannered children who accompany him -- just deserts indeed.

Read about the other books on the list.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory appears on Meghan Cox Gurdon's five best list of "children's books that are especially enthralling when read aloud."

--Marshal Zeringue

Michael Aspel: best books

Michael Aspel has presented British TV shows such as Crackerjack, This Is Your Life, and Antiques Roadshow in a showbiz career that has spanned nearly 50 years.

He named his six best books for the Daily Express. One title on the list:

THE KID STAYS IN THE PICTURE
by Robert Evans

A brilliant Hollywood memoir by the one-time pretty boy turned seven-times married Hollywood producer, which charts his relationship with the actress Ali McGraw and his drug habit among other things in an action-packed life. It was later made into a movie but the book is even better.

Read about the other books on Aspel's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top ten bite-size books

Tim Key is the author of Instructions, Guidelines, Tuteledge, Suggestions, Other Suggestions, and Examples Etc: An Attempted Book.

For the Guardian, he named a top ten list of bite-size books. One title on the list:

Elephant by Raymond Carver

Just short stories. But the best short stories ever written. Carver's a master of the genre. Carver writes with incredible economy. Nothing much happens. And yet we watch the character's lives change irreparably before our eyes. American, too, so he uses phrases like "he fed it some gas". Nice.

Read about the other books on Key's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five best debut novels of the decade

Brian DeLeeuw named a "five best debut novels of the decade" list for the Tin House Blog.

One title to make the grade:

The Horned Man — James Lasdun (W.W. Norton, 2002)

Does it count as a “debut” if you’ve already published three collections of poetry and three more collections of short stories? “First” novel might be more accurate, but in any case, this is a coolly brilliant work of paranoia and psychological shell-games, which also manages to deftly satirize the sexual politics of academia.

Learn about the book that changed James Lasdun's life.

Read about the other books on DeLeeuw's list.

Brian DeLeeuw is an editor at Tin House magazine and a contributor to the website ThisRecording.com. He received his BA from Princeton University and his MFA from The New School. He now lives in New York City, where he was born and raised. In This Way I Was Saved, his debut novel, was published in 2009.

Read an excerpt from In This Way I Was Saved, and learn more about the book and author at Brian DeLeeuw's website.

The Page 69 Test: In This Way I Was Saved.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten of the best child narrators

For the Guardian, John Mullan named ten of the best child narrators in literature.

One book on the list:

Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Finn is 13 and a brilliantly imagined mixture of wiliness and innocence. On the run from his drunken father and the stern Widow Douglas ("she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me"), he travels down the Mississippi with escaped slave Jim, encountering various feuding or thieving adults along the way. The story is told in his own colloquial manner.

Read about the other child narrators on the list.

Huckleberry Finn is among Katie Couric's favorite books, and is one of James Gray's six best books. It is one of Stephen King's top ten works of literature. Director Spike Jonze and the Where the Wild Things Are film team tagged Huckleberry Finn on their list of the top 10 rascals in literature.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six books that made a difference to Jay-Z

Musician-mogul Jay-Z told O, The Oprah Magazine about a few books that made a difference to him.

One book on his list:

Nigger
by Dick Gregory

I don't know who turned me on to this autobiography, but his sense of humor and the hardships he went through stayed with me—especially the scene where he started running home from school. It led to his joining thetrack team, which led to a scholarship to college. Running opened up a whole world for him.

Read about the other books on Jay-Z's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

The Financial Times' books of the year, 2009

The critics at the Financial Times picked their best books of 2009.

One title on the list:

The Match King: Ivar Kreuger and the Financial Scandal of the Century
by Frank Partnoy

Partnoy recreates the Wall Street of the 1920s to tell the story of the Swedish magnate whose death precipitated the “Kreuger crash” of 1932. A powerful reminder that today’s scandals had even more destructive predecessors. And that greed and corruption are a permanent factor in finance. Shortlisted for the 2009 FT/Goldman Sachs business book of the year.

Read about the other books on the list.

The Page 99 Test: The Match King.

--Marshal Zeringue