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TRC Ultimate Reading List On the Move

Editorial Content for Coup d'Etat

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Joe Hartlaub

COUP D’ ETAT should have been printed with indentations for finger-gripping. It is a frightening book, not in the dark fantasy sense --- no clowns under the bridge in this one, folks --- but in the real-world sense. Author Ben Coes creates a scenario, one that could happen at literally any moment, and spins it off, creating the threat of a worldwide conflagration. He puts a larger-than-life hero --- Dewey Andreas, from POWER DOWN, Coes’s debut effort --- into the mix, and sandwiches him between two groups of extremely powerful adversaries who are out for his blood. Read More

Teaser

Wanting only a peaceful, obscure life, Dewey Andreas has gone to rural Australia, far from turbulent forces that he once fought against. But when powerful men who are seeking revenge track him down, Dewey must abandon his home and fight for his life.

Promo

Wanting only a peaceful, obscure life, Dewey Andreas has gone to rural Australia, far from turbulent forces that he once fought against. But when powerful men who are seeking revenge track him down, Dewey must abandon his home and fight for his life.

About the Book

Wanting only a peaceful, obscure life, Dewey Andreas has gone to rural Australia, far from turbulent forces that he once fought against. But powerful men, seeking revenge, have been scouring the earth looking for Dewey. And now, they've finally found him --- forcing Dewey to abandon his home and to fight for his life against a very well armed, well trained group of assassins.

Meanwhile, a radical cleric has been elected president of Pakistan and, upon taking power, sets off a rapidly escalating conflict with India. As the situation spins quickly out of control, it becomes clear that India is only days from resorting to a nuclear response, one that will have unimaginably disasterous results for the world at large. With only days to head this off, the President sends in his best people, including Jessica Tanzer, to do whatever it takes to restore the fragile peace to the region. Tanzer has only one viable option --- to set up and execute a coup d'etat in Pakistan --- and only one man in mind to lead the team that will try to pull off this almost unimaginable task in the nerve-wrackingly short time frame, Dewey Andreas. If, that is, Jessica can even get to Dewey and if Dewey can get out of Australia alive...

Editorial Content for The Marbled Swarm

Reviewer (text)

Sarah Rachel Egelman

To tell the truth, I am not sure I completely understand what Dennis Cooper's latest novel, THE MARBLED SWARM, is about. Ostensibly, it is the story of a son dealing with the loss of his enigmatic father. But it is also about rape, murder, cannibalism, secret passageways and, perhaps most importantly, language. Read More

Teaser

 

In his highly anticipated new novel, Dennis Cooper tells the story of a man who secretly influences his son to commit a grisly act.

Promo

In his highly anticipated new novel, Dennis Cooper tells the story of a man who secretly influences his son to commit a grisly act.

About the Book

THE MARBLED SWARM is Dennis Cooper’s most haunting work to date. In secret passageways, hidden rooms, and the troubled mind of our narrator, a mystery perpetually takes shape --- and the most compelling clue to its final nature is “the marbled swarm” itself, a complex amalgam of language passed down from father to son.

Cooper ensnares the reader in a world of appearances, where the trappings of high art, old money, and haute cuisine obscure an unspeakable system of coercion and surrender. And as the narrator stalks an elusive truth, traveling from the French countryside to Paris and back again, the reader will be seduced by a voice only Dennis Cooper could create.

Holiday Cheer 2011

At Bookreporter.com, we've been celebrating the holiday season in style with our Holiday Cheer Contests and Feature. As our gift to you, we've been spotlighting a book and give five lucky readers a chance to win it.

Although the contests have ended, we encourage you to take a look at this year's featured titles. These are books you'll want to read during the holidays --- and throughout the year as well!

by Jeff Pearlman - Biography, Nonfiction, Sports

Crafted from interviews with more than 700 sources, acclaimed sportswriter Jeff Pearlman has produced the first definitive biography of legendary NFL running back Walter Payton, nicknamed “Sweetness.” 

Editorial Content for Sweetness

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Stuart Shiffman

The revelation struck the city of Chicago like an unexpected winter blizzard. To understand, you must first realize that while Chicago sports fans are divided in their love for the White Sox and Cubs, they are united behind the Chicago Bears. Fans of “Da Bears,” as chronicled on “Saturday Night Live,” are passionate in their love of the team. That passion is equaled by the love of Walter Payton, the greatest running back in the history of the NFL. Read More

Teaser

 

Crafted from interviews with more than 700 sources, acclaimed sportswriter Jeff Pearlman has produced the first definitive biography of legendary NFL running back Walter Payton, nicknamed “Sweetness.” 

Promo

Crafted from interviews with more than 700 sources, acclaimed sportswriter Jeff Pearlman has produced the first definitive biography of legendary NFL running back Walter Payton, nicknamed “Sweetness.” 

About the Book

At five feet ten inches tall, running back Walter Peyton was not the largest player in the NFL, but he developed a larger-than-life reputation for his strength, speed, and grit. Nicknamed "Sweetness" during his college football days, he became the NFL's all-time leader in rushing and all-purpose yards, capturing the hearts of fans in his adopted Chicago.

Crafted from interviews with more than 700 sources, acclaimed sportswriter Jeff Pearlman has produced the first definitive biography of Payton. SWEETNESS at last brings fans a detailed, scrupulously researched, all-encompassing account of the legend's rise to greatness. From Payton's childhood in segregated Mississippi, where he ended a racial war by becoming the star of his integrated high school's football team, to his college years and his twelve-year NFL career, SWEETNESS brims with stories of all-American heroism, and covers Payton's life off the field as well. Set against the backdrop of the tragic illness that cut his life short at just 46 years of age, this is a stirring tribute to a singular icon and the lasting legacy he made.

by Dan Cryer - Biography, Nonfiction

BEING ALIVE AND HAVING TO DIE is the story of the extraordinary life of Reverand Forrest Church of the Unitarian Church of All Souls in New York.  

Editorial Content for Being Alive and Having to Die

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Laura Pedersen

Forrest Church was a leading light in Unitarian Universalism, a religion that is often said to be “about the questions” and surprisingly difficult to describe in a few sentences at a dinner party. Yet Church was able to cogently frame this intricate expression of humanism and social justice through original sermons, meditative books, good stories and self-deprecating humor, thus making it more comprehensible and accessible, and, thereby, more consequential.  Read More

Teaser

 

BEING ALIVE AND HAVING TO DIE is the story of the extraordinary life of Reverand Forrest Church of the Unitarian Church of All Souls in New York. 

Promo

BEING ALIVE AND HAVING TO DIE is the story of the extraordinary life of Reverand Forrest Church of the Unitarian Church of All Souls in New York.  

About the Book

Through his pulpit at the prestigious Unitarian Church of All Souls in New York, Reverend Forrest Church became a champion of liberal religion and a leading opponent of the religious right. An inspired preacher, a thoughtful theologian and an eloquent public intellectual, Church built a congregation committed to social service for people in need, while writing twenty five books, hosting a cable television program, and being featured in People, Esquire, New York Magazine, and on numerous national television and radio appearances.   

BEING ALIVE AND HAVING TO DIE works on two levels, as an examination of liberal religion during the past 30 years of conservative ascendancy, and as a fascinating personal story. Church grew up the son of Senator Frank Church of Idaho, famous for combating the Vietnam War in the 1960s and the CIA in the 1970s.  Like many sons of powerful fathers, he rebelled and took a different path in life, which led him to his own prominence. Then, in 1991, at the height of his fame, he fell in love with a married parishioner and nearly lost his pulpit. Eventually, he regained his stature, overcame a long-secret alcoholism, wrote his best books–and found himself  diagnosed with terminal cancer. His three year public journey toward death brought into focus the preciousness of life, not only for himself, but for his ministry.

Editorial Content for Knit with Love

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Marcia Ford

Lisa Bogart has a job that any self-respecting knitter should envy: She works at a yarn store. That means on her workdays she's surrounded by beautiful natural fibers in exquisite textures and colors, as well as all of those tools and gadgets that knitters, crocheters, spinners and weavers simply have to have. That also means that she hears lots of personal stories from expert fiber artists and novice needleworkers alike. Read More

Promo

With inspiring stories, KNIT WITH LOVE encourages and motivates knitters to see their own potential to bring joy and comfort to themselves and those around them.

About the Book

Knitting blesses the knitter in so many ways. It affords quiet time, the satisfaction that comes with a challenge met and a project finished, and a creative passion to share with other knitters. As knitting and the fiber arts enjoy a renaissance in popular culture, more and more women are discovering these personal benefits. But knitting also offers knitters a way to bless those around them with handmade gifts that come straight from the heart. 

With inspiring stories, KNIT WITH LOVE encourages and motivates knitters to see their own potential to bring joy and comfort to themselves and those around them. Whether someone has just picked up knitting needles for the first time or is a lifelong knitter, she will discover new ways to share her beautiful creations with others --- and the peace that the rhythm of knitting brings to her own life.

November 2011

November's roundup of Cool & New Books includes INHERITANCE, the long-awaited final installment in Christopher Paolini's The Inheritance Cycle; THE FUTURE OF US by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler, in which two friends discover their futures through Facebook --- long before it was ever invented; THE ALWAYS WAR, Margaret Peterson Haddix's story of a strong-willed girl in a war-torn dystopian world; and Deborah Heiligman's CHARLES AND EMMA, a 2009 National Book Award Finalist (now available in paperback) that chronicles Charles Darwin's struggle with his wife's strong religious beliefs, which directly conflicted with his groundbreaking theory of evolution.