Some Ideas for Those 2016 Reading Resolutions

New Year's Eve is around the corner, so I'm coming up with reading resolutions for 2016. My list of want-to-read books is based on reviews, past experience with an author, or just personal interest. For nonfiction, I'm looking back to some great 2015 books that I meant to read but somehow missed. Leading the list is the award-winning Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, an intelligent autobiographical and historical meditation, as told to his son, about racism in America. And from New York Times book critic Janet Maslin's 2015 recommendations, I'm picking up two more biographical histories: The Wright Brothers by David McCullough (on my book club's reading list, too) and The Ingenious Mr. Pyke: Inventor, Fugitive, Spy by Henry Hemmings about a British "mad scientist" working on World War II covert strategy, which has the unbeatable teaser: "Only now, following the release of previously classified documents by MI5, can this man's extraordinary story be told in full." When it comes to fiction, I'm looking forward, however, and my thanks to The Washington Post for recommending a bevy of new novels releasing in 2016. From a long list, I'm cherry-picking The Man Without a Shadow by best-selling Joyce Carol Oates, about a neuroscientist who falls in love with the famous amnesiac subject of her research, coming out in January. Because I loved Yann Martel's The Life of Pi, I'm looking forward to the February release of The High Mountains of Portugal, in which Martel weaves together three tales that are part quest, ghost story and contemporary fable of love and loss. I'm also a Jane Austen fan, so I'm curious to read Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld, a playful modern retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, when it comes out in April. You can't beat Stephen King for popular thriller fare, so if you've followed the saga of retired police detective Bill Hodges and his unlikely sleuthing allies through Mr. Mercedes and Finders Keepers, you'll want to snap up King's End of Watch, the "spectacular finale" of the trilogy in June. For advice on making reading resolutions that you can actually accomplish, I'll pass along tips from the Huffington Post article "How to Make Non-Intimidating Reading Resolutions for 2016" at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/non-intimidating-reading-resolutions_5682e8abe4b0b958f65a9b9c

Christmas Magic Inspires Classic Mystery Writers

It's almost Christmas, and, for mystery lovers, that means a slew of seasonal mysteries. Besides all the "cozy" murder tales rife with small-town festivities and pie recipes, the holiday has inspired some classic mystery authors. For example, Agatha Christie penned Hercule Poirot's Christmas: The Belgian detective, spending Christmas with a friend in an English village, offers to help the Lee family solve the bloody murder of a tyrannical patriarch at their holiday family reunion. Christie also wrote The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding, a gathering of short mysteries featuring Poirot and her other beloved sleuth Miss Marple. If Christie doesn't satisfy your thirst for British Yuletide mayhem, you can curl up with Silent Nights: Christmas Mysteries, a short-story collection of vintage British mystery writers' holiday-themed tales. For a more recent holiday mystery offering, read New York Times bestselling author Anne Perry. Perry writes a Christmas-themed mystery each year, and this year's 13th seasonal tale is A Christmas Escape: On the Mediterranean island of Stromboli, protagonist Charles Latterly arrives at a small hotel hoping that the island’s blue skies will brighten his spirits. Although orphaned teenager Candace Finbar helps introduce lonely Charles to the island's beauty, his fellow guests turn out to be unhappy, quarrelsome, suspicious company. As the local volcano stirs ominously, a body is found, and Charles suspects a killer among the other guests. Now, for those readers who want to focus on the mystery of Christmas without the murder, check out this list of the 50 best Christmas books for adults or kids, ranging from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, O. Henry's The Gift of the Magi, and Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory, all the way to Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas: http://www.stylist.co.uk/books/50-best-christmas-books

Reading About Terror in the Season of Peace

Most of my friends and relatives are immersed in shopping, feasting and happy parties. When it comes to reading, 'tis the season for uplifting tales of hope and love. But the darker, real world intrudes--the Paris terror attacks, the Russian airplane downing, the San Bernardino mayhem, the terror-threat LAUSD school closure, the fiery rhetoric of presidential candidates--and all that grim news sometimes drowns out the cheery mall music. Heading up the enemies of peace is ISIS, the violent movement to create an Islamic caliphate. So, paradoxically, to further peace and goodwill this season, some of the best gifts may be books that help explain ISIS and today's terror threat, because only by understanding can we mount an effective defense and avoid irrational reactions that risk injecting our own society with the hate-filled bigotry we fear. A recent Wall Street Journal blog post provided 10 must-read recommendations on the topic. Focusing on those published or updated just this year, there is The ISIS Apocalypse: The History, Strategy, and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State by William McCants, director of the Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World at the Brookings Institution and translator of a key Jihadist text, “Management of Savagery.” For a wider and longer viewpoint, read The Levant: A Fractured Mosaic by William Harris, a survey of the Middle East's Levant region including Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and parts of Jordan and Iraq. Harris offers a sweeping history of the structural and geographic determinants of today's turmoil there. Finally, you can refocus on ISIS with 2015's ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror by U.S. journalist Michael Weiss and Syrian analyst Hassan Hassan, who describe the group’s history and tactics within the context of Iraq and its post-2003 insurgency. For more book suggestions, read http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2015/11/17/10-must-read-books-on-terrorism/

Books for Novice and Expert Cooks in Your Life

My holiday gift shopping list always includes cookbooks for the foodies in my life, but the list of possibilities is so huge that I scour the Internet for recommendations. I've found that the Food Network has a good list of cookbooks for a range of tastes (from foreign gourmet dining to down-home BBQ to gluten-free believers) and a range of skill levels, from novice to expert. While TV celeb chefs are perhaps overrepresented, there are many listed books that I found recommended by multiple other sources, such as gourmet magazines, book reviewers and lifestyle editors. The books that seem to be getting the biggest buzz this year include: Lucky Peach, a 101 easy Asian recipes from the independent foodie mag; Nopi: The Cookbook, a collection of Asian-meets-Middle-Eastern recipes from the famed London restaurant Nopi's Head Chef Ramael Scully teamed with author Yotam Ottolenghi; Zahav: A World of Israeli Cooking, featuring Israeli cuisine from the Philadelphia restaurant of James Beard Award-winning Chef Michael Solomonov; Bien Cuit: The Art of Bread by New York artisanal baker Zachary Golper; Milk Bar Life featuring new savory recipes from Christina Tosi, author of Momofuku Milk Bar's creative sweets; Near & Far: Recipes Inspired by Home and Travel offering 120 vegetarian dishes from the personal collection of award-winning food blogger Heidi Swanson; Gjelina, the first cookbook inspired by Travis Lett's Venice Beach-based California-Mediterranean restaurant; The Nomad Cookbook with sweet and savory creations from New York's popular The Nomad restaurant menu, plus bonus cocktail recipes; and, finally, Mexico from the Inside Out, a debut cookbook from Chef Enrique Olvera, combining the sophistication of his Mexico City Pujol restaurant with family home cooking. For many more gift ideas, go to http://www.foodnetwork.com/holidays-and-parties/photos/cookbook-gift-guide.html

Annual Tribute to Fiction's Worst Sex Scenes

One of my favorite "literary" awards, the annual Bad Sex in Fiction Award, has announced this year's winner! The award was established back in 1998 by the British Literary Review’s then-editor Auberon Waugh, with the hope of discouraging authors from penning laughably bad fictional sex scenes. It just underscores the challenge of writing erotic and emotionally resonant sexual descriptions that the award hasn't run short of nominees, and that nominees often include otherwise acclaimed writers. Despite shaming examples of failed eroticism with a booby prize, authors still stumble into porno slang, off-putting anatomical terms, or strained metaphors of a natural (otters and butterflies), mechanical (plows and pistons), or cosmic (supernovae and black holes) kind. The unintended reader response to poorly written descriptions of sexual intimacy is wincing, gagging or giggling--and sometimes all three. A case in point is the 2015 winner, the debut novel List of the Lost by former Smiths vocalist Morrissey, which includes this awful sex romp: "At this, Eliza and Ezra rolled together into one giggling snowball of full-figured copulation, screaming and shouting as they playfully bit and pulled at each other in a dangerous and clamorous rollercoaster coil of sexually violent rotation with Eliza’s breasts barrel-rolled across Ezra’s howling mouth and the pained frenzy of his bulbous salutation extenuating his excitement as it whacked and smacked its way into every muscle of Eliza’s body except for the otherwise central zone." Nominees for 2015 include The Martini Shot by the celebrated screenwriter of TV's "The Wire," George Pelecanos ("I rubbed myself against her until she was wet as a waterslide"); Joshua Cohen’s Book of Numbers ("her breasts were like young fawns, sheep frolicking in hyssop"); and Before, During, After by Richard Bausch ("When she took him, still a little flaccid, into her mouth, he moaned, 'Oh, lover.'"). For a sampling of fiction's worst sex scenes by previous winners: http://www.sheknows.com/entertainment/articles/1057381/the-worst-sex-scenes-in-fiction-ever

Holidays & Mysteries Reveal Family Dysfunction

It's the holiday season, and families gather to celebrate, tolerate or denigrate as the case may be. If your family has its share of dysfunction, it may be time to gain perspective via mysteries with dysfunctional families at their core. For example, check out A Banquet of Consequences, this year's new Inspector Lynley mystery by Edgar Award-winning Elizabeth George. At the center of a family's deadly web sits mother Caroline Goldacre, a pathological liar who has damaged her sons, driven one husband away, made her incumbent partner miserable, and is now blamed for a troubled son's suicide by his girlfriend, whom mom blames in turn. When someone is poisoned, is monster Caroline also a murderer or, as she claims, the intended victim? Either scenario makes sense with this mom from hell! For a lighter take, read The Spellman Files, the first novel of Lisa Lutz's humorous mystery series featuring Isabel "Izzy" Spellman. Izzy works for her dysfunctional, though snoopily competent, family in their private investigation firm. The Spellmans are so addicted to detecting that they spend their off hours investigating each other--tailing, wiretapping and backmailing family. When Izzy's parents hire her 14-year-old sister to trail her and find out about her love life, Izzy decides it's time to quit. But she has to finish one last job, a missing person cold case that turns into the most important case of her life. For a classic psychological thriller, turn to the 1986 Edgar Award winning A Dark Adapted Eye by Ruth Rendell, writing as Barbara Vine. Narrator Faith Severn recalls a 30-year-old tragedy involving her dominating, possessive aunt, Vera Hillyard, who initially seeks to control her beautiful younger sister Eden to the neglect of son Frances, and then abandons focus on Eden to dote on younger son James, who may or may not be illegitimate. When Eden marries but cannot have children, she demands custody of James, claiming he is mistreated by Vera. The two sisters become embroiled in a custody battle that ends in violence and disturbing revelations. Or maybe you just want to escape with a comforting, seasonal "cozy" mystery instead: http://cozy-mysteries-unlimited.com/thanksgiving-list

Tidying Up: Cures for Disorderly Living

Our culture of material accumulation has its unexpected ills. Homes can be overwhelmed by disorganized, useless clutter. Does a disorderly living space reflect a disorderly life, one lacking in serenity, beauty and joy? The answers is apparently yes for many people based on two books topping The New York Times best seller lists: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo and Lovable Livable Home: How to Add Beauty, Get Organized, and Make Your House Work for You by Sherry and John Petersik. Kondo's KonMari method discards the traditional room-by-room clean-up approach in favor of categorizing objects and providing guidelines on judging the purpose of each, whether something "sparks joy" or not, moves you forward or holds you in the past. Reviews are rhapsodic: "Reading it, you glimpse a glittering mental freedom from the unread/uncrafted/unworn, buyer's remorse, the nervous eyeing of real estate listings," declares The Atlantic, while The London Times salutes Kondo's "recognition of something quietly profound: that mess is often about unhappiness, and that the right kind of tidying can be a kind of psychotherapy for the home as well as for the people in it." Be warned that the book has a Japanese anthropomorphic soul that attributes feelings to things like socks, but that's part of its charm--and maybe its effectiveness. The Petersiks' book is down-to-earth American. A follow-up to their Young House Love success for young couples, the new book introduces kids and pets into their maturing home life. Divided simply by space function--living, eating, sleeping, washing, entry, working and playing--Lovable Livable Home uses lots of color pictures to show how to organize and use DIY projects to avoid toy-strewn mess without sacrificing style and comfort. So if you want to start organizing before the holiday chaos, or to prep for a New Year's resolution to tidy up, check out these guides. http://www.amazon.com/The-Life-Changing-Magic-Tidying-Decluttering/dp/1607747308/

Inspiring Histories of Collective Vision

I am currently cruising through the Panama Canal. To prepare for the journey, I waded through David McCullough's National Book Award-winning tome The Path Between the Seas about the creation of the Panama Canal between 1870 and 1914. It is a story of delusion and determination, political treachery and cooperation, engineering feats and medical breakthroughs, tragedy and triumph, and the collective effort of historic figures like President Theodore Roosevelt as well as many thousands of unknown toilers. I finished McCullough's book amid the testy GOP and Democrat debates, as popular rejection of the political establishment propelled unlikely outsiders to the top of polls amid looming challenges to energy, environment, infrastructure and health technology. I found myself naturally longing to visit times when American politics was capable of the grand and visionary progress of McCullough's history (minus the gunboat diplomacy). I turned to my copy of Tom Wolfe's space-program tale The Right Stuff about another national effort that pushed the envelope of technology and individual heroism. I searched out the Hoover Dam saga told in Colossus by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Michael Hitzik, and the well-reviewed Empire Express, David Bain's sprawling history of the building of the transcontinental railroad. And I was reassured. All histories reminded me that America's great national projects have been born amid, and survived in spite of, political conflict and even outright skulduggery. If history is a guide, our thirst for common purpose toward uncommon achievement will survive spates of political aridity. For inspiration from McCullough's Panama Canal tale, see http://www.amazon.com/The-Path-Between-Seas-1870-1914/dp/0671244094

Books for Young Sleuths, From Toddler to Teen

Mystery fiction is not just an adult pleasure. Holiday book gifts can deliver the joys of detection and puzzle-solving to young people from teen down to toddler. Yes, there's even something for 3- to 5-year-old sleuths this year--appropriately titled Who Done It? by Olivier Tallec. On each page of the picture book, young readers are asked to choose a culprit from a lineup of human and animal characters in response to questions such as "Who ate all the jam?" Spotting the guilty party is not always clear-cut; maybe it's the fox with jam on his face or maybe the rabbit with the upset tummy. Children are exposed to concepts that even trip up adults, such as judging expressions and postures, and avoiding quick assumptions. Of course, some answers are easy and designed to get a giggle from small readers, such as "Who couldn't hold it?" Moving on to readers aged 10 to 12, check out Greenglass House by Kate Milford, a 2015 Edgar Award winner for Best Juvenile Mystery. Twelve-year-old Milo, adopted son of innkeepers of a spooky smuggler's inn called Greenglass House, is spending his winter holidays there when an odd assortment of visitors arrive in the middle of a blizzard. Soon objects have gone missing and secrets abound, and Milo joins the cook's daughter Meddy to follow the clues. For teens, The Art of Secrets by James Klise, 2015 Edgar Award winner for Best Young Adult Novel, provides a more complex and thought-provoking view of the modern world and human character. Muslim immigrant Saba Khan's family apartment burns down, perhaps due to a hate crime, but her high school and community rally to aid with fundraising. Soon she is living in a rent-free luxury apartment, enjoying Facebook fame and even being secretly romanced by a popular boy. The good feelings turn ugly, however, when a piece of "found" art donated to a school fundraiser turns out to be worth a half million dollars, and is later stolen from the school. A web of greed, jealousy, shocking accusations, hidden motives, lies and secrets enmeshes the characters. Check out the other nominees in the Juvenile and YA categories of the 2015 Edgar Awards: http://www.theedgars.com/nominees.html

Funny Women Top the Book Charts

Funny women are coming into their own. Six of the top 10 books in the humor category of the New York Times best-seller list this October are written by women: Why Not Me? and Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling (No. 1 and No. 7 spots respectively), Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson (No. 2), Self-Helf by Miranda Sings (No. 4), Yes Please by Amy Poehler (No. 5), and Bossypants by Tina Fey (No. 8). Also note that, for the first time since it was established in 1996, the 2015 Thurber Prize for American Humor, went to a female author: Julie Schumacher for her novel Dear Committee Members. Now it's not that there haven't been female stars in the comic ranks before; Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett were icons long before the current crop of funny women. But more than a 50% female share of humor best-sellers is amazing. The next big step will be a woman host for one of the late-night talk shows! Of course, female humorists still face hurdles if former Disney CEO Michael Eisner could opine publicly to comedic actress Goldie Hawn at the Aspen Ideas Festival this July that "unbelievably beautiful women...are not funny." Eisner reflects a lingering gender gap; while both men and women tell pollsters that a "sense of humor" is a top attractiveness factor, it turns out that women mean they are attracted to men who make them laugh, but men mean they are attracted to women who laugh at their jokes. Hopefully, women are breaking through the laughter barrier in American culture at last. Why will that be a good thing? In a New York Times "Women in the World" article celebrating Schumacher's Thurber Prize win, author Brigit Katz explained "when funny people present us with their personal history and we acknowledge it--with laughter, with nominations, or with awards--those experiences become validated as stories worth telling." So consider yourselves a bit more validated, ladies, and check out the NYT humor best sellers: http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/2015-10-11/humor/list.html

The Art of the Politically Cunning Tweet

I noticed the other day, thanks to NPR reporting, that Twitter has published a 136-page manual for politicians, "The Twitter Government and Elections Handbook," addressing questions from the basic "Where Do Tweets Appear? Who Reads Them?" to why politicians should be creative with tweets: "In 'stepping out from behind the podium' and showing natural personality, these leaders humanize themselves and the political process — and gain followers to boot." Personally, I don't think 140 characters are conducive to thoughtful political discussion. But there's no arguing Twitter has been a great tool for Donald Trump to keep media buzz constant and display his "natural personality." Those who dismiss his tweets as ego-fueled embarrassments are missing the political strategy in the social media campaign that has kept him top of GOP candidate polls. A recent article by InsideGov.com ranked 30 of Trump's most popular tweets (based on retweets and media attention) by scoring them for arrogance, offensiveness and political cunning. Consider the tweet judged most "Trump-tastic," an April 2015 comment on Baltimore's troubles: "Our great African American President hasn't exactly had a positive impact on the thugs who are so happily and openly destroying Baltimore!" InsideGov rates it strong on all counts: "It's arrogant. Politically, it appeals to Trump's base by belittling Obama and emphasizing crime — a particularly prickly issue among many Trump conservatives. Most of all, however, it maximizes offensiveness, ensuring that the tweet will be reposted, retweeted and criticized around the world." Aristotle's classic analysis of rhetoric posited that effective persuasion is based on ethos (authority of the speaker), logos (logic and facts) and pathos (emotional appeal). Even if facts are given short shrift in Trump tweets, he consistently hits two out of three persuasive power points for followers. Twitter also keeps messages in line with the political virtue of simplicity. To quote Aristotle again: "It is simplicity that makes the uneducated more effective than the educated when addressing popular audiences." For InsideGov analysis of all 30 Trump tweets: http://tucson.com/news/data/ranking-donald-trump-s-best-worst-tweets/article_09035f9a-12d2-5002-92e1-df5379857d2f.html

Welcome These New Ghostly Tales for Halloween

By the middle of October, there are usually many articles listing the best scary tales for Halloween's annual celebration of the paranormal. But this year, editors seem to have less interest. Real humanitarian horrors abroad and mass killings at home may have sated the appetite for imaginary frightfulness. But I personally still welcome escape via a good ghost story's vicarious terrors, vaporous threats that vanish with the last page. And there is a choice of new, well-reviewed spine-tingling fiction this year to satisfy that yen. Start with Paul Tremblay's much-lauded A Head Full of Ghosts, a tale about a reality-TV demonic possession as recalled by the troubled narrator, a young woman who was a child at the time her sister was supposedly transformed by a demon. But steel your nerves; Stephen King, per Amazon, has said, "A Head Full of Ghosts scared the living hell out of me, and I'm pretty hard to scare." Also new this year is Little Girls by award-winning horror author Ronald Malfi: A woman returns with her husband and young daughter to a childhood homestead after her father's unnatural death, resurrecting unhappy memories and an uneasiness exacerbated by unexplained deaths, sinister neighbor children and eerie "bump in the night" events. For less modern ghostly doings, The Uninvited by Cat Winters, another award-winning author, is set in 1918 amid the fear and panic of the great influenza outbreak, as a young woman with the "gift" of seeing uninvited ghosts of loved ones--visions always heralding an impending death--struggles with the implications of her otherworldly revelations. Don't be discouraged by its bleak history; The Uninvited is "healing and moving rather than scary," per the Kirkus review. Finally, I'll include The Visitant: A Venetian Ghost Story by Megan Chance. Its American heroine disgraces her family and is sent to nurse an ailing man in a decaying Venetian palazzo owned by his friend, an impoverished nobleman, with both men seemingly in thrall to a dark force within a house of tragic secrets. I admit the Venetian setting is my main draw. If none of these appeal, see a selection of all-time scariest books: http://flavorwire.com/419194/the-50-scariest-books-of-all-time/view-all/

Deconfliction: If Leaders Speak in Jargon, Beware

This week I learned a new word: deconfliction. I wasn't exactly sure what it meant. It sounded generally positive and appropriate to U.S. efforts to defuse the tense situation created by Russian aerial bombing of Syria. But then I looked up the definition in the Oxford English dictionary. Deconfliction seeks to "reduce the risk of collision between (aircraft, airborne weaponry, etc.) in an area by coordinating their movements." So it is a word that, once understood, reveals the poverty of U.S. response: negotiations between two armed behemoths over how to avoid bumping into each other while they go about opposing policies that drop bombs with lots of "collateral damage" (coincidental civilian carnage) while seeking "targets of opportunity" (people and places for destruction). I comment on this in a blog about writing because it is an illustration of how much words matter, and not just to writers. According to an Oct. 1 article in Great Britain's The Guardian newspaper, "deconfliction" is a piece of jargon that appeared in U.S. military parlance in the mid-1970s, entered into Pentagon Gulf War reports in 1991, was wielded by Pentagon doublespeak master Donald Rumsfeld in 2006, and now is popping up in the mouths of President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry. For a nice example of how to use the word deconfliction in a sentence, I turn to Brit Hume, a commentator with whom I don't generally agree, who summed up in a tweet: "Russian general to U.S.: We're bombing Syria in an hour. Get out of the way. Sec'y Kerry: We need a deconfliction discussion." Whenever leaders use jargon to conceal, abstract, excuse, dehumanize, euphemize and generally confuse the public, George Orwell turns over in his grave. His warning that "in our time, political speech and writing are largely the defence of the indefensible" has gone unheeded. I fear we may be better informed by Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary, where politics is defined as "a strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles." For Orwell's prescient essay "Politics and the English Language," see http://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/politics/english/e_polit/

Southern Gothic: 'The Night the Hogs Ate Willie"

I'm a sucker for Southern Gothic writing--works by authors such as William Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, Carson McCullers and Cormac McCarthy. So I was curious to read the recently published The Gates of Evangeline by Hester Young, described as a "Southern Gothic mystery debut." While a well-plotted mystery with Gothic elements--dream visions, an old mansion and family secrets--the book is more a paranormal mystery/romance with a Southern setting than a "Southern Gothic."  So what is Southern Gothic writing? It is regional literature using dark humor, religiosity or the supernatural, generational decay, violence and grotesque characters and events "not solely for the sake of suspense but to explore social issues and reveal the cultural character of the American South," per a combination of definitions. Young's Louisiana locale is a sketched frame for her psychic East Coast protagonist's sleuthing and romancing of a manly Texan in boots. A Southern Gothic novel's powerful and authentic sense of place is its dark, inspirational core: decayed grandeur side by side with poverty and ambition; violence and hypocrisy embraced or defied; religious piety sitting on the same bench with perversion and corruption; family trees bearing love and poison; God and the Devil in daily discourse. This macabre and fantastical South is peopled by uniquely grotesque characters with crippled bodies, broken hearts or twisted souls. Or as Southern author Pat Conroy commented in this amusing quote: "My mother, Southern to the bone, once told me, 'All Southern literature can be summed up in these words: On the night the hogs ate Willie, Mama died when she heard what Daddy did to Sister.'" See this Publishers Weekly listing of the top Southern Gothic books: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/tip-sheet/article/66013-10-best-southern-gothic-books.html

What's Behind the Urge to Write?

Recently, a friend wondered about whether to write a blog, and it got me thinking about writers' motives. George Orwell, in a well-known essay titled "Why I Write," laid out the "four great motives" of authors: sheer egotism (the desire to leave an individual mark), aesthetic enthusiasm (pleasure in the beauty of prose), historical impulse (to reveal the truth of the world as it is), and political purpose (to push the world in a certain direction). Orwell cited political purpose as his main motive for works such as Nineteen Eighty-Four. In contrast, Joan Didion, known for literary journalism in works such as The Year of Magical Thinking, cites an internal intellectual impluse: "I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear." So why do I write? Well, Orwell's and Didion's motives may be involved, but, when it comes to fiction, I admit to being driven by an inner compulsion, an ultimately irresistible force of story and characters that demand release into words of pain, pleasure, fear and hope, words that are a revelation both surprising and familiar to me. Author Judy Blume has echoed this feeling: “Those of us who write do it because there are stories inside us burning to get out. Writing is essential to our well-being.” Yet the result is not just relief from the pressure of bottled ideas and feelings (author Anne Rice would call them "obsessions") but incomparable pleasure, which is perhaps my ultimate motive for writing. As Neil Gaiman, author of comic books and the award-winning fantasy novel American Gods, explains, writers "get to feel like both the creator and the audience. Everything is suddenly both obvious and surprising… and it’s magic and wonderful and strange." In this way, writers and artists share with prophets the special ecstasy of inspiration--whether it comes profanely from within or divinely from above. See what other famous authors say about motives for writing: http://flavorwire.com/303590/15-famous-authors-on-why-they-write

A Chill in the Air With These Fall Mystery Imports

Cooler, darker fall days are around the corner, so it's time to stock up on mysteries for cozy holiday reading--including several foreign imports. If you miss genius punk hacker Lisbeth Salander, read The Girl in the Spider's Web by Sweden's David Lagercrantz, who continues the series of the deceased Stieg Larsson. This time Salander and unlikely investigative partner journalist Mikael Blomkvist take on the case of enigmatic computer scientist Frans Balder, a prominent expert in artificial intelligence ensnared in a global intrigue that even involves America's National Security Agency. The New York Times review praises Lagercrantz's "instinctive feel for the world Larsson created," his characterizations and high-velocity writing despite a less-than-convincing plot. Meanwhile, British author Ruth Ware has a debut for those who liked Paula Hawkins' best-selling Girl on the Train. In a Dark, Dark Wood is a psychological thriller in which reclusive crime writer Leonora, known to some as Lee and others as Nora, is invited by a friend she hasn’t seen in years to a weekend party in an eerie glass house deep in the English countryside. Forty-eight hours later, Lee/Nora wakes up in a hospital bed with the knowledge that someone is dead and wondering not only "what happened?" but "what have I done?" Then there is Those We Left Behind by Stuart Neville, author of the popular Belfast crime series featuring DI Jack Lennon. Those We Left Behind is a standalone mystery set in Northern Ireland and centers around Ciaran Devine, who made headlines seven years earlier as the 12-year-old “schoolboy killer" whose confession to the brutal murder of his foster father mitigated the sentence of his older brother. Now Ciaran's release brings big trouble to his probation officer DCI Serena Flanagan, who has always harbored doubts about his confession. Meanwhile, on this side of the pond, Louise Penny has brought back Chief Inspector Armand Gamache for an 11th installment set in the quaint Quebec village of Three Pines. The Nature of the Beast begins with the disappearance of a little boy who always cried wolf--except perhaps one of his tall tales was dangerously true. A search for the boy uncovers murder, an old crime, an old betrayal, and some soul-searching for Gamache. For more top fall mysteries, see the Publishers Weekly list: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/new-titles/adult-announcements/article/67177-fall-2015-announcements-mysteries-the-mystery-thriller-boom.html

Why Are Colleges Becoming Mental Crisis Centers?

Young people are flooding college campuses, but the upbeat excitement of my college days is apparently an anachronism. According to a recent Psychology Today article titled "Crisis U," colleges "are being transformed into something more akin to mental health wards than citadels of learning." Declares the article, "Whether troubled Facebook posts or middle-of-the-night cries to independent support services like Crisis Text Line, such messages, along with class absences, disturbing writing in course assignments, or direct threats to fac­ulty, are a new common core of college life." Per the University of Michigan's Healthy Minds Study cited in the article, 22% of the nation's collegians seek therapy or counseling each year, 19% of college students regularly take psychotropic drugs (antidepressants, anxiolytics, and stimulants such as Adderall), and self-harm is commonplace, with close to one in five students engaging in cutting, burning, or other form of self-mutilation. What in the world is going on? The leading mental health concern in 2015 is anxiety: 54% of all college students report feeling overwhelming anxiety, according to American College Health Association surveys quoted. And the universally cited precipitant of anxiety is stress. Yet stress itself is not the problem (I doubt it's higher than in the past); in fact, research shows stress actually enhances performance, especially when viewed positively. The problem is how students handle stress. Without basic coping skills, every frustration, competitive challenge, romantic disappointment, or social media insecurity turns into an overwhelming stressor. Another recent Psychology Today article by Diane Dreher, coach and author, puts the blame for the coping failure on parents who are "protecting their children from failure while pressuring them to excel, doing their homework, making their decisions, and micromanaging their lives," and thus creating students who have "difficulty dealing with the challenges of college life because they’ve been denied the opportunity to develop age-appropriate cognitive function," she writes. "Insecure, confused, and emotionally fragile, they experience high anxiety and chronic stress, which further weakens their cognitive ability." Experts urge parents to instead encourage unstructured play, provide honest criticism and praise, encourage children to solve their own problems, and give increasing responsibility. Dreher suggests some reading for concerned parents: How to raise an adult: Break free of the overparenting trap and prepare your kid for success by J. Lythcott-Haims; A nation of wimps by H.E. Marano; and The gift of failure: How the best parents learn to let go so their children can succeed by J. Lahey. For more on the college mental health crisis: https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/201509/crisis-u

Falling Fertility Creates a Future We May Not Like

Recently CNN's Fareed Zakaria touched on the problem of falling fertility rates in developed countries in his regular "GPS" segment, citing data from Europe and Japan of birth rates below the 2.1 births per woman needed for replacement of existing populations. "Not only will some countries’ population shrink, they will also get older. Europe’s over 65 crowd will increase to over a quarter of the population there by 2050, according to the U.N. Japan’s will be over 1/3," Zakaria pointed out. "That means that already cash-strapped countries will have higher bills to pay to provide retirees with pension and health benefits." A country with a shrinking, aging population faces economic contraction, rising labor costs, falling real estate values, a smaller pool of innovative talent, and more conservative politics--a future very different from previous assumptions of continual growth and social improvement. The U.S. is part of the trend; our national fertility rate hit a record low in 2013, and our population is forecast to grow only because of immigration (add that to the political debate over immigration). Why the disinterest in procreating? Education, career and financial opportunities--especially for women--plus social acceptance of birth control are cited. But I wondered if there's something deeper at work, too. Consider a July Huffington Post survey of childless women, which found 270 explanations for the decision to remain "childfree," which boiled down to some combination of four basic reasons: prioritizing career, dislike of children, bad relationship with parents, avoidance of the financial responsibility, and preference for an existing (childless) lifestyle. Apparently, a growing percentage of women consider motherhood a negative factor in their personal happiness equation. So developed countries can try to boost baby-making via peppy campaigns, economic incentives and social support programs, but the fertility fall is unlikely to be cured by tax credits and slogans. We seem set on a future we may not like. For the Huffington Post survey: http://data.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/choosing-childfree?ncid=edlinkushpmg00000030

Last Chance for Your Summer Reading List

For me, the summer vacation season officially ends with Labor Day, which is September 7 this year. From then on, there is no denying the back-to-work and back-to-school grind. But I believe we all still have a little time, or can make a little time, for one last relaxed summer read. If you're looking for suggestions from the top, you could start with President Obama's summer vacation reading list, courtesy of an August report in The Washington Post: All That Is by James Salter, All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert, The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri, Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow. If you want a book to inspire you to dive back into your work routine with renewed energy, check out the reading list from Business.com. Recommendations range from The Martian by Andy Weir, fiction about a NASA astronaut stranded on Mars, to the latest motivational boost from Tom Peters in The Little Big Things: 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence. For more reading options, go to http://www.business.com/books-and-publications/summer-reading-list-beach-reads-to-inspire/. But if you want to dodge any thought of work stress for a few days more, check out vacation-savvy publisher Fodors' suggestions, eclectic reads that run from Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal, a foodie romp with each chapter focused on a single dish and character, to Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee, the controversial surprise sequel to the beloved To Kill a Mockingbird. For Fodors' list, see http://www.fodors.com/news/12-books-to-read-on-your-summer-vacation-11421.html. 

Why Weddings Often Spark Conflicts

Weddings can bring out the best, and worst, behavior from family and friends. With my daughter's wedding a little over a week away, our house is filling up with relatives and guests, and, of course, we would like to prevent tensions. How? A Psychology Today article helped put all in perspective by listing the top three reasons for wedding conflicts. Of course, it starts with MONEY. After all, today's weddings cost a lot. The price of a nuptial celebration has jumped to an all-time high, reaching an average $31,213, according to The Knot's "2014 Real Weddings Study." And the expense burden extends beyond the couple and their parents to the guests, who shell out for travel, accommodations and gifts, as well as to the wedding party, who must spend big for things like bridesmaid dresses they'll never wear again. With that much money flowing, financial anxieties and unmet expectations are bound to float to the top and spill negative vibes. Family dynamics are the next big cause of wedding conflict, especially issues of status within the family, notes the article. It is not uncommon to see mature people regress to childish expressions of jealousy and resentment when reminded of old wounds from parental favoritism or sibling rivalry. The fact that many will imbibe enough alcohol to loosen inhibitions and lips increases the chance of an "unfortunate incident." The third main source of wedding conflict is the likelihood that some folks will feel "left out" at some point. Honestly, at a crowded event, it is impossible to include and pay attention to everyone equally and always.  Unfortunately, various other articles offered no magic oil to pour on troubled wedding waters, beyond old-fashioned compassion and tolerance. All I can do is vow that every time a complaining relative, an out-of-control drunk, an undisciplined brat, or feuding exes loosen my hold on my temper, I will take a deep breath and consciously shift my focus back to what a wedding should be about: celebrating love. For more: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/insight-is-2020/201306/weddings-why-they-cause-conflicts-among-family-friends

The Line Between Accumulating and Hoarding

I think most people fit somewhere on the "hoarding" spectrum.  At one end are the people featured on A&E's "Hoarders" or TLC's "Hoarding: Buried Alive," swallowed up by piles of trash, and down the line are the folks like me, with closets or garage corners jammed with forgotten clutter. I've always looked at the reality TV hoarders in baffled repulsion--until I was recently forced to face my own possession obsession while cleaning out closets for the arrival of guests. Why hadn't I discarded the old comforters for twin beds that I no longer own, the hundreds of paperback books that I'll never read again, the 15 computer totes and briefcases (old corporate or expo giveaways), or the medical accessories from past traumas? And what about those boxes of stained infant clothes and toys for children now in their thirties? In looking at my motives for keeping this accumulation of useless stuff, I realized that my defenses weren't really different from the ones mumbled by certified hoarders. I had to admit to sheer laziness (just shove it in the closet rather than walk to the trash can or donate to the needy), misguided sentimentality (those baby clothes evoked memories, but the pictures of the kids actually wearing them had more meaning), misguided practicality (how can you throw out a good tote that someone in the family could use, and won't I need crutches if I twist my ankle again?), and personal obsession (I love books so it's just hard to let go). We are all hoarders to a degree. But once I forced myself to clean, sort and assign items to the trash or charity donation, I felt a wonderful new lightness. The constant sight of piles of dusty objects, the detritus of the past, was burdensome in ways I didn't realize. If you want to give your spirit a boost, clean a closet. But if de-cluttering creates more psychic pain than relief, maybe you should read about the psychology of hoarding: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/hope-relationships/201409/the-psychology-behind-hoarding

Famous Unsolved Crimes That Inspire Writers

Writers (and movie makers) repeatedly use certain famous unsolved crimes for inspiration, and the public responds. Why do these crimes fascinate? Just consider this short list of six well-known unsolved murders: Jack the Ripper's Whitechapel prostitute butchering; Lizzie Borden's suspected axe attack on her parents; the Black Dahlia case of a young woman's mutilated corpse in post-war L.A.; the Northern California Zodiac Killer with his cryptic messages; Dr. Sam Sheppard and the "bushy-haired intruder" he said killed his wife; and child beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey, dead in her own basement at Christmas. The murders are all horrific, yet horror alone is not enough to sustain long-term interest. These mysteries intrigue for several basic reasons: the attractiveness and vulnerability of the victim, the shocking nature of the prime suspect, baffling and provocative clues, and the unknown motive for frightful acts. Focusing on victims, JonBenét Ramsey fascinates by being both innocent six-year-old and prematurely sexualized beauty contestant, while Black Dahlia Elizabeth Short provokes fears and prejudices about women venturing alone into the urban jungle. When it comes to suspects, what is more bizarre by traditional social conventions than spinster Victorian Lizzie Borden with a bloody axe or prominent osteopath Sheppard bludgeoning his wife to death? And the unsolved cases of both Jack the Ripper and the Zodiac Killer are full of enticing clues, including those that the killer himself communicated publicly, tauntingly, only to escape capture. In all cases, the motive remains the biggest mystery, the one that keeps writers and readers busy profiling likely killers in order to decipher the "why" behind the awful "how." There is nothing more intriguing, or terrifying, than a monster hiding in plain sight. For a longer list of famous unsolved crimes, read http://list25.com/25-most-frustrating-unsolved-crimes-ever/5/

One Nation--With Regional Personality Divisions

One thing my daughter's wedding in California is accomplishing is a gathering of cultural and regional diversity; besides the 27% foreign-born here, there are many U.S. natives who have migrated to the West Coast from other states. I wondered if it was my imagination that I was observing regional personality differences. The answer per recent research is that, yes, America's regions tend to differ by common personality traits. In 2013, researchers from the University of Cambridge published a study of regional character in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, based on a 12-year analysis of personality traits of nearly 1.6 million people living in the United States and Washington, D.C. (excluding Hawaii and Alaska) via Facebook, surveys and other methods. They looked particularly at five personality dimensions--agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, and neuroticism. The study found that the most friendly and conventional people tended to live in the South and north-central Great Plains region, while relaxed and creative traits were more common in the Western and Eastern coastal areas. New Englanders, in contrast, were most likely to be uninhibited and temperamental. If my long years in California have rubbed off on my personality, I should be above the national average in openness and extroversion, but sub par on conscientiousness, agreeableness and neuroticism. Then again, my family roots are in Texas, and I went to elementary school there, so maybe the fact that its citizens score above average on every trait except neuroticism will leaven the impact of the less friendly and less conscientious California bent. Curious about state and regional personality? Read http://time.com/7612/americas-mood-map-an-interactive-guide-to-the-united-states-of-attitude/. But if you want regional differences that you can more confidently observe, consider American language schisms. How do you pronounce crayon, pecan, caramel, pajamas, or lawyer? For maps of state-by-state linguistic conflicts, see http://www.businessinsider.com/22-maps-that-show-the-deepest-linguistic-conflicts-in-america-2013-6?op=1

My Short Bout With 'Internet Withdrawal'

Is "Internet withdrawal" a real thing? I know that I experienced a sense of helpless isolation and frustration last week when my Internet connection became sporadic (until a cable tech fixed a faulty connection). As someone who actually remembers the days before computers, it is astounding to realize how dependent on technology we are in our daily routines, our communications and our work life. With unreliable Internet service, I had to scurry to support my marketing consulting clients, and some projects were necessarily delayed. Various transactions and communications for my daughter's wedding were disrupted. I didn't get my blog post done because it was prioritized below work. But most projects still proceeded, and social communications and e-mail responses were handled via smartphone. Yes, there was an underlying, anxious sense of disconnection, but it hardly seemed a symptom of a deeper disorder. In fact, per Wikipedia, Internet Addiction Disorder is a term coined in a satirical essay by Dr. Ivan Goldberg in 1995 and then taken seriously by researchers and, of course, the media, who have since produced new terms like problematic Internet use, compulsive Internet use, Internet overuse, pathological computer use and even iDisorder. All refer to Internet use that interferes with normal life--such as excessive computer game play, online gambling, porn viewing, shopping, constant social networking or workaholic behavior--to the extent that folks experience anxiety, depression and withdrawal symptoms similar to drug users if they go offline. It is not an official mental disorder in the Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders yet, but that doesn't stop the media from headlining various studies documenting "Facebook addiction," "Internet withdrawal" and its cousin "mobile phone withdrawal." In 2014, a Business Insider story noted that workaholics especially suffer withdrawal symptoms when cut off from the Internet (because they can no longer work 24/7). To be honest, maybe because, unlike my kids, I have lived in a world without digital technology, I soon banished anxiety over my temporary Internet loss with old-fashioned versions of Internet-enabled activities, like reading and face-to-face socializing. Frankly, I don't think it's the Internet that is the problem, except as a tool making it easier to indulge the real addictions: gambling, porn, workaholism, shopaholism, etc. But if you think you are afflicted by Internet dependency, maybe you should check out http://www.psychguides.com/guides/computerinternet-addiction-symptoms-causes-and-effects/

How July 4 Fireworks Inspire Mystery Writers

July 4 is a holiday synonymous with summertime family fun--backyard barbecues, beach picnics, fireworks in the park, local parades, etc. And that makes it an interesting backdrop for murder mysteries. First, it's easy to forget that July 4 commemorates the birth of a nation in violent revolution, but this Fourth comes on the heels of headlines--the Supreme Court decision on gay marriage and racially motivated violence--that remind us that a nation founded on the concept of inalienable rights is still fighting to realize those ideals for all citizens. A mystery writer certainly can find murderous motives in old, violent biases--with joyous fireworks bursting ironically in the background. Second, the nation is still threatened by internal and external enemies, although very different ones from 1776, as shown by recent headlines about potential terrorist attacks on Independence Day. It's not hard to imagine the plot for a mystery-thriller! But mainly, we are plagued by more personal demons on the holiday. I am certain that, as families, friends and strangers gather together, there will be many new headlines about violence from fractured relationships and fractured minds. Since the most common violence on the Fourth of July comes at home, the "cozy" mysteries are also those that most often embrace an Independence Day theme, with an emphasis on amateur female sleuths, recipes and cute pets. Here are four 2015 July 4-theme mysteries for your (very light) holiday reading. First comes Nancy Coco with Oh Say Can You Fudge: Allie Murphy, owner of a hotel and fudge shop, plans to hire an aerial skywriter for a holiday display, but he turns up murdered. Next, is Isis Crawford's A Catered Fourth of July: Two sisters in a small New York town cater a Revolutionary War battle reenactment and then become sleuths when the town's playboy is killed. Cute canines dominate in Mutts & Murder, a Dog Town USA Cozy Mystery by Amazon best-seller Meg Muldoon: Winifred Wolf is covering canine-related stories for the local newspaper in Dog Mountain, Oregon, when a dead body is found in the local dog park before the annual Fourth of July Pooch Parade. Last on the list is Doggone Dead, another mystery in the popular Pecan Bayou series by Teresa Trent: In Pecan Bayou, Texas, Betsy Livingston is looking for her runaway puppy when she stumbles upon a murder on a dead movie-cowboy star's estate. For a much longer list of Fourth of July cozy mysteries, see http://www.cozy-mystery.com/blog/fourth-of-july-mystery-book-theme-list.html

What Can Dream-Home Style Say About You?

I have bought and sold many homes over the years, from the affordable two-bedroom starter condo to the five-bedroom floorplan with a pool, and I am now at the stage where an empty nest and aging knees are pushing toward downsized, single-story simplicity. But because my oldest son is in the process of buying his first home, I began to think about architectural styles again--and what our preferences say about us. It is an interesting question for fiction writers, who must create believable characters and their environments. If the protagonist lives in a romantic Victorian, an anonymous suburban tract home, an austerely decorated urban loft, or a luxurious mountain lodge in the pines, readers will make different assumptions about likely background, lifestyle and psychology. Of course, the house we dream of owning and what we can afford are not always the same; and a dissonance between desire and reality has its own interesting character ramifications. But let's assume you can attain that dream home. What does your choice say about your personality? Some research shows that if you like a Craftsman home, you tend to value home and family, and thus a style that is classic, functional and good for down-to-earth entertaining. If you dream of an ornate Victorian with turrets and gingerbread, you are probably both an art lover and a detail-oriented fan of traditional order. In contrast, if you yearn to move into an urban loft with an Industrial look--lots of exposed brick, raw wood and steel--you're a more casual, eclectic soul, maybe with a tattoo or two. If you're not sure which home architecture really calls to you, discover your style preference with the attached quiz. You may be surprised! http://www.stylishhome.com/Design/Style-Maker-Quiz

On Father's Day: Fatherhood, Filial Duty in Flux

Father's Day is on its way, and I will be getting in touch with my 90-year-old dad, and my adult children will come home to celebrate their own father. Fatherhood certainly has changed significantly since celebration of "Father's Day" gained U.S. popularity in the early twentieth century and even since it became a fixed national day of recognition in 1972. Today's fathers are no longer the married breadwinners and disciplinarians of yore; they are also single dads, gay dads, stay-at-home caregiver dads, adopted dads, step-dads, and even transgender dads like Caitlyn Jenner. Overall, modern fatherhood trends are a good thing, since research shows that fatherly love is as important to a child's social, emotional and cognitive development as motherly love, and new fathering norms allow for greater care giving and interaction than in the past. But it seems to me that something also has been lost in the last century, and that is the concept of filial duty. America's current youth-oriented, self-fulfillment culture has relegated many filial duties to the moral dustbin with wifely obedience and whipping naughty children. You have to go to conservative religious tracts to read about children's duties, into adulthood, to honor, respect, obey, and take counsel from parents, and then care for them in old age. Is this erosion of filial responsibilities a good or bad trend for American society? Yes, government programs and professional caregivers have actually improved conditions for many older parents compared to past reliance on private filial care and financing. But what about emotional and social consequences? Well, junking fatherly input is probably fine for children with stifling, abusive or neglectful fathers; but it may not be so good for those whose loving dads could impart confidence, ethics and the wisdom of experience. Yes, we have a more creative, open society if unfettered from conservative parental tradition; but lack of parental guidance also can create a society adrift, without communal morality or understanding of its past. So while I'm definitely not advocating a return to patriarchal rule, perhaps we should salvage a bit of what was best about the "good old days" on this Father's Day. I'll try harder to show dear old dad how much we honor him and care about him, even if we don't follow the old requirement to physically care for him. More important, I'll try harder to heed the lessons earned by his longer years--right and wrong. For a glimpse of what other cultures can teach us about honoring elders:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/25/what-other-cultures-can-teach_n_4834228.html

Need Presidency Bidder Insight? See Their Books

One way to gain insight into the 2016 presidential hopefuls is to read their own words. A surprising number of Democrat and Republican primary candidates are authors, some even with best sellers. Granted there is often an excess of one-sided opinion and manipulated fact, but politicians' books still reveal their core values, goals and leadership style. So let's start with the most prolific writer: Democrat front-runner Hillary Clinton. Besides scholarly articles and innumerable columns, she is the author of five books, starting with It Takes a Village in 1996 to Hard Choices in 2014 (although I'd discount political revelations from her book of kids' letters to the First Pets). The recently published Hard Choices is a memoir of her years as Secretary of State, but most reviewers agree that while it is "serious, sober and substantive" (NY Times) on policy issues, the book disappoints by failing to reveal much about Hillary herself. Sales have been disappointing as well. The crowded GOP field has been more successful with publishing. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson scored the New York Times best seller list in 2014 with One Nation: What We Can All Do to Save America's Future, touting individual responsibility and bashing Obamacare. Marco Rubio also had a best seller with his memoir An American Son, but it was followed this year by the low-sales American Dreams: Restoring Economic Opportunity for Everyone. As an example of how presidential ambition impacts an author's tone, consider Rand Paul's 2012 book Government Bullies: How Everyday Americans Are Being Harassed, Abused, and Imprisoned by the Feds versus this year's Taking a Stand: Moving Beyond Partisan Politics to Unite America. In 2015, Texas Tea Party icon Ted Cruz joined the conservative fray with A Time for Truth: Reigniting the Promise of America, expressing views that "have made him a political lightning rod and the most googled man in Washington," per Amazon's blurb. And presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee this year debuted God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy, which posits a struggle between the "Bubbaville" American heartland and the "Bubbleville" coastal big cities, including D.C. Regardless of sales, the anti-Washington stance of Paul, Huckabee and Cruz doesn't mean a party win as Texas Republican Rick Perry can attest; he published Fed Up!: Our Fight to Save America from Washington in 2010 before his unsuccessful try for GOP nomination. What about Jeb Bush? With embarrassingly puny readership, Jeb Bush penned Immigration Wars: Forging an American Solution back in 2013, espousing a demand-driven system. There are more presidential hopefuls (Bernie Sanders, Bobby Jindal, Elizabeth Warren, etc.) who've written books, but I've run out of space! For more GOP authors, see http://www.newsmax.com/TheWire/2016-book-race-gop/2015/01/30/id/621851/

Once a Rare Breed, Female Sleuths Proliferate

Ever since Nancy Drew, I've liked female sleuths in mystery fiction, especially because they were once a relatively rare breed. Now women mystery-solvers--police detectives, medical examiners, journalists, psychiatrists and detecting psychics--proliferate in publishing. In fact, the 2015 Edgar Award nominees included two good examples. Karin Slaughter, known for her Will Trent crime-solving bestsellers, was nominated for her first stand-alone effort, Coptown, about two disparate police women, one defying her privileged background by entering the force and one out to prove herself to a family with a police background. They become uneasy partners in 1974 Atlanta on the hunt for a serial killer targeting cops. Another finalist for the 2015 Edgar, as well as the Mary Higgins Clark Award, was Invisible City, a debut work by Julia Dahl. Protagonist Rebekah Roberts, whose mother abandoned her as an infant to return to her Hasidic faith, moves to New York to pursue a journalism career, also putting her near Brooklyn's Hasidic community, where her mother might still be living Covering the story of a murdered Hasidic woman, Rebekah ends up immersing herself in her secretive, unwelcoming world to get at the truth. Of course, I put both books on my bookshelf, but, as I did so, I noticed titles featuring favorite female detectives of the past. I think they're worth a visit from modern mystery fans. I mean, who doesn't love Agatha Christie's sharp-eyed old spinster Miss Marple? Join the village gossips in A Murder Is Announced, a deftly plotted piece of misdirection, to appreciate her. While you're "across the pond," drop in on Harriet Vane, the mystery novelist extraordinaire paired with dashing Lord Peter Wimsey in Dorothy Sayers' Gaudy Night, sometimes called "the first feminist mystery novel." And of course, re-read P.D. James' An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, where England's mystery queen championed her first woman detective way back in the 1970s. To see the other 2015 Edgar Award nominees and winners, go to http://www.theedgars.com/nominees.html

Best-Seller Mysteries for Your Summer Reading

It's time to gather up mystery fare for the long, lazy days of summer. If you are a fan of Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl, you'll like two new best sellers. For those attracted to mean-girl protagonists, try Jessica Knoll's The Luckiest Girl Alive. Ani FaNelli has reinvented herself as a New York magazine writer, boasting a wealthy fiancé and a brand-name wardrobe, but the past threatens her perfect life when she agrees to participate in a documentary about a long-ago shooting at her fancy private high school. If twists by an unreliable narrator were your Gone Girl turn-on, then The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins is your English cup of tea. Protagonist Rachel is a boozy, fantasizing mess who has been fired from her job but structures her days by continuing her London train commute, a trip that conveniently allows her to spy on the street where her ex-husband and his new wife live. She fantasizes about the street's other inhabitants, including a young couple, and when the young woman goes missing, Rachel injects herself into the police inquiry and the lives of the missing woman's husband and her own ex-husband. Of course, there are many well-known writers on the best-seller list this summer--James Patterson, David Balducci, John Sanford, etc.--but if you're tired of urban crime detectives, try these alternatives. First, how about a trip to Wyoming's high plains to meet Craig Johnson's Sheriff Walt Longmire? In Cold Bones, Longmire investigates whether a local Cheyenne man's murder is related to valuable dinosaur bones unearthed on his property. Another alternative detective is "enigmatologist" Jeremy Logan in Lincoln Child's The Forgotten Room. Logan is called in by a prestigious think tank to investigate the suicide of a respected doctor following suddenly bizarre behavior and, in the organization's sprawling mansion, discovers a secret room full of old equipment for mysterious experiments. Finally, Stephen King's 2015 Edgar Award-winning Mr. Mercedes plays with the trappings of the hard-boiled detective story but transforms it with unlikely heroes, including a nervous 43-year-old spinster, who take on the unsolved murder of 23 people run down by a stolen car and then race to prevent the crazed killer from more deadly mayhem. For more options: http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Books-Mystery-Thriller-Suspense/zgbs/books/18

Arab Fiction Reveals a World Behind the News

Negative images from the Arab world fill the news each night, and Western pundits write reams of non-fiction analysis. Where's the insight that comes from Arab voices telling their own stories? I went in search of modern Arab fiction in English--and found frustratingly little available. Matt Rees, a Welsh journalist who covered the Middle East and became an Israel-based author of mysteries, summed up for The Guardian in 2010: "The Arab literary world and Western publishing don't cross over much...That comes at a cost to the West, because literature could be such an important bridge between two cultures so much at odds." Still, some recognized Arab authors have crossed over, and here are a few on my to-read list. I'll begin with Cities of Salt by Abdelrahman Munif. Munif, a Saudi Arabian with a doctorate in oil economics, was stripped of his Saudi citizenship for this tale of how the arrival of oil wealth brought social and psychological ruin to Bedouin villagers. Another social critique comes in The Yacoubian Building by Egyptian Alaa al-Aswany. Set in Cairo, both rich and poor characters face political and business corruption and injustice, including the sexual oppression of women and homosexuals. An especially timely read given ISIS recruiting is Wolf Dreams by Yasmina Khadra, the feminine pseudonym of a former Algerian military officer exiled in France. Khadra, who also writes mysteries by the way, tells the story of a striving young Algerian who is disillusioned by the West and joins a violent Islamist group, only to be repulsed in turn by their bloodthirsty corruption. Meanwhile, Rafik Schami's The Dark Side of Love is both a paean to Damascus and a murder mystery, and has been hailed as Syria's first great novel. If you can find it, read the Arab best-seller Utopia by Ahmed Khaled Towfik,  which reveals telling Arab fears about the direction of events: It's 2030, and in a dystopian future, at least for Arabs, Israel has built its own version of the Suez Canal and Middle Eastern oil is worthless because the U.S. has invented a new super-fuel. In Egypt, the wealthy have retreated to a U.S. Marine-protected colony, while the Others (the oppressed) live in Cairo. For more good books by Middle Eastern authors: http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syltguides/fullview/R25UKN1F6Y4O7E

There are Still Taboos for 'Good' Characters

Many old taboo writing topics--sex, race and religion--have gone mainstream in genre fiction and popular best-sellers. But there are still lines authors of popular novels hesitate to cross, especially for "good" characters. For example, a male character who engages in unmarried sex or homosexual relationships is now more acceptable as a hero, but a rapist or pedophile repulses and must be brought to justice. A female character can reject marriage and support abortion without offending the majority, but if she embraces incest, she loses reader empathy. A protagonist may be opinionated and volatile--as long as outbursts are not racist, sexist, elitist or offensive to some group stereotype. Sexual antics can be described in detail without being called pornographic now, but other bodily functions are still taboo--even when writers try to spare sensibilities by "latinizing," as if characters who defecate, flatulate, regurgitate, and masturbate have less ick factor. Other no-nos are more surprising. Americans have become so sensitive about weight issues (even though we are one of the most obese populaces) that "fat" seems to have joined "retard" and "Negro" as taboo epithets. Many Americans also are such animal lovers that any character who doesn't like animals is unsympathetic, and animal killing is seen as a mark of depravity. Aging is another taboo; if the protagonist has to be over 50, no one wants to know about sags, bags, wattles, flab, flagging sex drive, or any other ills that aging flesh is heir to. Older heroes and heroines must be preternaturally lively and attractive, yet redeemed from shallowness by experience, the only positive of added years in our culture. But probably the biggest taboo of all is normality. Today's protagonists embrace "exceptionalism," as the conservative politicos say of America. Middling looks, middling intellect, and middle-class background, even if thrown into exciting circumstances, aren't going to win fans. Give a main character an exceptional skill, a shocking secret, or a unique personal challenge to engage readers. Have we stopped believing that ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things? For advice on writing about taboo topics, see https://litreactor.com/columns/storyville-writing-about-taboo-subjects

'Bad' and 'Good' Mothers on Mother's Day

For Mother's Day, the nation will celebrate motherhood with floral bouquets and restaurants full of dutiful children honoring moms. Of course, in fiction, especially mystery writing, the "bad" mother is usually more significant to plot and character development. Start with Euripides' Medea, who punishes husband Jason's betrayal by murdering their children. Examples of other famous bad moms in literature range from Shakespeare's shallow sensualist Queen Gertrude in Hamlet to Philip Roth's overbearing Sophie Portnoy in Portnoy's Complaint, V.C. Andrews' cruel Corinne Dollanganger in Flowers in the Attic, Stephen King's fanatic Margaret White in Carrie, William Faulkner's rejecting Addie Bundren in As I Lay Dying, and Jane Austen's foolish Mrs. Bennett in Pride and Prejudice. Probably the most heinous crime in our culture is a mother's murder or torture of her own children. But most fictional bad mothers commit emotional crimes rather than physical violence. Their toxic mothering patterns have been helpfully categorized by Peg Streep, author of Mean Mothers: dismissive (ignoring and rejecting), controlling (micromanaging), unavailable (emotional withdrawal or actual abandonment), enmeshed ("stage" moms), combative (hypercritical and competitive), self-involved (superficial narcissists), unreliable (behavioral swings), and role-reversed (dependent moms, such as those with alcoholism or depression). No wonder bad moms are such good fodder for writers! But even if you see a mother's failings reflected in fiction's bad moms, my advice is to cut motherhood some slack this Mother's Day. Definitely don't expect mothers to live up to our culture's myths of the "good" mother, with her instinctive, unconditional and instant mother love! Maternal behavior is not instinctive; human behavior is more complex, individual and cultural than that. Maternal love is not unconditional and without preference; good parenting actually sets boundaries and recognizes differences. And maternal attachment is hardly instant; a mother-child relationship takes time and hard work. Just being a "good enough" mom is an achievement! For a good article about harmful motherhood myths, see https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/tech-support/201502/mothers-love-myths-misconceptions-and-truths

Crowd Psychology and Lessons We Still Ignore

The recent riots in Baltimore made me wonder about crowd psychology and control, among other topics. Is there a critical tipping point toward violence that we can avoid, or a proven way to cut short a rampage once it starts? How do we prevent peaceful protesters from turning into a rock-throwing, looting mob? Given our long history of urban riot, you'd think we would know better how to handle volatile crowds by now. Unfortunately, the new trend to militarized-looking police response may actually set back initial crowd control; those shields, helmets and armored vehicles distance communities from the police as people and turn them into a faceless occupying force to resent. Combine that with a relatively small police presence, and the tipping point comes because the cost of participating in violence--the risk of going to jail--gets low enough as crowd numbers overwhelm law enforcement numbers. After things spin out of control, only armed troops in curfew-emptied streets scatter the mob. Apparently, we still need to improve our understanding of crowd psychology. Back in 1895, Gustave LeBon pointed out the dangerous anonymity and behavioral contagion of crowds, which cause individuals to abandon personal responsibility for conformity with group emotions. Crowd psychology theorists define crowds by their aggressive, escapist, acquisitive, or expressive behaviors. The escapist crowd is just panicked people fleeing danger (what you get when you yell "Fire" in a theater). An expressive group gathers for a joint purpose (rock concert, civil disobedience, religious inspiration). An aggressive mob is outwardly violent (rioting and arson), while the acquisitive mob is fighting for limited resources (looting). Crowds in Baltimore at any one time probably fit into all four categories. So is there a general riot control formula we're missing? Edward Glaeser, a Harvard University economics professor, has argued that a comparison of crowd control examples supports a large initial police presence with a mass arrest/light penalty formula, basically nonviolent clearing of the streets, as the best way to stave off escalating violence. For an interesting but brief discussion of the history of American riots, see Glaeser's 2011 Bloomberg News article: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2011-08-12/how-riots-start-and-how-they-can-be-stopped-edward-glaeser

Put Biographies on Your Summer Reading List

I'm a fan of fiction, but I also love biographies and memoirs--from weighty tomes like Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson to slim books heavy with inspiration like I Am Malala by the youngest Nobel Peace Prize-winner Malala Yousafzai, from souffles like Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert to the hard-to-swallow agonies of Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, from the laughter of Bossypants by Tina Fey to the lyrical grief of The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. I'm certainly not alone in appreciation of biographical literature. Biographies, autobiographies, memoirs and biographical fiction (which embellishes historical fact with imagined elements) are very popular in the book marketplace. Ever wondered why? When publisher Alfred A. Knopf checked with its 70,000-odd followers on Twitter to ask why biographies are popular, the answers fell into four categories: To better understand a certain era (history); to better understand a favorite artist (or hero); to learn something about life from someone who’s lived it; and to be inspired. In other posts, biography readers explain that they hope to mine the lives of others for lessons that will promote self-discovery and inspire personal courage, hope and change. Some say they seek a sort of mentoring at a remove, via others' path to achievement and forewarning of pitfalls. And still other readers say they hope to promote mental and spiritual growth by exposure to different perspectives, experiences, times and cultures. A well-written biography can certainly aid readers with those goals. So put a few biographies on your summer reading list. For the "top 100 biographies and memoirs to read in a lifetime," courtesy of Amazon, go to http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=11021806011

Time for a Mental Spring Cleaning

In California, where the demarcations between seasons are slight and blurred, it's easy to forget the exhilarating sensation of "spring," of the transition from gray, cold and dead vistas to color, warmth and new growth. I was reminded recently by a quick April trip to Omaha. It snowed on the day we arrived (wet feathery clumps that melted on contact with the thawing earth), but, in just the next few days, a benign sun drew a bright green haze of budding leaves from leafless branches and coaxed so many blossoms from the fruit trees that they became white and pink earth-bound clouds. A clump of red, pink and yellow tulips appeared magically beside the front door. I was reminded why literature and poetry associate spring with rebirth, renewal, love, and hope, and symbolize it with lilacs, lambs and lovers. Spring is a universal spur to optimism. When winter's claustrophobic sheltering can be left behind by opening windows and stepping out into fresh air, our minds and hearts are encouraged to follow suit. So I decided to take the tradition of "spring cleaning" a step further this year by tossing out the rubbish of pessimistic thoughts and feelings along with accumulated dirt and clutter. I figure I'm pretty much guaranteed to feel better. A recent Shape magazine article cited a new health study that looked at 5,000 adults and found optimists were more likely to eat a healthy diet, have a healthy body mass index, not smoke, and exercise regularly than their pessimistic counterparts. They also had healthier blood pressure, blood sugar, and total cholesterol levels. Previous studies have shown that cancer patients with positive attitudes tend to have better outcomes, and optimists have more satisfying personal relationships. The article even listed three steps to kick-start an upbeat spring mood: write thank-you notes; do things you love; share good news. Need more help to shake the blues? For 20 more ways to a happier mindset, try this Shape article: http://www.shape.com/lifestyle/mind-and-body/20-ways-get-happy-almost-instantly/slide/all

In Fiction or Real Life, What Looks CanThrill?

Whether to describe, how to describe and when to describe a character's physical traits are among the conundrums of fiction writers. Many great writers have provided only minimal clues to a protagonist's appearance and thus freed the imaginations of readers--who are more interested in a character's, well, character than eye and hair color--to conjure up images that satisfy personal tastes and experiences. On the other hand, sometimes it is important to plot or character development to describe physical attributes. Especially for romantic protagonists, any description needs to be one that most opposite-sex readers find appealing and most same-sex readers respect/emulate. Luckily, research provides some guidance on physical looks generally rated as most attractive. Consider just facial appearance: Scientific studies show that women across cultures prefer male faces in the middle of a range from a "masculine" look, with wide smiles, strong jaws, large noses and smaller eyes, to "feminine" features, such as a small nose, narrow chin and large eyes. Men, on the other hand, find women with high cheek bones, big eyes and thin jaws more attractive--consistently preferring facial features characteristic of women aged about 25 (a hard-wired age bias). Some men even prefer the more childlike face typical of preteen girls (hello, Lolita). However, men also have different standards for sexy vs. competent women's looks. For example, an Elmhurst College study found that, in job interviews of women, men awarded mature women, with smaller eyes and larger noses, more respect. Take a look at 2014's top five actors (Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Robert Pattinson) and top five actresses (Angelina Jolie, Marion Cotillard, Charlize Theron, Julia Roberts, Mila Kunis) to see how well study results fit popular beauty tastes. For more on appearance and its implications, read http://www.viewzone.com/attractiveness2.html. By the way, if you shrug off the importance of looks in fiction or real life, you may get a shock; in the life-ain't-fair category, studies show that attractive people earn more salary and get more promotions than average-looking people, for example.

Telltale Clues of a Doomed Relationship

In adult gatherings, the demise of a marriage or long-term romantic relationship is a common topic. There may be revelations about physical abuse, affairs and addictions. However, sometimes, like the murderer in the news whom everyone describes as a "good son" or a "great neighbor," these relationship deaths take people by surprise. Do doomed relationships really leave so few clues? Of course not. We just aren't paying close attention to other people's interactions--or at least not paying attention to what counts. According to famed marriage researcher John Gottman, who has won TV news and talk-show appearances, numerous print articles, and even a chapter in Malcolm Gladwell's best-seller Blink, there are four markers of relationship failure that are highly predictive of divorce (94%): criticism, defensiveness, contempt and stonewalling. Conflict is natural and even healthy in relationships; it is the unhealthy ways of dealing with conflict that cause problems, per Gottman. So, if couples consistently resort to criticism (attacks on personality or character), defensiveness (shifting blame or responsibility), contempt (expressions of disrespect and superiority) or stonewalling (a refusal to listen or discuss), long-term togetherness is in jeopardy. From other experts come these observable clues to a relationship unlikely to last: a coupling of extreme opposites (who may attract short-term but eventually repel over insoluble differences); a control freak partner jealous of anyone or anything outside of the relationship; unkind or verbally abusive behavior; and a demand or expectation of change in a partner's authentic self. Wondering about the health of your relationship? Try this little quiz: http://psychcentral.com/quizzes/relationship_quiz.htm

The Power of Those Famous First Words

The first line of a fiction novel is so important that the most famous are instantly recognized: "Call me Ishmael." (Moby-Dick by Herman Melville) "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." (A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens) "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. (Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy) "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen) My son and husband just love the new sci-fi hit The Martian by Andy Weir, about an astronaut stranded on Mars; it begins with "I'm pretty much f--d." Memorable first lines grab the reader's interest, introduce the style or voice of the novel, and create expectations that the author will satisfy or confound. Many stock opening words set the scene, but the best go way beyond "It was a dark and stormy night." Consider how George Orwell's initially standard start to his novel 1984 is disturbingly transformed by the last word: "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." Some first lines hook the reader immediately by jumping right into action, as in Toni Morrison's Paradise: "They shoot the white girl first." Other fiction openers present a thesis or opinion before moving forward, beginning with a statement that engages or challenges the reader's experience and that grows in impact by the novel's last words. Austen and Tolstoy succeeded in the examples above. First lines also can draw in readers with suspense--about what will be revealed about events (The Martian), or about the narrator as in Albert Camus' The Stranger ("Mother died today."), or about both as in Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five ("All this happened, more or less.") Test yourself on how many first lines are etched in your memory with this quiz courtesy of The Christian Science Monitor: http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/2014/0612/Famous-opening-lines-Take-our-literature-quiz/Question-110