Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Ten top books set in the Mediterranean

Sophia Bennett won first place is the second annual (London) Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition with her debut novel Sequins, Secrets, and Silver Linings, which is the first title in a trilogy that combines her long-standing obsession with fashion with her keen desire to write for young readers. Her latest YA novel is The Castle.

For the Guardian, Bennett named her top ten books set in the Mediterranean.  One book on the list:
The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

Talking of wicked murder plots... Tom Ripley is sent to from America to Italy to bring back Dickie Greenleaf, a rich college kid who's fallen in love with a lifestyle of sun, sea and jazz, and won't come home. Trouble is, Tom comes to love Dickie's life there as much as Dickie does...

Patricia Highsmith has a habit of making you root for the bad guy. Tom Ripley is of the most compelling serial murderers you will get to meet in fiction, and this is where it all begins.
Read about another entry on the list.

The Talented Mr Ripley is on Emma Straub's top ten list of holidays in fiction, E. Lockhart's list of favorite suspense novels, Sally O'Reilly's top ten list of novels inspired by Shakespeare, Walter Kirn's top six list of books on deception, Stephen May's top ten list of impostors in fiction, Simon Mason's top ten list of chilling fictional crimes, Melissa Albert's list of eight books to change a villain, Koren Zailckas's list of eleven of literature's more evil characters, Alex Berenson's five best list of books about Americans abroad John Mullan's list of ten of the best examples of rowing in literature, Tana French's top ten maverick mysteries list, the Guardian's list of the 50 best summer reads ever, the Telegraph's ultimate reading list, and Francesca Simon's top ten list of antiheroes.

--Marshal Zeringue