Friday, February 11, 2011

Alex Berenson's five favorite books about Americans abroad

Alex Berenson is the author of five John Wells novels, including the recently released The Secret Soldier, and one work of non-fiction, The Number.

In 2007 he applied the Page 69 Test to The Faithful Spy.

At The Daily Beast, Berenson named his five favorite books about Americans abroad.

One novel on his list:
The Talented Mr. Ripley

Patricia Highsmith's 1955 masterpiece builds tension page by page, as Thomas Ripley turns from a minor-league thief in New York into a full-scale sociopath in Italy, a man who realizes that he is able to kill without consequence. And her depiction of languid life on the Italian coast will have you booking a flight to Rome this summer. Too bad the euro is so high.
Read about the other books on Berenson's list.

The Talented Mr Ripley is on 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