Explore our new BookBrowse Community Forum!

Mark Binelli Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Author Biography  | Interview  | Books by this Author  | Read-Alikes

Mark Binelli
Photo: Corine Vermeulen

Mark Binelli

Mark Binelli Biography

Mark Binelli is the author of Detroit City Is the Place to Be and the novel Sacco and Vanzetti Must Die! as well as a contributing editor at Rolling Stone and Men's Journal. Born and raised in the Detroit area, he lives in New York City.

Mark Binelli's website

This bio was last updated on 12/19/2016. In a perfect world, we would like to keep all of BookBrowse's biographies up to date, but with many thousands of lives to keep track of it's simply impossible to do. So, if the date of this bio is not recent, you may wish to do an internet search for a more current source, such as the author's website or social media presence. If you are the author or publisher and would like us to update this biography, send the complete text and we will replace the old with the new.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Interview

A brief Q&A with Mark Binelli

Where are you from?
St. Clair Shores, Michigan

Who are your favorite writers?
Nabokov, Pynchon, Flann O'Brien, AJ Liebling, David Foster Wallace, Geoff Dyer, Janet Malcolm, Nicholson Baker, Tom Stoppard.

Which book/books have had the biggest influence on your writing?
White Noise, Don DeLillo; Up in the Old Hotel, Joseph Mitchell; Family, Ian Frazier; The White Album, Joan Didion; 60 Stories, Donald Barthelme.

What is your favorite quote?
"But just wait until now become then. You'll see how happy we were."—Susan Sontag.

What is the question most commonly asked by your readers? What is the answer?
"Detroit - I've always been so fascinated by that city! Should I visit?" If I like the person, the answer is: "Yes."

What inspired you to write your first book?
Watching Abbott and Costello movies with my dad on Sunday mornings instead of going to church, and the vague memory of Sacco and Vanzetti as the only Italians (other than Columbus and occasionally Mussolini) mentioned in U.S. History classes.

Where do you write?
In bed, if it's before noon; in cafés anytime after.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Books by this Author

Books by Mark Binelli at BookBrowse
Detroit City Is the Place to Be jacket
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Mark Binelli but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

  • Xhenet Aliu

    Xhenet Aliu

    Xhenet Aliu's debut fiction collection, Domesticated Wild Things, and Other Stories, won the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction. Her stories and essays have appeared in Glimmer Train, The Barcelona Review, American Short ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    Detroit City Is the Place to Be

    Try:
    Brass
    by Xhenet Aliu

  • Leslie T. Chang

    Leslie T. Chang

    Leslie T. Chang lived in China for a decade as a correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, specializing in stories that explored how socioeconomic change is transforming institutions and individuals. She has also written for... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    Detroit City Is the Place to Be

    Try:
    Factory Girls
    by Leslie T. Chang

We recommend 12 similar authors


Non-members can see 2 results. Become a member
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Graveyard Shift
    Graveyard Shift
    by M. L. Rio
    Following the success of her debut novel, If We Were Villains, M. L. Rio's latest book is the quasi-...
  • Book Jacket: The Sisters K
    The Sisters K
    by Maureen Sun
    The Kim sisters—Minah, Sarah, and Esther—have just learned their father is dying of ...
  • Book Jacket: Linguaphile
    Linguaphile
    by Julie Sedivy
    From an infant's first attempts to connect with the world around them to the final words shared with...
  • Book Jacket
    The Rest of You
    by Maame Blue
    At the start of Maame Blue's The Rest of You, Whitney Appiah, a Ghanaian Londoner, is ringing in her...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pony Confidential
    by Christina Lynch

    In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.

Who Said...

The secret of freedom lies in educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is in keeping them ignorant

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

F the M

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.