"Beautiful Ruins" by Jess Walter is the third pick in...

"Beautiful Ruins" by Jess Walter is the third pick in the Newsday Book Club for summer 2104. Chat with Walter live at noon EST on Monday, Aug. 25 at newsday.com/bookclub. Credit: HarperCollins; Hannah Assouline

Author Jess Walter joined us Monday for the third installment of Newsday's monthly Book Club, to chat with readers about his novel “Beautiful Ruins” (Harper Perennial, $15.99), a Newsday Best Book of 2012.

Moving from the Italian seacoast in 1962 to contemporary Hollywood, “Beautiful Ruins” follows the decades-long love between an Italian innkeeper and an American actress, with an ensemble cast of sweethearts and rogues and a cameo by Richard Burton.

Readers can see what Walters had to say about his favorite characters in "Beautiful Ruins," the novel's possible film adaptation, his writing process and more by reading the chat below.

To read an excerpt from "Beautiful Ruins," and read past Newsday Book Club chats, go to newsday.com/bookclub. (Mobile readers, tap the link above to view the conversation.)

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