For those who recall in the era of Watergate, the scandal that forced President Nixon to resign from office, the name E. Howard Hunt is indelibly a part of our and the nation’s past. He was one of the "Plumbers" who participated in the break-in of the Democrat headquarters in Washington’s famed Watergate. Hunt, however, was already a legendary CIA operative by the time he participated and his autobiography, at the age of 88, American Spy: My Secret History in the CIA, Watergate and Beyond ($25.95, Wiley), written with Greg Aunapu and with a foreword by William F. Buckley, Jr., is well worth reading. For anyone like myself who loves reading history, Hunt reflects on an extraordinary life that begins with his service in the military during World War II where boredom with a paper-pushing job in Orlando, Florida, led him to become a member of the famed Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency. He seemed to forever be meeting and working with people who became major movers and shakers of the latter part of the last century. He recounts events such as the successful 1954 coup in Guatemala and, later, the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. The latter went spectacularly awry in a way that put the CIA under a shadow for a long time. What we rarely learn about, of course, are the times the Agency met with success, though Hunt gives us a sense of its remarkable record of service to the nation. He served the Agency for over two decades. Hunt has lived a remarkable life that includes authoring some 70 suspense novels.

A lot of people worry about all the things that can harm their health and this, no doubt, reflects the way the media tell us on a daily basis of all the many hazards that exist. Now there’s a book, What’s Toxic, What’s Not ($15.00, Penguin, softcover) by Dr. Gary Ginsberg, a senior toxicologist at the Connecticut Department of Public Health, and Brian Toal, M.S.P.H., who supervises the Environmental and Occupational Health Assessment Program for the Department. The book is primarily for homeowners but addresses a wide variety of concerns such as food safety, power lines, pesticides, drinking water, mold in buildings, and tons more for anyone who is wants to be able to separate out the serious threats from those of a minor nature. The fact is that there is a lot of confusion and a book like this goes a long way toward eliminating it.

Americans are obsessed with health as only a wealthy society can be. Two books address the topic in a unique way. Survival of the Sickest by Dr. Sharon Moelem with Jonathan Prince ($25.95, William Morrow) raises some interesting questions about why humans continue to be subject to various diseases while, at the same time, busting any number of modern myths by turning our understanding of illness on its head, challenging the way we think about our bodies, our health and our relationship to every other living thing on Earth. It is an evolutionary look at disease and how some of them actually gave our ancestors a leg up in the species survival sweepstakes. The other book is Dr. John Corso’s Stupid Reasons People Die: An Ingenious Plot for Defusing Deadly Diseases ($24.95, High Lakes Press, Bend, OR). The author illuminates why thousands of people die in the prime of life from easily preventable causes and, most importantly, how to avoid becoming one of those dearly departed. This physician-author provides a map through a healthcare system—he calls it a quagmire—in ways that put you back in charge of your recovery that he calls "informed self-advocacy." For anyone having to deal with the system, this is definitely the book to read.

For those who interested in religion in general, there are two books that explore its role in our lives. Speaking of Faith by Krista Tippett ($23.95, Viking) takes its name from the public radio show she hosts. It isa conversational journey and exploration of what is meant by religion and spirituality, and how it informs our lives and our times. These are the big questions about how religion helps interpret our lives, sources of violence, the sense of community, the role of government. Whether religious or secular, one senses that Tippett thinks we are hard-wired to seeking meaning for our lives and to make sense of the greatness and mysteries of the world beyond our personal existence. This is not so much a profound book as an exploratory one. The second book, How My Neighbor Worships: A Grand Tour of Faith Communities by Gail Reitenbach ($22.95, Right Hand Communications, Santa Fe, NM) tells of how the author visited a wide range of churches representing different faiths, mostly within Christianity, but also others, temples, and a synagogue to get a feel for the way parishioners worship. I have a vague recall reading this book or one just like it a few years ago, but it is an entertaining journal if you are curious about how Lutherans, Catholics, Wiccans, Hindus, and Jews get through the various sermons and services that represent their faith. For those of a scholarly turn of mind, there’s The Birth of Monotheism by Andre Lemaire ($24.95, Biblical Archaeology Society, Washington, DC). The notion of a single God of mankind evolved over time and the author identifies its most significant concepts, out of which came the Jewish, Christian and Islamic religions. It’s full of surprises.

Shortly after 9-11 in 2001, a bill was introduced in Congress and passed despite the fact that most members had not even had an opportunity to read it. It is popularly known as the Patriot Act. In his new book, Living Under The Patriot Act: Educating a Society ($17.99, Author House, available from Amazon.com), Paul A. Ibbetson, a former police chief currently studying for his PhD in sociology, shares his three years of research on what he calls "one of the most powerful laws of modern day." Those of both liberal and conservative political orientation have expressed serious concerns because, while it expands the government’s ability to find and jail terrorists, it also portends the possibility of its misuse by a government less attentive to the dictates of the Constitution. The FBI admitted to such abuses just last month. The author’s purpose, as the title notes, is to educate the reader to the various aspects of the bill, from its passage to its current status. The bill is due for reauthorization and this timely book permits for a thorough review of the way it works. This is not light reading because it rather intensively looks at the bill section by section. Nor is the book a polemic taking sides. Those of a legal bent of mind will find it a masterful piece of work.

Some people are so concerned for America that they engage in a study of its founding precepts, its Constitution and its history. They do so out of concern that America is going astray, is being led astray, and that only by sharing their knowledge can they hope to mobilize people to save it. John D. Diamond is one of those people and he has written The Rise of America: Fighting the Next American Revolution and the Constitutional Crisis ($22.00, Authors & Artists Publishers of New York). Diamond unabashedly points to the Christian roots of the nation’s founding and worries that we have swung so far toward a secular way of life that we are putting the future in danger. This is a strong case for the common view of morality held by the Founding Fathers and its need today as major moral questions remain at the core of the political issues candidates for public office must answer. This book with its clear and concise text is well worth reading. You can learn more by visiting www.theriseofamerica.com.

The Economic Policy Institute publishes some excellent studies and Talking Past Each Other: What Everyday Americans Really Think (and Elites Don’t Get) About the Economy ($9.95, softcover) is one of them. In a series of focus groups in 2005 and 2006, EPI’s team of David Kusnet, Lawrence Mishel, and Ruy Teixeira, produced a brief, readable study that reveals how profoundly ambivalent Americans are about the economy and how they differ in their perceptions from influential elites when they discuss it. Since we are all at the mercy of those who make and shape economic policy, this book provides some very interesting revelations that would encourage needed changes in our economic, social, and political policies.

For any author that is about to be trade-published or self-published, I recommend they pick up a copy of Plug Your Book! Online Book Marketing for Authors by Steve Weber ($24.95, Weber Books) that provides some excellent advice and insight on why Amazon.com can turn your book into a success, as well as a number of other ways to get the word out about it. These days it is the Internet that sells books and my website is an example of what Weber discusses. It is most certainly up to the author to do the bulk of the promotion these days. Got a book? Get his book! A good place to start is www.WeberBooks.com.

.An event writers should consider is the 36^th annual Writers Conference sponsored by the American Society of Journalists and Authors. It will take place April 20-22 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City. Its many seminars are a treasure of advice and information for aspiring or established writers of all genres. To learn more, visit www.asja.org. I receive a lot of self-published books and I suspect that’s an indication of the frustration encountered when trying to find a mainline publisher, despite the fact there are quite a few. It also indicates just how many people out there want to write a book and, for them, there’s the fifth annual Book Expo America/Writer’s Digest Book Writers Conference that will be held on Wednesday, May 30, at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York. It’s an opportunity to learn a lot about the writer’s craft and to pitch your book idea to literary agents at a "pitch slam session." The registration fee is $199.00 and that includes a six-month subscription to WritersMarket.com. You can register at www.bookexpoamerica.com. The Expo itself is an extraordinary event featuring several floors filled with publisher’s booths and thousands of new books.

Back to Top

Getting Down to Business Books

Is it my imagination or are the cycles of business success or failure speeding up? The Internet has surely transformed much in the way business is conducted as well as the buying habits of consumers. Trying to keep up with this pace of change is the subject of a number of new books, as well as others offering a variety of advice on other useful topics.

In Next Now: Trends for the Future ($26.95, Palgrave, a division Of Macmillan), the authors, Marian Salzman and Ira Matathia, explore how technology and globalization are shaping the near future. Ms. Salzman is a trend spotter and executive vice president of JWT, the largest advertising in the U.S., and Matathia is a marketing guru. "We live in a world where all aspects of life—from race to age to sex—are blurring, and that’s changing the rules we live by," says Salzman. Our productivity is increasing, too, thanks to the way wireless technology has freed many from their desks, but it has also turned the workday into a 24-hour affairs. As China and India adopt Western modes of business, Westerners fear their cheap labor, but love the lower cost of the products being produced. For anyone trying to get a grip on the present and future, this book will prove very useful.

In a similar fashion, marketing managers will want to read Think Two Products Ahead: Secrets the Big Advertising Agencies Don’t Want You to Know and How to Use Them for Bigger Profits on how to innovate to achieve success in competitive markets. Author, Ben Mack, ($21.95, Wiley) couples branding with product innovation techniques to help managers get more bang for their marketing bucks. He says that a company can’t just plan ahead, but must think in terms of the next two products coming off their production line. He provides tips on what makes some branding fail, connecting with the consumer, and how to determine which marketing ideas to act on. Also on the subject of planning is Ten Steps to Successful Strategic Planning by Susan Barksdale and Teri Lund ($19.95, ASTD Press, softcover). This is, the publisher tells us, the first in a new American Society for Training and Development series for today’s fast-paced, time and resource-strained organizations. How to develop a strategic plan to compete globally and to encourage innovation is high on the "to do" list of today’s companies that need to learn how to build and retain customer loyalty. Ready, set, go get this book!

Let’s not forget the entrepreneurs who have questions too. Dr. Randal Pinkett, a successful entrepreneur and winner on NBC’s "The Apprentice", has penned a book for young people. Campus CEO ($16.95, Kaplan Publishing, softcover) is billed as "the student entrepreneur’s guide to launching a multimillion-dollar business." Don’t laugh. This is how Google, Yahoo, and YouTube began. The book is rooted in Pinkett’s experiences as a student entrepreneur at Rutgers. He went on to become a Rhodes scholar and currently is CEO of a thriving consulting services firm. As the cost of attending college continue to rise, Dr. Pinkett shows how one can begin a company to help defray those costs and flourish long after graduation. He graduated debt-free. Ask Mike by Michael Gonnerman ($24.95, Lulu.com, softcover) is a mercifully short book that offers financial advice to founders of small companies and does so with an emphasis on practical information. He has developed 136 questions that are most commonly asked and which cover the problems common to all. The book is free of jargon and full of good advice. There’s some more good advice to be had in Lies Startups Tell Themselves to Avoid Marketing by Sandra Holtzman and Jean Kondek ($17.95, SelectBooks, New York, softcover). Specifically designed for today’s fast-paced world and information-inundated audience, the book contains ten fast track, stand-alone, immediately actionable chapters for planning and implementing a marketing plan. Together, the authors have forty years of combined experience and they have written a tough love book about the processes and timetables that guide readers through the do’s and don’ts of a successful start-up or product launch. When you think of what it would cost to hire people to tell you this kind of thing, the book is priceless!

Would you believe that by November 2006 consumer debt hit an all-time high of $2.39 trillion? Millions of Americans are struggling financially and looking for ways to regain control over their finances. Debt is Slavery by Michael Mihalik ($14.95, October Mist Publishing, softcover) is subtitled "And 9 other things I wish my Dad had taught me about money." My late Father was a CPA and what he taught me was to save my receipts and pay my bills every month. He hated debt. Mihalik’s book takes a unique approach to personal finances, focusing on changing the way people think about money as the source of how they handle their finances. He uses his own triumph over debt to illustrate ten lessons that demonstrate how the reader, too, can become financially secure and debt-free. In an interesting corollary there’s Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping by Judith Levine ($14.00, Free Press, softcover). The Wall Street Journal called it one of the five best books on consumer culture when it was originally published. It is the story of a woman who decided to stop shopping, restrained herself from buying stuff, and how it transformed her outlook. Considering the way we live in a society that is constantly telling us that we must buy all manner of things to be happy, this book provides an interesting and refreshing look at how we can free ourselves from this and change spending habits.

In today’s volatile housing market, knowing how to make the maximum amount of money one can when you sell your home can make a difference of thousands of dollars. That’s why you should pick up a copy of Michael Corbett’s Ready, Set, Sold! Known as the host of "Extra’s Mansions and Millionaires" and at the Learning Annex’s "Real Estate Wealth Expos" with Donald Trump, ($15.00, Plume, softcover) Corbett shares the professional selling techniques he has used to purchase and sell more than thirty homes. This book will help you avoid the ten most costly home seller mistakes, how to hold your homes’ value in a downward market, and makeovers that can enhance its value, plus some negotiating tips that will save you thousands. I like books like these!

How we measure personal success, as well as how we can achieve it, is the topic of endless books. Still, each new generation must learn these things, so there were no surprises when I received Tiger Traits: 9 Success Secrets you Can Discover from Tiger Woods to be a Business Champion ($19.95, Harrison Acorn Press, Las Vegas, NV). The one factor this book does not address is Tiger Woods’ extraordinary talent on the golf course. If he did not possess that, one wonders whether this book would ever have been written. There is good advice to be had, but nothing I have not read in dozens of comparable books. Perhaps that is why I was impressed when Brian McClellan got on the phone to personally promote his book, The Real Bling: How to Get the Only Thing You Need ($13.99, Sherian Inc. Publishing, Dacula, GA, softcover). There is nothing fancy about this book. The author is not famous, but he is a former Fortune 100 company executive, an entrepreneur, and even an aspiring rap singer. Using hip-hop culture as a metaphor, McClellen offers some no-nonsense advice for readers who may be burnt out on the usual self-help or motivational genre books. In essence, he teaches how one can put their mind in the right place to achieve personal success. The book is available from Amazon and Borders, as well as www.sherianinc.com.

Dr. Frank Luntz is a frequent guest on news-talk television and radio. He’s been called the hottest pollster in America by the Boston Globe and hailed by The New York Times. His advice is sought after by CEOs of Fortune 100 companies, so what he has to say in Words That Work: It’s Not What You Say, It’s What People Hear ($24.95, Hyperion Books) is worth reading. As a professional writer, I probably know better than most the power of what he relates in this interesting book because different words do convey different meanings on the page and when especially when addressing people personally. This book will also be of considerable interest to people who are following the day to day political life of the nation and particularly now that the run for the presidency has attracted so many candidates from both parties. You can learn how to avoid the pitfalls of speaking publicly and privately.

Finally, there are two audiobooks that can prove helpful. One is Missed Fortune 101 by Douglas R. Andrew ($24.95, Hachette, 3 CDs) that is a money guide, offering advice on how to seize financial opportunities you never knew existed. This is a way to look at your house, your mortgage, your retirement plans, investments and other assets in a new way. For someone unfamiliar with the complexities of these topics, this is an easy way to begin to understand them. The other is The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t by Dr. Robert I. Sutton, PhD ($32.98, Hachette, 3 CDs) that will prove a life saver for anyone who finds himself or herself in common corporate jungles with bosses who are bullies, co-workers who are rude or mean-spirited. The author sheds an analytical light on the way these things can affect a company’s bottom line and make daily life a misery. At the same time, he offers strategies to eliminate these problems.

Back to Top

Children’s and Younger Reader’s Books

The volume and quality of books for young readers seems to be accelerating if my mailbox is any indication. It is overflowing with them.

Wizards of the Coast is a premiere publisher of fantasy books, but up to now it’s mostly been for grownups. They have a new imprint, Mirrorstone, and two wonderful, short novels for kids ages 6 through 10, that offer a mix of history, mystery, adventure, and derring-do. Written by Candice Ransom, the first two I’ve seen are Magician in the Trunk and Giant in the Garden. Just out this month, there’s Signals in the Sky. The concept is that the Chapman kids, Mattie, Alex and Sophie have found a magic spyglass in the secret room of a tower in their old house that unlocks time travel adventures. In "Magician" they team up with Harry Houdini at the Chicago World’s Fair and in "Giant" they find themselves inside a fairy tale. "Signals" puts them in the middle of the Civil War. These are written with a fine sense of what their intended audience will find entertaining.

From Kids Can Press, there are two very funny novels, Gravity Buster by Frank Ash ($14.95) and Martin Bridge Sound the Alarm written by Jessica Scott and illustrated by Joseph Kelly ($14.95) Both are ideal for kids age 8 to 12. Ash’s book is the second in a series dubbed the "Journal of a Cardboard Genius" and the Martin Bridge series is now in its fifth book. These are books that will appeal to the powers of imagination in younger readers who will see themselves in both. Best of all, parents don’t have to worry that the stories contain questionable elements of any kind.

Other Kids Can Press titles run the gamut from A Sea-Wishing Day ($15.95) written by Robert Heidbreder and illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton which will please the very youngest reader with its story of an imaginary journey on a hot summer’s day in which a tiny plastic splashing pool becomes a sea filled with pirates, monsters, and a splendid afternoon’s adventure. Sea Monsters ($14.95) by Stephen Cumbaa and illustrated by Margot Thompson is full of information about real creatures from both the past and modern times, including a few sea serpents that exist mostly in myth. A book can take a young reader on both imaginary and real adventures.

I have a special fondness for the National Geographic books for younger readers and history is well served with three new ones. There’s 1607: A New Look at Jamestown ($17.95) by Karen E. Lange, with photos by Ira Block. For those aged 8 to 12, it is the story of the first English settlement in North America and pay homage to those brave souls who never seem to get the same attention as the Pilgrims of Plymouth. The color photos greatly enhance the excellent text. Girls in particular will be inspired by Our Country’s First Ladies ($19.95) by Ann Bausum with a foreword by the current First Lady, Laura Bush. Lavishly illustrated, the book tells the story of the many women behind the nation’s presidents, bringing them to life again from the 230 years of our great experiment in democracy. One of my favorite Presidents has his story told in The Remarkable Rough-Riding Life of Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of Empire America by Cheryl Harness ($16.95). In this book, the emphasis is on an excellent text that is enhanced by clever, small illustrations on each page, plus a very useful time line at the bottom of each page that puts events in historical perspective. This is a great way to learn history in general and about the life of one of the most extraordinary men to ever hold the top office.

American Girl, as the name implies, specializes in books for girls of all ages. They have a number of series going and among them is "A Molly Mystery" whose latest edition is The Light in the Cellar by Sarah Masters Buckey ($6.95) for age 9 and up. Set in World War II, Molly wishes she and her friend Emily had an exciting volunteer job to help win the war. They begin to suspect that something very un-patriotic is going on at the Oak Knoll hospital where they hand out magazines. In Real Families: Figuring Out Your Family and Where You Fit in by Amy Lynch ($9.95), the book provides ways for the reader to better understand her own family’s dynamics, how better to smooth over rough spots, have fun together and what to do when there are disagreements. Useful advice for any pre-teenager. Girls and their Dogs ($8.95) by the American Girl editors is full of tales about real dogs and the girls who love them, plus tips on how to care for a dog and 24 dog trading cards and 3 mini posters. Hey! What’s not to love? Learning crafts is always fun and American Girl has a fully self-contained book-box Petal Perfect: Flower Crafts to Color Your World ($17.95) that comes with a 32-page how-to book and tons of stuff with which to make various items. Got a growing girl in your family? Check out www.americangirl.com.

By way of funding an organization to help the beagle species of dogs, there’s a series of books by Timothy Glass about "the Sleepytown Beagles." The latest is Sleepytown Beagles Penny’s 4^th of July ($16.95/$15.95, hard and softcover, Islewest Publishing, a division of Carlisle Publishing.) Written for children age 4 to about 6, the story addresses typical problems children often have when bedtime comes around. To learn more about these cute, nicely illustrated stories, visit www.sleepytownbeagles.com.

Back to Top

Novels, Novels, Novels!

It is an audacious undertaking to write a novel that begins where Dostoyevsky leaves off in Crime and Punishment ($13.00, Penguin Classic, softcover), but that is what R.N. Morris does in The Gentle Axe ($24.95, The Penguin Press) that debuted in March. It begins with the discovery in Petrovsky Park, in 1867, of a burly peasant hanging from a tree with a rope around his neck and a bloody axe tucked into his belt. Nearby, in a suitcase, is the body of a dwarf, a deep axe wound splitting his skill in two. From this to its shocking climax, Morris has crafted a spellbinding historical crime novel as police investigator, Porfiry Petrovich, in his first murder case since the one made famous in Dostoyevsky’s novel, suspects that the murder may be more complex than the crime scene suggests. Return to St. Petersburg, Russia, and enjoy a real page-turner.

Also coming off the presses in March is Christine Falls by John Banville writing under the pen name of Benjamin Black ($25.00, Henry Holt) in which a Dublin pathologist follows the corpse of a mysterious woman into the heart of a conspiracy among the city’s high Catholic society. After a few drinks, Quirke returns to the morgue where he works to discover his brother-in-law, an esteemed doctor, altering a file regarding the corpse of Christine Falls. When Quirke sobers up the following morning, he suspects that Malachy had been attempting to conceal the cause of death. Set in Dublin in the 1950s, this novel is a classic tale of suspense. The winner of the Booker Prize in 2005, Banville’s ability to spin a story is well established. Now he introduces a character who is going to return in future novels and, if we are to judge by this one, we are going to wait impatiently to meet him again. Another author choosing to go in a new direction is Sweden’s Henning Mankell who is best known in America for his Inspector Wallender series as well as 25 other books. He has sold more than 25 million worldwide. This month marks the publication of Depths ($26.95, The New Press) set off the coast of Sweden during World War I. Charged with a secret mission, a Swedish naval officer is dispatched to a rocky coastal island, discovering that it is home to a young widow, living in almost complete isolation and unaware the world is at war. Though married and a man of considerable self-discipline, he is attracted to the woman, seducing her, and yielding to a passion that fills his life with shame, infidelity, and neglect of duty as he tries to live parallel lives. This is a compelling character study or rather one of what happens when one’s character is altered by passion.

Readers never seem to tire of stories involving the investigation of a murder. Last year I recommended The Sultan’s Seal when it was first published and it is now available in softcover ($13.95, W.W. Norton). In 2006, the novel by Jenny White was judged to be a Booklist Top 10 First Novels as well as among its Top 10 Historical Novels. The year is 1886 and the place is Istanbul. The Ottoman Empire is beginning to come apart and Kamil Pasha, a magistrate, has been called to the scene where the naked body of an unidentified British woman has been found. She is wearing two pieces of jewelry, a gold bracelet and a pendant engraved with the proprietary seal of the sultan. It must suffice to say this is an intricate story written by an author with an extensive knowledge of Turkish society and history. The result is a compelling novel that, if you missed its debut, you can now enjoy for a very modest price. Another location, East End Harbor, is the setting for Hades by Russell Andrews ($24.99, Mysterious Press) where a brutal murder of a Wall Street shark puts Police Chief Justin Westwood in a difficult spot. He was in bed with the man’s wife at the time of the killing. In this layered story, Westwood must first clear himself of suspicion and then follow a trail of dead bodies back home to Providence, Rhode Island while he discovers a complex corporate scam and a deadly temptress who loves human suffering and death. Combining obscene wealth and sadistic violence, this is not everyone’s cup of tea, but you will want to know how an honorable man extricates himself from the horror that unfolds.

The editors at Plume paperbacks never cease to serve up some great "chick lit." Yes, these are softcover books that are sure to please woman with some fun reading with which they can identify. For example, there’s Robin Gold’s The Perfectly True Tales of a Perfect Size 12 ($13.00) in which we meet Delilah White, television’s semi-famous and endearing Domestic Diva. When her boss announces she’s taking early retirement, Delilah finds herself in competition with the statuesque Margo Hart for one of the most coveted promotions in the industry. What follows is a series of disasters that will take all of Delilah’s charm, ingenuity, and spirit to overcome. Wendy Holden serves up The School for Husbands ($14.00) in which a sales position at a new publishing house means that Mark is working late nights and spending less time with his wife and child. His wife, Sophie, has returned to her full-time job and must face evenings of domestic drudgery alone. Enter a scheming mother who wants her to marry her millionaire former boyfriend. Mark, meantime, must fend off the advances of a sexy PR manager. To save his marriage Mark signs up for therapy to improve his skills as a spouse. Will it work? You’ll have to read this clever story. A very different story is told by Linda Olsson in Astrid & Veronika ($14.00), a stunning debut novel that recounts the unusual and unexpected friendship between two women. Veronika is a young writer from New Zealand who rents a house in a small Swedish village in an effort to come to terms with a recent tragedy while also finishing a novel. Astrid, an older, reclusive neighbor, becomes a presence in her life, offering companionship. This is a meditative novel about love and loss.

As the world waits for word of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro’s passing, we can return to the year 1959 and the city of Miami in Gail Godwin’s novel, Queen of the Underworld ($14.95, Ballantine Books, softcover). Coincidentally, I was graduating from the University of Miami that year so I can confirm the accuracy of Godwin’s story of the first wave of Cuban exiles who fled to the United States, many of whom settled in Miami to build new lives. Godwin’s main character, Emma Gant, is fresh out of college and beginning a career as a reporter. By night she spends her time getting to know the Cuban families in her hotel and rendezvousing with her married lover, the owner of a private Miami Beach club. This novel is filled with interesting characters making life-changing choices. Emma remains at the center of this literary universe. For those who would like to know more about the bestselling novelist, there’s Gail Godwin: The Making of a Writer ($16.95, Random House, softcover) drawn from her journals from 1961 to 1963. It reveals a young woman in her early 20s who is determined to become a great writer. Writing can be a kind of obsession and her journals provide an insight to it.

If you enjoy listening to a good novel, I have two for you. There’s Because She Can by Bridie Clark and read by the actress Mary Birdsong ($29.98, Hachette Audio, 5 CDs). Claire Truman, the main character, thinks she has landed the plum job at a top publishing house, tripling her salary, and fulfilling her dreams. But! Turns out she is working for the publishing world’s most ruthless tyrant, the outrageous Vivian Grant who is famed for books that leap onto the bestseller list. If this sounds like a real life, recently fired editor, I am sure it is just a coincidence! Trying to find her way to some kind of a happy ending will keep you listening. In the Queen of Broken Hearts, author Cassandra King ($29.98, Hyperion, 5 CDs) tells the story of Clare, a therapist specializing in helping women mend their broken hearts. She is looking for a home for the retreats she leads and finds one on the Alabama coast, owned by Zoe, her former mother-in-law, a colorful eccentric. When Lex, a sea captain, turns to her for help in recovering from his own disastrous marriage, things get, well, complicated. Tony Award nominee, Anne Twomey reads this story.

That’s it for April! Don’t forget to visit our "Featured Books" pages for an opportunity to learn about some very special and unique books. Tell your friends about Bookviews.com and how, each month, the best of fiction and non-fiction is noted by a founding member of the National Book Critics Circle.

Back to Top