Several books will help you make sense of the political theatre occurring between the Congress and the White House over the funding of troops stationed in Iraq years after the invasion that deposed Saddam Hussein. By far the most gripping is The Occupation of Iraq: Winning the War, Losing the Peace by Ali A. Allawi ($28.00, Yale University Press). Allawi had served as Minister of Trade under the Iraq Governing Council, as Iraq’s first post-war Minister of Defense, and as an elected member of Iraq’s Transitional National Assembly, among other posts that gave him an opportunity to witness everything that went wrong almost from the moment of initial victory. As he says in his preface, "At the end of the Governing Council’s life, I could see the tell-tale signs of disintegration—both in the incoherence of the American ‘project’ in Iraq, and in the utter mediocrity, incompetence and venality of the new political order." Allawi provides a history of what led to the U.S. decision to invade, the U.S. failure to understand anything about Iraq, and the subsequent blunders that have mired the U.S. there since 2003. This is history and analysis at is very best. This book, more than any other I have read, clarifies the situation there, identifying the groups involved, and why, more than four years after the invasion, things are not going well.

Still trying to figure out why some militant Middle Eastern Muslims have declared war on the United States, Britain, Israel, and other nations? If so, I recommend that you read Islamic Imperialism: A History by Efraim Karsh ($30.00/$17.00,Yale University Press, hard and softcover). The author takes the reader back to the earliest days of Islam when it was invented by Muhammad and then forward to present times. He demonstrates how, from the beginning, Islam was designed to replace all other religions and, dependent on conquest and subjugation for the purpose of booty and tribute, Islam developed an imperial imperative for expansion. I have read many books about Islam, but this one is outstanding because it takes the many changes in dynasties and the many conflicts, weaving them together in a single theme that permits for an understanding of the forces driving today’s Islamists and their weapon of choice, terrorism. The author’s knowledge permits him to clarify many of the misconceptions about Islamic history, including the most recent.

For a swift introduction to Islam, pick up Kevin J. Ryan’s Radical Eye for the Jihad Guy: Inside the Strange World of Militant Islam ($24.00, Prometheus Books) that will explain why, despite being told repeatedly that Islam is a religion of peace, the facts all suggest it is and has always been the opposite. Just how many attacks on the West it will take for this realization to settle in and for the West to respond to the threat is very much the theme of this interesting book. The author’s sense of humor lightens what would otherwise would and should be a frightening examination of a faith that numbers over a billion people worldwide. In a similar fashion, one cannot praise highly enough Journey of the Jihadist: Inside Muslim Militancy by Fawaz A. Gerges ($15.00, Harcourt, softcover). A Middle East scholar, he interviewed many of the leading figures, as well as those in the so-called "Arab Street", to find out what motivated them to become holy warriors. Gerges holds a chair in Middle Eastern Studies at Sarah Lawrence College and has taught at Harvard and Cambridge, but what I found most refreshing about this book is the way he has captured the spirit of the men who have embraced the global view of al Qaeda. To the Western mind, Gerges, a Lebanese Arabic-speaking Christian, explains the intense role Islam plays in the lives of those of the Middle East. Coupled with Arab culture, it is powerful enough to make them embrace death to protect it. If one were to read no other book to gain an insight into the minds of those who want to destroy America, the Great Satan, and Israel, the Little Satan, this would be the one I would recommend.

Watch this. Listen Up. Click Here. Inside the 300 Billion Dollar Business Behind the Media You Constantly Consume ($24.95,John Wiley & Sons) by David Verklin, a CEO, and the late Bernice Kanner, a marketing expert, takes you behind the scenes to tell you who decides what you see on TV, hear on radio, click on the Web, or read in a magazine. Here’s the real deal on the money, the personalities, and the politics that control the multi-billion-dollar business of the media to which you are constantly exposed. As cable, the Internet, and other forces break consumers into ever-smaller groups interested in niche topics, the media industry is responding in fascinating ways. The way people select what they will watch, hear or read is changing rapidly, providing the consumer with more choices. Marketing and advertising are changing too and how they change will affect our lives and reflect our values. This is a very important book in its own way and anyone who wants to understand the future had better read it.

Some books are about topics so unique that you just want to shout, "Hey, this is really interesting!" Marlene Zuk has written Riddled with Life: Friendly Worms, Ladybug Sex, and the Parasites That Make us Who We Are ($25.00, Harcourt). She’s a professor of biology at the University of California and I’ll bet her classes are fun to attend because her book is about the way various diseases and parasites have shaped human, animal and insect development. For example, termites could not digest the wood they eat without tiny organisms inside their bellies that break down the cellulose. It turns out that virtually everything from birds to pigs to plants and us are subject to sexually transmitted diseases. Some parasites kill their host. Others keep it alive long enough to spread to others. And a childhood spent in an environment that is kept too clean is actually bad because then immune systems do not get a chance to develop. The author’s wit makes this book particularly enjoyable and her knowledge makes it well worth reading.

My love affair with big, fat books continues. This time it’s Joy Bauer’s Food Cures ($18.95, Rodale, softcover). Ms. Bauer is familiar to many as the nutritious expert on "The Today Show" and, along with Carol Svec, she has put together a book on how to treat common health concerns, long younger, and live longer. Along the way she discusses the role of food to manage diabetes, treat arthritis, end migraines, boost your mode (ice cream always seems to work for me!) and even lose weight. It is an understatement to say "and much more" because this book really is a treasure of information for the health-conscious person, addressing medical concerns of all kinds, and offering some excellent nutritional advice and information along the way. It’s also the time of year girls begin to think about how they look in a bathing suit so maybe you should also pick up Tank Top Arms, Bikini Belly, Boy Shorts Bottom by Minna Lessig ($18.95, Rodale, softcover) in which this talented trainer shares her approach to fitness while offering a 30-day program to tighten and tone up those parts that may need it. Extensively illustrated with photos of the various exercises, this book will have you feeling good about yourself in no time.

The great force being our thirteen trillion dollar economy is capitalism, so it remains a mystery why so many people don’t understand it. As part of its popular series, Regnery Publishing offers The Politically Incorrect Guide™ to Capitalism by Dr. Robert P. Murhy ($19.95). As he takes the reader through the history as well as the myths surrounding capitalism, he notes that, "No other economic system has been more successful than capitalism—including Socialism, Communism, and Clintonism." Yes, the book does have a political tilt to the right, but it also does a great job of explaining why Big Oil needs the profits it makes to invest in more exploration, why some CEOs get high salaries, and the role of things like rent control, and labor unions in the overall tug of war called the national economy. I guarantee that you will be astonished by its revelations.

We all know people who cannot admit they have made a mistake and one of them may be staring back at you in the mirror! Mistakes Were Made (but not by me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts ($25.00, Harcourt) by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson may just be the book that turns your life around or the perfect gift for someone who cannot accept responsibility for their behavior. The authors are social psychologists who look at the way the brain is wired for self-justification. It explains why we read about people in the public eye who do things that make us ask, "What were they thinking?" Creating fictions to justify bad behavior is a very human trait and this is the kind of book that can help if you are doing it to yourself and others around you. Years ago I learned the power of saying "I apologize." Life becomes a lot easier by understanding one’s limitations. Is your life a series of arguments and conflicts with those around you? Read this book!

Given the many books and movies about spies, most of us assume we know something about it, but it is far more complex in real life. James M. Olson was an operative for the CIA until he retired to teach courseson intelligence and national security at Texas A&M University’s George H. Bush School of Government. He was married to another CIA agent and, while posted in Moscow, Vienna, and Mexico City, together they produced three children, now grown. The former Chief of Counterterrorism has written Fair Play: The Moral Dilemmas of Spying ($28.95, Potomac Books) in which he poses fifty scenarios that spies face in order that the reader may come to grips with the realities of a craft that he says requires making some choices that run counter to the values Americans share. Indeed, America didn’t get into the spy game until quite late since it had been practiced by other nations for a very long time. World War II made it a necessity and the threat of the Soviet Union extended the mandate. Now we are faced with a new, global enemy and, I suspect, Americans are depending on their spies to keep them safe. If this subject interests you, Potomac Books publishes a number of other excellent books that deal with it.

A lot of book lovers also have aspirations of being book writers. For those who say to themselves, "I could do that" after finishing a good mystery, there’s Mystery Writing in A Nutshell by John McAleer and Andrew McAleer ($9.95, James A. Rock & Co., Publishers, Rockville, MD, softcover). John McAleer is a winner of the Mystery Writers of America "Edgar" award and his son is a professor of crime fiction at Boston College. The result of their collaboration is a slim, readable book that will guide anyone in the right direction and help them avoid the pitfalls if they just read it before sitting down to write. It is so full of good advice that one wonders how they managed to make it so concise.

Don’t forget to visit our Featured Book section to discover some unique and interesting books that will surprise and delight you. Click here.

Back to Top

Business, Finance, and the Quest for Success

Far too many of today’s graduates are going to leave college saddled with debt. If you have a student or graduate in your life who has to deal with these issues, give them Zero Debt for College Grads: From Student Loans to Financial Freedom by Lynnette Khalfani ($14.95, Kaplan Publishing, softcover). "With a sound strategy, research, and focused effort, it’s entirely possible to graduate from college with little or no college-related debt," says the author, a money coach. This book is filled with practical, nuts-and-bolts strategies, and unconventional wisdom for eliminating debt, lowering living expenses, and establishing excellent credit. Many graduate’s first job will be with a corporation. Fit In! The Unofficial guide to Corporate Culture by Mark A. Williams ($16.95, Capital Books, softcover) teaches job seekers how to know in advance whether they will fit into a company’s culture—it’s informal rules and unspoken expectations. This is not about changing the system, but how to decode it to make clear choices to either fit into the culture of the company or to move to another workplace that values who you are.

Not everyone wants to join a corporation. America is a great place for entrepreneurs. R. Donahue Peebles, with J.P. Faber, has written The Peebles Principles ($24.95, John Wiley & Sons). The author entered the business jungle with no resources beyond his native smarts, a decent education, and a powerful desire to succeed. Nine years later he became a multimillionaire. He commands a real estate empire and he has written a book for others who want to achieve success as well. This is good, practical advice. You may not become hugely wealthy, but you will make the right moves if you let yourself be guided by someone who has. One path is examined in The Specialty Shop: How to Create Your Own Unique and Profitable Retail Business by Dorothy Finell ($21.95, Amacom). Lots of people want to own a little shop of their own, but only about a quarter of them succeed. Each year, nearly two million specialty shops open their doors, but more than 500,000 go out of business. The good news is that with the right preparation, you can be among those that succeed. The author brings more than two decades of experience in retail to provide sensitive and thoughtful advice gleaned from over thirty owners who turned their creative vision into a thriving business.

Being young and starting out is exciting, but these days age bias is a growing problem for anyone passed fifty. Career of Gold: Defeat Age Bias by Re-Careering for the Second Half of Your Life by Don Bracken ($15.95, Today’s Books, an imprint of History Publishing Company, Palisades, NY, softcover) addresses how to use one’s experiences and knowledge to organize it into a saleable commodity, market it, and insure financial security as you progress beyond youth into full maturity. The author gives you the keys to understanding the 78 million baby boomers in America today. Turning Silver into Gold: How to Profit in the New Boomer Marketplace by Dr. Mary S. Furlong ($24.99, FT Press/Financial Times) reveals the breakthrough product and service opportunities that exist to market to the post-50 baby boomers. This book is strictly for those for whom marketing is their career as it examines the five major trends shaping this generation.

There are always books around to help a manager manage better and two of the latest are A Manager’s Guide to Improving Workplace Performance by Roger Chevalier ($19.95, Amacom) and Managing Government Employees by Stewart Liff ($24.95, Amacom). The publisher, in both cases, is renowned for the excellence of the books they publish on these topics and these are no exception. Chevalier teaches how to go beyond identifying flaws in employees’ performance to learning how to eliminate the problems. This is about developing and motivating teams so as to remove the barriers that keep them from performing at their highest possible level. Liff’s book shatters some of the myths about government employees. Competent managers in government agencies can face serious obstacles, often leaving them feeling helpless, but Liff brings thirty years of experience developing effective human resources and management strategies to bear in places that include the Department of Defense, the General Services Administration, and the Department of Veterans Affairs. His book is filled with excellent advice.

Salary is a key component to selecting a job and being happy in the one you have. Next-Day Salary Negotiation: Prepare Tonight to Get Your Best Pay Tomorrow by Maryanne Wegerbauer and the editors at JIST, a publisher devoted to career issues, ($8.95, JIST Works, Indianapolis, IN, softcover) is designed to prepare the reader for the hectic pace of interviewing. How to evaluate the salary offer and how to leave room for negotiation for a better salary, benefits, incentives, time off, flexible arrangements, and more are discussed in this excellent book.

Have you told a friend who also loves to read about Bookviews.com? Every month people share the word about this eclectic presentation of news about the latest and best in fiction and non-fiction.

Back to Top

Kid Stuff: Books for Younger Readers

Considering all the things one hears about the many diversions available to youngsters these days, i.e., videogames, ipods, and of course television, one wonders if they still do read? They must because there is no end to the publishing of books for younger readers and, being biased on the subject of reading, that’s a good thing. Getting a young person in the habit of reading for pleasure is one of the greatest gifts any parent can bestow.

I am always on the lookout for good novels for younger readers, aged 12 and up. In May, Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks ($17.00, Harcourt) was published and it’s a winner! Its main character, Cadel Piggott, has a genius IQ and a fascination with systems of all kinds. At age 7 he was illegally hacking into computers and now, at 14, he’s studying for his World Domination degree at the Axis Institute, founded by criminal mastermind, Dr. Phineas Darkkon. He may be a genius, by Cadel is still just a lonely kid and, when he falls for the mysterious and brilliant Kay-Lee, he begins to realize the moral implications of his studies. The question is…can he stop Dr. Darkkon? This is an ingenious and delightful story on several levels.

I wonder if being the mother of twins, Justin and Samantha, age 9, living in Dunellen, NJ, and being an author and illustrator had anything to do with Jennifer Troulis writing about a set of 12-year-old twins named Penelope and Priscilla? You think? I think teen girls and younger will enjoy Penelope and Priscilla and the Enchanted House of Whispers ($13.95) along with its companion novel, Penelope and Priscilla and the City of the Banished ($14.95, Twin Monkeys Press). In the first book the twins move to an old house in the small town of Dunville with their mother. When mysterious events begin to occur, they get help from a 200-year-old magical book to discover what’s going on and to defeat a sinister neighbor. In the latter book, the family is celebrating their first year as residents of Dunville and, during a family picnic, an ancient game leads the girls to a new mystery and the battle of their lives. These stories teach values such as self-confidence, standing up for one’s convictions, and the importance of family bonds. Plus they’re fun to read! Perfect for ages 9 through 12. You can learn more by visiting www.twinmonkeyspress.com.

A non-fiction book for teen girls will no doubt prove quite helpful as this is an age when they harbor all kinds of questions and doubts, comparing themselves to those they believe are prettier, more trendy or popular. My Feet Aren’t Ugly by Debra Beck ($12.95, Beaufort Books) is a funny, honest book of advice by an author who provides examples and exercises to help the reader develop the tools for self-confidence. If you have a young teen or pre-teen girl in your family, this book will prove helpful. There’s a lifestyle series called "Planet Girl" published by Kids Can Press and one of the latest additions is Strike a Pose: The Planet Girl Guide to Yoga ($12.95) aimed a readers ages 10 and up. Yoga as a mind and body practice is always being "discovered" by a new generation and this book, written by Karen Birkemore and illustrated by Heather Collett, demystifies yoga while providing options to customize workouts to suit their lifestyles. Can a girl or anyone else benefit from learning the skills of meditation? You bet!

It’s no secret that I am a great fan of National Geographic books for younger readers. They are always superbly illustrated and the writing is first rate. In their "National Geographic Investigates" series, they offer two books, one on Ancient Egypt and another on Ancient Iraq ($17.95 each) that will intrigue any young reader aged ten and up. Their biographies are also first rate and two recent ones are about Mozart: The Boy Who Changed the World with his Music and Anne Frank: The Young Writer Who Told the World Her Story ($17.95 each). The magic of books is that they open the door, not just to the imagination, but often to the world of the past, teaching how linked we are to those times.

Kids Can Press has two interesting books of biography and history. Elizabeth MacLeod has written George Washington Carver: An Innovative Life ($14.95), the story of the orphan son of slaves who went onto become a famed scientist through his groundbreaking research in agriculture, inventing more than 325 products from peanuts! His life was an inspiration for African-Americans. Others in this series include Eleanor Roosevelt, the Wright Brothers, and Albert Einstein. A longer book by Barbara Greenwood, Factory Girl, ($18.95) tells the story of how children in the early 1900s were exploited for their labor in factories all over the nation. In this story, Emily Watson is the fictional worker in the Acme Garment Factory, working eleven hours a day under awful and often dangerous conditions. Photos vividly demonstrate how widespread child labor was until the practice was finally outlawed. The "good old days" weren’t that good and any young reader will learn how fortunate they are to being living today.

August House of Atlanta, Georgia is carving out a reputation for some wonderfully illustrated and told storybooks ideal for the beginning reader, aged 4 to 8. Among its latest titles is a tale from the Choctaw Indian Nation, When Turtle Grew Feathers, as told by Tim Tingle and illustrated by Stacey Schuett ($16.95), a twist on the classic tortoise and hare story. It is guaranteed to have the reader laughing out loud. Holy Mole was inspired by a much-loved tale about the origins of the Mexican dish called mole. Written by Caroline McAlister and illustrated by Stefan Czernecki ($l6.95), those aged 5-8 will thoroughly enjoy this one, as well as Priceless Gifts by husband and wife team, Martha Hamilton and Mitch Weiss. It tells the story of how highly prized spices were by Europeans. The cities of Genoa and Venice became wealthy thanks to their spice trade with the Far East. Light on text and filled with wonderful illustrations by John Kanzler, this story is worth sharing with young readers. For more information about the many fine books from this publisher, visit www.augusthouse.com.

At some point, kids want a pet. Dogs for Kids: Everything You Need to Know About Dogs ($14.95, BowTie Press, Laguna Hills, CA) by Kristin Mehus-Roe, an expert on dogs and author of the best-selling pet book, "The Original Dog Bible", is filled with more than 500 full-color photos of 150 breeds and filled with information about training, the history of dogs, their biology and behavior, and of course the care of puppies and dogs during the cycles of their lives. This is the intelligent way of going about selecting a dog as the family pet and then taking proper care of it. Visit www.bowtiebooks.com.

Back to Top

Novels, Novels, Novels!

Is everyone in America busy writing a novel? It sometimes feels like that at the offices of Bookviews. Anyway, it’s summer and the time traditionally when some folks take a good novel to the beach or just out in the backyard to read. That’s why this month’s report on new novels is going to be about twice as long as usual.

David Morrell has written twenty-five previous novels and been on the New York Times bestseller list enough times to qualify as one of our top writers of suspense. His previous novel, "Creepers", earned kudos here and so does his new one, Scavenger, ($24.95, Vanguard Press, a member of the Perseus Books Group.) Returning from the previous novel, Frank Balenger must use modern technology with a god-like Game Master in search of a hundred-year-old time capsule in order to save his life and that of the woman he loves. Along with a handful of unwilling players, he must race the clock to solve the puzzle. You will race to read this one to the end. Manipulating time is also the theme of Jose Carlos Somoza’s Zig Zag ($24.95, Rayo, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers). Meddling with time, however, can unleash unknown forces as an advanced physics graduate student, Elisa, discovers when she is invited to join a select research team working on manipulating String Theory. Now, years later, she is investigating a series of mysterious and gruesome deaths of each member of the team. And you thought physics was a course in school to be avoided? It is about the largest questions concerning the universe and this novel will rivet your attention as it unfolds. It gives a whole new meaning to ‘thriller’.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid ($22.00, Harcourt) is set firmly in the present as its lead character finds his life and dreams destroyed by the events of 9/11. Changez was living the immigrant’s dream of America at the top of his class in Princeton, snapped up for a top job in New Year, and beginning to romance a beautiful woman who will give him entry to Manhattan society on a level shared by his own family back in Lahore, Pakistan. The novel explores the mutual suspicion shared by Americans and Middle Eastern Muslims in the wake of the history-changing event. For an insight into the current troubles between East and West, this is an interesting book to read.

For a good love story, there’s Landing by Emma Donaghue ($25.00, Harcourt) who has two historical novels to her credit. This one is set in our times, in Ireland, when a veteran flight attendant, a world-traveler, living in New Dublin crosses path with a 25-year-old archivist on her first flight. Her whole life has been spent in a tiny Irish town. As their worlds touch at Heathrow Airport, the course of the year that follows draws them, their friends and their families into a whole new orbit and raises questions about whether love can endure the span of oceans and time, and whether differences bring you closer or tear you apart. What would either one give up for love? You will have to read the book to find out. Also from Harcourt, Aria by Nassim Assefi ($24.00) debuts with a moving story of Jasmine, a modern Iranian-American woman who has lived in America most of her life after her parents moved here to have a better life. Having chosen to "live in sin" with a man, they have disowned her. A cancer specialist and single mother, she was living in Seattle when the sudden death of her five-year-old daughter leaves her bereft. Adrift, she leaves with no specific destination, lacking spiritual beliefs with which to cope, she finally travels to Iran to connect with her ancient heritage in order to begin to heal and build a new identity. The author is a Harvard graduate who worked in Afghanistan for two years on a humanitarian mission. She spends half a year teaching in Seattle and the other on refugee medicine. Drawing on her own life experiences, she provides insights to all who live between a modern and ancient heritage. A very different world is created by Ron Carlson in Five Skies ($23.95, Viking) that brings together three men in the Rocky Mountains for a construction project that is to last the summer. What follows is the revelation of the burdens each brings with him to the project, the anger, the need for forgiveness, and the way men communicate with one another to seek the resolution of their own and other’s problems, some succeeding and some failing. It is an excellent character study.

"Chic-Lit" has become a commonly accepted term for novels more likely to appeal to women than men, but this is not to say that they can’t stand on their own merits. Several softcover novels published by Plume, a member of the Penguin Group, provide an abundance of good reading. Once again East meets West is explored in Sweetness in the Belly by Camilla Gibb ($14.00), an intriguing story about Lilly, just eight years old when her hippie British parents leave her at a Sufi shrine in Morocco with the promise to return in three days. After three weeks she learns they have been murdered and thus begins a life of intense religious study under the care of the disciple to whom she was entrusted. Years later she must flee Morocco to Ethiopia where her traditional Muslim headscarves cannot hide her status as a foreigner. She earns trust by teaching the Koran to children while falling in love with an idealistic young doctor. War, however, forces her to flee to London where, once again, she is a foreigner despite her birth there. If you like foreign places and philosophies, you will enjoy this powerful story. The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice ($14.00, softcover), which was a finalist for the British Book Award’s selection as best book of the year, is a coming of age story set in post war London. The year in 1954 and 18-year-old Penelope Wallace is about to be swept up in a whirlwind of high society parties, gowns, and romantic entanglements by Charlotte Ferris whose handsome cousin Harry decides to use Penelope to make his American girlfriend jealous. The story is about the excesses of the upper class society of a bygone era and a nice escape from today’s often-tawdry headlines. In Anna Maxted’s A Tale of Two Sisters ($14.00) the author takes the reader into the lives of two sisters experiencing the best and the worst of times as Cassie, a clever and successful sister seems to have everything going for her while Lizbet, plumper and plainer, does not seem to be going anywhere. Their close bond is tested as their lives take them on a collision course of heartache and new beginnings. Set in London, the novel has a dash of drama, comedy, and sibling rivalry to keep it moving along at a smart pace. Authors Clare Naylor and Mimi Hare, both of whom know the Hollywood film scene inside and out, hit a homerun with The Second Assistant in which readers fell in love with a smart, witty, east coast girl, Elizabeth Miller who tries to survive at the bottom of the Hollywood food chain. In The First Assistant ($14.00), she’s back and this time her talent agency’s teen starlet has insured she will be sent along to keep her company on a film shoot in Thailand. She’s reluctant to leave her boyfriend until he makes the cover of People magazine in the arms of someone else! If you want to see what really goes on in the lives of those movie stars and the folks assigned to keep them out of trouble, this is must reading!

More "chic-lit" entertainment can be found in Sex as a Second Language by Alisa Kwitney ($14.00, Washington Square Press, softcover) as we are introduced to Kat Miner, an almost 40-year-old, almost divorced, and almost broke former actress with no faith in men. She has, over her life, learned to not trust them and has concluded she needs to swear off them entirely. Abandoned by her father at age 10, her life is about to take a curious turn when she hears from him again only to discover that he’s been a spy and he’s convinced she might be at the center of a plot to gain his secrets. Which one of her star English as a Second Language students might be after them and/or her complicates her resolution to retire from sex. In Search of Eden by Linda Nichols ($13.99, Bethany House, softcover) is a very different story with a young woman drifter at the center of events. Set in the small mountain city of Abingdon, Virginia, the main character experienced a heart-wrenching event at age fifteen and now, eleven years later, she has been afraid to settle down for fear of getting too close to anyone and haunted by her past. Joseph North, the chief of police, is suspicious of the new woman in down who seems to have no history. When he finds a baby picture of his niece in her possession, he wants to know why and thus the story unfolds. To learn more, you will just have to read this intriguing novel. Devils in the Sugar Shop ($14.95, Unbridled Books, Denver, CO) by Timothy Schaffert is the story of a group of women friends in Omaha, each struggling with various romantic troubles and who are about to convene for a pre-Valentine’s Tupperware-like home party for "marital aides." Meant to be a lark, the evening, told with a healthy dash of humor, changes how they each view their lives and relationships with their children. This is a lively, revealing look at families, friendships, and personal lives.

It fits the description, "pot boiler." Just imagine every plot twist you can think of and you will know what The Vengeance Trap ($24.00/$10.00, Ophir Publishing, Winter Haven, FL, hard and softcover) has in store for you. Imagine two people whose families have been murdered by people with differing political agendas, drawn together in marriage. One is an Irish lass, Kathleen, who, in 1983, joins the IRA for revenge and the other is an Iranian, Omar, carrying on his family’s legacy as a pirate, gun runner, and swindler on the high seas. The Shah killed his family. Both want revenge for the loss of their loved ones. This action-packed, odd family story is just out this month, but has already garnered kudos for its combination of romance and intrigue. This is, we’re told, the first of a trilogy of novels based on these characters. The author, A.L. Hansen is donating the royalties from this novel to help America’s wounded war heroes get a bedside visit from their families and that is reason enough to purchase a copy. The Vietnam War is the backdrop to the story of a family’s disintegration on the home front. Sharon Pywell’s Everything After ($14.00, Berkley Books, softcover) has 19-year-old Iris Sunneret at is core. Her two brothers have died in the war, but months after word of their death she hears a different account; that one brother killed the other. Determined to uncover the truth, she discovers something even more shocking about them, her supposedly idyllic family, and herself. This novel is superbly written and paced. Once you begin, you will not want to put it down until the very last page.

Mrs. Shumak’s Boarding House by Marty Kam ($14.95, MKO Publishing) is a hilarious debut novel that tells of a young widow who decides to take in seven boarders in her tumble-down home to make ends meet. It’s a home that was in her late husband’s family for generations and she cannot bear to part with it and it’s a place in which she wants her children to grow up. As if she doesn’t have enough problems, a powerful real estate developer wants to buy it as the site for a riverboat casino. Needless to say, he has the inspectors and police in his hip pocket, but she, her vagabond brother, and the boarders all decide to fight back and much entertainment ensues. The author has tapped into his own experiences as a boarding house owner in the 1990s. The son of a Chicago cop, he has seen his own share of eclectic people. Privately published, to learn more visit www.MrsShumaksBoardingHouse.com.

A really good short story is one of literature’s particular pleasures and a collection of Walter Cummins’ stories can be found in Local Music ($15.95, Hopewell Publications, Titusville, NJ, softcover). Cummins has published more than a hundred stories in the leading literary magazines and, from 1983 to 2002, was the editor-in-chief of The Literary Review, returning to that position this year. He is a faculty member of the Fairleigh Dickinson University MFA program in creative writing and more than demonstrates his own skills in this collection of 17 stories filled with marvelous characters who find themselves in a variety of situations that instantly draw you into their worlds.

Like multitasking such as listening to a good novel while commuting, gardening or just at the beach working on your tan? Well, the good news is that Hachette Audio (www.HachetteBookGroupUSA.com) has a summertime bonanza of fiction to listen to. Here’s just a few. Christopher Buckley, whose hilarious "Thank You for Smoking" was made into a very funny movie, is back with Boomsday, ($24.98) a send-up of the generational wars between the Boomers now retiring and the new generation elbowing them out of the way. Actress Janeane Garofolo voices the novel of Cassandra Devine who discovers that he father spent her college tuition money on a dot-com start-up. She joins the army and, ten years later, is a frustrated Washington spin doctor who blogs that Boomers should be given government incentives to kill themselves by age 75. All hell breaks loose. American Outrage ($29.98) by Tim Green tells the story of a TV reporter’s discovery of an international crime syndicate specializing in child trafficking. The danger quickly heats up as the reporter and his son are soon targeted for violence. If you want something that will get your heart beating faster, this audiobook will not disappoint you. The Naming of the Dead ($31.98) by Ian Rankin is pegged to an international conference that draws most of Scotland’s police into the role of protecting the dignitaries. Inspector John Rebus, however, is exempt from such duty and finds himself manning a mostly empty police station until one of the delegates falls to his death. More bodies follow as the esteemed investigator is drawn into a storm of political drama and street theatre. Here again you will find yourself listening intently to find out who did what and why. Two gentler tales that are likely to appeal to women are available. David Baldacci has a slew of bestsellers to his name and Wish You Well ($29.98) is no exception. Precocious 12-year-old Louisa Mae Cardinal lives in New York in 1940 when tragedy strikes and she, along with her younger brother, must go with their invalid mother to live on their great-grandmother’s farm in Virginia. She finds herself coming of age in a new landscape and making her first true friend. She is, however, the object of a dark, destructive force and her struggle will play out in a courtroom where her fate will be decided. Body Surfing ($39.98) by Antia Shreve is read by the talented actress, Lolita Davidovich, and tells the story of Sydney who, at age 29, is once divorced and once widowed. She answers an ad to tutor the teenage daughter of the Edwards family and spends the summer at their cottage on the New Hampshire coast. When the Edwards’ grown sons show up for the weekend, it begins a strange love triangle as both compete for her. None of this bodes well for her fragile recovery from her earlier losses, but it does make for very compelling listening!

That’s it for June! Don’t forget to visit our Featured Book section, filled with interesting books you may not hear about elsewhere, but worth reading both as fiction and non-fiction.

Back to Top