One of the most transforming events in Western history was the Black Death that killed a third of the people living in Europe from 1347 to 1350. In an age when nothing traveled faster than a horse, the plague swept through one nation after another, migrating from the Crimea to England and Scandinavia swiftly as a contagion spread by a combination of infect rats and fleas, and then in a pneumonic form, between humans. The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time ($25.95, HarperCollins) by John Kelly puts a human face on the event while describing the science of the plague. By the time it was over, it had spared neither royalty, nor the peasants. It was spread by a combination of infected rats and the fleas that transmitted the plague to humans. In another form, it was spread human to human like the flu. In an era when no one bathed and human offal was simply tossed out the window into the streets; when rivers were filled with human refuse and everything else that could be thrown into them; when cities were filled with rats, the plague found a breeding ground that often left entire villages emptied of human habitation. Cities would lose half of more of their population. When it subsided, the price of goods and labor rose. The Church had lost much of its credibility. Other plagues would follow until, in the 1800s, science provided the answer and public health and sanitation measures began to emerge to insure it would not occur again. If you love reading history, you will surely want to add this fascinating book to your library.

Endangered Species: Why Muslim Economies Fail is filled with excellent economic data and analysis. Steven Schlossstein ($24.95, Stratford Books, softcover) is a consultant to US corporations advising them on business decisions involving the Far East. He has lived in Japan and has traveled to more than forty nations around the world, including the Middle East. As such, his book provides a fact-filled look, a contrast between the economic success of Asian nations and the dismal failure of Middle Eastern nations. The book is enhanced by his reports of contacts with leading individuals in both markets, some holding important government positions and others as modest as a man who shines shoes. Page after page provides some truly insightful information. However, the book is somewhat flawed by the author’s dim view of religion, any religion, and, toward the end, a marked antipathy to the efforts of the Bush administration to liberate the Iraqis from three decades of oppression and bring some hope to the region through the introduction of participatory democracy. Suffice it to say he does not hold out much hope for Muslims or the Middle East barring a significant reformation of Islam.

An important book is The Plot: The Secret Story of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion by Will Eisner ($19.95, W.W. Norton) that exposes the lies behind the creation of this classic anti-Semitic book that is still in print and widely read in Middle Eastern nations and around the world. This 100-year-old document purports to be the actual blueprint of a plot by Jewish leaders to take over the world. It greatly appeals to those who would continue to denigrate Jews at a time when anti-Semitism appears to be on the increase. With an introduction by Umberto Eco and an afterword by Stephen Bronner, one can only hope that it will stimulate serious discussion of its impact on the ways Jews continue to be the subject of irrational hatred. A unique feature of this book is the artwork that enhances its text.

As President Bush’s approval ratings in the polls head south, John W. Dean of Watergate fame has just seen his bestseller, Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush, appear in softcover ($14.95, Warner Books). Dean dissects the Bush presidency asserting that Bush and Vice President Cheney stonewalled all attempts to learn what they knew prior to the 9-11 attacks, that the Bush administration misled both the Congress and the public about Iraq’s military threat and capabilities, that the truth about Cheney’s true state of health has been kept from the public, and that both have engaged in "financial improprieties." These are a few of the indictments the book asserts. It supports these assertions with 34 pages of chapter notes and two detailed appendixes. Its main theme is the secrecy with which the White House operates and the way all events are scripted for public consumption. Dean has carefully documented his evaluation of the Bush administration, comparing it to the Nixon administration he served. He makes his points well and this book will interest anyone who regards the current administration with contempt, fear or both.

Come spring, come insect pests! When you have worked with the pest management profession as I have over the years, you gain a very real respect for the way Mother Nature has produced countless species that can spread disease and do enormous property damage. Insights from Insects: What Bad Bugs Can Teach Us by Gilbert Waldbauer ($18.00, Prometheus Books softcover) may not sound like fun reading, but it is! As the author notes, it is only a small percentage, maybe less than two percent, of all the bugs that can harm humans and eat wooden structures, but that’s enough! Millions die annually and needlessly from mosquito-born Malaria since the UN ban on the use of DDT. Other mosquitoes spread West Nile Fever, a disease unknown in the US before 1999. Combining entertaining writing with lots of fascinating facts, Waldbauer, an entomologist, takes the reader on a tour of tsetse flies, chinch bugs, corn earworms, and all the other nasty bugs that pose a problem for mankind

Next month, countless college graduates will make their way out into the world and I wish each of them could take a copy of Take This Advice with them. Edited by Sandra Bark ($28.95, Simon Spotlight Entertainment, an imprint of Simon and Schuster), it is a collection of "the most nakedly honest graduation speeches ever given and it is mercifully brief book, easily read in a couple of lunch hours, but its contents are rich in truth gleaned by a very diverse group of people that include Salman Rushdie, Edward Albee, Bill Cosby, Sting, Meryl Streep, and poets like Marvin Bell and Robert Pinsky. Since few recall what any graduation speaker says, this book rescues some gems for those wise enough to pay attention.

In the interest of full disclosure, Bill Fallin is friend of mine. He is also the author of a very entertaining new novel, Funderburk. It would make a great movie. It follows the coming-of-age of Connie Bob Funderburk, Jr. in the era of the Depression and World War II. As the name suggests, this boy is a true son of the South, born in a backwoods farmhouse in Georgia, who’s education includes graduating to the bedrooms of the well-kept wives living in the fingerbowl district of Atlanta. Fallin evokes that bygone time as only someone who recalls it could. It can be purchased from Amazon or Barnes & Noble websites ($35.00) and I guarantee you a couple of hours of non-stop laughter.

I don’t watch many sports on television, but I make an exception for boxing because it is the most basic kind of confrontation, one man contending with his skills, against another. (Okay, there are women boxing,too.) For anyone else who enjoys the sport, there’s a remarkable book by photographer Jim Lommasson and principal writer, Katherine Dunn, which won the 2004 Lange-Taylor Prize. Shadow Boxers ($39.95, Stone Creek Publications, Milford, NJ) is the result of a 10-year photographic odyssey to scores of boxing gyms where Lommasson encountered boxing legends like Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali, along with the lesser known coaches and fighters. From the Kronk and Gleason’s famed gyms to those in vacant warehouses in some of the toughest neighborhoods in America, this book, its photos and text, is a journey into a subculture that most people do not know exists. They are lifelines for troubled kids, safe havens, and shrines to the traditions of the sport. If films like Million Dollar Baby and television shows like The Contender has whet your curiosity or you just like the sport, this is a very special book for your personal library.

Thinking about a vacation? Lots of folks get in their cars for road trips and the best, most complete coast-to-coast guide to America is Roadtripping USA ($24.99, St. Martin’s Press softcover) that provides eight classic cross-country roadtrip routes, more than 160 detailed route and city maps, lots of budget-conscious listings for lodging, food, and attractions. No matter where you live, this is a great guide to places to visit near and far. Thinking about visiting Mexico? Pick up a copy of Mexico: Health and Safety Travel Guide by two physicians, Robert H. and Curtis P. Page ($19.95, MedToGo.com, Tempe, AZ, softcover) that is jammed-packed with information to deal with any medical crisis that might occur, telling you where to find English-speaking doctors and the best hospitals. Many retirees have moved to Mexico as well and this book will prove especially helpful to them too.

To take a break from serious topics, there’s a wonderful new, last book out by the late Shel Silverstein, the author-artist with a host of other talents, called Runny Babbit ($23.99, HarperCollins). It is, as the subtitle says, "A Billy Sook", and therein lies its charm because he reverses the letters of words throughout its many silly poems as in "Runny Babbitt mot all guddy/Makin’ puddy mies." Why isn’t this book in a section for children’s books? Well, because, quite frankly, grownups will enjoy it as much as children and this book particularly calls out for a grownup to read it to children, as both enjoy the strange words that emerge. Wonderfully illustrated, Silverstein hit a final homerun.

Back to Top

The Lives of Real People

I have a special fondness for biographies and autobiographies because the lives of real people are always interesting and frequently illuminating.

One of the great Founding Fathers of America was Alexander Hamilton ($18.00, Penguin) by Ron Chernow and the New York Times bestseller is now available in softcover. Hamilton is best known as having been killed in a duel by Aaron Burr, but he was a major contributor to the birth of our nation. In the process he had some major feuds with other founders and led a tempestuous life that included romances. He was an early advocate of abolition, but he should best be remembered for having shaped the federal government in its early years. This book is also available on audiotape, a whopping eight hours ($59.95, Penguin Audio), read by Scott Brick.

A new biography, Heloise & Abelard, by James Burge ($24.95, Harper San Francisco) tells the story of one of history’s most famous love stories to emerge from the Middle Ages. Peter Abelard was a famed poet, philosopher and religious teacher in twelfth century Europe. In an age when women were rarely educated, Heloise was one of his most gifted young students. Abelard was expected to remain celibate, so marrying her was out of the question, but when she became pregnant, her guardian and uncle insisted on a secret marriage, but the rumor of it spread throughout Paris. When she was confronted, she denied it to save his career, but her guardian took revenge by having his castrated. They would remain apart, he in a monastery and she in a convent, but their love and their letters continued. Lost for nearly 900 years, new letters were found a few years ago. For a look into those times and into the lives of these two people, this book will provide a wonderful reading experience.

I was astounded to receive Siegfried Sassoon, Vol. 1 and Vo. 2 by Jean Moorcraft Wilson ($25.00 each, Routledge). I knew of Sassoon as a World War I poet who was one of important literary figures of the Great War. One can usually find one or two of his poems in anthologies even today. What I did not know that his life spanned from1886 to 1967 and he was at various times a revolutionary anti-war poet, a conservative country gentleman, a doting father, and a gay man in a society that criminalized his sexual identity. Sassoon was the spiritual father of the anti-war movement that emerged in response to the Vietnam War. During his life, he was a friend to many of the greatest literary figures of his time to include Hardy, E.M. Forster, and T.E. Lawrence. For anyone whose interest is literary history, these two volumes will provide hours of interesting reading.

One of the greatest scientific minds of our times was the physicist, Richard P. Feynman, who won the Nobel Prize in 1965. He played a role in the development of the first atomic bomb that ended WWII. He held professorships at both Cornell University and the California Institute of Technology. He had such a breadth of knowledge that students flocked to his lectures and now you can enjoy access to that brilliant mind when you read Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From the Beaten Track: The Letters of Richard P. Feynman ($26.00, Basic Books, an imprint of Perseus Books Group), as edited by his daughter, Michelle. It is an opportunity to follow his life from his first days as a graduate student to a final response to an inquiry for advice. These letters bring clarity, grace and humor to everything from developments in quantum physics to the best way to approach a problem.

The era of pirates, also known as buccaneers, one man led a true swashbuckling career, sailing around the world three times and reaching Australia eighty years before Captain Cook. William Dampier was also a travel writer and naturalist and his accounts of his experiences caused a sensation in Europe, later inspiring men like William Defoe, the author of Robinson Caruso, and men like Darwin who found his books a treasure of information. Diana and Michael Preston have gifted us with an excellent biography, A Pirate of Exquisite Mind ($15.00, Penguin softcover). Though virtually forgotten, his life is retraced and restores him to his rightful place in history. History is filled with personalities who pose intriguing questions. Another pirate, but a modern one is the story of Felix Von Luckner of the Imperial German Navy who captained a ship whose mission, during World War I, was to sink Britain’s vital wartime supply ships. The Cruise of the Sea Eagle by Blaine Pardoe ($22.95, The Lyons Press) was published last month and it is a story of much daring and survival. It would make a great movie. Did the son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette die while imprisoned in the Temple Tower during the French Revolution or did he escape? These and other stories are told in The Great Pretenders by Jan Bondeson, MD ($14.95, W.W. Norton softcover) who delves into the world of historical mysteries to get at the facts. He tells the stories of some very gifted and intelligent people who may or may not have been who they claimed to be. It makes for some very entertaining reading.

One of the most famous spiritualists of the mid-1800s is told in The Reluctant Spiritualist: The Life of Maggie Fox by Nancy Rubin Stuart ($25.00, Harcourt). She was a world-famous medium and cofounder of the Spiritualist movement that swept America, a legacy that continues today. As one learns, the origins of American spiritualism began in a humble way when, in 1848, 15-year-old Maggie and her sister created rapping sounds by manipulating their toe joints, practicing until they convinced their parents that their farmhouse was haunted! From that prank Maggie went on to hold séances that amazed James Fenimore Cooper, Horace Greeley, and other notables. She became an instant celebrity. The craze swept the nation and more than 30,000 mediums soon found work. Years later, after a scandalous romance and secret marriage to a dashing Arctic explorer made more headlines. She would eventually confess the hoax and the movement went into almost instant decline. Suffice it to say it is an intriguing story of a past era. Moving forward in time, Margo: The Life and Theatre of Margo Jones by Helen Sheehy ($19.95, Southern Methodist University Press) tells the story of a woman who established the first modern professional resident theatre in Dallas, Texas in 1947. It became the model for more than 450 such theatres in the nation today. Margo would mentor playwrights that include William Inge, Horton Foote, as well as Tennessee Williams whose The Glass Menagerie she co-directed in its first Broadway production. For lovers of theatre lore, this biography will prove of great interest.

They All Sang My Songs: The Times of my Life by Jack Lawrence ($27.95, Barricade Books, Fort Lee, NJ) is the autobiography of a songwriter who did not attain the fame of Berlin, Porter of Gershwin, but it is likely that you hear his songs every day. He wrote popular songs that launched the careers of at least a dozen top show business stars, including Frank Sinatra, famed for "All or Nothing at All", Bobby Darin who sang "Beyond the Sea", and Rosemary Clooney who sang "Tenderly." In his memoir, he describes his Jewish upbringing in Brooklyn, the painful discovery that he was gay, and his various career ups and downs. For anyone who loves to read about the musical history of our nation, this book, written with great humor and candor, will prove a great way to recall the Big Band era and our recent musical past when songs entered into the culture of our nation.

Some lives read more like fiction than the truth. These are people who simply defeat all the odds against them and who demonstrate that growing up poor and in a bad neighborhood is not a ticket to jail or an early death. That’s why The Carny Kid: Survival of a Young Thief by Kenny Kahn ($19.95, Pendant Press) is so worth reading. It is the memoir of the author who survived parents who were carnival thieves and small time drug dealers, survived the tough streets of East L.A., survived polio play high school football, and went on to become a successful attorney and even a standup comedian! It’s an inspiring story and, best of all, an entertaining one, too.

Back to Top

The Joys of Reading History

For an understanding of current events, I strongly recommend reading Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire by Niall Ferguson ($16.00, Penguin Books). This top ranked historian explores how America has both embraced and rejected aspects of traditional empire, viewing imperialism with disdain, but also exercising aspects of it in its own expansion, intervening in other nations when it felt it was necessary, and instituting under President Bush a policy of "preemptive" war as seen in Afghanistan and Iraq. We are, says the author, an empire in denial. Also examined are the challenges to its hegemony from modern rivals, the European Union and China. The connection between our economy, by far the largest in the world, and our foreign policy is also extensively reviewed. Every page is filled with facts that will provide an invaluable insight to our present and possibly our future role as the world’s sole superpower.

I think it was the philosopher, George Santayana, who said that those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it. That’s why The Coming of the Third Reich by Richard J. Evans ($17.00, Penguin Books softcover) is so worth the reading. It is, in fact, the first of a trilogy about the rise of the Nazis, their rise to power, and their perversion of centuries of civilization in Germany. Here, dispassionately presented, is the true story of how an entire nation was subverted by its own worst instincts and the vicissitudes they had brought on themselves by starting and losing WWI. The ruthless climb to power, the way the intellectual and professional community of the 20’s and 30’s gave support to the Nazis, all led to the horror of World War II and the Holocaust. It didn’t happen overnight, but it did happen with remarkable swiftness. John Keegan’s The Second World War ($22.00, Penguin softcover) is a complete history of that titanic event and a tribute to the mastery by this famed military historian of the many aspects of it. For anyone who wants to understand the ebb and flow of the battles that occurred from 1939 to 1945, this is a definitive record. Also for military buffs, Air Power by Stephen Budiansky ($18.00, Penguin) will prove very interesting as the men, the machines, and the tactics that revolutionized war, from Kitty Hawk to Iraq, are discussed against the setting of the many conflicts in which they played an increasingly crucial role. One man’s experiences are spelled out in Ed Cobleigh’s War for the Hell of it: A Fighter Pilot’s View of Vietnam ($15.00, Berkley Caliber). The author served two tours of duty, logging 375 combat sorties, and over a thousand hours of combat time in a F-4D Phantom II fighter-bomber. This is a deeply personal account that provides an insight to both the pride and the contempt those who fought that war felt about the experience.

For those who love to read history, there’s A Brief History of the Human Race by Michael Cook ($14.95, W.W. Norton softcover) that neatly reviews the last ten thousand years from the earliest scattered groups of modern humans to present times. How he managed to so entertainingly and informatively condense this, moving deftly from continent to continent is a real achievement. Reading a book like this gives you an insight and understanding that makes today’s events easier to understand.

The most recent volume in the celebrated Penguin history of Britain series is The Hollow Crown: A History of Britain in the Late Middle Ages by Miri Rubin ($16.00, Penguin Books). This turbulent and dangerous era helped shape and define the national character of England as well as provide it with some of its most enduring myths. It was an extraordinary era of extraordinary kings, Edward III and Henry V, as well as great warriors such as Richard II and Henry VI, and some of bad character such as Richard III. Catastrophic events like the Black Death occurred and the Peasants’ Revolt, as well as the War of the Roses and the famed Battle of Agincourt. Also in this series is The Struggle for Mastery: Britain 1066-1284 by David Carpenter ($18.00).

The Complete Dictionary of Symbols ($22.95, Chronicle Books, San Francisco, softcover) that has entries on every kind of symbol from Achilles to the unicorn. Jack Tresidder, the general editor, has put together a reference to all the hidden meanings in art, literature, myths and history. More than 2,000 entries describe gods and goddesses, heroes and heroines, prophets, saints, supernatural creatures and more. The more you read, the more this book draws you in, since we live surrounded by symbols of all kinds.

Back to Top

On the Girl’s Bookshelf

By "girls" we mean girls of all ages. A number of books look at girls, past, present and future.

Here’s a book that can save a woman a lot of grief. How to Spot a Dangerous Man Before You Get Involved ($14.95, Hunter House Publishers, Alameda, CA) by Sandra Brown, M.A., should be mandatory reading because being able to attract a man also means attracting the wrong one. The author describes the eight types of men that are an invitation to trouble, from the permanent clinger to the emotionally unavailable man, the abusive to the addict or mentally ill man. The book goes much farther though, teaching how to take an honest inventory of your own dating behaviors, how to make your own "do not date" list, and how to get out of a relationship with a dangerous man. There’s a lot more, of course, and all of it is worth reading. Twice!

Where Girls Come First: The Rise, Fall, and Surprising Revival of Girl’s Schools in America by Ilana DeBare ($14.95, Tarcher/Penguin softcover) examines the evolution of girls’ schools from places where they learned to wear white gloves, serve tea, and become "proper" young ladies who could find a suitable husband, to places where they learn to be leaders like Condoleezza Rice and Sally Ride, or famous actresses like Gwneth Paltrow and Reese Witherspoon. Other graduates include Nancy Reagan and Barbara Bush. Today, girls’ schools are experiencing an extraordinary renaissance. Between 1991 and 2005, forty new girls’ schools opened throughout the nation and enrollment at existing schools grew by 15%. Want to learn more? Read this book. Friends Are Everything by BJ Gallagher ($15.95, Conari Press softcover) examines the special bonds of friendship between women, but also addresses the entire scope of friendship and how it enhances our lives. This is a terrific book.

The Breaking Point: How Female Midlife Crisis is Transforming Today’s Women by Sue Shellenbarger ($25.00, Henry Holt & Co.) comes as a bit of a surprise because we normally associate a midlife crisis with men who want to recapture their youth, but more than 15 million baby boomer women report a similar experience and a third more than the previous generation say that "life is too complicated." Today’s women have more money and more stress, says the author. The fallout includes more extramarital affairs at a rate comparable to men and more divorces. At the same time, women in midlife are joining gyms as well as signing up at more eating disorder clinics at record rates. They are also returning to college and starting more businesses at an unprecedented rate. If this sounds like you or someone you know, this book can provide a great deal of insight and help. By contrast, there’s Cynthia Kersey’s Unstoppable Women: Achieve Any Breakthrough Goal in 30 Days ($15.95, Rodale softcover) that caters to the woman who does want to go back to college or start a business of her own. The book teaches how, instead of feeling overwhelmed, a woman to begin simple, daily actions that will build momentum to achieve one’s goals. Need it be said that the author is a motivational speaker and corporate trainer? Her first book was published in 13 languages and this one, too, looks to prove a helpful guide. From Penton Overseas comes the 3-CD audio book, The Naked Truth: A Working Woman’s Manifesto on Business and What Really Matters ($18.95) by Margaret Heffernan. A former CEO, the author addresses the biggest challenges have today and offers some solutions based on her experience and that of others like her. The truth of the working world, she says, is that women’s choices are limited. You can’t have it all. You do work differently than men, but you can also find success and feel good about it.

Puttin’ on the Grits: A Guide to Southern Entertaining by Deborah Ford ($23.95, Dutton) has arrived just in time to save some fading southern traditions such as the secret of the perfect biscuit, bringing out the best tablecloth for Sunday supper as a family, and jarring pickled peaches at the height of the summer. After all, we know that whether you’re hosting a cocktail party, a cookout, wedding or baby shower, knowing just the right touches to make guests comfortable is as important as the guest list itself. Ford is the consummate Southern lady and this entertaining and informative book is all about knowing how to slowing down and taking time to make sure things turn out just right. For every girl whose education on such things as how long to stay at an event, how to clean anything and everything, and all those other essentials that make life and special events…well, special, this is the book to read.

In Waiting for Birdy, Catherine Newman chronicles the year in which she anticipated the birth of her second child ($14.00, Penguin softcover) in a candid and outlandishly funny memoir of childbirth. Known for her weekly column, "Bringing Up Ben and Birdy" on BabyCenter.com, the author has gained a large audience as she relates the every day frustrations and joyful epiphanies of raising a toddler. She is blessed with an exceptionally patient husband, Michael, and a precocious toddler, Ben. Exploring all the secret thoughts and fears of parents everywhere, this book will enlighten and entertain others in similar circumstances.

Just published this month is A Month of Sundays: Searching for the Spirit and My Sister by Julie Mars ($21.95/$12.95, Greycore Press, Pine Bush, NY, hard and softcover). It will be included in the Barnes & Noble "Discover Great New Writers" series this summer. When her sister Shirley was diagnosed with terminal cancer, Mars dropped everything and went to her bedside, remaining there for seven months. What she did not expect was her sister’s last-minute spiritual crisis and, after Shirley’s death, her own. She undertook an interesting pilgrimage, visiting thirty-one different houses of worship over as many weeks, as a means to come to grips with mortality. The result is an interesting look at the way different religions approach and engage the inevitability and sorrow of death.

The Girls’ Guide to Guys a novel by Theresa Alan ($12.95, Kensington Books, softcover) will prove very entertaining. Subtitled "Around the world in 80 dates", its fictional "love anthropologists", two gal-pals, start in Boulder, Colorado and begin a tour that will take them and the reader on a naughty tour of Paris, Venice, Athens, Budapest, and Amsterdam, among other ports of call. Likewise, The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank ($7.99, Penguin paperback) maps the progress of Jane Rosenal as she sets out on a personal and spirited expedition though the perilous terrain of sex, love, and relationships. No, it has nothing to do with hunting and fishing, but it is a lot of fun.

Back to Top

Novels! Novels! Novels!

I am drowning in novels. They flow in daily, mostly in softcover format. Let’s look at some new hardcover novels before we attempt to scan the rest.

For more thrills and chills, check out The Innocent by Harlan Coben ($26.95, Dutton) who has written another white-knuckle tale of suspense. When he tried to stop a fight and ended up a killer, it was nine years after his release that Matt Hunter had put together a life that included a pregnant wife, but then things begin to unravel as he again falls under suspicion as people around him begin to die. You will turn the pages as fast as you can to see if he can prove his innocence and reclaim his life. Alibi by Joseph Kanon ($26.00, Henry Holt and Company) is an example of the way a good historical thriller should be written. The year is 1946 and Europe is beginning its slow recovery from the horrors of World War II. Adam Miller comes to Venice, a city seemingly untouched by the war, to visit his widowed mother. Unexpectedly, he falls in love with a Jewish woman scarred by the war. Miller has been a US Army war crimes investigator and wants nothing more than to put that experience behind him, but the troubled past erupts into a violent murder and he is forced to confront some moral dilemmas. When is a murder acceptable? What are the limits of guilt? How much is someone willing to pay for a perfect alibi

Flash forward to our new era of terrorism and read Clearing Customs by Martha Egan ($24.95/$14.95, hard and softcover, Papalote Press, Santa Fe, NM) about Beverly Parmentier, the owner of a small imports store in Albuquerque who finds herself under surveillance. She isn’t paranoid. The government has decided she’s a risk despite she has no criminal ties, no arrest record. Her Latin American import business is a one- person foreign aid program, an extension of the values she embraced as a Peace Corp volunteer in Columbia. Her ordeal is alternatively sinister and hilarious, a cautionary tale about the abuse of power. A really spooky new novel is Shadow Family by Miyuki Miyabe ($22.95, Kodansha America), translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter. Its story takes you into the amorphous world of Internet chat rooms; a world of people from all walks of life who are attracted by the possibility of being someone else. Set in Tokyo, the police are investigating the murder of a middle-aged office worker and discover email correspondence on his computer that indicates he has been a regular in an Internet chat room where, in his fantasy family, he is the "father." And that he may have met the other "family" members in real life. Did one of them kill him? You will be turning the pages of this thriller to find out.

Mystery is the genre for I’m Sorry…Love Anne by Andrea Peters ($23.95, Bella International) and this complex story involves 60-year-old crimes that took place during wartime in England that a young, paralegal in Chicago seeks to solve as she tries to find out who wrote an inscription in an old novel she has found. When her work takes her to London, the mystery deepens and the journey takes her to New York, Hong Kong and back to London. This tale is too complex to say much more, but if you like it, you will also like Four Crows by the same author ($23.95) about five strangers who agree to become contestants on a reality show in exchange for the fulfillment of their wildest dreams. Their lives begin to unravel and each must determine what price he is willing to pay to survive and at what cost to the others.

Why does tragedy touch the lives of good people and how do they cope? This is the theme of In Dahlia’s Wake by Yona Zeldis McDonough ($23.95, Doubleday) in which a young couple, Rick and Naomi, who fell in love in college, married soon afterward, and weathered the setbacks in their lives. It is the birth of their daughter, Dahlia, that puts everything in place for them. Then, in a single moment their lives are shattered when the child is killed in an automobile accident. The author explores how these two try to fashion a life for themselves, both seeking solace in the arms of others. Will their love see them through? You will want to know as you read this story. For a trip inside today’s high schools, pick up Jerry Sander’s first novel, Permission Slips ($14.95, The Way It Is Press). Officially not due until July, you can visit www.thesandsoftime.net to whet your appetite for this story written by a high school student assistance counselor whose novel reflects the realities. "Adolescents can embody the best we have to offer, as a society," says Sander, "but the loudest, most prominent features of the teen scene right now are meanness, crudeness, and exhibitionism. It mirrors adult society exactly." This is, in many ways, a profoundly disturbing book and not for the squeamish because of its language and plot. Can a good girl survive ninth grade? Parents of teenagers will benefit from reading this book.

Prometheus Books has embarked on an imprint, Pyr science fiction and fantasy, with a number of titles that will surely please fans of these genres. Paradox: Book One of the Nulapeiron Sequence by John Meaney ($25.00) tells of an underground world in which a rigid meritocracy of Lords and Ladies oppresses all below them, but one of them receives a strange data-crystal from a navigator of the mu-space pathways between the worlds. It’s one big, fat journey into another world that will entertain anyone who likes this kind of thing. Here, There & Everywhere by Chris Roberson ($25.00) is another book from Pyr. The author is a 2004 World Fantasy Award finalist and one can see why in a story of Roxanne Bonaventure, a woman who at an early age was granted the ability to travel anywhere in space and time. Despite this freedom, she finds herself cut off and isolated from all of those around here, unable to make lasting relationships with friends, family, or strangers.

Game Face by James D. Chlovechok, M.D. takes one into the minds of athletes and asks the question, "What if you were offered a pill that promised to solve all your problems? It would make you better at what you do. It isn’t illegal, and no one would know. Would you take it?" The answer this unfolds in this interesting novel that features Mark McKenzie, a forensic medicine specialist who is recruited by his boyhood friend, Detective Sergeant Tim McGregor, to investigate the death of an elite athlete. We are in the world of athletes who have the physical means to win, but lack that special drive, the attitude that makes a winner. What if it came in a bottle? What if it would kill you? The founder of the Ohio Sports Medicine Institute, the author is uniquely qualified to have written this novel.

Two classic novels by Graham Greene, The Man Within and The Ministry of Fear, are now available in softcover ($15/$14.00 respectively, Penguin Classics) The former was Greene’s first published novel, a story of betrayal by both criminals and the authorities. The latter is a tale of malign and shadowy forces that ruthlessly hunt a man filled with guilt. These and other novels would establish Greene as one of the great writers of the last century.

Here’s a selection of the deluge of softcover novels that have arrived. Charles McCarry can always be depended upon for a good spy novel and Old Boys ($15.00, Penguin Books) is a winner as colleagues of a veteran intelligence agent don’t believe he’s dead. His disappearance was capped with a memorial service, but they begin a worldwide search for him.

A very different story, how to survive being a celebrity with some shred of dignity, Mr. Famous by Carol Wolper ($13.00, Riverhead Books, Penguin Putnam) provides a comical and insightful novel. Follow along as a former mega-star works to survive a couple of box office bombs with the help of his personal chef and nutritionist, Lucinda. This is a very clever Hollywood story. In a comparable way, The Accidental Diva by Tia Williams ($14.00, New American Library) reveals that being a diva is not necessarily what it’s cracked up to be. Being the beauty editor of the world’s leading fashion magazine has left her with migraine headaches no love life. When a handsome performance artist shows up, she falls in love as opposites attract. How does it work out? Take this one to the beach to find out.

Get out the handkerchief to read A Good Distance by Sarah Willis ($14.00, Berkley Publishing Group). A secret shared by a daughter and her mother, now slipping into Alzheimer’s, is the linchpin of why the daughter seeks two months time with her mother before she goes into a nursing home. She wants her mother’s forgiveness and it is in those few remaining moments of clarity that she can get it. Two lives are told with great verve in a heartbreaking story of the ties that bind and sever a family. One for My Baby by Tony Parsons ($13.00, Touchstone Books, a division of Simon & Schuster) is about a man who doesn’t want to give up on one last chance at true love. A young widower, just about everything that can go wrong in Alfie Budd’s life does for a while and he seeks to lose himself in a string of pointless affairs. He finds his way out of this, experiencing a rebirth that will have you halfway between tears and laughter.

How I Stole Her Husband by Liz Ireland ($12.95, Kensington Books) is the ten-year journey from being a debutante good girl to a woman who still wants her high school sweetheart, Spence, back after he was stolen away from her just before the prom. No longer the little rich girl, she is up to her ears in debt, but manages to land a job as a live-in nanny for a wealthy New York couple, one of whom is her beloved Spence. The title tells you what happens next. Much more grounded is On the Right Side of a Dream by Sheila Williams ($12.95, One World, Ballantine Books) that tells the story of Juanita Lewis, a girl from the ‘hood who ends up in Paper Moon, Montana, and finds a home, friends, and a man to love. So how does a middle-aged black woman from the projects in Columbus follow her heart when it is heading in so many different directions? By asking the right questions and then listening with her soul.

That’s it for May! Don’t forget to visit our Featured Books section and tell your friends about Bookviews.com, the most unique monthly report on the best in new fiction and non-fiction on the Internet!

Back to Top