THe Superhero Book By Gina Misiroglu

The Superhero Book by Gina Misiroglu is an encyclopedia of all the known superheroes.  At over four hundred pages, it is an exhaustive survey of this genre as well as being a colorful and accessible entry into the superhero world. 

Each superhero is given an entry that talks about the media (TV, comics, graphic novel, etc) as well as a full-color image.  The background of the hero is given, as well as their entire team if they work with someone else.  Supernatural powers are explored along with any moral code or any weaknesses.  A timeline of appearances is given, and if the hero was killed off, an explanation of their demise.  Superheros from Superman to The Powerpuff Girls are explored.

Gina Misirouglu, also known as The Taskmistress, has authored or edited more than three dozen books in the genres of popular culture, biography, American history, folklore and women's studies. 

Graphic novels are becoming more and more popular with the advent of the entire anime genre.  Superheroes are a constant in every time period; only the media used to tell their stories changes.  Humans need to believe that there is a balance in the world between good and evil, and that there are those who stand ready to right that balance when it is askew.  This book is recommended for readers who follow these heroes and anyone interested in learning more about them. 

Return Of The White Deer by Robert Sells

The land of Mercia is uneasy.  It has been ruled for twenty years by a king, Cearl, who is cruel, caring nothing for his people.  Cearl is power-hungry and obsessed by thoughts of those who might try to take his place.  For Cearl doesn't possess the one thing that makes a Mercia king legitimate and beloved.  He was not chosen by The White Deer, a mythical creature who legend says appears when Mercia needs a new king to choose the man best suited.

Pen is a twelve year old boy raised on a farm in the countryside of Mercia.  He is drawn to two strange habits.  Pen can communicate with all types of animals, both the horses, cattle and sheep on the farm and the wild creatures of the forest.  He has even seen the White Deer, although he knows he must keep this a secret. He is also drawn to learn the skills of a soldier, how to use a sword, bow and knife.  He is lucky enough to find a skilled teacher in the nearby village, although he hides his lessons from his farmer father.

When Cearl learns of Pen's existence, he is determined to eliminate him, as he suspects that Pen may be the next Chosen One.  Pen is kidnapped and thrown into Cearl's dungeon after Cearl meets him and decides his suspicions are correct.  When Pen is rescued by his father and his friends, it sets up a situation where a battle will determine the fate of Mercia and who will lead it going forward.

Robert Sells has written an engaging, rollicking tale of fantasy.  The characters are interesting, and the action is brisk enough to move the plot along without dragging.  This book is recommended for readers of fantasy.

The Quaker State Affair by Dan Romain

What would happen if the Chinese decided to write off their American debt and create a fiscal world pegged not to the American dollar but to a gold standard?  How long would it take American to implode without dollars, or the oil it buys?  Could we live without oil as an energy source?

These are the questions that Dan Romain explores in his explosive action thriller, The Quaker State Affair.  As the book opens, it becomes obvious to the American security forces that China is racketing up worldwide tension as a prelude to attempting to take over as the world's most powerful nation.  Reaction by the American President escalates the tension as he implies that America has an alternate energy source which would make oil obsolete. 

Patrick McDaniels, a Nobel winner for his work in physics, has in fact, been thinking about this issue.  In fact, he has done more than think about it, but he realises the risks that come along with such groundbreaking ideas.  The man who can harness cheap, renewable energy that will never run out will be rich beyond dreams, but also in enormous danger.  Nations would war over who controlled such energy or the mind that could conceive of it.  How can McDaniels give his thoughts to his chosen country without becoming a target?

Dan Romain has written an interesting book that is both a page-turning thriller and a book that gives the reader pause for thought.  Readers can see echoes of Romain's predictions in the news media and scientific articles.  Oil is the mainspring of the economy, leaving America in ransom to other countries that can produce it.  Scientists are pursuing alternate energy sources that would make the discovering country the new world leader for centuries.  Readers will finish this book and find their thoughts returning to it time and again, as they read the news and ponder what the average person can do to safeguard in the event some of these issues occur.  This book is recommended both for readers of thrillers and for readers interested in what may occur in the next few decades to our country and to the world.

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

In Freedom, Jonathan Franzen has given the reader the quintessential Boomer novel. The novel tells the story of Patty and Walter Berglund. It picks up their story in college as they meet and fall in love. The reader learns about their backgrounds and how each person’s experiences growing up in their specific families and their parental and sibling relationships made them the person they were as an adult. It then follows them over the next thirty or so years, through two children, several moves, and the cycles that make up a marriage.

What is it about? It would be more accurate to ask, what isn’t it about? Freedom is about love, envy, jealousy, betrayal, steadfastness. It is about the relationships between parents and children, between adult friends, the balance between work and home. It contrasts liberalism and conservatism, a focus on business vs. a focus on the environment, the value of old friendships vs. the power of letting new people into one’s life. It is about how we wound each other and how we can heal these wounds. It talks of the dilemma of raising strong independent children who then as adults have little need for their parents. It talks of the difficulty of keeping love strong for decades, and how old hurts can rear up time and time again, sometimes destroying the love that still endures beneath the surface.

Franzen is one of the country’s strongest novelists, and this book enforces that accolade. The writing is dense and detailed, as one would need to reveal someone else’s entire life, motivations and joys. The reader is unable to tear themselves away from this story of two people whose lives and struggles exemplify an entire generation. Franzen shows that no matter how much each generation hopes to be different from the one before it, members come to realize that human nature is fairly fixed, and the same big forces control all of our lives, no matter when we lived. This book is a masterpiece, and the reader will close the last page, satisfied, hopeful and feeling more accepting of their own struggles. This book is recommended for all readers interested in human nature and how we live our lives among other people.

The Best Science And Nature Writing, Edited by Mary Roach and Tim Folger

Each year, a series of best of writing books are released in various categories such as travel, short stories, mystery, etc.  This year's edition of the science and nature writing genre was edited by Mary Roach and Tim Folger.  Mary Roach has made the focal point of her writing life in the science field, popularizing the research into fields such as sex, death and various other topics.  Tim Folger is a contributing editor at Discover magazine and is familiar with a wide range of scientific fields.

The articles range across many scientific fields of inquiry.  There are articles about the problem of space debris, the emergence of bears as pest animals into residential areas with the disappearance of their natural habitats, the issue of organ transplants.  There are more difficult articles such as ones on the space-time continuum and discoveries in that area.  Introduced species that later become predators, crowding out the native animals, get an article, focusing on a species of fish that nature scientists are trying to prevent from reaching the Great Lakes.  There is an interesting article on face-blindness, a condition in which people never become familiar with the faces around them daily and who don't recognize people they deal with daily. 

The series is well done.  The articles are written to educate but the reading level is such that anyone can read and understand the concepts.  There are a wide range of topics, spanning the various areas of scientific inquiry.  This is an anthology that can be dipped into for food for thought, a way to expand understanding of the natural world around us.  This book is recommended for readers interested in how the world works and the discoveries made by scientists.

The Meerkat Wars by H.S. Toshack

The Meerkat Wars is the third adventure in this series about Sheena, a little black and white cat who lives in Africa with her family.  In this book, the family is going on vacation, camping on the great African plains.  Sheena goes along as a stowaway.  She is stranded away from her family and on her way back to the campground, encounters her next big adventure.

Sheena makes the acquaintance of a colony of meerkats, the Duwara, after helping one of their members who was stung by a scorpion.  She stays with the colony for a few days, learning about their ways.  She is there when another Meerkat colony, the Utongo, raid the Duwara tunnels and kidnap their pups.  As Sheena talks to both colonies, it becomes apparent that they are divided not by any reasonable event, but by their belief that each colony is living under the One True Sun.  Meerkats start their day standing and basking in the sun, so the sun is the prime event in their world.  Those who doubt the supremacy of the sun are enemies.  Can Sheena bring the two groups together in the realization that there is one sun that shines for all?

This is a children's book, skillfully educating while entertaining.  Several of the animals of the African plain are introduced along with their habitats, feeding habits and general behavior.  In addition to the meerkats, there are seval cats porcupines, chameleons, water buffaloes and elephants.  The underlying point, that we are all more similar than we are different, and that our separateness is often just self-generated, is brought home without a preachy tone.  This book is recommended for middle school readers and for parents interested in getting good books for their children.

Dirt by David Vann

Galen is twenty-two and still living at home without a job, totally dependant on his mother. His only interest is philosophy and he considers himself an 'old soul', without much evidence to back up his assessment. His mother's interest is in keeping Galen dependant on her. To that end, she dribbles out a meager allowance but tells him there is no money for college or anything that would encourage him to make a life on his own.

Mother and son live alone on a walnut farm in California, the family farm and the basis of the financial trust that keeps them going. Galen's grandmother is still alive, but his mother has moved her to an assisted living home. Galen's aunt and teenage cousin live close and visit, but only to try to extract money from the mother. Galen, with no other exposure to women, develops an unhealthy attraction to his cousin, Jennifer.

The family endures day after dreary day, the same arguments and history revisions visited daily. Things change, however, when all five, grandmother, mother, aunt, cousin and Galen, go together to a cabin for a weekend. Things occur there that change the relationships and bring old resentments to the fore. As Galen makes a final attempt to break free from his family, he learns the extent to which he will go, and the actions he is capable of.

David Vann has received a lot of positive attention for his writing. He is the winner of multiple literary prizes, a Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, and a professor at the University of San Francisco. Dirt is another success in his string of novels such as Legend of a Suicide, Caribou Island, A Mile Down and Last Day On Earth. This book is written in sparse, compelling language as the action alternates between Galen's view of himself as a higher being and the base actions he actually performs. Readers should be aware of graphic violence and sexual matter. This book is recommended for readers interested in family relationships and what the human spirit is capable of. It is a harrowing tale not easily forgotten.

Author Event for In Leah's Wake by Terri Giuliano Long

In Leah's Wake by Terri Giuliano Long is an upcoming review.  Here's a quick blurb:

The Tyler family had the perfect life - until sixteen-year-old Leah decided she didn't want to be perfect anymore. While Leah's parents fight to save their daughter from destroying her brilliant future, Leah's younger sister, Justine, must cope with the damage her out-of-control sibling leaves in her wake. Will this family survive? What happens when love just isn't enough?  Jodi Picoult fans will love In Leah's Wake - a heartbreaking, ultimately redemptive story about family, connection and our responsibility to those we love.

The author is having a Book Club Event Week in late April.  Below is an outline of what will take place:

MONDAY 23RD APRIL: WELCOME TO IN LEAH’S WAKE

Terri shares a candid introduction to the book and her success so far and talks about the role of book bloggers and reviewers in boosting In Leah’s Wake up the charts

TUESDAY 24TH APRIL: THE CHARACTERS OF IN LEAH’S WAKE

Terri invites readers and bloggers to share their thoughts on their favorite characters within In Leah’s Wake and talk about the moments they loved most.  In the evening enjoy a live Q&A session with two pivotal characters from the novel: Zoe and her daughter, Leah.

WEDNESDAY 25TH APRIL: THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY

An interview with Terri looks into the story behind the story: how Terri came to write In Leah’s Wake and how it came to be the “little indie book that could” selling over 100,000 copies so far!

THURSDAY 26TH APRIL: YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

Answering questions by submitted book clubs, readers’ groups, readers and bloggers, Terri will share her thoughts on the novel, the writing process and what lies ahead. 
In the evening enjoy a Q&A session with Terri Giuliano Long and the chance to put forward your questions live

FRIDAY 27TH APRIL – SUNDAY 28TH APRIL: IN LEAH’S WAKE: IN DISCUSSION
Share your views on some of the discussion topics raised in the In Leah’s Wake reading guide. We’ll be publishing your thoughts along with any new discussion topics you suggest.

SUNDAY 29TH APRIL: LOOKING AHEAD: NOWHERE TO RUN

Terri shares her thoughts on her upcoming novel, Nowhere to Run, and talks about what it’s like to work on a very different kind of story.

Booksie's Blog readers are invited to attend.  Enjoy!

Daddy's Home by A.K. Alexander

Detective Holly Jennings of the San Diego Police Department has worked on a lot of murder cases, but this one is getting to her.  A serial killer is kidnapping single mothers along with their children, and killing both.  That scenario hits home to Holly, as it describes her situation.  Her husband was killed in the line of duty when Holly was pregnant, so it has been her and her seven year old daughter, Chloe, ever since.

The killer is escalating, and it's up to the police to determine his motivation in order to stop him.  Holly believes that the killer is attempting to build a family of his own, and then killing the victims when his fantasy of them loving and accepting him is revealed as a mere dream.  This kind of core drive means that he won't stop until Holly and her team can stop him.  Things devolve when it becomes apparent that the killer has his sights on Holly and Chloe as his next chance at a perfect family.  Can she bring this killer to justice before he takes away everything she has?

A.K. Alexander has written a suspenseful novel that will keep the reader turning the pages.  Holly is a strong, resourceful woman who has the reader cheering for her.  The killer, "The Family Man", is a chilling depiction of evil.  The plot has a great pace and the finale is excellent.  This book is recommended for mystery fans.

Blue Monday by Nicci French

Dr. Frieda Klein is a psychotherapist who practices in London.  Intensely private and reclusive in her private life, she is insightful and able to help those few patients she agrees to take on. 

London is abuzz with the latest crime story--five year old Matthew Farraday has been kidnapped from the street and is missing.  The police are trying everything they can, but Matthew has just vanished into thin air.  Drawing on his years of expertise, Chief Inspector Karlsson believes that this crime may be related to one that occurred twenty years ago where five-year-old Joanna Vine was also taken from the street. She was never found, her body never identifed although common wisdom says she is long dead.

Frieda meets Karlsson when she is moved to break a patient's confidence; something she has never done.  This man, a new patient, has recurring dreams of having a child; specifically a son.  That son looks exactly like Matthew Farraday.  Dr. Klein is disturbed enough by the resemblance that she has her patient checked out.  His alibi for the time of the disappearance is solid, but as Frieda continues to probe she uncovers the shocking secrets of his life.

This is the first book in a new series by the writing team of Nicci French, the writers Nicci Gerrald and Sean French.  Readers will be immediately drawn to the reclusive Dr. Klein and interested in both the Chief Inspector and the flow of the investigation.  The writing is brooding, mysterious, compelling.  This book is recommended for mystery lovers.

Wide Open by Deborah Coates

Hallie Michaels is home from Afghanistan, but not for a good reason.  She has been given ten days compassionate leave to come home to bury her sister, Dell.  She arrives home full of grief and straight from the war zone where she was recently involved in a firefight that left her dead for seven minutes.  Hallie was brought back to life, but you can't say it didn't affect her.  She can now see and feel ghosts, and her combat friend and Dell both go with her everywhere.

Hallie doesn't understand anything, it seems.  She doesn't understand why or how Dell died, and there seems to be controversy about it at the sheriff's office.  Some people are saying that Dell committed suicide and Hallie knows that can't be true.  She doesn't understand why there are a series of mysterious fires in the area; fires that seem intentional and focused like arson but are started by lightning.  She doesn't understand how a man she dated a few times before entering the military is now the head of a new company that is employing more and more people in the area, but none of the employees can describe exactly what the company does.  She can't understand whether she likes or dislikes the new deputy in town, Boyd, who seems a part of it all.  Most of all, she can't understand why so many women in the area have gone missing in the last few years while she has been away.

Deborah Coates has written a knock-your-socks-off story in this debut novel.  It is hard to characterize, as there are elements of feminism, of magic, of life on the ranches and farms of South Dakota.  Coates has created one of the strongest heroines imaginable in Hallie, a women who has seen a lot and is not ready to roll over and give in to despair.  It has crime and fantasy, all the elements mixed into a glorious tale that grabs the reader by the throat and won't let go.  The story builds to a gripping finale, one that leaves the reader gasping.  This book is recommended for both mystery and fantasy readers.

Shore Excursion by Marie Moore

Sidney Marsh left Mississippi for the Big Apple and has never looked back.  She spends her time as a travel agent and a lot of her travel agent time is spent shepherding tours throughout the world.  Sidney's specialty is acting as the tour specialist for senior citizens tours; specifically the High Steppers.  She has been on several tours with this group of friends.

This trip they are headed to the northern European countries; Denmark, Sweden, Russia.  But someone else has boarded the cruise ship and they spell danger.  One of the High Stepper women is killed, although the cruise ship tries to hush it up.  Then another High Stepper, this one a male, is killed.  Who is trying to kill these innocuous senior citizens, and why would they be targets?  Sidney is determined to find out since the authorities don't seem interested in anything except sweeping the murders under the rug so that the tour can go on.

There are plenty of suspects.  There are some younger men who are touring with the group, and why would interesting, attractive young men want to spend time with those of an older generation?  Then there is the cruise ship captain.  One minute he seems to be interested in Sidney, the next he is ordering her around and thwarting her investigations.  There's the blonde bombshell who flirts with all the men, and even Sidney's best friend Jay is acting suspicious.  Can Sidney find the killer before anyone else is killed?

This is a debut mystery from Marie Moore.  It is written in the cozy, light-hearted style of a Joan Hess or Carolyn Hart.  The narrative is written in first-person style from Sidney's perspective.  Along with an engaging mystery, readers learn tidbits about successful cruising.  Shore Excursion is the first novel in a series, and readers will be interested to see what Ms. Moore serves up next.  This book is recommended for mystery readers interested in light crime dramas. 

The Girl With The Crooked Nose by Ted Botha

In The Girl With The Crooked Nose, Ted Botha follows the career of Frank Bender and his forsenic sculpting work.  Frank was a commercial photographer but his love was sculpting.  As with most sculptors, he hired models to try to determine how human anatomy worked to make his pieces more authentic.  This desire to know about human anatomy eventually led him to the Philadephia medical examiner's office.  There he started to study corpses.

After several visits, the police approached Frank about a murder victim who was unidentified.  They explained that they had mimimal luck with sketch artists producing a likeness in such cases that helped with identification, and wondered if Frank could produce a bust that would be better.  Frank didn't know anything about forensics but was persuaded to make an attempt.  He created a bust that led to an identification, and found his life's work. 

Over the years, Frank worked on multiple cases.  He was successful in finding identities in many cases.  The ones that he was proudest of were the children, often found in suitcases or boxes, thrown away after being murdered.  Frank's work was able to give them back an identity, and to let them be buried under their own name instead of being sent to an anonymous grave. 

Frank's biggest case was that of the scores of Mexican women who were murdered in the early 2000's.  The Mexican government brought him in, along with an FBI consultant, but it was soon clear that there were politics at play and forces that did not want this case solved.  While Frank went back to Mexico several times and created multiple busts, the cases still remain a mystery, although many believe either the Mexican police or the military had a hand in these deaths. 

Another area Frank's expertise was used in was age regression and advancement.  He was the sculptor that created the bust of John List that was used on America's Most Wanted to identify this man who a decade earlier had killed his entire family and disappeared.  That case led to the government using Frank for several other busts to identify fugitives who had been missing for many years.

Ted Botha has outlined the life history of a fascinating man.  Bender loved the work he did, but never made enough money at it to support his family.  He had to take side jobs throughout his life to make ends meet.  Frank lived life on his own terms, and his work was so valuable that he was able to live life as he wanted while still fitting in with the highly structured world of police work.  This book is recommended for readers of true crime and those interested in forensic work.

Collecting Innocents by C.K. Webb and D.J. Weaver

Something is very wrong on I-10.  Parents who encounter car problems while riding on the interstate are disappearing along with their children.  The parents all make 9-11 calls from callboxes along the interstate and that is the last contact anyone has with them.  The bodies of the parents are found in a few days or weeks but the children are never found.

The police are slow to put together the cases as they happen in different jurisdictions.  That's where The Saving Angels Agency comes in.  The agency was started by Sloanne Kelly and her fiance, Shawn Taylor, two years ago.  They were involved in a similar case and Sloane's goddaughter was kidnapped and murdered.  When that killer was apprehended, the couple swore that they would spend their lives working on missing child cases.  Two years later, they not only had helped put that killer behind bars, but had reunited multiple children with their parents.

Many of the individuals from the earlier case work on this one.  Jake MacKenzie was a detective in the earlier case.  He moved to Louisiana where the most recent kidnappings are taking place and is the first to make the connection.  He calls in Sloanne and Shawn along with their friend Birney Sullivan.  Sullivan is a reporter with the ability to take a news story nationwide.  Together this team, along with the sheriff in Louisiana and his men, work to discover the killer and try to locate the missing children.  Can they be successful against such a diabolical killer?

C.K. Webb and D.J. Weaver have created an interesting cast of characters.  Collecting Innocents is the second book in their series, but is easily accessible without having read the first.  The Saving Angels team is an interesting mix of people who have been affected by those who prey on children and have determined to devote their lives to making children safe.  This book is recommended to mystery lovers looking for a new series to follow.

By Blood by Ellen Ullman

It is the 1970's and a disgraced professor has come to San Francisco, awaiting the judgement of his college. A tenured professor, there is an allegation of improper student contact, and now he must wait for the wheels of collegial justice to grind out his fate. Knowing that it will take months, he has fled to another city where he is to work on research and papers. It is an unsettled time in San Francisco. The peace and love generation has given way to terrorists similar to those who kidnapped Patty Hearst. The Zodiac killer is stalking the streets. There is unease everywhere, including the professor's mind.

He takes an office in a cheap location, and there he finds his solace. He is placed next to a psychiatrist's office, and the construction is so cheap that he can hear through the walls. Not everyone; for most patients there is a white noise machine. But one patient, the one that the professor begins to think of as 'his patient' wants the machine turned off and he can hear everything she says.

The patient is caught up in the same identity crisis the professor has fought his whole life. Both feel they don't belong anywhere, that there is something unique about them that sets them apart and makes them unlovable. The patient believes it is her past as an adopted child. The professor comes from a family rife with mental disease and suicides. Both struggle to determine if they are a product of their genes, fated at birth to become what they are, or if they have the strength to define themselves apart from their heredity.
The professor has spent years in therapy and has removed himself from that setting. Yet he finds himself drawn into the struggle of the patient as she confronts her adoptive parents. He uses his research skills to find her birth mother and the truth of her background and mails the results to her pretending to be a clerk at the adoption agency. He then sits back and waits to see what will happen, if his gift will enable the patient to move forward with her life or if the truth of her background will swamp her.

Ellen Ullman has written a brooding tale that draws the reader in hypnotically. Set in short chapters, the hour long therapy sessions are juxtaposed with the actions of the professors. The story rackets up the suspense as the truth is revealed a bit at a time. Will the therapist have the skills to free the patient, and the professor who looms in the background and is just as needy? This book is recommended for all readers, an atmospheric tale that will not soon be forgotten.

The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman

In 1953, the millionaire Cyrus Ott, head of a large corporation with far-flung interests, comes to Rome to make a proposition.  His former lover, Betty, now lives in Rome with her husband Leo.  Cyrus suggests that he will found a daily newspaper in the city and leave it to Betty and Leo to run it as editors.  They agree and the newspaper is founded.

Tom Rachman's debut novel, The Imperfectionists, follows this newspaper over the next fifty years along with the lives of the many people who make up the work force that creates a daily newspaper.  He structures the novel so that each person gets a chapter that shows his life, both at work and at home.  Each character ties to the other people at the newspaper, yet each remains separate.  This is the way of corporations and most large enterprises.  Each individual has their own agenda yet somehow, if lucky, these agendas are chained together to create a complete structure which none could have done alone.

Along with the short glimpses into individual private lives, Rachman portrays the dying days of the newspaper.  This is a fate that seems to be inevitable for most newspapers as readers' expectations are for instant information which they can get on the television news channels and the news on various Internet outlets.  There is little time for the leisurely exploration of topics that newspapers were able to create in years past.  The Ott corporation forgets about the newspaper in Rome, with few visits or inquiries from the home headquarters, and the newspaper is left to flounder and lose its way.

Rachman has done an impressive job.  His own background is as a journalist and an editor on foreign newspapers, so he knows the territory he writes about.  His slice-of-life vignettes are cunningly constructed to shed light on individual lives while typing them together to make a united whole.  This book is recommended for readers interested in modern fiction and for those interested in the writing industry.

The Night Swimmer by Matt Bondurant

Fred and Elly Bulkington are the luckiest couple alive.  They have won a genuine Irish pub in a contest, lock stock and barrel.  All they have to do is open the doors and their new lives will begin.

But this is not the Ireland of sunny skies, laughing children and warm communities.  This is the Ireland flung out on the outskirts of civilization, a dark, brooding, inbreed place where anyone not born there is called a 'blow-in'.  A place with secrets that outsiders only catch occasional glimpses of.  A place that is ruled by one family and where everyone else bows to that family's wishes.  A place of menace, contrasted with occasional flashes of casual violence.

Fred opens the doors, but customers are few and far between.  The only tourists who come here are birders, as this is the first landfall for migrating birds.  Elly is a distance swimmer, the kind of swimmer who only feels alive in the water.  She spends her time swimming in the ocean, an occupation that the natives view suspiciously.  To them the water is a necessary evil, a force that gives livilhoods but in return may demand a life in payment.  The couple is ostracized, not overt acts but just treated as if they don't exist.  The strain mounts with Fred falling into the bottle and their marriage starting to crack.  Will they be able to make a go of things in this remote, desolate place?

Matt Bondurant has written a stunning book, one that grips the reader, insinuating its way into thoughts at strange times, leaving behind an impulse to drop whatever is being done to get back to Elly and Fred's story.  The language is brooding, building suspense with each vignette the story unfolds, leading to a climatic finish that won't be soon forgotten.  This book is recommended for all readers who are interested in connection and remoteness and how we find our way in the world, clinging to others to save us from the cruelty we encounter. 

The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst

The Stranger's Child follows two British families, the Vances and the Sawles, from before WWI to the present. Both families were in the British upper class, with the Vances a bit higher, having a title. The sons of the families, Cecil and George, become friends at college, and the book begins with Cecil Vance's visit to George Sawle's family home on a weekend. Daphne, George's teenage sister, is infatuated with Cecil, too innocent to understand that the young men are sexually involved with each other. Cecil, a budding poet, dashes off a poem in Daphne's autograph book before he leaves. This poem becomes his most famous, and the one by which he is forever known.

The next section occurs after the war. Daphne is now Lady Vance, but is not married to Cecil. Cecil is killed in the war, and Daphne has married his brother Dudley. George is now married and teaching. The section follows their married years and their friends and acquaintances. They are part of an artistic circle with poets, authors and artists.

Fast forward a generation. The Vance family home has now become a boy's school, and Peter Rowe is a schoolmaster there. He begins an affair with Paul Bryant, who works as a bank teller in Daphne's son-in-law's bank. The circle of connection moves forward with Peter being invited to play duets with Daphne's daughter, Corrine, at gatherings at their home.
Another generation. Now Paul has become an author, specifically a biographer. He trades on his acquaintance with the Vance and Sawle families to ferret out their secrets and create a best-seller. George became the author, with his wife, of a famous historical textbook that became the milestone of every British child's education. Daphne spends her old age living with her son, who guards her jealously.

Alan Hollinghurst has created a fascinating book that looks at an era in British history where there were only a limited number of people who 'counted' and they all knew each other in some way, or had some tangential relationship or acquaintance that brought them into the charmed circle. He also plays with the idea of memory, how we are remembered when we are no longer here, and whether memories are ever true or are instead tinged and shaped by what we want to have happened. Families rise and fall, fortunes and titles come and go. The sections are tied together interestingly, with minor characters tieing back in unexpected ways to the two main families. This book has been nominated for the Mann Booker Prize in 2011, and is a well-deserved nomination.

Paris My Sweet by Amy Thomas

Amy Thomas fell in love with Paris on a trip in her late teens.  She dreamed of living there, and after years of work in the advertising field, she was offered a dream job.  She could take a contract to work on the advertising of Louis Vuitton, but would have to move to Paris and work there.  Amy jumped at the chance as it was her dream come true.

Amy's other passion was quality desserts.  She had, as a side interest, created a blog about sweets and where to find the best ones in New York.  She dreamed about expanding this with all the wonderful new sweet shops and French confections she would find in Paris.  Amy spent her first weeks there touring the famous shops and discovering new ones. 

Paris My Sweet combines both the story of Thomas's two years in Paris and her love of anything sweet.  Each chapter talks about an issue common to those starting a new job, moving to a new city, or being a woman on the cusp of middle age who is still single and adventurous but starting to wonder about love, marriage and children.  Each chapter also features a category of sweet such as the madeline or cupcakes or macarons.  At the end of each chapter is a page outlining the best places to find that category of sweet, both in New York and in Paris.

Paris My Sweet will appeal to a wide variety of readers.  It is great travel writing.  Foodies will be thrilled to read about the variety and intensity of flavors available in the dessert category as well as the guide to the best places to find specific categories.  Overall, the book will appear to women working on finding their place in the world, finding that mix of work and family/love that works for them.  Throughout the book, Thomas is revealed as a woman questioning her life but ultimately satisfied with her choices, a woman with a zest for life and who loves to share with others.  This book is recommended for all these categories of readers. 

Chasing China by Kay Bratt

Mia has come to China to discover the truth about her birth family.  She is one of the many Chinese girls who were adopted overseas.  Although Mia had a wonderful childhood and a loving adoptive family, part of her cannot rest until she discovers more about who she is, where she came from, and why her birth family deserted her at the age of one in a train station, leaving her to spend several years in a state-run orphanage before being adopted at age four.

When Mia visits the orphanage where she lived with a translator, she is appalled at the shabbiness but even more at the emotional starvation the children there encounter.  In order to feed, clothe and educate so many children, every minute of their day is strictly scheduled, and the caretakers don't have time to give praise or affection.  The children are treated as items on an assembly line.  Mia is also suspicious when her questions go unanswered or given an airy reply of  "Later".  She is unsure if her translator is giving her all the information the officials speak.

As the days go by, Mia explores other avenues to discover her past.  She meets Jax, another Chinese-American who helps her.  Jax is in China on an internship and is willing to help Mia find out whatever they can.  They post fliers and hunt down clues.  Mia also starts to work with a group of foreign women; expatriates who are in China for a year or two and who have chosen the orphanage as a charity.  Through these avenues, Mia gets closer to the truth, but it is uncertain if she will ever discover what occurred all those years ago.

Kay Bratt has worked in the field of overseas adoption for many years.  Chasing China allows her to educate readers as she entertains them, and to share the issues surrounding intercultural adoptions.  This book is recommended for readers interested in adoption, and those interested in other cultures.