The Madonnas Of Leningrad by Debra Dean

Debra Dean tells the story of Marina and Dmitri, Russians caught up in WWII, in The Madonnas of Leningrad. They become engaged just as Dmitri is called up to fight the Germans. They are separated for three years after that, with no idea if the other was dead or alive. While Dmitri is off at war, Marina, a tour guide at the Hermitage Museum, lives in the cellar of the Museum to avoid the daily bombing of Leningrad by the Germans. Hundreds of others live there also, and as the months go by, they slowly start to die off from starvation.

Marina gets through this time by continuing to walk through the nearly empty museum each day. The majority of the artwork has been shipped elsewhere for safety. In her mind, she builds a memory building, where she correctly places each piece in its former location. She spends hours a day living in her memory.

After the war, the lovers are reunited and make their way to America, where they raise two children. Now, sixty years later, the children are trying to decide how to take care of their parents. Marina, who lived by her memory, is now a victim of Alzheimer's disease, and every day a bit more of her memory is taken from her. The book's climax occurs when Marina wanders off and gets lost, as many Alzheimer's patients do.

This was a wonderful book. Besides the compelling relationships, the reader is treated to a glimpse at the gorgeous artwork of the Hermitage, a place where very few Americans will ever view in person. This added dimension provides the framework on which the story is structured. This book is recommended for everyone.

The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

The Chronicles Of Narnia, C. S. Lewis' seven-book series, is one of those that we often think we know about, as it is being made into a series of movies and is discussed in general culture. I had never actually read it, though, and this year, my daughter and I decided to read this together. We just finished The Lion, The Witch And the Wardrobe and I'm very glad we've decided to do this.

Four children, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy, have been sent to the country during WW II to get them out of London, as were hundreds of children since London was being bombed by the Nazis on a daily basis. Once there, they are housed in an old mansion owned by a professor. Left on their own to entertain themselves, they explore the house and discover a passageway to another land, Narnia.

The book explores the relationships between the children and their involvement in an epic battle going on in Narnia between good and evil. The White Witch is in control and rules through fear and total control. Yet there are rumors that the rightful king of Narnia, Asland the Lion, has returned and will save the country.

This is a wonderful book even if read only on the surface level of a fantasy adventure. There are obvious Christian overtones, especially involving a Christ-like sacrifice so that others can be saved. I'm looking forward to the other books in this series. This book is recommended for all readers, and is a great family activity to read together.

The Mating Rituals Of The North American Wasp by Lauren Lipton

Peggy Adams is comfortable in her New York life, until she makes an unusual agreement with Luke Sedgwick, the last scion of an old New England family. The deal: Stay married for a year, and the two will inherit the Sedgwick mansion in New Nineveh, a quaint, preppy Connecticut town. But entering Luke’s world isn’t easy. Peggy must quickly learn how to pass herself off as a proper Connecticut wife and a perfect WASP.(Hint: At parties, nobody actually eats the food.) To make matters worse, she finds herself falling in love with the man she’s married to—despite that he seems to have no feelings for her.

I found this book a fun read. Peggy has just ended a seven year relationship with a shallow man who couldn't make a commitment, while Luke has drifted through life, not sure what he wanted. The repartee and love story between these two was entrancing. This book is recommended for all who believe love will find a way.

The author's website is http://www.laurenlipton.com/, and she is a fashion, beauty and lifestyle editor at ForbesWoman magazine. I'll be watching for her next book.

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

Wow, just wow. This is easily the best book I've read this year. Rushdie never disappoints. When I read one of his books, I think, "Alleluia, how the angels sang, Alleluia, how it rang!" Opening a Rushdie book is like stepping into a raging stream; you have to trust to fate and let go and enjoy the ride.

Saleem Sinai is born on midnight on August 15, 1947, the exact moment when India becomes a free country. His life parallels the life of India. Along with Saleem, one thousand and one other children are born in the hour of midnight to one a.m. They are the convention of Midnight's Children, and Saleem is their mentor and guiding force. Their gifts and strengths are both a threat and a promise of India's young country's path to freedom.

Along the way we learn about Saleem's family and the milestones that make up his life. His sister, nicknamed Monkey, the witch he marries, his relatives and their life stories, his friends, his enemies; Rushdie writes of it all. Saleem believes that his life causes momentous events in the life of India and Pakistan. The entire book could be read as an allegory of independance, government control and the straining of people for independance.

The writing, as always in Rushdie's books, is glorious. Streams of words, torrents that rush over the reader and carry them along and somehow come together to pull disparate plotlines into resolution. This book is recommended for all readers; one of my favorites ever.

Beat The Reaper by Josh Bazell

Dr. Peter Brown has a huge problem. It's not bad enough that he gets mugged on the way to work. It's not bad enough that the hospital is controlled chaos with nurses never there and patients who can't go anywhere else for help. No, things are about to get much worse. A former Mafia hitman who has become a doctor in the witness protection program after testifying about his former bosses, Peter is recognized by a patient who knew him in his former life and plans to share that knowledge with the people Peter is being protected from.

Peter Brown is an unforgettable character. It's hard to imagine having sympathy for, and even liking, a Mafia hitman, but Josh Bazell succeeds in making the reader do both. Brown is a true original. The reader learns his motivation for becoming a hitman, some history of his crimes, how the Mob is organized and works and about the love of his life. By the middle of the book, the reader is on Brown's side, drawn into his world and compelled to read more to find out what happens.

I started this book not sure I'd like it. The language is rough and I couldn't imagine having any interest in the character. But it wasn't long before I couldn't wait to find out more. This book is highly recommended for suspense readers. It is a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writer's award winner, and quite deserving of the prize. I enjoyed it immensely.

COMPLETED GIVEAWAY!!!! THE GIRL WHO STOPPED SWIMMING BY JOSHILYN JACKSON

Thanks to the great folks at Hachette, I'm giving away five copies of The Girl Who Stopped Swimming. Rules are the standard ones; your address must be in the United States or Canada and it can't be a P.O. Box. The contest starts May 17th and ends May 27th at midnight. For one entry, post a comment; for two, subscribe or follow this blog, for three, post about this giveaway on your own blog. All comments must have an email address in order to be counted so I can contact the winners for addresses. Good luck!

Lauren Gray Hawthorne needs to make things pretty, whether she's helping her mother keep family skeletons in the closet or sewing her acclaimed art quilts. Her estranged sister, Thalia, is her opposite, an impoverished actress who prides herself on exposing the lurid truths lurking behind middle class niceties.While Laurel's life seems neatly on track-- a passionate marriage, a treasured daughter, a lovely suburban home-- everything she holds dear is threatened the night she is visited by the ghost of her 13-year-old neighbor Molly. The ghost leads Laurel to the real Molly, floating lifelessly in the Hawthorne's backyard pool. Molly's death is an unseemly mystery that no one in her whitewashed neighborhood is up to solving. Laurel enlists Thalia's help, even though she knows it comes with a high price tag.Together, they set out on a life-altering journey that triggers startling revelations about their family's haunted past, the true state of Laurel's marriage, and the girl who stopped swimming.

COMPLETED GIVEAWAY!!!! THE RICHEST MAN IN TOWN

Thanks to the great folks at Hachette, I'm giving away five copies of The Richest Man In Town. Rules are the standard ones; your address must be in the United States or Canada and it can't be a P.O. Box. The contest starts May 17th and ends May 27th at midnight. For one entry, post a comment; for two, subscribe or follow this blog, for three, post about this giveaway on your own blog. Good luck!

Randall Jones, founder of Worth magazine, talked to 100 of the wealthiest individuals in a 100 towns and communities across the country. Remarkably, during his research, Jones found that these successful people were not so different from each other - they all had the same traits in common: The 12 commandments of wealth. Now he shares them with you.

The Four Corners Of The Sky by Michael Malone

Annie Peregrine Goode has a dilemna. What does an adult child owe to their parents, especially when those parents were bad ones? Annie's father, Jack, dropped her off with her aunt when she was seven and didn't come back. Jack is a major con artist, wanted by the police in several states and countries. Annie was raised by Sam, her aunt, and Clark, her aunt's best friend. She grew up and became one of the top pilots in the Navy. After a failed marriage, Annie returns home for a visit only to find out that her father is dying and asking for her help. Should she go to his rescue?

Not sure if Jack is even really dying, Annie goes to find out what is going on. Jack is in the midst of what he considers his crowning con. He claims to have a sixteenth-century golden Madonna, which was lost in a shipwreck and now worth millions. The Catholic Church is interested, but so is the local mob in Miami, which Jack has crossed. Add in the fact that Cuba wants the statue as a national treasure, and it seems that the cross-currents and loyalties are so tangled that they may never get unwound.

Annie also has another reason for going to see Jack. He has always refused to tell her who her birth mother was, and it is the final piece of her history that Annie needs to make peace with her life. How she helps Jack, finds love, and discovers the true meaning of family is the crux of this wonderful novel.

I really enjoyed this book. Malone is one of my favorite authors, and this book does not disappoint. I loved Annie's strong character. Subordinate characters such as her ex-husband, her new love, her best friend, and even a nursing home adminstrator are well thought out and portrayed. Characterization is Malone's strong point, but there is plot and subplot aplenty. As a Southern woman myself, I can attest that he gets the ambiance of the South dead on. This book is recommended for anyone wanting a great read or interested in family relationships.

Review of Will Marry For Food, Sex, and Laundry by Simon Oaks

Simon Oaks has crossed the line and is giving out secrets in the battle of the sexes. In Will Marry For Food, Sex, and Laundry, he tells women what men are looking for in a lasting relationship. He states that men will marry when their basic needs are met, and he defines those as food, sex and someone to care for them.

The book takes a relationship from the first date to a more serious dating relationship to possibly marriage. Along the way, Oaks reveals how men look at various situations common in male/female relationships, and tells how women can use this insight to their advantage when attracting and holding on to the man of their dreams. He lists some of the top reasons why relationships don't work out. He talks about what is appealing to a man, and the reasons why different behaviors will make a man loyal to a woman.

One of my favorite chapters was the one about food, where the author categorizes men into groups such as gourmet, vegetarian and carnivore, and gives menu suggestions for meals for each category. Simon explores the age-old argument about who does more chores and has an interesting insight. If the woman is best at domestic tasks, why not do them? Often a woman doesn't appreciate the tasks that the man performs, as they tend to be less routine. He suggests that the couple exchange tasks for a while to gain a new appreciation of what each brings to the relationship. Another interesting chapter explores the man/mother relationship, and talks about how a woman can replace the mother as the primary woman in his life.

This book is recommended for younger women who are in the dating world and not quite sure what men think or what is appealing to them. Another group that would probably enjoy this book is men themselves, as it gives quite an insight into typical male thought patterns and reactions.

COMPLETED GIVEAWAY!!!! TESTIMONY BY ANITA SHREVE

I'm giving away five copies of Testimony by Anita Shreve, thanks to the great folks at Hachette.

At a New England boarding school, a sex scandal is about to break. Even more shocking than the sexual acts themselves is the fact that they were caught on videotape. A Pandora's box of revelations, the tape triggers a chorus of voices--those of the men, women, teenagers, and parents involved in the scandal--that details the ways in which lives can be derailed or destroyed in one foolish moment.Writing with a pace and intensity surpassing even her own greatest work, Anita Shreve delivers in TESTIMONY a gripping emotional drama with the impact of a thriller. No one more compellingly explores the dark impulses that sway the lives of seeming innocents, the needs and fears that drive ordinary men and women into intolerable dilemmas, and the ways in which our best intentions can lead to our worst transgressions.

Winners are limited to Canada and the United States and Hachette cannot mail to a PO Box. To enter, leave a comment for one entry. If you're a follower or become a follower, tell me that for a second entry. You can cross-post this giveaway on your blog for a third entry.

I'll need your email address in order to notify you if you win, and contact you for your mailing address. The contest starts Saturday, May 9, 2009 and ends on Wednesday, May 20th at 5 p.m. EST. Good luck!

Spook by Mary Roach

In Spook, Mary Roach examines the scientific evidence of whether or not we survive as conscious souls after death. She visits scientists who are doing research on brain waves, near death experiences and other physical phenomena. She visits libraries to read about the earliest experiments and investigations of mediums. But this is not all dry science. She also visits actual mediums and goes to medium school, where the sponsers claim to be able to help anyone discover their psychic talent. She even researches a case in NC where a court set legal precedent by admitting evidence that it said was revealed to the plantiffs after death, when a father "returned" and told his sons about a will that redistributed his estate.

I found this book fascinating. Roach strikes the right balance between dry science and more interesting personal antedotes. It is evident that the book is well researched and written. I enjoyed it quite a lot except for one thing. I listened to this on audio and the reader had such a mocking tone at times that it detracted from the book. I think this one would be better read than listened to. This book is recommended for nonfiction readers curious about the scientific explainations of life.

The Wonder Singer by George Rabasa

Mark Lockwood has a problem. He has been working for over a year with Merce Casals, the famous opera singer, on her memoir. As the book opens, Ms. Casals has passed away in her bathtub, leaving Lockwood with a dilemna. This is the biggest project of his writing career; the project that will make him a household name. He has hundreds of interview tapes, but no manuscript. Now the agent representing both him and Ms. Casals wants to give the project to an established author who will write it quickly to capitalize on Merce's death. Mark decides that he can't do that. Instead, he takes all the tapes, holes up in first a motel and then back home and spends up to twelve hours a day writing in a race with the other author to finish. The first book should make significant money, but an also-ran book will be a fiscal failure.

George Rabasa has done a nice job of telling Ms. Casals's story. She is sold as a little girl in Spain by her father in a poker game to a talent agent. This talent agent paid for her singing lessons and started her career. Casals becomes a legendary diva, her every move followed by fans. She marries another singer, Nolan Keefe, but they have a tumultuous relationship with many infidelities. She leaves him at one point for over five years and has a tabloid-delighting relationship with a jetsetting Prince, but finally returns to Nolan. I found the Casals's story the most absorbing part of the book.

There are also many secondary characters who are important to the plot. Perla, Casals's nurse, becomes part of Lockwood's team while he is writing the book. He fancies himself in love with her, but she puts him off. His wife, Claire, has left him as he becomes more and more obsessed with finishing the project. Casals's husband, Nolan, moves from his retirement home to the apartment where "the team" has assembled. Then there is Orson, a Casals's fan who routinely spends entire days dressed as her in tribute, who moves in to cook for the team and to be close to the story of his idol. This strange group of people come together to pay final tribute to the life of Merce Casals.

Readers who enjoy historical fiction will enjoy this book, although it is not based in fact. Rabasa has created believable characters, each interesting and finely drawn. I enjoyed the look into both the world of opera and into how a book is actually written and how an author goes about his work. This book is recommended for those ready for a good, sink-into-and-forget-the-world experience.

One Deadly Sin by Annie Solomon

Edie Swann has come home to Redbud, Tennessee. She left when she was ten years old as Eden Swanford, crushed by a family tragedy. Her father had embezzled from the biggest business in town, leading to fears it would close down. Unable to handle the shame, he killed himself. That death unhinged Eden's mother who spent the rest of her life in a mental institution. Eden was raised by an aunt, and grew up believing that someone in the town was responsible for her family's grief.

Now she's come back to find out what really happened. Edie has a list of names she got from her aunt, and the town's legend of a dark angel that wreaks vengence to aid her. She starts sending minature black angels to the men on the list. However, she is shocked when those men start turning up dead, one after the other. Has her reappearance caused their deaths? Is she responsible as the townspeople quickly come to believe?

Holt Drennan is the town police chief. He has grief of his own. His wife died of leukemia, and he has returned to Redbud to raise his little girl and has taken over as police chief from his father. Holt and Edie find an instant attraction to each other, but as the deaths mount, the need for truth and resolution starts to drive them apart. Only the truth can clear the way for any possible relationship they might have.

Annie Solomon has written a compelling book that explores the bonds of family, the realities of small town secrets, and the drive to live happily even when it seems completely out of reach. This book is recommended for suspense readers and fans of romance.

The Last Paradise by Michael Kasenow

Michael Kasenow takes the reader back to 1900 in Galveston, Texas. His narrative is different from most; instead of hearing Galveston's history from the rich and powerful, he shows it to us through the eyes of those who are poor and powerless. Ex-slaves, prostitutes, day laborers, card sharps and alcoholics, their day to day viewpoint of how the city worked is rare and fascinating. There are many interesting characters, but the book focuses on a man named Maxwell Hayes. Raised in a dysfunctional family, he broke away and has wandered the United States, drifting from job to job and leaving when situations arose that would tie him down. The defining time in his life was when he fell in love with a camp cook as a lumberjack. They were engaged when he came home to find that she had deserted him for another. This reinforced his inability to get close to other people.

Maxwell has wound up in Galveston, where he works as a laborer at a shipping company, loading and unloading merchandise. All he asks of life is enough money to survive and a bottle of alcohol now and then. He spends time with others like him. There is Blair, a black man whose life story starts as a slave and who now has a son about to go to college. Newt Haskins is a former Yale man who left to make a living as a card dealer and gambler and who also works as a laborer. There is a mentally challenged couple who is protected by the others in the group. Maxwell is fond of a prostitute named Fanny and close to her son, Cody. There is a veterinarian who has lost his license and a fishing boat captain. They provide a support group for each other, and help other group members get through life issues.

Things are about to change for Maxwell. One day Connor, the boss of the shipping company, comes to visit his empire, bringing his wife. Recognition is instant on both sides, as Connor's wife is Maxwell's first love. She wants to reinstate their relationship. As a complicating factor, her daughter Sara, is also attracted to Maxwell. The issue of how these relationships play out fuel much of the book's narrative.

Kasenow has obviously done significant research on Galveston's history. There are funny sections, such as the big shark-hunting contest entered by the group. The discrimination and difficulty of blacks in 1900 Texas is portrayed, along with the observation that one of the keys in ending racial discrimination was the lack of support by the big industrialists, who saw that Galveston was losing financial opportunities due to the way the rest of the country viewed the prejudice that existed there. One of the strongest parts of the book was the portrayal of the 1900 hurricane that killed thousands in Galveston. It is used to bring several plotlines together and to give resolution to the book. This book is recommended for lovers of historical fiction.

Blood Island by H. Terrell Griffin

Matt Royal was a successful, hard-driving lawyer in Florida. Unfortunately, that high-pressure type of life led to too much stress, too much drinking, and the destruction of his marriage. Bottoming out after his wife left, Royal gives up the law and moves to Naples. He has put his life back together and spends his time fishing and occasionally helping out friends with legal matters.

One day, he gets a call he'd never expected. His ex-wife, Laura, is in town and wants to see him. When they meet, she tells him that her stepdaughter, an eighteen year old named Peggy, has gone missing after spring break in Florida. Never having stopped loving Laura, Matt agrees to look into the matter and see if he can find Peggy.

The investigation starts a trail of dead bodies. Someone knows Matt is looking, and they aren't happy about it; witnesses who talk to him are turning up dead. Royal has lots of friends in both the police and military from his time serving in the Special Forces, and lots of other male friends he has made while living in the area. They all help him where needed. The investigation leads to Key West, where Matt finds that two men chased down Peggy and kidnapped her while she was trying to make a call to her father. The clues lead to a charasmastic evangelist, prostitution houses, and terrorism. Matt and his friends rescue Peggy and uncover a terrorist plot that would rock the nation.

Griffin's writing is fast-paced and full of action, yet the reader is not overwhelmed by it. The pace moves nicely, and the relationships revealed move the story forward. The plot is not overwhelmed by coincidences, a feature often found in mystery novels. I enjoyed learning more about the history of Florida, and reading about such a male world and the friendships that propel it. This book is recommended for readers who like action and a satisfactory plot. This is the third Matt Royal novel and I'll be looking for the first two to read more of Matt's adventures.

Man Of The House by Ad Hudler

Man Of the House follows the Menner family for a year as their lives change. The family has recently moved to Naples, Florida, when Jo, the wife, gets a new position as an executive at a hospital group. She has been the breadwinner for years. Her husband, Lincoln, gave up his career as a landscape architect to stay home with their daughter, Violet. But this plan, which has worked for the family for thirteen years now, changes as they move forward.

Linc has been a fantastic caregiver, and has poured his creative talents into raising Violet and creating a supportive environment. But these days, he starts to feel burned out and that he needs something else. After nurturing his feminine traits for years, Linc starts to move more toward his masculine side. He starts to work out and soon has a bodybuilder's physique. He starts to spend time at a barbershop, a retreat that is exclusively and unashamedly male. He does less and less at home, creating confusion in Violet and Jo who expect him to handle everything. His obsession with cleaning, cooking, and fulfilling his wife's and child's every need receeds as he starts spending lots of time with a local contractor, who teaches him about the world of tools and construction.

As Linc changes, so does the family. Violet veers between feeling neglected and cherishing the freedom that her dad's inattention gives her to make new friends and even make tentative moves into the world of dating. Jo takes over more of the household duties, although it is difficult with her 80-hour workweeks. In the process, she realises that her career has in many ways put up a wall between her and Violet, and she is simulataneously upset at the realisation and grateful that she still has years to develop a closer relationship before Violet leaves the family. Outside pressure is put on Jo and Linc's marriage when a teacher at Violet's school develops an obsession with Linc and starts trying to seduce him.

Ad Hudler has done a masterful job at portraying the issues that make up a marriage and the parent-child relationship. Gender differences and how different people respond to gender expectations is skillfully portrayed. I started this book expecting some light chick-lit, and was pleasantly surprised at how well each character was devloped and how different familial patterns were analyzed. This book is recommended for those interested in family relationships and general fiction.

Painless by Bill Poje

Augustus Valentine has a huge problem. Involved in a smuggling ring through his import-export business, he has agreed to smuggle in jewels and precious metals. But before they can be delivered to his client, Augustus is attacked at the business and all the smuggled merchandise is stolen. That's a big problem for Augustus. Not with the insurance company or even the police. No, Aug's problem is with the Mob and the various men he has dealt with for years and that he believed were his partners. Now everyone is after Aug and expect him to deliver the goods. If he can't, death is a real possibility.


Fast-paced, Bill Poje's Painless follows Aug in the days after the robbery as he delves into the intricate relationships between the various partners. Everyone is out for themself, and betrayal and double-crossing is the name of the game. As Valentine moves from gangster to gangster, uses of flashbacks reveal that this crime has its genesis in events that happened decades ago. Valentine must figure out the past and the way it affects the present before he can hope to work his way out of the problems he faces. He learns that he can't trust anyone, even those he considered his closest friends.


This book is recommended for fans of furious action and a look at crime and criminals from the inside. The reader is swept along on waves of action and violence. As one might expect in this setting, there is lots of sex, violence and adult language. The plot twists like a sidewinder and the flashbacks help the reader piece together the puzzle of the various relationships. Bill Poje has created a realistic view of a world most readers will never experience.

GIVEAWAY!!!! MEN WITH BALLS BY DREW MAGARY

I'm giving away five copies of Men With Balls. If you are interested in sports or live with someone who is interested in sports, this is the book for you. It is a hilarious look at the world of pro sports. Warning: some material is not family-rated.

Giveaway Rules:

1. The giveaway starts Sunday, April 12th and runs to Friday, April 24th.

2. Winners must live in the United States or Canada.

3. No P.O. Boxes as addresses. Sorry!

4. For one entry, leave a comment with your email. I've had some commenters leave me no way to contact them, and I hate to think they don't get a chance! If you win, I'll email you to find out where the book should be sent.

5. For a second entry, become a follower of this blog. If you're already a follower, just mention that for your second entry.

6. For a third entry, tell me who your favorite college basketball team and pro football teams are. I'm a huge Tarheel and Carolina Panthers fan.

Good luck!

Midwife by Jennifer Worth

At the age of twenty-two, Jennifer Worth, a new nurse, came to study and work as a midwife at Nonnatus House. Nonnatus House was staffed by nuns, and the focus of their service was a large midwife practice. The time period was just after World War II and into the early 1950's in London. Specifically, the locale was that part of London down by the Docks which populated by people familiarly known as Cockney's. Poor and hard-working, the majority of these families still had their babies at home in this time period. Jennifer quickly learned an immense amount about delivering babies, but she also learned to appreciate and love the people who surrounded her.

The Midwife is a series of vignettes, each giving the reader a view into the life of the people surrounding Nurse Worth. Concita has her twenty-fifth baby during this time and is a contented wife and mother, although she only speaks Spanish. Mary is a young Irish girl, who is drawn into prostituition when she runs away from an abusing stepfather and ends up in London with no means of support. Sister Monica Joan is an older nun at the House, who seems to delight in tormenting the other nuns with her quick wit. Mrs. Jenkins, poor and clothed in tatters, roams the streets, always somehow knowing when a new baby has arrived and refusing to leave until she is told its' status. Betty Smith had a premature baby on Christmas. The arrival of large numbers of immigrants brings up the social issue of babies with parents from two races, and the inability to hide the adultery underlying this. The reader also learns a lot of medical information about how babies are born, advances in medicine and how perceptions of childbirth have changed over the years.

I found this book utterly charming. Jennifer Worth writes with unsparing detail of the poverty and crime around her, yet the people who inhabit these pages are portrayed lovingly and they come alive on the pages. The reader is transported to the Docks to live and learn. This book is highly recommended for readers who enjoy memoirs.

A Case Of Wild Justice? by Yvonne Jerrold

Sir Francis Bacon once said, "Revenge is a kind of wild justice which, the more a man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out." In Yvonne Jerrold's novel, A Case Of Wild Justice?, this question of when revenge is justifiable, if ever, is explored.

In Hannah Meadow's neighborhood, old people are being victimized and terrorized by gangs of young boys. Both Hannah and her sister have been victims, along with many of their friends. Hannah was burglerized, surprising the burgler in the act. Her sister, Jessie, had an even worse encounter. Her garden, the product of years of hard work, had been vandalized and ruined by a gang of youngsters that Jessie had befriended and thought loved her. Now she is a recluse in her own house, refusing to come out and face the world that has turned on her. Others in their circle have had graffiti written on their walls, or were shoved in the street, cursed at, or even beaten up. Even worse for Hannah, one of the ringleaders of the gang is her grandson, Billy. She feels rage and guilt at this relationship at the same time and wonders what she should do.

The "silver bees" show her their solution. They are a group of elderly people who have tired of being victims and are determined to change their neighborhood back to a safe one. They adopt the tactics of terrorist suicide bombers. When attacked, they set off bombs they are wearing and kill themselves to insure that they are killing their attackers. There are several instances of these individuals taking matters into their own hands and setting off bombs that kill those who attack them. This tactic creates a huge controversy. For every person who condemns the silver bees, there is an advocate who insists they are being driven to such desparate measures. Hannah is drawn into their circle, although she isn't sure if she could ever carry out such an operation. The book explores her thought processes as she tries to determine what is right and what she is willing to do to end her feelings of persecution.

Jerrold has done an excellent job of portraying the helplessness that older people can feel, and how quickly a gang of toughs can victimize an entire neighborhood. Readers of mysteries and suspence novels will find this book well worth their time.

COMPLETED GIVEAWAY!!!! THE TURNAROUND BY GEORGE PELECANOS

Thanks to Hachette, I'm sponsering another giveaway! This one is for The Turnaround by George Pelecanos. Pelecanos is a master at suspense and a crime novelist's crime novelist. I can't tell you how many other authors I've seen recommend him.

On a hot summer afternoon in 1972, three teenagers drove into an unfamiliar neighborhood and six lives were altered forever.Thirty five years later, one survivor of that day reaches out to another, opening a door that could lead to salvation. But another survivor is now out of prison, looking for reparation in any form he can find it.THE TURNAROUND takes us on a journey from the rock-and-soul streets of the '70s to the changing neighborhoods of D.C. today, from the diners and auto garages of the city to the inside of Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital, where wounded men and women have returned to the world in a time of war. A novel of fathers and sons, wives and husbands, loss, victory and violent redemption.

RULES
1. Winners must reside in the United States or Canada.
2. No post office boxes as mailing addresses, sorry!
3. The contest will run from April 7rd to midnight, April 17th. Winners will be selected randomly.
4. For one entry in the drawing, please leave a comment with your email address so that I can notify you if you're a winner. If you win, I'll write and get your mailing address so Hachette can get your prize in the mail. Entries without names or email addresses will not be entered.
5. For one additional entry, become a follower of this blog and let me know in your comment. If you're already a follower, let me know that also and it will count toward this entry requirement.
6. For one additional entry, cross-post this giveaway at your blog.
Good luck!

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The Geography Of Bliss by Eric Weiner

Eric Weiner spent a decade as a foreign correspondent for National Public Radio. Fascinated by other places, and curious as to why he didn't seem particularly happy, he decided to visit other countries and see if he could determine why some countries and some people are happier than others.

After finding a database in Holland that quantified each country's happiness, Weiner took off on his adventure. He visited very rich countries such as mideastern oil countries where no one pays taxes and everyone is given an allowance. He visited extremely poor countries such as countries that were formerly part of Russia and everyday life is a struggle. In Holland, most behavior is accepted; in Switzerland, most behaviour is rigidly controlled. He visited more familiar places also; the city in England, Slough, where The Office was originally set, and then Miami and Asheville, NC. The last is interesting to me as it is in my home state.

In each country, Weiner meets locals and asks if they are happy, and why or why not. Along with studies on happiness, we learn about local customs, food and culture. Weiner explores data that suggests that those who are religious are happier than those not, that Republicans are happier than Democrats, that the rich are happier than the poor, but that money is not a guarantee of happiness. Medical research suggests that there are physical reasons for happiness as well.

I love travel books and this one had an interesting hook. It is recommended for those interested in why some people are happy and others not, as well as readers that also enjoy travel books.

COMPLETED GIVEAWAY!!!!! GIRLS IN TRUCKS BY KATIE CROUCH

I'm very excited to announce my first ever giveaway! Thanks to Hachette Books, I'm giving away five copies of Girls In Trucks by Katie Crouch.

Sarah Walters, the narrator of GIRLS IN TRUCKS, is a reluctant Camellia Society debutante. She has always felt ill-fitted to the rococo ways of Southern womanhood and family, and is anxious to shake the bonds of her youth. Still, she follows the traditional path laid out for her. This is Charleston, and in this beautiful, dark, segregated town, established rules and manners mean everything.But as Sarah grows older, she finds that her Camellia lessons fail her, particularly as she goes to college, moves North, and navigates love and life in New York. There, Sarah and her group of displaced deb sisters try to define themselves within the realities of modern life. Heartbreak, addiction, disappointing jobs and death fail to live up to the hazy, happy future promised to them by their Camellia mothers and sisters.When some unexpected bumps in the road--an unplanned birth, a family death--lead Sarah back home, she's forced to take another long look at the fading empire of her youth. It takes a strange turn of events to finally ground Sarah enough to make some serious choices. And only then does she realize that as much as she tried to deny it, where she comes from will always affect where she ends up. The motto of her girlhood cotillion society, "Once a Camellia, always a Camellia," may turn out to have more wisdom and pull to it than she ever could have guessed.

RULES

1. Winners must reside in the United States or Canada.

2. No post office boxes as mailing addresses, sorry!

3. The contest will run from April 3rd to midnight, April 11th. April 11th is my birthday, so what a perfect time to give gifts to my bookbuds. Winners will be selected randomly.

4. For one entry in the drawing, please leave a comment with your email address so that I can notify you if you're a winner. If you win, I'll write and get your mailing address so Hachette can get your prize in the mail.

5. For one additional entry, become a follower of this blog and let me know in your comment. If you're already a follower, let me know that also and it will count toward this entry requirement.

6. For one additional entry, cross-post this giveaway at your blog.

Good luck!

Clock Without Hands by Carson McCullers

In Clock Without Hands, Carson McCullers portrays what she sees as a typical Southern town in the late 1950's. The book starts with the story of the town pharmacist, J.T. Malone, who has just been diagnosed with leukemia. It goes on to explore the personality and relationships between other town residents. There is Fox Clane, a former Congressman and local judge. He is now elderly and stuck in the past, mourning the death of his son, Johnny years before. He has raised his grandson, Jester, by himself. But as Jester has gotten older, he is interested in new ways of relating and living in the South and he and his grandfather start to clash. Then there is Sherman Pew. Sherman was abandoned as a baby and shows his mixed heritage with his blue eyes in his African-American face. He both craves attention and is filled with hate and disgust for the white race he sees ruling everything around him.

The book seems to meander between plotlines to me. One chapter will follow Malone and his struggle to face his pending death while the next will focus on racial relations. The old segregationist mindset is explored and it's fallacies shown, but much of the point is lost in the vagueness of the book. Living in the South, I've met people like these, older people stuck in their ways and conflicting with younger people who are ready to move on and live a better, different way.

Carson McCullers has several noted books. These include The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter and The Member Of The Wedding. She is considered one of America's best authors. I'm sorry that my introduction to her work was this book, which I was a bit disappointed in.

Conspiracy Of Silence by Martha Powers

Claire Prentice, a journalist, has come to Grand Rapids. Five months ago, her life was moving along steadily. She had a job she loved and was engaged to be married. Then she discovers that she was adopted, and that the woman she called her mother all her life, had not shared this with her. Thrown by this news, and by her adoptive mother's death, she comes to Grand Rapids where she believes her birth family's story can be found. Her seemingly perfect life is in tatters. So upset that she can't work, she has also ended her engagement after her fiance's reaction to her traumatic news. Her editor, who knows what is going on in Claire's life, gives her an assignment in Grand Rapids that can serve as cover while she searches for her personal story. She is to interview the reclusive novelist Nate Hansen for a magazine article.

On her first day in Grand Rapids, Claire starts an intensive, exhausting journey of discovery. She discovers that her name is not even Claire Prentice, but Abby Claire Newton. Her adoptive mother turns out to have been her aunt. She adopted Abby and changed her name after a family tragedy. Claire's mother, Lily, was murdered, and the murderer was her father, Jimmy Newton. Jimmy had confessed to the murder, left town and been killed himself in a railroad accident. Reeling, Claire is determined to find out more. Along the way, she is helped by the local librarian, various townspeople, and most importantly, by Nate. They have an instant connection which ripens into a romantic interest. His father had been the sheriff who investigated the murder, and as the sheriff, he never believed that Jimmy was the murderer. The book rackets up suspense with every chapter as the truth of that tragic night comes closer and closer to being revealed.

I enjoyed this book quite a lot. The characters are well drawn, and the book moves along without straining the reader's incredulity. Reaching the climax of the book has the reader concentrated on the mystery, and satisfied when the truth is finally revealed. This book is recommended for suspense lovers and readers of romances.

The Night Battles by M.F. Bloxam

In M.F. Bloxam's debut novel, The Night Battles, she has created an unforgettable character. Joan Severance, a history professor from Brown, has come to the small Italian town, Valparuta. New archieves from medieval times have just been opened to scholars for research. The town fathers hope that this will bring tourism to their town. La Professoressa, as the townspeople call her, is happy to have been chosen as the first scholar to review these archieves and discover what life was like in the area hundreds of years ago.

But all is not as it seems. Severance, far from being the esteemed scholar Valparuta thinks it is getting, is one step ahead of being discharged from Brown. Her academic career has been filled with appointments from one college to another, always leaving when it becomes clear she won't be renewed. Her personal life always emerges in a negative way, jeopardizing her career. She cares little for the opinions of others, having love affairs with colleagues and having little rein on her temper, resulting in actual physical violence against a student.

Yet Valparuta is also not what it seems. The head librarian, Chiesa, turns out to have his own secrets, and it is quickly clear that he is a drug addict. As Joan starts her research, she quickly discovers accounts of church trials of witches and what are known as benandanti. The benandanti were considered good witches, who traveled out of their bodies at night to fight the evil witches and assure bountiful harvests. Also considered a fertility cult and heretics by the Catholic Church, they were jailed and sometimes executed, and historians believed that they were stamped out. This discovery is major and Severance plans to organize her research around the topic. Yet, sinister events soon lead to the revelation that this is not a medieval belief in Valparuta. The entire town still believes in witches and benandanti, and everything revolves around the battles between the two sects.

The Night Battles is well written, and the tension mounts from the first page. The reader is quickly drawn into the beliefs of the town and its people, and many will find they must put down the book occasionally to take a break from the suspense. Both Joan Severance and Chiesa are well-drawn, and the more minor characters are also fleshed out believably. It is a major coup to make such beliefs in modern times appear believable and the mainspring of action, and Bloxam pulls it off. This book is recommended for suspense readers.

Burn Out by Marcia Muller

Sharon McCone has gone to a ranch to rethink her life. A long-time private investigator, she wonders if she has had enough of the death and corruption that she makes her living investigating. She is burned out, fresh from a case which almost took her life and she resolves to do nothing for a while. Fate has other plans. Her foreman's family is in trouble. His sister-in-law Meri, considered the town drunk, is in trouble. Her oldest daughter has been found murdered, and her younger daughter is missing. Sharon starts to poke around in the case to help out her foreman's family. Soon more and more bodies start appearing, and Sharon is drawn fully into the case. The murders seem related to an old crime that was never solved successfully.

Marcia Muller has written twenty-five other Sharon McCone mysteries. Fans of the series have watched Sharon from her start as a private investigator, to her rise and eventual ownership of an agency, and now through her questioning of her life. Readers of this series won't be disappointed in this latest version. I've read probably a dozen of her mysteries over the years, and reading one is like going to a reunion. The plots are tight, the characters are believable and the mysteries are always successfully resolved.

This book is recommended to all mystery readers. It is particularly nice to see a woman detective who is smart, successful and resourceful. Muller's McCone is all three and I always enjoy reading about her.

The Survivors Club by Ben Sherwood

In The Survivors Club, author Ben Sherwood sets out to determine what makes people survivors. Why does one person survive a tragedy while another can't handle it and ends up broken or even dead? He interviews survivors in many categories as well as the prominent scientists in various professional circles. The result is an interesting, fact-filled book that outlines the common characteristics of survivors and what the average person can do to improve their survivability quotient. Sooner or later, everyone faces some life test, and preparation for this kind of test is key.

Each chapter starts with a true story of a person who survived an accident or situation that could result in severe injury or death. There were stories of airplane crash survivors, those who were left to survive in water, victims of car crashes, accidents of accidental shootings or falls and those who have had serious illnesses such as cancer or heart disease. The stories of crime victims and prisoner of war captives are given. After each story, the chapter talks about the scientific research relevant to the situation. It then ends with survival tips for that category.

In addition to these stories, research and tips, there is another interesting feature of the book. Readers can go online to www.thesurvivorsclub.org and get a code to take a test that will rate their survival skills. The test results tell you what type of survivor you are and the three main strengths that you can draw on in a survivor situation. I was not surprised to find out that my survivor type was a fighter, as are 15% of the population. Having survived some fairly horrific family events, the thing that always got me through was a determination to get to the other side of the tragedy. Other survivors types include the Connector (28%), the Realist (24%), the Thinker (21%) and the Believer (12%). There are twelve survivor strengths. They are adaptability, resilence, purpose, tenacity, faith, hope, love, empathy, intelligence, ingenuity, flow and instinct. Again, unsurprisedly, my top three were resilience, purpse and tenacity. I've always said that the greatest gift I was given was an optimistic nature and this is indeed a powerful tool in the survivor's toolkit.

I enjoyed this book quite a lot. The research was interesting and allayed fears, as facts often do. For example, I'm a horrible flyer, as I have no control in that situation. It helps to know the statistics of what percentage of flights are successful, and more importantly, the high number of survivors when a plane should crash. Sherwood has provided an exhaustive survey of this topic, and provided food for thought on many topics. This book is highly recommended for nonfiction readers and anyone interested in increasing their odds of surviving life's hits.

Gazelle by Rikki Ducornet

Lyrically written, Gazelle by Rikki Ducornet, portrays a young girl's sexual awakening while her family is spending a year in Cairo. Elizabeth is thirteen, and is a sensitive girl who is devoted to her father. Her father is an academic and lives the life of the mind. Her mother, on the other hand, is an extremely physical person, and her time in Egypt is spent making romantic conquests of various men. After an especially cruel betrayal, the mother moves out and pursues her life without her husband and daughter.

Elizabeth and her father become close friends with an Egyptian perfumer, Ramses Ragab. Ragab owes a perfume shop, and his obsession is recreating the ancient scents from the past that have been lost. He is a sensitive and brilliant man, and provides a lifeline to the father, who has collapsed after his wife's departure. Elizabeth is entranced with Ragab, and fantasizes about him. She spends the summer lost in a series of dreams and beginning flirtations with Ragab, and longs to give herself to him. Her romantic fantasies are crushed when Ragab is involved in the ultimate betrayal.

The language in this book is langerous, and excites the various senses. It recalls that time we all went through as children, when we are ready to put down the toys of childhood and start to learn the joys and pleasures of adulthood. The story weaves back and forth between the present and the past, as Elizabeth recalls that time in her life. The reader learns of ancient Egyptian history, of magicians and mummies, of perfumes and the clash between the culture of Egypt and that of the visiting Americans. Relationships between men and women and how love can crush as well as exalt are explored. There is some sexual content that could be objectionable to some readers. This book is recommended for those readers willing to walk with Elizabeth on her voyage of self-discovery.

Like A Good Neighbor by Dwayne Murray, Sr.

Not for the faint-hearted, Like A Good Neighbor starts with an in-your-face scene of heartstopping violence. At an apartment building in Chicago, police have been called. Once there, they face a scene of mayhem. In almost every apartment, there has been a murder, a suicide, a maiming. It is one of the most horrific crimes ever seen. But one woman walks away....

Cut to New York. Raven Thorn has moved into another apartment building, and starts doing what she does best. An early blow in life has turned her into an evil manipulator, never happier than when creating havoc and chaos in others' lives, so that they will suffer as she has. Raven is a larger than life figure, gorgeous and sexy. She goes out of her way to insinuate herself into the lives of her new neighbors. She sympathesizes with a young woman trapped into being a caretaker for her insensitive, ungrateful father. She works her way into relationships, breaking up marriages. She encourages drug dealers. She uses her sexuality to bring teenagers, always impressionable, into conflict. There seems to be nothing she won't do.

The only people in the apartment building that seem to see through her try to fight back. Crystal is a young woman in recovery from a crack addiction. She sees the problems with Raven right away, but her insights are ignored by her neighbors. Eddie is a policeman, but wracked by guilt from an incident where a child was killed. He is slow to see the truth about Raven also.

Many readers will be put off by the violence, sex and language. For those who aren't, Dwayne Murray, Sr. has woven an intricate tale of suspense and a memorable character who will not be quickly forgotten.

Bones by Jonathan Kellerman

A young woman's body has been found in a marsh. Selena Bass, the victim, is a pianist whose job is giving lessons to a wealthy family's child prodigy son. The case is given to Homicide Detective Milo Sturgis. He calls in his friend Dr. Alex Delaware. Delaware is a psychologist who works for the police as a consultant. The circumstances indicate that his expertise may be needed. Selena's body is left on display in the marsh, and the killer has called and left her location. More chilling, her right hand has been severed. Is this a tie-in to her profession as a pianist?

As the case progresses, complications arise. Three additional bodies are found in the marsh and all of them have severed right hands also. All the victims have been buried facing east. The older bodies are all women who worked the streets as prostitutes. The investigators go to talk with the wealthy family who employed Selena, only to find that they have gone overseas. They are left with only a caretaker who seems strange and reclusive, and the family's grown daughter, who doesn't live with the family and has only tangential information. More bad news occurs when the marsh's caretaker who found the first body is himself killed in the preserve. Soon other bodies are found, and the story gets more complex. The events seem to go back for many years, and each individual's history must be discovered and integrated with that of others.

Readers of the Alex Delaware series will be thrilled with this book. This is Kellerman's 23rd book in the series. I've been a fan for years, and this one is a master effort. But, readers who've never read any of the series will also find it intriguing. It is not necessary to know the background of the other books; Bones is more than capable of being read as a stand-alone thriller. Kellerman uses his background as a clinical psychologist to make all the characters lifelike and believable. Series characters change over time as they would in real life. The evil that man is capable of is outlined and the work of a detective is carefully followed. New characters are introduced in this book. I hope to meet some of them again in later books. It will be a sad day indeed when there are no more books in the Alex Delaware series. This book is highly recommended for mystery readers.

Tomorrow by Graham Swift

After reading and loving Waterland by Graham Swift, I was excited to read his 2007 effort, Tomorrow. In it, Paula Hook spends a night lying in bed next to her husband, Mike, contemplating their marriage and the big secret they have kept for years. The next day, they will reveal this family secret to their sixteen-year old twins, Kate and Nick.

Swift is apparently incapable of writing bad prose. The reader is swept along in the story, reading of Paula and Mike's courtship, early marriage and decision to have children. Their relationships with their parents and their feelings about careers are explored. We even hear the story of the only pet they ever had, Otis, their pet cat.

While the book is interesting, I wouldn't rate it as highly as Waterland. The big family secret seemed like fairly trivial to me, and the book was a bit of a letdown after the revelation of it. Perhaps a more emotional person would have found the secret more devastating than I did. Regardless, I would recommend this novel to readers who enjoy great writing and like reading about family relationships. I will definately seek out other novels by Graham Swift in the future.

The Islands Of Divine Music by John Addiego

John Addiego's debut novel, The Islands Of Divine Music, is a multigenerational saga of the Verbicaro family, Italian immigrants. The matriarch, Rosari, fled Italy after getting involved with a criminal in Italy when she was a young teenager. Fooled by him into activities that could get her into legal trouble, her family migrated to America for a better life. Once here, Rosari and her father moved on from New York City to San Francisco, where there was a large Italian settlement. There she met Giuseppe, the man she would marry and have seven children with.

Although she and Giuseppe had a long marriage, it was not a happy one. In his older years, he left Rosario and married a prostitute, who had a son, Jesus. Jesus's life story is intertwined with that of the Verbicaro children, throughout their lives. Rosario's children follow Giuseppe into the construction business, where they are successful. Jesus and his mother become migrant workers, and later he becomes a transexual prostitute.

Each chapter in the book narrates the life of another Verbicaro family member. There are the smart brothers, the dumb yet charming ones, the girls who make good marriages and those who make good careers. As time goes on, the children of these family members grow up and their life stories are explored also. Some family members reappear in multiple chapters, like Paul, who comes back from the war addicted to drugs and plagued by the things he'd seen. A continuing theme is also how the family searches for their missing half-brother, Jesus, over the years.

This book will be enjoyed by those who like to read family sagas, and have an interest in the lives immigrants built in this country. The characters are distinct, and remain in the reader's thoughts well after the book is finished. This is an impressive debut for a new author, and I hope to hear more from him.

The Coming China Wars by Peter Navarro

In his book, The Coming China Wars, Peter Navarro outlines the startling evidence of how China is becoming a world leader and the frightening side effects of their policies. This is an expanded and updated version of Navarro's findings. The book is broken into various areas of China's dominence or attempts to dominate with experts and scientific studies quoted to support the author's thesis. It would be a rare reader who wasn't concerned or even alarmed after reading the facts laid out by the author.

One of the first areas is familiar to all, the explosion of Chinese products on the American consumer market. Many even remember the recent scandals and recalls of items from pet food to toys. Yet, most don't stop to think of the implications of China winning market after market. Jobs are exported overseas, as manufacturers look for decreased costs of production. These costs are often achieved at the expense of horrific working conditions, little if any quality control, government disregard of counterfeited name brand products and little concern for environmental factors. That results in Chinese goods of inferior quality flooding markets. While many consumers are aware of fake brand name pocketbooks or watches and may see little reason to worry about them, the picture changes rapidly when the counterfeit goods happens to be the pharmacuticals that consumers count on to save lives or alleviate medical conditions. This was one of the topics I'd never heard of before reading this book that is truly frightening. Imagine relying on a medication to lower your cholestrol or diabetic condition, and after a tragedy, finding out that what you were taking wasn't the real product at all. Navarro mentions two areas that are particularly prone to these products. He speculates that small, locally owned pharmacies might be willing to buy products that are cheaper in order to compete with the large drugstore chain's discount purchases. He also points out that most of the medication purchased on Internet sites is in fact this adulterated medication.

Another side effect that is slowly becoming evident is the financial implications of purchasing such a large amount of Chinese goods. This results in large trade deficits for the American economy, pumping billions into the Chinese economy to fuel their projects. American jobs are being outsourced at an alarming rate. This cash drain has further implications. It leads to the need for the federal government to borrow vast amounts on the international financial markets. China then turns around and uses these dollars to buy up our debt. This scenario is being played out right now in the current financial straits that the country finds itself in. It leaves the country dependant on the whims of another country which can dry up the credit market at will, forcing policies to be initiated that are not in our best interest, or that diverts money from projects we need to do.

As a result of the lax industrial policies of China, the environment is suffering. Working conditions are horrific in Chinese factories, with many workers toiling away as little better than slave labor. Industrial accidents abound, and the victims are rarely compensated, just released from their job to make their way as best they can. Toxic ingredients are released into the air or water. China's rivers and water supply are so polluted that cancers and other illnesses are on a steep incline. Worse, China is becoming a major exporter of food products, spreading that exposure throughout the world. The need for large dams to provide the electricity needed is changing the natural rise and fall of rivers, diverting water and interrupting natural food chains. The toxic waste in the air results in large acid rain areas, both within China and in neighboring countries.

China seems to be on the rise in international matters. The country has an increasing need for energy, which translates into oil and natural gas. They have no qualms about exporting weapons and technology to smaller nations that could be terrorist nations in exchange for access to their natural resources. China also wants to corner supplies of various minerals. They come in and provide technology and infrastructure to small nations, which seems like a good relationship to the country that wants to modernize. But in return, the natural resources of the country are stripped and sent to China, draining the supplying nation of resources needed to become self-sufficient down the road.

There is also concern about China's military rise and future intentions. The large cash flows into the country fuel expansion of their military arsenal. Large stockpiles of missles, aircraft, nuclear submarines and other weapons is occurring. It is unclear what the intent of such a massive arms buildup is. There are various trouble spots that China is involved with that could trigger international warfare. Some of these include Taiwan, a conflict with India, the funding of Iran which might then attack Israel, a Russian conflict, or Korea. In addition, China has entered the space race, and seems to be making progress on this front also. Again, the secrecy that characterizes this country makes it difficult to discern their goals in this area.

The final chapter in the book outlines various steps that Navarro believes can stem some of the rising problems that China presents to the United States, and indeed, to the world. He provides items that consumers and governments can pursue in each of the areas outlined in the book.

I found this book compelling. It opens the curtain on issues that most Americans are unaware of, except in a dim recognition that more and more of what they buy seems to have a Made In China sticker on it. Even when noticed, most are unaware of the implications of allowing another country to have such a large cash drain from us, or that this cash then funds negative events in the environment, or military issues. The Coming China Wars is recommended for those readers concerned about the world and the realities that it is facing from a rising supernation.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson

The Vanger family is one of the richest families in Sweden; heads of a multinational corporation. Yet there is a tragedy in the Vanger background. Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger, only sixteen, vanished one summer day. The disappearance has never been solved. Henrik Vanger, the family patriarch, has decided that the time has come to try once again to find out what happened to Harriet. Now 82, he has given over the reins of the company to his nephew, Martin, and has spent years trying to solve the mystery to no avail. Harriet was Henrik's niece and was his favorite family member.

In order to try once more, Henrik hires Mikael Blomkvist, an investigative reporter. Mikael has recently been convicted of libel and is at loose ends. Henrik hires him to use his skills to see if there is anything left to discover. The cover story is that Mikael is writing a biography of the Vanger family. He meets the various surviving family members and digs into the story. Along the way, he is helped by a young computer hacker named Lisbeth Salander, the girl with the dragon tattoo. Antisocial and living below the radar, she adds her unorthodox methods to Mikael's investigation. Against all odds, Mikael and Lisbeth are able to find out what happened that long-ago summer day and bring closure to Henrik with the case's resolution. In the process, though, they uncover vile crimes that have gone undetected for years.

I enjoyed this book. It was more literary than the usual mystery, and delved into the relationships between the various characters. Lisbeth Salander is a unique character, and one that the reader is left wanting to know more about. This book is the first of three in a series, and I will definately look for the others as they become available. This book is recommended for general fiction readers and mystery lovers.

An Exact Replica Of A Figment Of My Imagination by Elizabeth McCracken

In An Exact Replica Of A Figment Of My Imagination, Elizabeth McCracken tells the heartbreaking story of the stillbirth of her son. McCracken never expected to have children, but fell in love in her mid-thirties, and was pregnant at 39. She and her husband were living in France when something went wrong with her pregnancy. In a horrific scene, the doctors confirmed to her that her baby had died. She then went through delivery and saw her perfect son, who unexplainably would not be coming home with them.

The book follows McCracken and her husband's journey through the year after the death. She goes through all the stages of grief, and wonders if she is a mother if her baby isn't there for others to see. Some days start to seem better, only to have the rollercoaster of grief crush her again the next. The lifelines she grabbed for were the love and support of her family and friends. She got pregnant again three months after the stillbirth, and gave birth a year later to a healthy baby boy.

This book was absolutely accurate. I went through the same thing years ago, and had almost the same story. The pregnancy was uneventful, and then one day, my daughter didn't seem to be moving as much, and then there was the doctor visit and the news that no pregnant woman expects to hear. I lived with that news for almost a week before my body was ready to deliver, and like Elizabeth, my baby was perfect. The grief was like nothing I had ever encountered. The guilt is overwhelming. Having to talk to strangers about how many children you have, or what did you have or how does your son like his baby sister were unimaginably hard. Emotions that vary greatly from day to day and second-guessing are inevitable. Finally, with time, the raw grief subsides, but the family is never the same again. Like Elizabeth, I was able later to have another baby, although it took five years for me, and was a surprise pregnancy.

This book is recommended for anyone facing this situation, or for anyone with family or friends going through this disaster. I couldn't put the book down; it felt so real and so close to my experience.

Good-bye And Amen by Beth Gutcheon

The Moss family has come together in the wake of the deaths of the parents. The lives of this family were detailed in Leeway Cottage, and Good-bye And Amen is the next stage in this family's saga. Laurus and Sydney Moss were strong individuals. Their deaths leave three grown children. Eleanor is the oldest daughter, and probably the best adjusted. She married her college sweetheart, Bobbie, and has three children of her own. Monica, the middle child, was engaged in lifelong conflict with Sydney. Sydney picked her out early as an enemy and carried out a lifelong war against her. Monica is married to a charasmatic preacher, Norman, with two grown children. Jimmy, the only son and youngest child, spent years rebelling against the family and its influence. He now lives out west, married to Josslyn, and their three children.

The book details the various family relationships. Parent and child, husband and wife, sister and brother, in-laws, aunts and uncles and nieces and nephews, cousins, old friends and current relationships. We see how patterns established early tend to play themselves out over the years. We see how each generation takes from the past and carries forward with new relationships and ways of handling the world. There are sibling rivalries, marital issues, yet underneath it all, we see the love that holds this family together over the generations.

I really enjoyed this book. I had not read the predecessor but plan to go back and read it, since this book was so intriguing. The method of narration was interesting. The entire book was told in first voice, but not one narrator as you might expect. Each character told their part of each event, and we got to see how each person's mind worked and what was important to them. Often an issue of major importance to one character was totally insignificant to another. Seeing this, it was easy to see how conflicts and misunderstandings occurred over the years. I enjoyed the sense of family over the generations, grounded in one spot regardless of where life had moved them. This book is highly recommended for readers of fiction and those interested in family relationships.

Bad Seeds In The Big Apple by Patrick Downey

In this exhaustively researched book, Patrick Downey writes of the robber gangs that were common in New York City in the 1920's through the 1940's. The time was ripe for such gangs. Police work did not have the investigative or forensic tools now available. More importantly, since electronic fund transfers were not available, businesses and banks tended to have large amounts of cash on hand.

Each case is presented with the gang leader, his nicknames, biography, crimes attributed to him, and members of his gang. The captures, trials and often the deaths of each individual is detailed. Death sentences were much more common then than now, and an astounding number ended their days in the electric chair. There were several interesting facts I discovered. One was the number of escapes from prison that occurred, and the frequency of these. I hadn't realised how often criminals were able to escape through various plots and schemes. One fact that was striking was a man who was electrocuted with a wieght of 220 pounds. At the time, he was the heaviest person to be electrocuted, but these days a man weighing 220 pounds is not uncommon. Another striking fact was how young these men tended to be. Most were in their early twenties. Finally, I found it interesting how many criminals really did stick to the credo of not informing on their associates. While many did, there were just as many who refused to help police even when it would result in lighter sentences.

I enjoyed this book quite a lot. I had not heard of many of these individuals, and it was interesting to read their stories. There was an extensive illustration section in the middle of the book, allowing the reader to visualize the individuals being discussed. This book is recommended for readers of nonfiction and especially true crime.