GIVEAWAY!!!! OFF SEASON BY ANNE RIVERS SIDDONS

Acclaimed novelist Anne Rivers Siddons's new novel is a stunning tale of love and loss.

For as long as she can remember, they were Cam and Lilly--happily married, totally in love with each other, parents of a beautiful family, and partners in life. Then, after decades of marriage, it ended as every great love story does...in loss. After Cam's death, Lilly takes a lone road trip to her and Cam's favorite spot on the remote coast of Maine, the place where they fell in love over and over again, where their ghosts still dance.

There, she looks hard to her past--to a first love that ended in tragedy; to falling in love with Cam; to a marriage filled with exuberance, sheer life, and safety-- to try to figure out her future. It is a journey begun with tender memories and culminating in a revelation that will make Lilly re-evaluate everything she thought was true about her husband and her marriage.

Giveaway Rules:

1. The giveaway starts Saturday, July 11th and ends on Wednesday, July 22th at midnight.

2. There will be five winners, who will be chosen with a random number generator.

3. For one entry, leave a comment. Your email MUST be in the comment to be included.

4. You can get another entry by doing any or all of the following; follow this blog, twitter about this giveaway and post the twitter in your comment, or link to the giveaway on your blog.

5. Winners will have three days to respond with mailing addresses after email notification.

6. Winners must live in the U.S. or Canada, and have a street address. Hachette doesn't mail to P.O. boxes, sorry.

Good luck!

The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand

Greg and Tess MacAvoy are one of four prominent Nantucket couples who count each other as best friends. As pillars of their close-knit community, the MacAvoys, Kapenashes, Drakes, and Wheelers are important to their friends and neighbors, and especially to each other.

But just before the beginning of another idyllic summer, Greg and Tess are killed when their boat capsizes during an anniversary sail. As the warm weather approaches and the island mourns their loss, nothing can prepare the MacAvoy's closest friends for what will be revealed.

Once again, Hilderbrand masterfully weaves an intense tale of love and loyalty set against the backdrop of endless summer island life.

I enjoyed The Castaways quite a bit. It was the perfect summer read, although I found the premise that four couples who are in a group could commit the adultry that Hilderbrand had her characters commit, and still have their lives go on as before. Hilderbrand created believeable characters outside of this issue, and all of the plotlines were satisfactorily resolved. This book is recommended for those readers ready for a book that entertains.

Probability Angels by Joseph Devon

Matthew is a new probability angel. He is still learning how he became one, what it all means, and what he can now do. A person becomes a probability angel when they give their life so that another can live. Matthew did that when he chose to be shot during a robbery, saving his wife. Probability angels work individually with humans, pushing them in life situations. They have photographs of all the probabilities that a situation's outcome could have, and the angel pushes the human towards one. As the book opens, Matthew is working with a priest at a wedding, who is sobbing in the bathroom. His crisis? He is in love with the bride. Matthew pushes him, and the priest leaves to resolve the issue and confront the bride.

There are many other angels. Epp is one of the most influential. Born a slave thousands of years ago, he has worked with so many people and has so many skills that he serves as a resource and leader for newbies. Kyo is a former samurari. He has also been an angel for many hundreds of years, but is different in some ways, as he refuses to push humans. There is Mary, a former nun who is now a gorgeous woman. There are many others, and they all know each other and work together in a loosely organized way.

But all is not perfect. Probability angels get life energy from pushing humans. There are those who get tired of the work and stop pushing. They turn into zombie-like creatures, who eventually start to eat angels for energy. There is conflict and positioning for power in the angel structure. Hector is the leader of these dissidents. He wants to be the probability angel leader and starts a war targeting Epp and those close to him. His army is made of the zombies and some angels who are loyal to him. There is an epic battle for leadership of the angels and how their work will be structured for the coming centuries.

I would love to meet this author. Anyone with this much imagination, who can write such a sustained fantasy, must have a unique mind and would be fascinating to talk with. This book is recommended for fantasy and sci-fi readers, as well as readers looking for an offbeat read. Devon has created an alternate world and made it come alive. His characters are well developed and believable. The reader is taken to another world and lives in that possibility while reading. This is an interesting book that I won't soon forget.

GIVEAWAY!!!! HOW SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE THINK by John Maxwell

The perfect read for today's fast-paced world, How Successful People Think (derived from Maxwell's previous book, Thinking for a Change) will teach listeners the 11 secrets successful people know. Arranged in an easy-to-follow format, America's leadership expert, John C. Maxwell, will teach listeners how to expand their thinking and achieve their dreams.

The 11 keys to successful thinking include:

Big-Picture Thinking - seeing the world beyond your own needs and how that leads to great ideas

Focused Thinking - removing mental clutter and distractions to realize your full potential

Creative Thinking - thinking in unique ways and making breakthroughs

Shared Thinking - working with others to compound results

Reflective Thinking - looking at the past to gain a better understanding of the future.

Thanks to Hachette, I'm able to give away five copies of this book. Rules of the giveaway are:

1. The giveaway starts Saturday, July 4th and ends on Wednesday, July 15th at midnight.

2. There will be five winners, who will be chosen with a random number generator.

3. For one entry, leave a comment. Your email MUST be in the comment to be included.

4. You can get another entry by doing any or all of the following; follow this blog, twitter about this giveaway and post the twitter in your comment, or link to the giveaway on your blog.

5. Winners will have three days to respond with mailing addresses after email notification. Good luck!

6. Winners must live in the U.S. or Canada, and have a street address. Hachette doesn't mail to P.O. boxes, sorry.

Good luck!

COMPLETED GIVEAWAY!!!! NIGHT GARDENER BY GEORGE PELECANOS

From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. Pelecanos (Drama City) delivers a dignified, character-driven epic that succeeds as both literary novel and page-turner. In 1985, the body of a 14-year-old girl turns up in a Washington, D.C., park, the latest in a series of murders by a killer the media dub "The Night Gardener." T.C. Cook, the aging detective on the case, works with a quiet, almost monomaniacal, focus. Also involved are two young uniformed cops, Gus Ramone, who's diligent, conscientious and unimpressed by heroics, and Dan "Doc" Holiday, an adrenaline junkie who's decidedly less straight.


Fast forward 20 years. Detective Ramone, now married with kids of his own, investigates the murder of one of his teenage son's friends. The homicide closely resembles the earlier unsolved Night Gardener murders. Holiday, now an alcoholic chauffeur and bodyguard, follows the case on his own and tracks down Cook, long retired but still obsessed with the original murders. While the three work together toward a suspenseful ending, Pelecanos emphasizes the fallacy of "solving" a murder and explores the ripple effects of violent crime on society.

Thanks to Valerie at Hachette, I'm able to give away five copies of this book. Giveaway rules are:


1. The giveaway starts Saturday, June 27th and ends on Wednesday, July 8th at midnight.

2. There will be five winners, who will be chosen with a random number generator.

3. For one entry, leave a comment. Your email MUST be in the comment to be included.

4. You can get another entry by doing any or all of the following; follow this blog, twitter about this giveaway and post the twitter in your comment, or link to the giveaway on your blog.

5. Winners will have three days to respond with mailing addresses after email notification. Good luck!

Shimmer by Eric Barnes

Meet Robbie Case: the 35-year-old wunderkid CEO of Core Communications. In just three years, based solely on a technology no other campany has been able to replicate, Robbie's taken Core from a relatively unknown, family business into a $20 billion company with more than 5,000 employees. And, in the process, he has become a rock star, worldwide, for his vision, leadership and wealth. The only problem? Robbie is living a lie. The technology is a scam, the financials are built on a Ponzi scheme of stock sales and shell corporations and Robbie is struggling, everyday, to keep his company alive...to protect the friends who work for him and all they've built. The game is coming to an end. And Robbie is the only one who knows the truth. Or is he?

In a debut that could have been ripped from today's headlines but was, in fact, imagined years earlier when the author came to recognize through his own business dealings that "people believe what they want to believe", Shimmer is the story of a high-tech crusade nearing it's end--a novel that charges the atmosphere with suspense and delivers complex characters you want to believe in--in spite of their flaws.

Eric Barnes is the publisher of the Daily News in Memphis and The Memphis News. He was formerly COO of a communications corporation, a reporter, and an editor. He grew up in Washington and Alaska, working construction and in the fisheries. Eric has an MFA from Columbia University and his fiction has appeared in The Portland Review, The Northwest Review, The Greensboro Review, and Other Voices. His website is http://www.ericbarnes.net/.

As a CIO in real life, I enjoyed this book quite a bit. Barnes has done several things extremely well. He captures the ambiance of a technology company spot-on, and his characters are familiar to anyone working in a technology field. The character of Perry, the inscrutable guru who knows all but isn't quick to share his insights, was quite well-drawn. Further, the chapter describing how a technology company works during a crisis felt immediately familiar to me and captured the crisis mode and how each person on the team works through to solve the crisis trigger. I had some problems with the premise that the best technology gurus in the world wouldn't have discovered the essential flaw in the programming sooner, but that point probably wouldn't be noticed by most readers outside the industry. Shimmer was a read that kept my attention throughout and I hated closing the cover when I finished. This book is recommended for readers who enjoy current fiction or technology issues.

Do Ants Have Assholes? by Jon Butler and Bruno Vincent

In this satire book, Jon Butler and Bruno Vincent have created a parody of pop science collections. Psuedo editors of a newspaper called The Old Geezer, the book proports to be the 'Questions and Answers' page of the newspaper. In this column, earthshattering questions such as "What If There Were No Hypothetical Questions?" or "Is Honesty The Best Policy?" or "Is It True That A Horse Was Once Pope?" are posed. The answers are satire at their best, with eccentric recurring characters, and semi-serious answers.

This book is recommended for fans of shows such as Saturday Night Live or The Daily Show, or of magazines such as Mad magazine. The humor either hits the reader's fancy or not. Some readers will love this book while others might be offended. This is a great book to dip into when you have a few minutes or want a quick laugh.

The Elegance Of The Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

In an apartment building for the very rich, things are about to change. Several inhabitants will find their life and viewpoints changed with the death of a long-time tenent, and the appearance of a new one. The concierge, Madame Michel, has held that position for twenty-seven years. Twenty-seven years in which she has lived a lie. Self-educated, she spends her days hiding behind the assumptions about her class and wants the tenents of the building to think her ignorant. She interacts with them as little as possible, and holds no illusions about how they think of her.

Paloma Josse is a twelve-year old schoolgirl, who is dissatisfied with her family, it's pretensions and life in general. She has decided that she will commit suicide on her next birthday, as she sees nothing worth living for. She loves art, literature, and music, and cannot abide the everyday hypocrisy she sees everywhere around her. She too, like Madame Michel, hides her intelligence and personality, letting no one see her true self.

Into these lives, and the lives of the other tenents, comes the change of a new tenent. He is a wealthy Japanese man named Monsieur Ozu. Courted by all the other tenents who wish to impress such a powerful man, he does not choose to spend time with them. Instead, he discerns the true nature of Madame Michel and Paloma, and befriends them both. Soon, Renee Michel is coaxed out of her shell, and visits his apartment and restaurants with him, and they become fast friends. He also interacts with Paloma, who he sees in a grandfatherly way.

The Elegance Of The Hedgehog is about the joys of life that are encountered when least suspected. It challenges the class assumptions that are still rampant in society today, regardless of talk about equality. It skewers false intellectualism and shows the true joy of exploring the meaning of life. It is about finding true friends wherever they are hiding instead of only looking in the expected places. It is a gem of a book, and I'm very glad I read it. This book is recommended for all fiction lovers. It is an inspiring, life-affirming book without taking the easy way and rolling in sentimentality.

The Whole Truth by David Baldacci

Shaw has a huge problem. A good problem in a way, but a problem nonetheless. He has just proposed to the love of his life, Anna, and she has accepted. The problem? Shaw works for a secret agency of the government, and they don't want to let him leave. The work he does is very dangerous, and finding a replacement with his skills would be nearly impossible. Yet, married life is not a possiblity while he works for them in a job that means any day could be his last.

As Shaw works through this issue, he catches the interest of Katie James, a two-time Pultizer-winning journalist. Katie is involved in the story of "The Red Menace", an expose of Russia's treatment of dissidents that is ramping back up the Cold War, and bringing China into the mix this time. Anna, who works for a think tank in London called the Phoenix Group, is also investigating this story. The Phoenix Group is brutally attacked by the organization behind the "Red Menace" story, and that attack brings Shaw and Katie together. They find what the reason behind the attack on the Phoenix Group, and the reason behind the entire Red Menace scenario is, and attempt to put the man behind the entire plot out of business.

David Baldacci has written numerous thrillers, and The Whole Truth is another hit. Shaw is a strong figure who could easily turn into a character that an entire series could be written about. The plot is fast and furious, and the reader quickly comes to care about the characters. It grabs the reader by the throat and releases them, satisfied, once they finish reading the ending. This book is recommended for readers looking for an exciting read with lots of twists and turns.

The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis

The Magician's Nephew is the pre-quel for the Narnia books. In this book, a boy named Digory and his next-door neighbor and friend, Polly, are sent on adventures by use of magic rings given to them by Digory's uncle, Andrew. Andrew, an older man, is as afraid as he is enchanted by magic, and tries to use others to try out the various spells and incantations he discovers. He send Polly off with a magic ring, and then Digory must go after her and bring her back.

In this book, many of the touchstones of the later books are revealed. Narnia is actually created in this book by Aslan the Lion, and Digory and Polly are there for the creation. The backstory of the witch in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe is told, and Digory's part in bringing her to life and setting her free in Narnia, not through intent but through accidental happenings. The reader learns how Digory is involved in the later events of the Chronicles. Even the wardrobe's creation is related here.

I enjoyed this book immensely. The more I listen to The Chronicles of Narnia, the more convinced I am that this is truly a classic of children's literature. This book was narrated by Kenneth Branagh, which added a great deal to the audio book. This book is highly recommended for anyone who has a child, or wishes to recall the magic of their own childhood.

GIVEAWAY!!! I HATE PEOPLE! BY JONATHAN LITTMAN & MARC HERSHON

The rest of the title of I Hate People! is Kick Loose from the Overbearing and Underhanded Jerks at Work and Get what You Want Out of Your Job. The authors have experience with working outside the corporate frame and bringing innovative methods to their work. Jonathan Littman has written books about innovation and also about computer hackers, a group that personifies this concept. Mark Hershon is a branding expert that has named such products as Blackberry, Pentium, Swiffer and Dansani.

Face it, whether your company has 10 employees or 10,000, you must grapple with people you can't stand in the office. Luckily Jonathan Littman and Marc Hershon have written I HATE PEOPLE!, a smart, counter-intuitive, and irreverent turn on the classic workplace self-help book that will show you how to identify the Ten Least Wanted--the people you hate--while revealing the strategies to neutralize them. Learn to fly right by the "Stop Sign" (nay-sayer) and rise above the pronouncements of the "Know-it-None." I HATE PEOPLE! will teach you how to carve out more time for yourself by becoming a "Soloist"--one of those bold individuals daring to work alone or collaborate with a handful of other talented people....while artfully deflecting the rest.

Thanks to Valerie at Hachette, I'm able to give away five copies of this book. Giveaway rules are:

1. The giveaway starts Saturday, June 20th and ends on Wednesday, July 1st at midnight.
2. There will be five winners, who will be chosen with a random number generator.
3. For one entry, leave a comment. Your email MUST be in the comment to be included.
4. You can get another entry by doing any or all of the following; follow this blog, twitter about this giveaway and post the twitter in your comment, or link to the giveaway on your blog.
5. Winners will have three days to respond with mailing addresses after email notification. Good luck!

Drood by Dan Simmons

Drood opens with the account of a horrific train accident in England in which many people are killed. One of those who escaped with their lives is the famous novelist, Charles Dickens. As he recounts the story of this life-changing event to his good friend and writing collaborator, Wilkie Collins, he tells him something he keeps from everyone else. While he was helping to rescue the other victims, he was accosted by a strange man. This man hissed as he spoke, had no nose or eyelids, filed teeth and most curiously, no one else seemed to have seen him. He seems to know who Dickens is without being told and suggests that Dickens come visit him in his underground lair in London.

Dickens is revolted yet compelled to track down this figure, who seems to be well-known to various members of the London police force. They believe he is an overlord of a cult which is responsible for hundreds of deaths over the years. As Dickens investigates, Drood's story seems to be that he grew up in Egypt, the abandoned son of an English lord who was there in the military. As he grew, he was raised by those adept in the mysterious Egyptian arts of mesmerism and the other skills of priests from the times of the Pharoahs. He came to England to find his father, and became the leader of a mysterious group who live in an underground city and who control the country's opium trade.

The book then follows Dickens and Wilkie's attempts over the years to find and fight this evil figure. It covers the last five years of Dicken's life and is narrarated by Wilkie. Besides the Drood storyline, the reader learns of English life in this time period, the working life of authors, the opium trade and how it took over lives, how the police force worked and how both the rich and the poor lived.

I've loved every book I've read of Dan Simmons's work, and Drood was no exception. This is a long book at over 700 pages, but the reader will be entranced from the first chapter. I enjoyed the inside look at Dickens' life, and how the publishing business worked. Simmons builds the suspense skillfully, and there are horrific scenes that will remain with me for a long time. This book is recommended for suspense and thriller readers.

COMPLETED AUDIO GIVEAWAY!!!! Losing Mum And Pup by Christopher Buckley

“I had more or less resolved not to write a book about my parents. But I’m a writer, and when the universe hands you material like this, not writing about it amounts either to waste or a conscious act of evasion.”So begins award-winning satirist Christopher Buckley in the most personal and transcendent work of his life, the tragicomic true story of the year in which both of his parents died.

In twelve months between 2007 and 2008, Buckley coped with the passing of his father, William F. Buckley, the father of the modern conservative movement, and his mother, Patricia Taylor Buckley, one of New York’s most glamorous and colorful socialites. He was their only child and their relationship was close and complicated. Writes Buckley: “They were not — with respect to every other set of loving, wonderful parents in the world — your typical mom and dad.”

As Buckley tells the story of their final year together, he takes readers on a surprisingly entertaining tour through hospitals, funeral homes, and memorial services, capturing the heartbreaking and disorienting feeling of becoming a fifty-five-year-old orphan. Buckley maintains his sense of humor by recalling the words of Oscar Wilde: “To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose both looks like carelessness.”Christopher Buckley offers consolation, wit, and warmth to those coping with the death of a parent, while telling a unique personal story of life with legends.

Thanks to Hachette, I have three copies of this book in audio format to give away. Rules are:

1. The giveaway starts Saturday, June 13th and ends on Wednesday, June 24th at midnight.

2. There will be three winners, who will be chosen with a random number generator.

3. For one entry, leave a comment. Your email MUST be in the comment to be included.

4. You can get another entry by doing any or all of the following; follow this blog, twitter about this giveaway and post the twitter in your comment, or link to the giveaway on your blog.

5. Winners will have three days to respond with mailing addresses after email notification. Good luck!

Secrets To Happiness by Sarah Dunn

Holly Frick has just endured the worst kind of breakup: the kind where you're still in love with the person leaving you. While her wounds are still dangerously close to the surface, her happily married best friend confesses over a bottle of wine that she is this close to having an affair. And another woman comes to Holly for advice about her love life--with Holly's ex!

Holly decides that if everyone around her can take pleasure wherever they find it, so will she. As any self-respecting 30ish New York woman would do, she brings two males into her life: a flawed but endearing dog, and a good natured, much younger lover. She's soon entangled in a web of emails, chance meetings, and misguided good intentions and must forge an entirely new path to Nirvana.

From the author of The Big Love, Secrets to Happiness is a big-hearted, knife-sharp, and hilariously entertaining story about the perils of love and friendship, sex and betrayal--and a thoroughly modern take on our struggle to be happy.


This was a very enjoyable read. Fast-paced and interesting, you won't be able to put this one down as you follow the threads of each of the characters, especially Holly in her quest for love. We all probably know a Holly Frick even if our Holly days are far behind us. This is a great summer read and recommended for anyone navigating the shoals of love and relationships.

COMPLETED AUDIO GIVEAWAY!!!!! THE SCARECROW BY MICHAEL CONNELLY

Forced out of the Los Angeles Times amid the latest budget cuts, newspaperman Jack McEvoy decides to go out with a bang, using his final days at the paperto write the definitive murder story of his career. He focuses on Alonzo Winslow, a 16-year-old drug dealer in jail after confessing to a brutal murder. But as he delves into the story, Jack realizes that Winslow's so-called confession is bogus. The kid might actually be innocent. Jack is soon running with his biggest story since The Poet made his career years ago. He is tracking a killer who operates completely below police radar--and with perfect knowledge of any move against him. Including Jack's.

I love Michael Connelly. His book, The Poet, was one of the best detective books I've ever read. Ten years later, I still can't bring myself to let this book go and it retains a place of honor on my shelves. I'm very excited that Hachette is letting me do a giveaway of the audio version of Connelly's latest, The Scarecrow. Please read below for the rules and good luck!

1. The giveaway starts Saturday, June 6th and ends on Wednesday, June 17th at midnight.

2. There will be three winners, who will be chosen with a random number generator.

3. For one entry, leave a comment. Your email MUST be in the comment to be included.

4. You can get another entry by doing any or all of the following; follow this blog, twitter about this giveaway and post the twitter in your comment, or link to the giveaway on your blog.

5. Winners will have three days to respond with mailing addresses after email notification. Good luck!

Last Night In Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel

As this book opens, Lilia has just disappeared from Eli's life. Without a hint, she has walked out of their life together and moved on. He knows she has left for good because that is her life strategy. Lilia was kidnapped by her father when she was seven, and spent her childhood traveling all over the United States with him, one step ahead of law enforcement. These years of traveling have made her unable to stay anywhere or with anyone for long.

Eli is crushed, but a few weeks later, he gets a mysterious postcard from someone named Michaela who tells him that Lilia is now in Montreal. Eli immediately drops everything and goes to Montreal to attempt to find out who Michaela is, and where Lilia is now. It turns out that Michaela is the daughter of the detective who worked on the case of Lilia's kidnapping. He became obsessed and ended up deserting his own daughter and family while attempting to find Lilia.

It is difficult for me to believe that Last Night In Montreal is Emily St. John Mandel's debut novel. It is a stunning book, easily one of the best I've read lately. The themes of traveling and inability to commit to a relationship, the lure of just stepping out of one life and starting another, and family secrets and obsessions are written about in a compelling fashion. I highly recommend this book to all readers, and I'm thrilled to have discovered it.

COMPLETED AUDIO GIVEAWAY!!! Cemetary Dance by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

Thanks to Hachette, I'm giving away 3 copies of the audio version of Cemetary Dance by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. This is an unabridged copy with 12 CD's, read by Rene Auberjonois. Here's a quick synopsis:

William Smithback, a New York Times reporter, and his wife Nora Kelly, a Museum of Natural History archaeologist, are brutally attacked in their apartment on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Eyewitnesses claim, and the security camera confirms, that the assailant was their strange, sinister neighbor-a man who, by all reports, was already dead and buried weeks earlier. While Captain Laura Hayward leads the official investigation, Pendergast and Lieutenant Vincent D'Agosta undertake their own private-and decidedly unorthodox-quest for the truth. Their serpentine journey takes them to an enclave of Manhattan they never imagined could exist: a secretive, reclusive cult of Obeah and vodou which no outsiders have ever survived.

Rules of the giveaway:

1. The giveaway starts tonight, May 31st, and runs until midnight, Wednesday, June 11, 2009.

2. Winners MUST leave their email addresses in their comments to be eligible.

3. Hachette rules say that winners must live in the United States or Canada and have a mailing address that isn't a PO Box.

4. Winners will be selected by a random number generator, and winners have up to three days to respond before new names will be drawn.

5. One entry for a comment, another if you are a follower, a third if you post an entry on your blog or twitter about the giveaway.

Good luck! I'll be doing other audio book giveaways this month, so check back later.

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.