Dismantled by Jennifer McMahon

Four art students meet in college and soon form a group.  Suz, Winnie, Tess and Henry are consumed by their art and by Suz's belief that to understand something, you must tear it down.  Their group is named the Compassionate Dismantlers. They start out small, then graduate to "missions" such as shooting out transformers, burning art, and even kidnapping.  They move into a cabin together.  As a summer comes to an end, they start to fall apart with intra-group betrayals, secrets and alliances.  The summer ends with a tragedy and the group breaks up.

Fast forward ten years.  Henry and Tess have married and have a daughter, Emma, who was conceived that summer.  They are separated although still living in the same house and getting more and more distant from each other.  Emma, desparate to find a way to get her parents back together, searches their studios and finds evidence of The Dismantlers.  She sends a postcard to each member whose address she can find, writing only their motto:  "DISMANTLEMENT = FREEDOM.  To understand the nature of a thing, it must be taken apart."

As the postcards are delivered, strange things start happening.  Some of the members come back to town, and perhaps others have also secretly returned.  Is the tragedy, hidden for a decade,  about to be discovered?  Have some members return to get revenge?  McMahon rachets up the tension from page to page until the reader can't determine reality from fantasy.

Wow, this book is amazing.  The suspense level is intense with multiple plot twists and turns.  The reader is sure they know what is happening and then a page turns and everything is different from what was perceived.  The characters are realistic, and the group leader, Suz, is so vivid that the reader expects to look up and see her striding into their room.  This book is recommended for mystery/suspense fans.

AUDIO GIVEAWAY!!!!! BLACK HILLS BY DAN SIMMONS

Anyone who reads fantasy/sci-fi/horror knows Dan Simmon's name.  He is the author of some of the scariest books around, and a real rival to Stephen King and Clive Barker.  You can see my review of his last book, Drood, on this site, and I rarely miss one of Simmon's books.  They are riveting although not always for the faint-hearted.  Thanks to Hachette, I'm able to do a giveaway for an audio copy of his latest, Black Hills.

A blurb from Amazon's site:

Simmons's previous novels The Terror (2007) and Drood (2009) meld historical figures and events to occult phenomena, and Black Hills follows a similar pattern. Here, Simmons fuses the triumph of American Western expansion and the marvels of early 20th-century science and engineering with Native American spirituality and mysticism. Simmons is a gifted storyteller whose meticulous research and evocative prose deftly transport readers to another time and place. However, the Christian Science Monitor found the frequent barrage of historical minutiae tedious and criticized the novel's interpretation of Manifest Destiny and the harsh treatment of native populations, which it considered obnoxious and disrespectful. However, most critics praised Black Hills as a highly imaginative, interesting novel and a worthy addition to Simmons's oeuvre.

GIVEAWAY RULES

YOU MUST, MUST, MUST LEAVE AN EMAIL ADDRESS IN YOUR COMMENT. COMMENTS WITHOUT EMAIL ADDRESSES WON'T BE ENTERED.


1. The giveaway starts Monday, June 14th and ends on Friday, June 25th at midnight.
2. There will be three winners, chosen by random number generation.

3. Winners must have street addresses (no P.O. Boxes) in either the United States or Canada.

4. For one entry, leave a comment (with your email!). You will get an extra entry for any/all of the following; being or becoming a follower, blogging to this giveaway or tweeting about it. If you blog or tweet, please include the link.

5. Winners will be emailed and must respond within three days in order to claim their prize. After three days, another winner will be chosen and notified.
Good luck!

A Partisan's Daughter by Louis De Bernieres

Chris is like millions of middle-aged men. Stuck in a loveless marriage, he is frustrated at the thought that this might be all there is to his life. One night, while on the way home, he sees a streetwalker and impulsively, stops and tries to hire her. He is instantly filled with regret when the woman is insulted that he thought she was a prostitute. She then tells him that he can take her home to make up for it, and he does. As she leaves his car, she tells him that he seems a nice man and that he should come by sometime for coffee. Then she off-handedly mentions, "When I was bad girl I never took less than five hundred. I don't do cheap."

Thus starts the relationship between Chris and Roza. Roza is a young Yugoslavian woman who is in England illegally. Chris does stop by her apartment and she becomes a modern-day Scheherazade, full of exotic stories that have made up her life. Each story reveals more and more of her character and needs. Chris is entranced, both by Roza personally and by the stories she tells. He is shown a side of life he'd never seen as he realizes that while he wants more adventure in his life, he is actually unlikely to pursue it if it means leaving his comfortable, boring life. "I wouldn't want to be a partisan unless I got weekends off and missions were optional."

Roza's stories revolve around men in her life, starting with her father. He fought for various factions in Yugoslavia as a partisan, and lived his life afterwards extolling the strength and honor of men like him who were willing to sacrifice everything for the land and lives they loved. Then there is her first love, met when she attended college. After that, she met a man who brought her to England and she lived with him for a while, then slowly drifted away when she got bored. She drifted into hostess work. Roza is fatalistic about her life, and is quick to say she has disappointed the idea of being a partisan's daughter.

Louis De Bernieres has created two characters that the reader quickly learns to care about. The slow emergence of Roza's history and of Chris' reaction to its revelations creates a tension that leaves the reader anxious and intrigued. The reader wants to read more of the emerging relationship between these two people who are so diametrically opposed in outlook and life experiences. This book is recommended for readers of current fiction, and is one that will remain in the reader's mind for quite a while after it is completed.

The Art Of Devotion by Samantha Bruce Benjamin

On a sun-kissed island, two beautiful children play in the waves.  Sebastian and Adora are not twins, although many mistake these children with their golden curls and piercing blue eyes for twins.  Brother and sister who are two years apart, they are fiercely devoted to each other and need no one else.  Even their mother Sophie feels excluded, although she knows she should not be jealous of their closeness.

The book then moves to thirty years in the future and follows the relationships of this family, and another that they are intertwined with.  Adora has married Oliver.  They have no children of their own, but she has emotionally stolen Genevieve, the daughter of her husband's best friends, James and Miranda.  Genevieve spends every summer with Adora and is now entering adulthood.  She meets Jack, and her love for Adora is changed as she finds first love with him.

Samantha Bruce Benjamin explores the many facets of devotion.  There is devotion between siblings, between mother and daughter, between lovers, between friends and between adults and the children they foster.  Not all devotion is positive, and Benjamin explores the dark side of this emotion also.  The book is told through the voices of the women involved, moving back and forth from one to the other.  As each speaks of the summer that exists, and the years leading up to the events of that summer, the reader is taken on a road of discovery, as each event is told from multiple views and secrets and betrayals are revealed. 

This book is recommended for all readers.  It is compelling.  The writing is lyrical and what seems a gentle book constantly surprises as the plot twists are revealed.  The author has created one of the most memorable villians I've found, or have the motives of the villian been misinterpreted?  Readers of The Art Of Devotion will be thinking about what happened long after they close the covers of this book.

Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner

Addie Downs couldn't be more surprised when she answers her door one evening.  There stands her best friend from high school, Valerie Adler.  Her best friend, who turned on her in their senior year.  Her best friend, who stood by while Addie was teased and taunted and made miserable.  Her best friend, who she hadn't seen in years, but who now has come to her for help.

The local high school had had their fifteenth high school reunion.  While Addie hadn't gone, Val had and had taken the chance to wreak some revenge on Dan, the guy who had date raped her in high school, and who had lead the torment of Addie when she turned him in.  Val has left Dan naked and bleeding in the country club parking lot, after hitting him with her car as she leaves.  She runs to Addie, not sure if the man is alive or dead, and if alive, how hurt he is.  The friends go back to the parking lot, but all they find is Dan's belt and some of his blood.

In the years since high school, both Addie and Val have made lives for themselves.  Val is now a TV weatherperson who has just made it to the big-time; a TV station in Chicago.  She is determined to move from that spot to an anchor chair.  Addie has stayed in the same house all these years.  She helps her brother, who was injured in an accident years before, and paints greeting card illustrations.  She has what many would consider a "small" life, but she is content.

Now these friends must determine if there is any friendship left between them, and if they can pull together to get through this crisis.  Can they rebuild the relationship that sustained them both throughout their childhood, or is it all too late?  This book is recommended for readers that enjoy books about women's lives and the problems that define them.  Jennifer Weiner is the queen of this genre, and this is another strong effort by her. 

A Woman Of Influence by Rebecca Ann Collins

Jane Austen fans, rejoice!  Rebecca Ann Collins has written a series of ten books extending the lives of the Austen characters and moving them forward into a new historical era.  Specifically, the series is billed as the sequel series to Austen's Pride And Prejudice.  The series is called The Pemberley Chronicles, and A Woman Of Influence is the ninth book in the series.

Becky Tate is the widow of a publisher and she is entering a new stage in her life.  She has sold the London house she and her husband shared and bought a new estate in Kent, where she is close to her sister.  Becky is deciding what she will do with the rest of her life.  An author, she is also interested in moving forward the plight of women, especially the poor, uneducated and often abused women of the serving class.

A young woman is found wandering the estate.  She has a young son, and has been trying to support both of them by working in the hops fields.  They are dirty and hungry.  Becky takes them in and discovers that the woman claims that her husband is imprisoned, leaving the family to make its way as best it can.  Along with her circle of friends, Becky becomes fascinated with this story and attempts to discover the truth and right any wrongs committed.

While this story is one of the linchpins of the book, there is much else.  There are deaths, weddings, the birth of children.  Relationships between family members and friends are explored.  The relationship of parents to adult children is a recurring theme.  The life of an upper class woman in the eighteenth century is displayed in depth.  How I wish I had the time to spend on relationships and causes that these women did!

This book is recommended for those who love Jane Austen, or are interested in stories of women's rights when society had cast them as the weaker sex, or for anyone interested in a great read.  A Woman Of Influence is written in a gentle style, and I found it compelling.  The reader is drawn into this world and what happens next is all that can be thought of. 

How To Save Your Own Life by Michael Gates Gill

At the age of fifty-seven, Michael Gill lost it all.  He had been born into a wealthy family, educated at Yale, a happy marriage with four children and a prestigious job at a top advertising agency.  Then the bottom fell out.  He was fired from his job.  His marriage fell apart, and he lost his house and his possessions.  He then found out he had a brain tumor.  Depressed and desperate, he started turning his life around when one day, in a leap of faith, he said "yes" to a job at his local Starbucks.  The story of how he regained his life was told in the bestseller, "How Starbucks Saved My Life."

As a follow-up, Gill has now written a book telling others how to reinvent their lives also.  The book is broken into fifteen life lessons.  These are items such as learn from your children, learn from your mother, learn from your father, etc.  They extol the virtue of slowing down and taking the time to experience the small things in life and learn to gain pleasure from them.  Gill feels that the simple life is the more desirable life, and that he is happier with nothing than when he was rich and powerful.  He now knows that family and relationships are the prime motivator of a happy life rather than money and possessions.

Readers who are looking for ways to change their lives will enjoy this book.  The chapters are short, and each illustrates a specific lesson with points from Gill's own life and experiences.  At the end of each chapter is a section on how to apply the lesson to the reader's own life.  This book is recommended for self-help and memoir readers.

Prospect Park West by Amy Sohn

In Prospect Park West, Amy Sohn takes us inside the lives of four women who live in this Brooklyn neighborhood.  Melora Leigh is a famous actress, who after two Oscars, worries that her career is in trouble.  She is slowly falling apart mentally, physically and emotionally.  Her son spends his time with the live-in nanny while Melora and her husband work on their careers.

Rebecca is a part-time journalist who works out of her home while tending to her year and a half old daughter.  After the birth, her husband turned off sexually to her, and Rebecca hasn't had sex in over a year.  She is desparate to change this, and is starting to look around outside her marriage to get her needs met.

Lizzie is a stay-at-home mom who feels trapped.  Her husband is a musician trying to promote his career, which means he is on the road most of the time.  Even when he is home, it's in "conquering hero" mode as he says he needs to decompress from the strains of his career, not take over child care.  Adding to the isolation Lizzie feels, her husband is another race and their child is bi-racial.

Karen is another stay-at-home mother.  She is aggressively trying to improve the lot of their family, pushing to move to another, more prestigious address, pushing to get to know some of her famous neighbors, pushing to have another child to create a storybook family. 

Sohn shows us the strengths and weaknesses each women faces as she tries to carve out a satisfactory life for herself and her children.  The strain between working and stay-at-home moms is explored, as is the changing dynamics of relationships once children are introduced into a marriage.  The four women come together and push apart throughout the book.  Sohn has worked on Sex And The City and that highly sexually charged viewpoint is found throughout the book, but does not define it.  This book is recommended for readers that enjoy exploring others' lives and how they face issues.

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

In Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi uses the graphic novel format to share her life story with readers.  Satrapi grew up in Iran during the years that the Shah lost power and the Fundamentalist Muslims became the government authority.

Satrapi was raised in a modern family that valued education and modern life.  Her parents were part of the revolution that forced the Shah from power.  They were shocked, however, when the ultra-religous government that took over soon made the freedoms they were used to and expected illegal.  No longer could women dress as they pleased; they were instead forced to wear the veil.  No longer could the Iranian people travel freely; the borders were closed for over three years, and even when reopened, passports were almost impossible to obtain.  No longer could one count on an education; the universities were closed for over two years.

Darker items were to follow.  There were 3000 political prisoners under the Shah, but there were 300,000 political prisoners under the new regime.  Satrapi's family had both relatives and friends that were imprisoned, tortured and some were even executed.  Then the government got involved in a war with Iraqi.  Bombings were common, and over a million people were killed.

Satrapi's use of the graphic format is a perfect match to the story of a young girl whose life changes so dramatically and who tries to make sense of the things happening around her with a child's understanding.  Satrapi ended up being educated outside of Iran in her teen years and later, and chose a graphic artist's career.  This book was a perfect match for her talent, and her memoir is chilling.  To see freedoms taken away gradually is difficult, and when one looks up and sees where the normality markers have moved to, it is eye-opening.  This book is recommended to all readers who care about world events, and those who enjoy memoirs.

Tinkers by Paul Harding

George Washington Crosby is dying.  He has been brought home to die, and spends his last days in a hospital bed in his living room, surrounded by his family and friends.  He rarely interacts with them; instead he spends his time in a nether state, where he roams through the memories and events that make up his life.

In particular, George's story is that of men and their fathers.  George's father, Howard, was a tinker; someone who drove from one isolated farm to another, selling the supplies that the farmers could not produce on their own.  He was a gentle man and often taken advantage of by those around him.  Howard's defining characteristic was that he was an epileptic.  His seizures were severe and scared his children while disgusting his wife.  When he discovers that his wife plans to have him committed to a mental hospital (this was in the 1870's), he leaves the family without a word and builds another life elsewhere.

George has spent time rasing a family.  After his children are grown and he is retired, he becomes a master clock repairer and seller.  As he lies in his bed, his thoughts often drift to his clock business; the preciseness that is needed to repair them, and the knowledge that a clock in working order ticks off the seconds and minutes and hours of a life, giving the ability to lead a structured, regulated existence.

Paul Harding won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for Tinkers.  It is an amazing feat, as this is his debut novel.  The book demonstrates the human longing for connection, but also the fact that each of us leads a separate life and die alone, whether we are physically surrounded by others or segregated into an isolated place.  This book is recommended for all readers.

Coop by Michael Perry

After years of doing other jobs and living other places, Michael Perry knows just where he wants to be.  At thirty-nine, after jobs in EMT and on the road as an author, he came home to his roots.  He met Anneliese, a local college teacher, at a book signing.   They got married and with her three year old daughter, started life as a family.  Together they agreed that what they wanted was a return to the simple farming life they had known as children.  They bought a small farm in Wisconsin near his family.  Michael supports them as an author while Annaliese home-schools Amy.  As the book starts, they are expecting their first child.

Michael explores his childhood years.  He grew up in a fundamenalist religion, in a family with eight birth children and a large group of foster siblings, some of whom were adopted. As best as anyone remembers, the family fostered sixty or more children, many of them disabled in varying degrees.   His father had been a chemical engineer and his mother a nurse before they decided to farm.  Michael grew up in poverty but surrounded by love and great life lessons. 

Now Michael and Anneliese attempt to recreate this loving atmosphere for the family they are building.  The reader learns about the livestock they are raising, how they parent their child, the daily chores that consume their days, and about the baby they are expecting.  Anneliese decides on a home birth, and while Michael agrees, it makes him nervous. 

This is such a soothing, gentle, wonderful book.  It is like having an old friend stop by and sit on the front porch with you, rocking and telling stories.  Perry does a great job of recreating his life as a new farm owner, and even for those readers who are adament city-dwellers, there is a hint of longing for his life.  Readers can hear Michael talk about his new book. 

Michael Perry will be on Blog Talk Radio with Book Club Girl on Monday, June 7th at 7pm EST at http://www.blogtalkradio.coom/book-club-firl/2010/06/07/michael-perry-discusses-coop  This book is recommended for readers who need a break from the pressures of everyday life.  It is a true gem.  I loved it so much that I went out that day and ordered his first book, Truck, where he talks about his life before the farm.

My Name Is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira

In the early 1860's, Mary Sutter, a young midwife, wants more.  Known locally as the most talented midwife, she wants to learn the entire body and become a doctor.  She approaches a medical school and is turned away.  She then asks a local doctor to teach her and again is denied.

But events are about to overtake everyone's life in America.  The War Between the States is beginning, and families are torn asunder and cultural conventions are changed forever.  Mary leaves her family and moves to Washington where she hopes to achieve her goal.   Her brother, her brother-in-law and the local doctor that denied her all enlist.   Mary becomes a nurse in a hospital in Washington.

As time goes on, the doctor in charge of the hospital realises that Mary is different from the other nurses, and that she has the ability to do more.  Hospitals and doctors are overwhelmed with soldiers, both wounded in battle or taken ill with one of the epidemics that swept Army camps.  With so much need, throwing away the talents of anyone willing to help is not possible.  As the war progresses, Mary gets her chance to learn medicine and become a surgeon.

Robin Oliveira has created a book that will remain in readers' minds long after the last page is read.  Neither war nor early medicine is glorified or simplified.  The butual cruelty and waste is laid bare.  Readers learn the history of President Lincoln's decisions and his inability to get talented generals.  It is difficult to imagine how different war was with the limited medical knowledge available.  This was the first war with mass amputations.  Doctors learned from these about keeping wounded individuals alive.  Sanitation's role was unknown, as were most medicines and procedures.  The breaking apart of families by war is also portrayed realistically.  There was no ability to communicate easily; letters could take weeks to arrive.  Transportation and getting from one city to another took days if not weeks.  A soldier might be dead for weeks or months before the news got back home to his family. 

This book is recommended for historical fiction readers, and well as those interested in how women fought the bonds that kept them from the professions.  Many historical fiction books are written in medieval times.  While those are interesting, this look at our own country a century or so ago is breaktaking.  This is Robin Oliveira's first novel.  I know I'll be anxiously awaiting her next one.

The Singer's Gun by Emily St. John Mandel

Anton Waker is on an island in Italy.  A year ago, he would never have thought this would be his life.  Back then he worked in an office and was about to be married.  He was the picture of respectability.

But that picture was marred.  Anton was having an affair with his secretary, Elena.  His job had disappeared from under him; one day he got to work and his staff was gone and he had been transferred to an office in the basement and given no work.  In fact, Anton's whole life had been a charade.  He had been raised by parents who made their living by selling stolen goods.  His cousin Aria had lured him into an illegal business of selling counterfeit social security cards and passports.

Anton tried to leave that life behind.  But Aria has forced him to do one last job; a job that has left him stranded on this island, and that has forced him to leave his entire life behind.  His wife is gone; his job is gone, his life as he's known it is gone.  Can Anton build another life; one that is built on honesty and that gives him the home and peace he has been searching for his entire life?

Emily St. John Mandel is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.  She has a knack of creating characters who live on the margin, who are searching for connection and meaning, and for making the reader care about them.  The writing is sparse and the reader sometimes feels adrift in a fog between them and the story.   But then a flash of light occurs and the connection is made, leaving the reader feeling more involved in the character's lives than they would have suspected.  The reader finishes the last page satisfied and content,  and already anxious for Mandel's next effort.  This book is highly recommended for all readers.

Dedication by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

Kate Hollis has just gotten the call she's been waiting for years to get.  Her ex-boyfriend, Jake Sharpe, has just returned to their hometown.  Yes, Jake Sharpe.  The Jake Sharpe who's a mega-rockstar.  The Jake Sharpe who was her high school boyfriend and who broke her heart when he disappeared on her right before prom night.  The Jake Sharpe who has made fame and fortune detailing their sexual relationship and all of Kate's family issues in his songs.  Now it's payback time.

McLaughlin and Kraus tell this story by alternating between the 18 year old Kate and the 30 year old one.  Kate is now an accomplished professional, but still haunted by the betrayals Jake has done.  She has maintained a close relationship with her best friend in high school, and comes home to confront Jake when her friend calls with the news that he has hit town.  Even her parents worry about what the result of such a confrontation will be, but Kate is determined.  She feels that she can't move on until this issue from her past is resolved.

Lovers of "chick lit" will love this book.  It is written in a light and breezy style, with twists and turns in the plot.  I think it would be incredibly difficult to write a book with someone, and I wondered if they had split the writing with one author doing the 18 year old Kate and the other the adult one.  If they did, it wasn't possible to tell as the book flowed easily between the two eras.  This book is recommended for readers looking for an enjoyable read and those interested in how women resolve life issues.

GIVEAWAY!!!!! THE HOST BY STEPHANIE MEYER

Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of human hosts while leaving their bodies intact. Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, didn't expect to find its former tenant refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

As Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of Jared, a human who still lives in hiding, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she's never met. Reluctant allies, Wanderer and Melanie set off to search for the man they both love.

Featuring one of the most unusual love triangles in literature, THE HOST is a riveting and unforgettable novel about the persistence of love and the essence of what it means to be human.

THE HOST debuted at #1 on The New York Times hardcover fiction bestseller list and remained there for more than a year. Meyer’s first adult novel was not only a huge commercial success with more than 2 million copies sold, it also brought a whole new audience of readers to Stephenie Meyer. Featuring one of the most unusual love triangles in literature, THE HOST, appeals to rabid Twilight Saga fans and readers of classic literary suspense alike.

Movie rights to THE HOST have been optioned by Nick Wechsler and Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz, the team that produced the film of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. Andrew Niccol of Gattaca and The Truman Show will write the script and direct.


Stephenie Meyer graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in English literature. She is the author of the bestselling Twilight Saga. She lives in Arizona with her husband and three young sons. This is her first novel for adults.
http://www.thehostnovel.com/
http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/

GIVEAWAY RULES


YOU MUST, MUST, MUST LEAVE AN EMAIL ADDRESS IN YOUR COMMENT. COMMENTS WITHOUT EMAIL ADDRESSES WON'T BE ENTERED.

1. The giveaway starts Sunday, May 9th and ends on Friday, May 21st at midnight.

2. There will be three winners, chosen by random number generation.
3. Winners must have street addresses (no P.O. Boxes) in either the United States or Canada.

4. For one entry, leave a comment (with your email!). You will get an extra entry for any/all of the following; being or becoming a follower, blogging to this giveaway or tweeting about it. If you blog or tweet, please include the link.

5. Winners will be emailed and must respond within three days in order to claim their prize. After three days, another winner will be chosen and notified.

Good luck!

The Handy Law Answer Book by David L. Hudson, Jr.

David Hudson has written a useful and informative law reference book that will make a good addition to any family's library.  Hudson works as First Amendment Scholar for the Forst Amendment Center and teaches classes at Vanderbilt Law School, Nashville School of Law and Middle Tennessee State University.  His degrees are from Duke University and Vanderbilt Law School.

The book is organized into nine key legal areas.  Areas included are Constitutional Law, The Bill of Rights and 14 Amendment, The Court System, Lawyers and Lawsuits, Criminal Procedures, Credit and Bankruptcy Law, Employment Law, Family Law and Personal Injury Law.  Each chapter is written in a question and answer format.  Along with this basic legal knowledge, there are pertinent cases that illustrate specific legal points and that serve as precedent for situations following that case.   Numerous illustrations add to the reader's understanding of the principles being discussed.

The book starts out with explanations about how our law system was established by the Founding Fathers, goes on to explain how courts are organized today and then gets more specific.  The reader can find the answer from everything from how to find a lawyer to who is entitled to your credit report to who is eligible and who isn't for overtime pay.  Knowledge about common-law marriages, retirement accounts as marital property and how tort law differs from criminal law is discussed.  The book is an exhaustive source of answers to the legal issues any family may encounter in their daily life.

This book is recommended to readers both as an enjoyable book to expand their legal knowledge and to serve as a reference book going forward.

The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny

A man's body has been found in the bistro of Three Pines village.  No one knows who this man is, what he is doing in the village or who could have been involved in his death.  Inspector Armand Gamache and his team descend on the village to discover what has happened and who is responsible.

Gamache and his team have been to Three Pines before and they know the people.  There is Ruth, a famous poet who now is a bitter old woman who seems half mad.  Olivier and Gabri are a gay couple that run the bistro.  Myrna is a former psychologist who now runs a second-hand bookstore.  The Parras are members of the refuge Czech settlement.  Peter and Clare are artists, with Clare about to break out and become famous.  The Gilberts are the newcomers in town.  They have bought a ruined house above the village and are turning it into a luxury hotel and spa, a move that doesn't endear them to the village regulars.

As the case progresses, the team discovers that the man had lived as a hermit in the woods surrounding the village.  No one there had known of his existence, except for the person who had supplied his needs.  As the police investigate, his cabin yields marvels.  It is full of heirlooms, true treasures from all over the world.  These are marvelous items; items from the courts of Europe as well as fabulous art objects.  How did this hermit come to have these treasures and who was he?  The hermit himself was a gifted woodcarver and his mystery is solved as his sculptures are found and give up their clues about their creator. 

Louise Penny is the most exciting find of the year for me.  Her book is intricate and the plot is complex.  Each character is fully developed, and the reader sees how each interacts with all those around them.  As the book progresses, the reader discovers each person's strengths and their foibles, and how their characteristics have caused the events that have resulted in the murder.  This book is recommended for mystery readers; especially those who enjoy authors such as Elizabeth George and P.D. James.  This is an exquisite book.

The Imperial Cruise by James Bradley

In 1905, members of the United States government embarked on a cruise that took them throughout the Asian countries of Hawaii, the Phillipines, Korea, Japan and China.  The cruise was a mission created by the President, Theodore Roosevelt.  Not going himself, he sent his Secretary of War, William Taft, numerous members of Congress, and to make the occasion seem like a pleasant trip to renew ties and honor allies, his daughter Alice.  Alice was known as "The Princess", the Jackie Onassis of her time.  The press couldn't get enough of her, her clothes and her antics.  She provided the perfect cover for the true purpose of the trip.

For there was a hidden purpose.  Roosevelt, as was the case with many others in that time, felt that the white Christian male had a destiny to rule the world.  America, along with England and the other European powers, felt it was their right to take over the Oriental nations and to carve them up into so many prizes on a poker table. 

This is not the cuddley Theodore Roosevelt of the Teddy Bear and the Rough Riders legend.  This is the Roosevelt who time after time, in writing after writing and speech after speech, evangelized his belief in his race's superiority over all others, and his firm decision that God was on his side as he gathered nations and trade tokens to his country.  This was the Roosevelt of the motto, "Speak softly but carry a big stick" who believed that might made right, and that anyone who stood in his way should be put down brutally.

It is the author's belief that Roosevelt's shortsightedness and prejudice laid the cornerstone of the catalysm that was World World II.  The United States had entered into a secret treaty with Japan that gave them permission to take Korea and as much of China as they could bite off.  The shock was decades later when this favored nation turned against their champions.  Bradley puts the blame for WWII squarely in Roosevelt's lap.

Readers of history will find this book interesting.  While I don't personally believe that Roosevelt's policies were the sole source of the second World War as they don't account for Hitler and the Nazi atrocies, it is a spotlight into a hidden side of American history.  I was shocked to hear how openly prejudice was expressed, not only by politicians but by other revered American figures such as Ralph Waldo Emerson.  This book is recommended for nonfiction readers.

A Note From An Old Acquaintance by Bill Walker

Brian Weller has just opened an email that will change his life.  At the lowest point of his life both personally and professionally, he receives an email from an old flame.  This was the woman he loved in his youth and that he let get away.  Nothing that has happened since; his career as a well-known novelist or the fame and fortune that accompanies that has changed the regret he has felt about letting Joanna Richman get away.

Brian and Joanna meet as young artists.  He is a budding novelist; she is a sculptress.  They fall in love quickly, both recognizing the other as a soulmate who understands what it takes to be an artist.  They support each other and encourage each others' creativity.  But their love is doomed from the start.

Joanna is engaged to a rich and powerful man.  Although he doesn't understand her, he is not about to let an impoverished writer take her away.   He is determined to do whatever it takes to retain her, whether that means playing dirty or forcing them apart.  He puts Brian in an impossible situation that can only be resolved by leaving Joanna behind.

Sixteen years have now passed, and Joanna has written Brian to strike back up their friendship.  Brian is at loose ends, finished with one book and starting another, and he decides to go to Boston where Joanna lives and renew their acquaintance.  The story of what happens when these past lovers are reunited moves the novel to its climax.

Bill Walker has created a novel with interesting characters and a fascinating look at the inner workings of an artist's life.  The plotline is taut and the reader is drawn along with the characters, unable to move on without finding out how their dilemnas are resolved.  This book is recommended for lovers of romance as well as those who enjoy reading about moral choices.

The Information Officer by Mark Mills

Most people don't know what occurred in Malta in 1942 during World War II. We hear of the bombing of Dresden or the London siege, but Malta, a small island in the Mediterranean was the most bombed country in the war. A strategic shipping and military supply port, it was critical to the Germans as they planned Rommel's advance, and critical to the Allies to stop the ability of the Axis powers to bring their armies together rather than fighting on different fronts. The people of Malta endured months of daily bombings, waves upon waves of bombs raining down and killing civilians as well as military forces.

Max Chadwick has been posted to Malta. He is the British Information Officer and his job is to report the news in such a way that the troops and the native people of Malta are encouraged rather than desolate. In his position, he gets the inside scoop long before anyone else. Or at least that is what he has always thought. Now there seem to be currents and counter-currents of information swirling around, plots and counterplots, until Max realizes that he has been naive and used as one more tool in the government's manipulation of reality.

Other factors complicate life for Max. He has been carrying on an adulterous affair with the wife of one of the submarine commanders. But, he has also met a Maltan woman, a newspaper editor, who he is rapidly coming to realize that he loves. Then he becomes aware of the murders. Five women, most bar hostesses, have been killed recently. Who is this serial killer who uses the war to mask his crimes? There are indications that he might be a military man. The military authorities want this information squelched, and Max is in their sights as he tries to discover what is going on.

This is easily the best book I've read this year. The writing is lush and starts slow and languorous. As the military action heats up, so does the pace of the book, and it becomes a page-turner that leaves the reader breathless. The romance is underplayed and never takes over the story. The plot is intricate and skillfully revealed. This book is highly recommended for all readers.