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Welcome to the staff picks archives. Find out what we've been reading in the past here. These book lists are separated by the date each list was compiled. The newest lists are at the bottom. To read our latest recommendations, check out the current staff picks page.
March 2009May 2009 Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death by M.C. Beaton
Diana says: "It's an English cozy murder mystery updated. This lovable yet ruthless retired PR woman can't seem to get away with anything in her newly adopted Cotswold Village. Yet she may manage to trip up a villain while trying to catch a man."
Summary: "The irascible but endearing personality of Agatha Raisin is like a head read more ...
Diana says: "It's an English cozy murder mystery updated. This lovable yet ruthless retired PR woman can't seem to get away with anything in her newly adopted Cotswold Village. Yet she may manage to trip up a villain while trying to catch a man."
Summary: "The irascible but endearing personality of Agatha Raisin is like a heady dash of curry. May we have another serving, please?" DETROIT FREE PRESS Agatha has moved to a picture-book English village and wants to get in the swing. So she buys herself a quiche for the village quiche-making contest and is more than alarmed when it kills a judge. Hot on the trail of the poisoner, Agatha is fearless, all the while unaware, that she's become the next victim.... read less ... In the Footsteps of Marco Polo by Denis Belliveau and Francis O'Donnell
Davis says: "This book was fascinating! The story of two guys from New York who decide to trace Marco Polo's journey to China over land through the troubled regions of Iraq and Iran—much more than your usual armchair travel book." Summary: "Did Marco Polo reach China? This richly illustrated companion volume to the public television film chronicles read more ...
Davis says: "This book was fascinating! The story of two guys from New York who decide to trace Marco Polo's journey to China over land through the troubled regions of Iraq and Iran—much more than your usual armchair travel book." Summary: "Did Marco Polo reach China? This richly illustrated companion volume to the public television film chronicles the remarkable two-year expedition of explorers Denis Belliveau and Francis O'Donnell as they sought the answer to this controversial 700-year-old question. With Polo's book, The Travels of Marco Polo, as their guide, they journeyed over 25,000 miles becoming the first to retrace his entire path by land and sea without resorting to helicopters or airplanes." "Accompanied by 200 stunning full-color photographs, the text provides a fascinating account of the lands and peoples the two hardy adventurers encountered during their perilous journey. The authors' experiences are remarkably similar to descriptions from Polo's account of his own travels and life. Laden with adventure, humor, diplomacy, history, and art, this book is compelling proof that travel is the enemy of bigotry - a truth that resonates from Marco Polo's time to our own."--BOOK JACKET. read less ... Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
Lynne says: "A fascinating and humorous read about how memory and imagination work together to fool us into thinking we can predict what will make us happy in the future." Summary: Using cutting-edge research, Harvard psychologist Gilbert shakes, cajoles, persuades, and tricks readers into accepting the fact that happiness is not really what or where it i read more ...
Lynne says: "A fascinating and humorous read about how memory and imagination work together to fool us into thinking we can predict what will make us happy in the future." Summary: Using cutting-edge research, Harvard psychologist Gilbert shakes, cajoles, persuades, and tricks readers into accepting the fact that happiness is not really what or where it is imagined to be. read less ... What Got You Here Won't Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith
Karen says: "One of the best parts of this book about being successful at work and in life is the list of 20 bad habits to avoid." Summary: Subtle nuances make all the difference, according to Americas most sought-after executive coach, who now explains how to climb the last few rungs of the corporate ladder. Abridged. 5 CDs.
 The Fifth Vial by Michael Palmer
Candace says: "Author Michael Palmer is adept at
tapping into people's natural fear of disease, doctors, and hospitals. In
his medical thriller, The Fifth Vial, Palmer plays with the phenomenon of
organ donation and the drawing of blood, forcing the reader to ponder, 'Where do donated organs come from?'
I visi read more ...
Candace says: "Author Michael Palmer is adept at
tapping into people's natural fear of disease, doctors, and hospitals. In
his medical thriller, The Fifth Vial, Palmer plays with the phenomenon of
organ donation and the drawing of blood, forcing the reader to ponder, 'Where do donated organs come from?'
I visited my HMO shortly after reading this book and found myself
spooked. This well developed plot will leave you wondering to the very
end." Summary: "From Boston, a disgraced medical student travels to South America to deliver a research paper that could save her career and becomes a victim of an unspeakable crime. Thousands of miles away, a brilliant, reclusive scientist, dying from an incurable disease that threatens to make each tortured breath his last, is on the verge of perfecting a serum that could save millions of lives, and bring others inestimable wealth. In Chicago, a disillusioned private detective, on the way to his third career, is hired to determine the identity of a John Doe, killed on a Florida highway, with mysterious marks on his body." "Three seemingly disconnected lives, surging unrelentingly toward one another. Three lives becoming irrevocably intertwined. Three lives in mounting peril, moving ever closer to the ultimate confrontation against a deadly secret society with godlike aspirations and roots in antiquity."--BOOK JACKET. read less ... Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
Dan says: Child 44 is a literate thriller by first-time author Tom Rob Smith.
I was blown away by it! It's rather a typical killer/thriller--and I
usually am not interested in that particular genre--but it's exquisitely
written and set in a very unusual place: 1950s Soviet Russia. It's so
oppressive and foreign, and described so artfully that you feel
(uncomf read more ...
Dan says: Child 44 is a literate thriller by first-time author Tom Rob Smith.
I was blown away by it! It's rather a typical killer/thriller--and I
usually am not interested in that particular genre--but it's exquisitely
written and set in a very unusual place: 1950s Soviet Russia. It's so
oppressive and foreign, and described so artfully that you feel
(uncomfortably) that you are there. If you're looking for a good read,
check it out. Summary: "Stalin's Soviet Union strives to be a paradise for its workers, providing for all of their needs. One of its fundamental pillars is that its citizens live free from the fear of ordinary crime and criminals." "But in this society, millions do live in fear ... of the State. Death is a whisper away. The mere suspicion of ideological disloyalty - owning a book from the decadent West, the wrong word at the wrong time sends millions of innocents into the Gulags or to their executions. Defending the system from its citizens is the MGB, the State Security Force. And no MGB officer is more courageous, conscientious, or idealistic than Leo Demidov." "A war hero with a beautiful wife, Leo lives in relative luxury in Moscow, even providing a decent apartment for his parents. His only ambition has been to serve his country. For this greater good, he has arrested and interrogated." "Then the impossible happens. A different kind of criminal - a murderer - is on the loose, killing at will. At the same time, Leo finds himself demoted and denounced by his enemies, his world turned upside down, and every belief he's ever held shattered. The only way to save his life and the lives of his family is to uncover the criminal. But in a society that is officially paradise, its a crime against the State to suggest that a murderer - much less a serial killer - is in their midst. Exiled from his home, with only his wife remaining at his side, Leo must find and stop a criminal that the State won't admit even exists."--BOOK JACKET. read less ... The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Joe says: "It is Mississippi 1962. Jim Crow Laws govern the South. Yet, in this time where social boundaries can not be broken, a white, strong-willed writer befriends and convinces a handful of black maids in Jackson to tell their stories. The Help is a powerful and beautifully written novel that illustrates the gentleness and strength of these female friendships. You read more ...
Joe says: "It is Mississippi 1962. Jim Crow Laws govern the South. Yet, in this time where social boundaries can not be broken, a white, strong-willed writer befriends and convinces a handful of black maids in Jackson to tell their stories. The Help is a powerful and beautifully written novel that illustrates the gentleness and strength of these female friendships. You will cry and cheer with and for these women!" Summary: In Jackson, Mississippi, in 1962, there are lines that are not crossed. With the civil rights movement exploding all around them, three women start a movement of their own, forever changing a town and the way women--black and white, mothers and daughters--view one another. read less ...
December 2009 Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Jimmy says: "What makes us happy? This book is written with that question in mind, but from a scientist's perspective. This is not a self-help book; instead, it gives us a glimpse of how to attain a rewarding state of flow, which resembles more eastern concepts of meditation, but in the context of our busy modern lives."
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Jimmy says: "What makes us happy? This book is written with that question in mind, but from a scientist's perspective. This is not a self-help book; instead, it gives us a glimpse of how to attain a rewarding state of flow, which resembles more eastern concepts of meditation, but in the context of our busy modern lives."
Summary: People enter a flow state when they are fully absorbed in activity during which they lose their sense of time and have feelings of great satisfaction. The author, a pioneer in this astonishing field of study, clearly explains the principles of "flow" and shows how it can be introduced into every level of life.
read less ... In the Courts of the Sun by Brian D'Amato
John says: "This is a science fiction book set in the near future and the distant past. In the year 2012 a disaster takes place in Florida. To try to prevent an even worse event, a team of scientists sends the personality of a present-day man back in time to take over the body of a Maya man in 664. The personality lands in the wrong body, of course, and thin read more ...
John says: "This is a science fiction book set in the near future and the distant past. In the year 2012 a disaster takes place in Florida. To try to prevent an even worse event, a team of scientists sends the personality of a present-day man back in time to take over the body of a Maya man in 664. The personality lands in the wrong body, of course, and things get interesting from there. Lots of descriptions of ancient Maya culture and game theory. The book is the first in what will be a trilogy."
Summary: A mind-bending, time-bending, zeitgeist-defining novel about the days leading up to December 21, 2012--the day the Maya predicted the world would end. Math prodigy Jed DeLanda, a descendant of the Maya, is selected to travel to the distant past in an attempt to save the world.
read less ... Train by Peter Dexter
Scot says: "Yet another strong title from the unprolific yet exceedingly proficient Pete Dexter, who's easily my pick for the Best, Most Overlooked Post-War American Author. This novel, like Dexter's others, charts a course through the dark, dark waters of 1950s Los Angeles; on board are an African-American golf prodigy with a murder on his back and a police ser read more ...
Scot says: "Yet another strong title from the unprolific yet exceedingly proficient Pete Dexter, who's easily my pick for the Best, Most Overlooked Post-War American Author. This novel, like Dexter's others, charts a course through the dark, dark waters of 1950s Los Angeles; on board are an African-American golf prodigy with a murder on his back and a police sergeant with proclivities unbefitting a lawman. Dexter's story and language are clean, mean, concise, violent, and, most importantly, funny."
read less ... Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore
Ev says: "My new favorite book. The subtitle is 'A Modern Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound them Together'. That pretty much summarizes the book. It's also a story about love and true friendship. A wonderful book, more so because it is a true story. "
Summary: A modern-day slave and an i read more ...
Ev says: "My new favorite book. The subtitle is 'A Modern Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound them Together'. That pretty much summarizes the book. It's also a story about love and true friendship. A wonderful book, more so because it is a true story. "
Summary: A modern-day slave and an international art dealer are bound together by a dying woman's faith. Will Ron, the art dealer, be able to embrace Denver, who's been homeless for almost 20 years? Will Denver learn to trust a white man? There's pain and laughter, doubt and tears, and in the end a triumphal story.
read less ... The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent
Ken says: "This absorbing piece of historical fiction made me think about how much we still have to learn from this part of our past."
 Friends Like These: My Worldwide Quest to Find My Best Childhood Friends, Knock on Their Doors, and Ask Them to Come Out and Play by Danny Wallace
Greg says: "Spurred on by a box of grade school mementos and his impending thirtieth birthday, Wallace searches the internet and the globe for twelve special childhood friends."
Summary: As he nears 30, Wallace can't help wondering about his best childhood friends, whose names he fi read more ...
Greg says: "Spurred on by a box of grade school mementos and his impending thirtieth birthday, Wallace searches the internet and the globe for twelve special childhood friends."
Summary: As he nears 30, Wallace can't help wondering about his best childhood friends, whose names he finds in a long-forgotten address book. Acting on impulse, the author travels the world, risking rejection and ridicule, to show up on his old buddies' doorsteps.
read less ... Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon--and the Journey of a Generation by Sheila Weller
Barbara says: "Three of the biggest female rockers of the Sixties who wrote some of the best music of that era and how they became icons of a generation. If you like good music, you'll love learning about the lives of these three women."
January 2011 The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Mia M. says: "Don't pass this book up just because it is in the Young Adult Section. The premise of the story might be a little disturbing, but the characters and the writing will have you hooked by the end of the first chapter. Questions of loyalty and morality, mixed with romance and politics, create a trilogy you will want to stick with till the end."
< read more ...
Mia M. says: "Don't pass this book up just because it is in the Young Adult Section. The premise of the story might be a little disturbing, but the characters and the writing will have you hooked by the end of the first chapter. Questions of loyalty and morality, mixed with romance and politics, create a trilogy you will want to stick with till the end."
Summary: The Hunger Games are a tool the Capitol uses to keep its citizens from uprising. Every year, each 'Section' must send 2 of its children to compete, to the death, in the Hunger Games.
read less ... Homer's Odyssey by Gwen Cooper
Ken says: "This is a book no cat lover should miss, a light read that should warm the heart of anyone who's inclined to the charms of the feline breed."
Summary: The last thing Gwen Cooper wanted was another cat. She already had two, not to mention a phenomenally underpaying job and a recently broken heart. Then Gwen's veterinari read more ...
Ken says: "This is a book no cat lover should miss, a light read that should warm the heart of anyone who's inclined to the charms of the feline breed."
Summary: The last thing Gwen Cooper wanted was another cat. She already had two, not to mention a phenomenally underpaying job and a recently broken heart. Then Gwen's veterinarian called with a story about a three-week-old eyeless kitten who'd been abandoned. It was love at first sight. Everyone warned that Homer would always be an underachiever, never as playful or independent as other cats. But the kitten nobody believed in quickly grew into a three-pound dynamo, a tiny daredevil with a giant heart who eagerly made friends with every human who crossed his path. Homer scaled seven-foot bookcases with ease and leapt five feet into the air to catch flies in mid-buzz. He survived being trapped alone for days after 9/11 in an apartment near the World Trade Center, and even saved Gwen's life when he chased off an intruder who broke into their home in the middle of the night. But it was Homer's unswerving loyalty, his infinite capacity for love, and his joy in the face of all obstacles that inspired Gwen daily and transformed her life. And by the time she met the man she would marry, she realized Homer had taught her the most important lesson of all: Love isn't something you see with your eyes.
read less ... A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
Rebekah says: "A hypnotic account of human passions and relationships that is full of subtle drama and psychological tension. Intelligently and beautifully written, it is an excellent read."
Summary: Rural Wisconsin, 1909. In the bitter cold, Ralph Truitt, a successful busines read more ...
Rebekah says: "A hypnotic account of human passions and relationships that is full of subtle drama and psychological tension. Intelligently and beautifully written, it is an excellent read."
Summary: Rural Wisconsin, 1909. In the bitter cold, Ralph Truitt, a successful businessman, stands alone on a train platform waiting for the woman who answered his newspaper advertisement for "a reliable wife." But when Catherine Land steps off the train from Chicago, she's not the "simple, honest woman" that Ralph is expecting. She is both complex and devious, haunted by a terrible past and motivated by greed. Her plan is simple: she will win this man's devotion, and then, ever so slowly, she will poison him and leave Wisconsin a wealthy widow. What she has not counted on, though, is that —Truitta passionate man with his own dark secrets—has plans of his own for his new wife. Isolated on a remote estate and imprisoned by relentless snow, the story of Ralph and Catherine unfolds in unimaginable ways. With echoes of Wuthering Heights and Rebecca, Robert Goolrick's intoxicating debut novel delivers a classic tale of suspenseful seduction, set in a world that seems to have gone temporarily off its axis.
read less ... The Well-dressed Ape: a Natural History of Myself by Hannah Holmes
Merle says: "Holmes does for humans what Goodall did for chimpanzees and Fossey did for gorillas, but with a better sense of humor. Also, check out the read more ...
Merle says: "Holmes does for humans what Goodall did for chimpanzees and Fossey did for gorillas, but with a better sense of humor. Also, check out the audiobook version. The narrator is excellent."
Summary: "Stiff" meets "Your Inner Fish" in this surprising, humorous, and edifying description of Homo sapiens, as if humans were a newly-discovered animal.
read less ... The Shadow of the Sun by Ryszard Kapuściński
Jimmy says: "Ryszard Kapuściński shows us Africa around the end of colonialism. He makes it a great read as it is satisfying in many ways: as history, as memoir, as anthropology, and as travel writing."
read more ...
Jimmy says: "Ryszard Kapuściński shows us Africa around the end of colonialism. He makes it a great read as it is satisfying in many ways: as history, as memoir, as anthropology, and as travel writing."
Summary: The book is not about Africa, says Polish foreign correspondent Kapuściński, in fact Africa does not exist except as a geographical appellation. Rather he writes about some people from there, about encounters with them and time spent together off and on over for some four decades since his first visit in 1957. It is a personal memoir without scholarly paraphernalia.
read less ... Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Joyce says: "Or... there and back again. No, not The Hobbit, but an ambitious novel that tells six loosely linked stories that span centuries: from the 1850’s to the end of recorded time. After reaching the end of civilization, the novel winds back through the earlier stories to reveal the characters’ fates and how their outcomes affected the future read more ...
Joyce says: "Or... there and back again. No, not The Hobbit, but an ambitious novel that tells six loosely linked stories that span centuries: from the 1850’s to the end of recorded time. After reaching the end of civilization, the novel winds back through the earlier stories to reveal the characters’ fates and how their outcomes affected the future. This novel is like no other I have read (and I have read many)."
Summary: From David Mitchell, the Booker Prize nominee, award-winning writer and one of the featured authors in Granta’s “Best of Young British Novelists 2003” issue, comes his highly anticipated third novel, a work of mind-bending imagination and scope. A reluctant voyager crossing the Pacific in 1850; a disinherited composer blagging a precarious livelihood in between-the-wars Belgium; a high-minded journalist in Governor Reagan’s California; a vanity publisher fleeing his gangland creditors; a genetically modified “dinery server” on death-row; and Zachry, a young Pacific Islander witnessing the nightfall of science and civilisation -- the narrators of Cloud Atlas hear each other’s echoes down the corridor of history, and their destinies are changed in ways great and small. In his captivating third novel, David Mitchell erases the boundaries of language, genre and time to offer a meditation on humanity’s dangerous will to power, and where it may lead us.
read less ... Things I've Been Silent About by Azar Nafisi
J'nai says: "It's an evocative and beautifully written recollection of the author's life as a writer, a scholar and a young woman during the Iranian Revolution. I enjoyed this book thoroughly:)"
Summa read more ...
J'nai says: "It's an evocative and beautifully written recollection of the author's life as a writer, a scholar and a young woman during the Iranian Revolution. I enjoyed this book thoroughly:)"
Summary: Azar Nafisi, author of the beloved international bestseller Reading Lolita in Tehran, now gives us a stunning personal story of growing up in Iran, memories of her life lived in thrall to a powerful and complex mother, against the background of a country’s political revolution. A girl’s pain over family secrets; a young woman’s discovery of the power of sensuality in literature; the price a family pays for freedom in a country beset by political upheaval–these and other threads are woven together in this beautiful memoir, as a gifted storyteller once again transforms the way we see the world and “reminds us of why we read in the first place” (Newsday).
read less ...- Stuffed and Starved: Markets, Power and the Hidden Battle for the World Food System by Raj Patel
Joseph says: "I found the book to be well-written, thoroughly researched, and incredibly informative. It will change the way you think about food."
- Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn: the Saga of Two Families and the Making of Atlanta by Gary Pomerantz
Barbara says: "It's a history of two prominent Atlanta families: the Ivan Allen family and the Dobbs family, from which Maynard Jackson is descended. It's an interesting and fun to read about these families, early Atlanta, and the impact these families had on the area."
- The Dog of the South by Charles Portis
Scot says: "Among the things to be thankful for in the new year is a renewed interest in the fiction of Charles Portis, best known as the author of True Grit. His four other novels are just as fine, if not finer, which is saying something, read more ...
Scot says: "Among the things to be thankful for in the new year is a renewed interest in the fiction of Charles Portis, best known as the author of True Grit. His four other novels are just as fine, if not finer, which is saying something, and The Dog of the South is maybe the pick of the litter. It’s the story of Ray Midge, copy editor and Civil War buff, who makes for the British Honduras in pursuit of his estranged wife and the car (his) in which she estranged herself. Along the way, he encounters a variety of capital-c Characters, all of whom deserve their own novel. The absolute star of the show, though, is Midge, and his story – which contains lines that are somehow unbearably sad and funny at the same time – is one you should start reading yesterday."
Summary: From Arkansas down to New Mexico and eventually leading to Honduras, a man is on the hunt for his wife who is following her first husband by a trail of credit card receipts.
read less ... - Roman Blood by Steven Saylor
Elizabeth says: "First in the Roma Sub Rosa Series. Evocative historical mysteries set in ancient Rome. Saylor is extremely knowledgeable in the time period and bases his fiction on political events, documented crimes, and unsolved murders. Vivid historical details and insightful descriptions of Ci read more ...
Elizabeth says: "First in the Roma Sub Rosa Series. Evocative historical mysteries set in ancient Rome. Saylor is extremely knowledgeable in the time period and bases his fiction on political events, documented crimes, and unsolved murders. Vivid historical details and insightful descriptions of Cicero, Pompey, Caesar and others."
Summary: Gordianus is hired by a young advocate, Cicero, to investigate a murder which is at the center of Cicero's first important case. Cicero is defending a man, Sextus Roscius, who is accused of perhaps the worst crime in Roman law -- the murder of his father -- and Gordianus must find the truth behind the murder to save a man from a particularly grisly punishment.
read less ...  Fifty Years of Fashion: New Look to Now by Valerie Steele
Ray says: "Dr. Valerie Steele, director of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, is the author of this excellent & attractive overview of the second half of twentieth century haute couture & street style."
Summary: From haute couture to hot pants, from glamour t read more ...
Ray says: "Dr. Valerie Steele, director of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, is the author of this excellent & attractive overview of the second half of twentieth century haute couture & street style."
Summary: From haute couture to hot pants, from glamour to grunge, the past fifty years have witnessed some startling revolutions in fashion. This lively survey of postwar fashion not only describes the great designers and their creations but also places trends in clothing within their social and cultural contexts.Valerie Steele begins by discussing the impact of World War II on the international fashion system, explaining, for example, how the success of Christian Dior's "New Look" was the result of sweeping social and economic changes that included a shift from the atelier to the global corporate conglomerate. In the 1950s, Steele argues, developments in the world of fashion were influenced by sexual politics and the anxieties associated with the Cold War: social conformity and gender stereotypes led to such phenomena as "wife-dressing" and "the man in the grey flannel suit". Steele traces the fashion revolution of the 1960s which smashed both social and sartorial rules as "swinging London" inaugurated its own new dictatorship of youth. She describes the rise of the women's movement and the hippies' antifashion sentiment, which ushered in a new freedom of choice in the 1970s",the decade that taste forgot". She finds that the 1980s, often described as "the decade of greed", was actually a more complicated period, when Calvin Klein jeans as well as suits by Armani became notorious yuppie status symbols.
read less ... Anathem by Neal Stephenson
Jesse says: "This book is hard to pin down. Part hard sci-fi, part philosophical and linguistic exploration of an extensively detailed fictional setting, along with elements of romance and coming-of-age stories, it defies easy categorization. Suffice it to say that it is Neal Stephenson at his best, and read more ...
Jesse says: "This book is hard to pin down. Part hard sci-fi, part philosophical and linguistic exploration of an extensively detailed fictional setting, along with elements of romance and coming-of-age stories, it defies easy categorization. Suffice it to say that it is Neal Stephenson at his best, and well worth the read, despite the daunting page count."
Summary: Since childhood, Erasmus has lived behind the walls of a 3,400-year-old monastery. There, he and his cohorts are sealed off from the illiterate, irrational, and unpredictable secular world, until the day that a higher power decides it is only these cloistered scholars who have the abilities to avert an impending catastrophe.
read less ... The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder by Rebecca Wells
Jennifer says: "I listen to a ton of audiobooks and really fell in love with The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder by Rebecca Wells who wrote Divine Secrets of the Ya-ya Sisterhood. The story follows Calla Lily Ponder as she is born, raised, and lives it up in Louisiana. The reader/listener follows her as she grows up and experiences life's greatest disappointments and joys. It is funny, sweet, sad and a generally lovely book. The link to the left goes to the printed book, for the audiobook version, click here."
Summary: The author of the bestselling "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" debuts an entirely new cast of characters in this stand-alone novel about the pull of first love, the power of life, and the human heart's vast capacity for healing.
read less ... The Shack by William P. Young
Mia B. says: "Mackenzie Allen Phillips is living a wonderful fulfilling life until tragedy interrupts the flow. He searches and wrestles with the question 'Where is God when you need Him?' His life changes when he receives the answer from God."
Summary: Mackenzie Allen Phillips's youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted du read more ...
Mia B. says: "Mackenzie Allen Phillips is living a wonderful fulfilling life until tragedy interrupts the flow. He searches and wrestles with the question 'Where is God when you need Him?' His life changes when he receives the answer from God."
Summary: Mackenzie Allen Phillips's youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation, and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later, in this midst of his great sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change his life forever.
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