Mother-daughter dynamics are notoriously complex, but Domenica Ruta's relationship with her mother takes this notion to wildly dysfunctional heights. In With or Without You, Nikki (the author's nickname) invites us into her trash-filled ramshackle house next to a salt marsh in Danvers, Massachusetts, where her sad, introspective childhood and teen years unfold while she remains staunchly loyal to Kathi, her needy, manipulative, drug-addicted selfish mother.

Kathi raises Nikki along with a variety of junkies that come into their lives. It's hard to completely condemn Kathi at first, because while she's clearly not the mother of the year, no matter how broke or high she gets she advocates for Nikki, making sure she's always well-dressed, and ultimately encouraging her to get a scholarship to an elite private school. Kathi wants something better for her daughter. There's no doubt the two love each other in a way that is consuming and enabling, in a way that eventually harms Nikki deeply.

Writing with abandon, Nikki pens raw anecdotes that are both depressing and humorous. The aftermath of living in her mother's house is a self-destructive period. Here is just a sampling of what you'll discover in this riveting memoir.

The early years
"My mother had so little attention to give that sharing her with anything else made me mortally pissed off."
A self-deprecating child, Nikki feels ugly, hairy, lonely. Kathi keeps her home from school to watch old movies, or else takes her daughter on vengeful sprees. Kathi is unpredictable, but predictably selfish. When Nikki is molested by a friend of the family, her mother doesn't confront him because it would rock the boat. Just as Nikki exits childhood, she attempts suicide.

The teen years
"My mother was always hounding me to get pregnant while in high school."
Things begin looking up for Nikki -- she becomes captain of the cheerleading team and class president -- until her peers turn cruel. At home, Kathi sells coke and gives Nikki OxyContin. Nikki's grandmother is a source of comfort and home-cooked meals, proving her love with special Italian nicknames for Nikki -- meaning "chickpea" and "whore."

Alcohol and beyond
"My friends in recovery tell me you finally get sober the day before you are supposed to die."
Nikki temporarily moves across the country when Kathi blames her for all her problems and demands money. Nikki finds bittersweet joy working with seniors with dementia, as she indulges in hardcore drinking to stifle her feelings -- and then things spiral out of control.

This is a heartbreakingly honest, emotionally graphic memoir. We root for Nikki's perseverance and recovery, but understand that there may be no resolution. It is Domenica Ruta's voice, with its heat and guts, that makes this such a striking read, a window into a life still being lived one day at a time.

A motorcycle/car chase shoot-out; a beautiful nurse who is stronger than she thinks; a magnetic crime boss with an innocent veneer. The opening scenes of Alexander Soderberg's Scandinavian thriller, The Andalucian Friend, initiate us into the author's rapid-fire delivery of cinematic action, violence, drama, and unpredictable characters. From there, we soon become immersed in the rivalry between international crime syndicates, corrupt cops, and the woman caught in the middle as she must figure out who to trust in order to survive.

In a Stockholm suburb, Sophie is a widowed nurse, a single mother to a teenaged son. She leads a quiet life until she meets Hector, a patient who seduces her with his curiosity about her past and his appreciation for small moments of beauty in life. What Sophie doesn't know is that Hector is the leader of a dangerous crime ring, dealing in drugs and weapons, at war with a German organization. Sophie and Hector begin an unusual courtship and when a ruthless detective named Gunilla approaches her seeking information on Hector, Sophie is torn. Hector seems to lead only to heartbreak, but she views him, "Not as a father figure, not as a lover, not as a husband, not as a friend, but somehow all of those mixed together."

Tension builds as the police bug Sophie's home and she is followed by Lars, an abusive drug-addicted cop who becomes obsessed with her. His boss is hell-bent on carrying out disturbing schemes to bring Hector's organization down, and will destroy anyone in her way. Sophie finds herself turning for protection to Jens, an arms dealer with whom she has a complicated past, when her situation worsens and her son is attacked. There seems to be nowhere to turn as Hector expects her allegiance and the Swedish police cannot be trusted.

Soderberg creates the unexpected. Cops behave like criminals while gangsters seem decent. Side characters turn into major players and main characters retreat. Powerless characters rise up, only to be ripped down. At times, Soderberg's story makes us wince: We see the ugliness of desperate drug addiction and the gory details of brutal murders. Still, Soderberg eloquently plants the seeds of romance, which will likely blossom in later novels (The Andalucian Friend is the first of a planned trilogy). And underneath the crime and grit, there is always Sophie's choice: To whom will she give her loyalty, and how will she protect her son?

This debut novel dares us to keep up before handing us a fateful ending. Soderberg has proven that the elite Scandinavian thriller club, whose roster includes favorites Jo Nesbo and Stieg Larsson, can raise a glass of Aquavit to a new, distinct member.

BONUS: For a little something to go with Soderberg, check out an Andalucian Friend-inspired recipe.

In Schroder, a complicated story of fatherhood and identity, Amity Gaige draws us into Erik Schroder's singular mind; he is at once creative, narcissistic, craven, and intensely loving. He has done two things wrong: He is living under a false identity and he has run away with his daughter. The book is written as Erik's confession, or "apology," to his estranged wife, with whom he is engaged in a custody battle for their six-year-old. Penned from within a prison cell, he is attempting to explain why he didn't return his daughter after a scheduled visitation, inadvertently kidnapping her.

Who is the real Erik Schroder? As a boy, he emigrates with his stoic father from East Germany (mysteriously, his mother does not join them) and they wind up in a rundown Boston neighborhood. Erik futilely tries to fit in, while his father remains a relic from another time and place. At fourteen, Erik secretly applies to a sleepaway camp, and in a stroke of brilliance or madness, creates a new persona for himself. From then on, he lives his life as all-American Eric Kennedy, born in a small Massachusetts town, the product of an idyllic childhood -- which, interestingly, works well for him. He later marries Laura and never shares his true past. It's their daughter, Meadow, who will be his undoing.

When Eric loses his job and the differences they ignored in the beginning become glaring, Laura initiates a separation. This surprises Eric, and, naively, he doesn't contest her custody wishes, assuming a fair arrangement or, better yet, a reconciliation. Instead, he gets very little time with his daughter, a situation that soon begins to torment him. One day, on a rare approved visit, Eric finds himself driving away with Meadow to Vermont, not telling anyone, suddenly desperately on the run. Meadow puts up with the strange adventure, but in his worst move yet, Eric ignores a unique similarity they share and risks losing his daughter forever.

In this compelling novel, Amity Gaige offers us a conundrum: Is it unforgivable for a loving man to live a lie? Erik Schroder is someone without malicious intent, someone caught up in a tower of lies, who realizes it is too late to escape. And although he's done bad things, we, as readers, have sympathy for him, and even find him likable. This is Gaige's talent at work; this is what makes her a remarkable writer. Schroder is, in essence, about a deeply flawed character who loves hard, and learns the painful lesson that sometimes love is simply not enough.

Rosamund Lupton has taken every mother's nightmare and distilled it into a strangely soothing detective story in her latest psychological thriller, Afterwards. The premise is macabre: One English morning, when most students are outdoors participating in sports day, their fancy private school is suddenly ablaze. Grace races into the building to save her teen daughter, Jenny, but both end up comatose with severe burns. Horrifyingly, Grace's eight-year-old son, Adam, is suspected of arson. We learn this all from an unusual narrator -- Grace's spirit -- whose body lies in the hospital near dead.

Jenny's spirit is hovering as well. In Lupton's version of the Other Side, mother and daughter can see and talk to each other, and can see and hear everyone around them, but their presence goes undetected. Their senses are acute; when their bodies go into crisis mode, colors and light flow and they feel the pull to be reborn. Still, together they try to solve the mystery of who set the fire and whether it was purposely started to harm Jenny. The ghostly pair follow Grace's police detective sister-in-law as the investigation unfolds, frustrated as they begin remembering important facts from that day and realize that someone sinister still wants to finish Jenny off.

What follows is much more than a thriller. There's an emotional immediacy to receiving the story through the perspective of Grace's soul; we're let into the deep love, connection, and sacrifice between parents and children, between husband and wife. Grace longs for her husband, who is determined his wife and child will survive: "I don't think of us going out to dinner … but feel as if we're somewhere wild and lawless and blisteringly exposed, more akin to a lion pair in the Serengeti, protecting their cubs against poachers." She yearns to hold her little son, who has not spoken since the fire, not even to the former teacher he idolized, fired for something awful he denies doing. And as Grace calculatingly measures her ability to save her family, she is left watching from an excruciating distance, as her relationships corrode as deceit, jealousy, and revenge scorch trust.

While Grace and Jenny's bodies still burn from the inside out, there are difficult choices to be faced. Throughout the uneasy experience the reader may have confronting damaged beings and survival rates and children playing with matches and seedy teachers and betrayal, there’s the comfort that comes from the idea of a dreamlike world in which a lost loved one is still there, still looking after us. This is the delicate, moving power of Lupton's prose and what makes her device work in a Lovely Bones fashion; it's raw and offers some justice. There is no end to the lengths Grace will go to help her children, even from beyond her body, and isn't that what the essence of a mother's love is meant to be?

Harold Silver is an unlucky fellow. A middle-aged professor and Nixon scholar in a loveless marriage, Harold has spent his life in the shadow of his younger brother, George, a successful network executive with a perfect wife and two children. That is until the night George causes a horrific car crash and seems to have lost his mind, though he stays true to his nature as an unhinged bully. This, and chemistry between the wrong brother and wife, sparks a violent event that shatters George's family and breaks apart Harold's world, too. And all this happens in the first twenty pages. In May We Be Forgiven, A. M. Homes draws us into the darkly funny and touchingly human story of a dysfunctional family whose every member has hit rock bottom.

From here, the characters have nowhere to go but up, right? Not quite. Homes swerves sideways and diagonally, creating slightly absurd storylines, all delivered in a humdrum manner, so that we accept the oddball occurrences and enjoy the ride. Harold is left to take over his brother's life, from living in his house and wearing his clothes to parenting his precocious preteens. Our professor's job is suddenly precarious, his writer's block is in full-force keeping him from completing his life's work on Nixon, he's reduced to having bizarre sexual rendezvous with women he meets online or those who come on to him in the grocery aisles. From being kidnapped by the kids of one of his paramours to getting private access to secret fiction written by Nixon himself to one of Harold's dalliances abruptly leaving her senior parents on his couch -- forever -- Homes takes us on a wild journey that is wonderfully intriguing.

Entering the Silvers' world is an investment of both emotion and time -- and both investments are well worth it. Homes writes with an unwavering intensity. The story is dense, filled with themes of faith, loyalty, connection, and sexuality, but on each page there is much beauty or heartbreak or hilarity. We're left wondering about family; if your original clan was damaged from the start, what to do? Homes' tale would suggest you build a new one, an extended one, from people with whom you'd least expect to bond, who somehow make life worth living. Reminiscent of The Corrections but thoroughly original, May We Be Forgiven leaves one reeling and thinking that in the puzzling case of Harold Silver and his brother, there is no redemption -- but there is, at least, a peculiar sense of transformation.

For those of us who haven't attended prep school, let me say that the campus architecture alone conjures up images of mixed-up, competitive rich kids, impassioned instructors with dark agendas, and of course, secret societies. Jennifer Miller's novel, The Year of the Gadfly, set in a scenic New England prep school, delivers all these prerequisites and more. It's not a young adult novel, yet it authentically takes you right back to freshman year, as we follow an investigative fourteen-year-old girl who unfolds the mysteries of Mariana Academy.

Iris is an amateur journalist who has imaginary conversations with her hero, Edward R. Murrow, and whose best friend came to a tragic end. Fearing for their daughter's fragile mental health, Iris' parents move from Boston and enroll her in the secluded Mariana Academy, which was founded years earlier upon the principles of "Brotherhood, Truth, and Equality." But these high moral standards were not always upheld. Enter the Prisom Party, "a secret society that sporadically played arcane pseudo-intellectual pranks on the student body," but, in truth, acted as vigilantes, tormenting students (leading to ostracizing and expulsions) and faculty alike when it was deemed they had transgressed the code. Working for the student newspaper, Iris' personal mission is to expose the members of the resurfaced Party.

Miller weaves back and forth in time, linking characters and creating suspicion among them all. There is the aloof, acerbic science teacher, Mr. Kaplan, a Mariana alumnus. His goal is to make students think for themselves and resist authority. His odd teaching methods and psychological experiments can be construed as cruel, yet Iris feels an emotional bond with him as they both have tragic pasts. Flash back ten years and Iris learns about the former dean's albino daughter who was dating Mr. Kaplan's twin brother, and their mutual friend, Hazel, who was secretly in love with one of the twins. See what I mean about intrigue? Flash forward ten years and Hazel has befriended Iris, who, because of her investigation, has been gagged, blindfolded, and dragged through tunnels to face teens in pig masks, demanding she lie about students and teachers to punish them, ostensibly for not honoring the school code. What will Iris do? Has Mr. Kaplan taught her anything, or is she, after all, a victim of blind obedience?

The cruelty of teenagers, first love and the pain of rejection, the past corrupting the present, the incestuous love triangles between high school friends, are all depicted here swimmingly. Miller also explores philosophical themes, the idea that "not one person is responsible for tragedy" and that "people act within their nature"; consider that when given the chance to do ill will, some people take it and some don't. The Year of the Gadfly is a highly enjoyable smoldering mystery. If you've longed for another Secret History-style novel, look no further.

It's summer, 1948, in a small sleepy town in rural Virginia, where there's no crime and "people expected to live calmly and die and go to heaven in due time." One school, no stoplights, parents on porches sipping iced tea, kids making dandelion chains and nibbling penny candy. These folks in Robert Goolrick's Heading Out to Wonderful, a smooth story with a slow burn, accept their lot -- that is until chaos enters Brownsburg in the form of Charlie Beale, a handsome, charismatic stranger bearing two suitcases: one containing a set of butcher knives, the other, seemingly unlimited cash.

Back from World War II, Charlie is an enigmatic loner. Initially, he wants only two simple things out of life in Brownsburg: a dog and to amass land. He has an earnestness to him and convinces the trusting town butcher to give him a job, in which he performs splendidly, drawing in the women customers. Charlie's first connection, however, is with the butcher's five-year-old son, Sam. Charlie, with his talent for baseball and patience in answering endless questions, begins to spend more and more time alone with Sam, who adores him, in spite of Charlie's somewhat eccentric behavior. The other bond Charlie develops is with Sylvan, the young, beautiful, star-struck wife of rich, fat, villainous Boaty Glass, who purchased her "like cattle" from her poor farm family.

Redemption, childhood, all things good and pure are what Sylan represents to Charlie. And to her, "He is Hollywood." The passion between them comes from two places -- his is all consuming, while she is cooler, her attraction to him more of a mystery. We sense their scandalous affair careening toward something irreversible and Goolrick winds the tension both between them and in us, as we await the repercussions: In this God-fearing place, there clearly will be punishment for wrongdoing. The destructive trio of Charlie, Sylvan, and Sam (who becomes a sort of son figure for Charlie) impacts the town forever, and the ending of this dark love story leaves us breathless.

Heading Out to Wonderful transports us to a simpler time, where falling in love with the wrong person at the wrong moment was near impossible. More than just a romance, Goolrick effectively renders the period and place, the segregation juxtaposed with picturesque small-town life, the vibrant characters to be found behind picket fences, and their very human motivations. And while the storyline veers from innocence to sin, Goolrick writes with a serenity that allows us to witness the inevitable outcome.

Markus Zusak is a bit of a legend, having written the profound award-winning novel, The Book Thief. One of his earlier young adult books, I Am the Messenger, displays his immense talent for authentically portraying the experiences of his characters. He did so with the girl struggling to survive Nazi Germany in The Book Thief, and he does so here, in the story of an unmotivated young man whose life is upended when he embarks on a mysterious, dangerous mission. Family, friendship, love, and the moral responsibility that connects all three surface in this story, adding up to become a novel that is heavy and light, serious and funny, and especially thought provoking.

Set in contemporary Australia, Ed Kennedy is a nineteen-year-old cabdriver who grew up on the proverbial wrong side of the tracks. He's an underachiever who spends his time playing cards with his friends, one of whom -- the beautiful Audrey -- he's secretly in love with. His kind but unsuccessful father has recently died, his older brother can do no wrong, and he barely tolerates his verbally abusive mother. Ed lives alone with his smelly dog, The Doorman, his most loyal companion.

Everything is going along as usual until the day Ed unwittingly stops a bank robbery and apprehends the robber. From that moment on, he's a local hero. Soon, he begins anonymously receiving mysterious playing cards in his mailbox, Aces to be specific, on which clues are written. Compelled to decipher the clues and go where he is directed, he winds up intervening in people's lives, sometimes with encouragement, sometimes with a gun. It's menacing, ominous business, because when Ed tries to stop, he is threatened and beaten. And so he becomes "the messenger," fixing lives, helping or hurting as needed. Ultimately, Ed has been given an odd opportunity to exercise a strange power, through which he discovers his desire to be more than a nobody, to live up to his potential. Zusak paints his rough-edged protagonist with a tenderness and thoughtfulness that is impossible to resist.

I Am the Messenger is a natural fit for young adults, as it speaks to the feeling of being an outsider and choosing one's path in life, but it appeals to mature readers with its complex characters, moral conflict, and suspenseful plot. Who is behind the playing cards? Who is forcing Ed to comply? This is no innocent tale. There has been some debate about the novel's ending, which takes an existentialist turn, but I think it fits well with the world Zusak has created for Ed Kennedy. You'll have to read it and decide for yourself, but I do promise you'll feel rewarded.

There are books we read that slip under our skin, quicken our pulses, toy with our sense of decency. One such book for me is Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, a love story all wrong, with a narrator who is such a beguiling monster and the object of his affection an innocent confection. It is a story so bewitching that I almost wish I hadn't read it so I could experience it anew. Now I've found another novel that summons that same feeling and mirrors Nabokov's sublime prose: John Banville's Athena.

Morrow, our narrator, immediately lures us into his devious mind, heavy with obsessive thoughts about a young woman he refers to as A. "My love … I would not have thought it possible to fix a single object so steadily for so long in the mind's violent gaze. You. You." On the outside, he is living off the fortune of an eccentric deceased aunt; he is an art expert, one working with some suspicious men who want him to authenticate eight classical paintings stashed in a crumbling home in Dublin. In doing so, he meets the mysterious, alluring A.

Compared to his lover, Morrow describes himself as "a staggered old bull." A is lithe with blue-black hair and pale skin, short black dresses and clicking heels, the devisor of their sexual games, the definition of a sultry ingénue. "No matter how dirty and even dangerous the games we played, something childlike always survived in them." She entices him endlessly, in spite of the detective sniffing around Morrow during the investigation of a series of murders, hinting at a dangerous, violent past. And he does confess bits of a dark history to A.

Banville's erotic tale of obsession blends with the suspenseful storyline of a criminal underworld and their art dealings. Interspersed between Morrow's meandering musings of "lowlifes," lust, and a woman done-in with a knife are his descriptions of the paintings in question -- forgeries or as authentic as Morrow claims? But then, what exactly is the nature of authenticity? Banville slyly asks this question, as layers fall away and identities are not what they seem. It doesn't help that Morrow is an unreliable narrator, prattling about his own sanity and guilt. This is the third in a loose trilogy of Banville's books featuring Morrow. The Book of Evidence and Ghosts offer background on our sinister protagonist.

It is Banville's original characters and intense exposition in Athena that draws one in and won't let go. A is Morrow's everything: "My alpha; my omega;" she is his beginning, his end, his ruin. His Lo to his panting Humbert Humbert. Perhaps it is this window into a world of corruption and perverse pleasure that keeps our shadowy sides in check, satisfying us with the role of mere spectator.

Jonathan Odell grew up in the Jim Crow South. Researching his own family history and Mississippi roots led him to discover elderly African-American midwives who practiced, unrecognized, in the first half of the twentieth century. Their stories traced back generations, and Odell felt compelled to give voice to their experiences. His evocative novel, The Healing, is about a powerful slave midwife on an antebellum Mississippi plantation who changes the lives and fates of many, especially a rebellious young girl. There is a spiritual dimension to be sure, but it is the dramatic twists and profound characters that will keep you riveted to this narrative.

The year is 1847 on the Satterfield plantation. Unstable, opium-addicted Mistress Amanda, whose own daughter died of cholera, takes a slave's newborn girl, renames her Granada, and keeps her as a peculiar replacement. Granada grows up in the house as a kitchen slave, desperate for the Mistress's sporadic attention. When Master Ben's slaves are afflicted with what seems like a plague, he purchases an old slave healer named Polly Shine, who selects a reluctant twelve-year-old Granada to be her apprentice, believing her to also have the gift. Polly Shine teaches Granada the mysterious ways of healing slaves' broken bodies, but also nurtures their souls with dignity and hope. In fact, Polly Shine's powers go way beyond what the Master could have ever imagined.

What she does is teach Granada about the coming of freedom and the idea of "remembering" who she is and where she comes from. It's a challenge to get Granada to confront her origins, to accept that her mother was a swamp slave, or even hear her given name. Despite a pull toward midwifery and the patience Polly Shine shows her, Granada still longs for the comforts of the Mistress's house and the pride she sadly believes can be found there. Even after Granada carries out a reckless plan, Polly Shine is steadfast and maintains perspective, imparting a story told by her mother, an African weaver: "The difference in weavers is, some see the tangle and others see the weave. The ones that can't take their eye off the tangle, they never rise above it." And when Granada is at the crossroads of her destiny, she heeds these words and takes a surprising path.

In a sense this story is about teacher and disciple, and Granada must inflict pain and suffer her own in order to understand Polly Shine's lessons. But no matter what poor choices Granada initially makes, Polly Shine does not cast her aside. In his research, Odell found that all of the midwives he interviewed were spiritual women who felt a calling toward healing. Polly Shine reflects that spiritual quality and I feel comforted and safe knowing that such a woman existed, first in reality, and then in Odell's glorious fictional world.

Susan Conley's reflections of the two years she spent with her family in Beijing, as told in The Foremost Good Fortune, initially appear to present as a simple travel memoir -- but her story is so much more than a travelogue. As a transplant from Maine, Conley's descriptions of modern China transport us to a crowded, exotic city, awakening our senses with the smells, tastes, and customs as she struggles to help her two young sons adjust. But it is when Conley is diagnosed with cancer that we begin to experience the unexpected: a literal and metaphorical journey to finding one's true self while in a foreign land.

As Conley feels more and more unfamiliar with her own body, she equates China and cancer with cultural isolation. While temporarily back home to receive treatment, she realizes: "I’m struck then by how cancer is itself a kind of cultural dislocation. I feel more removed from myself -- more distanced now from the people I love than I ever did in China." This type of introspection, in this instance about the exile she felt in Beijing and the dire challenges ahead of her, is common in Conley's prose, which is often philosophical.

Still feeling disengaged, Conley returns to Beijing to complete her stay with her family, determined to rebuild her family connections. The opportunity to visit the Great Wall and share the ubiquitous meal of dumplings and Sprite with her children is bittersweet, as she is distracted by fear and the term "reoccurrence," but slowly Conley manages to exhale and be present. When she finds herself bonding with her husband, Tony, in a flea market, haggling over a Buddha statue that she thinks will provide spiritual help and healing, we know that China has transformed into a place that can offer her comfort.

Ultimately, The Foremost Good Fortune is an unflinching memoir of travel, motherhood, and recovery that speaks to anyone with a passion for exploration, both of the world and of the self. We do come to care about Conley and her family throughout her journey, during which she learns a lesson that can be of value to us all: It is indeed possible to be at home wherever you are.

Reading Jerry Spinelli's wondrous young adult novel, Stargirl, published in 2000, it seemed like something plucked out of a time capsule from the 1970s -- there were no vampires, no caged battles to the death. This made sense when I realized that Spinelli's first young adult work was released in 1982 and he had been writing them before and ever since. Spinelli sets this quiet coming-of-age story in an ordinary town in a desert community in Arizona at a typical high school. Or, typical until an extraordinary new girl shows up.

Spinelli's tale is narrated by Leo Borlock, a sensitive sixteen-year-old who fits in among his classmates. Everything is going along as usual when Stargirl, fresh from homeschooling, arrives. She is unlike anyone else. She twirls and plays the ukulele in the cafeteria, serenading students with "Happy Birthday." She puts a vase of flowers on her desk every day. She wears the wrong clothes and no makeup. She gives out homemade cards that are unsigned. She cares for people -- but she doesn't seem to care what people think of her.

At first, the students -- Leo especially -- are fascinated, absorbing her brightness and reflecting it themselves. Leo and Stargirl gravitate toward each other and enter their own magical world of first love. But then Stargirl does something just a little too unusual -- an act of good will, really, but directed toward the wrong group -- and the school turns against her. Leo is caught in the middle and finds himself wanting his girlfriend to be "normal," because now he's also being treated as an outcast: "I knew exactly what I had done. I had linked myself to an unpopular person. That was my crime."

"I’m not connected!" Stargirl responds when Leo asks her why she doesn't behave the way other people do. And what is Spinelli really saying here? At times we wonder: Is she mentally ill, an alien, weird, or just … kind and sincere? And as for Leo, continuing their relationship would mean being shunned by his so-called friends. He must answer a tough question: Whose affections are more important: Stargirl's or everyone else's?

Stargirl is as relevant today as it would have been in 1978 because Spinelli captures the timeless experience of the peer pressure to fit in, and the resulting teen angst and bullying if one doesn't comply. This is a modern classic about popularity, the threat of nonconformity, and the choices we make during those teen years that seem so crucial. In 2007, Spinelli published Love, Stargirl and I'm excited to read more about this enchanting young woman. I would like to think I had the moral character to have been her friend in high school (but I can't say for sure).

Freak accidents are the stuff of nightmares. Elizabeth Berg's novel, Range of Motion, takes us intimately inside such an accident and drops us in the middle of the destruction it causes a young family. Why on earth would we subject ourselves to such heartbreak as readers? Because Berg understands the human spirit; she takes a tragic premise and exquisitely infuses it with emotion and possibility -- and that makes us feel for her characters. It is good to be moved. In this remarkable novel, there is heartbreak but hope, and valuable lessons to be learned.

The book begins with an explanation: "They say that one of the reasons for tragedy is that you learn important lessons from it." Lainey's husband, Jay, lies in a coma after being hit on the head by a falling chunk of ice on his way to work, leaving her and their two young daughters alone with their disbelief and sorrow. The doctors have given up hope that he will ever wake up, but Lainey sustains herself with unwavering love and commitment to Jay's still form; by sheer force of will she believes she can make him well. She ceaselessly talks to him and brings sentimental bits of home to try to rouse his senses, sure that he can hear her, feel her love. And with a satisfying plot device, Berg shows us Jay's point of view.

But Lainey is fighting against the odds. Her girls are suffering and she is just so tired. Nostalgic, she spends her time reminiscing about the special singularity of her marriage, the tender rituals she shared with Jay. But she is starting to break just a little bit. So she leans on her friend and neighbor, Alice, who takes care of Lainey's children and her spirit, calmly trying to make her whole again. Lainey's urge for the past and its comforts manifests in another way when she suddenly begins seeing an old-fashioned woman in her home, who talks to her about the simplicity of the way things were -- and still are when it comes to love.

Whether devotion, faith, and endless love work miracles or not (no spoilers here), Lainey learns to accept life's mysteries, from its freak accidents to the mind's odd creations in times of crisis: "Sometimes lessons take the crooked path." Chance guides both the events that are unbearable and the ones for which we feel unbearable gratitude. At the end of Range of Motion, Berg writes an author's note in which she expresses regret at not giving her book a different title that would have reflected the more spiritual aspect of the story. In my view, regardless of its title, this novel is everything it is meant to be.

One Big Mac, one large fries, two Happy Meals, one McRib sandwich, one Diet Coke, two orange juices, one chocolate shake, one apple pie, three chocolate chip cookies. A light lunch for Edie -- whose weight will puff up to 350 pounds -- ostensibly to be shared with her two kids, but she is plotting to scarf the whole McRib herself because it is "a new sandwich, and how often did a new sandwich come along?" So the years go by, with Edie consuming sugar, fat, and salt while berating her husband, who eventually leaves to seek some senior love and sex and decency. Flash to his judgmental children, the prying friends, and always his wife's black eyes in his grandchildren's punims. Meet The Middlesteins, the dysfunctional Jewish family in Jami Attenberg's eponymous novel, which you will devour in two sittings like I did. There is no portion control with this book.

Here, Attenberg chats with Everyday eBook about the inspiration for her novel and evoking that feeling of wanting to pick up the phone and call your mom.

Everyday eBook: In a scene from Edie's childhood you write, "Food was made of love, and love was made of food." What inspired you to write about love and overeating as an overarching theme?

Jami Attenberg: In our society people often talk about "eating their emotions" as both a joke and a part of their reality. It's inescapable, and it is definitely a part of my past, present, and future. I hadn't written about it before, and it felt like it was time.

EE: Which character do you find the most sympathetic? Which was most complicated or painful to write?

JA: Oh, I love them all so much! I don't know if any of them are wholly sympathetic, though I suppose Kenneth is probably the most likeable. He was also the most complicated to write because I had to get to know him better, and the rest of the characters seemed very present in my mind. Their motivations were all very obvious to me, but Kenneth was a beautiful mystery that unfolded before me.

EE: There is so much quiet passion in this novel, for food, for second chances, within parent/child relationships. What message do you hope readers take away?

JA: It would be fantastic if this book had some sort of positive impact on family communications. I am always a fan of books, movies, TV shows, what have you, that make you want to pick up your phone and call your mom. At the very least I just hope readers enjoy the ride.

Scandinavian crime fiction, replete with bleak landscapes, graphic violence, and heavy-drinking detectives, is surprisingly popular; consider the success of Stieg Larsson's trilogy or Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole novels. In addition to these greats, there is a lesser-known Norwegian writer you should acquaint yourself with: Karin Fossum. She is the author of a translated series of suspense novels that feature Inspector Konrad Sejer, a stoic detective who prefers the company of his dog and his whiskey. A man of measured words, he is skilled at analyzing people and penetrating their social masks. Fossum's eighth Inspector Sejer thriller, Bad Intentions, is a story of a friendship gone wrong, the weight of guilt, and Sejer's investigation of two disturbing deaths.

The story is set in Norway and begins as three young men, best friends since childhood, go on a weekend trip to a cabin in the woods by a lake. Axel is the controlling, confident ringleader. Reilly is an emotional follower who likes to get high. And Jon is on overnight leave from a mental hospital. There is tension in the cabin, and by the end of the weekend Jon has drowned in the lake. His friends claim it was suicide. But when Inspector Sejer hears that Jon had been improving in the hospital and another body is discovered in a nearby lake, Sejer starts suspecting foul play.

Things get complicated for Axel and Reilly when they realize Jon kept a diary in the hospital. Their friendship was not what it seemed. And as Sejer gets closer to the truth, the two remaining friends begin to break down in very different ways. Loyalties are tested, trust disintegrates, and off-kilter behavior takes over. In an interesting turn, the mothers of the two drowned men find solace in each other -- despite what appears to be a dangerous connection between their dead sons -- and plan their own revenge. When Sejer finally untangles the mystery, we are stunned at how possible it all seems.

In fact, that is Fossum's understated strength. Ordinary situations are ominous in her hands. Often small choices upend a life. She develops her characters' emotional and day-to-day lives so we connect with them and understand the mistakes they have made. One wonders if the crimes could have been perpetrated by any of us in that situation. So, if you're looking for a worthy new Scandinavian crime series, start with Bad Intentions and then carry on to read the other novels: Fossum and Inspector Sejer do not disappoint.

Picture a man with an egg-shaped head and waxed moustache, only five feet four inches tall, pristinely dressed down to his patent leather shoes. He's been known to declare, "It is a profound belief of mine that if you can induce a person to talk to you for long enough, on any subject whatever, sooner or later they will give themselves away." Who is this presumptuous, scrutinizing fellow? Why, it's no other than Hercule Poirot, the brilliant Belgian detective created by the "Queen of Crime" herself, Agatha Christie. In 1920, Christie published her first book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, in which she introduced Poirot. This beloved character would go on to star in more than forty other Christie murder mysteries. On the occasion of Agatha Christie's September 15 birthday, we pay tribute to the first of her many outstanding novels.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles has a simple plot in an elegant setting, with, of course, a sinister crime to solve. In a pleasant village in England, there lives the rich Mrs. Inglethorpe, who has gathered friends and family in her luxurious home of Styles. When she is poisoned with strychnine, everyone is a suspect. Motives abound. Several people could be in line for the inheritance, including a possibly adulterous husband or one of two fickle stepsons; trouble is the will isn't quite intact. Then there is the ornery, disgruntled housekeeper and the young women who happen to work with poisons in the town dispensary. When local police and doctors cannot even figure out how the murderer would have escaped Mrs. Inglethorpe's locked bedroom, Poirot is called in to consult.

Culling together information that has been missed, Poirot, who pays particular attention to detail, works to build his case with a series of specific clues: a wisp of a green dress, a cup of cocoa, a cup of coffee, the scrap of a burnt will in the fire -- and keeps us guessing until he reveals his deductions. In a classic move, Poirot gathers all the guests together in the salon to announce his conclusions and reveal the murderer's identity -- a style of denouement that Christie would continue in her work for the next fifty years.

After the success of The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Christie went on to create another wildly popular fictive detective, the elderly spinster Miss Marple, who was first featured in The Murder at the Vicarage. Compared to today's action-packed suspense novels, Christie's storytelling may seem a bit old-fashioned, but her writing is wonderfully appealing, full of charming characters muddling through quite good, complex mysteries that make for compelling reading.

Of Poirot, Christie once jokingly asked, "Why did I ever invent this detestable, bombastic, tiresome little creature?" Perhaps the answer is that she wanted to give a literary gift to readers around the world.

It is 1935 on the glittering French Riviera and Tom Nash is living the high life, summering with a circle of international friends, sipping cocktails, sailing, flirting. All is grand -- until an assassin creeps into Nash's room one night, determined to kill him. Flash back to 1919 and we learn why. Nash has a secret past as a British intelligence operative in Russia, doing atrocious things in the name of the Crown. Now, someone in his social set is not to be trusted, and Nash finds that the self he tried to bury resurfaces with a vengeance when his life is again at stake. So begins Mark Mills' latest suspenseful novel, House of the Hunted.

Deftly portraying Europe at the end of one war and on the brink of another, Mills ties these fragile time periods together into an action-packed espionage-and-love story with a protagonist that is eminently likeable. Despite his wicked past, Nash seems a sensitive, good man who still pines for Irina, the lover he lost in Russia. For the last sixteen years Nash has lived quietly as an author in France, and while he does have a woman in his life, Helene, they are not emotionally tethered to one another. Closest to Nash is his beguiling grown goddaughter, Lucy, who is secretly in love with him, and her stepfather, Leonard -- the only friend who knows about Nash's past and, in fact, was his mentor and supervisor in the intelligence service.

As attempts on Nash's life continue amid a whirlwind of parties, Nash confides in Leonard, and together they try to deduce which incident in Nash's past is catching up with him -- and who would want to betray him. Mills' characters, so cleverly written, are all suspect. As the novel unfolds, Nash must also avoid the police as he does away with each of his attackers. Suddenly, the man who thought his past was behind him is forced to confront what he is truly capable of, and what chance he has at loving again.

It's a somewhat familiar conundrum, but Mills' style is graceful and the glamorous, slightly threatening characters feel original. At the novel's end, you realize that this is a wonderfully sinister story, reminiscent of an elegant Agatha Christie mystery. Mills winds you up and then tightens the tension just a bit more before releasing you to the truth. You'll be left pondering that old proverb, "With friends like these, who needs enemies?"

Can we quantify happiness? We all seem to want more of it. Regardless of what we already have -- money, health, relationships -- we think we could be happier "if only." We're all looking for ways to feel more fulfilled, more peaceful, happier with our everyday lives. Gretchen Rubin is an expert in this area. Following her blockbuster, The Happiness Project, she now brings us the inspiring Happier at Home, in which, through her own personal journey, she offers realistic techniques to achieve harmony and happiness on the home front, both for yourself and for your family.

Rubin's track to bliss is a result of a methodical system she creates coupled with her self-disciplined nature. Looking ahead to her daughters' school year, she breaks down the tidal wave of everyday living into manageable segments and each month behaves in a manner that will likely enhance happiness in that area. For instance, when it comes to marriage (October), Rubin takes her cue from St. Therese of Lisieux: "It isn't enough to love; we must prove it." Rubin decides to show more love overall: more kissing her husband; more little surprises for her daughters; more familial adventures. Parenting (November) is more enjoyable when she stays engaged with her kids and under-reacts to problems. Possessions (September) don't have to be overwhelming if you pare down to make room for things with emotional value.

Throughout her process, Rubin continually discovers how important it is to be true to oneself. In doing so, opportunities emerge, and she found you'll likely stick to doing what you enjoy. Another interesting idea gleaned from Rubin's Happier at Home is that energy creates energy, especially if you add novelty into the mix: "Completing one challenging task supplies the energy to tackle another challenging task." And when Rubin feels unsure of a decision, she falls back on her Eight Splendid Truths, which include truisms such as "The only person I can change is myself," and "One of the best ways to make myself happy is to make other people happy." Turns out these principles do work to improve your behavior, strengthen relationships, and simply make you feel better -- and happier. Her nine-month experiment worked.

While we may not be able to measure happiness with a tidy equation, Rubin imparts meaningful and practical ways to boost the joy in your home. From making your abode a special sanctuary to designing your own positive actions, she once again provides the motivation for us to find more happiness in our lives -- which we all certainly deserve.

"I was born in the month of Av, under the sign of the lion. In my dreams, I fed the lion from my hand. In return he took my whole hand into his mouth and ate me alive."

Alice Hoffman is known for her mystical novels about sisterhood, dark tragedies, love, and magic. Her latest epic, The Dovekeepers, stays true to these themes, but is somewhat more ambitious. Here, Hoffman has re-imagined a war that occurred in Israel two thousand years ago, re-creating the Jewish resistance against the Roman Empire during the siege of Masada, a mountain that was home to 900 rebels in the Judean desert. Set against the backdrop of this moment in time, Hoffman has written another exquisite story of love and loss.

The Dovekeepers is told from the points of view of four fierce women whose lives and fates intersect. The tale's vivid historic detail and beautiful -- though at times savage -- prose feels like its own character, luring the reader closer to share bewitching and dangerous secrets. These secrets lead to the truth behind four uniquely personal journeys of how each of the women came to be "dovekeepers" -- those who care for the precious birds whose droppings are used to fertilize the fields that sustain the tribe.

There is Yael, whose mother died in childbirth bringing her into this world, whose father is an assassin who won't forgive his daughter for "murdering" his beloved. Yael is plagued by dreams of lions and carries the guilt of a murderess. Revka, a baker's wife, is broken from witnessing her daughter's murder at the hands of Roman soldiers; she protects her grandsons who have lost the power to speak. Aziza was raised and disguised as a boy and taught to be a soldier. Love is not for her, for she fights beside men who do not truly see her. Shirah, known as the Witch of Moab, has an ancient knowledge of spells and amulets to capture love, to conceive, to ward off evil.

Thrust together, these women struggle to trust one another as drama unfolds among their people. Jealousy, betrayal, and forbidden love threaten to tear them apart, but their initially tenuous connections grow loyal and strong. Alongside this atmosphere of tension, there is always religion and spirituality to comfort and protect -- and magic, though Hoffman keeps it believable and true to the time and setting. Love comes in many forms in this story, but while men of good character appeal to our heroines, it is the bonds between the women, as friends and sisters, and mothers and daughters, that burn the brightest. Hoffman has said that the purpose of her novel is to bring voices to the women who actually experienced the events in her novel, and in that she has succeeded: We not only hear them, but viscerally feel their sorrows and victories.

If you've ever sat on an airplane and hoped someone cute and interesting would happen to take the seat next to you, then you are meant to read this story. In her latest young adult novel, The Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight, Jennifer E. Smith captures one whirlwind day in the life of seventeen-year-old Hadley as she embarks on a fortuitous romance amid family drama. Here, Smith reveals her own feelings about chance, fate, and writing love stories.

Everyday eBook: What appeals to you about the themes of serendipity and fate? What do you think they add to a love story?

Jennifer E. Smith: I'm a big believer in the idea that everything happens for a reason, and I thought it would be interesting to test the limits of that in a story where so much is dependent on timing and chance. In the book, Hadley misses her flight by only four minutes, but if even a few things had happened differently that morning, she might have made it, and then, of course, she wouldn't have been sitting next to Oliver. This seemed as good a place as any to start a love story. So much of life is shaped by those types of situations: the sheer luck of being in the right place at the right time, the breathlessness you feel when you think about how easily you could have been elsewhere. So the whole book sort of hinges on that eternally fascinating question: "What if?"

EE: Why did you decide to frame this novel within a twenty-four-hour period?

JS: As a reader, I love stories that have brackets around them, whether they take place over the course of a summer or a weekend or a single day. There's something about having a ticking clock that really heightens the tension. And I thought it would be an interesting challenge as a writer. When I first got the idea for the book, I'd planned to set it over the whole wedding weekend, because I wasn't sure I'd be able to make so much happen convincingly in one day. But by the time Hadley and Oliver stepped off the plane, they'd already come so far, and I realized just how long an hour could be.

EE: In one pivotal scene, Hadley goes on a search to find Oliver. Why did you choose a "girl chasing boy" moment rather than playing it "by the rules," where the boy would traditionally be the one to go after the girl?

JS: Her search comes on the heels of a pretty big reveal, which lends some stark perspective to her time spent with Oliver, and so it seemed natural that she would be the one to seek him out. It's sort of a mini journey for her, winding through the streets of London and figuring out some things along the way. And since the book is told from a close third-person perspective that sticks with Hadley, it was easy to decide that she should be the one to do that. But it's true that she doesn't always follow the conventional wisdom of stories like these, which is why I really enjoyed writing her character. She's not a simpering, googly eyed girl who flutters her eyelashes and declares her undying love for Oliver the moment they meet. She has other things on her mind, and even though the book only takes place over twenty-four hours, there's a gradual feel to their relationship that hopefully makes it more believable.

EE: There's a sentiment in your book that if you believe in something enough, you can will it to happen. Do you think this is true in life as well as in fiction?

JS: I can't honestly say that I believe it in a literal way, but I do very much believe in the power of positive thinking, and I love the idea that sending good thoughts out into the world might help sway things in one direction or another. I'm an optimist and a romantic, a firm believer in fate, and I'm hopeful down to my very toes. So I'd like to think that others might feel that way, too, after reading the book.

For more by and about Jennifer, visit her website.

While celebrating the great dads in our lives today, let's consider how lucky we are. Witty, kind, intelligent, our fathers are a noble group. But in fiction, that's not always the case. Not all literary father figures have the principles and compassion of, say, an Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. Writers from Shakespeare to Stephen King have penned some of the most villainous patriarchs on paper, so while we can take comfort in our real-life fathers, we've rounded up some fictional doozies right here. So, have a laugh and a shiver while perusing this bunch -- it'll make you appreciate the decent dads in your own life even more.

Humbert Humbert in Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov
Winning the award for worst stepfather is Humbert Humbert. He married to be near his wife's twelve-year-old daughter with whom he was sexually obsessed, then kidnapped and molested her on a demented road trip. How she got away is another twisted chapter.

King Lear in King Lear, by William Shakespeare
A master manipulator, King Lear favored and rewarded his two daughters who flattered his ego, giving them control of his kingdom, while disinheriting his daughter, Cordelia, who truly loved him -- leading to her murder and his own death.

Lord Asriel in The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman
Power-hungry and single-minded in his quest to overthrow God in a parallel universe, Lord Asriel lied to his daughter for most of her life, masquerading as her uncle, and stopped at nothing, including risking her life, for his dark cause.

Alexander Zalachenko in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson
Talk about a traumatic childhood: Lisbeth Salander's father, Zalachenko, was a criminal mastermind who periodically appeared in her home to brutally beat, rape, and emotionally torment her mother while she watched. Spoiler alert: At the ripe old age of twelve, Lisbeth got her revenge.

Capulet in Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare
Papa Capulet was determined to keep his daughter, Juliet, from her true love, Romeo, because he wasn't deemed suitable -- and we know how that one turned out. Goes to show that when it comes to snuffing out teen romances, daddy doesn't know best.

Darth Vader in Star Wars: A New Hope, by George Lucas
This half man, half cyborg is one bad dude, and the definition of a deadbeat dad. In his quest to be a sinister overlord and rule the galaxy, he paid no attention to his kids, Luke and Leia -- except when he was trying to kill them.

Pap in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
There's a good reason Huck took off down the river with Jim. Huck's father, Pap, was the mean town drunk who dished out harsh physical punishment, locked him up, and disappeared for months. Jim was a much better father figure, indeed.

Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller
Willy is not violent, just a loser dad and a poor role model. He misleads his sons with misguided lessons about life and love, and imparts delusional ideas about the ticket to success, which end up being the key to his own tragic demise.

Jack Torrance in The Shining, by Stephen King
Stashing your family in a haunted mountain resort while you get violently drunk and become possessed does not make one father of the year. This terrifying dad went after his son in a crazed manner, but thankfully King put the breaks on before truly freaking us out.

Now -- aren't you that much more thankful for your own father?

In her hauntingly beautiful novel Perla, Carolina De Robertis exposes a horrific period in recent Argentinean history and pairs it with an evocative story of a young woman coming to terms with the catastrophic truth about her family and origins. Helping her through this transformative journey is a mysterious uninvited guest, to whom she is curiously bound. Together, they face the pain of the past and Perla finds the strength to meet her future.

Carolina De Robertis spoke with Everyday eBook about the writing process and what South American history, as well as family, means to her.

Everyday eBook: What compelled you to invent the character of the uninvited guest -- a ghost -- as the guide that leads Perla to the truth about her family and origins, and even her country?

Carolina De Robertis: The ghost first came to me as a vivid image I couldn't get out of my mind. While I was researching Uruguayan history for my first novel The Invisible Mountain, I came across the death flights in neighboring Argentina, in which disappeared people were stripped naked and thrown alive from airplanes into the sea. I became obsessed by these bodies lost into the water, and then with the idea of one of them rising up to visit the living. It wasn't an intellectual decision. However, looking back, I think I was drawn to this choice because it allowed me to do something I haven't seen anywhere else in the literature or filmography of the disappeared, which is to give the disappeared a voice of their own, to explore their side of the story in an immediate way.

EE: This story deals with the bonds between parents and children. What does it reveal about unconditional love and honesty?

CD: What an intriguing question. I don't know that the novel provides a definitive answer, but it certainly explores those themes. Perla truly loves her father, but grapples with his horrific role in history. Then she uncovers an explosive secret that threatens to shatter her family and her sense of who she is. Although the details of her situation are very much rooted in the Argentinean national story, there are wider themes at play here that I think many of us can relate to, if we've ever had to negotiate complex relationships with parents, or take risks to embrace our personal truth.

EE: Your debut novel, The Invisible Mountain, is set in Uruguay and delves into mother/daughter relationships. Why does South American history speak to you, and, in particular, family connections?

CD: I'm the daughter of Uruguayan parents, with Argentinean grandparents on one side, and relatives in both countries today. However, I grew up far from South America, in England, Switzerland, and California. I think this gave me an intense sense of connection to my origins, coupled with a fascination born of distance -- a desire to write my way home. Now that I've written one book about each country, I feel like I've only begun to explore the richness of their cultures and narratives. Maybe one day I'll write a novel that has nothing to do with Uruguay or Argentina, but right now, I find this difficult to imagine. There is too much still pulling me there.

EE: What was your experience like writing Perla, such a powerfully emotional story?

CD: It was painful at times, simply because the history of 30,000 innocent citizens "disappeared" by a military regime is inevitably devastating. At the same time, however, I don't see Perla as a mere litany of terrible events, but an exploration of the amazing resilience that allows people to overcome such legacies and find renewal, love, and an authentic connection to the world, against the odds. So in that regard, it was rewarding and even exhilarating to write Perla's world into being, to bear witness to her journey up close.

Every five years, Harvard University publishes and sends out what is unofficially referred to as "the red book," a much-awaited guide of sorts that contains alumni-written summaries of their lives of late. In Deborah Copaken Kogan's novel, The Red Book, she presents a moving story about college friends from the prestigious, door-opening Harvard, gathering for their twenty-year reunion. As human nature predicts, Kogan's cast is not entirely honest in their red book contributions, so it is compelling and bittersweet as we meet four best friends and discover the contrast between the portrayals of their lives in print and the truth that comes out at reunion. Hookups, deception, broken dreams, death, divorce, parenthood -- it's all here, tenderly rendered and poignantly brought to life.

Kogan lays out her novel as a narrative interspersed with personal red book entries. Here's a glimpse of the four besties:

Addison, an artist living in Brooklyn with her trust-fund writer husband and three children. Seemingly together but unraveling at the edges, she does it all, while her husband literally lays down the rules of why he won't help with childcare or offer emotional support. Perhaps that's why she hasn't slept with him in fourteen months.

Clover, type-A, a recently laid-off managing director at Lehman Brothers, desperate for children but stuck with an attorney husband who won't admit his role in their difficulty conceiving. A former hippie child, raised on a commune, Clover originally had a hard time fitting in with her Harvard classmates.

Mia, a talented actress in her college years, now an earthy den-mother type, married to a famous Hollywood director. Living a luxurious life in Los Angeles with her kind, down-to-earth family, she manages to keep it real and be grateful for her fortune. Beneath her mom-of-the-year exterior though, beats a heart that still longs to shine on the stage.

Jane, an international reporter haunted by death, both professionally and personally. Preoccupied by the loss of her mother and the death of her journalist husband in Afghanistan, Jane adamantly pushes away those who refuse to give up on her. She'll soon discover some family secrets that put her life in perspective.

Add some men to this mix, like Bucky, Clover's college lover who dumped her for "someone more appropriate," and Bruno, Jane's Frenchman who is determined to save her from herself, plus a panoply of regrets and second chances, and you've got one juicy, dramatic story.

So whether you're headed toward your twentieth college reunion or have already attended, you'll most definitely want to call some friends to confide and reflect after you put down this altogether satisfying read.

Do you remember your first kiss? Falling in love? Your proudest achievement? Of course you do. But Christine Lucas doesn't. In fact, she doesn't remember anything. Each day she wakes up terrified, not knowing who or where she is, not recognizing her husband, Ben. Each day she must relearn how she got to this damaged point. S. J. Watson's addictive page-turner, Before I Go to Sleep, is fraught with tension; he'll have you hooked the moment Christine discovers her secret journal and reads the ominous words she can't recall writing: "Don’t trust Ben."

From that point, this unnerving story is told through the prose of Christine's journal, which a mysterious Dr. Nash, who is treating her unbeknownst to her husband, has urged her to keep. Ben has explained that they are happily married and have shared a lifetime together. As a result of a hit-and-run car accident, she has a rare form of amnesia, one that allows her to form and retain memories only during her waking hours, which then evaporate as she sleeps, and so it begins the next day. Unbelievably, she has lost twenty years of memories. Her journal is her only lifeline, though she must trust Dr. Nash to remind her daily of its existence.

And the journal is indeed helping. Christine begins to have flashes of fragmented memories that she can hold onto. Through these glimmers and her own writings, she realizes there are contradictions in what her husband and her doctor are saying. Dr. Nash insists that her amnesia was the result of an incident much more horrific than a hit-and-run. Ben tells her they have no children … until the day he tells her they did have a son who died. And then denies their child yet another day. Perhaps he is protecting her from the grief she would relive anew each day upon hearing of this tragedy. As Watson's tale unwinds, we see that between love and obsession lies manipulation.

Without the benefit of reliable memories to form her identity, Christine is gripped by the bone-chilling fear that her mind may simply be inventing scenarios to fill in the blanks. She -- and, ergo, the reader -- feels consumed with a frenzy of questions. How can she know what is true and who to believe? Did she really spend years paranoid, violent, in a psychiatric hospital, as Dr. Nash says? Does her son exist and is he dead? Why are they keeping her from her best friend, who may have the answers to her past? And how can Christine trust these men who each claim to have her best interest at heart, when she can't even trust herself?

There is panic laced within Watson's writing, the threat of unspoken conspiracies. He has crafted a uniquely suspenseful novel, so creepily good, you'll have a hard time forgetting it well after the chilling ending.

To all the mommies out there, I hope you're having a relaxing day of pampering (forgive the diaper pun). But if it's not exactly what you expected, take heart. Jill Smokler understands, which is why she penned Confessions of a Scary Mommy, a little book of humorous essays that takes an irreverent, honest look at motherhood.

Smokler, a graphic designer turned stay-at-home mom, began a blog a few years ago on which she wrote about the real deal about motherhood: the struggles, competition, and boredom, and the blissful moments, too. Next came her book, Confessions of a Scary Mommy, in which she starts each essay with the funniest, saddest, twisted confessional comments from her blog readers that correspond with the theme of the chapter. Some of my favorite chapters are about: the family vacation (nice on paper but you'll need a vacation from your vacation once you get home); the grand efforts to plan the kid's perfect birthday party; the pool as recreation (deathtrap); the mommy wars; guarding your babysitter with your life, and so on. You get the picture, because Smokler speaks the truth.

We know you have precious little time, and luckily, this book can be read in two short sittings because it's that much fun. Also, check out our other ebook recommendations about the good, the bad, and the scary side of mommyhood.

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, by Amy Chua
Kids not living up to your expectations? Try banning all playdates and enforcing the violin. In this controversial book, Amy Chua rejects Western methods of child rearing and relays her story of extreme parenting, Chinese style.

It's Not About the Pom-Poms, by Laura Vikmanis with Amy Sohn
Remember feeling more put together and fit before having kids? Take some inspiration from the story of a forty-year-old single mom who took up pole dancing, then became the NFL's oldest cheerleader. How's that for teen spirit?

Bringing Up Bebe, by Pamela Druckerman
When an American journalist moves to Paris and notices that French kids are good listeners, great sleepers, and gourmet eaters -- and their parents are relaxed and balanced -- she investigates how on earth this happened and how you can get there, too.

Baby Laughs, by Jenny McCarthy
Funny lady Jenny McCarthy waxes hilarious on the naked truth of new motherhood, including dueling grandmas, husbands expecting sex, lullaby illiteracy, baby manicures, and other amusing, insightful anecdotes about the challenges new parents face.

Sippy Cups Are Not for Chardonnay, by Stefanie Wilder-Taylor
Enough with the parenting advice from everyone in your life driving you crazy! In these sidesplitting and practical essays, Wilder-Taylor reassures that you can be a good mom and make your own decisions about how to raise your children.

Raising the Perfect Child Through Guilt and Manipulation, by Elizabeth Beckwith
So long traditional and earnest parenting guides! Beckwith discusses developing a family philosophy and sticking with it no matter how quirky. Includes strategies like "Don’t Be Afraid to Raise a Nerd" and "Mind Control: Why It’s a Good Thing."

Rules for Satmar girls: No reading English-language books. Attending college is not allowed. Always wear long skirts and thick stockings. No dating boys. Between the ages of sixteen and eighteen, enter an arranged marriage. When you are a wife, shave your head and thereafter only wear wigs. Two weeks out of the month you are considered "unclean" and your husband won't touch you; submit to the mikva (ritual bath) where attendants determine if you are purified. TV, radio, and newspapers banned from the home. Welcome to the world Deborah Feldman grew up in -- until she fled her faith. Here, she chronicles her transforming journey in her candid memoir, Unorthodox.

When we first meet Deborah, she is twenty-four years old and has already left the Satmar sect of Hasidic Judaism in which she was raised in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. She traces backward, recounting her upbringing and exposing the repressive rules and expectations of her former community. Despite feelings of shame and little love from her family, Deborah had an unwavering belief that she was destined for much more than the tenets of Hasidism allowed.

Abandoned by her mother and born to a mentally disabled father, Deborah was raised by her devout grandparents in a Yiddish-speaking home. But in a community where your lineage dictates your reputation and chances in life, she would be pitied and never truly accepted. As her story unravels, we learn how Deborah was different from the other obedient girls (for example, she excelled in learning English) and felt an emptiness whereas everyone around her seemed content to follow the expected path.

Deborah was surprisingly rebellious. She began sneaking off to the library to read forbidden classics, like Pride and Prejudice and Little Women. On a forbidden radio, she tuned in to Radio Disney, and she secretly took the subway to Manhattan to see movies. And it went much deeper when she began questioning the religious ideology she was raised with, in part that suffering is God's will.

At seventeen, Deborah was married to a man she barely knew. She recounts their sexual problems -- it took them over a year to consummate the marriage -- and how she was blamed for them. Although she'd hoped for a life with her husband where she could read freely and they could break the rules together, she was sorely disappointed in his weak character. Eventually, she had a son and came up with a plan for the two of them to escape their suffocating world.

This is a captivating coming-of-age story, made all the more intriguing because of the rare look into an isolated, secretive community. It's remarkable that this sheltered young woman had the bravery and fortitude to reinvent her life from scratch. Youthful optimism helped, but it was Deborah's individuality and self-confidence that paved the way. Her happy ending, and success story, sends a message: Each of us has a past that made us who we are today, but the future is there for the taking.

Have you noticed that food is seriously popular right now? We wait two hours to get a table at that trendy new restaurant, we take a knife-skills class to learn how to properly supreme citrus, we may only date slow-food devotees or whole-beast eaters. The various food movements sound complicated and how we actually arrived at this place in our culture that so esteems food can seem a mystery. But now, Adam Gopnik, best-selling author and veteran writer for The New Yorker, takes an intellectual stab at the basis of how we eat and why we eat what we eat in his latest book, The Table Comes First.

As if a hungry philosopher were speaking to you, Gopnik takes a scholarly approach to the history of food yet still manages to make it all so delicious. Among other tasty tidbits, he traces the origins of the restaurant (not surprisingly, it started in Paris in the late eighteenth century), gives an endearingly cranky opinion on the usage of salt, and describes the transformations of today's cookbooks, which, as he sees it, have changed from recipe books to personal storytelling and revelations from celebrity chefs.

Throughout, Gopnik also writes imaginary e-mails to Victorian food writer Elizabeth Pennell, whom he greatly admires: "She had scarily good taste." These notes focus on the epicurean and practical usage of food as ingredients, and we get useful tips and recipes through his correspondence, such as his four essential savory secrets: anchovies, bacon, cinnamon, and saffron; and his succulent recipe for the perfect "lemon-up-the-bum chicken."

We come to know Gopnik as he educates himself and us; he travels the world to taste the most celebrated dishes, experiments with food, and tests theories. As philosophical as he is, he loves cooking: At home with his family in New York City, he prepares a local meal — chicken from a Bronx slaughterhouse, Staten Island peppers, a spicy Brooklyn arugula salad. Verdict? It indeed tastes better when the ingredients are locally sourced.

Another interesting point is his dissection of our lust for desserts. "Our nearest relations among the primates, particularly chimps … love sweets and will practically die to get them." Oh, so that explains it. We evolved to want cheesecake.

This is a food book unlike any other food book you’ll encounter. It's a concoction of abstract and visceral takes on eating, much like the best recipe that produces a wonderful tagine with a hint of sweetness and umami. It's definitely amusing, interesting, and personal, with a heck of a lot of amazing food knowledge thrown in, almost like a confessional cookbook from a celebrity chef — no, just kidding. My only advice? Do not attempt to read this book on an empty stomach.

Jens Lapidus has been hailed as the next Stieg Larsson and from his electrifying crime novel, Easy Money, it is clear why. Lapidus' gritty story is set in Stockholm and depicts an underworld of Euro-mobsters and their unending desire for drugs, power, cash, and revenge. Connected with this sinister set is a group of rich, young things on the party scene, and it would appear a penchant for violence does not discriminate whether you're wearing Prada or prison couture. Our narrators are the criminals from both of these worlds, who expose a tangle of double lives and double-dealing. As they risk everything, we fall into their shadowy world and experience a taste of their intoxicating ride.

I began wondering what made the author create such disturbingly despicable yet somehow sympathetic characters. Luckily for me, Jens Lapidus took the time to answer a few of our burning questions about what went into the making of this novel.

Everyday eBook: Why did you decide to tell this story from the perspectives of the criminals rather than taking a more traditional route where we follow a detective unraveling a crime?

Jens Lapidus: I want to expand the borders of the traditional Scandinavian crime fiction. I figured that since we have people in Sweden for whom committing crime is something natural, and a part of their lifestyle, it must be fascinating to see crime from their eyes. In my job as a defense lawyer, I encounter a lot of people from the Stockholm underworld, and I wanted to tell their story; I wanted my readers to get into the heads of people they rarely understand. This approach received an enormous response among the reading public in the Scandinavian countries and many other countries around the world.

EE: Both the glittering nightlife and the seedy underworld seem extremely authentic. What kind of research did you do?

JL: I get a lot of my research for free, from my job. Having said that, the client-attorney-privilege is a holy principle to be upheld. This means that there are many stories I will never be able to tell. It also means that in the future I might find it impossible to continue to write the tales from the Stockholm gutter the way I do. Then I am thinking of switching to ... I do not know ... love stories, perhaps?

EE: The characters of JW and Jorge both have sisters who motivate them. What made you choose the role of sister as the most influential woman in each of their lives?

JL: Family is always important, whether you are a tough gangster or an upcoming drug dealer striving to make it in the posh inner city of Stockholm. I also wanted to show how family relations may be severed by a criminal lifestyle.

EE: Characters with dual natures surface in this novel. For instance, Mrado is the murderous muscle who is also a tender, loving dad. Do you think good and evil can exist simultaneously?

JL: Yes, I do. I do not believe in monsters or angels, black or white. All human beings are somewhere in between. That is not to say that all are the same, but that when you go deeper into a character a more complex personality will emerge. It is simply about human nature.

EE: Your novel depicts Swedes as being biased against non-Swedes. Is this an accurate portrayal and is Stockholm as dangerous as your book (and Stieg Larsson's works) makes it seem?

JL: To some extent there is an indirect structural racism in Sweden. The formal laws and the authorities are not racist, but you will definitely have a more difficult time finding a job if you are born in Somalia than in Gothenburg. Stockholm is like most major European cities -- it can be dangerous and there are a lot of problems with drugs, violence, and prostitution. Having said that, I still believe it is a relatively good and safe place to live. The Russian journalists I met a couple of months ago said: "You are describing organized crime in Stockholm. It is all quite cute."

This book translates perfectly to the big screen. Check out the Swedish film, Snabba Cash, coming soon to theaters. Watch the trailer here.

April 15, 2012, marks the centennial anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic. We remember this tragedy and imagine her passengers' range of emotions: excitement about traveling on the biggest, latest, most luxurious, and technologically advanced ocean liner to terror as they witnessed a catastrophic fate unfolding. In the new book Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage, Hugh Brewster presents a never-before-seen glimpse of the rich-and-famous set on the Titanic. He specifically looks at the first-class passengers and re-creates their luxurious atmosphere while presenting their personal narratives. Through these millionaires, authors, and actresses, we are given insight into the arts, politics, and culture of the time, as we join them throughout this doomed maiden voyage.

Of course, there are many other books about Titanic that tell the equally important stories of both the affluent passengers and the less-lucky ones in steerage, as well as gripping accounts from survivors. Here are a few other eBook recommendations about this heart-wrenching disaster, which brought out the best and worst of human nature.

Titanic: The Death and Life of a Legend, by Michael Davie
Journalist Michael Davie investigates the events, controversies, and legends that have surrounded Titanic's tragic sinking. Davie offers insightful portraits of the protagonists and dramatizes the confusing and terrifying hours that passed from the moment the ship hit the iceberg until its survivors were picked up by the USS Carpathia a full day later. Newly updated on the hundredth anniversary of the tragedy by Titanic expert Dave Gittins, Titanic: The Death and Life of a Legend will fascinate Titanic experts, amateurs, and newcomers alike.

Titanic: Uncovering the Secrets of the World's Greatest Shipwreck, by National Geographic
National Geographic revisits the romance, glory, and tragedy of this tremendous ship and presents an insider’s look at the new findings about the passengers and scientific study of the wreck site.

Voyagers of the Titanic: Passengers, Sailors, Shipbuilders, Aristocrats, and the Worlds They Came From, by Richard Davenport-Hines
Voyagers of the Titanic follows the stories of the men, women, and children whose lives intersected on the vessel's fateful last day, covering the full range of first, second, and third class -- from plutocrats and captains of industry to cobblers and tailors looking for a better life in America.

101 Things You Thought You Knew About the Titanic, by Tim Maltin
People have an endless fascination with Titanic, yet much of what they know today is a mixture of fact and fiction. In one hundred and one brief and engaging chapters, Tim Maltin, one of the foremost experts on Titanic, reveals the truth behind the most common beliefs about the ship and the night it sank.

A Night to Remember, by Walter Lord
Walter Lord's definitive re-telling of the events of Titanic's only voyage is based on interviews with sixty-three survivors. This is the book that made Lord famous.

The Dressmaker: A Novel, by Kate Alcott
Tess, an aspiring seamstress, thinks she's had an incredibly lucky break when she is hired by famous designer Lady Lucile Duff Gordon to be a personal maid on the Titanic's doomed voyage. Once on board, Tess catches the eye of two men, one a roughly-hewn but kind sailor and the other an enigmatic Chicago millionaire. But on the fourth night, disaster strikes.

Distant Waves: A Novel of the Titanic, by Suzanne Weyn (Young Adult)
Four sisters and their mother make their way from a spiritualist town in New York to London, becoming acquainted with journalist W. T. Stead, scientist Nikola Tesla, and industrialist John Jacob Astor. When they all find themselves on Titanic, one of Tesla's inventions dooms them ... and one could save them.

Shadow of the Titanic, by Andrew Wilson
Andrew Wilson brings to life the colorful voices of many of those who lived to tell the tale, from famous survivors like Madeleine Astor, Lady Duff Gordon, and White Star Line chairman J. Bruce Ismay, to lesser known second- and third-class passengers.

All things French seem un petit better, no? French food, fashion, and now, thanks to Pamela Druckerman, parenting. It all started when Druckerman, an American journalist, relocated to Paris with her husband and had kids. Contrary to what she witnessed stateside, she noticed that French parents seem relaxed, confident, and in charge, and French children, from the time they are babies, are calm, good sleepers, and even vegetable lovers. Intrigued, Druckerman set out to investigate what led to this society of chillaxed parents and well-behaved kids. The result? Her thoroughly enjoyable book, Bringing Up Bébé.

Druckerman discovers two unique principles of French parenting. First, the French assume that children, from the time they are babies, are rational creatures, capable of understanding and learning. This idea was developed by Dr. Dolto, who is revered like the French Dr. Spock. If you accept that children are rational, you can teach them to sleep through the night as tiny babies, and when they're older, how to like vegetables or behave in a restaurant. You can also teach them to be sage, "self-controlled but happily absorbed in an activity."

Second, the French take a philosophical approach to child rearing, adopting Rousseau's idea that children must be given space to thrive. With this in mind, the French parent within a cadre, a predictable, coherent framework of rules, whereby they are very strict about limits and boundaries, but allow freedom within them to explore. If children are capable of autonomy, and, in fact, blossom in that realm, parents can leave them be, wait to satisfy their whims, and thereby instill patience and independence.

Overall, the French view children as a part of the family, not its entire focus. This lets parents make decisions that are best for the group, rather than the individual. Unlike the "child-kings" Druckerman sees in American families, who make demands and cannot tolerate frustration, French mothers will say with conviction, "It’s me who decides," and the children accept that. Culturally, these mothers do not feel guilty for saying "no" or taking time for themselves. Instead, "they strike a balance between listening to their children's needs and being clear it's the parents who are in charge." Perhaps it's a type of self-fulfilling prophecy where half the battle is believing in your own authority.

If Carrie Bradshaw from "Sex and the City" were talking to you as a mom living with Mr. Big in Paris, the result would be this book. It's useful, it's escapist and funny, and it makes you want to jaunt off to Paris and have baguettes and hot chocolate. Druckerman's observations will validate any exhausted parent and offers a new, hopeful perspective. You can look at those familiar little faces and know, with a few changes on your part -- voila! -- they, too, can behave like delightful French bébés.

Imagine your child was accused of a heinous crime. How far would you go to find out the truth and protect him? At what point would you start blaming yourself? Noah Hawley's latest psychological page-turner, The Good Father, examines this scenario and poses heartbreaking questions about parenting, love's limits, and good versus evil. Told from the perspectives of both the determined, anguished father and his lost son, Hawley takes us deep into a family's history and unearths a tragic backstory, all the while keeping the reader guessing about the son's culpability until the shocking ending.

Dr. Paul Allen is a Chief Rheumatologist who specializes in diagnosing patients with mysterious ailments. One day, relaxing at his comfortable home in the Connecticut suburbs with his twin boys and his second wife, he sees his nineteen-year-old son, Daniel, from his first marriage, on the television news. It appears his son has assassinated the Democratic candidate for president. What follows is Dr. Allen's quest to vindicate his child, who he believes is innocent -- it must be a mistake that Daniel was caught on camera with a gun. Dr. Allen begins retracing his son's wayward journey toward this fateful day.

Dr. Allen uses his skills and background as a medical problem solver to try and piece together the clues of what truly happened, who the real killer is, and how his son may have been framed -- and it's fascinating. Simultaneously, he analyzes his first marriage and the aftermath of his divorce, during which he moved across the country, leaving Daniel in California with his irresponsible mother. All at once, Dr. Allen has to come to terms with his early experience of fatherhood, confront his guilt, and control his obsessive need to save Daniel, which is threatening his marriage and family life.

Though Hawley presents his story in a style reminiscent of a journalist -- he references multiple political assassins and terrorists from Sirhan Sirhan to John Hinckley to Timothy McVeigh -- it is emotionally harrowing as you viscerally sense the father's agony and the son's loneliness. And still, it is extremely readable. If you like Jodi Picoult's writing, this book will resonate with you.

Steel yourself though. Throughout this suspenseful novel, you will consider the nature of unconditional love and question the parenting decisions you have made in your own life. What would you do in the shoes of this loyal father, who, when faced with his son's demons, recognizes his own part in creating them? Could you give up everything to protect one of your children?

Kathryn Harrison, author of the recently released Enchantments, often revisits the subject of illicit relationships in her novels, likely because of her relationship with her father, a relationship in which a powerful man seduced his adult daughter and led her into an incestuous relationship. In Enchantments, Harrison again features a father/daughter relationship, though the father in this tale -- while appearing frightful and possessing what some considered devilish powers -- is benevolent, almost magical, and certainly a protector of his daughter. Set in Russia in 1917, Harrison explores this kinship while capturing the last days of the Romanov Empire in a story of murder, passion, and faith.

Our narrator is eighteen-year-old Masha, daughter of Grigory Rasputin, who, after a near-death experience in his youth, developed the gift of healing and prophecy. Large in stature, ungroomed, coarse, he roamed through Siberia raising dead animals and healing the sick with his words and touch, gaining the reputation of "the Mad Monk" and "sexual outlaw," sought after by thousands for his miracles. When we encounter Rasputin, he is already dead (murdered by poison, gunshots, and when those didn't kill him, drowning), and we learn about his life and abilities through Masha.

Rasputin had been close to Tsarina Alexandra; she believed he could cure her thirteen-year-old son Alyosha from hemophilia, an affliction kept secret out of shame by the Romanovs. Before Rasputin's death, which he had foreseen, he arranged for his daughters to live with the royal family, where Masha, who had ostensibly inherited her father's gift of healing, could carry on curing Alyosha. But just days after her arrival, the Bolsheviks forced Tsar Nikolay to abdicate the throne, and all were put under house arrest.

While in captivity, it became clear Masha had not actually inherited Rasputin’s abilities; her true gift was storytelling. She entertained and distracted Alyosha from his pain and his family's misfortune by creating elaborate stories and fantasies. Because of his illness, Alyosha was kept away from physical pursuits and lived a quiet, thoughtful existence – in turn, he seemed more mature than his not-quite fourteen years. Consumed with their secret fabulistic world, Masha and "Handsome Alyosha" fell in love.

Their romance was cut short, though never forgotten, when the royal family was taken away to their deaths. Luckily, Rasputin controlled Masha's destiny, and his many plans and predictions for his daughter transpired, as she escaped and discovered another life, one with raw danger and strange ecstasy in an unexpected arena. These thrilling sensations spiritually united Masha with her father, as she finally understood his experience of healing and divining.

Historically, authors have tried to show the humanity in monsters; Frankenstein comes to mind. Here, Harrison's monster, the wild Rasputin (a father figure to many) is already human, which makes witnessing his humanity all the more compelling. Most important in this wondrous novel, Harrison, through Masha, is finally able to trust the monster.

Oscar parties and predictions as to which movies of 2011 will sweep the 84th Annual Academy Awards are upon us, but after the razzle and dazzle of the evening ends, once the best-dressed list has been scrutinized, and the celebrity gossip from the after parties has been thoroughly absorbed, film lovers will want to know what's coming next to the silver screen. Here, Everyday eBook looks ahead and shares eleven fascinating books that will be adapted into movies in 2012. Get ready to do some reading to stay on top of the cinematic scene!

Headhunters, by Joe Nesbo
Directed by Morten Tyldum; starring Aksel Hennie, Synnove Macody Lund, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
The award-winning author of The Snowman has created a funny, dark, and twisted caper. Roger Brown is a corporate headhunter who dabbles in art theft. One night he meets a man who owns a priceless painting, but the answer to Brown's problems may be the worst thing that ever happened to him.

Cogan's Trade, by George V. Higgins
Directed by Andrew Dominik; starring Brad Pitt, Richard Jenkins, Ray Liotta, Sam Rockwell, James Gandolfini, and Bella Heathcote
A hard-hitting, tour-de force tale of the mob by an American master of crime. Jackie Cogan is an enforcer for the New England mob. When hoodlums heist a high-stakes card game, Cogan is called in to "handle" the problem.

Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell
Directed by Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski, and Lana Wachowski. Starring Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Susan Sarandon, and Hugh Grant.
In this imaginative mind-bending novel, Mitchell erases the boundaries of language, genre, and time, as six stories set in different periods and places become intricately related to each other and destinies are changed in ways great and small.

Life of Pi, by Yaan Martel
Directed by Ang Lee; starring Tobey Maguire, Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, and Gerard Depardieu
In this transformative Booker Prize-winning novel, we meet an Indian boy named Pi, a zookeeper's son, who finds himself in the company of a hyena, zebra, orangutan, and a 450-pound Bengal tiger after a shipwreck sets them adrift in the Pacific Ocean.

World War Z, by Max Brooks
Directed by Marc Forster; starring Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, and Matthew Fox
This is the ultimate Zombie Apocalypse tale, in which a journalist, racing against time and fate and driven by the urgency of preserving the first-hand experiences of the survivors, travels the world documenting the zombie pandemonium erupting around him.

Lay the Favorite, by Beth Raymer
Directed by Stephen Frears; starring Rebecca Hall, Bruce Willis, and Vince Vaughn
In this unexpected coming-of-age story, Beth Raymer reveals all about her years in the high-stakes, high-anxiety world of sports betting. Raymer rises through the ranks of men who lie, cheat, steal, and run, until she is the last man standing.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, by Deborah Moggach
Directed by John Madden. Starring Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, and Maggie Smith.
Ravi Kapoor has a difficult father-in-law, so he is thrilled when a cousin sets up a retirement home in India, hoping to re-create English elegance. The retirees find their new life lacks luxury, but it's plentiful in adventure, beauty, and unexpected love.

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Directed by Baz Luhrmann; starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, and Tobey Maguire
Set in the 1920s on Long Island, this classic is about Nick Carraway, a man intrigued by the mysterious past and grand lifestyle of his neighbor, Jay Gatsby. Carraway is drawn into Gatsby's circle of friends, becoming a witness to obsession and tragedy.

The Wettest County in the World, by Matt Bondurant
Directed by John Hillcoat; starring Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, and Guy Pearce
Based on a true story, this is the fascinating account of the Bondurant Boys, a group of Virginia brothers who ran moonshine during the Great Depression, and the authorities who want a cut of their profits.

Cosmopolis, by Don DeLillo
Directed by David Cronenberg; starring Robert Pattinson, Paul Giamatti, and Juliette Binoche.
DeLillo's thirteenth novel is a vivid and moving account of an incredible downfall. It follows a young billionaire asset manager on a twenty-four-hour odyssey in a limo across Manhattan in search of a haircut.

On the Road, by Jack Kerouac
Directed by Walter Salles; starring Garrett Hedlund, Sam Riley, and Kristen Stewart
Don't miss this classic novel of the Beat Generation. Dean and Sal are friends making a series of cross-country trips, searching for as much experience and as many spiritual highs as possible. Their relationship is one of the finest portrayed in American literature.

We miss Tina Fey's smart, funny, “sexy librarian” days on “Saturday Night Live” but now tune in to “30 Rock” religiously, where she plays geeky, wise-cracking Liz Lemon, head writer on a sketch comedy show. With all of this art-imitating-life business, it’s time to get to know the real Tina Fey, and her hilarious memoir, Bossypants, allows us just this opportunity.

Bossypantsis an endlessly entertaining and breezy read. Broken into chapters from Fey's life, and featuring plenty of personal photos, she takes us from an awkward youth to a skyrocketing showbiz career, and from motherhood to Sarah Palin, all told with the uniquely fabulous and funny worldview that makes Fey such a brilliant writer.

As a girl, Fey was an obedient goody two-shoes with high self-esteem: “I proceeded through life as if I really were extraordinary.” Even when, as a teen, she learned all the things that can be “incorrect” on a woman’s body -- “lunch lady arms, skin with green undertones, bad nail beds” -- she persevered with her imperfect self, including “straight Greek eyebrows. They start at the hairline at my temple, and, left unchecked, will grow straight across my face and onto yours.” Self-deprecating humor is funniest and guilt-free when it comes from someone who’s actually okay with herself.

Later in Chicago, Fey joined The Second City, an improv sketch comedy theater, which she describes as “a cult” that changed her life. It led to “Saturday Night Live” and meeting her husband. She describes making it as a female comedy writer in a traditionally male profession (e.g., men on the "SNL" staff peeing in jars rather than schlepping to the bathroom). Next came “30 Rock,” which she developed, though she heaps credit onto Alec Baldwin, who plays her boss, Jack Donaghy. In Bossypants, Fey shares great anecdotes about creating "30 Rock," plus her favorite jokes from the show’s writers.

One particularly amusing chapter is about magazine photo shoots. She describes them as “THE FUNNEST” and takes you through the painstaking hair, makeup, and body-squishing tricks to get you camera-ready. And then the miracle of Photoshop takes over!

Speaking of transformations, it was incredible when Fey practically morphed into Governor Sarah Palin in the months before the 2008 presidential election. Fey explains it was a chance to give sharp, funny commentary against sexism in the campaign. Ultimately, this unconventional memoir talks about navigating life as a bright, funny, feminist in a man’s world, and cracks you up while doing so.

All this fame and glitter is interspersed with real-life mommy/daughter moments, like hunting for the right Peter Pan plates for a birthday party and having to make do with Tinkerbell. Tina Fey is truly relatable, especially when she talks about what turning forty means to her: “I need to take my pants off as soon as I get home. I didn’t used to have to do that. But now I do.” So, when you’re done with this book, be sure to pass it along to a friend who needs a laugh, or three hundred.

Frank Lloyd Wright was an undeniable visionary. From startlingly beautiful homes nestled in nature to the monolithic Guggenheim Museum on Manhattan's Upper East Side, he viewed the world unlike anyone else and has been deemed “the greatest American architect of all time.” In Loving Frank, an enthralling novel based on true historical events, Nancy Horan transports us to the early nineteen hundreds and chronicles his love affair with Mamah Borthwick Cheney, a significant inspiration and influence behind his work and thinking. But this is more than a tale of two lovers; it is Mamah’s story through which Horan portrays the beginning of the women’s movement.

Mamah (pronounced MAY-muh) is an unforgettable character. She was a mother, an intellectual, and a protofeminist. Her kind but banal husband wanted a “good times house” to entertain friends, so they commissioned the up-and-coming architect Frank Lloyd Wright; this decision marked the beginning of Mamah’s awakening.

Mamah found Frank beguiling; they talked about art, ideas, philosophy. “He ignited her mind like no other.” He spoke of “organic architecture,” building based on the principles of nature, creating homes that let you feel you are living out in the open. Mamah experienced passion for the first time and soon they were having a consuming clandestine affair that led them to abandon their spouses and children and move to Europe.

Openly together and unmarried, their affair was picked up by the stateside press who began a series of besmirching articles that caused notorious scandal for their families, in addition to damaging Frank’s career and Mamah’s reputation. She began to translate the feminist writings of the Swedish philosopher, Ellen Key: “Love is moral even without legal marriage. But marriage is immoral without love.” Mamah vowed to bring her teachings to American women but felt betrayed when, having learned of the scandal, Ellen Key turned against her: “The very legitimate right of a free love can never be acceptable if it is enjoyed at the expense of maternal love … I urge you to return to your children.” Mamah was reminded of her sister’s words -- “You always wanted to do something big” -- and thought to herself, “What had she done with all that ambition? Attached herself to two colossal personalities. Poured her soul into defending the sanctity of the individual while [her children] John and Martha slid from her grasp.”

Still, as a champion of women’s self-actualization, Mamah attempted to write a book about “freedom of the personality” -- accounts from real women “who had gotten past fears, scorn, gossip and found their way in the world,” presented with her own story. But it was never completed due to a shocking tragedy, one so horrific that it begs the question of divine retribution.

Horan has chosen the perfect title for this novel; it is so simple yet suggests more. It certainly does not seem hard to love a magnetic, innovative man, but for a woman caught in a changing era, torn between passion and morality, it was the most difficult choice of all.

In late 2011, people around the world watched the funeral of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il. The closed nation of labor camps, torture, and starvation showed its people “crying tears of blood” for a man who led them into ruin. But in the mix of fear and facade there still beats the human heart of desire and longing for survival, a world captured in Adam Johnson's beautiful, disturbing new novel, The Orphan Master’s Son.

Johnson’s writing is superb and cinematic. The reader feels thrust into a dark world that rapidly shifts with the fast-moving plot set in the threatening climate of North Korea. The protagonist, Jun Do, begins his story as a motherless boy living with a father who runs a work camp for orphans. Later, he is trained by the government to navigate a series of underground tunnels before carrying out his stealth attacks. Jun Do transforms yet again to a professional kidnapper, and then, in another turn in life, becomes a spy on a fishing boat, monitoring US Navy radio communications. A key moment occurs when his fellow sailors, in keeping with tradition, tattoo Jun Do’s “wife” on his chest; single and naïve about love, our hero lies about his “wife’s” identity, claiming that she is Sun Moon, a gorgeous, revered actress who practically belongs to the Dear Leader, Kim Jong-il, himself.

After a chilling event on the boat involving defection, shark bites, and torture, Jun Do is a hero, and is sent on a diplomatic mission to Texas to try to wrangle back a cryptic "something" that was supposedly stolen from the North Koreans. The mission fails and back home he is thrown into a labor camp to rot. In an act of extreme retaliation, however, he kills Commander Ga, the second most powerful man in the government, steals his identity, and escapes. It happens that Jun Do, as Commander Ga, gets to be "the replacement husband" to Sun Moon, who reluctantly plays along and tentatively falls in love with him. Together they craft a near-impossible plan to flee to America. Standing in their way is the nameless government interrogator, a torturer of those against the state, who is hunting down the imposter Commander Ga.

The individual dramas and escapades are stunningly composed, but Johnson also combines farce with poignancy, for instance, when showing how government propaganda has brainwashed its citizens. In talking to a captive American woman, Sun Moon ponders, “I wonder of what you must daily endure in America, having no government to protect you … is it true you are given no ration card, that you must find food for yourself? Is it true that you labor for no higher purpose than paper money? What plays over the American loudspeakers, when is your curfew … if a woman loses her husband, how does she know the government will assign her a good replacement … how does a society without a fatherly leader work?” This is heartbreaking dialogue, even more so because it seems a realistic estimate of the wonderings of a citizen from such an isolated society.

The Orphan Master’s Son is an epic adventure, love story, and nightmarish glimpse of the perverse power of the North Korean regime. With new leadership on the horizon, it’s a timely work that will remain with you, as that is the haunting genius of Adam Johnson.

I admit that I’m obsessed with “Downton Abbey” on PBS’ Masterpiece Classic. If you haven’t yet tuned in, you must. It’s an irresistible period drama set during the start of WWI in the English countryside, and it follows the lives of the nobility and their servants in a grand estate, much in the style of another PBS favorite, “Upstairs, Downstairs.”

Julian Fellowes has created unforgettable characters and plot twists, full of passion; unrequited love; duplicitous dealings and jealous maneuvers; unexpected family and servant relationships; and that magnificent manor itself – breathtaking Downton Abbey. You’ll be drawn in by the drama that befalls the benevolent Lord and Lady Grantham and their three grown daughters -- there’s the complicated angle of the inheritance, as well as much heartbreak and plotting. And delve into the delicious world of the staff with their alliances, romances, and backstabbing behavior. And to further intrigue you, everyone in the house is keeping plenty of secrets.

If you’re taken with the drama, history, and romance in this series and are craving more, I suggest you try to capture that feeling in book form; it lasts longer than an episode and will transport you just the same. Start with Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey, the true story of Highclere Castle, where "Downton Abbey" is filmed, and the real-life inspiration for the hit PBS show. Then explore these three English period dramas and two exceptional WWI history books.

Parade’s End by Ford Madox Ford
Set in England during World War I, this tetralogy explores the world of the English ruling class as it descends into the chaos of war. An officer from a wealthy family finds himself torn between his unfaithful socialite wife and his suffragette mistress. It’s recently been adapted for BBC TV and is coming to the U.S. at a future date.

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
Published to critical acclaim, this intensely romantic yet stunningly realistic novel spans three generations and the unimaginable gulf between the First World War and the present. It’s been recently adapted for BBC TV and is coming to PBS’ Masterpiece Theater April 22 and 29, 2012.

Howards End by E. M. Forster
This classic is about an English country house and its influence on the lives of the wealthy and materialistic Wilcoxes; the cultured, idealistic Schlegel sisters; and the poor bank clerk Leonard Bast. Bringing together people from different classes and nations, Howards End addresses the question "Who shall inherit England?"

Missing of the Somme by Geoff Dyer
Part travelogue, part meditation on remembrance, this book is completely unlike any other about the First World War. Through visits to battlefields and memorials, Dyer examines the way that photographs and film, poetry and prose determine the way we remember the war.

Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy by David Cannadine
A significant tome: At the outset of the 1870s, the British aristocracy held the lion's share of land, wealth, and power in the world's greatest empire. By the end of the 1930s they had lost not only a generation of sons in the First World War, but also much of their prosperity, prestige, and political significance.

As I read Haruki Murakami’s brilliant memoir, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, I imagined the sensation of quiet and solitude one feels when absorbed in motion, covering ground, thinking or not thinking. In fact, Murakami describes his desire to run “in order to acquire a void,” a cozy, wonderful place to be. (Given his talent for wildly imaginative plots, a calm zone is likely in order from time to time.) With his characteristic mellifluous tone and approachable style, he pens a personal introduction to his lifelong passion for running, second only to his first love of writing, and the consummate connection between the two.

Murakami began running seriously at age thirty-three and has kept up a routine of six miles a day, six days a week – 156 miles a month. He runs at least one marathon and triathlon each year. But how do these grueling physical accomplishments tie in to his writing? In this account Murakami compares writing to long-distance running, claiming that to succeed in either you need three crucial elements: talent, focus, and endurance. He admits that he would not be the same writer if he weren’t a runner. Running trains one to keep rhythm throughout one's pursuit: “I run fast when I feel like it … the point being to let the exhilaration I feel at the end of each run carry over to the next day … This is the same sort of tack I find necessary when writing a novel. I stop every day right at the point where I feel I can write more. Do that, and the next day’s work goes surprisingly smooth.” This lesson can also be applied to the bigger picture of life -- and there are plenty of these life lessons in the book. This is not just a memoir; it is a musing on aging, acceptance, perseverance, vitality, and commitment, and there are many philosophical and practical suggestions one can take away from it.

Interestingly, Murakami reveals that, in a way, drawing upon your creativity is a dangerous mission; he calls writing “unhealthy” and “antisocial.” “When we use writing to create a story … a kind of toxin that lies deep down in all humanity rises to the surface.” The antidote, in his opinion, is to use energy to confront the dangers of the true self, and he derives the energy from physical activity.

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running is full of private anecdotes from a beloved writer who, despite his accessible prose, has until now seemed rather mysterious. He reveals the quirky moment when the idea of becoming a writer came to him; he tells of how he feels unlikeable to others; how people can still surprise him; he speaks of his determination to be himself and not worry about pleasing everybody; and his realization that “human beings naturally continue doing things that they like, and they don’t continue what they don’t like.” It would seem running and writing suit Murakami very well. We urge him to continue, though it seems we needn't: it would likely prove impossible to get him to slow down in either pursuit.

The literary themes of murder, forbidden love, fate, and destiny are timeless and compelling, and David Guterson, bestselling author of Snow Falling on Cedars, is a master in this realm. In his latest novel, Ed King, his cast of desperately flawed, opportunistic characters who connive and lust and scheme are surprisingly empathetic, always shocking, and downright enthralling. In other words, they are the ones you love to hate. Throughout this fast-paced novel, we are again and again witness to the choices they make that derail their lives. With dark humor and a style reminiscent of Phillip Roth and John Irving, Guterson takes us inside two dysfunctional families’ intertwined histories and creates a modern-day Oedipal tale.

Meet Walter Cousins, a thirty-four-year-old married actuary; it’s intentionally ironic that his profession is one that involves calculating risk. In a self-destructive move, he takes a huge risk himself when he slips into bed with his British au pair, Diane Burroughs, fifteen years old, and wise beyond her years. She conceives and they conspire to hide her pregnancy, after which she disappears, leaving the baby on a stranger’s doorstep. All the while she is blackmailing Walter and sparking the tinderbox that leads to a series of explosive events. Diane goes on to become a call girl, drug dealer, femme fatale, and all-around hustler who aims to have her way at all costs.

Her baby is adopted by Alice and Dan King, who name their darling Ed. They spare no expense for his future and love him wholeheartedly with high hopes and expectations, almost more so than their biological son. We experience Ed’s idyllic childhood, pining teen years, and then the dreadful, flippant mistake that changes his life forever. Still, he grows into the sort of guy you’d want to date, interesting, smart, handsome, oh, and an Internet billionaire, but he probably wouldn’t want to date you because he prefers older women. You might be able to see where this careening story is going and Guterson takes you there in a breathtaking manner.

This is a novel that explores big themes: human error, greed, vanity, taboos. One recalls the adage, “The heart wants what the heart wants,” and winces. If you’re apt to look for the elements of Greek tragedy in your own life and in the drama of your friends’ lives, this one will go straight to your heart.

Ernest Hemingway is known for being passionate about his writing and his women, and in The Paris Wife, Paula McLain invites you into the complex, intimate relationship between “Hem” and his compelling first wife, Hadley. Taking inspiration from Hemingway’s memoirs, A Moveable Feast, McLain delves into the characters’ emotional lives and brings new insight to historical events, while staying true to the facts. Her gorgeous book takes you on a journey through the 1920s from Prohibition Chicago to the cafes and boudoirs of Paris to the bullfights of Pamplona. It is a sweeping tale of a love affair as well as the fascinating development of one of America’s literary giants.

Hadley yearns to live life and be swept away by true love. She falls for handsome, confident Ernest, ever so charming and intense, and their relationship rockets, first stateside, then, once married, to Paris, to live the artist’s life. At first they are happy, infatuated with one another, drinking and dining with friends. McClain sets the scene in breathtaking detail, making you want to jet to the City of Light immediately, the green absinthe, the rich meals and brandies, Chanel’s sharp designs floating through the crowds.

But we see how Ernest is obsessed with his writing most of all, breaking his sentences down to what he sees as the raw truth. He leaves each morning to write and drink alone all day, only to come home at night to fall into bed with his “Cat.” She pines for him but doesn’t complain, only wanting to love and please him. Clearly, his writing, his art, is what makes him happy; Hadley is an afterthought, albeit a sparkly one. Still, with hope, she immerses herself into his world as they befriend destined-to-be greats -- Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott Fitzgerald -- who become Hemingway’s confidantes and critics.

Throughout their marriage, we witness how Ernest’s pride, selfishness, and volatile temper slowly and inevitably destroy their union. There are his love affairs, so strange and disquieting they must be read to be believed. And there is always Hadley’s enduring attachment to her “Tiny,” who never seems to lose his intoxicating power over her, until his final betrayal.

This novel begins with the promise of fierce young love and ambition, along with a dark note foreshadowing self-destruction. Hadley muses, “Why we couldn’t stop drinking or talking or kissing the wrong people no matter what it ruined.” And later Ernest declares, “Love is a beautiful liar.” By the conclusion of their story, you’ll reflect on your choices in love, what you’ve said to justify satisfying only yourself, what you’ve lost, and whether it was all worth it in the end. Best read with a couple of glasses of champagne!