Saralee Says
Looking for that perfect book to take on vacation? Or are you unable to travel and just need a great mental escape? Curl up with these but be forewarned - some of these books are impossible to put down.
The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger (Doubleday) - Everything you wanted to know about what goes on behind the glamorous scenes of fashion. If you liked the self-absorbed narcissistic women in The Nanny Diaries then you will love this book.
Step-Ball-Change by Jeanne Ray (Shaye Areheart Books) - A funny southern romp by a Nashville author who took the literary world by storm with Julie and Romeo and her newest book, Eat Cake, is also expected to be a best-seller.
Pharaoh - Volume II of Kleopatra by Karen Essex (Warner Books) - If you missed the first book, Kleopatra, in this historical series, then read it before reading Pharaoh. Former Nashvillian Essex is now living in Los Angeles and adapting her compelling historical sagas into screenplays.
Plant Life by Pamela Duncan (Delacorte Press) - A protégé of Lee Smith, Duncan's first novel, Moon Women, was well received by the critics. Like Moon Women, this book is sure to be another hit for author Duncan. It is about women who come together to overcome the heartaches of life.
Garden of Faith by Lynn Hinton (HarperCollins) - A pastor for the First Congregational Church has woven a series that is more serious than Jan Karon's novels but just as spiritual. Like her first book, The Friendship Cake, Garden of Faith is sure to be popular with many religious book clubs.
Around the Kitchen Table - Lessons Learned by and Lives Shaped by Mary Clement (Walnut Grove Press) - Republicans and Democrats agree that Tennessee's Director of Consumer Affairs is one of the most likeable people in our state. Her book is perfect for anyone's period of daily reflection.
Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik (Ballantine) - If you liked Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, then dive right into this hilarious and quirky book about odd women who live in Minnesota. The author of Patty Jane's House of Curls combines humor and tenderness in a brilliant way.
Family Trust by Amanda Brown (Dutton) - From the author of Legally Blond this is the perfect book for the beach for career girls that are running from the mommy track.
Falling Angels by Tracy Chevalier (Plume) - Girl With A Pearl Earring was this author's huge success and is on many summer reading lists. This book is a great follow up for the serious reader.
Milk Glass Moon by Adriana Trigiani (Ballantine) - The third in the series about Ava Maria Mulligan MacChesney in the Big Stone Gap books. Spell-binding and just as well written as Big Stone Gap and Big Cherry Holler.
Absolute Certainty by Rose Connor (Scribner) - According to some of our readers, if you like mysteries by Lisa Scottoline then you will love Rose Connor.
Larry's Language
These are just for fun and entertainment, so enjoy!
The Vanished Man by Jeffery Deaver (Simon & Schuster) - Both mystery writers and magicians depend upon misdirection for their tricks and entertainment in this superb example of illusion, intrigue and death.
A Darker Justice by Sallie Bissell (Bantam) - This Nashville author succeeds with a frightening story of the murder of three federal judges and their investigation by assistant DA Mary Crow.
The Sinister Pig by Tony Hillerman (HarperCollins) - Navajo police officers Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn investigate the murder of a former CIA agent in a homeland security case.
The White Road by John Connolly (Atria) - Descend into the abyss as the best new noir crime writer discovers the South Carolina family secrets that impact a current rape trial.
Back Story by Robert B. Parker (Putnam) - Boston private detective Spenser does a favor with unintended consequences for his adoptive son by investigating a murder committed during a bank holdup 30 years ago.
Same Knight, Different Channel by Nashvillian Jack Isenhour (Brasseys) - The extraordinary and difficult life and coaching career of Bob Knight by one of his former players.
Black Dahlia Avenger by Steve Hodel (Arcade) - For the true crime lover, the enduring mystery of the 1947 murder of Elizabeth Short and the abandonment of her half-nude, hacked body in Los Angeles. The author, a former cop, decides that his own father was the killer.
Vicious Spring by Hollis Hampton-Jones (Riverhead Books) - another Nashville author. All the trash, all the time in this drug soaked journey through lap dancing and individual striving in a book about honesty and self-awareness.
No Second Chance by Harlan Coben (Dutton) - When surgeon Marc Seidman wakes up as a gunshot patient, the bad news is that his wife has been murdered and his daughter kidnapped. The worse news is the arrival of the ransom note and what he learns about his family's past.
The Tattooed Girl by Joyce Carol Oates (HarperCollins) - The kind of disturbing delight that we expect from Oates. A reclusive author employs a young woman as his assistant only to have to deal with her anger and prejudice.
A Parchment of Leaves by Silas House (Algonquin) - The fictional account of a Cherokee woman in 1917 who marries outside her culture and tries to make a life in the Appalachian mountains.
The Impressionist by Hari Kunzru (Dutton) - From childhood near the Taj Mahal to exile into the streets at 15, young Pran Nath Razdan lives a life of torment as he fights for his own identity in London and Oxford.
Join us for our next book club discussion, which will feature The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown, then Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History by George Crile.
