Saralee Says
Memorial Day weekend is the traditional kick off for summer and it is a great time to start collecting the stack of books you intend to read before Labor Day. At the top of my stack is The Last Odd Day by Lynne Hinton (HarperCollins). One of her earlier books, The Friendship Cake is a favorite of many Nashville book clubs, as are those that continue the saga, Hope Springs and Forever Friends. The Last Odd Day features new characters and it may be Hinton's best book yet - unforgettable and the perfect gift for a friend.
What Was She Thinking- Notes on a Scandal by Zoë Heller (Henry Holt) will soon be out in paperback. The author of Everything You Want to Know manages to make her characters comical and creepy. If you cannot get enough of the Rat Pack then select Gilligan's Wake by Tom Carson (Picador). The writer deftly uses his background as a columnist for The Village Voice and Esquire to infuse his novel with characters famous in our pop culture.
An Inconvenient Wife by Megan Chance (Warner Books) is ideal for devotees of historical fiction. Lucy Carleton wants to be an asset to her husband in society but instead becomes dependent on something only Dr. Victor Seth can cure - a plot perfect for fans of both Edith Wharton and Nora Roberts. Mary, Called Magdalene by Margaret George (Penguin) is perfect for those who are seeking answers to questions raised in Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code (Doubleday). I also really liked The High Flyer by Susan Howatch (Ballantine Books). Londoner Carter Graham's life comes crashing down around her and Howatch continues her tradition of resolving her characters' problems with a dose of religion.
Great nonfiction books include Edward R. Murrow and the Birth of Broadcast Journalism by Bob Edwards (Wiley), former host of National Public Radio's show, Morning Edition. Local author and Vanderbilt professor Cecelia Tichi has written the juicy tell-all Exposes and Excess (Penn). Tichi dishes the dirt on those who made it big and rich during the Gilded Age.
If you feel the need to try to please your children, co-workers, parents and significant others, then carry I Know I'm in There Somewhere (Gotham Books) by Helene Brenner, everywhere with you. Brenner offers suggestions to those who are too busy pleasing others and end up neglecting themselves.
Larry's Language
Crime novels full of clues and tough characters are always a good choice for weekend or vacation reading. Start with The Science of Cold Case Files by Katherine Ramsland (Berkley) that will give you the scientific basis for the fiction and will also explain those television shows like CSI and Cold Case Files. Then go for the good stuff.
The Enemy by Lee Child (Delacorte Press) is a great tale about a man with no name cleaning up the town and (sort of) riding off into the sunset. The Body of David Hayes by Ridley Pearson (Hyperion Press) continues the Lou Boldt Seattle detective series. John Sandford has another scary murder case in Hidden Prey (Putnam).
Down Here by Andrew Vachss (Knopf) is another chapter in the battle against child violence. Therapy by Jonathan Kellerman (Ballantine Books) marks a return to form for psychiatrist Alex Delaware after two weak novels in a row. Steve Hamilton's Ice Run (Minotaur) is another in his grimy and realistic northern Michigan series. Call the Devil by His Oldest Name by Sallie Bissell ties with The Narrows by Michael Connelly (Little Brown) as the best mystery of the year so far.
If you liked the movie Troy, read about the next real thing in the Greek world. Alexander the Conqueror by Laura Foreman (Perseus Books) shows the remarkable and epic story of a young warrior king who bends the world to his will.
If your desire runs more toward American conquests, try The Twist by Richard Calder (Four Walls Eight Windows Press) a different kind of 1950s Cold War/futuristic novel.
The true explorer in the family will be delighted to read On the River with Lewis and Clark by Verne Huser (Texas A&M Press) and travel their 10,000 mile journey through the magnificent American west.
For a local author, try A Turbulent Peace - The Psalms for Our Time by Ray Waddle (Upper Room Books) as he connects the sacred and the secular worlds.
Introduce the movie buffs in the familiy to The Films of Tim Burton by Alison McMahan (Continuum Books) where the reader can learn about the bizarre genius that directed Beetlejuice and Batman.
Join us for our next bookclub discussion which will feature The Jane Austen Book Club - A Novel by Karen Joy Fowler.
