A little bit Kafka, a little bit "Geek Love", The Convalescent by Jessica Anthony looks at the people living on the outside of society with an oddball tenderness and lyricism that's truly amazing. It's unpredictable and touching, romantic and skewball all at the same time. Makes you really think about what beauty is!

Submitted by: Elizabeth Platt

If you somehow got through high school without an English teacher having this book on a required reading list you've missed out on one of the greatest books ever written. Pick up a copy and get started. J.D. Salinger is a brilliant author. He will capture your imagination from the first page and take you on a literary journey you won't soon forget. Enjoy!

Submitted by: MJ

Lit by Mary Karr is the third in a series of memoirs. The first book in the series, The Liars Club, was widely acclaimed. The second in the series, Cherry, was also well received. Each of the books deals with a different era in Mary's life.

Surviving a childhood filled with alcoholism, mental illness, and violence set the stage for a life of challenge for this very talented woman. Her talent for writing was her salvation. Lit deals with her own battle with alcoholism. It is one of the most honest accounts I have ever read of the journey from the jaws of death to recovery.

I love the fact that she doesn't blame her childhood or her marriage for her problems but takes responsibility for her own recovery. Her life as a single mother and aspiring writer makes for a very compelling story. Best of all, the writing is amazing. I loved this book.

Submitted by: Sharon Booher Johnson

Just finished The Girl Who Played with Fire, the second book in the "The Girl" trilogy, by Stieg Larsson. I found the second book to be even better than the first. The depth and detail of the story and characters jump off the pages.

I am looking forward to the U.S publishing of the third book The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (although I just learned you can order the U.K. edition through Amazon). It's too bad Larsson isn't alive to hear the international praise for his books.

Sumitted by: MJ

A page-turner you can't put down, non-fiction, and scary! Read on!

Presently, a controversial flu vaccine is being grown using cancerous monkey cells. Millions of people were injected, or took orally, in the late 1950's and early 1960's, these doses of contaminated polio vaccines carrying the SV40 monkey virus, which causes multiple kinds of cancer. Today, most people now have SV40 monkeyvirus in their systems, but only in this book will you find the reason, why it was covered up, and its links to secret laboratories, murders, and assassinations.

This is an underground book sensation produced by a press famous for repressed books, but read the amazon.com reviews to see why this book is an important MUST READ.

If you are interested in learning more about this book or the author you can visit the author's web site for more information.

Cultural misunderstandings, crazy and dangerous situations, inter-cultural friendships, love and disappointment and the excitement of exploring. "Crossing Borders" tells the story of living and becoming an adult in a foreign country. For anyone who likes to travel, whether in their mind or reality.

If you are interested in learning more about the author Michael Ferris and of his amazing journeys traveling abroad, you can visit his website.

I loved the characters in this novel. There were many subplots that in the end explained the original storyline.

Summer Knight is the fourth book in the Dresden Series by Jim Butcher. Harry Dresden is a wizard who helps the Special Investigation unit of the Chicago police force investigate unusual crimes.

The Dresden series novels remind me of a cross between a grownup Harry Potter and a gumshoe detective story. In Summer Knight, Harry is attacked by faeries, hunted by vampires and called to appear before the White Council which oversees wizard behavior. Harry Dresden almost never has a good day. He is often attacked, aching and short on funds but Harry always tries to do the right thing.

The fourth book was my favorite so far – good amount of action and pretty fast paced. I also enjoyed the first book of the series. The second and third books moved a bit slower. I have just started book 5, Death Masks. Summer Knight will appeal to men and women alike.

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult begins with a list of all the things you can do in nineteen minutes ending with - in Nineteen Minutes you can change your life.

In Nineteen Minutes, Jodi Picoult explores a young man going into his high school on a shooting rampage. She explores the young man's life and the lives of those around him. She also causes us to reflect on how our own expectations for the teenagers in our lives can mix with years of disappointment and torment by their peers to push a young person to desire relief through such an extreme action.

All is not what it seems and I found myself haunted by this book, so much so that more than a year after reading it, I am writing this review.

I like to read books that make me think, challenge my perceptions and stay with me. This book gets high marks in all these areas.

Lullaby is a book by Chuck Palahniuk, the author of Fight Club. The premise of Lullaby is the existence of a culling song, a song or lullaby that when spoken, song or even thought causes a painless death. When a culling song is included in a book of Poems and Nursery Rhymes from around the world, infants are dying.

Chuck Palahniuk writes modern day parables that are intriguing stories and so much more. He is a keen observer of pop culture and weaves his observations through the story line.

The book is 260 pages with short, quick paced chapters. I was completely absorbed by the book and found it invaded my dreams the night I finished it.

Definitely not a "warm and fuzzy" read but a book I find myself pondering days later.