What a delightful and richly imaginative book! Author Alice Hoffman has perfected the genre of magical realism, telling tales that are captivating and intelligent with just a sprinkle of magic.

This is the first of a three-book series, and while it's not as strong as other Hoffman novels—the writing feels rushed somehow—it is still wonderful.

The Owens siblings—Franny, Jet, and Vincent—were brought up to think they were normal, but they know better. Birds alight on Franny's hands, Jet can read people's minds, and everyone who sees Vincent falls in love with him. When Franny turns 17, she follows family tradition and traipses from her New York City home to her aunt's old house in Massachusetts. Jet and Vincent accompany her, and the three of them spend a memorable summer with Aunt Isabelle, who helps them realize the obvious: They are witches. In addition to learning spells and potions, they learn about their bloodline, which extends to the Salem witch trials. They also learn about the Owens family curse that dates to 1620: If they fall in love, the object of their desire will fall to great harm. The book is the riveting story of their lives—and loves—and how they live with such a curse hanging over them. What is the remedy for this curse? What is the remedy for being fully human?

The real magic of this novel isn't the hocus-pocus. It's the words of wisdom about life and fate, love and loss, and death and dying. Enchanting storytelling combined with complex characters equals a novel that is a true pleasure to read and is perfect for those cool, bewitching autumn evenings.

Bonus: The three rules of magic espoused in the novel are also ideal rules for living a happy, good life.

This is a short novel that is eloquently written, but it's a very slow, almost abstract read. It is a deeply profound and philosophical book that tackles the big questions, such as the meaning of life, the importance of love and family, the significance of God, the impact of the Christian church in our daily lives, especially through the sacraments of Holy Baptism and the Holy Eucharist, and the grief we humans suffer.

While parts of it are absolutely mesmerizing, much of it is rambling and sluggish. There are no chapter breaks; instead, it is a single, long narrative.

Translation: This isn't a book for everyone.

It's the 1950s, and the Rev. John Ames is dying. He 76 years old with a wife in her early 40s and a seven-year-old son. John is the minister at the congregational church in the fictional town of Gilead, Iowa. The book is a letter he is writing to his young son. In addition to stories about his life, he offers life lessons—those things he would have shared with and taught the boy had John lived to see his son become an adult. He also explains to him what John calls his son's "begats"; that is, the family history, which goes back 100 years to John's rather eccentric grandfather, who served as a chaplain for the Union forces in the Civil War.

While this highly original book by Marilynne Robinson feels like a prayer in parts, it is just as much the theological inquiry of a man who spent his life in the Lord's service as he considers and deeply probes what it all means.

This is an intelligent and accomplished literary achievement. Read it because it is a masterpiece, but don't expect a compelling, page-turner of a story.

Typically, we learn a lot about and frequently see in the news Supreme Court justices only when they are nominated and subsequently confirmed by the Senate after a series of hearings, some of which can be quite confrontational and even belligerent. Then they seemingly disappear from public view. This book, expertly written by Jeffrey Toobin, gives us an inside look into what is largely considered a highly secret, if not clandestine, branch of government.

What makes this book especially fascinating is that it is both a detailed expose on how the Supreme Court works, as well as a deep dive into the personalities and quirks of the nine justices. Published in 2008, the book focuses largely on the William Rehnquist court of 1986 to 2005 and then the first few years of the John Roberts court that began in 2005.

When Toobin explores the major Supreme Court cases—from Planned Parenthood v. Casey (a 1992 landmark ruling on abortion rights) to Bush v. Gore (which settled the contentious 2000 presidential election), he not only explains the cases, what they mean, and which justices supported/opposed them, but also the interactions, ploys, and conversations between the justices. It is the latter that makes this book so worth reading.

Find out…
• …why Roe v. Wade was not overturned in the early 1990s when eight of the nine justices had been appointed by Republican presidents.

• …about the surprising workplace culture of the Supreme Court, including how often they socialize or chit chat at work and off the job.

• …the real mess the justices made of the 2000 election decision of which even they are (mostly) still ashamed, as well as the unintended consequences of both this decision and the George W. Bush presidency that altered the culture and leanings of the justices.

• …why there really are only two types of cases before the Supreme Court: abortion cases and all others.

• …why the Fourteenth Amendment seems to be critical to so many Supreme Court cases.

Even though there are several sections that are heavy on legalese, the book overall is highly readable and no law degree is needed to understand it and enjoy it.

Who are you…really? And can you ever escape your past to create a completely different future? When do lies become the truth? These are the central questions that gently guide the characters and plot of this engaging book by Brit Bennett.

Desiree and Stella are identical twins born in Mallard, Louisiana, a town so small it's not on any map. Mallard's population is quite unusual: All are light-skinned (and some are very light-skinned) Blacks. As little girls, Desiree and Stella watch as their father is lynched. They grow up poor, so poor their mother forces them to leave high school and work. Despising this life, the inseparable twins together disappear one night, wanting to leave their suffocating little hometown for the city of New Orleans. Stella successfully passes as white, and one day she seemingly disappears to begin life as the wife of a highly successful white man. A devastated Desiree moves to Washington, D.C. and marries a Black man, who abuses her. While Desiree and Stella spend their lives apart, each has a daughter. When these two very different girls meet and figure out who the other is, the family's lives are upended. Secrets and lies have a way of eventually revealing the truth. The title of the book not only describes what Desiree and Stella feel when they separate, but also how Stella feels when she denies who she is in order to live a life that is grounded on a deception, duplicity, and betrayal.

This intriguing multigenerational story is emotionally complex with a richly imagined storyline that also serves as a brilliant reflection on race, racism, and the essence of our very identity as a human being.

This is a highly creative and original collection of short stories celebrating the 100th anniversary of women's right to vote in the United States.

Written by a celebrity lineup of some of our country's best living writers—Paula McLain, Christina Baker Kline, Jamie Ford, Chris Bohjalian, and Fiona Davis among others—all the stories take place on a single day: October 23, 1915 in New York City. On that day, thousands of women dressed in white (as well as yellow, purple, and green) and marched in a three-mile parade down Fifth Avenue in support of women's suffrage with an even larger crowd watching—and sometimes jeering—on the sidewalks.

It's easy to Google this parade and find out the big, sweeping historical facts. And while readers of this book will learn much about the suffrage movement and this one parade, the short stories focus more on the microcosm—the individual women who marched. For many women, this was a true act of personal bravery as they defied their husbands, sons, and the mores of the times to take part in this decidedly unladylike venture.

As is the case in any short story collection, especially those with different authors, some stories are stronger than others. My favorites were "Siobhán," by Katherine J. Chen and "Apple Season," by Lisa Wingate.

One fun literary ploy is used. In my opinion, the weakest story is "A First Step," by M.J. Rose. It's the story of Katrina Tiffany, wife of Charles Lewis Tiffany, who was the son of stained-glass artist Louis Comfort Tiffany, and their seven-year-old niece, Grace. The story has an odd ending that just left me hanging. But it turns out, that was not really the end. The story of Grace weaves its way through two other stories, mostly as an unimportant sidebar until the real ending of "A First Step" is finally revealed in Fiona Davis's "The Last Mile." That's clever and fun.

Most of all, this is a literary celebration of women's suffrage, as each of the stories applauds the brave, strong, and persistent women a century ago who changed the United States forever when their mission succeeded.

If you're the type of reader who stops reading a book early on because it doesn't grab you right away, don't even bother with this one. The first half of this bestselling thriller by Gillian Flynn is so slow, it's almost boring. It's one very long set-up. And then about halfway through, whamo! The speed picks up, the plot thickens, and before too long, the story totally changes direction and yanks you on a roller coaster ride. Fasten your seatbelts, readers.

Nick Dunne and Amy Elliott Dunne are both stewing in a miserable, unhappy marriage. After living the good life in New York City—hot shot jobs, lots of money, the right house in the right neighborhood—it all disappears seemingly overnight when both are laid off within weeks of each other. At Nick's insistence, they move to his childhood home of North Carthage, Missouri, a small town on the banks of the Mississippi River. On the day of their fifth wedding anniversary, Amy disappears. As typically happens in these cases, many believe Nick is responsible. Is he? Did he murder his wife? Or is something even more diabolical going on?

The No. 1 strength of this book is the plot twists…one after another. And even those twists and turns I could see coming were still a page-turning exhilaration. This is a book you read with eyes wide open—even if it's way (way!) past your bedtime.

Like most thrillers, this one is plot-driven to the exclusion of all other literary niceties. Even so, it is more than a straight-up thriller: It's also a psychological study of Nick and Amy—and boy are they messed up. Both are meanspirited, selfish, coldhearted, and diabolical. As their loveless marriage and carefully cultivated professional lives unravel, their deepest secrets and flagrant lies devastatingly haunt and harm them. I give a lot of credit to Gillian Flynn, though. Even though I disliked both of them (a lot!), I still cared about them. That doesn't often happen with such characters.

But…and this is a big 'but." The ending is disappointing. VERY disappointing. It's as if Gillian Flynn just got tired of writing and stopped.

Who knew grammar books could be FUN!?! And FUNNY!?! This one is both.

STOP right there.

What I just did with the exclamation points and question marks is absolutely NEVER DONE. That's the definitive word from copyeditor extraordinaire Benjamin Dreyer, the author of this must-read tome for all those who truly care about getting it right when they write. While the book's primary audience is book authors (of which I am not), it is still valuable, informative, and fun for the rest of us. (Yes, fun. This book is one of the most fun books I have read in a long time.)

The book can be used two ways: Use it as a reference volume that you consult as needed, or read it in its entirety from first to last page as I did.

Dreyer will set you straight on a lot of things, including:
• words you should never use in writing or conversation

• some of the most important English grammar rules and some "nonrules"

• punctuation problems

• a highly entertaining list of frequently misspelled words

• an equally highly entertaining list of frequently confused words

• a list of celebrity names almost all of us spell incorrectly, such as Zbigniew Brzezinski, Dan Aykroyd, Cruella De Vil, and Wookiee.

• a list of trademarked names that is riveting to read. (I mean that. It is.) For example, fun fact about Häagen-Dazs: The name of this ice cream manufacturer is not Danish but gibberish intended to sound Danish.

If you love words and sentences and have fond memories of seventh grade grammar, this book is a treat!

Advice: Read all the footnotes. Not only are they informative, smart, and sassy, but also they are hilarious!

This is not the kind of book I could read in the winter while curled up in front of a blazing fire or in the summer lazing poolside. This is the kind of book I felt I should read sitting up straight in my desk chair. This book is work! But like anything that demands full concentration, a bit of effort, and even a furrowed brow, the reward is (mostly) worth it.

Written by Yuval Noah Harari, this is a series of predictions of problems we will face in the 21st century—from the power of artificial intelligence to the theater of terrorism. What makes it fascinating is that it is also a philosophical treatise. Harari may make a prediction—such as, the job market as we know it will disappear—but he counters it with what this means for individuals, families, companies, governments, and society as a whole.

Here are just a few of his predictions/philosophical treatises:
• Find out how the merger of biotechnology and artificial intelligence will seek to change the very meaning of humanity. (Read that sentence again. It's really frightening!)

• Find out why philosophy may be best college major for finding a job (yes, really!), and why physicians, psychiatrists, and even artists could be replaced by computers. (But nurses will still have jobs.)

• In the 21st century, what asset do you think will be the most valuable? Land, machinery, or personal data? Yep, it's personal data. And with enough of it coupled with enough computing power, data giants (think Facebook, Google, and Amazon) will be able to hack the deepest secrets of life. How will they manipulate human beings?

• Find out why it will be extremely difficult for major powers to wage successful wars in the 21st century—and it's not only because of the suicidal threat of nuclear weapons.

• Find out why the future is not what you see in movies. It is totally different and far scarier.

And then Harari takes an odd—and for me, quite disconcerting—detour. When it comes to religion, instead of predicting the form and shape it will take and the impact it will have on individuals, nations, and cultures in the 21st century as he did with every other issue he explores in the book, he spends pages and pages and pages debunking as fictional stories the tenets and history of the world's major religions, focusing especially on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. I vehemently disagreed with his thoughts, but I kept reading…waiting for what he didn't offer: He did not connect those important dots and offer his opinion of the future of religion in this century. And until he got to this subject, that was the point of the book. Because he didn't do this, he just used his book as a bully platform against religion. And that's the reason I gave it three stars.

I will say this: While I didn't agree with everything Harari posits, he always made me think. And that's one of the greatest powers of reading.

Have you ever watched a horror movie with your hands covering your eyes, but your fingers weren't actually touching-- just so you could see through them a little? Yeah, that's this book.

Let's back up a bit.

Written by Emma Donoghue, this is the story of Julia Power, a midwife/nurse in an overwhelmed Dublin hospital in 1918 at the height of the flu pandemic. The Great War is still raging, creating intense deprivations for the residents of Dublin—from too little food to too little fuel. The story takes place over three days—October 31, November 1, and November 2—when Julia is suddenly placed in charge of a small three-bed overflow ward of pregnant women who have developed the flu. Working tirelessly by her side is Bridie, a young volunteer with a mysterious background that is slowly revealed. Dr. Kathleen Lynn, a physician who is part of the fledgling and violent Sinn Féin political movement, makes occasional appearances on the ward.

Back to covering your eyes…a very large part of the story's narrative is detailed descriptions of these flu-infected women giving birth prematurely, a common complication of the 1918 flu. At times it's fascinating, but it's also almost always graphically gruesome. This is not a book you can read while eating lunch. If the sight of blood is too much for you, then reading this book will probably be difficult.

This is a very fast read. The action moves quickly as the plot—death, life, doom, hope—relentlessly unfolds, much like someone suffering with the flu. At times, it's almost too much to read, too much to take in, but the gripping, provocative story will not be left alone for long.

This is a story about the power of the human soul to survive and the body to fight for life. It is about finding love in unexpected places, and the joy and hope that brings even as death scurries around the corner.

A note for 2020: Even though it was written before Covid-19, this is a pertinent book for our times. If nothing else, it serves as a reminder that the world has previously experienced and recovered from a pandemic—one far worse than Covid-19. And even in our turbulent, politically divisive times, we are not experiencing a world war as well as a deadly illness that killed between 3 percent and 6 percent of all humans worldwide. It was worse in 1918 than it is now. We will survive this, too.

This book is brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Written by Anna Solomon, it is the story of three women from vastly different times, and when their separate stories merge into one, it is creative genius.

The three stories:
• Lily: It's 2016, and Lily and Adam and their daughters Rosie and June live in a New York City rental apartment. Lily is 46. She has given up her dreams of becoming a writer to be a stay-at-home mom, but she is horribly conflicted about it. Her inner turmoil only becomes more tumultuous when she develops a crush on a friend's husband.

• Vee: It's the early 1970s in Washington, D.C. Vee is married to Alex, a U.S. senator from Rhode Island. Alex enjoys rough sex, but nothing prepares Vee for the shocking and shameful request Alex makes of her during a party they host—and her response changes absolutely everything in her life.

• Esther: It's about 475 years before the birth of Christ, and Esther, a poor Hebrew living in tents in Persia, is chosen from dozens of women to replace the banished queen Vashti. While the story of how Esther saved her people is well known, the author sketches out a stunningly imaginative backstory that weaves a uniting thread through the stories of Lily, Vee, and Esther.

This is a fierce and smart book. The characters are vividly drawn, the multilayered plot is riveting, and the underlying message about the power of women in a world where they are dominated by men is provocative and profound.

This remarkable, heartwarming book by James McBride is truly an original. It's a masterpiece of a story that is unlike anything I have ever read. It's funny. It's tragic. And it's nearly perfect.

The book is a character-driven roller-coaster ride through a bleak, poverty-stricken part of Brooklyn just as heroin and the violent drug dealers who peddled it got a firm foothold. And, oh, what characters they are! From two old drunks named Deacon King Kong (also known as Sportcoat) and Hot Sausage, to the church ladies who rule and care for their insular world, to the teenagers who are just coming into their own and are being lured into a drug-fueled world of money and expensive sneakers, these characters together create a microcosm of society. And, you, the reader, are thrust into the middle of it.

Taking place in massive housing project in the fall of 1969, the book opens with an inexplicable—but not too destructive—act of violence when Sportcoat shoots 19-year-old Deems, a boy who can pitch a baseball at 90 mph but has decided selling heroin is a better way to live. Deems, whom Sportcoat has always treated as a son, is injured but not badly. Now…imagine that shooting scene as the hub of a wheel. The rest of the book is the spokes—the convoluted, fascinating, head-scratching stories, backstories, and actions of a slew of characters who are somehow related to this shooting. And every single one—from the white Irish cop to Sportcoat's dead wife to the Italian mobsters who are taking over the drug business—is vivid, real, and very colorful. Amazingly, even though there are what seem like a bajillion characters (give or take), it's easy to keep them all straight, which is a tribute to the terrific storytelling ability of James McBride. (And Kindle users can always use the X-ray feature if they need help with that.)

Parts of the book are hilarious. Parts of it are deadly serious. It's even part slapstick. But absolutely all of it is really, really good. This is a richly imagined story that drew me in slowly until I got wound up tight in it. The writing is extraordinary, a powerful force field of its own.

While the society in which the story takes places is fractured and destructive, there is also a deeply spiritual goodness that permeates over the despair and evil, leaving in its wake hope and love and faith. It's everything you want in a novel. Read it!

Bah humbug! Reading this book—and even though it's very short, I still had to force myself to finish it—is turning me into Scrooge. Author John Grisham should stick to writing legal thrillers.

I bought this book several years ago, but never read it. The title made it seem like the perfect book for 2020, since it feels like we're all skipping Christmas this year. I was wrong.

It's the Sunday after Thanksgiving and Luther and Nora Krank have just bid farewell to their only child, Blair, who has begun service in the Peace Corps in the jungles of Peru. Because she won't be home for Christmas, they decide to skip the celebration this year, as well as all the frenzied work that goes along with it, and go on a cruise instead. Thanks to ridiculously nosy neighbors, coworkers who pay far too much attention to Luther's personal life, and weirdly offended friends, their quest to skip Christmas is met with everything from concern to disbelief to outright hostility. And then the most unexpected and potentially calamitous thing happens.

The writing is part sappy and part snarky, the plot is groaningly predictable, and the characters are mind-numbingly one-dimensional. Paper dolls have more personality!

Don't skip Christmas, but make sure you skip this book. I'm being generous giving it three stars.

This very short, light book is hilarious! And it's also heartwarming. I laughed. I teared up. I loved it. But what's not to love about the author, Betty White?

Published in 2012 soon after Betty White's unlikely career resurgence following that classic Snickers ad that aired during the 2010 Super Bowl, which was followed by an Emmy award-winning gig hosting "Saturday Night Live" and a leading role in the TV Land sitcom "Hot in Cleveland," the book is combination memoir, life advice, and funny bits.

• Her exercise routine: "I have a two-story house and a bad memory."

• Her innuendos: When asked by an interviewer the very common question, "Is there anything you haven't done in your career that you would still like to do?" She answers, "Robert Redford."

Find out what it was like to host "Saturday Night Live," her honest take on the red carpet, what happens backstage at awards ceremonies, how the sexy homemaker character of Sue Ann Nivens she played on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" totally changed her career, and Robert Redford's response to her quip above.

The best chapter is the one titled "Animal Kingdom" in which Betty extols her love of animals in some quite unusual experiences she has had, including making good friends with Koko the gorilla and Beethoven, a Beluga whale at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta.

Written in a conversational tone, this book is a fast read laced with fun photos of Betty White's personal life and career. If you want an easy, short, feel-good read, grab this one!

This book consumed me. Often, I would look up after reading and like waking from a deep sleep, I wondered where I was. Or my husband would talk to me while I was reading, and all I wanted to do was tell him what had happened—not because I wanted to tell him about the book, but because I felt as if we both knew the characters as real people and I needed to tell him what they were doing now. Yes, this book consumed me.

Magnificently written by Louise Erdrich, this is the story of a group of close-knit Chippewas living on the Turtle Mountain Reservation in rural North Dakota. The novel begins in September 1953 and continues through the spring of 1954. Although Thomas Wazhashk, who works as a night watchman, might be considered the lead character, there are others who are just as important and prominent in the story. There are two major plotlines:
• Thomas works as a night watchman at the new jewel bearing plant so he can spend his days working for the tribe to better their poverty-stricken lives. When the U.S. Congress writes legislation to terminate the tribe, take their land, and relocate them to cities, Thomas enjoins the tribe to fight the government—with every brilliant trick he can muster.

• Patrice just graduated from high school and has a job at the jewel bearing plant to support her family as its only source of income. Her father is a drunk, who only comes home to steal their money and terrorize his wife and children. Patrice's sister, Vera, relocated to Minneapolis but is now missing, and her family is terrified for her. Patrice ventures to Minneapolis in an attempt to find her sister, and what has happened to her is truly horrific.

• More minor plotlines include two Mormon missionaries who want to convert the largely Roman Catholic tribe to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; the conflicts and passions of friends and lovers; and the wrestling with death—those deaths that are sudden, those that are feared, and those that are expected.

This is a masterpiece that I will long remember. It is not only a riveting story, but also an exposé on what it truly meant to be a Native American in the 1950s when government-sanctioned discrimination and deprivation of basic life services kept the tribes mired in deep poverty and often alcoholism. (Of course, how much has really changed in nearly 70 years?)

But in the hands of the talented Louise Erdrich what could be a dark, melancholy tale based on historical events becomes one of redemption and hope sprinkled with just enough laughs to make this book a real treasure.

This is what great literature does: It helps us appreciate and value other cultures and makes us better human beings.

This is a true horror story. It is impossible to read this book and not feel blessed—no matter what you're dealing with in your life.

This is the story of the Galvin family. Mimi and Don Galvin had 12 children—born from 1945 to 1965. Ten boys, two girls. Six of the boys developed schizophrenia, which not only wrecked their individual lives, but also wreaked permanent havoc on the rest of the family. When mental illness strikes a family, especially of this severity, everyone is irreparably touched, and often damaged, by it.

Author Robert Kolker does an extraordinary job dividing the tale into two parts: the personal and the scientific. First and foremost, this is the very personal, very tragic family story of the Galvins and how what seemed a picture-perfect life went astoundingly askew. In addition, he offers extensive factual information about schizophrenia, the disturbing history of its treatment, and the progression of medical research about the disease over the years, which is still frustratingly slow, as well as the vital role the Galvins played in that research.

The book is imminently readable—even the medical information, which speaks volumes about Kolker's talent for "translating" scientific data, facts, and figures into an understandable and interesting narrative.

But the gem of the book is in the family stories, their 14 individual personalities, the horrific childhoods the Galvin children had, especially the two girls, and all they have done as adults to overcome those unspeakable circumstances. It is the story of two parents—a mother who was a demanding perfectionist with an uncanny ability to ignore the horror in front of her but was also the ultimate caregiver and a father who purposefully absented himself from the chaos and confusion of home through demanding work and numerous love affairs.

This is a story of suffering and heartbreak, but it's also a story of human resilience and the power of love. As much as it's a story of mental illness, science, and medicine, it is most of all a human story. A family story. And while it left me gasping in anguish, I was also filled with hope.

It all started with a lie. It was a spiteful, cruel lie that a vindictive man convinced his young daughter to tell against the father's hated rival. This remarkable novel by Anita Shreve is a lot of things—a psychological tale, a historical novel, a love story—but most of all, it is a story about one woman's quest for independence in an era that shunned such things.

It was the horrific lie that sent a young American wife and mother to flee her New Hampshire home for the Great War battlefields in France in 1916. She wanted to find the young man, Phillip Asher, whom her family had so wrongly ruined with her daughter's lie. With his reputation shattered, Phillip, too, had fled overseas to the war where he worked as an ambulance driver. Eventually, they do find one another. Phillip suffers a horrific injury, and when she sees his disfigured, ravaged face, she collapses. When she wakes up days later, she is in a different city in France with no memory of who she is or why she is there. But something deep inside her tells her to go to London to the Admiralty. She has no idea why or what it is she is seeking there. She makes up a name for herself: Stella Bain. How Stella physically recovers from the shell shock, how she emotionally recovers the life she once had, and how she finds true love are the gems of this magnificent story of the past, present, and future.

This is a moving, eloquent story that captures the emotional nuances of memory, loss, love, family, and a woman's right to live her life independently.

This is a 10-star book in a five-star world. This exceptionally well-written novel by Ethan Canin has it all: a compelling plot, fully-developed characters that just pop off the page, and a wise philosophical message about how we reconcile our life's dreams and hopes with what really happens.

It's the early 1970s and Corey Sifter, a working-class 16-year-old who actually thrives on physical labor, is helping his father repair a busted sewer line on the massive estate of Liam Metarey in Saline, New York. Meteray is quite taken with young Corey and hires him to work that summer on the estate, known as Aberdeen West. Corey embraces the opportunity, and before too long, Metarey makes a truly extraordinary offer to the young man—to send him to an elite boarding school all-expenses paid. Meanwhile, Metarey is a key player in the 1972 presidential campaign of Senator Henry Bonwiller, until something absolutely horrific happens that derails not only Bonwiller's campaign but also life as everyone then knew it.

The novel takes place in two time periods: modern day and the early 1970s with Corey narrating in the first person for both. Time slides back and forth and sometimes in an almost zig-zag pattern, but it always makes sense and serves to move the plot, as well as to create little cliffhangers. More than anything, managing the time swings so expertly speaks to the extraordinary writing capability of Ethan Canin.

The sophisticated storytelling, multilayered plot, and complex characters work in harmony to create a magnificent novel I will long remember.

Chances are, this book won't grab you on page one. It took quite a bit longer than that to pull me into the heart of what is really a simple story and the souls of what are actually quite complex characters. It was definitely worth the wait.

Written by Elizabeth Graver, this is the story of the affluent Porter family, who own an oceanside summer compound on the two-mile long Ashaunt Point in Massachusetts. When the novel opens in the summer of 1942, the Porters' four children are beginning to grow up. Charlie has just enlisted in the Army, Helen is 16, Dossy is 14, and Janie is 8. The U.S. Army has taken over much of Ashaunt Point, and the presence of the many soldiers is a delight to Helen and Dossy. Janie is lovingly cared for by her Scottish nanny, 36-year-old Bea, who has never married and is falling in love with one of the soldiers. And then something quite frightening happens to Janie that changes much for this family. The book continues marching through the years by focusing on just two of them: 1970 and 1999. The three main sections of the book are told from the point of view of either Helen, Beatrice or Helen's troubled son, Charlie, which has the interesting effect of slightly altering the impression of the past because it's seen through the prism of someone else's eyes.

The greatest strength of this superb novel is the characters, especially as they evolve through the generations—what they do, how they think, and how they deal with life's happiness and tragedies all the while cushioned by old money, a storied family, deep friendships, and all the advantages of privilege. Most important, one of those characters is Ashuant Point, as place and what it means for this family is the primary focus of the novel.

This is an intelligent, serious, and (most of all) literary book with keen observations about life, love, hope, chance, and the fragility of family. But reader beware: This is a slow-moving novel with a negligible plot.

And while it's not a page-turner that kept me reading past my bedtime, it danced in my dreams. As I wandered through my day, I found myself thinking about it — a lot.

Oh, I was so wrong about this book.

Multiple times I resisted buying this book by Sue Monk Kidd, even though I have read her previous three novels and loved them. But there was something about the plot description that made me recoil. ANOTHER book about Jesus's nonexistent wife? Give me a break. And then I read a professional book review that changed my mind, and I'm really glad that happened. This is not just another book about Jesus's nonexistent wife. It is so much more. Yes, it is a book about Jesus. His family. His early years before his public ministry began. But most of all, it is a radical portrayal of one woman's voice in a time when women had no power, no position, no privilege—and especially no voice.

It would have been most unusual — as in, it would have defied the most closely held and important expectations of society — for Jesus to not have married. New Testament Scripture actually doesn't say one way or the other if Jesus was married. It wasn't until the second century CE that the first claims were made that Jesus remained single and celibate. (Read the "Author's Note" at the end of the book for more fascinating information on this.)

But what if Jesus did marry? That is the premise of Kidd's book, written in the first person by the woman the author imagined to have married him. Her name is Ana, and unlike Jesus, she comes from an upper-class family. Ana is smart and capable. She is also stubborn, determined, and filled with longings for a life she can never have simply because she is female. She can read and write, and her greatest joy in life, much to her mother's chagrin, is writing stories. Ana is a rebel, who finds it difficult to fit into society as the placid and meek woman she is expected to be. When she meets Jesus in the marketplace, her world is turned upside down. Complicating matters, Ana's father is Herod Antipas's top scribe, and Judas is her (adopted) brother. When Ana's life is threatened by Herod Antipas, she escapes to Alexandria with her beloved aunt, Yaltha, who has a devastating secret of her own, which is the same time that Jesus's active ministry begins.

And finally…the Passion story as portrayed in this book is so emotionally and even physically resonant that I found myself holding my breath as I read. It will forever change the way I hear the Passion every Palm Sunday and during the Stations of the Cross.

The power of this book is twofold: First, the expertly researched, detailed, and absolutely fascinating descriptions of life in the first century are worth the price of the book. Second, Kidd writes with the utmost respect and reverence to fully commemorate and portray Jesus's humanity. And as odd as it may sound, it's totally believable and realistic.

Brilliant and beautiful, as well as richly imagined, this book is a thought-provoking celebration of not only Jesus's life, but also the redemptive power of one woman's voice. And that becomes an acknowledgement to all the women throughout time who were silenced and never heard.

When actress Isla Fisher did an interview to promote the movie "Wedding Crashers," she was asked how her appearance in it had changed her career. She said it hadn't, acknowledging there weren't many comic opportunities for women in Hollywood. "All the scripts are for men and you play the girl."

How is it that women, beginning when they are little girls, learn how to "play the girl" in society? In these 21 smart and sassy essays, author Carina Chocano expounds on all the mixed messages with which women and girls are bombarded from the time they are old enough to watch Disney movies. Be sexy. No, be smart. Wait, be both. Do this. No, you can't do that. And all these messages have one thing in common: They are what men want the ideal woman to be.

Creatively framed using some of the confusing messages Alice was assailed with during her bizarre adventures in Wonderland, Chocano explores her topics largely by examining popular culture, especially movies and TV shows—from "The Stepford Wives" to "Real Housewives," from Playboy to "Pretty Woman," and from "Sex in the City" to "Mad Men." (An earlier gig as a film critic makes her rather good at doing this.) She is especially adept at zeroing in on exactly what it is about these films and TV shows that tell women who and what they should be and why this so often makes us uncomfortable.

While each of the essays is imminently readable, I found I enjoyed the book far more by reading one or two essays a day and no more. Because this is such an emotionally-charged topic for most women, it felt like psychic overload when I read more than that. That is, the essays are powerful enough that I really needed time to think a bit between them.

While I recommend this book for all women, I especially recommend it for men, who may never have realized the emotionally damaging and intellectually intimidating mixed messages in our popular culture that is directly aimed at the psyches of their beloved wives, sisters, and daughters.