Recommended by Heather

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Seth, one of Clara's students, stops at her house before murdering his best friend's father who is also the town's sheriff and then taking his own life. As she tries to understand his actions, Clara remembers the cryptic notes Seth had given her recently after class. Although she didn't answer Seth's knock, she wonders if she had been his first target and why?

This is the first event of Little Wolves, Thomas Maltman's second novel, and from this point I was hooked. The reader is drawn into the dark history and politics of this small Minnesota town, settled by German Lutherans by driving out the original Native American inhabitants. As in most of the best novels about small towns, all is not as it seems and in order to solve the mystery of Seth's actions Clara must dig deeper into the town's past, as well as her own mysterious family stories.

Although I am not a fast reader, I flew through this book in just two evenings because I had to find out what was really going on. The writing is exquisite and the complicated story lines were tied together in a satisfying and shocking conclusion.

I loved this book as much as I loved Maltman's first book, Night Birds, although they were completely different.

Highly recommended. I would also recommend this book to older teens.

Recommended by Connie, Susie, Jo and Ellen

Ellen's review: Ann Patchett transported me to the jungles of the Amazon and left me there while I listened to this amazing book. I wasn't always comfortable, but I don't think I was supposed get too comfortable, considering the wide variety of bugs, slithering creatures and spear-throwing natives that shared this space with the American doctors engaged in a decades-long research project.

Dr. Marina Singh has been sent by her company from Minnesota to check up on the delayed project and find out how her colleague Dr. Anders Eckman died, in his recent trip to check up on the project. Marina encounters many obstacles in her attempts to penetrate the mysteries that are the Amazon and the legendary Dr. Annick Swenson, who is in charge of the research, is just one of them.

This book was so good and so completely took me into its creepy jungle setting, that I found myself coming to a new appreciation of our boring Midwest bugs and our predictable environment. Yet the Amazon holds many secrets for those willing to put up with fevers, bugs and snakes. This book confirmed for me that reading about this world is as far as I ever care to go into the Amazon. But what a trip it was!

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In Elders, McIlvain provides a thought-provoking window into the Mormon faith and missionary experience. (I recently saw the musical The Book of Mormon, which is sort of the perfect counterpoint!!) The two main characters, companion elders assigned to a mission in southeastern Brazil, are polar opposites who battle through countless rejections, temptations to sin, and vastly differing points of view on faith. This book tackles some of the most important questions we all face: faith, friendship, and loyalty, and does it with sensitivity and intelligence. A great read.

Recommended by Andrea

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Recommended by Andrea

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I must admit that since reading Compromising Positions in 1978 (35 years ago! when I was 15!), I have been a Susan Isaacs fan. Her books simply hook me everytime. I think it's her characters. They ring true to me, I root for them, I sympathize with them, despite the fact that they are all really outside of my everyday life experience. And, for the most part, Goldberg Variations hit the same mark. I liked Daisy and Raquel and Matt. They were fully formed, flawed, and funny. They were human. I wanted them to have a good and happy life, including a relationship with their downright awful Grandmother. There are flaws in the book: Gloria, the main character, was the least believeable (IMHO). There was something missing -- It doesn't bother me if a character is unpleasant or unlikeable, as long as I can see why the author believes in this person. I didn't feel that Isaacs was really an advocate for Gloria. Also, the business premise sounded improbable and odd to me. But these are really minor quibbles. I would recommend the book to anyone who likes well crafted family stories with heart and humor and chutzpah.

- Recommended by Melissa

Listening to Mary Beth Hurt's audio version of 'The Good House' was perfect for my daily commute to work. It's a beach read, darkly humorous and just suspenseful enough that I wanted to get back to it after work. Hildy Good doesn't think she's an alcoholic even though she went to rehab after an intervention by her daughters. I was fascinated as she spiraled downhill with wry, snarky opinions about the people around her.

--Reviewed by Connie

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I love to read lists about books that I should have read before I graduated from high school, or lists of books that every well-read person has on their shelves, or lists of classics that I must read before I die.

This week the Morning Book Discussion Club at Cook Park discussed a book that I probably should have read in high school and probably should have on my shelf at home. I’m glad that I did read it before I…well, I’m glad I finally read it.

Travels with Charley In Search of America by John Steinbeck is a travelogue of Steinbeck’s three-month trip back in 1960 across America in his trailer “Rocinante” with his faithful, aging French poodle, Charley. Steinbeck plans to see a cross section of America, talk to strangers, listen to political views, enjoy the view and write about his experiences and what he learned. His trip didn’t exactly go the way he planned.

I laughed at his personification of Charley and his interactions with characters along the way. I marveled at the beautiful country he was describing. He went back to Salinas, California, where he was born and raised and realized that “You Can’t Go Home Again.” Toward the end of his journey, Steinbeck was traveling along the Deep South at the beginning of school integration and saw a side of America that discouraged and disgusted him.

I can see that this is a small memoir that I will want to re-read. Many of Steinbeck’s observations and impressions are still true after 50 years. There are layers of insight and emotion that I haven’t unearthed which is a sign of a classic and the work of a great writer.

--Reviewed by Connie

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Recommended by Susie

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Rosamund Pilcher takes her characters with bruised and broken hearts to a cozy Scottish estate house, adds a compassionate community and a good snowstorm and comes up with a winner. Christmas miracles abound.

--Recommended by Sonia

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