This debut novel gets off to a slow start with hapless, unemployed Barkley Brunson, called B-Team by his golden older brother Charlie, just returning, deeply messed up, from a tour in Afghanistan.

Next we meet mother Julie, June Cleever on Zoloft, who fights the reality that Henry, the center of her life, has moved from their suburban nest into a swank Lake Shore Drive penthouse to play with sexy bar pick-ups.

However, life is shifting for this family, the pace of the writing picks up, and before long I couldn't put it down. A Good Family -- a good read.

A water-damaged journal, two hundred years old, appears on the doorstep of research librarian Simon Watson as the anniversary of his mother's suicide approaches. The log of a traveling carnival, complete with Wild Boy, a beautiful mermaid, a Russian fortune teller -- a curse? Thus begins a story that will take your breath away. I felt the magic of the book from the start. Some books are like that. Not many. Just a special few. Thank you, Erika Swyler, for The Book of Speculation.

A dark and stormy night, a frightened, well-bred woman crouching on our heroine's London doorstep, with no money and nowhere to go. Tender-hearted Sister Bess Crawford is drawn into the spooky life of the Ellis family at Vixen Hall in the Sussex countryside. The convoluted plot, with multiple victims and possible villains, a la Agatha Christie, is saved by the back story of wartime England and France in WWI. Storyline has many similarities to Maisie Dobbs novels, though not as well written.

Being completely ignorant of Asperger's syndrome, I stepped into Jael McHenry's book totally unaware. As the characters unfolded and my understanding developed, I was pleased to learn about this family and then discover how many famous people, from Beethoven to Bob Dylan, probably have been victims of it. Books with recipes have always been fun and especially since food is such a key element, really added to the texture of the story. Thanks for the opportunity to learn.

Death Echo has just enough sex and intrigue to make it an exciting page-turner. Emma Cross is fed up with the gamesmanship of working for the CIA but is drawn back into what becomes the adventure of her life as she meets professional sailor, ex-Seal MacKenzie Durand. An interesting mix of superb seamanship, modern technology and just a touch of MacIver, and the pair takes on the dangers of the deep to save each other and thousands of innocents from former U.S.S.R. bad guys. Just what you'd expect from an old fashioned spy story -- an adventurous, quick summer read.

These modern-day Lotus Eaters are hypnotized by desire -- for one more ultimate war photo, one more magazine cover, one more Pulitzer. A tough and touching, magically written, and well researched novel of the Vietnam war years as seen through the eyes of Helen Adams and her fellow photojournalists. The characters beautifully drawn. A must-read -- twice!

At a time when the Dust Bowl was raging across the American plains, Ukrainian families fled the misery and oppression of Stalin's regime to make a fuller life in the Western Canada prairie.

This is the story, drawn from the author's family history, of a family determined to succeed in a new home. Despite one tragic event after the other, the family continues to dream of a bountiful future, living free under an unbroken sky. Yet, try as they may their luck never changes, never improves. They fall victim to every disaster possible -- natural as well as humanly induced. Ultimately, even the most innocent events have profound effect on their fate. Shandi Mitchell tells this immigrant tale with vigor and empathy and eloquence that make it a gripping read.

After Eden -- what? Congratulations to Elissa Elliott for her imaginative fleshing out of the Expulsion story. My book club would relish the characters of Eve and her daughters -- each speaking from her own unique perspective, age and ability.

Would appeal to students of the survival of knowledge through early Renaissance Inquisition. I preferred Susan Vreeland's period piece, Passion of Artemisia but enjoyed Newmark's familiarity with the architecture and byways of Venice and her interest in cooking. This would be good fodder for my book club. We'd like discussing the growth of Luciano's character and why the chef chose to mentor him.