If Sallie Kincaid, the 19-year-old lead character in this roller coaster of a book by Jeannette Walls were real, we would be singing ballads written about her. What a character! What a book!

Taking place primarily in the early 1920s in the poor, rural Virginia area of East Appalachia where the scars of World War I are still being felt by those who served, this is the story of Sallie Kincaid—a Tomboy with a capital "T"—and her outsized, powerful, and wealthy father Henry Edward Kincaid, who is known to everyone (even his daughter) as the Duke. (In Sallie's eyes, the Duke "hung the moon and scattered the stars," hence the title of the book.) The Duke has led quite a checkered life with four wives—the first of whom he divorced and second of whom he murdered (and got away with it)—and three children.

Sallie is the middle child, the daughter of the murdered wife, but she is so much like the Duke that he loves and adores her. Still, she has a rough life, being banished from the household at age eight only to return at age 17. Even though he holds no elected office, the Duke absolutely controls Claiborne County, Virginia with his numerous and often shady business dealings and political connections. When it's Sallie's turn at the helm, she is faced with a deadly family feud between the Kincaids and the Bonds, as well as the new laws of prohibition that turn the county's prolific whiskey business, dominated by the Black citizens, into a dangerous bootlegging operation with Sallie in charge.

The magic of the novel is in Sallie's introspective thoughts and conflicts. As she expertly wields a Remington-22 rifle that she bought for $3 as a child and plots ways to strike the Bond family, she is also considering the moral and ethical implications of everything she and others do. All of this becomes quite complicated, considering the life she is leading.

Just a note: I never saw it while I was reading the novel, but in the acknowledgements, author Jeannette Walls says the story was loosely inspired by England's King Henry VIII—his life and his many wives. And yes! The connection is brilliant. The Duke's first name is even "Henry." Clearly, Sallie Kincaid is the double of Queen Elizabeth I, the daughter of the beheaded Anne Boleyn.

This book is a winner for two reasons: Sallie is one of the best book characters I have ever encountered, and the plot never lets up with surprise and tragic twists at every turn. Strap on your seat belt because this is a raucous literary ride!

Pat Conroy is one of my favorite authors, and I simply devoured this book that gave delightful and tragic insights into his life—so much so that this could double as a book titled "My Writing Life" or simply "My Life." While he does discuss some of his favorite books, the emphasis is not only on how books influenced his life and his novels, but also on how the people who introduced him to those books changed the trajectory of who he was and would become.

All of this begins with his mother, Peg Conroy, wife of Col. Donald Conroy, the Marine fighter pilot who had a bad habit of beating her up, as well as frequently raising his fists to his children, especially Pat. But mother and son found solace in books. Pat's descriptions of the impact his mother had on his reading life—from taking him to the library to reading "Gone with the Wind" every year—is one of the best love letters to a mother that I have ever read.

Also in the limelight is Mr. Gene Norris, Pat's high school English teacher, who arguably had the greatest influence on Pat's love of literature and decision to become a novelist. Theirs was a lifelong friendship that ended only when Mr. Norris died.

Several of the chapters are salutes to his favorite novelists and the special books they wrote that deeply affected him, especially "Look Homeward, Angel," by Thomas Wolfe and "War and Peace," by Leo Tolstoy.

Pat Conroy's verbose and often flowery writing style is on full display in this book, and we find out why he writes this way and which writer influenced him to do so. (Well, that was a surprise to me!)

If you're a Pat Conroy fan, this is a must-read as a kind of behind-the-scenes look at the wizard of Southern novels to find out how he pushes all those buttons and makes the magic happen.

(Although we share the same surname, Pat Conroy and I are not kin, as they say in South Carolina. Too bad!)

Oh, what a devilishly creepy, hauntingly scary Gothic ghost story that had me shivering in fright (and delight!).

But one important word of caution: Do not read this book after dark. And most especially, do not read this book just before falling asleep or you will have nightmares.

Masterfully written by Chris Bohjalian, this is the story of Chip Linton, a competent and confident regional airline pilot whose plane one August day collides with a flock of geese. The plane loses both engines. With 48 people on board, Captain Linton ditches the crippled jet in Lake Champlain in Vermont, all the while remembering the "Miracle on the Hudson" when Captain Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger did the same thing in the Hudson River with no loss of life. Linton isn't as fortunate. While he survives along with eight others, he is never the same man, haunted with memories of what might have been and forever grieving the loss of those 39 lives. His loving wife, Emily, decides it's time for a change, so the couple, along with their twin 10-year-old daughters, Hallie and Garnet, move from tony West Chester, Pennsylvania to a century-old house in an isolated part of New Hampshire's White Mountains. But the house is haunted and seems to be harboring strange secrets and horrors. For one thing, there is a mysterious door in the basement that is sealed shut with 39 bolts—the same number as those who died on Chip's plane. What is behind that door? Meanwhile, the local women who befriend Emily call themselves "herbalists," but they are more like a coven of witches with their bizarre names and odd potions, teas, and tinctures. Most alarming of all, these women seem to have a nefarious aspiration regarding the Linton family. There is evil inherent in this quaint New England village, and it is terrifying.

And the ending? It's a sucker-punch to the gut that left me almost breathless, screaming "Noooooooooooo!"

With three distinct plotlines that merge into one petrifying tale, this is an ideal book for those who enjoy a good, scary read, especially on a chilly autumn day. (Not night…no, no, no. Do not read this at night! You have been warned.)

This is an exceptional, imaginative, and emotionally searing novel about the dangers of prejudice, the impact of hate, the wounds of injustice, and the small victims whose lives are never the same.

Brilliantly written by Pulitzer Prize finalist Margaret Verble, this is the story of third-grader Kit Crockett. It's the 1950s, deep in the South, near the Arkansas River. Kit's father is a descendant of Davy Crockett, and her mother, who died two years earlier, was a Cherokee Indian. Kit and her grieving father live deep in the country. She spends her time reading Nancy Drew mysteries, tending to the garden, and waiting for the Tuesday morning visit from the bookmobile. She and her father are both incredibly lonely and unable to reach out to each other. One day as Kit is going to the bayou to fish for their dinner, she sees that someone has moved into a nearby cabin that was once occupied by her Uncle Joe. That someone turns out to be Bella, a beautiful and mysterious young woman. She and Kit become fast friends. Although Kit is unaware of it, Bella is a prostitute, entertaining two men in her small home. And then one day, Bella is murdered and somehow Kit's dad is in jail. After living with the local evangelical preacher and his wife, Kit is shipped off—against her will—to a Christian boarding school that feels more like a prison than a school as she is treated with disdain and indoctrinated with Christian instruction she resents. When Kit gets in trouble and is sent to the office, the most horrific thing happens.

Here is the genius of this book: While the summary I wrote above is linear, the book is meant to be Kit's journal that she writes (now in sixth grade) while confined in the school/prison and the timeline jumps all over the place. Instead of being confusing, it becomes a fascinating and gripping tale told with insight and introspection about the injustice of Kit's life being stolen from her. As adults, we know things about Kit's experiences that she is unable to understand as a child, and that is even more heartbreaking.

I only have one criticism: The ending is abrupt, but that is probably the point. It forces the reader to use a bit of imagination to continue the story.

This is excellent storytelling, transporting the reader to another time and place.

This is an introspective, accomplished, and brilliantly observed collection of 10 short stories by Patricia Engel that all have one thing in common: There is another world—a faraway world—that the characters in each of the stories yearn for, remember, or are escaping. Today's world can be gritty and grueling. But the faraway world? That is the place of hopes and dreams even if it doesn't exist.

Unusually for short story collections, every single one is excellent. I can't even choose my favorites to highlight below because each one was better than the one before. Each one has characters that are richly and deeply depicted. Each one has a plot that kept me turning the pages. And each one either filled me with joy or broke my heart—or both.

The setting for most of the stories is in Colombia or Cuba with a few in New York. (There is a lot of Spanish in the book, so I found the Kindle translate feature quite helpful.)

Here are four to highlight that shows the diversity of the stories, but I could have chosen all of them:
• "Aida": Aida and Salma are identical twins living with their often-bickering parents in a small town near New York City. They are very close. One day, Aida disappears…and no one can find her. Did she run away or was she abducted? How her family comes together and eventually falls apart during the time she is missing is heartbreaking.

• "The Book of Saints": A young Colombian woman meets online a twice-divorced and much older American man, who convinces her to leave her impoverished life and become his wife. After the wedding in Colombia, she moves to New York, but her life is nothing like she imagined.

• "Ramiro": Ramiro is just another slum kid from the worst part of Colombia, and after he commits several crimes, he is sentenced to work in a Roman Catholic church under the watchful eye of Padre Andrade. But Ramiro does something atrocious, and he is headed for big trouble until the priest does something that is very surprising.

• " Libélula": This is the story of two Colombian women living in New York. One is wealthy and privileged. The other is poor and is hired as the fulltime maid and eventual nanny. The husband works long hours and is bored with his wife, who is unable to get pregnant. And then one night, he comes into the maid's bedroom…

This is an extraordinary and imaginative collection of short stories about the joys and brutality of life. I highly recommend it.

This literary historical novel has just about everything to keep the pages turning. At the heart of this book by Sara Collins is a sensational murder mystery swathed in betrayal, jealousy, forbidden sex, drug addiction, the evils of slavery, and the privilege and entitlement of the British upper class.

The book opens in April 1826 with Frannie Langton imprisoned in the notorious Newgate Prison in London, awaiting trial at the Old Bailey Criminal Court for the double murder of her employers, George and Marguerite Benham. They were discovered one night stabbed to death in their London home. He was in his library. She was in her bed. And lying next to Marguerite sound asleep and covered in her mistress's blood was Frannie, who quickly became dubbed by the broadsheets as The Mulatta Murderess. Frannie has no memory of what happened, so she sits in prison writing her life story to her attorney.

But back up a bit. After this prologue, the novel switches to 1812 on a sugar cane plantation in Jamaica that is owned by John Langton and powered with the muscle and sweat of slaves. One of those slaves is Frannie, a house girl whose father is the master, and who teaches her to read and write as an experiment to see how much Blacks can learn. Meanwhile, Langton and a crony are up to no good in the estate's old coach-house, and they drag Frannie into their devious and sadistic experiments to "prove" the differences between the races. After a devastating fire, Langton and Frannie flee to London where he gives Frannie to George Benham in exchange for what he hopes will be assistance publishing his lifelong research. Benham is also working on the same type of dubious and horrifying research. England has outlawed slavery, so Frannie is supposedly free, although where else could she go? Benham threatens her with a destitute life on the streets if she doesn't tell him everything Langton was doing, while Marguerite chooses Frannie as her personal lady's maid. But there is more than dressing and cleaning going on in this room, as the two discover a forbidden love that thrills them both. And then one day, it all comes to an abrupt and cruel end…until Benham makes a request of Frannie that is despicable and shocking. Hours later, the Benhams are dead.

Who is the murderer? That revelation gave me the shivers!

This literary novel is also wrapped around two classics, "Moll Flanders" by Daniel Defoe and "Candide," by Voltaire. Plot points and imagery from both are woven throughout this imaginative, gritty, and compelling story of how the upper classes oppress and subjugate the lower classes, especially those of color.

Frannie may have no power, no status, no wealth, and nothing to call her own, but she has a powerful and impressive voice that no one can silence and that is what illuminates this book.

Wow! What a book! This is a stunning, page-turner about daring, courageous women made of inner steel who, against all odds, successfully spied on the Germans in World War I…until they were caught. This is a pressure-cooker of a novel that just builds and builds and builds until the explosive ending.

Written by Kate Quinn, this is a historical fiction-ChickLit combo that is unputdownable. OK, the early chapters are a little slow to get going, but this is where the story foundations are laid, so it's all essential. Just keep reading.

The story is told in two timelines that eventually merge:
• It's May 1915, and 22-year-old Evelyn Gardiner of London is recruited to join an elite network of women spies in France: The Alice Network. After training, she moves to Lille where she gets a job as a waitress at a posh restaurant run by a war profiteer/traitor who caters to the German generals and their high-level staff. Eve, whose code name is Marguerite, assumes a whole new personality of an innocent and somewhat stupid French country girl, never letting on that she is fluent in English and German. As she is pouring wine and clearing plates, she listens to the conversations, which sometimes include war plans. All is going amazingly well until the nefarious owner of the restaurant, René Bordelon, decides to take Marguerite as his lover. How can she refuse?

• It's May 1947, and Charlotte St. Clair, nicknamed Charlie, is a 19-year-old Bennington College student who falls apart emotionally after her brother's suicide following his return from World War II. No longer caring about anything, she takes a series of lovers—all sordid backseat trysts with many different fraternity boys—and soon enough finds herself pregnant and unable to name the father. Not that that would matter since she was never in love with any of them. Her wealthy parents are appalled, outraged, and determine to rid her of her Little Problem with a discreet mother-daughter trip to a clinic in Vevey, Switzerland. They sail to Southampton where Charlie makes a break from her unsuspecting mother, determined to find out what happened to her beloved French cousin Rose, who was a refugee during the war. Three years earlier, her letters suddenly ceased, and still no one in the family knows what happened or seems to have any inclination to find out. But Charlie has a London address of a woman who may know something. That woman is Eve. And when Charlie knocks on Eve's door late one rainy night and is met with a crazed, drunken woman pointing a loaded Lugar pistol at her face, life changes irrevocably for both. Added to this duo is Mr. Finn Kilgore, a Scottish ex-convict whom Eve has hired to serve as her chauffeur and cook. (The description of his one-pan Scottish breakfast will make you head to your kitchen to replicate it!)

The plot in both timelines is riveting with each chapter ending in a page-turning cliffhanger. But the timeline chapters alternate, so you must wait to find out what happens. This is tricky storytelling. In the hands of a less talented author, the reader could be confused, bored, or just stop caring, but the opposite happens in Kate Quinn's hands. Instead, I devoured this book—anxiously wanting to find out what happens, but also not wanting it to end.

The novel is based on fact. While Eve, Charlie, and Finn are fictional, the bones of the story are all based on real people and real events. Do read the Author's Note at the end to find out what is fact and what is fiction. So much of this book is (surprisingly) true! You'll learn a lot of World War I history just by reading it.

Do know this: There are several scenes of torture and brutality that I found difficult to read and could be impossible for some to handle. They are not gratuitous and are essential to the story, but that doesn't make it any easier.

Simmering with tension and populated with vibrant and distinctive characters, this is a richly imagined novel that is packed with historical details. Highly recommended.

I had such high hopes for this novel, since Elizabeth Strout, who is one of my favorite authors, wrote sterling praise for the book jacket. Quite simply, it's a mediocre book with a flat storyline that drags out a predictable tale way too long.

Written by Maxine Clair, this is the story of October Brown, a young, unmarried Black woman who finds herself pregnant. The book begins in 1950 and includes plenty of flashbacks to October's troubled childhood when her father murdered her mother in the bedroom of their Cleveland, Ohio home while their daughters washed the dinner dishes in the kitchen downstairs. October, who was 5 then, and her sister, Vergie, 9, move to Chillicothe to live with their mother's two maiden sisters, Aunt Frances and Aunt Maude. October bears plenty of wounds from that horrific day. She grows up to go to a teacher's college and gets a job teaching third grade in Wyandotte County, Kansas where she lives in a respectable boarding house with her friend, Cora, but when October falls in love with a married man, she loses all sense of her highly-prized respectability. And then she is pregnant. Feeling vulnerable and lost after the baby's birth, she gives him to Vergie and her husband, Gene, who are unable to have children of their own. The rest of the book deals with how October and Vergie handle this potentially explosive situation and the lifelong repercussions they both endure.

Unfortunately, far too much of the text deals with the emotions and psychological consequences of October's poor life decisions, which instead of being smartly introspective and thoughtful, comes off as whining, handwringing prose. Over and over and over. Add to that a superficial, out-of-left-field, soap-opera ending, and I closed the book rolling my eyes.

There is so much about our everyday lives that we not only take for granted, but also rarely (or never?) even think about. How do the blueberries for your morning oatmeal get into your bowl? How does your cross-country flight take off and land safely? And what happens to your trash after it's hauled away?

Author Jeanne Marie Laskas takes us behind the scenes, profiling various "hidden" jobs that make our lives easier, safer, and tastier. The best part of the book is the connections Laskas makes with the people who work these jobs, transforming an invisible occupation into one that breathes, lives, and has a family. It's an inside-out look at America.

Nine "hidden worlds" are profiled, including these seven:
• Go deep underground in the Hopedale coal mine in Cadiz, Ohio where you'll find out what it's really like to mine coal that will be used for electricity. Oh, and be prepared to laugh. These coalminers have a fabulous sense of humor.

• Join migrants—some with documentation, some without—who harvest wild blueberries in August in Maine. Find out what their lives are like, why they don't trust anyone, and where they will go next. If it weren't for these hard workers, we wouldn't have apples, oranges, peaches, or blueberries because they would just fall off the trees and bushes and rot.

• NFL players may make a bajillion dollars a year, but the cheerleaders barely make gas money and gameday expenses. Spend some time with several Ben-Gals, cheerleaders for the Cincinnati Bengals, to find out why they are so passionate about cheering.

• Take a visit to the air traffic control tower, arguably the heart of LaGuardia Airport in New York. Find out what it's like to manage a screenful of planes and keep your cool. Bonus: Meet the man who was on duty the day Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger ditched his U.S. Airways Airbus in the Hudson River with no loss of life.

• Bundle up and travel to "The Slope," a manmade island on the shores of Alaska's North Slope where the Trans-Alaska Pipeline begins. The men who work here (and they are all men) are drilling for oil while living far from civilization with temperatures well below zero in near total darkness in winter. Find out why they love it so much.

• Hop in the cab of a long-distance trucker and go for a ride on I-80 from Cleveland, Ohio to Walcott, Iowa. This trucker doesn't fit the stereotype. She is a 35-year-old black woman who once kept herself awake at 3 a.m. by driving topless up I-71. Bonus: She kept the other (male) truckers awake, too! Oh, the stories she has to tell.

• Ever wonder what happens to all those paper plates, plastic bags, egg cartons, half-eaten hamburgers, and last week's leftovers? Take a visit to Puente Hills Landfill near Los Angeles. You won't believe what happens to your trash!

Best of all, the writing is superb. Laskas has a knack for asking the right questions and giving us the answers in language that is so readable and interesting, you'll forget this is nonfiction. Even though the book was published in 2012, it is still relevant and remarkable today and, most of all, spellbinding. I highly recommend it.

There are two kinds of readers: Those who finish every book they start—no matter what. After all, you never know what wonderful surprise awaits if you don't slog your way through it. And then there are those who say life is too short for a boring book. I am, for better or worse, in the first group. In the case of this book, I finished it so you don't have to start it!

This book about Belle da Costa Greene (aka Belle Marion Greener) is a hybrid between historical fiction and biography; it fails because it is neither.

It is billed as a novel, but there is no plot. Events trudge along but there is no dramatic story arc that we all expect in a novel, even historical fiction. If it were a straight-up biography, it would not be so insipid, trying to be something it is not. But it's a novel with imagined conversations and feelings that just come off as banal and even trite. The result? It's a boring 350-page book. The suspense, the drama, the magic that keep readers turning pages just isn't there. It's flat. And what is there is a glorified (made-up) soap opera. Yawn.

Written by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray, this is the true story of Belle da Costa Greene, who served in the early 1900s as the personal librarian for J.P. Morgan at his Pierpont Morgan Library in New York City. It was Greene, working in a man's world, who was responsible for filling this library with priceless books—from rare illuminated medieval manuscripts to the Le Morte Darthur printed by Caxton in 1485, as well as original scores by Beethoven, Mozart, and Chopin and prints and drawings by Leonardo da Vinci and other Renaissance artists.

But Greene harbored a big (big!) secret: She was Black and passed as White. As a Black woman, she would never have been hired for this position. She, her mother, three sisters, and one brother moved from Washington, D.C. to New York City where her mother, Genevieve Ida Fleet Greener, decided the best way for them to live was to deny who they were and pass as white. They changed their last name to Greene. Her father, Richard Theodore Greener, the first Black student and graduate of Harvard who was light enough to pass as well, was so angry with this decision that he left the family. To account for her slightly darker skin, Belle changed her middle name to da Costa and created a fake story about a Portuguese grandmother. And it worked. After years in the job, Belle was declared the most successful career woman in the world.

All this is true. Benedict and Murray conducted extensive research to write this novel, but since Greene was never "outed" in her life, never married, although she did have lovers, and devoted her existence to work, there isn't a flashy or remarkable storyline with which to work. It wasn't until 1999—nearly 50 years after Greene died—that a biographer revealed her true identity.

I am being generous with three stars, which I am only giving because of the prodigious and impressive amount of research that went into the book. Unfortunately, this hybrid of historical fiction and biography just doesn't succeed. Skip it.

This is a monumental and original family saga that is like nothing I have ever read. It is richly imaginative and packs an emotional wallop.

Taking place in Kerala, a state in South India on the Malabar Coast, it spans nearly 80 years and is brutally realistic. This isn't a sweetsie-lovey story. It's about life. Real life. And it hurts the reader sometimes! Children die, loved ones die by suicide, people are killed in somewhat brutal and violent ways, and several suffer debilitating injuries. It's a tough read because I was emotionally connected with the characters and then wham! They die or suffer. But that is the ultimate premise of this book: Finding the meaning in suffering.

Magnificently written by physician and bestselling author Abraham Verghese, this epic multigenerational novel begins in 1900 and ends in 1977, centering on the character of Big Ammachi. She is 12 years old when her father dies, leaving her mother destitute. In a desperate move, this little girl is hurriedly married off to a 40-year-old widower and father of a 2-year-old boy, who lives Kerala, a long day's journey away. She is nicknamed Big Ammachi (Big Mother) by Jojo, the little boy, and the name sticks as she grows up to become the matriarch of a large family living on the 500-acre estate of Parambil. As she soon discovers, this family has a curse, "the Condition," as they call it, that takes the life of someone every generation.

In addition, there are parallel stories that at first are seemingly unrelated. The most intriguing one is that of Digby Kilgour, a surgeon from Glasgow, Scotland, who joins the Indian Medical Service in Madras. His is also a story of joy and tragedy that eventually—surprisingly and explosively—connects with the family in Parambil, although it is a long and circuitous journey to that end.

In addition to a compelling, ever-evolving, and multilayered plot inhabited by bold and vivid characters, this is a profound work of literature that speaks eloquently and poignantly about one family's place on Earth—how they love, how they argue, how they do good, how they do evil, how they worship God, and how they make the world a better place by just inhabiting it. As you can probably tell from the title, the imagery and symbolism of water and specifically how the covenant of water links all human beings is brilliant.

This is also a love letter to medicine—to dedicated physicians, to the scientists who make the medical discoveries, to the hardworking nurses, and especially to all those who give their life to care for the sick.

Bonus: Even though it's told only in words, you'll get a tour of South India that is so vibrant and so realistic that when I Googled photos of the area, it appeared very much like it did in my imagination. The land is so much a part of the novel that it is almost a character of its own. This is truly a magical place with beautiful beaches, elaborate canals, and picturesque mountains filled with monkeys, elephants, snakes, birds, and tigers.

Two pieces of advice to make reading this 700 page book easier:
• There are dozens of characters in this novel, and even the Kindle X-ray feature is not that helpful. Go to the author's website and download the character list. Print it if you're reading the paper version of the book. If you're reading it on Kindle, I advise you to use the "send to Kindle" feature. I had this document right next to the book, so it was easy to search for or find the character. It doesn't take long before you'll know who everyone is.

• There are quite a few words in the novel in Malayalam, the official language of Kerala. In most cases, it's easy to figure out the meaning based on the context of the sentence, but I kept my phone nearby so I could Google words I couldn't decipher.

This book is terrifying. It is the stuff of nightmares. And it's such an extraordinary and important history book that it should be required reading for everyone.

When you think of the Ku Klux Klan, you likely think of the deep South. Think again. This is the story of what happened in the early 1920s in Indiana, the quintessential flag-waving, apple-pie center of America's Heartland, which had more sworn Klansmen than any other state and three times as many as Georgia.

Lawmakers, from the governor on down, as well as police officers, industry leaders, newspaper editors, and even ministers were all Klansmen and under the control of the KKK and specifically the Indiana Grand Dragon, David C. Stephenson, a grifter, psychopath, and charismatic conman from Texas. Their hate-filled, horrific activities extended not only to Blacks, but also Jews and Roman Catholics.

While Stephenson was the public face of Klan "values"—most notably abstention from alcohol and protection of the sanctity of women—he was something quite different in private. While leading Indiana citizens kowtowed to him, Stephenson had a sexual secret: He enjoyed raping and torturing women through cannibalistic sex where he would chew their skin, almost trying to eat them alive. None of his victims ever reported the crime. After all, almost every cop, prosecutor, and judge in the state were part of the Klan and under Stephenson's iron fist. Where would they find justice?

Written by Timothy Egan, this is the story of Stephenson's sadistic reign of terror in Indiana from 1921 to 1925. He thought he was the reincarnation of Napolean, hoodwinked everyone, telling lies about his life that he uttered so often that he even believed them. He was an expert at planting fake news—from whispered suggestions to outright lies—that soon were treated as the truth. With the enthusiastic backing of the Republican party, Stephenson built a white-sheeted organization of hundreds of thousands of Hoosiers who pledged to support white supremacy. If you weren't part of the KKK, then you were an outsider and not to be trusted. He even formed KKK organizations for women and children. Stephenson had plans to close the borders to immigrants, and he had his eye on the White House. Just think what he could do as president or manipulating someone else who served as his puppet in the Oval Office.

But then, quite suddenly, the all-powerful Grand Dragon was stopped cold by a 28-year-old woman named Madge Oberholtzer. A college graduate, schoolteacher, and member of Pi Beta Phi sorority, Oberholtzer was Stephenson's last victim of cannibalistic sex, rape, and torture. In the middle of the two-day excruciating experience when Stephenson kidnapped her, Madge tried to commit suicide by ingesting a poison, but it was a very slow-acting poison. She died 29 days later from a combination of the injuries inflicted by Stephenson and the poison. That was enough time for her to tell her tale of horror to her parents, her best friend, her physician, and her family's attorney as they surrounded her deathbed. It was Madge—well, the ghost of Madge—who brought down D.C. Stephenson when no one else could. It was Madge who exposed the Klan and its Grand Dragon for what they really were.

Oh, what a chilling and compelling tale this is! While Egan is a born storyteller, he is also a prodigious researcher, turning this sordid bit of history into a page-turning thriller.

A small warning: Many of the details in this book are gruesome and graphic. You'll need a tough stomach to read these parts.

This is a remarkable and powerful story that is also a really good read, but the best description of all comes straight from author Xochitl Gonzalez: It's a big, weird novel.

It is a novel about a lot of things: Puerto Rican politics, political corruption, the close-knit diaspora of Puerto Rican communities in New York City, and a bit of Puerto Rican history. But more than all that, this is a very human novel—a story about breaking free from social restraints and family expectations and fully realizing your dreams…of becoming who you were meant to be.

This is the story of Olga Acevedo and her brother Prieto Acevedo. It's the summer of 2017, and the two are part of a large and loving Puerto Rican family in Brooklyn. Still, their lives are grounded in a deep and abiding heartache. They were abandoned by their mother, Blanca, when Olga was 12 and Prieto was 15 when she left the country to follow a fringe figure to fight as a revolutionary for an independent Puerto Rico, while their father left them for drugs, becoming a heroin addict who eventually died of AIDS.

Ivy League graduate Olga, now 41, is the wildly successful owner of an upscale wedding planning business, while Prieto, who is recently divorced with a young daughter he adores, is the U.S. congressman for their Brooklyn district. Olga may plan gorgeous weddings for New York's upper crust, but she has no love life of her own beyond meaningless sex with a series of men she never allows to get emotionally close. And Prieto may be a political wunderkind, but he is being blackmailed as he harbors a personal secret that he is terrified could erupt in a devastating, personal scandal at any time.

Just as Olga meets a wonderful and loving man named Matteo who may change her life in ways she never imagined, Prieto is so consumed with his own secrets that he shuts out those who love him most, especially Olga. It is Matteo who forces Olga to examine all the secrets and lies that have consumed her family's past and present. But Olga and Prieto can no longer hide in the emotional armor they have erected around themselves because Blanca comes roaring back in their lives days after Puerto Rico is consumed by Hurricane Maria in September 2017. What their mother asks of each of them after all these years of separation is astonishing in an eye-popping horrifying way, and their reaction to her is equally astonishing in an eye-popping gratifying way. (Oh, this is good!) That said, the ending is a bit unsettling…and maybe a portent of things to come.

I so enjoy reading books about cultures that are not my own because I learn so much. And because this is a novel with a compelling story and vivid characters, I seemingly became part of that culture while I was immersed in the pages of the book. That is the magic of reading. It allows us to embrace an empathy and understanding we wouldn't otherwise have.

In a word: Hilarious!

This is a witty, snarky, and comical skewering of modern-day college English departments, many of which are suffering from a lack of allocated funding from their universities as the number of English majors declines in favor of STEM majors. If you were an English major or have taught English at the collegiate level, treat yourself to this book, the first in a trilogy.

Written by Julie Schumacher, it is an epistolary novel, which I have to say made me reluctant to read it. I was so wrong to be concerned. The entire book is a series of letters of recommendation written over one year—September 2009 to August 2010—by the disgruntled and cantankerous Jason T. Fitger, a professor of creative writing and English at the fictional Payne University located somewhere in the Midwest. A second-tier school, but a first-rate story.

Schumacher is incredibly creative in carrying a novel plot (well, sort of a plot) throughout these letters, which range from recommendations for graduate school and retreat-style writing seminars to such employers as Avengers Paintball, Catfish Catering, Gropp's Liquor Lounge and Winemart, and Flanders Nut House—the kind of jobs English majors are forced to take if they skip grad school.

This is what makes it so much fun: Some of the letters are not only recommendations, but also a kind of personal diary and vengeful confessions that are improper at best and wildly inappropriate at worst. Fitger sometimes discusses in these letters of recommendation his sexual liaisons with various women, the torment of his divorce, and the physical state of the English department as it is engulfed in fumes, possibly toxic smoke, and construction dust while the economics department one floor above is lavishly renovated. Meanwhile, Fitger is obsessed with one student in particular, thinking he may be the next literary novelist wunderkind. He repeatedly tries to get the kid funding and placement and repeatedly fails. It doesn't sound funny, but in Schumacher's hands, I was laughing out loud—until suddenly I wasn't.

As the academic year progresses, Fitger's letters become more and more unhinged, revealing his dismay, anger, and angst with both the profession in general and his own career in particular as both seemingly spiral into freefall. Still, while he may be sullen and grumpy, he's got a big heart. He adores literature, teaching, and shaping the next generation of writers—all of which are priceless qualities in an English professor.

The novel won the Thurber Prize for American Humor. It's a short, quick read that will improve your mood just because it will make you laugh. Winner! Winner!

This book is the literary equivalent of eating ice cream for breakfast. Wickedly fun, but not something you want to do on a regular basis. It's entertaining, engrossing, and sexy summer ChickLit. Nothing more. And sometimes that's just what you want.

Written by Taylor Jenkins Reid, this is the story of a house party for 200 guests in a beachside Malibu mansion taking place on the last Saturday in August 1983. By the end of the wild, out-of-control party, the house will be on fire. (That's not a spoiler. It's revealed within the first few pages of the book.)

The party host is Nina Riva, the daughter of the famous singer Mick Riva (think Mick Jagger or Steven Tyler) and the wife of the international star tennis player Brandon Randall. But that's no way to define Nina, who is a wildly famous model in her own right. Besides, Mick abandoned his wife and four kids years ago and they haven't seen him since, and Brandon just left Nina, his wife of one year, for the tennis player Carrie Soto. Once again, Nina is on her own.

The novel takes place over a 24-hour period with lots of flashbacks to the past. Nina is the oldest of the four Riva kids, followed by Jay, a surfer; Hud, a photographer; and Kit, who is still trying to figure out who she is. The children's mother is June, who Mick married and divorced twice, leaving her with no money the second time. June had a tough time of it, eventually dying and leaving the kids—all minors—to fend for themselves. It's quite the tale. Lots of tears and drama, but riveting reading.

The house party, which is an annual event, draws beautiful, wealthy, and famous people from movie and TV stars to writers to athletes to musicians. It's the kind of party where the guests come to see and be seen. At this event on August 27, 1983 they are on their worst behavior. (It's shocking what they do to the house!) The party itself ignites (figuratively) hours before the actual fire.

This is a book about what it means to be a family—the good and the bad—as well as what it means to have fame and fortune. It's also a book about surfing, so get ready to hang ten. And while the dialogue is cheesy at times and rife with expletives, the story is imaginative, albeit a bit like a soap opera, with obvious themes of destruction and renewal. Overall, it's an enjoyable escapist read.

I never read murder mysteries until I started reading Louise Penny, and now I am an avid fan—of both the genre and (especially) this author. Like the other four books that precede this novel, this is expertly written with a compelling whodunit plot, bold and vivid characters that pop off the page, and descriptions of food that will have you hunting down gourmet recipes for tonight's dinner.

In this, the fifth of the 18 (and counting) books in the Chief Inspector Gamache Mystery series, we find the brilliant and endearing Armand Gamache back in the idyllic Canadian village of Three Pines to solve (yet another) murder. (Maybe it's not so idyllic, after all.) Just before daybreak over the very busy Labor Day weekend, a dead body has been found lying on the floor of the bistro that is owned by Olivier and Gabriel, partners in business and life. No one knows the victim. At first glance, he looks like a homeless vagrant. He died after a blunt force blow to the back of his head, which should have resulted in copious amounts of blood. But there is no blood on the bistro floor. Who is this man? Who killed him? Where did the murder take place? Why was the body moved to the bistro? And why are several Three Pines residents obviously nervous, telling lies and guarding secrets? Gamache and his crew are on the case, and nothing is as it appears to be. Oh, I couldn't stop reading this one!

This is a literary murder mystery. The plot is grounded in references to art (painting, sculpture, and totem poles), poetry, literature, music, and history. In between the storyline of the murder investigation, you'll learn a lot, too!

Here is the wonder, the joy, and the marvel of Louise Penny's books: Life wisdom. These books are SO much more than riveting murder mysteries. Not only are there numerous short lessons of how to live life better, but also the books are packed with psychology—psychology that examines the human psyche better than most psychology books, baring the soul of the characters to understand the how and why of all human interactions.

The only caveat and it's an important one: You must read the Chief Inspector Gamache Mystery series in order beginning with the first one, "Still Life." Subsequent books reveal big hints and little spoilers that occurred in the previous titles. Don't ruin it for yourself! Read it from the beginning and enjoy and single one.

This is the story of a family that is—on the surface, at least—picture perfect. But underneath that surface there is trouble—big trouble in the form of long-guarded secrets and outright lies that can only be described as shocking, astonishing, devastating, and even earth-shattering.

Masterfully written by Irish novelist Maggie O'Farrell, this is the story of the Riordan family of London, England. It takes place over three days in July 1976 during a massive heatwave and drought. It's London, so there is no air conditioning. And it is SO hot! The heatwave is making people act oddly…it's getting on their nerves. And (brilliantly) the heatwave is a metaphor for all that is heating up in the Riordan family.

The characters: Gretta and Robert Riordan, both of whom are from Ireland and are devout Catholics, have been together for more than 30 years. They have three grown children:
• Michael Francis, a history teacher, is unhappily married to Claire. They have two children, Hughie and Vita, and live near his parents.
• Monica, just 10 months younger than her brother, is divorced and now remarried to a much older man who has two (difficult, surly) daughters from a previous relationship. She lives about 80 miles northwest of London in an old farmhouse in the country—the same house her husband's ex lived in when they were together.
• Aoife (pronounced ee-fah), who is a decade younger than her siblings, has always been the black sheep of the family. She has escaped to Manhattan where she works as an assistant to a famous photographer. She and Monica had a terrible row years ago that Monica believes ended her first marriage, and the sisters haven't spoken since. Aoife's boyfriend, Gabe, is a draft dodger, who is living in plain sight in New York City rather than escaping to Canada.

The story: Robert recently retired as an assistant bank manager. Early in the morning on Thursday, July 15, he tells his wife he is going out to buy a newspaper, something he does most days. Except on this day, he doesn't come home, and he has cleaned out much of the bank account. Gretta is frantic. She calls Michael Francis and Monica. Michael Francis calls Aoife in New York. Come home! And all three do. While they try to figure out what happened to their father, the hurt feelings, misunderstandings, arguments, and grudges from their past come roaring to life. Each one of them has a deep, dark, extraordinary secret that is eventually revealed.

This is a superb and captivating novel with a multilayered plot about a family that is falling apart and somehow, against all odds, puts itself together again thanks to love, truth, and forgiveness. Our past mistakes don't have to haunt us forever. But we have to learn to forgive each other.

The secret sauce that makes this book so compelling and magical is the writing. Many of the descriptions, especially the quotidian elements of life—how things look, feel, and smell—are so beautiful, so imaginative, so spot-on that I had to stop and reread whole paragraphs over again just to fully savor the writing. What a treat!

My only complaint is that the ending is too abrupt.

I devoured this exceptional book. Highly recommended.

Oh, this is a masterpiece in just 62 pages. Every word is perfect. And when all those words are placed one after the other on the page, the result is a novella that just wrapped its way around my heart and wouldn't let go.

Brilliantly written by master short story-teller Claire Keegan, this is the story of a little girl, around 7 or 8 years old, who is one of many children in a poor Irish family living in County Wexford. In order to have one less mouth to feed, her parents lend her out for the summer to the Kinsellas, a gentle, compassionate childless couple who yearn for little ones. They embrace her fully, nicknaming her Petal. She has never had so much to eat, so much kindness, and so much attention. Like her nickname, Petal blossoms with all this love, care, and thoughtfulness. On her first night in the Kinsella home, she is told there are no secrets in this house. But that's not quite true. There is one, and before the end of the summer the little girl figures it out.

The ending is heartbreaking, but it's the right ending.

This is a pitch-perfect story that is profound and haunting. It is a story of love—of what could be and of what isn't.

As I was reading this, I knew I had read it before, but it was published less than a year ago. And then it hit me! It was featured in "The Best American Short Stories 2011," edited by Geraldine Brooks, which is where I first read it. Originally, it was published in The New Yorker in February 2010. Both were abridged versions from this standalone book.

This is a fierce, touching, and insightful intergenerational novel about heritage, memory, and secrets, but most of all family, especially the family we create with our dearest friends.

Written by Esmeralda Santiago, this is the story of three mothers—Luz, Ada, and Shirley—and two daughters, Graciela and Marysol. The five are bonded for life, even though Luz and Marysol live in the Bronx, while Ada, Shirley, and Graciela live in Maine. All hail from Puerto Rico, and even though the daughters were both born in New York, they feel Puerto Rican.

The novel switches between two pivotal years: 1975/1976 and 2017. In October 1975, Luz is 15 and living with her parents, Federico and Salvadora, both accomplished scientists, in Puerto Rico. She is a gifted ballet dancer with high hopes of dancing professionally. But those dreams are shattered when tragedy strikes, leaving her disabled and orphaned. After months of hospitalization and rehab, her grandparents—one on each side—step in to care for her. It is when she is living with her grandfather, Alonso, that her life improves thanks to a loving tutor, Ada, and new friends. But Luz has brain damage that greatly impairs her memory, and this lasts for the rest of her life. Something may happen now, and in five minutes she has no memory of it. It's as if Luz is reborn every day.

Fast forward to 2017. Luz and her daughter Marysol (who is in her 30s), live in New York City. Along with their dear friends Ada and Shirley and their daughter, Graciela, Luz and Marysol visit Puerto Rico to celebrate Shirley's 70th birthday. The mothers (las madres) left in 1977 and have never returned, while the daughters (las nenas) have never been. Their timing couldn't be worse. Hurricane Irma just passed, fortunately skirting the island, but unbeknownst to them when they land for several days of partying and fun, Hurricane María is headed to Puerto Rico for a direct hit.

The story is slow to develop, but it hits its stride about two-thirds of the way through. Stick with it! It's worth it because what was once somewhat plodding becomes a riveting tale as the five women experience not only the full force of Hurricane María, but also lean on each other as long-held secrets are revealed, threatening to tear them all apart.

This is a novel that examines the importance of memory. After all, it is our memories that give us our sense of self, but it is our friends and family who become the rock of our lives—especially when those lives are shattered.

A note on the text: There is a lot of Spanish woven into the story, and I found the Kindle translation feature essential for understanding the narrative. In addition, Luz and her parents are quadrilingual in English, Spanish, French, and German and mix and match the four languages—sometimes combining two languages in a single sentence. The Kindle translate feature was indispensable!

I read this book now in preparation for being in the audience when author George Saunders is presented with the 2023 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction at the National Book Festival on August 12, 2023. While Saunders is receiving this award for the body of his work, this collection of short stories is so spectacular, so special, and so brilliant, it is almost enough on its own to warrant such an honor.

I enjoy reading short story collections, but typically only about half the stories in any given book are what I would rate as excellent or very good. In this collection, eight of the 10 are stellar and the other two are excellent—so highly unusual. While some of them take place in a near dystopian future, most are mind-twists about life today and how we react as human beings. It's social satire at its absolute best.

My favorites among the favorites:
• "Victory Lap": Kyle Boot, a sheltered, overprotected teenage boy whose parents control his behavior with strict rules, is alone at home after school. He witnesses his 14-year-old neighbor Alison Pope, a childhood playmate on whom he now has a big crush, be abducted. If he were to help her, he would break many of his parents' inviolable rules. He is caught in a moral conundrum.

• "Escape from Spiderhead": Young people who have been convicted of the worst crimes can be sent to a facility conducting mind experiments instead of going to prison. Jeff is one of these, and he endures a series of experiments using powerful drugs that test his sexual prowess, his ability to fall in love, and his ability to be the cause of irreparable physical and mental harm to others. This story is disturbing and powerful.

• "The Semplica Girl Diaries": The ultimate status symbol for the suburban lawn and garden is something so outrageous and cruel it boggles the mind. But that's not how the characters in this startling story see it. The story is told in a father's diary entries, written in choppy, incomplete sentences—and it's brilliant.

• "Tenth of December": The title story is a haunting tale of two people—Don Eber, who is a scared and terminally ill middle-aged man who has decided to die by suicide, and Robin, a creative little boy with an inventive imagination who stops him. The story is told from the two characters' inner dialogue—the running thoughts of what each is thinking.

Collectively, the stories are a challenge to the reader: Who are YOU as a human being? How can YOU be a better human being?