23. What the Dead Know

This book was really really good. I don't want to say much about it because I feel like I'll give away its secrets. One thing I will say is that I didn't see the outcome coming... Also, and probably only of importance to me, it was set in Baltimore and mentioned a ton of local references that I know oh so well - including hometown of Finksburg, which I think it is fairly safe to assume hasn't been mentioned in too many best selling novels. :)

Here's a review from B&N:

This stand-alone thriller from Laura Lippman (To the Power of Three, Every Secret Thing, et al.) revolves around the mysterious disappearance of two young sisters in a Baltimore County shopping mall on Easter weekend in 1975. Still unsolved after more than three decades, the cold case suddenly becomes red hot when a middle-aged woman involved in a car accident informs police that she is Sunny Bethany, one of the sisters who went missing 30 years earlier. But her disjointed story, while factually accurate, raises concerns with Baltimore County cop Kevin Infante, who intuitively knows something isn't quite right. The investigation is complicated further by the fact that many key players are either dead or suffering from degenerative illnesses. The mysterious woman's horrific account -- an abduction involving a police officer, years of sexual abuse, and the murder of her little sister, Heather -- sounds plausible enough, but when the elderly mother of the missing girls, now living in Mexico, is asked to meet with her alleged daughter, a terrible truth is finally revealed…

Reminiscent of 2005's To the Power of Three, this mystery/thriller features young, outwardly uncorrupted, and surprisingly savvy female protagonists -- and a bombshell of a conclusion that, interestingly enough, ties in with the peripheral theme of the spiritual discipline of the Fivefold Path: liberation through self-knowledge.

Sharing similarities with an actual unsolved case that involved the disappearance of two Baltimore-area sisters in 1975, What the Dead Know is vintage Lippman -- emotionally charged, powerfully poignant, and hauntingly sublime.

22. Judicial Policy Making and the Modern State

Unfortunately this one doesn't have a photo... so sad, I know.

Here's the description: Between 1965 and 1990, federal judges in almost all of the states handed down sweeping rulings affecting virtually every prison and jail in the United States. Without a doubt judges were the most important prison reformers during this period. Malcolm M. Feeley and Edward L. Rubin provide an account of this process, and use it to explore the more general issue of the role of courts in the modern bureaucratic state. In doing so, they provide detailed accounts of how the courts formulated and sought to implement their orders, and how this action affected the traditional conceptions of federalism, separation of powers, and the rule of law.

The underlying message was interesting, but the authors really just wanted to see how smart they could make themselves look with big words and had a tendency to repeat the same points over and over and over again. Blech!

21. 19 Minutes

This is Jodi Piccoult's latest book and like the others it is quite amazing.

Here's the description:

In nineteen minutes, you can mow the front lawn, color your hair, watch a third of a hockey game. In nineteen minutes, you can bake scones or get a tooth filled by a dentist; you can fold laundry for a family of five.... In nineteen minutes, you can stop the world, or you can just jump off it. In nineteen minutes, you can get revenge.

Sterling is a small, ordinary New Hampshire town where nothing ever happens -- until the day its complacency is shattered by a shocking act of violence. In the aftermath, the town's residents must not only seek justice in order to begin healing but also come to terms with the role they played in the tragedy. For them, the lines between truth and fiction, right and wrong, insider and outsider have been obscured forever. Josie Cormier, the teenage daughter of the judge sitting on the case, could be the state's best witness, but she can't remember what happened in front of her own eyes. And as the trial progresses, fault lines between the high school and the adult community begin to show, destroying the closest of friendships and families.

Nineteen Minutes is New York Times–bestselling author Jodi Picoult's most raw, honest, and important novel yet. Told with the straightforward style for which she has become known, it asks simple questions that have no easy answers: Can your own child become a mystery to you? What does it mean to be different in our society? Is it ever okay for a victim to strike back? And who -- if anyone -- has the right to judge someone else?

There's really nothing more to say, just - read it.

20. In An Instant

In an Instant is the story of Bob & Lee Woodruff, the ABC news reporter who was seriously injured in Iraq while covering the war and his wife who stood by him, and continues to stand by him during his recovery. Not only did they cover the accident and the time following it, but what lead up to it - when they met, how they got together, what their earlied married days were like and how their lives led them to January 2006 when the accident occurred.

Here's the description from B&N:

In one of the most anticipated books of the year, Lee Woodruff, along with her husband, Bob Woodruff, share their never-before-told story of romance, resilience, and survival following the tragedy that transformed their lives and gripped a nation.

In January 2006, the Woodruffs seemed to have it all-a happy marriage and four beautiful children. Lee was a public relations executive and Bob had just been named co-anchor of ABC's World News Tonight. Then, while Bob was embedded with the military in Iraq, an improvised explosive device went off near the tank he was riding in. He and his cameraman, Doug Vogt, were hit, and Bob suffered a traumatic brain injury that nearly killed him.

In an Instant is the frank and compelling account of how Bob and Lee's lives came together, were blown apart, and then were miraculously put together again-and how they persevered, with grit but also with humor, through intense trauma and fear. Here are Lee's heartfelt memories of their courtship, their travels as Bob left a law practice behind and pursued his news career and Lee her freelance business, the glorious births of her children and the challenges of motherhood.

Bob in turn recalls the moment he caught the journalism "bug" while covering Tiananmen Square for CBS News, his love of overseas assignments and his guilt about long separations from his family, and his pride at attaining the brass ring of television news-being chosen to fill the seat of the late Peter Jennings.

And, for the first time, the Woodruffs reveal the agonizing details of Bob's terrible injuries and his remarkable recovery. We learn that Bob's return home was not an end to the journey but the first step into a future they have learned not to fear but to be grateful for.

In an Instant is much more than the dual memoir of love and courage. It is an important, wise, and inspiring guide to coping with tragedy-and an extraordinary drama of marriage, family, war, and nation.

A percentage of the proceeds from this book will be donated to the Bob Woodruff Family Fund for Traumatic Brain Injury.

This book is really really good. It tells a real life story - of a couple and their family, of our country in the midst of war and the soliders and their families who are involved day in and day out in the impact of that, and of major world events through the eyes of someone who experienced them first hand over the past 18 years. It also is raising awareness of Traumatic Brain Injuries - their prevalence in this war and the fact that what it takes to help those with those kinds of injuries and how our Veterans medical system isn't prepared to deal with them. Not only did the Woodruff's share their story, but they are doing so to help others and raise awareness and money for their care. I am amazed by their story and encourage others to read this book and support the Bob Woodruff Family Fund for Traumatic Brain Injury.

19. Size 14 Is Not Fat Either

As predicted, I couldn't stay away from the sequel to the weekend's read... this one was a cute, chick lit mystery and it has a great set up for a follow up book which of course, I'll read as well. :)

Here's the description from B&N -

Former pop star Heather Wells has settled nicely into her new life as assistant dorm director at New York College--a career that does not require her to drape her size 12 body in embarrassingly skimpy outfits. She can even cope (sort of) with her rocker ex-boyfriend's upcoming nuptials, which the press has dubbed The Celebrity Wedding of the Decade. But she's definitely having a hard time dealing with the situation in the dormitory kitchen--where a cheerleader has lost her head on the first day of the semester. (Actually, her head is accounted for--it's her torso that's AWOL.)

Surrounded by hysterical students--with her ex-con father on her doorstep and her ex-love bombarding her with unwanted phone calls--Heather welcomes the opportunity to play detective . . . again. If it gets her mind off her personal problems--and teams her up again with the gorgeous P.I. who owns the brownstone where she lives--it's all good. But the murder trail is leading the average-sized amateur investigator into a shadowy world. And if she doesn't watch her step, Heather will soon be singing her swan song!

18. Catching Genius

I really liked this one, own it and am definitely willing to lend it. :)

Here's a review from B&N:

Raised in affluence in Florida, Estella and Connie Sykes may be sisters, but are also best friends. That is until Estella, two years older than Connie, catches the dreaded 'eyecue', whatever that is. Fearing for her beloved normal sibling, Estella drifts away from Connie, hurting her sister who does not understand why. Estella is a math prodigy while Connie is a norm.

Now years later, the two sisters still not close, return to their Gulf Coast home to help their mom sell the family house. As they work on what to toss, what to give away, what to sell, and what to keep, their past as precocious partners and the subsequent split when they were seven and five respectively surfaces forcing both especially the elder to reveal family truths.

Alternating perspective, CATCHING GENIUS is a delightful look at how childhood relationships make the adults. Out of innocence and a real concern for her younger sister, Estella finds the road to hell paved with her good intentions. Though the Connie sections seem more insightful as the audience feels her decades old still lingering hurt while not quite understanding how Estella coped over the years, readers will appreciate Kristy Kiernan’s poignant look at the changing relationship between two sisters.

17. Size 12 is Not Fat

This was a cute, fun, chick-lit mystery. I'm behind the times and the sequel is apparently already available so that will be another one on the list shortly I'm sure. :)

Here's a review from B&N:

Bag the tiara and get out the gun: Heather Wells, former teen idol, turns detective in the cute debut of a new mystery series from bestseller Cabot (The Princess Project and other titles in her Princess Diaries series). After the 20-something Heather's rocker boyfriend dumps her, and her mother and manager flee with her earnings, she becomes an assistant director of an undergraduate residence hall at Manhattan's New York College (read: NYU) in hopes of free tuition. When students start to die mysteriously while "elevator surfing" in the building, weight-conscious, romance-obsessed Heather goes on a crazed hunt to uncover the truth-with an unwavering sense of style. As Magda, Heather's dorm cashier friend, says: "Even if the rest of your life is going down the toilet... at least your toes can still look pretty." Cabot delivers Heather's amateur sleuthing adventures in a rapid-fire narrative that may leave some readers begging for time-outs to control sudden laughing fits.

16. Alphabet Weekends

First, the B&N description:



Natalie and Tom have been best friends forever, but Tom wants them to be much more. When Natalie's longtime boyfriend walks out on her just when she thinks he's going to propose, Tom offers her a different and wildly romantic proposition. He suggests that they spend twenty-six weekends together, indulging in twenty-six different activities from A to Z, and at the end of that time Tom's convinced they'll be madly in love. Natalie, however, is not so sure.

As Natalie's touring the alphabet with Tom, her mother's going through her own romantic crisis-while Tom's unhappily married sister-in-law, Lucy, struggles with temptation. And over the course of six amazing months, three generations of passionate dreamers are going to discover that, no matter how clever they are, love-and life-is never as easy as A, B, C . . .

Now, my thoughts. This was pretty cute chick but I really only liked the Natalie/Tom story... there were too many other characters and while they were all related to Natalie & Tom I was halfway through the book before I had them all straight in my head. But, the concept of the alphabet weekends was fun and I do own this one if you want to borrow it...

15. Such a Pretty Girl

This was a really good read. Not the light fluff I'm usually reading, that's for sure. Here's a review from B&N:

Meredith has run out of time. Her father was supposed to be away for nine years, but he is out in three and on his way home. Her mother is in denial, still furious with her daughter for reporting the rape that caused his conviction. This terrifying, powerful novel of child abuse and molestation is told by fifteen-year-old Meredith as it is happening. Her voice is whip-smart, self-aware, and full of dry humor even as her choppy sentences communicate her terror. From the moment she sees him again, she knows that her father will try again. Meredith is not alone. Her grandmother lives across town, and both the cop who arrested her father and her boyfriend, Andy, live in her condo complex. When he was only seven, Andy was also abused by Meredith's father. Now he is nineteen, a paraplegic, and living with his mother who, disguised, waits to take revenge. But Meredith comes to believe that she must save herself. Her father must be arrested again before he molests other children. She is "the sacrificial lamb."

The book is short, just over 200 pages, and definitely not one that can be put down until it is finished.

14. The Blonde Theory

A nice, light chick lit read on a Saturday afternoon at B&N. Not the best, but pretty much what I was looking for today... some mindless reading rather then the text book reading I should have been doing.

Here's a review from B&N.com:

In her follow-up to How to Sleep with a Movie Star, Harmel, a chick lit reviewer for morning television show The Daily Buzz, nails the formula: girl can't get guy, girl employs zany tactics, girl gets string of lame guys, girl learns about herself. Harper Roberts is a brilliant 35-year-old New York patent attorney who hasn't had a satisfying relationship in three years. So when her girlfriends dare her to test the "Blonde Theory" as fodder for a magazine article, Harper takes the bait and agrees to spend two weeks as not just a blonde (which she is), but as a ditsy blonde, complete with skimpy clothes and a stunted vocabulary. She quickly rounds up dates with men who think she is either a cheerleader or a bartender, and she also connects with Matt, a dreamy soap opera actor who knows the real Harper. Assuming he is as superficial as the men ditsy Harper is dating, smart Harper doesn't believe his attentions are genuine. In the meantime, she receives sage advice from her (cute) plumber. This book isn't a life-changer, but it is a nice time killer.

13. Natural Born Charmer

I read this one tonight at B&N and really liked it. It was really really cute!

Here's the description:

Chicago Stars quarterback Dean Robillard is the luckiest man in the world: a bona-fide sports superstar and the pride of the NFL with a profitable side career as a buff billboard model for End Zone underwear. But life in the glory lane has started to pale, and Dean has set off on a cross-country trip to figure out what's gone wrong. When he hits a lonely stretch of Colorado highway, he spies something that will shake up his gilded life in ways he can't imagine. A young woman . . . dressed in a beaver suit.

Blue Bailey is on a mission to murder her ex. Or at least inflict serious damage. As for the beaver suit she's wearing . . . Is it her fault that life keeps throwing her curveballs? Witness the expensive black sports car pulling up next to her on the highway and the Greek god stepping out of it.

Blue's career as a portrait painter is the perfect job for someone who refuses to stay in one place for very long. She needs a ride, and America's most famous football player has an imposing set of wheels. Now, all she has to do is keep him entertained, off guard, and fully clothed before he figures out exactly how desperate she is.

But Dean isn't the brainless jock she imagines, and Blue -- despite her petite stature -- is just about the toughest woman Dean has ever met. They're soon heading for his summer home where their already complicated lives and inconvenient attraction to each other will become entangled with a charismatic but aging rock star; a beautiful fifty-two-year-old woman trying to make peace with her rock and roll past; an eleven-year-old who desperately needs a family; and a bitter old woman who hates them all.

As the summer progresses, the wandering portrait artist and the charming football star play a high-stakes game, fighting themselves and each other for a chance to have it all.

12. The Hollow Hope - Can the Courts Produce Social Change

This one was for school but was still a pretty interesting read...

While debate rages over whether the courts should be relied on as tools for legislative change, Rosenberg asks the more fundamental question--can courts produce political and social reform? His argument suggests that efforts to use the courts to generate reforms in civil rights, abortion, women's rights, and other issues have been largely failures.

11. The Center of Everything

This was a good one and I own it if you'd like to borrow it...

From B&N: In Laura Moriarty's extraordinary first novel, a young girl tries to make sense of an unruly world spinning around her. Growing up with a single mother who is chronically out of work and dating a married man, 10-year old Evelyn Bucknow learns early how to fend for herself.

Offering an affecting portrayal of a troubled mother/daughter relationship, one in which the daughter is very often expected to play the role of the adult, the novel also gives readers a searing rendering of the claustrophobia of small town midwestern life, as seen through the eyes of a teenage girl. Evelyn must come to terms with the heartbreaking lesson of first love -- that not all loves are meant to be -- and determine who she is and who she wants to be. Stuck in the middle of Kansas, between best friends, and in the midst of her mother's love, Evelyn finds herself . . . in The Center of Everything.