Customer Comments

When I was a little girl, my mother used to talk to me about the movie, "The Member of the Wedding." When, later in my life, I read the novel I learned that there were several characters involved in the story. For my mother there was only Berniece Sadie Brown, the character played by Ethel Waters. She always recounted Miss Waters' singing of "His Eye is on the Sparrow." I knew Miss Waters as older woman who sang wonderfully on various variety shows As Donald Bogle makes clear in "Heat Wave: The Life and Career of Ethel Waters" there was a lot more to Waters than what my mother and I knew. Waters had a career that spanned decades and she is credited with influencing the style of subsequent popular singers and being the first black woman to innovate and perform in many different venues The huge grandmotherly woman I remember began as a tall, slinky figure who sang sexy suggestive songs like "Shake That Thing." She starred in the movies and on Broadway. She ended her career with television guest shots and as a participant in Billy Graham's televised crusades. Though the image she presented to the world was very pious her personal life included several younger `husbands' and a number of female lovers. Her profanity filled rages during the filming of "Cabin in the Sky" probably cost her a more significant career in Hollywood. Bogle, who has written many books about black entertainers paints an entertaining portrait of black show business in the Walters era. As new figures are introduced into her orbit, we get mini portraits of them It's in this way that I found out that Billy Graham contributed to Martin Luther King's bail money when he was in jail. This is a wonderful portrait of a important figure who many of my younger friends have forgotten.

Spero Lucas is a 29 year old veteran of the Iraq War. He has returned home to Washington and decided to make a living as a private investigator. He gets a cut of whatever he recovers for his clients. He bears a Greek name because his adoptive parents are Greek as does his African American brother, a school teacher named Leonidas. Spero may be younger and more techno savvy than other Pelecanos protagonists (he travels light with a moleskine notebook, an Iphone and the occasional gun) but his concerns remain the importance of work, the nature of manhood, and the importance of a strong parent in the life of a child. The Pelecanos writing is still tight, the street wit engaging, and the portrait of Washington D.C. frequently heartbreaking.

What a delightfully funny book Golden Richards has 4 wives, 28 children and is endearingly hapless There are very sad moments here, but don’t expect a soap opera Udall sees the humor in the chaos of this man’s life. How do you keep track of the names of 28 kids? Much of this book is incredibly funny but Udall doesn’t make fun of anybody He likes each and every one of these people

This is a wonderful book It's a rendering of history that is particularly light on its feet. This is not your usual everything but the kitchen sink account in which the author gives you masses of facts without art or interpretation. It is as much about 18th century Paris and it is about Dr Franklin and it is smart and witty about everything

The title character of this Dickens novel is one of his impossibly virtuous young women. But the world she inhabits is anything but permeated with virtue. Her father has been in debtor's prison for many years and she works, without his knowledge, so that he can afford debtor's prison. The world around her will look all too familiar. The most exalted character in the book is Mr Merdle, thought by many to be "the man of the age." If you know the story of Bernard Madoff, Mr Merdle will seem entirely contmeporary. As is true in more than a few Dickens novels, the rogues and eccentrics are the really interesting people here All in all, the perfect book to read now.

Yes,it's all here. Cunning financiers,amazing scams, innocent dupes and not so innocent dupes. This all takes place in 19th century England, not 21st century America. But it will all sound mighty familiar and offers a more dramatic conclusion and--perhaps--more justice than the current financial crisis is likely to give us

Thomas H Cook is an award winning writer of wonderfully atmospheric novels who isn't nearly as well known as he should be In his latest work we see what happens when a teacher from a privileged Southern family suggests to a student that he find out the truth about his father--a man known in the community as "The Co-ed Killer." What the boy uncovers has implications for many people in the town including his teacher

This is a tour de force certain to please both lovers of murder mysteries and lovers of historical fiction The very talented Mr Ebershoff intertwines a contemporary murder mystery narrated by the alleged murderer's gay son (Did mom, the 19th wife of her radical Mormon husband, murder him?) with an account of the life on Ann Eliza Young, the apostate 19th wife of Brigham Young. This entertaining and absorbing novel is also a cautionary tale about religious zealotry.

Iris, a woman struggling with her own business and a complicated personal life, is stunned when she gets a call from the local asylum telling her that her aunt Esme is about to be released after 61 years of confinement. Her grandmother, Kitty, beclouded by Alzheimers and living in a nursing home, has always portrayed herself as an only child. The story of what happens when Iris and Esme meet and what they both learn about the past and the present is beautifully and compellingly told.

Peter Lovesey is one of the cleverest contemporary British novelists around It happens that he uses his wit in mysteries In Reaper, he gives us Otis Joy, a charismatic Church of England vicar whose personal coffers fill as his congregation dwindles. A devlish plot and acerbic prose combine to produce a heavenly entertainment Not to be missed.

Once several years ago, I cancelled plans to attend a New Year's Eve party because I was enthralled by an early edition of Mitford letters edited by Charlotte Moseley, "With Love From Nancy" which collected the letters of the eldest Mitford sister. Now Ms Mosely has given us the letters written between all 6 sisters: Nancy, the author of a number of witty novels and biographies; Diana-who married Oswold Mosley, the head of the British Union of Fascists and spent time in prison during WWII; Unity who was enamored of Hitler and shot herself in the head when Britain went to war with Germany; Pam, the family farmer; Jessica, Communist and muckraker and Deborah, the Duchess of Devonshire Prepare to become addicted to reading these letters. The Mitfords are interesting all on their own and the tensions and divisions created by their individual political views is worth a read. In addition they knew everyone and were not afraid to voice opinions. For a special chill, read the letters written by Unity and Diana during WWII. "Poor, sweet Hitler" indeed!

Emily and Michael Stewart stumble upon an unusual away to amuse themselves. When, on one late night, Emily convinces her brother, ever so briefly, that she is a ghost, he comes up with a plan to dazzle the neighborhood kids. Emily, who can make a knocking noise with her ankle, pretends to be in communication with the ghost of a dead teenager (and relative), Regina Ward. But Michael is not content with just dazzling some kids, soon Emily is performing for a group of women, both formidable and vulnerable, who wish to believe that their dead relatives understood them, forgave them and are now happy in whatever life after death there is.The stakes are raised when a local man who lost his son in W.W.I wishes to sample Emily's talents. As Emily pursues her supposed communication with the dead, she learns more about her own family, what all the ghosts she supposedly evokes were like when they walked the earth, the need for `all this business about happiness' as one character in the novel calls it and the consequences of secrets and imagination It's difficult to discuss this book without giving away plot and in someway spoiling the suspense and the mystery of it. Suffice it to say that the book is haunting in very sense of the word

The opening gambit of this novel is deceptively simple. The narrator, looking back from 1957, remembers the year his newly widowed father answers an ad for a housekeeper. The story of the impact of the housekeeper and her brother, Morris, on this Montana family creates a wonderful old-fashioned novel with well-developed characters, plot twists, and a loving sense of place. The final glory of this book is Doig's love of language (both Latin and English) and the precision with which he tells this tail This book has made me a devoted Ivan Doig fan

I won't pretend that I ever supported the war in Iraq, but this account of our occupation by the Coalition Provisional Authority painted a bleaker picture than I imagined. There are the tensions between the Department of State and the Department of Defense that result in people who actually know somethning about the Middle East being frozen out of participation because they are sceptical about the chances of imposing a democracy on this part of the world. Potential CPA employees are asked, as part of the job interview, "Do you support Roe v. Wade?" and "Did you vote for President Bush?" As one CPA staffer says, " '"The problem with the occupation was the occupation itself.'"

Spiotta's novel about a fugitive whose crime dates back to Viet Nam War protests reads like Don Delilo with more domestic detail (That's a compliment.) I found her shifting between the 1970s and 1990s fascinating. Readers who enjoy this should also read Sigrid Nunez's "The Last of Her Kind" and Marge Piercy's much earlier "Vida" to see how other writers handle similar material.