Zane Nervous Jonquinette Pierce gets nervous around men. Sexually repressed, she avoids men when she can. Jude, on the other hand, is a highly-sexed woman who can't get enough of men, often in steamy anonymous settings. The hook in bestselling author Zane's novel is that Jonquinette and Jude are the same person.
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Jennifer Traig Devil in the Details From age 12 until her freshman year in college, Jennifer Traig was afflicted with obsessive compulsive disorder, including a rare form of OCD called scrupulosity that actually rendered her hyper-religious. She relished Judaism's hundreds of commandments, and became obsessed with Jewish ritual. Now she recalls that time of her life, in an offbeat coming of age book.
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Ted Leonsis The Business of Happiness If you become a success, happiness will follow. Right? No, you've got it exactly backward, says Ted Leonsis, the owner of one of the NHL's most successful franchises, the Washington Capitals. Some years back, he was hugely successful as a self-made multi-millionaire. But when he came through a brush with death and realized he was profoundly unhappy despite his success, he realized big changes were necessary. Now in his book "The Business of Happiness" Leonsis shows us what he did, and how we can do it.
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Steven Solomon Water You need water, you go to the tap, turn it on, and there's all the water you need. That's about as much thought as most Americans, most westerners, put into water and its availability. But elsewhere around the world clean, accessible water is more valuable than oil. Journalist Steven Solomon traces the history of water -- which is, indeed, the history of civilization -- and also presents some cautionary advice to take-it-for-granted westerners, in his book, "Water."
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Tracy Chevalier Remarkable Creatures Two women and their unlikely 19th century friendship are "Remarkable Creatures," as Tracy Chevalier's new novel tells it. But the title also references the prehistoric beings, whose fossilized remains Elizabeth Philpott and Mary Anning find in their walks on the beach. Based on the lives of two actual women, Chevalier's book is also a snapshot of Victorian attitudes on gender, class, and religious values.
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Jodi Picoult My Sister's Keeper A teenage girl who has survived a rare form of leukemia now needs a kidney transplant, in Jodi Picoult's novel. There's no trouble finding a perfect match, though, because the girl's parents conceived a little sister for their daughter specifically to provide a donor match. But there is a problem: the little sister, who's 13 now, has decided she would rather not be forced to donate a kidney. And she's hired a lawyer.
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Carl Weber So You Call Yourself a Man Three guys who have been best friends as long as they can remember have their love lives sorely tested, in Carl Weber's novel So You Call Yourself a Man. One is in a happy marriage, which evidence of a past indiscretion now threatens. Another's wife has just left him, and the third is a good Christian who nevertheless finds that temptation is too much for him.
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Kat Von D High Voltage Tattoo If you thought tattoos -- elaborate, colorful body art -- were just for edgy young people, or those on the fringes, you haven't been paying attention. Tattoos have gone mainstream. One of the nation's premier tattoo artists is not even 30 yet, and already she's a major star in her profession. You've seen Kat Von D on The Learning Channel's "L.A. Ink" and you undoubtedly know many of her celebrity tattoo clients. Now you can read about her, see her work, and learn a lot about tattooing in her book "High Voltage Tattoo."
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Linda Carroll My Mother's Daughter Writer and therapist Linda Carroll thought things would be different when she had a daughter, back in the mid '60s. Her daughter Courtney, she vowed, would never have to go through what Linda had experienced as an adopted child in the '50s. Courtney was a difficult child, however, who grew up to be a rock star -- we know her as Courtney Love -- and when she called her mother one day to say that she was pregnant, it inspired Linda Carroll to find her own mother. And that opened up a whole new chapter in her life. Carroll tells the story in a memoir called My Mother's Daughter.
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Lisa Whelchel The Facts of Life: And Other Lessons My Father Taught Me She starred in a major network TV series for nine years, becoming a role model for millions of young women. Actress Lisa Whelchel, who played the snooty Blair Warner on "The Facts of Life," is now playing a far more important role. She's the mother of three home-schooled children, and the wife of a minister. And she's author of this inspirational book of stories about her life.
