The author uses her own imagination to turn John March, the absent patriarch of Louisa May Alcott’s novel, Little Women, into a character of flesh and blood. It portrays his loss of innocence and idealism while fighting in the Civil War with such a profound empathy that he and his wife, Marmee, spring off the pages as a deeply, maddeningly, lovable human beings. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2006. Read Review

$14.00

A real page-turner. You won’t want to put it down. It will keep you up late at night. Non-stop action. More twists and turns than an amusement park ride. It will keep you guessing until the very end. A great book for the beach. A great book for the plane. All of these clichés of the thriller genre are applicable here. Really. It’s about a guy whose wife died years ago, but somehow, a message appears on his computer with a phrase that only he and his wife know. Could she be alive? He’s warned, “their watching” and to “tell no one.” It’s fast. It’s clever. It’s a great gift. Read Review

$7.99

Subtitled “A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science,” the book provides anecdotes that allow us to experience the excitement and worries of a profession that is full of ever-changing information, fallible doctors, and lives always on the line. Gawande, an eighth year surgery resident at the time he wrote the book, was rewarded for his efforts by being a finalist for the National Book Award in 2002. Complications is a fast-paced and fascinating book for anyone who likes nonfiction. Read Review.

$13.00

A story of a lifelong friendship between two couples. The friendship begins at the University of Wisconsin deep in the depression, where the bootstrapping outsiders from the West show up in a rainstorm, soaking wet and full of hope. They quickly become friends with a wealthy, well-connected couple from the Northeast. The novel, patterned after a real friendship of the Stegners, is a quietly joyful ode to friendship and marriage and life’s small triumphs and tragedies. Read Review

Eleven provocative essays on religion, history, and the state of contemporary society. Contrarian in spirit, they assume that the prevailing view of things is wrong and that the opposite view is also wrong. They try to demonstrate that there are other, better ways of thinking about the issues. Read Review

The record feels like it was recorded in one magical night when each of the 12 songs was peaking in the singer’s soul – as if producer extraordinaire, Rick Rubin (Beastie Boys, Johnny Cash) had happened to turn on the microphones at the exact moment Neil Diamond realized the exact power and intention of each song. You can literally hear that they weeded out every single thing that wasn’t the song, so that what remained is essential. It’s spare, raw, and a great surprise for everyone. It’s for lifelong fans, but it’s even more for those people who never thought they’d own a Neil Diamond record. Read review

$10.00