Children Playing Before A Statue of HerculesEdited By David Sedaris

 
Little Beauties
Written By Kim Addonizio
If you haven't read Addonizio's provocative poetry (her poetry anthologies include Tell Me and This Thing Called Love) then you're missing out on discovering one of the most gifted poets of our times. In her heartfelt novel Little Beauties, Addonizio unleashes the combined power of her imagistic and fluid language with a wonderfully imagined plot which flows through the lives of two women and an infant girl, Stella. Within the broader boundaries of the novel, Addonizio's highly seasoned sense of humor blooms. Her protagonist, Diana, is an obsessive compulsive, ex-beauty-contestant whose husband has just left her. When she stumbles upon the depressive teenage mother, Jamie, she is forced to revise the rules by which she survives. Addonizio dazzles you with extraordinary revelations as these women struggle and search for their respective niches in the beautiful and terrifying world she illuminates.

Poetry in Motion from Coast to Coast:
120 Poems from the Subways and Buses
Edited by Elise Paschen and Brett Fletcher Lauer
The Poetry Society of America (PSA) first began its Poetry in Motion program (originally inspired by a similar project founded in London) in 1992 and has been spreading poetry throughout American public transit systems in major cities ever since. A vast variety of poems from different times, cultures and authors are printed on subway and bus placards and distributed to the public, reaching millions each day. The plan to make poetry a part of everyday life for Americans has had a staggering effect on us. This compilation of poems is a sequel to the PSA's first celebration of this program, Poetry in Motion: 100 Poems from the Subways and Buses. Since the poems have to fit on such small cards, most of them are either excerpts or short poems, a boon in this time of lightning-speed attention spans. Click on the image to buy now!

Eleven Minutes
By Paulo Coelho
This story about a Brazilian prostitute struggling to hold onto her soul in Switzerland, examines the synthesis of love and sex. Like most of Paulo Coelho's novels, this is an account of a pilgrimage that leads his protagonist, Maria, through a series of sexual experiences, ultimately affording her the conclusion that sex without love is joyless for both men and women. Her epiphanies are punctuated by diary entries through which Coelho is able to infuse his philosophical ruminations, often brilliant, about those 11 minutes of the day (the average amount of time intercourse takes place) that our lives seem to revolve around. Eleven Minutes' successes lies in the fact that Coelho doesn't shy away from more practical subjects like clitoral stimulation and the difficulty of achieving female orgasm during intercourse. It is the marriage of his poetic perception of sex as the "language of the soul"� and his insistence on delving into the physiological aspects of the act that make this book a must-read. Click on the image to buy now!

The Time Traveler's Wife
By Audrey Niffenegger
I read this book two years ago and it is still one of my all-time favorites! Audrey Niffenegger's beautifully constructed love story almost defies the linear constructs of conventional storytelling, using different episodes and times like layers to build her characters. The results are astonishing. You don't just read this book - you feel it. Niffenegger's characters bloom with such complexity and richness that it is virtually impossible not to fall in love with them. The Time Traveler's Wife is one of those books you get lost in and never want to find your way out of. Niffenegger's protagonists, Henry and Clare, will make you laugh and cry, and they will resonate in your life long after you've put this book down. Click on the image to buy now!

A Long Way Down
By Nick Hornby
A group of suicidal individuals get in each other's way when they all meet on top of the building they plan to throw themselves from on New Year's Eve. Sounds like a good time, eh? Actually, it is. Once again, Nick Hornby asserts his unique ability to turn a seriously sad situation into an opportunity for humor and insight.  With A Long Way Down, he introduces us to four memorable characters set on ending their lives but not quite capable of doing so. Written with the same wit and aplomb of his formal novels, High Fidelity and How to Be Good, this book delves even further into Hornby's understanding of the human condition and the emotional maladies that might plague one in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s whether its boredom, tragic circumstance or plain stupidity. Oddly enough, this novel manages to leave a buoyant, hopeful aftertaste while giving you plenty of opportunity for a healthy self-deprecating chuckle as you identify with Hornby's morally wounded protagonists. Click on the image to buy now!

The Mermaid Chair
By Sue Monk Kidd
Sue Monk Kidd had me at her bestselling debut novel, The Secret Life of Bees, but she really got me with her latest masterpiece, The Mermaid Chair.  Set in a South Carolinian barrier island, the book's protagonist, Jessie, is faced with many trials that hit close to any woman's heart. What starts off as a pilgrimage to help her eccentric mother battle a seemingly inexplicable act of violence turns into a tale full of twists and unraveled secrets. Add a spine-tingling affair with a Benedictine monk, and The Mermaid Chair is a tale about a woman who risks her marriage in which the embers of passion have long-since died. Ultimately, Jessie must choose between living a life of lust or of lifelong companionship while her family's dark, hidden past is revealed. Click on the image to buy now!