Fearless 14
by Janet Evanovich

Stephanie, Morelli, Ranger, Lula, Connie, Grandma Mazur and all the rest are back in this latest adventure in the Burg.

Devil Bones
by Kathy Reichs

Dr. Temperance Brennan's quest to identify two corpses pits her against citizen vigilantes intent on a witch-hunt in bestseller Reichs's exciting 11th thriller to feature the forensic anthropologist (after 2007's Bones to Ashes). While working in Charlotte, N.C., Brennan investigates remains unearthed during a housing renovation and discovers disturbing clues possibly pointing to voodoo or Santeria. She must determine if the bones, including the skull of a teenage girl, are linked to an unidentified headless torso found in a nearby lake. Intent on using the deaths as the cornerstone of his crusade against immorality, fundamentalist preacher turned politician Boyce Lingo claims that the bodies bear the mark of devil worshippers. With the help of Det. Erskine Skinny Slidell, Brennan unearths a tangled web of dirty politics, religious persecution and male prostitution. Reichs, whose work inspired the hit TV series Bones, once again expertly blends science and complex character development.

Tribute
by Nora Roberts

Cilla McGowan always sold the properties she bought and then rebuilt, but this time Cilla planned on keeping the place for herself. Cilla knew restoring her grandmother's retreat in the Shenandoah Valley would take lots of time, money, and hard work since no one had lived there since Cilla's grandmother-glamorous Hollywood actress Janet Hardy-committed suicide 30 years ago. What Cilla hadn't factored into her plans was just how distracting her sexy new neighbor, graphic novelist Ford Sawyer, would be. Or that after Cilla discovers a packet of her grandmother's letters, someone in the small town will stop at nothing to keep some secrets buried in the past. Once again the extraordinarily imaginative, prolific, and popular Roberts creates a cast of magnetic and superbly nuanced characters and a cleverly ordered plot spiced with subtle suspense and sexy romance. She also evinces a dry wit that serves to enhance the sheer pleasure of her latest completely captivating novel of danger and desire.

Compulsion
by Jonathan Kellerman

A tipsy young woman seeking aid on a desolate highway disappears into the inky black night. A retired schoolteacher is stabbed to death in broad daylight. Two women are butchered after closing time in a small-town beauty parlor. These and other bizarre acts of cruelty and psychopathology are linked only by the killer's use of luxury vehicles and a baffling lack of motive. The ultimate whodunits, these crimes demand the attention of LAPD detective Milo Sturgis and his collaborator on the crime beat, psychologist Alex Delaware." "What begins with a solitary bloodstain in a stolen sedan quickly spirals outward in odd and unexpected directions, leading Delaware and Sturgis from the well-heeled center of L.A. society to its desperate edges; across the paths of commodities brokers and transvestite hookers; and as far away as New York City, where the search thaws out a long-cold case and exposes a grotesque homicidal crusade. The killer proves to be a fleeting shape-shifter, defying identification, leaving behind dazed witnesses and death - and compelling Alex and Milo to confront the true face of murderous madness.

Sail
by James Patterson

Say Goodbye
by Lisa Gardner

For Kimberly Quincy, FBI Special Agent, it all starts with a pregnant hooker. The story Delilah Rose tells Kimberly about her johns is too horrifying to be true - but prostitutes are disappearing, one by one, with no explanation, and no one but Kimberly seems to care." "As a member of the Evidence Response Team, dead hookers aren't exactly Kimberly's specialty. The young agent is five months pregnant - she has other things to worry about than an alleged lunatic who uses spiders to do his dirty work. But Kimberly's own mother and sister were victims of a serial killer. And now, without any bodies and with precious few clues, it's all too clear that a serial killer has found the key to the perfect murder ... or Kimberly is chasing a crime that never happened." "Kimberly's caught in a web more lethal than any spider's, and the more she fights for answers, the more tightly she's trapped. What she doesn't know is that she's close - too close - to a psychopath who makes women's nightmares come alive, and if he has his twisted way, it won't be long before it's time for Kimberly to ... say goodbye.

Breaking Dawn
by Stephenie Meyer

It ought to seem redundant to dismiss the fourth and final Twilight novel as escapist fantasy-but how else could anyone look at a romance about an ordinary, even clumsy teenager torn between a vampire and a werewolf, both of whom are willing to sacrifice their happiness for hers? Flaws and all, however, Meyer's first three novels touched on something powerful in their weird refraction of our culture's paradoxical messages about sex and sexuality. The conclusion is much thinner, despite its interminable length. Everygirl Bella achieves her wishes quickly (marriage and sex, in that order, are two, and becoming an immortal is another), and once she becomes a vampire it's almost impossible to identify with her. But that's not the main problem. Essentially, everyone gets everything they want, even if their desires necessitate an about-face in characterization or the messy introduction of some back story. Nobody has to renounce anything or suffer more than temporarily-in other words, grandeur is out. This isn't about happy endings; it's about gratification. A sign of the times? Ages 12-up.

Silent Thunder
by Iris Johansen and Roy Johansen

Brilliant marine architect Hannah Bryson has been given a priceless opportunity. A U.S. maritime museum has just acquired the former pride of the Soviet fleet,the decommissioned submarine Silent Thunder, for public exhibition. Hannah must inspect every single inch of this legendary nuclear attack sub and design modifications that will make it safe for the thousands of expected visitors. Enlisting the aid of her brother, Connor, they examine the enormous vessel and delve into its long and lethal history." "On a routine check, Connor discovers a mysterious message behind one of the ship's panels. But before he can figure out what it means, there's a deadly assault on Silent Thunder ..." "The U.S. government warns Hannah against it, but she'll stop at nothing to find the ruthless mastermind behind the plot. Even if it means joining forces with a mysterious man who may be even more dangerous than the enemy she has sworn to bring down. As Hannah finds herself caught in the crossfire of an epic standoff, her only hope for survival is to unravel Silent Thunder's explosive secret. But someone's willing to kill to make sure Silent Thunder stays silent.

World Without End
by Ken Follett

An anticipated sequel to The Pillars of the Earth is set two centuries after the building of the elaborate Gothic cathedral in Kingsbridge, where its prior finds himself at the center of a web of ambition and revenge that places the city at a crossroad of commerce, medicine, and architecture.

Mercedes Coffin
by Faye Kellerman

Romance titan Steel doctors up a familiar formula with fresh results. Having had just about enough of the gadabout ways of dot-com millionaire and perpetual Peter Pan, Blake Williams, Maxine, 42, divorced him five years ago and is raising their three children (ages 13, 12 and six) while running a thriving psychiatric practice specializing in childhood trauma and adolescent suicide. Blake, meanwhile, is continent-hopping among houses in London, Morocco and New York, bedding nubile young things. Maxine and Blake have remained friends, but when a horrific teen suicide case leads Maxine to meet doctor and childless divorcé Charles West, she finally falls for the type of man she thinks she's always wanted: serious, responsible and a bit stuffy. A disaster makes Blake rethink his lifestyle, however, and Maxine suddenly has a choice to make. While Steel never locks in on her characters' emotions, she keeps the pages turning and offers a satisfying twist at book's end that most readers won't see coming.

The Last Lecture
by Randy Pausch

Randy Pausch is a married father of three, a very popular professor at Carnegie Mellon University—and he is dying. He is suffering from pancreatic cancer, which he says has returned after surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. Doctors say he has only a few months to live.

In September 2007, Randy gave a final lecture to his students at Carnegie Mellon that has since been downloaded more than a million times on the Internet. "There's an academic tradition called the 'Last Lecture.' Hypothetically, if you knew you were going to die and you had one last lecture, what would you say to your students?" Randy says. "Well, for me, there's an elephant in the room. And the elephant in the room, for me, it wasn't hypothetical."

Audition: a Memoir
by Barbara Walters

Although Walters writes, It was not in my nature to be courageous, to be the first, her compulsively readable memoir proves otherwise. No one lasts on TV for more than 45 years without the ability to make viewers feel comfortable, and Walters's amiable persona perfectly translates to the page. She gives us an entertaining panorama of a full life lived and recounted with humor and bracing honesty.

The 100 Mile Diet
by Alisa Smith

The 100 Mile Diet is this year's One Book, One Community offering. Get more information about this title by clicking here.

In Defense of Food: an Eater's Manifesto
by Michael Pollan

Food. There's plenty of it around, and we all love to eat it. So why should anyone need to defend it?" "Because most of what we're consuming today is not food, and how we're consuming it - in the car, in front of the TV, and increasingly alone - is not really eating. Instead of food, we're consuming "edible foodlike substances" - no longer the products of nature but of food science. Many of them come packaged with health claims that should be our first clue they are anything but healthy. In the so-called Western diet, food has been replaced by nutrients, and common sense by confusion. The result is what Michael Pollan calls the American paradox: The more we worry about nutrition, the less healthy we seem to become." "In Defense of Food shows us how, despite the daunting dietary landscape Americans confront in the modern supermarket, we can escape the Western diet and, by doing so, most of the chronic diseases that diet causes. We can relearn which foods are healthy, develop simple ways to moderate our appetites, and return eating to its proper context - out of the car and back to the table.

The Glass Castle
by Jeannette Walls

Jeannette Walls grew up with parents whose ideals and stubborn nonconformity were both their curse and their salvation. Rex and Rose Mary Walls had four children. In the beginning, they lived like nomads, moving among Southwest desert towns, camping in the mountains. Rex was a charismatic, brilliant man who, when sober, captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and above all, how to embrace life fearlessly. Rose Mary, who painted and wrote and couldn't stand the responsibility of providing for her family, called herself an "excitement addict." Cooking a meal that would be consumed in fifteen minutes had no appeal when she could make a painting that might last forever." "Later, when the money ran out, or the romance of the wandering life faded, the Walls retreated to the dismal West Virginia mining town - and the family - Rex Walls had done everything he could to escape. He drank. He stole the grocery money and disappeared for days. As the dysfunction of the family escalated, Jeannette and her brother and sisters had to fend for themselves, supporting one another as they weathered their parents' betrayals and, finally, found the resources and will to leave home." "What is so astonishing about Jeannette Walls is not just that she had the guts and tenacity and intelligence to get out, but that she describes her parents with such deep affection and generosity. Hers is a story of triumph against all odds, but also a tender, moving tale of unconditional love in a family that despite its profound flaws gave her the fiery determination to carve out a successful life on her own terms.

Three Cups of Tea
by Greg Mortenson

One day in 1993, high up in the world's most inhospitable mountains, Greg Mortenson wandered lost and alone, broken in body and spirit, after a failed attempt to climb K2, the world's deadliest peak. When the people of an impoverished village in Pakistan's Karakoram Himalaya took him in and nursed him back to health, Mortenson made an impulsive promise: He would return one day and build them a school. Although he was a homeless "climbing bum" living out of his aging Buick in Berkeley, California, Mortenson sold what few possessions he had to launch one of the most remarkable humanitarian campaigns of our time." "Three Cups of Tea traces Mortenson's decade-long odyssey to build schools, especially for girls, throughout the region that gave birth to the Taliban and sanctuary to Al Qaeda. While he wages war with the root causes of terrorism - poverty and ignorance - by providing both girls and boys with a balanced, nonextremist education. Mortenson must survive a kidnapping, fatwas issued by enraged mullahs, death threats from Americans who consider him a traitor, and wrenching separations from his family." "Today, as the director of the Central Asia Institute, Mortenson has built fifty-five schools serving Pakistan and Afghanistan's poorest communities. And as this real-life Indiana Jones from Montana crisscrosses the Himalaya and the Hindu Kush fighting to keep these schools functioning, he provides not only hope to tens of thousands of children, but living proof that one passionately dedicated person truly can change the world.

Quantum Wellness
by Kathy Freston

The medical profession is constantly learning more about the mind-body connection, i.e., how our emotions and attitudes can impact our physical health. Freston, author of the best-selling The One and habitue of Oprah and The Early Show, extends that concept, arguing that making small attitude adjustments and changing thinking patterns can have a beneficial effect on one's health, looks, and life. She outlines eight "Pillars of Wellness"—Meditation, Visualization, Fun Activities, Conscious Eating, Exercise, Self-Work, Spiritual Practice, and Service—and explains how they contribute to a healthy existence.

The Power of Now
by Eckhart Tolle

According to Tolle, accessing the deepest self, the true self, can be learned by freeing ourselves from the conflicting, unreasonable demands of the mind and living "present, fully and intensely, in the Now."

Stolen Innocence
by Elissa Wall

In this courageous memoir, Elissa Wall tells the incredible and inspirational story of how she emerged from the confines of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) and helped bring one of America's most notorious criminals to justice. Offering a child's perspective on life in the FLDS, Wall discusses her tumultuous youth, explaining how her family's turbulent past intersected with her strong will and identified her as a girl who needed to be controlled through marriage. Detailing how Warren Jeffs's influence over the church twisted its already rigid beliefs in dangerous new directions, Wall portrays the inescapable mind-set and unrelenting pressure that forced her to wed despite her repeated protests that she was too young.

Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat? An Easy Plan for Consuming Less and Living More
by Peter Walsh