Books - Novels & Literature

	War Letters : Extraordinary Correspondence from American Wars by Andrew Carroll Offering unprecedented insight into the Civil War, World Wars I and II, Vietnam, Korea, the Cold War, the Persian Gulf, and even the fighting in Somalia and the Balkans. Featured here are dramatic accounts of combat written immediately after the most ferocious battles American troops have ever faced; poignant expressions of love by homesick husbands and sweethearts; humorous anecdotes and gripes about insufferable conditions; thoughtful reflections on the nature of warfare; and perhaps most devastating, a startling number of last letters, heartfelt messages penned just hours before the sender was killed. War Letters is a testament to the heroic contributions and astonishing literary voices of common soldiers, marines, airmen, and sailors, as well as war nurses, journalists, spies, and chaplains.
	A Painted House by John Grisham Here there are hardscrabble farmers (instead of lawyers), dirt-poor itinerant workers, and a seven-year-old prescient boy who grows up fast in a story rich in conflict and incident. It is September 1952 in rural Arkansas when young narrator Luke Chandler notes that "the hill people and the Mexicans arrived on the same day". Prose clean and strong, writing elevated to the level of art, and an expression of a time and place that mark this novel as a classic.
	Gunman's Rhapsody by Robert B. Parker A novel of the Old West. "He already had a history by the time he first saw her . . . he was already a figure of the dime novels, and he already half-believed in the myth of the gunman that he was creating, even as it created him." Robert B. Parker, undisputed dean of American crime fiction, has long been credited with single handedly resuscitating the private-eye genre. Now he gives his fans the book he always longed to write-a brilliant and evocative novel set against the hardscrabble frontier life of the West, featuring Wyatt Earp. New June 2001
	The Fourth Hand by John Irving The Fourth Hand asks an interesting question: "How can anyone identify a dream of the future?" The answer: "Destiny is not imaginable, except in dreams or to those in love." The Fourth Hand is characteristic of John Irving's seamless storytelling and further explores some of the author's recurring themes-loss, grief, love as redemption. But this novel also breaks new ground; it offers a penetrating look at the power of second chances and the will to change.
	Ghost Soldiers: The Forgotten Epic Story of World War II's Most Dramatic Mission by Hampton Sides A tense, powerful, grand account of one of the most daring exploits of World War II. At once a gripping depiction of men at war and a compelling story of redemption, Ghost Soldiers joins such landmark books as Flags of Our Fathers, The Greatest Generation, The Rape of Nanking, and D-Day in preserving the legacy of World War II for future generations. Hampton Sides's vivid minute-by-minute narration of the raid and his chronicle of the prisoners' wrenching experiences are masterful.
	Dance upon the Air by Nora Roberts First in the bewitching new Three Sisters Island trilogy. Escaping to Three Sisters Island to put her life together after an abusive marriage, Nell Channing gradually begins to think that she has finally found a place where she can create a new life. But her husband isn't about to let her go, and when he finally finds her, it takes all her new-found strength and a little help from her "sisters" to deal with his violence. A magnetic hero, a heroine who finds herself, and some memorable secondary characters weave a mesmerizing tale of witchcraft and magic that launches Robert's latest trilogy in fine style. One of the best and most consistent writers in the genre.
	Being Dead by Jim Crace National Book Critics Circle "best book of 2000/fiction". A haunting new novel about love, death, and the afterlife, from the author of Quarantine. Baritone Bay, mid-afternoon. A couple, naked, married almost thirty years, are lying murdered in the dunes. A Kirkus reviewer says, "A most unexpectedly romantic story and an exceptional feat, to so commingle the mundane and the sublime, that one is left awestruck and dazzled." Brilliant, astonishing, magnificent, say others!
	Newjack : Guarding Sing Sing by Ted Conover National Book Critics Circle "best book of 2000/non-fiction". Ted Conover, the intrepid author of Coyotes, about the world of illegal Mexican immigrants, spent a year as a prison guard at Sing Sing. Newjack, his account of that experience, is a milestone in American journalism: a book that casts new and unexpected light on this nation's prison crisis and sets a new standard for courageous, in-depth reporting.
	One Hundred Years of Solitude (Perennial Classics) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez Probably Garc�a M�rquez finest and most famous work. One Hundred Years of Solitude tells the story of the rise and fall, birth and death of a mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buend�a family. Inventive, amusing, magnetic, sad, alive with unforgettable men and women, and with a truth and understanding that strike the soul. One Hundred Years of Solitude is a masterpiece of the art of fiction.
	Bitterroot by James Lee Burke Following his acclaimed bestseller Purple Cane Road, James Lee Burke returns with a triumphant tour de force. Set in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana, home to celebrities seeking to escape the pressures of public life, as well as to xenophobes dedicated to establishing a bulkhead of patriotic paranoia, Burke's novel features Billy Bob Holland, former Texas Ranger and now a Texas-based lawyer, who has come to Big Sky Country for some fishing and ends up helping out an old friend in trouble. In Bitterroot, with its rugged and vivid setting, its intricate plot, and a set of remarkable, unforgettable characters, and crafted with the lyrical prose and the elegiac tone that have inspired many critics to compare him to William Faulkner, James Lee Burke has written a thriller destined to surpass the success of his previous novels.

Best novels, literature & "best sellers" books.