What Richmond's Reading
1. "The Shack"
by William P. Young
Four years after Mack Philips's youngest daughter Missy is abducted during a family vacation, Mack receives a note, apparently from God, inviting him back to a shack in the Oregon wilderness where he believes Missy may have been brutally murdered. Against his better judgment, Mack accepts the invitation and walks back into his worst nightmare, but what he finds there will change him forever.
2. "Book of the Dead"
In mortuary parlance, the "book of the dead" is the morgue ledger; for most of us, nothing more than a grim accounting of the recently deceased. For forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta, though, these morbid sign-out sheets are questions waiting to be answered. As she sets up her new South Carolina private practice, she realizes that these questions seem to be piling up at an alarming rate, leading her to suspect that a serial killer or killers are on the loose.
3. "Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything across Italy, India, and Indonesia"
After a messy divorce and other personal missteps, Elizabeth Gilbert confronts the "twin goons" of depression and loneliness by traveling to three countries that she intuited had something she was seeking. In Italy, she seeks to master the art of pleasure by indulging her senses. Then, in an Indian ashram, she learns the rigors and liberation of mind-exalting hours of meditation. In her final destination of Bali, she achieves a precarious yet precious equilibrium. This spiritual memoir brims with humor, grace, and scorching honesty and would be an excellent book club selection.
4. "Nights in Rodanthe"
When Adrienne Willis's husband leaves her for a younger woman, she is thrust into a devastating midlife crisis. Suddenly abandoned at 45, she reels without purpose. Lacking any clear plan, she accepts a friend's invitation and flees for a weekend to the small coastal town of Rodanthe, North Carolina. A brutal storm destroys any sense of sanctuary and leaves Adrienne stranded, a situation that is both complicated and relieved by the presence of Paul Flanner, a 45-year-old physician with his own shattered past.
5. "The Last Lecture"
by Randy Pausch
When Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch gave his traditional "last lecture" to hundreds of faculty and students in September 2007, he already knew that he had metastatic pancreatic cancer with a very grim prognosis. Despite all that he was facing, Dr. Pausch delivered an urgent, upbeat call for his listeners to achieve their childhood dreams. Before his death in July 25, 2008, Randy Pausch gained worldwide acclaim and shared his inspiring message with readers of all ages. This memoir recounts the story of his courageous encounter with his own mortality.
6. "The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006-2008"
by Bob Woodward
In his fourth book on President George W. Bush, Bob Woodward takes readers deep inside the tensions, secret debates, unofficial backchannels, distrust and determination within the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department, the intelligence agencies and the U.S. military headquarters in Iraq. With outstanding intimacy and detail, this gripping account declassifies the secrets of America's political and military involvement in Iraq.
7. "Dark Curse"
by Christine Feehan
Lara Calladine, who was born into a world of ice and lives as a slave to her evil father, knew only paralyzing fear as a child. Only by escaping with her mysterious gifts unbroken would she survive to claim her great Carpathian heritage as a Dragonseeker. Now, Lara is in search of the source of her nightmares, and only one man has the power and the will to help her: dangerous, arrogant Nicolas De La Cruz. As Lara and Nicolas search the treacherous Carpathian landscape for the truth about their pasts, they discover a passion that neither has ever known. Enjoy this new Carpathian novel from a bestselling author of paranormal romance.
8. "The Book of Lies"
by Brad Meltzer
In the world's most famous murder, Cain kills Abel in Chapter Four of the Bible, but the Bible is silent about one key detail: the murder weapon. That weapon is still lost to history. In 1932, Mitchell Siegel was killed by three gunshots to his chest. His mourning son dreamed of a bulletproof man and created the world's greatest hero: Superman. Like Cain's murder weapon, the gun used in this unsolved murder has never been found … Until today, when Cal Harper of Fort Lauderdale, Florida comes face-to-face with his family's greatest secret: his long-lost father, who has been shot with a gun that traces back to Mitchell Siegel's 1932 murder. So begins the chase for the world's first murder weapon. What does Cain have to do with Superman? And what do the two murders have in common? This mystery lies at the heart of this riveting and intriguing new thriller.
9. "Protect and Defend"
by Vince Flynn
By the time Mitch Rapp arrives in this exciting thriller, one ticking time bomb has already gone off. The bomb arrives in the form of a covert Israeli attack that turns Iran's second-largest city into a radioactive ecological disaster. With that damage done, the U.S. counterterrorism operative must cobble together a strategy to prevent a bloody retaliation designed to ensare America as well. When part of his plan misfires, matters escalate dangerously, locking Rapp and a Hezbollah terror chief in a mass life or death struggle.
10. "Barefoot"
by Elin Hilderbrand
It's summer on Nantucket, and as the season begins, three women arrive at the local airport, observed by Josh, a local boy who is home from college. Burdened with small children, unwieldy straw hats, and some obvious emotional issues, the women make their way to a tiny cottage, where they are each hoping to escape something. Melanie, after seven failed in-vitro attempts, discovered her husband's infidelity and then her own pregnancy; Brenda embarked on a passionate affair with an older student that got her fired from her prestigious job as a professor in New York; and Vickie, mother to two small boys, has been diagnosed with cancer. Josh becomes part of the chaotic household and acts as babysitter, confidant, and eventually something more, while the women confront their pasts and map out their futures.
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