Read these books!

While grappling with Chapter Three, and trying to seduce Chapter Four into revealing itself, I have been doing a whole lot of reading. Yes, my eyes feel like they are falling out of my head, and I am lost in my own story worlds and the story worlds of others, but it really is sort of divine.

Angels of Destruction By Keith Donohue
Shaye Areheart Books, $24.00 
As Margaret, a widow, mourns her runaway teenaged daughter, a young mysterious girl named Nora shows up on her doorstep.  Taking her in, Margaret tells everyone she is her granddaughter, even when Nora insists she is an angel of destruction.  As Nora reveals more and more unsettling powers and truths, Margaret begins to find out what really happened to her daughter, and how Nora is the bridge between all of them. Gorgeous and unsettling, this haunting novel gets at the heart of how—and why—we yearn to connect.

 Carthwheels in a Sari: A Memoir of Growing Up Cult 

By Jayanti Tamm, Harmony Books, $22.95

At first, Tamm and her parents are devout followers of Sri Chinmoy, a guru considered a living saint who demands total obedience from his roster of famous followers. But as Chinmoy’s iron withholding of TV, radio, dancing and dating begin to cramp the growing Tamm’s style, she begins to heed the siren song of the outside world, no matter what the price. A startling insider look at the cult way of life, and the courage it takes to move beyond it

We Are Rich
By Dori Carter
Other Press $22.95
Welcome to Rancho Esperanza, where Republicans and their money hold sway. Here, you’ll meet a dying breed of aristocrats who tell their stories over time, from the fabulous 1940s through the richly rewarding Clinton years.   Written as a novel in stories, this is social satire that explores everything we ever thought we knew about status and money—and it does it in a sly original way. 

 Apologize, Apologize!
by Elizabeth Kelly
Twelve Books, $23.99
You couldn’t ask for a wackier coming of age than Collie Flanagan’s. Heir to his father’s publishing fortune, Collie is the square peg in his Irish Catholic family’s roundly eccentric universe. But when a family tragedy derails him, he must battle his way out of the family brawls and ice cream dinners for a chance at redemption. Reminiscent of a wild, wooly over-the-top John Irving novel, this bursting-with-life book just might be a cult classic.

 Because I Love Her: 34 Women Writers Reflect on the Mother-Daughter Bond
Edited by Andrea N. Richesin
Harlequin, $13.95
A stellar roster of writers like Ann Hood,  Jacquelyn Mitchard, Joyce Maynard and more ruminate on the funny, sad, angry and heartfelt attachments we have with our moms. Grab up a copy now for your maternal figure. 

A Final Arc Of Sky: A Memoir of Critical Care By Jennifer Culkin
Beacon Press, $24.95
Critical car and emergency flight nurse Jennifer Culkin's book is haunting and evocative chronicle of how her personal life collides with her professional one. Grappling with MS, she writes about the fragility of life with true grace.