Book Talk

Lighten Up!

We have a whole month of summer left, so lighten up and read some fun books!

The Shaughnessys lead a messy life. Papa, who owns a small chain of beauty salons and has hair like Donald Trump, still pines after his first wife, though he has had a few more since.  Bella, who favors lipstick titled My Chihuahua Bites, had a marriage flame out when her half sister ran off with her husband. She has sworn off men forever.  When the whole clan heads to Atlanta for a family wedding, there is a Summer Blowout (by Claire Cook).

Actor Adrienne Barbeau and Michael Scott contribute Vampyres of Hollywood.  No one in Hollywood looks their age but horror film star Ovsanna Moore is 500! Well, yes indeed, she is a real vampire, and it is not surprising when three gruesome murders are linked to her.

Madeleine Wickham writes the popular Shopaholic books under the name Sophie Kinsella.  Sleeping Arrangements has two unhappy, stressed out families arriving at a friend’s villa in Spain at the same time.  Their friend Gerard, has double booked them. What no one but Chloe and Hugh (and maybe Gerard!) knows is that they have a past and their romance is likely to rekindle.

Alisa Valdez-Rodriguez adds Dirty Girls on Top to her Dirty Girls series.  Five years after the first book, the girls are still trying to find happiness in their lives. Lauren just can’t find a good man, ‘Navy who has one, is bored with him, Sara can’t stay away from her ex-husband while Rebecca’s picture-perfect marriage lacks the baby she yearns for. Amber thinks if she finds the right name, someone will buy her music and Elizabeth is learning that a relationship with another woman requires more than guts.

Here’s a book to cheer you up, Spend ‘til the End: the Revolutionary Guide to Raising your Standard of Living —Today and When you Retire. Laurence J. Kotlikoff and Scott Burns offer many surprising ideas. You might be saving too much for retirement!!! Don’t retire till you’re 70. And the most surprising, does contributing to a 401k pay?

If you still think you should be investing rather than spending, read The Intelligent Portfolio: Practical Wisdom on Personal Investing from Financial Engines by Christopher L. Jones.  Jones doesn’t tell you what to buy, but rather factors to consider when choosing an investment.

Cheerful economic news is hard to come by these days and Jared Bernstein’s Crunch: Why do I feel so Squeezed? (And Other Unsolved Mysteries) follows the trend.  He defines economics as a set of decisions made to organize our democratic society, not an objective discipline. How a living wage, health care, social security and many other concepts and programs fit in to the bigger picture of our financial systems are explained.

And to end on an up note… Did you know the Albert Einstein was quite the ladies man? That Colonel Sanders and Dave Thomas (Wendy’s) were Freemasons? That there is a supervolcano under Yellowstone Park That erupts about ever 600,000 years (and we’re at year 640,000)? Read mental_floss presents: Forbidden Knowledge: a Wickedly Smart Guide to History’s Naughtiest Bits by Will Pearson, Mangesh Hattikudur, and Elizabeth Hunt.

Virginia Cooper
Adult Services Librarian