Too Big To Die by Sue Ann Jaffarian, 275 pages

Viral videos and dangerous criminals turn Odelia and Greg's good deed into accusations of murder 

It's the dog days of summer for Odelia and Greg after they rescue a dog from a closed car on a blistering hot day. The culprit is former reality star Marla Kingston, who's married to a client of Odelia's law firm. The dog was saved, but Odelia's job might not be when Kingston demands blood. Things get even stickier when a video of the rescue goes viral, and the man who helped them winds up dead. And who is the mysterious young woman who shows up about the same time? Is she connected or just an opportunist looking to cash in on their reluctant Internet fame?

The Enchanting Rose by Pat Brady, 128 pages

When Rose is Rose creator Pat Brady and cartoonist Don Wimmer present the lives of the Gumbo family, they reveal everyday life at its most extraordinary. From the Gumbos sharing a simple family moment to Pasquale warding off a bathtub drain monster to Rose morphing into her alter ego biker chick persona Vicki, Rose is Rose takes simple moments in everyday life and elevates them into lasting lessons.

Not Just Another Sweetheart Deal by Pat Brady, 128 pages

Inside Rose is Rose: Not Just Another Sweetheart Deal, life in the Gumbo family is anything but ordinary. While gentle son Pasquale imagines toe-biting, bathtub drain--residing monsters, his mother, Rose, might morph into her leather-clad alter ego biker-chick persona, Vicki. Not to be outdone, here comes doting father and husband, Jimbo, riding in on his stallion with his romantically chivalrous ways. And let's not forget furry feline pet Peekaboo, who has fantasies of her own about her cute human counterparts.

Brace Yourself by Jan Eliot, 192 pages

This is the ninth collection of Stone Soup cartoons. Stone Soup is a comic strip with wide appeal that has been syndicated in over two hundred newspapers for more than fifteen years. Stone Soupfeatures an extended, blended multigenerational family, and the humor comes from their chaotic, messy, and joyful life. From the working mom trying to stay professional while her middle-schooler melts down on her office phone, to the toddler who prefers wearing his potty as a hat, all mixed with the surprise of an "oops" baby on the way...the Stone Soup clan lives a life that is just about as messy as it gets. Stone Soup follows the lives of Val and Joan, two sisters who, together with their families live next door to each other, just across the fence. Sometimes the fence is not high enough, but deep down they all depend on each other for a full and complete life.

Mr. Gandy's Grand Tour by Alan Titchmarsh, 313 pages

When Timothy Gandy’s wife dies suddenly, he finds himself at a bit of a loose end, unexpectedly freed from the constraints that have held him back over 40 years of marriage and employment in a job he finds profoundly tedious. To the horror of his offspring, who see their inheritance being frittered away, he decides to embark on a lifetime’s ambition; one which he has long kept to himself. He will set off on a Grand Tour, following in the footsteps of the aristocrats of the eighteenth century. Should he ever make it back home, his outlook – and his life – will be changed forever. 

We'll Be Really Careful! by Jan Eliot, 188 pages

This is the eighth collection of Stone Soup cartoons, which appear daily in 200 newspapers in the United States and around the world. The chaotic life of the extended, blended Stone family, headed by sisters who live next door to each other, is bared for all to see. Real-life, sympathetic, warm humor for all ages.

100% Whole Grin by Pat Brady, 128 pages

Nominated as Best Newspaper Comic Strip five times Rose is Roseis the strip where daydreams and reality meet and mingle.

Life in the Gumbo family is anything but ordinary. A toe-biting monster dwells in the bathtub drain, awaiting Pasquale's bath time. Family-minded Rose occasionally morphs into her wild alter ego, Vicki the biker. Rose's love-note-writing husband Jimbo never disappoints as the always hopelessly hopeful romantic. The creation of Pat Brady and Don Wimmer, this Rose is Rose collection features more than 40 weeks of Gumbo family high jinks.

After two decades of sketching every Rose is Rose strip himself, Brady shifted the writing and drawing duties to Don Wimmer. This Rose is Rose collection features the talents of Wimmer as based on Brady's creation.

Red Carpet Rose by Pat Brady, 128 pages

Creator Pat Brady received the 2004 Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year from the National Cartoonists Society. He's previously been honored as a nominee for the award seven times, and Rose is Rose has been nominated five times for the Society's Best Newspaper Comic Strip Award.

Rose is Rose has long garnered attention from fans across the country and around the world. When the National Cartoonists Society named Rose creator Pat Brady Outstanding Cartoonist of 2004 it only confirmed what those readers already knew in their hearts: Brady rolls out one of the best strips in the business.

Red Carpet Rose is Brady's first book since he received the NCS honors. As the seven previous Rose is Rose books have done before, this one continues the tales of the hilarious Gumbo family: Rose, her husband, Jimbo, and their devilish, delightful, and demanding son, Pasquale. Brady deftly captures the innocent and ageless qualities of wonder and awe at the world's boundless experiences, as seen through the lives of his beloved characters.

Whether the Gumbos are sharing a simple family moment in the park, Pasquale is pushing his little-boy limits, or Rose is morphing into her Biker Chic alter ego, this Rose is Rosecompilation of daily and Sunday strips delivers all the fun, laughter, and family-loving moments that mark Brady's work. This is cartooning at its best!

Milk: A 10,000-Year Food Fracas by Mark Kurlansky, 384 pages

According to the Greek creation myth, we are so much spilt milk; a splatter of the goddess Hera's breast milk became our galaxy, the Milky Way. But while mother's milk may be the essence of nourishment, it is the milk of other mammals that humans have cultivated ever since the domestication of animals more than 10,000 years ago, originally as a source of cheese, yogurt, kefir, and all manner of edible innovations that rendered lactose digestible, and then, when genetic mutation made some of us lactose-tolerant, milk itself.

Before the industrial revolution, it was common for families to keep dairy cows and produce their own milk. But during the nineteenth century mass production and urbanization made milk safety a leading issue of the day, with milk-borne illnesses a common cause of death. Pasteurization slowly became a legislative matter. And today milk is a test case in the most pressing issues in food politics, from industrial farming and animal rights to GMOs, the locavore movement, and advocates for raw milk, who controversially reject pasteurization.

Profoundly intertwined with human civilization, milk has a compelling and a surprisingly global story to tell, and historian Mark Kurlansky is the perfect person to tell it. Tracing the liquid's diverse history from antiquity to the present, he details its curious and crucial role in cultural evolution, religion, nutrition, politics, and economics. 

Circe by Madeline Miller, 393 pages

In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child—not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power—the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.

Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.

But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from, or the mortals she has come to love.

American Creation by Joseph Ellis, 283 pages

An ironic examination of the founding years of the United States of America. Historian Ellis guides readers thru the decisive issues of the nation's founding, and illuminates the emerging philosophies, shifting alliances, and personal and political foibles of now iconic leaders. He explains how the idea of a strong federal government, championed by Washington, was eventually embraced by the American people, the majority of whom had to be won over. He details the emergence of the two-party system--then a political novelty--which today stands as the founders' most enduring legacy. But Ellis is equally incisive about their failures, making clear how their inability to abolish slavery and to reach a just settlement with the Native Americans has played an equally important role in shaping our national character. Ellis strips the mythic veneer of the revolutionary generation to reveal men possessed of both brilliance and blindness. 

Skybreaker by Kenneth Oppel, 369 pages

A legendary ghost ship. An incredible treasure. A death-defying adventure.

Forty years ago, the airship Hyperion vanished with untold riches in its hold. Now, accompanied by heiress Kate de Vries and a mysterious gypsy, Matt Cruse is determined to recover the ship and its treasures. But 20,000 feet above the Earth's surface, pursued by those who have hunted the Hyperion since its disappearance, and surrounded by deadly high-altitude life forms, Matt and his companions soon find themselves fighting not only for the Hyperion—but for their very lives.

Desperate Households by Jan Eliot, 128 pages

Capturing the riotous and exhausting life of working mom Val Stone and her extended blended family . . . Jan Eliot has created a classic family story for our times." --"New York Newsday"

* Jan Eliot manages to find the humor in working parent hassles, the terrible twos, middle-school angst, love, and the life of the single mom in this all-color collection. The all-too-real humor of "Stone Soup" is very wise and very funny.

Distributed to more than 150 newspapers in six countries with over eight million loyal fans, "Stone Soup" is a funny, irreverent, sympathetic comic strip that mirrors today's complicated family life . . . while cheering us on.

* Jan Eliot's "Stone Soup" follows the riotous and exhausting life of working mom Val, her daughters Holly and Alix, and her often too-close-for-comfort extended blended family . . . conveniently living right next door.

This Might Not Be Pretty by Jan Eliot, 190 pages

This Might Not Be Pretty is the seventh collection of the comic strip Stone Soup. Stone Soup is a syndicated comic strip by cartoonist Jan Eliot. It appears daily in 200 newspapers in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. This Might Not Be Pretty features Jan Eliot's cartoons in full color. Stone Soup chronicles the constant chaos and misadventures of working moms Val and Joan, who also happen to be sisters. With their extended and blended families, they try their best to navigate modern life... and bring comic relief to the daily disasters we all experience. Val and Joan's two households, separated by only a fence, are a constant source of comfort— and irritation— to each other. The Stone family includes a middle-school diva and her tomboy little sister; a bouncing-off-the-wall three year old and a teenage boy cousin, their patient but bewildered stepdad; and an opinionated grandmother. And of course, there's a dog. Readers will see themselves or someone they know in this book.

Murder at Honeychurch Hall by Hannah Dennison, 423 pages

Kat Stanford is just days away from starting her dream antique business with her newly widowed mother Iris when she gets a huge shock. Iris has recklessly purchased a dilapidated carriage house at Honeychurch Hall, an isolated country estate located several hundred miles from London.

Yet it seems that Iris isn't the only one with surprises at Honeychurch Hall. Behind the crumbling facade, the inhabitants of the stately mansion are a lively group of eccentrics to be sure--both upstairs and downstairs --and they all have more than their fair share of skeletons in the closet.

When the nanny goes missing, and Vera, the loyal housekeeper ends up dead in the grotto, suspicions abound. Throw in a feisty, octogenarian countess, a precocious seven year old who is obsessed with the famous fighter pilot called Biggles, and a treasure trove of antiques, and there is more than one motive for murder.

As Iris's past comes back to haunt her, Kat realizes she hardly knows her mother at all. A when the bodies start piling up, it is up to Kat to unravel the tangled truth behind the murders at Honeychurch Hall.

Main Street by Sinclair Lewis, 451 pages

This is America, a town of a few thousand, in a region of wheat and corn and dairies and little groves. So Sinclair Lewis, recipient of the Nobel Prize and rejecter of the Pulitzer, prefaces his novel Main Street. Lewis is brutal in his depictions of the self-satisfied inhabitants of small-town America, a place which proves to be merely an assemblage of pretty surfaces, strung together and ultimately empty.

Right on the Lips by Pat Brady, 128 pages

Pat Brady's comic strips send readers to another plane. That's quite an accomplishment for a simple story line centered on a two-parent, single-child family. But Brady's readers soar, through both the laughs and a visual visceral connection to the feelings the characters themselves experience. "Rose is Rose Right on the Lips: A Rose is Rose Collection" continues the tales of the Gumbo family. Rose is the wife and mother, a child at heart who just happens to have a biker chick alter ego. Husband Jimbo, a "decent Neanderthal," looks like an average blue-collar dad, but he's actually an incurable romantic. And Pasquale, their son, is an imagination-fired kid who loves Peekaboo, the family cat, and is often saved from trouble by his guardian angel. Brady swirls this familial mix into seemingly endless recipes of fun, adventure, and fantasy, but he adds a special magic with his original sense of perspective and space that makes readers feel as though they, too, are part of the action. This collection of daily and Sunday strips is a great introduction to those new to "Rose is Rose" and a surefire winner with longtime Gumbo-family fans. The creator adds value for all readers by including two flip books in the pages' lower corners, delightfully animating the characters right in front of their eyes!

Running on Alter Ego by Pat Brady, 128 pages

 When Pat Brady puts pen to paper, readers can't resist following his original images and tight story lines. This creator pulls more material from the one-child Gumbo family than other cartoonists can with five times the number of characters and settings. 
  That magic comes through in Brady's seventh collection, Rose is Rose Running on Alter Ego. The lively series of daily and Sunday strips revolves around Rose—devoted wife and doting mother—who, try as she might, just can't keep her biker chick fantasies totally in check. Rose never knows, as she manages her blue-collar husband, Jimbo, and their energy-fired son, Pasquale, when Vicki the Biker may show up. But when the long-haired, short-skirted babe surfaces, it's always with a breath of fresh air and a fresh take on "normal" family life.

  Besides appearing on the cover, Rose as Vicki shines throughout the collection, in six new full-page drawings created just for the book. Each shows the seemingly satisfied housewife's alter ego performing some mundane chore demanded by Rose's less adventurous life, while Brady's usual mix of family fun, frolic, and fancy gives Gumbo fans plenty of delight. 

Gay Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen & Kate Christie, 356 pages

Because Queer People Deserve Happily Ever After, Too.

For the Bennet sisters, life in quiet Hertfordshire County is about to change. Netherfield Hall has just been let to a single man of large fortune. But while it is true that such a man is generally considered to be in want of a wife, it is equally true that not all men desire female companionship, just as not every woman dreams of being married.

Like other variations on Jane Austen's classic romance novel, Gay Pride & Prejudice poses a question: What if some among Austen's characters preferred the company of their own sex? In this queer revision of the classic original, Kate Christie offers an alternate version of love, friendship, and marriage for Elizabeth Bennet, Mr. Darcy, and others among their circle of friends. But even as the path to love veers from the straight and narrow, the destination remains much the same.

If you have an open mind, dear reader, you may discover the book Jane Austen would likely never have approved, but which, nonetheless, affords a window onto gay and lesbian life in early nineteenth century England. 

There Are No Grown-Ups by Pamela Druckerman, 274 pages

When Pamela Druckerman turns 40, waiters start calling her "Madame," and she detects a disturbing new message in mens' gazes: I would sleep with her, but only if doing so required no effort whatsoever.

Yet forty isn't even technically middle-aged anymore. And after a lifetime of being clueless, Druckerman can finally grasp the subtext of conversations, maintain (somewhat) healthy relationships and spot narcissists before they ruin her life.

What are the modern forties, and what do we know once we reach them? What makes someone a "grown-up" anyway? And why didn't anyone warn us that we'd get cellulite on our arms? Part frank memoir, part hilarious investigation of daily life, There Are No Grown-Ups diagnoses the in-between decade when...

- Everyone you meet looks a little bit familiar. 
- You're matter-of-fact about chin hair. 
- You can no longer wear anything ironically.
- There's at least one sport your doctor forbids you to play. 
- You become impatient while scrolling down to your year of birth. 
- Your parents have stopped trying to change you.
- You don't want to be with the cool people anymore; you want to be with your people. 
- You realize that everyone is winging it, some just do it more confidently. 
- You know that it's ok if you don't like jazz.

Internationally best-selling author and New York Timescontributor Pamela Druckerman leads us on a quest for wisdom, self-knowledge and the right pair of pants. A witty dispatch from the front lines of the forties, There Are No Grown-ups is a (midlife) coming-of-age story, and a book for anyone trying to find their place in the world.

Lusty Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and Margaret Pearl, 559 pages

I LOVE Little Women (and basically anything by Louisa May Alcott) and pretty much buy any retellings of Little Women. So when I came across this, there was no question about it coming home with me. This was a great read. It stayed very true to the original but added a spicy level that amped it up. I really liked the re-imagining of the March parents' marriage, it was kind of what I always suspected was going on. I totally recommend this book!

THE SECRET DESIRES OF THE MARCH SISTERS

Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy are coming of age, and stirring temptations await them around every corner. The handsome young neighbor, attentive doctor and mysterious foreigner introduce the little women to the passion-filled world of the feminine arts. Will these steamy encounters fulfill their deepest yearnings? Have they found true love or been blinded by lust? This scintillating twist on Little Women infuses the original text with sexy new scenes that will surprise, arouse and delight.

In this reprise, your favorite characters are a little older and a lot more adventurous, ready to plumb the depths of their previously constrained courtships. Jo with Laurie, Meg with John, Marmee with the old gentleman; all these couplings and more will thrill both well-versed and new fans of Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel.

Not So Picture Perfect by Jan Eliot, 320 pages

The comic strip Stone Soup has been endearing itself to millions of newspaper and online readers for more than ten years. Stone Soup follows the not-so-perfect lives of an extended, blended family. In Book Five the Stones have expanded into two households living just across the fence from one another. Readers will find some of their favorite episodes including: Joan and Wally adjust to married life and a blended family Val organizes her famous Book Club with women from other comic strips Gramma learns to paint... nudes. Stone Soup is unabashed, hilarious and addictive. Enjoy!