Here are some books that have crossed our desks recently.
HARDBACKS
"I, SNIPER: A Bob Lee Swagger Novel," by Stephen Hunter, Simon & Schuster, $26 (f)
Four famous figures, all once on the frontline of the antiwar movement during America's involvement in Vietnam, have been killed in a series of sniper attacks.
The Feds home in on Carl Hitchcock, long recognized as the sharpshooter with the most kills in Vietnam. Hitchcock kills himself as the Feds close in, case all neatly closed. Asked by a friend to look at the case, Bob Lee Swagger, a former sniper himself, uncovers a sophisticated conspiracy. As Swagger closes in, he becomes the conspiracy's next target.
"MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR MONEY NOW," by Jane Bryant Quinn, Simon & Schuster, $35 (nf)
First published in 1991 and never out of print, Quinn has again updated this book to handle today's financial uncertainty. Her common-sense advice is tailored to the needs of people in every life circumstance. Step-by-step, Quinn talks about spending and saving, digging out of debt, navigating the new mortgage market, finding scholarship money and steering through the costly world of insurance, investing and much more.
More hardbacks recently released:
"Arsenal of Democracy: The Politics of National Security — from World War II to the War on Terrorism," by Julian E. Zelizer (nf); "The Red Door," by Charles Todd (f); "Altar of Eden," by James Rollins (f)
PAPERBACKS
"The Girl Who Ate Kalamazoo," by Darrin Doyle, St. Martin's Griffin, $13.99 (f)
This is the story of an all-American family — if the all-American family's youngest child ate an entire city in Michigan with a smile, that is. This quirky look at family dysfunction is vivid, witty and a bit of an acquired taste.
— Jessica Harrison
"The Butterflies of Grand Canyon," by Margaret Erhart, Plume, $15 (f)
When Jane Merkle arrives in the tiny town of Flagstaff, Ariz., with her much older husband, she hasn't any idea that her life is about to change forever. After all, one of Jane's favorite sayings is "When in Rome, remember that you're from St. Louis." But over a summer spent in a village perched on the rim of the Grand Canyon, Jane discovers her latent ability with a butterfly net. Meanwhile, an unidentified skeleton is found on the premises of one of the village's most cantankerous residents. With the help — and hindrance — of a colorful cast of historical characters, the murder mystery that has haunted the town for years is solved.
More paperbacks recently released:
"The Girl Next Door," by Elizabeth Noble (f); "Blood Matters: From Inherited Illness to Designer Babies, How the World and I Found Ourselves in the Future of the Gene," by Masha Gessen (nf); "A Little Bit Married," by Hannah Seligson (nf); "Revive: Stop Feeling Spent and Start Living Again," by Frank Lipman, with Mollie Doyle (nf; previously published as "Spent"); "Born to Use Mics: Reading Nas's Illmatic," edited by Michael Eric Dyson and Sohail Daulatzai (nf); "American Thighs: The Sweet Potato Queens' Guide to Preserving Your Assets," by Jill Conner Browne (humor, reprint); "What I Did for Love," by Susan Elizabeth Phillips (f, reprint); "The Breach," by Patrick Lee (f); "One Year to an Organized Financial Life," by Regina Leeds, with Russell Wild (nf)
— compiled by Kari Morandi