How Language Works by David Crystal

In this fascinating survey of everything from how sounds become speech to how names work, David Crystal answers every question you might ever have had about the nuts and bolts of language in his usual highly illuminating way. Along the way we find out about eyebrow flashes, whistling languages, how parents teach their children to speak, how politeness travels across languages and how the way we talk show not just how old we are but where we're from and even who we want to be.

Simple Genius by David Baldacci

Former Secret Service agents Sean King and Michelle Maxwell have reached a crisis in their relationship in this less than compelling Washington political thriller from bestseller Baldacci. When Maxwell instigates a fight with the most intimidating bruiser she could find at a local bar and lets herself be beaten unconscious, despite her superior fighting skills, her partner suggests she voluntarily commit herself to a psychiatric facility. While Maxwell reluctantly undergoes treatment to find the childhood roots of her death wish, King probes the suicide of a scientist found on the grounds of Virginia's Camp Peary, a mysterious CIA facility. Both mysteries are fairly run of the mill, lacking the sharp twists and expert pacing that characterize Baldacci's fiction at its best.

A Painted House: John Grisham

Lucas Chandler is a seven-year-old boy who lives in an unpainted house on an Arkansas farm with his parents and grandparents in the early 1950s. He loves Coca-Cola, baseball, and the St. Louis Cardinals, and he plans on using the money he earns picking cotton to buy a shiny baseball jacket from the Sears and Roebuck catalog. Soon after the hired crews of Mexicans and "hill people" arrive to help pick the Chandler family's 80 acres of cotton, Lucas sees things that cause him to lose his innocence much earlier than he should.

For One More Day: Mitch Albom

Charlie's been drunk so often and disappointed his daughter so many times that she doesn't invite him to her wedding. He even fails at his suicide. Or does he? When his deceased mother returns to love him unconditionally for one more day, he's not quite sure what's going on. Charlie reflects on his mother's past support, his own failings, and the events of a confusing present in which he relishes his mother's care and sees his own life clearly for the first time.

Digging to America: Anne Tyler

A story about what it is to be an American, and about Maryam Yazdan, who after thirty-five years in this country must finally come to terms with her "outsiderness." Two families, who would otherwise never have come together, meet by chance at the Baltimore airport - the Donaldsons, a very American couple, and the Yazdans, Maryam's fully assimilated son and his attractive Iranian American wife. Each couple is awaiting the arrival of an adopted infant daughter from Korea. The two families become deeply intertwined.

Sullivan's Law: Nancy Taylor Rosenberg

This taut thriller by the "New York Times" bestselling author features Carolyn Sullivan, mother of two, law student, and probation officer. Carolyn becomes embroiled in a dangerous, high-profile case when she's assigned to supervise a convicted killer.

Red Leaves: Thomas H. Cook

Eric Moore has a prosperous business, a comfortable home, a stable family life in a quiet town. Then, on an ordinary night, his teenage son Keith is asked to babysit the daughter of a neighboring family. Red Leaves is a story of broken trust and one man's heroic effort to hold fast the ties that bind him to everything he loves.

The Lonely Silver Rain: John D. MacDonald

Searching for a wealthy friend's yacht, “Fort Lauderdale resident” Travis McGee puts himself square in the center of the international cocaine trade, and finds himself the target of some of the most ruthless villains he's ever met.

Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging: Louise Rennison

Welcome to a rollicking year in the life of 14-year-old Georgia Nicolson, the most raunchy, irreverent, and irrepressible British heroine since Bridget Jones.

Gone with the Wind: Margaret Mitchell

A monumental classic considered by many to be not only the greatest love story ever written, but also the greatest Civil War saga.

The Color of Law: Mark Giminez

The story of a good guy who's gone down the wrong path only to be confronted by a new crossroads-one that offers him a final chance at redemption, but at a terrible cost. With echoes of "To Kill a Mockingbird” as well as early John Grisham, this book is a provocative page-turner and marks the stunning debut of a major new talent.

The Gingerbread Girl: Lisa Campbell Ernst

Children’s book. Like her older brother, the Gingerbread Boy, who was eventually devoured by a fox, the Gingerbread Girl eludes the many people who would like to eat her but also has a plan to escape her sibling's fate.

Twilight: Stephenie Meyer

Young adult book. When seventeen-year-old Bella leaves Phoenix to live with her father in Forks, Washington, she meets an exquisitely handsome boy at school for whom she feels an overwhelming attraction and who she comes to realize is not wholly human.

Carolina Moon: Nora Roberts

With its blend of evil killers, handsome heroes, and feisty, sensitive heroines, this Nora Robert's thriller meets the same standards of terror and romance that made River's End a bestseller. This time, our heroine Tory Bodeen has returned to her hometown of Progress, South Carolina, to face the fearsome memories of her childhood friend Hope's death and rebuild her life in a town that once betrayed her.

The Lincoln Lawyer: Michael Connelly

Mickey Haller defends low-life criminals who seem to offend habitually. With no actual office in which to hang his law degree, he works out of the backseat of his car. When a wealthy client lands in Mickey's lap, he thinks he has found a dream case. The evidence indicates a frame, and Mickey believes he might actually be defending his first truly innocent client. While he manipulates the system to his advantage, Mickey discovers that he is being maneuvered as well.

The Mermaid Chair: Sue Monk Kidd

This is a soulful tale of Jessie Sullivan, a middle-aged woman whose stifled dreams and desires take shape during an extended stay on Egret Island, where she is caring for her troubled mother, Nelle. Like Kidd's stunning debut novel, The Secret Life of Bees, her highly anticipated follow up evokes the same magical sense of whimsy and poignancy.

Plainsong: Kent Haruf

A heartstrong story of family and romance, tribulation and tenacity, set on the High Plains east of Denver. From unsettled lives emerges a vision of life, and of the town and landscape that bind them together -- their fates somehow overcoming the powerful circumstances of place and station, their confusion, curiosity, dignity and humor intact and resonant. As the milieu widens to embrace fully four generations, Kent Haruf displays an emotional and aesthetic authority to rival the past masters of a classic American tradition. Utterly true to the rhythms and patterns of life, Plainsong is a novel to care about, believe in, and learn from.

The Queen of the Big Time: Adriana Trigiani

There's a lush loveliness at the core of this sweeping tale of America's multicultural heartland. A first-generation Italian-American family in small-town Pennsylvania is depicted against a backdrop of four decades of the past century. The central character, Nella Castelluca, is a farmer's middle daughter whose aspirations are boundless, but her dreams are dashed, and then reborn. Swirling around her are those timeless components of drama--young love, tragic death, and renewed hope.

Henry and the Paper Route: Beverly Cleary

"Being homeless is an adventure," Walls’s mom used to say. In her extraordinary memoir, Walls recalls her nomadic life with surprising affection—though she would not want to relive it. Instead of condemning her parents’ foibles, she unblinkingly examines how they transformed hardship into family romance and adventure.

Can You Keep A Secret: Sophie Kinsella

Emma Corrigan spills a few little secrets to a handsome stranger on a plane. Come Monday morning, Emma’s office is abuzz about the arrival of Jack Harper, the company’s elusive CEO. Suddenly Emma is face-to-face with the stranger from the plane all her secrets.

One for the Money: Janet Evanovich

Spontaneity and financial desperation push Stephanie Plum into the life of a bounty hunter, a job that pits her inexperience against the charming wiles of her one-time high school seducer, who is now a purported murderer.

Nim’s Island by Wendy Orr

Nim is a modern-day Robinson Crusoe and is not afraid when her scientist dad sails off to study plankton for three days, leaving her alone on their island. She's being looked after by her sea lion and iguana friends. She also has an interesting new e-mail pal. But when her father's cell-phone calls stop coming and disaster seems near, Nim has to be stronger and braver than she's ever been before.

The Get Rich Quick Club by Dan Gutman

From the award-winning author of the popular Baseball Card Adventures come the laugh-out-loud tail of five kids who scheme to make a million dollars. This is the dazzling tale of five kids who make a pact to earn a million dollars by the end of the summer, led by the clever and daring Gina Tumolo. They come up with a fantastic scheme that involves a photograph of a UFO. Before they are through, they will have their photos in newspapers across the country and even meet face to face with . . . well, you don't think we'll give the story away right here, do you? Look inside and see for yourself what happens!