Busy Fingers Are Happy Fingers — Joe Deegan Mother Reader — Barbarella Build Your Writing Muscles — Ollie Let the Tape Recorder Do the Work — Matthew Lickona Faith — Abe Opincar Make Something Better …

Judith and I shared an October 14 birthday. We met when a mutual friend threw a party for us both, 30 years ago. I was freshly graduated from a state teachers' college, where I had …

English History Made Brief, Irreverent, and Pleasurable by Lacey Baldwin Smith. Academy Chicago Publishers, 2006, 275 pages, $17.95 ABOUT THE BOOK: No people have engendered quite so much acclaim or earned so much censure as …

The IHOP Papers by Ali Liebegott. Carroll & Graf, 2007, 256 pages, $14.95. ABOUT THE BOOK: Francesca, a disgruntled 19-year-old lesbian, tries desperately to pull together the pieces of her scattered life. This novel opens …

Flesh and Bone: A Body Farm Novel by Jefferson Bass. William Morrow, 2007, 368 pages, $24.95 ABOUT THE BOOK: Flesh and Bone is a roller-coaster ride into the world of forensic anthropology, its twists and …

Lost City Radio by Daniel Alarcón. Harper Collins, 2007, 272 pages, $24.95 ABOUT THE BOOK: A nameless, timeless South American country slowly emerges from a war everyone would prefer to forget. For ten years, Norma …

Leonard Woolf: A Biography by Victoria Glendinning. Free Press, 2006, 512 pages, $30 WHAT THE CRITICS SAY: Publishers Weekly: Although Leonard Woolf (1880--1969) was a seminal figure in the Bloomsbury set, he is known today …

WHAT THE REVIEWERS SAY: Booklist: Ruby Kincaid can't believe the way her life is going. While running her late husband's bowling alley, she is also taking care of her wayward daughter's two small children. When …

ABOUT THE BOOK: In Fleeing Fundamentalism: A Minister's Wife Examines Faith, Cross looks back at the life that led her to marry a charismatic young man, handsome and articulate, who appeared destined for greatness as …

Butterfly Boy: Memories of a Chicano Mariposa FROM THE DUST JACKET: Heartbreaking, poetic, and intensely personal, Butterfly Boy is a unique coming out and coming-of-age story of a first-generation Chicano who trades one life for …

Life Is Meals: A Food Lover's Book of Days FROM THE DUST JACKET: "The meal is the emblem of civilization," the Salters observe. "What would one know of life as it should be lived, or …

American Vulgar: The Politics of Manipulation Versus the Culture of Awareness WHAT THE PUBLISHER SAYS: Robert Grudin is what might be called a lyrical philosopher. From Time and the Art of Living (1982) to The …

Pride of Baghdad WHAT THE PUBLISHER SAYS: From one of America's most acclaimed comics writers -- a startlingly original look at life on the streets of Baghdad during the Iraq War inspired by true events. …

Hillbilly Gothic: A Memoir of Madness and Motherhood FROM THE BOOK JACKET: "My family has a grand tradition. After a woman gives birth, she goes mad. I thought that I would be the one to …

The Best American Science Writing 2006. Editor: Atul Gawande. Series Editor: Jesse Cohen. Harper Collins Publishers, 2006, $13.95, 384 pages. ABOUT THE BOOK: Carrying the imprimatur of bestselling author Atul Gawande, a rock-and-roll-loving surgeon and …

ABOUT THIS BOOK: Grayson is Lynne Cox's first book since Swimming to Antarctica: Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer "Riveting" -- Sports Illustrated; "Pitch-perfect" -- Outside). In it she tells the story of a miraculous ocean …

A Sudden Country: A Novel by Karen Fisher. Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2006, $13.95, 400 pages. ABOUT THE BOOK: A vivid and revelatory novel based on actual events of the 1847 Oregon migration, A Sudden …

Little Star of Bela Lua: Stories from Brazil (P.S.) by Luana Monteiro. Harper Perennial Paperback, 2006, $13.95, 256 pages. BOOK DESCRIPTION: A luminous fish appears in an impoverished village like a sign from God and …

What It Used to Be Like: A Portrait of My Marriage to Raymond Carver by Maryann Burk Carver. St. Martin's Press, 2006, $25.95, 368 pages. FROM THE DUST JACKET: Maryann Burk Carver met Raymond Carver …

The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden by William Alexander. Algonquin Books, 2006, $22.95, 288 pages. FROM …

Doing Nothing: A History of Loafers, Loungers, Slackers, and Bums in America by Thomas Lutz. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006, $25, 384 pages. FROM THE BOOK JACKET: Couch potatoes, goof-offs, freeloaders, good-for-nothings, loafers, and loungers: …

Poet's Choice by Edward Hirsch. Harcourt, 2006, $25, 448 pages. FROM THE DUST JACKET: In Poet's Choice, the gifted poet and critic Edward Hirsch offers a new way to look at the world through the …

A cool late afternoon or early evening in June is perfectly fine for exploring the aptly named Boulder Loop Trail in Daley Ranch -- Escondido's 3000-acre open space preserve. During the next six weeks, the …

When a Gene Makes You Smell Like a Fish: ...and Other Amazing Tales about the Genes in Your Body by Lisa Seachrist Chiu. Oxford University Press; 2006; $27; 240 pages. FROM THE DUST JACKET: From …

Civilized and gracious Kensington is one of the most interesting of San Diego's distinctive neighborhoods to tour -- especially by foot, on skates, or by bike. Kensington sprawls across nearly flat terrain, so skating and …

Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled--and More Miserable Than Ever Before by Jean M. Twenge. Free Press; April 4, 2006; $25; 304 pages. FROM THE DUST JACKET: The Associated Press …

La Perdida by Jessica Abel. Pantheon, 2006; $19.95; 288 pages. FROM THE DUST JACKET: From the Harvey and Lulu award-winning creator of ArtBabe ( comes this riveting story of a young woman's misadventures in Mexico …

The Brief History of the Dead: A Novel by Kevin Brockmeier. Pantheon, 2006; $22.95; 252 pages. FROM THE DUST JACKET: "Remember me when I'm gone" just took on a whole new meaning. The City is …

Like a subterranean knife-wound, the Elsinore Fault slices across the heart of San Diego County's backcountry, promising an earth-shaking jolt or two during the next few centuries. Sputtering movements over geologic time along its opposing …

Development continues in the remaining open spaces of southern Orange County -- so fast that a few years ago Orange County bumped San Diego County from its former rank as the second most populous county …