What People Magazine is Reading This Week (Dec 5th Issue)

For those Kindle readers who, like me, read for entertainment, scanning the book reviews in People magazine is good way to check out new people-related books - celebrity bios, popular novels, absorbing nonfiction - just hitting bookstore shelves. Featured in the December 5th issue of People:

A Train in Winter, by Caroline Moorehead. Harper, 2011. Print Length: 611 p. NON-FICTION. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (37 reviews). People's slant: "Moorehead's reverence for the women she profiles makes an otherwise grim story an inspiring and fascinating read." Kindle edition $14.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"They were teachers, students, chemists, writers, and housewives; a singer at the Paris Opera, a midwife, a dental surgeon. Strangers to each other, hailing from villages and cities from across France, these brave women were united in hatred and defiance of their Nazi occupiers. Eventually, the Gestapo hunted down 230 of these women and imprisoned them in a fort outside Paris. Separated from home and loved ones, these disparate individuals turned to one another, their common experience conquering divisions of age, education, profession, and class, as they found solace and strength in their deep affection and camaraderie. A Train in Winter draws on interviews with these women and their families; German, French, and Polish archives; and documents held by World War II resistance organizations to uncover a dark chapter of history that offers an inspiring portrait of ordinary people, of bravery and survival - and of the remarkable, enduring power of female friendship." - Publisher.

Imperfect Justice: Prosecuting Casey Anthony, by Jeff Ashton, with Liza Pulitzer. William Morrow, 2011. Print Length: 336 p. NON-FICTION. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (92 reviews). People's slant: "...behind-the-scenes details of the trial that ended in Anthony's acquittal on changes that she murdered her toddler daughter." Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"It was the trial that stunned America, the verdict that shocked us all. On July 5, 2011, nearly three years after her initial arrest, Casey Anthony walked away, virtually scot-free, from one of the most sensational murder trials of all time. She'd been accused of killing her daughter, Caylee, but the trial only left behind more questions... In Imperfect Justice, prosecutor Jeff Ashton, one of the principal players in the case's drama, sheds light on those questions and much more, telling the behind-the-scenes story of the investigation, the trial, and the now-infamous verdict. Providing an inside account of the case, Ashton, a career prosecutor for the state of Florida, goes where the press and pundits have only speculated, detailing what really happened during the investigation, showing how the prosecution built their case, and explaining how a woman so shrouded in suspicion was proclaimed innocent." - Publisher.

The Prague Cemetery, by Umberto Eco. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011. Print Length: 451 p. NOVEL. Amazon customer rating: 3 1/2 stars (24 reviews). People's slant: "...intricate mystery...Fans who persevere through the sometimes wearying rhetoric of hate will not be disappointed." Kindle edition $9.45. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Nineteenth-century Europe - from Turin to Prague to Paris - abounds with the ghastly and the mysterious. Conspiracies rule history. Jesuits plot against Freemasons. Italian republicans strangle priests with their own intestines. French criminals plan bombings by day and celebrate Black Masses at night. Every nation has its own secret service, perpetrating forgeries, plots, and massacres. From the unification of Italy to the Paris Commune to the Dreyfus Affair to The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Europe is in tumult and everyone needs a scapegoat. But what if, behind all of these conspiracies both real and imagined, lay one lone man? What if that evil genius created its most infamous document?" - Publisher.

Out of Oz by Gregory Maguire. William Morrow, 2011. Print Length: 592 p. FANTASY. Amazon customer rating: 3 1/2 stars (29 reviews). People's slant: "...sassy reimagining of Baum's world..." Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. This is the fourth and final book in the author's Wicked Years series. The first three volumes - all available in Kindle editions - include Wicked, Son of a Witch, and A Lion Among Men.

"Once peaceful and prosperous, the spectacular Land of Oz is knotted with social unrest: The Emerald City is mounting an invasion of Munchkinland, Glinda is under house arrest, and the Cowardly Lion is on the run from the law. And look who’s knocking at the door. It’s none other than Dorothy. Yes. That Dorothy. Yet amidst all this chaos, Elphaba’s granddaughter, the tiny green baby born at the close of Son of a Witch, has come of age. Now it is up to Rain to take up her broom - and her legacy - in an Oz wracked by war...a magical journey rife with revelations and reversals, reprisals and surprises - the hallmarks of the unique imagination of Gregory Maguire." - Publisher.

The Moment, by Douglas Kennedy. Atria Books, 2011. Print Length: 546 p. THRILLER. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (20 reviews). People's slant: "A passionate love-story-cum-spy-thriller..." Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"Thomas Nesbitt is a divorced writer in the midst of a rueful middle age. Living a very private life in Maine, in touch only with his daughter and still trying to recover from the end of a long marriage, his solitude is disrupted one wintry morning by the arrival of a box that is postmarked Berlin. The name on the box - Dussmann - unsettles him completely, for it belongs to the woman with whom he had an intense love affair twenty-six years ago in Berlin at a time when the city was cleaved in two and personal and political allegiances were frequently haunted by the deep shadows of the Cold War..." - Publisher.
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.