Betty Recommends...

Brutality and healing live side by side in rural North Carolina. Wiley Cash's debut novel explores religion,passions and brotherhood in a way that compels the reader to see it all. Does the church heal?  Are sons like their fathers?   Are children innocent?  This is an amazing story. Wiley Cash's characters will make you cry, and this novel will echo in your heart for a long time.

If you love New York City, and if you swoon at a classic romance, and IF you are taken by gorgeous prose and lyrical images that linger, then you must read Mark Helperin's new novel. Starting after the war, in 1946, this is a pas de duex between a WWII paratrooper and a young singer he encounters. You will savor every phase.

I was in by sentence one and didn't let go until the last word. This suspenseful ode to sisters is a terror perfectly done. At times chilling and at times tender, Sister is a book you will not forget. A perfect read for January.

Here is the inside story from the actor, master entertainer, and storyteller John Lithgow. Written as a tribute to his actor father, Arthur Lithgow, John details his many downs and ups before he got his break onstage at Harvard University. In and out of Hollywood and the London stage, John relives his many associations with Hollywood. Whatever your interest in acting, Drama should be on your list. A beautiful and fascinating autobiography.

A book I have often heard about, The Tender Bar was every bit as good as had been reported. J.R. Moehringer's memoir about growing up fatherless in Manhasset, Long Island is more than a coming of age story. It is a wonderful amalgam of unusual characters, dysfunctional family life, striving and setbacks, and a love affair with writing. Guided by his single mother, JR ricochets between her ambitions for him and the influence of Dickens the bar that dominates the story. The writing is gorgeous and the plight of a boy trying to define himself is a compelling one.

A frothy little tale of a mother and two daughters forced to fend for themselves when the man of the family (her husband, their stepfather) leaves them for another woman. Of course the daughters are 50 and 52, still they gather around their mother and retreat with her from Manhattan to Westport, CT. There they get caught up in a social swirl that comes and goes (and sometimes explodes). With a cast of characters where one is more eccentric than the next. There are charmers, predators, and plenty of amusements. Schine is a talented comic writer and this is her most popular book to date. Like eating candy.

Of the five days I was gone, I spent three completely under the spell of Her Fearful Symmetry. It is the most wonderful ghost story I have ever read. I loved the characters, each more quirky than the next. I was mesmerized by all the twinness. The English setting added to the charm, and the story line was just fantastic enough to keep me levitated without dropping me. To those adventurous readers willing to trust me, I beg you to give this new entry by the author of The Time Traveler's Wife a try. You will be rewarded with a kooky but contemporary tale of what happens when you mess with the fates. And you'll learn some interesting historic facts about cemeteries while you're at it. And, its not creepy at all. Reading Her Fearful Symmetry is time well spent.

A literate complicated dilemna is posed in The Post-Birthday World. What if things had gone the other way? Go with Irene McGovern as she explores her options. A very rewarding book!

Written by a member of an elite writing family, this coming of age novel set in a prep school in the '60's has a tone that resonates today. Issues of privelege and class, alliances vs. friendship make this a provocative book for group discussion. Beautifully written.