I rarely buy gardening books; I just drool over them on my lunch break. With the exception of the old, old edition of Sunset's Western Garden Book that I peek at now and again I find most gardening books to be too technical for my amateur status, or too ridiculous for my amateur budget. Designer Plant Combinations is the only gardening book I've ever bought for myself. It has a wonderful balance of beautiful photos, technical information, helpful suggestions, and approachable inspirations. The book is mainly a series of photographs with the plants pictured described on the side. It is broken down into sections of perennials, grasses, annuals, accents, ground covers, and trees/shrubs with helpful appendices. But it's the combinations (no surprise) in the photos that really make this book really inspiring. They range from broad gardens to sweet vignettes and everything in between. Calhoun features his own gardens and those of other designers from a wide range of environments. I would love to see this book in a Northwest specific version. My favorite combination (that I will attempt to re-create this summer) is a row of spindly, purple Verbena in front of a cloud of lime-green Narrow-leaf Blue Star. As with every garden book or magazine article I've ever seen, I've had trouble finding the exact cultivar that is mentioned in the book, but it has completely changed the way I think of plant groupings in my yard. On dreary days I have to not look at it too long (I worry about frostbite in my fingers if I get too inspired). ~Lillian

I started reading this on my lunch break one day and, my goodness, I did not want to put it down. Christmas eve 1931, Maisie Dobbs witnesses a man commit suicide on a busy London street. The next day the Home Secretaries office receives a letter threatening massive loss of lives unless certain demands are met. Yet this gripping tale of murder and mayhem isn't one that strikes its blows by knife or bullet, but rather one that attacks the unseen; the darkest furrows of our minds, the places we wish no one would discover, let alone ourselves. ~Mara

I enjoyed Green's first novel, Looking for Alaska, a lot, but found it a bit manipulative. (That reminded me of A Separate Peace in a way.) This third novel, however, I loved without reservations. There is a sense of unease through the book: it starts off with the narrator's recollection of finding a dead man with his neighbor when they were nine years old, then leaves the reader at the end of the prologue with the suspenseful, "Margo always loved mysteries. And in everything that came afterward, I could never stop thinking that maybe she loved mysteries so much that she became one."

Quentin is a hilarious, empathetic narrator who is desperately in love with the mysterious Margo. I love the buddy-ensemble cast: Ben, "a small, olive-skinned creature who had hit puberty but never hit it very hard" and who insists on calling women "honeybunnies," and Radar, a tall, delightful African-American geek who is obsessed with his wikipedia-like "Omnictionary" and haunted by his parents' claim to fame: the world's largest collection of Black Santas.

The book reminds me of a Judd Apatow movie for a younger crowd-a milder version of "Superbad" with more at stake-a funny book that rings true and has emotional pay-off. ~Tegan

Vienna, 1902 - Freud's revolution in psychology is just beginning to gain ground, the anti-Semitism that will haunt Europe is coming closer to the forefront of politics, and a beautiful Medium has been murdered in a way that seems impossible. Enter onto the scene a young, Jewish, Freudian psychologist and a dogged detective who will try anything to solve his case. It's the recipe for a great mystery, a great start to series (there are three so far). Add to this Tallis' great writing and the beautiful backdrop of fin de siecle Vienna and it could hardly get better. Oh, wait, I also didn't have the ending figured out when it was finally revealed. ~Lillian

She looked like a normal 9-year-old girl. Blonde, fly-away hair, eyes that were hard to see behind the thick-lenses of her glasses. She loved birds; in fact she loved anything that could fly. Since she joined the class, the third grade teacher noticed that bullies put away their slingshots and children actually were paying attention and trying to learn. Who was she?

He appeared to be an elderly, almost dapper, gentleman always wearing a fedora. He seemed inordinately curious about the little girl who had shown up out of nowhere claiming he was looking for a runaway from upstate. Wherever he went, extreme cold, and even snow, seemed to follow. After taking a sip of hot chocolate, a thin coat of ice was had formed on top. Who was he?

Margaret has lived alone since her husband died four years before and her only child, Erica, disappeared years before that, so she is cautious when she answers the light knocking on her door in the middle of the night. Before her stands a little girl, appearing half frozen in the winter cold. To Margaret, fate has delivered a child to replace the daughter she lost. The girl, Norah, seems as eager as Margaret to belong to someone and thus begins a surprising and gentle relationship.

Then the novel travels back in time ten years to when Erica ‘disappears’. Erica actually ran off with her boyfriend, a boy obsessed with anarchy and revolution. A boy obsessed with a ‘cult’ called the Angels of the Destruction. On their cross-country journey, Erica has her own encounter with another young girl who looks and acts suspiciously like Norah.

Angels of Destruction captivated me from the first page. The characters are fully realized and surprising. The relationships unique. And the storyline… all of my questions were not answered but I was totally satisfied by the ending. That’s a great writer!Keith Donohue’s first novel, The Stolen Child, was one of my favorite books of 2006 and generated a terrific conversation when the QAB Book Club chose it to discuss on the fall of 2007. This new novel is as engrossing and thought-provoking as his first and I look forward to discussing it with Keith and many of you. ~Patti

In general, one of the reasons I enjoy mysteries is because I sort of know what to expect; someone dies at the hands of a bad guy, and a good guy solves the mystery and catches the bad guy. But then there is Susan Hill. Hill is absolutely one of the most unpredictable mystery writers around and because she keeps surprising me, I am totally addicted to her Simon Serrailler series. The strengths of the books include extraordinary and intelligent writing; a cast of characters that you become more and, happily, more familiar with after each book; a thoughtful, complex ‘good guy’ (Serrailler) who is perfectly imperfect; and mysteries that I have yet to figure out. The one very big difference between Hill’s mysteries and other who-done-its is that there is never a nice, tidily wrapped up storyline at the end of the novel which may be frustrating for more diehard mystery fans. But, if you’re willing to expand your repertoire, give Hill a try.
First of all, let me be clear. Do not skip ahead to this third book in the series. Start with Various Haunts of Men; then read The Pure in Heart. If you’re still a fan of Hill and Simon, you can then read The Risk of Darkness.So, the only problem with the series is that I can’t write too much about the mystery without giving away the surprises. Let me summarize The Risk of Darkness like this: the mystery that was, shall we say, unfinished at the end of The Pure in Heart is satisfactorily revisited in this third novel. The other piece of the story I’ll reveal is that there is a terrific chase scene early on in the book. The kind of scene where your palms start sweating… I was very happy with this latest installment and greatly look forward to book four which is out in England but not yet planned in the U.S. ~Patti