A Good American / Alex George / 381 pages

George, a British transplant and Missouri author, writes a wonderful family saga about 3 generations of a family that settles in a small rural town in central Missouri on the Missouri River near the beginning of the 20th century.  Frederick and Jette are German immigrants who travel from Hanover to New Orleans and make their way to Missouri where they find Beatrice, a small town with German roots.  There they settle and become part of the fabric of the small town and of America.  The story ends in the late 20th century and is told through the eyes of their grandson, James.  The setting, plot, & characters are wonderful.  George perfectly captures rural Missouri, the culture of a small town, the assimilation of immigrants who become good Americans, and the hopes, dreams, heartbreak, and love of each generation as they experience World Wars, Depression, the Flu Epidemic, Prohibition, Prejudice, Assassination of a President, and historical events.  George uses music to weave the threads that bind the family.  Honestly, you really need to read this.  Could make a good Book Discussion Club title.

Fatal Judgment/Irene Hannon/328 pgs.

This is the first in the Guardians of Justice series. Irene Hannon lives in Missouri and writes books that combine mystery, suspense, and romance, with a dash of Christian views added in. I personally thought this was one of her best efforts, having read the Heroes of Quantico series. In this book, Federal Judge Liz Michaels becomes the target of murder. The setting is St. Louis, so it's fun being able to recognize the landmarks Irene Hannon uses. It's a fast read, and good for patrons who want suspense, but not gore, romance, but not sex!

Night Before Christmas / Brenda Novak, Day Leclaire, Molly O'Keefe

Three romances are set in the Christmas holidays.

Brenda Novak's On a Snowy Christmas tells the romance that blossom between two adversaries while campaigning for the same Senate seat in the aftermath of a plane crash in the high Sierras.

In Day Leclaire’s The Christmas Baby, Carrie Manning is having a bad hair year culminating with a baby left on her doorstep. Three couples find a healing of old hurts.

Molly O’Keefe won the 2010 RITA for Best Romance Novella for The Christmas Eve Promise. Merrieta Monroe finds romance when she returns home to Webster, Missouri, to work in her parent’s diner at Christmas time. It’s really the about reconnecting with family and past loves.

2010 RITA for Best Romance Novella

T.S. Eliot reads / T.S. Eliot 160 p.

T.S. Eliot, born in St. Louis, lived there for the first 18 years of his life. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948. He lived 1888-1965. His poems reflect his living through two World Wars. He used his extensive vocabulary and his detailed look at life to crafted poems were very descriptive. While he used the common speech, he packed poems with meaning. He wrote about what interested him. The poems could be very heavy and dark, as when he wrote about death. Yet his poems were interested to read, like The Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. He would flip from writing almost commentaries about life to cats, as in Macavity: the Mystery Cat. which contributed too Lloyd-Webber's Cats.

Give Us a Kiss: a Country Noir/ Daniel Woodrell/ 237p.

While the subject matter is much the same as the other Woodrell books I've read lately, this one was funny - darkly comic, I guess I should say. The author hails from West Table, MO, in the heart of Ozark country. Woodrell's way with prose and mastery of the local dialect makes for some colorful, often hilarious dialogue.

The story is crime fiction by category, but also explores the feeling of coming home again as an adult, and familial predestination (for lack of a better term). I've wondered when reading the author's other books, but especially with this story, how much is autobiographical? There are points in the book where it seems Woodrell is speaking directly of his own experience.

The book oozes with sex, violence and strong language. It is not for those who are even somewhat easily offended. But if you don't mind the above, chances are this fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking novel will appeal to you.