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It's that wonderful time of year when we get to focus on some great book gifts Dad would like for Father's Day.

Most families probably have a few secrets, or even a skeleton in the closet, and when good writers weave secrets into their characters’ lives, they can affect us strongly.

In recent years, the world has experienced two particularly devastating tsunamis -- in 2004 in the Indian Ocean and in 2011 in Eastern Japan -- both accompanied by huge loss of life. Human tragedy can spawn great literature, and these two books are so well written, so unique, so …

With Mother’s Day coming up, I found three memoirs written by real moms.

Let’s see what goes on inside the world of a private investigator.

The best-seller lists are always filled with thrillers. Let’s check out a few.

Let’s dive into the world of art.

Reading about murder — real or imagined — can be engrossing, thought-provoking, and even unsettling, but it is hardly ever dull.

Valentine's Day is closing in, and once again, love is in the air ... fictional love, anyway.

Challenging yourself physically can make for some great adventure, as these authors found out for themselves. But in their true-life stories, the writers discover that their physical endeavors can also be mentally, emotionally and even spiritually transformative.Cheryl Strayed wrote about …

It’s too bad they don’t write old-fashioned adventure stories like the classic Treasure Island. But wait — someone did!

Let’s take a literary trip to modern-day England and meet some of the town folk, who are drawn so realistically in these two books, you will think you know them.The first book is really special: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce. I fell in love with this novel when I opened it …

As we head into the shorter, darker days of the year, let’s escape into dreams of a sunlit garden filled with flowers, ablaze with color.Into the Garden with Charles is a memoir by artist Clyde Phillip Wachsberger. As a child growing up in Manhattan, “I longed for the storybook gardens illustrated …

People don’t seem to want to face the realities of war, but if we’re going to send our fellow citizens into battle, we ought to know something about it.In this regard, What It Is Like to Go to War by Karl Marlantes is one of the most important books I’ve ever read.Marlantes served as a combat …

Devout book lovers are always seeking recommendations for a good read. And I may have found the mother lode. These marvelous books contain recommendations throughout, as well as lists at the back. For the reading addict, it’s like candy. And they’re all now available in paperback.Alice Ozma’s The …

Three recent novels all have main female characters who seek spiritual peace and harmony by living a monastic life.The Crown marks author Nancy Bilyeau’s debut. The historical novel is set in London in the 1500s, during the reign of King Henry VIII. It is a time of upheaval, with the king closing …

Witches, fairies, elves, dragons — these are the residents of the realms of fantasy. They are also the inhabitants of some of the first fantasy stories: fairy tales.Chris Colfer (you may know him as Kurt Hummel on the TV show “Glee”) has created a kind of sequel to our old, familiar fairy tales in …

Science fiction and fantasy are possibly the most imagination-bending of the literary genres. The notion of science fiction often conjures images of futuristic technology, outer space, time travel and extraterrestrials, as it does in these recent titles.The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen …

Are you a fan of the PBS series Downton Abbey” Maybe these great books will tide you over until the series resumes in the fall.Let’s start with an overview of British life from about 1880 to the 1920s with The Real Life Downton Abbey: How Life Was Really Lived in Stately Homes a Century Ago by …

I noticed recently that there is a surfeit of novels with the word “red” in the title. Let’s look at three.The Red Book by Deborah Copaken Kogan is about four women friends from the Harvard class of 1989 who gather for a reunion 20 years later. The book of the title is the update of entries written …