Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

When the Conways move into their ancestral home in Louisiana after the death of an estranged aunt, it is with the promise of a new beginning. But the house has a life of its own. Abandoned for the last forty years, surrounded by thick trees and a stifling sense of melancholy, the sprawling Victorian house seems to swallow up the sunlight. Deep within the cold cellar and etched into the very walls is a long, dark... (more)

No Plot? No Problem!: A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days

No Plot? No Problem!: A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days

by Chris Baty

Chris Baty, motivator extraordinaire and instigator of a wildly successful writing revolution, spells out the secrets of writing -- and finishing -- a novel. Every fall, thousands of people sign up for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), which Baty founded, determined to (a) write that novel or (b) finish that novel in -- kid you not -- 30 days. Now Baty puts pen to paper himself to share the secrets of... (more)

The Miracle of Water

by Masaru Emoto

Masaru Emoto has photographed thousands of water crystals throughout his years of research, yet few have been as beautiful and life affirming as those formed from the words "love and gratitude." In The Miracle of Water , Dr. Emoto demonstrates how water's unique role in transporting the natural vibration of these words can help you welcome change and live a more positive and happy life. Dr. Emoto also explores... (more)

Travis: Book 1

Sugar Daddy

by Lisa Kleypas

Lisa Kleypas has enthralled millions of readers with her powerfully seductive novels. Now she delivers a story featuring her most unforgettable characters yet.... SHE’S FROM THE WRONG SIDE OF THE TRACKS Liberty Jones has dreams and determination that will take her far away from Welcome, Texas---if she can keep her wild heart from ruling her mind. Hardy Cates sees Liberty as completely off-limits. His own... (more)

Heart-Shaped Box: A Novel

by Joe Hill

Judas Coyne is a collector of the macabre: a cookbook for cannibals . . . a used hangman's noose . . . a snuff film. An aging death-metal rock god, his taste for the unnatural is as widely known to his legions of fans as the notorious excesses of his youth. But nothing he possesses is as unlikely or as dreadful as his latest discovery, an item for sale on the Internet, a thing so terribly strange, Jude can't help... (more)

Jack Reacher series

Bad Luck and Trouble

by Lee Child, Dick Hill

From a helicopter high above the empty California desert, a man is sent free-falling into the night…. In Chicago, a woman learns that an elite team of ex–army investigators is being hunted down one by one.... And on the streets of Portland, Jack Reacher—soldier, cop, hero—is pulled out of his wandering life by a code that few other people could understand. From the first shocking scenes in Lee Child’s explosive... (more)

If Looks Could Kill

by Kate White

Meet Bailey Weggins, the thirty-something, single-again true crime writer for a leading Manhattan woman's magazine. Smart and savvy, she's got a sixth sense when it comes to seeing the truth in a story-especially if it's murder. Bailey's in bed with her commitment-challenged lover K.C. when she gets a frantic call from her high-maintenance boss at Gloss magazine. Grabbing coffee and a cab outside her Greenwich... (more)

The Blue Zone: A Novel

by Andrew Gross

From the number one New York Times bestselling coauthor of Judge & Jury and Lifeguard comes this electrifying solo debut, The Blue Zone . Kate Raab's life seems almost perfect: her boyfriend, her job, her family . . . until her father runs into trouble with the law. His only recourse is to testify against his former accomplices in exchange for his family's placement in the Witness Protection... (more)

Body Surfing

by Anita Shreve

At the age of 29, Sydney has already been once divorced and once widowed. Trying to regain her footing once again, she has answered an ad to tutor the teenage daughter of a well-to-do couple as they spend a sultry summer in their oceanfront New Hampshire cottage. But when the Edwards' two grown sons, Ben and Jeff, arrive at the beach house, Sydney finds herself caught up in a destructive web of old tensions and... (more)

Shadow Man

by Cody McFadyen

Once, Special Agent Smoky Barrett hunted serial killers for the FBI. She was one of the best–until a madman terrorized her family, killed her husband and daughter, and left her face scarred and her soul brutalized. Turning the tables on the killer, Smoky shot him dead–but her life was shattered forever. Now Smoky dreams about picking up her weapon again. She dreams about placing the cold steel between her... (more)

Laura Caxton: Book 1

13 Bullets

by David Wellington

All the official reports say they are dead-extinct since the late ’80s, when a fed named Arkeley nailed the last vampire in a fight that nearly killed him. But the evidence proves otherwise. When a state trooper named Caxton calls the FBI looking for help in the middle of the night, it is Arkeley who gets the assignment-who else? He’s been expecting such a call to come eventually. Sure, it has been years since... (more)

The Quickie

by James Patterson, Michael Ledwidge

Lauren Stillwell is not your average damsel in distress. When the NYPD cop discovers her husband leaving a hotel with another woman, she decides to beat him at his own game. But her revenge goes dangerously awry, and she finds her world spiraling into a hell that becomes more terrifying by the hour. In a further twist of fate, Lauren must take on a job that threatens everything she stands for. Now,... (more)

Absolute Fear

by Lisa Jackson

Every Serial Killer... A serial killer is stalking the streets of New Orleans. The victims are killed in a ritual fashion, a series of numbers tattooed into their bodies. There are no clues, no connections except one: a crumbling old asylum that was once the scene of unspeakable madness--and is now the calling card of a new kind of fear. Is Searching For... Eve Renner knows Our Lady of Virtues Hospital... (more)

King-Maxwell: Book 3

Simple Genius

by David Baldacci

David Baldacci's much-loved protagonists Sean King and Michelle Maxwell are having trouble adjusting to life in the wake of the terrible events that drove them to the brink in HOUR GAME. Dogged by hidden demons from her past, then almost killed in a barroom brawl, Michelle agrees to try therapy at a mental-health facility, where she simultaneously busts a criminal drug-dealing ring! Meanwhile, to... (more)

The New Yorkers: A Novel

by Cathleen Schine

An enchanting comedy of manners (with dogs!) from one of our most treasured writers Cathleen Schine’s brilliantly funny new novel revolves around one city block in Manhattan, a quiet little block near Central Park kept humble by rent control. Living on a street like this in New York with a dog is like living in a tiny village, one that has a rhythm all its own. Dogs bring people together unexpectedly, people... (more)

The Year of Fog

by Michelle Richmond

Life changes in an instant. On a foggy beach. In the seconds when Abby Mason—photographer, fiancée soon-to-be-stepmother—looks into her camera and commits her greatest error. Heartbreaking, uplifting, and beautifully told, here is the riveting tale of a family torn apart, of the search for the truth behind a child’s disappearance, and of one woman’s unwavering faith in the redemptive power of love—all made... (more)

What the Dead Know: A Novel

by Laura Lippman

Thirty years ago two sisters disappeared from a shopping mall. Their bodies were never found and those familiar with the case have always been tortured by these questions: How do you kidnap two girls ? Who—or what—could have lured the two sisters away from a busy mall on a Saturday afternoon without leaving behind a single clue or witness? Now a clearly disoriented woman involved in a rush-hour hit-and-run... (more)

City of Fire

by Robert Ellis

When a vibrant young woman is found in bed by her hotshot businessman husband, carved from belly to throat with a very sharp knife, the elite Robbery-Homicide division of the LAPD responds in full force. Best-case scenario for lead Detective Lena Gamble: Nikki Brant’s husband killed her, case closed, and on to the next crime scene before the ravenous Hollywood media can get their lurid tabloid machinery up and... (more)

Call Me by Your Name: A Novel

by Andre Aciman

Call Me by Your Name is the story of a sudden and powerful romance that blossoms between an adolescent boy and a summer guest at his parents' cliff-side mansion on the Italian Riviera. Unprepared for the consequences of their attraction, at first each feigns indifference. But during the restless summer weeks that follow, unrelenting buried currents of obsession and fear, fascination and desire, intensify their... (more)

Jack Swyteck: Book 4

Hear No Evil

by James Grippando

Miami attorney Jack Swyteck is involved in the most explosive criminal trial of his career -- a case that starts with a murder on a military base and concludes with a shocking surprise that will change Jack's life forever. A beautiful woman comes to see Jack and begs him to represent her. She says she's about to be arrested for the murder of her husband, an officer stationed at Guantanamo Bay. Having no... (more)

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: on my 2007 tbr list

by John Saul