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    		•  Month paperback releases offer good choices for reading groups

    REVIEWS BY JULIE HALE

    Cover Abraham
    This New York Times bestseller is Feiler's follow-up to the surprisingly successful Walking the Bible (2001). A fearless exploration of the power of faith, Abraham is a masterful mix of history, travel writing and the author's own personal musings on the nature of religion. Embarking on a quest that takes him to war-torn hot spots like Jerusalem, Feiler strives to synthesize three different religions—Judaism, Christianity and Islam—by using Abraham, founding father of each belief system, as a filter. Along the way, he talks with priests, rabbis and religious scholars, learning some surprising things about the critical role Abraham plays for believers around the world. It's a journey that proves as meaningful for the reader as it does for the author. The paperback edition features a new afterword from Feiler, as well as an interfaith discussion guide. A reading group guide is available in print and online at www.harpercollins.com/readers.

    Cover Positively Fifth Street
    McManus, an author and professor who teaches a course on the literature and science of poker, offers an inside look at a one-of-a-kind subculture in this best-selling nonfiction book. Sent on assignment in 2000 by Harper's magazine to report on the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, McManus initially hopes to find out more about the strange murder of Ted Binion, the tournament's controversial host, and to get an update on the role of women in the game. But, like many who visit Vegas, McManus is tempted by the tables and soon uses his Harper's advance money to participate in the series. Risking everything for the love of the game—and a good story—McManus stays at it for 10 days, and what results is a skillfully crafted, suspenseful portrait of casino life. But the author also presents a wonderful, personal exploration of the nature of risk and human competition that's sure to resonate with readers.

    Cover Lost in America
    The National Book Award-winning author of How We Die presents another poignant, intelligent narrative humanity's remarkable ability to endure. Lost in America is a touching account of Nuland's family history, and it focuses largely on the author's father, Meyer Nudelman, a Jewish immigrant who arrived in America during the early part of the 20th century. Bringing the crowded tenements of New York City vividly to life, Nuland delivers an affectionate profile of the man, a displaced traveler who never quite feels at home in the midst of fast-paced American culture, and who demands a difficult sort of loyalty from his children. Over the course of the book, as he questions what it means to be a son, the author deftly blends history and autobiography into an unforgettable story. This is a wonderfully detailed retrospective and a profound exploration of the meaning of home and family.

    Cover A Ship Made of Paper
    This modern-day love story from the author of Endless Love is a remarkably intuitive account of an interracial romance. Daniel, a prominent white New York lawyer, lives with his novelist-girlfriend Kate and her young daughter, Ruby. The secure rhythm of their daily lives is disrupted when Daniel meets and falls for a black woman named Iris, whose son befriends Ruby in school. Daniel and Iris embark on an affair that soon consumes them both, threatening their marriages, their work and their own sense of themselves. Although passion liberates the emotionally reserved Daniel and offers Iris an outlet from her empty marriage, there are negative repercussions for everyone involved. In this national bestseller, Spencer writes insightfully of the limitations imposed by race, the fragility of human connections and the potentially destructive properties of romantic love. A reading group guide is available in print and online at www.harpercollins.com/readers.


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