If I wasn't already familiar with John Le Carre and the types of books he wrote I might not even have picked up his book, "The Constant Gardener." For those who have not seen it, the cover features a couple of bees buzzing around, which coupled with the title, makes it seem like the book is about gardening of bees. The book is actually about a British diplomat who investigates the death of his wife, who was an activist. Far from being an accident, he uncovers a whole international conspiracy. The book was actually based on a true story and got a film adaptation in 2005, which thankfully did not feature any bees on the movie poster.

It would stretch the definition of "diary" a bit, but I cannot recommend The Dept to Pleasure by John Lanchester enough. This book had me hanging on to every page and I just couldn't stop reading it once I began. The trouble is that trying to explain what the book is about without giving away the surprises is practically impossible. Let's just say it's about a man taking a journey around France while talking about food. But, this is not a book about food, even though there are recipes in the book haha. Like I said, I can't tell you WHY this book is so good without delving into spoilery territory. The best way to read this book is to going in completely unaware so try it and let me know what you think.

I actually read a ton of romantic erotica and I got most of them for free from Amazon. My personal highlights are Loving Maddie from A to Z [Kelly Jamieson], A Little Harmless Obsession [Melissa Schroeder], The Swirl: The Chase [Cornelia Smith], Deliver [Pam Godwin], and the complete “Delicate” series [Lucia Jordan]. All of this is/were free and they deliver the goods if you are looking for some R rated romance. Let me know if you enjoy these and I can recommend a few others on my reading list as well. -L

Pet semmetry

The Art of Seduction, Robert Greene