Great Reads

CHASING VERMEER, by Blue Balliett. (Scholastic Paperback, $7.99.) When a book of unexplainable occurences brings Petra and Calder together, strange things start to happen. Before they know it, the two find themselves at the center of an international art scandal.

DISPATCHES, by Michael Herr. (Vintage Books, $12.95..) "he seems to have brought to this book the ear of a musician and the eye of a painter...the premier war correspondence of Vietnam". - Washington Post. "The best book I have ever read on men and war in our time" - John le Carre"...Dispatches puts the rest of us in the shad" - Hunter S. Thompson.

LEGACY OF ASHES: THE HISTORY OF THE CIA, By Tim Weiner. (Anchor Books, $16.95.) For the last 60 years, the CIA has managed to maintain a formidable reputation in spite of its terrible record. Now Pulitzer Prize-winning author Weiner offers the first definitive history of the CIA - and everything is on the record.

WALKING ON EGGSHELLS: NAVIGATING THE DELICATE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ADULT CHILDREN AND PARENTS, by Jane Isay. (Flying Dolphin Press, $14.) Renowned editor Isay delivers real-life wisdom and advice on how adult children and their parents can stay together without falling apart. Warmth and wit shine through on every page as she charts this often confusing, and at times painful, relationship.

INFIDEL, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. (Free Press, $15.) In this profoundly affecting memoir from the internationally renowned author of "The Caged Virgin," Ali tells her life story, from her traditional Muslim childhood in Somalia to her intellectual awakening in the Netherlands to her life under armed guard in the West.

SKINNY BITCH IN THE KITCH: KICK-ASS SOLUTIONS FOR HUNGRY GIRLS WHO WANT TO STOP EATING CRAP (and Start Looking Hot!) by Rory Freedman and Kim Barmmouin. (Running Press, $14.95.) The bestselling "Skinny Bitch" inspired thousands of gals to live clean, healthy pure, and skinny - while keeping them laughing with the authors trademark acerbic wit. With more than 75 recipes, this collection is sure to satisfy any crazy craving and cooling quandary.

BITTER IS THE NEW BLACK: CONFESSIONS OF A CONDESCENDING, EGOMANIACAL, SELF-CENTERED SMARTASS, OR, WHY YOU SHOULD NEVER CARRY A PRADA BAG TO THE. by Jen Lancaster. (New Amerrican Library, $13.95.) From a popular blogger comes a hilarious memoir that takes readers from sorority house to penthouse to poorhouse.

RICH DAD'S INCREASE YOUR FINANCIAL IQ: GET SMARTER WITH YOUR MONEY (RICH DAD'S) by Robert T. Klyosaki, edited by Jake Johnson. (Business Plus, $16.99.) As Klyosaki has written in his popular Rich Dad, Poor Dad series, one has to truly understand the process of how money works before one can start out on trying to escape the daily financial rat race. In this latest book, he offers the five key principles of financial intelligence.