10 Best Books to Read at the Weekend

The Last Bridge

By Teri Coyne

The Last Bridge: A Novel (Random House Reader's Circle)

by: Teri Coyne

Amazon Price: $1.37 (as of 05/29/2012)

For ten years, Alexandra "Cat" Rucker has been on the run from her past. With an endless supply of bourbon and a series of meaningless jobs, Cat is struggling to forget her Ohio hometown she once called home. But a sudden call from an old neighbor forces Cat to return to the home she never intended to see again. Cat's mother has been found dead, with a suicide note that reads: Cat, He isn't who you think he is. Mom xxx

Creatures of Habit

By Jill McCorkle

Creatures of Habit (Shannon Ravenel Books)

by: Jill McCorkle

Amazon Price: $3.79 (as of 05/29/2012)

These deceptively simple animal-titled tales resonate and entertain, with people in one story migrating without warning to another story. Themes explore the infidelity of spouses, the fears of childhood, and the terror of senile old age. The unnamed animal groomer of "Dogs" will make you laugh as she narrates why she's come to prefer dogs to men. You'll also be startled along with the wife in "Snakes" when she discovers a disagreeable truth right next door, and you'll feel for the gentle souls (both animal and human) in "Monkeys" and "Turtles."

The Hunger Games

By Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games

by: Suzanne Collins

Amazon Price: $3.97 (as of 05/29/2012)

The United States of America has collapsed, weakened by drought, fire, famine, and war, to be replaced by Panem, a country divided into the Capitol and 12 districts. Each year, two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games. Part entertainment, part brutal intimidation of the subjugated districts, the televised games are broadcasted throughout Panem as the 24 participants are forced to eliminate their competitors, literally, with all citizens required to watch.

Olive Kitteridge

By Elizabeth Strout

Olive Kitteridge

by: Elizabeth Strout

Amazon Price: $2.17 (as of 05/29/2012)

Olive Kitteridge is the redoubtable seventh-grade math teacher in Crosby, Maine. Anyone who gets in Olive's way had better watch out, for she crashes unapologetically through life like an emotional storm trooper. She forces her husband, Henry, the town pharmacist, into tactical retreat; and she drives her beloved son, Christopher, across the country and into therapy.

The Bonds of Debt

By Richard Dienst

The Bonds of Debt

by: Richard Dienst

Amazon Price: $12.00 (as of 05/29/2012)

Richard Dienst's most radical proposition in this wonderfully clear and provocative book is that we are burdened not by too much debt but by too little. Yes, we must discover ways to refuse and escape the regime of debt to the figures of power and institutions that rule over us, but we must also, and perhaps more importantly, recognize indebtedness as a basic human condition and create social ties that at once bind us to each other and free us.

The Other Family

By Joanna Trollope

The Other Family: A Novel

by: Joanna Trollope

Amazon Price: $2.14 (as of 05/29/2012)

When popular crooner Richie Rossiter dies, his longtime partner, Chrissie, is left bereft and angered that she never got Richie to divorce his first wife and marry her, providing security for her and their three daughters. In addition, money becomes a serious issue since she was his manager. Then she learns that Richie amended his will to leave a treasured piano and the rights to songs he wrote early in his career to his first wife, Margaret, and their son, Scott.

Let The Great World Spin

By Colum McCann

Let the Great World Spin: A Novel

by: Colum McCann

Amazon Price: $4.59 (as of 05/29/2012)

It's August of 1974, a summer "hot and serious and full of death and betrayal," and Watergate and the Vietnam War make the world feel precarious. A stunned hush pauses the cacophonous universe of New York City as a man on a cable walks between World Trade Center towers. This extraordinary, real-life feat by French funambulist Philippe Petit becomes the touchstone for stories that submerge you in ten intense lives.

Cleopatra's Daughter

By Michelle Moran

Cleopatra's Daughter: A Novel

by: Michelle Moran

Amazon Price: $3.89 (as of 05/29/2012)

After the death of their parents, twins Alexander and Selene and younger brother Ptolemy are in a dangerous position, left to the mercy of their father's greatest rival, Octavian Caesar. However, Caesar does not kill them as expected, but takes the trio to Rome to be paraded as part of his triumphant return and to demonstrate his solidified power. As the twins adapt to life in Rome in the inner circle of Caesar's family, they grow into adulthood ensconced in a web of secrecy, intrigue and constant danger.

It Happened on the Way to War

By Rye Barcott

It Happened On the Way to War: A Marine's Path to Peace

by: Rye Barcott

Amazon Price: $11.75 (as of 05/29/2012)

In 2000 Rye Barcott spent part of his summer living in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya. He was a college student heading into the Marines, and he sought to better understand ethnic violence. He learned Swahili, asked questions, and listened to young people talk about how they survived in poverty. Anxious to help but unsure what to do, he stumbled into friendship with a widowed nurse, Tabitha Atieno Festo, and a community organizer, Salim Mohamed. Together, they built an organization that developed a new generation of leaders from within Africa's largest slum.

Forgotten Love

By Kara Hunt

Forgotten Love

by: Kara Hunt

Amazon Price: $15.29 (as of 05/29/2012)

Gone without a trace. For Matt, it is his wife who has disappeared. For Andrea, it is her memory. When Andrea wakes up in an LA hospital, all she has are a few memories of her accident: pouring rain, gripping mud, and the terror of the flood. Rescued by her parents, Esther and Jack, she is given a chance at a new life - a life without a history.

In Danger of Dying

In Danger of Dying

by: James Chapman

Amazon Price: (as of 05/29/2012)

A spectacular bus crash, escaping convicts, hostage taking, armed bank siege and love are all included in this action filled suspense thriller with a twist at the end. Negotiator Scott Bradley has been assigned to secure the hostage's safe release but he has much more than just the convicts to watch out for in this pulsating crime thriller. With the scenes unfolding through his eyes you get the unique opportunity to peek inside the dark and dangerous world of hostage negotiation.

Maybe Tomorrow

Maybe Tomorrow

by: James Chapman

Amazon Price: (as of 05/29/2012)

After tragic events cause her to lose the only love that she has known, Monica enters into a world of dark visions which threaten her survival and sanity, but she has learnt never to give up hope and eventually triumphs beyond her wildest dreams. The story line is drawn from Monica's many diary entries which depict a tale of courage, determination and the winning of a fight against all the odds. When you read this book you are witnessing events through Monica's eyes.

Living on the Lost Edge of Time

By James Chapman

Living on the Lost Edge of Time

by: James Chapman

Amazon Price: (as of 05/29/2012)

Jennifer is a romantic at heart and adores reading in the tranquil calm of the old house that is her home. But everything changes when her sleep is suddenly disturbed in the middle of the night. Rising to investigate Jennifer soon finds herself immersed in a dark and mysterious adventure. She has lived alone in the old house for the last three and a half years since her mother died and never before had felt there was any need to think she should be afraid. But Jennifer does experience real fear and in the depths of the darkness she discovers a love that is destined to change her life forever.