Larry:

If this was fiction, you would say good writing, great characters development, but not really believable. How could a congressman most people had never heard of get the United States to commit millions of dollars for Afghan "freedom fighters"? Throughout the 1980's, the Afghan mujahideen were in effect Americans surrogate soldiers in the guerrilla was that because the Soviet Unions Vietnam. The Soviet defeat in Afghanistan helped trigger the collapse of the Communist empire. Afghanistan was a secret war the CIA fought without debate in congress or protest in the street. In the course of a decade the CIA trained 300,000 Muslim fundamentalist in the art of urban terror. The same urban terror used by the Taleban in Afghanistan and in Iraq today.

.

Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History

by George Crile

$14.00

Charlie Wilson's War was a publishing sensation and a New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times bestseller. In the early 1980s, a Houston socialite turned the attention of maverick Texas congressman Charlie Wilson to the ragged band of Afghan "freedom fighters" who continued, despite overwhelming odds, to fight the Soviet invaders. Wilson, who sat on the all-powerful House Appropriations Committee, managed to procure hundreds of millions of dollars to support the mujahideen. The arms were secretly procured and distributed with the help of an out-of-favor CIA operative, Gust Avrokotos, whose working-class Greek-American background made him an anomaly among the Ivy League world of American spies. Avrakotos handpicked a staff of CIA outcasts to run his operation and, with their help, continually stretched the Agency's rules to the breaking point. Moving from the back rooms of the Capitol, to secret chambers at Langley, to arms-dealers' conventions, to the Khyber Pass, this book presents an astonishing chapter of our recent past, and the key to understanding what helped trigger the sudden collapse of the Soviet Union and ultimately led to the emergence of a brand-new foe in the form of radical Islam.

Carolyn:

If you're looking for a really different approach to investigating a bizarre  murder, transport yourself to Thailand with the honest vegetarian, Buddhist Bangkok cop Sanchai Jitpleecheep. Thoroughly strangely, satisfying, enjoyable.

Bangkok 8

by John Burdett

$12.95

A thriller with attitude to spare, Bangkok 8 is a sexy, razor-edged, often darkly hilarious novel set in one of the world's most exotic cities.
Witnessed by a throng of gaping spectators, a charismatic Marine sergeant is murdered under a Bangkok bridge inside a bolted-shut Mercedes Benz. Among the witnesses are the only two cops in the city not on the take, but within moments one is murdered and his partner, Sonchai Jitpleecheep--a devout Buddhist and the son of a Thai bar girl and a long-gone Vietnam War G. I.--is hell-bent on wreaking revenge. On a vigilante mission to capture his partner's murderer, Sonchai is begrudgingly paired with a beautiful FBI agent named Jones and captures her heart in the process. In a city fueled by illicit drugs and infinite corruption, prostitution and priceless art, Sonchai's quest for vengeance takes him into a world much more sinister than he could have ever imagined.

Brenda:

A great book to curl up and read to your children on a cold winter's night. I read it to my sixteen year old and she even loved it.

Winter's Gift

by Jane Monroe Donovan

$15.95

Winter's Gift" is a touching story of loves lost and found. A beautiful pregnant mare gets separated from her herd only to be rescued by a lonely widower on Christmas Eve. The mare returns his selfless act with a gift the man had long forgotten he needed. Full color.

Julia:

What could cause a person to cut themselves?

This book will make you think how good you really have it. You are Callie's therapist, who knows what Callie is thinking, through out the book. Callie is a teen who cuts herself to make herself feel good, but what caused this? Callie first starts off as mute to the other residents and staff. Faced with a decision talk or leave Sea Pines, what will she chose?

Cut

by Patricia McCormick

$6.99

This debut novel deals boldly with mental illness and is by turns riveting, thrilling and heartbreaking. Teens will relate to the adolescent drama and all-important friends as the main character tries to "cut" it. The bittersweet tale will resonate in the turbulent world of young adults and its readers will find hope in its uplifting end.

Callie cuts herself. Never too deep, never enough to die. But enough to feel the pain. Enough to feel the scream inside. Now she's at Sea Pines, a "residential treatment facility" filed with girls struggling with problems of their own. Callie doesn't want to have anything to do with them. She doesn't want to have anything to do with anyone. She won't even speak. But Callie can only stay silent for so long..