Most of the titles I'd recommend are not particularly new; I don't generally read current bestsellers (though I am listening to the taped version of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"), but there are a lot of good oldies out there you might have missed. And even if you haven't missed them, there's nothing wrong with re-reading something you enjoyed years ago.

I'm currently wrapped up in the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. Great sea stories, very historically accurate, with wonderful characters. If you haven't already read 'em, start with "Master and Commander." And if you're into books on tape, the O'Brian novels read by Patrick Tull are superb!

Riveting, he wants. Fair enough. How about some good suspense, such as "Eye of the Needle" by Ken Follett or "Day of the Jackal," by Frederick Forsyth? "Shibumi," by Trevanian (who also wrote "The Eiger Sanction" and a couple of others) is excellent. A lesser-known title I really liked 15 or 20 years ago is "Nightbloom," by Herbert Lieberman.

Another Ken Follett I liked a lot was "Pillars of the Earth" -- not suspense, but historical fiction centering around the building of a cathedral in 12th century England. Lots of intrigue. Another good historical fiction book is "Shogun," by James Clavell.

Good current thriller/suspense/mystery writers I like include:

John Sandford, whose "prey" series is very good. The first one is "Rules of Prey," I think, and one of the best of the series is "Winter Prey."

Jonathan Kellerman is generally quite good, as is Michael Connelly, whose "Angels Flight" and "Poet" stand out. The "Quiller" books by Adam Hall have good suspense. Patricia Cornwell is pretty good, especially the early titles. Try "Charm School" by Nelson DeMille -- he is not a consistently good writer, but this one's fine. The only John Grisham worth reading, IMHO, is his first, "A Time To Kill."

For short stories, try Frederick Forsyth's collection called "No Comebacks."

An oddball selection is "The Journeyer," by Gary Jenkins, the premise of which is that Marco Polo supposedly declared on his deathbed that he had not told half of what he had seen and done on his many travels. This book, of course, tells the rest.

Well, that's all I can come up with at the moment. I'll probably think of more later.

Rick, I sure hope your therapy, unpleasant though it must be, is doing the trick for you and that you'll get much better very soon. Sure would be great to see you at the Getaway!

Happy reading!
Nancy