Check ‘em out: Recommendations for November

When Aaron Maciver's beautiful young wife, Madeline, suffers brain damage in a bike accident, she is left with the intellectual powers of a six-year-old. In the years that follow, Aaron and his second wife care for Madeline with deep tenderness and devotion as they raise two children of their own. Such is the unique and sometimes disturbing family life of Mac who, while growing up with his "sister" Madeline, grants readers a most original perspective of youth-- his own and the perpetual youth of Madeline in Jane Hamilton's latest novel When Madeline Was Young (2006). As stated in a Booklist review, "Hamilton has never written more finely nuanced or beguiling prose, imagined more fascinating characters, or posed more provocative moral dilemmas." The story of the Maciver family will doubtless impress readers as unforgettable and is destined to provoke intriguing discussions among book groups.

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Lee Morgan spent 31 years as a Federal Agent with the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security, receiving many government honors for his law enforcement achievements. Now, in his non-fiction narrative of violence, drugs, human smuggling and dirty politicians along the Mexican-American border, Morgan asserts that the reforms that created the Department of Homeland Security and shifted antidrug enforcement to the Border Patrol are disastrous because the patrol is hopelessly corrupt. While presenting intense descriptions of the violence and corruption he has witnessed, Morgan argues that no barrier or law can keep Mexicans from crossing into the U.S. in search of a better life and thus an alternate approach to solving the problem is required. The Reaper's Line: Life and Death on the Mexican Border (2006) will most likely attract fans of law enforcement/ military adventure or those interested in a unique perspective on the current immigration debate.

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