Readers' picks

I'm dizzy from reading The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. If you want a really different perspective on what is the present, what is the past, and what you might say to yourself if you could travel backwards in time, then try this thought-provoking love story.
- Maura T. Callahan, Snoqualmie, Wash.

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. A great, short, captivating read about an adolescent struggling with loss and letdowns of life.
- Joan Ervey, Farmington, N.H.

I am reading Learning to Bow by Bruce Feiler and find it a witty and revealing introduction to Japan by an American teaching in its middle schools. The author here has made a great effort toward knowing the Japanese and passes his knowledge on with memorable humor.
- Jean Dacey, Niles, Mich.

A Box of Matches by Nicholson Baker is most uniquely charming in its warm humanness. I am amazed and delighted at the many issues of life which Mr. Baker weaves around this story of a man who decides to arise very early to build daily fires in his fireplace and contemplate over morning coffee. This book lends itself especially well to reading aloud.
- William Aldridge, Olympia, Wash.

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