The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Robert Edsel and Bret Witter

Largely forgotten by history, the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives officers of World War II's Allied Forces worked to make sure important cultural relics were not destroyed during fighting, coordinated proper repairs where necessary, and helped track down and reclaim paintings, sculptures, important papers, and other objects of note stolen by Nazi officers all over Europe.

This amazing book recently served as inspiration for a movie starting George Clooney, and our library book club has chosen to read it for discussion later this fall. (We'll also be spinning several other adult-programming events in conjunction with the discussion.)  I cannot wait for the conversation. What an astounding book!

Edsel follows a handful of MFAA officers from the group's haphazard organization through the war and into their vital post-war restitutions work. We learn a bit about these "monuments men" and what drives them - why each was uniquely qualified for their mission, and how it the war affected their later careers.

I have to additionally note that I listened to the audiobook of this one and the narrator, Jeremy Davidson, was stunning. He did character voices, accents, dramatizations ... it's hard to believe it was just one guy, reading all of this so, so well.

Bare Essentials

by Jill Shalvis and Leslie Kelly

Two books in one is two times the fun. 

I picked this one up because it had Jill Shalvis' name on the cover; Leslie Kelly's story was every bit as fun.  This is just the right mix of funny and tactfully raunchy.  Kate and Cassie come from a long line of women with reputations for liking men a whole lot.

In Naughty but Nice (Shalvis), lingerie model, Cassie, returns to her dreaded hometown to hide from a stalker and exact a little revenge in the process.  Too bad sheriff, Sean "Tag" Taggert quickly catches on while single-handedly upping her car insurance rate.  She hightailed it out of town as a teen after the sheriff hit on her the night of her prom.  Tag's got his work cut out for him to convince the beauty that he won't believe the rumors, even when they come from his own family. 

In Naturally Naughty (Kelly), Kate Jones finds herself back in Pleasantville with the excitement of opening a new store.  She's sure she'll shock the townspeople right into sending her packing for a second time.  Within minutes of arriving she has a brief but sizzling staring contest with Jack.  Hours later it turns into much more.  Frustration sets in when Kate figures out that Jack is the one man she wanted to leave in a miserable puddle: too bad she likes him.  He's got his own reasons for holding back; her mom is one of the most respected people in his life. 

Start me up

Start me up by Victoria Dahl

As a librarian, I rarely buy books for myself, but Borders had a sale. I blogged the first book in this series earlier this year (Talk me down). Dahl takes readers back to Tumble Creek, Colorado for Lori Love's shot at happily ever after. The female mechanic is set on living with the status quo, but a little sex would be an acceptable change of pace. Along comes her best friend's brother, the severely focused architect every girl wanted in high school. He's even more buff now.

Too bad she's also got to contend with the sheriff reopening the case into her father's untimely death and someone seems to want to run her out of town.

Lucky Lori finds herself a man willing steal the steamy books she's currently reading to get insight into what she wants. She wants her books, dammit; what she gets is so much better.
Another sassy, sexy read.