It's that time again for the monthly check on what your community's reading! Here's a selection from the top titles for April. Here's the previous lists for February and March. Enjoy!

 Are you looking for an engaging mystery, a Florida locale, and a bunch of elderly retirees doing the investigating? Then this book is for you! Gladdy Gold and her trusty Gladiators, with the help of others in the housing development as well as the local library staff, work to find out what has REALLY been happening to the neighbors. Although Gladdy and her group sprinkle their conversation with Yiddish, everyone will be able to relate to these ladies who lunch, bedevil, and support each other. Read Getting Old is Murder for an enjoyable visit with these intrepid detectives!

Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg's new book, Lean In, is currently topping America's bestseller lists. At 228 pages, it is a quick and digestible read. Sandberg's tone is humorous and warm. As I read, I got the sense that I would be completely comfortable approaching her if I worked at her company. It could be just me, but I find it pretty remarkable to get that sense about someone who now consistently makes Forbes magazine's annual list of the most powerful women in the world.

In the introduction, Sandberg says she has written her book "for any woman who wants to increase her chances of making it to the top of her field or pursue any goal vigorously." She also states that she wants it to speak to men, too, wwants to understand what a woman-a colleague, wife, mother, or daughter-is up against so that he can do his part to build an equal wor wants to understand what a woman-a colleague, wife, mother, or daughter-is up against so that he can do his part to build an equal worAnnotateldwants to understand what a woman-a colleague, wife, mother, or daughter-is up against so that he can do his part to build an equal worAnnotateld wants to understand what a woman-a colleague, wife, mother, or daughter-is up against so that he can do his part to build an equal worAnnotateld wants to understand what a woman-a colleague, wife, mother, or daughter-is up against so that he can do his part to build an equal world "Whatever this book is, I am writing it for any woman who wants to increase her chances of making it to the top of her field or pursue any goal vigorously. This includes women at all stages of their lives and careers, from those who are just starting out to those who are taking a break and may want to jump back in. I am also writing this any man who wants to understand what a woman-a colleague, wife, mother, or daughter-is up against so that he can do his part to build an equal worldAnnotate.

 Whatever this book is, I am writing it for any woman who wants to increase her chances of making it to the top of her field or pursue any goal vigorously. This includes women at all stages of their lives and careers, from those who are just starting out to those who are taking a break and may want to jump back in. I am also writing this any man who wants to understand what a woman-a colleague, wife, mother, or daughter-is up against so that he can do his part to build an equal worldAnnotate.

 Whatever this book is, I am writing it for any woman who wants to increase her chances of making it to the top of her field or pursue any goal vigorously. This includes women at all stages of their lives and careers, from those who are just starting out to those who are taking a break and may want to jump back in. I am also writing this any man who wants to understand what a woman-a colleague, wife, mother, or daughter-is up against so that he can do his part to build an equal worldAnnotate.

 whowwhowwhwho want "to understand what a woman-a colleague, wife, mother, or daughter-is up against so that he can do his part to build an equal world."

One of Sandberg's major concerns is the relative dearth of women leaders in politics and business, as the leaders in those arenas are the people who make the decisions that affect the rest of the world's population, and half of that population is female. For me, one of the most memorable of the anecdotes Sandberg offers in her book recalls when she made a pitch at a New York equity firm and asked a male executive where the women's restroom was. The man was stumped by the question - apparently she was the first business visitor who ever needed to use one!  

Sandberg has faced some criticism for offering advice to women who may not share her significant privileges, which include a solid family background, a top-notch education, a supportive spouse and the monetary resources to hire help in running her household and caring for her children. But I think is to her credit that Sandberg is quick to acknowledge these privileges and I think she is sincere in wanting to support women from all backgrounds in making the life choices that are right for them.

Lean In is available to borrow from the San Jose Public Library in print, e-book, and audio e-book format.

Matched

In a future where society decides everything for you: what you see, when you die, even what you believe.  They even choose your soul mate during a Matching ceremony.  When Cassia is being matched, she is relieved she is matched with her lifelong friend.  But then the screen goes black, and for an instant she sees Ky Markham’s face instead of Xander’s. It’s only for a few seconds, and society tells her it’s a glitch, but Cassie thinks about Ky a lot; now she begins to doubt her matching, and society.  Will Cassia go against society’s decision and fall in love with Ky?  Cassia is risking a lot, and putting everything on the line; however, is she willing to pave out her own path and face the impossible choice?  Find out in Matched.

Sequels: #2 Crossed, #3 Reached

Unwind

After the Second Civil War over reproductive rights, America had given parents the right  to unwind their kids if they were between the ages of thirteen and eighteen.  What’s unwinding?  Unwinding is when parents decide to have their children taken apart organ by organ and have their parts "donated" to those people who need them.  Kids don’t have a choice if they what to be unwound or not, they don’t have that right.  But when one boy goes against everything and runs away from his unwinding, he doesn’t realize he’s about to change everything!

Sequels: #2 UnWholly, #3 UnSouled (coming Fall 2013)

Delirium

Love.  It’s so easy to fall in love, but it’s easier to be hurt by the ones you love.  That’s why love is now considered a disease.  Anybody who shows any type of emotion or even dares to fall in love is taken and disconnected from the world.  They practically disappear.  And ninety-five days before Lena’s eighteenth birthday and her chance to be "cured" and be safe from the delirium of love, she falls in love herself.  Lena must decided whether to get the cure and live a safe, happy, and predictable life; or live a life of adventure, full of excitement, and be with the boy she’s in love with.

Sequels: #2 Pandemonium, #3 Requiem