Chasing China; A Daughter's Quest for Truth by Kay Bratt

A Chinese-American college student travels to China in search of her birth parents. Lots of adventures are had and everything turns out all right in the end. Truly a terrible book; must have been written for sixth graders. Don't read.

A Book Forged in Hell by Steven Nadler

Reading Nadler is much easier than reading Spinoza so if you want to learn about Spinoza's infamous Tractatus Theologico-Politicus this is a good place to start. Spinoza shocked the clergy and others of the seventeenth century by stating his views that 1) there is no such thing as miracles, 2) the Bible is simply a work of literature, 3) God is Nature, and 4) organized religion is harmful and unnecessary. But his work is also given credit for promoting democracy and insisting on intellectual freedom. And beneath the disdain for organized religion there is a belief in a personal and individualistic spirituality each person would develop for him/her self. I love Spinoza's  thought and would recommend this book to anyone who doesn't mind reading philosophy. For me it was a little hard.

Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

Caleb is the anglo name given to a Wampanoag Indian who lived on Martha's Vineyard during the 17th century. He is befriended by an adolescent English girl who teaches him to read. Eventually, his education is taken over by her minister father and he winds up at Harvard College. Torn between two cultures, Caleb suffers nearly unbearable indignities, and the reader mourns his fate and the ignorance of those who bring it about. Caleb's Crossing is a good read and is based on a true story.

An Obedient Father by Akhil Sharma

Darkness enfolds most of this novel, but there are touches of absurdity that lighten the mood a little. The eponymous father is a corrupt government official in Delhi, India who is paying a deep psychological penalty for having molested his daughter when she was small. He has actually allowed that daughter to move in with him and waits for her to call him out on his past behavior. How he handles it when she does is just amazing and nothing you could ever anticipate. Meanwhile he is entangled in political intrigue and gets into a bit of trouble over the bribery money he has collected. Sharma is an excellent writer and his book is a great read if you can take the yuckiness of pedophilia and a little animal cruelty.

A Universe from Nothing by Lawrence M. Krauss

Krauss takes the point of view of a modern physicist and cosmologist to address the old question of "Why is there something rather than nothing?" In doing so, he gives us a nice overview of 20th century physics and is pretty clear about what is controversial and what is generally accepted by scientists. This is necessary because he is wallowing around at the edge of human knowledge, a place where philosophy and theology would be tempted to step up with theory. His bias towards science is blatant and he is very hostile towards philosophy and theology. He especially doesn't like the traditional idea of God and has had famous atheist Richard Dawkins write an afterward to the book. Krauss believes that the universe is flat (it makes the math work out best) and that flatness allows (mathematically) for something to have evolved from nothing. He is pretty good at addressing the question of "Is there any such thing as nothing?"and notes that what we regard as empty space is really teaming with dark energy. I understood about forty percent of the physics in this book and was irritated by Krauss's attitudes towards other fields of study, but I'm glad I pushed myself through it. Physicists seem to be just as confused as the rest of us. See http://rationallyspeaking.blogspot.com/2012/04/lawrence-krauss-another-physicist-with.html for more.