Lost in the Forest

Lost in the Forest (2005) by Sue Miller. Mark and Eva are divorced, still bound together by their children, Emily and Daisy. Mark raises grapes for the wine industry, Eva owns a bookstore. Daisy, a gawky teenager, loses her innocence to a somewhat despicable older man. But all is resolved satisfactorily in the end. Grade: A

Empire

Empire (2006) by Orson Scott Card. Paranoid fantasy from the popular sci-fi writer envisions a near future in which the president is assassinated and a left-wing movement tries to precipitate a civil war. A pretty good read, but opinionated as hell and hard for a lefty like me to take. Grade: C+

Independence Day

Independence Day (1995) by Richard Ford. Frank Bascombe is drifting through life, prosperous but emotionally untethered. The hero of Ford's previous book, "The Sportswriter," Frank is divorced and not really sure what to do with himself. He has switched careers -- he now sells real estate, but still as a faithful resident of Haddam, New Jersey. In "Independence Day," we see him negotiate with a difficult home-shopping couple, interact with his current girlfriend, Sally, and try to stay on an even keel with his ex-wife and two children. It makes for a pretty good read, but Ford takes too long telling his story and is too elliptical in his language. The book only gets really interesting in the last 100 or so pages, and even then it is anticlimactic. Grade: B