Mary Monroe’s life could easily be a bestselling book. The daughter of Alabama sharecroppers, Mary was the first and only member of her family to graduate high school. She never went to college; never attended a writing course. What she did have was a passion for reading, and for storytelling. She taught herself to write at age four, and the stories haven’t stopped.

Daphne Kalotay’s new novel, “Sight Reading,” tracks four artists as they come to terms with their art and their lovers and, ultimately, themselves.

Shane Jeremy James started out with a love of reading and a desire to pursue a career in business. He invested in Canada’s first Curves fitness centers. It wasn’t too long before those centers became some of the most popular in Canada and Shane decided it was time to give some of his success back to the community. One Thanksgiving, he, his manager, and his grandmother delivered over one hundred dinners to families, all at Shane’s personal expense. He then went on a mission to expand the program. Eventually, he connected his Curves locations with local food banks to help feed people year round.

Those curious about the future of books need look no further than the book expo held in New York City every spring. On the scale of a small city, Javits Center hosts 30,000-plus participants from around the world who convene to talk, walk, sleep, eat, drink and read all things book related. The passion in the place is second only to the crowds. Rest assured, books are here to stay.

“As I Knew Him: My Dad, Rod Serling” is Anne Serling’s account of her father and the love and joy their family shared. Through Anne’s mastery of the written word, we are invited to partake in the memories as if they are current events unfolding before us.

A new book by Tom Acitelli, "The Audacity of Hops: The History of America’s Craft Beer Revolution," outlines struggles of early pioneers in America's brewing renaissance.

Charles Graeber’s new book, “The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder,” is the kind of page-turner you wish you could put down. Charlie Cullen, RN, may have killed as many as 400 critical care patients in nine hospitals in New Jersey and Pennsylvania over 16 years. Some hospitals suspected what he was up to. Rather than call the police they sent him on his way with neutral references.

Scott Blagden worked in real estate after being shown the exit door when a college prank found the wrong audience – apparently humor wasn’t in the offering that semester. Today, he lives on Cape Cod, is still in the real estate biz, is the father to two teenagers and he has just seen his first book published.

I am under the spell of Peter Anastas, who takes me by the hand in “A Walker in the City: Elegy for Gloucester,” and leads me to his grandmother’s stove to take a whiff of her wonderful keftedes, little Greek meatballs seasoned with onions, oregano and fresh mint. We walk to the Fort to watch men unload the fishing boats. We stroll to the library, through Dogtown at dusk, to summer camp to learn to swim.

A trained student of classical theater, Barbara Kyle spent two decades acting on stage and television before turning her attention to writing fiction. Her historical series "The Thornleigh Saga" has been published around the globe and continues to ensnare a growing number of fans in her riveting tales of scandal and intrigue set in the Tudor/Elizabethan period.