Bel Canto--A Book You Can't Put Down

I love books that you can't put down. Ones you read far into the night and wake up with the book over your face, with the pages furled.  I can't find enough books like that, and when I do, I savor it like a fine wine.

 I heard author Ann Patchett speak once and was captivated by her style. And her subject matter. All of her books are so different, but all spellbinding--at least the ones I have read. I took Bel Canto to the beach and couldn't think about anything else for two days while I raced toward the end of the novel. Set in South America, it is about an opera singer, wealthy people, and some thugs. But it is also about relationships and how people can form the most unlikely alliances, even in a crisis.