Sometimes, there are second chances in literature. Charles Dickens' Fagin, the central scoundrel in his 1838 novel "Oliver Twist," leads a crime ring that exploits hungry orphans to rob unsuspecting ...

Editor’s note: The opinions of the smart, well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot, and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables. So we asked them, and all ...