Do you know whether the money in your 401(k) plan will see you through retirement? Is your credit card maxed out? Are you struggling to even make teh minimum payments?

If you prefer not to think about your personal finances then you should probably read America, Welcome to the Poorhouse. White paints a pretty bleak, but eye-opening picture about the state of America’s personal finances. She talks about how you can turn your 401(k) into a pension so that you can have the retirement lifestyle you hope for. She also shows you how to get out of credit card debt.

It’s a quick read – I polished it off in less than an hour – and it does contain some useful tips and insights. It all got a little bit too new age for me though in the penultimate chapters!

If you’re in the legal field and want an inside view into the biggest antitrust case in American history then you should definitely read this book, if you’re not then I’d give it a miss.

Anna Sam has pulled together a series of anecdotes in a sort of ‘day in the life’ of a supermarket checkout girl. Having worked in a retail store during my college years and knowing exactly what customers are like I was really looking forward to reading this book. I was expecting it to be “fall on the floor with laughter” funny – and was really disappointed.

If you are a die-hard Picoult fan and you’ve not yet read this feel free to give it a go, if you’ve never read Picoult before then give this one a miss or it will put you off reading her later – and much better – novels.