By Mona L. Bronson-Fuqua
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Regina Carswell

News anchor on WXIX (Channel 19)

Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life, Queen Noor (Miramax; $25.95)

"This is the best gift I have received in a long time. I am fascinated by this woman. Traditionally, women get their power from relationships ... their father or spouse. She took it from her father and husband and made it her own. It's not how you acquire it, but what you do with it."

Duane Holm

Director of Metropolitan Area Religious Coalition of Cincinnati.

American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots, Calvert Watkins (Houghton Mifflin Co.; $18)

Holm reads only about a page a day.

"I am rereading this book. All of the languages from Ireland to India have common roots and they have reconstructed the original language. The book gives you the family history of the language you are speaking. You find the connections between words that you use everyday that you never knew existed."