Leisure reading

'Angel of Vengeance'

By Ana Siljak

St. Martin's Press, $25.95

Ana Siljak, experienced Russian historian, has written an interesting biographical study about Vera Zasulich, "The Girl Assassin of Russia's Revolutionary World," Russia's most notorious terrorist.

Set in 1878, it concerns an aristocratic young woman who walked into the office of the governor of St. Petersburg and shot Gen. Fedor Trepov point-blank with her revolver.

She was protesting brutal treatment of a political prisoner.

At her "trial of the century" for murder, huge crowds gathered. Oddly enough, she was acquitted, and she fled to Switzerland. This began what is known in Russian history as "the age of assassinations." — Dennis Lythgoe

'The Sexual Paradox'

By Susan Pinker

Scribner, $26

This book, provocatively subtitled "Men, Women and the Real Gender Gap," is written by a Canadian psychologist who discusses the reasons that girls outperform boys in the classroom but fall behind in fields such as corporate law, politics and engineering.

She uses research taken from stories of real men and women, scientific discoveries and examples from popular culture.

She also discusses the ways she thinks hormones affect both male and female behavior in the culture. Often, of course, gifted women turn down promotions or take alternative career paths, thus imposing on themselves a glass ceiling. — Dennis Lythgoe

'Mozart's Ghost'

By Julia Cameron

Thomas Dunne/St. Martin's Press, $24.95

The author has written 26 other books, both fiction and nonfiction. This is a novel about Anna, a 30-something woman living alone in New York City. A schoolteacher by day, she acts as a medium by night, trying to help people unite with departed family members.

Leading a double life becomes difficult when Edward, a reserved concert pianist, moves into her building. His music starts to interrupt the mental concentration she needs to carry out her communication with ghosts.

Then suddenly, Mozart's ghost interferes mischievously, trying to play matchmaker between the two. It's a sly love story directed at female readers. — Dennis Lythgoe