The number of Americans dying from hepatitis C-related diseases nearly doubled from 1999 to 2007, prompting the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to call for anyone between 47 and 67 to get tested for the liver-destroying illness.

One in 30 boomers has been infected -- and many don't even know it, according to the report. Yet all it takes to detect the often-curable disease is a simple blood test. "The CDC views hepatitis C as an unrecognized health crisis for the country, and we believe the time is now for a bold response " says Dr. John W. Ward, the center's hepatitis chief, in an interview with Associated Press.

First identified in 1989, hepatitis C is the top cause of liver transplants in the U.S. New drugs introduced last year, however, can cure about 75 percent of infections, and prevent many of the 15,000 yearly deaths from related diseases.

CDC officials say the new measure calling for one-time blood tests could lead 800,000 more middle-aged Americans to get treatment, and save more than 120,000 lives. Identifying and treating those carrying Hep C will cost about the same as detecting and treating cervical cancer or high cholesterol, Ward tells The Washington Post. But first, people need to know if they are sick.

Are you at risk? You might be if:

You were born between 1945 and 1965. Baby boomers make up more than three-quarters of the 3.2 million Americans infected with the blood-borne virus. And they are five times more likely than other adults to have the disease. "With increasingly effective treatments now available, we can prevent tens of thousands of deaths from hepatitis C," CDC director Thomas R. Frieden says in the report. About 3 percent of boomers test positive for the virus, which now kills more Americans than AIDS.

You haven't been tested -- or just can't remember. Almost three-quarters of Americans between 47 and 67 have never been tested or are unsure if they have been tested for Hep C, according to a recent survey by the American Gastroenterological Association, which makes one of the hepatitis C drugs.

You didn't think you were at risk. Past hepatitis C guidelines recommended testing mainly high-risk people, such as health workers and IV drug users. According to webmd.com, health officials says most infections likely occurred in the '70s and '80s, when many boomers were in their teens or early 20s. The CDC now suspects a broader range of activities, ranging from sharing toothbrushes to snorting cocaine, spread the disease. About a quarter of infected boomers, however, don't remember engaging in risky behavior, according to the CDC report. Many people not only did not know they were at risk simply for their age group, but also didn't realize the disease is treatable. "Identifying these hidden infections early will allow more baby boomers to receive care and treatment before they develop life-threatening liver disease," says Kevin Fenton, director of CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS.

Your were unaware that common activities spread the infection. Health officials say people could catch the infection through tattoos, piercings, shared razor blades and even manicures. People who underwent blood transfusions or organ transplants before 1992, when donated blood and organs were not yet screened for the virus, can also be at risk.

You thought hepatitis C screening was part of your annual physical, or that you would know by now if you were sick. Although the virus can scar the liver and lead to cirrhosis or liver cancer, early symptoms are rare or nonexistent. Dr. Ryan Ford, a hepatitis specialist at Emory University, tells AP that some boomers learned of their infection when they donated blood or had their blood tested during physical exams, such as for life insurance policies. Screening is not part of most routine health physicals. If you want a Hep C blood test, you need to ask for it.

Keep reading: Forget the Scale. Watch These Numbers Instead.

Programmer jobs in tech havens like Silicon Valley may be dominated by younger employees, but there's plenty of work to go around, and plenty of training opportunities -- if you know where to look.

Federal government economists forecast that software programmers, web developers and similar jobs will be among the fastest-growing occupations in the country through 2020, presenting ample opportunity for the technology-inclined of all ages. The number of software developers, for example, is projected to grow 30 percent by 2020, more than twice the average, according to the 2012-2013 Occupational Outlook Handbook, published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in late March.

In its annual Best Jobs listing, U.S. News & World Report ranks software developer as the hottest tech career of 2012, with a current median salary of $87,790. Web developer came in third, with a median salary of $75,660 and computer programmer fifth, with a median salary of $71,380.

Many software or web developer jobs require four-year degrees. But the academic standards for some positions aren't as stringent. The Occupational Outlook Handbook and the Labor Department's extensive O.Net careers database are good starting places to research specific tech jobs, and the education or training that's required.

Once you've decided on a direction, here are some possibilities for getting the training you need, online or in person, including a few options especially suited to midlife workers and career changers:

1. Online degree programs. Tech trade schools, such as ITT Technical Institute and DeVry University, offer online associate and bachelor's degrees in subjects such as web design, information systems, and network systems administration.

[Related: 9 Ways Midlife Job Seekers Can Be More Tech Savvy]

2. Certificate programs. Some community colleges and technology trade schools offer certificates of mastery in subjects such as web page development or programming. Students who attend the Computer Institute at Miami Dade College, for example, can earn a Microsoft Office specialist certification or take courses in web page development, digital imaging and programming with .net.

3. Boot camps. Private training companies, such as NetCom Learning, offer single- and multi-day training for individuals or groups on popular programming languages and other subjects at locations throughout the country. NetCom's Ready to Run schedule lists open classes beginning in May and June.

4. Online tutorials. Sites such as Code Year and Lynda.com offer online tutorials that people who aren't interested in a degree or certificate can use to teach themselves to code. Startup Code Academy launched Code Year in January, offering free weekly lessons on specific programming languages. Current lessons cover JavaScript, with previous tutorials on CSS, HTML and more available in the archives. This Mashable video explains more. Lynda.com offers 77,000 text and video tutorials on everything from basic computer skills to Drupal, Joomla, HTML5, and other website programming languages. Some material is free; otherwise, subscriptions start at $25 a month.

5. Plus 50. The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) created the "Ageless Learning" initiative to make it easier for people 50 and older to train or retrain for new careers or volunteer work. Check this page on the AACC website for a list of participating U.S. community colleges, and then use the links to the schools' respective websites to find information on course offerings. For example, Shoreline Community College in Shoreline, Wash., offers classes in website design and computer skills.

6. MIT Opencourseware. Massachusetts Institute of Technology uses the website to share syllabi from courses offered in the past few years with the general public. Available tech courses include introduction to computer programming and practical programming in C. Depending on the class, you could have access to lecture notes, assignments (and solutions), online textbooks, projects and examples, exams, and study groups. Everything is free, but you can make a donation. Starting this fall, MIT and Harvard will offer interactive classes on multiple subjects free to anyone in the world through a nonprofit venture called edX. Listen to this recent NPR interview with MIT President Susan Hockfield for details.

[Related: 6 Things to Know About Modern Master's Programs]

7. Other online classes. A handful of internet startups also offer college-level courses, some for credit. As you'd expect from web-based learning ventures, a lot of what's offered is tech-related. Udacity, co-founded by a Stanford professor, has university-level classes on computer programming, web application engineering and programming languages. Stanford, Berkeley, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan are working with a startup named Coursera to offer more than 40 free, graded classes in a range of subjects, including game theory, natural language processing, and coming soon, software engineering for web-based services. Another website, Udemy, lets anyone take or build free or paid online courses. The site's computer courses include programming in Ajax, Python and Ruby on Rails, as well as more basic courses on web design and building mobile apps.

Read more: Browse the SecondAct Career Center

It just doesn't work, does it? Surely the recession has had a huge impact -- an especially traumatic one for the 12.5 million American workers who are still unemployed. But it just doesn't feel like it's made the imprint on the national psyche that the Great Depression did.

No national orgy of sock-darning and home auto repair. No piling into rickety SUVs in a mass exodus to go west (perhaps this time to North Dakota, where unemployment is just 3 percent). Certainly no shuttering of luxury retailers, which have thrived over the last few years.

And yet the recession has made saving money a little more legit. Something you can admit to in mixed company. As William Safire wrote when a new word -- frugalista -- was coined: "Concerned about your budget in this year's market debacle? Sharpening your pencil and tightening your belt, foraging for bargains but not altogether abandoning good food and good screens? Join the frugalistas!"

We may, slowly, be climbing out of the recession. (Economists say it ended in 2009 -- but economists tend to have tenured jobs at big universities.) Yet the cry to "join the frugalistas" remains. And that's because it's not just about money.

It's About Health

Compare the frugalista manifesto with what health experts keep telling us. For an example, check out the work of longevity expert Dan Buettner, who joined up with National Geographic to study "Blue Zones," societies around the world where people live a long time. Buettner came up with nine "lifestyle habits" that can lead to longer, healthier lives. Several of the habits are straight out of the frugalista's playbook.

There's "move naturally" -- using your own power to get around. Not surprisingly, the walking shoe and the bicycle are frugalista icons. According to Buettner, simple things like walking instead of driving, taking the stairs and gardening can add about four years to your life. Then there are the eating habits -- don't overeat, and focus on plants. Again, aiming lower on the food chain than feedlot-fattened beef is central to frugal dining. Add in a daily glass of wine, and Buettner says you pick up eight years of life. You'll save some cash, as well.

It's About the Planet

This point would fill a book rather than a blog. But for a visual example, try the imagery of photographer Chris Jordan, who has dedicated his art to showing us ourselves through the mirror of our garbage -- from the number of mail-order catalogs we toss every three seconds to how our ugly trash kills baby birds way out in the Pacific. A glance at a few of his photos will have you chanting "reduce, reuse, recycle" for at least a month.

It's About Choices

For the consumer, our economy is no longer like the old five-and-dime, where everything had a fixed price. Instead, it's closer to airline fares, where what you pay depends on when you buy, how you buy, and -- most notably -- what's important to you.

There are choices out there, though our marketing-driven society is loath to broadcast them. You should get to set your own priorities, even fly first-class sometimes when you think it's worth it. But you can't make the choice until you know the options.

And that's the idea here -- knowing the options. It's what my weekly frugal living blog posts will explore.

Read more: To Buy Or Not To Buy

Lopez, who displaced last year's No. 1, the much-younger Lady Gaga, earned an impressive $52 million over the past 12 months. In part, that's due to her $20 million salary as a judge on Idol, which heads to its season finale showdown on Wednesday.

Like fellow American Idol judge Steven Tyler, Lopez displays a surprising, previously unseen side of her personality on the show, morphing from a glamorous hiphop diva into an earnest, supportive mentor. Two seasons on Idol, coupled with a painful split with ex-husband Marc Anthony, may have humanized J-Lo and attracted the interest of a new generation of fans. Her CD Love?, released last May, reached No. 5 on the Billboard 200, and Lopez went on to score lucrative endorsement deals with L'Oreal and Gillette. She's also become a brand, marketing a line of affordable clothing for Kohl's and an eponymous fragrance line. With 6.6 million followers on Twitter and 12 million fans on Facebook, she's the envy of a lot of younger stars as a social media force.

Incidentally, J-Lo tweeted last night in response to reports that she is leaving the show: "There is no truth to reports that say I am definitely leaving Idol. All I said was I haven't decided what I am doing next year."

Other Forty- and Fifty-Something Celebs on Forbes' List: The No. 2 spot goes to talk-show host turned multimedia entrepreneur Oprah Winfrey, 58, who's been having a rough time with her new cable TV network, yet still managed to rake in $165 million over the past year, making her the highest earner on the list. Forty-nine-year-old Tom Cruise (No.9) may have the most impressive comeback on the list: He rebounded from his 2005 couch-jumping incident and other mishaps to score a huge hit with Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol, which earned $700 million worldwide. Former American Idol judge Simon Cowell, 52, has been struggling to duplicate his success with The X Factor, but he had more success as a record producer in his native England; he earned $90 million over the past year. Coming in at 20 is actor-director-producer Tyler Perry, 42, who's created an enduring franchise with his low-budget movie comedies and a string of successful TV shows. The latter includes the current TBS hit For Better or Worse, the top-rated sitcom on basic cable and the most popular show on TV among African-American viewers.

In other news:

RIP, Donna Summer: Other pop culture news this week was a bit sadder. Donna Summer, the queen of the mid-1970s disco craze, with hits such as "Love to Love You, Baby," "Hot Stuff" and "Last Dance," died of cancer at 63. Los Angeles Times critic Randall Roberts observes that Summer and producer Giorgio Moroder created a formula that still rules the pop charts four decades later -- an explicitly sexy chanteuse, cooing music calculatingly redesigned in the studio to be played at extended length at high volume on dance floors. After a couple of decades away from the music business, Summer resurfaced in 2008 with a CD, Crayons, and performed that year as a guest star on American Idol.

Midlifers Are Bullish About Facebook Shares: Facebook, the social network with 900 million users around the world, was created by a bunch of guys under 35, who stand to make a lot of money as the company launches its initial public stock offering today. But middle-aged people are nearly as bullish on Facebook's financial prospects. According to a new Associated Press-CNBC poll, 55 percent of people between 44 and 65 think that Facebook shares are a good investment. That's nearly as much as the 59 percent of adults under 35 who have a positive view of Facebook's prospects. Only 39 percent of those over 65, in contrast, give the stock a "buy" rating. Slightly more than half of all Americans -- 56 percent -- have joined the social network.

Bono's Really Bullish on Facebook IPO: MTV reports that Bono, the frontman for Irish supergroup U2, stands to become the richest musician on the planet if Facebook's IPO performs as predicted. The 52-year-old singer privately purchased a 2.3 percent stake in the social network in 2009 for $90 million. On opening day, however, Facebook stock had its ups and downs, as The New York Times and Wall Street Journal explain.

Majority of Middle-Aged Americans Favor Legal Status for Same-Sex Relationships: There's been a lot of jaw-flapping on cable news channels about the political significance of President Obama's announcement that he now supports gay marriage. But a new Fox News poll shows that more than 70 percent of middle-aged Americans seem to be headed in the same direction. Among people ages 35 to 54, 32 percent now believe gays and lesbians should be allowed to marry legally, while 34 percent favor legally recognizing same-sex partnerships that are similar to marriage but go by a different name. Only 28 percent are opposed to legal recognition for same-sex couples. Some 63 percent believe that 20 years from now, most or all states will legally recognize gay marriages.

Coffee Drinkers Live Longer: Okay, so we finally can put to rest the notion that drinking coffee is somehow bad for your health. The Associated Press reports that a new study of 400,000 people -- the largest ever done on coffee and health -- finds that those who enjoy the bitter brew actually are slightly more likely to live longer. It doesn't matter whether you drink decaf or regular, either. "There may actually be a modest benefit of coffee drinking," lead researcher Neal Freedman of the National Cancer Institute explains.

Midlife Reinvention Story of the Week: Of all those Ivy League over-achievers who graduated from Columbia University this past Sunday, the most impressive academic accomplishment belongs to Gac Filipaj, 52. An ethnic Albanian refugee who was forced to flee the civil war in the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, Filipaj has been working for the past 20 years as a janitor at Columbia. With the help of a tuition-waiver program, in 2000 Filipaj also became a Columbia student, taking classes in the morning before his custodial shift and then studying late into the night. "I had some difficult moments," he tells the New York Daily News. "Some days, I was so tired." But he stuck with it, and after more than a decade of hard work, he earned a bachelor's degree in classics, and graduated with honors. Filipaj plans to keep his job while he earns a master's degree in Roman philosophy."I think I'm going to stay at Columbia. If I can get a job better than cleaning, good. If not, there is nothing shameful about that work." Filipaj says he hopes that his achievement will inspire others to think about getting an education.

ABC Cancels Ashley Judd Series Missing: Judd's spy-turned-helicopter-mom series, the subject of this SecondAct review, won't be coming back for a second season, TV Guide reports.

Last Word: "I'm a baby boomer and a mom, and we invented technology." -- AARP tech blogger Suzie Mitchell, 57, in a recent post

SecondAct.com invited these bloggers to share posts this week about how they've reinvented themselves. Their stories about following passions to change careers, take up new sports, re-enter the dating scene, lose weight or become a parent for the first time are intimate, heart-felt and often inspiring.

Here are some highlights:

On becoming a life coach: "I've always been a coach at heart -- the one people call when they need a sounding board. I'm a natural planner, problem solver and great listener. It would be safe to say this is the career I have been working towards all of my life, I just didn't KNOW it was my purpose until a few years ago." -- Melissa Miller-Young, on leaving the public relations and advertising business, on Zen Life Solutions.

On becoming a park volunteer: "I signed up for docent training and a few months later found myself in a classroom with 20 other late-life trainees. For the next five months, I studied geology, desert ecology, reptiles, birds, desert mammals, and Arizona history. I learned to identify dozens of desert plants. I read and did written homework, took weekly quizzes, helped prepare a plant book. It was extremely difficult, and more fun than I could have imagined." -- Kathryn Lance, on trading work as an author to volunteer at Tucson's Tohono Chul Park, on Kathryn Lance's Books and Musings.

On trading in a nursing career: "What's that expression: The proof is in the pudding? The first year I worked full-time from my home office, self-employed, hustling for work, I made more money than I did working full-time as an RN." -- Marijke Vroomen Durning, on leaving nursing in her 40s to be a medical and health-care writer, on Nurse Turned Writer.

On giving team sports another try: "I took a ball to my chest, just as I did in 1978. This time I didn't walk off the field. I finished the game. Best. Day. Ever." -- Patrick McGraw, on playing adult league soccer to get the "do over" he'd always wanted, on PFM Reports.

On becoming a triathlete: "When I finally jumped in the Hudson River for the second time, I had dropped about 50 pounds. I had worked out with a personal trainer, and I was in the best shape of my life. That year's [physical] was just the way I like it. Zero problems." -- Barb Freda, on starting to do triathlons at 50, on Babette Feasts.

On biking to reinvention: "Though I hadn't ridden it in years, I was drawn to the bicycle in my garage immediately. It would become my safety net, my refuge, my release. And it would take me to the land of carefree living, where nothing mattered but the ride." -- Jackie Dishner, on cycling to get over a failed marriage and start a new career, on BIKE with Jackie.

On dating in midlife: "If my life is a movie, I get that I'm the star, and the director and producer, but I'm pretty darn sure at this point that someone else wrote the script. Because this is not where I'm supposed to be, in an personal care aisle in a superstore looking at 18 shelf feet of choices of condoms." -- Lisa Jaffe Hubbell, on the perils of online dating, on Land Guppy.

On becoming a new mom at 38: "I thought I knew what my next two years would be like, though I didn't know what would happen after that. I thought maybe I'd come back to Apple. But then I discovered I was pregnant. And in the next few months, all of the plans I had been so sure about unraveled." -- Doña Bumgarner, on navigating midlife parenthood, on Aubergine, Musings of Midlife Mama.

On adopting at 40: "In March of 2004, a year before my 40th birthday, I traveled to Guatemala with my daughter, Anna, and my father to meet my new 6-month-old daughter. In October of that same year, Anna and I returned to Guatemala to claim my new 13-month-old son. In the period of seven months, I doubled the size of my family!" -- Jan Roberts Culpepper, on adoption, single parenthood and other midlife second acts, on Simply Jan.

On losing weight as a second act: "Deacon Walt explained that Pope John XXIII was a big man, probably as 'big as you, Don,' and then he patted my stomach. I was a bit shocked at his joke, but I wasn't offended. Instead, for some reason, it got me thinking that I should ask John XXIII to intercede for me as I contemplated doing something about my weight." -- Don Gonzalez, on his year-long midlife weight loss journey, on Joe Catholic.

On writing as a second act: "I found myself wondering what would have happened had I been more adventurous -- taken a journalism job in Canada's Far North, taught English in Asia or some such thing. At first I thought the time for those adventures had passed. But the idea that I needed to shake up my life just wouldn't go away." -- Victoria Musgrave, on trading a corporate communications job to be a freelance writer and graphic designer, on Victoria Musgrave.

On writing science fiction as a second act: "I enjoy writing a good deal more than I enjoy marketing. And I'm not making any [money]. But I still get a warm feeling from hearing from people who love my books.... A second act? Not a very profitable one, but very fulfilling." -- Sue Ann Bowling, on switching from atmospheric scientist to award-winning self-published science fiction author, on Homecoming.

On finding wisdom in middle age: "You can travel farther faster through the second half of your life if you're not carrying around all your resentments, feuds and unmet expectations from the first half of your life like over-packed luggage." -- Julie Farrar, on what travel taught her about midlife success, at Traveling Through.

Want to read more stories? You'll find a rundown of all 2012 Blogathon participants here at Word Count.

Do you have a midlife reinvention story of your own? Please share a comment below.

Gabrielsson eventually wrote a book of her own, "There Are Things I Want You to Know" About Stieg Larsson and Me, offering glimpses of their relationship and of Larsson's writing life. Meanwhile, the clamoring of publishers to find "the next Stieg Larsson" has expanded the reach of other Nordic writers. So many are being translated into English, in fact, that there's a new nonfiction release, Death in a Cold Climate: A Guide to Scandinavian Crime Fiction, by British author Barry Forshaw. He also wrote The Man Who Left Too Soon: The Life and Works of Stieg Larsson.

Here are five translated Nordic novels that are currently popular in the United States:

1. The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler. In icy Tumba, Sweden, a boy survives a knife attack in which three members of his family are murdered. A hypnotist tries to improve the boy's memory of the killer but instead touches off an alarming chain of events that made the novel a bestseller in France, Germany and Spain.

"In keeping with the Swedish trend of producing page-turners, this one hooks the reader from the beginning," says reviewer Havovi Wadia, writing for the blog DNA: Daily News & Analysis. "It seems a little tame to call this novel a 'thriller,'" Wadia adds. "It belongs among the greater crime fiction of our time -- with the works of authors such as P.D. James and Minette Walters."

Kepler, a nom de plume for the husband-and-wife writing team of Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril and Alexander Ahndoril, employs "deft intercutting, nimble chronology-juggling and a ticking clock" to stoke the suspense, writes reviewer Mindy Farabee in the Los Angeles Times. Intense visuals bode well for the movie version, she adds, noting that Oscar winner Lasse Hallström has been tapped to direct an adaptation. Kepler also has a sequel, The Nightmare, due out in July.

2. Easy Money by Jens Lapidus. A student desperate for money accepts a job dealing drugs in a novel set among mob bosses and thugs in Stockholm's seamy underworld. Lapidus, a former defense attorney, conjures a corrupt justice system in story that sold 700,000 copies in Sweden -- the first installment of a three-book saga. "If you're hardy enough to tackle crime narratives drenched in vitriol, grit your teeth and tackle Jens Lapidus's lacerating Stockholm Noir trilogy," writes Barry Forshaw in the British newspaper The Independent. "Lapidus paints a more cosmopolitan canvas than other writers -- not to mention employing a far grimmer and more nihilistic use of the genre."

Stockholm, as depicted in a narrative that frequently shifts points of view, is "a complex world, and the interrelationships between these men -- never fully revealed to them, but revealed piecemeal to the reader -- is equally complex," writes reviewer Matt Craig in the book blog Reader Dad. Lapidus constructs a distinctive story that's "much more than the sum of its parts," Craig adds. "The comparisons with Larsson are undeniable and, in my opinion, well-founded."

3. Headhunters by Jo Nesbø. This Norwegian thriller involves a corporate headhunter who struggles to support his indulgent lifestyle -- and that of his high-maintenance trophy wife -- by trafficking in stolen art, a sideline that soon has him in dire straits.

"This is a stylish read in the best traditions of crime-writing, which is as you might expect from a writer like Jo Nesbø, who has won so many prizes for his earlier books," writes Tom Cunliffe of the blog A Common Reader. "He does not shrink from graphic detail of the more violent incidents but is a master of restraint when it comes to providing clues to guide the reader through his complex plotting." Nesbø, an ex-soccer player, ex-stockbroker, ex-journalist and a singer and songwriter for a rock band, has sold more than 1.5 million books in Norway.

"Following Larsson's death, Norwegian Jo Nesbø is the next big thing," writes Yasmeen Khan in a blog called The Quietus, lauding the film version of Headhunters, which opened last month in British theaters. "Like Nesbø's novel," Khan says, the darkly comic film "skates smoothly over the surface of the story it's telling, presenting an amoral corporate world that's just a shell, barely concealing the savagery underneath."

4. by Jussi Adler-Olsen. One of Denmark's preeminent crime novelists presents a baffling cold case in Copenhagen: the disappearance of a politician who is presumed dead, but no one knows for sure. The file ends up with ill-tempered detective Carl Morck, a troubled but brilliant investigator who is an outcast in his own department, functioning with the aid of his immigrant assistant, Assad.

"Assad is lively, curious and hyper -- everything Carl is not," says reviewer Alan Rose of the book blog Columbia River Reader. "Just as Larsson's Girl trilogy was elevated above the norm by the fascinating character of its tattooed hacker Lisbeth Salander, what sets Keeper above the norm is Carl and Assad's relationship." Reviewer Joe Hartlaub of the blog BookReporter likens the post-Larsson literary deluge to the British music invasion that followed the Beatles. "Sure, Nordic crime novels have been popular here before," Hartlaub writes, "but not quite like this, with so many at once and so very well done." Adler-Olsen's next book, a sequel titled The Absent One, is due to arrive in August.

5. The Stonecutter by Camilla Läckberg. A detective who has just become a father must investigate the murder of a young girl found drowned in a fisherman's net in this tale by Sweden's top-selling female writer. Set in the remote seaside village of Fjällbacka, where the author was born, the novel examines intense relationships in a confined community and juxtaposes present events with the buried past.

Kathleen Sebelius, the Obama administration's secretary for Health and Human Services, announced that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will be moving rapidly to test Crenezumab, a drug that attacks amyloid plaques, the fragments of abnormal protein that accumulate in the brain as Alzheimer's progresses. Although the buildup of amyloid during the disease is not yet completely understood, many scientists now believe that the process kills brain cells by interfering with their ability to use oxygen, and is the root cause of the degenerating of cognitive and memory abilities associated with the disease.

USA Today reports that the five-year study will focus on about 300 members of a family in Medellin, Colombia, who have been shown to have a strong genetic predisposition toward the more rapid, early-onset variety of Alzheimer's. The subjects, all in their thirties, so far have not developed symptoms. They will be given the drug in hopes that it will stave off the decrease in mental function typically seen in dementia patients.

In this CBS News interview, Dr. Eric Reiman, executive director of Banner Alzheimer's Institute and the lead researcher in the Crenezumab study, says the study marks the first time researchers have been able to evaluate a promising treatment in people who have not yet begun to show effects of the disease. "Before the disorder ravages the brain, [that's] when these treatments have their best chance of working," he explains. "[There's] no guarantee these treatments will work, but we have a shot. We're very excited about that."

In addition to the Crenezumab study, NIH officials also announced a trial of another promising anti-Alzheimer's therapy, a nasal spray that provides insulin to the brain. Previous research (pdf) by University of Washington psychiatry researcher Suzanne Craft and colleagues suggests that insulin treatments help brain cells in Alzheimer's patients remain functioning by helping to boost the supply of glucose, which feeds the cells.

"The preliminary trial was promising," Craft tells USA Today. "Memory improved, and the caregivers' perceptions of their loved ones' functional skills were encouraging, as well."

The Crenezumab study will cost $100 million, about $16 million of which will come from the federal government, with the rest provided by private industry. That funding, along with the $7.9 million that the U.S. is providing for the insulin study, are part of the new National Alzheimer's Project Act -- signed into law last year by President Obama -- to conquer the disease by 2025. Toward that end, the administration reassigned $50 million in funding from the NIH budget, shifting the money to studies deemed too promising to wait, The New York Times reports.

While those two studies made headlines this week, other research efforts to find Alzheimer's treatments are proceeding, as well. Here's a University of California-San Diego School of Medicine announcement issued Tuesday about several new clinical trials of Alzheimer's treatments. One is a planned national study to examine the effects of resveratrol, a compound found in the skin of red grapes and other foods, on patients with mild to moderate dementia from Alzheimer's. Some studies already suggest that the chemical may prevent diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer, in addition to staving off memory loss. Also in the pipeline is additional research on a second anti-amyloid drug, Gantenerumab.

According to an Alzheimer's Association fact sheet, Alzheimer's Disease affects about 5.4 million Americans and is the sixth-leading cause of death in the U.S.

Read more: 7 Ways to Keep Your Brain Healthy and I Remember Better When I Paint

Let's tackle the science part first. You may think you're due more money, especially if you stood by an employer during the recession, picking up the slack after colleagues were laid off and forgoing salary increases because money was tight.

Now that the economy is improving, you're ready to start making what you're worth, right?

To persuade your boss, though, you'll need to do more than ask. You have to make a presentation of your case showing concrete evidence that you make a difference. That could include sharing details of how you made or saved the business money or improved productivity, says Lee E. Miller, a veteran human resources executive turned career coach and author.

Once you've done the homework, you can move on to the subtler side of negotiating for a raise -- the art of knowing when to ask. Don't approach the boss the day after the company loses a big customer, or if your performance has been off, says Miller, author of Get More Money on Your Next Job...In Any Economy. Wait until sales are up or the business just landed a major account -- especially if you helped land it.

"People who get raises are people who deliver results. Most bosses have no clue what you do, so the only way they know is if you tell them," Miller says.

Here's what else Miller and other career experts suggest doing if you're looking for a salary bump:

1. Be good at what you do. If you're even thinking about asking for more money, make sure you're working hard and getting the job done. You're not going to land a bigger paycheck if you're not earning it.

2. Know your value on the job market. Pinpoint the current value of your work using websites such as Glassdoor, PayScale and Salary.com to research typical compensation for other people in your position. Visit the career pages on other companies' websites to see what jobs are available. "If there are a lot of jobs open for what you do, it's a great time to ask for a raise," Miller says. "If nobody's hiring, it's not a good time to ask. One of the reasons companies give people raises is if they're afraid the people will leave. Companies know that if they don't treat you fairly, you have other options."

3. Be prepared to pounce when the time's right. Collect supporting evidence before approaching your boss, then sit tight until the time's right. When it comes, request some quiet, uninterrupted time with your supervisor. Depending on their management style, that could be a conversation over lunch or dinner, or a formal presentation in their office.

4. Stick to business. Don't bring up higher expenses or other personal reasons for needing more money, says human resources blogger Allison Green in a U.S. News & World Report story. Employers pay people based on their value to the company, not on their individual needs.

5. Get your boss in your corner. Once you've stated your case, choose your words carefully. Instead of saying "Can I have a raise?" say "How can you help me?" The latter puts both you and your boss on the same side, Miller says.

6. Set your sights high. When it comes to negotiating, most people aim too low, writes Selena Rezvani, author of Pushback: How Smart Women Ask and Stand Up for What They Want, in a recent HuffPost story. "Always start with an outcome that would delight and thrill you, not simply satisfy you," she says. Ask for the most you think you can get within reason, to give yourself room to negotiate.

7. Take no for an answer. Despite your best efforts, your boss's answer might be "No." Accept it, but not without extracting a promise that the two of you will revisit the question in three or six months. Ask what you can do until then to improve your chances of getting a "Yes" the next time. "Because once they say something, they become committed to making it happen," Miller says.

8. Ask for more than money. Sometimes companies can't approve a raise because of restrictions on personnel budgets. But they may have money to spend on training, conferences, new computers or software, or other perks. Or ask to be put on a high-profile project or team, where you can gain exposure that could be good for your career and future salary negotiations.

9. Aim high. One sure path to a substantial raise is a promotion. If you're interested in climbing higher up the corporate ladder, let your supervisor and HR department know. "Then they get invested in helping you," Miller says.

10. Always be in the job market. Keep your LinkedIn profile up to date. Attend conferences. Keep up with industry groups in person and online. It'll help you understand what you're worth, and you may get unsolicited job offers that you can leverage with your boss, Miller says. "We all want what other people want, so when your boss knows that you're a loyal person, they'll be much more open to your requests for more money."

My favorite crowd-pleaser: I like to set up a Bellini bar where guests can add a splash of a variety of fresh fruit purees to glasses of sparkling wine. Italian Prosecco works best. (See this how-to from Giada De Laurentiis.)

Whether you're planning an intimate get-together or a full-scale feast, here are five winning brunch menu ideas from some of my favorite food bloggers across the web. Enjoy!

1. Bacon, Egg and Toast Cups
From: Steamy Kitchen
Why you should try it: What could be better? This dish features the three tenets of a complete breakfast (bacon, eggs and toast) all wrapped up into a compact, muffin-size package. These are great for kids and adults alike; they're just too cute.

2. Sticky Lemon Rolls with Lemon Cream Cheese Glaze
From: theKitchn
Why you should try it: Here's a sticky, gooey, buttery, flaky breakfast roll that doesn't include cinnamon or caramel. The lemon adds a fresh and tangy flavor while the cream cheese glaze ties it all together without being too sweet.

3. Cinnamon Doughnut Muffins
From: Once Upon a Plate
Why you should try it: You could make doughnuts. You could make muffins. But why not combine the two to make an irresistible brunch-time treat? This simple recipe also has a surprise inside: a yummy fruit jam filling.

4. Bacon, Egg and Asparagus Personal Pizzas
From: how Sweet it is
Why you should try it: We all know pizza is an all-the-time kind of food. These unique pies feature crispy bacon, gooey fontina cheese, asparagus spears and an egg cracked right on top. Since they're individually sized, it's easy to leave off the bacon for the vegetarians in the crowd.

5. Crème Brûlée French Toasts
From: smitten kitchen
Why you should try it: We all love French toast, but this recipe really kicks it up a notch. With thick slices of rich brioche bread, heavy cream and a splash of Grand Marnier, it's not for the faint of heart. The caramelized tops and fresh berries make this recipe a must-try.

Keep reading: 5 Must-Try Slow-Cooker Meals
Dinner in a Hurry: 5 Satisfying Salads

As it turns out, a raison d'être also helps protect your brain against Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study of about 250 people by researchers at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. The study is featured in the May issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.

"Our study showed that people who reported greater purpose in life exhibited better cognition than those with less purpose in life even as plaques and tangles accumulated in their brains," says study author Patricia A. Boyle. "These findings suggest that purpose in life protects against the harmful effects of plaques and tangles on memory and other thinking abilities. This is encouraging and suggests that engaging in meaningful and purposeful activities promotes cognitive health in old age."

In other news:

The Financial Benefits of Exercise: Physically fit, healthy middle-aged adults have significantly lower health-care costs as they age, compared to their less physically fit counterparts, according to research presented this week at an American Heart Association conference. Read more here.

While We're Talking About Exercising, Here's What You Can Do: HuffPost50 has this slideshow of "Exercises That Can Add Years To Your Life." Stair-climbing, cycling and swimming earn mentions in the article, which also reminds us that it's not necessary to suffer through long, grueling workouts to get a health benefit. Indeed, as this 2011 study published in the British medical journal The Lancet found, just 15 minutes of exercise each day typically will extend a person's lifespan by three years. Here also is a New York Times article from fitness blogger Gretchen Reynolds on how to use a modified version of interval training -- that is, brief, repetitive bursts of energetic cardiovascular exercise, followed by brief rest periods -- to get the most of a 20-minute workout session.

NPR's "Fresh Air" Turns 25: The venerable public radio show, built around host Terry Gross and her deft skills as an interviewer, celebrates its first quarter-century of nationwide broadcasts today. (The show actually began locally in Philadelphia in 1975.) Over the years, Gross has interviewed an impressive array of famous people, from the late children's writer Maurice Sendak to hiphop great Jay-Z, and is known for doing extensive preparation that leads to insightful questions. She's also known for her fearlessness in mixing it up with interviewees who turn abrasive or hostile, most notably Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly and KISS musician Gene Simmons. (There also was the time when former President Bill Clinton's mistress Monica Lewinsky walked out on her.) The article that best captures Gross's gift may be this 2001 New York Times essay by writer Orville Shell.

When Does Middle Age Start, Exactly? On average, Americans see middle age as beginning at age 44 and ending at age 60, according to a 2011 study by Florida State University sociologist Anne Barrett. But those in poor health, or who began their families at young ages, tend to see it starting a bit earlier. Also, Barrett and graduate student researcher Erika Toothman found that there's a double standard for aging when it comes to gender, with both men and women agreeing that middle age starts sooner for women than it does for men.

Don't Be An Under Accumulator! In this post for Bankrate's Wealth Blog, Judy Martel discusses how psychology governs our personal financial habits. At one end of the continuum is the UAW, which isn't a labor union but rather an acronym for "Under Accumulator of Wealth." People in this class -- including a lot of high-earning professionals, such as doctors and lawyers -- often feel compelled to demonstrate their success by spending on costly status-drenched items they don't really need. One intriguing -- and potentially dangerous -- belief among UAWs is that income is a "readily renewable resource," i.e., that they always can go out and make more money to pay off their credit cards or buy even more stuff. At the other end is the PAW, or "Prodigious Accumulator of Wealth." A person in this category tends to eschew expensive homes, cars and high-tech gadgetry and typically saves so much money that he or she often ends up as a millionaire, even if only earning a modest salary. It's not too hard to figure out which archetype is better-prepared for the inevitable fluctuations of the economy. Also worth reading is this AARP piece on eight places where you may be accumulating extra cash and not even realize it.

The Avengers Isn't Just for Kids: Former New York Post gossip columnist Liz Smith amusingly explains in this piece at Wowwowwow.com why she absolutely loved the latest Marvel Comics superhero blockbuster, even though she confesses to near-total ignorance of comic book heroes and had to sit though a multiplex matinee full of screeching, unruly pre-adolescents. She finds Thor, played by Chris Hemsworth, to be "a sexy thing" and is amused to see the villain Loki wreak carnage -- of the fake CGI variety, of course -- upon Smith's own NYC neighborhood.

[Related: Reinvention 101: Five Lessons from Iron Man Robert Downey, Jr.]

Plus, You're Probably Still Better at Angry Birds Than They Are: If you're a reluctant middle-aged adopter of new technology, you'll be reassured to know that you're not the only primate who feels that way. An Australian paper, the Herald Sun, has this intriguing article about how six orangutans at Miami's Jungle Island nature park have been using iPads as part of a mental stimulus program. Linda Jacobs, who runs the program, notes that younger orangutans quickly pick up on the touchscreen devices, but the two oldest members of the troupe are not so interested. "I think they just figure, 'I've gotten along just fine in this world without this communication-skill here and the iPad, and I don't need a computer.'"

Remembering the Creator of Where the Wild Things Are: Children's book artist Maurice Sendak, who reassured us about the scary monsters in the shadows of our bedrooms by bringing them out and putting them on the printed page, passed away this week at age 83. Here's his New York Times obituary, which playfully notes that Sendak's classic works -- 1963's Where the Wild Things Are, 1970's In the Night Kitchen and 1981's Outside Over There, among others -- were "roundly praised, intermittently censored and occasionally eaten." Sendak, a gay man whose own childhood was haunted by the Holocaust, in which some of his relatives perished, grew up feeling like a lonely outsider. He turned his own inner torments into art that has comforted fearful children of several generations. The Times obituary quotes this letter from an 8-year-old reader to the author: "Dear Mr. Sendak, how much does it cost to get to where the wild things are? If it is not expensive, my sister and I would like to spend the summer there."

RIP Vidal Sassoon: The British-born hairstyling giant, who helped liberate women from high-maintenance hairstyles and endless hours in the beauty parlor by popularizing wash-and-wear cuts, died this week at age 84. In the Los Angeles Times, Mary Rourke offers an account of Sassoon's illustrious career as a stylist, businessman and international trend-setting celebrity, while The Washington Post's Delia Lloyd pays homage to Sassoon in this blog post entitled "Vidal Sassoon: Thank you for my bob." You might get a better feel for his genius from this classic 1965 newsreel.

Physically fit, healthy middle-aged adults have significantly lower health-care costs as they age, compared to their less physically fit counterparts, according to research presented this week at the American Heart Association's Quality of Care and Outcomes Research 2012 Scientific Sessions.

The study tracked Medicare coverage in 20,489 healthy people, free of prior heart attack, stroke or cancer, from 1999-2009. The average age was 51, and 21 percent were women. Researchers weighed risk factors, medical history and physical fitness at the beginning of the study, which has not yet been published in a medical journal.

The study found that participants who exercised and stayed fit had 38 percent lower medical costs many years later, measured by Medicare and other insurance claims from 1999 through 2009.

"We found that fitness confers dividends later in life even when other risk factors such as smoking, high blood pressure and obesity are controlled for," the study's author, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center research fellow Dr. Justin Bachmann, tells HealthDay. The Dallas-based medical center collaborated with the Cooper Institute, another Dallas-based institution founded by Dr. Kenneth Cooper, whose 1968 book Aerobics helped launch the modern fitness-oriented lifestyle.

Average annual claims for medical costs for the least fit men, at $5,134, were about 36 percent higher than the average of $3,277 a year for the most fit men. The average medical claims of $4,565 for the least fit women were about 40 percent higher than the $2,755 average for the most fit.

The study is consistent with earlier research showing the benefits of exercising in terms of reducing health-care costs. A study published in the American Journal of Health Behavior in 2001, for example, found that corporate workers who were regular exercisers generally had lower health-care costs than nonexercisers.

Read more: London Calls These Middle-Aged Olympic Hopefuls

Consider this: Since 2008, nine movies featuring the 47-year-old actor have grossed more than $1.5 billion in the U.S. alone, and his name on the marquee is perhaps the surest guarantee of a box-office smash. That's an astonishing run, especially because it wasn't that long ago -- 2001, to be precise -- that Downey seemed destined to become fodder for those "Whatever Happened To...?" articles in the supermarket tabloids. His drug addiction and erratic behavior earned him a prison stay and led producer David E. Kelley to fire him from what seemed like his last chance for resurrecting his career, a supporting role in the hit TV series Ally McBeal. Downey sank so low that despite his enormous talent, he was virtually unemployable.

But that was then. Today, if Robert Downey, Jr. was a company, he might be leading the Dow Jones index. It's not just that he revived his career; he's actually far bigger than he was at the apex of his youthful climb to stardom 20 years ago, when he earned an Oscar nomination for best actor in the critically acclaimed box office flop Chaplin. That makes Downey's self-reinvention a great case study for anyone who's attempting a midlife second act -- whether you're an entrepreneur starting a new business, or someone who is struggling at 40 or beyond to overcome past mistakes.

Here are five Downey-esque lessons that can help you mount your own comeback.

1. Concentrate on getting ahead one step at a time. Whether you need to vanquish some inner demons or escape from a bad stretch in your life, as Downey endured in the late 1990s and early 2000s, or you're simply trying to find a new passion in life, you're more likely to get there through patient plodding rather than big, sweeping dramatic gestures. Remember that Downey's comeback, from rock-bottom to superstar, took a good seven years of struggle, in which he had to work long and hard to prove his commitment to sobriety and regain his credibility as a professional. As he explains in this Esquire interview, "I found my way out of the woods by a subtler and subtler trail of bread crumbs."

2. Don't be too proud to accept help. Even after Downey seemed to have his drug addiction in check, producers were reluctant to hire him because insurance companies didn't like the odds that he would flake out and not finish a movie. That's when Mel Gibson, an actor who's had a troubled life lately but was flying high in 2003, stepped in. Gibson, who had co-starred with Downey in the 1990 movie Air America, offered to put up Downey's insurance bond, enabling him to get the lead role in the 2003 movie The Singing Detective. Downey not only did his work as promised but also turned in an excellent performance -- proving to Hollywood that he still had the chops to be a star. If he had been too proud to accept Gibson's generosity, who knows what would have happened to him?

3. Believe that in the end, your talent will enable people to overlook your past mistakes. The tipping point of Downey's career comeback was Iron Man, the 2008 blockbuster that firmly established him as a marquee attraction. But in many ways, Downey was an unlikely choice for the role of a costumed superhero, even one whose alter-ego was playboy industrialist Tony Stark. Not only was he a recovering addict with a lurid dark side, but as an actor, he'd spent much of his career playing off-center, irony-drenched supporting roles. But as director Jon Favreau explains in this GQ article, Downey's acting skills made him overlook those negatives, and the director worked hard to persuade Marvel Comics -- which owned the character and was dead-set against Downey -- that he was the man for the part. "Here was this force of nature, who I think was living with this frustration that he wasn't able to really show what he was great at, because nobody was willing to take that leap and say, 'This guy could carry my movie.' Nobody was willing to jump in the pool. I was."

4. It's never too late to develop self-discipline. As an addict, Downey was in such despair about his inability to stay away from drugs that he actually told a judge in 1999 that "It's like I've got a shotgun in my mouth, with my finger on the trigger, and I like the taste of the gun metal," according to this ABC News story from that period. Nevertheless, the actor has managed to stay sober since 2003. As this Men's Journal article details, he developed the discipline to do that in large part by taking up Wing Chun, a Chinese martial art that emphasizes close-in hand-to-hand combat, and demands intense focus and inner calm. "Wing Chun teaches you what to concentrate on, whether you're here or out in the world dealing with problems," Downey explains. "It's second nature for me now. I don't even get to the point where there's a problem." He's become so dedicated to the art that he takes lessons three to five times a week, sometimes bringing his instructor to the set when he's shooting a film.

5. Don't be afraid to play in an ensemble. It's easy to think of success -- or salvation -- as an individual endeavor. But one of the reasons The Avengers -- which brings together a pantheon of Marvel costumed icons ranging from Captain America to Thor-- has been getting overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics is that Downey resists the temptation to take over the movie. Instead, he has the discipline -- and the self-confidence -- to hold back and fit into director Joss Whedon's vision, in which Tony Stark's snarky running commentary is the glue that holds together the action sequences. As Paste magazine critic Michael Burgin writes: "Thanks in large part to the Downey, Jr.-powered snark-generating machine, the friction between the heroes actually makes sense." Similarly, if you can find a way to harness your talents and fit into a team of other strivers -- even if it means trading riffs rather than being the lead soloist -- you may have an even better shot at a successful second act.

Read more: Author Anna Quindlen on Getting Better With Age

Forget about achieving any peace of mind. At least there are books to consult -- a veritable library of how-to volumes or, better yet, how-I-tried-to-do-it books that virtually shout out, "And this is what happened!"

In honor of Mother's Day, here are five recent examples:

1. Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son's First Son by Anne Lamott and Sam Lamott. "Without Anne Lamott, the entire sub-category of contemporary parent writing . . . probably wouldn't exist," writes book critic David L. Ulin of the Los Angeles Times. Lamott scored a mega-hit with her 1993 book, Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year, about coping with her new baby, Sam. Now she and Sam team up (although it's mainly her book) to bring the same cynical humor and insight to the travails of raising Sam's newborn, Jax. The novice grandmother must stand aside and let the new parents handle it when Jax gets sick and is taken to the hospital. "When I didn't hear from them for a few hours," Anne Lamott writes, "I naturally assumed Jax was in the ICU, after thoracic surgery, or hooked up to a heart-lung machine." The author's "great appeal lies in her security in exposing her insecurities," says reviewer Heller McAlpin of NPR Books. "Her subject has always been, in a sense, addiction and a struggle for balance and moderation," McAlpin says. "Her grandson becomes her new obsession, and she strives mightily to keep her worries and infatuation in check."

2. Making Babies: Stumbling Into Motherhood by Anne Enright. The Irish author, who won the 2007 Man Booker Prize for her novel The Gathering, was married for 18 years before she and her husband decided to become parents. This account of the transformation was a bestseller in Great Britain. Enright writes unflinchingly of the ordeal of a long labor -- "It has been 45 minutes since I realised I could not do this any more" -- and the all-consuming obligations afterward, says reviewer Vanessa Thorpe in the British newspaper The Observer. "Rather like Rachel Cusk's even more forthright and startling book on the subject, A Life's Work, Enright's writing has the humour and urgency of someone who is grasping rare moments of solitude to communicate with the outside world," Thorpe notes. Merritt Tierce, reviewing the book for The Dallas Morning News, calls Enright's prose "equal parts wryly analytical and wholeheartedly emotional" as she addresses every facet of motherhood -- from nursing to a baby's formation of memories -- in a series of micro-essays. Reviewer John McMurtrie of the San Francisco Chronicle says, "No bedside mountain of over-earnest and mushy parenting books could stand up to the Irish novelist Anne Enright's slim but very satisfying collection" of observations.

3. The Sacred Thread: A True Story of Becoming a Mother and Finding a Family -- Half a World Away by Adrienne Arieff. Unable to have a child of her own, Arieff finds a willing surrogate mother in India and travels to meet the woman, Vaina, and her three children. What makes the story unusual is the bond the women form. While Vaina is carrying the author's twin girls, Arieff lives in Vaina's small village in India to help out and be near her unborn daughters. The motherhood blog A Passage to Baby quibbles with a few technical details involving pregnancy, but labels the book "an awesome read," saying, "There are plenty of places to weep with joy as well as with sadness, and not all in areas that one would expect." The blog Being Pregnant notes that India has a burgeoning surrogacy industry that caters to Western families. Reviewer Rebekahku Schmider calls the story "truly lovely."

4. Bringing Up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting by Pamela Druckerman. Never mind that the French aren't as famous for child-rearing as for, say, quality wines and fashion; Druckerman, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, ends up having a baby in Paris and comes to appreciate the calm, philosophical groundedness of the French. Upon apologizing to her young daughter for the pain of an inoculation, Druckerman is scolded by a French doctor, who tells her, "Getting shots is part of life," notes reviewer Elaine Sciolino in The New York Times. Inevitably, the cultural differences -- and there are many -- open a door to debate. The French seem to expect more from children at a young age than Americans do, observes reviewer Clare McHugh in The Wall Street Journal. "They are determined to counter the squalor and disorder of life with small children," McHugh says, adding that Druckerman, who admires the approach, cannot always bring herself to follow it.

5. No Biking in the House Without a Helmet by Melissa Fay Greene. With four children already under foot, the award-winning author and her attorney husband couldn't resist expanding the brood. Seemingly against all reason, they adopted a young boy from Bulgaria, then four more children from Ethiopia. "You just know that a book's going to be good if you've already guffawed . . . when you've barely even finished the introduction," comments reviewer Terry Hong of The Christian Science Monitor. Predictably, problems crop up. "The children fight -- even come to blows -- give each other the silent treatment, lie on occasion, break rules, and figure out how to download porn on their cellphones," Hong says. Greene's story is "sprawling, imperfect, courageous and joyful" says reviewer Gina Webb of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Memorable anecdotes and hard-won insights may leave the reader wanting even more, writes Suki Casanave in The Washington Post. "Greene set out to write about 'the joy of living with these children,'" Casanave concludes, "and this joy -- experiencing it and conveying it to readers -- is her greatest success."

SecondAct asks: So what books are you enjoying? Share your recent reads in the comment field below

The previous decade, she had enjoyed raising her four children in the rural Illinois college town where my dad taught. We moved to St. Louis so my brother and I could attend a parochial high school. To make it work, my dad commuted and was only home weekends, while my mom tried to find a job.

It didn't help that I also was miserable, and as part of my teenage angst basically blew off the expensive prep school and my mom. Angry, hormonal and depressed, we both fumed inside and blamed each other. I'm sure there were moments of love and joy, but mainly I remember our unhappy stand-off.

At some point that I didn't notice, my mom hatched a new plan. (It may have been inspired by her latest career flop -- selling World Book Encyclopedias door to door, a humiliation that lasted about a week.) Out of the blue, she announced a trip to Guatemala, something about buying hand-woven fabric. During her high school years, my mom had lived in Costa Rica with her family and loved Central American culture.

Unfazed by the guerrilla warfare raging in Guatemala in the late 70s, she launched a spontaneous import venture and trekked out to the tiny, remote villages around Lake Atitlan, where Mayan women weave elaborate textiles on looms strapped to their backs. She returned with reams of fabric and novelties, and peddled them at trade shows and art museum shops across the country. She landed a large order from Williams-Sonoma for chicken-shaped potholders fashioned out of her hand-woven fabric.

Stuck with about 1,000 potholders (right) when Williams-Sonoma didn't reorder, she quickly opened a small storefront near our home. My dad helped her name it, Salamander, a play on her name, Sally Martha Anderson. She took trips to India and Thailand, and branched out into other ethnic merchandise. Although the store was hidden in a basement with zero foot traffic, one by one, she found her people, or they found her. Local artists and travel lovers somehow discovered her eclectic shop hidden away in a preppy St. Louis suburb. She eventually moved Salamander into a hip, renovated neighborhood in the city called the Central West End, and expanded into stylish clothing and artisan jewelry.

Although my mom was a gentle person and socially reserved, she tangled with landlords, confronted difficult customers and earned her buying chops in the design shows in Los Angeles and New York City. During her 17 years running Salamander, she never made more than a meager salary, but she was very happy. Over time, we finally started to get along.

After selling the shop, she returned to throwing pots and painting, and enjoyed many rich years with her grandchildren and travelling with my dad right up until she passed away suddenly in her mid-70s.

I'm now only a few years older than my mom was when she started Salamander, and I often think about her bold move. She always believed in the power of personal growth, and that you were only as limited as your thinking. As much as my mom preached self-empowerment, her midlife adventure made the most lasting impression on me. Although I'm not unhappy like she was then, I'm a new empty nester with no clear idea of what my future holds. Seeing my mom rescue her own life, and watching the fun she had doing it, I know it's possible to make good things happen at any age.

Read more: 5 Fresh Books Celebrate Motherhood

In April, close to 30 percent of the nation's jobless workers had been out of work for more than a year -- a total of 3.9 million people, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released this month. Long-term unemployment has become such an issue that some economists question whether the recession permanently raised the nation's unemployment level, according to this Bloomberg report.

A large portion of the long-term unemployed are people in their 40s, 50s and older. During the first three months of 2012, older employees were less likely to lose jobs, but once they did, they were more likely to remain jobless for a year or longer, according to a Pew Charitable Trusts assessment of the labor bureau's statistics. In April, workers 55 and older averaged 60 weeks of unemployment before returning to the work force, an increase from 55.7 weeks the previous month, according to AARP Public Policy Institute data released late last week.

Many midlife workers held middle-management jobs that were eliminated when companies cut costs during the recession. While the economy is recovering, those jobs aren't coming back. Job seekers who don't take this new reality into account when looking for work will continue disappointing themselves, says Lisa Quast, an executive coach with Career Woman Inc. in Seattle.

"It sounds harsh, but you have to lower your expectations for the type or level of job you're looking for," Quast says. "Look for the company or industry where you want to work and be willing to accept a lower-level job to show off your skills so you can climb back up the ladder within that company."

If you've been out of work for a substantial period of time, here's what Quast and other executive coaches and career counselors suggest doing to re-energize your job search.

1. Reconsider the work you're seeking. If you're unenthused about job hunting, it could be a sign you're ready for a different line of work. "There are a lot of people who have been in jobs and haven't really loved them. They're trying to get back in, and their hearts aren't in it," Quast says. If your soul searching leads you to want to switch careers, you'll still have to start by accepting a lower-level job, she says. "Swallow your pride and be willing to put in the effort to dazzle the employers."

[Related: Reading List: 10 Insightful Books for Career Changers]

2. Change your tactics. You can't change your age or how long you've been unemployed, but you can change your approach to a job search. If you're following the same strategies you used 10 or even three years ago, you're likely to fail. "You can't just submit a resume to a job board," says Kathy Caprino, a career coach with ELLIA Communications in Wilton, Conn. "You need to build a robust job community to bring yourself to the job market. You have to understand your brand. People roll their eyes at that, but you do. You have to know what you bring to the party, why you're different and better than the competition. You have to be able to tailor your professional story to exactly what a [hiring manager] is looking for."

3. Build a digital presence. If you're not on LinkedIn, it's as if you don't exist to corporate recruiters, Caprino says. Use the online business network to create a profile that recruiters will see. You also can use LinkedIn as the basis for an online job community that you can tap into for job leads. The same goes for Twitter and Facebook, which more companies are using for recruiting.

[Related: 4 Facebook Apps for Job Hunting and 5 Secrets to Use Twitter for a Job Search]

4. Freshen your skills. If you've been out of work for some time, prospective employers will be concerned that your skills and industry knowledge aren't current. Add your age to that, and you're at a double deficit, says Phyllis Mufson, a longtime career coach and consultant based in Philadelphia. Counter any potential misgivings by taking classes, in person or online. One site Mufson recommends is Lynda.org, where students pay a flat monthly fee for training on WordPress, Photoshop, InDesign and other popular software programs.

[Related: 9 Ways Midlife Job Seekers Can Be (More) Tech Savvy]

5. Gain experience any way you can. Move beyond thinking only about getting a full-time job. Consider all the side jobs you can find to make money and keep your skills up to date. "It's kind of like the side hustles that people had when they were employed full time, just that they aren't employed full time anymore," says Paula Gregorowicz, a Philadelphia area business and career coach.

[Related: How to Create a Career Without a Full-Time Job]

6. Look for internships or volunteer work. Most companies structure internship programs for college students, so look for opportunities labeled "nontraditional," which is a tip-off that the company is open to working with people of all ages, Mufson says. You also can gain current experience by consulting or volunteering. Both are also great ways to network and keep up with your industry, she says.

Read more: Browse job search resources and tools in SecondAct's Career Center.