August 26, 2008
New Books - Fiction
Dead Time – Stephen White
Colorado psychologist Alan Gregory is one of the more popular fictional heroes - he's very human, flaws and all. As this story opens he has some free time to ponder where life has taken him. His wife, Lauren, is on a trip with daughter Grace and his adopted son, Jonas, is away. But Gregory doesn't have long to adjust to the unaccustomed peace and quiet as he receives and SOS call from his former wife, Meredith.
Turpentine– Spring Warren
This is the first novel by Warren, a painter and furniture maker. It is a sweeping saga of the western frontier in the 1870s, filled with colorful characters, stark and sometimes vibrant images, and violent but sometimes absurd situations. At the center of the narrative is Edward Turrentine Bayard III ("Turpentine"). As a young, tubercular easterner, he is sent to a Nebraska sanitarium to heal his lungs. Instead, through a series of mishaps and coincidences, he is launched on a cross-country odyssey.
The Sunrise Lands: A Novel of the Change – S.M. Stirling
Set 12 years after A Meeting at Corvallis (2006), Stirling's latest novel of a chaotic near-future U.S., crippled when the mysterious Change rendered most technology nonfunctional, combines vigorous military adventure with cleverly packaged political idealism.
Exit Ghost – Philip Roth
The last ordeal of Nathan Zuckerman, the indomitable literary adventurer of Roth's nine Zuckerman books, like Rip Van Winkle returning to his hometown to find that all has changed, Nathan Zuckerman comes back to New York, the city he left eleven years before. Alone on his New England mountain, Zuckerman has been nothing but a writer: no voices, no media, no terrorist threats, no women, no news, no tasks other than his work and the enduring of old age.
Stranger in Death – Nora Roberts written as J.D. Robb
In bestseller Robb's slick 26th not-so-near-future crime thriller to feature Lt. Eve Dallas (after 2007's Creation in Death), the New York City homicide cop investigates the murder of business tycoon Thomas Anders, whose strangled body is discovered tied to his bed, apparently the victim of a kinky sex encounter gone bad. Aided by her mysterious husband, Roarke, and long-time sidekick Det. Delia Peabody, Eve doggedly questions Anders's widow, Ava, and his nephew, Benedict Forrest, number two at the victim's corporation, Anders Worldwide.
When Darkness Falls – James Grippando
If Miami criminal defense attorney Jack Swyteck thinks his latest case is weird, he ain't seen nothin' yet. His client, a homeless man who calls himself Falcon, posts $10,000 bail in cash. That has Jack scratching his head, but when a body is found in the trunk of the abandoned car that Falcon calls home, Jack is prepared to go to the mat to defend his client—until…
Enchantress of Florence – Salman Rushdie
Trying to describe a Salman Rushdie novel is like trying to describe music to someone who has never heard it--you can fumble with a plot summary but you won't be able to convey the wonder of his dazzling prose or the imaginative complexity of his vision. At its heart, The Enchantress of Florence is about the power of story--whether it is the imagined life of a Mughal queen, or the devastating secret held by a silver-tongued Florentine. Make no mistake, it is Rushdie who is the true "enchanter" of this story, conjuring readers into his gilded fairy tale from the very first sentence. – Amazon.com June 2008 choice of the month
New Books - Non-Fiction
Bound Together: How Traders, Preachers, Adventurers, and Warriers Shaped Globalization – Nayan Chandra
Globalization may seem like a relatively new term, but Chandra, a director for the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, argues intriguingly that its history ranges across centuries, beginning when the first humans left Africa, "following game herds... or shellfish beds around the Arabian Peninsula." Chadra illuminates the stepping stones of mankind's global conquest, such as early trading routes, the domestication of horses, the rise of the world's great religions, the slave trade, the World Wide Web and the spread of diseases like SARS and Avian flu, looking from angles psychological, geographic, philosophical, theological, commercial and military.
Where Have All the Leaders Gone? – Lee Iacocca
Iacocca, the bestselling author and former president of Ford and Chrysler, is back to sound a howl of anger against the sad state of leadership in the U.S. today. Iacocca starts with a rundown of sins committed by George W. Bush and his administration, and then moves on to criticize the American auto industry-naturally, he's furious over the sale of Chrysler to Daimler-Benz. Along the way, Iacocca rails against the lack of leadership in vital national concerns such as health care, open markets and energy policy. Iacocca may not have a whole lot new to say, but he is always engaging… - Publishers Weekly
Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West – Benazir Bhuto
"It is impossible to understand today’s world without knowing Pakistan; and impossible to understand Pakistan without reading this book. A courageous woman—tragically killed—speaks to us of reconciliation. We owe it to her—and to ourselves—to listen, comprehend, and act." – Madeleine Albright
Breathing the Fire – Kimberly Dozier
“Dozier's book is a searing, honest look at how one horrible bomb can change so many lives forever. It was hard for me to get through the chapters without having to set it down. Her words put me right back on our own family's journey to heal after Bob's IED injury in Iraq. This is a must-read for not only those who have had a loved one in the war, but for any family who has had to fight through the arduous journey to recover themselves after a life changing event.”—LEE WOODRUFF, author "In an Instant," the memoir of ABC News Anchor Bob Woodruff's injury in Iraq
Einstein: His Life and Universe – Walter Isaacson
As a scientist, Albert Einstein is undoubtedly the most epic among 20th-century thinkers. Albert Einstein as a man, however, has been a much harder portrait to paint, and what we know of him as a husband, father, and friend is fragmentary at best. With Einstein: His Life and Universe, Walter Isaacson (author of the bestselling biographies Benjamin Franklin and Kissinger) brings Einstein's experience of life, love, and intellectual discovery into brilliant focus. – Katherine Graham
Mayo Clinic Heart Book – Michael D. McGoon, M.D.
For the millions of readers with an interest in cardiac care and heart health, Mayo Clinic Heart Book serves as a comprehensive, single-volume reference that provides complete, clear information in these vital areas…
Oil on the Brain: Petroleum’s Long Strange Trip to Your Tank – Lisa Margonelli
“By giving voice to the people who are the links in the global oil chain, Margonelli invites us to leapfrog all the rhetoric, dry statistics, and dire pronouncements about oil in order to truly understand it.” —Fast Company
“From the corner gas station to the oil fields of Nigeria, there couldn't be a better traveling companion than Margonelli. She's fast, fearless, funny, and a brilliant observer."
—Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed
August 19, 2008
Recorded Books - New on the Shelf
The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow
When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn't have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he gave--"Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams"--wasn't about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because "time is all you have...and you may find one day that you have less than you think"). It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living.
Peace Like A River - Leif Enger
Actor Chad Lowe reads with a warm, deliberative voice perfectly suited to Leif Enger's meditative and melodic story of a family's search throughout the West for its outlaw son. Lowe doesn't attempt any verbal flourishes, nor does he try to give specific voices to different characters. Instead, he simply and beautifully reads aloud--slowly enough for Enger's evocative prose to shine and with just enough emotion to magnify this tale of the redemptive power of love. A.C.S. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile,
For Whom the Bell Tolls- Earnest Hemmingway
Campbell Scott's reading of Hemingway's great novel of the Spanish Civil War, like Hemingway's text, is spare and dense, but layered with subtlety. Because Scott seems to withdraw from it emotionally, the reader's investment in it is all the greater. Scott knows that the real drama lies in the understated intensity of Hemingway's prose, the rich Spanish cadences of his lines, and in his simple yet powerful diction.
Riding Lessons - Sara Gruen
Annemarie Zimmer has issues. She creates problems with her parents, daughter, ex-husband, ex-boyfriend, and employees. Maggi-Meg Reed captures Annemarie's self-absorbed rants and conflicts with just the right amount of strident enthusiasm and engagement. Set in the fascinating world of horse farms and equestrian events, the novel--maddening protagonist and all--is tough to resist. Reed's performance is effortless as she takes the listener through Annemarie's daily trials, centered on a rehabilitated mystery horse whose appearance brings back old ghosts. Annemarie must come to terms with the riding accident that ended her career as a teenager before she can move on to become a true adult. RIDING LESSONS is an ideal beach book, especially for horse lovers. L.B.F. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
Sail - James Patterson and Howard Roughan
Starred Review. Patterson's epic tale of the Dunne family, who find themselves trapped in paradise, fighting for their lives, is a strong commercial novel that demands even stronger performances. Luckily, Dylan Baker and Jennifer Van Dyck are up to the challenge and put forth simply infectious performances that will set listeners' pulses racing. Playing distinct adolescent roles as well as a number of others, the two narrators display their wide ranging abilities and captivate to no end. Listeners will be enthralled from the very beginning; this duo knows exactly when to crank up the tension. A Little, Brown hardcover. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
Animal Farm - George Orwell and Ian Woodldridge
One of Orwell's best-known works, taking on the guise of an anthropomorphic fable, warns against totalitarianism. Reader Richard Brown's stern, didactic rendering of narrative passages successfully captures Orwell's hard-bitten cynicism.
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Having grown up an orphan in the home of her cruel aunt and at a harsh charity school, Jane Eyre becomes an independent and spirited survivor—qualities that serve her well as governess at Thornfield Hall. But when she finds love with her sardonic employer, Rochester, the discovery of his terrible secret forces her to make a choice. Should she stay with him whatever the consequences or follow her convictions, even if it means leaving her beloved?
Monster of Florence - Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi
United in their obsession with a grisly Italian serial murder case almost three decades old, thriller writer Preston (coauthor, Brimstone) and Italian crime reporter Spezi seek to uncover the identity of the killer in this chilling true crime saga.
Prophet of Yonwood - Jeanne Duprau
Eleven-year-old Nickie meets the prophet and her acolytes and learns that good intentions do not always produce good results in a society that lives in fear of an impending war and is looking for guidance and spiritual security. Becky Ann Baker's storytelling skills are showcased in her spirited narration. She makes good use of accents to contrast Nickie and her aunt (the outsiders) and the residents of the small North Carolina town that is home to the prophet. The special effects, which make this production reminiscent of a radio play, are a bit distracting and may blend in with background noise for those listening in less than ideal circumstances. J.E.M. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
Tiger is Rising - Kate Dicamillo
After Rob's mother dies, he and his father move to a new town to get a fresh start, he discovers a caged tiger in the woods. An emotionally rich story about a boy caught in the powerful grip of grief. Ages 8-up.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Magyk (Septimus Heap, Book 1) - Annie Sage
Grade 4-8–A wide cast of characters battle the forces of Darke Magyk in a well-realized world of fantasy. At birth, Septimus Heap is carried away for dead, and his father, Silas Heap, is entrusted with a baby girl. When the villainous Supreme Custodian tries to assassinate the now 10-year-old Jenna, who, it turns out, is the daughter of the murdered queen, the girl flees to the Marram Marshes along with some family members, the ExtraOrdinary Wizard, and a young army guard known only as "Boy 412."
Secret Lost Things - Sheridan Hay
Hay's debut has all the elements of a literary thriller, but they don't quite come together. Arriving in New York from Tasmania with $300, her mother's ashes and a love of reading, 18-year-old Rosemary Savage finds work in the Arcade Bookshop, a huge, labyrinthine place that features everything from overstock to rare books. In its physicality, the store greatly resembles New York's Strand (where Hay worked), and its requisite assortment of intriguing bookish oddballs includes autocratic owner George Pike and his albino assistant, Walter Geist.
Painted Veil - W. Sommerset Maugham
With the author's characteristic detachment, this novel tells of a shallow, young adulterous whose bacteriologist husband takes her to a remote area of China ravaged by a cholera epidemic, where their propinquity and peril in battling the health crisis leads to her spiritual awakening. Sophie Ward reads primly and accurately, with little investment or enthusiasm. Y.R. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
Breakfast of Champions - Kurt Vonnegut
This novel was Vonnegut's 50th birthday present to himself. He seems to have wanted to purge himself of his usual literary preoccupations so as to renew his imagination for his mature years. So he pursues his fictional alter ego, the sour old sci-fi writer Kilgore Trout, and frees him from his creator, that is, himself. He does this at a small town arts festival after one of Trout's few readers shoots up the place. These events are related as if to a young space alien who knows little of the human "machine," as the author calls us. Stanley Tucci delivers a superbly sly interpretation of this fare. He affects a laid-back, melancholy style, using his excellent timing and spurts of mischief to bring home the sardonic humor and irony with which the book is larded. This approach goes a long way to mask some of the author's self-indulgence. While a brief and somewhat fatuous interview with Vonnegut does little to enlighten the leader, the clever packaging reproduces some of the illustrations from the printed original, which contribute to the tone of a primer for nonhumans. Y.R. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
Inkheart - Cornelia Funke
(Grades 4 - 8) Cornelia Funke's second stunning novel joins a body of literature that challenges the conventions of realistic fiction. Consider the premise that characters can jump from stories into real life and vice versa. Add to this fluidity the notion that the author can create an alternative ending to be read into the story. Inkheart is an intriguing, fast-paced, and provocative fantasy. Marvel as 12-year-old Meggie and her bookbinder father grapple with wily villains, unsettling accomplices, and "drop-in" characters, as they seek to achieve stability in their world and family. Lynn Redgrave is a superb narrator. Her vocal repertoire richly supports Funke's myriad characters. As personalities unfold over time, so Redgrave's passion brings depth to each. Both the story and the narration underscore the idea that power comes not from fear and might but from communication and love. A.R. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2004 ALA Notable Recording and YALSA Selection, 2004 Audie Award Finalist © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
Gentlemen of the Road. A Tale of Adventure - Michael Chabon
The odd bond between the young Frank Zelikman and the older, dark-skinned giant, Amram, serves as the basis for Chabon's short novel about life, war and religion in the 10th century. Wandering along the Silk Road, using both knowledge and trickery to earn their way, they stumble upon Filaq, the displaced heir to the Khazar throne. The two employ their many skills to return Filaq to the throne. Braugher delivers a strong and commanding performance with a lilting rhythm to his voice that is almost hypnotic. His resonating baritone voice proves appealing for the narration. His vocalization of the strong and solemn Amram is perfect, while his lightened tone for Zelikman is also a good match. His female vocalizations aren't nearly as powerful. Chabon reads the afterword, enlightening listeners to the reasons for writing a novel he originally intended to call Jews with Swords.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
Cold Sassy Tree - Olive Ann Burns
Here is an effervescent novel which captures intrigue and passion as they erupt in a parochial Georgia town whose sense of propriety is severely challenged. Tom Parker's enlightened reading greatly enhances the emotive effect of the novel. With an impressive array of consistently natural voices he involves the listener directly in the drama of the characters' lives. He captures the spirit of the complex cast and is as comfortable in the role of the picaresque Will Tweedy as he is in the roles of the gritty grandfather or the sanctimonious Effie Belle. Rich in characterization and dialogue, this novel is well-suited to the audio format; Tom Parker superbly conveys this great wealth. B.M.W. An AUDIOFILE Earphones Award winner (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
Aldous Huxley's novel of a genetically engineered, drugged-out utopia set in the not-too-distant future seems more prophetic by the day. British actor Michael York's refined and dramatic reading captures both the tone and the spirit of Huxley's masterpiece. His adept characterizations are instrumental in helping the listener discriminate between the book's innumerable characters, and his handling of the contrapuntal sections in Chapter 3 makes song from what might have been a muddle with a lesser reader. On occasion, York tends to overdramatize, making for unwanted melodrama and unintentional humor; but overall this is an excellent performance of a classic and prescient twentieth-century novel. G.B.C. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine -
City of Ember - Jeanne Duprau
(Grade 4-7) This truly superb audio recording of the novel by Jeane DuPrau (Random, 2003) takes place in the dark city of Ember, a decaying place with no natural light surrounded by the vast Unknown. Although ancestors had arranged for information on leaving Ember to be made available after the inhabitants have spent 200 years there, a corrupt mayor lost the information many years before the novel begins. Two hundred and forty-one years later, Ember's electrical lighting frequently fails, supplies are dwindling, and the populace is growing increasingly frightened. Twelve-year-old Doon and his acquaintance Lina are intent on finding a way to save Ember...
August 12, 2008
New Books - Non-fiction:
YOU: The Owner's Manual and YOU - Michael F. Roizen, M.D. and Mehmet C. Oz, M.D.
YOU: The Owner's Manual, Updated and Expanded Edition challenges your preconceived notions about how the human body works and ages, then takes you on a tour through all of the highways, back roads, and landmarks inside of you.
What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception - Scott McClellan
"I still like and admire George W. Bush," writes Scott McClellan, who served Bush for two years and nine months as White House press secretary. "I consider him a fundamentally decent person, and I do not believe he or his White House deliberately or consciously sought to deceive the American people." Yet the entire brunt of McClellan's book is precisely the opposite: that Bush and "his top advisers," by whom he was "terribly ill-served," systematically deceived the American public about their reasons for going to war in Iraq and about the effort to discredit a critic of the war, Joseph Wilson, by making public his wife's position at the Central Intelligence Agency. Reviewed by Jonathan Yardley of The Washington Post
Survival Along the Continental Divide: An Anthology of Interviews - Jack Loeffler
Hopi, Navajo, Rio Grande Puebloan, Hispano, and Anglo cultures are represented in three sections of interviews that respectively address shifting cultural boundaries, explore the effects in New Mexico of the New Deal's attempts to reinvigorate the economy and mainstream American culture, and suggest ways of delving into the difficult situations that face the West today. Together, these diverse perspectives reveal the rich cultural mosaic that has evolved in this extraordinary landscape.
The Best Old Movies for Families: A Guide to Watching Together - Ty Burr
“A treasure, a delight, and quite possibly a marriage-saver as well. Ty Burr’s advice on when, how, and even why to share with our children the movies we cherish from our own youth is funny, hip, and wise. My ten-year-old stole the book right out of my hands.” —Julia Glass, National Book Award–Winning Author of Three Junes
When You Are Engulfed in Flames - David Sedaris
"David Sedaris's ability to transform the mortification of everyday life into wildly entertaining art," (The Christian Science Monitor) is elevated to wilder and more entertaining heights than ever in this remarkable new book.
Dogfessions - Compiled by Nikki Moustakai
You're shamelessly in love with your dog. And his adoration for you would eclipse the moon. But is love all there is to your relationship? When you come home to find the trash can toppled and a few "surprises" on your rug, what then? Behind your best friend's doting gaze, ever wonder what's he's really thinking? Here's your chance to find out. Based on the website www.dogfessions.com, this full color collection contains hundreds of handmade postcards that reveal the deepest confessions from dogs and their owners.
New Books - Fiction:
The Navigator - Clive Cussler
Austin and his team are hunting icebergs when they chance upon a pirate raid aimed at stealing a priceless Phoenician antiquity launched by a stereotypical megalomaniacal villain, Viktor Baltazar, who believes he's a descendant of King Solomon. Baltazar and Austin joust continually (once, literally!) over the antique, which may be connected to the lost ark of the covenant, Thomas Jefferson and the suspicious death of Meriwether Lewis. - from Publisher's Weekly
End Games: An Aurelio Zen Mystery - Michael Dibdin
Didbin is esential reading for those who love mysteries and Italy without illusions."
--The Washington Post
Then We Came to the End - Josua Ferris
Arch, achingly funny, and surprisingly heartfelt, it's a view of how your work becomes a symbiotic part of your life. A dysfunctional family of misfits forced together and fondly remembered as it falls apart. Praised as "the Catch-22 of the business world" and "The Office meets Kafka," I'm happy to report that Joshua Ferris's brilliant debut lives up to every ounce of pre-publication hype and instantly became one of my favorite books of the year. --Brad Thomas Parso
Lush Life - Richard Price
No one has a better ear and eye for the American city than Richard Price, and in Lush Life, his first novel in five years, he leaves the fictional environs of Dempsy, New Jersey, where Clockers, Freedomland, and Samaritan were set, for a few crowded blocks of Manhattan's Lower East Side. There's a crime at the heart of the story, but you don't read Price for plot. Instead, you listen as he peels apart layers of class and history through the way his characters talk to each other: hipster bartenders who tell people they're really writers, homeboys from housing projects named after the Jewish immigrants who have long left the neighborhood, and cops, cops, cops, circling the streets looking for a collar, disappearing into their cases as their own lives go to ruin. --Tom Nissley (Amazon.com)
Creation in Death - Nora Robberts writing as J.D. Robb
At 27 books and counting, Nora Roberts is more prolific under her Robb pseudonym than most authors manage in a single career. Yet the latest in her not-so-near-future detective series featuring New York Police Det. Eve Dallas offers a satisfyingly novel mélange of suspense, sex, forensics and heroics. It's 2060, and the serial killer nicknamed The Groom is back in town after an absence of nine years, resuming his horrific run of kidnapping, torturing and killing young women... - Publisher's Weekly
The Sunrise Lands: A Novel of Change - S.M. Stirling
Set 12 years after A Meeting at Corvallis (2006), Stirling's latest novel of a chaotic near-future U.S., crippled when the mysterious Change rendered most technology nonfunctional, combines vigorous military adventure with cleverly packaged political idealism.
Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Story - Leonie Swann
A completely original, sparklingly inventive, cleverly written story, first published in Germany, about a flock of Irish sheep who vow to solve the murder of their shepherd, George. How they finally achieve this ambitious goal makes for a quirky, humorous, lively, weird, surprisingly dark yet joyous tale that shows how a disparate set of sheepy personalities can work together for the greater good. Although the plot meanders a bit, readers willing to accept the premise will find themselves engaged--rooting for the sheep, marveling at the ingenuity of the author, or simply enjoying the madcap story. Good fun and a fine first novel from a promising new writer. Emily Melton (American Library Association)
August 5, 2008
New Books - Fiction
Bleeding Kansas - Sara Paretsky
Fans of V. I. Warshawski, the gritty Chicago private eye, may be surprised to find her absent from Sara Paretsky’s latest work. Paretsky grew up in the Kaw River Valley, and her affection for its countryside, people, and history shines throughout this novel. The regional and historical roots of Paretsky’s characteristic social consciousness are clearly on display in what the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel calls "a novel of ideas."
My Name is Will: A Novel of Sex, Drugs, and Shakespeare - Jess Winfield
Seemingly separated in time and place, the lives of Willie and William begin to intersect in curious ways, from harrowing encounters with the law (and a few ex-girlfriends) to dubious experiments with mind-altering substances. Their misadventures could be dismissed as youthful folly. But wise or foolish, the bold choices they make will shape not only the 'Shakespeare' each is destined to come... but the very course of history itself.
Protect and Defend: A Thriller - Vince Flynn
Mitch Rapp looks into the destruction of Iran's secret nuclear weapons facility in bestseller's Flynn's predictable eighth thriller to feature the counterterrorism agent.
Bejing Coma - Ma Jian
Beijing Coma is an unexpectedly visceral and daring work of fiction by critically acclaimed author Ma Jian that explores why a promising young student would risk it all in the spring of 1989. In this ingeniously constructed novel--which sets Dai Wei's internal recollections against the contemporary changes occurring beyond him--Ma Jian reveals the profound personal consequences of that historic struggle for freedom--long after the CNN cameras stopped rolling. --Lauren Nemroff
The View from Mount Joy - Lorna Landvik
Joe Andreson, is a lovable guy leading an average life who demonstrates extraordinary integrity. Landviks story starts while Joe is in high school and follows him to his fifties, when he has a wife and a pack of kids. Along the way, we meet his quirky best friend, Darva; his on-again-off-again flame, Kristi; and a warm and loving cast of secondary characters.
Stone Cold - David Baldacci
The #1 bestselling author of The Collectors and Simple Genius returns with STONE COLD...an unforgetable novel of revenge, conspiracy, and murder that brings a band of unlikely heroes face-to-face with their greatest threat.
Simple Genius - David Baldacci
Theres nothing simple about Simple Genius, a complicated novel involving murder, geniuses, and the CIA. The story marks the return of former Secret Service Agents Sean King and Michelle Maxwell, now in business for themselves.
Play Dirty - Sandra Brown
Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Griff Burkett faces hatred from the public after his release from prison for point shaving. Foster Speakman, a wealthy businessman who is paraplegic, wants to pay Griff to father a child with his wife, Laura, and pass the child off as Fosters own. The tension builds as lust, greed, pride, wrath and envy threaten to undo everyone in this tightly told tale of modern temptation.
White Night - Jim Bulcher
This time, when Harry Dresden gets a call from Murphy, it's off the record, because she has been demoted, things in SI are politically shaky, and the police have already declared a suicide. Once Harry gets a good look, though, the suicide is clearly a murder with magical intent. As he investigates, hoping as always to stop the killer before more die, evidence points to the worst possible suspect: his half brother. -American Library Association
Skylight Confessions - Alice Hoffman
In Hoffman's 19th novel, a young woman becomes the victim of the destiny she's created, leaving behind a splintered family. On the day of her father's funeral, 17-year-old Arlyn Singer decides the first man who walks down the street will be her one love. That night, Yale senior John Moody stops to ask directions, and Arlyn and John take the first passionate steps toward what will become a marriage of heartache and mutual betrayal.
The Story of A Marriage - Andrew Sean Greer
“Andrew Sean Greer, one of the most talented young writers of our time, has written a beautiful and moving tale of war, sacrifice, race, and motherhood. But ultimately, as with The Confessions of Max Tivoli, this is a book about love, and it is a marvel to watch Greer probe the mysteries of love to such devastating effect.” —Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns
New Books - Non-fiction:
The Zen of Listening - Rebecca Z. Shafir
Shafir, chief of speech pathology at Massachusetts's Lahey Clinic with over 25 years of clinical experience helping patients learn to speak, has written a real "heads-up" book for this age of soundbytes, multitasking, and hidden agendas. Communication is an interactive process dependent on both speaking and listening. Too often, the listening part is given short shrift, and we are left wondering why we feel "empty." Defining listening as "the willingness to see a situation through the eyes of the speaker," Shafir goes beyond the mechanics of good listening behavior to an approach requiring relaxation, focus, and a desire to learn from the speakers' perspective. In a friendly and informal tone, she discusses specific exercises, activities, and strategies to improve awareness, provides illustrations, and gives examples from her clinical experiences. - From Library Journal
Sacred Space, Sacred Sound: The Acoustic Mysteries of Holy Places - Susan Elizabeth Hale
A pioneer in the field of music therapy and an aficionado of musical styles from all over the world, Susan Elizabeth Hale has journeyed across the planet and devoted 10 years of research to deliver this exploration of the sound mysteries at holy places. Hale details the acoustic properties of the numerous sacred sites she has visited, including painted caves, cathedrals, stupas, oracle chambers, shrines, kivas, megalithic monuments, pyramids and other buildings that celebrate and praise the divine.
In Defense of Food - Michael Pollan
Food is the one thing that Americans hate to love and, as it turns out, love to hate. What we want to eat has been ousted by the notion of what we should eat, and it's at this nexus of hunger and hang-up that Michael Pollan poses his most salient question: where is the food in our food? What follows in In Defense of Food is a series of wonderfully clear and thoughtful answers that help us omnivores navigate the nutritional minefield that's come to typify our food culture. Many processed foods vie for a spot in our grocery baskets, claiming to lower cholesterol, weight, glucose levels, you name it. Yet Pollan shows that these convenient "healthy" alternatives to whole foods are appallingly inconvenient: our health has a nation has only deteriorated since we started exiling carbs, fats--even fruits--from our daily meals. His razor-sharp analysis of the American diet (as well as its architects and its detractors) offers an inspiring glimpse of what it would be like if we could (a la Humpty Dumpty) put our food back together again and reconsider what it means to eat well. In a season filled with rallying cries to lose weight and be healthy, Pollan's call to action—"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."--is a program I actually want to follow. --Anne Bartholomew
Present at the Future - Iva Flatow
Veteran NPR® science reporter and award-winning radio and TV journalist Ira Flatow’s enthusiasm for all things scientific has made him a beloved on-air correspondent. For more than thirty-five years, Flatow has interviewed the top scientists and researchers on many NPR and PBS programs, including his popular Science Friday® spot on Talk of the Nation. In Present at the Future, he shares the groundbreaking revelations from those conversations, including the latest on nanotechnology, space travel, global warming, alternative energies, stem cell research, and using the universe as a super-duper computer. Flatow also further explores his favorite topic, the science of everyday life, with explanations on why the shower curtain sticks to you, the real story of why airplanes fly, and much more.
The Way We Were, Remembering Diana - Paul Burrell
Princess Diana's butler presents his second book of recollections on the famous royal whose life fascinated the media and whose death bereaved countless strangers. Though early pages are forebodingly plain, Burrell moves from a self-conscious chronicle of the princess (and her friend the butler) to sincere, heartfelt reportage of Diana's bravery as she soldiers through life post-royal divorce and finds a new life's mission helping the helpless across the world.