March 31, 2009
Classical Music on CD - New on the Shelf
Franz Schubert – Piano “Trout” Quintet
Schubert – Symphony No. 9 – The Cleveland Orchestra – Christopher Von Dohnanyi
Handel – Renee Fleming
Handel - Italian Cantatas- Magdalena Kozena
William Tell and Other Favorite Overtures – Eric Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra
Rimsky-Korsakov: Suites – The Golden Cockerel with Tsar Saltan and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra
Gershwin: An American in Paris – Katia & Marielle La Beque
Antoin Dvorak – Symphony No. 9 “From the New World” – Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra with Libor Pesek
Berlioz – Les Troyen – London Symphony Orchestra with Sir Colin Davis conducting
Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 6 “Pathetique” Overature Solennelle “1812” – Solvak Philharmonic Orchestra with Bystrik Rezucha
Satie: 3 Gymnopedies & Other Piano Works – Pascal Roge
Rossini – Overtures and Arias
Vangelis - Opera Sauvage
Telemann – 5 Violin concertos – Iona Brown and the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields
Chansson – Symphonie Op. 20, Vivane Op. 5 – Armin Jordan ,conductor
Ravel – bolero, Rapsodie Espagnole – Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal with Charles Dutoit
March 24, 2009
New Books – Fiction
The Silent Man - Alex Berenson
Bestseller Berenson's well-plotted and thoughtful third thriller to feature CIA agent John Wells (after The Ghost War) finds Wells and his fellow CIA agent and fiancée, Jenny Exley, living happily together in Washington, D.C., content to devote themselves to fighting the forces of evil. One morning, while stuck in traffic on their way to CIA headquarters, men on motorcycles attack them in their minivan. Exley suffers a serious gunshot injury in an act of revenge by minions of Pierre Kowalski, an enemy from an earlier book. Meanwhile, jihadists bent on destroying America steal two small atomic bombs. These extremely clever villains, per Berenson's style, aren't mad dog idiots but credible characters with reasons, at least from their own perspective, to be doing the great evil they're planning. Fast and furious when it needs to be, this is a welcome addition to an excellent series. Berenson won an Edgar for his first novel, The Faithful Spy. –Publishers Weekly
Handle with Care - Jodi Picoult
Perennial bestseller Picoult (Change of Heart) delivers another engrossing family drama, spiced with her trademark blend of medicine, law and love. Charlotte and Sean O'Keefe's daughter, Willow, was born with brittle bone disease, a condition that requires Charlotte to act as full-time caregiver and has strained their emotional and financial limits. Willow's teenaged half-sister, Amelia, suffers as well, overshadowed by Willow's needs and lost in her own adolescent turmoil. When Charlotte decides to sue for wrongful birth in order to obtain a settlement to ensure Willow's future, the already strained family begins to implode. Not only is the defendant Charlotte's longtime friend, but the case requires Charlotte and Sean to claim that had they known of Willow's condition, they would have terminated the pregnancy, a statement that strikes at the core of their faith and family. Picoult individualizes the alternating voices of the narrators more believably than she has previously, and weaves in subplots to underscore the themes of hope, regret, identity and family, leading up to her signature closing twists. –Publishers Weekly
Contagious - Scott Sigler
Across America, a mysterious pathogen transforms ordinary people into raging killers, psychopaths driven by a terrifying, alien agenda. The human race fights back, yet after every battle the disease responds, adapts, using sophisticated strategies and brilliant ruses to fool its pursuers. The only possible explanation: the epidemic is driven not by evolution but by some malevolent intelligence.
New Books – Non-fiction
A Slow Death: 83 Days of Radiation Sickness - NHK (Nippon Hoso Kyokai) or Japan Broadcasting
Corporation is Japan's public broadcaster. This book is an original television documentary—under the same name--produced by NHK, which aired in May 2001. Japan's worst nuclear radiation accident took place at a uranium reprocessing facility in Tokaimura, northeast of Tokyo, on 30 September 1999. Three workers were exposed to extreme doses of radiation. Hiroshi Ouchi, one of these workers, was transferred to the University of Tokyo Hospital Emergency Room, three days after the accident. Dr. Maekawa and his staff initially thought that Ouchi looked relatively well for a person exposed to such radiation levels. However, his condition gradually weakened as the radioactivity broke down the chromosomes in his cells. The doctors were at a loss as to what to do. There were very few precedents and proven medical treatments for the victims of radiation poisoning. This book documents the following 83 days of treatment until his passing, with detailed descriptions and explanations of the radiation poisoning.
The Small-Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses are Beating the Global Competition - Michael H. Shuman
Defenders of globalization, free markets, and free trade insist there's no alternative to mega-stores like Wal-Mart -- Michael Shuman begs to differ. In "The Small-Mart Revolution, Shuman makes a compelling case for his alternative business model, one in which communities reap the benefits of "going local" in four key spending categories: goods, services, energy, and finance. He argues that despite the endless media coverage of multinational conglomerates, local businesses give more to charity, adapt more easily to rising labor and environmental standards, and produce more wealth for a community. They also spend more locally, thereby increasing community income and creating wealth and jobs. "The Small-Mart Revolution presents a visionary yet practical roadmap for everyone concerned with mitigating the worst of globalization.
Dark Genius: The Influential Career of Legendary Political Operative and Fox News Founder Roger Ailes - Kerwin Swint
Roger Ailes, former Republican political consultant, and current president of Fox News Channel, is a dominant media figure of our age. His made-for-TV imagery and mastery of “style over substance” has overtaken earlier methods of reporting the news, and radically refashioned our political and communications landscapes. Yet, no book has ever been published on this Oz-like figure: Dark Genius is the definitive study of Ailes and his controversial career.
March 17, 2009
VGPL was one of 200 libraries in the country to receive a grant from the American Library Association for a collection of Japanese fiction and non-fiction. The books were provided by Toyota Corporation. Some of the 50 books of fiction received include:
Promenade of the Gods - Koji Suzuki
The Japanese attitudes presented in the book are interesting, from the formality at various encounters to how the police treat the kidnappings to the way the media reacts. Suzuki obviously also means to show how people look to fulfill their ambitions and dreams, from lackadaisical Shirow, unsure whether or not to pursue Miyuki, to his star employee, who just dreams of flying, to Miyuki, willing to perform ignominious sex acts because she can't imagine anything better; part of the (peculiar) fun of the novel is how Suzuki presents these quests for fulfillment. -"-The Complete Review “.a rewarding and enjoyable tale."--"Ken Haley"
Twinkle Twinkle - Kaori Ekuni
Lambda Lit Review: Simultaneously seductive and elusive...Ekuni serves up an array of subtly nuanced emotion. The Guardian: Bright and clear… (Twinkle Twinkle) is modern, charming, and thoroughly enjoyable. BUST Magazine: This book is simple. This book is a pearl...Twinkle Twinkle is totally earnest, and absolutely surprising." Book Description: This is a savvy novel dealing with city life, commodity culture, marriage, forgiveness, and acceptance.
Ashes - Kenzo Kitakata
Ashes is a fascinating look at the largely hidden world of the "yakuza," Japan's mafia." --Japan Visitor
"This yakuza fable reads like a treatment for a Takeshi Kitano film, and its aging mobster Tanaka evokes Beat's sullen screen ennui." - Mary Jacobi, The Village Voice
Discovering this book -- the author's first work to appear in English -- is to find a real gem… -- Bob Spear, BookSense 76 July/August 2003
Zero Over Berlin - Joh Sasaki, Hroko Yoda, Matt Alt
Zero Over Berlin is first and foremost an aviation novel. It is also a thrilling piece of historical fiction that presents the Asian geopolitics of the time with considerable flair.
The Guin Saga - Kaoru Kurimoto
"A rousing tale of intrepid heroes, horrid villains and wicked supernatural creatures." -"Publishers Weekly"
A swashbuckling fantasy . . . action is always center stage . . . dreamlike . . . intense." -"The Seattle Times
""This is classic fantasy at its best." -"Book Sense" (Fall 2003 Science Fiction and Fantasy Top Ten)
"Readers should be warned that once you start this journey, it will be nearly impossible to leave it unfinished." -" SFRevu"
"Japan's answer to "The Lord of the Rings,"" -"The Globe and Mail"
The Blade of the Courtesans - Keiichiro Ryu
In The Blade of the Courtesans, a young samurai by the name of Seichiro Matsunaga, trained in sword fighting by none other than the legendary samurai Musashi Miyamoto, finds himself in Yoshiwara (the pleasure quarters of old Tokyo), per Miyamoto's dying wishes. In Yoshiwara, Seichiro finds himself defending its denizens against what may be spies from the Yagyu Clan, including one young woman named Oshabu, whose story runs deeper than still water suggests.
The Blade of the Courtesans is at once a quiet ode to human liberties in the face of political warfare and edge-of-your-seat sword fighting, a Japanese counterpart to the romantic adventures of the medieval knights whose chivalry is rivaled only by their prowess at battle.
The Poison Ape: A Shinjuku Shark Novel - Arimasa Osawa and Deborah Iwabuchi
“Shinjuku Shark uses said mean streets as the backdrop for the equally gritty story of Detective Samejima, the ‘shark’ of the title, with the gangsters of Shinjuku as his prey. The series has sold like crazy in Japan and inspired a screen adaptation, and it’s not hard to see why—its pavement-level fascination with the grimy criminal underworld of Japan comes through on every page like weeds shoving through concrete.”
— theGline.com
March 10, 2009
New Books - New on the Shelf
Moscow Rules – Daniel Silva
Over the course of ten previous novels, Daniel Silva has established himself as one of the world’s finest writers of international intrigue and espionage— “a worthy successor to such legends as Frederick Forsyth and John le Carré” (Chicago Sun-Times)—and Gabriel Allon as “one of the most intriguing heroes of any thriller series” (The Philadelphia Inquirer).
Now the death of a journalist leads Allon to Russia, where he finds that, in terms of spy craft, even he has something to learn. He’s playing by Moscow rules now. This is not the grim, gray Moscow of Soviet times but a new Moscow, awash in oil wealth and choked with bulletproof Bentleys. It is a Moscow where power resides once more behind the walls of the Kremlin and where critics of the ruling class are ruthlessly silenced. A Moscow where a new generation of Stalinists is plotting to reclaim an empire lost and to challenge the global dominance of its old enemy, the United States.
The Gate House – Nelson DeMille
Fans of bestseller DeMille will welcome this sequel to The Gold Coast (1990), in which Susan Sutter, then the wife of tax attorney John Sutter, had a torrid affair with Frank Bellarosa, a powerful Mafia boss and the Sutters' neighbor on Long Island's tony Gold Coast, with fatal results for Bellarosa. After divorcing Susan, John sailed the world for three years, then built himself a new life in London. Now John has returned to the small gatehouse that was once part of his ex-wife's family estate, only to find Bellarosa's thuggish son, Anthony, living next door. In another coincidence, Susan has just reacquired the six-bedroom guest cottage where she and John lived as a married couple on her family's former property. Susan and John soon begin to explore an improbable reconciliation, even as they suspect she may be in Anthony's gun sights. The plot more than takes its time getting to its violent and predictable resolution, but DeMille devotees should have plenty of fun along the way. –Publishers Weekly
The Hour I First Believed – Wally Lamb
In his new novel, The Hour I First Believed, Lamb travels well beyond his earlier work and embodies in his fiction myth, psychology, family history stretching back many generations, and the questions of faith that lie at the heart of everyday life. The result is an extraordinary tour de force, at once a meditation on the human condition and an unflinching yet compassionate evocation of character.
Scarpetta – Patricia Cornwall
Leaving behind her private forensic pathology practice in Charleston, South Carolina, Kay Scarpetta accepts an assignment in New York City, where the NYPD has asked her to examine an injured man on Bellevue Hospital’s psychiatric prison ward. The handcuffed and chained patient, Oscar Bane, has specifically asked for her, and when she literally has her gloved hands on him, he begins to talk—and the story he has to tell turns out to be one of the most bizarre she has ever heard.