Homer & Langley : a novel

E. L. Doctorow. Following the panoramic scope of The March (2005), Doctorow creates a microcosmic and mythic tale of compulsion, alienation, and dark metamorphosis inspired by the famously eccentric Collyer brothers of New York City. Born to wealth in the 1880s, Homer and Langley became recluses and hoarders barricaded inside their Fifth Avenue brownstone, which was crammed with more than 100 tons of moldering junk. Altering facts and tinkering with time, Doctorow has Homer, who is blind, narrate with deadpan humor and spellbinding precision. Homer is devoted to music, and his brother is devoted to him, but Langley, off-kilter after a gas attack in the Great War, is beyond strange. He rebuilds a Model T in the dining room, collects everything from pianos to army surplus, and amasses newspapers to assemble a "forevermore" edition, Doctorow's sly enactment of the fall of print and the rise of the Internet, a realm as chaotic and trash-filled as the Collyer mansion. Over the decades, people come and goûûlovers, a gangster, a jazz musician, a flock of hippies, but finally Homer and Langley are irrevocably alone, prisoners in their fortress of rubbish, trapped in their warped form of brotherly love. Wizardly Doctorow presents an ingenious, haunting odyssey that unfolds within a labyrinth built out of the detritus of war and excess. -- Booklist. (Check Catalog)

Hadrian and the triumph of Rome

by Anthony Everitt. This account of the Roman Empire at its height completes Everitt's trilogy of Roman biographies, which began with Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome's Greatest Politician (about the fall of the Roman Republic) and continued with Augustus: The Life of Rome's First Emperor (about the establishment of Roman rule by one man). Here, Everitt composes a skillfully analyzed and well-researched narrative of the life of an emperor who excelled as both a soldier and an administrator. Despite his inability to win over the Roman Senate, his self-congratulatory personality, and his habit of discarding friends on a whim, Hadrian was a poet and painter who Hellenized the Roman Empire and halted the wars of conquest that expanded the empire, preferring to manage the territory already conquered. Hadrian was, in Everitt's words, "a good Nero." VERDICT This excellent, readable biography is highly recommended to both lay readers and scholars interested in ancient, Western, and Roman history.—Library Journal (Check Catalog)

The man who loved books too much : the true story of a thief, a detective, and a world of literary obsession

by Allison Hoover Bartlett. Rare bookstore owner Ken Saunders relishes catching book thieves, and his favorite target is John Gilkey, a repeat offender who has spent multiple stints in jail for using stolen credit card numbers and bad checks to purchase books estimated to be worth together more than $100,000. In this intriguing account, journalist Bartlett takes readers behind the scenes at antiquarian book fairs and rare bookstores, where sellers are always on the lookout for thieves. Bartlett first meets Gilkey when he is serving time near San Francisco. Over several meetings, Gilkey explains that he feels he builds his image through books, proving himself a man of taste, knowledge, and affluence. VERDICT This excellent tale of people's intimate, complex, and sometimes dangerous relationships to books will be relished by readers, writers, and collectors who are passionate about books as well as fans of true crime stories. --Library Journal. (Check Catalog)

Blood safari.

by Deon Meyer. When Emma le Roux, a wealthy Cape Town advertising consultant, sees a TV photo of a man wanted for murder, she believes it is her brother, who disappeared 20 years earlier in Kruger National Park. After barely eluding three armed thugs who invade her house, she hires Lemer, a professional bodyguard. In ten years he's never lost a client, so when Emma is shot and left in a coma, Lemer seeks revenge. This leads to encounters in the veld with game rangers, more deaths, and angry police and officials in high places who go to extremes to prevent his discovering decades-old secrets. Like fellow South African crime writer James McClure, Meyer (Heart of the Hunter) is skilled at creating memorable black and white characters while also bluntly depicting the violent past that affects modern South Africa. In his fifth novel, he draws on his experience as a reporter to present striking characters and vivid African settings and to provide an honest look at South Africa's troubled political history. VERDICT Full of page-turning tension, this will strongly appeal to mystery and suspense fans seeking intelligent, hard-boiled action. Readers who like their crime fiction in exotic locations may also enjoy this excellent thriller. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/09; a best seller in South Africa and Germany, Blood Safari won the Inaugural ATKV (South Africa) Prize for Best Suspense Fiction. —Library Journal (Check catalog)

True compass : a memoir

by Edward M. Kennedy. In this landmark autobiography, five years in the making, Senator Edward M. Kennedy tells his extraordinary personal story--of his legendary family, politics, and fifty years at the center of national events. (Check Catalog)

Spooner

by Pete Dexter. Warren Spooner bears an uncanny resemblance to his creator, National Book Award winner Dexter. Like Dexter, Spooner was raised in Georgia, worked as a newspaper reporter in Philadelphia, and was almost beaten to death in a bar fight. More conclusively, Spooner is also the author of a revisionist Western titled Deadwood (1986). Dexter follows his alter ego from childhood to semiretirement on Whidbey Island in Washington. This hilarious fictional memoir has little structure or plot and even less romance. Spooner devotes entire chapters to his favorite dogs but manages only a few dismissive sentences for the shadowy "Mrs. Spooner." Bar fights, bad divorces, car repossessions—the man's life is a 500-page country-and-western song. The glue that holds it all together is the relationship between Spooner and his stepfather, a cashiered naval officer aptly named Calmer. VERDICT There is too much material here, but it is difficult to see where it could be cut. Dexter's prose is razor sharp, and every page has at least one zinger. The Georgia section in particular will remind readers of the great Harry Crews. --Library journal (Check Catalog)

Remembering Albany : heritage on the Hudson

by Don Rittner. The History of Albany, New York, spans more than four hundred years and has left an indelible mark on the story of America. However, the city's legacy is also peppered with charming tales about nostalgic diner devotion, a "giant" hoax and the origins of the "Yankee Doodle" ditty. In this collection, local author and columnist Don Rittner delights with the best stories from his column "Heritage on the Hudson." From the city's earliest days as Mohican and Iroquois territory to it's heyday as an important crossroads for trading and river transportation to a French toast debacle, Rittner offers a delightful perspective of the history and culture of this capital city. (Check Catalog)

The defector

by Daniel Silva. Silva's thrillers bring readers the best of all spy worlds. The action roars along, touching down in both glamorous settings and godforsaken outposts. However, unlike conventional spy novels, which tend to throw so many locations at readers that the overall effect is like glancing at an airport's postings of arrivals and departures, Silva keeps a steady center with his intriguing hero, Gabriel Allon. Allon, whose parents survived the Holocaust, is an artist and specialist in restoring Renaissance paintings. He is also a spy and trained assassin for Israel's Special Operations Unit, distinguished for carrying out the most secretive, perilous, and exacting missions. Allon is conflicted over what he does but driven to do it nonetheless. This is the ninth in the series and the sequel to last year's Moscow Rules, which explored the murky world of Russian arms dealing. This time Ivan Kharkov, an oligarch and arms dealer, seeks revenge for Allon's costly discoveries. The first step in his revenge plan, according to Israeli intelligence, is the kidnapping of a Russian defector in London (which Silva cites as a Russian city). Silva juxtaposes scenes of great beauty, as when he details the Umbrian villa in which Allon does his restoration work, with shuddering scenes of violence. For readers who crave both deft characterization and old-fashioned, spy-novel action. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

Hope for animals and their world : how endangered species are being rescued from the brink

by Jane Goodall. Renowned primatologist Goodall's latest book is an inspiring compilation of wildlife conservation success stories, collected during her extensive global travels (she is often on the road more than 300 days a year). These vignettes represent scientific adventure at its best, highlighting the amazing diversity of species under threat—from the familiar California condor and giant panda to the lesser-known Bermuda petrel and ploughshare tortoise—and the extraordinary passion of the people working to save them. Goodall's tone strikes a delicate balance between her alarm over the stark realities currently facing wildlife and her irrepressible optimism for the future. VERDICT Occasionally the writing becomes repetitive and a series of anecdotal "Field Notes" contributed by Maynard, Cincinnati Zoo director and host of NPR's The 90-Second Naturalist, feel tacked on. But the remarkable enthusiasm of the conservationists profiled in the book easily outshines these minor flaws. Readers interested in wildlife, ecology, and armchair travel will enjoy. --Library Journal (Check Catalog)

In other rooms, other wonders

by Daniyal Mueenuddin. In eight beautifully crafted, interconnected stories, Mueenuddin explores the cutthroat feudal society in which a rich Lahore landowner is entrenched. A complicated network of patronage undergirds the micro-society of servants, families and opportunists surrounding wealthy patron K.K. Harouni. In Nawabdin Electrician, Harounis indispensable electrician, Nawab, excels at his work and at home, raising 12 daughters and one son by virtue of his cunning and ingenuity—qualities that allow him to triumph over entrenched poverty and outlive a robber bent on stealing his livelihood. Women are especially vulnerable without the protection of family and marriage ties, as the protagonist of Saleema learns: a maid in the Harouni mansion who cultivates a love affair with an older servant, Saleema is left with a baby and without recourse when he must honor his first family and renounce her. Similarly, the women who become lovers of powerful men, as in the title story and in Provide, Provide, fall into disgrace and poverty with the death of their patrons. An elegant stylist with a light touch, Mueenuddin invites the reader to a richly human, wondrous experience. --Publisher's Weekly (Check catalog)

Pink brain, blue brain : how small differences grow into troublesome gaps--and what we can do about it

by Lisa Eliot. Professor of neuroscience at Rosalind Franklin University, Eliot (What's Going On in There?) offers a refreshingly reasonable and reassuring look at recent alarming studies about sex differences in determining the behavior of children. Her levelheaded approach recognizes assertions by the nature versus nurture advocates such as Michael Gurian, Leonard Sax, Louann Brizendine—e.g., boys lag behind girls in early development, are more risk taking and spatially adept, while girls are hardwired for verbal communication and feeling empathy—yet underscores how small the differences really are and what parents can do to resist the harmful stereotyping that grows more entrenched over time. Eliot revisits much of the data showing subtle differences in boy-girl sensory processing, memory and language circuits, brain functioning, and neural speed and efficiency, using clever charts and graphs of her own. However, she emphasizes most convincingly that the brain is marvelously plastic and can remodel itself continually to new experiences, meaning that the child comes into the world with its genetic makeup, but actually growing a boy from those XY cells or a girl from XX cells requires constant interaction with the environment. At the end of each chapter, she lists ways to nip early troubles in the bud—i.e., for boys, language and literacy enrichment; for girls, stimulating movement, visual and spatial awareness. Dense, scholarly but accessible, Eliot's work demonstrates a remarkable clarity of purpose.--Publisher's weekly (Check Catalog)

Sidney Sheldon's Mistress of the game

by Tilly Bagshawe. Gossip Girl meets Dynasty in Bagshawe's compelling sequel to the late Sydney Sheldon's Master of the Game (1982), which chronicled the sticky power struggles of the Maxwells, America's richest family. A new generation of Maxwells includes Eve, an evil temptress brutally scarred by her controlling cosmetic surgeon husband, and her identical twin sister, Alexandra, an angel in comparison. Alexandra dies giving birth to a daughter, Lexi, while Eve survives the birth of her son, Max. Eve plots to take back the family's business empire, rearing Max to hate and, at age 10, kill his father. Lexi's father, Peter, and her big brother, Robbie, surround Lexi with love, but she's traumatized at age eight when she's kidnapped and raped. Years pass as Lexi and Max square off, while across the ocean the most famous barrister in London embarks on a quest that will eventually lead him to Lexi, but not without many shocking twists. --Publisher's Weekly (Check Catalog)

Shop class as soulcraft : an inquiry into the value of work

by Matthew B. Crawford Philosopher and motorcycle mechanic Crawford presents a fascinating, important analysis of the value of hard work and manufacturing. He reminds readers that in the 1990s vocational education (shop class) started to become a thing of the past as U.S. educators prepared students for the "knowledge revolution." Thus, an entire generation of American "thinkers" cannot, he says, do anything, and this is a threat to manufacturing, the fundamental backbone of economic development. Crawford makes real the experience of working with one's hands to make and fix things and the importance of skilled labor. His philosophical background is evident as he muses on how to live a pragmatic, concrete life in today's ever more abstract world and issues a clarion call for reviving trade and skill development classes in American preparatory schools. The result is inspired social criticism and deep personal exploration. Crawford's work will appeal to fans of Robert Pirsig's classic Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and should be required reading for all educational leaders. Highly recommended; Crawford's appreciation for various trades may intrigue readers with white collar jobs who wonder at the end of each day what they really accomplished. —Library Journal (Check Catalog)

Of bees and mist : a novel

by Erick Setiawan. SetiawanÖs debut novel spans 30 years in this heartfelt magical-realist story of two rival families living in a mystical world that transcends both time and place. Meridia is a lonely child; a mysterious incident when she was an infant has torn apart her parents, leaving them sharing nothing but a cold, mist-filled home. Not until Meridia meets the charmer Daniel, at age 16, does she finally feel loved. They marry and move in with his family and at first Meridia loves her life in DanielÖs home. But she quickly learns of matriarch EvaÖs deceitful, manipulative ways and her power, both natural and supernatural, which she uses to control her family. When Meridia rebels against Eva, finding unexpected support from her parents, the rivalry solidifies and a lifelong battle begins. As time passes, Meridia faces heartbreak and betrayal, becoming a strong, fiercely independent woman. While filled with fortune-tellers, ghosts and unexplained phenomena, the relationships between the various characters are true to life so that fans of fantasy and fiction lovers alike are sure to enjoy this magical tale. --Publisher's weekly. (Check Catalog)

When the tear won't fall : one man's journey through the intimate struggles of manhood and fatherhood

by Kenneth Braswell. Local author and Director of the NYS Fatherhood Initiative, Ken Braswell, has presented a moving account of fatherhood in his book Fatherhood: When the Tear Won't Fall. "As one who also grew up without his father, I can honestly say that Kenneth Braswell and I are kindred spirits committed to doing the sacred work of connecting fathers to their children-heart to heart. When The Tear Won t Fall is a compelling story of healing and hope that is sorely needed in a nation where 1 out of 3 children 2 out of 3 in the African American community still grow up in father absent homes. --Roland Warren Thank you, dear brother Kenneth for showing up--and using your light and your journey to wake us up. This work is necessary. --Terrie M. Williams .These are sage words. This is probably the first day I have just taken off in 3 years. I've spent the whole day reading your book. I do not know if I have ever heard this voice before. The voice of a thoughtful caring young man and premature father doing the best he can and simply overwhelmed by the lack of experience and missteps, which are inevitable given the lack of counsel. Not malicious, not a perpetrator, it is really, really excellent. This book needs to get out. --Dr. Ronald MincyThank you, dear brother Kenneth for showing up--and using your light and your journey to wake us up. This work is necessary. --Terrie M. Williams. (Check catalog)

Sworn to silence

by Linda Castillo. This debut mystery introduces Police Chief Kate Burkholder of Painters Mill, OH. Kate grew up in that Amish community but abandoned her heritage after a traumatic event in her teen years. Now she's back, using her Amish background to navigate between the two factions in the community. Her hard-won equanimity is shaken when the body of a young woman is found. The murder appears to be nearly identical to a series of killings from 16 years ago, though Kate knows that it can't be the same person. As successive murders follow, she is forced to walk a tightrope between running a good investigation and protecting herself and her family. Sworn marks Castillo's move from romantic suspense to straight mystery, and judging by this novel, the move is a good one. Though the ending feels a bit rushed and serial killers abound in crime fiction today, this is very well done. The small-town setting, complicated relationships among the inhabitants, and the strong but battle-scarred protagonist bring Julia Spencer-Fleming's series to mind. --Library Journal (Check Catalog)

Half moon: Henry Hudson and the voyage that redrew the map of the New World

by Doug Hunter. Although not the first mariner to explore North America, Henry Hudson (1565-1611) left a powerful legacy, vividly described in this richly detailed biography 400 years after his journey up what became the Hudson River. Canadian historian Hunter (God's Mercies: Rivalry, Betrayal, and the Dream of Discovery) reminds readers that 16th- and 17th-century European entrepreneurs remained obsessed with finding a shortcut to Asia. An experienced English seaman, Hudson was hired by the Dutch East India Company in 1609 to sail east above Russia. Having already failed at that route, Hudson departed with other ideas. He quickly found his way blocked by ice, but instead of returning to Holland sailed west across the Atlantic, eventually stopping near Manhattan and sailing up his eponymous river as far as present-day Albany. Hunter has clearly immersed himself in the period, producing a meticulous account of Hudson's three months in the New World. Readers may prefer to skim precise descriptions of his navigational difficulties, but few will resist the colorful personal conflicts, tortuous politics and alternately friendly and vicious encounters between Europeans and Native Americans. --Publishers Weekly (Check Catalog)

After you : a novel

by Julie Buxbaum. When Ellie's lifelong best friend, Lucy, is murdered on a London street in front of her eight-year-old daughter, Sophie, Ellie drops everything-career and husband (especially husband)-and flies to England to nurse Sophie back to emotional health. Sophie has been rendered mute since her mother's death, and her father provides no comfort, taking refuge at work and the local pubs. Through nightly immersions in the magical realm in The Secret Garden, Ellie is able to cajole Sophie back into the real world, but the child's healing can't come soon enough to suit Ellie's husband, Phillip. Still reeling from the death of their first child, the couple's relationship was already strained when Ellie fled to London. Now, as she confronts her multiple losses, Ellie struggles to discover what her heart needs most of all. Buxbaum avoids the obvious tear-jerking effects such tragedies can produce, gracefully capturing the phenomenon of paralyzing loss with searing poignancy in her portrayal of heartbreakingly precocious Sophie. --Booklist. (Check Catalog)

The end of overeating : taking control of the insatiable American appetite

by David A. Kessler. Kessler surveys the world of modern industrial food production and distribution as reflected in both restaurants and grocery stores. To his chagrin, he finds that the system foists on the American public foods overloaded with fats, sugars, and salt. Each of these elements, consumed in excess, has been linked to serious long-term health problems. Kessler examines iconic foods such as Cinnabon and Big Macs, all of which have skilled marketing machines promoting consumption. Such nutritionally unbalanced foods propel people who already tend to eat more than mere physical need might otherwise warrant into uncontrolled behavior patterns of irrational eating. These persistent psychological and sensory stimuli lead to what Kessler terms "conditioned hypereating," which he believes is a disease rather than a failure of willpower. There is hope, however. Kessler identifies the cues that lead to overeating and offers some simple, practical tools to help control one's impulses. --Booklist (Check Catalog)