Nanny Returns

Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus. Nan revisits 721 Park, home of the moneyed but morally bankrupt Xs, and the boy she guiltily left behind in their inept care in this smart and sassy sequel to The Nanny Diaries. And though Nan has grown up a bit, married "Harvard Hottie" Ryan and traveled the world, the plight of the rich and stupid continues, as does Nan's new crusade to save former charge Grayer and his younger brother Stilton, renovate a crumbling East Harlem mansion and stick it out at a soulless Manhattan private school. Outcomes are deeply uncertain, though Nan is nothing if not a natural-born cheerleader: "I know what I'm worth. Because I care for these kids, I do, right down to my toes," she says of her young charges in and out of school. There's still one fear, however whether she'll ever be able to make the leap from nanny to mommy. McLaughlin and Kraus leave no dry eyes as they once again wield a razor-sharp wit that cuts down the most uppity mortals even as it lifts up their vulnerable children. You could safely bet your first born that this'll be another smash hit. (Check Catalog)

Churchill

by Paul Johnson: In this enthusiastic yet first-rate biography, veteran British historian Johnson (Modern Times) asserts that Winston Churchill (1874–1965) was the 20th century's most valuable figure: "No man did more to preserve freedom and democracy...." An ambitious, world-traveling soldier and bestselling author, Churchill was already famous on entering Parliament in 1899 and within a decade was working with Lloyd George to pass the great reforms of 1908–1911. As First Lord of the Admiralty, he performed brilliantly in preparing the navy for WWI, but blame—undeserved according to Johnson—for the catastrophic 1915 Dardanelles invasion drove him from office. Within two years, he was back at the top, where he remained until the Depression. Johnson delivers an adulatory account of Churchill's prescient denunciations of Hitler and heroics during the early days of WWII, and views later missteps less critically than other historians. He concludes that Churchill was a thoroughly likable great man with many irritating flaws but no nasty ones: he lacked malice, avoided grudges, vendettas and blame shifting, and quickly replaced enmity with friendship. Biographers in love with their subjects usually produce mediocre history, but Johnson, always self-assured as well as scholarly, has written another highly opinionated, entertaining work. -- Publishers Weekly. (Check Catalog)

A Good Fall

by Ha Jin. From National Book Award–winner Jin (Waiting) comes a new collection that focuses on Flushing, one of New York City's largest Chinese immigrant communities. With startling clarity, Jin explores the challenges, loneliness and uplift associated with discovering one's place in America. Many different generational perspectives are laid out, from the young male sweatshop-worker narrator of "The House Behind a Weeping Cherry," who lives in the same rooming-house as three prostitutes, to the grandfather of "Children as Enemies," who disapproves of his grandchildren's desires to Americanize their names. Anxiety and distrust plague many of Jin's characters, and while the desire for love and companionship is strong, economic concerns tend to outweigh all others. In "Temporary Love," Jin explores the inevitable complications of becoming a "wartime couple" or "men and women who, unable to bring their spouses to America, cohabit... to comfort each other and also to reduce living expenses." With piercing insight, Jin paints a vast, fascinating portrait of a neighborhood and a people in flux. - Publishers Weekly. (Check Catalog.)

The spirit level : why greater equality makes societies stronger

Richard G. Wilkinson. Wilkinson and Pickett make an eloquent case that the income gap between a nation's richest and poorest is the most powerful indicator of a functioning and healthy society. Amid the statistics that support their argument (increasing income disparity sees corresponding spikes in homicide, obesity, drug use, mental illness, anxiety, teenage pregnancies, high school dropouts-even incidents of playground bullying), the authors take an empathetic view of our ability to see beyond self-interest. While there are shades of Darwinism in the human hunt for status, there is evidence that the human brain-with its distinctively large neocortex-evolved the way it has because we were designed to be attentive to, depend on, and be depended on by others. Wilkinson and Pickett do not advocate one way or the other to close the equality gap. Government redistribution of wealth and market forces that create wealth can be equally effective, and the authors provide examples of both. How societies achieve equality, they argue, is less important than achieving it in the first place. Felicitous prose and fascinating findings make this essential reading. --Publisher's Weekly. (Check Catalog)

Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky

by Chris Greenhalgh. In 1913 Paris, designer Coco Chanel attends the premier of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. Fast-forward seven years, and the wealthy couturiere invites the exiled Russian composer and his family to spend a summer in her villa. The impoverished visitors rely on Coco's financial support, even for Catherine's medical care, and soon Coco's energy, beauty, and unconventionality draw Igor into an affair that both energizes and unsettles him. In his debut, screenwriter Greenhalgh excels at depicting not only the physical and emotional passion that connects Igor and Coco but also the creative drive that fuels their professional achievements. Coco's search for a distinctive perfume parallels Igor's efforts to set down the complex music in his mind. A brief chronology identifies the intersections in this duo's professional and personal lives in the 50 years following their little-known affair. Verdict The January 2010 U.S. release of the movie, adapted by Greenhalgh from his novel, will undoubtedly garner interest, especially among readers who enjoyed the recent film Coco Before Chanel, but this book stands on its own as a first-rate choice for fans of historical romance. --Library Journal. (Check catalog)

Simplicity parenting : using the extraordinary power of less to raise calmer, happier, and more secure kids

by Kim John Payne. Waldorf educator and school consultant Payne believes our families are being consumed by too much stuff, too many choices, too much information. Our society's collective stresses are interfering with our children's sense of security that allows for an emerging sense of self. Beginning with the home environment and covering such topics as toys, food, sleep, schedules, and sports, Payne persuasively shows how less is more. He wisely reminds us that in parenting, it is the spaces between the activities that relationships are built. This information is not new but perhaps sold under the banner of "simplicity" we will finally take heed. --Library Journal. (Check Catalog)

Songs for the missing

by Stewart O'Nan. O'Nan proves that uncertainty can be the worst punishment of all in this unflinching look at an unraveling family. In the small town of Kingsville, Ohio, 18-year-old Kim Larsen--popular and bound for college in the fall--disappears on her way to work one afternoon. Not until the next morning do her parents, Ed and Fran, and 15-year-old sister, Lindsay, realize Kim is missing. The lead detective on the case tells the Larsens that since Kim is an adult, she could, if the police find her, ask that the police not disclose her location to her parents. When Kim's car later turns up in nearby Sandusky, Ed, desperate to help, joins the official search. Meanwhile, Fran stays home putting all her energy into community fund-raisers, and Lindsay struggles to maintain a normal life. Through shifting points of view, chiefly those of the shell-shocked parents and the moody Lindsay, O'Nan raises the suspense while conveying the sheer torture of what it's like not to know what has happened to a loved one. When--if ever--do you stop looking? --Publisher's Weekly. (Check catalog)

Talking about detective fiction

P.D. James. One of the most widely read and respected writers of detective fiction, James (The Private Patient) explores the genre's origins (focusing primarily on Britain) and its lasting appeal. James cites Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone, published in 1868, as the first detective novel and its hero, Sergeant Cuff, as one of the first literary examples of the professional detective (modeled after a real-life Scotland Yard inspector). As for Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, James argues that their staying power has as much to do with the gloomy London atmosphere, "the enveloping miasma of mystery and terror," as with the iconic sleuth. Devoting much of her time to writers in the Golden Age of British detective fiction (essentially between the two world wars), James dissects the work of four heavyweights: Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Margery Allingham and Ngaio Marsh. Though she's more appreciative of Marsh and Allingham (declaring them "novelists, not merely fabricators of ingenious puzzles"), James acknowledges not only the undeniable boost these women gave to the genre but their continuing appeal. For crime fiction fans, this master class from one of the leading practitioners of the art will be a real treat. --Publisher's weekly. (Check Catalog)

Perfect timing

by Jill Mansell. Mansell's Brit chick lit invasion continues with this enjoyable romp that begins with Poppy Dunbar meeting a charismatic stranger at her bachelorette party. Next thing you know, she's abandoning her intended at the altar and heading to London, but not before she learns that her dad isn't her biological father. In London, she shares a flat with spoiled but desperately insecure Claudia and roguish artist Caspar French, and sets out to find her mystery man and her real father. Soon, though, Poppy learns that getting what you want isn't the same as getting what you need. While undoubtedly by-the-numbers, the story is elevated by strong characters; Poppy and Caspar in particular, and even Claudia, who could so easily be a cliche, earn the reader's sympathy. The end result is thoroughly enjoyable. --Publisher's Weekly. (Check Catalog)

On thin ice : the changing world of the polar bear

by Richard Ellis. Prolific natural history author Ellis (Tuna: A Love Story) focuses on the history and impact of human contact with the polar bear from early Arctic explorations to the present. After describing hunting, mating, and hibernation habits, Ellis discusses the bear's place in the culture of native peoples and its later exploitation as large game, zoo animals, and performing circus animals. Addressing global warming and melting polar ice, which threaten to drive the bear into extinction, Ellis expands on the politics of polar bear protection and preservation. Verdict Well documented with 26 pages of cited references, Ellis's book offers a vast amount of detailed information essential for students and academics researching the polar bear. However, On Thin Ice may be dense for recreational readers. --Library Journal. (Check catalog)

Sunflowers

by Sheramy D. Bundrick. In a knockout debut novel, art historian Bundrick (Music and Image in Classical Athens) brings Vincent Van Gogh's paintings and personal story to vibrant life. While Bundrick takes many liberties (recorded in an author's note) in her fictionalized account of Van Gogh's affair with her narrator, fille de maison Rachel Courteau, she gives Rachel such a believable voice that the proceedings seem genuine. At 35, Van Gogh meets lovable spitfire Rachel while surreptitiously sketching her in a garden. Having taken refuge in an Arles brothel after the death of her parents, Rachel greets Van Gogh as a customer not long after, and soon feelings blossom between them. Visiting friend Paul Gauguin and the cloud of Van Gogh's madness undercut the couple's bliss, as do financial troubles and Rachel's life at the maison, where she's kept a virtual prisoner. While infusing well-known historical moments (like Van Gogh's infamous self-mutilation) with vivid details, humanizing Van Gogh and putting his famous works in context, Bundrick generates an impressive volume of suspense, delight and heartbreak. --Publisher's Weekly. (Check Catalog)

Why my third husband will be a dog : the amazing adventures of an ordinary woman

by Lisa Scottloline. Brief, punchy slices of daily life originally published in her Philadelphia Inquirer column allow novelist Scottoline (Everywhere That Mary Went) to dish on men, mothers, panty lines and, especially, dogs. Somewhere in her mid-50s, twice divorced (from men she calls Thing One and Thing Two) and living happily in the burbs with her recent college-graduate daughter and a passel of pets, Scottoline maintains a frothy repartee with the reader as she discusses ways she would redecorate the White House ("Cupholders for all!"), relies on her built-in Guilt-O-Meter to get dreaded tasks done (a broken garbage disposal rates only a 1, while accumulating late fees at the library rates a 7) and contemplates, while making a will, who will get her cellulite. For some quick gags, Scottoline brings in various family members: mother Mary, a whippersnapper at 4'11" who lives in South Beach with her gay son, Scottoline's brother Frank, and possesses a coveted back-scratcher; and her Harvard-educated daughter, Francesca. Plunging into home improvement frenzy, constructing a chicken coop, figuring out mystifying insurance policies and how not to die at the gym are some of the conundrums this ordinary woman faces with verve and wicked humor, especially how her beloved dogs have contentedly replaced the romance in her life. --Publisher's Weekly. (Check Catalog)

New York : the novel

by Edward Rutherford. Rutherfurd, best-selling author of the novel London (1997), has penned a lush, lavish tribute to the Big Apple. Sweeping in scope, this fictional biography of New York City stretches back in time to the city's origins as an Indian fishing village coveted by Dutch settlers to the aftermath of 9/11. As he marches through the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Industrial Revolution, two world wars, multiple waves of immigration, and the phoenix-like reemergence of a downtrodden New York as the vital center of the economic, social, and cultural universe at the end of the twentieth century, he interweaves the fascinating stories of a multitude of characters, all of whom were profoundly affected by the evolution of the largest and most complex American city. New York's growing pains, its tragedies and triumphs, are reflected in the experiences of a range of ordinary and extraordinary citizens from varying backgrounds, with a wide spectrum of ambitions and expectations. Although it is hard to do justice to a city with such a throbbing pulse, Rutherfurd's homage is compulsively readable. --Booklist. (Check Catalog)

Reading in the brain : the science and evolution of a human invention

by Stanislas Deheane. What's behind the invention of reading? Well, for starters, brain plasticity, the evolution of neurocircuits capable of processing visual with audio information, and the expansion of the prefrontal cortex leading to a behavior described as consciousness. The evolutionary infusion of these elements along with a novel hijacking from their evolved use intersects with human culture and incites a revolution: a culture with texts and brains that read those texts. All this drives neuroscientist Dehaene's (experimental cognitive psychology, CollEge de France) thesis that the invention of reading has less to do with constructs, such as alphabets, words, and sentence structures, than the mechanics and limits of our brains. Simply, our brains didn't evolve to read, but they are flexible enough to learn new tricks. Dehaene supports his thesis with references to a smorgasbord of research, traversing such subjects as anatomy, reading mechanics, primate evolution, history of linguistics, literacy, dyslexia, and brain symmetry. VERDICT This will appeal to a broad audience interested in the cognitive sciences, reading, and linguistics. Some chapters will attract those who teach reading and languages and parents of children with reading disabilities. --Library Journal. (Check Catalog)

The Paris vendetta : a novel

by Steve Berry. In Berry's latest page-turner after The Charlemagne Pursuit, Cotton Malone discovers a Secret Service agent breaking into his Copenhagen bookstore. The agent, Sam Collins, was sent by Cotton's friend Henrik Thorvaldsen to seek his help in getting revenge against the person Henrik has discovered to be responsible for his son's death. The guilty party has ties to a secret organization that plans to take down the global economy with help from a secret Napoleon carried to his grave. A race to solve historical riddles while staying alive ensues. Verdict Berry has written another amazing blend of suspense and history. Fans will love it, and for newcomers it's the perfect place to start. With the September release of Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol, savvy readers looking for more along those lines cannot go wrong with Cotton Malone. This will be Berry's biggest seller yet. --Library Journal. (Check Catalog)

The imperial cruise : a secret history of empire and war

by James Bradley. Bradley (Flags of Our Fathers) has written a compelling book on a forgotten diplomatic mission. In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt sent Secretary of War William Howard Taft on a cruise to Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, China, and Korea, a diplomatic mission that also included Roosevelt's daughter, Alice. The mission was to solidify a secret U.S.-Japanese agreement to allow Japan to expand into Korea and China, with the irrepressible Alice distracting reporters. This agreement, resulting in the Treaty of Portsmouth, ultimately helped spark not only World War II in the Pacific but the 1949 Chinese Revolution and the Korean War. Bradley describes Taft and Roosevelt as firm believers in the White Man's Burden: since Japan embraced Western culture, Roosevelt wanted it to spread that culture to the rest of Asia. However, their policies backfired because anti-American feelings grew in China, the Philippines, and Korea as America turned its back on these countries, while America and Europe did not check Japanese aggression. Ultimately, Bradley reminds readers in well-cited detail of Roosevelt's often overlooked racist attitudes. Bradley's writing style will appeal to the general reader, with its good mix of letters, newspapers, and sound secondary sources. --Library Journal. (Check Catalog)

Shades of blue

Karen Kingsbury. The author of more than 40 bestselling fiction titles whose combined sales hover near 15 million, Kingsbury takes her loyal faith-based fans on an exploration of the emotional and spiritual effects of abortion. Interestingly, the author frames the story through a young adult male character, Brad Cutler, an up-and-coming ad agency executive; he revisits a former relationship in which he encouraged his pregnant girlfriend to have an abortion. Years later, Brad continues to feel guilty, and as he readies to marry his fiancee, a new ad campaign for baby clothes has immobilized him. Emma, the former girlfriend, also cannot move past what happened. As the pressure mounts, Brad travels home and reunites with Emma to find closure, but what he discovers in the encounter is far more different than he hoped or expected. Kingsbury tackles a touchy, difficult topic, yet in her characteristic style, her gentle approach wins the day. It will also overcome any reader resistance, no matter what position one takes on this volatile issue. (Check catalog)

A truth universally acknowledged : 34 great writers on why we read Jane Austen

As Carson, a doctoral candidate in French at Yale University, explains in the introduction to this compilation of 33 essays on Jane Austen and her work, "The essayists.tell us why they read Austen.[and] explain the phenomenon of Austen's permanent popularity." Some of the essays are newly composed by contemporary academics and authors including A.S. Byatt, Amy Bloom, and David Lodge. Other contributors are venerable authors and literary critics including E.M. Forster, Somerset Maugham, and Lionel Trilling. In a powerful piece, Anna Quindlen explains that Jane Austen "wrote not of war and peace, but of men, money, and marriage, the battlefield for women of her day, and surely, of our own." Quindlen examines Pride and Prejudice but cautions that too much literary analysis obscures the most important element of the novel, that "it is a pure joy to read." Amy Heckerling reveals how she drew inspiration from Emma to create the 1995 film Clueless. Verdict Although fuller documentation for the source of each essay would have been helpful, devoted Austen fans will undoubtedly find this collection informative and thoroughly entertaining. --Library Journal (Check Catalog)