Feed your pet right : the authoritative guide to feeding your dog and cat

 by Marion Nestle. Dog and cat owners encounter a dizzying array of choices and confusing labels when shopping for pet foods in supermarkets. They will welcome the information Nestle (nutrition, New York Univ.; Pet Food Politics) and Nesheim (nutrition, emeritus, Cornell Univ.) obtained from their research and firsthand experience. Readers learn what pets are supposed to eat (dogs are omnivores; cats are carnivores) and the scientific standards and government regulations that led to the development of commercial pet food. Owners are guided through the many food choices, including dry, canned, wet, and semimoist foods; products called "premium," "all natural," "prescription diet," and "hairball control"; and more unconventional diets, like raw, vegetarian, and home cooked. After discussing various foods and nutrients, they conclude with specific and sensible recommendations for pet owners, the industry, and the government. VERDICT Filled with useful information, this well-written guide is the pet nutrition counterpart to Nestle's human nutrition guide, What To Eat. Recommended for all pet owners. --Library Journal. (Check Catalog)

Learning to lose

 by David Trueba. In this new work by novelist/screenwriter Trueba, which won the 2009 Critics Award, much of the background is supplied by the twilight world of Spain's illegal aliens and the international politics of soccer. Ariel, a soccer player from Argentina who watches movies with subtitles and even visits the Prado Museum in his adopted city of Madrid, hits Sylvia with his car on her 16th birthday, injuring her leg. Even as the two become an item, Sylvia watches the lives of her father, Lorenzo, and grandfather Leandro unravel. Her father, abandoned by Sylvia's mother and worn out and overwhelmed, has had his field of action so reduced that the only woman he can find to replace his wife is someone he meets by chance in the stairwell of his tenement. Grandfather Leandro is a weakling sustained by the goodness of his wife, Aurora. But now that Aurora is dying, Leandro consorts with the prostitute Osembe and brings about his financial ruin. Verdict A sparkling intellectual tapestry of youthful exuberance and decrepit old age, kindness and stupidity, and extravagant and abandoned dreams. --Library Journal (Check catalog)

Selling the fountain of youth : how the anti-aging industry made a disease out of getting old--and made billions

 by Arlene Weintraub. This hard-boiled expose probes not serious antiaging research but the hucksterism in one seamy corner of the longevity industry: the booming field of hormone replacement therapy, whose physician-entrepreneurs prescribe human growth hormone, testosterone, and a medley of female reproductive hormones to help oldsters build muscle mass, restore libido, and go surfing. Weintraub, a former senior writer for Business Week, portrays the hormone replacement sector as a cesspool of unproven claims, unacknowledged side-effects, and marketing scams. It's also a zoo of colorful quacks, presided over by actress Suzanne Somers, author of best-selling alternative medicine treatises. Weintraub mixes acute reportage with a censorious tone; she deplores the notion that old age is a disease. Weintraub makes a good case that hormone therapies are useless, but she will likely not quell the hopes of enthusiasts. --Library Journal. (Check catalog)

The lovers : a novel

 by Vendela Vida. Is it wise to return to the scene of your honeymoon after the sudden death of your spouse? That's what Yvonne, a seemingly sensible history teacher, decides to do in Vida's polished and unnerving third novel. Founding coeditor of The Believer, winner of the Kate Chopin Writing Award, and coauthor of the screenplay for Away We Go (2009), Vida has created a brilliant, topsy-turvy, twenty-first-century variation on E. M. Forster's Passage to India. Dodging her adult children, the mismatched twins glossy Matthew and rehab-veteran Aurelia, Yvonne, in deep shock, rents a fancy house on the coast of Turkey built by the landlord for his mistress. Yvonne is befriended by Özlem, the landlord's aggressively inquisitive ex-wife, and becomes attached to Ahmet, a boy who collects and sells seashells. As she tries to adjust to widowhood while navigating perplexing social situations and painful memories, things go disastrously wrong. Vida creates an atmosphere at once molten and chilling as she deftly exposes. --Booklist (Check catalog)

Through a dog's eyes

 by Jennifer Arnold. Arnold, founder and executive director of Canine Assistants, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing service dogs for people with disabilities, educates and inspires in this transformative guide to training and celebrating service animals. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at age 16, Arnold was encouraged by her father to start an organization devoted to helping people with physical disabilities. Now after 20 years of dog training, she shares her methodology and stories of canine intelligence, sensitivity, language comprehension, and prescience bordering on telepathy. She offers shining examples of the heroism of service dogs, from anticipating seizures to resetting a ventilator switch. Along the way, she emphasizes choice-based, positive-reinforcement-only teaching methods and shares valuable insights that every dog owner should know. Engagingly written with a perfect balance of science and observation, this book-soon to be a PBS one hour special and series-is a worthy tribute to our canine friends. --Publishers Weekly (Check Catalog)

Red Hook Road : a novel

 by Ayelet Waldman. Waldman's startling premise a newly married couple dies in an automobile accident en route to their reception sets the scene for this searing, soul-searching examination of human emotions and reactions that successfully avoids drifting into melodrama. After golden couple Becca Copaken and John Tetherly die, the impact of the tragedy is examined from the points of view of their two radically different families. While Becca's well-heeled parents are gradually torn apart by the insular nature of their individual mourning processes, John's stoic working class mother, unable to afford the luxury of wallowing in grief, copes, as she has always done, by working hard on the tasks at hand. When Becca's younger sister and John's younger brother turn to each other for solace, it is unclear whether or not their relationship has a chance of surviving outside the scope of the devastation that initially brought them together. These individual narrative threads are neatly tied together over the course of four summers on the starkly beautiful coast of Maine, where the New York Copakens own a summer home and the native Tetherlys live year-round. Waldman utilizes a lovely musical metaphor to underscore this lyrical tale of love and loss. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

Fifth Avenue, 5 AM : Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the dawn of the modern woman

 by Sam Wasson. Wasson (A Splurch in the Kisser: The Movies of Blake Edwards) traces Audrey Hepburn's life and career leading up to Breakfast at Tiffany's and describes how her role inspired women as they emerged from restrictive 1950s cultural, social, and sexual stereotypes. At the same time, he weaves in the story of Truman Capote, author of the book that was the basis for the film, and examines the complex sources for his famous character Holly Golightly. By the time Wasson arrives at the shooting of the film, readers will have a solid understanding of Hepburn and Capote as well as many others in their spheres and involved with the film-from director Blake Edwards and composer Henry Mancini to costumer Edith Head and screenwriter George Axelrod. The anecdotes are numerous and deftly told, and Wasson does not shy away from relevant interpersonal challenges. VERDICT This well-researched, entertaining page-turner should appeal to a broad audience, particularly those who enjoy film history that focuses on the human factors involved in the creative process while also drawing on larger social and cultural contexts. --Library Journal (Check Catalog)

Under heaven

 by Guy Gavriel Kay. In a prefatory note to his magnificent new history-based fantasy, inspired by Tang Dynasty China, Kay explains why he prefers to mix history and fantasy rather than write straight historical fiction. Should the justification bring him more readers, they and he will both profit. In the mountains of Kitai a young soldier, Shen Tai, has spent two years alone, burying the dead of both sides at a battle site. He does this to honor his late father, the commanding general in the last imperial war. At night he can hear ghosts crying. When a voice falls silent, he knows that a spirit has been granted rest. One morning he is quite surprised to learn that the court of Kitai's recent enemy has chosen to honor him by granting him 250 coveted western horses. This is a gift fit for the emperor and can bring Tai great power or get him killed in short order. Kay says he wants his readers to keep turning pages until two a.m. Under Heaven should certainly help him achieve that goal. The plot is intricate, including fascinating by-ways and characters as real as they are numerous. Yet the main thread Tai's journey to court and the resolution of who gets the horses is never lost. --Booklist (Check catalog)

A royal passion : the turbulent marriage of King Charles I of England and Henrietta Maria of France

 byKatie Whitaker. According to British historian Whitaker (Mad Madge), Charles I attempted a military coup against Parliament because the legislature was on the verge of charging his beloved Catholic wife, Queen Henrietta Maria, with high treason, and Charles was determined to save her whatever the cost. That effort ended with Charles's defeat and execution, and a nine-year bloody civil war that led to the birth of the first modern republic. For reasons of international diplomacy, Protestant Charles had wed the Catholic sister of France's Louis XIII. The early years of their marriage were tempestuous because of religious differences and the machinations of Charles's adviser, the Duke of Buckingham. But Charles clung to his wife after Buckingham's assassination, involving her in major political decisions. Parliament became alarmed that by seeking Catholic funding for Charles's war with rebel Scots, Henrietta was involved in a dangerous Catholic conspiracy to enable Charles to govern without Parliament. Making judicious use of wide-ranging primary sources, including the couple's letters, memoirs, and speeches, this persuasive and perceptive biography of a marriage gives Henrietta her due as Charles's shrewd, capable political ally. --Library Journal (Check Catalog)

One day

 by David Nichols. Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew get together (almost) following their graduation in 1988. We catch up with them annually on July 15, St. Swithin's Day, the British equivalent of Groundhog Day but with rain. Here, it's a prognosticator of how their lives are turning out. She's been in love with Dex for years, while he's been in bed with more women than we can count. He gets a job in "media" as a late-night TV presenter on music/rock star interview shows. She works at a crappy Mexican restaurant before altering course and becoming a teacher. Do they eventually find their way back to each other? Nicholls (The Understudy) doesn't take the easy route, throwing lots of relationships and obstacles in our protagonists' paths. VERDICT This tale of youthful dreams coming true and perhaps not being so dreamy is written with great verve and charm, reminiscent of the works of Mike Gayle. A coming-of-age story for all of us who might still be wondering what we want to be when we grow up. --Library Journal (Check catalog)

The host : a novel

 by Stephenie Meyer. You might assume that Meyer's best-selling Twilight series (published for YAs), about the intense love between a human teen and a vampire, takes the interspecies relationship thing about as far as it can go. There's where you'd be wrong. Meyer's ingenious adult-market debut, heavily but not tediously indebted to Invasion of the Bodysnatchers, imagines the tangled web of attachments between an alien parasite and the colony of humans to which the alien's host body once belonged. Meyer boldly chooses to narrate from the perspective of the invading alien, a 1,000-year-old female soul named Wanderer, and it is a tribute to the author's skill that Wanderer is a sympathetic protagonist despite the fact that she tells her tale while clinging to the cerebellum of a human victim, 17-year-old Melanie. As Melanie's unusually resistant consciousness begins to seep into Wanderer's own identity, she finds herself seeking out one of the last outposts of human civilization to reunite with the people her body once loved. Some readers will find the opening scenes too hurried and contrived, and the unusually large number of humans willing to fraternize with the enemies seems idealized. But the view of the apocalypse from the vantage point of one of its horsemen makes for propulsive reading, laden with unforgettable, unsettling scenes that raise fascinating questions about distinctions between essential human identity and its physical vessel. Consider buying duplicate sets of Meyer's ouevre, one for adults and one for YAs, since this entertaining, somewhat soft-focus sf saga will only serve to broaden the penumbra of Meyer's fame. --Booklist (Check catalog)

The shallows : what the Internet is doing to our brains

 by Nicholas G. Carr. Expanding on his provocative Atlantic Monthly article, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?," technology writer Carr (The Big Switch) provides a deep, enlightening examination of how the Internet influences the brain and its neural pathways. Computers have altered the way we work; how we organize information, share news and stories, and communicate; and how we search for, read, and absorb information. Carr's analysis incorporates a wealth of neuroscience and other research, as well as philosophy, science, history, and cultural developments. He investigates how the media and tools we use (including libraries) shape the development of our thinking and considers how we relate to and think about our brains. Carr also examines the impact of online searching on memory and explores the overall impact that the tools and media we use have on memory formation. His fantastic investigation of the effect of the Internet on our neurological selves concludes with a very humanistic petition for balancing our human and computer interactions. VERDICT Neuroscience and technology buffs, librarians, and Internet users will find this truly compelling. --Library Journal (Check catalog)

They're watching

 by Gregg Andrew Hurwitz. Here's the backstory to this labyrinthine thriller: Patrick Davis, a would-be screenwriter, has finally managed to sell a screenplay. The movie, They're Watching, is in production, starring a hot young actor. In a skirmish, the actor managed to hurt himself and accused Patrick of assaulting him. Patrick was fired from the film, charged with assault, and sued by the actor and the production company. Oh, and his marriage is on the rocks. As the novel opens, Patrick begins receiving DVDs in the mail, revealing that someone is secretly filming Patrick and his wife in their home. Soon there are e-mails instructing Patrick to do certain things, and from there the story . . . well, let's just say it never quite goes in the direction we expect it to go. This is a very well constructed thriller, full of twists and turns and unexpected revelations. Hurwitz frequently sets us up to expect one thing but delivers something entirely different. He keeps us constantly on our toes, and this is especially good he keeps us guessing right until the very last pages about exactly who has targeted Patrick and why. Highly recommended, especially for fans of Dean Koontz, Linwood Barclay, and Harlan Coben. --Booklist. (Check catalog)

Grunts : inside the American infantry combat experience, World War II through Iraq

 by John C. McManus. The author of the fine history of the 7th Infantry Regiment returns with another demonstration of his skill at narrating infantry combat. He offers a historical retrospective, contrasting different types of battle in which American grunts have been engaged. We have the easy victory on Guam in 1944, against poorly-organized Japanese, and the bloody slugging match against dug-in Japanese on Peleliu. The battle for the German city of Aachen in 1944 features the free and decisive use of superior American firepower, while more recently in Falujah, Iraq political constraints added to our casualties. Similarly, the Marine Combined Action Platoons are contrasted with larger and often less-effective operations. The book is clearly intended as an argument for a strong presence of well-trained infantry operating up close and personal with heavier firepower available as support but not substitute. Both readable and persuasive. --Booklist. (Check catalog)

The quickening

 by Michelle Hoover. Hoover's engrossing debut novel opens in 1913 on the Upper Midwest plains, an unforgiving landscape for farmers Enidina and Frank Current and their neighbors Mary and Jack Morrow. Through the decades, Mary and Enidina's unique voices, presented alternately, pull us in to their harsh, dismal lives. Enidina, a coarse earth mother with fire-colored hair, tells her story as an old woman in heartfelt letters to an absent grandson so that he will understand her life as it once was and know the kind of people he came from, people who battled prairie fires, failed crops, treacherous neighbors, and the Great Depression. Her friendship with Mary begins badly because she doesn't like Mary's superior airs. In her passages, Mary tells of her own hopes and dreams, her longing for a clean, orderly place and not this farmstead full of mud and the smell of butchered animals. Mary tries to protect her three sons from her brutal husband, and while Jack has a place in the rhythm of the land, Mary finds solace only in the nearby chapel. VERDICT Borrowing from her own family history, Hoover burns away the glamour of the pioneer life, blending history and brilliant storytelling. This standout novel is highly recommended. --Library journal (Check catalog)

Freedom summer : the savage season that made Mississippi burn and made America a democracy

 by Bruce Watson. Even those familiar with the history will want to read this gripping narrative, which combines a political overview of the Mississippi civil rights struggle in the summer of 1964 with more than 50 personal accounts from those who were there, both the famous (including Sidney Poitier, Pete Seeger, John Lewis, Stokely Carmichael) and the lesser known, including the more than 200 volunteer students from the North who lived and worked with local residents and taught in the Freedom Schools in converted shacks and church basements. The lengthy bibliography testifies as to how much has been written on the topic, but the personal interviews, some from people telling their stories for the first time, make gripping drama, as they recount the standoffs, the struggle for voter registration, the reign of terror that encompassed church burnings and murders. Ordinary people are the focus here, and the close-up details about the shocking violence and economic oppression show that even at the time of the famous I Have a Dream speech, sharecroppers earning $500 a year could not afford to eat at lunch counters. --Booklist. (Check Catalog)

The red queen

 by Philippa Gregory. Margaret Beaufort is certain of one thing from a very young age: God has destined her for something great. She likens herself to Joan of Arc and longs to be a leader, a figure of importance. Unfortunately, the reality is that for much of her life she is but a pawn in others' games. She clings to the certainty that she is destined for greatness, convinced that her son by Edmund Tudor is the rightful heir to the English throne. Much of her adult life is spent planning, scheming, and looking out for chances to bring Henry Tudor to his true destiny and herself into prominence. The second entry in Gregory's new series, "The Cousins' War," presents a main character far less sympathetic than Elizabeth Woodville of The White Queen. Margaret is self-centered, self-important, and single-minded, but these qualities enable her to persist against overwhelming odds in her quest to see her son crowned king of England. Verdict Like Gregory's other historicals, excellent characterization and a well-researched story will hold the interest of readers, especially fans of the Tudor dynasty. --Library Journal (Check catalog)

The invisible gorilla : and other ways our intuitions deceive us

 by Christopher F. Chabris. Through a backdrop of amusing anecdotes and accounts of psychological experiments, Chabris and Simons-psychology professors and winners of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Psychology-paint a surprising picture of the everyday illusions that cause shifts in our sense of reality. The authors begin with an explanation of their famous "gorilla experiment," in which half the people asked to count passes among basketball players in a video missed the gorilla that appeared on the screen (available at http://viscog.beckman.illinois.edu/flashmovie/15.php), to illustrate our inability to notice obvious details. They then move on to shatter many preconceived notions regarding attention, memory, confidence, knowledge, cause, and potential. These false notions have an impact on decisions made in everyday life and can determine whether or not a witness is credible, a consumer informed, or a physician trusted. The authors simultaneously engage readers and authenticate their claims by providing mini-experiments in which readers can participate. VERDICT Full of humor and insight, this book is enlightening and entertaining. Highly recommended for psychology students and others wishing to establish a more realistic picture of their intuition. Readers beware: your perception of everyday occurrences will be forever altered. --Library Journal (Check Catalog)

The lion : a novel

 by Nelson DeMille. In The Lion's Game (2000), terrorist Asad Khalil, also known as the Lion, came to the U.S. to kill the people responsible for bombing his village in Libya. John Corey, the NYPD cop turned antiterrorist agent, and his FBI trainer, Kate Mayfield, gave chase, but their quarry got away. Now it's a few years later, not too long after 9/11. John and Kate are married, and John's an experienced agent with his own trainee. Out of the blue sky literally, in a very creative and exciting scene Khalil swoops down, bent on continuing his revenge against the people behind the bombing. And now he's added Corey to his hit list. Can Corey outmaneuver and outwit a determined, ruthless assassin? This is a well-constructed and satisfying sequel, full of exciting (and occasionally gruesome) visual imagery. Corey is a more developed character this time around, and Khalil is every bit as intelligent, cold, and compelling as he was in The Lion's Game. If the book has a flaw, it's that it might be a little close in feel, plot, and even dramatic structure to the earlier book. On the other hand, Khalil is a single-minded guy, and it doesn't stretch credibility at all to imagine that he'd pick up right where he left off. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

Zoo story : life in the garden of captives

 by Thomas French. Pulitzer Prize-winning St. Petersburg Times journalist French delivers a knockout background look at the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa. Drawing on his six years of in-depth reporting, he chronicles the rise of Lowry Park from one of the worst zoos in the country to one of the best. The story begins in August 2003 when 11 elephants are loaded on a plane in South Africa for a lengthy transatlantic flight; four of the pachyderms will be delivered to the Florida zoo. The brainchild of then-director Lex Salisbury, this years-in-the-making feature exhibit seemed impossible at times and was highly controversial. It was designed to bring in needed revenue, raise attendance, and focus public attention on the total -reimagining of Lowry Park. French takes us back to earlier times, when the zoo was notorious for its poor design and animal care. Later, the zoo's notoriety centered on internal controversies ranging from personnel issues and morale to legitimate claims of conflicts of interest and mismanagement of funds. Verdict This behind-the-scenes look will both entertain and enlighten animal lovers. It is a story that needs to be told, and French does it superbly. --Library Journal. (Check Catalog)