The whistleblower : sex trafficking, military contractors, and one woman's fight for justice

 by Kathryn Bolkovac. Bolkovac, who worked as part of the UN peacekeeping mission in Bosnia in the late 1990s, provides yet another perspective on why private military contracting has encroached on U.S. foreign policy, threatening our image, national security, and the lives of those we are supposed to be protecting. A police officer turned human rights investigator, she worked at uncovering international sex trafficking and cover-ups by her bosses at DynCorp International, which led to her firing, a mad rush across the border, and a subsequent wrongful termination lawsuit in which she was victorious and became the self-described poster girl for everything wrong about security-for-hire. Most galling is the sad truth that DynCorp answered to no law, nor to the military, the U.S., or the Bosnians. The criminality, including rape and murder, committed by corporate military contractors has proliferated in the past decade, and Bolkovac's cautionary tale ends on the sourest of notes. DynCorp won another federal contract on the heels of her lawsuit, and no one was prosecuted for crimes against the women whose lives she struggled to save. Infuriating and heartbreaking. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

How to bake a perfect life : a novel

 by Barbara O'Neal. Ramona Gallagher does not do well with her family. Born into a long line of restaurant owners, shipped off to the country when 15 and pregnant, and skipped over for promotion in favor of her ex during an acrimonious divorce, she broke away from her family and opened her own bakery. She now leads a quiet life while residing with her pregnant daughter, Sofia, whose husband is stationed in Iraq. When Sofia receives a call that her husband has been injured, she flies to his side, leaving Ramona to take care of Sofia's stepdaughter, Katie. Katie, 13, has had a rough life with her drug-addicted mother while her father is overseas, and Ramona, out of practice and remembering her own mother, tries her best to deal with the prickly teen. Under Ramona's care, Katie slowly blossoms until another tragedy threatens to permanently ruin them all. O'Neal's third novel is, like its predecessors (The Lost Recipe for Happiness, 2008; The Secret of Everything, 2010), a dramatic, emotional story with honest characters and a warm heart at its center. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

Alone together : why we expect more from technology and less from each other

Sherry Turkle. As the digital age sparks increasing debate about what new technologies and increased connectivity are doing to our brains, comes this chilling examination of what our iPods and iPads are doing to our relationships from MIT professor Turkle (Simulation and Its Discontents). In this third in a trilogy that explores the relationship between humans and technology, Turkle argues that people are increasingly functioning without face-to-face contact. For all the talk of convenience and connection derived from texting, e-mailing, and social networking, Turkle reaffirms that what humans still instinctively need is each other, and she encounters dissatisfaction and alienation among users: teenagers whose identities are shaped not by self-exploration but by how they are perceived by the online collective, mothers who feel texting makes communicating with their children more frequent yet less substantive, Facebook users who feel shallow status updates devalue the true intimacies of friendships. Turkle 's prescient book makes a strong case that what was meant to be a way to facilitate communications has pushed people closer to their machines and further away from each other. --Publishers Weekly (Check Catalog)

Three seconds

 by Anders Roslund. *Starred Review* Piet Hoffman is a devoted husband and the father of two young sons. He's also an ex-con who has been working undercover for the Stockholm police for nine years. Code named Paula, Piet has risen through the ranks of the Polish mafia and is chosen to lead the Poles' effort to control the supply of amphetamines in Sweden's prisons. To do that, Paula must get himself arrested and sent to a maximum security prison, wipe out the existing supplier, and keep himself alive until he has all the information needed for the police to move on the gang. Roslund, a former journalist, and Hellstrom, a former criminal, have concocted a brilliant thriller that posits a nearly literal invasion of Sweden by East European criminals allied with former state security agents. Combine that with a morally compromised police and Ministry of Justice effort to combat the invasion, and you have a genuine crisis. Piet's growing fear of discovery or betrayal and his angst at his beloved wife's ignorance of his work ratchet up the story's tension page by page and make the novel extremely difficult to put down. Named the Swedish Crime Novel of the Year in 2009, Three Seconds puts Roslund and Hellstrom in the company of Henning Mankell and Stieg Larsson. Crime fiction rarely gets as good as this. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

The memory chalet

 by Tony Judt. In 2008, historian Tony Judt (Ill Fares the Land) was handed a death sentence. Lou Gehrig's disease would progressively deprive him of mobility, leaving him encased in the prison of a hostile body, robbing him of the life he'd led with such grace. Unable to continue with research-requiring assistance even to breathe-Judt was forced back on the one source of historical data still accessible to him, his memories. To "store" them, he resorted to the classic mnemonic technique of the memory palace, housing recollections in the rooms of a Swiss chalet he'd visited as a child. In these separate essays, most of them originally published in the New York Review of Books, he details his life and preoccupations in short, poignant sketches: childhood food, riding buses across London, his father's love affair with Citroens and his own with trains, working on a kibbutz (and hating it)-in a stunningly effective blend of the personal and political. Verdict Elegiac and thought-provoking, these essays provide a final glimpse of a first-rate historical intelligence. Tony Judt died in August 2010 at the age of 62. He was a mensch. This is one of the best books of the year. --Library Journal (Check Catalog)

Courting Miss Amsel

 by Kim Vogel Sawyer. Becoming the schoolmarm in tiny Walnut Hill, Nebraska, in 1882, fulfills Edythe Amsel's dream, although she regrets leaving Missy, her youngest sister, back in Omaha with their brother. But Joel Townsend and his nephews, Johnny and Robert, together with her landlady, Luthenia Kinsley, make Edythe welcome. Soon she is caught up in town life, her happiness marred only by one student's malicious pranks and by the suspicion with which many parents view some of her innovative teaching methods. When Missy arrives during a bad storm, having run away from Omaha, and proves to be sullen and demanding, Edythe finds herself turning more and more to scripture with Luthenia's support and guidance. Sawyer's first-rate, stand-alone Christian historical prairie romance moves rapidly. She sets the stage, then allows events to play out over the course of the school year as Edythe attempts to broaden her students' perspective while introducing them to suffrage and current events around the world. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

The winter of our disconnect : how three totally wired teenagers (and a mother who slept with her iPhone) pulled the plug on their technology and lived to tell the tale

 by Susan Maushart. Australian journalist and single parent Maushart reports on her family's decision to take a figurative six-month voyage into an unplugged life easier said than done when your family consists of three teenagers! No wonder she describes the voyage as The Caine Mutiny, with her playing Captain Queeg. As it happens, the voyage is relatively storm free, though there are some squalls at the beginning. Maushart nearly goes through withdrawal after turning off her iPhone and finds that her work takes twice as long without a computer. In a way, the kids are more adaptable (perhaps because their mother offers them various bribes). They quickly learn how to do homework without access to Wikipedia and discover such joys as playing the saxophone and having sing-alongs. Interspersed with the family's experience is a great deal of timely information about the impact of electronic technology on Generation M (8- to 18-year-olds), and not all of it is pretty. Nevertheless, the entire family is relieved when the experiment is over but delighted to discover that it has introduced them to 'life itself.' --Booklist (Check Catalog)

Twin : a memoir

  by Allen Shawn.  Faced with a continually replenishing wave of memoirs, one can feel lost in the deluge. Which titles stand out, when you've got nine different memoirs on the same subject? Happily, librarians can recommend Twin to all memoir enthusiasts, and, of course, those who read Shawn's previous title, Wish I Could Be There (2007), in which he skillfully dissected his phobias and other mental-health issues but left questions in the reader's mind about his mentally disabled twin sister. Here he delves deeper into his own psyche and what he refers to as contradictions, piecing together the role of a sister with autism in his life a twin, with all of the closeness associated with twins, and yet with a stark separation, as she left their home at age eight, permanently, for a residential treatment facility. Shawn's moving work brings us closer to understanding a diagnosis that, by its nature, challenges family bonds. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

Secrets to the grave

 by Tami Hoag. A horrific murder rocks the town of Oak Knoll, Calif., in the chilling sequel to Hoag's Deeper than the Dead), set in 1986. The victim is 28-year-old artist Marissa Fordham, the single mother of Haley, a four-year-old found partially strangled and barely clinging to life next to her mother's stabbed and mutilated body. Det. Tony Mendez and his capable crew investigate the crime, while child advocate Anne Leone and her husband, former FBI special agent Vince Leone, take temporary custody of Haley. Among the several suspects is attorney Steve Morgan, the estranged husband of Sara Morgan, whose daughter, Wendy, found a victim of the accused See-No-Evil killer, Peter Crane, who's about to go on trial. Adding extra tension are Anne's efforts to help disturbed 12-year-old Dennis Farnham and the disappearance of Marissa's best friend, Gina Kemmer. Newcomers will have no trouble getting into this suspense novel rich in pre-DNA detecting methods. --Publishers Weekly (Check Catalog)

This glittering world

 by T (Tammy) Greenwood. "So hope slowly turned into desperation and desperation into sad resignation." This line from Greenwood's (Two Rivers; The Hungry Season) disturbing suspense novel paints an accurate picture of her characters' troubled lives. Ben, an adjunct history professor and part-time bartender, and his nurse fiancee, Sara, have been living a somewhat peaceful existence in Flagstaff, AZ, until an early snow falls on Halloween night and the couple discover a badly beaten Native American young man on their doorstep. Unable to forget Ricky's death, Ben forges a secret bond with Ricky's grieving sister, Shadi. Haunted by a tragedy from his own childhood, Ben becomes increasingly aware of the deep fissures in his supposedly settled life. Verdict Stark, taut, and superbly written, this dark tale brims with glimpses of the Southwest and scenes of violence, gruesome but not gratuitous. This haunting look at a fractured family is certain to please readers of literary suspense. --Library Journal (Check Catalog)

Break the glass

 by Jean Valentine. State Poet of New York and National Book Award winner Valentine's poems are brilliantly concentrated and neatly faceted, forged in the heat and press of experience and rumination like diamonds within the earth. In meticulously measured lines of deceptive quickness, Valentine encompasses the full spectrum of life and death as she deftly limns vivid landscapes etched by change slow and irrevocable, such as an old, abandoned stable and its fields, where the poet sees deep down to buried horses, a cow, memories. Attuned as she is to spirit, Valentine is nonetheless unsentimental, facing hard facts about the grand scheme of things when she comes across just-born, now-doomed rabbits in the garden. Her poems possess the immediacy and gestural magic of cave paintings and the resonance of psalms, albeit with a wild and pagan streak, as in the wonderfully piquant Earth and the Librarian, and a series of keening, prayerful, praise poems to Lucy, our 3.2 million-year-old foremother. Sharply honed yet mysterious, Valentine's lyrics of longing, conscience, collapsed time and space, and the elemental are startling and resounding. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

The lake of dreams : a novel

 by Kim Edwards. After her father's sudden death, Lucy Jarrett leaves her home in upstate New York, hoping to put some distance between herself and her grief. Ten years later, she returns to the Lake of Dreams to find the town a very different place. Her mother's house has fallen into disrepair, and Mom's on the verge of a new romance. Developers, including her shady uncle Art, want to turn the village into a housing development. The presence of her former high-school boyfriend, glass artist Keegan Falls, stirs up long forgotten feelings. When Lucy discovers a stack of old letters hidden inside a cupboard, she quickly becomes engrossed in a mystery whose roots go back generations and whose resolution will alter long-established family histories and future plans. Once again, Edwards (The Memory Keeper's Daughter, 2005) has created a memorable cast of easily recognizable characters. As Lucy's investigation deepens, past and present join to reach a satisfying and thoughtful resolution. This is a powerful story about the influence of history, the importance of our beliefs, and the willingness to embrace them all. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

The emperor of all maladies : a biography of cancer

by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Mukherjee's debut book is a sweeping epic of obsession, brilliant researchers, dramatic new treatments, euphoric success and tragic failure, and the relentless battle by scientists and patients alike against an equally relentless, wily, and elusive enemy. From the first chemotherapy developed from textile dyes to the possibilities emerging from our understanding of cancer cells, Mukherjee's formidable intelligence and compassion produce a stunning account of the effort to disrobe the "emperor of maladies."
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eBay for seniors for dummies

by Marsha CollierExpert advice helps seniors find bargains and make money on eBay. eBay is a great place to help seniors find bargains or supplement their income by selling items. This book explains how to g et your computer ready to use eBay, go to the eBay site, sign up, and browse, spot good deals, buy items, and pay safely, set up your own sale, take pictures of your merchandise and get them online, receive payment and ship items,  and understand eBay's fees and rules. eBay can be fun and profitable. This book makes it easy to get started!
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100 simple things you can do to prevent Alzheimer's and age-related memory loss

by Jean Carper
Most people think there is little or nothing you can do to avoid Alzheimer's. But scientists know this is no longer true. In fact, prominent researchers now say that our best and perhaps only hope of defeating Alzheimer's is to prevent it. Did you know that vitamin B 12 helps keep your brain from shrinking? Apple juice mimics a common Alzheimer's drug? Surfing the internet strengthens aging brain cells? Ordinary infections and a popular anesthesia may trigger dementia? Meditating spurs the growth of new neurons? Exercise is like Miracle-Gro for your brain? Even a few preventive actions could dramatically change your future.
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A museum of one's own : private collecting, public gift

by Anne Higonnet
In this beautifully and generously illustrated publication (featuring more than 70 black-and-white and 130 color reproductions), Higonnet (chair, art history dept., Barnard Coll.) examines the origins and growth of collection museums that developed as wealthy Europeans and Americans acquired fine and decorative art objects for their oftentimes specially built homes. Arising during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, collection museums were reactions to the large, public survey museums like New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Over the course of a decade of research, Higonnet studied letters, auction records, photographs, and other documents pertaining to renowned and obscure collection museums owned by Sir Richard Wallace, Duke of Aumale Henri d'Orleans, Isabella Stewart Gardner, Henry Clay Frick, Henry E. Huntington, Mildred and Robert Bliss, and others. Focusing on these six principal collection museums, Higonnet covers their many aspects, including common characteristics, collections, roles in history, founders' self-representations, and private-to-public features.

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