Guilt by association : a novel

 by Marcia Clark. Don't be dissuaded by the celebrity-author factor: Clark, lead prosecutor in the O. J. Simpson trial, pairs her knowledge of the L.A. judicial scene with a surprising flair for fiction in a remarkably accomplished debut novel. L.A. prosecutor Rachel Knight is stunned when her office soul-mate, Jake Pahlmeyer, is found shot to death in a sleazy motel along with a 17-year-old boy, raising ugly suspicions that she doesn't want to acknowledge. Given Jake's top case to work the rape of the teenage daughter of one of the DA's prominent contributors Rachel is warned by her boss to leave her colleague's death alone. But with her big heart and hard head, she uses her network of sources and risks career and safety to pursue both cases, teaming up with Detective Bailey Keller and following leads to Hispanic gangs and porno rings in the seamiest parts of the city. Clark offers a real page-turner here, with smart, fast-moving prose; a skillfully constructed plot; and a protagonist well worth knowing. Rachel, whose past is only hinted at, is a well-rounded character who's as tough with suspects as she is sensitive with young victims. A top-notch legal thriller that will leave readers wanting more. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Here's that rare example of a celebrity thriller author justifying a major promotion campaign by delivering a genuinely high-quality novel. --Booklist (Check catalog)

The big thirst : the secret life and turbulent future of water

 by Charles Fishman. Fishman, author of the best-selling The Wal-Mart Effect (2006), bring his gifts for statistics and storytelling to this lively and invaluable assessment of the current politics, economics, and culture of water. Lyrical in his descriptions of the beauty and wonder of water, Fishman is rigorous when explaining that the water we have now is all the water we will ever have and that our golden age of abundant, safe, and cheap water may soon end, thanks to deteriorating infrastructure (7 billion gallons leak out of our water systems every day), rising urban populations, and climate change. Both water complacency and water poverty are rampant. A typical American uses about 100 gallons a day (5.7 billion gallons of drinking water are flushed down toilets daily), while approximately 5,000 children die worldwide every day from thirst or tainted water. Among his many case studies are Las Vegas' water extravaganzas and India's lack of 24/7 water even in its booming cities, which keeps millions of girls out of school to collect and carry each day's water supply an effort the intrepid Fishman attempts and finds arduous. Fishman praises tap water, observes that water consciousness is infectious, and declares that most water problems are, in fact, solvable. Fishman's engrossing water survey establishes the base for a much-needed water-use revolution. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

Once upon a time, there was you : a novel

 by Elizabeth Berg. An enchanting and empathic storyteller, Berg delights in the eccentricities that shape complex personalities and excels in decoding the chemistry and paradoxes of relationships. She is also an avid appreciator of the pleasures of food, funny and assuring on the subject of age, and an advocate for kindness. All these elements are at work in her latest comedy of marriage. Irene and John stayed together long enough to have Sadie, whom they adore. John, who restores old buildings, still lives in Minnesota. Irene and Sadie live in San Francisco, and Sadie is 18 and ready for college. She is also secretly in love. John is, too, though things with Amy, a charming chatterbox, are precarious. Irene, who works for a tempestuous caterer, has just broken up with another bad match generated by her hilariously loopy personal ads. All is droll and intriguing until Berg swerves, briefly, into the realm of terror, thus dramatically deepening questions about fear, love, family, and what one makes of one's life. Berg's tender and wise novels are oases in a harsh world. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: With more than 20 books, Berg reigns supreme as a best-selling fiction writer, and library favorite, of charm and substance. --Booklist (Check catalog)

All that is bitter & sweet : a memoir

 by Ashley Judd. It's widely known that Ashley Judd is a popular actress, with a roster of both large and small films on her CV, and hails from the same family that produced a country music sensation, but Judd is also a dedicated philanthropist and a global ambassador for Population Services International (PSI). In this frank and heartfelt memoir, Judd reveals the tumultuous and abusive childhood that led her to wrestle with anger and abandonment. She worked through these issues in therapy in order to recommit to both her acting and her role as an advocate for sex workers and public health issues. Skeptics, who think of Judd as another actress out of her depth, should be quieted by Judd's completion of a masters degree at Harvard University in 2010, better equipping her to carry on her mission of social justice. In his foreword, Kristof calls Judd a serious advocate following "a calling." On paper she is sensitive, thoughtful, devoid of narcissism or unnecessary drama, and shows superb judgment in collaborating with Vollers, whose 2007 book Lone Wolf, about abortion clinic bomber Eric Rudolph, was excellent. Judd's resolve and dedication to her work is humbling and inspiring, and her memoir is fantastic. --Publishers Weekly (Check catalog)

The Bayou trilogy : Under the bright lights, Muscle for the wing, The ones you do

 by Daniel Woodrell. Collected in a single volume for the first time, Woodrell's three stellar novels featuring Det. Rene Shade, an ex-boxer turned cop, provide entree into the Louisiana swamp town of Saint Bruno, a place where "tempers went on the prowl and relief was driving a hard bargain." Woodrell (Winter's Bone) injects Shade's life and various cases with both humor and brutal violence. In Bright Lights (1986), the investigation into a city councilman's murder mushrooms into a corruption scandal, with Shade feeling pressure from above for a quick-and predetermined-result. Muscle for the Wing (1988) finds Shade up against a gang of ex-cons, hell-bent on wrestling control of Saint Bruno's less-than-legal action. Shade and his two brothers-bar owner Tip and district attorney Francois-are reunited with their long-absent paterfamilias, John X., in The Ones You Do (1992), in which John X. returns to Saint Bruno with a 10-year-old daughter and a killer on his trail. There's poetry in Woodrell's mayhem, each novel-and scene-full of gritty and memorable Cajun details. --Publishers Weekly (Check Catalog)

iPad fully loaded

 by Alan Hess. Alan knows-and he's telling! All about your iPad.It's an iPod. It's an e-reader. It's an instant classic. And now you can discover all the secrets to this dazzling device, thanks to Alan Hess. You may think you already know your iPad inside and out, until Alan shows you how to write your own books, stream your iTunes, view comic book files, and transfer photos with Eye-Fi. He provides all the tips and techniques you need to get the absolute most out of your iPad. Figure you already get all things iPad? Don't count on it-until you read this book!

• Browse through the iBooksStore and start speed e-reading. Catch all the news from traditional sources and news aggregator apps like Pulse and Flipboard. Get all your photos exactly where-and how-you want them to be. Create documents, crunch numbers, work on presentations-and iWork from the beach! Access your files on the go with Dropbox and read just about any file with GoodReader. Get more out of-and into-your iPad than you ever thought possible. --Summary (Check Catalog)

The Paris wife : a novel

 by Paula McLain. History is sadly neglectful of the supporting players in the lives of great artists. Fortunately, fiction provides ample opportunity to bring these often fascinating personalities out into the limelight. Gaynor Arnold successfully resurrected the much-maligned Mrs. Charles Dickens in Girl in a Blue Dress (2009), now Paula McLain brings Hadley Richardson Hemingway out from the formidable shadow cast by her famous husband. Though doomed, the Hemingway marriage had its giddy high points, including a whirlwind courtship and a few fast and furious years of the expatriate lifestyle in 1920s Paris. Hadley and Ernest traveled in heady company during this gin-soaked and jazz-infused time, and readers are treated to intimate glimpses of many of the literary giants of the era, including Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, James Joyce, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. But the real star of the story is Hadley, as this time around, Ernest is firmly relegated to the background as he almost never was during their years together. Though eventually a woman scorned, Hadley is able to acknowledge without rancor or bitterness that Hem had helped me to see what I really was and what I could do. Much more than a woman-behind-the-man homage, this beautifully crafted tale is an unsentimental tribute to a woman who acted with grace and strength as her marriage crumbled. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

The Mad bomber of New York : the extraordinary true story of the manhunt that paralyzed a city

 by Michael M. Greenburg. Between 1940 and 1957, a lone man detonated at least 33 bombs across New York City, with increasingly sophisticated mechanisms. As usual, the spree of this mad bomber brought out a parade of false claimants, false leads, and frustrating dead ends for investigators. Eventually, the police turned to Dr. James Brussel, a psychiatrist and criminologist who practiced an early form of profiling. Aided by Brussel's work, the investigation led to George Metesky, a middle-aged resident of Waterbury, Connecticut. Metesky fit the profile to a T: a loner nursing an increasingly bitter hatred of powerful institutions that he blamed for a disabling injury sustained in 1931. Greenburg, a practicing attorney, has written an exciting and tense true-crime story that operates on two tracks. He examines, with surprising sympathy, Metesky's slow evolution from a social misfit to a hate-filled violent man with paranoid delusions. Greenburg seamlessly shifts to the criminal investigators as they strive to stop the reign of terror. This is a superbly written account and a useful reminder that, historically, many terrorists have been apolitical men following their own inner demons. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

I'll walk alone

 by Mary Higgins Clark . With the two-year anniversary of her toddler's disappearance from Central Park approaching, Alexandra "Zan" Moreland maintains hope that Matthew will be found alive. The successful interior designer continues her relentless search as incriminating evidence surfaces, linking her to the abduction. Zan fights seemingly insurmountable odds as the ongoing investigation uncovers more clues pointing to her guilt. Is her sanity slipping, or is she a victim of identity theft? Is Matthew alive? Even Zan begins questioning the facts. Clark's beloved ex-cleaning lady/lottery winning sleuth Alvirah Meehan (a recurring character first introduced in Weep No More My Lady, 2007) is closely entangled in the mystery as she attempts to exonerate Zan. As the plot unfolds, Zan's credibility and the safety of those she holds dear hang precariously in the balance. Verdict Delivering a gripping plot, a likable female lead, and a wonderfully eclectic cast of supporting characters, the Queen of Suspense adds a 30th notch to her fiction belt; suspense devotees will rejoice. --Library journal (Check Catalog)

Lillian Too's 168 feng shui ways to declutter your home

 by Lillian Too. Try 168 Feng Shui ways for dejunking your home. You'll love the way it looks, and you'll feel positive and vibrant. Eliminating whatever's piled in corners, hidden in closets, and not moved or used in a long time is restorative. Lillian Too reveals how to remove the clutter and rearrange a room using traditional Feng Shui principles so that good energy flows, replacing clutter with a soothing and comforting ambiance. You'll feel a sense of well-being and pleasure, simply because you're at home. --Summary (Check Catalog)

The uncoupling

 by Meg wolitzer. Life begins to imitate art when Stellar Plains' edgy new drama teacher decides to stage Lysistrata as the high school's annual production. Faculty, administrators, and students alike are literally enchanted by Aristophanes' mordant antiwar comedy. Women and girls who are otherwise happily married or in a blossoming relationship suddenly decide to withhold their affections from their husbands, lovers, and boyfriends. The once passionate sex life of popular English teachers Robby and Dory Lang abruptly ends, as does the nascent relationship of their daughter Willa, who sharply breaks up with her first boyfriend. Most affected of all, however, is Marissa Clayborn, the charismatic young black girl cast in the play's lead, who decides to stage her own bed-in sex strike in protest of the war in Afghanistan. When Marissa fails to appear on opening night, all hell breaks loose as spurned men storm the stage demanding the resumption of normal relations. While zestfully exploring the nexus between complacency and desire, Wolitzer's hip, glib, impish scenario shrewdly examines the intricate connections between war and sex and perceptively illuminates the power of timeless literature. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

The cosmopolitan canopy : race and civility in everyday life

 by Elijah Anderson. Cosmopolitan canopies are those spaces in urban environments that offer a break from the tensions of chafing racial and economic differences, a place for diverse peoples to assemble and rub elbows. Sociologist and folk ethnographer Anderson offers a rich narrative of such spaces in Philadelphia, including Reading Terminal Market and Rittenhouse Square. Anderson details the give-and-take of public interaction in urban settings, much of it dictated by race and class. He observes how close and far away people sit, whether they greet each other, how deep or long their interactions are, and whether they break or reinforce barriers. He also chronicles the daily shifting of space used by the homeless, workers, residents, and commuters as they encounter, interact, and evade. Anderson's observations are keen but not distant as he offers journal pages and interviews, showing his own full engagement in interactions with a cross section of Philadelphians. Anderson also offers singular insight into the social machinations of blacks in professional versus social settings. Fascinating sociology and people-watching at its profound best. --Booklist (Check catalog)

The daughter's walk

 by Jane Kirkpatrick. Nineteen-year-old Clara Estby is hauled by her mother, Helga, on a 7,000-mile walk from Spokane, Wash., to New York in 1896. The fashion industry is looking for promotion of the new, shorter dress for women; Helga is looking for a $10,000 prize to save the family farm from foreclosure. The historically factual walk is only the first half of the book; the rest follows Clara after she leaves her family, becomes a businesswoman, and makes her way as times change for women at the turn of the century. Kirkpatrick has done impeccable homework, and what she recreates and what she imagines are wonderfully seamless. Readers see the times, the motives, the relationships that produce a chain of decisions and actions, all rendered with understatement. Kirkpatrick is a master at using fiction to illuminate history's truths. This beautiful and compelling work of historical fiction deserves the widest possible audience. --Publishers Weekly (Check catalog)

History of a suicide : my sister's unfinished life

 by Jill Bialosky. The unexpected loss of a sibling is always shattering, but when suicide is the cause, grief is rendered more complicated and haunting. The death of novelist, poet, and editor Bialosky's much younger sister, Kim, at age 21 in 1990 was one grim loss among many. Bialosky was 2 when her father died; Kim's father and Bialosky's stepfather abandoned the family when Kim was 3. Their mother suffered chronic depression, and Kim was both neglected and abused. The trauma of Kim's suicide was compounded by Bialosky's loss of two babies at birth. When her and her husband's adopted son reached adolescence, Bialosky realized she had to confront the wrenching facts and persistent mysteries of Kim's life and death. The result is a strikingly lucid, smart, and elegant investigative family history grounded in research into the act of self-annihilation and illuminated by literary forays. Bialosky's mantra is The more I know, the more I can bear. Her courageous anatomy of family secrets and tragedies, pain and guilt provides extraordinarily valiant and resonant testimony to the healing powers of truth and empathy. --Booklist (Check catalog)

Minding Frankie

 by Maeve Binchy. Reading a Maeve Binchy novel is like settling in for a cozy visit with an old friend. In vintage Binchy style, a cast of colorfully eccentric characters living in a snug Dublin neighborhood seamlessly weave in and out of each other's lives, united by family, faith, friendship, and community. When a young alcoholic learns he has fathered a child with a dying woman, he must step into the role of father, protector, and provider to his infant daughter, Frankie, in a matter of weeks. Determined to succeed, though totally unprepared for his new responsibilities, Noel gets an essential assist from his visiting American cousin. Exercising her tremendous gifts of organization and insight, Emily cobbles together a neighborhood support system, featuring a few familiar faces from previous Binchy books. As everybody begins to mind Frankie, a suspicious social worker pokes her nose in where it doesn't belong, attempting to dredge up any dirt she can on Noel and his slightly unorthodox network of babysitters. Readers will need a box of tissues handy as the good-hearted residents of St. Jarlath's Crescent prove that it does indeed take a village to raise a child. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

Physics of the future : how science will shape human destiny and our daily lives by the year 2100

 by Michio Kaku. Following in the footsteps of Leonardo da Vinci and Jules Verne, Kaku, author of a handful of books about science, looks into the not-so-distant future and envisions what the world will look like. It should be an exciting place, with driverless cars, Internet glasses, universal translators, robot surgeons, the resurrection of extinct life forms, designer children, space tourism, a manned mission to Mars, none of which turn out to be as science-fictiony as they sound. In fact, the most exciting thing about the book is the fact that most of the developments Kaku discusses can be directly extrapolated from existing technologies. Robot surgeons and driverless cars, for example, already exist in rudimentary forms. Kaku, a physics professor and one of the originators of the string field theory (an offshoot of the more general string theory), draws on current research to show how, in a very real sense, our future has already been written. The book's lively, user-friendly style should appeal equally to fans of science fiction and popular science. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

The peach keeper : a novel

 by Sarah Addison Allen. In the mountain resort town of Walls of Water, North Carolina, the Osgood and Jackson families' lives have always been tangled up in the history of the Blue Ridge Madam, a derelict Victorian home on the outskirts of town. Now, as president of the Women's Society Club, Paxton Osgood hopes to unveil the extensive renovations her family has underwritten at a gala celebrating the club's 75th anniversary. It would be nice if Willa Jackson, granddaughter of one of the club's founders, could be there, too. But Willa is too proud to accept the invitation, having struggled to overcome her teenage reputation as a devil-may-care prankster. Yet when a human skeleton is unearthed at the Madam just days before the party, Paxton and Willa join forces to identify the remains, a project that forges a surprising friendship and launches more than one love affair. In this delectable, read-in-one-sitting treasure, Allen once again demonstrates her astonishing ability to believably blur the lines between the magical and the mundane. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

The 10 habits of happy mothers : reclaiming our passion, purpose, and sanity

 by Margaret J. Meeker. The author of Strong Fathers, Stronger Daughters (2006) now looks at mothers who seem to handle the demands of parenting, work, and home with greater happiness. Using her own personal experiences and those of her friends and women she has come across in her travels, Meeker outlines the 10 habits that fulfilled mothers share, which include maintaining important friendships, eschewing competition, practicing faith, and living more simply. Though Meeker is a medical doctor, a pediatrician, she doesn't delve much into medical research about happiness or depression but rather relies on the anecdotal evidence she's accumulated. While parenting books abound, few focus on the mother's well-being, so Meeker's book will be welcomed. Her traditional view of family and gender roles may be off-putting to some readers, but Meeker is a popular speaker and radio guest, whom many readers will know and trust. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

A bond never broken

 by Judith Miller. Jutta Schmit has no choice: she must return to the Amana Colonies and report on any unpatriotic behavior she sees. Otherwise, a pair of thugs from the Iowa Council of National Defense swear they will destroy her parents' bakery. At first Ilsa Redlich is thrilled to learn that Jutta will be working at her parents' hotel in South Amana. Not only could Ilsa's family use the help but ever since her brother Albert left to go fight in Europe, Ilsa could use a friend. But Ilsa and Jutta's new friendship will be severely tested not only by the secrets they are keeping from each other but also by the rising tide of anti-German sentiment sweeping America. The concluding volume in Miller's Daughters of Amana series is both an expertly crafted novel of historical fiction spiced with fascinating details about the persecution of German Americans in the U.S. during WWI and a richly rewarding tale of faith and friendship. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

Drinking with Miss Dutchie : a memoir

 by Ed Breslin. A Labrador retriever taught Breslin more about life than any teacher had a major success for a dog he got only to get his wife off his back about his drinking. City kid Breslin grew up thinking dogs were either threatening sidekicks for thugs or pampered rich people's pets until he met his country-house neighbor's Lab. When a litter of puppies was mentioned at a party, Breslin bought a black female, sight unseen, for his wife. He spent his first dog-owning night trying to calm the hysterical puppy, then fell in love with her. He'd been attending AA for a few years but was cynical about it. After bringing Miss Dutchie home, he began to understand and internalize AA's aphorisms. We'll love you until you love yourself worked both ways. He'd calm the puppy until she felt loved; in return, she'd provide the unconditional love he needed. When he realized even Dutchie judged him, rejecting him when he smoked or drank, he began straightening out. His hymn to Miss Dutchie is heartwarming and heartbreaking. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

So much pretty : a nove

 by Cara Hoffman. A mixture of The Lovely Bones and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Hoffman's first novel is a small-town murder mystery with a surprising twist. Haeden, New York, leaves much to be desired for Flynn, the young reporter covering the community beat. But when Wendy White, the local bar maid, goes missing, and Flynn begins uncovering some disturbing local secrets, things get very interesting. Meanwhile, high-school student Alice Piper is facing her own challenges. She's smart, creative, and quickly outgrowing the small-town mentality of Haeden. Her family encourages her feisty spirit, and her best friend, Theo, is her accomplice in more ways than one. Hoffman's narrative oscillates between various characters, carefully building suspense, depth, and new insight with every chapter. Let's hope we will be seeing more of this talented new writer. --Booklist (Check catalog)