Book News and New Book Reviews
Just a sampling of our new materials (right side)!
by James Carville. (Get the Book)
Two well-known political figures begin by admitting to the failure of the Democratic Party to address concerns of the middle class. Political consultant Carville and researcher Greenberg offer background on their separate roads as, respectively, Cajun and northern Jewish political junkies that led them to the Democratic Party and the realization that the middle class had become the neglected American political constituency. At times, Carville and Greenberg alternate narration in a dialogue that takes to task the Democrats and urges policies aimed at providing relief to the beleaguered middle class on issues from taxation to health-care reform. They offer charts, statistics, and contrasting perspectives from the plainspoken sane world and the fog machine of politics. They admit the difficulty of clearly defining the middle class but settle on a broad definition that takes in three-quarters of the nation, noting that being middle class is an identity, a way of life, an idea and aspiration and a set of values. While this book's perspective is decidedly Democrat, the concerns will have appeal across the political spectrum as the election approaches. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Political guru James Carville and savvy pollster Stan Greenberg team up for a presidential campaign-oriented book that will be part of the media circus surrounding the election. --Booklist
by Chris Bohjalian (Get the Book)
Between April 1915 and April 1916, one and one-half million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman Empire during WWI. Bohjalian uses this as the backdrop for his new novel. Elizabeth Endicott accompanies her father to Aleppo, Syria, to bring aid to the Armenian deportees. While there, Elizabeth meets Armen Petrosian, an Armenian engineer working for the Germans and searching for his wife and child, though certain they are already dead. In spite of the loss and horror around them, they fall desperately in love. The story is told through the eyes of Laura Petrosian, Elizabeth and Armen's great-granddaughter. After seeing an exhibit of photographs of the Armenian victims, she discovers letters and photos and begins to piece her great-grandparents' story together. Soon the slaughter you know next to nothing about takes over her life, and she makes profound discoveries about her ancestors and herself. This is a powerful and moving story based on real events seldom discussed. It will leave you reeling. --Booklist
by Charles H. Green (Get the Book)
Spurred by President Obama, the Small Business Association has stepped up its loan program to companies around the nation. But to receive an SBA-guaranteed loan, firms must navigate a complex course of processes, qualifications, documentation, and approvals. You need this new edition of Charles Green's invaluable book to chart the best way to apply for and get an SBA loan. Green wastes no time in showing: Why an SBA loan guarantee is a good option in tough economic times How to choose the right bank at a time when many banks have failed and credit is tight What the new rules and regulations say about the paperwork and documentation loan applicants must supply In today's turbulent economic climate, solid financial backing is the key to small business survival. And this fully updated guide to SBA loans will help you land it. (Summary)
by Jean Zimmerman (Get the Book)
In 1663, New Amsterdam colonists are plagued by a malevolent, cannibalistic spirit known as the witika (a version of the Algonquian wendigo); by difficult relations with the local Lenape tribes; and by the despotic cruelty of Director General Peg Leg Stuyvesant. Suspicions run rife as orphan children disappear, and when the orphanmaster, Aet Visser, comes under suspicion, his trader friend, Blandine van Couvering, reluctantly joins the handsome English spy, Edward Dummond, in finding the truth. Their mutual attraction is hardly surprising, but the grisly clues they uncover, and the depravity they expose, will shock even veteran readers of historical thrillers. A fascinating perspective on colonial politics and human behavior, this compulsively readable, heartbreaking, and grisly mystery set in a wild, colonial America will appeal to fans of Robert McCammon's fast-paced and tautly suspenseful Mister Slaughter (2010) and Eliot Pattison's Bone Rattler (2007). --Booklist
by Andrew Blackwell (Get the Book)
In this extremely interesting travel journal, Blackwell details his experiences touring the world's most polluted places. Endlessly curious and forthright, he was determined to get as close as possible to international hot spots of nuclear disaster, mining, sewage, and trash. Few people would share Blackwell's dedication in approaching a place like Chernobyl (whose safe future is in serious doubt), yet no one will be able to resist his reports on the things he sees, the people he meets, and the bizarre discoveries he makes. From reflecting on the country's first gusher to embarking on a Gilligan's Island-esque voyage to the Pacific's floating garbage patch, Blackwell exhibits an extreme willingness to immerse himself in the moment while never taking anything or anyone too seriously. From asking necessary questions to nailing our economic and environmental hypocrisy (Americans don't buy electronics from China, he observes; we rent them and send them back to be torn apart ), the author proves himself time and again to be the sort of journalist who is both devastatingly hip and brutally relevant. This sort of environmental investigation cuts through partisan hype and serves as a vital link between adventure and ecological awareness. That Blackwell accomplishes it with humor makes his book that much more effective. --Booklist
by Cindy Woodsmall. (Get the Book)
Annie Martin is an Old Order Mennonite (electricity and telephones are allowed in her sect). Aden Zook is an Old Order Amish. Together, they run Zook's Diner, while Aden also looks after his wheelchair-bound twin brother, Roman. Annie knows that Aden is kind, but she also knows he's so much more-he's a talented artist. The two share romantic feelings that they must fight. A life together just might mean the loss of the business and of family. VERDICT This bittersweet and heartwarming story by the popular author of the "Ada's House" and "Sisters of the Quilt" Amish series is sure to appeal to fans of Wanda E. Brunstetter and Richard Paul Evans. --Library Journal
by Carissa Phelps (Get the Book)
In this brave memoir, Phelps spares no detail of her loveless, troubled childhood. In the second grade, her stepfather throws her out the door in front of the school bus as her mother watches. One of 11 children in a rundown house in Coalinga, Calif., Phelps skips classes and curses her teacher in the first days of junior high. By 12, she drops out and rarely comes home. When she does, her mother drives her to a juvenile hall and leaves. The state sends her to group homes, but she always runs away, preferring the freedom of the streets, where she meets crack-addicted Natara, a prostitute, and Icey, a pimp, a pair who promise to take care of her. Despite the unspeakable atrocities done to her along the way, Phelps is too young and naive to escape their dark web. After Icey is arrested for other crimes, Phelps is raped by older men who subsequently discard her. Finally, after stealing a car, she lands in the Youth Authority detention center. There, she meets her first mentor, counselor Ron Jenkins. Slowly and with setbacks, Phelps rebuilds her life and graduates from high school thanks to the perseverance of a teacher. She finds love and acceptance through the kindness of strangers who see her potential. Later, while earning a law degree and M.B.A. from UCLA, the author, as she explains, takes great strides to reach out to troubled kids, and creates a documentary, Carissa, about her life. --Publishers Weekly
by Don Winslow. (Get the Book)
Money may make the world go - round, but drugs make it spin out of control. That's one of the many deadly lessons in best-seller Winslow's breathless prequel to 2010's Savages. Here readers learn the blistering backstories of twentysomething buds Ben and Chon as well as O, the rebellious babe they both love. Beginning his tale in the 1960s, Winslow paints an unsettling portrait of the underbelly of Southern California, from pot- and coke-dealing hippie parents to Mexican gang leaders who compose messages with human entrails. Surf bums, beatniks, and Botox-pumped beauties play pivotal roles in the three characters' lives. (Especially memorable here is O's bubble-headed mother, dubbed PAQU Passive Aggressive Queen of the Universe.) Winslow serves up nonstop action, tempering the tension with his trademark razor-sharp wit. Military man Chon believes in microwave karma . . . what goes around comes around, in a freaking hurry and usually with ill intent. Published to coincide with the release of Academy Award-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone's adaptation of Savages, this cool, clever entry is sure to be a royally popular summer read. --Booklist
by Cheryl Strayed (Get the Book)
This beloved Internet advice columnist, using the pseudonym Sugar, revealed herself in early 2012 to be the acclaimed novelist and memoirist Strayed (Wild). First appearing on The Rumpus (therumpus.net) in 2010, her column "Dear Sugar" quickly attracted a large and devoted following with its cut-to-the-quick aphorisms like "Write like a motherfucker" and "Be brave enough to break your own heart." This collection gathers up the best of Sugar, whose trademark is deeply felt and frank responses grounded in her own personal experience. In many ways, it is a portrait of Strayed herself: she describes her estranged father, her passionate but doomed first marriage, her relationship with her current husband (Mr. Sugar), and, most thoroughly, her much-missed mother, who died suddenly while Strayed was in college. She answers queries on subjects ranging from professional jealousy to leaving a loved partner to coping with the death of a child to a (not-so) simple "WTF?" VERDICT Part advice, part personal essay, these pieces grapple with life's biggest questions. Beautifully written and genuinely wise, this book is full of heartache and love. Highly recommended. --Library journal
by G. Willow Wilson (Get the Book)
The scripter of the graphic novel Cairo (2007) and writer of the memoir The Butterfly Mosque (2010) here offers her first prose novel, ushering the energy of the Arab Spring into urban fantasy while unleashing jinns into the digital age. A young hacker-for-hire who goes by the handle Alif becomes an enemy of the state (an unspecified Middle Eastern emirate) after his computer program, designed to suss out the identity of a user solely through keystroke patterns and language tendencies, catches the eye of the iron-clad security presence known as the Hand. Alif has also come into possession of the fabled Alf Yeom, a book that supposedly compiles the entire knowledge of the jinn (which, surprise, are real, and, in the case of the saucy and dangerous Vikram the Vampire, a bit too real). Both Alif and the Hand see in this book the inspiration for a quantum leap in computing sophistication, but will it be a tool for revolution or a means to obliterate dissent? Wilson has a lot on her mind with this ambitious and layered novel, which swirls about ideas of theology, technology, activism, class conflict, and cultural inquiry without getting bogged down in any of them. As timely and thoughtful as it is edgy and exciting, this dervish of a novel wraps modern tendrils around ancient roots, spanning the gulf between ones and zeros, haves and have-nots, and seen and unseen worlds. --Booklist
by Mark K. Shriver (Get the Book)
Shriver, founder of the Peace Corps, had by the time of his death at 95 in 2011 earned a sound reputation as a good man. Now his son explores the man behind what has come to be an overused and not always deserved description, portraying someone who was not just kind and principled on a public stage but also in everyday interactions with family, friends, and neighbors. Shriver wrote his son a letter nearly every day of his adult life, which the son ignored in the hustle and bustle of life. Drawing on those letters and others, including one written in anticipation of Shriver's death, Mark offers an intimate portrait of an ambitious man whose drive was more spiritual than political, a man of great personal stature operating in the shadow of a powerful political family. Mark recalls childhood in a hyperactive household, with hard-charging adults, the trauma of the Kennedy assassinations, and the steadfast guidance of his father. Mark, founder of Save Our Children, watched his father struggle with Alzheimer's in his later years and yet maintain the riddle of his joy. --Booklist
by David Brin (Get the Book)
Gerald Livingston makes his living by recovering space garbage, collecting a century's worth of defunct satellites, rocket parts, and other detritus. When he brings in a strange orb, rumors spread around the world about the alien nature of the object. Then it begins to speak. The world is thrown into chaos as factions quarrel over the object's meaning, and scientists and the military question its authenticity and motives. Hugo and Nebula award winner Brin (Startide Rising; The Postman) returns to grand-scale sf with a tale that challenges the definition of humanity, the purpose of life, and the mystery of existence. -VERDICT Featuring memorable characters and masterly storytelling, Brin's latest novel provides food for thought and entertainment. Fans of Vernor Vinge and Arthur C. Clarke, as well as Brin's own sizable fan base, will enjoy this multidimensional story. --Library Journal
by Thomas Watson (Get the Book)
A thriller on par with the legendary All the President's Men, the story of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation and British phone hacking scandal makes for political drama at its finest. Hickman, the reporter for The Independent who pursued the story; and Watson, a relentless Labour Party Parliament member who helped lead the government investigation that toppled the nearly 170-year-old News of the World, have produced a gripping account that will likely be a go-to source in years to come. News of the World reporters hacked voicemail messages of royals, actors, and soccer notables to drive newspaper sales in the hyper-competitive world of the tabloid press. Led by Rupert Murdoch, the paper's executives exerted enough pressure on police and politicians to foil years of investigations. An elaborate cover-up that passed off the hacking as the work of a "rogue reporter" and a private investigator was initially successful, but what ultimately undid the tabloid and brought down top execs like Rebekah Brooks were the revelations that reporters deleted voicemails of a murdered teenager, deceiving police and her family into thinking that she might still be alive. Anyone interested in the media scandal of the decade and its reverberations across the pond won't be able to put this book down. --Publishers weekly
by Hilary Mantel (Get the Book)
Mantel's Wolf Hall (2009) took the literary world by storm and was quickly seen as an exceptional interpretation and depiction of Henry VIII's times and troubles as relayed through the career of Thomas Cromwell, the king's all-powerful secretary and chief task-enforcer. This new novel, the second installment of a planned Cromwell trilogy, can easily stand next to its predecessor as a major achievement in historical fiction. Mantel now tells the story of the fall of Anne Boleyn, Henry's second wife. As the novel opens, Queen Anne has enjoyed her exalted title for only a short time, but already the winds of change are blowing through the court. The king is tired of her (she hasn't produced a male heir, and her unpleasant personality is wearing thin) and finds lady-in-waiting Jane Seymour a much fresher face. Consequently, Secretary Cromwell, the king's enforcer, steps in, drawing the battle lines between himself and Queen Anne. The conflict will be deadly and, for the reader, edge-of-the-seat gripping. Like its predecessor, this is a rigorous read. One must get used to Mantel's intricate storytelling, and inattention will quickly derail one's grasp of events. Mantel's seductive, almost hypnotic, style is both formal, which is appropriate to the time, and exquisitely fluid, while beautifully articulated dialogue serves the story well, lending depth to characterizations and advancing the rich plot. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Mantel's previous novel won the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction and appeared on best-seller lists; anticipation for the sequel is high. --Booklist
by Ray Greene Huling (Get the Book)
"If we mean to change our ways, how will we do it? How will we make our food and our system of food production healthy, sustainable, and secure? How will we make them, in a word, sane? Who will do this work?"  Ray Huling knows the hard realities of shell fishing. His father and grandfathers were shell-fishermen on Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay, laborers in an age-old trade. As a third generation quahauger, the industry is his life, and the drive to keep it sustainable is what makes up his family history. In Bullrakers , Huling answers these pressing questions and delivers a moving portrait of the men and women who work the waters of the Atlantic coast in the harsh environment of the shellfishing industry. Huling argues that any successful sustainable food enterprise will likely resemble shell fishing in Rhode Island, an industry which has existed sustainably for over 150 years, with its complex system of governance, its fierce and obsessive workforce, and its conflicts within communities and between generations. This thought provoking book sets the complexities of sustainable food production against a heartwarming story of one family's enduring years of work on the seas. (Summary)
by Karin Slaughter (Get the Book)
The fourth entry in Slaughter's Georgia series moves between 1975 and the present day. Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Will Trent is livid when his boss, Amanda Wagner, keeps him off their latest case. But Amanda has her reasons, and they go back to the 1970s, when Amanda and Evelyn Mitchell were rookies and among the first women hired in the Atlanta Police Department. Despised by their male colleagues, they are treated with the utmost disdain. Sent to take a rape complaint at Techwood Homes, a roach-infested housing project, the two discover that three prostitutes have gone missing, and no one seems to care. Amanda, who still cooks and cleans for her father, a longtime police commander, at first thinks that Evelyn, who is quick with a retort, is somewhat scandalous, but the two bond over their increasingly dangerous investigation, which is continually being stymied by both cops and criminals. And what they discover about what has been done to the missing prostitutes fuels their ire and their ambition. Providing a fascinating backward glance at sexual politics in the workplace as well as a grisly look at a brutal sexual predator, Slaughter delivers another riveting, pulse-pounding crime novel. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: National media attention, including a tie-in with the Save the Libraries campaign, will help launch author Slaughter's twelfth thriller onto the best-seller lists. --Booklist
by Christopher Hayes (Get the Book)
Hayes (editor at large, The Nation), host of MSNBC's Up w/ Chris Hayes, here presents a valuable analysis of what is wrong with the United States. In a well-researched and well-written presentation, he argues convincingly that the nation's elite have botched just about everything. But more importantly, Hayes makes a solid case that the existing social order, a meritocracy geared to reward the best and the brightest, is doomed to failure. Yet after Hayes makes these important arguments, his solutions fall short. He calls for taxing the rich and for a vast redistribution of wealth to create not only equality of opportunity in the United States, but "equality of outcomes." He ignores the realities of the deeply divided American political landscape and pins his hopes on the radicalization of the upper middle class, with their ire directed at the wealthiest. VERDICT This is more wishful thinking on the part of the author than a valuable roadmap to show the way for the country to solve its problems, but it will appeal to social theorists and political news junkies, particularly those on the left of the political spectrum. Purchase accordingly. --Library Journal
by Robert Goolrick (Get the Book)
With understated delicacy, Goolrick, in his second novel, after the well-received A Reliable Wife (2009), creates a mesmerizing gothic tale of a good man gone wrong. Charismatic Charlie Beale, just returned from WWII, is desperate to put down roots, and the small, bucolic town of Brownsburg, Virginia, where no crime had ever been committed, seems to offer him the simple life he craves. He immediately finds work at the butcher shop, where his courteous ways make him popular with the local housewives, while his baseball prowess impresses the men. He becomes fast friends with his employer's family, especially five-year-old Sam. But when Charlie sets eyes on Sylvan Glass, the beautiful young wife of the town's richest citizen, the simple life he so desires vanishes in an instant. The two begin a torrid affair, often using young Sam as their cover, and what Sam sees and experiences in their presence changes him forever. Goolrick effortlessly creates a timeless, erotically charged tale of illicit passion and peoples it with a unique cast of characters, ranging from a gifted black seamstress to a country girl besotted with Hollywood movie stars and fashion. Finely crafted fiction from a captivating writer. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: A 100,000-copy first printing and a major promotional campaign for Goolrick's terrific sophomore effort may well boost the author's profile. --Booklist
by Edward Lucas (Get the Book)
Lucas, Moscow bureau chief for the Economist from 1998 to 2002, has covered Eastern Europe since 1986. He has a very straightforward message, that Russian spies are not a Cold War relic. They are working right now and very effectively at infiltrating our society and stealing our secrets. The fact that most people think spying is a thing of the past gives Russian agents the ultimate cover, since no one can see what he or she believes no longer exists. Lucas provides a history of Russian spying from the era of Lenin to the arrest and deportation of Anna Chapman, one of a ring of suburban agents that so shocked the U.S. in 2010. He details how KGB tactics are now employed for new aims. He also gives a convincing and unsettling overview of the ways in which Russian organized crime, big business, and conventional diplomacy work together to dupe the West. This enormously complex material is made understandable and riveting by Lucas' expertise and his passion for exposing this threat. --Booklist
by David Ellis. (Get the Book)
Edgar-winner Ellis is a Chicago prosecuting attorney (he was the house prosecutor who tried Governor Rod Blagojevich before the Illinois senate), and he brings his legal expertise and insider's knowledge to the crafting of his legal thrillers. The third in Ellis' Jason Kolarich series (the others are The Hidden Man, 2009, and Breach of Trust, 2011) is one of those reads that starts, literally and metaphorically, in a dark street at night and that manages to extend that What's going to come up at me? feeling to just about every scene. A young woman, a student and paralegal, is shot to death on the street. A homeless man is found nearby and arrested; he is in possession of the young woman's purse, and he identifies the gun fired at the victim as his own. He's an Iraq War veteran, with PTSD and disorganized schizophrenia. Defense-attorney Kolarich takes on what seems to be an easily closed case, but as he delves into the paralegal's life, he discovers that any number of people may have wanted her dead. One flaw Ellis writes about a Chicagoesque city, when there's no reason to be coy about setting. But everything else here, from interviews through prepping the team of lawyers through the rigors and excitement of the trial itself, rings perfectly true. --Booklist
by Ronald P. Formisano (Get the Book)
Some 40 to 45 percent of Republican primary voters are Tea Party members seeking to direct the course of this year's presidential election. Yet the group that has been at the center of politics since 2009 is still not clearly defined in terms of objectives and message. Is it more concerned about shrinking the government or prodding the nation toward more conservative social values? The Tea Party has clearly pushed the political agendas of both major parties to the right, but will it have an enduring effect on American politics? Formisano offers a historical perspective, comparing the Tea Party to similar populist movements, both progressive and reactionary, of the past, from the original Boston Tea Party to the People's Party of the 1890s, from the Progressive Party of the 1920s to the Dixiecrats of the 1940s and, more recently, the parties of George Wallace and Ross Perot. He examines the conditions that gave birth to the Tea Party and whether it is genuinely grassroots or directed by corporate interests and billionaires. A helpful primer on a movement that is changing the American political landscape. --Booklist
by Elin Hilderbrand (Find the Book)
It's graduation day at Nantucket High School, and the senior class is celebrating with a beach party and bonfire. But what starts out as a joyous celebration ends in tragedy when a car filled with students crashes on an isolated country road. The crash kills the driver, Penny Alistair, and leaves her twin brother, Hobson, in a coma. The other two occupants, Penny's boyfriend, Jake, and her friend, Demeter, escape unharmed but are emotionally scarred. The fallout from the devastating accident grips the tight-knit community. By all accounts, Penny intentionally drove the car off the road. But what would cause Penny, a talented singer with a brilliant career ahead of her, to risk her life and the lives of her closest friends? The aftermath of the accident reveals a group of young people struggling with their own demons and a community wrapped in a complicated web of secrets. Hilderbrand (Silver Girl, 2011) has once again written an engaging story wonderfully illustrating the often complex lives of young people struggling toward adulthood and the roles of parents and the community in negotiating that journey. --Booklist
by Jon Gernter. (Get the Book)
Gertner, a writer and editor who grew up in the shadows of Bell Labs' campus in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, describes the beginning of modern communications primarily between the late 1930s and the mid-1970s through the lenses of several executives and scientists. Their collective stories present an extraordinary picture of a company focused on innovation. The intent of Bell Labs (Bell Telephone Laboratories) was to support the research and development of its parent, AT&T, which sought universal connectivity in the early 1900s and in 75 years realized that dream. Bell Labs became the laboratory of the future. This is where new ideas were transformed into inventions that changed the world, such as the transistor in 1947, the essential building block of all digital products in contemporary life. Other inventions included lasers and information technologies incorporated into computers, communications, factory-productivity methods, and defense weaponry. This is a worthwhile book for history buffs and for many library patrons intrigued by the origins of our technology-driven world. --Booklist
by Heather Gudenkauf (Get the Book)
Post-Columbine, we've sadly become accustomed to the familiar story surrounding school shootings: the disaffected gunman, the heroic teacher/student/law enforcement agent, the frightened parents, the intrusive media. Most of us experience these tragedies from a safely removed distance. Gudenkauf (These Things Hidden, 2011) breaks down that barrier and puts the reader smack in the center of events as they unfold, with an unknown gunman holding hostage an elementary school and, by extension, the entire small town of Broken Branch. Using multiple narrators to excellent effect, Gudenkauf interweaves various perspectives, including those of Augie, a troubled 13-year-old transfer student, and Mrs. Oliver, a teacher nearing retirement, bent on protecting her children, to demonstrate the way in which the big picture emerges only in hindsight. At the heart of the storm, it's all chaos, misinformation, and false leads. The characters, while representing archetypes, spring from the page as fully formed individuals with complex back stories. The reader becomes heavily invested in their survival, which, more than the mystery of the gunman and his motive, propels this suspenseful narrative compellingly forward. --Booklist
by Jordan W. Smoller. (Get the Book)
Enlisting research in evolutionary biology, genetics, and psychology, along with advances in molecular neuroscience and neuroimaging, Harvard psychiatrist Smoller redefines the biology of normal. Genetic variation, natural selection, environment, and unique individual experiences coalesce in molding our social and emotional selves. He considers the neural basis of social cognition, empathy, and even love, both the romantic and maternal varieties. Smoller maps out the biology of disgust, resiliency, and fear and then correlates these phenomena with anatomical areas of the brain the insula, hippocampus, and amygdala, respectively. We learn that our memories get resculpted. And that oxytocin, a peptide hormone consisting of a measly nine amino acids, works like a love potion in women and also stimulates trust. In the fetching chapter The Brain of the Beholder: Beauty and Sexual Attraction, we find out that evolution seems to favor symmetrical facial features and statistically middling appearances rather than an exotic visage. In the worlds of psychiatry and neuroscience, normal is hardly average nor necessarily an ideal state but, rather, a landscape of human possibility. --Booklist
