Book News and New Book Reviews
Just a sampling of our new materials (right side)!
by Firth Haring Fabend (Get the Book)
New Netherland in a Nutshell covers the history of the Dutch colony that became the states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and parts of Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Firth Haring Fabend is an American novelist and historian. She was born in Tappan, New York, on August 12, 1937, the daughter of James Firth Haring and Elizabeth Adler. She graduated from Nyack High School in Nyack, New York, and is a 1959 graduate of Barnard College, where she majored in English literature. She spent her Junior Year at Westfield College of London University. While working in book publishing in New York City and attending graduate school, she published five novels between 1968 and 1985. Two book-length works of history followed in 1991 and 2000, and to date some thirty essays and chapters in books.
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 Joseph Matthews (Get the Book)
Finding the right long-term care often means making difficult decisions during difficult times. Whether you're planning for the future or need to make a quick decision, Long-Term Care helps you understand the alternatives to nursing facilities and shows you how to find the best care you can afford. This completely updated edition includes an expanded discussion of Medicaid coverage, special long-term care insurance, assisted living, and long-term care. Plus, you'll get up-to-date benefit numbers, laws and taxes, and revised information on veterans' benefits. (Publisher)
by Michael Hainey (Get the Book)
When Hainey was 6, his father, a 35-year-old copydesk editor for the Chicago Sun-Times, died of an apparent heart attack on the street on his way home from work. Hainey's uncle, also a newspaperman, came to the family home to deliver the news to his brother's wife and two sons. While his father lived on in scrapbooks, his mother cobbled together a life for them, and Hainey grew into his father's profession, becoming a reporter with a relentless sense that something was missing from the story of his father's death. As he approached the age at which his father died, Hainey began an investigation, talking to family members and his father's friends and colleagues. Hainey slowly pieces together his father's last years and the secrets of his life, breaking through a code of silence that respected a dead man's legacy but understood the reporter's search for the truth. What would the truth mean for his family, for his mother and her curt explanations and gauzy memory? This is a beautifully written exploration of family bonds and the secrets that may test them. --Booklist
This fun and inspirational collection of brief essays started with a question posed to the readers of Edge.org, founded by Brockman (This Will Make You Smarter: New Scientific Concepts To Improve Your Thinking): What is your favorite deep, elegant, or beautiful explanation? The result is 150 brief essays that present wonderful explanations of the world around us. The authors include Richard Dawkins, Eric Kandel, Alan Alda, and Brian Eno; all have something worthwhile to contribute. -VERDICT This engaging collection can be read from cover to cover or browsed as interest dictates, but all inquisitive readers will enjoy it. --Library Journal (Get the Book)
by Jennifer Weiner
Weiner's latest outing chronicles the plight of four women who are brought together when one of them decides to have a baby. At 43, India knows her hopes of having a child naturally are slim, and the in vitro fertilization she and her older, wealthy husband, Marcus, have been trying isn't working. So India and Marcus decide to go another route: they select an egg from a donor and choose a surrogate to carry the baby. Weiner introduces us to both: Jules is a stunning college student who decides to donate her eggs so she can pay for her father to go to rehab, and Annie, a young mother of two, chooses to become a surrogate to help support her family. The only one not happy with India's plan is Bettina, Marcus' adult daughter, who is secretly hoping her parents will reunite. In this warm and winning yarn, Weiner draws readers into the lives of each woman, and brings them together in an unexpected and ultimately rewarding way. Another surefire hit for the popular author of Fly Away Home (2010). . HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Best-selling Weiner has an avid and active fan base, and Internet buzz is growing about her new book and many plannedsummer appearances. --Booklist
by Thomas E. Simmons (Get the Book)
Simmons spent over 20 years researching the remarkable life of John D. Robinson, who rose from segregationist Mississippi to become a distinguished pilot, founder of the Tuskegee Institute's school of aviation, a bold defender of Ethiopia during the 1935 Italian invasion, and, finally, founder of the Ethiopian Air Force. --Library Journal
by Linda Stasi (Get the Book)
A reporter stumbles knee-deep into a major news story in Stasi's riveting first novel. Alexandra Russo receives an assignment to cover the trial of Demiel ben Yusef, who has been accused of terrorist atrocities. Others believe he has been framed and that he is actually the resurrected Jesus Christ. As his followers clash with his opponents, Russo watches ben Yusef walk to the courtroom. Before he enters the building, though, he stops to give her a kiss. She's suddenly in the headlines. Why out of the thousands in the crowd was she chosen? As she struggles for answers, Alexandra quickly learns that her life is in danger. Stasi does an amazing job of mixing science with religious paranoia in this compelling thriller. The question of ben Yusef's divinity propels the narrative to an amazing conclusion, though there is a clear setting-up for a sequel. Dan Brown and Steve Berry fans have another controversial novel in which to lose themselves. --Booklist
by Tanya Biank (Get the Book)
In her latest, Biank (Army Wives: The Unwritten Code of Military Marriage) sheds light on women who serve in the armed forces. She closely follows the careers of four servicewomen between 2006 and 2011: Brig. Gen. Angela Salinas, the first Hispanic female general in the Marines; 2nd Lt. Bergan Flannigan, a platoon leader married to a man in the same military police company; Sgt. Amy Stokley, a drill instructor for the Marine Corps; and Maj. Candice O'Brien, an officer whose deployment to Afghanistan strains her marriage to a military husband with PTSD. Biank is a skilled biographer, providing contextual snapshots of America's military with each passing year. Her immersion in each woman's state of mind makes these stories read almost like a novel, and the clarity of detail, from cadet slang to the social politics on base, reveals the thoroughness of her research. Biank doesn't offer any groundbreaking conclusions-women are ever more prevalent in the military, but still face challenges in a hypermasculine environment-but these engaging glimpses into the life of military women are more than worth reading for their own sake. --Publishers Weekly
by Aria Beth Sloss (Get the Book)
Lonely and bright, an only child brought up by parents less flush than her peers' parents, Rebecca turns to new-girl Alex like a flower to the sun. In ever-vernal 1960s Pasadena, opposites Rebecca and Alex become fast and fierce friends, stuck together like two ends of a battery. Their charge begins to weaken, however, when Alex's interest in theater summons her away to camp, all but fizzles in college when Rebecca would rather study biology than attempt to understand one of Alex's obscure performances, and is extinguished to near death when one dark moment leads Rebecca to make a fateful decision. Her best friend spurned and her dream of following medicine dashed in one fell swoop, Rebecca escapes restrictive southern California and the mother whose only wish for her is to marry well and starts anew. Before long, though, she and Alex reconnect, and the true nature and madness of their friendship unfurls. An impressive psychological drama, Sloss' first novel aptly brings to the fore the social issues that uniquely challenge her heroine. --Booklist
by Emily Bazelon (Get the Book)
Law journalist, senior editor at Slate (where much of this book's content appeared), and New York Times contributor Emily Bazelon is a voice of authority on bullying. An antidote to the media frenzy surrounding this now heated issue, Bazelon's even-handed, thorough, and affecting narrative provides insights and information about the kids, parents, educators, and courts dealing with the actions and aftermath of psychological and physical bullying in schools, as well as insidious cyberbullying. No longer just the province of mean girls and bad boys, bullying, and its attendant "drama," is an epidemic affecting every community and is rife with a pervasive deniability on the part of instigators, accusers, and adults who are called upon to referee. ... While less prescriptive than other books on the topic, very useful FAQs are included, as are resource lists for readers. Masterfully written, Bazelon's book will increase understanding, awareness, and action. --Publishers Weekly
by Jack McDevitt (Get the Book)
Two SF powerhouses team up for this near-future thriller that touches on one of the great conspiracy theories of our time: that NASA is keeping secrets about the Apollo program. When Jerry Culpepper, NASA public-relations director, listens to an audio recording that seems to reveal that NASA put an astronaut on the moon six months before Neil Armstong's one small step, he's inclined to dismiss it as some sort of joke. Why would NASA keep something like that a secret for 50 years? But, as more evidence appears, Jerry is forced to question everything he believes in: NASA, the space program, even himself. This is an extremely well told tale in which the authors dispense information a bit at a time, in the manner of a police procedural, and Culpepper is a well-designed character, an idealist (but not an idiot) with whom readers will find it easy to empathize. Bucky Blackstone, the larger-than-life billionaire who's planning his own manned mission to the moon (similarities to certain real-life individuals are surely not coincidental), is colorful and difficult to pin down: Is he a galumphing good guy, unaware of the confusion he's causing, or is he a devious villain? And the story's astounding conclusion is wildly imaginative but also completely believable. Readers, be warned to get comfortable before opening the book. You could put it down at some point, perhaps, but why on earth would you want to?
by Lynne Schofield Clark (Get the Book)
Media scholar Clark examines how various media are consumed by American children and teens today and how families make decisions about the role of media in their lives. Clark and her team interviewed dozens of families from all socioeconomic backgrounds, uncovering both major and subtle differences in kids' media use and their parents' attitudes about time spent online, texting, or playing games. At the core is Clark's thesis that digital interaction is simply a new peer culture space in which many of the same old parenting questions setting guidelines, teaching awareness, determining when to intervene apply. Parents today will agree that one extraordinary new stress, however, is the emotional work spent keeping up with new media and their effects. Clark doesn't comment on policy and regulation until awfully late in the book, and one wonders how quickly any book on ever-changing media will date. However, the stories are engaging, and Clark's analyses are very accessible, particularly in her concluding pages, when she summarizes different best practices for parents seeking guidance in making such important decisions. --Booklist
by Lydia Millet (Get the Book)
Millet brings her searching, bitterly funny, ecologically attuned trilogy of Los Angeles-based novels (How the Dead Dream, 2008; Ghost Lights, 2011) to a haunting crescendo. This tale of loss and realignment homes in on Susan at the end of a tragic chain of events involving her adult daughter, Casey, ending up in a wheelchair; her boss T.'s disappearance and return; and her husband's death. Susan struggles with grief and guilt and marvels at the ceaseless, atomic whirl of life and the persistence of the past. She is also astringently hilarious on the subject of men and her life as a secret slut. Millet creates a brilliant deus ex machina when her spiky protagonist unexpectedly inherits a vast mansion in Pasadena that is filled with hundreds of stuffed and mounted animals from all around the world. Susan is transformed by her new life as caretaker for this private natural history museum, this library of the dead, which becomes an unlikely haven for T.'s dementia-afflicted mother and others in need of succor and companionship. Millet is extraordinarily agile and powerful here, moving from light to shadow like a stalking lioness as Susan's strange stewardship casts light on extinction and preservation, how we care for others and seek or hide truth, and crimes both intimate and planetary. --Booklist
by Gabrielle Bernstein (Get the Book)
Drawing heavily from the core principles of the popular text A Course in Miracles, Bernstein has developed a six-week "mind cleanse" plan that shifts thought patterns from fear to love. She delightfully warns readers that pursuing this plan may cause miracles, explaining that "each moment you choose love over fear is a miracle." Divided into six chapters, one for each week, the book guides readers through simple but effective daily exercises and practices that progressively build the mental muscles for gratitude, forgiveness, and love-the core precepts for living a miraculous life. The author discovered firsthand that such subtle shifts in thinking don't necessarily change what happens to you in life, but will change how you experience what happens. In turn, these inner shifts allow us to have a greater effect in our society and may even inspire us to become a "miracle worker in the world." Spiritual seekers of any stripe can benefit from following this perky and pragmatic plan outlining a path for radical change-one of transforming fear into love-and perhaps discover lasting happiness along the path. --Publishers Weekly
by Ian Rankin (Get the Book)
Rebus is back! Well, you didn't really think Rankin's cantankerous Edinburgh copper would stay retired, did you? Rankin has moved on since Rebus' retirement party in Exit Music (2008), beginning a new series starring another Edinburgh cop, Malcolm Fox, but Fox couldn't be more different from Rebus: a reformed drunk rather than a functioning one; a rule follower rather than a habitual rule breaker; and, most important, an internal-affairs officer rather than a detective. Oil and water, right? So who could resist the temptation to put them together in the same novel? It turns out Rebus has been spending his time since retirement as a civilian volunteer in a cold-case unit; one of those cold cases, the 15-year-old disappearance of a young woman, turns very hot when Rebus finds a connection to several more recent disappearances. His bloodhound's scent aroused, the detective is on the trail with a vengeance, crossing lines and bending rules just like in his salad days, which, naturally, brings him afoul of Fox, who abhors Rebus' nonconformity and is convinced the maverick must be dirty. (Or is he just jealous of his worst enemy's prowess as a detective?) Crime-fiction readers are trained to hate internal-affairs cops, but Rankin made us see Fox's humanity in The Complaints (2011) and The Impossible Dead (2011); now he sets the IA guy against our favorite bullheaded maverick. Ambiguity has never tasted so bittersweet. A gutsy experiment on Rankin's part and a completely successful one. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Crime-fiction fans will swarm when the news of Rebus' return spreads, and Rankin won't disappoint them. --Booklist
by Hoda Kotb (Get the Book)
Today Show cohost Kotb (Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer, and Kathie Lee) tells the remarkable stories of six people who overcame trials and tragedies to become successful and happy individuals. A decade after the events that rocked their lives, Kotb interviewed each subject about how the passage of time had healed them and changed their perspective. Amy Barnes transformed herself from a 490-pound victim of domestic violence into a bodybuilding personal trainer and public speaker. Patrick Weiland, a television producer, spiraled out of control after he was diagnosed with HIV, and subsequently became addicted to crystal meth. But following the horrific murder of his sister and the realization that "he could not put his family through another catastrophic loss," he resolved to turn his life around. Ron Clifford managed to escape the September 11 attacks only to learn that his sister, Ruth, and four-year-old niece, Juliana, had been on United Flight 175, the second plane to hit the towers. Ten years later, Clifford discusses coping with PTSD and finding closure after testifying against 9/11 mastermind Zacarias Moussaoui. Sobering and inspiring tales in their own right, Kotb's journalistic acumen makes this collection all the more moving. --Publishers weekly
by David John Mark (Get the Book)
Cops in the economically ravaged northern England city of Hull don't know what to think of the new detective who has joined the force. Aector McAvoy is a veritable giant, and there are vague rumors that he was nearly killed bringing down a rogue cop and a contract killer. But in Hull, he is a shy computer wizard who silently wishes he could spend all his time with his pregnant wife and young son. Then there's his name; Hull cops don't know it's a Scots spelling of Hector. But Aector is on the scene when a teenage girl is savagely murdered in Hull's most historic church, and it is Aector who discovers that the girl and subsequent victims were all survivors of previous fatal tragedies. And it is Aector who must end the murderous rampage. First-novelist Mark shrewdly makes Aector an enigma for readers, too, slowly building the conflicted hero throughout the book. Equally shrewdly, he gives Aector a tough and insightful female supervisor, who, after puckishly remarking he should have come with an owner's manual, ultimately unpacks her complex charge. Mark's years as a Hull journalist, his descriptions of a blighted city on the bones of its arse, and winter weather that ranges from merely dismal to brutal burnish an impressive debut. John Harvey readers should take note. --Booklist
by Sonya Lyubomirsi (Get the Book)
In this thought-provoking volume, Lyubomirsky (The How of Happiness), psychology professor at the University of California-Riverside, examines happiness and conventional notions about how it's nurtured in relationships, at work, and in one's own psyche. Many of these beliefs are damaging myths, she opines: while society leads people to believe that happiness will necessarily accompany the achievement of certain life goals-like marriage or the birth of a child-such misconceptions can lead to depression when the expected euphoria fails to arrive. Additionally, the author argues that phenomena that are traditionally viewed as negative (e.g., divorce, illness, job loss) can in fact promote the development of crucial life skills that can lead, in the long run, to a more sustainable form of happiness-one that can cope with adversity rather than break down before it. "We must stop waiting for happiness, and we must stop being terrified of the potential for unhappiness," she notes. "[N]othing in life is as joy-producing or as misery-inducing as we think it is." While remaining sympathetic to her readers' pain, Lyubomirsky demonstrates that positively reframing life events can mine the best out of even the darkest situations. Provocative and fresh. --Publishers Weekly
by James Church (Get the Book)
Church's previous novels featuring North Korean cop Inspector O showcased the endemic paranoia and dysfunction that is bedrock in the most secretive nation on earth. In The Man with the Baltic Stare (2010), O is retired by his government and banished to a mountain-top, only to be called back into service. This time, the guileful and cantankerous O has had to flee his country. He's living with his nephew Bing in a backwater region of northeast China that borders North Korea. Bing is head of state security for the region, and his skill at controlling corruption at the border is all that allows him to keep his job. But a visit by Madam Fang, the most beautiful woman in the world, draws Bing and O into a bizarre quest for an almost unknowable objective, a quest that becomes increasingly more mysterious and hazardous. Bing, who narrates the story, is weighed down by the same obstacles O always faced: misinformation and disinformation about his assignment. As the story progresses, assorted Chinese, Mongol, and Kazakh agents, all maddeningly inscrutable, sow further confusion, making this the most convoluted investigation O has ever faced. The Man with the Baltic Stare was reported to be the final book in the series. Here's hoping Inspector O has merely been transplanted to a new locale and will continue to appear in further adventures. He's one of a kind. --Booklist
by Gordon Corera (Get the Book)
With exotic locales, global intrigue, and state secrets at stake, Corera, a security correspondent for BBC News, highlights the successes and failures of the British Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6, from the chaotic years immediately after WWII through the reorganization of the post-9/11 new age of espionage. The author goes for the details with the recruiting of double agents, purchases of top secrets, and key defections in such places as Berlin, Vienna, London, and Moscow, all in a lower dramatic tone than Ian Fleming's Agent 007 or Graham Greene's spy exploits. Corera pays much attention to the huge betrayal of MI6 by Kim Philby and his shrewd KGB handlers; spy queen Daphne Park and her astute Congo-Lumumba connection; the dismal Iraq failure; and the British support of American strikes against al Qaeda . With an update on the revamped MI6 bureau still in "knowledge management," Corera's impressive, solid volume about the British spy agency shows there's still some bite and verve in the old dog yet. --Publishers Weekly
by Jen Lancaster (Get the Book)Lancaster's follow-up to If You Were Here (2011) is a charming comedy in the vein of movies like Big and 13 Going on 30. Twenty years after she ruled her high school with an iron fist, Lissy Ryder finds herself out of work and dumped by her husband, Duke, who was her high-school sweetheart. Lissy decides to start her own PR firm and attends her high-school reunion in the hopes of drumming up business. She's chagrined to find that her now successful schoolmates are still smarting from her high-school cruelty and want nothing to do with her. Only earth-mother Deva deigns to speak to Lissy, offering a solution to her woes: drink a potion that will send her back into the past to undo the misery she caused her classmates. Lissy gamely accepts the challenge, but when she returns to her new present, she's shocked to find how much her life, as well as the lives of her classmates, has changed, and not necessarily for the better. Readers will find it easy to root for the frank and funny heroine of this winsome, whimsical tale. Lancaster's downright fun novel is chick lit at its best. --Booklist
by Amy Webb (Get the Book)
When journalist-turned-consultant Webb ended a serious relationship at age 30, she turned to online dating to seek her match and avoid horrible setups arranged by her mother. The men she meets on JDate and Match.com prove to be disappointments. They are disingenuous about their physical appearance, they stick her with the tab, and one turns out to be married. Rather than being discouraged, however, Webb combines her investigative skills with her mathematical savvy to better understand how online dating sites work, and who is having the most success with them. She creates several male profiles in order to check out how other women are marketing themselves, particularly the women whose profiles pop up right away, indicating they're getting the highest volume of responses. Once she's gathered her data, Webb applies it to her own profile, changing the wording and redoing her pictures. Webb's clever and inventive experiment, as well as her success story, will be inspiring and eye-opening for anyone who has ever turned to one of the many popular online dating sites in search of love. --Booklist
