The photographer's eye field guide : the essential handbook to traveling with your digital SLR camera

by Michael Freeman. Whether on a weekend city break or a month-long trekking vacation, this handy litle guide will be your indispensable companion. Taking photos that really capture the essence of your time away is a real skill, and swamped with a multitude of choices, it can be hard to organise your time and focus on the shots that really matter. Written by Michael Freeman, one of the world's leading travel photographers, this portable mine of information takes a hands-on approach to travel photography, offering a comprehensive guide to planning and executing your trip. Advice covers everythingnbsp;and includes:nbsp;choosing what to photograph and how to do it, coping with challenging lighting conditions,nbsp;and negotiating customs and security issues. The subjects section covers a diverse array of settings, including: safaris, deserts, diving, cycling, mountains and water. This ensures that, whatever situation you encounter, you have the information you need to take stunning shots right at your fingertips. The themes section takes a more conceptual approach, and is packed with invaluable advice on situations you may encounter: shooting, for example, worship scenes, markets, landscapes and light. There is even a section on reworking cliches, so you can visit the much-photographed sites of the world and come away with something truly unique. Packed with stunning shots, and rooted entirely in the photographers own experiences, this is a highly practical approach to a key area of photography, and an inspirational guide for photographers on the move everywhere. (Check Catalog)

The devil's punchbowl

by Greg Iles. Bestseller Iles's stellar third suspense novel to feature Penn Cage (after Turning Angel) finds the former prosecutor and bestselling novelist serving as the mayor of Natchez, Miss., his hometown. Frustrated by his limited ability to change the system, Cage is plunged into a deadly duel of wits with some bad guys after a childhood friend, Tim Jessup, now a card dealer, alerts him to illegal dog fighting and sexual abuse connected with a floating casino. Before Jessup can deliver proof of his allegations, he's tortured and killed. Convinced Jessup managed to pass on the evidence to the mayor, Jessup's boss confronts and threatens Cage. Daniel Kelly, an old friend working for a private security organization, lends support, sneaking Cage's 11-year-old daughter out of town to safety. Iles brilliantly creates opportunities for his characters to demonstrate principle and courage, both on a large and small scale, making this much more than just an exciting read. --Publisher's weekly (Check Catalog)

The making of Americans : democracy and our schools

by E.D. Hirsch. Hirsch's 1987 bestseller, Cultural Literacy, generated an intense debate over its proposals for education reform, namely that all schools should teach a standard core curriculum—the information every American should be equipped with in order to participate in the national cultural life (e.g., everyone should understand the term Achilles heel; know who said, To be or not to be or who wrote the Gettysburg Address). Hirsch's new book fine-tunes his philosophy while rebutting the criticism that cultural literacy fostered a conservative white curriculum that didn't take into account the learning styles and knowledge base of minority groups. Although must reading for educators, the book undoubtedly will reignite the earlier controversy. For example, Hirsch questions the wisdom of charter schools and educational vouchers, insisting that a trans-ethnic common educational experience can be had only in public schools attended by rich and poor together. However, in the context of the continuing shortcomings of American education and armed with the support of prominent educators, Hirsch once again challenges the prevailing child-centered philosophy, championing a return to a subject-centered approach to learning. --Publisheer's Weekly. (Check Catalog)

Half broke horses : a true-life novel

by Jeanette Walls. No one familiar with Walls's affecting memoir, The Glass Castle, will be surprised by her subtitle here: Walls is a careful observer who can give true-life stories the rush and immediacy of the best fiction. Here she novelizes the life of her grandmother, giving herself just the latitude she needs to create a great story. Lily Casey Smith is one astonishing woman, tough enough to trot her pony across several hundred miles of desert to her first job when she's only a teenager. After a brief stint in Chicago and marriage to a flim-flam man, she's back in the West, teaching again and eventually remarrying, helping her fine new husband at the gas station, raising her children, and running hootch if she must to make ends meet during the Depression. Her story is at once simple and utterly remarkable, for this is one remarkable woman—a half-broke horse herself who's clearly passed on her best traits to her granddaughter. VERDICT Told in a natural, offhand voice that is utterly enthralling, this is essential reading for anyone who loves good fiction—or any work about the American West. --Publisher's Weekly (Check catalog)

How to raise the perfect dog : through puppyhood and beyond

by Cesar Milan. The star of Dog Whisperer presents a wealth of advice, tips, and techniques for ideally raising a puppy, addressing a range of common concerns from selecting a compatible breed and meeting health needs to housebreaking essentials and achieving ideal behavior. TV tie-in. (Check catalog)

South of Broad : a novel

by Pat Conroy. "Kids, I'm teaching you to tell a story. It's the most important lesson you'll ever learn," says the protagonist of Conroy's first novel in 14 years (since 1995's Beach Music). Switching between the 1960s and the 1980s, the narrative follows a group of friends whose relationship began in Charleston, SC. The narrator is Leopold Bloom King (his mother was a Joyce scholar), a likable but troubled kid who goes from having one best friend, his brother, to having no friends after a tragedy, to having, suddenly, a gang, of which he is perhaps not the leader but certainly the glue. Conroy continues to demonstrate his skill at presenting the beauty and the ugliness of the South, holding both up for inspection and, at times, admiration. He has not lost his touch for writing stories that are impossible to put down; the fast pace and shifting settings grip the reader even as the story occasionally veers toward the unbelievable. VERDICT Filled with the lyrical, funny, poignant language that is Conroy's birthright, this is a work Conroy fans will love. Libraries should buy multiple copies. —Library Journal (Check Catalog)

Just like us : the true story of four Mexican girls coming of age in America

by Helen Thorpe. In 2004, Denver journalist Thorpe met four Mexican girls-two legal, two undocumented-and began a five-year journey of chronicling their lives and the lives of their families against the backdrop of growing tensions on immigration issues. She follows the girls-Marisela, Clara, Yadira, and Elissa-from their high-school proms through college graduation, documenting the huge differences between the challenges and uncertainties faced by those with documents and those without. Thorpe also chronicles the family dynamics and economic struggles as the girls tentatively move into the middle class, the tensions of assimilation as the girls become increasingly American, and the emotional challenges to maintaining cultural ties to their families and communities. She follows the story into Mexico when Marisela's mother is deported. But Thorpe also follows the opposition, including former U.S. Representative Tom Tancredo (R-Colorado), who made a name for himself by vociferously opposing illegal immigrants. All the while, Thorpe had the added complication of being married to the mayor of Denver, whose business and political stances added to the heated debate. Thorpe does a masterful job of exploring issues of class, race, and culture in the American amalgam through the lives of four young Mexican women. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

The year of the flood : a novel

Margaret Atwood. Never one to rest on her laurels, famed Canadian author Atwood redeems the word sequel with this brilliant return to the nightmarish future first envisioned in Oryx and Crake. Contrary to expectations, the waterless flood, a biological disaster predicted by a fringe religious group, actually arrives. In its wake, the survivors must rely on their wits to get by, all the while reflecting on what went wrong. Atwood wins major style points here for her framing device, the liturgical year of the God's Gardeners sect. Readers who enjoy suspense will also appreciate the story's shifting viewpoint and nonlinear time line, which result in the gradual revelation of key events and character relationships. Atwood's heroines seem uniformly grim and hollow, but one can hardly expect cheerfulness in the face of the apocalypse, and the hardships of their lives both pre- and postflood are moving and disturbing. VERDICT Another win for Atwood, this dystopian fantasy belongs in the hands of every highbrow sf aficionado and anyone else who claims to possess a social conscience. (Check catalog)

The healing of America : a global quest for better, cheaper, and fairer health care

by T.R. Reid. For all the rights and privileges enjoyed in the U.S, this country remains the only industrialized one that does not guarantee medical services to all its citizens. As a result, our health-care system ranks poorly when it comes to infant mortality, life expectancy, satisfaction, and overall performance. Reid traveled the globe to study the health-care systems of other democratic nations, such as France, Germany, Japan, the UK, and Canada, where medical services are available to every citizen. None of these systems are perfect, but he found that a single national health-care system is not only more efficient but also costs less, saves lives, and provides a better quality of care than the dysfunctional hodgepodge that we have in this country. Reid dispels the common fears about "socialized medicine," waiting lists, and other myths disseminated by the lobbyists and politicians with a stake in the status quo. Here, we get a clear picture of why we have a moral imperative to implement a heath-care system for all Americans. --Booklist (Check Catalog)