Nonfiction

March Staff Pick: Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg

Emily Miller

Our March Staff Pick is from Pat, on the first anniversary of it’s publication in March 2013, after nearly 50 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List (including time spent in the number one spot): Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. Click the title to read more about the book and see reviews in our library catalog.

This book received a *Starred Review* from Booklist and was called, “the new manifesto for women in the workplace,” by Oprah Winfrey.

Here is what Pat has to say about the book, and why she liked it:Lean In

The chief operating officer of Facebook wisely and clearly explains the inequalities women face in the workforce and how she has paved her way. This book reads and rings true, especially for young women in all leadership positions. Sandberg writes compellingly and includes a wonderful family background that guided her throughout and taught her well. Those who have made gains for women and others need to understand that these huge strides have made the world a better place for everyone.

Pat also said that she thought Lean In would be eye-opening for men as well as women, even especially for men.

Lean In is also available at Sewickley Public Library as a Book on CD; or through OverDrive as a eBook in both Kindle Book and Adobe EPUB eBook formats, and as an eAudiobook in both mp3 and WMA formats.

Books Soon to be Movies in 2014

Emily Miller

“I’m glad I read the book first,” is a phrase I often hear people say after seeing a film based off a book. Books as inspiration for movies are more popular than ever, and 2014 is set to be a good one if you enjoy literary films.

BuzzFeed recently posted a list of “16 Books to Read Before They Hit Theaters This Year.” Here are a few that can be found at Sewickley Public Library. Click the titles to request them through the library catalog:

 

LABOR DAY by Joyce Maynard – Booklist Review: Stranger danger is a concept unfamiliar to 13-year-old Henry, who befriends an injured man during one of his and his agoraphobic mother’s rare shopping excursions in town with disastrous results for all. To be fair, neither mother nor son have much worldly experience, thanks to Adele’s emotional fragility following her divorce. Yet their willingness to assist a strange man has less to do with their collective lack of judgment than it does with Frank’s infectious charm, a quality that will escalate over the coming days as the escaped convict and murderer holds the pair hostage in their own home. With remarkable ease, Adele falls in love with Frank. As she helps him plan a second escape to Canada, Henry fears losing the little stability he has ever known. Told from Henry’s point of view, Maynard’s inventive coming-of-age tale indelibly captures the anxiety and confusion inherent in adolescence, while the addition of a menacing element of suspense makes this emotionally fraught journey that much more harrowing.–Haggas, Carol Copyright 2009 Booklist

 

THE MONUMENTS MEN: ALLIED HEROES, NAZI THIEVES, AND THE GREATEST TREASURE HUNT IN HISTORY by Robert M. Edsel and Bret Witter – Booklist Review: This is a chronicle of an unusual and largely unknown aspect of World War II. The heroes here aren’t flamboyant generals or grizzled GIs in combat. In civilian life these men and women had been architects, museum directors, sculptors, and patrons of the arts. They were drawn from thirteen nations, although most were American or British citizens. Beginning in 1943, they were recruited into a special unit formed to protect and recover cultural treasure that had been looted by top Nazis, especially Hitler and Goring. As Allied armies liberated areas of northern Europe after D-Day, these monuments men moved into the front lines. Since they had little advance knowledge of the location of the looted art, their efforts often resembled treasure hunts. In addition to recovering stolen art, they worked tirelessly, often at personal risk, to protect and restore art damaged by the ravages of war. Edsel describes the exploits of these men and women in a fast-moving narrative that effectively captures the excitement and dangers of their mission.–Freeman, Jay Copyright 2009 Booklist

 

A LONG WAY DOWN by Nick Hornby – Booklist Review: In his trademark warm and witty prose, Hornby follows four depressed people from their aborted suicide attempts on New Years Eve through the surprising developments that occur over the following three months. Middle-aged Maureen has been caring for her profoundly disabled son for decades; Martin is a celebrity-turned-has-been after sleeping with a 15-year-old girl; teenage Jess, trash-talker extraordinaire, is still haunted by the mysterious disappearance of her older sister years before; and JJ is upset by the collapse of his band and his breakup with his longtime girlfriend. The four meet while scoping out a tower rooftop looking for the best exit point. Inhibited by the idea of having an audience, they agree instead to form a support group of sorts. But rather than indulging in sappy therapy-speak, they frequently direct lacerating, bitingly funny comments at each other–and the bracing mix of complete candor and endless complaining seems to work as a kind of tonic. Hornby funnels the perceptive music and cultural references he is known for through the character of JJ, but he also expands far beyond his usual territory, exploring the changes in perspective that can suddenly make a life seem worth living and adroitly shifting the tone from sad to happy and back again. The true revelation of this funny and moving novel is its realistic, all-too-human characters, who stumble frequently, moving along their redemptive path only by increments. –Joanne Wilkinson Copyright 2005 Booklist

 

THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU by Jonathan Tropper – Booklist Review: Judd Foxman is in his late thirties when he finds himself living in a damp, moldy basement apartment, without a job and separated from his wife, who is having an affair with his now ex-boss. To make matters worse, Judd finds out his wife is pregnant with his child and that his father has just died, leaving a dying wish to have all four of his children sit shivah for seven days. What transpires over the course of that week is a Foxman family reunion like no other; filled with fistfights, arguments, sex, and a parade of characters offering their sympathies and copious amounts of food. This is a story that could be told by your best guy friend: laugh-out-loud funny, intimate, honest, raunchy, and thoroughly enjoyable. Tropper is spot-on with his observations of family relationships as each member deals with new grief, old resentments, and life’s funny twists of fate. Tropper’s characters are real, flawed, and very likable, making for a great summer read.–Kubisz, Carolyn Copyright 2009 Booklist

 

Happy New Year! We hope you enjoy reading and watching along with us here at Do Something @ Sewickley Public Library!

NPR Book Concierge 2013

Emily Miller

The folks over at NPR Books usually write a variety of end-of-year ‘Best Of’ lists to highlight the outstanding literary offerings of the past year. However due to the number of lists ballooning from 13 in 2008 to 20 in 2012, they decided to try a different format.

And so, NPR’s Book Concierge was born! It’s billed as ‘Our Guide to 2013’s Great Reads,’ and I encourage you to go check it out. The site allows you to choose what you’d like to read along the left-hand side (in categories such as ‘Eye Opening’ or ‘ It’s All Geek To Me’) and displays a collage of books recommended by NPR Staff that fit you chosen category or genre.

Of course, not all of the books will be available at Sewickley Public Library, but if one grabs your attention, it never hurts to give us a call or stop in to ask a librarian whether it can be requested from another library in Allegheny County.

Here are a few from the site you may not have heard a lot of buzz about that can be found at Sewickley Public Library, to get you started:

FICTION

LexiconLEXICON by Max Barry – Booklist Review *Starred Review* – Words have power to persuade, to coerce, even to kill. And so they have since the days when wordsmiths were called sorcerers. Streetwise teenager Emily knows nothing of this until she is recruited to join a clandestine international organization that seems bent on taking over the world through the power of language—the reason, perhaps, that its members call themselves poets. In the meantime, a young man, Wil, is kidnapped from an airport by two mysterious men determined to unlock a secret buried deep in his brain. Yes, Wil and Emily will be brought together in due course, but in the meantime, there is a great deal, some of it abstruse, about language in this fast-paced, cerebral thriller that borders on speculative fiction, but none of it slows the nonstop action that takes readers from Washington, D.C., to a small town in the Australian desert, a town whose 3,300 residents have all died mysteriously and violently. Could the cause have been the power of words at work? The poets sometimes seem a bit too omnipotent, and the book’s chronology is occasionally a bit confusing, but otherwise this is an absolutely first-rate, suspenseful thriller with convincing characters who invite readers’ empathy and keep them turning pages until the satisfying conclusion.–Cart, Michael Copyright 2010 Booklist

Night FilmNIGHT FILM by Marisha Pessl – Booklist Review *Starred Review* – When the daughter of a notorious film director is found dead in New York, an apparent suicide, investigative reporter Scott McGrath throws himself back into a story that almost ended his career. But now McGrath has his Rosebud, and like Jedediah Leland in Citizen Kane, who hoped to make sense of media mogul Charles Foster Kane by understanding his last word, so the reporter sets out to determine how Ashley Cordova died and, in so doing, penetrate the heart of darkness that engulfs her reclusive father, Stanislas. Like Pessl’s first novel, the acclaimed Special Topics in Calamity Physics (2006), this one expands from a seemingly straightforward mystery into a multifaceted, densely byzantine exploration of much larger issues, in this case, the nature of truth and illusion as reflected by the elusive Cordova, whose transcend-the-genre horror films are cult favorites and about whom rumors of black magic and child abuse continue to swirl. His daughter, piano prodigy Ashley (her notes weren’t played; they were poured from a Grecian urn ), is almost as mysterious as her father, her life and death equally clouded in secrecy and colored with possibly supernatural shadings. Into this mazelike world of dead ends and false leads, McGrath ventures with his two, much younger helpers, Nora and Hopper, brilliantly portrayed Holmesian irregulars who may finally understand more about Ashley than their mentor, whose linear approach to fact finding might miss the point entirely. Pessl’s first novel, while undeniably impressive, possessed some of the overindulgence one might expect from a talented and precocious young writer. All evidence of that is gone here; the book is every bit as complex as Calamity Physics, but the writing is always under control, and the characters never fail to draw us further into the maelstrom of the story.–Ott, Bill Copyright 2010 Booklist

NONFICTION

Lawrence in ArabiaLAWRENCE IN ARABIA: WAR, DECEIT, IMPERIAL FOLLY AND THE MAKING OF THE MODERN MIDDLE EAST by Scott Anderson – Booklist Review *Starred Review* – To historians, the real T. E. Lawrence is as fascinating as the cinematic version in Lawrence of Arabia is to movie fans. The many reasons interlock and tighten author Anderson’s narrative, yielding a work that can absorb scholarly and popular interest like. Start with Lawrence’s WWI memoir, Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1922). A rare-book collectible, it inspired many of the scenes in David Lean’s film and is also subject to cross-referencing interpretations of Lawrence’s veracity. For lyrical though Lawrence could be about Arab leaders and desert landscapes, he could also be enigmatically opaque about the truth of his role in events. Accordingly, Anderson embeds Lawrence and Seven Pillars in the wider context of the Arab revolt against Turkey, and that context is the British, French, German, and American diplomacy and espionage intended to influence the postwar disposition of the territories of the Ottoman Empire. Lawrence was Britain’s agent in this game, and the other powers’ agents, although none enjoy his historical celebrity, assume prominence in Anderson’s presentation. Its thorough research clothed in smoothly written prose, Anderson’s history strikes a perfect balance between scope and detail about a remarkable and mysterious character.–Taylor, Gilbert Copyright 2010 Booklist

To the End of JuneTO THE END OF JUNE: THE INTIMATE LIFE OF AMERICAN FOSTER CARE by Cris Beam – Booklist Review *Starred Review* – Whenever newspaper headlines scream about the abuse of foster children, the public is outraged, child protection agencies radically change their policies, and poor children go on living in a hodgepodge of foster care and suffering myriad unintended consequences, according to Beam, whose background includes a fractured childhood and experience as a foster mother. Here she offers a very intimate look at a system little known to most people. Beam spent five years talking to foster children, parents and foster parents, and social workers, mostly in New York. Her profiles include Bruce and Allyson, with three children of their own, taking in as many as five foster children, and Steve and Erin, fostering a child they want to adopt, whose mother signed away her rights on a napkin. Beam also writes about teens who’ve been bounced from home to home, some longing for adoption, others sabotaging their chances out of fear, many hoping for promised aging-out bonuses. Beam offers historical background and keen analysis of the social, political, racial, and economic factors that drive foster-care policies, noting the recent swing from massive removals to support for keeping families together. A very moving, powerful look at a system charged with caring for nearly half a million children across the U.S.–Bush, Vanessa Copyright 2010 Booklist

Sources:

Best Books of 2013: NPR(http://apps.npr.org/best-books-2013/)

Booklist Online: Book Reviews from the American Library Association (http://www.booklistonline.com/)

The 10 Best Books of 2013 from the New York Times

Richelle

The New York Times just released their top 10 Books of 2013. Check out the article here first, then come back and place them on hold in the catalog!

FICTION

AMERICANAH By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Booklist Review *Starred Review* To the women in the hair-braiding salon, Ifemelu seems to have everything a Nigerian immigrant in America could desire, but the culture shock, hardships, and racism she’s endured have left her feeling like she has cement in her soul. Smart, irreverent, and outspoken, she reluctantly left Nigeria on a college scholarship. Her aunty Uju, the pampered mistress of a general in Lagos, is now struggling on her own in the U.S., trying to secure her medical license. Ifemelu’s discouraging job search brings on desperation and depression until a babysitting gig leads to a cashmere-and-champagne romance with a wealthy white man. Astonished at the labyrinthine racial strictures she’s confronted with, Ifemelu, defining herself as a Non-American Black, launches an audacious, provocative, and instantly popular blog in which she explores what she calls Racial Disorder Syndrome. Meanwhile, her abandoned true love, Obinze, is suffering his own cold miseries as an unwanted African in London. MacArthur fellow Adichie (The Thing around Your Neck, 2009) is a word-by-word virtuoso with a sure grasp of social conundrums in Nigeria, East Coast America, and England; an omnivorous eye for resonant detail; a gift for authentic characters; pyrotechnic wit; and deep humanitarianism. Americanah is a courageous, world-class novel about independence, integrity, community, and love and what it takes to become a full human being. –Seaman, Donna Copyright 2010 Booklist

The flamethrowers : a novel Kushner, RachelTHE FLAMETHROWERS By Rachel Kushner – Booklist Review *Starred Review* In her smash-hit debut, Telex from Cuba (2008), Kushner took on corporate imperialism and revolution, themes that also stoke this knowing and imaginative saga of a gutsy yet naive artist from Nevada. Called Reno when she arrives in New York in 1977, she believes that her art has to involve risk, but she’s unprepared for just how treacherous her entanglements with other artists will be. Reno’s trial-by-fire story alternates provocatively with the gripping tale of Valera, an Italian who serves in a motorcycle battalion in WWI, manufactures motorcycles, including the coveted Moto Valera, and makes a fortune in the rubber industry by oppressing Indian tappers in Brazil. These worlds collide when Reno moves in with Sandro Valera, a sculptor estranged from his wealthy family, and tries to make art by racing a Moto Valera on the Bonneville Salt Flats. Ultimately, Reno ends up in Italy, where militant workers protest against the Valeras. As Reno navigates a minefield of perfidy, Kushner, with searing insights, contrasts the obliteration of the line between life and art in hothouse New York with life-or-death street battles in Rome. Adroitly balancing astringent social critique with deep soundings of the complex psyches of her intriguing, often appalling characters, Kushner has forged an incandescently detailed, cosmopolitan, and propulsively dramatic tale of creativity and destruction.–Seaman, Donna Copyright 2010 Booklist

The goldfinch Tartt, DonnaTHE GOLDFINCH By Donna Tartt – Booklist Review *Starred Review* Cataclysmic loss and rupture with criminal intent visited upon the young have been Tartt’s epic subjects as she creates one captivating and capacious novel a decade, from The Secret History (1992) to The Little Friend (2002) to this feverish saga. In the wake of his nefarious father’s abandonment, Theo, a smart, 13-year-old Manhattanite, is extremely close to his vivacious mother until an act of terrorism catapults him into a dizzying world bereft of gravity, certainty, or love. Tartt writes from Theo’s point of view with fierce exactitude and magnetic emotion as, stricken with grief and post-traumatic stress syndrome, he seeks sanctuary with a troubled Park Avenue family and, in Greenwich Village, with a kind and gifted restorer of antique furniture. Fate then delivers Theo to utterly alien Las Vegas, where he meets young outlaw Boris. As Theo becomes a complexly damaged adult, Tartt, in a boa constrictor-like plot, pulls him deeply into the shadow lands of art, lashed to seventeenth-century Dutch artist Carel Fabritius and his exquisite if sinister painting, The Goldfinch. Drenched in sensory detail, infused with Theo’s churning thoughts and feelings, sparked by nimble dialogue, and propelled by escalating cosmic angst and thriller action, Tartt’s trenchant, defiant, engrossing, and rocketing novel conducts a grand inquiry into the mystery and sorrow of survival, beauty and obsession, and the promise of art. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Word of best-selling Tartt’s eagerly awaited third novel will travel fast and far via an author tour, interviews, and intense print, media, and online publicity.–Seaman, Donna Copyright 2010 Booklist

Life after life : a novel Atkinson, KateLIFE AFTER LIFE By Kate Atkinson – Booklist Review *Starred Review* In a radical departure from her Jackson Brodie mystery series, Atkinson delivers a wildly inventive novel about Ursula Todd, born in 1910 and doomed to die and be reborn over and over again. She drowns, falls off a roof, and is beaten to death by an abusive husband but is always reborn back into the same loving family, sometimes with the knowledge that allows her to escape past poor decisions, sometimes not. As Atkinson subtly delineates all the pathways a life or a country might take, she also delivers a harrowing set piece on the Blitz as Ursula, working as a warden on a rescue team, encounters horrifying tableaux encompassing mangled bodies and whole families covered in ash, preserved just like the victims of Pompeii. Alternately mournful and celebratory, deeply empathic and scathingly funny, Atkinson shows what it is like to face the horrors of war and yet still find the determination to go on, with her wholly British characters often reducing the Third Reich to a fuss. From her deeply human characters to her comical dialogue to her meticulous plotting, Atkinson is working at the very top of her game. An audacious, thought-provoking novel from one of our most talented writers. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Atkinson’s publisher is pulling out all the stops in marketing her latest, which will no doubt draw in many new readers in addition to her Jackson Brodie fans.–Wilkinson, Joanne Copyright 2010 Booklist

Tenth of December : stories Saunders, GeorgeTENTH OF DECEMBER: Stories By George Saunders – Booklist Review *Starred Review* Saunders, a self-identified disciple of Twain and Vonnegut, is hailed for the topsy-turvy, gouging satire in his three previous, keenly inventive short story collections. In the fourth, he dials the bizarreness down a notch to tune into the fantasies of his beleaguered characters, ambushing readers with waves of intense, unforeseen emotion. Saunders drills down to secret aquifers of anger beneath ordinary family life as he portrays parents anxious to defang their children but also to be better, more loving parents than their own. The title story is an absolute heart-wringer, as a pudgy, misfit boy on an imaginary mission meets up with a dying man on a frozen pond. In Victory Lap, a young-teen ballerina is princess-happy until calamity strikes, an emergency that liberates her tyrannized neighbor, Kyle, the palest kid in all the land. In Home, family friction and financial crises combine with the trauma of a court-martialed Iraq War veteran, to whom foe and ally alike murmur inanely, Thank you for your service. Saunders doesn’t neglect his gift for surreal situations. There are the inmates subjected to sadistic neurological drug experiments in Escape from Spiderhead and the living lawn ornaments in The Semplica Girl Diaries. These are unpredictable, stealthily funny, and complexly affecting stories of ludicrousness, fear, and rescue.–Seaman, Donna Copyright 2010 Booklist

NONFICTION

After the music stopped : the financial crisis, the response, and the work ahead Blinder, Alan SAFTER THE MUSIC STOPPED: The Financial Crisis, the Response, and the Work Ahead By Alan S. Blinder – Booklist Review Blinder, a corporate executive and former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve, sets out to tell the American people what happened during the financial crisis of 2007-09. He explains the events that are still reverberating in the U.S. and globally and will challenge public policy for years. With public policy as his focus, he considers how we got into that mess and how we got out to the extent we have gotten out. The author considers the future what have we learned both economically and politically, and will we handle future crises better? What vulnerabilities do we still have? What future problems have we accidently created? Finally, Blinder offers a host of recommendations, which include his Ten Financial Commandments, including Thou Shalt Remember That People Forget (people forget when the good times roll) and Thou Shalt Not Rely on Self-Regulation (Self-regulation in financial markets is an oxymoron). This excellent book in understandable language offers valuable insight and important ideas for a wide range of library patrons.–Whaley, Mary Copyright 2010 Booklist

Days of fire : Bush and Cheney in the White House Baker, PeterDAYS OF FIRE: Bush and Cheney in the White House By Peter Baker – Booklist Review *Starred Review* Baker, the senior White House correspondent for the New York Times, has written an ambitious, engrossing, and often disturbing study of the inner workings, conflicts, and critical policy decisions made during the eight years of Bush and Cheney governance. It is no accident that Baker consistently refers to Bush-Cheney, since Cheney was undoubtedly the most influential and powerful vice president in recent years. Baker’s portrait of him is not flattering. Cheney prided himself as a hard-nosed tough guy, to the point of ruthlessness. He fought constantly with other cabinet members, showing little respect or tolerance for their views. He was a conservative true believer with a tendency to ignore facts that got in the way of his view of reality. By the end of their eight years together, even Bush stopped listening to him. Bush is a more sympathetic figure, and Baker sees him as a man trapped by events, whose hopes for a more modest foreign policy and a compassionate conservatism domestic affairs were frustrated by the vast shadows cast by 9/11. This is a superbly researched, masterful account of eight critical, history-changing years.–Freeman, Jay Copyright 2010 Booklist

Five days at Memorial : life and death in a storm-ravaged hospital Fink, SheriFIVE DAYS AT MEMORIAL: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital By Sheri Fink – Booklist Review *Starred Review* As the floodwaters rose after Hurricane Katrina, patients, staff, and families who sheltered in New Orleans’ Memorial Hospital faced a crisis far worse than the storm itself. Without power, an evacuation plan, or strong leadership, caregiving became chaotic, and exhausted doctors and nurses found it difficult to make even the simplest decisions. And, when it came to making the hardest decisions, some of them seem to have failed. A number of the patients deemed least likely to survive were injected with lethal combinations of drugs even as the evacuation finally began in earnest. Fink, a Pulitzer Prize winner for her reporting on Memorial in the New York Times Magazine, offers a stunning re-creation of the storm, its aftermath, and the investigation that followed (one doctor and two nurses were charged with second-degree murder but acquitted by a grand jury). She evenhandedly compels readers to consider larger questions, not just of ethics but race, resources, history, and what constitutes the greater good, while humanizing the countless smaller tragedies that make up the whole. And, crucially, she provides context, relating how other hospitals fared in similar situations. Both a breathtaking read and an essential book for understanding how people behave in times of crisis.–Graff, Keir Copyright 2010 Booklist

The sleepwalkers : how Europe went to war in 1914 Clark, Christopher MTHE SLEEPWALKERS: How Europe Went to War in 1914 By Christopher Clark – Booklist Review The immense documentation of the origin of WWI, remarks historian Clark, can be marshaled to support a range of theses, and it but weakly sustains, in the tenor of his intricate analysis, the temptation to assign exclusive blame for the cataclysm to a particular country. Dispensing with a thesis, Clark interprets evidence in terms of the character, internal political heft, and external geopolitical perception and intention of a political actor. In other words, Clark centralizes human agency and, especially, human foibles of misperception, illogic, and emotion in his narrative. Touching on every significant figure in European diplomacy in the decade leading to August 1914, Clark underscores an entanglement of an official’s fluctuating domestic power with a foreign interlocutor’s appreciation, accurate or not, of that official’s ability to make something stick in foreign policy. As narrative background, Clark choreographs the alliances and series of crises that preceded the one provoked by the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, but he focuses on the men whose risk-taking mistakes detonated WWI. Emphasizing the human element, Clark bestows a tragic sensibility on a magisterial work of scholarship.–Taylor, Gilbert Copyright 2010 Booklist

Wave Deraniyagala, SonaliWAVE By Sonali Deraniyagala – Booklist Review It was a festive time. Economist Deraniyagala, her economist husband (they met at Cambridge), and their two young sons flew from London to Sri Lanka to spend the winter holidays with her parents. They were all staying in a hotel near their favorite national park on December 26, 2004, the day of the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami. Deraniyagala describes their bewilderment as they flee the hotel and her terror as they are swept up by the 30-foot-high, racing wave that brutally changed everything. Only Deraniyagal survived. In rinsed-clear language, she describes her ordeal, surreal rescue, and deep shock, attaining a Didionesque clarity and power. We hold tight to every exquisite sentence as, with astounding candor and precision, she tracks subsequent waves of grief, from suicidal despair to persistent fear, attempts to drown her pain in drink, helpless rage, guilt and shame, and paralyzing depression. But here, too, are sustaining tides of memories that enable her to vividly, even joyfully, portray her loved ones. An indelible and unique story of loss and resolution written with breathtaking refinement and courage.–Seaman, Donna Copyright 2010 Booklist

 

Sources:

The 10 Best Books of 2013: The year’s best books, selected by the editors of The New York Times Book Review. (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/15/books/review/the-10-best-books-of-2013.html?smid=pl-share)

Booklist Online: Book Reviews from the American Library Association (http://www.booklistonline.com/)

It’s Cold Outside…Warm up with these Books!

Richelle

To see if the item is available, click on the title.
eBook Titles are RED, eAudio Book Titles are Green

1225 Christmas Tree Lane By Debbie Macomber – Beth Morehouse expects this Christmas to be one of her best. Her small Christmas-tree farm is prospering, her daughters and her dogs are happy and well, and her new relationship with local vet Ted Reynolds is showing plenty of romantic promise. But someone left a basket filled with puppies on her doorstep, that’s complication number one. Number two is that her daughters have invited their dad, Beth’s ex-husband, Kent, to Cedar Cove for Christmas.

An Amish Christmas: A Novel By Cynthia Keller – Celebrating life’s simplest but most essential values, packed with laughter and tears, this is a story of forgiveness and the power of love. You will never forget the special moment in time that is An Amish Christmas.

Anne Perry’s Silent Nights: Two Victorian Christmas Mysteries by Anne Perry – Here are two holiday mysteries set in remote, snow-covered regions of Victorian Britain–where the nights are indeed silent but all is not calm, and where some will sleep in eternal peace.

A Cedar Cove Christmas by Debbie Macomber – Mother-to-be Mary Jo Wyse arrives in Cedar Cove on Christmas Eve, searching for her baby’s father. David Rhodes had said he’d be in town. But he isn’t. Which leaves Mary Jo stranded, pregnant and alone. And there’s no room at the local inn…

A Chesapeake Shores Christmas by Sherryl Woods – After years apart, Mick and Megan O’Brien are finally ready to make it official…again. Most of their grown children couldn’t be happier about their rekindled love and impending marriage this holiday season. Only Connor is a holdout. Driven to become a divorce attorney after what he views as his mother’s abandonment of their family, Connor’s not about to give his blessing to this reunion romance.

The Christmas Box By Richard Paul Evans – Richard, a busy and preoccupied father, discovers a Christmas box full of love letters from an old woman to her dead daughter and, with the help of an angel, begins to learn the true meaning of Christmas.

The Christmas Brides by Linda Lael Miller – Lizzie McKettrick is homebound with a Christmas Eve surprise for her family—Whitley Carson. He might seem too interested in the McKettrick money, but she’s certain Whitley cares for her. But fate has a surprise for Lizzie—Morgan Shane. When their train is stranded by an avalanche the handsome doctor takes charge with Lizzie by his side. With faith, hard work and some unexpected help, it might be a joyous McKettrick family Christmas after all.

A Christmas Grace by Anne Perry – With Christmas just around the corner, Thomas Pitt’s sister-in-law, Emily Radley, is suddenly called from London to be with her dying aunt. Leaving her husband and two children behind, she makes the long journey to her aunt’s home in Connemara, an all-but-forgotten town on the coast of Western Ireland. Emily soon discovers that a tragic legacy is haunting the once close-knit community.

Christmas Letters By Debbie Macomber – When Catherine O’Connor, who writes Christmas letters for other people, meets Dr. Wynn Jeffries, a child psychologist, at the French cafe on Blossom Street, their opposing viewpoints on raising children ruins Catherine’s Christmas cheer.

The Christmas List By Richard Paul Evans – A successful but heartless businessman sees his own obituary in the newspaper after a case of mistaken identity, setting in motion a series of events that profoundly changes the lives of several people who have suffered due to his ruthless business practices.

A Christmas Carol: in prose being a ghost story of Christmas by Charles Dickens – Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly businessman, learns the true meaning of Christmas after he is visited by the ghosts of Christmases past, present, and future.

The Christmas Pearl By Dorothea Benton Frank – The matriarch of a family of belligerent idiots, Theodora finds her efforts at bringing them together for a South Carolina Christmas reunion have gone badly awry, until a very special someone uses Gullah magic and common sense to bring about a miracle.

Christmas, Present By Jacquelyn Mitchard – When Eliot and Laura Banner learn that Laura has a terminal condition, they gather their children and family around themselves during the holiday season to convey her blessings to them for the future and remember their shared history.

The Christmas Quilt: an Elm Creek Quilts Novel By Jennifer Chiaverini – While decorating Elm Creek Manor on Christmas Eve, Sarah McClure discovers an incomplete Christmas quilt and sets out to uncover its history with the help of Sylvia Bergstrom Compson, who reveals why the quilt had never been finished.

The Christmas Sweater By Glenn Beck – A holiday tale relates the story of a thirteen-year-old boy whose final gift from his mother, a sweater, is scorned in favor of more expensive gifts before a tragic car accident ends the mother’s life.

The Christmas Thief By Mary Higgins Clark – Lottery winner-turned-amateur sleuth Alvirah Meehan joins with private detective Regan Reilly to track down the ninety-foot tree, destined for display in Rockefeller Center, that vanished en route to the city.

The Christmas Train by David Baldacci – On a train ride to Los Angeles, cash-strapped journalist Tom Langdon encounters a ridiculous cast of characters, unexpected romance, and an avalanche that changes everyone’s Christmas plans.

The Christmas Wedding By James Patterson – Relates the story of Gaby Summerhill, a widow planning a holiday wedding to a groom whose identity remains a surprise to her four children.

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen – What appears as a typical Midwestern family is anything but as preparations are made for an ideal family holiday. Alfred, the father is losing his fight to control Parkinson’s disease and dementia. His wife, Enid is no longer in control of her household and feels her choices slipping away. Their three grown children are struggling with their own lives. But for this Christmas, Enid is determined to bring them together for the perfect family holiday.

Dashing Through the Snow By Mary Higgins Clark – In Branscombe, N.H., novelist Nora Regan Reilly and her PI daughter, Regan Reilly, and their close friends Alvirah and Will Meehan, track down a missing employee of Conklin’s Market who is connected with a $160 million lottery and the winnings.

Handknit Holidays: Knitting Year-round for Christmas, Hannukah, and Winter Solstice By Melanie Falick with Betty Christiansen – For many people, the best part of the winter holidays is the anticipation: planning the perfect gifts, decorating the house, looking forward to seeing family and friends. Holidays can be particularly special for knitters, whose preparations often start months in advance and involve their own creations.

Hercule Poirot’s Christmas By Agatha Christie – The cerebral Belgian detective uses impeccable logic to locate the murderer of a millionaire in the dreary English Midlands.

Holidays on Ice By David Sedaris – An anthology of humorous Christmas tales and essays features excerpts from the author’s “Barrel Fever” and “Naked,” as well as “The Santaland Diaries,” “Season’s Greetings to Our Friends and Family,” and a new tale of holiday mayhem.

Joan Nathan’s Jewish Holiday Cookbook by Joan Nathan – Jewish holidays are defined by food. Yet Jewish cooking is always changing, encompassing the flavors of the world, embracing local culinary traditions of every place in which Jews have lived and adapting them to Jewish observance. This collection, the culmination of Joan Nathan’s decades of gathering Jewish recipes from around the world, is a tour through the Jewish holidays as told in food.

Kwanzaa: a Celebration of Family, Community, and Culture By Maulana Karenga – Written by the creator of the holiday, this book presents the continental African and African-American origins of the celebration, a chapter on each of the Seven Principles, explanations of the meaning of related symbols, suggested activities, and a wrap-up section in which Karenga answers frequently asked questions.

Lakeshore Christmas By Susan Wiggs – Prim librarian Maureen Davenport lives for Christmas–and there’s nothing more magical than Christmas on Willow Lake. Finally getting her chance to direct Avalon’s annual holiday pageant, she’s determined to make it truly spectacular.

Lost December By Richard Paul Evans – Presents a story inspired by the biblical tale of the prodigal son in which Luke, a recent MBA graduate, refuses to take over the family business and instead cashes out his trust funds to pursue a life of wanton pleasure.

The Mitford Snowmen: A Christmas Story By Jan Karon – The inhabitants of the small town of Mitford join together at Christmastime for a fun-filled snowman-building contest, complete with hot chocolate, doughnuts, and the joy of the holiday season.

O, Ghostly Night by Tennant Redbank – This 32-page early reader re-tells part of the Walt Disney Studio feature film, A Christmas Carol, the timeless tale of an old miser who must face Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet-to-Come.

The Perfect Christmas By Debbie Macomber – Thirty-three-year-old Cassie wants a husband and kids, and she turns to Simon Dodson, a professional matchmaker for help. Dodson assigns her three tasks to complete, and despite a number of comical mishaps, Cassie completes them all. Her Christmas match turns out to be a wonderful surprise.

The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg – A magical train ride on Christmas Eve takes a boy to the North Pole to receive a special gift from Santa Claus.

Promise Me By Richard Paul Evans – Beth Cardall’s life was falling apart: her six-year-old daughter, Charlotte, was suffering from an unidentifiable illness; her marriage transformed from a seemingly happy and loving relationship to one full of betrayal and pain; her job was increasingly at risk; and she had lost her ability to trust, to hope, or to believe in herself. Then, on Christmas day, Beth encountered Matthew.

A Redbird Christmas By Fannie Flagg – In a tiny and remote Alabama town, an unexpected, unusual, and life-transforming event that occurs on one Christmas morning changes a family and a town forever, in a heartwarming holiday novel by the author of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe.

Santa Cruise: a Holiday Mystery at Sea By Mary Higgins Clark – Embarking on a mystery seminar cruise during the holiday season, amateur sleuth Alvirah, private detective Regan, and their family members find their voyage overshadowed by a ghost spotting, the disappearance of a fan, and an unexpected storm.

Shakespeare’s Christmas By Charlaine Harris – While attending her sister’s wedding the cleaning lady and karate expert, Lily Bard of Arkansas, investigates an unsolved kidnapping which occurred eight years earlier. It seems both the child and the kidnapper are in town.

Skipping Christmas By John Grisham – Luther and Nora Krank have decided to set sail on a Caribbean cruise on December 25th and skip Christmas. They are about to discover that their decision brings enormous consequences–and isn’t half as easy as they imagined.

The Stupidest Angel: a Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror By Christopher Moore – A humorous tale of what happens when a none-too-clever angel overhears a little boy, who, having witnessed Santa taking a shovel to the head, prays for Santa to return from the dead.

The Thanksgiving Visitor; One Christmas; & A Christmas Memory By Truman Capote – Three stories describe a boy’s relationship with his elderly cousin and alcoholic father and the indelible holiday memories they provided him.

White Christmas Pie By Wanda E. Brunstetter – In this bittersweet holiday romance set in Amish country, Will Henderson, a young man tortured by his past, meets Karen Yoder, a young woman looking for answers as they both become involved with a desperate father searching for his son.

Wishin’ and Hopin: A Christmas Story By Wally Lamb – It’s 1964 and ten-year-old Felix is sure of a few things: the birds and the bees are puzzling, television is magical, and this is one Christmas he’ll never forget.

 

To see even more Holiday Books, Click Here.

New Nonfiction Books- October 2011

Lynne

1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created
Charles C. Mann
909.4 MAN 2011
The author of 1491, explores the explosive changes that occurred following the discovery of the “new world.”

Absolute Monarchs: A History of the Papacy
John Julius Norwich
262.19 NOR 2011
A sweeping chronicle of the most significant popes and what they meant politically, culturally, and socially to Rome and to the world.

An Anatomy of Addiction: Sigmund Freud, William Halsted, and the Miracle Drug Cocaine
Howard Markel
362.29 MAR 2011
An astonishing account of the years-long cocaine use of Sigmund Freud as well as William Halsted, an innovative surgeon, both of who were practicing medicine at the same time in the 1880’s.

The End of Country
Seamus McGraw
333.79 MCG 2011
The author relates the story of Marcellus Shale discovery on the landowners of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. Topical and informative.

End Game: The End of the Debt Supercycle and How It Changes Everthing
John Mauldin and Jonathan Tepper
336.34 MAU 2011
What if the bigger financial crisis is ahead of us, not behind us?

Everything Is Obvious: Once You Know the Answer
Duncan J. Watts
153.4 WAT 2011
Does common sense fail us? Do we think we understand more about human behavior than we really do?

Forbidden Lessons in a Kabul Guesthouse: The True Story of a Woman Who Risked Everything to Bring Hope to Afghanistan
Suraya Sadeed
958.104 SAD 2011
The amazing life story of a woman, the daughter of a former governor of Kabul, who after living in the United States, returned to Afghanistan to deliver hope to orphans, refugees and women and girls.

Haiti After the Earthquake
Paul Farmer
972.94 FAR 2011
The noted physician who has worked in Haiti for nearly thirty years, describes the earthquake’s devastating impact on the impoverished country.

How Literature Works: 50 Key Concepts
John Sutherland
803 SUT 2011
Fun stuff for the literary-minded.

How to Click with People: The Secret to Better Relationships in Business and in Life
Rick Kirschner
158.2 KIR 2011
An interpersonal communications expert explains tips on relating to others and solving problems both in person and online.

I’m Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59
Douglas Edwards
338.761 EDW 2011
One of Google’s early employees takes a trip inside the company that has changed the world.

Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain
David Eagleman
153 EAG 2011
If the conscious mind is just the tip of the iceberg, what is the rest of the brain doing?

The Interrogator: An Education
Glenn L. Carle
327.12 CAR 2011
An undercover CIA spy tells the story of his most serious assignment as an interrogator in the U.S. global war on terror.

The Last Gunfight: The Real Story of the Shootout at the O.K. Corral — And How it Changed the American West
Jeff Guinn
978.02 GUI 2011
On the afternoon of October 26, 1881, in Tombstone, Arizona a deadly shootout among eight armed men shaped how future generations came to view the old West.

Lincoln on War
Harold Holzer, ed.
973.7 LIN 2011
With his speeches, letters, and memoranda, President Lincoln fought the Civil War as brilliantly as any general who took the field.

Lip Service: Smiles in Life, Death, Trust, Lies, Work, Memory, Sex, and Politics
Marianne LaFrance
153.69 LAF 2011
A smile may not be quite as simple as it first appears. Smiles are indeed social acts with serious consequences.

Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West
Dorothy Wickenden
371.1 WIC 2011
In the summer of 1916 two young society ladies leave their home in Auburn, New York for the wilds of Colorado to become teachers, to the shock and dismay of their families and friends.

Pirates of Somalia: Inside Their Hidden World
Jay Bahadur
364.164 BAH 2011
Caught up in a decades-long civil war, Somalia is one of the most dangerous countries in the world. Included in the country’s chaos is the scourge of piracy.

Saved by Beauty: Adventures of an American Romantic in Iran
Roger Housden
955 HOU 2011
The author traveled to Iran to meet with artists, writers, filmmakers, and religious scholars who embody the long Iranian tradition of humanism.

La Seduction: How the French Play the Game of Life
Elaine Sciolino 02.35 SCI 2011
Seduction is more than a game to the French: it is the key to understanding France.

Skyjack: The Hunt for D.B. Cooper
Geoffrey Gray
364.165 GRA 2011
The fascinating unsolved mystery of the man who parachuted into the wilds of the Pacific Northwest with $200,000 he had extorted from an airline.

Tangled Webs: How False Statements Are Undermining America from Martha Stewart to Bernie Madoff
James B. Stewart
364.134 STE 2011
The Pulitizer Prize-winning author asserts that America is facing a crisis of perjury and false statements occurring at the highest levels of business, politics, sports and culture.

Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading
Nina Sankovitch
028.9 SAN 2011
When the author’s older sister died at the age of forty-six, Nina Sankovitch turned to books for comfort, escape, and introspection.  Reading became the ultimate therapy.

Visions of a Better World: Howard Thurman’s Pilgrimage to India and the Origins of African American Nonviolence
Quinton Dixie and Peter Eisenstadt
303.61 DIX 2011
In 1935, Howard Thurman, an influential African American religious thinker took a pivotal trip to India that would forever change him and that would ultimately shape the course of the civil rights movement in the United States.

The Wild Life of Our Bodies: Predators, Parasites, and Partners that Shape Who We Are Today
Rob Dunn
612 DUN 2011
According to the author a professor of biology, our “clean living” has benefited us in some ways, but it has also made us sicker in others.

 

New Biographies – September 2011

Lynne

Big in China: My Unlikely Adventures Raising a Family, Playing the Blues, and Becoming a Star in Beijing
Alan Paul
B PAUL
When the author’s wife was offered the job as the Wall Street Journal’s China bureau chief, he saw it as an amazing opportunity to shake up their staid suburban life.

Cardboard Gods: An All-American Tale Told Through Baseball Cards
Josh Wilker
B WILKER
A baseball-haunted memoir that moves through the author’s coming-of-age through a collection of portraits of Topps baseball cards from 1974-1981.

The Churchills: In Love and War
Mary S. Lovell
B CHURCHILL
The extraordinary lives of the famous family, beginning with the first Duke of Marlborough (1650-1722), is recounted by a noted biographer.

Come to the Edge: A Memoir
Christina Haag
B HAAG
An account of the author’s life and relationship with the late John F. Kennedy, Jr.

Does the Noise in My Head Bother You: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Memoir
Steven Tyler
B TYLER
An old rocker remembers the good old days of “wretched excess in dandified duds.”

Every Day by the Sun: A Memoir of the Faulkners of Mississippi
Dean Faulkner Wells
B FAULKNER
An evocative portrait of the Faulkners of Mississippi and the family’s famous member, William Faulkner.

A Short Autobiography
F. Scott Fitzgerald
James L.W. West III, ed.
B FITZGERALD
The personal essays of the famous author are an intriguing look into his life and times.

Familyhood
Paul Reiser
B REISER
Following his two books, Couplehood and Babyhood, the author humorously shares his view from further down the road in life.

Finding Sarah: A Duchess’s Journey to Find Herself
Sarah Ferguson
B FERGUSON
The personal memoir of Sarah’s journey to “find herself” when her life became off course.

From This Moment On
Shania Twain
B TWAIN
The tumultuous life story of the well-known performer.

Good Stuff: A Reminiscence of My Father, Cary Grant
Jennifer Grant
B GRANT
The only child of the elegant, sophisticated actor reveals him as a loving father.

The Heart and the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, The Making of a Navy Seal
Eric Greitens
B GREITENS
The author relates the story of life, his humanitarian work, and his grueling training as a Navy Seal. The heart of his story is the paradox that sometimes you have to be strong to do good, but you also have to do good to be strong.

In Spite of Everything: A Memoir
Susan Gregory Thomas
B THOMAS
A brilliantly told account of a mother’s fight to protect her children’s world and make sense of her troubled past.

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention
Manning Marable
B X MALCOLM
The story of one of the most complex, multifaceted and controversial figures in the history of civil rights.

A Man from Another Land: How Finding My Roots Changed My Life
Isaiah Washington
B WASHINGTON
The actor shares his adventure as he searches for both his
American and African identity.

Modigliani: A Life
Meryle Secrest
B MODIGLIANI
Considered to be the quintessential bohemian artist, Modigliani’s legend is almost as infamous as Van Gogh’s.

My Lucky Life in and Out of Show Business
Dick Van Dyke
B VAN DYKE
One of the greats of the golden age of television presents his own heartwarming story.

My Year with Eleanor: A Memoir
Noelle Hancock
B HANCOCK
After losing her job, the author was crippled by anxiety, until she was inspired by a quote on a coffee shop chalkboard: “Do one thing every day that scares you.” – Eleanor Roosevelt.

The Paper Garden: An Artist {Begins Her Life’s Work} at 72
Molly Peacock
B DELANY
The wonderful story of Mary Granville Pendarves Delany (1700-1788) who created a new art form: mixed-media collage, and whose art works are now housed in the British Museum.

Reading My Father: A Memoir
Alexandra Styron
B STYRON
The story of a daughter who comes to know her father at last: William Styron, a noted author and a man whose devastating depression darkened the lives of his family.

Seal Team Six: Memoirs of an Elite Navy Seal Sniper
Howard E. Wasdin and Stephen Templin
B WASDIN
A behind-the-scenes look into the world of Navy SEALs and Special Forces snipers and the toughest military training in the world.

Season to Taste: How I Lost My Sense of Smell and Found My Way
Molly Birnbaum
B BIRNBAUM
As an aspiring chef, the author was devastated when an accident destroyed her sense of smell.  A look at an often overlooked sense.

A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mother
Janny Scott
B DUNHAM
The life story of an unconventional woman and whom President Obama has credited with “what is best in me.”

Small Memories
José Saramago
B SARAMAGO
The respected Portuguese writer presents a simple, yet affecting look into his boyhood and youth.

Stan Musial: An American Life
George Vecsey
B MUSIAL
A tribute to the great “Stan the Man.”

Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography
Rob Lowe
B LOWE
After spending almost his entire in the public eye, the celebrity actor relates his story.

Through My Eyes
B TEBOW
Tim Tebow with Nathan Whitaker
The firsthand story of the young football quarterback’s rise to fame.

“21”: The Story of Roberto Clemente
Wilfred Santiago
B CLEMENTE
A graphic biographical story of the great and beloved baseball player and humanitarian.

Two Kisses for Maddy: A Memoir of Loss & Love
Matthew Logelin
B LOGELIN
The author describes his heartbreaking loss after the sudden death of his wife and his new life with his baby daughter, Madeline.

New Biographies – April 2011

Lynne

Against All Odds: My Life of Hardship, Fast Breaks and Second Chances
Scott Brown
B BROWN
The extraordinary life journey of the current U.S. Senator from Massachusetts.

All That Is Bitter and Sweet
Ashley Judd
B JUDD
The author explains why she opted out of a successful Hollywood career to find her true calling: as a humanitarian and advocate for those suffering in neglected parts of the world.

Amelia Earhart: The Turbulent Life of an American Icon
Kathleen C. Winters
B WINTERS
When Amelia Earhart vanished over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 during an attempted around the world flight, she was at the height of her fame.  A fascinating portrait of a complex woman.

American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare, The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee
Karen Abbott
B LEE
The extraordinary life of Gypsy Rose Lee and the world she survived and conquered.

And Furthermore
Judi Dench
B DENCH
The life story of the famed British actress, Dame Dench, in her own words.

And I Shall Have Some Peace There: Trading in the Fast Lane for My Own Dirt Road
Margaret Roach
B ROACH
The author left her big-city life, including her work as an editorial director for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, to seek an entirely different reward.

Bird Cloud
Annie Proulx
B PROULX
Bird Cloud is the name Annie Proulx gave to the 640 acres of Wyoming wetlands and prairie that she calls home.

Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef
Gabrielle Hamilton
B HAMILTON
Before the author opened her acclaimed New York restaurant Prune, she spent twenty hard-living years trying to find purpose and meaning in her life.

A Box of Darkness: The Story of a Marriage
Sally Ryder Brady
B BRADY
Upton and Sally Brady were cultivated and elegant, living a life of literary glamour and high expectations. The author looks back on her marriage of forty-six years and the discoveries that she made following her husband’s death.

Branch Rickey
Jimmy Breslin
B BRESLIN
In 1947, as president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Branch Rickey defied racism on and off the field to bring Jackie Robinson into the major leagues.

Day of Honey: A Memoir of Food, Love and War
Annia Ciezadlo
B CIEZADLO
In the fall of 2003, the author spent her honeymoon in Baghdad.  Over the next six years, while living in Baghdad and Beirut, she finds the rituals of food and friendship sustaining in a time of war.

The Elephant to Hollywood
Michael Caine
B CAINE
The acclaimed actor tells the story of his transformation from Maurice Micklewhite to Sir Michael Caine.

The Foremost Good Fortune
Susan Conley
B CONLEY
When her family says good-bye to family and friends in Maine for two-years in Beijing, China, that have little concept of just how much their lives will change.

Galileo
J.L. Heilbron
B GALILEO
The hero and martyr of science is captured through a wide-angled lens that takes in the wide spectrum of culture, religion, science, theology and politics of late Renaissance Italy.

I Beat the Odds: From Homelessness to The Blind Side and Beyond
Michael Oher
B OHER
An account of the  Baltimore Ravens football player who is at the center of the book and the movie, The Blind Side. Here’s his own story.

I Love a Broad Margin to My Life
Maxine Hong Kingston
B KINGSTON
Reflections related in flowing verse lines explore the author’s thoughts as she turns sixty-five.

I’m Over All That: and Other Confessions
Shirley MacLaine
B MACLAINE
The author has reached the time in her life when she realizes what is truly important and what just doesn’t matter any more.

Jackie as Editor: The Literary Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Greg Lawrence
B ONASSIS
A chronicle of an important part of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’s life—her nineteen-year editorial career.

J.D. Salinger: A Life
Kenneth Slawenski
B SALINGER
The mysterious and reclusive author of The Catcher in the Rye is revealed in this examination of his life.

Known and Unknown: A Memoir
Donald Rumsfeld
B RUMSFELD
A memoir of the controversial Secretary of Defense and his half-century career in public service.

The Memory Palace: A Memoir
B BARTOK
Mira Bartók
“A disturbing, mesmerizing personal narrative about growing up with a brilliant but schizophrenic mother…. Richly textured, compassionate, and heartbreaking.” Kirkus Reviews.

My Thoughts Be Bloody: The Bitter Rivalry Between Edwin and John Wilkes Booth that Led to an American Tragedy
Nora Titone
B BOOTH
A penetrating look a the personal stories of the Booth family and the background rivalry that was integral to the assassin’s motivation.

Poser: My Life in Twenty-Three Yoga Poses
Claire Dederer
B DEDERER
After throwing out her back ten years ago, the author turned to yoga and soon fell in love with the practice, both physically and spiritually.

Tough Without a Gun: The Life and Extraordinary Afterlife of Humphrey Bogart
Stefan Kanfer
B BOGART
A look at one of the great movie icons of the 20th century and an appraisal of the actor’s singular legacy.

Townie: A Memoir
Andre Dubus III
B DUBUS
After their parents divorced in the 1970s, the author and his three siblings grew up with their working mother in a town where drugs and violence were an everyday occurrence. On Sundays his father, a college professor, took the kids to a totally different world.

Wait for Me! Memoirs
Deborah Mitford, Duchess of Devonshire
B DEVONSHIRE
The remarkable life story of the youngest of the famous Mitford family, from her eccentric childhood to her residence at the noted historic home of Chatsworth.

A Widow’s Story: A Memoir
Joyce Carol Oates
B OATES
The noted author unveils a poignant memoir about the unexpected death of her husband of forty-six years and its wrenching aftermath.

New Biographies – End of 2010

Lynne
Angelina By Andrew Morton – B JOLIE
As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto: Food, Friendship and the Making of a Masterpiece By Joan Reardon, ed. – B CHILD
At Home in Japan: A Foreign Woman’s Journey of Discovery By Rebecca Otowa – B OTOWA
Autobiography of Mark Twain—Volume 1 By Mark Twain – B TWAIN
Beautiful: The Life of Hedy Lamarr By Stephen Michael Shearer – B LAMARR
Becoming Queen Victoria: The Tragic Death of Princess Charlotte and the Unexpected Rise of Britain’s Greatest Monarch By Kate Williams – B VICTORIA
Bob Dylan in America By Sean Wilentz – B DYLAN
Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard By Liz Murray – B MURRAY
Cakewalk: A Memoir By Kate Moses – B MOSES
Choosing to See: A Journey of Struggle and Hope By Mary Beth Chapman – B CHAPMAN
Chords of Strength: A Memoir of of Soul, Song, and the Power of Perseverance By David Archuleta – B ARCHULETA
Cleopatra: A Life By Stacy Schiff – B CLEOPATRA
Colonel Roosevelt By Edmund Morris – B ROOSEVELT
Coming Back Stronger: Unleashing the Hidden Power of Adversity By Drew Brees – B BREES
Decision Points By George Bush – B BUSH
Double Death: The True Story of Pryce Lewis, The Civil War’s Most Daring Spy By Gavin Mortimer – B LEWIS
Edward Kennedy: An Intimate Biography By Burton Hersh – B KENNEDY
Extraordinary, Ordinary People: A Memoir of Family By Condoleeza Rice – B RICE
First Family: Abigail and John Adams By Joseph J. Ellis – B ADAMS
The Flight of the Century: Charles Lindbergh and the Rise of American Aviation By Thomas Kessner – B LINDBERGH
Frank: The Voice By James Kaplan – B SINATRA
Giving It All Away: The Doris Buffett Story By Michael Zitz – B BUFFETT
Going Home to Glory: A Memoir of Life with Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961-1969 By David Eisenhower – B EISENHOWER
The Grace of Silence: A Memoir By Michele Norris – B NORRIS
Hardcourt Confidential: Tales from Twenty Years in the Pro Tennis Trenches By Patrick McEnroe – B McENROE
The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Family’s Century of Art and Loss By Edmund de Waal – B EPHRUSSI
Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia By Michael Korda – B LAWRENCE
Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer, and Kathie Lee By Hoda Kotb – B KOTB
Hollywood: A Third Memoir By Larry McMurtry – B MCMURTRY
In a Heartbeat By Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy – B TUOHY
Jimmy Carter By Julian E. Zelizer – B CARTER
Joe Louis: Hard Times Man By Randy Roberts – B LOUIS
A Journey: My Political Life By Tony Blair – B BLAIR
Just Like Someone Without Mental Illness Only More So By Mark Vonnegut – B VONNEGUT
The Killing of Crazy Horse By Thomas Powers – B CRAZY HORSE
The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood By Jane Leavy – B MANTLE
Late, Late at Night By Rick Springfield – B SPRINGFIELD
Learning to Die in Miami: Confessions of a Refugee Boy By Carlos Eire – B EIRE
Let’s Take the Long Way Home By Gail Caldwell – B CALWELL
Life By Keith Richards – B RICHARDS
The Lost Cyclist: The Epic Tale of an American Adventurer and His Mysterious Disappearance By David V. Herlihy – B LENZ
Louisa May Alcott: A Personal Biography By Susan Cheever – B ALCOTT
Lyndon B. Johnson By Charles Peters – B JOHNSON
The Man Who Invented the Computer: The Biography of John Atanasoff, Digital Pioneer By Jane Smiley – B ATANASOFF
Mary Tudor: Princess, Bastard, Queen By Anna Whitelock – B MARY
Must You Go? My Life with Harold Pinter By Antonia Fraser – B PINTER
Pearl Buck in China: Journey to The Good Earth By Hilary Spurling – B BUCK
Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man By Bill Clegg – B CLEGG
Possessed: The Life of Joan Crawford By Donald Spoto – B CRAWFORD
Robert Morris: Financier of the American Revolution By Charles Rappleye – B MORRIS
Sarah: The Life of Sarah Bernhardt By Robert Gottlieb – B BERNHARDT
Sinatra: Hollywood His Way By Timothy Knight – B SINATRA
Steve McQueen: The Life and Legend of a Hollywood Icon By Marshall Terrill – B McQUEEN
Talking to Girls About Duran Duran: One Young Man’s Quest for True Love and a Cooler Haircut By Rob Sheffield – B SHEFFIELD
Uncharted Territori By Tori Spelling – B SPELLING
William and Harry: Behind the Palace Walls By Katie Nicholl – B WILLIAM

New Nonfiction Books – April 2010

Lynne

Ancient Greece: A History in Eleven Cities Paul Cartledge, 938 CAR 2009 – Ancient Greek civilization was defined by the city—around 1,000 cities then existed. This is its most enduring legacy along with the concepts of aristocracy, oligarchy, tyranny and democracy.

As If an Enemy’s Country: The British Occupation of Boston and the Origins of Revolution Richard Archer, 973.3 ARC 2010 – On October 1, 1768, British troops landed in Boston and occupied the city for seventeen months.  The presence of these troops caused a symbolic and psychological shift of profound consequence.

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine Michael Lewis, 330.973 LEW 2010 – When the crash of the U.S. Stock market became public knowledge in the fall of 2008, it was already old news.  The real crash had already taken place in the bond and real estate derivative markets.

Blood, Iron, and Gold: How the Railroads Transformed the World Christian Wolmar, 385.09 WOL 2010 – The railroad truly marked the dawn of a new age.  The birth of the railroads changed the face of the world and the way people lived.

Chasing the White Dog: An Amateur Outlaw’s Adventures in Moonshine Max Watman, 363.41 WAT 2010 – A lively look at the characters who make up white whiskey’s lore throughout American history.  The story begins in Monongahela, PA where drunk and armed outlaws gathered in the summer of 1794.

Country Driving: A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory Peter Hessler, 951.96 HES 2010 – A look at the new China as the automobile and new roads are transforming the nation.  Over a period of years, the author drove 7,000 miles through cities and rural areas.  Fascinating.

The Devil and Sherlock Holmes David Grann, 814.6 GRA 2010 – The author of The Lost City of Z relates his attemps to solve a dozen real-life mysteries.

Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History Scott Andrew Selby and Greg Campbell, 364.162 SEL 2010 – The Antwerp Diamond Center was one of the most secure buildings in the world.  On February 15, 2003, Italian thieves made off with at least half a billion dollars in diamonds, cash and valuables.

For the Soul of France: Culture Wars in the Age of Dreyfus Frederick Brown, 944.081 BRO 2010 – A look at the twilight years of the nineteenth century and the decades-long struggle in France, following its defeat by Prussia in 1871.

Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy Joseph Stiglitz, 330.973 STI 2010 – The Nobel Prize-winning author traces the origins of the Great Recession and demolishes the contention that America needs more bailouts.   A look ahead at choices that can make a difference.

The Hidden Brain: How Our Unconscious Minds Elect Presidents, Control Markets, Wage Wars, and Save Our Lives Shankar Vedantam, 154.2 VED 2010 – What if our actions are driven, not by our conscious values and beliefs, but by hidden motivations we are not even aware of?

Jane’s Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World Claire Harman, 823.7 HAR 2010 – A look at the wondrous world of Jane Austen.

Making Rounds with Oscar:  The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat David Rosa, 636.8 DOS 2010 – It seemed that Oscar was an ordinary cat when he arrived at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Rhode Island.  But he possesses an extraordinary gift.

Manufacturing Depression: The Secret History of a Modern Disease Gary Greenberg, 362.25 GRE 2010 – Many people ask themselves if their unhappiness is a disease that can, and should, be treated by medication. The author presents an insightful look at this question based on his experiences as a psychotherapist and as a depression patient.

Megadisasters: The Science of Predicting the Next Catastrophe Florin Diacu,904.5 DIA 2010 – Catastrophes catch us by surprise.  Here’s a look at the groundbreaking science behind the efforts to forecast major disasters and minimize their destruction.

No Apology: The Case for American Greatness Mitt Romney, 320.6 ROM 2010 – The former Massachusetts governor outlines his ideas for a renewed America.

No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller  Harry Markopolos, 364.16 MAR 2010 – For ten years, the author and his investigative team tried to warn the government, the financial industry and the press that the largest hedge fund in history was a total fraud.  He warned that Bernie Madoff was a crook, but could find no one who would listen.

The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York Deborah Blum, 614.13 BLU 2010 – In early-twentieth-century New York, poisons offered an easy path to the perfect crime. The appointment of chief medical examiner Charles Norris in 1918 was the beginning of  the discipline of forensics.

Storms of My Grandchildren: The Truth About the Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to Save Humanity James Hansen,363.738 HAN 2009 – A leading scientist states that climate change is happening more rapidly than previously acknowledged.

That Crumpled Paper Was Due Last Week:  Helping Disorganized and Distracted Boys Succeed in School and Life Ana Homayoun, 649.132 HOM 2010 – The author, an academic counselor who has helped unfocused boys learn how to consistently meet their personal and academic challenges, explains how to get back to the basics.

The Tudors: The Complete Story of England’s Most Notorious Dynasty G. J. Meyer, 942.05 MEY 2010 – The reality, in all its wild excesses, of the young Henry Tudor, who claimed the throne in 1485 and his descendants, including the notorious Henry VIII and the remarkable Elizabeth I.

The Vikings: A History Robert Ferguson, 948.022 FER 2009 – Legend and fact from the distant age of the mysterious and violent Scandinavian Vikings.

Voodoo Histories: The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History David Aaronovitch, 909.826 AAR 2010 – An insightful examination of a dozen modern-day conspiracies.  Read this one along with American Conspiracies by Jesse Ventura.

Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization Steven Solomon, 333.91 SOL 2010 – The control of water wealth throughout history has been pivotal to the rise and fall of great powers, the achievements of civilization and the quality of  the lives of ordinary people.

You Say More Than You Think: A 7-Day Plan for Using the New Body Language to Get What You Want Janine Driver with Mariska Van Aalst, 153.69 DRI 2010 – What does your body say to the outside world?  How do your actions help, or hurt, you?