FICTION:
F BARICCO
Baricco, Alessandro, 1958-. An Iliad. New York : Knopf, 2006.
Alessandro Baricco re-creates the siege of Troy through the voices of twenty-one Homeric characters in the narrative idiom of our modern imagination. Sacrificing none of Homer’s panoramic scope, Baricco forgoes Homeric detachment and admits us to realms of subjective experience his predecessor never explored. From the return of Chryseis to the burial of Hector, we see through human eyes and feel with human hearts the unforgettable events first recounted almost three thousand years ago, events arranged not by the whims of the gods in this instance but by the dictates of human nature. With Andromache, Patroclus, Priam, and the rest, we are privy to the ghastly confusion of battle, the clamor of princely councils, the intimacies of the bedchamber, until finally only a blind poet is left to recount, secondhand, the awful fall of Ilium.
F BISSOONDATH
Bissoondath, Neil, 1955-. The unyielding clamor of the night : a novel. 1st U.S. ed. New York : Bloomsbury : Distributed to the trade by Holtzbrinck Publishers, 2006.
Bissoondath takes us into the heart of an unnamed South Asian island nation torn by civil war. Arun, a young teacher sent to the rebel-invested south, takes with him the fears and prejudices of a nation at war with itself. He also takes a strong desire to make a difference, both in his students and in his own heart. Befriended by the local butcher, who also serves as the town leader, Arun learns that in a simple village all is not simple and that loyalties, friendships, and animosity are not necessarily what they seem.
F BOWEN MYSTERIES
Bowen, Rhys. Evanly bodies. 1st ed. New York : St. Martin’s Press, 2006.
Welsh Constable Evans is trying to convince the Pakistani family of 16- year-old Jamilla not to force her into an arranged marriage, as is their custom. Then, with cultural tensions increasing, Jamilla vanishes. As the deaths of three men follow, one of the men’s wives is jailed as a suspect. Could there be a link between all these events? Constable Evans is about to find out.
F BROWN MYSTERIES
Brown, Sandra, 1948-. Ricochet. New York : Simon & Schuster, c2006.
When Detective Sergeant Duncan Hatcher is summoned to the home of Judge Cato Laird in the middle of the night to investigate a fatal shooting, he knows that discretion and kid-glove treatment are the keys to staying in the judge’s good graces and keeping his job. At first glance, the case appears open-and-shut: Elise, the judge’s trophy wife, interrupted a burglary in progress and killed the intruder in self-defense. But Duncan is immediately suspicious of Elise’s innocent act. His gut feeling is that her account of the shooting is only partially true—and it’s the parts she’s leaving out that bother him. Duncan investigates further and quickly finds his career, as well as his integrity, in jeopardy—because he can’t deny his increasing attraction to Elise Laird, even if she is a married woman, a proven liar, and a murder suspect.—From publisher description.
F COOK
Cook, Robin, 1940-. Crisis. New York : G.P. Putnam’s Sons, c2006. The last thing Dr. Craig Bowman expected was to be served with a summons for medical malpractice. As part of a medical practice where patients paid well to be part of a limited enrollment in exchange for special access and attention, he was living the life he’d always dreamed of. Now, that lifestyle, his livelihood, and his marriage had fallen apart as a result of a nasty court battle. When the body of his final patient is exhumed, his life truly falls apart.
F CROGGON FANTASY
Croggon, Alison, 1962-. The Riddle. 1st U.S. ed. Cambridge, MA : Candlewick Press, 2006.
The further translation of a manuscript from the lost civilization of Edil-Amarandah which chronicles the experiences of sixteen-year-old Maerad, a gifted Bard, as she seeks the answer to the Riddle of the Treesong and continues to battle the Dark forces.
F CROSBY MYSTERY
Crosby, Ellen, 1953-. The merlot murders : a wine country mystery. New York : Scribner, 2006.
Lucie Montgomery, living in France and recuperating from an automobile accident that has left her dependent on a cane, is summoned home to Virginia following her father’s death. She’s saddened at the condition the once grand family house and winery is in. Her father, a compulsive gambler, left a mountain of debt for his three children. Lucie’s siblings, a greedy brother, and a hell-raising younger sister, want to sell the estate. Then Lucie learns that her father’s death was no accident. Now she must find who is responsible.
F DAHEIM MYSTERY
Daheim, Mary. Saks & violins : a bed-and-breakfast mystery. 1st ed. New York : Morrow, c2006.
When world-renowned musician Dolph Kluger visits their town, Judith is coerced into hosting a party for him. Later, when Dolph collapses, a victim of rhubarb poisoning, Judith sets out to find the killer. The list of suspects is long since Dolph was not loved by all in spite of his talent. Judith is about to discover the crime spree has only just begun. Dolph’s death is followed by the theft of Judith’s cousin’s credit cards and her neighbor and violinist Rudi Wittener’s violin bow valued at $350,000!
F FFORDE MYSTERY
Fforde, Jasper. The Fourth Bear. New York : Viking, c2006. The Gingerbreadman, a psychopath, sadist, genius, convicted murderer and biscuit is loose on the streets of Reading. It isn’t Jack Spratt’s case. He and Mary Mary have been demoted to missing persons following Jack’s poor judgment involving the poisoning of Mr. Bun, the baker. Missing Persons looks like a boring assignment until a chance encounter during the Armitage Shanks literary awards lead them onto the hunt for missing journalist Henrietta Hatchett. The last witnesses to see her alive were The Three Bears.
F GOODKIND FANTASY
Goodkind, Terry. Phantom. 1st ed. New York : Tor, 2006. Richard desperately searches for his long-lost wife, Kahlan Amnell, racing against time to find her before she can uncover the secrets of her lost identity, thereby making her vulnerable to evil.
F GUR MYSTERY
Gur, Batya. Murder in Jerusalem : a Michael Ohayon mystery. 1st ed. New York : HarperCollins Publishers, c2006.
The film Israeli director Benny Meyuhus had been working on what was promised to be a hit but his pleasure was short-lived when his wife, the film’s set designer, was crushed under a set piece. Then something even more shocking is revealed during the investigation. Her death may have been part of a larger network of social and political unrest. Chief Superintendent Michael Ohayon is very disturbed by this revelation that the very ideals upon which his nation was raised may have led to unspeakable crimes.
F HAMILTON
Hamilton, Laurell K. Danse macabre. 1st ed. New York : Berkley Books, 2006. These days, Anita Blake is less interested in vampire politics than in an ancient, ordinary dread she shares with women down the ages: she may be pregnant. And, if she is, whether the father is a vampire, a werewolf, or someone else entirely, she knows perfectly well that being a Federal Marshal known for raising the dead, and being a vampire executioner, is no way to bring up a baby.—From publisher description.
F JACKSON
Jackson, Joshilyn. Between, Georgia. 1st ed. New York : Warner Books, 2006.
Nonny Frett is caught in the middle of a decades-old family feud between her biological family and her adopted one.
F KNOPF
Knopf, Chris. Two time. Sag Harbor, NY : Permanent Press, c2006.
All ex-boxer, ex-corporate executive Sam Aquillo wants to do is hammer a few nails into his ramshackle cottage, drink a great deal of vodka, hang out with his dog, Eddie, and stay out of trouble. But trouble seems to find him anyway. When a car bomb outside a trendy waterfront restaurant kills a prominent financial consultant and injures Sam and his lawyer friend Jackie Swaitkowski, he is drawn into the investigation. Where the police have met roadblocks, Sam makes inroads with his trademark wit, instinct and charm. Also, he just wants to know: Why would someone go to such lengths not only to kill someone, but annihilate them? Set against the backdrop of Southampton, Long Island, this book is full of moody sunsets, beachfront properties and beautiful people with an extraordinary amount of money and very dangerous secrets.
F MARON MYSTERY
Maron, Margaret. Winter’s child. 1st ed. New York : Mysterious Press, 2006.
One month after Judge Deborah Knott and Sheriff Deputy Dwight Bryant’s wedding their bliss is disturbed by a frantic phone call from Dwight’s eight-year-old son in Virginia. Flying back, Dwight arrives to find that the boy has been left alone by his ex-wife for 24 hours. After confronting her, she takes the child and leaves town. As Dwight begins his search, Deborah joins him. By working together, perhaps they can decipher Dwight’s ex-wife’s motives, and more importantly, find his son before harm comes to him.
F MCCAFFREY SCIENCE FICTION
McCaffrey, Anne. Second wave : Acorna’s children. 1st ed. New York : Eos, c2006.
Khorii, a gifted young healer, her brother, and human survivors of the planet Paloduro struggle to devise a vaccine to combat the deadly plague sweeping the universe.
F MICHAELS
Michaels, Fern. Lethal justice. 1st world ed. Sutton, Surrey ; New York : Severn House, 2006.
After spending a year wrongly imprisoned for fraud, Alexis calls on the Sisterhood to seek revenge on the real criminals, Arden Gillespie and Roland Sullivan.
F PARSHALL
Parshall, Sandra. The heat of the moon. Scottsdale, Ariz. : Poisoned Pen Press, c2006.
Something in Dr. Rachel Goddard’s past is causing her anguish. In spite of her very busy life as a veterinary doctor, occasionally the door to the past swings open, bringing with it memories she doesn’t understand. Following one of her ‘spells’ at work, she decides to investigate her past, starting at the family home.
F SLAUGHTER
Slaughter, Karin, 1971-. Triptych. New York : Delacorte Press, c2006.
Atlanta detective Michael Ormewood welcomes the distraction of his job as a way to keep his mind off his unhappy marriage. Unfortunately for one local woman, his current job distraction involves investigating her sadistic murder. John Shelley, an ex-con, stumbles upon the killer’s trail in the most coincidental of ways, has nothing but the certainty of his own innocence. For him, the nightmare has just begun.
F SMITH
Smith, Scott, 1965 July 13-. The ruins : a novel. New York : Knopf, 2006.
Two American couples, newly graduated from college, are enjoying the final week of a Cancun vacation when they are persuaded by a new friend to accompany him into the jungle to find his brother who has gone off with an archaeological team in search of ruins, and they do not realize until it is too late that they are trapped by an unspeakable horror.
F TOOLE
Toole, F. X., 1930-. Pound for pound : a novel. 1st ed. New York : Ecco, c2006.
“Pound for Pound” follows the separate paths of Dan Cooley, a legendary Los Angeles trainer who lives under a heavy burden of sorrow, and Chicky Garcia, a young man trying to make a name for himself in the San Antonio boxing circuit rife with crime and corruption. When Chicky searches for and finds the gifted trainer, their lives are inexorably bound as both are forced to fight on in the face of pain, to overcome obstacles, and to confront their demons - in and out of the ring.
F WALL MYSTERY
Wall, Kathryn R. Bishop’s Reach. 1st ed. New York : St. Martin’s Minotaur, 2006.
Bay Tanner, her partner Eric Whiteside, and the Judge are thrown into their first case when a local escort comes to their office accusing one of her clients of raping her. When the client turns up dead, Bay must figure out who’s responsible. This, along with the reappearance of Win Hammond, the handsome playboy who has been missing from Beaufort for years, keeps Bay’s new agency thriving.
NON-FICTION:
001.9 STO
Stossel, John. Myths, lies, and downright stupidity : get out the shovel—why everything you know is wrong. 1st ed. New York : Hyperion, c2006.
Reveals that much of what society hears from the media is myth, proving that conventional wisdom is often wrong and exposing the truth about many things Americans believe to be true.—John Stossel of ‘ABC’s 20/20,’ tackles favorite myths in his characteristic style and challenges readers to look at life differently. Just a few of the myths and misconceptions covered in this book include: Is the media unbiased? Do singles have a better sex life than married people? Is outsourcing bad for American workers? Money makes people happier and profiteering is evil.
070.4 THO
Thomas, Helen, 1920-. Watchdogs of democracy? : the waning Washington press corps and how it has failed the public. New York : Scribner, c2006.
Helen Thomas offers an inside look at how the American press is being mislead by the government and why the press has become reluctant to question government spokesmen and search for the truth.
133 NIC
Nickell, Joe. Real-life X-files : investigating the paranormal. Lexington, Ky. : University Press of Kentucky, c2001.
Nickell examines the cases of more than forty paranormal mysteries by attempting to physically duplicate the unexplainable activities and finding a logical explanation behind them.
158.1 ACK
Ackerman, Laurence D., 1950-. The identity code : the 8 essential questions for finding your purpose and place in the world. 1st ed. New York : Random House, c2005.
Ackerman reveals how people can discover who they are and what their purpose is by uncovering their personal identity code, providing eight essential questions that will help people discover their identity code.
261.8 ALB LP
Albright, Madeleine Korbel. The mighty and the Almighty : reflections on America, God, and world affairs. Large print ed. New York : HarperLargePrint, c2006.
Former secretary of state Madeleine Albright explores the role religion has played in shaping America’s approach to the world, focusing on its impact on America’s view of itself, foreign policy, the Bush administration’s response to 9/11, and the war in Iraq.
277.3 GAR
Garrison, Becky, 1961-. Red and blue God, black and blue church : eyewitness accounts of how American churches are hijacking Jesus, bagging the Beatitudes, and worshiping the almighty dollar. San Francisco, CA : Jossey-Bass, 2006.
No Christian faction, not liberals, mainliners, evangelicals or fundamentalists, escapes the smarty-pants treatment from this senior contributing editor of the religious satire publication, “The Wittenburg Door”. Garrison assumes a gentle “above it all” attitude, redirecting the church’s attention to the Beatitudes and to Jesus’ “great commandment” (to love God first and love others as ourselves). She also argues for renewed separation of church and state, noting Jesus’ tendency to serve “as a prophetic voice to proclaim the Word of God without being a pawn of the Roman government.” Garrison is especially tough on those who publicly claim to have God on their side. “Given that my last name ain’t Falwell, Robertson, or LaHaye, I can’t claim to speak for Christ,” she states. But don’t for a moment think Garrison blames all of life’s problems on the religious right. She’s blessed with the ability to observe, cringe at and poke fun at anyone who insists on a “correct Christian response” to complex social and political matters. If you like the Door’s approach to the lighter side of Christian culture, or if you just need a good laugh after reading too many serious religion books, it doesn’t get much better than this. Publisher’s Weekly
277.3 GOL
Goldberg, Michelle, 1975-. Kingdom coming : the rise of Christian nationalism. 1st ed. New York : W.W. Norton, c2006.
Goldberg reveals how the growing influence of dominionism, the doctrine that Christians have the right to rule nonbelievers, has impacted the American government, allowing George W. Bush to be re-elected despite his dismal record as president.
297.8 NAS
Nasr, Seyyed Vali Reza, 1960-. The Shia revival : how conflicts within Islam will shape the future. 1st ed. New York : Norton, 2006. One of the least remarked upon aspects of the war in Iraq, at least in the American press, has been how conflict and instability in that country have shaken the delicate balance of power between Sunni and Shia throughout the wider region. Nasr, professor of Middle East and South Asia politics at the Naval Postgraduate School, tackles this question head-on for a Western audience. His account begins with a cogent, engrossing introduction to the history and theology of Shia Islam, encapsulating the intellectual and political trends that have shaped the faith and its relations with the dominant Sunni strain. Nasr argues that the Shia Crescent-stretching from Lebanon and Syria through the Gulf to Iraq and Iran, finally terminating in Pakistan and India-is gathering strength in the aftermath of Saddam’s fall, cementing linkages that transcend political and linguistic borders and could lead to a new map of the Middle East. Publisher’s Weekly
305.891 EBE
Eberstadt, Fernanda, 1960-. Little money street : in search of Gypsies and their music in the south of France. 1st ed. New York : Knopf, 2006.
The author, a New Yorker living in Perpignan, southwestern France, discusses her friendship with the family of Moïse Espinas, singer of the Romany rumba band Tekameli, describing the private world of the region’s Romany people and their relationship with Western culture.
305.892 GRO
Gross, Jan Tomasz. Fear : anti-semitism in Poland after Auschwitz : an essay in historical interpretation. 1st ed. New York : Random House, c2006.
This comprehensive account of anti-Semitism in Poland after World War II explains why Jewish Holocaust survivors returning to their homes in Poland faced widespread hostility despite the fact that ninety percent of the country’s Jewish community was killed during the war.
305.896 CAR
Carr, C. (Cynthia). Our town : a heartland lynching, a haunted town, and the hidden history of white America. 1st ed. New York : Crown Publishers, c2006.
The author presents a narrative describing the 1930 lynching of two African-American men in Marion, Indiana and her own family connection with her grandfather’s association with the Ku Klux Klan; and includes interviews with Marion residents, Klan members, and those who witnessed the killings.
320.51 COU
Coulter, Ann H. Godless : the church of liberalism. 1st ed. New York : Crown Forum, c2006.
Coulter calls liberalism a godless religion; criticizes liberals regarding such topics as crime and punishment, abortion, the 9/11 Commission, and public school teachers; and argues that evolution is “bogus science.”
322 BUR
Burleigh, Michael, 1955-. Earthly powers : the clash of religion and politics in Europe from the French Revolution to the Great War. 1st ed. New York : HarperCollins Publishers,2005. Explores how politics and religion have influenced one another over the last two hundred years of European history, revealing how clashes between the two led to an increase in secularism and a demystification of the power of politics that forever altered European history and politics.
327.73009 SWE
Sweig, Julia. Friendly fire : losing friends and making enemies in the anti-American century. 1st ed. New York : Public Affairs, c2006.
Examines America’s role in fostering anti-Americanism since the end of World War II, and maintains that the growth of U.S. power, globalization, and negative policy choices have actually created more resentment toward American ideologies.
331.13 UCH
Uchitelle, Louis. The disposable American : layoffs and their consequences. 1st ed. New York : Knopf, 2006.
The author traces the history of the modern layoff in the United States since the 1970s through several case studies, arguing that the justifications for layoffs do not hold up under scrutiny, looking at the damage caused to workers, companies, and the economy, and urging government policies to restrict layoffs.
331.7 ROS
Ross, Andrew, 1956-. Fast boat to China : corporate flight and the consequences of free trade : lessons from Shanghai. 1st ed. New York : Pantheon Books, c2006. Explores how corporate outsourcing has influenced free trade and the controversial issues surrounding offshore outsourcing to China, focusing on the outsourcing of white-collar jobs at U.S. global manufacturing and high-tech companies.
332.024 PER
Perle, Liz. Money, a memoir : women, emotions, and cash. 1st ed. New York : Holt, 2006.
Liz Perle shares how her ambivalent feelings about money nearly left her homeless and penniless and discusses how she learned to overcome her financial fears and take responsibility for her own financial security.
333.793 GOO
Goodell, Jeff. Big coal : the dirty secret behind America’s energy future. Boston : Houghton Mifflin Co., 2006. Goodell examines the dangers behind President George W. Bush’s assertion that coal holds the key to America’s economic future, discussing the economic challenges America faces and the factors that will lead to a dangerous reliance on coal as an energy source.
342.73 MAR
Margulies, Joseph. Guantánamo and the abuse of presidential power. New York : Simon & Schuster, c2006.
Margulies chronicles the attempts by the Bush administration to extend the bounds of presidential authority while limiting official culpability, maintaining that they have not provided a complete explanation for its detention policy.
362.29 FAI
Fainaru-Wada, Mark. Game of shadows : Barry Bonds, BALCO, and the steroid scandal that rocked professional sports. New York : Gotham Books, c2006.
The author presents an examination of the illegal steroid use in sports, chronicling the investigation of professional baseball players Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi and providing a narrative overview of the investigation and its principle characters: Victor Conte, Greg Anderson, and BALCO.
363.25 FLE
Fletcher, Connie, 1947-. Every contact leaves a trace : crime scene experts talk about how they find, follow, and preserve the evidence trail. New York : St. Martin’s Press, 2006.
When a crime occurs it takes a multitude of people to solve it. Crime scene investigators play an important role. This history of crime scene investigations shows readers how every contact left at a crime scene leaves a trace including blood, fluid, fiber, hair, tissue and more. This book relays what happens at the scene and in the crime lab and the people who are responsible for testing this evidence including blood spatter experts, latent print specialists, trace analysts, forensic anthropologists, and many others.
363.46 PRE
Press, Eyal. Absolute convictions : my father, a city, and the conflict that divided America. 1st ed. New York : Holt, 2006. Eyal Press recounts how his father’s work as a doctor who performed abortions in Buffalo, New York, impacted his own childhood and adult life, and discusses how his father’s work influenced his own views on abortion.
364.15 JEN
Jentz, Terri, 1957-. Strange piece of paradise. 1st ed. New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006.
Terri Jentz chronicles her return to the small town where she and her friend, Shayna Weiss, were nearly murdered fifteen years earlier and shares what the trip helped her learn about herself and human nature.
394.1 POL
Pollan, Michael. The omnivore’s dilemma : a natural history of four meals. New York : Penguin Press, 2006.
Michael Pollan offers insight into food consumption in the twenty-first century, explaining how an abundance of unlimited food varieties reveals the responsibilities of consumers to protect their health and the environment.
427 MAC
MacNeil, Robert, 1931-. Do you speak American? : a companion to the PBS television series. 1st ed. New York : Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, c2005.
MacNeil presents a study of American English as it is spoken in the early twenty-first century, addressing some of the controversies and issues, anxieties and assumptions provoked by the language in its various forms and dialects.
553.8 ZOE
Zoellner, Tom. The heartless stone : a journey through the world of diamonds, deceit, and desire. New York : St. Martins Press, c2006.
The story follows the author across fourteen nations and six continents to research the mythology and fascination with diamonds, how they have been used to fund civil wars, and the exploitation of diamond workers in India and Africa.
576.8 SHE
Shermer, Michael. Why Darwin matters : the case against intelligent design. 1st ed. New York : Times Books, 2006. Michael Shermer, a creationist-turned-scientist, demonstrates the facts of evolution and exposes Intelligent Design’s real agenda. He decodes the scientific evidence to show that evolution is not ‘just a theory’ and illustrates how it achieves the design of life through the bottom- up process of natural selection. Once an evangelical Christian, he argues that Intelligent Design proponents are invoking a combination of bad science, political antipathy, and flawed theology. He examines what’s really at stake in the debate over evolution.
598.8 CHU
Chu, Miyoko Coco. Songbird journeys : four seasons in the lives of migratory birds. New York : Walker & Co. : Distributed by Holtzbrinck Publishers, 2006.
Chu traces the natural history of songbirds, focusing on their migrations over the Gulf of Mexico as they fly south for the winter months, and exploring the intricacies underlying the migration, the cycle of seasons, and the interconnectedness of songbirds.
600 FOR
Forbes, Peter. The gecko’s foot : bio-inspiration : engineering new materials from nature. 1st American ed. New York : W. W. Norton, 2006, c2005.
The author looks at how scientists are using nanotechnology to study the processes of nature, such as how geckos are able to climb walls and how leaves unfold, and discusses how they are trying to recreate these natural processes for commercial use.
616 SCO
Scott, Christopher Thomas. Stem cell now : from the experiment that shook the world to the new politics of life. New York : Pearson Education, c2006. Christopher Scott clarifies the science behind the stem cell revolution, from the landmark discovery of human embryonic stem cells to the latest research. He begins with how stem cells work, their role in the development and upkeep of the human body, and the differences between embryonic and adult stem cells. He then takes readers to the frontlines of this new science, introducing the men and women who are creating a new biotechnology and revealing their quests: Are there ultra-rare adult stem cells? Can stem cells uncover the secrets of cancer, rendering it reversible? How soon can we grow nerves and organs in the lab? The realm of possibility is exploding.” Scott clearly explains the arguments for and against the use of embryonic stem cells. He leaves the shrill rhetoric of both sides behind, leading readers through a discussion of the question at the heart of the debate: How, as a society, do we balance our responsibilities to the unborn and the sick?
641.3 GOO
Goodall, Jane, 1934-. Harvest for hope : a guide to mindful eating. 1st ed. New York : Warner Books, 2005.
Well-known scientist Jane Goodall examines the way food is produced and consumed in Western society and the growing obesity problem in children and adults, and offers ways in which people can exercise their power over the food industry and the environment.
641.5 KAT
Katzen, Mollie, 1950-. Eat, drink, & weigh less : a flexible and delicious way to shrink your waist without going hungry. 1st ed. New York : Hyperion, c2006.
“Eat, Drink, and Weigh Less” offers a medically sound, extremely effective program that shows people how they can lose weight by adding delicious food to their diet and making simple changes in what they eat throughout the day. It’s flexible and adaptable—and it really works. It features a powerful way to chart your progress called the Body Score. The more you raise your Body Score, the more you will lower your weight! A quiz at the beginning of the book helps readers determine their Body Score; the chapters that follow explain easy dietary and behavioral steps readers can take to improve their scores.
641.5 POW
Powell, Julie. Julie and Julia : 365 days, 524 recipes, 1 tiny apartment kitchen : how one girl risked her marriage, her job, and her sanity to master the art of living. 1st ed. New York : Little, Brown, 2005.
This is Julie Powell’s first-hand account of her culinary adventure as she attempts to prepare all 524 recipes in Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” in 365 days.
641.5 WEI
Weinstein, Jay, 1965-. The ethical gourmet. 1st ed. New York : Broadway Books, 2006.
Jay Weinstein has written the bible for those who care about both good food and the well-being of the world. “The Ethical Gourmet” informs readers about how they can make responsible eating choices, explains what “organic” really means, tells readers where ethically raised foods can be purchased, offers advice on choices when dining out, and delves into such controversial topics as genetically modified foods and fair-trade coffee and chocolate.
641.59455 BUF
Buford, Bill. Heat : an amateur’s adventures as kitchen slave, line cook, pasta maker, and apprentice to a Dante-quoting butcher in Tuscany. 1st ed. New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2006.
Expanding on his award-winning New Yorker article, professional cook Buford gives us a chronicle of his experience as “slave” to Mario Batali in the kitchen of Batali’s three-star New York restaurant, Babbo. He describes three frenetic years of trials and errors, disappointments and triumphs, as he worked his way up the Babbo ladder from “kitchen bitch” to line cook, his relationship with the larger-than-life Batali, whose story he learns as their friendship grows through (and sometimes despite) kitchen encounters and after-work all-nighters, and his immersion in the arts of butchery in Northern Italy, of preparing game in London, and making handmade pasta at an Italian hillside trattoria.
641.6 KUR
Kurlansky, Mark. The Big Oyster : history on the half shell. 1st ed. New York : Ballantine Books, c2006.
Kurlansky chronicles the history of New York City’s oyster industry up until the early 1900s, exploring how the food influenced the city’s culture, economy, cuisine, and inhabitants.
646.7 KOG
Kogan, Natasha. The daring female’s guide to ecstatic living: 30 dares for a more gutsy and fulfilling life. 1st ed. New York : Hyperion, c2006.
Entrepreneur/author Kogan encourages readers to break old patterns and live outside the box through 30 “dares,” or suggestions for living. The dares are organized into six chapters, which range from establishing better daily habits and eliminating unproductive fears to aiming higher and laughing a lot. Within these short chapters, Kogan proposes learning something new each day, e.g., dedicating six weeks to kicking a bad habit. This is an incredibly upbeat book, with great ideas for many readers. Library Journal
646.7 RIG
Righton, Caroline. The life audit : take control of your life now: every minute counts. New York : Broadway Books, c2006. This totally original life makeover looks at life like a balance sheet, and offers an innovative, practical plan to account for the precious minutes in your day and reallocate them for maximum fulfillment. Righton’s easy, step-by-step process will help you evaluate, or “audit,” the different areas of your life, from relationships and money to family, career, and more, and use simple worksheets to take stock of where you are and get on the fast track to where you want to be.
649 JAC
Jacobsen, Mary-Elaine. The brat stops here! : 5 weeks (or less) to no more tantrums, arguments, or bad behavior. 1st ed. New York : St. Martin’s Griffin, 2006.
Jacobsen presents a guide for parents on changing negative, obnoxious, and defiant behavior in children, providing a step-by-step program for setting limits and expectations, taking privileges away, and correcting misbehavior.
741.5 ABE
Abel, Jessica. La perdida. 1st ed. New York : Pantheon Books, c2006.
Carla Olivares, a young Mexican-American woman, goes to Mexico to “find herself,” and moves in with an old fling, but when his circle of Anglo expat friends fail to provide her with the authentic experience she seeks, Carla becomes involved with el Gordo, a drug don who takes her down a dangerous path. Presented in graphic novel form.
741.5 STA
Stassen, Jean-Philippe. Deogratias : a tale of Rwanda. 1st American ed. New York : First Second, 2006.
A graphic novel that describes the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda in 1994 through the eyes of a boy named Deogratias, a Hutu, who is in love with Benigne, a Tutsi.
747 GAL
Gallagher, Winifred. House thinking : a room-by-room look at how we live. 1st ed. New York : HarperCollins, c2006.
Winifred Gallagher explores the role of the home in the well-being of its inhabitants, looking at the environmental-behavioral dynamics of each room of the house, and discussing peoples’ relationships to their special possessions.
759.409 KIN
King, Ross, 1962-. The judgment of Paris : the revolutionary decade that gave the world Impressionism. New York : Walker, 2006.
"The Judgment of Paris" chronicles the dramatic decade between two famous exhibitions set against the rise and dramatic fall of Napoleon III and the Second Empire after the Franco-Prussian War. "King offers a fast-paced romp through the Parisian art scene between 1863 (the first Salon des Refuses exhibition) and 1874 (the first impressionist exhibition). Political upheaval and public scandal set the background for artistic endeavors, which King cleverly frames with two diverse figures who seem to share only initials: Ernest Meissonier (representing the successful old guard) and Edouard Manet (the radical provocateur of the new order). Library Journal
782.421649 COH
Cohn, Nik. Triksta : life and death and New Orleans rap. 1st ed. New York : Knopf, 2005.
The author chronicles his infatuation and obsession with New Orleans jazz and rap music and his own personal experiences with the music and musicians of New Orleans.
786.2 BAR
Barron, James, 1954-. Piano : the making of a Steinway concert grand. 1st ed. New York : Times Books, 2006.
Barron, a staff reporter for the New York Times, has penned an informative and amusing read tracing the yearlong construction of a flagship nine-foot Steinway & Sons grand piano. Over the course of the narrative, this instrument becomes almost human, going so far as spending one of its first summers in the Hamptons like many another well-heeled New Yorker. The author interweaves brief histories of the piano and the company with observations and interviews with the factory men (or the very few women) and outside contractors....Remarks from famous pianists, contemporary newspaper quotes on early rivalries with Chickering and piano exhibitions, and a smattering of photos enhance the volume. Library Journal
791.43 BAM
Bamberger, Michael, 1960-. The man who heard voices, : or, how M. Night Shyamalan risked his career on a fairy tale. New York : Gotham, c2006.
Sports Illustrated writer Bamberger turns the lens on director Shyamalan, who’s responsible for films like “The Sixth Sense”, “The Village”, and this summer’s “Lady in the Water”. Michael Bamberger takes readers inside Shyamalan’s world for the first time, getting total access to the man who has been called “the modern-day Hitchcock” as he prepares, creates, and test-screens his next film, Lady in the Water, which stars Paul Giamatti (star of Sideways) as a building superintendent and Bryce Howard (star of The Village) as a mysterious sea nymph.
796.323 GRU
Grundy, Pamela. Shattering the glass : the remarkable history of women’s basketball. New York : New Press : Distributed by Norton, c2005.
Pamela Grundy traces the history of women’s basketball in the United States from the late nineteenth century to the early twenty-first, discussing the game’s early development at women’s colleges and its spread to high schools, industrial leagues, and professional teams.
808 PIP
Pipher, Mary Bray. Writing to change the world. New York : Riverhead Books, 2006.
Pipher explores the transformative power of words, explains how people can create social change through nothing more than their message and a keyboard, and combines practical writing instruction with personal anecdotes and memorable quotations from other writers to help people change the world through writing.
811 COL
Collins, Billy. The trouble with poetry and other poems. 1st ed. New York : Random House, c2005.
Billy Collins presents a collection of poems from America’s two-term Poet Laureate that cover topics as wide ranging as boyhood, jazz, the passage of time, and writing.
811 TRI
Trillin, Calvin. A Heckuva job : more of the Bush administration in rhyme. 1st ed. New York : Random House, 2006.
Somehow, despite everything Calvin Trillin wrote about the Bush Administration in “Obliviously On He Sails”, his 2004 bestseller in verse, George W. Bush is still in the White House. Taking a philosophical view, Trillin has said, ‘We weren’t going to know whether you could bring down a presidency with iambic pentameter until somebody tried it.’ Now Trillin is trying again, back at his pithy and hilarious best to comment on the President’s decision to go to war in Iraq.
909 OSH
O’Shea, Stephen. Sea of faith : Islam and Christianity in the medieval Mediterranean world. New York : [S.l.] : Walker ; Distributed to the trade by Holztbrinck Publishers, 2006.
O’Shea offers a comprehensive examination of the origins of the conflicts between Christians and Muslims focusing on seven military battles between A.D. 636 and 1565 that helped to shape the Mediterranean world of the Middle Ages.
910.9163 DEL
Delaney, Frank, 1942-. Simple courage : a true story of peril on the sea. 1st ed. New York : Random House, c2006.
This is the true story of Kurt Carlsen, the captain of the freighter S.S. Flying Enterprise, who, in December 1951, struggled to evacuate his passengers and crew and bring the severely disabled ship back to port after high winds and waves threw the vessel over on her side.
917.291 ASC
Aschkenas, Lea. Es Cuba : life and love on an illegal island. Emeryville, CA : Seal Press : Distributed by Publishers Group West, c2006.
Journalist Aschkenas offers an intimate, detailed memoir of 10 months spent exploring life in Cuba and her love for a young Cuban man whose devotion largely defines her journey. In February 2000, shortly after the Elian Gonzalez custody battle became the cause célèbre for nationalists, Aschkenas goes to Cuba for a language program with an American social justice organization. As a tourist, she is housed in an exclusive hotel in a wealthy Havana neighborhood, removed from the dirt-poor, hand-to-mouth struggling Cubans, whose average monthly salary is $12. She soon meets Alfredo, a black-skinned stage technician who teaches her to eschew “la vida plastica” in order to learn about the “real Cuba” of argot, bribery (a dollar gets her practically anything she needs), machismo, El Bombo (the visa lottery that allows Cubans to immigrate to the U.S.) and racism. Aschkenas gradually moves to a shared house in Centro Habana (inner-city Havana) run by several generations of Cuban women who enlighten her on feminist revolutionary history. Throughout, she and Alfredo learn to readjust their assumed ideas of nationality and politics as Aschkenas continually confronts the lesson “of how little in Cuba is as it appears on the surface”. Publisher’s Weekly
920 COH
Cohen, Rich. Sweet and low : a family story. 1st ed. New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006.
Rich Cohen recounts the true story of Ben Eisenstadt, a short-order cook who, after returning from World War II, created the sugar packet and Sweet ‘N Low and amassed a fortune that eventually destroyed his family.
920.73 FIN
Fink, Mitchell. The last days of dead celebrities. 1st ed. New York : Miramax Books, c2006.
Columnist and author Mitchell Fink explores the fascination America has with the deaths of celebrity and chronicles the final days of legendary celebrities such as John Lennon, John Belushi, John Ritter, and Warren Zevon.
921 ATLAS
Atlas, Teddy. Atlas : from the streets to the ring : a son’s struggle to become a man. New York : Ecco, c2006.
Boxing trainer and commentator Teddy Atlas recounts the experiences that have shaped his life and reflects on his father’s influence in all aspects of his personal and professional life.
921 BEECHER
Applegate, Debby. The most famous man in America : the biography of Henry Ward Beecher. 1st ed. New York : Doubleday, c2006.
Applegate chronicles the life of Henry Ward Beecher, the son of a Puritan minister and brother to Harriet Beecher Stowe, discussing how he stepped out of the shadow of his parents and siblings to become an important figure in the antislavery and women’s suffrage movements, the entertainment industry, and the fields of politics and psychology.
921 BOWERMAN
Moore, Kenny, 1943-. Bowerman and the men of Oregon : the story of Oregon’s legendary coach and Nike’s cofounder. [Emmaus, Pa.] : Rodale : Distributed to the book trade by Holtzbrinck Publishers, c2006.
During his tenure as track coach at the University of Oregon from 1949 through 1972, Bill Bowerman won 4 national team titles, trained dozens of milers to break the 4-minute barrier, and his athletes set 13 world and 22 American records. Single-handedly he helped turn the college town of Eugene, Oregon, into the running capital of the world. In “Bowerman: The Wings of Nike”, Kenny Moore, a world-class marathon runner and one of Bowerman’s Oregon men, tells the story of his mentor and hero, drawing on years of taped interviews and the full cooperation of the Bowerman family and Nike, the company that Bowerman helped to found through his invention of the waffle-soled running shoe.
921 BROWN
Brown, Cupcake. A piece of cake : a memoir. 1st ed. New York : Crown, c2006.
Cupcake Brown shares the story of her life, beginning with her mother’s death in 1976 when she was just eleven, discussing how she ended up in foster care, her introduction to drugs, alcohol and sex as a runaway, her gang affiliation, and her addiction to crack, and telling how she turned her life around and eventually became an attorney and motivational speaker.
921 DUBOIS
DuBois, Allison. We are their heaven : why the dead never leave us. 1st Fireside ed. New York : Simon & Schuster, c2006.
Medium Allison DuBois explains why people who have died choose to stay with those who love and shares her psychic experiences with those who have passed.
921 FIRLIK
Firlik, Katrina. Another day in the frontal lobe : a brain surgeon exposes life on the inside. 1st ed. New York : Random House, c2006.
The author describes life as a neurosurgeon, discussing such topics as its stresses, its simplicities and complexities, brain surgery itself, interaction with patients, and liability, as well as remarkable cases, childhood influences on her career choice, and the future of neuroscience.
921 GREENE
Greene, Gael. Insatiable : tales from a life of delicious excess. 1st ed. New York : Warner Books, 2006.
“New York” magazine restaurant critic Gael Greene offers an intimate look at her own life, describing how she has built a career out of eating out while someone else pays.
921 HARMON
Harmon, Adam. Lonely soldier : the memoir of an American soldier in the Israeli Army. 1st ed. New York : Presidio Press/Ballantine Books, c2006.
Raised with a strong Jewish identity in New England, Adam Harmon visited Israel as a teenager in 1984, and knew he wanted to live there. Six years later, the Palestinian Intifida was under way and Iraq had invaded Kuwait, and Harmon was back in Israel, joining the military. Without family in the country, he was designated a chayal boded, or lonely soldier. Harmon describes the tough training and strict standards that define the Israeli combatant. The Israeli military culture surprised Harmon. As within the U.S. military, Israeli soldiers avoid punishment only by being perfectionists, but the Israeli military has an unusually high regard for individualism. Over the next thirteen years, Harmon was in the ranks of a military that was adapting to ever-changing threats. In 1990 killing was always used as a last resort, but by 2002 targeted assassinations were employed to "decapitate" terrorist gangs. Harmon's own wish for a separate Palestinian state never wavered, but his dismay at the increasing violence by Palestinians, desperate to achieve independence, mirrors the growing belief in Israel that a true rapprochement is not on the horizon.
921 LEARY
Greenfield, Robert. Timothy Leary : a biography. 1st ed. Orlando : Harcourt, c2006. Greenfield chronicles the life of Dr. Timothy Leary, who, in the 1960s, created the mantra “Tune in, turn on, drop out” which came to define a generation, discussing the personal and professional scandals and tragedies that threatened his life and career.
921 LEE
Shields, Charles J., 1951-. Mockingbird : a portrait of Harper Lee. 1st ed. New York : Henry Holt, 2006.
The author chronicles the life of “To Kill a Mockingbird” author Harper Lee, exploring her personality and discussing such topics as her youth in Alabama; her satirizing of bigotry in campus publications during her college days; her experiences as a struggling writer in New York; the creation of her famous novel; and her contributions to her friend Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood,” for which she served as a research assistant in Kansas.
921 MICHELMAN
Michelman, Kate. With liberty and justice for all : a life spent protecting the right to choose. New York : Hudson Street, c2005.
Kate Michelman reveals how the reproductive rights of women are being endangered by the Supreme Court, explaining how President George W. Bush is trying to build a Court that will overturn the controversial Roe v. Wade ruling, taking away a woman’s right to choose and taking away the freedoms women have come to expect over the last thirty years.
921 PERSILY
Sigal, Clancy. A woman of uncertain character : the amorous and radical adventures of my mother Jennie (who always wanted to be a respectable Jewish mom). 1st Carroll & Graf ed. New York : Berkeley, Calif. : Carroll & Graf ; Distributed by Publishers Group West, 2006.
Clancy Sigal reflects on his relationship with his mother, a feminist, social crusader, and passionate woman struggling to survive in Depression-era Chicago.
921 PETTY
Blake, Ben, 1953-. Richard Petty : images of the king. St. Paul, MN : MBI Pub. Co., c2005.
Although the late Dale Earnhardt matched Richard Petty’s record of seven NASCAR points titles, no one, not Earnhardt nor, most likely, any racer in the future, will approach several of King Richard’s career records: 200 NASCAR victories, seven Daytona 500 wins, victories in 10 straight races (1967), 1,184 races started and 712 Top 10 finishes. In a sport where competitors are idolized, no one before or since has enjoyed as much fame and popularity as Richard Petty. This photo-history focuses on Petty’s remarkable career. The son of a North Carolina stock car racing pioneer, Richard Petty knew little beyond cars and racing. Despite a slow start to his racing career, he achieved unprecedented levels of success and took the sport with him into the national spotlight.
921 SAVONAROLA
Martines, Lauro. Fire in the city : Savonarola and the struggle for Renaissance Florence. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2006.
Lauro Martines, whose decades of scholarship have made him one of the most admired historians of Renaissance Italy, here provides a remarkably fresh perspective on Girolamo Savonarola, the preacher and agitator who flamed like a comet through late fifteenth-century Florence. The Dominican friar has long been portrayed as a dour, puritanical demagogue who urged his followers to burn their worldly goods in “the bonfire of the vanities.” But as Martines shows, this is a caricature of the truth—the version propagated by the wealthy and powerful who feared the political reforms he represented. In fact, Savonarola emerges as a complex and subtle man: compassionate, wise, a poet and scholar, and even, at critical moments, a force for moderation. The friar, a mesmerizing preacher, set the city afire with his message of Christian charity wedded to republican ideals. It is this reality—of Savonarola as both religious and civic leader—that Martines captures in all its complexity, showing how he inspired an outpouring of political debate in a city newly freed from the tyranny of the Medici. In the end, the volatile passions he unleashed—and the powerful families he threatened—sent the friar to his own fiery death. But the fusion of morality and politics that he represented would leave a lasting mark on Renaissance Florence.
921 SCHIAVO
Schiavo, Michael. Terri : the truth. New York : Dutton, c2006.
Michael Schiavo defends his actions against the media, politicians, religious figures, and American public who condemned him after he fought to have his wife’s life support turned off.
921 SINCLAIR
Arthur, Anthony. Radical innocent : Upton Sinclair. 1st ed. New York : Random House, c2006.
Arthur chronicles the life of American writer Upton Sinclair, exploring his contentious public career and his troubled private life and the influence both had on his work.
921 VOLPE
Volpe, Joseph. The toughest show on earth : my rise and reign at the Metropolitan Opera. 1st ed. New York : Knopf, 2006.
Joseph Volpe chronicles his career as general manager of New York’s Metropolitan Opera House, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the theater and its inner workings, shows, and successes.
951.05 POM
Pomfret, John. Chinese lessons : an American, his classmates, and the story of the new China. New York : H. Holt, 2006.
The past 40 years have seen a remarkable transformation of China. Now Pomfret, a former foreign exchange student, who spent a year at Nanjing University in China, shares his experiences and those of some of his Chinese classmates some 20 plus years after their graduation in 1982. Examining the transformation of a country through these people shows the human cost and triumph of China’s transition from near-feudal communism to first-world capitalism.
956.7044 ANT
Antenori, Frank. Roughneck Nine-One : the extraordinary story of a special forces A-team at war. 1st ed. New York : St. Martin’s Press, 2006.
Frank Antenori chronicles the experiences he had while serving with the Green Berets Special Forces A-team in Iraq, focusing on their battle with heavily armed Iraqi forces on April 6, 2003.
973.3 NEL
Nelson, James L. Benedict Arnold’s navy : the ragtag fleet that lost the Battle of Lake Champlain but won the American Revolution. Camden, Me. : International Marine/McGraw-Hill, 2006.
James L. Nelson recounts the events surrounding the Battle of Valcour Island in 1776 in which Benedict Arnold faced the might of the British navy, describing the strategic importance of the Hudson River and Lake Champlain and how Arnold’s leadership secured independence for America.
973.91 DOR
Dornstein, Ken. The boy who fell out of the sky : a true story. 1st ed. New York : Random House, c2006.
A memoir about the close relationship between two brothers describing how his life was changed by the death of his older brother David, a writer, who was killed in the bombing of Pan Am’s Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.
973.93 BEI
Beinart, Peter. The good fight : why liberals—and only liberals—can win the War on Terror and make America great again. 1st ed. New York : HarperCollins Publishers, c2006.
Beinart offers a new liberal vision for America that is based on principles liberals often forget, and encourages liberals to take back the American government and oppose the totalitarianism that is threatening the country.
973.931 KEA
Kean, Thomas H. Without precedent : the inside story of the 9/11 Commission. 1st ed. New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. When the 9/11 Commission began its work in December 2002, a select few Americans knew the intricacies of how our government fights terrorism, the bureaucracies involved, the process of making policy, how the President is advised, or how the threat from Al Qaeda had been previously confronted. In spite of the many stumbling blocks placed in their path the Commission succeeded in issuing an account that marshaled the facts authoritatively and compellingly. This is the story of that mission.
973.931 WRI
Wright, Lawrence, 1947-. The looming tower : Al Qaeda and the road to 9/11. New York : Knopf, 2006. Lawrence Wright presents an authoritative and gripping account of the struggle between radical Islam and the West, told through the interweaving biographies of the men who declared war on America and the men who tried to stop them. It specifically deals with the lives of Dr. Ayman al-Zawhhiri and Osama bin Laden, the leaders of Al Qaeda and is balanced by the stories of Prince Turki al-Faisal, former head of Saudi intelligence, and John P. O’Neill, head of the FBI’s counterterrorism division who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11.
MEDIA:
CD BER
Bergen, David, 1957-. The time in between : [a novel]. Unabridged. [Ashland, OR] : Blackstone Audiobooks, p2005. Read by Anna Fields.
Vietnam vet Charles Boatman returns to Vietnam thirty years after the war. His daughter, Ada follows her missing father to Vietnam. Her search for him tears her open in ways she could not have guessed, and Vietnam finds its way in.
CD KEY
Keyes, Marian. Anybody out there? New York : Harper Audio, 2006.Performed by Terry Donnelly.
Life is perfect for P.R. exec Anna Walsh. That is, until the morning she woke up in her mammy’s living room in Dublin with her face in stitches, a dislocated knee, smashed hands, and no memory of how she got there. While her family is very attentive, her loving husband, Aidan, isn’t returning her phone calls. Recovered enough to return to Manhattan, her memory slowly returns and she begins a hilarious quest to find Aidan: a quest involving lilies, psychics, and mediums.
DVD POS
Il postino : The postman. [Calif.] : Burbank, Calif. : Miramax Home Entertainment ; Distributed by Buena Vista Home Entertainment, c1995. Philippe Noiret, Massimo Troisi, Maria Grazia Cucinotta.
The postman, Mario, enlists the aid of the poet Pablo Neruda to conquer the heart of the beautiful Beatrice.
DVD 509.04 SCI
A science odyssey. [Boston] : WGBH Boston Home Video, [2005].
v. 1. Matters of life and death / written & produced, Larry Klein—v. 2. Mysteries of the universe / written, produced, directed, Noel Buckner & Rob Whittlesey—v. 3. In search of ourselves / written & produced, Alice Markowitz -- v. 4. Bigger, better, faster / written & produced, Carl Charlson—v. 5. Origins / produced & directed, David Espar, Diane Hendrix & Michael Rossiter.
A chronicle of twentieth century scientific adventure.
Please note: Some of the book descriptions have been excerpted from Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com. They are most often based on Publisher's descriptions. Sources such as Booklist, the New York Times Book Reviews, Publisher's Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus and others are specifically identified.
