Still Alice by Lisa Genova

This unusual novel tells the story of Alice Howland, a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard. She is a respected expert in linguistics, writes papers, attends conferences & gives lectures. She is a brilliant woman, until at the age of 50 she is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease. This story is unusual in that it is written from Alice's point of view as she faces the fear of losing her identity. Whether or not you have dealt with Alzheimer's or dementia in your own family or among friends, this is a wonderful book to read. Genova has a real feel for the trials that Alice must face and portrays her in a very compassionate manner. It is a sad but not depressing book that gives the reader insight into this condition from the point of view of the afflicted rather than the caregiver. Due to the fact that Alice is the narrator, the book can only go as far as it is believable that she can still narrate, and she never reaches a point of being violent or abusive as some do. In a way this softens the ending, which is filled with love that Alice can feel even if she can no longer name it.

Genova is a columnist for the National Alzheimer's Association & holds a PH.D. in neuroscience from Harvard University. She obviously has studied Alzheimer's disease well, and has spent time with both those who have it and those who care for them. She is a good advocate for greater understanding of those who get this disease.

For book groups, there is a list of questions at the end of the story, suggestions for websites to look at, and an interview with the author.

"After I read Still Alice, I wanted to stand up and tell a train full of strangers, 'You have to get this book.'" -- Beverly Beckham, The Boston Globe

http://www.stillalice.com/

Way To Wellness - Healthy Snacks

There is a concern throughout the Western World, and the US is no exception, about growing numbers of children who are obese. One way adults and parents can help reverse this alarming trend is to help promote a healthy relationship with food in their children. A good beginning is to provide nutritious and delicious snacks and lunch box treats.

These books are full of good and tasty ideas:

• Lunch Boxes and Snacks: Over 120 Healthy Recipes, from Delicious Sandwiches and Salads to Hot Soups and Sweet Treats by Annabel Karmel Find this book in our catalog.
• Healthy Snacks by Mari C Schuh Find this book in our catalog.
• Big Snacks, Little Meals: After School, Dinnertime, Anytime by Rose Dunnington Find this book in our catalog.
• Diabetes Snacks, Treats, and Easy Eats: 130 Recipes You'll Make Again Find this book in our catalog.
• Family Fun Super Snacks: 125 Quick Snacks That Are Fun to Make and to Eat by Deanna F Cook Find this book in our catalog.

Click on the Healthy Snacks booklist on Readers Place to read more...

My Life in France by Julia Child, with Alex Prud'homme

Although My Life in France was published several years ago, it bears a second look. With a major movie out, Julie & Julia, Julia Child has been called to center stage once more. In this brief biography, Child, with her grandnephew Alex Prud’homme, focuses on her years spent in her beloved second country, where it all started - France. And if you like food, you may find this to be a particularly appealing book, with lively descriptions of elaborate meals prepared, eaten, and enjoyed. Child discusses her early days in the world-famous Parisian cooking school L’Ecole du Cordon Bleu, with the hits and misses of cooking under the strict eyes of some of France’s best chefs. She also takes readers on a journey through her life in France, from restaurant to kitchen to picnic scene to dinner party, all glorious events revolving around food, drink, and joy. But the focus of the book is really the creation of Child's seminal work Mastering the Art of French Cooking, a book that was years in the making. Readers may feel like enjoying a celebratory meal when her masterpiece is finally published.

D. L. S.

Way to Wellness - Keep Moving!

My next installment in preparation for Healthy Harford's Way To Wellness Week, September 26 to October 3 is about fitness. Keep moving!

Everyone needs to maintain his/her general fitness throughout life. The most basic thing anyone can do to maintain or improve the flexibility and strength of joints and muscles or the health of heart and lungs is to keep moving!

My Keep Moving booklist posted on Readers Place and on My Next Good Book is a list of books for adults which give lots of ideas for basic fitness for anyone, at any age, anywhere and anytime. The books include how to start exercising more, ideas for all kinds of activities or different sports that can be done at home or other places, and ideas that do not necessarily require investment in equipment or gym memberships. Simplicity and fun are the keys!

Healthy Eating for Busy Families

In honor of Healthy Harford's Way to Wellness Week my first list of wellness materials in Harford County Public Library will showcase some of the many wonderful books that we have that deal with a subject very much on everyone's mind - how to feed the family nutritiously and economically while on a busy schedule.

Try some of these titles that speak to the reality of contemporary lifestyles while fostering in our children a healthy relationship to food:

• Eat This, Not That! Supermarket Survival Guide: The No-Diet Weight Loss Solution by David Zinczenko Find this book in our catalog.
• What to Eat When You're Eating Out: What to Eat in America's Most Popular Chain Restaurants by Hope S Warshaw Find this book in our catalog.
• Eat Cheap But Eat Well by Charles Mattocks Find this book in our catalog.
• Simple Food for Busy Families: The Whole Life Nutrition Approach by Jeannette Bessinger Find this book in our catalog.
• Yum-O! the Family Cookbook by Rachael Ray Find this book in our catalog.
• The Top 100 Recipes for a Healthy Lunchbox: Easy and Exciting Ideas for Your Child's Lunches by Nicola Graimes Find this book in our catalog.
• Lunch Boxes and Snacks: Over 120 Healthy Recipes, from Delicious Sandwiches and Salads to Hot Soups and Sweet Treats by Annabel Karmel Find this book in our catalog.

Check out Readers Place and My Next Good Book for more suggestions for nutrition as well as fitness books.

Books to Start You on the Way to Wellness Week

Healthy Harford’s Way to Wellness Week will be Sept. 26 – Oct. 3 this year. Watch this blog and Readers Place and My Next Good Book for reading suggestions on a healthy lifestyle, nutrition, and diet. Fitness will also be included: walking, running, swimming, aerobics, pilates, yoga, dance - just about anything that gets one moving!

Healthy Harford is a non profit founded in 1993 by community leaders from the Harford County Health Department, Harford County Government and Upper Chesapeake Health. Its sole vision is to make Harford County the healthiest community in Maryland.

During Way to Wellness Week there will be many activities throughout the county including a proclamation from David Craig before the 5K Celebration Run/ Walk in Havre de Grace; nutrition and fitness activities at the Bel Air Farmer’s Market; the Sheriff Office’s Youth Day, recreational soccer and football games; lessons from local fitness trainers, business group walks, bike to work day, healthy menu options at participating restaurants, Ma & Pa trail Walks, etc. The week will end at the Darlington Apple Festival with more fun and fitness festivities.

Harford County Public Library will be participating in Way to Wellness Week in several ways, including wellness displays in the library branches with materials on nutrition and fitness for at least two weeks, including the period of Sept. 26- Oct. 3.

Check at your local HCPL branch for much more information on Way to Wellness Week!

One Maryland One Book Author Tour

September 24, 2009 [Press releas from Maryland Humanities Council]

One Maryland One Book

James McBride Author Tour

Join Us! One Maryland One Book Author Tour 2009
James McBride, acclaimed author of the best-selling memoir, The Color of Water and the 2009 One Maryland One Book selection, Song Yet Sung, will tour Maryland this fall. Pick up a copy of Song Yet Sung from your local library or bookstore, read it as part of Maryland's only statewide community reading program, and then come hear James McBride at one of his free appearances:

Sunday, September 27, 2009 at noon. Baltimore Book Festival, Literary Salon, Mount Vernon Square (East Park), Baltimore. Information: 410-685-0095

Sunday, September 27, 2009 at 4:00 p.m. Bridgeway Community Church, 9189 Red Branch Road, Columbia. Information: 410-730-4855

Monday, October 26, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. North Hagerstown High School, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, Hagerstown. Information: 301-739-3250 ext. 186

Monday, October 26, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. Montgomery College Rockville Campus, Theatre Arts Arena, 51 Mannakee Street, Rockville. Information: 240-567-7417

Tuesday, October 27, 2009 at 2:30 p.m. Bowie State University, Thurgood Marshall Library, Special Collections Room, Suite 2202, 14000 Jericho Park Road, Bowie. Information: 301-860-3850

Wednesday, October 28, 2009 at 9:30 a.m. North Dorchester High School, 5875 Cloverdale Road, Hurlock. Information: 410-228-7331

Wednesday, October 28, 2009 at 2:30 p.m. University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Student Services Center Theater, Princess Anne. Information: 410-651-7696

Wednesday, October 28, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. Salisbury University, Guerrieri University Center, Wicomico Room, Dogwood Drive, Salisbury. Information: 410-543-6100

Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 4:30 p.m. Washington College, The Alonzo G. and Virginia Gent Decker Theatre, Gibson Center for the Arts, 300 Washington Avenue, Chestertown. Information: 410-778-7899

All programs are free. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

National Parks

A 12-part PBS tv series on our National Parks begins this Sunday, September 27. Filmmaker Ken Burns has co-authored a companion volume to the series:


The National Parks: America's Best Idea: An Illustrated History (Find this book in our catalog)

You may also be interested in these other books about the National Parks:
Spectacular Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks
"Together, Yellowstone and Grand Teton contain the world's greatest collection of geothermal features, some of the West's most spectacular mountains, and its best wildlife-viewing areas. This large-format book captures the breathtaking experience, in words and pictures, of a visit to these national treasures." (catalog notes)
The Big Burn : Teddy Roosevelt and the fire that saved America / Timothy Egan
The Official Guide to America's National Parks 2009
Life, Our National Parks : celebrating America's natural splendor
"The notion of preserving and protecting our wilderness for the greater good of present and future generations was an entirely American idea -- among the country's very best. With this book, LIFE brings home, in words and vivid photography, the 55 extraordinary locales that have been anointed national parks. Included are satellite-photo maps, plus a directory." (Book jacket)
Mammals of the National Parks / by John H. Burde and George A. Feldhamer
The American Wilderness: the photographs of Ansel Adams with the writings of John Muir
"Quotes from noted naturalist John Muir, who started the conservation movement with the founding of the Sierra Club in 1892, are paired with Ansel Adams's evocative photographs of Grand Canyon National Park, Kings River Canyon, Yellowstone National Park, and others. These photographs were commissioned by the Interior Department as part of a mural project and intended to decorate the walls of its Washington, D.C., headquarters. 124 bandw photos." (catalog notes)

Serial Killers

Fans of gripping thrillers with a high creep factor should try these:

*Malice by Lisa Jackson Find this book in our catalog
"Former LAPD detective Rick Bentz has rebuilt his life with a happy marriage and new career with the New Orleans police 12 years after divorcing his unfaithful first wife, Jennifer, who subsequently died in a car crash. After "a freak accident in a lightning storm" that left his temporarily paralyzed, Rick starts seeing Jennifer's ghost. When Rick receives an anonymous package mailed from Culver City, Calif., containing recent photos of a woman resembling Jennifer, he goes to California to investigate. In L.A., the Twenty-one killer, who strangles identical twins on their 21st birthday, resurfaces. Rick's last unsolved L.A. case involved victims of this serial killer. Jackson heightens the creep factor by including the viewpoint of a character whose hatred for Rick for past wrongs inspires another extreme killing spree." (catalog notes)
*All the Pretty Dead Girls by John Manning Find this book in our catalog
"A college campus is the setting for a series of depraved, ritualistic murders. If you like Dean Koontz, you'll love John Manning.--Wendy Corsi Staub." (catalog notes)
*Whisper in the Dark by Robert Gregory Browne Find this book in our catalog
"Detective Frank Blackburn finds a beautiful Jane Doe naked, incoherent, covered with blood--and brandishing a pair of scissors near the scene of a brutal murder. Is she the perpetrator? Or is she the only eyewitness to the handiwork of a twisted serial killer?" (catalog notes)
*The Next Killing by Rebecca Drake Find this book in our catalog
"For one hundred years, the best girls have come to St. Ursula's Preparatory Academy to learn. To achieve. To make both memories and friends. But now, it's where they also come to die... When the first body is found, the police call it an accidentan initiation ritual gone terribly wrong. But the students know something isn't right at St. Ursula's. There are sounds in the darkened corridors, a figure glimpsed between the trees, locked doors somehow opened. Someone iswatching them, judging them, hating them...killing them... A twisted psychopath is turning the quiet campus into a school of fear. No sins will go unpunished. No girl will escape justice. And everyone will have a chance to join a serial killer's exclusive club...." (catalog notes)

Look Again by Lisa Scottoline & Three Weeks to Say Goodbye by C.J. Box

Here are two books that deal with similar subject matter but in very different ways.
In Look Again, Ellen, a reporter & single mother of an adopted 3 year old finds a card in the mail that shows a missing child identical to her adopted son, Will. She cannot get the picture out of her head & decides to investigate. She will not like what she finds & her world will be turned upside down as she uncovers activities and endures events that will wring her dry. This is an emotional, thrilling and intense read. http://scottoline.com/Site/

The child in Three Weeks to Say Goodbye is 9 month old Angelina who has been adopted by Jack & Melissa. Their world falls apart when they are told the father of the child never gave her up for adoption & he & his father (a powerful judge) want her returned in three weeks. Jack & his friends are pulled into a world of gangs, pedophiles, corruption & evil, as they try to discover why the Judge wants Angelina. And Jack has to ask himself how far he will go to protect his child & family.
http://www.cjbox.net/books/three-weeks-say-goodbye

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Bestseller Scottoline (Lady Killer) scores another bull's-eye with this terrifying thriller about an adoptive parent's worst fear—the threat of an undisclosed illegality overturning an adoption. The age-progressed picture of an abducted Florida boy, Timothy Braverman, on a have you seen this child? flyer looks alarmingly like Philadelphia journalist Ellen Gleeson's three-year-old son, Will, whom she adopted after working on a feature about a pediatric cardiac care unit. Ellen, who jeopardizes her newspaper job by secretly researching the Braverman case, becomes suspicious when she discovers the lawyer who handled her adoption of Will has committed suicide. Meanwhile, Will's supposed birth mother, Amy Martin, dies of a heroin overdose, and Amy's old boyfriend turns out to look like the man who kidnapped Timothy. Scottoline expertly ratchets up the tension as the desperate Ellen flies to Miami to get DNA samples from Timothy's biological parents. More shocks await her back home. Author tour. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Bestseller Box (Blue Heaven) explores an adoptive parents worst nightmare in this compelling stand-alone thriller. Jack McGuane, an employee of Denvers convention and visitors bureau, and his wife suddenly discover that demonic Garrett Morland, the birth father of their dearly loved nine-month-old daughter, Angelina, didnt sign away his parental rights. Garrett and his powerful father, a sitting federal judge, give the McGuanes three weeks to return Angelina. In this bleak scenario, Box eschews facile sentimentality and meticulously builds pitch-perfect characterizations, notably that of McGuane, who grew up with uneducated but hard-working parents on a series of Montana ranches. Boxs equally convincing villains—gangsters, murderers, child pornographers—each provide a different face of evil, and each individual has to decide how best to get at the truth. As usual, Box blessedly reasserts that whatever the cost, such truth exists, and ordinary folk have the strength to find it. Author tour. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Stitches a memoir by David Small

Stitches is an adult graphic novel that leaves you mesmerized. With its spare black and white drawings it pulls the reader into the grim world of David Small as a child & teenager. David is part of a 1950s disfunctional family. His father, a physician, uses radiation therapy on him to treat a growth on his neck, & possibly gives him cancer. His mother shows no love or affection for her son. Both his mother and his grandmother are portrayed as strange and creepy figures (the grandmother ends up in a mental institution after trying to burn down her house with her husband locked in it). David suffers from strange & terrifying dreams & his only outlet is in the drawings he returns to throughout the novel. Never having received a word of support, he is surprised when a therapist praises them and tells him how clever he is. The drawings in this graphic novel are so simple yet so expressive. They convey an atmosphere of menace, of David's confusion and fear. They are very intense. Despite the grim nature of this narrative, it ends on a positive note, showing that it is possible to triumph over a traumatic childhood. If you have never read a graphic novel try this one. It is worth looking at.

David Small has received awards for his work in children's picture books, including the Caldecott Medal, the Christopher medal & the E. B. White Award. He is married to a writer & lives in Michigan. http://stitches.davidsmallbooks.com/

Starred Review. Like other 'important' graphic works it seems destined to sit beside—think no less than Maus—this is a frequently disturbing, pitch-black funny, ultimately cathartic story whose full impact can only be delivered in the comics medium, which keeps it palatable as it reinforces its appalling aspects. If there’s any fight left in the argument that comics aren’t legitimate literature, this is just the thing to enlighten the naysayers. (Booklist)

Starred Review. Emotionally raw, artistically compelling and psychologically devastating graphic memoir of childhood trauma....Graphic narrative at its most cathartic. (Kirkus Reviews )

Readers Invited to Vote for All-Time Best National Book Award

Who wrote The Best of the National Book Awards Fiction? For the first time in its history, the Award is open to a public vote. Between September 21 and October 21, the public is invited to cast a vote on the Foundation’s Web site: http://www.nbafictionpoll.org.

As part of the run-up to the 60th Anniversary Celebration of the National Book Awards on November 18, the public are invited to vote on the All-time Best of the National Book Awards Fiction. Six Finalists were selected by 140 writers from across the country. To vote, the public can go to the website, then click on one of the listed finalists to make its voice heard. Voters' email addresses will then be entered for a drawing to win two tickets to the 60th National Book Awards on November 18, 2009 and two nights in the Marriott Hotel Downtown, compliments of Marriott!

Harford County Public Library has the finalists available to check out:
The Stories of John Cheever
The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
The Collected Stories of William Faulkner
The Complete Stories of Flannery O'Connor
Gravity's rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty

Family dramas of the best kind

Here are some books you might enjoy if you like warm, funny and achingly human family dramas:

*The Family Man by Elinor Lipman Find this book in our catalog
"An hysterical phone call from his ex-wife and a familiar face in a photograph upend Henry Archer’s well-ordered life. They bring him back into contact with the child he adored, a short-term stepdaughter from a misbegotten marriage long ago. Henry is a lawyer, an old-fashioned man, gay, successful, lonely. Thalia is now twenty-nine, an actress, hopeful, estranged from her newly widowed crackpot mother - Denise, Henry’s ex. Hoping it will lead to better things for her career, Thalia agrees to pose as the girlfriend of a former sitcom star and current horror-movie luminary who is down on his romantic luck. When Thalia and her complicated social life move into the basement of Henry’s Upper West Side townhouse, she finds a champion in her long-lost father, and he finds new life—and maybe even new love—in the commotion." (catalog notes)
*About a Boy by Nick Hornby Find this book in our catalog
"Inventing a son got Will into a single parents support group, but rather than a fabulous new sex life, he found someone else's very real son--a 12-year-old with a lot to teach about being a grown up." (catalog notes)
*Step-Ball-Change : a novel by Jeanne Ray Find this book in our catalog
"With a ringing phone, Jeanne Ray’s charming and amusing new novel gets off to a rollicking start that never lets up. Not for a minute. On the other end of the phone is Caroline’s daughter, Kay, a public defender like her father, sobbing at the improbably good news that the richest, most eligible boy in Raleigh, North Carolina, has asked her to marry him. While Caroline and Tom are trying to digest this, the other phone, the “children’s line,” rings; it is Caroline’s sister, Taffy, hysterical over her husband’s decision to leave her for a woman two years younger than her daughter. Soon Taffy is wending her way up from Atlanta to seek solace in her sister’s home, even though the two have been separated by more than just geography for the past forty years. With her is her little dog, Stamp, who has a penchant for biting ankles and stealing hearts. Tom and Caroline quickly realize that the wedding their future son-in-law’s family is envisioning for nine-hundred-plus guests is to be their fiscal responsibility. To top it all off, the foundation of their home is in danger of collapsing and their contractor and his crew have all but moved in. It’s a thundering whirlwind of emotion that finally boils down to: Who is in love with whom? and Who’s going to get the next dance? Wise, funny, and impossible to put down, Step-Ball-Change is peopled with characters you feel you have known your whole life. It’s the kind of book that you can’t bear to see end." (catalog notes)
*Busy Woman Seeks Wife by Annie Sanders Find this book in our catalog
"When Alex Hill's demanding mother moves in with her, Alex realizes she needs someone more committed than a maid--what she needs is a "wife." Someone distinctly male shows up, and Alex can't help wondering if her new "wife" could perhaps have husband potential." (catalog notes)

Courtroom Dramas

Here are some staff picks - legal fiction you may have missed:

*The Two Mrs. Grenvilles : a novel by Dominick Dunne Find this book in our catalog
"When Navy ensign Billy Grenville, heir to a vast New York fortune, sees showgirl Ann Arden on the dance floor, it is love at first sight. And much to the horror of Alice Grenville, the indomitable family matriarch, he marries her. Ann wants desperately to be accepted by high society and to become the well-bred woman of her fantasies. But a gunshot one rainy night propels Ann into a notorious spotlight--as the two Mrs. Grenvilles enter into a conspiracy of silence that will bind them together for as long as they live." (catalog notes)
*A Patent Lie : a novel by Paul Goldstein Find this book in our catalog
"Forced out of his high-powered Manhattan law firm and stuck in a dead-end solo practice, Michael Seeley... cannot say no when his estranged brother, Leonard, head of research at upstart biotech Vaxtek, Inc., flies in from California to beg him to take over the company’s lawsuit for patent infringement of its pathbreaking AIDS vaccine after the sudden death of the lead trial lawyer. The financial and moral stakes of the case are staggering, and Seeley suspects that murder cannot be ruled out as a hardball litigation tactic of big-pharma adversary St. Gall Laboratories. As Seeley travels between San Francisco and Silicon Valley to prepare for trial, dark facts surface concerning the vaccine’s discovery by Vaxtek scientist Alan Steinhardt and its alleged theft by St. Gall researcher Lily Warren. Ethical quandaries deepen into mortal danger as the trial, under the stern prodding of federal judge Ellen Farnsworth, rushes to its unexpected end. A timely and fascinating look at how the law operates at its most arcane yet financially consequential, A Patent Lie is further evidence that Paul Goldstein is an emerging master of the legal thriller." (catalog notes)
*Death's Witness by Paul Batista Find this book in our catalog
"Paul Batista, one of the country's foremost defense lawyers, has written the ultimate legal thriller with murder in its heart. When Tom Perini, a legendary Heisman Trophy winner turned criminal lawyer, is found brutally murdered in Central Park, his widow Julie not only must unravel the mysteries of her husband's secret double life, but survive long enough to discover the truth. A thriller and courtroom drama of corruption and greed so authentic it reads like tomorrow's headlines." (catalog notes)
*Bronx Justice by Joseph Teller Find this book in our catalog"In this follow-up to "The Tenth Case," Teller takes readers back to one of the first cases of criminal defense attorney Harrison J. Walker, who defends a young black man accused of raping five white women in the Bronx in the late 1970s." (catalog notes)

Playing at Poe at The Strand Theater

Calling All Poe-ets and Actors! "Playing at Poe" at the Strand Theater MHC (Maryland Humanities Council) and The Strand Theater are partnering on a Free Fall Baltimore event Friday, October 16 at 7 p.m. Just in time for Halloween! MHC are carefully selecting the scariest, darkest and most dramatic works by Poe so that the audience can interpret them using costumes and props provided by the Strand. Not only will this be a night of dramatic interpretation, it is also a contest to see who is the "last Poe standing!" And the winner, chosen by the audience, takes home a cash prize! Maybe you think that The Raven would be best interpreted as a tap dance while someone else reads the poem aloud, or maybe you'd like to compose a piece of music for Annabel Lee? The possibilities are endless! Put this event on your calendar, because you won't want to miss out! Be sure to check the website www.mdhc.org/programs/maryland-center-for-the-book/playing-at-poe/ for more information, including contest rules and Poe selections, as MHC post them. Click here to see the flyer! For questions about this event, contact Jayme Kilburn at 410-685-0095 or jkilburn@mdhc.org.

WW II Fiction

Here are some HCPL staff picks - WW II stories you may have missed:

*The Steel Wave : a novel of World War II by Jeff Shaara Find this book in our catalog
"Jeff Shaara, America's premier author of military historical fiction, brings us the centerpiece of his epic trilogy of the Second World War. General Dwight Eisenhower once again commands a diverse army that must find its single purpose in the destruction of Hitler's European fortress. His primary subordinates, Omar Bradley and Bernard Montgomery, must prove that this unique blend of Allied armies can successfully confront the might of Adolf Hitler's forces, who have already conquered Western Europe. On the coast of France, German commander Erwin Rommel fortifies and prepares for the coming invasion, acutely aware that he must bring all his skills to bear on a fight his side must win. But Rommel's greatest challenge is to strike the Allies on his front, while struggling behind the lines with the growing insanity of Adolf Hitler, who thwarts the strategies Rommel knows will succeed. Meanwhile, Sergeant Jesse Adams, a no-nonsense veteran of the 82nd Airborne, parachutes with his men behind German lines into a chaotic and desperate struggle. And as the invasion force surges toward the beaches of Normandy, Private Tom Thorne of the 29th Infantry Division faces the horrifying prospects of fighting his way ashore on a stretch of coast more heavily defended than the Allied commanders anticipate--Omaha Beach. From G.I. to general, this story carries the reader through the war's most crucial juncture, the invasion that altered the flow of the war, and, ultimately, changed history." (catalog notes)
*The Eleventh Man by Ivan Doig Find this book in our catalog
"Driven by the memory of a fallen teammate, TSU’s 1941 starting lineup went down as legend in Montana football history, charging through the season undefeated. Two years later, the "Supreme Team" is caught up in World War II. Ten of them are scattered around the globe in the war’s various lonely and dangerous theaters. The eleventh man, Ben Reinking, has been plucked from pilot training by a military propaganda machine hungry for heroes. He is to chronicle the adventures of his teammates, man by man,nbsp;for publication in small-town newspapers across the country like the one his father edits. Ready for action, he chafes at the assignment, not knowing that it will bring him love from an unexpected quarter and test the law of averages, which holds that all but one of his teammates should come through the conflict unscathed." (catalog notes)
*The Eagle and the Cross by R.J. Pineiro Find this book in our catalog
"Exploring the little-known aspect of American involvement in the Battle of Stalingrad, this novel follows an unlikely band of brothers as they engage both Germans and Russians in what would become known as the bloodiest battle in military history." (catalog notes)
*Final Option by Charles W. Sasser Find this book in our catalog
"...Captain James Cantrell, a former Chicago homicide detective, is the leader of a secret intelligence team for OSS. He is charged with protecting Operation Overlord, the top-secret Allied plans for invading France, and with ferreting out Nazi spies who are desperately attempting to uncover these secrets. With time running out before D-Day, Cantrell must stop a cunning and seductive female Gestapo agent operating in London from delivering stolen Overlord information in time for Hitler to reinforce defenses at Normandy. The chase leads him through bomb ravaged London streets and across the English Channel only hours behind his prey. Parachuting into France behind enemy lines only days before the scheduled D-Day landings, his orders are to assassinate her before she reports to her contact on the French mainland. The fate of WW II hangs in the balance." (catalog notes)

Baltimore Books for Baltimore Book Festival on September 25-27, 2009

Mark your calendar for the 14th annual Baltimore Book Festival on September 25-27, 2009. Read more...

In honor of the festival, try these recent novels and short stories featuring Baltimore:

All My Tomorrows by Rochelle Alers
"This duet of stories from one of the genre's more popular African American writers include Home Sweet Home (1996) and the new sequel, All My Tomorrows, which beautifully continues the story of the Lord family. Although Lydia Lord...is a successful chef in a trendy restaurant, she heads out on her own with gourmet plans [for a restaurant in Baltimore]. But a summer camp for disadvantaged children run by sexy former football star Kennedy Fletcher needs a chef, and Lydia is quick to oblige—with surprisingly romantic results." (from a review in our catalog)
Baltimore Noir edited by Laura Lippman
"A Baltimore resident for most of her life, Lippman presents "Baltimore Noir"--stories by David Simon, Tim Cockey, Rob Hiaasen, Marcia Talley, Jim Fusilli, and many others." (catalog summary)
Sons of Liberty : a novel of the Civil War by Marie Jakober
In Baltimore, a city of divided loyalties, the Union's Provost Marshall risks the life of the woman he loves to uncover the activities of the Sons of Liberty, a Confederate group plotting to capture the city. (editor)
The Open Channel by Jill Morrow
In Angel Cafe Kat and Stephen open a trendy cafe in Federal Hill. In this captivating sequel their 13-year-old daughter, Julia "experiences overly realistic medieval dreams and visions. Now her parents, Kat and Stephen, must find out why Julia is the target for an ancient evil drawing her back to 14th-century England." (from catalog summary)

Haunted Houses

Here are some staff picks for stories of haunted houses you may have missed:

*The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters Find this book in our catalog
"With The Little Stranger, Waters revisits the fertile setting of Britain in the 1940s-and gives us a sinister tale of a haunted house, brimming with the rich atmosphere and psychological complexity that have become hallmarks of Waters's work. The Little Stranger follows the strange adventures of Dr. Faraday, the son of a maid who has built a life of quiet respectability as a country doctor. One dusty postwar summer in his home of rural Warwickshire, he is called to a patient at Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for more than two centuries, the Georgian house, once grand and handsome, is now in decline-its masonry crumbling, its gardens choked with weeds, the clock in its stable yard permanently fixed at twenty to nine. But are the Ayreses haunted by something more ominous than a dying way of life? Little does Dr. Faraday know how closely, and how terrifyingly, their story is about to become entwined with his. Abundantly atmospheric and elegantly told, The Little Stranger is Sarah Waters's most thrilling and ambitious novel yet." (catalog notes)
*The Séance by John Harwood Find this book in our catalog
"Constance Langton grows up in a household marked by death, her father distant, her mother in perpetual mourning for Constance's sister, the child she lost. Desperate to coax her mother back to health, Constance takes her to a seance: perhaps she will find comfort from beyond the grave. But the meeting has tragic consequences. Constance is left alone, her only legacy a mysterious bequest that will blight her life. So begins The Seance, John Harwoods brilliant second novel, a gripping, dark mystery set in late-Victorian England. It is a world of apparitions, of disappearances and unnatural phenomena, of betrayal and blackmail and black-hearted villains and murder. For Constance's bequest comes in two parts: a house and a mystery..." (catalog notes)
*The Unseen by Alexandra Sokoloff Find this book in our catalog
"...two Duke University psychology professors, Laurel MacDonald and Brendan Cody, stumble on suppressed findings of an inquiry into poltergeist activity conducted under the auspices of Duke's Rhine parapsychology lab nearly half a century earlier. All the participants appear to have died, disappeared or, in the case of Laurel's enfeebled uncle, gone mad. Determined to advance their academic careers, the pair corral two students with strong paranormal potential to camp out at the spooky Folger House, site of the original experiment. No sooner do they begin their study than they're confronted with uncanny phenomena that suggest they've awakened a malignant presence that pervades the house..." (PW review in catalog)

Song Yet Sung Author, James McBride at the Baltimore Book Festival

Don't Miss Song Yet Sung Author James McBride at the Baltimore Book Festival MHC (Maryland Humanities Council)is delighted to announce that Song Yet Sung author James McBride will be kicking off his fall One Maryland One Book speaking tour at the Baltimore Book Festival. He will speak Sunday, September 27 at the Literary Salon in Mt. Vernon at noon. McBride's book, Song Yet Sung, was chosen as this year's reading selection for the One Maryland One Book program, which encourages all Marylanders to read the same book and engage with others on its many relevant topics. Upon hearing that Song Yet Song was selected, McBride said, "I am delighted. It has to be one of the proudest moments of my career. The fact that the book was chosen by native Marylanders means all that much more." For more information on the One Maryland One Book program, see www.mdhc.org/programs/one-maryland-one-book/. For the complete tour schedule, see www.mdhc.org/programs/one-maryland-one-book/author-tour/

The Maryland Humanities Council (MHC) promotes humanities programming throughout Maryland, encouraging dialogue that explores human values, strengthens our community, and connects us to the wider world.

Winner of the 2009 Great lakes Book Award for Fiction

The winner of the 2009 Great Lakes Book Award for Fiction, The Great Perhaps by Joe Meno (Find this book in our catalog), would be an excellent choice for a book group discussion:

"Meno (Hairstyles of the Damned) continues to employ his keen observations of human nature, this time exploring the tumultuous landscapes of a contemporary Chicago family. The narrative rotates between members of the Casper family, giving each time and space to dig into their respective quirks. Jonathan, the father, is a scientist caught in a quest for a prehistoric squid and is prone to seizures at the sight of clouds. Madeline, Jonathan's wife, also a scientist, studies the behavior of her murderous lab pigeons and is distressed by the growing distance between family members: elder daughter Amelia is a teenage anticapitalist crusader already becoming weary of the fight; youngest daughter Thisbe's desire to find God is met with much concern from her atheist parents; grandfather Henry's sole desire is to make himself disappear. As the family's preoccupations rattle on and bang up against one another, the recently begun war in Iraq provides background noise and another dimension to the intricate and intimate tale. Meno's handle on the written word is fresh and inviting, conjuring a story that delves deeply into the human heart. (May) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved." (PW review in our catalog)

Lone Detectives

It has been said that Mickey Spillane created the ultimate lone detective in private investigator Mike Hammer. Other authors have followed in Spillane's footsteps, whether consciously or not. Perhaps unconsciously, because the kind of analytical mind the successful detective needs naturally creates a loner. The loner par excellance actually predates Mike Hammer: Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes gloried in his superior powers of "ratiocination"!

Some lone detectives are more hard-boiled than others. Sometimes they are desensitized by contact with the seamier side to life, sometimes they rise above it; but not without damage to their spirit. P. D. James' Adam Dalgleish is an intensely private and cerebral person and a published poet. He is an example of the gentleman detective. Though a member of the police, he is very much a lone operator. He is a widower and in the early books reluctant to commit to a relationship. Martha Grimes' Richard Jury is another attractive loner who has difficulty with romantic relationships. His few friendships are with people who are marginalized in some way, and he tolerates authority, in the shape of Superintendant Racer, very poorly.

James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux is another police detective who ignores the rules. As it says on Thrillingdetective.com, "...New Iberia, LA Police Detective Dave Robicheaux is the Great Lost P.I , no matter whether he wears a badge or not. For all the attention he pays to the regulations, it's a wonder he's a cop at all."

Robicheaux is more in the Mike Hammer mould in that Robicheaux is a gentleman at the core but toughened by what he has seen - in fact the Robicheaux novels can get quite violent. He is still a policeman, though, depite the fact that in one of the later books he does a stint as a P.I.

For lone, hard-boiled private eyes, you can't go much wrong with Marcia Muller's Sharon McCone. Interestingly, according to a webpage called Women of Mystery, Sharon McCone was the first fictional woman private eye. There were many early classic female sleuths, "But none were actual, professional Private Detectives, with a license and a gun; operating entirely on their own; and their stories, up till now, had never been told with the flavor of the hard-boiled detective novel." Sara Paretsky's V. I. Warshowski is also a good example of the hard-boiled variety.

Try these recent mysteries with lone detectives that you may have missed:

*Greasing the Piñata : a Cape Weathers investigation by Tim Maleeny

"A former U.S. Senator vanishes days after his son goes missing. When theyare both found dead on a golf course, body parts missing, in Mexico, the Senatoras estranged daughter Rebecca resolves to discover what happened. Private investigator Cape Weathers doesnat really want the case. He canat stand politicians and doesnat know the terrain. But when it looks like the daughter may become the next victim, Cape crosses the border looking for answers. Cape asks his deadly companion Sally, trained by the Hong Kong Triads, to watch his back as he stumbles onto a conspiracy that leads from corporate boardrooms in San Francisco to strongholds in Mexico. Together they confront a killer determined to bury the past along with anyone trying to dig it up. Miles away from home and nowhere near finding the answers, Cape manages to get kidnapped, steal from the mob, piss off the DEA, alienate the local police, confound a computer genius, and somehow lose the client heas been protecting all along. Greasing the PiAata is a novel about family, politics, and the devastating effects of tequila on a private detectiveas investigative abilities." (catalog notes)

*The Pyramid : and four other Kurt Wallander mysteries by Henning Mankell

"Here we meet Wallander the twenty-one-year-old patrolman on his first criminal investigation, Wallander the young father facing an unexpected danger on Christmas Eve, Wallander on the brink of middle age solving a case of poisoning, the newly separated Wallander investigating the murder of a local photographer, and Wallander the veteran detective discovering unexpected connections between a downed mystery plane and the assassination of a pair of spinster sisters. Over the course of these five mysteries, he comes into his own as a murder detective, defined by his simultaneously methodical and instinctive work, and is increasingly haunted from witnessing the worst aspects of an atomized society." (catalog notes)

*The King of Swords : a novel by Nick Stone

"Miami, 1981. Cocaine Central. Murder Capital, USA. A man about to face evil. A city about to catch fire.When Detective Max Mingus and his partner, Joe Liston, are called to the scene of a death at Miami's Primate Park, it looks like another routine-if slightly bizarre-investigation. That is, until two things turn up: the victim's family, slaughtered, and a partly digested tarot card in the dead man's stomach-the King of Swords.An increasingly bloody trail leads Max and Joe first to a sinister fortune-teller and her scheming pimp son, then to the infamous Solomon Boukman. Few have ever met the most feared criminal in Miami, but rumors abound of a forked tongue, voodooesque ceremonies, and friends in very high places.Against a backdrop of black magic and police corruption, Max and Joe must distinguish the good guys from the bad-and track down some answers.What is the significance of the King of Swords? What makes those who have swallowed the card go on a killing spree just before they die? And can Max find out the truth about Solomon Boukman before death's shadow reaches his own front door?The King of Swords is a feat of black magic, combining a thrilling plot, unforgettable characters, and the uniquely menacing atmosphere that made Nick Stone's Mr. Clarinet the most celebrated crime debut of 2006." (catalog notes)

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, by Anne Fadiman

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures, by Anne Fadiman

While the subtitle captures the essence of the subject of this book, the content is far richer than a mere discussion of the clash of cultures. Although this book has been out for several years, it is worth a second look in light of our country’s ongoing issues as a nation of immigrants.

Lia Lee is a child of Hmong refugee parents, whose culture differs radically from that of the California community in which they live. In addition to language barriers, they also share a sense of community and religion that is far different from that of the people who live in their town of Merced. These differences create obstacles in their daily lives, but are particularly profound and destructive in a crisis.

Lia lives a life of crisis. Lia as a young infant develops epilepsy, which is treatable, but difficult to do so nevertheless and dangerous in that its progression leads so often to permanent brain damage. Compound that with a language barrier for the parents and a cultural barrier in treatment methods. Compound that with a suspicion her parents have of Western medicine and physicians. Compound that with the lack of proper interpreters of a language that is not widely known or understood. In this harrowing story, the reader sees Lia through the years descend into a maelstrom of chaos, as her pediatricians, medical emergency workers, nurses, social workers, and so many other support staff try to prevent her from suffering irreversible brain damage, while her parents see Western medicine as more harmful than helpful or simply do not understand the medical procedures and medicines used in Lia’s treatment.

Fadiman also reveals to readers something of the complexity of Hmong culture. She traces the history of the Hmong people and explains the predicament in which the Hmong find themselves when they agree to work for the U. S. government in Laos during the Vietnam War. This places them in dire straits when Laos falls to a communist government at the war’s end. They must then escape to Thailand and finally to the U. S. The Hmong, however, are not a group that integrates itself in the melting pot of America. And this is just part of Lia’s predicament.

Fadiman not so much places blame as reveals the inevitable results when very different people converge in a crisis. The results of such a convergence can be and usually is an unavoidable tragedy.

D. L. S.

Thrillers - Codes and Ciphers

Try these International Thrillers that all have to do with codes and ciphers:

The Venona Cable : a thriller by Brent Ghelfi
"Russian agent and criminal Alexei Volkovoy pays an action-packed visit to theU.S. to uncover secrets of the infamous Venona cables and to attempt to clear his family name."
Nemesis by Bill Napier
The "secret to saving the world is hidden in a 17th Latin century manuscript that has gone mysteriously missing."
The Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer
Trying to figure out what really happened during a failed assassination on the Chief Executive takes an ex-presidential aide back to a decade-old presidential crossword puzzle, mysterious facts buried in Masonic history, and a two-hundred-year-old code invented by Thomas Jefferson.
The Alexander Cipher by Will Adams
"Daniel Knox's first love is archaeology, more specifically Alexander the Great. In this adventure, he competes with rival archaeologists, Egyptian officials, and Macedonian nationalists in the hunt for one of the greatest archaeological prizes in the world."

Hope for Animals and Their World

September 2 on Good Morning America featured Hope for Animals and Their World : how endangered species are being rescued from the brink by Jane Goodall. Find this book in our catalog

This is what it says about the book in our catalog:

"Interweaving firsthand experiences in the field with premier scientists and environmentalists, Jane Goodall presents a hopeful look at the animals once on the verge of extinction that are now coming back. This book is an illuminating look at how, through the grace of nature and the dedicated work of scientists and environmentalists, we can and are actually saving animal species. Through Goodall's signature impassioned narrative, we read fascinating accounts of how the course of fate has been reversed for these animals. Each chapter illustrates the crucial need to continue saving habitats and the species that live there, as well as to educate new generations to be better stewards than previous generations have been.Goodall's views on the hopeful future of endangered animals and their co-existence with human culture is bolstered by studies and accounts she has uncovered during her ceaseless travels as a heroine fighting on behalf of the well-being of our planet."

Fresh Air showcases books for Animal Week

This week (beginning August 30) has been Animal Week on NPR's Fresh Air: they have been featuring rebroadcasts of their best conversations about animals and how we live with them. Read more...


So far they have featured these books about animals intelligence and the human/animal relationship:


*Alex & Me : how a scientist and a parrot discovered a hidden world of animal intelligence--and formed a deep bond in the process by Irene M. Pepperberg

*Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals by Temple Grandin

*One Nation Under Dog: Adventures in the New World of Prozac-Popping Puppies, Dog-Park Politics, and Organic Pet Food by Michael Schaffer



You might also like these books about pets and humans:

*The Wolf in the Parlor: The Eternal Connection Between Humans and Dogs by Jon Franklin

*Dog World : and the Humans Who Live There by Alfred Gingold

*If Your Cat Could Talk-- by Bruce Fogle

Touch of Magic

If you liked The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane for its touch of magic, you may like these:

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister
The Little Giant of Aberdeen County : a novel by Tiffany Baker
Blackbird House by Alice Hoffman
Of Bees and Mist : a novel by Erick Setiawan