Saturday, March 10, 2007

Six New Fiction and One Diabetic's Guide

Fiction

Suspect by John Lescroat. Legal thriller with a defense attorney falling for her client accused of murder.

Man in the Middle by Brian Haig. Army Lieutenant Colonel Sean Drummond is assigned to investigate whether a defense official's death was suicide or homicide. To find out, Drummond has to take on the defense official's own investigation: Who cooked up phony evidence for the Iraqi War?

Castle in the Forest by Norman Mailer. A fictional telling of Adolph Hitler's life, with portraits of his parents and siblings.

Past Perfect by Susan Isaacs. Former CIA worker Katie Schottland has a happy home life and a good job writing for a TV series. But, Katie has never gotten over her sudden and unexplained CIA firing fifteen years ago. When a former colleague calls promising an explanation in exchange for Katie's assistance Katie readily agrees. When that colleague, and others like her, start dying Katie starts wondering if a killer is working down a list and why.

Finn by Jon Clinch. Huckleberry Finn's brutal father was never detailed by Mark Twain. Clinch's much anticipated debut tells the story of the elder Finn, his family and Huckleberry himself.

Large Print Fiction

Watchman by Robert Crais. Large print version of the novel described in a previous entry.

NonFiction

Diabetes Survival Guide: Understanding the Facts About Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention by Stanley Mirsky, M.D. A revised and updated edition of Mirsky's Controlling Diabetes the Easy Way. Covering: Metabolic Syndrome, diet, new drugs, equipment, complications, stem cell research, and surgical options.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Couple New DVDs

Beer League starring Artie Lange and Ralph Macchio. Comedy about drunken softball league buffoons in New Jersey.

Broken Lizard's Club Dread starring Bill Paxton, jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, and Brittany Daniel. From the creators of the comedies Super Troopers and Beerfest. A machete-wielding manicac is roaming Coconut Pete's Pleasure Island and ruining the booze soaked vacations of many. The "hilariously inept staff" is left to battle the maniac.

Loads More NonFiction

Four Days to Glory: Wrestling with the Soul of the American Heartland by Mark Kreidler. Kreidler follows two Iowa high school wrestlers as they attempt to become four time state champions.

Blind Side: Evolution of Game by Michael Lewis. The vital importance of the left tackle in football. Follow the story of a young athlete's evolution into the position and the evolution of football itself.

Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul: The Real Deal Challenges edited by Jack Canfield.

Complete Idiot's Guide to Calculus by W. Michael Kelley.

Complete Idiot's Guide to Chemistry by Ian Gulch.

Cover Letter Magic: Trade Secrets of Professional Resume Writers, 3rd Edition by Wendy S. Enelow.

Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook: The Essential Guide to Caring for Everything in Your Home by Martha Stewart.

Is it hot in Here? Or is it Me? : The Complete Guide to Menopause by Pat Wingert.

Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: and Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook by Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D.

No: Why Kids - of All Ages - Need to Hear It and Why parents Can Say It by David Walsh.

Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature by Linda Lear.

The Birthday Party: A Memoir of Survival by Stanley N. Alpert. "On January 21, 1998, federal prosecutor Stanley Alpert was kidnapped off the streets of Manhattan. This is the story of what happened next..."

Easter Rising: An Irish American Coming Up from Under by Michael Patrick MacDonald. MacDonald's escape from the South Boston ghetto.

My Year in Radical Islam: A Memoir by Daveed Gartenstein-Ross. "At twenty-three, I was a devout believer in radical Islam. I worked for a Saudi-funded charity in Ashland, Oregon, that was accused of funding al-Qaeda. Funny thing, I was Jewish. At the time, it all seemed perfectly normal."

What?! More Fiction? You Lucky Dogs.

Mysteries

Key Lime Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke. Another one of those recipe mysteries. Includes 12 recipes. I wonder if the story comes with a plot or just a sugar frosting.

Arsenic Labrynth by Martin Edwards. Set in England's Lake District. Police Inspector Hannah Scarlett re-opens a 10 year old case concerning a missing woman after a drifter returns to town telling tales. The Arsenic Tunnels, used to remove arsenic from tin ore, draw Hannah and a local historian who makes a gruesome discovery.

Hooded Hawke by Karen Harper. We have three other novels by Harper from her Elizabeth I mystery series. All three titles have proven popular. In Hooded Elizabeth and her court leave summertime London for the country. Accompanied by Francis Drake, both Elizabeth and Drake are targeted by assassins. Both of them have untrusted cousins eager to usurp their positions, but who is the real target?

Gray Ghost by William G. Tapply. Stoney Calhoun's memory was obliterated by a lightning strike seven years ago. Rebuilding his life on the Maine coast as a fishing guide and bait shop owner, Stoney's fishing cutomer discovers a recently burnt corpse on an island. When the customer appears dead on Stoney's porch Stoney starts to wonder if there is a connection to his forgotten past.

Science Fiction/Fantasy

Command Decision by Elizabeth Moon. "Butt-kicking take-no-prisoners heroine" Kylara Vatta returns. After the pirate space fleet of Gammis Turek destroys her family's business and kills all her relations, Kylara and her small fleet start hunting down the pirates. A very well reviewed space epic with lots of action.

Fortress of Ice by C.J. Cherryh. A king fighting dark forces, a child learns his true parentage, yadda yadda yadda. Cherryh sells books by the bucket load so she must be pretty good.

Eagle by Jack Whyte. Concluding volume of Whyte's Camulod Chronicles (read as "Camelot"). Launcelot comes to England to find if the law-loving Arthur is for real.

Fiction

Daddy's Girl by Lisa Scottoline.

At Some Disputed Barricade by Anne Perry. Another volume set during World War One.

Rumpole and the Reign of Terror by John Mortimer. Rumpole's beloved courts have been hamstrung by terrorism laws. When he defends a Pakistani doctor accused of working for al-Quaeda he skewers the shortsightedness of new anti-terror laws.

Deep Storm by Lincoln Child. Doctor Peter Crane travels to a North Atlantic oil rig to diagnose a mysterious medical condition. On arrival he sees that the true mystery is two miles down in an undersea research facility. The excavation of what may be Atlantis has been making people sick, and Crane finds that more than medical illness is at fault.

Allah's Scorpion by David Hagberg. Iranian commandos, under the code name "Allah's Scorpion", try to infiltrate Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to rescue al-Quaeda prisoners. When a tanker primed to explode in a lock in the Panama Canal is associated with the same code name the CIA and agent Kirk McGarvey have to work fast to prevent a nuclear follow-up to 9/11.

Exile by Richard North Patterson. San Francisco lawyer David Wolfe is asked by a former girlfriend to defend her against murder charges. The crime? The assassination of the Israeli Prime Minister in San Francisco. Can Jewish David take on the case of a Palestinian militant, even one he can't quite forget? Nothing is as it seems as David's work takes him to the West Bank and Israeli.

Pig Island by Mo Hayder. Another accomplished thriller from Hayder. Professional skeptic Joe Oakes exposes supernatural hoaxes for a living. Joe's visit to a religious commune on a Scottish island make him question his theories and beliefs.

Texicans by Nina Vida. The birth of Texas told through Joseph Kimmel. Kimmel travels to San Antonio when his brother gets cholera there. Robbed by a runaway slave he is rescued by Henry Castro who is traveling with immigrants to Castro's new settlement, "Castroville".

Whitethorn Woods by Maeve Binchy.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Fresh Fiction

Trouble by Jesse Kellerman. The second novel by the progeny of Faye and Jonathan Kellerman. I cannot tell if Jesse wears eye make-up but it sure looks like his dad does.

Red River by Talita Tademy. Author of Cane River. Fictional telling of the Colfax "riot" and massacre in 1873 Colfax, LA. Told from both sides of the conflict over Reconstruction politics and the beginning of Jim Crow.

Collaborator of Bethlehem by Matt Rees. Omar Yussef has taught history for years and stayed aloof of the constant political violence in Bethlehem. After a former pupil is accused by Palestinian police of conspiring with the Israelis to kill a guerrilla, Omar is the only one who believes in his innocence and is willing to investigate against the wishes of the police and the killers of the a-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade.

Murder Among the O.W.L.S. by Bill Crider. A Sheriff Dan Rhodes mystery. Rural TX sheriff Dan Rhodes investigates the death of a member of the Older Women's Literary Society. Crider's Rhodes mysteries always have good humour with a sometimes flabbergasted, but always endearing, and Dr. Pepper drinking sheriff. I'm not sure how Crider has time to write novels with all the blogging he does.

Still Life with Husband by Lauren Fox. Milwaukee author Fox's book is "generous, heartfelt, and often hilarious novel of marriage and friendship" as Emily is aggravated by her husband Kevin and starts to desire David, a local reporter.

Fever Moon by Carolyn Haines. Haines is famous for her Souhtern set "cozy" mysteries. Fever Moon is a darker mystery set in New Iberia, LA during World War II where Adele Hebert claims to be a werewolf after being found covered in the blood, and hunched over the body, of a local plantation owner.

Terror by Dan Simmons. In 1845 126 men of the Franklin Expedition are enduring their second Arctic summer. Their ship is slowly being crushed by ice. The scientists and crew are fighting the cold and hunger. As the winter approaches an unseen predator is stalking them from the ice.

Natural Born Charmer by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. NFL superstar quarterback Dean is driving through rural Colorado when he stops to pick up a hitchhiker, Blue. This is a romance so I assume some sort of romance develops between the two.

Successor by Stephen Frey. Financier Christian Gillette is asked by the President to work with Cuban professionals to lead a capitalist revolution after Fidel died in secret. But, Gillette must work in secret, and has to be wary of competing attempts by would-be Cuba rulers.

Watchman by Robert Crais. Rich, spoiled girl Conner Barkley has an early morning auto accident in her Aston Martin. The crash puts Conner right in the middle of a federal investigation. When the government cannot protect her from the killers sent to silence her, her family calls in Joe Pike.

It's About Your Husband by Lauren Lipton. Freshly transplanted to New York, recent divorcee Iris Hedge is offered work to spy on a possibly cheating husband of a friend. But Iris starts to fall for the husband.

New NonFiction

More Travel Books? Yes.

Mobil Travel Guide: Northern Great Lake: Minnesota, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Fodor's France, 2007.

Frommer's Caribbean, 2007.

Health

Breast Cancer: Real Questions, Real Answers by David Chan, M.D. "An easily navigated, completely current resource for all your questions."

Your Miraculous Back: A Step-By-Step Guide to Relieving Neck & Back Pain by Gerald Silverman, DC. "This book offers targeted massage techniques with a set of directed range-of-motion and stretching exercises that will bring relief to anyone suffering from persistent pain."

Best Life Diet by Bob Greene. A mix of diet recipes, diet advice and planning.

History and Biography

Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer by Maureen Ogle. Americans used to be rum and whiskey drinkers until German immigrants started to build the breweries they had back home. Slaughtered by Prohibition, brewing returned with innovation and evolved to the microbreweries of today; like the local guys.

US World War II Amphibious Tactics: Mediterranean & European Theaters by Gordon Rottman. Similar to the previous two history titles listed below, U.S. Marine Corps Raider 1942-42 and African American Soldier in the Civil War USCT 1862-66.

Rifles of the World, 3rd Edition: World's Definitive Guide to Centerfire & Rimfire Rifles
by John Walter. One of the best books I have bought in months.

Sesame Street Dad: Evolution of an Actor by Roscoe Orman. Orman has been Sesame Street's "Gordan" for three decades. Follow Roscoe through the evolution of Sesame Street, his theatre work, and his civil rights work.

Business and Education

Marketing Made Easy by Kevin Epstein.

Financing Your Business by Entrepeneur Press.

Accounting for Non-Accountants: the fast and easy way to learn the basics by Dr. Wayne Label, CPA.

Everything Managing People Book, 2nd Edition by Gary McClain.

Everything Accounting Book by Michele Cagan, C.P.A.

Master the ASVAB by Scott Ostrow. Practice exams, testing techniques, and a CD-ROM for practice.

Complete Idiot's Guide to Physics, 2nd Edition by Johnnie Dennis. "Concquer your fear of physics with clear concepts and dozens of practice problems." Or, read the book, skip the problems, and impress you friends with random mention of scientific facts.

McGraw Hill's Postal Exams 473/473-C by Mark Alan Stewart. Seven full length exams and hundreds of practice questions.

Arts and Entertainment

Doctor Who: The Inside Story by Gary Russell. The definitive guide to the making of the new series. Doctor Who nerds rejoice! Loads of color photos, episode summaries, production notes!

Acrylics Workshop: Simple Steps to Success by Phyllis McDowell. Tips and examples to help choose materials and learn techniques.

Complete Guide to making a Movie: low budget and beyond by Lorene Wales. Understand the whole production process, connection between budget and result, wardrobe, scripts, casting, sound, etc. CD-ROM included.

Complete Guide to...Anime Techniques: create memerizing manga-style animation with pencils, paint and pixels by Chi hang Li, et al.

Spanish

Amor por la Abuela by Chrys Howard.

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

New NonFiction and a Large Print

Large Print

Innocent in Death by J.D. Robb. Lieutenant Eve Dallas investigates the murder of teacher Craig Foster after he is poisoned with Ricin.

NonFiction

Italy: DK Eyewitness travel guide edited by Fiona Wild. DK makes great travel guides.

The About.com guide to job searching : tools and tactics to help you get the job you want by Alison Doyle.

Extreme brewing : an enthusiast's guide to brewing craft beer at home by Sam Calagione. Calagione is the owner of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Delaware and gives recipes, step-by-step instructions and more.

The Body Sculpting Bible for Men, Revised Edition and The Bible Sculpting Body for Women, Revised Edition by James Villepigue and Hugo Rivera. Revised editions of two excellent fitness guides. Both titles include an instructional DVD.

Succeed at Negotiating: effective techniques to secure the results you want by Ken Langdon. Another of the quick DK business guides we just received.

Monday, March 05, 2007

New NonFiction

Resumes for Mid-Career Job Changes, Third Edition edited by McGraw-Hill. Career changes to fit your job experience.

World's Greatest Aircraft by Christopher Chant and Michael J.H. Taylor. Illustration description of civil and military aircraft. A neat little book similar to a Jane's guide.

U.S. Marin Corps Raider 1942-42 by Ed Gilbert. A short well-illustrated book about the Marine raiders of World War Two. Covering equipment, training, recruiting, dress and weaponry, and battles.

African American Soldier in the Civil War USCT 1862-66 by Mark Lardas. Similar to the above Raiders book but focusing on the 200,000 black soldiers who served in the United States Colored Troops.

Suze Orman's Financial Guidebook: Put the 9 Steps to Work, 2nd edition. Suze Orman's latest edition of her "user-friendly, hands-on workbook that will empower you to work through the nuts and bolts of personal finance."


Northern Plains 2007: Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming. Another travel collection update.

Magic of Alan Wakeling: The works of a master magician by Jim Steinmeyer. Wakeling not only was a famed stage performer but was a designer of "groundbreaking professional material" for famour magicians.

Getting Grants: the complete manual of proposal development and administration by Alexis Carter- Black. "The A to Z of securing grant funding." Deals with every step from identifying sources, pre-proposal planning, etc.

Knock-em Dead 2007: the ultimate job seeker's guide by Martin Yate. For entry-level and executive job seekers.

Understand Selling: Target customers, close deals, win new sales by Ken Langdon. A quick - 118 pages - instructional guide.

Spanish

El cuidado de su hijo pequeño : desde que nace hasta los cinco años by Shelov, Steven P. Child care guide to age five.

New DVD

Kids in the Hall, Seasons One and Two starring Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney, and Scoot Thompson. remember trying to catch this Canadian sketch comedy series on late night, weekend television? I do.

Fitzcarraldo starring Klaus Kinski. Another recent result of my Werner Herzog buying spree. A manic rubber baron in the Peruvian jungle has a massive, river steamboat towed and lifted over a mountaintop as part of his plan to build an opera house and lure Enrico Caruso to perform there.

During the Fitzcarraldo shoot, local indians offered to kill Kinski, Herzog said no, "I needed Kinski for a few more shots, so I turned them down. I have always regretted that I lost that opportunity."

Kinski wrote this about Herzog, "Herzog is a miserable, hateful, malevolent, avaricious, money-hungry, nasty, sadistic, treacherous, cowardly creep...he should be thrown alive to the crocodiles! An anaconda should strangle him slowly! A poisonous spider should sting him and paralyze his lungs! The most venomous serpent should bite him and make his brain explode! No panther claws should rip open his throat--that would be much too good for him! Huge red ants should piss into his lying eyes and gobble up his balls and his guts! He should catch the plague! Syphilis! Yellow fever! Leprosy! It's no use; the more I wish him the most gruesome deaths, the more he haunts me."

The Reading Room starring James Earl Jones, Tim Reid, Joanna Cassidy. Recent widower William follows his wife's wishes and uses his personal library collection to open a public reading room in a ghetto.

Scary Movie 4 starring Anna Ferris, Chris Elliott and multiple cameos. Series characters Cindy and Brenda try to stop an alien invasion.

Babel starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. The Academy award nominated film. "A tragic accident in Morocco sets off a chain of events that will link four groups of people."

Scoop starring Scarlett Johansson and Hugh Jackman. College journalist Sondra travels to London and hears a rich businessman may be a murderer. A Woody Allen comedy.

Dynamic:01 directed by David Lynch. Seven short films made by director David Lynch (Eraserhead, Mulholland Drive, Twin Peaks) for his subscription only website.

May starring Angela Bettis, Jeremy Sisto, Anna Faris. A Horror movie. May was a social outcast as a child with just a doll for a friend. As a teen she meets and starts dating Adam. Adam is driven away by her weirdness and May becomes close with her co-worker Polly. After discovering Polly's flaws May decides to take the best parts of each and make her own best friend.

Yoga for Beginners. A yoga DVD? In the Lake Mills library?