Categories
Full List of New Arrivals

NEW ARRIVALS – SEPTEMBER 2013

ADULT FICTION

“The Bone Season” by Samantha Shannon – “Shannon offers up a richly imagined debut, (in a book) about clairvoyants used as catspaws in the year 2059, two centuries after mysterious events changed the world. Paige Mahoney possesses the illegal and extremely rare power of dreamwalking, using it to serve a criminal syndicate in a London controlled by the organization known as Scion. She’s captured and sent to Sheol I, a hidden penal colony established in Oxford and maintained by the extradimensional Rephaim. Claimed by the enigmatic Warden Arcturus, she’s trained to be a weapon, all the while dreaming of rebellion and escape. When Paige is drawn into schemes both political and far-reaching, she must fight for her life. The internal mythology is complex and intriguing, the emotional struggle is captivating, and the pace rarely falters as Paige unravels the mysteries and dangers of her new home.” — David Godwin, David Godwin Associates. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, c2013.

“First Sight” by Danielle Steel – “Fashion designer Timmie O’Neill runs a thriving empire, but she is all alone. After being orphaned as a girl, then losing her child to illness and her husband to divorce, she’s terrified of being abandoned until an emergency appendectomy during her Paris ready-to-wear shows brings French doctor Jean-Charles Vernier into her life. The two fall for each other immediately, sharing desires they’ve never shared with anyone else, but Jean-Charles is trapped in a floundering marriage. When he’s finally ready to divorce, his estranged wife is diagnosed with cancer, and Timmie is left alone again, this time with the secret that she’s carrying his child. Timmie is an intriguing heroine because her private anxieties and public success are at odds, and she doesn’t find peace until her late forties. Steel is one of the world’s most popular authors, and this poignant romance is sure to thrill her many loyal fans and reach many new readers, too.” — Walker, Aleksandra. AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, c2013.

“Lolita” by Vladimir Nabokov – “Awe and exhiliration–along with heartbreak and mordant wit–abound in Lolita, Nabokov’s most famous and controversial novel, which tells the story of the aging Humbert Humbert’s obsessive, devouring, and doomed passion for the nymphet Dolores Haze. Lolita is also the story of a hypercivilized European colliding with the cheerful barbarism of postwar America. Most of all, it is a meditation on love–love as outrage and hallucination, madness and transformation”. — back cover

“Never Go Back: A Jack Reacher Novel” by Lee Child – “After trekking back from the savage snowstorms of South Dakota, Jack Reacher finally returns to his old military police unit, eager to meet Maj. Susan Turner, the new commanding officer who helped him save the trapped victims in 61 Hours. However, Reacher finds out that Turner is under investigation for corruption and is awaiting trial for conspiracy. And that’s not all. The army drafts him back into service to face two trumped-up legal cases–homicide charges for assaulting an L.A. gangbanger for selling black-market weapons and a paternity suit from a former girlfriend alleging that Reacher fathered her 14-year-old daughter. Both parties are simply after his money. Harnessing his anger and brute strength, Reacher cunningly defends himself, promising to “never go back.” VERDICT As they snatch up Reacher’s 18th adventure, avid fans in more than 95 countries will again marvel at Child’s terse, hard-boiled style.” —  Jerry P. Miller. Cambridge, MA. 397p. LIBRARY JOURNAL, c2013.

“The Newcomer” by Robyn Carr – “Single dad and Thunder Point’s deputy sheriff “Mac” McCain has worked hard to keep his town safe and his daughter happy. Now he’s found his own happiness with Gina James…With an unexpected romance growing between them, they’re feeling like teenagers themselves–suddenly they can’t get enough of one another…. And just when they think things are really taking off, their lives are suddenly thrown into chaos.  When Mac’s long-lost ex-wife shows up in town, drama takes on a whole new meaning.”  — back cover

“Red Sparrow” by Jason Matthews – “The author, a veteran CIA field agent, liberally salts his thriller with realistic tradecraft, horrific villainy, and a stunning plot twists as the opponents vie for control…An intense descent into a vortex of carnal passion, career brutality, and smart tradecraft, this thriller evokes the great Cold War era of espionage…Readers of bloodthirsty spy and suspense will welcome this debut from a writer who supersizes his spies.” — Library Journal

“Rose Harbor in Bloom” by Debbie Macomber – ” Jo Marie Rose, a recent war widow, has opened a bed-and-breakfast in Cedar Cove. She is testy with curmudgeonly Mark, the handyman who procrastinated in putting her rose garden in until too late for it to be ready for her big open house, when every room is filled. Mary Smith, frail, weak, and bald from fighting breast cancer, has a secret reason for wanting to be in Cedar Cove. The other guests are celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Annie Newton’s grandparents. Annie, a party planner getting over a broken engagement, is aghast to run into her teenage nemesis–the first boy she ever kissed. Then Jo Marie learns that it isn’t certain that her soldier husband perished in a helicopter wreck. Macomber’s legions of fans will embrace this cozy, heartwarming read.” — Tixier Herald, Diana. AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, c2013.

“William Shakespeare’s Star Wars” by Ian Doescher – “Two of the most creative minds in the universe collide with spectacular, hilarious and surprisingly touching insight into the original classic. This truly is Star Wars as you like it.” — Joe Schreiber, author of Star Wars: Death Troopers.  

MYSTERY  

“The Cuckoo’s Calling” by Robert Galbraith – “London PI Cormoran Strike’s final feud with his arguably insane fiancee leaves him camping in his office, wondering how his last two clients will keep him afloat and pay for his new secretary, Robin. When a childhood acquaintance asks him to investigate his supermodel sister’s apparent suicide, Strike finds a distraction from his problems that’s happily attached to a check. Lula Landry was surrounded by rabid paparazzi, a drug-addled social circle, a dysfunctional adopted family, and a shifty, newly found birth mother, making suicidal despair hard to dismiss. But with Robin’s surprisingly adept assistance, Strike dismantles witness statements, applying masterful deductive skills to find evidence of murder. This debut is instantly absorbing, featuring a detective facing crumbling circumstances with resolve instead of cliched self-destruction and a lovable sidekick with contagious enthusiasm for detection.” — Christine.  AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, c2013.

“The Devil’s Star” by Jo Nesbo – “A serial killer taunts Harry Hole in Nesbo’s… novel to feature the Oslo police detective to be made available in the U.S. (after Nemesis). Still suffering from alcohol-fueled demons and obsessed with hunting for evidence against a clearly dirty cop, Hole grudgingly agrees to help look into the murder of a woman whose finger has been amputated and a red diamond stuck under her eyelid. More bodies follow, with the murderer leaving identical five-pointed diamonds (the titular devil’s star) at each crime scene. At first the killings appear to be random, but Hole soon discovers an ominous pattern. Nesbo brilliantly incorporates threads from earlier novels, including Hole’s often tumultuous relationship with his lover, Rakel, without ever losing the current story’s rhythm. Even with–or perhaps because of–his flaws, Hole is arguably one of today’s most fascinating fictional detectives.” — PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, c2010.

“How the Light Gets In” by Louise Penney – “Gamache’s investigation into a murder will take him once again to the small, snow-covered Quebec village of Three Pines, where the last remaining member of a once-famous family of quintuplets planned to visit before someone broke into her Montreal home and clubbed her to death. This would be a worthy plot line in and of itself, but it quickly becomes subsumed in something larger, with repercussions that will be felt all the way up the Provincial hierarchy and beyond. Ambitiously plotted, sensitively staffed and beautifully written, How the Light Gets In handily elevates Penny’s already lofty bar.”– BOOKPAGE, c2013.

“NOS4A2” by Joe Hill – “Driving a 1938 Rolls-Royce, Charles Manx gathers deserving children and takes them to Christmasland, a place of endless games, cocoa, and gingerbread cookies that doesn’t appear on any map. Vic McQueen, the only kid to escape Manx’s macabre game, has unusual talents of her own. Now an adult, Vic must confront her worst nightmare to save her son before it is too late. VERDICT Hill delivers an intricate story line full of terror and courage that brings out the best and the very worst in his protagonists, characters you won’t soon forget. A book focused on Christmas may not be the most obvious summer read, but readers will feel the “chill” when they hear those first Christmas carols come September.” — Ala-Rusa Codes. LIBRARY JOURNAL, c2013.

ADULT NON-FICTION  

“Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution” by Nathaniel Philbrick – …Opening with the consequences of the Boston Tea Party, Philbrick depicts the arrival of British army and naval forces, the manifestation of the royal government’s intention to quash the burgeoning rebellion in Massachusetts. Its leaders, patriots like John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Joseph Warren, provide the drama’s counterpoise to British officials. Having deployed his characters, Philbrick launches each side’s resort to military preparations and operations, a narrative that benefits from one of the author’s several imaginative services to readers, detailing in word and map the geography of Boston and environs at that time. Another audience benefit is Philbrick’s evocation of the look of patriot militias and British regiments, which enliven his crackling accounts of military movements that produced the Battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill. Displaying, as in Mayflower (2006) and The Last Stand (2010), a superior talent for renewing interest in a famed event, Philbrick will again be in high demand from history buffs.” — Taylor, Gilbert. AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, c2013.

“Clean: Overcoming Addiction and Ending America’s Greatest Tragedy” by David Sheff – “How do we prevent kids from using drugs, and how do we effectively treat addiction? Clean cuts through the technical jargon and marketing nonsense to summarize our best knowledge on these topics. The case studies illuminate the challenging process of treatment and the remarkable changes that occur with recovery. Clean is a major contribution to our understanding of this disease and how to fight it.” –Richard A. Rawson, PH.D., professor and associate director, Integrated Substance Abuse Programs, Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles

“The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944” by Rick Atkinson – “Flushed with the defeat of Rommel’s Afrika Corps in North Africa, Winston Churchill looked ahead to attacking ‘the soft underbelly of Europe.’ He believed that the conquest of Sicily, followed by a rapid advance up the Italian peninsula, could reduce the necessity for a massive invasion across the English Chanel. Atkinson…has written a comprehensive account of the campaign,…As he illustrates with masterful use of primary sources, British and American war planners were deeply divided over the necessity of the campaign. Once launched, Allied attacks were frequently improvised and poorly coordinated. Still, progress was made, ending with the liberation of Rome in June 1944. Atkinson conveys the confusion and grinding difficulty of the Allied advance as experienced by ordinary soldiers while also providing interesting insights into the character of some of the top commanders. Left unanswered is whether the high cost in men and materials justified the ground gained.” —  Jay Freeman. AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, c2007.

“The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945” by Rick Atkinson – “Spanning D-day to V-E Day, Atkinson culminates his three-volume epic of the U.S. Army in Europe during WWII. Readers of the prior volumes (An Army at Dawn, 2002; The Day of Battle, 2007) will discover a thematic continuation in this one, namely, criticism of American generalship. …. To describe the high command’s thinking concerning operations that turned into fiascoes, Atkinson funnels their postwar apologia through his appreciation of a particular battlefield situation, graphically conceptualized in this tome’s excellent cartography. While casting generals in the light of human frailty, Atkinson allocates anecdotal abundance to soldiers’ ground-war experiences. Emphasizing loss, he quotes many last letters from men destined to die. With a mastery of sources that support nearly every sentence, Atkinson achieves a military history with few peers as an overview of the 1944-45 campaigns in Western Europe.” — Taylor, Gilbert.  AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, c2013.

BIOGRAPHY

“Brain in a Jar: A Daughter’s Journey Through Her Father’s Memory” by Nancy Stearns Bercaw – “This is a gripping account of a family dealing with a tragic disease (Alzheimer’s) that continues to ravage the lives of countless victims and their families. …this book is not about Alzheimer’s. It is about a more universal subject, family, and how this one family and one daughter in particular managed to live in the deep shadow of Beau’s obsession.”– inside front cover

“To Sin Against Hope” by Alfredo Gutierrez – “Alfredo Gutierrez’s father, a US citizen, was deported to Mexico from his Arizona hometown… This occurred during a wave of anti-immigrant hysteria stoked by the Great Depression, but as Gutierrez makes clear….the war on Mexican immigrants has rarely abated. Barack Obama now presides over an immigration policy every inch the equal of Herbert Hoover’s in its harshness. His family experiences inspired Gutierrez to pursue the life of a Chicano activist. Kicked out of Arizona State University after leading a takeover of the president’s office, he later became the majority leader of the Arizona State Senate. Later still, he was a successful political consultant. He remains an activist, and in this engrossing memoir and essay, he dissects the racism that has deformed a century of border policy—leading to a record number of deportations during the Obama presidency—and he analyzes the timidity of today’s immigrant advocacy organizations. To Sin Against Hope brings to light the problems that have prevented the US from honoring the contributions and aspirations of its immigrants. It is a call to remember history and act for the future.” — Amazon.com

“The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph Kennedy” by David Nasaw – “Engrossing and perceptive….Nasaw delves into archives, reconstructing virtually from scratch a multifaceted and ambiguous portrait of a figure who was for decades near the center of power in Hollywood and Washington, finance and diplomacy.” — The Washington Post  

DVD’s

“Game Change”
“The Great Gatsby”
“Iron Man 3”
“Homeland The Complete Second Season”
“Star Trek Into Darkness”  

BOARD BOOKS

“Bear Wants More” by Karma Wilson
“Little Blue Truck” by Alice Schertle
“Owl Babies” by Martin Waddell

PICTURE BOOKS

“Amelia Bedalia Hits the Trail” by Herman Parish
“Big Pumpkin” by Erica Silverman
“Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late” by Mo Willems
“Koala Lou” by Mem Fox
“Little Mouse” by Alison Murray
“Llama, Llama and the Bully Goat” by Anna Dewdney
“Owl at Home” by Arnold Lobel
“The Paper Princess” by Elisa Kleven
“Peck, Peck, Peck” by Lucy Cousins
“Pete the Cat: The Wheels on the Bus” by James Dean  

JUVENILE FICTION

“The Dogs of Winter” by Bobbie Pyron – “Set in Russia during the 1990s and loosely based on a true story, this absorbing novel tells of a vulnerable and suddenly homeless five-year-old boy. Ivan is taken in by a gang of children who beg and steal to survive, but soon he joins a pack of street dogs that become his surrogate family for the next two years. Foraging for food and protecting each other, they navigate the dangers of the city in winter and the forest in warmer weather. The opening pages of the first-person narrative, in which Ivan recalls the warmth of his early childhood with his mother and grandmother, provide insight into the emotional base that anchors him in the troubling, sometimes violent times to come. In the final chapters, the boy’s experiences when authorities separate him from the dogs and attempt to integrate him into human society seem even more painful than his previous adaptation to loss, privation, and fear. … Written with compassion as well as a grim, sometimes brutal realism, this novel offers a riveting story as well as material for reflection and discussion.” Phelan, Carolyn.  AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, c2012.

“Garfield Gets in a Pickle” by Jim Davis – “Garfield, the furry desperado, is at large again in this most-wanted new collection of comics. Whether he’s getting in a pickle or a jam, when it comes to trouble, the fat cat is always a glutton for punishment.” — back cover “I Funny” by James Patterson – “Jaime Grimm is sure he’s made a terrible mistake by competing in the Planet’s Funniest Kid Comic Contest. As he struggles to remember his routine, the novel flashes back in first person to how he got involved. For Jamie, comedy is serious business. It is also Jamie’s defense against his painful past. Pieces of this past are revealed slowly; Jaime’s confinement to a wheelchair and that he was the sole survivor of a car accident that killed his family. Jaime is elated when he wins the first round until rumors spread that he only won because of the judges’ pity-rumors his brutish cousin is spreading online. It is electrifying when Jaime wins the next round. This book addresses grief, coping, and first crushes.” — ABC-CLIO, INC., c2013.

“See You at Harry’s” by Jo Knowles – To 12-year-old Fern, her family has become little more than a random group of people who occasionally eat dinner together. Her dad is obsessed with the family restaurant, Harry’s; her mom is constantly meditating; her older siblings have their own busy lives; and three-year-old Charlie is the center of everyone’s world. And then . . . tragedy. In a flash the book changes course, and readers will be reaching for their hankies. The family implodes, and it takes many heart-wrenching pages before they are able to find their way back to one another. … As in John Corey Whaley’s award-winning Where Things Come Back (2011), the powerful bonds of family, so casually acknowledged in the everyday, can be crippling when broken. This is highly recommended for readers dealing with their own grief issues, but any teen can benefit from the reminder that family can be simultaneously humiliating and invaluable.” Colson, Diane.  AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, c2012.

“Stink and the Incredible Super-Galactic Jawbreaker” by Megan McDonald – “Stink discovers the power of the pen when he writes a letter of complaint to the manufacturer of a disappointing jawbreaker and receives a 10-pound box of the candies in response. The flurry of correspondence continues with more complaint letters, a thank-you note, and, eventually, a written apology. Like big sister Judy Moody, Stink sports a memorable name and a talent for self-expression. His predicaments and triumphs have a childlike air, and the quick-witted dialogue will keep readers entertained. ” — Carolyn Phelan. AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, c2006.  

JUVENILE NON-FICTION

“The Mystery of Darwin’s Frog” by Marty Crump “- Scientist Crump introduces Darwin’s frog, a species collected by Charles Darwin, though he knew nothing of their most surprising behavioral characteristic. Once the female lays eggs, she wanders off. The male takes over by fertilizing the eggs, protecting them, and, once the tadpoles hatch, slurping them into his vocal sac, where they develop for two months before they emerge from his mouth as tiny frogs. It has taken generations to solve various mysteries surrounding Darwin’s frogs, but now scientists face a more urgent question: Why is the species disappearing? …Clearly written and informative, this colorful book takes readers along as Crump studies the frogs in Chile and discusses their disappearing habitat as well as the virus that may be killing them. …” Phelan, Carolyn. AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, c2013.

Waiting for Wings” by Lois Ehlert – “A beautifully woven blend of information about caterpillars, butterflies, and the gardens that attract them. Vibrant colors jump off of white backgrounds to show realistic-looking butterflies and flowers in Ehlert’s signature cut-paper-collage style….Open the front cover, however, and readers see a smaller internal page that actually blends its illustrations into the endpapers surrounding it. The pages then become increasingly larger until they are full sized to showcase the butterflies in search of a flower garden. Ehlert deftly documents the caterpillars’ life cycle. ” — Lisa Gangemi CAHNERS PUBLISHING, c2001.  

YOUNG ADULT  

“Ship Breaker” by Paolo Bacigalupi – “A fast-paced postapocalyptic adventure set on the American Gulf Coast. Nailer works light crew; his dirty, dangerous job is to crawl deep into the wrecks of the ancient oil tankers that line the beach, scavenging copper wire and turning it over to his crew boss. After a brutal hurricane passes over, Nailer and his friend Pima stumble upon the wreck of a luxurious clipper ship. It’s filled with valuable goods– a ‘Lucky Strike’ that could make them rich, if only they can find a safe way to cash it in. Amid the wreckage, a girl barely clings to life. If they help her, she tells them, she can show them a world of privilege that they have never known. But can they trust her? And if so, can they keep the girl safe from Nailer’s drug-addicted father? Exciting and sometimes violent, this book will appeal to older fans of Scott Westerfeld’s ‘Uglies’ series (S & S) and similar action-oriented science fiction.” –Hayden Bass, Seattle Public Library,  SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, c2010.