NEW BOOK LIST

October 2006

NONFICTION

Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream - Ehrenreich , Barbara

Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed explored the lives of low-wage workers. Now she enters another hidden realm of the economy--the world of the white-collar unemployed. Armed with a plausible resume of a professional in transition, attempts to land a middle class job undergoing career coaching and personality testing, then begins trawling a series of EST-like boot camps, job fairs, networking events, and evangelical job-search ministries. She gets an image makeover to prepare her for the corporate world and works hard to project the winning attitude recommended for a successful job search. She is proselytized, scammed, lectured and, again and again, rejected. Bait and Switch highlights the people who've done everything right--gotten college degrees, developed marketable skills, and built up impressive resumes--yet have become repeatedly vulnerable to financial disaster and not simply due to the vagaries of the business cycle. Today's ultra-lean corporations take pride in shedding their surplus employees--plunging them, for months or years at a stretch, into the twilight zone of white-collar unemployment, where job-searching becomes a full-time job in itself. As Ehrenreich discovers, there are few social supports for the new disposable workers and little security even for those who have jobs. Like the now classic Nickel and Dimed , Bait and Switch is alternately hilarious and tragic, a searing expose of economic cruelty where we least expect it. – from the publisher

The Fly in the Cathedral: How a Group of Cambridge Scientists Won the International Race to Split the Atom - Cathcart , Brian

If you want to understand how something works, you can dismantle it and study its pieces. But what if the thing you're curious about is too small to see, even with the most powerful microscope? Cathcart's The Fly in the Cathedral tells the intriguing story of how scientists were able to take atoms apart to reveal the secrets of their structures. To keep the story gripping, Cathcart focuses on a time (1932, the annus mirabilis of British physics), a place ( Cambridge 's Cavendish Laboratory), and a few main characters (Ernest Rutherford, the "father of nuclear physics," and his protégés, John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton). Rutherford and his team knew that the long-accepted atomic model was held together by nothing more than trumped-up math and hope. They hoped to find out what held oppositely charged protons and electrons together, and what strange particles shared the nucleus with protons. In a series of remarkable experiments done on homemade apparatus, these Cambridge scientists moved atomic science to within an inch of its ultimate goal. Finally, Cockcroft and Walton--competing furiously with their American and German peers--put together the machine that would forever change history by splitting an atom. The Fly in the Cathedral combines all the right elements for a great science history: historical context, gritty detail, wrenching failure, and of course, glorious victory. Although the miracles that occurred at Cambridge in 1932 were to result in the fearful, looming threat of atomic warfare, Cathcart allows readers to find unfiltered joy in the accomplishments of a few brilliant, ingenious scientists. – Amazon.com

The Glass Castle : A Memoir - Walls, Jeannette

Freelance writer Walls doesn't pull her punches. She opens her memoir by describing looking out the window of her taxi, wondering if she's "overdressed for the evening" and spotting her mother on the sidewalk, "rooting through a Dumpster." Walls's parents—just two of the unforgettable characters in this excellent, unusual book—were a matched pair of eccentrics, and raising four children didn't conventionalize either of them. Her father was a self-taught man, a would-be inventor who could stay longer at a poker table than at most jobs and had "a little bit of a drinking situation," as her mother put it. With a fantastic storytelling knack, Walls describes her artist mom's great gift for rationalizing. Apartment walls so thin they heard all their neighbors? What a bonus—they'd "pick up a little Spanish without even studying." Why feed their pets? They'd be helping them "by not allowing them to become dependent." While Walls's father's version of Christmas presents—walking each child into the Arizona desert at night and letting each one claim a star—was delightful, he wasn't so dear when he stole the kids' hard-earned savings to go on a bender. The Walls children learned to support themselves, eating out of trashcans at school or painting their skin so the holes in their pants didn't show. Buck-toothed Jeannette even tried making her own braces when she heard what orthodontia cost. One by one, each child escaped to New York City . Still, it wasn't long before their parents appeared on their doorsteps. "Why not?" Mom said. "Being homeless is an adventure." Publisher's Weekly starred review

The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed - Vaillant , John

The felling of a celebrated giant golden spruce tree in British Columbia 's Queen Charlotte Islands takes on a potent symbolism in this probing study of an unprecedented act of eco-vandalism. First-time author Vaillant , who originally wrote about the death of the spruce for the New Yorker , profiles the culprit, an ex-logger turned messianic environmentalist who toppled the famous tree—the only one of its kind—to protest the destruction of British Columbia 's old-growth forest, then soon vanished mysteriously. Vaillant also explores the culture and history of the Haida Indians who revered the tree, and of the logging industry that often expresses an elegiac awe for the ancient trees it is busily clear-cutting. Writing in a vigorous, evocative style, Vaillant portrays the Pacific Northwest as a region of conflict and violence, from the battles between Europeans and Indians over the 18th-century sea otter trade to the hard-bitten, macho milieu of the logging camps, where grisly death is an occupational hazard. It is also, in his telling, a land of virtually infinite natural resources overmatched by an even greater human rapaciousness. Through this archetypal story of "people fail[ ing ] to see the forest for the tree," Vaillant paints a haunting portrait of man's vexed relationship with nature. – Publisher's Weekly

Contents: A threshold between worlds -- The people -- Wildest of the wild -- The tooth of the human race -- The beginning of the end -- A boardwalk to Mars -- The fatal flaw -- The fall -- Myth -- Hecate Strait -- The search -- The secret -- Coyote -- Over the horizon.

Her Majesty's Spymaster: Elizabeth I, Sir Francis Walsingham , and the Birth of Modern Espionage - Budiansky , Stephen

A journalist associated with the New York Times , the Washington Post , and the Atlantic, the author illuminates a new route to appreciating the distinct personality of England 's Elizabeth I and the exciting climate found at her court. Budiansky's take on events isolates one particular--and particularly interesting--thread running through Elizabeth 's long and vastly consequential reign: the career of Sir Francis Walsingham as the queen's ambassador to France and, later, as Her Majesty's private secretary. It was during the latter tenure that he organized a spy ring to supply his royal boss with diplomatic information vital to the safekeeping of the kingdom and to affect affairs abroad in favor of the maintenance of her throne. The "case" in which he was most engrossed as spymaster to the queen was keeping up with Mary Stuart's "tricks" to disestablish her cousin Elizabeth and pave the way for her to assume the English crown herself, as well as her own Scottish one. Walsingham himself, however, is not shrouded in darkness and mystery in this vivid account; he emerges full-blown as a "strange and powerful combination" of both Puritan and Renaissance man. – Booklist, starred review

Hope in Hell: Inside the World of Doctors without Borders - Bortolotti , Dan

This mostly admiring portrait of Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières (aka MSF), the nonprofit that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999, emphasizes the inner workings of the organization and is animated by interviews with mid-level staffers and by site visits to MSF projects in Angola, Afghanistan and Pakistan. In between, journalist Bortolotti traces the history of the world's largest independent medical humanitarian organization, whose genesis was the Biafran horrors of the late '60s. Histrionic founder Bernard Kouchner (whom Bortolotti didn't interview) left the group in 1979 after disputes about tactics; not until the early 1990s did MSF spread to North America . Only about a quarter of field volunteers are, in fact, doctors, and most staff are local hires rather than foreigners. MSF volunteers resist being described as heroic ("It's not noble; it's an attempt ," one says) but acknowledge that the crucible of crisis does test character. Some stories are grimly poignant: a middle-aged surgeon tells of relying on his lower-tech training to perform surgery in Sri Lanka and Liberia ; a logistician describes how to negotiate with drugged-up child soldiers at a Sierra Leonian checkpoint. While Bortolotti could have been clearer, for example, on the mechanics of MSF's fund-raising apparatus, he notes that even critics of humanitarian aid admire MSF for attempting to intervene under seemingly impossible circumstances. – Publisher's Weekly

How the Bible Was Built - Smith, Charles Merrill

The Bible is an integral part of millions of lives, yet how many ever wonder from whence it sprang, other, that is, than from the hand of God? We are all fairly certain God didn't personally pen it. What's more, we have heard the rumors about authors unnamed, whose works, but for certain circumstances, might have been included in the Good Book. So then, how did the Bible emerge in its current state? Moreover, is there such a thing as a current state of the Bible? When his granddaughter asked noted United Methodist minister and author Smith several such questions, he set about answering them. Finding no authoritative books to speak to her and other ordinary readers, he decided to create one. He died before completing the effort, and his unfinished notes languished for years before his widow discovered them and turned them over to Bennett, who cut, pasted, and, where necessary, augmented to produce this tiny but mighty volume. In straightforward language, Smith and Bennett successfully explain the evolution and permutations of the documents we know as the Holy Bible. A job well done. – Booklist, starred review

Contents: Old Testament: What's so special about the Book of Deuteronomy? -- What is the Pentateuch? -- The story of the Samaritans -- The prophets and their message -- Former prophets and latter prophets -- The Apocrypha (15 books): The significance of the Apocrypha and are they holy scripture ? -- The apocrypha and Christianity -- The New Testament: The Q Document -- Mark, Matthew, Luke, John: Why were these four books perceived as holy scripture ? -- What about the book of Acts? -- Letters of Paul -- The Catholic letters and the letters of John -- The canon: or, Who said "This is the official Bible?" -- The Council of Jamnia -- Origen's New Testament -- The New Testament of Eusebius -- Athanasius -- Jerome -- Gutenberg closes the canon -- Translating the Bible into English: Wyclif's Bible -- William Tyndale -- Opposition to English translations -- The Coverdale Bible -- The invention of Bible verses -- Nicknaming Bibles -- The King James translation -- Other English translations -- Hebrew poetry and common Greek -- Recent revisions and paraphrases -- Are all these revisions necessary? -- Biblical terms you need to know -- A Bible history timeline.

How the Great Pyramid Was Built - Smith, Craig B.

Although how the Egyptian pyramids were constructed is unknown, there are technological and physical constraints that allow engineers to imagine how it was done (without invoking helpful aliens). First, throw out the wheel and the pulley, for the ancient Egyptians lacked these tools; second, estimate the labor force required; and third, establish a schedule that ensures the pyramid will be ready to receive the pharaonic mummy. Within these parameters, Smith, a public works engineer by profession, produces a fascinating scenario for the erection circa 2550 B.C.E. of the Great Pyramid of Khufu. Smith assumes that a project manager directed affairs; he reasonably speculates that this was Khufu's vizier, Hemiunu . Smith converts material descriptions and mathematical calculations into an almost audible narrative, so that readers hear Hemiunu think aloud as he reflects on the defects of previous pyramids and plans out a monument to impress the gods and astound posterity. This impressive, accessible analysis is an absolute necessity for the basic Egyptology collection. – Booklist

Hunger: An Unnatural History - Russell, Sharman Apt

Russell's refined works of narrative nonfiction include Anatomy of a Rose (2001). Now, in her most hard-hitting book to date, she takes on a crucial yet little understood aspect of existence: hunger. Russell begins with the biology of hunger, that is, how our bodies tell us when we need to eat, but her concern is what happens when we don't eat. Hence her fascinating overview of fasting, from religious abstinence to the heroics of hunger strikers, particularly Mahatma Gandhi, as well as her discussion of anorexia nervosa. These compelling lines of inquiry pave the way for the book's most significant sections: Russell's unnerving chronicling of twentieth-century wartime starvation and catastrophic famines. Equally bracing is her report on the everyday hunger of millions of the world's working poor, including Americans, and her candid and informative assessment of just how difficult it is to orchestrate effective relief efforts. – Booklist, starred review

Nature Noir: A Park Ranger's Patrol in the Sierra - Smith, Jordan Fisher

An entirely engrossing debut from a writer who has drawn comparisons to Edward Abbey, John McPhee , and Wallace Stegner , Nature Noir is a nature book unlike any other. Jordan Fisher Smith's startling account of fourteen years as a park ranger thoroughly dispels our idealized visions of life in the great outdoors. Instead of scout troops and placid birdwatchers, Smith's beata stretch of land that has been officially condemned to be floodedbrings him into contact with drug users tweaked out to the point of violence, obsessed miners, and other dangerous creatures. In unflinchingly honest prose, he reveals the unexpectedly dark underbelly of patrolling and protecting public lands. – from the publisher

Shockwave: Countdown to Hiroshima - Walker, Stephen

The pace of Walker 's narrative replicates the frantic advance of August 1945. BBC filmmaker Walker won an Emmy for his documentary on the bombing of Hiroshima and brings precision jump-cuts to this synesthesic account of the 20th century's defining event. Beginning his story three weeks before August 6 (with the first test of a bomb some of its creators speculated might incinerate the earth's atmosphere), Walker takes readers on a roller-coaster ride through the memories of American servicemen, Japanese soldiers and civilians, and the polyglot team of scientists who participated in the Manhattan Project under Gen. Leslie Groves. He establishes the doubts, fears and hopes of the bomb's designers, most of whom participated from a fear that Nazi Germany would break the nuclear threshold first. He nicely retells the story of Japan's selection months before as a target, reflecting the accelerated progress of the war in Europe, and growing concern among U.S. policymakers at the prospect of unthinkable casualties, Japanese as well as American, should an invasion of Japan's "Home Islands" be necessary. Walker conveys above all the bewilderment of Hiroshima 's people, victims of a Japanese government controlled by men determined to continue fighting at all costs. Shockwave' s depiction of the consequences invite comparison with John Hershey's still-classic Hiroshima . – Publisher's Weekly

They Made America : From the Steam Engine to the Search Engline - Evans, Harold

Developed in tandem with a PBS series, Evans's profusely illustrated and elegantly written book offers the same breadth and scope as his previous bestseller, The American Century . Evans profiles 70 of America 's leading inventors, entrepreneurs and innovators, some better known than others. Along with such obvious choices as Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and the Wright brothers, Evans profiles Lewis Tappan (an abolitionist who dreamed up the idea of credit ratings), Gen. Georges Doriot (pioneer of venture capital) and Joan Ganz Cooney, of the Children's Television Workshop. From A.P. Giannini (father of consumer banking) to Ida Rosenthal (the Maidenform Bra tycoon), Evans shows innovation as both a product of and a contributor to the grand apparatus of American society. And his spotlight is on the true American elite: the aristocracy of strategic visionaries, creative risk takers and entrepreneurial adventurers thriving in their natural environment, the free-market democracy of the United States . Evans doesn't neglect the latest generation of innovators, among them Google's Larry Page and Sergey Brin . He concludes with a note of caution, pointing out the nation's recent loss of dominance in the hard sciences. But just as Edison was inspired by popular biographies of innovators before him, so might the next generation of scientific and commercial explorers find guidance in Evans's exciting survey. – Publisher's Weekly

Writer's Market, 2007 - Brewer, Robert Lee

A guide on where to sell photoplays, short stories, poems, serials, plays, novels, novelettes, book manuscripts, articles, photographs, etc. Compiled and arranged by the editorial staff of the Writer's Digest .

A Woman in Berlin : Eight Weeks in the Conquered City: A Diary - Boehm, Philip

Anonymous, then a 34-year-old journalist, started this eight-week diary in April 1945, when the Russians were invading Berlin and the city's mostly female population was heading to its cellars to wait out the bombing. Anyone who was able looted abandoned buildings for food of any kind. Soon the Russians were everywhere; liquored-up Russian soldiers raped women indiscriminately. After being raped herself , Anonymous decided to "find a single wolf to keep away the pack." Thanks to a small series of Russian officers, she was better fed and better protected at night. Her story illustrates the horror war brings to the lives of women when the battles are waged near a home front (rather than a traditional battlefield). In retrospect, she advises women victimized by mass rape to talk to each other about it. Once the war was officially over, the real starvation began; by the time the author's soldier boyfriend returned to Berlin , she was too hungry and hurt to deal with him. When the radio reported concentration camp horrors, she was pained but unable to quite take it in. The author, who died in 2001, has a fierce, uncompromising voice, and her book should become a classic of war literature. First published in 1954, it was probably too dark for postwar readers, German or Allied. – Publisher's Weekly

The Gift: ESP, the Extraordinary Experiences of Ordinary People - Feather, Sally Rhine

In the 1930s J.B. Rhine launched a series of experiments focusing on extra sensory perception (ESP) at Duke University 's Parapsychology Lab. To both accolades and criticism from the scientific community, he argued that the ability of a statistically significant number of subjects to accurately guess the order of randomly arranged cards established ESP's existence. Rhine's daughter Feather, an experimental and clinical psychologist and director of the Rhine Research Center, with the assistance of Schmicker ( Best Evidence ), draws on a database of thousands of reported cases to present a variety of intriguing, if not fully convincing, accounts that, she says, can't be explained except as instances of ESP. There are three types of stories: precognitive (the ability to foresee an event), clairvoyant (witnessing an event at a distance as it occurs) and telepathic (reading another's mind). There are harrowing tales of mothers who sense that one of their children is in danger, as well as young children apparently able to sense what a parent is thinking. Feather includes a number of examples of people who claim to have had a premonition of 9/11. Although the author strains for an open-minded approach, she states clearly that she accepts the validity of psychic experiences. – Publisher's Weekly

Recipes of the Philippines

Compiled by the students in Mr. Mahaffey's Asian Literature class in the spring of 2005.

No Fear Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream

The text of the play plus a modern-language translation on facing pages.

No Fear Grammar: Just the Basics

A step-by-step guide to English grammar presented in a fresh, lively tutorial for students who can't stand studying grammar. Covers grammar basics such as nouns, adjectives, verbs, voice and mood, adverbs, pronouns, conjunctions and prepositions, and punctuation, together with insight into writing style and organization and common grammar mistakes. – Barnes and Noble

No Fear Math: All the Basics

A step-by-step tutorial on the basic math skills that serve as a foundation for high school algebra and higher math, with a special emphasis on skills tested by the SAT and other standardized tests. Covers: operations, fractions, word problems, ratios and proportions, percents, averages, roots and exponents, positive and negative numbers, and the rudiments of algebra and geometry. – Barnes and Noble

The Floods of July 1916: How the Southern Railway Met an Emergency - Bumgarner , Matthew C.

On July 15 and 15, 1916, U.S. rainfall records were shattered when more than 22 inches of rain fell on the already saturated North Carolina mountains during a 24-hour period. An estimated eighty to ninety percent of this deluge rushed down the mountainsides into the region's al-ready swollen streams and rivers, which crested high above their normal flood stages. Numerous bridges and spans were damaged or destroyed, and 686 miles of Southern Railway track in Tennessee , South Carolina , and North Carolina were taken out of service due to damage. Of the four lines running into Asheville , North Carolina , only one-the Murphy Branch-remained operational. Within days crews were repairing the damage. Within a few weeks tracks were relaid , bridges re-built, and the trains were running again. Over 100 stirring photographs accompany this tale of a devastating natural disaster and the incredible human accomplishment that followed. – from the publisher. Reprint of the 1917 edition.

The Christian Calendar: A Complete Guide to the Seasons of the Christian Year Telling the Story of Christ and the Saints, From Advent to Pentecost . - Cowie , Leonard W.

A guide to the Christian liturgical year.

The Film Junkie's Guide to North Carolina - Nelson, Connie

For most of the last 20 years, North Carolina has ranked third in the nation, behind California and New York , in U.S. film production. North Carolina also boasts more production studios and sound stages than any state except California . The 160-plus entries in this travel guide are arranged geographically and include information about what movies and television series were filmed at each site. The guide also provides information about how to find the locations. The reader will especially enjoy the "Star Tracks" sections, which provide gossipy tidbits about where stars ate and stayed while making their films. Whether it's Annie Savoy's (Susan Sarandon's) house in Bull Durham , the apartment building where Blue Lady Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini) lived in Blue Velvet , or the outflow dam where Dr. Richard Kimball (Harrison Ford) escaped from United States marshal Sam Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones) in The Fugitive , this combination travel guide and film history can provide all the details needed to satisfy the most discerning film buff's lust for trivia. – from the publisher

Contents: Preface -- Acknowledgments -- The Coast -- Historic Wilmington Locations -- Historic Wilmington Star Tracks -- Other Wilmington Locations -- Other Wilmington Star Tracks -- Wrightsville Beach Locations -- Wrightsville Beach Star Tracks -- Pleasure Island Locations -- Pleasure Island Star Tracks -- Brunswick County Locations -- Brunswick County Star Tracks -- Pender County Locations -- Duplin County Locations -- Duplin County Star Tracks -- Road to the Outer Banks Locations -- Road to the Outer Banks Star Tracks -- Outer Banks Locations -- Outer Banks Star Tracks -- The Piedmont -- The Triangle -- Raleigh Locations -- Raleigh Star Tracks -- Durham Locations -- Durham Star Tracks -- Chapel Hill Locations -- Chapel Hill Star Tracks -- Research Triangle Park Locations -- Fayetteville Locations -- Pinehurst Locations -- The Triad -- Greensboro Locations -- Greensboro Star Tracks -- High Point Locations -- High Point Star Tracks -- Winston-Salem Locations -- Winston-Salem Star Tracks -- Caswell County Locations -- Alamance County Locations -- Alamance County Star Tracks -- Randolph County Locations -- Randolph County Star Tracks -- Stokes County Locations -- Surry County Locations -- Surry County Star Tracks -- The Charlotte Area -- Uptown Charlotte Locations -- Uptown Charlotte Star Tracks -- Other Charlotte Locations -- Other Charlotte Star Tracks -- Anson and Union County Locations -- Cabarrus County Locations -- Rowan County Locations -- Iredell County Locations -- Iredell County Star Tracks -- Gaston County Locations -- Gaston County Star Tracks -- Cleveland County Locations -- The Mountains -- Northern Mountain Locations -- Northern Mountain Star Tracks -- Downtown Asheville Locations -- Other Asheville Area Locations -- Asheville Star Tracks -- Western Mountain Locations -- Western Mountain Star Tracks -- Appendix A: Tourism Contacts -- Appendix B: Film Commissions in North Carolina -- Index

Reconstruction 1865 – 1877 - Sparknotes

Provides concise analysis; explanations of key themes, motifs, and symbols; and a review quiz and essay topics. Includes the Ten-Percent Plan, Presidential Reconstruction, Radical Reconstruction, the postwar South, the Black Codes, Ulysses S. Grant, and the end of Reconstruction. – from the publisher

Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe - Bryson, Bill

Bryson, a baby boomer, retraces his journeys through Europe in 1972 and 1973, when he and an Iowa high school buddy backpacked through the continent's major capitals and cities. In this account, Bryson revisits many of those places, and his tales about the changes in the sites--and within himself--are fascinating and often hilarious. The interests of Bryson and his unforgettable buddy, Stephen Katz, were quite different almost 20 years ago; they were in a constant search for beer and women and their favorite and least favorite places were judged accordingly. His interests on this latest trip are a bit more sophisticated. Bryson blends the accounts of the two journeys, offering insight into the various countries as well as his own life. This book is fun for travelers or armchair travelers. – Library Journal

Guadalcanal : the Carrier Battles : Carrier Operations in the Solomons , August-October 1942

A comprehensive study of the pivotal aircraft-carrier confrontations of the Guadalcanal campaign, full-scale battles that helped determine the outcome of WWII in the Pacific.

FICTION

Never Let Me Go - Ishiguro, Kazuo

The elegance of Ishiguro's ( The Remains of the Day ) prose and the pitch-perfect voice of his narrator conspire to usher readers convincingly into the remembered world of Hailsham, a British boarding school for special students. The reminiscence is told from the point of view of Kathy H., now 31, whose evocation of the sheltered estate's sunlit rolling hills, guardians, dormitories, and sports pavilions is imbued with undercurrents of muted tension and foreboding that presage a darker reality. As an adult, Kathy re-engages in lapsed friendships with classmates Ruth and Tommy, examining the details of their shared youth and revisiting with growing awareness the clues and anecdotal evidence apparent to them even as youngsters that they were different from everyone outside. Ultimately, readers learn that the Hailsham children are clones, raised solely for the purpose of medical harvesting of organs, their lifespan circumscribed by years when they are designated as carers , followed by a short period as active donors, culminating in what is obliquely referred to as completion. The recovery centers where Kathy serves as a carer for Ruth and then Tommy provide the setting for the latter half of the novel, defining the distinct rhythms and tenor of their days much as Hailsham did when they were young. Ishiguro conveys with exquisite sensitivity the emotional texture of the threesome's relationship, their bonds of personal loyalty that overcome fractures of trust, the palpable boundaries of hope, and the human capacity for forgiveness. Highly recommended for literary merit and as an exceptional platform for the discussion of a controversial topic. – School Library Journal

The Shadow of the Wind - Ruiz, Carlos Zafon

This international sensation (it has sold in more than 20 countries and been number one on the Spanish best-seller list), newly translated into English, has books and storytelling--and a single, physical book--at its heart. In post-World War II Barcelona, young Daniel is taken by his bookseller father to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books , a massive sanctuary where books are guarded from oblivion. Told to choose one book to protect, he selects The Shadow of the Wind , by Julian Carax . He reads it, loves it, and soon learns it is both very valuable and very much in danger because someone is determinedly burning every copy of every book written by the obscure Carax . To call this book-- Zafon's Shadow of the Wind -- old-fashioned is to mean it in the best way. It's big, chock-full of unusual characters, and strong in its sense of place. Daniel's initiation into the mysteries of adulthood is given the same weight as the mystery of the book-burner. And the setting-- Spain under Franco--injects an air of sobriety into some plot elements that might otherwise seem soap operatic. Part detective story, part boy's adventure, part romance, fantasy, and gothic horror, the intricate plot is urged on by extravagant foreshadowing and nail-nibbling tension. This is rich, lavish storytelling. – Booklist

Beasts of No Nation - Iweala , Uzodinma

"I am not bad boy. I am not bad boy. I am soldier and soldier is not bad if he is killing." Set in an unnamed West African country, Iweala's first novel shows civil war from a child's viewpoint. After his mother and sister escape and his father is killed, the traumatized young narrator is discovered by guerrilla fighters. Frightened and alone, he joins the men, becoming a soldier in an impoverished army of terror headed by a charismatic and treacherous leader who tells his young followers that killing "is like falling in love. You cannot be thinking about it." Writing in the boy's West African English, Iweala distills his story to the most urgent and visceral atrocities, and the scenes of bloodshed and rape are made more excruciating by the lyrical, rhythmic language. In the narrator's memories of village life, biblical stories, and creation myths, Iweala explores the mutable separation between human and beast and a child's struggle to rediscover his own humanity after war: "I am some sort of beast or devil," the boy says, "But I am also having mother once, and she is loving me." Readers will come away feeling shattered by this haunting, original story. – Booklist starred review

Two mysteries by a local writer about Asheville and surroundings:

Art's Blood - Lane, Vicki

Lane's sharp eye for detail gets put to good use in this second installment of her Appalachian series. At 53, Elizabeth Goodweather has been a resident of Asheville , N.C. , for more than two decades, operating a small farm with her nephew Ben. This is a time of transition for the rural community, where older residents who still churn their own butter live side by side with hip young artists looking for inspiration. Three such artists, Kyra , Aidan and Boz , known collectively as The 3, have moved into the house across the road from Elizabeth's and are planning a performance art piece for the new wing of Asheville's Museum of Art. When Boz is found dead, and The 3's house burns to the ground, Elizabeth gets drawn into a dangerous mystery that may lead her to share Boz's fate. The widow Goodweather is a wonderful character: plucky, hip and wise. The dialogue sparkles with authenticity, and Lane generates suspense without sacrificing the charm and mystique of her mountain community. – Publisher's Weekly

 

Signs in the Blood - Lane, Vicki

Fundamentalist Christian snake handlers and liberal back-to-the- landers ; a secretive white supremacist militia and undercover police agents; simple rural mountain dwellers and sophisticated urban artists—throw in a counterculture commune of allegedly extraterrestrial origin and that still wouldn't cover all the disparate types who populate the Appalachian community of Ridley Branch, N.C., the setting for this well-crafted, dramatic tale of murder, miracles and midlife romance. Widow Elizabeth Goodweather , the 52-year-old proprietor of an herb and flower farm, becomes dangerously involved in a homegrown investigation when a housebound elderly neighbor refuses to accept the official verdict that her retarded yet woods-savvy son's death was accidental. Evocative detail brings the supporting characters vividly to life, as the plot moves between the mountain man's killing and an unsolved historical mystery that appears to eerily mirror the murderous modern scenario. Also admirable is the sensitivity with which Lane utilizes exotic religions to intensify the book's dark-toned suspense, while resisting oversimplification and insult. Her heroine's open-minded fascination with beliefs not her own should appeal to an unusually wide readership. – Publisher's Weekly

The Camel Club - Baldacci, David

Baldacci returns to Washington D.C. , the setting of his first hit, Absolute Power (1996). The Camel Club is made up of four middle-aged men: Stone (in homage to the director Oliver Stone), Milton, Reuben, and Caleb, whose lives have led them to be suspicious of the government and politicians in general. Their late-night excursions mainly consist of White House stakeouts, until the night they discover two men carrying another man while on Roosevelt Island and killing him while making it look like a suicide. The men believe a conspiracy is afoot, and this time, they're right on the money. Secret Service agent Alex Ford, who has a passing acquaintance with Stone, is called into to investigate the death of the man, who happens to be a Secret Service agent, Patrick Johnson. Johnson was supposedly living far above his means and may have had drug connections, but Ford isn't convinced Johnson took his own life. The Camel Club is conducting their own investigation, and before long they realize they've got a massive conspiracy on their hands, one that could affect the global political arena. Baldacci is a master at building suspense, and the conclusion of his latest novel will leave readers breathless. – Booklist

The Jungle Books: The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book - Kipling, Rudyard

Action, adventure, and excitement spill from the pages of Rudyard Kipling 's best-loved collections of stories, The Jungle Books . Set in magical, mysterious India , these tales of people and animals living together--though not always harmoniously--in the world of nature have appealed equally to children and adults since their first appearance more than a century ago. Most focus on Mowgli, a boy raised by wolves. As Baloo the sleepy brown bear, Bagheera the cunning black panther , Kaa the python, and his other animal friends teach their beloved “man-cub” the ways of the jungle, Mowgli gains the strength and wisdom he needs for his frightful fight with Shere Khan, the tiger who robbed him of his human family. But there are also the tales of Rikki-tikki-tavi the mongoose and his “great war” against the vicious cobras Nag and Nagaina ; of Toomai , who watches the elephants dance; and of Kotick the white seal, who swims in the Bering Sea. This edition includes both the original Jungle Book (1894) and The Second Jungle Book (1895), written in response to the original's enormous success. – from the publisher

REFERENCE

The New SAT & PSAT

A study guide to the latest versions of the SAT and PSAT tests.

Barron's Profiles of American Colleges with CD-ROM, 2007 edition   

In-depth profiles of 1650+ schools, including an index of college majors, admission requirements and academic programs, competitiveness ratings, tuition and financial aid, student-faculty ratios, athletics, extracurriculars , campus life, e-mail addresses, fax numbers, websites, etc.

Encyclopedia of World Biography , volume 26

Poetry for Students , volume 24

MEDIA

The Lord of the Rings - DVD, 6 discs

  DVDs of the movie trilogy in widescreen, with special features about the making of the movies, trailers, and behind-the-scenes interviews.