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Internet Bookwatch

Volume 28, Number 6 June 2018 Home | IBW Index

Table of Contents

Reviewer's Choice Writing/Publishing Shelf Health/Medicine Shelf
Fantasy/SciFi Shelf Mystery/Suspense Shelf Gaming Shelf
Christian Studies Shelf Judaic Studies Shelf Buddhist Studies Shelf
Art Shelf Cookbook Shelf Fiction Shelf
Business Shelf Self-Help Shelf Photography Shelf
Sports Shelf Needlecraft Shelf Biography Shelf
Automotive Shelf Martial Arts Shelf Poetry Shelf
Activity Shelf Graphic Novel Shelf Audiobook Shelf
Library CD Shelf Library DVD Shelf Theatre/Cinema Shelf
Aviation Shelf Metaphysical Studies Shelf Fashion Shelf
Money/Finance Shelf Woodworking Shelf Education Shelf
Pets/Wildlife Shelf Science Shelf Agriculture Shelf
Literary Studies Shelf Native American Studies Shelf American History Shelf
World History Shelf Civil War Shelf Social Issues Shelf
Psychology Shelf Technology Shelf Music Shelf
Dance Shelf Travel Shelf Political Science Shelf
Architecture Shelf Parenting Shelf LGBT Studies Shelf
Military Shelf Environmental Studies Shelf Autism Shelf
Journalism Shelf Genealogy Shelf Wine/Spirits Shelf
Relationship Shelf Computer Shelf Religion/Spirituality Shelf
Wisconsin Shelf Criminology Shelf Holocaust Studies Shelf


Reviewer's Choice

Sexual Harassment Online: Shaming and Silencing Women in the Digital Age
Tania G. Levey
Lynne Rienner Publishers
1800 30th Street, Suite 314, Boulder, CO 80301
www.rienner.com
9781626376953 $67.00 amazon.com

Sexual Harassment Online: Shaming and Silencing Women in the Digital Age is a scholarly examination of how women are relentlessly demeaned and attacked on social media. Chapters particularly focus on how specific words are used to target and silence women: "Slut: Shaming Sexual Activity", "Whore: Judging 'Bad' Girls", "Dyke: Enforcing Heterofeminine Standards", and more. Appendices and an index round out this studious examination of misogyny in social media, as well as how women themselves have used social media speak out against misogyny. Sexual Harassment Online: Shaming and Silencing Women in the Digital Age is an absolutely invaluable contribution to public and college library gender studies and social issues collections, highly recommended.

Homeland Security and Emergency Management
Ernest Abbott & Otto J. Hetzel, editors
American Bar Association
321 North Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60610
https://www.americanbar.org
9781641050180, $109.95, PB, 569pp, www.amazon.com

Knowledgeably compiled and deftly co-edited by Ernest Abbot (who is Of Counsel to Baker, Donelson, Caldwell & Berkowitz, leading it's Disaster Recovery Group) and Otto J. Hetzel (who is a practicing attorney in Washington, DC, specializing in administrative issues of federal agencies), this newly updated and expanded third edition of "Homeland Security and Emergency Management: A Legal Guide for State and Local Governments" provides practical insight and guidance to help legal counsel for state, tribal, and local governments, as well as businesses and citizens to protect lives, property, public safety, and the public welfare. "Homeland Security and Emergency Management" is accessibly organized and presented in four major sections: The Legal Structures of Emergency Management; Building Physical and Financial Resilience - Hazard Mitigation; Special Topics in Emergency Management and Homeland Security; Legal Issues in Response and Recovery from Major Disaster Events. Comprehensive and up-to-date, "Homeland Security and Emergency Management" is unreservedly recommended for professional, law firm, community, and academic library Judicial Studies reference collections and supplemental studies reading lists.

A North Country Almanac
Thomas C. Bailey
Michigan State University Press
1405 South Harrison Road, Suite 25, East Lansing, MI 48823-5245
http://msupress.org
9781611862867, $24.95, HC, 126pp, www.amazon.com

Thomas C. Bailey has been Executive Director of the Little Traverse Conservancy for more than thirty years, having previously worked for the U.S. National Park Service and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. He was appointed to the Board of Trustees of Lake Superior State University in 2016 and to the Governor's Blue Ribbon Panel on Michigan State Parks and Outdoor Recreation in 2011. He is a cofounder of the Heart of the Lakes Center for Land Conservation Policy and the Top of Michigan Trails Council. In the pages of A North Country Almanac: Reflections of an Old-School Conservationist in a Modern World" offers enlightened, informative, and contemplative commentaries on wilderness, the conservation ethic, and the joys of loving the outdoors. Although a lifelong conservationist, Thomas C. Bailey has never unquestioningly accepted environmental dogma. His essays comprising "A North Country Almanac" often challenge familiar assumptions about stewardship of natural resources. Bailey offers a rich and enriching variety of perspectives on an interesting array of topics, returning always to his fundamental belief that conservation pioneers such as John Muir, Theodore Roosevelt, and Aldo Leopold had it right when they affirmed Walt Whitman's observation that "the secret of making the best person . . . is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth." A rewarding and contemplative read from cover to cover, "A North Country Almanac" is an especially recommended addition to personal reading lists, and will prove to be an immediate and enduringly popular addition to both community and academic library Environmental Conservation collections and supplemental studies lists.

Raising a Forest
Thibaud Herem
Cicada Books
www.cicadabooks.co.uk
9781908714527, $14.95, PB, 48pp, www.amazon.com

Thibaud Herem is a French illustrator uprooted and transplanted to East London where he is nurturing a homegrown arboretum in his flat in Clapton. With over 30 species of tree ranging from oak to Japanese maple to giant redwood, this is a beautifully and profusely illustrated documentation of his obsession as well as a visual exploration of the beautiful shapes and forms found in nature. Within a personal narrative, "Raising a Forest" includes fascinating information about the trees, the process of planting and cultivating them, and musings on society's relationship to the architecture of trees. An informative and visual pleasure to simply browse through, "Raising a Forest" will have a very special and particular appeal for readers with an interest in horticulture and gardening.

The Great Horizon
Jo Woolf
Dufour Editions, Inc.
PO Box 7, 124 Byers Road, Chester Springs, PA 19425-0007
www.dufoureditions.com
9781910985885, $42.00, HC, 400pp, www.amazon.com

In 2014 Jo Woolf began digging through the archives of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, in a mission to bring to light some half-forgotten figures in the field of exploration. Now as a result of her research she has compiled fifty stories of adventure and exploration over more than two hundred years of human history in the pages of "The Great Horizon". Published in association with the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, and with full access to their extensive records, "The Great Horizon" includes unique images and insights from the RSGS archives, along with never-before seen material. An inherently fascinating and impressively informative read from first page to last, "The Great Horizon" will prove to be an immediate and enduringly popular addition to both community and academic library collections. For personal reading lists it should be noted that "The Great Horizon" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).

The Story of Act 31
J. P. Leary
Wisconsin Historical Society Press
816 State Street, Madison, WI 53575
www.wisconsinhistory.org
9780870208324, $28.95, PB, 320pp, www.amazon.com

Since its passage in 1989, a state law known as Act 31 requires that all students in Wisconsin learn about the history, culture, and tribal sovereignty of Wisconsin's federally recognized tribes. "The Story of Act 31: How Native History Came to Wisconsin Classrooms" by J. P. Leary (who is an Associate Professor of Humanities, First Nations Studies, and History at the University of Wisconsin - Green Bay) tells the story of the law's inception by tracing its origins to a court decision in 1983 that affirmed American Indian hunting and fishing treaty rights in Wisconsin, and to the violent public outcry that followed the court's decision. Professor Leary paints a picture of controversy stemming from past policy decisions that denied generations of Wisconsin students the opportunity to learn about tribal history. Impressively informative and exceptionally well researched, written, organized and presented, "The Story of Act 31" is a unique, original, and unreservedly recommended addition to all Wisconsin community and academic library Wisconsin History and Wisconsin Native American Studies collections. It should be noted for students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "The Story of Act 31" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $15.99).

Hazardous Waste Management: An Introduction
Cliff Vanguilder
Mercury Learning
9781683922292 $64.95 www.merclearning.com

Hazardous Waste Management: An Introduction presumes no prior knowledge as it provides an in-depth textbook recommended for a first course in hazardous waste management for civil and environmental engineers and those managing companies in waste management. This latest edition includes all the latest regulations, recovery tools, protocols for compliance, and case studies from the field supporting each of these areas. Everything from basic recordkeeping to manifests and reports are surveyed in a top recommendation that should be basic to any introduction to the topic.

At the Altars of Money
Graydon Dee Hubbard
Fithian Press
c/o Daniel & Daniel Publishers
9781564746016 $25.95 www.danielpublishing.com

At the Altars of Money is a business novel based on the 2008 financial crisis and is based on real people and experiences, blending history and financial savvy as it provides a drama that reads like a cross between fiction and nonfiction. Perhaps this is because Hubbard was a CPA for over thirty years; so his financial savvy comes from a professional foundation. The tale of a SEC attorney who has a nose for truth against all odds and the interests of her superiors, who uncovers more than she initially bargained for, makes for a riveting and complex tale of insider money deals and high stakes for would-be heroes and exploiters alike. The result is a fast-paced romp through the legal and financial world that introduces a host of characters in a story that's hard to put down and satisfyingly complex throughout.


The Writing/Publishing Shelf

The Copyright Guide
Lee Wilson
Allworth Press
www.allworth.com
c/o Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018
www.skyhorsepublishing.com
9781621536208, $24.99, HC, 304pp, www.amazon.com

Copyright is a legal right that grants the creator of an original work exclusive rights for its use and distribution. In a newly updated and expanded fourth edition, "The Copyright Guide: How You Can Protect and Profit from Copyright" by Lee Wilson (a Nashville writer and lawyer with extensive experience in the area of copyright) is a definitive resource that explains everything necessary for make copyright work for authors and/or publishers, including how to license your copyrights, how to acquire the right to use the works of others, what copyright infringement is, how to protect your works from infringement, and how to avoid infringing on the works of others. With informative tips and easy-to-use forms, "The Copyright Guide" will save you legal fees, make sure you avoid infringing on the works of others, and help you protect and profit from what you create. Comprehensively informative, exceptionally 'user friendly' in organization and presentation, this new edition of "The Copyright Guide" should be a part of every writer's and/or publisher's instructional reference collections, as well as a core addition to both community and academic library Writing/Publishing collections.

Metadata Essentials
Jake Handy, author
Margaret Harrison, author
Jess Johns, editor
Graphic Arts Books
1700 Fourth Street, Berkeley, CA 94710
www.graphicartsbooks.com
9781513260907, $17.99, HC, 132pp, www.amazon.com

Based on direct feedback from retailers and librarians, "Metadata Essentials: Proven Techniques for Book Marketing and Discovery" unlocks insights into the value and real-life uses of the metadata publishers (including self-publishing authors) spend so many precious hours editing and curating. Because it is marketing information that seriously matters when trying to bring a book to the attention of librarians and an intended readership. The thoroughly 'real world practical' instructional information comprising "Metadata Essentials will: Enhance the metadata that yields proven results; Boost title discovery; Increase online conversion rates; Save time and money. In four succinct and definitive chapters readers will learn: How Books are Discovered; Take Acton! Metadata Essentials: Your Step by Step Guide; Major Bookseller Profiles; Metadata & Libraries. Enhanced with the inclusion of a three page Glossary, and a seven page Index, "Metadata Essentials" is itself an essential, unique, and thoroughly 'user friendly' instructional reference and guide that should be an integral part of every author and every publisher's professional book marketing plan instructional reference collection. While unreservedly recommended for both community and academic library Writing/Publishing collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Metadata Essentials" is also available in a paperback edition (9781513260891, $9.99) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).


The Health/Medicine Shelf

Ultrasound Imaging and Therapy
Aaron Fenster & James C. Lacefield, editors
CRC Press
6000 NW Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300, Boca Raton, FL 33487
www.crcpress.com
9781439866283, $210.00, HC, 336pp, www.amazon.com

Due to improvements in image quality and the reduced cost of advanced features, ultrasound imaging is playing a greater role in the diagnosis and image-guided intervention of a wide range of diseases. Collaboratively compiled and co-edited by Aaron Fenster (who is a founding director of the Imaging Research Laboratories at the Robarts Research Institute, as well as a professor in the Department of Medical Biophysics and Department of Medical Imaging) and James C. Lacefield, (an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Department of Medical Biophysics, a faculty member of the Graduate Program in Biomedical Engineering, and an Associate Scientist of the Imaging Research Laboratories at Robarts Research Institute), "Ultrasound Imaging and Therapy" highlights the latest advances in using ultrasound imaging in image-guided interventions and ultrasound-based therapy, presenting current and emerging techniques, identifying trends in the use of ultrasound imaging, and addressing technical and computational problems that need to be solved. "James C. Lacefield, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Department of Medical Biophysics, a faculty member of the Graduate Program in Biomedical Engineering, and a mentor in the CIHR Strategic Training Program in Cancer Research and Technology Transfer at the University of Western Ontario. He is also an associate scientist of the Imaging Research Laboratories at Robarts Research Institute." is deftly organized into three sections: The first section covers advances in technology, including transducers (2-D, 3-D, and 4-D), beamformers, 3-D imaging systems, and blood velocity estimation systems: The second section focuses on diagnostic applications, such as elastography, quantitative techniques for therapy monitoring and diagnostic imaging, and ultrasound tomography; The final section explains the use of ultrasound in image-guided interventions for image-guided biopsy and brain imaging. Comprised of ten impressively informative articles by notable and erudite contributors, "Ultrasound Imaging and Therapy" is unreservedly recommended for professional, college, and university library Biomedical Imaging collections and supplemental studies reading lists as the newest addition to the outstanding CRC Press 'Imaging in Medical Diagnosis and Therapy' series. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of medical students and academia that "Ultrasound Imaging and Therapy" is also available in a paperback edition (9781138894358, $79.94) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $75.94).

Health Care Under the Knife
Howard Waitzkin
Monthly Review Press
134 W. 29th Street, Suite 706, New York, NY 10001
www.monthlyreview.org
9781583676752, $95.00, HC, 344pp, www.amazon.com

America has some of the finest health care available -- but only if you have the financial resources to afford it. "Health Care Under the Knife: Moving Beyond Capitalism for Our Health" by Howard Waitzkin (Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Sociology, University of New Mexico and Adjunct Professor of Internal Medicine, University of Illinois) is comprised of individual essays addressing the "medical industrial complex"; the impact of privatization and cutbacks under neoliberalism; the nature of health-care work; and the intersections between health care and imperialism both historically and at present. Readers will discover just how the health of our bodies in "developed" countries is tied to the health of the bodies of the labor force in the Global South, and how the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are linked strangely and inextricably to our physical well-being. But this analysis would not be complete without final section of "Health Care Under the Knife" which delivers invaluable guidance for how to change this system. Recounting case studies and successful efforts for creating a more humane community, "Health Care Under the Knife" ultimately gives us hope that our health-care system can be rescued and made an integral part of a new and radically different society. A welcome and invaluable contribution to our national dialogue about fixing a broken health care system both locally and nationally, "Health Care Under the Knife" is an extraordinarily informed and informative study that is unreservedly recommended for both community and academic library Health & Medicine collections and Health Care Policy supplemental studies lists. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of students, social activists, governmental health care policy makers, academia, and the non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Health Care Under the Knife" is also available in a paperback edition (9781583676745, $27.00).

A Journey Into Yin Yoga
Travis Eliot
Human Kinetics Publishers, Inc.
PO Box 5076, Champaign, IL 61820-5076
www.HumanKinetics.com
9781492557227, $24.95, PB, 296pp, www.amazon.com

Join world-renowned yoga instructor Travis Eliot in the pages of "A Journey Into Yin Yoga" as he guides you through this contemporary and effective approach for strengthening your mind, body, and spirit. You will learn about the origins and practice of yin yoga, a passive approach in which poses are held for a few minutes to target the connective tissues of the hips, pelvis, and lower spine. You will slowly and mindfully transition between poses as you gently allow those tissues to stretch, facilitating better circulation and joint health and improving flexibility. Throughout, you will learn the benefits, contraindications, alignment points, and modifications so you can adjust the poses to your needs and body type. "A Journey Into Yin Yoga" also explains eight breathing techniques and eight meditation practices for improved focus, reduced stress, and enhanced clarity. Ten ready-to-use sequences allow you to target specific goals, including better sleep, spine flexibility, and healthy hips, knees, and shoulders. "A Journey Into Yin Yoga" presents over 50 yin yoga poses with stunning photos and detailed instruction, along with inspiring quotes, stories, and interviews from celebrities, doctors, and athletes. You will be inspired to discover your unique path to improved mental and physical strength and balance. Profusely illustrated throughout, impressively 'user friendly' in organization and presentation, "A Journey Into Yin Yoga" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $22.73).

Living Pain Free
Amanda Oswald
North Atlantic Books
2526 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Berkeley, CA 94704-2607
www.northatlanticbooks.com
9781623172077, $19.95, PB, 240pp, www.amazon.com

A member of the International Fascia Research Society, Amanda Oswald is a leading UK myofascial release specialist with a background that includes advanced bodywork and cognitive hypnotherapy, and an advocate of a mind-body approach to healing chronic pain. In "Living Pain Free: Healing Chronic Pain with Myofascial Release-Supplement Standard Medical Approaches with Simple, Effective Exercises You Can Do Yourself" Oswald draws upon her years of experience and expertise to create an indispensable self-help guide that will prove invaluable for anyone suffering from chronic pain and struggling to understand why standard medical approaches have failed them. Taking a mind-body approach, "Living Pain Free" clearly and simply explains how chronic pain develops, and why an understanding of fascia (the main connective tissue in the body) is the key to restoring pain-free movement and health. "Living Pain Free" informs readers about the role of fascia in chronic pain and empowers them to help themselves through simple and effective self-care techniques, stretches, and exercises. A 'must-read' for anyone experiencing chronic pain from conditions including migraines and headaches, repetitive strain injury (RSI), jaw (TMJ) pain, frozen shoulder, neck and back pain, chronic pelvic pain, scar tissue, and systemic pain conditions such as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, and myofascial pain syndrome, "Living Pain Free" will also benefit anyone interested in understanding chronic pain from a myofascial perspective. While unreservedly recommended for both community and academic library Health/Medicine collections and supplemental studies lists, it should be noted for the personal reading lists of medical students, doctors, and non- specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Living Pain Free" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $13.99).

The Pain Companion
Sarah Anne Shockley
New World Library
14 Pamaron Way, Novato, CA 94949
www.newworldlibrary.com
9781608685707, $15.95, PB, 192pp, www.amazon.com

Where do you turn when medication and medical treatments do not relieve persistent, debilitating pain? What can you do when pain interferes with work, family, and social life and you no longer feel like the person you used to be? Relying on firsthand experience with severe nerve pain, author Sarah Anne Shockley accompanies you on your journey through pain and offers compassionate, practical advice to ease difficult emotions and address lifestyle challenges in the pages of "The Pain Companion: Everyday Wisdom for Living With and Moving Beyond Chronic Pain". Her approach helps reduce the toll that living in pain takes on relationships, self-image, and well-being while cultivating greater ease and resilience on a daily basis. Dozens of accessible, uplifting practices guide you every step of the way from a life overcome by pain to a life of greater comfort and peace. "The Pain Companion" also offers profound insights for medical practitioners and invaluable guidance for anyone who loves or cares for others in pain. While very highly recommended for both community and academic library Health/Medicine collections in general, and Pain Management supplemental studies lists in particular, it should be noted for the personal reading lists of medical students, medical professionals, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject, "The Pain Companion" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $12.76).

Prelude to Hospice
Emily K. Abel
Rutgers University Press
106 Somerset St., 3rd Floor, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu
9780813593913, $24.95, HC, 156pp, www.amazon.com

Hospice care is a type of care and philosophy of care that focuses on the palliation of a chronically ill, terminally ill or seriously ill patient's pain and symptoms, and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs. Hospices have played a critical role in transforming ideas about death and dying beginning in Europe in the 11th Century BCE. Viewing death as a natural event, hospices seek to enable people approaching mortality to live as fully and painlessly as possible. In "Prelude to Hospice", Emily K. Abels (who is Professor Emerita at the University of California, Los Angeles's Fielding School of Public Health) provides insight into several important issues surrounding the growth of hospice care by using a unique set of records, "Prelude to Hospice" which expands our understanding of the history of U.S. hospices. These records were originally compiled by Florence Wald (April 19, 1917 - November 8, 2008) who was the founder of the first U.S. hospice. Her records provide a detailed account of her experiences studying and caring for dying people and their families in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Although Wald never published a report of her findings, she often presented her material informally. Like many others seeking to found new institutions, she believed she could garner support only by demonstrating that her facility would be superior in every respect to what currently existed. As a result, she generated inflated expectations about what a hospice could accomplish. Wald's records enable us to glimpse the complexities of the work of tending to dying people. Unreservedly recommended, "Prelude to Hospice" is a unique and extraordinary contribution to college and community library History of Medicine and Nursing, as well as Health Policy and Public Health collections in general, and Hospice supplemental reading lists in particular.

The Mamma Mia! Diet
Paola Lovisetti Scamihorn & Paola Palestini
Hatherleigh Press
c/o The Hatherleigh Foundation
62545 State Highway 10, Hobart, NY 13788
www.hatherleighpress.com
9781578267323, $15.99, PB, 352pp, www.amazon.com

Collaboratively written by Paola Lovisetti Scamihorn (an Italian pharmacist, researcher and food writer with particular attention to healthy eating) and Paola Palestini (a biochemistry professor at the Medical School of the University Milano-Bicocca, Italy), "The Mamma Mia! Diet: The Secret Italian Way to Good Health - Eat Pasta, Enjoy Wine, & Lose Weight" is more than just a meal plan -- it's a complete lifestyle guide. Based on an improved version of the classic Mediterranean diet, "The Mamma Mia! Diet" provides readers with modernized versions of healthy Italian dishes to help them lose weight while still feeling full and satisfied, as well as enjoying: Better health and improved longevity; Higher energy levels and improved fitness; More variety than any other diet; Fundamental nutrition grounded in tradition and science; Incredible dishes packed with nutrition and authentic Italian flavor; A diet that nourishes both the individual and the family -- all in one. While very highly recommended for both community and academic library Health & Medicine dieting instructional reference collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "The Mamma Mia! Diet" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $1.99).


The Fantasy/SciFi Shelf

All the Ever Afters
Danielle Teller
William Morrow & Company
c/o HarperCollins Publishers
195 Broadway New York, New York 10007
www.harpercollins.com
9780062798206, $26.99, HC, 384pp, www.amazon.com

Anielle Teller's "All the Ever Afters: The Untold Story of Cinderella's Stepmother" a luminous and imaginative reimagining of a classic tale, told from the perspective of Agnes, Cinderella's "evil" stepmother. As rumors about the cruel upbringing of beautiful newlywed Princess Cinderella roil the kingdom, her stepmother, Agnes, who knows all too well about hardship, privately records the true story. A peasant born into serfdom, Agnes is separated from her family and forced into servitude as a laundress's apprentice when she is only ten years old. Using her wits and ingenuity, she escapes her tyrannical matron and makes her way toward a hopeful future. When teenaged Agnes is seduced by an older man and becomes pregnant, she is transformed by love for her child. Once again left penniless, Agnes has no choice but to return to servitude at the manor she thought she had left behind. Her new position is nursemaid to Ella, an otherworldly infant. She struggles to love the child who in time becomes her stepdaughter and, eventually, the celebrated princess who embodies everyone's unattainable fantasies. The story of their relationship reveals that nothing is what it seems, that beauty is not always desirable, and that love can take on many guises. Lyrically told, emotionally evocative, and brilliantly perceptive, "All the Ever Afters" deftly explores the hidden complexities that lie beneath classic tales of good and evil, all the while showing us that how we confront adversity reveals a more profound, and ultimately more important, truth than the ideal of "happily ever after". Original, entertaining, deftly crafted from first page to last, "All the Ever Afters" is certain to be an immediate and enduringly popular addition to community library collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "All the Ever Afters" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $12.99) and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Blackstone Audio, 9781538549230, $39.99, CD).

The Seas of Distant Stars
Francesca G. Varela
Owl House Books
c/o Homebound Publications
Postal Box 1442, Pawcatuck, CT 06379-1968
https://owlhousebooks.com
9781947003927, $17.95, PB, 240pp, www.amazon.com

Agapanthus was kidnapped when she was only two years old, but she doesn't remember it. In fact, she doesn't remember her home planet at all. All she knows is Deeyae, the land of two suns; the land of great, red waters. Her foster-family cares for her, and at first that's enough. But, as she grows older, Agapanthus is bothered by the differences between them. As an Exchanger, she's frail and tall, not short and strong. And, even though she was raised Deeyan, she certainly isn't treated like one. One day, an Exchanger boy completes the Deeyan rite-of-passage, and Agapanthus is inspired to try the same. But, when she teams up with him, her quest to become Deeyan transforms into her quest to find the truth -- of who she is, and of which star she belongs to. A deftly written and thoroughly entertaining novel that showcases author Francesca G. Varela's genuine flare for originality and narrative driven storytelling, "The Seas of Distant Stars" will have a very special appear for dedicated science fiction fans and will prove to be an immediate and enduringly popular addition to community library Science Fiction collections.

The 49th Mystic
Ted Dekker
Revell
c/o Baker Publishing Group
6030 East Fulton, Ada, MI 49301
www.bakerbooks.com
9780800729783, $24.99, HC, 432pp, www.amazon.com

Some say the great mystery of how one can live in two worlds at once died with Thomas Hunter many years ago. Still others that the gateway to that greater reality was and is only the stuff of dreams. They are wrong. In the small town of Eden, Utah, a blind girl named Rachelle Matthews is about to find out just how wrong. When a procedure meant to restore Rachelle's sight goes awry, she begins to dream of another world so real that she wonders if Earth might only be a dream experienced when she falls asleep in that reality. Who is a simple blind girl to have such strange and fantastic dreams? She's the prophesied one who must find and recover five ancient seals (in both worlds) before powerful enemies destroy her. If Rachelle succeeds in her quest, peace will reign. If she fails, both worlds will forever be locked in darkness. So begins a two-volume saga by Ted Deker of high stakes and a mind-bending quest to find an ancient path that will save humanity. The clock is ticking; the end rushes forward! "The 49th Mystic" is an extraordinary and riveting read from first page to last and unreservedly recommended for community library Fantasy Fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "The 49th Mystic" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.50) and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Recorded Books, 9781501994418, $44.99, CD).

The Black Wolves of Boston
Wen Spencer
Baen Books
PO Box 1188, Wake Forest NC 27588
www.baen.com
9781481482462, $25.00, HC, 480pp, www.amazon.com

Silas Decker had his world destroyed when he was attacked by vampires outside of New Amsterdam. He has rebuilt his life a dozen times in the last three hundred years -- each time less and less successfully. Now he lives alone, buried under a hoarding habit, struggling to find some reason to wake up with the setting of the sun. Eloise is a Virtue, pledged to hunting evil. What she doesn't know is how to live alone in a city full of strangers who know nothing about monsters. Seth is the sixteen-year old Prince of Boston, ward of the Wolf King. Now he is left in a city that desperately needs his protection with enemies gathering all around. Joshua believes he is a normal, college-bound high school senior. His life is shattered when he wakes up in a field, covered with blood, and the prom committee scattered in pieces about him like broken dolls. These four must now come together to unravel a plot by Wickers, witches who gain power from human sacrifices and have the power to turn any human into their puppet. Four people who lost everything struggle to save Boston by saving each other. Another gem of a fantasy adventure novel by a master of the genre, "The Black Wolves of Boston by Wen Spencer is unreservedly recommended for community library Science Fiction & Fantasy collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of dedicated fantasy fans that "The Black Wolves of Boston" is also available in a paperback edition (9781481483209, $7.99) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $7.99).

Dunwich
Peter Levenda
Ibis Press
c/o Red Wheel/Weiser/Conari
65 Parker Street, Suite 7, Newburyport, MA 01950
www.redwheelweiser.com
9780892541805, $27.95, HC, 400pp, www.amazon.com

Beginning with the harrowing experience of an alien abductee in a small New England town and continuing through a series of encounters with a renowned mathematician, mercenary geneticists, an international ring of pornographers, the human trafficking cult of the Islamic State, and practitioners of an arcane form of sexual occultism, Dunwich follows the adventures of religion professor Gregory Angell as he attempts to discover a shocking secret encoded within an ancient book of magic that, once deciphered, will cause the eruption of a force so prehistoric that its earthly temples once submerged beneath the seas will rise to the surface again! The sequel to author Peter Levenda's "The Lovecraft Code", this Ibis Press edition of "Dunwich" is based on the themes in H. P. Lovecraft's "The Dunwich Horror" and an unreservedly recommended addition to community library Fantasy Fiction collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of Lovecraft-style horror fantasy fiction fans that "Dunwich" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $26.55).

Though Hell Should Bar the Way
David Duke
Baen Books
9781481483131 $25.00 www.baen.com

Though Hell Should Bar the Way provides the new novel in Drake's RCN saga and tells of a rich kid who has lost everything, including his career when his father is revealed to be a criminal. Ron's assignment to accompany Captain Daniel Leary and Lady Adele Mundy when they go off to start a war will change his life and give him a new opportunity to become something if he has the muster to face an interstellar voyage and the monsters which will affect the world in this gripping sci-fi military adventure.


The Mystery/Suspense Shelf

The Bengal Identity
Eileen Watkins
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street, Floor 21, New York, NY 10018-2522
www.kensingtonbooks.com
9781496710581, $15.95, PB, 256pp, www.amazon.com

With no ID for his pet, an agitated young man shows up at Cassie's Comfy Cats claiming his house has burned down and he needs to board his big, brown cat, Ayesha. But after a bath washes dye out of the cat's coat and reveals beautiful spots, Cassie suspects the exotic-looking feline may in fact be a valuable Bengal show cat, possibly stolen. At the same time, there are rumored sightings of a "wild cat" in the hills of Chadwick, New Jersey. Could there be a connection? When Ayesha's alleged owner turns up dead, it looks like whoever wants the beautiful Bengal is not pussyfooting around. Working with the police, Cassie and her staff need to be careful not to reveal the purloined purebred's whereabouts while they discreetly make inquiries to cat breeders to find her real owners. But after a break-in attempt rattles Cassie's cage, it's clear someone let the cat out of the bag. And when a second body is found, it's up to Cassie to spot the killer, who may be grooming her to be the next victim. Another carefully crafted mystery from the author of "The Persian Always Meows Twice" (9781496710567, $15.00 PB, $3.49, 304pp), novelist Eileen Watkins once again demonstrates her complete mastery of the mystery genre along with her flair for unique and narrative driven storytelling. Certain to be an immediate and enduringly popular addition to community library Mystery/Suspense collections, it should be noted for the personal reading lists of dedicated mystery buffs that "The Bengal Identity" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).

Beside the Syrian Sea
James Wolff
Bitter Lemon Press
www.bitterlemonpress.com
9781912242139, $24.00, HC, 320pp, www.amazon.com

Jonas works for the UK secret service as an intelligence analyst. When his father is kidnapped and held for ransom by ISIS gunmen in Syria, he takes matters into his own hands and begins to steal the only currency he has access to: secret government intelligence. He heads to Beirut with a haul of the most sensitive documents imaginable and recruits an unlikely ally - an alcoholic Swiss priest named Father Tobias. Despite barely surviving his previous contact with ISIS, Tobias agrees to travel into the heart of the Islamic State and inform the kidnappers that Jonas is willing to negotiate for his father's life. When the British and American governments realize they may be dealing with betrayal on a scale far greater than that of Edward Snowden, they try everything in their power to stop Jonas, and he finds himself tested to the limit as he fights to keep the negotiations alive and play his enemies off against each other. As he races towards a thrilling confrontation in the Syrian desert, Jonas will have to decide how far he is willing to go to see his father again. James Wolff's deftly crafted and inherently fascinating novel, "Beside the Syrian Sea" will prove to be an immediate and enduringly popular addition to community library collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Beside the Syrian Sea" is also available in a paperback edition (9781908524980, $14.95) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $8.38).

District VIII
Adam Lebor
Pegasus Books
80 Broad Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10004
www.pegasusbooks.com
9781681777344, $25.99, HC, 400pp, www.amazon.com

Life's tough for a Gypsy detective in Budapest. The cops don't trust you because you're a Gypsy. Your fellow Gypsies, even your own family, shun you because you're a cop. The dead, however, don't care. So when Balthazar Kovacs, a detective in the city's murder squad, gets a mysterious text message on his phone, he gulps down his coffee and goes to work. The message has two parts: a photograph and an address. The photograph shows a man, in his early thirties, lying on his back with his eyes open, half-covered by a blue plastic sheet. The address is 26 Republic Square, the former Communist Party headquarters, and once the most feared building in the country. But when Kovacs arrives at Republic Square, the body is gone. Inspired by true events, Adam Lebor's novel, "District VIII" takes the reader to a hidden city within Budapest and an underworld that visitors never get to see: the gritty back alleys of District VIII; the endemic corruption that reaches deep into government as officials plunder state coffers at will; a rule of law bent to serve the interests of the rich and powerful; the rising power of international organized crime gangs who use the Hungarian capital as a springboard for their European operations. A deftly crafted and simply riveting novel by a master of narrative driven storytelling, Adam Lebor's "District VII" is very highly recommended, especially for community library collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "District VII" is also available in a paperback edition (Head of Zeus, 9781786692719, $9.99), and in a digital book format (Kindle, $12.99)

Cut You Down
Sam Wiebe
Quercus
1290 Sixth Ave., NY, NY 10104, www.quercus.com
9781681440231, $26.99, HC, 288pp, www.amazon.com

No one knows what happened to Tabitha Sorenson, a brilliant but troubled college student who vanished in the aftermath of a scandal involving millions of dollars in school funds Hired to find the missing girl by her professor (and admirer) Dana Essex, private investigator Dave Wakeland is tossed into a world of suburban gangsters, corrupt authorities, and a contract killer with an unhealthy fondness for blades -- all of them ready to guard their secrets at any cost. Aided by Sonia Drego, a police officer and former lover with dangerous secrets of her own, Wakeland's world is upended when the investigation takes a deadly turn. Suspecting he may have been played for a rube by the woman who hired him, the young PI crosses borders (and lines) in his hunt for a sadistic killer, a journey of discovery that takes him from the back alleys of a rapidly modernizing Vancouver to the wilds of Washington State to a disorienting suburban sprawl, where nothing is as it seems. Another deftly crafted gem by a master of the genre, Sam Wiebe's "Cut You Down" is a riveting read from cover to cover and will prove to be an enduringly popular addition to community library Mystery/Suspense collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Cut You Down" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99) and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Blackstone Audio, 9781538480748, $29.95, MP3 CD).

A Dying Note
Ann Parker
Poisoned Pen Press
6962 E. First Ave., #103, Scottsdale, AZ 85251
www.poisonedpenpress.com
9781464209796, $26.95, HC, 366pp, www.amazon.com

It's autumn of 1881, and Inez Stannert, still the co-owner of Leadville, Colorado's Silver Queen saloon, is settled in San Francisco with her young ward, Antonia Gizzi. Inez has turned her business talents to managing a music store, hoping to eventually become an equal partner in the enterprise with the store's owner, a celebrated local violinist. But when the badly beaten body of a young musician washes up on the filthy banks of San Francisco's Mission Creek canal, Inez and Antonia become entangled in the mystery of his death when the musician turns out to have ties to Leadville, ties that threaten to expose Inez's notorious past. And they aren't the only ones searching for answers. Wolter Roeland de Bruijn, "finder of the lost", has also been tasked with ferreting out the perpetrators and dispensing justice in its most final form. Leadville's leading madam Frisco Flo, an unwilling visitor to the city with a Leadville millionaire, is on the hook as well, having injudiciously financed the young musician's journey to San Francisco in the first place. Time grows short as Inez and the others uncover long-hidden secrets and unsettled scores. With lives and reputations on the line, the tempo rises until the investigation's final, dying note. Ann Parker's "A Dying Note" is another perfectly crafted gem of a mystery from a master of the genre. While an especially recommended addition to the personal reading lists of dedicated mystery buffs, and certain to be an enduringly popular inclusion for community library Mystery/Suspense collections, it should be noted that "A Dying Note" is also available in a paperback edition (9781464209819, $15.95) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).

Death and a Pot of Chowder
Cornelia Kidd
Crooked Lane Books
2 Park Avenue, 10th floor, New York, NY 10016
www.crookedlanebooks.com
9781683315834, $26.99, HC, 330pp, www.amazon.com

Anna Winslow, her husband Burt and their teenage son have deep roots on Quarry Island. Burt and his brother, Carl, are lobstermen, just like their father and grandfather before them. And while some things on the island never seem to change, Anna's life is about to take some drastically unexpected turns. First, Anna discovers that she has a younger sister, Izzie Jordan. Then, on the day she drives to Portland to meet Izzie for the first time, Carl's lobster boat is found abandoned and adrift. Later that evening, his corpse is discovered -- but he didn't drown. Whether it was an accident or murder, Carl's sudden death has plunged Anna's existence into deadly waters. Despite barely knowing one another and coming from very different backgrounds, Anna and Izzie unite to find the killer. With their family in crisis, the sisters strive to uncover the secrets hidden in Quarry Island -- and perhaps the ones buried within their own hearts as well. A simply riveting mystery from beginning to end by a master of the genre, one special feature is the inclusion of recipes! While very highly recommended and certain to be an enduringly popular addition to community library Mystery/Suspense collections, it should be noted for the personal reading lists of dedicated mystery buffs that "Death and a Pot of Chowder" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $12.99).

Six Dogs 'til Sunday
Lia Farrell
Camel Press
PO Box 70515, Seattle, WA 98127
www.camelpress.com
9781603812504, $15.95, PB, 256pp, www.amazon.com

It's January in Rosedale, Tennessee, and Mae December is preparing for her March wedding to Sheriff Ben Bradley. Mae, who boards dogs for a living, is also busy tending to her pregnant dog and scouting locations for the movie featuring the music of her former fiance Noah West, who died in a car accident four years earlier. Fortunately the picturesque old house at the end of Little Chapel Road is for rent. Just as filming is about to begin, a man is shot on the set, but manages to drive himself to the hospital, where he dies before he can ID his killer. He was a member of the film crew, but also a local, and circumstances point to his being a confidential informant for Ben's predecessor, Sheriff Trey Cantrell, also the owner of the house turned movie set. At the time of the shooting, the victim had been stealing a large sum of money from a safe on the premises. Whose money is it, and where does it come from? The Rosedale Sheriff's Office not only has another murder case on its hands, but one that will dredge up a past long buried. How far will the guilty parties go to protect their secrets? The sixth and final book in the Mae December Mystery series by Lia Farrell (the pen name of the mother and daughter writing team of Lyn Farquhar and Lisa Fitzsimmons), "Six Dogs 'til Sunday" is another deftly crafted mystery that will prove to be an immediate and enduringly popular addition to community library Mystery/Suspense collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of dedicated mystery buffs that "Six Dogs 'til Sunday" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $4.95).

Murders at Bishop
J. Lea Koretsky
Regent Press
2747 Regent St., Berkeley, CA 94705
www.regentpress.net
9781587904318, $19.95, PB, 316pp, www.amazon.com

"Murders at Bishop" is an anthology containing three novellas by J. Lea Koretsky about post office crimes. The first novella Murders at Bishop describes numerous truck rollovers on Interstate 50 and a series of heists of stamp coin on Highway 395. The second novella, The Dead, is about the murders of the Packard vehicle test group who evaluate structural efficacy of early cars. The third novella is Undifferentiated and portrays murders of post office appraisers on a train traveling through Vermillion, Ohio. A retired psychotherapist who divides her time between travel and writing, "Murders at Bishop" is author J. Lea Koretsky's fifteenth published book and continues to demonstrate her total mastery of the Mystery/Suspense genre. "Murders at Bishop" is unreservedly recommended for the personal reading lists of dedicated mystery buffs and will prove to be an enduringly popular addition to community library collections.

The Consultant
Tj O'Connor
Oceanview Publishing
1620 Main Street, Suite 11, Sarasota, FL 34236
www.oceanviewpub.com
9781608092833, $16.00, PB, 432pp, www.amazon.com

When a rogue CIA consultant goes AWOL from his Middle Eastern post in response to his brother's plea for help, Jonathan Hunter arrives just in time to witness his brother's murder. Pursuing his brother's killer, Hunter stumbles into a nest of horrifying terrorist activity by Middle Eastern refugees, which sparks a backlash across America. In the shadows, Hunter's mentor, the omnipotent Oscar LaRue, is playing a dangerous game with Russian Intelligence. Neither Hunter nor LaRue realizes that a new threat Iranian threat has entered the game. Stakes rise as two shadowy players are one step ahead of Hunter and LaRue. One is Khalifah, a terrorist mastermind, and and the other is Caine, a nomadic assassin who dances with the highest bidder. As attacks escalate and the country drifts toward another Middle East conflict, innocent refugees become trapped between the terrorists and the terrorized. Prejudice, hate, and fear vent everywhere. Is this who we've become? Before the country explodes, Hunter must find Khalifah, learn the next terror target, and pray he's in time to stop further annihilation. Tj O'Connor's "The Consultant" is a simply riveting thriller of a novel by an author who is an international anti- terrorism expert. While a very highly and unreservedly recommended addition to community library collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "The Consultant" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).

No Harp for My Angel / Booty for a Babe / Eve, It's Extortion
Carter Brown
Stark House Press
1315 H Street, Eureka, CA 95501
www.starkhousepress.com
9781944520441, $19.95, PB, 298pp, www.amazon.com

Carter Brown was the literary pseudonym of Alan Geoffrey Yates (1 August 1923 - 5 May 1985), an English-born Australian writer of detective fiction. Now Stark House Press has brought back into print for the edification of a new general of dedicated mystery buffs three of his very best short stories under one cover and features police detective Lt. Al Wheeler. In "It's Extortion. No Harp for My Angel" Lt. Al Wheeler is tangling with a redhead with green eyes who is Nobody's girl but my own! Her club-owning gangster boyfriend, who is involved in some very shady business -- and his gorilla henchman, who is seven feet of muscle and bone, just waiting for the chance to crush him to a pulp when Al becomes the decoy sent in to bring their racket down. In "Booty for a Babe", Lt Al Wheeler tries to solve a murder at a science fiction convention he discovers a professor who wants to stop time by tricking the elusive Delfs (and meets an intellectual gangster who wants to get his hands on the professor's latest invention) is frustrated by the generously proportioned convention organizer, who somehow manages to keep one step ahead of Al's wolfish designs. Then in "Eve, It's Extortion" finds Lt. Al Wheeler trying to solve a hit-and-run murder involving the victim's wife, who is all too glad to have lost her lush of a husband (the beautiful skip-tracer who tracked down the victim right before he met his untimely end) and her dubious boyfriend who may not be as innocent as he professes, but is certainly up to no good. "No Harp for My Angel / Booty for a Babe / Eve, It's Extortion" is unreservedly recommended for the personal reading of dedicated mystery fans, as well as community library Mystery/Suspense collections.

Portrait in Smoke/The Longest Second
Bill S. Ballinger
Stark House Press
1315 H Street, Eureka, CA 95501
www.starkhousepress.com
9781944520489, $19.95, PB, 270pp, www.amazon.com

Bill S. Ballinger (13 March 1912 - 23 March 1980) was an American author and screenwriter. He was also an Associate Professor of Writing at the California State University at Northridge, Los Angeles, California. During his lifetime he wrote more than 150 teleplays, 81 radio scripts, and some 30 books. Two of his mysteries have now been brought back into print under one cover as part of the Stark House Press 'Mystery Classics' series. Danny April is obsessed in "Portrait in Smoke". He buys out a little collection agency in Chicago, and that is how he first meets Krassy. He'd never seen anyone so beautiful. She was Krassy Almauniski then, when he first runs across her picture in his files. She's gone through several identities since then. As Danny tries to track her down, each new name presents him with a portrait of a woman on the move. Krassy is climbing up the social ladder, one sucker at a time. There's the photographer who signs off on a charge account for her, later arrested for larceny. And the ad executive who gets off lightly for what she persuaded him to do. He gets to walk away with his pride. But not all the men who Krassy meet are so lucky. But Danny knows he will be different. So he keeps looking -- until at last he finds her. "The Longest Second" is a vividly written and simply riveting story of a man who when he awakens and attempts to turn his head suddenly realizes that his throat had been cut and is afflicted with amnesia. When his fingerprints are checked, he finds out that his name is Victor Pacific. He has no memories of who he is, what he is, or why someone tried to kill him. He remembers the name Horstman. But he has no idea of how to find him. All he can do is to begin a search for the clues to his former life. Then he meets Bianca but will she be able to help him before they strike again? Two terrifically entertaining reads showcases the lat's Bill Ballinger's talents as a writer, "Portrait in Smoke/The Longest Second" are truly 'Time Lost Classics' that will prove to be immediate and enduringly popular additions to both the personal reading lists of dedicated mystery buffs and community library Mystery/Suspense collections.

Wayward Girl/The Widow
Orrie Hitt
Stark House Press
1315 H Street, Eureka, CA 95501
www.starkhousepress.com
9781944520625, $19.95, PB, 242pp, www.amazon.com

Orrie Hitt (October 27, 1916 - December 8, 1975) wrote approximately 150 books over a period of about 14 years -- all while sitting at his kitchen table. Long out of print, Stark House Press has brought back two of his stories under one cover as part of the 'Noir Classics' series. "Wayward Girl" is the story of Sandy Greening who loses her virginity at fourteen to a drunken neighbor. Her mother doesn't care. She's drunk herself oblivious all the time on cheap wine. So Sandy starts running with a gang, The Blue Devils, and that is where she first turns on to marijuana, and not long after, heroin. That's also when she starts to sell herself to anyone with the bucks to pay for her highs. But the night Tommy asks her to hold his knife before they rumble with The Black Cats is the night that changes Sandy's life forever. A kid gets killed, and the cops put the finger on Sandy for information. And when she won't give it up the easy way, they set her up and go after it the hard way, all the way to reform school. And that's where Sandy starts to learn the real lessons of life. "The Widow" is about Jerry Rebner, a man who starts working for Mrs. Sprague as her cook at the Dells, and he figures he knows what he wants -- Linda. She's a girl who has everything Jerry likes in a woman, and more. But Linda is married to Frank, Mrs. Sprague's shiftless hot rodding son, who widows her when he plows into a tree one drunken evening. Then Jerry meets sweet, virginal Norma, who used to pose as a nude model! Torn between the two women, and by the memory of his first wife, Jerry begins to drink. Then Linda comes to him with a plan Mrs. Sprague's property is worth $50,000 to a development company, but she won't sell. Linda is all she has left, her sole heir. And those steps leading down to a hazardous path of destruction. Time lost classics that showcase the late Orrie Hitt's undeniable talent as a writer, "Wayward Girl/The Widow" is very highly recommended for both personal reading lists and community library collections.

Hostage for a Hood/The Merriweather File
Lionel White
Stark House Press
1315 H Street, Eureka, CA 95501
www.starkhousepress.com
9781944520373, $19.95, PB, 224pp, www.amazon.com

The late Lionel White (9 July 1905 - 26 December 1985) was an American journalist and crime novelist, several of whose dark noir mystery stories were made into successful Hollywood movies. Now two of his best are brought back into print by Stark House Press for the benefit of a new generation of mystery buffs. "Hostage for a Hood" is the story of a hood named Cribbins who has a heist planned down to the last detail. He and Santino are driving one of the cars, on their way to hold up an armored car to remove its quarter of a million dollars. The only thing Cribbins doesn't plan on is being run into by Joyce Sherwood's Chevy. All they can do after that is quickly take over Joyce's car, including Joyce and her dog, and finish the job. When her husband Brad comes home and finds no Joyce and no dog, he knows something is wrong. He calls the police, but they only put him off, assuming that a missing wife could have run off with somebody. Brad knows different. But can he find her before the cops put so much effort into solving the armored car hold that they lose sight of the missing wife who is now part of the same crime before Cribbins decides he doesn't need a hostage anymore -- before Santino finally flips out and starts to use his knife? In "The Merriweather File" Ann Merriweather thinks someone is trying to kill her. She shares her fears with an old friend of the family, her lawyer friend Howard Yates, but though he believes her, there is nothing he can do. Then Ann's husband, Charles, is found by the cops with a flat tire by the side of the road and a murdered body in his trunk. The man had been shot. Charles is held for questioning, then arrested, and Howard agrees to take the case. But nothing is as it seems. The police quickly determine that the murder occurred at the Merriweather's house. But Charles has an alibi. He was gone from the house all night. And Ann was asleep under the heavy influence of some sleeping pills. But someone killed the man in the trunk, and the more Howard discovers about the case, the less inclined he is to assume the innocence of his client Two terrifically entertaining crime stories by a master of the genre, Lionel White's "Hostage for a Hood/The Merriweather File" is an especially recommended addition to personal reading lists and community library Mystery/Suspense collections.

Trusted Like the Fox
Wesley Burrowes
Somerville Press
c/o Dufour Editions, Inc.
PO Box 7, 124 Byers Road, Chester Springs, PA 19425-0007
www.dufoureditions.com
9780995523975, $26.00, PB, 232pp, www.amazon.com

"Trusted Like the Fox" by Wesley Burrowes is the suspenseful tale of Bill Burgess, a Dublin television journalist who, in the midst of the political violence raging throughout Northern Ireland, decides to take a trip back to his hometown in County Antrim. The town outwardly remains much as he remembers it, but there are some unsettling surprises in store from his once childhood companions. He is baffled by their attitude towards him, but then the grim truth begins to reveal itself. A deftly crafted novel that, while a work of political fiction, reveals genuine insight into the yesteryear of Ulster Loyalism and the attitudes that drove the extremism of the time. A simply riveting read by a master of narrative driven storytelling, Wesley Burrowes' "Trusted Like the Fox" is an especially recommended addition to personal reading lists and community library general fiction collections.

Baby Blue
Pol Koutsakis, author
Anne-Marie Stanton-Ife, translator
Bitter Lemon Press
www.bitterlemonpress.com
9781908524911, $14.95, PB, 284pp, www.amazon.com

"Baby Blue" is a novel by Pol Koutsakis is the story the blue-eyed orphan Emma, a beautiful teenage girl with a talent for card tricks of exceptional sophistication - all the more impressive for her tender years and the blindness that has afflicted her since the age of eight. Emma and her adoptive father, a former investigative journalist, roam the streets of Athens together, earning enough to keep body and soul together by performing Chaplinesque sketches. When the ex-journalist is brutally murdered, Angelino, a well-connected Athenian underworld figure, takes the girl under his wing and retains the services of Stratos to find her father's killers. Meanwhile, Costas Dragas, a top homicide cop and Gazis's best friend, has taken on the investigation of a spate of murders of pedophiles, and as usual, has gone to war with the media. It slowly emerges that their cases intersect and that corporate interests, more powerful than they could ever have imagined, lie behind the murders they both need to solve. Through a combination of experience and the ability to read the ailing city, its residents and its streets with consummate skill, the case is solved, but not without some subliminal tutoring from a great classic of the cinema. Deftly translated into English by AnneMarie Stanton-Ife, "Baby Blue" is an exceptionally well written and thoroughly engaging novel from beginning to end. While very highly recommended for community library Mystery/Suspense collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Baby Blue" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $12.95).

Shot in the Dark
Cleo Coyle
Berkley Prime Crime
9780451488848 $27.00 www.penguin.com

Shot in the Dark is a new Coffeehouse Mystery that involves coffee shop manager Clare in a new problem that's brewing at the shop due to a new dating app. Clare's patrons are interested in more than coffee, because romance is in the air and her Village Blend has been named the hot spot to meet a date in New York City. When murder involves a customer, Clare is convinced of her innocence but must view the rest of her patrons as possible suspects in the process of clearing the woman's name. A lively survey follows, well steeped in coffee lore and New York City culture.


The Gaming Shelf

Hand of the Week
Joel Martineau
Master Point Press
www.masterpointpress.com
9781771400428, $19.95, PB, 221pp, www.amazon.com

Joel Martineau was a finalist in the 2017 Canadian National Teams Championships. Since retiring from teaching literature at the University of British Columbia, he has spent a lot of his time teaching bridge. "Hand of the Week" is his first book. One of the best ways to improve a player's bridge performance is to watch an expert play, and to try to understand the reasoning behind their bids and plays. In "Hand of the Week", readers follow the bidding and play (or defense) of fifty-two hands one a week for a year and listen to the Martineau's thinking as each hand develops. Understanding why the experts do what they do is the first step towards recreational players being able to do it themselves -- at least some of the time! Thoroughly 'user friendly' in organization and presentation, "Hand of the Week" is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to personal and community library Bridge instructional reference collections.


The Christian Studies Shelf

The Popular Encyclopedia of Bible Prophecy
Tim LaHaye & Ed Hindson, editors
Harvest House Publishers
2975 Chad Drive, Eugene, Oregon 97408
www.harvesthousepublishers.com
9780736913522, $26.99, HC, 432pp, www.amazon.com

More than one fourth of the Bible was prophetic in nature at the time it was written. And Christ's second coming is mentioned more than 300 times in Scripture. Clearly, God wants us to understand the last days and what better way to do so than with "The Popular Encyclopedia of Bible Prophecy", a trustworthy and easy-to-use encyclopedic guide to Bible prophecy, which provides...a comprehensive overview of prophecy related terms helpful illustrations that provide graphic pictures and timetables of the end times informative surveys of all the major prophetic viewpoints concise explanations that answer tough questions about Bible prophecy. No personal, seminary, church, or academic library Christian Studies library collection is complete without this impressively informative and thoroughly 'user friendly' resource with over 400 pages filled with thousands of facts about Christ's return within the context of the end times. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "The Popular Encyclopedia of Bible Prophecy" by the editorial team of renowned prophecy scholar, minister, and educator Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson (who is Dean of the School of Divinity and Distinguished Professor of Religion at Liberty University in Virginia) is also available in a paperback edition (9780736973854, $19.99) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $15.26).

The Essential Jonathan Edwards
Owen Strachan & Doughtas A. Sweeney
Moody Publishers
820 N. LaSalle Blvd., Chicago, IL 60610
www.moodypublishers.com
9780802418210, $22.99, PB, 448pp, www.amazon.com

Jonathan Edwards (October 5, 1703 - March 22, 1758) was an American revivalist preacher, philosopher, and Congregationalist Protestant theologian. Some 250 years later, Jonathan Edwards, America's consummate pastor-theologian, continues to capture the attention of Christians around the world. Yet Edwards left us over 1,200 sermons and thousands of pages of other publications, not to mention the literal thousands of books that have been written about Edwards since he died. Where does one even begin? That's why Owen Strachan (Associate Professor of Christian Theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) and Douglas A. Sweeney (Professor of Church History and the History of Christian Thought and Director of the Carl F. H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) have collaborated in "The Essential Jonathan Edwards: An Introduction to the Life and Teaching of America's Greatest Theologian" to provide a perfect introduction to Edwards's life and thought. "The Essential Jonathan Edwards" deftly explores Edwards day-to-day life, and his views on beauty, true Christianity, heaven and hell, and the good life. "The Essential Jonathan Edwards" strikes the perfect balance between necessary background information and giving Edwards's own works room to speak. While very highly recommended for personal, seminary, church, and academic library Christian Studies collections in general, and Jonathan Edwards supplemental studies lists in particular, it should be noted that "The Essential Jonathan Edwards" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $10.99).

Catholic and Christian
Alan Schreck
Servant
c/o Franciscan Media
9780867165999, $16.99, PB, 242pp, www.amazon.com

"Catholic and Christian: An Explanation of Commonly Misunderstood Catholic Beliefs" was written by Alan Schreck (Professor of Theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio) specifically for members of the Roman Catholic community needing to explain some aspect of Catholic belief. "Catholic and Christian" addresses such issues as: Do you really think the pope is infallible? Why do Catholics pray to Mary? Where do sacraments come from? What do you think of the Bible? Are you saved? "Catholic and Christian" will also prove to be relevant and useful for Catholics who are asking themselves such questions as: Where do Catholic beliefs come from? Why do we pray for the dead? How does the rosary fit into a biblical faith? A thoroughly readable and concise summary of commonly misunderstood Catholic beliefs, "Catholic and Christian" deftly addresses the teachings and practices that don't get much attention in Sunday homilies and in religious education, but which puzzle Catholics and non-Catholics alike. Simply stated, "Catholic and Christian" is unreservedly recommended for all Catholics who want to know more about their faith and be able to explain their faith to non-Catholics.

Human Sexuality in Biblical Perspective
Carrie A. Mast & Gerald J. Mast
Cascadia Publishing House
www.cascadiapublishinghouse.com
9781680270068, $12.95, PB, 128pp, www.amazon.com

Collaborative compiled and co-edited by members of First Mennonite Church in Bluffton, Carrie A. Mast (who assists with the administration of graduate programs in business at Bluffton University and serves on the board of directors of Central District Conference) and Gerald J. Mast (who teaches communication at Bluffton University and is the author of numerous books and articles including Go to Church, Change the World: Christian Community as Calling) "Human Sexuality in Biblical Perspective" is a study guide that is based on a document prepared by the Human Sexuality Task Group of Central District Conference of Mennonite Church USA. An informative, thoughtful, and thought-provoking read from cover to cover, "Human Sexuality in Biblical Perspective" is extraordinarily well written, organized and presented. While very highly recommended for church and seminary Christian Studies collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Human Sexuality in Biblical Perspective" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.95).

The Joy Stealers
Rob Renfroe
Abingdon Press
2222 Rosa L. Parks Blvd., PO Box 280988, Nashville, TN 37228-0988
9781501857997, $14.99, PB, 144pp, www.amazon.com

Marriage problems, painful relationships, disobedient children, health concerns, financial struggles, or just the daily stresses and strains of life can steal away our joy of living. However, regardless of our circumstances, in Christ we have everything we need for joy including the forgiveness of our sins, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, a purpose worth living for, and the assurance of eternity with God. But whether we actually live with joy or allow something to take it from us is a choice each of us makes every day. Living with joy is a decision we make again and again as we're continually faced with joy stealers such as worry, bitterness, guilt, negativity, and busyness. In "The Joy Stealers: Overcoming Obstacles to Hope and Happiness", Rob Renfroe (Pastor of Discipleship at The Woodlands UMC in Houston, Texas) addresses these common joy stealers and suggests how we can overcome them by making five simple yet transformational decisions that, through the power of the Holy Spirit, will enable us to have overflowing joy and be a continual blessing to others. A final chapter on living with joy provides encouragement and help for living in the fullness of God's joy each and every day. Very highly recommended to the attention of all members of the Christian community regardless of denominational affiliation, "The Joy Stealers" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.00). It should be noted that additional components for a six-week study include a comprehensive Leader Guide which includes a link to downloadable video clips that can be used as lead-ins to group discussion.

The Way Back
Phil Cooke & Jonathan Bock
Worthy Publishing
One Franklin Park, 6100 Tower Circle, Suite 210, Franklin, TN 37067
www.worthypublishing.com
9781617958618, $16.99, PB, 272pp, www.amazon.com

On a dusty Judean hilltop, Jesus once kickstarted his church with a ragtag group of fishermen who called themselves "The Way." Truth be told, the builders of Christianity were a bunch of nobodies. They were powerless and flawed and sometimes petty. But they were committed. They were all-in. Within a remarkably short time, The Way became the world's most influential religious faith -- a force in culture, politics, literature, science, philanthropy, and the arts. Against impossible odds, that group of nobodies astonished the world. Two thousand years later (and by any measure) Christianity is retreating on all fronts. The Way has lost its way. In "The Way Back: How Christians Blew Our Credibility and How We Get It Back", media and marketing experts Phil Cooke and Jonathan Bock take a hard look at Christians today and reveal that we, as a salesforce, have lost our faith in our product. Where's the passion, the excitement, and the commitment that two thousand years ago made such improbable and staggering growth possible? "The Way Back" will inspire and equip you to learn from that wonderful group of nobodies, so that you too can astonish the world once more. In a time where Christian leadership (especially Evangelical Christian leaders) have bankrupted their moral authority with their near universal endorsement of Donald J. Trump (who is a self-proclaimed a sexual predator, a serial adulterer, a corrupt businessman, and compulsive liar) as president of the United States, "The Way Back" should be considered a 'must read' for all members of the Christian community who are alarmed at how so many of today's Christians have compromised traditional Christian values and standards in exchange for political ambitions and goals.

Introducing Jesus
Mark I. Strauss
Zondervan Publishing House
5300 Patterson Avenue, S.E., Grand Rapids, MI 49530
www.zondervan.com
9780310528586, $16.99, PB, 192pp, www.amazon.com

To Christians worldwide, Jesus of Nazareth is the centerpiece of history, the object of faith, hope, and worship. Even those who do not follow him admit the vast influence of his life. For anyone interested in knowing more about Jesus, study of the four biblical Gospels is essential. An abridged edition of the Christian studies textbook Four Portraits, "One Jesus" by Mark Strauss (Professor of New Testament at Bethel Seminary in San Diego) is a simple, easy-to-understand guide introduces the four biblical Gospels and their subject, the life and person of Jesus. Like different artists rendering the same subject using different styles and points of view, the Gospels paint four distinctive portraits of the same remarkable Jesus. With clarity and insight, Professor Strauss addresses questions that surround the study of Jesus and the Gospels. What are the Gospels - are they history, theology, biography? Where did they come from? What do we know about their context? What does each Gospel uniquely teach us about Jesus? Finally, he pulls it all together illuminating what the Gospels together teach about Jesus' ministry, message, death, and resurrection, and how do we know we can trust their witness. Including questions at the end of each chapter for group discussion or personal reflection, "Introducing Jesus" makes the words, history, and context of the Gospels come alive for readers and is ideal for individual and study groups alike. It should be noted that "Introducing Jesus" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).

Interrupting Silence
Walter Brueggemann
Westminster John Knox Press
100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, KY 40202-1396
www.wjkbooks.com
9780664263591, $14.00, PB, 108pp, www.amazon.com

Silence is a complex matter. It can refer to awe before unutterable holiness, but it can also refer to the coercion where some voices are silenced in the interest of control by the dominant voices. It is the latter silence that Walter Brueggemann (who is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and the William Marcellus McPheeters Professor Emeritus of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary) explores in the pages of "Interrupting Silence: God's Command to Speak Out" and urges all Christian to speak up in situations of injustice. "Interrupting Silence" illustrates that the Bible is filled with stories where marginalized people break repressive silence and speak against it. Examining how maintaining silence allows the powerful to keep control, Professor Brueggemann motivates readers to consider situations in their lives where they need to either interrupt silence or be part of the problem, convincing us that God is active and wanting us to act for justice. Inspired and inspiring, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Interrupting Silence" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.49).

Love Must Have a Body
T. L. Harper
Westbow Press
c/o Thomas Nelson Publishers
PO Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214
www.westbowpress.com
9781512797831, $28.95, HC, 110pp, www.amazon.com

Written by T. L. Harper, "Love Must Have a Body" is intended primarily for all members of the Christian community regardless of denominational affiliation. Constructed for repeated reading again and again, each time it is read and meditate on "Love Must Have a Body" reveals its revelations that will pull the reader into new statures of faith. Readers will discover new thresholds of awareness and assurance of God's Love, what Love is, and how that same Love is reflected in daily life. Inspired and inspiring, thoughtful and thought-provoking, meditative and insightful, "Love Must Have a Body" is very highly recommended. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Love Must Have a Body" is also available in a paperback edition (9781512797824, $11.95) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $3.99).

The Prayer List
Jane Knuth
Loyola Press
3441 North Ashland Avenue, Chicago, IL 60657
www.loyolapress.com
9780829446654, $14.95, PB, 184pp, www.amazon.com

Jane Knuth (who is a longtime volunteer in the society of St. Vincent de Paul in Kalamazoo, Michigan) has written "The Prayer List: .and Other True Stories of How Families Pray" was written specifically for those who find themselves struggling to find the right way to integrate prayer into their daily family life. Who are you worried their children won't practice the same faith that has sustained their parents in times of difficulty? When Jane Knuth inherited the family "prayer list" from her aunt, she decided to continue the tradition of praying regularly with the list of needs and thanks for relatives and friends. But prayer fits itself to every person's (and every family's) situation and culture. As Jane learned how to pray in her family and explored the prayer experiences of other families, she discovered a simple truth: the best way to pray with your family is the way that works best for a family. "The Prayer List" also shares the true stories of how families from many faith traditions (be they Christian, non-Christian, or having no defined faith) pray together in meaningful ways. With prompts to inspire a family's prayer after each chapter, these stories prove that family prayer can be a path to the intimacy and closeness we long for. It's like making God a member of the family. While very highly recommended for all members of the Christian community regardless of denominational affiliation, it should be noted that "The Prayer List" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $11.99).

Every Christian's Call
Kevin Almond
Westbow Press
c/o Thomas Nelson Publishers
PO Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214
www.westbowpress.com
9781512798173, $35.95, HC, 274pp, www.amazon.com

With the increasing turmoil in the world today it's no wonder so many in the diverse Christian community are talking about unity. In "Every Christian's Call: Discover the Key to Fulfilling Your Destiny", by evangelist Christian Kevin Almond brings together the two hottest topics in Christianity today; Unity and Purpose. Not only is unity a crucial issue for the Church today but it also directly ties into God's unique purpose for each individual Christian. "Every Christian's Call" directly and scripturally addresses questions like: What are the biblical principles that reveal the path to fulfilling my destiny?; What is the primary Key to the Church becoming one as Jesus prayed?; How does this Key determine the success of every relationship I'll ever be involved in?; How does answering Christ's Call to Unity ensure that I will fulfill my God-given purpose and destiny? "Every Christian's Call" reveals from a biblical perspective how the principles of unity are identical to God's plan for our lives. Inspired and inspiring, "Every Christian's Call" is an exceptional and highly recommended read for all members of the Christian community regardless of denominational affiliations. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Every Christian's Call" is also available in a paperback edition (978-1512798166, $19.60) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $3.99).

Winning the Worry Battle
Barb Roose
Abingdon Press
2222 Rosa L. Parks Blvd.
PO Box 280988, Nashville, TN 37228-0988
www.abingdonpress.com
9781501857843, $16.99, PB, 240pp, www.amazon.com

Many Christians do not have a full understanding of what it means to fight the good fight of faith. They try to live by faith but in the face of everyday trials and failures, they find themselves disillusioned and discouraged, wondering if they have done something wrong or if living by faith only works for others. The problem for most is simply a lack of understanding regarding what faith is and how it works. "Winning the Worry Battle: Life Lessons from the Book of Joshua" by Barb Roose is inspired by the Book of Joshua, reviews three tools a person can develop to Fight In Faith: 1) embracing God's promises, 2) courage and commitment under pressure and 3) practicing radical obedience while waiting for God to deliver your victory. Just as God gave His people victory over their enemies when they fought in faith, He promises to do the same for us. Following the footprints of bold, courageous faith that God gave His people, we will be equipped with tools to bravely fight in faith and overcome both our daily struggles and the bigger battles we all face. Through examples of how God gave the Israelites victory over their enemies and generously blessed them, too, we'll be victorious in our fight of faith so that we not only radically transform our own lives but unequivocally impact society. Inspired and inspiring, "Winning the Worry Battle" is highly recommended reading for all members of the Christian community. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Winning the Worry Battle" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).

Just Business
Alec Hill
InterVarsity Press
PO Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426
www.ivpress.com
9780830851980, $26.00, PB, 300pp, www.amazon.com

When the daily business news breaks away from stories of profit and loss, it often shines a spotlight on ethical failures. But Christians aim to be ethical in all the areas of daily life and work-not just when the spotlight is on them. For those facing the many questions and quandaries of doing business with ethical integrity, Alec Hill offers a place to begin with this newly revised third edition of "Just Business: Christian Ethics for the Marketplace". Hill carefully explores the foundational Christian concepts of holiness, justice, and love. These keys to God's character, he argues, are also the keys to Christian business ethics. Hill then shows how some common responses to business ethics fall short of a fully Christian mindset. Using penetrating case studies on such pressing topics as employer-employee relations, discrimination and affirmative action, and environmental damage, he clothes principles in concrete business situations. Updated throughout, and with a new chapter on international business, this new edition of D"Just Business" is deftly written introduction to business ethics for students, and a timely refresher for Christian men and women already in the marketplace. Inspired and inspiring, "Just Business" is especially recommended reading by all members of the Christian community regardless of denominational affiliations.

Parents Rising
Arlene Pellicane
Moody Publishers
820 N. LaSalle Blvd., Chicago, IL 60610
www.moodypublishers.com
9780802416605, $14.99, PB, 176pp, www.amazon.com

"Parents Rising: 8 Strategies for Raising Kids Who Love God, Respect Authority, and Value What's Right" was written by Arlene Pellicane specifically for those parents who you feel like they are fighting a losing battle in raising their children against the pernicious influence of the broader secular culture. "Parents Rising" will show parents eight cultural trends that they are up against today and what they can do to help their children resist them. "Parents Rising" is about growth and not about guilt. It's not a pep talk, or a "try harder" speech. "Parents Rising" offers 'real world' help for the 'real world' problems that every parent faces. "Parents Rising" offers a way to successfully focus their efforts so that they'll be more effective and they'll be less exhausted! While very highly recommended, especially for community library Parenting instructional reference collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Parents Rising" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99) and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Christian Audio, 9781545907719, $19.98, CD).


The Judaic Studies Shelf

Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik on Pesach, Sefirat ha-Omer and Shavu'ot
David Shapiro
Urim Publications
c/o KTAV Publishing House
527 Empire Boulevard, Brooklyn, New York 11225
www.UrimPublications.com
9789657108642, $26.95, HC, 287pp, www.amazon.com

Joseph Ber Soloveitchik (February 27, 1903 - April 9, 1993) was a major American Orthodox rabbi, Talmudist, and modern Jewish philosopher. He was a scion of the Lithuanian Jewish Soloveitchik rabbinic dynasty. As a Rosh Yeshiva of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary at Yeshiva University in New York City, The Rov (variantly spelled The Rav), as he came to be known, ordained close to 2,000 rabbis over the course of almost half a century. Rabbi Soloveitchik served as an advisor, guide, mentor, and role-model for tens of thousands of Jews, both as a Talmudic scholar and as a religious leader. He is regarded as a seminal figure by Modern Orthodox Judaism. With a number of Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik's in-depth studies dealing with Passover, the Counting of the Omer, and Shavuot, "Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik on Pesach, Sefirat ha-Omer and Shavu'ot" is collection is a valuable introduction to the thought of one of the 20th century's leading Orthodox Judaic philosophers compiled for contemporary readers by Rabbi David Shapiro -- who was the Principal of Maimonides School in Brookline, Massachusetts and a student of Rabbi Soloveitchik for many years. A valued and unreservedly contribution to personal, synagogue, community, and academic library Judaic Studies collections, "Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik on Pesach, Sefirat ha-Omer and Shavu'ot" is especially and unreservedly recommended.

Values and Ethics: Torah Topics for Today
Fred Claar & Joyce Claar
Behrman House Inc.
241 Millburn Avenue, Millburn, NJ 07041
www.behrmanhouse.com
9780874419764, $18.95, PB, 184pp, www.amazon.com

Whether seeking to create meaningful conversations about Jewish values and ethics at home or in a class or group setting, or beginning a new practice of personal growth and deepen your connection to Jewish wisdom and tradition, "Values and Ethics: Torah Topics for Today" will guide you through a full year of weekly Torah portions, exploring timeless values lessons that speak to us today. Each of the 54 sections (one for each Torah portion) includes a compelling overview of the values called out in the portion, thoughtful discussion questions, and a wide variety of activity ideas. Special features include: 153 discussion pages (2-3 for each of the 54 Torah portions; creative, varied activities to appeal to a wide range of readers, from preteens to adults; engaging content and format, suitable for individuals, pairs, and classes, at home and in school, adult education or tutoring settings; subject index to browse by topic, including anger, compassion, courage, gratitude, justice, leadership, and responsibility. Collaborative created and co-edited by the team of Fred Claar (who is a member of a Commission on Jewish Identity and Renewal task force of UJA) and Joyce Claar (a member of the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of the Westchester Jewish Council), "Values and Ethics: Torah Topics for Today" is an ideal instructional reference and study guide that is thoroughly 'user friendly' in organization and presentation.


The Buddhist Studies Shelf

Responsible Living
Ron Epstein
Buddhist Text Translation Society
4951 Bodhi Way, Ukiah, CA 95482
www.buddhisttexts.org
9781601030993, $12.00, PB, 196pp, www.amazon.com

Dr. Ron Epstein is a retired lecturer in the philosophy department at San Francisco State University and a founding member of Dharma Realm Buddhist University. In "Responsible Living: Explorations in Applied Buddhist Ethics Animals, Environment, GMOs, Digital Media" he examines such questions as: Does genetic engineering have the potential to be as dangerous a nuclear holocaust? Will playing games online lead to brain shrinkage? These and other environmental and moral dilemmas of the modern world are discussed in "Responsible Living" which is comprised of a collection of essays using Buddhist texts and academic resources to analyze problems in today's world. The topics covered include pollution, animal cruelty, genetically modified foods, and our addictions to digital and social media. "Responsible Living" describes how outer environmental and social problems mirror humanity's inner struggle with selfishness, greed, and desire. By connecting Buddhist concepts such as compassion, causation, and moral precepts to these issues, this informative and thought-provoking collection of essays provides guidance to for ethical conduct in today's world. "Responsible Living" is unreservedly recommended for personal, community, and academic library Buddhist Studies collections and reading lists.


The Art Shelf

Jeffrey Gibson: Like A Hammer
John P. Lukavic, et al.
Prestel Publishing
900 Broadway, Suite 603, New York, NY 10003
www.prestel.com
9783791357331, $39.95, HC, 144pp, www.amazon.com

A citizen of the Mississippi Choctaw Nation and part Cherokee, Jeffrey Gibson (born March 31, 1972) spent time in Germany, England, and Korea in his youth. This mix of cultures informs much of his art work, which combines elements from historical and contemporary Native arts and traditions, such as powwow regalia and the use of animal skins, with those from the artistic traditions of Modernism, Geometric Abstraction, and Minimalism. As a gay Native artist, Gibson explores in his work issues of oppression and civil rights in America, as well as universal ideas of love, community, strength, vulnerability, and survival. "Jeffrey Gibson: Like A Hammer" is a magnificent volume focuses on and showcasing nearly 60 of his works completed in the last decade, including culturally adorned punching bags, three-dimensional figurative works, text-based wall hangings, painted works on rawhide and canvas, and light and video works. Informative and featuring flawlessly reproduced artwork, "Jeffrey Gibson: Like A Hammer" is an extraordinary and very highly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, and academic library Contemporary American Art & Art History collections.

Otobong Nkanga
Omar Kholeif, author
Teju Cole, contributor
Prestel Publishing
900 Broadway, Suite 603, New York, NY 10003
www.prestel.com
9783791358000, $24.95, HC, 112pp, www.amazon.com

Otobong Nkanga (born 1974) is a Nigerian-born visual artist and performance artist, based in Antwerp. In 2015 she won the Yanghyun Prize. Published in association with the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, this Prestel Publishing edition of "Otobong Nkanga: To Dig a Hole that Collapses Again" by Omar Kholeif (Manilow Senior Curator and Director of Global Initiatives at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago) imaginatively captures the fraught relationships between people and their environments. "Otobong Nkanga" superbly illuminates the social, political, and economic histories (and legacies) of colonialism. A profusely and beautifully illustrated volume, "Otobong Nkanga" focuses on the artist's drawings and is published in conjunction with Nkanga's first US survey, showcasing the artist's compelling and thought-provoking oeuvre. An accompanying essay by curator Kholeif reveals the rich background of Nkanga's varied subjects, including the historic realities of Nigeria, memories of her childhood, and the creation of covert global economies that emerge from the trade of natural resources. In a narrative piece contributed by author, photographer, and critic Teju Cole offers a poignant counterpart to Nkanga's work as he reflects on his experiences growing up in Nigeria. Of special note is that interspersed throughout the monograph are newly written poems by the artist. An inherently fascinating study, "Otobong Nkanga" is unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, and academic library Contemporary Art collections in general, and Otobong Nkanga supplemental studies reading lists in particular.

The Chiaroscuro Woodcut in Renaissance Italy
Naoko Takahatake, editor
Prestel Publishing
900 Broadway, Suite 603, New York, NY 10003
www.prestel.com
9783791357393, $60.00, HC, 288pp, www.amazon.com

Chiaroscuro (Italian for light-dark) is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to achieve a sense of volume in modeling three-dimensional objects and figures. Chiaroscuro woodcuts are among the most immediately appealing of all historic prints, displaying exquisite invention, refined draftsmanship, technical virtuosity, and sumptuous color. Printing two or more woodblocks inked in different tones to create an image, the chiaroscuro woodcut was the earliest, most successful foray into color printing in Europe. Following its invention in Germany, the technique was first adopted around 1516 in Italy where it flourished through the sixteenth century. This novel art form engaged the interests of the most celebrated artists of the Renaissance, including Titian, Raphael, Parmigianino, and Beccafumi, and underwent sophisticated developments in the hands of such master printmakers as Ugo da Carpi, Antonio da Trento, Niccolo Vicentino, and Andrea Andreani. Featuring more than 100 prints and related drawings, "The Chiaroscuro Woodcut in Renaissance Italy" compiled and edited by Naoko Takahatake (Associate Curator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.) incorporates pioneering art historical research and scientific analysis to present a comprehensive study of the subject. Essays from learned contributors trace its creative origins and evolution, describing both materials and means of production. Brimming with full-color illustrations of rare and beautiful works, "The Chiaroscuro Woodcut in Renaissance Italy" offers a fresh and informative interpretations of these remarkable prints, which exemplify the rich imagery of the Italian Renaissance -- making it a critically important and highly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, college, and university library Art History collections in general, and Chiaroscurio Woodcut supplemental studies lists in particular.

Your Art Will Save Your Life
Beth Pickens
The Feminist Press
365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016
www.feministpress.org
9781936932290, $14.95, PB, 136pp, www.amazon.com

Beth Pickens is a Los Angeles-based consultant for artists and arts organizations. She provides career consultation, grant writing, fundraising, and financial, project, and strategic planning services for clients across the US. Her career had its origins when, as a teenager visiting the Andy Warhol Museum, she realized the importance of making art. Then as an adult, she has dedicated her life to empowering working artists. Intimate yet practical, "Your Art Will Save Your Life" was specifically written to help and enable artists build a sustainable practice while navigating the world of MFAs, residencies, and institutional funding. A deftly written, expertly organized, accessibly presented, 'real world practical', "Your Art Will Save Your Life" is an impressive instructional reference and guide that should be considered an essential 'must read' for anyone involved in the arts who seeks to make a financially sustained career out of their work. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Your Art Will Save Your Life" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $8.98).

Georgia O'Keeffe: Visions of Hawai'i
Theresa Papanikolas & Joanna L. Groarke
Prestel Publishing
900 Broadway, Suite 603, New York, NY 10003
www.prestel.com
9783791357270, $34.95, HC, 144pp, www.amazon.com

In 1939, the late Georgia O'Keeffe (November 15, 1887 - March 6, 1986) was among the most famous artists in the United States when she accepted a commission from the Hawaiian Pineapple Company to produce two paintings for advertising campaigns. Her nine-week trip to Hawai'i resulted in more than 20 paintings, which reveal that O'Keeffe (who is most commonly associated with the stark deserts of New Mexico) was profoundly inspired by what she saw and experienced on the lush, tropical Hawaiian Islands. The exhibition Georgia O'Keeffe: Visions of Hawai'i, and this accompanying volume edited by the team of Theresa Papanikolas (Deputy Director of Art and Programs and Curator of European and American Art at the Honolulu Museum of Art) and Joanna L. Groarke (Director of Public Engagement and Library Exhibitions Curator at The New York Botanical Garden), explores this little-known chapter in the artist's career. Glowing with color, these paintings demonstrate O'Keeffe's unique ability to make any place her own. "Georgia O'Keeffe: Visions of Hawai'i" is a truly landmark volume offering a unique perspective by foregrounding the ecological complexity that is hidden behind O'Keeffe's depictions of Hawai'i-one of the most biologically diverse places on Earth. Published in association with The New York Botanical Garden. With informed and informative contributions by Brian M. Boom, DeSoto Brown, Otto Degener and Isa Degener, Samuel M. 'Ohukani'ohi'a Gon III, and Alicia Inez Guzm n, "Georgia O'Keeffe: Visions of Hawai'i" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, community, and academic library American Art History collections in general, and Georgia O'Keeffe supplemental studies reading lists in particular.

3D Character Development Workshop
Erik Van Horn
Mercury Learning
9781683921707 $54.95 www.merclearning.com

3D Character Development Workshop: Rigging Fundamentals for Artists and Animators covers the basics of the tools, methods and ideas of character rigging and provides animators with an in-depth survey of best practices to help speed up the process of creating characters. The book includes a Maya file disc of movies and sources of images from the book, while the book packs in color images, screenshots, downloadable examples, and color images supporting concepts of setups, texturing, and different rigging processes. No animation collection should be without this clear survey of the process, which offers a workbook perfect for classroom study or self-instruction alike.


The Cookbook Shelf

The Bourbon Country Cookbook
David Danielson & Tim Laird
Surrey Books
c/o Agate Publishing
1328 Greenleaf Street, Evanston, IL 60202
www.agatepublishing.com
9781572842489, $29.95, HC, 224pp, www.amazon.com

Bourbon whiskey is a type of American whiskey in the form of a barrel-aged distilled spirit made primarily from corn. Bourbon has come a long way since it was first distilled in the late 1700s,. It's use in southern cuisine has similarly. "The Bourbon Country Cookbook: New Southern Entertaining: 95 Recipes and More from a Modern Kentucky Kitchen" by the team of Tim Laird (who is an authority on wines and spirits with more than thirty years of experience in the hospitality industry) and David Danielson (who is the executive chef at Churchill Downs, the home of the Kentucky Derby) showcases great southern food and drink with the illustrated presentation of 90 accessible recipes designed to help kitchen cooks achieve the ease and elegance of Bourbon Country when entertaining in their own home. Arranged by the kind of traditional fare found on a Kentucky table (pickles, vegetables, ancient grains, bounties from the barnyard, bourbon cocktails, and more) these extraordinary recipes pay homage to the rituals and victuals of southern yesteryear while embracing the new southern palate and the flavors of modern Kentucky bourbon. Featuring recipes ranging from Beet and Strawberry Salad with Arugula and Poppy Seed Dressing; Deviled Eggs with Country Ham; and Rosemary Sour Cream Biscuits; to Poached Salmon with Cucumber Scales; Bourbon Mustard Glazed Beef Short Ribs; and Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie, "The Bourbon Country Cookbook" is an extraordinary and highly recommended addition to personal, family, and community library cookbook collections. It should be noted that "The Bourbon Country Cookbook" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $26.02).

The Latin Table
Isabel Cruz
Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018
www.skyhorsepublishing.com
9781510728660, $22.99, HC, 176pp, www.amazon.com

For more than two decades, customers have lined up outside the doors of west coast chef Isabel Cruz's three popular restaurants. Cruz, who is known for her innovative and healthy twist on traditional Latin fare, balances her ingredients to cook the delicious food that she, her family, and her restaurant patrons love. Now drawing upon her impressive culinary skills, "The Latin Table: Easy, Flavorful Recipes from Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Beyond" is full of her simple, easy-to-make, signature recipes with the Latin flavors that anyone can produce in their own kitchen. With recipes ranging from Corn and Avocado Chopped Salad; Crispy Tofu Tacos with Ginger Sambal, Avocado, and Pickled Onions; Chicken Lettuce Wraps; and Hibiscus Syrup; to Mango Iced Tea; Three Piggies Tacos; and Char-Grilled Rack of Lamb with Cinnamon and Cumin, "The Latin Table showcases recipes that creatively blend Latin and Asian cuisine for flavorful and health-conscious meals. Ideal for planning menus for truly memorable dining occasions, "The Latin Table" is profusely illustrated with the full color photography of Jaime Fritsch and will prove to be an especially welcome and enduringly popular addition to personal, family, professional, and community library cook book collections. It should be noted that "The Latin Table" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $16.76).

The China Study Cookbook, revised edition
LeAnne Campbell
BenBella Books
10300 N. Central Expressway, Suite 400, Dallas, TX 75204
www.benbellabooks.com
9781944648954, $24.95, PB, 320pp, www.amazon.com

Now in a newly revised and expanded edition, all of LeAnne's recipes comprising "The China Study Cookbook" follow three important principles: optimal nutrition is based on eating foods, not taking supplements; the closer foods are to their native states, the greater their long-term health benefits; and choosing locally grown organic produce whenever possible maximizes nutritional value. Filled from cover to cover with helpful tips on substitutions and keeping foods nutrient-rich, "The China Study Cookbook" shows how to transform the health of the entire family, while contributing to the health of the community and the world -- all while enjoying incredible, delicious meals with dishes that range from Breakfast Home-Fry Hash; to No-Bake Peanut Butter Bars; and Green Banana Cassava Soup; to Fabulous Sweet Potato Enchiladas; Chipotle Quinoa Salad; and Spinach Mushroom Eggplant Rolls. Especially recommended for personal, family, and community library cookbook collections, it should be noted that "The China Study Cookbook" is a beautifully and profusely illustrated culinary volume which is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $14.49).

Our Newlywed Kitchen
Laura Schupp
Focus on the Family
c/o Tyndale House Publishers
351 Executive Drive, Carol Stream, IL 60188
www.tyndale.com
9781589979451, $34.99, HC, 224pp, www.amazon.com

With space for insert recipes, prayers, Scripture, and memories, "Our Newlywed Kitchen: The Art of Cooking, Gathering, and Creating Traditions" by Laura Schupp (who has collected inspirations and helped a myriad of brides establish an inviting space of their own) offers Christians a unique wedding, memorable, useful gift for brides. "Our Newlywed Kitchen" also includes practical how-to information for wedding registry, kitchen organization, meal preparations, party planning, grocery shopping, and more. Beautifully and profusely illustrated throughout, "Our Newlywed Kitchen" is gift will be immediately treasured by a new bride to begin a cookbook collection of there own!

Baking with Candy
Jenny Warsen
Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018
www.skyhorsepublishing.com
9781510730182, $14.99, HC, 112pp, www.amazon.com

There is so much more to baking with candy than using chocolate chips to make your cookies! Add little candy in the batter or dough and who resist such delicacies as chocolate balls with nutella, mousse cheesecake, candy panna cotta, a marshmallow tart, or candy ice cream with tutti frutti taste? For those wanting to treat their family and friends to something extra delicious for afternoon tea that both the adults and children will love, "Baking with Candy" is filled with beautiful full-color photographs throughout showcasing forty-five quick and easy-to-make recipes ranging from Chewy Chocolate Bar Cookies with Candy; Chocolate Macarrons with Caramel and Peanuts; Gooey Cake with Salmiak Licorice and Raspberries; and Brownies with Caramel Sauce and Caramelized Popcorn; to Frozen Nutella Cake with double Chocolate Nougat; Mousse Cheesecake with Milk Chocolate and Cloetta Center Pralines; Panna Cotta with Kinder Egg Chocolate; and Caramel Fudge, "Baking with Candy" is a mouthwatering delight to browse through and ideal for planning very special and memorable treats with. While very highly recommended for personal, family, and community library cook book collections, it should be noted that "Baking with Candy" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $12.49).

Rosa's Thai Cafe: The Vegetarian Cookbook
Saiphin Moore
Mitchell Beazley
c/o Octopus Books
236 Park Avenue, New York NY 10017
www.octopusbooksusa.com
9781784724238, $24.99, HC, 224pp, www.amazon.com

Rosa's Thai Cafe was founded by Anglo-Thai husband and wife team Alex and Saiphin Moore, Rosa's is a Thai cafe group that has grown from a street-food stall in Brick Lane in 2008 to 10 London restaurants today. Saiphin grew up on a mountain farm in Khao Kho, Northern Thailand, where she learned to cook with ingredients brought straight from field to wok. Finding strictly vegetarian food in Thailand can be tricky, where fish sauce is the king of the kitchen. In "Rosa's Thai Cafe: The Vegetarian Cookbook" Saiphin draws upon her years of experience and expertise to provide modern kitchen cooks with a culinary wealth of exciting new recipes for dedicated vegetarians -- and which will have immense appeal to non-vegetarians as well! Featuring authentic dishes ranging from Yum Tua Fuk Yao (Spicy Long Bean Salad); Pad Cha Pak (Spicy Mixed Vegetables in Tahi Herbs); Kana Pad TaoJiew (Chinese Broccoli with Yellow Soybean Paste); and Panang Had (Mushroom Panang Curry); to Pad Thai Sen Ba Mhee (Pad Thai Egg Noodles); Tachu Ob Woon Sen (Baked Tofu with Glass Noodles); Khao Pad Jay (Mixed Vegetable Fried Rice); and Frik Gaeng Kua Kling (Kua Kling Curry Paste), "Rosa's Thai Cafe: The Vegetarian Cookbook" is a beautifully illustrated and highly recommended addition to personal, professional, family, and community library vegetarian cookbook collections. It should be noted that "Rosa's Thai Cafe: The Vegetarian Cookbook" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $10.99).

The Korean Table
Taekyung Chung & Debra Samuels
Tuttle Publishing
364 Innovation Drive, North Clarendon, VT 05759-9436
www.tuttlepublishing.com
9780804850575, $27.99, HC, 160pp, www.amazon.com

Showcasing the depth and variety of authentic Korean cuisine, "The Korean Table: From Barbecue to Bibimbap 100 Easy-To-Prepare Recipes" shows American cooks how to replicate the exciting and authentic flavors of Korean cuisine at home using fresh ingredients available from their neighborhood grocery store or farmer's market. In this Korean cooking book, the Korean and American author team of Taekynung Chung and Debra Samuels deftly guide home cooks through the process of making Korean meals without fuss and multiple trips to specialty markets, or worse, expensive online shopping. Along with showing cooks how to create a complete Korean meal from start to finish, the thoroughly kitchen cook friendly and beautifully illustrated recipes comprising "The Korean Table range from Scallion Pancakes; Korean Dumplings; Tofu and Clam Hot Pot; and Simmered Beef Short Ribs; to Barbecued Pork Ribs; Fresh Tuna Sashimi and Rice Salad; Seasoned Sliced Beef; and Sesame-Soy Pudding. "The Korean Table" will also show cooks how to add the flavors of Korea to their homestyle cuisine in numerous quick and easy ways, including condiments, side dishes, salad dressings, sauces and more. Ideal for beginning family cooks, "The Korean Table" is unreservedly recommended for personal, family, and community library Ethnic Cookbook collections. It should be noted that "The Korean Table" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).


The Fiction Shelf

Fox
Dubravka Ugresic, author
Ellen Elias-Bursac, translator
David Williams, translator
Open Letter Books
c/o University of Rochester
Lattimore Hall 411, Box 270082, Rochester, NY 14627
www.openletterbooks.org
9781940953762, $16.95, PB, 320pp, www.amazon.com

"Fox" by the Neustadt International Prize for Literature winner Dubravka Ugresic and translated into English for an American readers ship by the team of Ellen Elias-Bursac and David Williams is the story of literary footnotes and "minor" characters in the form of unnoticed people propelled into timelessness through the biographies and novels of others. With Ugresic's characteristic wit, "Fox" takes his readers from Russia to Japan, through Balkan minefields and on American road trips, and (from the 1920s to the present), explores the power of storytelling and literary invention, betrayal, and the randomness of human lives. An inherently fascinating, thoughtful and thought-provoking read, "Fox" is unreservedly recommended for both community and academic library's Contemporary Literary Fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Fox" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $8.98).

We Met in Paris
Joan E. Howard
University of Missouri Press
113 Heinkel Bldg., 201 S. 7th Street, Columbia, MO 65211
www.umsystem.edu/upress
9780826221551, $45.00, HC, 468pp, www.amazon.com

Grace Frick introduced English-language readers all over the world to the distinguished French author Marguerite Yourcenar with her award-winning translation of Yourcenar's novel "Memoirs of Hadrian" in 1954. European biographies of Yourcenar have often disparaged Frick and her relationship with Yourcenar, however. "We Met in Paris: Grace Frick and Her Life with Marguerite Yourcenar" by Joan E. Howard (who is the director of Petite Plaisance, the former home of Marguerite Yourcenar and Grace Frick) shows Frick as a person of substance in her own right, and paints a portrait of both women that is at once intimate and scrupulously documented. It contains a great deal of new information that will disrupt long-held beliefs about Yourcenar and may even shock some of her scholars and fans. An inherently impressive work of original and seminal scholarship, "We Met in Paris" is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to both community and academic library Literary Biography collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "We Met in Paris" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $42.75).

Woodswork
Miles Wilson
University of New Mexico Press
MSC05 3185, 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque NM 87131-0001
www.unmpress.com
9780826359506, $24.95, PB, 248pp, www.amazon.com

Miles Wilson is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Texas State University, where he founded the MFA program. Drawn from four decades, "Woodswork: New and Selected Stories of the American West" is a simply outstanding anthology of twenty-two original stories by Professor Wilson which are grounded in the geographical, cultural, and psychological American West. Ranging from realism to fables, from childhood to senescence, from a faltering rancher to the rich and rocky road of fatherhood, "Woodswork" is filled with indelible characters keenly rendered. While especially and unreservedly recommended for both community and academic library Contemporary Literary Fiction collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Woodswork" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).

The Killing Days
Neil Hunter
Linford Western Library
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print (USA), Inc.
PO Box 1230, West Seneca, NY 14224-1230
www.ulverscroftusa.com
9781444834857, $20.99, PB, Large Print, 224pp, www.amazon.com

Corruption is running rampant between members of government and powerful businessmen: bribery, conspiracy, and illegal dealings. Henry Quinlan, sent by Senator Howard Beauchamp to investigate, patiently compiled a dossier of evidence against the culprits. When he dispatched his documentation to the senator by train, protected by two Pinkerton detectives, it was stolen en route - and Quinlan disappeared. Now Jason Brand has been called in to track down both the dossier and its author. But someone's determined to stop him. Another deftly crafted and riveting action/adventure by an author who is a master of the genre, "The Killing Days" by Neil Hunter is the newest novel featuring the life and adventures of Jason Brand. A simply compelling read from first page to last, "The Killing Days" is unreservedly recommended for the personal reading lists of dedicated western novel fans and will prove to be, in this large print format from the Linford Western Library, an enduringly popular addition to community library collections.

Line of Glory
Thomas D. Clagett
Five Star Books
10 Water Street, Suite 310, Waterville, ME 04901
http://gale.cengage.com/fivestar
9781432837273, $25.95, HC, 260pp, www.amazon.com

The final 13 hours at the Alamo began around 5 o'clock on the afternoon of March 5, 1836. Colonel William Barrett Travis drew a line in the dirt and asked all those who would stay and fight to cross it. Destinies played out that night for four people. Susannah Dickinson, a woman of surprising gumption. Young James Taylor who came to the Alamo to free Texas from the tyrannical rule of General Santa Anna. "Moses" Rose who refused to cross Travis's line because he "wasn't prepared to die". Colonel Juan Morales who was ordered to assault Crockett and his men at the south palisade, but believed attacking the fort was foolhardy. But his real disgust was for Santa Anna, a man who allowed whims to dictate his decisions. A thoroughly entertaining history novel by an author with a genuine knack for narrative storytelling, "Line of Glory" by Thomas D. Clagett is an especially recommended addition to community library collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Line of Glory" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $7.99).

No One Ever Asked
Katie Ganshert
WaterBrook Press
c/o Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group
10807 New Allegiance Drive Suite 500, Colorado Springs, CO 80921
http://waterbrookmultnomah.com
9781683248156, $36.95, HC, 500pp, www.amazon.com

A compelling novel by Katie Ganshert, "No One Ever Asked" tells that story of what happens when an impoverished school district loses its accreditation and the affluent community of Crystal Ridge has no choice but to open their school doors resulting in the lives of three very different women converging in unexpected, unintentional, unanticipated ways. Camille Gray is the PTA member and mother of three who organized the annual 5k run. Jen Covington is a new adoptive mother battling her disilluionment with motherhood and the challenges that come with being a white mother raising a black daughter. Anaya Jones is the first female college graduate in her family and new teacher at Crystal Ridge's top elementary school, unprepared for the powder- keg situation she's stepped into. An absorbing and memorable read from first page to last, "No One Ever Asked" is strongly recommended for community library Contemporary General Fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "No One Ever Asked" is also available in a paperback edition (9781601429049, $14.99) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).

Traitor
David Hingley
Allison & Busby
c/o Casemate
1940 Lawrence Road, Havertown, PA 19083
www.casematepublishers.com
9780749021146, $25.00, HC, 384pp, www.amazon.com

In February of 1665 and with winter passing, Mercia Blakewood is at last headed back to England from America, hoping to leave behind the shadow that death and heartache have cast. She expects a welcome from the King considering her earlier, mostly successful, mission at his behalf, but the reception is not exactly warm. Mercia faces more manipulation and must accept a clandestine and uncomfortable role at the heart of the royal court posing as a mistress to find a spy and traitor. A superbly crafted, unfailingly entertaining, and thoroughly riveting read from beginning to end, David Hingley's "Traitor" is another skillfully written historical novel by a master of the genre. While unreservedly recommended, especially for community library collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Traitor" is also available in a paperback edition (9780749021245, $12.95) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $7.99).

No Place For A Woman
Val Wood
Magna Large Print
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print (USA), Inc.
PO Box 1230, West Seneca, NY 14224-1230
www.ulverscroftusa.com
9780750545143, $35.50, HC, Large Print, 450pp, www.amazon.com

When Lucy's parents are killed in a train crash, her kindly uncle steps in to look after the little girl - to the initial apprehension of his wife and her son. However, Lucy's sweet, spirited charm slowly wins over her new family, and as she overcomes the trauma of her childhood, she grows up inspired to become a doctor, just like her father. But studying medicine in London means she has to battle to be accepted in a man's world. With the coming of the First World War, an even greater challenge approaches. Will Lucy be able to follow her dreams (and find love) in a world shattered by war? Showcasing author Val Wood's genuine flair for reader engaged, expertly entertaining, narrative storytelling as a skilled novelist, "No Place For A Woman" is unreservedly recommended for personal reading lists and community library General Fiction and Large Print Fiction collections.

Alternative Remedies for Loss
Joanna Cantor
Bloomsbury Press
175 Fifth Avenue, Suite 315, New York, NY 10010
www.bloomsbury.com
9781635571714, $26.00, HC, 320pp, www.amazon.com

When 22-year-old Olivia learned that her mother had only months to live, she pulled up roots, leaving Vassar and her career plans far behind to be with her mother for her last days. And yet, just four months after her mother's death, everyone in Olivia's family already seems ready to move on. Her brothers are settled comfortably in careers and families of their own; her father has already started to date again, inviting a woman named June on a family trip. Still reeling from the loss, Olivia looks for a new start of her own, throwing herself headlong into Manhattan's fast-moving media world, where she is alternately demeaned by bosses and pursued by men. But as Olivia tries to piece together an adulthood without her mother to guide her, she makes a shocking discovery in the form of a secret romantic correspondence her mother had with a man who only signed each letter "F." As she tries to untangle the mystery of F, Olivia will journey halfway across the world, to an ashram in rural India, on a quest that will reconfigure everything Olivia thought she knew about her family and her own place in an increasingly complex world. A deftly crafted and inherently compelling novel by a master of narrative storytelling, "Alternative Remedies for Loss" by Joanna Cantor is an especially recommended addition for community library Contemporary General Fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Alternative Remedies for Loss" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $17.99).

Seasons: Once upon My Innocence
Lea Ann Vandygriff
Westbow Press
c/o Thomas Nelson Publishers
PO Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214
www.westbowpress.com
9781973602422, $35.95, HC, 274pp, www.amazon.com

"Seasons: Once upon My Innocence" by Lea Ann Vandygriff explores the loss of innocence when a powerful and unprecedented storm devastates the little southern town of Rhinehart. "Seasons" is about what happens when a teenage girl named Aubree has difficult choices to make -- choices that will affect everyone around her. When she (and we) have to ask why does God allows terrible things to happen to good people? How she (and we) feel about God when his answer to a question is no? How teens like Aubree must deal with the problems of addiction, violence and death. An exceptional, thoughtful and thought-provoking read, "Seasons" is an especially recommended addition to community library Contemporary General Fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Seasons" is also available in a paperback edition (9781973602415, $19.95) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $3.99).

Beneath a Prairie Moon
Kim Vogel Sawyer
WaterBrook Press
c/o Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group
10807 New Allegiance Drive Suite 500, Colorado Springs, CO 80921
http://waterbrookmultnomah.com
9780735290051, $14.99, PB, 352pp, www.amazon.com

Abigail Brantley grew up in affluence and knows exactly how to behave in high society. But when she is cast from the social registers due to her father's illegal dealings, she finds herself forced into a role she never imagined: tutoring rough Kansas ranchers in the subjects of manners and morals so they can "marry up" with their mail-order brides. Mack Cleveland, whose father was swindled by a mail-order bride, wants no part of the scheme to bring Eastern women to Spiveyville, Kansas, and he's put off by the snooty airs and fastidious behavior of the "little city gal" in their midst. But as time goes by, his heart goes out to the teacher who tries so diligently to smooth the rough edges from the down-to-earth men. How can he teach her that perfection won't bring happiness? Another carefully crafted and thoroughly entertaining read by a master of the genre, "Beneath a Prairie Moon" by Kim Voegl Sawyer will prove to be an especially popular addition to community library Romance Fiction collections. For the personal reading lists of dedicated romance fiction fans it should be noted that "Beneath a Prairie Moon" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99). Librarians should be aware that there is a large print edition of "Beneath a Prairie Moon" available as well (Thorndike Press Large Print, 9781432848378, $33.99, 583pp).

Cowboy's Redemption
B. J. Daniels
Harlequin Intrigue
c/o Harlequin Books
225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada, M3B 3K9
9781335526342, $6.75, PB, 256pp, www.amazon.com

Eighteen months ago, Colt McCloud experienced an unforgettable night of passion. Now his onetime lover is at his door, pleading for help to save the daughter they conceived. Lola Dayton knows Colt is her only hope to infiltrate the kidnapper's compound and save their baby. His military (and fatherly) instincts kick in. And Colt secretly vows that if they survive, he'll make this threesome a forever family. Latest addition to author B. J. Daniels' simply outstanding Montana- Cahills mini-series, "Cowboy's Redemption" is another superbly crafted and unfailing entertaining read showcasing a genuine mastery of the genre and making it unreservedly recommended for community library collections. In addition to this mass market paperback edition, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Cowboy's Redemption" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $4.49).

Once More Into the Fire
Peter Brandvold
Five Star Books
10 Water Street, Suite 310, Waterville, ME 04901
http://gale.cengage.com/fivestar
9781432842963, $25.95, HC, 353pp, www.amazon.com

Sheriff Ben Stillman finds himself in the unenviable position of having to arrest a young man for murder on suspicious evidence. But the cards are stacked against the young firebrand who calls himself Johnny Nevada. One, Johnny has gotten Judge Hoagland's daughter pregnant, shaming and enraging Hoagland himself. Two, Johnny warned Dave Bliss he was going to kill him because Bliss ordered Johnny to stay away from Bliss's daughter, Sarah, whom the young Casanova was also sparking. Johnny made the warning public and two weeks later Bliss was dead. Now Ben finds himself on the trail of two young thieving killers with a hard winter storm bearing down. A riveting read by a master of the genre, Peter Brandvold's "Once More Into the Fire" is a deftly crafted and unfailingly entertaining novel that will prove itself to be an immediate and enduringly popular addition to community library Western Fiction collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of dedicated western novel buffs that "Once More Into the Fire" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $7.99).

Feast of Sorrow
Crystal King
Touchstone Books
c/o Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.simonandschuster.com
9781501145148, $15.95, PB, 432pp, www.amazon.com

In the twenty-sixth year of Augustus Caesar's reign, Marcus Gavius Apicius has a singular ambition: to serve as culinary adviser to Caesar. To cement his legacy as Rome's leading epicure, the wealthy Apicius acquires a young chef, Thrasius, for the exorbitant price of twenty thousand denarii. Apicius believes that the talented Thrasius is the key to his culinary success, and with the slave's help he soon becomes known for his lavish parties and sumptuous meals. For his part, Thrasius finds a family among Apicius's household, which includes his daughter, Apicata; his wife, Aelia; and her handmaiden Passia, with whom Thrasius falls passionately in love. But as Apicius draws closer to his ultimate goal, his dangerous single-mindedness threatens his young family and places his entire household at the mercy of the most powerful forces in Rome. "Feast of Sorrow" is a deftly crafted novel of love and betrayal, politics and intrigue, and sumptuous feasts that showcases author Crystal King's genuine flair for originality and narrative storytelling as he brings ancient Rome to life in the mind's eye of her readers. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Feast of Sorrow" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $8.99) and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Blackstone Audio, 9781504797511, $34.95, CD).

Digging In
Loretta Nyhan
Lake Union Publishing
9781503951709, $24.95, HC, 241pp, www.amazon.com

Paige Moresco found her true love in eighth grade only to lose him two years ago. Since his death, she's been sleepwalking through life, barely holding on for the sake of her teenage son. Her house is a wreck, the grass is overrun with weeds, and she's at risk of losing her job. As Paige stares at her neglected lawn, she knows she's hit rock bottom. So she does something entirely unexpected: she begins to dig. As the hole gets bigger, Paige decides to turn her entire yard into a vegetable garden. The neighbors in her tidy gated community are more than a little alarmed. Paige knows nothing about gardening, and she's boldly flouting neighborhood-association bylaws. But with the help of new friends, a charming local cop, and the transformative power of the soil, Paige starts to see potential in the chaos of her life. Something big is beginning to take root -- both in her garden and in herself. A compelling blend of grief, humor and change, "Digging In" by Loretta Nyhan is an impressively original and entertaining read from cover to cover. While unreservedly recommended for community library Contemporary General Fiction collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Digging In" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $5.99) and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Brilliance Audio, 9781543641936, $14.99, MP3 CD).

The Hunger
Alma Katsu
G. P. Putnam's Sons
c/o Penguin Group USA
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
www.penguin.com
9780735212510, $27.00, HC, 384pp, www.amazon.com

Depleted rations, bitter quarrels, and the mysterious death of a little boy have driven the isolated members of the doomed Donnery Party to the brink of madness. Though they dream of what awaits them in the West, long-buried secrets begin to emerge, and dissent among them escalates to the point of murder and chaos. They cannot seem to escape tragedy -- or the feelings that someone (or something) is stalking them. Whether it's a curse from the beautiful Tamsen Donner (who some think might be a witch), their ill-advised choice of route through uncharted terrain, or just plain bad luck, the ninety men, women, and children of the Donner Party are heading into one of one of the deadliest and most disastrous Western adventures in American history. As members of the group begin to disappear, the survivors start to wonder if there really is something disturbing, and hungry, waiting for them in the mountains -- and whether the evil that has unfolded around them may have in fact been growing within them all along. As a novelist, Alma Katsu is able to effortlessly combine the supernatural and the historical in "The Hunger", making it an impressively crafted and inherently riveting read from beginning to end. While very highly recommended, especially for community library collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "The Hunger" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $13.99).

Dreams Of Falling
Karen White
Berkley Books
c/o Penguin Group (USA)
375 Hudson Street, 4th floor, New York, NY 10014
www.penguin.com
9780451488411, $26.00, HC, 416pp, www.amazon.com

Nine years ago, a humiliated Larkin Lanier fled Georgetown, South Carolina, knowing she could never go back. But when she finds out that her mother has disappeared, she realizes she has no choice but to return to the place she both loves and dreads -- and to the family and friends who never stopped wishing for her to come home. Ivy, Larkin's mother, is discovered badly injured and unconscious in the burned-out wreckage of her ancestral plantation home. No one knows why Ivy was there, but as Larkin digs for answers, she uncovers secrets kept for nearly fifty years (whispers of love, sacrifice, and betrayal) that lead back to three girls on the brink of womanhood who found their friendship tested in the most heartbreaking ways. Another perfectly crafted gem of a novel by an author with a genuine flair for originality and narrative storytelling, Karen White's "Dreams Of Falling" is an extraordinarily entertaining and highly recommended addition to community library Contemporary General Fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Dreams Of Falling" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $12.99) and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Penguin Audio, (9780735289345, $45.00, CD).

Kiss of the Spindle
Nancy Campbell Allen
Shadow Mountain Publishing
P.O. Box 30178, Salt Lake City, Utah 84130-0178
www.shadowmountain.com
9781629724140, $15.99, PB, 352pp, www.amazon.com

Doctor Isla Cooper is cursed. Literally. Each night, at the stroke of midnight she falls into a death-like sleep from which she cannot be awakened for six hours. To make it worse, the curse has an expiration date -- after a year, it becomes permanent. And the year is almost up. In a desperate attempt to find Malette (the witch who cursed her) Isla blackmails her way onto Daniel Pickett's private airship bound for the Caribbean, only to discover she's traveling with three illegal shapeshifters and the despicable Nigel Crowe, a government official determined to hunt down and exterminate every shapeshifter in England. Isla and Daniel must work together to keep the identities of the shapeshifters hidden while coming to terms with their own hidden secrets, and their blossoming attraction to each other. Filled from cover to cover with suspense, intrigue, and plenty of romance, "Kiss of the Spindle" is steampunk Sleeping Beauty story. It is a race against the clock as Isla and Daniel try to hunt down the elusive Malette before Isla's death-like sleep becomes permanent. Another deftly crafted and simply riveting read from first page to last by a master of the romance fantasy genre, by Nancy Campbell Allen's "Kiss of the Spindle" is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to community library collections. It should be noted for the legions of Nancy Campbell Allen fans that "Kiss of the Spindle" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $13.32) and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Blackstone Audio, 9781538545157, $29.95, MP3 CD).

The City Where We Once Lived
Eric Barnes
Arcade Publishing
www.arcadepub.com
c/o Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018
www.skyhorsepublishing.com
9781628728835, $24.99, HC, 244pp, www.amazon.com

In a near future where climate change has severely affected weather and agriculture, the North End of an unnamed city has long been abandoned in favor of the neighboring South End. Aside from the scavengers steadily stripping the empty city to its bones, only a few thousand people remain, content to live quietly among the crumbling metropolis. Many, like the narrator, are there to try to escape the demons of their past. He spends his time observing and recording the decay around him, attempting to bury memories of what he has lost. But it eventually becomes clear that things are unraveling elsewhere as well, as strangers, violent and desperate alike, begin to appear in the North End, spreading word of social and political deterioration in the South End and beyond. Faced with a growing disruption to his isolated life, the narrator discovers within himself a surprising need to resist losing the home he has created in this empty place. He and the rest of the citizens of the North End must choose whether to face outsiders as invaders or welcome them as neighbors. An all too realistic novel that could easily be ripped from future newspaper headlines, "The City Where We Once Lived" is a compelling read from first page to last and reveals author Eric Barnes to have a genuine flair for narrative driven storytelling. While very highly recommended, especially for community library collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "The City Where We Once Lived" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $14.74) and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Brilliance Audio, 9781543680218, $24.99, MP3 CD).

Pelican Point
Irene Hannon
Revell
c/o Baker Publishing Group
6030 East Fulton, Ada, MI 49301
www.bakerbooks.com
9780800734909, $29.99, HC, 368pp, www.amazon.com

Dr. Ben Garrison's hopes of just getting rid of an inherited historic lighthouse are complicated when he meets Marci Weber, who would like to save the crumbling landmark. "Pelican Point" is another deftly crafted gem of a novel by Irene Hannon who is a master of the romance genre. While certain to be an immediate and enduringly popular addition to community library Contemporary Romance Fiction collections, it should be noted for the legions of Irene Hannon fans that "Pelican Point" is also available in a paperback edition ( 9780800728809, $15.99) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $8.53).

Somebody's Daughter
Rochelle B. Weinstein
Lake Union Publishing
9781503949256, $14.95, PB, 320pp, www.amazon.com

Emma and Bobby Ross enjoy a charmed life on the shores of Miami Beach. They are a model family with a successful business, an uncomplicated marriage, and two blessedly typical twin daughters, Zoe and Lily. They are established members of a tight-knit community. Then, on the night of the girls' fifteenth birthday party, they learn of Zoe's heartbreaking mistake - a private and humiliating indiscretion that goes viral and thrusts her and her family into the center of a shocking public scandal. As the family's core is shattered by disgrace, judgment, and retribution, the fallout takes its toll. But for Emma, the shame runs deeper. Her daughter's reckless behavior has stirred memories of her own secrets that could break a marriage and family forever. A deftly crafted and thoroughly engaging read from cover to cover, "Somebody's Daughter" showcases author Rochelle B. Weinstein's genuine flair as a novelist for narrative storytelling, making it an ideal and highly recommended addition to community library Contemporary General Fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Somebody's Daughter" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $5.99) as well as a complete and unabridged audio book (Brilliance Audio, 9781543674460, $14.99, MP3 CD).

Every Mask I Tried on: Stories
Alina Stefanescu
Brighthorse Books
http://brighthorsebooks.com
9781944467081, $16.95, PB, 254pp, www.amazon.com

Alina Stefanescu is an award-winning author who has collected her best short stories into a single anthology, "Every Mask I Tried On: Stories". These are deftly crafted stories that showcase her genuine flair for originality and succinct narrative storytelling. An absorbing and memorable read from cover to cover, "Every Mask I Tried on: Stories" is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to personal reading lists, as well as both community and academic library Contemporary Literary Fiction collections.

May in America
Annie Wang
China Books & Periodicals, Inc.
360 Swift Avenue, Suite 48, South San Francisco, CA 94080
www.chinabooks.com
9780835103091, $18.95, PB, 306pp, www.amazon.com

May, one of the new generations of Chinese super-rich kids, has outgrown Beijing and has come to California for an exciting life. There she meets two American men: a Jewish-American Harvard-educated professor named Leaf; and Mentor, who is a Silicon Valley self-made billionaire. As her relationships with Leaf and Mentor progress, May's past traumas in patriarchal China are revealed, while her cultural naivete leads to divergent interpretations of trust, personal boundaries, respect, fetishism, and sexual deviancy. May's life descends into a mad triangle of deception. Desperate, hurting, disconnected and suffering from the feeling of being emotionally dead and alone, May must find the strength to survive. "May in America" reveals the universally evocative themes of love and lust, darkness and light, innocence and cynicism, individuality and co-dependence, and, ultimately, loss and redemption. A deftly crafted and inherently riveting read from cover to cover, "May in America" is the newest novel from acclaimed Chinese-American author, Annie Wang and is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to personal reading lists, as well as both community and academic library Contemporary Literary Fiction collections.

The Mercy Seat
Elizabeth H. Winthrop
Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
154 West 14th Street, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10011
www.groveatlantic.com
9780802128188, $26.00, HC, 240pp, www.amazon.com

On the eve of his execution, eighteen year old Willie Jones sits in his cell in New Iberia awaiting his end. Across the state, a truck driven by a convict and his keeper carries the executioner's chair closer. On a nearby highway, Willie's father Frank lugs a gravestone on the back of his fading, old mule. In his office the DA who prosecuted Willie reckons with his sentencing, while at their gas station at the crossroads outside of town, married couple Ora and Dale grapple with their grief and their secrets. As various members of the township consider and reflect on what Willie's execution means, an intricately layered and complex portrait of a Jim Crow era Southern community emerges in the pages of "The Mercy Seat" by novelist Elizabeth H. Wintrhop. Moving from voice to voice, Winthrop elegantly brings to stark light the story of a town, its people, and its injustices. A brutally incisive and tender novel by an author with an impressive flair for originality and narrative storytelling, "The Mercy Seat" is an exceptional and highly recommended addition for community library Contemporary General Fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "The Mercy Seat" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.10).

The Way of Beauty
Camille Di Maio
Lake Union Publishing
9781503950122, $14.95, PB, 384pp, www.amazon.com

Vera Keller is the daughter of German immigrants in turn-of-the-century New York City who finds her life upended when the man she loves becomes engaged to another woman. But Angelo Bellavia has also inadvertently opened up Vera's life to unexpected possibilities. Angelo's new wife, Pearl, the wealthy daughter of a clothing manufacturer, has defied her family's expectations by devoting herself to the suffrage movement. In Pearl, Vera finds an unexpected dear friend -- and a stirring new cause of her own. But when Pearl's selfless work pulls her farther from Angelo and their son, the life Vera craved is suddenly within her reach -- if her conscience will allow her to take it. Her choice will define not only her future but also that of her daughter, Alice. Vera and Alice (a generation and a world apart) are bound by the same passionate drive to fulfill their dreams. As first mother and then daughter come of age in a city that is changing as rapidly as its skyline, they'll each discover that love is the only constant. "The Way of Beauty" is a another deftly crafted and reader engaging novel by Camille Di Maio and continues to showcase her genuine flair for originality and narrative storytelling. Fully entertaining from first page to last, "The Way of Beauty" will easily prove to be an immediate and enduringly popular addition to community library Contemporary General Fiction collections. For personal reading lists it should be noted that "The Way of Beauty" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $4.99) and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Brillance Audio, 9781543661729, $14.99, MP3 CD).

Sophia of Silicon Valley
Anna Yen
William Morrow & Company
c/o HarperCollins Publishers
195 Broadway New York, New York 10007
www.harpercollins.com
9780062673015, $26.99, HC, 368pp, www.amazon.com

During the heady years of the tech boom, incorrigibly frank Sophia Young lucks into a job that puts her directly in the path of Scott Kraft, the eccentric CEO of Treehouse, a studio whose animated films are transforming movies forever. Overnight, Sophia becomes an unlikely nerd whisperer. Whether her success is due to dumb luck, savage assertiveness, insightful finesse (learned by dealing with her irrational Chinese immigrant mother), or a combination of all three, in her rarified position she finds she can truly shine. As Scott Kraft's right-hand woman, whip-smart Sophia is in the eye of the storm, sometimes floundering, sometimes nearly losing relationships and her health, but ultimately learning what it means to take charge of her own future the way the men around her do. But when engineer/inventor Andre Stark hires her to run his company's investor relations, Sophia discovers that the big paycheck and high-status career she's created for herself may not be worth living in the toxic environment of a boys-club gone bad. Anna Yen has worked at a wide range of tech companies which has enabled her to create a 'real world' feel to her novel of a young woman trying to succeed in a male-dominated Silicon Valley environment. A simply riveting read by a skilled storyteller, "Sophia of Silicon Valley" is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to community library Contemporary General Fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Sophia of Silicon Valley" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $12.99) and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Blackstone Audio, 9781538500774, $39.99, CD).


The Business Shelf

Digital Marketing for Business Growth
Julian Clay
Thorogood
c/o Stylus Publishing, Inc.
22883 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling, VA 20166-2012
www.styluspub.com
9781854188854, $24.95, PB, 220pp, www.amazon.com

Digital marketing is the marketing of products or services using digital technologies, mainly on the Internet, but also including mobile phones, display advertising, and any other digital medium. Digital marketing and social media has had a significant impact on the way companies engage with potential customers when selling their products and services. Companies are now able to connect with their target audience in a way that makes people feel engaged in order to help them make purchasing decisions. "Digital Marketing for Business Growth" by Julian Clay (who was a top sales performer in Kodak's Office Imaging division and progressed to become part of its senior management team) covers topics that need to be addressed so that plans to achieve sales growth can be implemented successfully. These include: Creating a digital marketing strategy; Using a website effectively to add value; Social media platforms for digital marketing communication; Getting the best out of data analytics; Selling internationally; The future of digital marketing and how it might affect a business. "Digital Marketing for Business Growth" is an invaluable compendium of best practice ideas that can be implemented to improve commercial engagement with a target audience in order to achieve a higher return from any marketing campaign. Exceptionally well written, organized, and presented, "Digital Marketing for Business Growth" is an ideal introduction to digital marketing and very highly recommended for corporate, community, and academic library Business Management collections in general, and Digital Marketing supplemental studies reading lists in particular. It should be noted for business students, corporate executives, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Digital Marketing for Business Growth" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $8.43).

The Magic of Tiny Business
Sharon Rowe
Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc.
1333 Broadway, Suite 1000, Oakland CA, 94612
www.bkconnection.com
9781523094783, $16.95, PB, 160pp, www.amazon.com

Sharon Rowe is the founder and CEO of Eco-Bags Products, which grew to become a $2.2 million business. Featured in Time magazine and in the indie film Bag It, Rowe has been the recipient of several awards, including the Business Council of Westchester's Entrepreneur of the Year, Enterprising Woman of the Year, and the Women's Enterprise Development Center's Lilian Vernon Award. In the pages of "The Magic of Tiny Business: You Don't Have to Go Big to Make a Great Living", she draws upon her years of experience and expertise to provide an instructional guide specifically for those aspiring entrepreneurs who feel trapped by working for others, who fantasize about starting their own business, yet intimidated by the fear of falling into debt, working eighty hours a week, and coping with the pressure to grow. But there is an alternative -- creating not just a small business, but a tiny one! Like a tiny house, a tiny business is built on maintaining a laser focus on what is essential by living an intentional life. Using the success story of Eco-Bags Products, Rowe distills the step-by-step process of building a profitable, right-scaled, sustainable venture that doesn't compromise your values. She shows how to test a business concept, manage money and priorities, and more -- all while staying true to the "tiny" ethos. Inspired and inspiring, "The Magic of Tiny Business" is a unique and invaluable contribution to personal, community, and academic library Business Management collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "The Magic of Tiny Business" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99) and as a complete and unabridged audio book (DreamScape Audio, 9781520099316, $19.99, CD).

Fired Up! Selling (TM)
Ray Bard
Bard Press
http://www.bardpress.com
National Book Network (distributor)
www.nbnbooks.com
9781885167835, $19.99, HC, 240pp, www.amazon.com

Very highly recommended for personal reading lists and community library Business Management instructional reference collections, "Fired UP! Selling (TM): Great Quotes To Inspire, Energize, Succeed" by Ray Bard is a compendium of great quotes intended to motivate anyone who wants to live a fired-up life -- whether they're in sales, an entrepreneur, or simply someone who desires to live life to it fullest. More than1,000 quote judges around the world participated in a unique crowd-sourcing model to select the best 324 quotes for the book. "Fired Up! Selling TM" is organized into six major sections: Think Big, Get Going, Keep Going, Make the Sale, Succeed, and A Stronger, Better You. Additionally, there is a cross-referenced subject index and an author index making it easy to find a specific quote or search for a favorite author. A classy gift with a faux leather cover, featuring 60 brilliant color images, as well as 3 silk ribbon markers, "Fired Up! Selling (TM)" can be utilized to inspire employees, show gratitude to customers, and encourage friends -- and fire up the reader to achieve any desired goal!

Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For
William Gentry
Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc.
1333 Broadway, Suite 1000, Oakland CA, 94612
www.bkconnection.com
9781626566255, $19.95, PB, 216pp, www.amazon.com

Becoming a boss requires a much different 'script' for how we interact with the workforce comprising a business. We all have mental scripts that tell us how the world works. Your old script was all about "me": standing out as an individual. But as a new leader, you need to flip your script from "me" to "we" and help the group you lead succeed. In this book, In "Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For: A Guide for New Leaders", William Gentry (a senior research scientists and a director of the Center for Creative Leadership) supports and coaches you to flip your script in six key areas. He offers actionable, practical, evidence-based advice and examples drawn from his research, his work with leaders, and his own failures and triumphs of becoming a new leader. Get started flipping your script and become the kind of boss everyone wants to work for by a careful reading of "Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For". Thoroughly 'reader friendly' in tone, commentary, organization and presentation is unreservedly recommended for corporate, community, and academic library Business Management collections and MBA supplemental studies lists. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99) and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Dreamscape Media, 9781520046181, $9.99, CD).

Focus Point
Donald G. McMullen
Orange Frazer Press
PO Box 214, Wilmington, OH 45177
www.orangefrazer.com
9781939710741, $25.00, HC, 228pp, www.amazon.com

"Focus Point: Blueprint to Develop a World-Class Company" by Donald G. McMullen is based upon his acquisition and work with the start-up and early growth of MarketVision Research. The company that today is a global top fifty market research organization. "Focus Point" takes the reader through what McMullen learned in retailing, brand management, advertising and market research that helped in the development of a marketing research company. Success would require achieving its objectives involving technology, innovation, development of people, continuous improvement and the ability to ascertain new insights for sophisticated client organizations. In its second generation of management the company moved into new categories, became a leader in pharmaceutical market research and expanded internationally. In 2015, CASRO, the industry trade association, named MarketVision Research Organization of the Year. An instructive, thought- provoking, impressively informative read from beginning to end, "Focus Point" will prove to be an invaluable addition to personal, professional, corporate, community, and academic library Contemporary Business Management collections and supplemental studies lists.


The Self-Help Shelf

Willpower Doesn't Work
Benjamin Hardy
Hachette Books
c/o Hachette Book Group
1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104
www.hachettebookgroup.com
9780316441322, $26.00, HC, 256pp, www.amazon.com

The world around us is fast-paced, confusing, and full of distractions. It's easy to lose focus on what you want to achieve, and your willpower won't last long if your environment is in conflict with your goals -- eventually, the environment will win out. "Willpower Doesn't Work: Discover the Hidden Keys to Success" by Benjamin Hardy is the needed guided for today's over-stimulating and addicting environment. "Willpower Doesn't Work" shows: How to make the biggest decisions of your life--and why those decisions must be made in specific settings; How to create a daily "sacred" environment to live your life with intention, and not get sucked into the cultural addictions; How to invest big in yourself to upgrade your environment and mindset; How to put "forcing functions" in your life--so your default behaviors are precisely what you want them to be; How to quickly put yourself in proximity to the most successful people in the world--and how to adapt their knowledge and skills to yourself even quicker; How to create an environment where endless creativity and boundless productivity is the norm. Thoroughly 'reader friendly' in tone, commentary, organization and presentation, "Willpower Doesn't Work" is an ideal and 'real world practical' self help guide for the non-specialist general readers seeking to cope with the extraordinary stresses of contemporary personal and professional life today. While very highly recommended, especially for community and academic library Self-Help/Self- Improvement collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Willpower Doesn't Work" is also available in a paperback edition (Little Brown, 9780349417936, $15.99), and in a digital book format (Kindle, $13.99).

Awaken the Power Within
Albert Amao Soria
Tarcher/Perigee
c/o Penguin Group, USA
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014-3657
www.tarcherbooks.com
9780143132592, $16.00, PB, 288pp, www.amazon.com

In "Awaken the Power Within: In Defense of Self-Help", sociologist Albert Amao analyzes the accuracy of self-help and positive-thinking claims in this groundbreaking exploration of what works, what doesn't, and why, substantially based upon his own life experience. Born in a poor Latin-American country into a very impoverished family with both parents practically illiterate, he was the oldest of five children and began working at six years of age, shining shoes and selling newspapers to help his family. Unable to finish high school, he nevertheless was able to acquire a diploma by going to night school, which then allowed him to be admitted at the San Marcos University in Lima to obtain a Ph.D. in sociology. All these things were possible in his view because when he was teenager he had access to New Thought" or positive-thinking philosophy. Contrary to the critics who blithely dismiss self-help methods, or the New Age gurus who sell it them as miracles, in the pages of "Awaken the Power Within, Amao writes with sobriety, scholarship, and draws on his personal experience to deftly explore the conditions under which self-help is authentic -- and successful. Accessibly written and thoroughly 'reader friendly' in organization and presentation, "Awaken the Power Within" is an inspired and inspiring read from beginning to end. While unreservedly recommended for both community and academic library Self-Help/Self-Improvement collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Awaken the Power Within" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $11.99) and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Tantor Audio, 9781977356659, $24.99, CD).


The Photography Shelf

Montana Moments
Chuck Haney
Farcountry Press
PO Box 5630, Helena, MT 59604
www.farcountrypress.com
9781560377030, $32.95, HC, 120pp, www.amazon.com

In the pages of "Montana Moments", photographer Chuck Haney presents his view of Montana in a beautiful, large-format collection from Farcountry Press. "Montana Moments" is Haney's fourth photography book featuring his home state of Montana and offers beautifully crafted, full color photography of flowing rivers, tranquil lakes, rugged mountain peaks, and rolling prairie. From key natural landmarks to idyllic western towns, "Montana Moments" is a visual memorial in service of presenting Big Sky Country. Each of the 148 full-color Montana photographs is accompanied by educational and informative captions, making it an unreservedly recommended addition to personal and community library American Photography collections in general, and Montana landscape photography in particular.

Trains
Jennifer B. Bodine
Schiffer Publishing Ltd.
4880 Lower Valley Road, Atglen, PA 19310
www.schifferbooks.com
9780764354939, $29.99, HC, 128pp, www.amazon.com

The late A. Aubrey Bodine (1906 - 1970) was a newspaper photographer, pictorialist, modernist, and documentarian, as well as the Baltimore Sun feature photographer from 1924-1970. "Trains: Photography of A. Aubrey Bodine" is his archive of train photographs chronicling mid-twentieth-century rail transportation and the people working on the railroad. Bodine's images of steam and diesel locomotives document an era passed. Herein contains award-winning pictures, currently popular pictures, historically interesting pictures, and pictures unseen until this specialized volume of his work. These images demonstrate Bodine's pictorialist and modernist photographic eye for trains and railroads in motion and at rest. "Trains" is the fourth Bodine picture book assembled by his daughter, Jennifer B. Bodine and is unreservedly recommended to train enthusiasts, photography fans, as well as community and academic library 20th Century American Photography collections.


The Sports Shelf

Golf Anatomy
Craig Davies & Vince DiSaia
Human Kinetics Publishers, Inc.
PO Box 5076, Champaign, IL 61820-5076
www.HumanKinetics.com
9781492548423, $24.95, PB, 224pp, www.amazon.com

Now golfing enthusiasts can see what it takes to improve consistency and performance in their golf game as they never have before in this newly updated and expanded second edition of "Golf Anatomy" by the team of Dr. Craig Davies (who is a movement, body mechanics, and strength and conditioning coach on the PGA Tour) and Dr. Vince DiSaia (who is the founder and clinic director at Momentum Functional Health). This new edition "Golf Anatomy" provides updated and improved exercises, more artwork, and a more complete way to build a golf fitness program. This one-of-a-kind guide, developed over 15 years of working with professional golfers, will show even the most novice of golfers how to lower their score by increasing strength, power, and range of motion for longer drives and more accurate shots. Enhanced throughout with the inclusion of full color illustrations, "Golf Anatomy" is impressively 'reader friendly' in tone, commentary, organization and presentation, making it an ideal and highly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, and academic library Golfing instructional reference collections. It should be noted that "Golf Anatomy" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).

Red Sox vs. Braves in Boston
Charlie Bevis
McFarland & Company
PO Box 611, Jefferson NC 28640
https://mcfarlandbooks.com
9780786496648, $29.95, PB, 250pp, www.amazon.com

For 52 years, Boston was a two-team Major League city, home to both the Red Sox and the Braves. "Red Sox vs. Braves in Boston: The Battle for Fans' Hearts, 1901-1952" by Charlie Bevis (who is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research, and an Adjunct Professor of English at Rivier University) focuses on the two teams' period of coexistence and competition for fans. "Red Sox vs. Braves in Boston" analyzes the Boston fan base through trends in transportation, communication, geography, population and employment. Tracing the pendulum of fan preference between the two teams over five distinct time periods, a deeper understanding emerges of why the Red Sox remained in Boston and the Braves moved to Milwaukee. McFarland & Company is the premier publisher of baseball history books and this latest addition to their illustrious catalog is still another exceptionally informative and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, community, and academic library History of Baseball collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of baseball fans that "Red Sox vs. Braves in Boston" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).


The Needlecraft Shelf

Ultimate Quilt Block Collection
Lynne Goldsworth
CompanionHouse Books
c/o Fox Chapel Publishing Company
1970 Broad Street N., East Petersburg, PA 17520
www.FoxChapelPublishing.com
9781620082805, $19.99, PB, 224pp, www.amazon.com

Lynne Goldsworthy is a modern British quilter who designs quilts for fabric manufacturers in the UK and the US and is a regular contributor to various quilting magazines. In "Ultimate Quilt Block Collection: The Step-by-Step Guide to More Than 70 Unique Blocks for Creating Hundreds of Quilt Projects" she draws upon her years of experience and expertise to create a 'must-have' resource for dedicated quilters. Showcasing more than 70 original blocks drawn from world-renowned designers, and which range from basic units like Flying Geese to more intricate motifs using foundation paper piecing, there's something here for every level of quilter from beginning novice to seasoned expert. Quilting enthusiasts can mix and match classic and modern designs to make hundreds of combinations. "Ultimate Quilt Block Collection" offers clear, step-by-step instructions for every block, with beautiful photos of every project -- and encourages experimenting with color combinations, while also providing instructions for sewing all completed blocks into a finished quilt. Beautifully and profusely illustrated throughout, "Ultimate Quilt Block Collection" is an extraordinary and highly recommended addition to personal, professional, and community library Needlecraft instructional reference collections.

The Handmade Quilt
Carolyn Forster
Landauer Publishing
c/o Fox Chapel Publishing
1970 Broad Street, East Petersburg, PA 17520
www.landauercorp.com
9781935726968, $24.95, PB, 144pp, www.amazon.com

With one quilt of 15 blocks, master teacher Carolyn Forster takes the aspiring needlecrafter on a quilt making journey that begins with the basics and progresses to more intricate techniques with each new block with "The Handmade Quilt". Starting with simple blocks and methods, novice quilters will progress to more intricate units as their confidence and skill increase. "The Handmade Quilt" provides both a complete learning experience for new quilters and a stunning project for experienced stitchers. The finished heirloom-quality quilt is a beautiful sampler of stash-busting blocks. Profusely illustrated throughout, "The Handmade Quilt" is replete with detailed how-to instructions and photographs taking ambitious quilters through the process step-by-step. Thoroughly 'user friendly' in organization and presentation, "The Handmade Quilt" is unreservedly recommended for personal and community library quilting instructional reference collections.

Amigurumi: San-X Crochet Patterns
Eriko Teranishi and San-X
Viz Media LLC
1355 Market Street, Suite 200, San Francisco CA 94103
www.viz.com
9781421598734 $14.99 amazon.com

Amigurumi: San-X Crochet Patterns is a guide to creating amigurumi - cute, crochet animals resembling various beloved mascots found everywhere in Japan. Detailed patterns make Amigurumi an excellent choice for crocheters looking to create small yet memorable handcrafted gifts. Photographs of the finished amigurumi are in full color, although the patterns and stitch instructions are in black-and-white. Amigurumi: San-X Crochet Patterns is an excellent supplement to needlework and crochet project shelves, highly recommended.


The Biography Shelf

An American Anarchist
Paul Avrich
AK Press
370 Ryan Ave #100, Chico, CA 95973
www.akpress.org
9781849352680 $19.00 pbk / $9.99 Kindle amazon.com

An American Anarchist: The Life of Voltairine de Cleyre is an in-depth biography of American writer, speaker, feminist, and anarchist Voltairine de Cleyre (1866-1912). Part of the free thought movement, de Cleyre repeatedly spoke of the values of freedom and the ills of unchecked political power and subjugation of the individual. For example, in a lecture entitled "Sex Slavery" she fiercely opposed laws of the era that allowed husbands to rape their wives, stating that the legal refusal to criminalize marital rape made "every married woman what she is, a bonded slave, who takes her master's name, her master's bread, her master's commands, and serves her master's passions." An American Anarchist is a welcome contribution to public and college library biography collections, highly recommended.

Rhapsody in Black
John Kruth
Backbeat Books
c/o Hal Leonard Performing Arts Publishing Group
33 Plymouth Street, Suite 302, Montclair, NJ 07042-2677
www.halleonard.com
9781476886794, $27.99, HC, 246pp, www.amazon.com

Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 - December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter and musician known for his impassioned singing style, complex song structures, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison's singing has inspired everyone who has heard it, from Springsteen to k. d. lang, and laid the very foundation for goth. While fascinating from a pop culture standpoint, it is Orbisons life's journey that makes a great story that has yet to be told to its fullest. In "Rhapsody in Black: The Life and Music of Roy Orbison" biographer and musician John Kruth does not shy away from or trivialize the personal pain, alienation, and tragic events that shaped Orbison's singular personality and music. Roy Orbison wasn't merely a singer but a sonic alchemist who, in the end, transformed unfathomable human misery into transcendent melody and platinum records. It is interesting to note that "Rhapsody In Black" contains new interviews with over 20 people who worked closely with Orbison throughout his life. While very highly recommended, especially for community and academic library 20th Century American Biography collections in general, and Roy Orbison supplemental studies lists in particular, "Rhapsody in Black" is a 'must' for the legions of Roy Orbison fans and is also available for personal reading lists in a paperback edition (9781540000460, $24.99) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $15.39).

Frances Langford: Armed Forces Sweetheart
Ben Ohmart
BearManor Media
P. O. Box 1129, Duncan, OK 73534-1129
www.bearmanormedia.com
9781629332147, $35.00, HC, 342pp, www.amazon.com

Julia Frances Langford (April 4, 1913 - July 11, 2005) was an American singer and entertainer who was popular during the Golden Age of Radio and also made film appearances over two decades. Her signature song, "In the Mood for Love" carried her from turntables to troops in World War Two, and then into the stuff of legends. From the radio airwaves on Louella Parson's Hollywood Hotel, Rudy Vallee's The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour, and Dick Powell's Campana Serenade (1942-1943), Frances achieved nationwide fame as Don Ameche's insufferable wife, Blanche, on The Bickersons (1946-1951). Her beauty eclipsed her broadcasts, when the movies plucked her from speakers to screens. Her film debut in Every Night at Eight(1935) led to Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935), in which she popularized "Broadway Rhythm" and "You Are My Lucky Star," Born to Dance (1936), and Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) with James Cagney, in which she sang the rousing "Over There". For the first time, her personal interviews with author/publisher Ben Ohmart that comprise a part of "Frances Langford: Armed Forces Sweetheart" bring the treasured memories from her past to light. Readers can now return with her to the front lines from 1941 into the 1980s with Bob Hope and Jerry Colonna on U.S.O. tours through Europe, North Africa, and the South Pacific, entertaining thousands of G.I.s throughout the world. Illustrated with hundreds of never-before-seen photos from the Frances Langford Collection in Lakeland, Florida, "Frances Langford: Armed Forces Sweetheart" will prove to be an immediate and enduringly popular addition to both community and academic library 20th Century American Biography collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Frances Langford: Armed Forces Sweetheart" is also available in a paperback edition (9781629332130, $25.00) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.95).

The 4 Year Olympian
Jeremiah Brown
https://the4yearolympian.com
The Dundurn Group
3 Church Street, Suite 500, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5E 1M2
www.dundurn.com
9781459741317, $22.99, PB, 320pp, www.amazon.com

After nearly being incarcerated at age seventeen and becoming a father at nineteen, Jeremiah Brown manages to grow up into a responsible young adult. But while juggling the demands of a long-term relationship, fatherhood, mortgage payments, and a nine-to-five banking career, he feels something is missing. A new goal captures his imagination: What would it take to become an Olympian? Guided by a polarizing coach, Brown and his teammates plumb the depths of physical and mental exertion in pursuit of a singular goal. "The 4 Year Olympian: From First Stroke to Olympic Medallist" is a personal story of courage, perseverance, and overcoming self-doubt, told from the perspective of an unlikely competitor. Inherently fascinating and ultimately inspiring, "The 4 Year Olympian" is an extraordinary memoir which is unreservedly recommended for both community and academic library Contemporary Biography collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "The 4 Year Olympian" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $6.60).

Dinosaurs in the Cornfield
William B. Hardison, Jr.
Brandylane Publishers
5 South First Street, Richmond, VA 23219
www.brandylanepublishers.com
9781947860063, $28.95, HC, 246pp, www.amazon.com

For young Billy, summer means saying goodbye to city life and traveling seven hundred miles to visit his grandparents on their Tennessee farm. It means long, humid days of snapping beans, milking cows, hunting for fossils in rocky fields, and trips into town for ice-cream sodas and comic books at the five-and-dime. It means muggy nights spent on the front porch with family, the boys gathered around the big Philco radio, listening to The Lone Ranger over the low hum of crickets. But most of all, summer means time spent in the long shadow of Grandpa, a massive Welchman, keenly observant, frugal of words and actions, but rich in experience and country wisdom. On this remote patch of farmland, Grandpa's word is law. Now a retired minister and former Adjunct Professor of Christian Spirituality at Baptist Theological Seminary in Richmond, in the pages of "Dinosaurs in the Cornfield: Lessons Unearthed on My Grandfather's Farm", William Hardison looks back on those summer days with nostalgic fondness and his own hard-earned wisdom. In doing so, he rediscovers deeper lessons hidden within the adventures he so often took for granted as an energetic child. Exceptionally well written, "Dinosaurs in the Cornfield" is an absorbingly thoughtful and thought-provoking memoir that is very highly recommended and will prove to be a valued and appreciated addition to community library American Biography collections.

James A. Murray: Butte's Radical Irish Millionaire
Bill Farley
Mountain Press Publishing Company
9780878426829 $14.00 www.mountain-press.com

James A. Murray: Butte's Radical Irish Millionaire tells of an Irishman who hit a big strike in a Montana town, hired others to work his claims, and rose to wealth and power in the Rocky Mountains in the 1880s. From lowly roots he became a mogul who ruled much of the state's mining camps, associated with some of the most notorious figures in history, and became a powerful political figure rising to the top of a radical Irish-American organization. Told by his second great-grandnephew with an ongoing interest in his ancestor's notorious background, James A. Murray: Butte's Radical Irish Millionaire presents the lively story of a rogue who deserves his place in American history chronicles.


The Automotive Shelf

1970 Plymouth Superbird
Geoff Stunkard
CarTech Inc.
838 Lake Street South, Forest Lake, MN 55025
www.cartechbooks.com
9781613253007, $18.95, PB, 96pp, www.amazon.com

Geoff Stunkard is a veteran photo journalist and author as well as a lifelong Mopar aficionado. "1970 Plymouth Superbird" is the newest addition to the outstanding CarTech 'Muscle Cars in Detail' series. Today Superbirds are highly collectible and are the star attractions at car shows and auctions, pulling top dollar and generating real excitement. Profusely illustrated throughout, this particular volume is impressively informative as Stunkard draws upon his more than twenty years of experience and expertise with this particular vehicle to go into extraordinary detail on the history and make-up of the 1970 Plymouth Superbird. As a uniquely descriptive history that is unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, and academic library Automotive History collections, "1970 Plymouth Superbird " showcases a truly impressive and now legendary American-made car.

Chrysler A-833 Transmissions
Jamie Passon
CarTech Inc.
838 Lake Street South, Forest Lake, MN 55025
www.cartechbooks.com
9781613253243, $26.95, PB, 128pp, www.amazon.com

Making horsepower at Chrysler in the early 1960s was nothing new for the Pentastar brand. The 413 RB engine had been producing more than 350 hp since the late 1950s. Joining the lineup in 1963, the 426 Wedge doubled down on the fact that Chrysler was all-in on going fast. The one weakness holding them back from total domination on the streets and strips was with their dated and tired manual shifter, the BorgWarner T-10 transmission. That all changed with the advent of its replacement, the New Process A-833. Jamie Passon of Passon Performance has used his decades of knowledge on the A-833 to create the ultimate book on rebuilding a Chrysler 4-speed. He begins with a historical overview of the long-tenured A-833 and jumps into dissecting what could be malfunctioning in your transmission. The bulk of the book concentrates on disassembling, inspecting, repairing, and reassembling the A-833. With 400 photos, the author shows you exactly how to rebuild your transmission featuring how-to sequences that walk you through each phase. The newest addition to CarTech's simply outstanding 'Workbench How-To' series and thoroughly 'user friendly' in organization and presentation, "Chrysler A-833 Transmissions: How to Rebuild and Modify" is unreservedly recommended for anyone repairing or upgrading their own Chrysler A-833.


The Martial Arts Shelf

The Kata and Bunkai of Goju-Ryu Karate
Giles Hopkins
Blue Snake Books
c/o North Atlantic Books
2526 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Berkeley, CA 94704-2607
www.northatlanticbooks.com
9781623171995, $24.95, PB, 304pp, www.amazon.com

Giles Hopkins has trained in martial arts since 1973, studying a wide range of styles, from Tae Kwon Do and Shotokan karate to White Crane kung fu and T'ai Chi. He is a sixth-degree black belt in Okinawa Goju-ryu and holds a teaching certificate in Matayoshi Kobudo from the Zen Okinawa Kobudo Renmei. He spent seven years living and training with Kimo Wall, president of Kodokan, in the lineage of Higa Seiko and Matayoshi Shinpo. In the 1980s, he accompanied Wall sensei to Okinawa and trained in kobudo under Matayoshi, and Goju-ryu under Higa Seikichi and Gibo Seiki of Shodokan. Challenging timeworn conventions of karate training and revealing the original intent of classical kata (or forms) through detailed descriptions of self-defense applications known as bunkai, Hopkins draws upon his years of research, experience and expertise in "The Kata and Bunkai of Goju-Ryu Karate: The Essence of the Heishu and Kaishu Kata" to create a crucial addition to any dedicated martial-arts library. Containing more than 265 photos, "The Kata and Bunkai of Goju-Ryu Karate " is divided into chapters that illuminate each of the ten classical kata of Goju-ryu. Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "The Kata and Bunkai of Goju-Ryu Karate" is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended addition to dojo, community, and academic library Martial Arts instructional reference collections and supplemental studies lists. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of martial arts students and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "The Kata and Bunkai of Goju-Ryu Karate" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $16.99).

Winning Fights
Phillip Stephens
YMAA Publications
PO Box 480, Wolfeboro, NH 03894-0480
www.ymaa.com
9781594396007, $18.95, PB, 272pp, www.amazon.com

Dr. Phillip M. Stephens is a black belt in Ketsugo Do jujutsu and has won championship titles in self-defense tournament competition. He is a commissioner appointed to the North Carolina Boxing Commission, which regulates combat sports, including mixed martial arts and boxing. He practices emergency medicine as a physician assistant and holds a doctorate in health science. In the pages of "Winning Fights" he provides twelve proven principles for winning on the street, winning in the ring, and winning at life. Drawing from his years of experience and expertise with respect to martial training, Dr. Stephens looked beyond the technical to the conceptual and found that winning fights requires twelve core principles: preparation, awareness, commitment, lethality, efficiency, discipline, power, focus, fierceness, surprise, timing, and fortitude. A unique and impressively informative, thoughtful and thought-provoking read, "Winning Fights" is an especially and highly recommended addition to personal, professional, dojo, community, and academic library Martial Arts collections and supplemental studies lists. It should be noted for martial arts students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Winning Fights" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).


The Poetry Shelf

The Invisible God
John J. Brugaletta
Resource Publications, Inc.
2205 Benton, Searcy, AR 72143
www.resourcepublications.net
9781498244084, $36.00, HC, 102pp, www.amazon.com

In addition to being thoughtfully entertaining, the poems comprising John J. Brugaletta's "The Invisible God" pose questions for Christians, be they new converts or seasoned believers. In many cases they can function as a checklist for the depth of one's faith. These are poems that provide introspection but are far from self-centered as they offer ways of reflecting on God and the Christian experience. Brugaletta (who is Professor Emeritus of English at California State University, Fullerton) taught courses in Shakespeare, Dante, and Homer, while editing and publishing South Coast Poetry Journal. Highly recommended for both community and academic library Contemporary Poetry collections, and available for personal reading lists in a paperback edition (9781532618482, $16.00) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99), "The Invisible God" is Brugaletta's sixth collection of poems. Consummation: The mind constructs a castle / Where only huts endure / And thinks the walking cleanly / That never knew a floor. // A mountain seems a spirit / Until it's underfoot -- / Then any lowland forest / Pontificates on light. // Not so the final banquet -- / More like the married pair / Who know the courting frenzy / More than they did before.

The Caregiver: Poems
Caroline Johnson
Holy Cow! Press
PO Box 3170, Mount Royal Station, Duluth, MN 55803
www.holycowpress.org
9780998601038, $16.00, PB, 88pp, www.amazon.com

"The Caregiver" is the debut anthology showcasing Caroline Johnson's poetry. It includes 50 poems that were inspired by the 15 years she devoted to taking care of her aging parents. The gathering includes free verse, lyrical poems, prose poetry and some formal verse. Many of the poems won contests and have been previously published in online print journals and anthologies. The poems touch on the topic of grieving but go beyond and focus on the many difficulties a caregiver experiences (both emotional and physical) yet also recognize the spiritual gifts that come with helping a loved one. Very highly recommended for both personal reading lists and community library Contemporary American Poetry collections, the verses collected in "The Caregiver: Poems" focus on a significant issue for our times and one that will only become more important, especially as our babyboomer population continues age. 'A Mother's Love': She is sleeping and if you listen / you can almost hear her breathe. / The nurse sits her up in bed. / She winks one ey open and I feed her / a spoonful of stuffing and gravy. / With brown eyes she smiles, and the / smile lasts me the whole day -- / more than seventy-seven years, / more than one week in a hospital bed, / more than a generation, / more than the love a mother can show.

Cairn: New & Selected
Peggy Shumaker
Red Hen Press
PO Box 3537, Granada Hills, CA 91394
www.redhen.org
9781597096119, $28.95, HC, 400pp, www.amazon.com

Chosen with care, "Cairn: New & Selected" is an extraordinary volume of verse that impressively represents some forty years of poems and prose by Peggy Shumaker (who served as Alaska State Writer Laureate). Her distinctive cadences give voice to landscapes and people of Alaska and Arizona. "Cairn: New & Selected" represents a major body of work leads the reader deep into what remains unresolved, savoring mysteries of heart, mind, and soul. Matters of life and death, these poems embody exuberance and struggle and generosity. "Cairn: New & Selected" is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to both community and academic library American Poetry collections. 'Oatmeal': Dry slide of Bob's Red mill / Extra Thick Rolled Oats / off the scoop -- // tiny dustcloud / settling like ash / from stirred coals. // Waking together, / happy, not / our first try.


The Activity Shelf

Quote Acrostic Favorites: Volume 2
Charles Preston
AKA Associates
6007 N. Sheridan Road, Apt 15A, Chicago, IL 60660
www.akabooks.com
9780998832265, $9.95, PB, 70pp, www.amazon.com

A syndicated puzzle master and his work appears in dozens of leading newspapers and magazines across the country, including the Chicago Tribune, Newsday, and the San Francisco Chronicle, Charles Preston, (who is the Crossword Puzzle Editor of USA Today and Dow Jones's National Observer for over a decade) has compiled more than 100 puzzle books. Now he draws upon his specialized expertise in "Quote Acrostic Favorites: Volume 2" to offer dedicated acrostic puzzle fans with 50 entertaining puzzles that offer hours and hours of quiet and contemplative fun. For those who need it, the answers for each individual puzzle are to be found at the back of the book.


The Graphic Novel Shelf

All Summer Long
Hope Larson
Farrar, Straus & Giroux
175 Varick Street, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10014
www.fsgbooks.com
c/o First Second
175 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10010
www.firstsecondbooks.com
9780374310714 $12.99 pbk / $9.22 Kindle amazon.com

All Summer Long is a black-and-white graphic novel for readers of all ages and backgrounds, about a thirteen-year-old girl's coming of age. When Bina's best friend Austin leaves for summer, Bina has to find fun on her own. Bad TV and guitar practice don't do much to stave off boredom; then Bina begins to form a bond with Austin's older sister Charlie. When Austin returns from camp, he's acting even weirder than usual. Can Bina and Austin maintain their friendship, or does growing up mean they will grow distant? A soulful slice-of-life story, All Summer Long is highly recommended for high school, public library, and personal graphic novel collections.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Fullmetal Edition, volume 1
Hiromu Arakawa
Viz Media LLC
1355 Market Street, Suite 200, San Francisco CA 94103
www.viz.com
9781421599779 $19.99 hc amazon.com

The black-and-white manga (Japanese graphic novel) fantasy series Fullmetal Alchemist is being re-released in a hardcover, deluxe collector's edition with high-quality paper, new cover art, new color inserts, color versions of select pages previously printed in black-and-white, and behind- the-scenes character sketches by series creator Hiromu Arakawa. Fullmetal Alchemist: Fullmetal Edition, volume 1 contains one-and-one-half of the original graphic novels, and will be released exclusively in print; future volumes with be published quarterly. Volume 1 introduces the reader to the principal characters, Edward Elric and his brother Alphonse, who suffered extreme losses from an alchemy experiment gone wrong - Edward lost an arm and leg and replaced them with artificial limbs, while Alphonse lost his entire body and exists as a soul bound to a suit of armor. Together they seek to restore their bodies through the power of the legendary Philosopher's Stone... but neither of them truly knows what the Philosopher's Stone is! Balancing scenes of action with character-driven storytelling, Fullmetal Alchemist has rightfully earned its immense popularity and is highly recommended for both personal and public library graphic novel collections.

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle 1
Kagiji Kumanomata
Viz Media LLC
1355 Market Street, Suite 200, San Francisco CA 94103
www.viz.com
9781974700189 $9.99 pbk / $6.99 Kindle amazon.com

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle 1 is a black-and-white, fantasy-comedy manga (Japanese graphic novel) that subverts the traditional "kidnapped princess" fairy tale/role-playing game plot. When the Demon King kidnaps Princess Syalis and imprisons her in his castle, she becomes terribly bored. She decides to pass the time by sleeping, but orchestrating a good night's rest is no simple task! From fashioning a pillow from the fur of her Teddy Demon guards, to finding suitable protection to undergo an electric massage from a ferocious thunder dragon, Syalis tackles one challenge after another with her own special brand of royal determination! The local Demon Cleric is kept quite busy resurrecting the occasional demon casualty, and even the princess herself. Will Syalis throw the Demon Lord's carefully planned game balance into upheaval? (Maybe.) Will she remember anything about the hero who has pledged to rescue her? (Probably not.) Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle 1 is laugh-out-loud funny, and highly recommended for teen and adult readers.

Bald Knobber
Robert Sergel
Secret Acres
http://secretacres.com
9780999193518, $15.95, HC, 80pp, www.amazon.com

Middle-schooler Cole's book report on Bald Knobbers, Reconstruction Era vigilantes, bears an uncanny resonance with his life. Donning a homemade Bald Knobber mask, Cole seeks to right wrongs perpetrated by his divorcing parents, mom's new boyfriend, the school bully and his cat, Daisy. Like the real Bald Knobbers, Cole discovers the consequences of taking the law into your own hands. An original graphic novel story presented by author Robert Sergel with simple black- and-white illustrations, "Bald Knobber" is very highly recommended to the attention of dedicated graphic novel enthusiasts.

Niki de Saint Phalle
Sandrine Martin and Dominique Osuch
NBM Publishing
160 Broadway, Ste. 700, East Wing, New York, NY 10038
www.nbmpub.com
9781681121581 $29.99 hc / $14.99 Kindle amazon.com

Niki de Saint Phalle: The Garden of Secrets is a graphic novel biography of French-American sculptor, painter, and filmmaker Niki de Saint Phalle (1930-2002), featuring art in black-and- white highlighted with splashes of color. This text chronicles her complex life - though she was born to a privileged family, her father abused her and her mother rejected her. Niki's colorful sculptures of femininity (known as "Nanas"), wild paintings, astounding sculptures and provocative films and performance art were stand-out to the point of shocking. Her life is a saga of struggle against physical ill health and psychological demons, yet her accomplishments are astounding, and listed in a chronology at the end. Niki de Saint Phalle is a worthy addition to graphic novel biography collections, highly recommended. It should be noted that Niki de Saint Phalle: The Garden of Secrets is intended for adult readers due to the presence of mature themes and some nudity.

Animus
Antoine Revoy
First Second
175 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10010
www.firstsecondbooks.com
9781626721838 $16.99 pbk. / $9.99 Kindle amazon.com

Animus is a graphic novel with a subtle horror theme, set in modern-day Japan. There is a peculiar playground where bizarre and sometimes deadly things occur. In the playground, two children befriend the spirit of a murdered boy, and resolve to help his spirit find freedom... a potentially dangerous undertaking! Dark and atmospheric, Animus an unforgettable read from cover to cover, highly recommended.

Demon Slayer 1
Koyoharu Gotouge
Viz Media LLC
1355 Market Street, Suite 200, San Francisco CA 94103
www.viz.com
9781974700523 $9.99 pbk / $6.99 Kindle amazon.com

Demon Slayer 1 is a black-and-white manga (Japanese graphic novel) set in Taisho-era Japan. Young Tanjiro Kamado's peaceful life is forever shattered when a monstrous, man-eating demon slaughters his family. The only survivor is his little sister - who has been transformed into a demon herself! Tanjiro embarks on a journey to cure his sister and slay the demon, but he is inexperienced in combat, and the first knowledgeable demon slayer he meets is determined to destroy his sister! The relentless hardship and violence of Demon Slayer has a unique counterbalance in the compassion of its protagonist. Demon Slayer is highly recommended for fans of dark fantasy and shonen (action packed) manga. The suggested age range for readers of Demon Slayer is teen to adult, due to scenes of violence.

Cossack Circus
Raoul Cauvin, author
Willy Lambil, illustrator
Cinebook Ltd.
www.cinebook.com
c/o National Book Network (dist.)
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, MD 20706
www.nbnbooks.com
9781849183833, $11.95, pb, 48pp, www.amazon.com

Union Army Captain Stark's constant, reckless charging against the Confederate Army has once again depleted the 22nd Cavalry. Faced with an understandable dearth of volunteers, the Army's brass drafts (without telling them) some freshly arrived immigrants. And Corporal Blutch and Sergeant Chesterfield are tasked with instructing them in the art of riding down the enemy. But there's a problem: the new recruits only speak Russian! And while those Cossacks are already fantastic riders, they have no desire to die for the glory of the Union! The newest addition to Belgian author Raoul Cauvin and French artist Willy Lambil outrageously funny The Bluecoat series, "Cossack Circus" is certain to be a welcome and appreciated addition to personal and community library Graphic Novel collections and reading lists.

Bear's Tooth: Max
Yann, author
Alain Henriet, illustrator
Cinebook Ltd.
www.cinebook.com
c/o National Book Network (dist.)
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, MD 20706
www.nbnbooks.com
9781849183321, $13.95, PB, 56pp, www.amazon.com

It's 1930 in Silesia. Three children are playing with toy airplanes. The three friends are Max (a Polish Jew), a German brother and sister, Werner and Hanna. All three children dream of becoming pilots, but with the rise of Nazi Germany and German influence over the province of Silesia, Max as a Jewish boy won't have the same opportunities to learn how to fly as his friends Werner and Hanna. The world is heading down a dark road and in 1944 Max is now an ace in the US Navy, while Hanna is one of Germany's top test pilots for the new German secret weapons -- a jet fighter plane. Will anything remain of their old friendship, as the sides they each chose are locked in a struggle to the death? A deftly blend of riveting storytelling and fully engaging artwork, "Max" ends on a true cliff-hanger surprise ending is the first title in the 'Bear's Tooth' trilogy-- leaving its readers looking eagerly toward the next to volumes. While very highly recommended for the personal reading lists of graphic novel enthusiasts, as well as community library graphic novel collections, it should be noted that "Bear's Tooth: Max" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $4.99).

The Kid
Rodolphe, author
Leo, artist
Cinebook Ltd.
www.cinebook.com
c/o National Book Network (dist.)
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, MD 20706
www.nbnbooks.com
9781849183741, $11.95, PB, 48pp, www.amazon.com

Brazilian artist Leo is best known for his science-fiction, multi-series saga The Worlds of Aldebaran. He also created Canadian Mountie Trent as well as Kenya and its second season Namibia -- all three with author Rodolphe, a teacher, journalist and writer who's penned over 150 graphic novels so far. "The Kid" is part of their simply outstanding series 'Trent' featuring the adventures of a Canadian Northwest Mounty. After a botched robbery that claimed the life of his lover, an American outlaw crosses the border into Canada. As he's already left nearly a dozen dead bodies behind, Sergeant Trent is sent to intercept him. But instead of the expected bloodthirsty murderer, it's a sensitive young man that the Mountie finds, a free spirit with a deep love of French poetry. How is Trent going to reconcile doing his duty with his nascent liking for the kid? In this story we are introduced to one of the most existential outlaws in all of western novel action adventure tales in an original, almost fable like and original graphic novel. Unique, unfailingly entertaining, thoughtful and thought-provoking, "The Kid" is one of those graphic novel stories that will linger in the mind and memory long after it has been finished and set back upon the shelf.

Memories from the Futures
Pierre Christin, author
Jean-Claude Mezieres, illustrator
Cinebook Ltd.
www.cinebook.com
c/o National Book Network (dist.)
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, MD 20706
www.nbnbooks.com
9781849183383, $13.95, PB, 56pp, www.amazon.com

"Memories from the Futures" is the final volume in the simply outstanding science fiction graphic novel series by the team of author Pieree Christin and artist/illustrator Jean-Claude Mezieres. Even though Valerian and Laureline's adventures have come to an end, "Memories from the Futures" features chapters that haven't been told yet, including simple episodes, post-scriptums to their main stories, moments of their lives seen through the eyes of their friends, their allies, or even their enemies. Here's a collection of vignettes (including 'origin stories' for Valerian and Laureline) that will cast a new light - sometimes funny, sometimes touching - on the saga of our heroes. An absolute 'must read' for the legions of Valerian and Laureline, "Memories from the Futures" is very highly recommended for the personal reading lists of dedicated science fiction fans, as well as community library graphic novel collections.

Robotech Vol. 2: Bye-Bye Mars
Written by Brian Wood & Simon Furman
Art by Marco Turini
Titan Comics
https://titan-comics.com
9781785859144 $16.99 amazon.com

Robotech Vol. 2: Bye-Bye Mars continues the graphic novel re-interpretation of the classic "Robotech" sci-fi saga, featuring striking, full-color artwork in a more realistic Western style (the original was an anime series). In volume 2, the crew of the SDF-1 spaceship are lost in space, and under attack from aliens. A crewmember is lost, hidden secrets begin to emerge... and could there be traitors on board? A gorgeous cover gallery, including "action figure style covers", rounds out this "must-read" for fans of military sci-fi in general and the Robotech series in particular. Highly recommended!

Warhammer 40,000: Fallen
George Mann, author
Tazio Bettin, illustrator
Enrica Eren Angiolini, illustrator
Titan Comics
https://titan-comics.com
9781785858604, $16.99, PB, 128pp, www.amazon.com

Inquisitor Sabbathiel thinks she has all the pieces to unveil the heresy of the Dark Angels Space Marines to the universe - she knows their dark secret, and about the existence of The Fallen. However the Dark Angels aren't about to let themselves be wiped out without a fight. As the Forces of Chaos laugh, brother prepares to war against brother. "Fallen" is the stunningly illustrated third arc from the ongoing Warhammer 40,000 series and a 'must' for all dedicated fans of graphic novel science fiction.

Cry Fox
Andrew Cartmel, author
Lee Sullivan, illustrator
Ben Aaronovitch, creator
Titan Comics
https://titan-comics.com
9781785861727, $16.99, PB, 112pp, www.amazon.com

Vengeful Russian mobsters are looking to hire members of London's own more-then-natural underworld to bring bloody retribution down on the witch Varvara. However, the ex-Soviet sorcerer is under the protective wing of London's own wizarding cop, Peter Grant (now a proper detective and everything), and to get the attention of Grant and his colleagues, the daughter of a prominent Russian oligarch is kidnaped by parties unknown but possibly fox-like. "Cry Fox" is the fifth volume in the simply outstanding 'Rivers of London' graphic novel series created by Ben Aaronovitch, written by Andrew Cartmel, and distinctively illustrated by Lee Sullivan. Combining magic and mystery, "Cry Magic" is unreservedly recommended for community library graphic novel collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of dedicated 'Rivers of London' fans that "Cry Fox" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $11.99).

The Lost Fleet: Corsair
Jack Campbell, author
Andre Siregar & Bambang Irawan, artists
Titan Comics
9781785852992 $16.99 https://titan-comics.com

Based on the popular military science fiction novels by Jack Campbell, The Lost Fleet: Corsair is a full-color graphic novel set after the close of a century-long war between two space empires, the Alliance and the Syndics. The story follows Captain Michael Geary, who makes an uneasy agreement with rebel Syndics led by Destina Aragon in order to save both prisoners and jailors in an unprecedented intergalatic jailbreak! A fine blend of action and intrigue, The Lost Fleet: Corsair is a "must-read" for connoisseurs of the genre, highly recommended.

Torchwood: The Culling
John Barrowman, et al.
Titan Comics
https://titan-comics.com
9781785858550, $16.99, PB, 112pp, www.amazon.com

The third volume in the simply outstanding science fiction series "Torchwood" (which itself is a spin-off from the beloved "Dr. Who" series, "The Culling" by the team of authors John and Carole Barrowman, and featuring the artwork and illustrations of Neil Edwards finds that Captain Jack Harkness and Gwen Cooper, along with the crew of the alien tech-filled ship Ice Maiden, must stop the alien Navigators' plan to 'compost' the Earth, but first they must deal with the duplicitious Lady Karina, the roguish Captain John Hart, and a clone like nothing they've seen before! A thoroughly entertaining read from cover to cover, "The Culling" is a 'must read' for the legions of Dr. Who and Torchwood fans, and will prove to be an immediate and enduringly popular addition to community library graphic novel collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "The Culling" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $11.99).


The Audiobook Shelf

Timeless
Louis Cozolino, author
Read by Paul Brion
Tantor Media, Inc.
6 Business Park Road, Old Saybrook, CT 06475
9781977309365 $34.99 www.tantor.com

Timeless: Nature's Formula for Health and Longevity is a unique self-help and health guide, now available in an unabridged audiobook edition, and written especially for anyone concerned about the consequences of aging. There are many ways to dampen the mental effects of aging and nurture brain health into one's golden years. Social relationships and improved personal flexibility and adaptation are keys to aging gracefully. Timeless contains invaluable wisdom and practical advice, and is highly recommended for both personal and public library audiobook collections. 6 CDs, 7 hours.

The Goodbye Girl
Neil Simon
L.A. Theatre Works
681 Venice Boulevard, Venice, CA 90291
www.latw.org
9781682660706, $29.99, CD, www.amazon.com

Directed by Rosalind Ayres and recorded as a live in performance at UCLA's James Bridges Theater in January 2018, this unique audio adaptation of Neil Simon's screenplay "The Goodbye Girl" is the story of Paula McFadden, a down-on-her-luck actress who is forced to take in a new roommate -- the eccentric, noisy, and generally unpleasant Eliot Garfield who also happens to be an actor. As their careers and finances hit new lows, their reluctant partnership threatens to turn into something neither one wants. This flawless recorded and superbly performed play is an L.A. Theatre Works full-cast recording, starring (in alphabetical order): Ellis Greer and Donna and others; Anna Mathias as multiple characters; Matthew Floyd Miller as Eliot Garfield; Amy Pietz as Paula McFadden; Raini Rodriguez as Lucy; Andre Sogliuzzo as multiple characters; Inger Tudor as Mrs. Crosby and others; Matthew Wolf as Mark Bodine and others; and Adam Wylie as multiple characters. Simply stated, this outstanding production is unreservedly recommended for personal, community, and academic library Theatrical Studies and audio book collections. (2 CDs, 1 Hour, 38 Minutes).

Hell Divers III: Deliverance
Nicholas Sansbury Smith
Blackstone Audiobooks
31 Mistletoe Road, Ashland, OR 97520
www.BlackstoneAudio.com
9781504782418, $29.95, MP3 CD, www.amazon.com

Left for dead on the nightmarish surface of the planet, Commander Michael Everhart and his team of Hell Divers barely escape with their lives aboard a new airship called Deliverance. After learning that Xavier ''X'' Rodriguez may still be alive, they mount a rescue mission for the long-lost hero. In the skies, the Hive is falling apart, but Captain Jordan is more determined than ever to keep humanity in their outdated lifeboat. He will do whatever it takes to keep the ship in the air -- even murder. But when he learns the Hell Divers he exiled have found Deliverance, he changes course for a new mission -- find the divers, kill them, and make their new ship his own. In this third installment of author Nicholas Sansbury Smith's 'Hell Divers' series, Michael and his fellow divers fight across the mutated landscape in search of X. But what they find will change everything. Dramatically narrated by R. C. Bray, "Deliverance" is a flawless produced, complete and unabridged, 'theatre of the mind' experience and an especially recommended addition to personal and community library Science Fiction audio book collections.

The Cruel Prince
Holly Black, author
Caitlin Kelly, narrator
Hachette Audio
1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104
www.HachetteAudio.com
9781478923732, $25.00, CD, www.amazon.com

Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King. To win a place at the Court, she must defy him -- and face the consequences. In doing so, she becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for bloodshed. But as civil war threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself. A deftly crafted fantasy tale replete with unexpected twists and turns -- and a thoroughly unanticipated finale -- "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black is superbly narrated from beginning to end by Caitlin Kelly. Complete and unabridged, "The Cruel Prince" is certain to be an enduringly popular addition to community library audio book collections and is a 'must hear' theatre of the mind experience for dedicated fantasy fans.

Hachette Audio
www.hachetteaudio.com

These four nonfiction audio works are highly recommended picks for libraries seeking revealing topics and solid narrators, and promise lasting library lending value. Andrew Morton's Wallace in Love: The Untold Life of the Duchess of Windsor, The Woman Who Changed the Monarchy (9781478964636, $35.00) is read by Molly Parker Myers and offers a new portrait of Wallis Simpson, telling of her change from a Baltimore spoiled girl who always pursued stability and status to her rise in London society. Her attraction to a king led him into disaster and cost her reputation, as an adult, and this probe reveals the psychological influences on events between them and throughout her life. Mark Hyman, MD's Food: What the Heck Should I Eat? (9781478985389, $30.00) is written and read by the author, who addresses the confusion surrounding healthy foods and appropriate eating habits. Given the back-and-forth of health reports on such foods as eggs, milk, and meat, it's easy to be confused over the latest research and its validity. Dr. Hyman examines all food groups and explains which foods are healthy and which are not. Science blends with positive insight and even recipes to focus on the kinds of foods and eating habits that lead to optimal health. Lauren Slater's Blue Dreams: The Science and the Story of the Drugs That Changed Our Minds (9781478900290, $30.00) is read by Betsy Foldes-Meiman and offers a history of psychotropic drugs that points out that despite their popularity, there's actually no clear understanding of how or why they work on the brain. Her history of the discovery and development of these approved narcotics provides a lively scientific and psychological survey that considers the evolution of psychiatric drugs and their applications from early times to modern days, and is recommended for anyone who would gain a better understanding of their fundamental purposes and ongoing issues. The result is a revealing survey especially recommended for listeners with a prior interest in the topic of drug development and applications.


The Library CD Shelf

Just Like in the Movies
Southern Halo
Southern Halo Music
$TBA www.southernhalo.net

Just Like in the Movies is the latest music album by the talented trio of sisters Southern Halo; all three are youthful masters of blended harmony, vibrant country, and soul-stirring blues. A joy to experience, Just Like in the Movies provides an immersive, rapturous experience, and is also highly recommended as a memorable gift to connoisseurs. Highly recommended. The tracks are "Southern Halo", "My Girls & Me", "Notice Me", "I Think Too Much", "Tom Girl", "Anything is Possible", "Not Today", "Missing Mississippi", "Famous", "Gettin' Back Up", "Hey Boy", "Coming Home", "It's Always Been You", and "Just Like in the Movies (Revised)".

Time Not Forgotten
Rhonda Mackert
Privately Published
$TBA www.rhondamackert.com

Time Not Forgotten is an original solo piano album by the talented Rhonda Mackert, inspired by some of her most cherished memories. Serene and rapturous, Time Not Forgotten soothes the spirit and awakens the imagination with its masterful stylings. Highly recommended, especially for connoisseurs of the genre. The tracks are "Dancing Through My Memories", "Walking Among Giants", "Time Not Forgotten", "Molokini", "Monsoon", "White Cliffs", "Spring on Grayrock Mountain", "Chasing Fireflies", "Healing Places', "Dreaming of Sedona", "Skipping Stones", and "Free Floating".

Alive Inside The Tank
Mysteries of the Night
Silver Wave Records
$TBA www.tanksounds.org

Alive Inside the Tank is an album created in The Tank Center for Sonic Arts, an extraordinary sound chamber fashioned from an abandoned empty steel water tank on a hill overlooking the town of Rangely, Colorado. Alive Inside The Tank is the first full-length album recorded in the Tank to be released on an established record label (Silver Wave Records). The extraordinary reverberation enriches the improvisational flute, percussion, vocalizations, and hand drums of Mysteries of the Night. Wondrous, alluring, and sensational, Alive Inside The Tank is highly recommended especially for personal and public library music collections. The tracks are "To The Earth", "The Promise", "Mysteries of the Night", "The Space Between", "Thunder Cloud", "Under The Sea", "To The Sky", "My Love is Here", "Coconino", "To The Stars (for Tito)", "Clockwork", "Pulsing Within", "Twin Flames", "To the Creator (for Trane)", and "In the Morning".

Listen
Nitish Kulkarni
Privately Published
www.nitishkulkarni.com
$9.99 CD / $9.99 download cdbaby.com

The second album by Nitish Kulkarni (pronounced nuh-teesh kul-car-nee), Listen embodies world fusion, incorporating traditional ethnic instruments around the globe as well as modern synthesizers and electric guitar. Musicians and singers from multiple different nations lend their talents to the original compositions; the result is a vibrant, eclectic creation, enthusiastically recommended for connoisseurs of the genre and public library music collections. The tracks are "Call to Action", "Mapmaker", "Listen: Mbira", "When I Go", "All Around You", "Listen: Oud", "Speak To Me", "Wordless", "Sense of Touch", "Listen: ERHU", "In Another Life", "Listen: Theorbo", "Remember When", and "The Day Before Tomorrow".

Oliver the Crow
Oliver the Crow
Privately Published
$15.00 CD / $10.00 digital oliverthecrow.com

Oliver the Crow is the self-titled debut album of the brilliant, Nashville-based duo Oliver the Crow (cellist Kaitlyn Raitz and fiddler Ben Plotnick). Drawing upon their experience as classically trained performers, their love of folk music, and the inspiration of nature (the album was created in three days in a remote, solar-powered cabin in Vermont), Oliver the Crow is an extraordinary, multifaceted soundscape, highly recommended. The tracks are "Sailing with the Tid", "Bury Me Beneath the Willow", "Ashes of a Day Gone By", "Grace", "As the Crow Flies", "Sam River", "Glass", "Samson", "45", and "Bear in a Den".

Something Higher
Leftover Salmon
Privately Published
$15.00 www.leftoversalmon.com

Something Higher is a new album by Leftover Salmon, showcasing their unique brand of New Orleans-meets-Appalachian-bluegrass. Fresh, dynamic, and quintessentially American, Something Higher is a joy for connoisseurs. The tracks are "Places", "Show Me Something Higher", "Southern Belle", "Analog", "House of Cards", "Evermore", "Astral Traveler", "Foreign Fields", "Game of Thorns", "Let in a Little Light", "Winter's Gone", and "Burdened Heart".

Tahdig
Mitra Sumara
Privately Published
$TBA www.mitrasumara.com

Mitra Sumara, the one and only Farsi Funk group to be found in New York City, presents their debut full-length album Tahdig. Here is vivacious Persian pop and funk music, the type that was sharply curtailed by the Iranian Revolution. An exuberant, pulse-pounding interpretation of hits by Iran's most beloved singers including Googoosh, Soli, and Leila Forouhar, Tahdig is a "must" for international music collections. The tracks are "Bemoon ta Bemoonam", "Helelyos", "Shahre Paiz", "Miravi", "Mosem-e Gol", "Gol bi Goldoon", "Donya vafa nadare", "Manoto", "Hamparvaz", and "Kofriam".


The Library DVD Shelf

Backyard Sports
Coach Marty Schupak
Youth Sports Club
9 Florence Court, Valley Cottage, NY 10989
$24.95 www.YouthSportsClub.com

Backyard Sports is an instructional DVD that brings some of the most valuable and popular drills in baseball, basketball, soccer, lacrosse, and golf into a single collection. From baseball hitting drills that can be performed in a confined space, to creating a $300 batting net for $25.00, to creative basketball shooting drills, lacrosse stick control and cradling, to an analysis of the golf swing, to soccer footwork and more, Backyard Sports is an excellent resource for physical education instructors and youth sports groups. The brainchild of Marty Schupak, a youth sports coach of 25 years and a creator of sports instructional videos that are free on Amazon Prime Video (keyword "Schupak Sports"), Backyard Sports is highly recommended especially for public and school library DVD collections.

East West 101, series 2
Starring Don Hany
Acorn Media
c/o RLJ Entertainment
www.us.RLJEntertainment.com
$39.99 www.acornonline.com

East West 101, series 2 brings the second season of the award-winning, gritty police drama set in post-9/11 Australia. When a lethal car bomb detonates in Sydney, rumors fly that Islamic extremists were responsible, but Detective Zane Malik (played by Don Haney) is not so easily convinced. He joins a joint task force, which puts him on an undercover mission targeting an alleged arms dealer. The pressure of working undercover isolates him from his family and puts his life in peril. At the same time, Malik's boss, Inspector Patricia Wright (played by Susie Porter) must confront a devastating personal crisis with ties to the wounds of her past. Superbly written and performed, East West 101 is a "must" for connoisseurs of the genre. A 43-minute behind-the- scenes featurette is included as a bonus. 7 episodes on 2 DVDs, 378 min., widescreen, SDH subtitles, not rated.

Menace & Murder: A Lynda La Plante Collection
Acorn Media
c/o RLJ Entertainment
www.us.RLJEntertainment.com
$59.99 www.acornonline.com

Menace & Murder: A Lynda La Plante Collection is a DVD collection three acclaimed mystery- thrillers by Lynda La Plante, artfully adapted into short television series. In "Supply & Demand", actor Eammon Walker plays the role of an undercover officer who joins an elite squad in pursuit of narcotics dealers, human traffickers, and other monstrous criminals. In "Killer Net", starring Tam Williams and Paul Bettany, a psychology student's interest in a computer game about planning a murder spirals into more than a game when his ex-girlfriend is killed in real life. In "Mind Games", actress Fiona Shaw plays a former nun who works as a criminal profiler, in her search to catch a killer who has beaten two women to death in their homes. Menace & Murder is a choice pick for connoisseurs of crime drama, highly recommended. 10 episodes on 5 DVDs plus 2 feature-length episodes, 729 min. SDH subtitles.


The Theatre/Cinema Shelf

Apocalypse Then
Mike Bogue
McFarland & Company
PO Box 611, Jefferson NC 28640
https://mcfarlandbooks.com
9781476668413, $39.95, PB, 316pp, www.amazon.com

The United States is the only country to have dropped a nuclear bomb against two enemy cities in a time of war. Japan is the only nation to have suffered the devastation of having two of its cities hit by an atomic bomb. Understandably American movies and Japanese movies portray the nuclear threat differently on film. American science fiction movies of the 1950s and 1960s generally proclaim that it is possible to put the nuclear genie back in the bottle. Japanese films of the same period assert that once freed the nuclear genie can never again be imprisoned. "Apocalypse Then: American and Japanese Atomic Cinema, 1951-1967" by Mike Bogue (who is a community college educator and regularly writes for G-FAN and Scary Monsters Magazine) deftly examines genre films from the two countries released between 1951 and 1967, including Godzilla (1954), The Mysterians (1957), The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957), On the Beach (1959), The Last War (1961) and Dr. Strangelove (1964), showing the differing viewpoints on nuclear war from both sides of the Pacific. Impressively informed and informative, "Apocalypse Then" is exceptionally well researched, written, organized and presented, as well as enhanced for academia and non-specialist general readers with the inclusion of six pages of Chapter Notes; a two page Bibliography; and a ten page Index. While unreservedly recommended for both community and academic library Cinematic History collections and supplemental studies lists, it should be noted for the personal reading lists that "Apocalypse Then" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).


The Aviation Shelf

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird
Jim Goodall
Schiffer Publishing Ltd.
4880 Lower Valley Road, Atglen, PA 19310
www.schifferbooks.com
9780764355042, $45.00, HC, 224pp, www.amazon.com

Over the last thirty-five years Jim Goodall has authored more than two dozen books and articles on military aircraft, naval ships, and submarines with a focus on Low Observables, or as it is known today, Stealth. Now with the publication of "Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird: The Illustrated History of America's Legendary Mach 3 Spy Plane" he turns his attention to the legendary SR-71 Blackbird spy plane that was, and still is, the world's only operational Mach 3 aircraft, and was designed, built, and tested by Lockheed's famed "Skunk Works". "Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird" covers all fifty Blackbirds built, ranging from the first flight in 1962, and concluding with the last one in 1999. As a replacement for the venerable U-2 spyplane, Lockheed went from contract signing to first flight in only thirty-two months starting in April 1958 -- from the beginning of design studies to the signing of a contract from the CIA to build the initial batch of A-12s in February 1960, to first flight in 1962. From the A-1 design through the completion of the very first Radar Cross Section models of the A-12, to the testing of every major system and subsystem, "Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird" describes and illustrates the SR-71 as never before, using images from a variety of sources, as well as the Jim Goodall's own superb, new photography. Impressively informed and informative, "Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird" is an essential, core addition to personal, community, and academic library American Aviation History collections in general, and Lockheed Blackbird supplemental studies reading lists in particular.


The Metaphysical Studies Shelf

Tarot Art Nouveau
Lo Scarabeo
Llewellyn Publications
2143 Wooddale Drive, Woodbury, MN 55125
www.llewellyn.com
9780738700083, $22.95, Cards, www.amazon.com

The cards comprising Lo Scarabeo's "Tarot Art Nouveau" showcase visual images replete with movement. The delicate curves, the sweeping lines, the bright yet gentle color of these images all serve to draw the mind around and into the pictures. Taken together in a reading, these tarot cards almost effortlessly weave a story for the participants. Taken individually, there is plenty for the eye to feast on. This deck, a work of art in itself, will also serve as a powerful divinatory tool. Like most Lo Scarabeo decks the accompanying companion booklet for "Tarot Art Nouveau" is available in five languages: English, Spanish, French, Italian, and German. Elegant, erudite, contemplatively beautiful, the "Tart Art Nouveau" would wonderfully grace any personal or professional tarot card collection and is unreservedly recommended for all metaphysical studies students and practitioners.

The Twelve Faces of the Goddess
Danielle Blackwood
Llewellyn Publications
2143 Wooddale Drive, Woodbury, MN 55125
www.llewellyn.com
9780738756035, $19.99, PB, 312pp, www.amazon.com

Historically, astrology and magick are woven from the same metaphysical threads. The more you learn about one, the more you'll intuitively understand about the other. "The Twelve Faces of the Goddess: Transform Your Life with Astrology, Magick, and the Sacred Feminine" by Danielle Blackwood (who is the astrology columnist for SageWoman magazine, Banyen Books, and Sound, has studied and practiced astrology for more than thirty years) is an inspiring, hands-on guide showing how to connect with the twelve faces of the Goddess through astrology, story, ritual, and path working. "The Twelve Faces of the Goddess" explores cross-cultural myths associated with each goddess, delve into astrology from a groundbreaking feminine perspective, and discover the personality, archetype, and correspondences of each zodiac sign to unlock a deeper understanding of yourself as the heroine of your story. "The Twelve Faces of the Goddess" shows how to work with a specific guiding goddesses in creating a birth chart, as well as learning how astrology is connected to the seasonal turning points on the Wheel of the Year, and so much more. One of the principle intentions of "The Twelve Faces of the Goddess" is to function as a reminder that connecting with the sacred feminine is an empowering and radical act that can guide us on our journey. While very highly recommended for personal and community library Metaphysical Studies collections and supplemental reading lists, it should be noted that "The Twelve Faces of the Goddess" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).

Peace Oracle: Guidance for Challenging Times
Toni Carmine Salerno, author
Leela J. Williams, author
Blue Angel Publishing
c/o Llewellyn Publications
2143 Wooddale Drive, Woodbury, MN 55125
www.llewellyn.com
9780738759395, $23.95, Cards, www.amazon.com

Even those who are born into peace can succumb to the hurries and pressures of daily life and find themselves despairing at the loss of harmony, accord, and contentment. However, peace is an art that can be developed and nurtured just like any other quality or skill. Beautiful, thoughtful, and lovingly crafted by the team of Toni Carmine Salerno and Leela Williams, this modern oracle will support you on the journey to compassion and confidence -- and comes with an informative guide book to utilize the 45 cards that compose "Peace Oracle". The sublime images and insightful messages offer practical advice, higher guidance, and affirmations to help you cultivate peace in your heart, your head, and your home so that serenity can blossom into all areas of your life. Begin to live your peace today with the extraordinary and thoroughly user friendly "Peace Oracle: Guidance for Challenging Times"!


The Fashion Shelf

Made for Walking
Andy Peake
Schiffer Publishing Ltd.
4880 Lower Valley Road, Atglen, PA 19310
www.schifferbooks.com
9780764354991, $24.99, PB, 176pp, www.amazon.com

In the illustrated pages of "Made for Walking: A Modest History of the Fashion Boot" by writer and museum curator Andy Peake, social history is blended with fashion history in the tantalizing story of the boot ranging from the Roaring Twenties and Prohibition to online shopping and fashion blogs. Weaving together such unlikely elements as Glam Rock, the martyrdom of Joan of Arc, and the Iran-Contra scandal, "Made for Walking" shows how the modern fashion boot plays with our ideas of gender, straddling the line between practical and stylish, between fashion and fetish. Peake is the author of the popular Made for Walking blog, and in "Made for Walking" includes thought-provoking photos and graphs that look deeply into what boots do, and what we make them do. A 'must read' for all students of fashion history, collectors of vintage clothes, or the non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject, "Made for Walking is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, community, and academic library Fashion History collections and supplemental studies reading lists.


The Money/Finance Shelf

Plan Your Estate, 14th edition
Denis Clifford
Nolo Press
950 Parker Street, Berkeley, CA 94710
www.nolo.com
9781413325119, $44.99, PB, 528pp, www.amazon.com

Now in a fully updated 14th edition, attorney Denis Clifford's "Plan Your Estate" is specifically intended for the non-specialist general reader who thinks that estate planning sounds difficult and should be left to professionals. But it turns out that most people just need a few basic documents and by becoming informed on the basic fundamentals of estate planning so accessibly laid out in the pages of "Plan Your Estate" protect loved ones from legal hassles and financial uncertainty after one's own (and inevitable) death. "Plan Your Estate" covers: wills and living trusts; avoiding probate; bypass (AB) trusts; naming guardians for children; leaving property to children; estate, gift, and inheritance taxes; strategies for business owners; leaving property to charity; health care directives; and financial powers of attorney. Completely updated to reflect the latest state and federal laws, including the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, with the information comprising "Plan Your Estate" applicable and valid in all U.S. states except Louisiana. Thoroughly 'user friendly' in tone, commentary, organization, and presentation, as well as comprehensive in scope, "Plan Your Estate" is a critically important and unreservedly recommended addition to personal and community library Money/Finance instructional reference collections. It should be noted that "Plan Your Estate" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $22.17).


The Woodworking Shelf

Outdoor Woodworking Games
Alan Goodsell & Randall Maxey
GMC Publications
c/o The Taunton Press (distributor)
63 South Main Street, Newtown, CT 06470
www.taunton.com
9781784943745, $19.95, PB, 128pp, www.amazon.com

With "Outdoor Woodworking Games: 20 Fun Projects to Make" by the team of woodworking experts Alan Goodsell and Randall Maxey, amateur and recreational woodworkers will have as much fun making theses do-it-yourself projects as they will playing the games! All of the 20 projects are specifically designed to be made with the beginner woodworker in mind and using only basic woodworking tools and equipment, so they really are accessible to all. The comprehensive, step-by-step instructions are based on standard sizes of wood so that pieces simply need to be cut to length with some basic shaping. All accessories required will be readily available making each project as straightforward as possible to create. Alongside step-by-step photos each project will also include drawings where necessary. Each project will also include instructions on how to play the game along with the all-important rules! Beautifully and profusely illustrated throughout, "Outdoor Woodworking Games" is thoroughly 'user friendly' in organization and presentation, making it an ideal and unreservedly recommended addition to personal and community, highschool wood shop, and community library Woodworking instructional reference collections. It should be noted that "Outdoor Woodworking Games" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $14.99).

30-Minute Woodturning
Mark Baker
GMC Publications
c/o The Taunton Press (distributor)
63 South Main Street, Newtown, CT 06470
www.taunton.com
9781784943981, $22.95, PB, 200pp, www.amazon.com

For any keen woodworker who wants to do more turning but are short of time, "30-Minute Woodturning" is the perfect instructional do-it-yourself reference and guide for amateur and recreational woodworkers and showcases an impressive variety of projects -- each of which can all be completed in 30 minutes. Even for those working at an intermediate level, "30-Minute Woodturning" provides the aspiring woodworker with something to aim for without compromising safety and it will help beginners to build their skills. Each of the 25 projects, ranging from Candlestick Holder; Doorstop; Decorative Bird Box; and Spatula; to Honey Dipper; Bud Vase; Square Edge Plate; and Shallow Bowl, also has plans for four variations included so there are a total of 100 designs anyone can accomplish successfully. Most of the projects require only basic turning tools and workshop accessories that nearly every turner will have. A list of tools and materials required is included for each one, along with drawings with dimensions. Very nicely illustrated from beginning to end, "30-Minute Woodturning: 25 Quick Projects to Make" is strongly recommended and will prove to be an immediately popular addition to personal, highschool wood shop, and community library Woodworking instructional reference collections.


The Education Shelf

The Math Myth: And Other STEM Delusions
Andrew Hacker
The New Press
120 Wall Street, floor 31, New York, NY 10005
www.thenewpress.com
9781620970683, $25.95, HC, 240pp, www.amazon.com

Andrew Hacker's 2012 New York Times op-ed questioning the requirement of advanced mathematics in our schools instantly became one of the paper's most widely circulated articles. Why, he wondered, do we inflict a full menu of mathematics (algebra, geometry, trigonometry, even calculus) on all young Americans, regardless of their interests or aptitudes? "The Math Myth: And Other STEM Delusions" expands Hacker's scrutiny of many widely held assumptions, like the notions that mathematics broadens our minds, that mastery of azimuths and asymptotes will be needed for most jobs, that the entire Common Core syllabus should be required of every student. He worries that a frenzied emphasis on STEM is diverting attention from other pursuits and subverting the spirit of the country. In fact, Hacker honors mathematics as a calling (he has been a professor of mathematics) and extols its glories and its goals. Yet he shows how mandating it for everyone prevents other talents from being developed and acts as an irrational barrier to graduation and careers. He proposes alternatives, including teaching facility with figures, quantitative reasoning, and understanding statistics. Certain to spark a heated and needed national conversation not just about mathematics but about the kind of people and society we want to be, "The Math Myth" is especially recommended for both community and academic library Education & Mathematics collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of classroom teachers, school board members, education students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "The Math Myth" also available in a paperback edition (9781620973912, $17.99), in a digital book format (Kindle, $11.39), and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Tantor Audio, 9781515907152, $34.99, CD).

Reading, Writing, and Rigor
Nancy Boyles
ASCD
1703 North Beauregard Street, Alexandria, VA 22311-1714
www.ascd.org
9781416625551, $32.95, PB, 210pp, www.amazon.com

What does rigor, a word that frequently pops up in conversations about education, really mean? More specifically, what does it mean for literacy instruction, and how does it relate to challenging standards-based assessments? "Reading, Writing, and Rigor: Helping Students Achieve Greater Depth of Knowledge in Literacy" by Nancy Boyles (who is a former classroom teacher and professor emerita at Southern Connecticut State University, where she was professor of Reading and Graduate Reading Program Coordinator) is informative and practical guide that uses the framework from Webb's Depth of Knowledge (DOK) to answer these questions, offering experience-based advice along with specific examples of K - 8 assessment items. Professor Boyles defines rigor and shows how it relates to literacy at each DOK level and explains the kind of thinking students will be expected to demonstrate. She then tackles the essence of what teachers need to know about how DOK and its associated rigors are measured on standards-based assessments. Specifically, readers learn how each DOK rigor aligns with: standards, text complexity, close reading, student interaction, the reading-writing connection, and formative assessment. Unreservedly recommended for school district, college, and university library Educational Instruction reference collections and supplemental studies lists, student teachers, classroom instructors, literacy coaches, and school administrators will find clear guidance, easy-to-implement strategies, dozens of useful teaching tools and resources, and encouragement to help students achieve and demonstrate true rigor in the literary skills of reading and writing.

Assistive Technology in Special Education
Joan L. Green
Prufrock Press
PO Box 8813, Waco, TX 76714-8813
www.prufrock.com
9781618217585, $45.00, PB, 275pp, www.amazon.com

Joan Green is a speech-language pathologist in the Washington, DC, area with many years of experience helping children and adults who have a wide range of communication, cognitive, literacy and learning challenges. She is passionate in her efforts to spread the word about how affordable cutting-edge technology can be used to empower children and adults who have difficulty with speaking, reading, writing, thinking, and learning at home, school, work, or in the community. She draws upon her years of experience and expertise in this newly updated and expanded third edition of "Assistive Technology in Special Education: Resources to Support Literacy, Communication, and Learning Differences" to present a wealth of practical, well-organized information to help families, teachers, and therapists find effective solutions for students with learning, literacy, and cognitive challenges. Featuring new affordable tools to improve and compensate for challenges related to speaking, understanding, reading, writing, and thinking and remembering, as well as strategies to help students become more organized and efficient, "Assistive Technology in Special Education" also highlights iDevices, G Suite (Google Apps and Extensions), online collaborative sites, and features built into the computers and mobile devices readers already use. As technology changes and new operating systems make older programs obsolete, "Assistive Technology in Special Education" will empower classroom teachers to explore the most current resources as they become available, and will prove to be a critically important addition to professional, school district, college, and university library Teacher Education collections and supplemental studies reading lists.

College Admission 101
Robert Franek
The Princeton Review
c/o Random House Inc.
1745 Broadway, New York NY 10019
www.PrincetonReview.com
9781524758530, $12.99, PB, 208pp, www.amazon.com

As The Princeton Review's chief expert on education, Robert Franek shares his insider expertise on the college admissions process in the pages of "College Admission 101: Simple Answers to Tough Questions about College Admissions & Financial Aid". From standardized tests to financial aid, "College Admission 101" provides straightforward answers to more than sixty specific and frequently asked questions including: Should I take the ACT or SAT?; When should I start my college research? How many schools should I apply to?; Will applying Early Decision or Early Action give me a leg up?; Which extracurricular activities do colleges want to see?; How does the financial aid process work?; What's more important: GPA or test scores? Authoritative, comprehensive, thoroughly 'user friendly' in organization and presentation, "College Admission 101" is very highly recommended for community library collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of highschool students considering going on to a college or university that "College Admission 101" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).

Teach Writing Well
Ruth Culham
Stenhouse Publishers
480 Congress Street, Portland, ME 04101-3451
www.stenhouse.com
9781625311177, $37.33, PB, 224pp, www.amazon.com

The key to writing well is revision. The real challenge of writing instruction is teaching kids in grades 2 to 6 how to revise what they write. "Teach Writing Well: How to Assess Writing, Invigorate Instruction, and Rethink Revision" by successful writer and writing teacher Ruth Culham shows how to teach writing and revision in a way that's accessible to both teachers and students: First read the writing, assess it using the traits of writing, then teach the writers and guide revision decisions using traits as a common language and map. Part 1 walks the classroom teacher through the traits of writing and their key qualities, showing step by step how to read students' writing and offer feedback that nudges them forward through the revision process. Part 2 dives into instruction, offering specific guidance for how to use what has been learned from reading student writing to designing lessons that scaffold students toward making their own craft decisions and revisions. Of special note is an entire chapter devoted to mentor texts that classroom teachers can use to model traits and key qualities for their students. Exceptionally informative and thoroughly 'user friendly' in organization and presentation, "Teach Writing Well" is a complete course of instruction under one cover that is unreservedly recommended for school district, college, and university library Teacher Education collections and supplemental studies reading lists.

College Beyond the States
Jennifer Viemont
Global Ed Press
www.globaledpress.com
9781732225909 $TBA

College Beyond the States: European Universities That Will Change Your Life Without Breaking the Bank is a guide to European schools offering English-taught degree programs, with specific profiles of 13 schools in continental Europe selected based on tuition, quality of education, employability after earning one's degree, and factors that aid the international student's experience. It is quite possible to study abroad, save money, avoid the flawed U.S. admissions process, and be competitive when searching for a job. College Beyond the States is highly recommended an excellent resource worthy of careful consideration by prospective college students.

Number Sense Routines
Jessica F. Shumway
Stenhouse Publishers
9781625310880 $33.33 www.stenhouse.com

Number Sense Routines: Building Mathematical Understanding Every Day in Grades 3-5 offers upper elementary-level teachers a formula for using a child's innate sense of numbers to provide daily experiences that reinforce this knowledge and build a platform of number sense relationships. Five, ten, and fifteen minute warmup routines provide a range of exercises for strengthening this knowledge and are paired with the author's first-person insights on what she did in her classroom, making this a highly recommended pick for any elementary teacher seeking to reinforce number routines and information.

Corwin
www.corwin.com

Anthony Kim and Alexis Gonzales-Black's The New School Rules: 6 Vital Practices for Thriving and Responsive Schools (9781506352763, $29.95) adds organizational design and modern management techniques from the business world into revised considerations of school structure and is especially recommended for principals, managers, and administrators who would create more responsive, modern systems from school structures. Chapters impart six simple rules that foster responsiveness among educators, pair those with case studies from schools and classrooms, and include some fifteen experiments that school leaders can use to test responsiveness in their faculty members. No education collection should be without this tested set of insights on crafting a modern school environment. The second updated edition of David A. Sousa and Tom Pilecki's From Stem to Steam: Brain-Compatible Strategies and Lessons That Integrate the Arts (9781506322452, $32.95) discusses the integration of liberal arts into daily STEM instruction processes and points out how this results in better student performance in STEM subjects; but more important, it addresses the actual process of integrating the liberal arts into an often-rigid STEM-based curriculum. More lessons from actual classrooms are presented in this update written by an expert in educational neuroscience and a veteran arts educator. From the latest cognitive studies to how to build a integrated STEM and STEAM lesson plan, this provides the basic frameworks for success that more theoretical approaches lack. Trish Hatch, et.al.'s Hatching Results for Elementary School Counseling: Implementing Core Curriculum and Other Tier One Activities (9781506389646, $34.95) is for elementary school counselors who are implementing academic and social development programs for students, and who want to better understand their role in the creation of Tier 1 systems for success. From prevention processes to core classroom applications, chapters review traditional elementary school counselor guides and approaches, examine student engagement procedures, and analyze tests, assessments, and other tools. Beth McCord Kobett, et.al.'s The Mathematics Lesson-Planning Handbook: Your Blueprint for Building Cohesive Lessons (9781506387819, $33.95) will reach teachers of grades K-2 with a survey that tackles lesson planning and student needs. Teachers receive a step-by-step guide to the process of planning such lessons based on the experience and advice of two instructional experts who cover everything from content and language to choosing the types of tasks and materials that best support instructional goals. A comb binding makes for easy lay-flat usage. Frederick L. Dillon, et.al.'s Your Mathematics Standards Companion: What They Mean and How to Teach Them (9781544317403, $36.95) will reach high school teachers interested in Common Core math applications, and includes indexes and cross-references to state standards as it provides a workbook format with lay-flat comb binding for addressing different standards and their purposes and measurement, including planning pages and workbook exercises and overviews of vocabulary and content.


The Pets/Wildlife Shelf

Wolf Sanctuary
Chuck Rineer
Schiffer Publishing Ltd.
4880 Lower Valley Road, Atglen, PA 19310
www.schifferbooks.com
9780764354908, $24.99, HC, 128pp, www.amazon.com

With "Wolf Sanctuary" by Chuck Rineer (who found himself drawn to Wolf Sanctuary of Speedwell Forge, Pennsylvania where he signed up as a volunteer photographer) readers will discover the world of the wolves of Speedwell Forge Wolf Sanctuary, a refuge for displaced wolves located in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania. Through captivating and, at times, startling images, experience wolves at work and play, and encounter their howls and growls close up. Since 2007, Chuck Rineer has photographed the packs in their natural habitat, displaying a connection and respect for their way of life that few of us will experience. See the hidden details of wolf life, and go behind-the-scenes of this special sanctuary. Readers will learn how the newest wolves are integrated into the packs, something rarely seen by human eyes, and follow all the wolves through the different seasons of the year. Full of stunning photographs, stories, and insights into pack behavior, "Wolf Sanctuary" will have a very special appeal for those who have been captivated by wolves from afar and long for the chance to see these majestic animals up close and personal. Certain to be an immediate and enduringly popular addition to personal and community library Contemporary Photography and Wildlife collections in general, as well as Wolf supplemental studies lists in particular, "Wolf Sanctuary" is very highly recommended.

Equitation Science
Paul McGreevy, et al.
Wiley-Blackwell
350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148
www.wiley.com/wiley-blackwell
9781119241416, $54.99, PB, 416pp, www.amazon.com

Equitation science is the application of scientific methods to assess objectively the welfare of horses undergoing training. It promotes an evidence-based understanding of horse-rider interactions. The goal is to apply valid, quantitative scientific methods to identify what training techniques are ineffective or painful, and to improve the horse-rider relationship by explaining horse training from a learning theory perspective that removes anthropomorphism and emotiveness. Now in a fully updated and expanded second edition, "Equitation Science" is the collaborative project of Paul McGreevy (Professor of Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare Science at the Sydney School of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney, Australia); Janne Winther Christensen (Associate Professor at the Department of Animal Science, Aarhus University, Denmark); Uta Konig von Borstel is a Professor of Animal Husbandry and Biology at the Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, University of Giessen, Germany); and Andrew McLean (who is one of the world's foremost equine behavioral practitioners and founder of the Australian Equine Behaviour Centre, Australia). This new and nicely illustrated edition continues to be a complete and comprehensive textbook and reference in the rapidly emerging field of equitation science. "Equitation Science" incorporates learning theory into ethical equine training frameworks suitable for riders of any level and for all types of equestrian activity. This newly revised second edition of "Equitation Science" features a new chapter on research methods, and a companion website provides the images from the book in PowerPoint. The welfare of the horse and rider safety are primary considerations throughout, making it an especially recommended addition to both community and academic library Equine Studies collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of veterinary students, horse owners, horse racing trainers, and non- specialists general readers with an interest in the subject that "Equitation Science" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $35.19).

The Teaching Dog
Nicole Larocco-Skeehan, CPDT-KA
Dogwise Publishing
403 South Mission Street, Wenatchee WA 98801
www.dogwise.com
9781617812149, $19.95, PB, 112pp, www.amazon.com

Nicole Larocco-Skeehan, CPDT-KA, owns and operates Philly Unleashed which provides group and private dog training in Philadelphia. In "The Teaching Dog" she draws upon her years of experience and expertise to showcase the concept of using dogs as teaching aides for other dogs. A 'Teaching Dog' can be used to demonstrate behaviors, work to socialize puppies and even help out in reactive dog classes. Nicole fully explores all aspects of what trainers need to know about using teaching dogs to make the job of learning new behaviors and problem solving easier for both human and canine clients including the roles they can play as well as the types and breeds that work best for the tasks you want them to do. A unique, extraordinary, fascinating, practical, informative, and instructive guide and manual, "The Teaching Dog" will prove to be an enduringly welcome addition to personal, professional, and community library Pets/Wildlife collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "The Teaching Dog" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $18.95).

It's About the Dog
Guilie Castillo Oriard
Everytime Press
https://everytimepress.com
9781925536195 $12.00 pbk / $5.99 Kindle amazon.com

It's About the Dog: The A-to-Z Guide for Wannabe Dog Rescuers is a candid introduction to the harrowing yet rewarding work of rescuing abandoned or stray dogs. It should be noted that "dog rescuer" specifically refers to a person who physically collects abandoned or stray dogs and brings them to a veterinarian for medical treatment, hopefully followed by foster care and adoption. Not all dog rescuers foster or adopt dogs (although many do), and people who foster or adopt dogs do not necessarily take part in rescuing dogs from the streets. It's About the Dog particularly focuses on the perils, pitfalls, and rewards of rescuing dogs (while acknowledging that rescuing dogs would be impossible without the aid of those who foster or adopt dogs). Here are true stories trying to catch, coax, or (in the most dire circumstances) trap or drug animals that are often injured, malnourished, diseased, or worse. Author and dog rescuer Guilie Castillo Oriard also openly condemns the cruelty of dog breeding - any type of breeding - when the overwhelming surplus of unwanted dogs inevitably leads to animal suffering and an extreme shortage of homes. "Avoid pet shops that sell puppies... Even if you're just buying fish food, or a leash for your niece's stuffed poodle, please buy it from a store that doesn't sell puppies (or any animal, in fact). Commercial breeding is the largest single factor responsible for the dog overpopulation problem we have today." It's About the Dog is a must-read especially for dog lovers everywhere, highly recommended.


The Science Shelf

Data Stewardship for Open Science
Barend Mons
CRC Press
6000 NW Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300, Boca Raton, FL 33487
www.crcpress.com
9780815348184, $129.00, HC, 244pp, www.amazon.com

Barend Mons is a molecular biologist by training (PhD, Leiden University, 1986) and spent over 15 years in malaria research. After that he gained two decades of experience in computer-assisted knowledge discovery, which is still his research focus at the Leiden University Medical Centre. In "Data Stewardship for Open Science: Implementing FAIR Principles", Professor Mons draws upon his years of research, experience and expertise to make scientists, funders, and innovators in all disciplines and stages of their professional activities broadly aware of the need, complexity, and challenges associated with open science, modern science communication, and data stewardship. The FAIR principles are used as a guide throughout the text, and "Data Stewardship for Open Science" should leave experimentalists consciously incompetent about data stewardship and motivated to respect data stewards as representatives of a new profession, while possibly motivating others to consider a career in the field. Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "Data Stewardship for Open Science" is especially recommended for corporate, college, and university library Computer Science and Engineering collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of students, academia, and non-specialist general readers that "Data Stewardship for Open Science" is also available in a paperback edition (9781498753173, $59.95).

Introduction to Bioethics, second edition
John A. Bryant & Linda Baggott la Velle
Wiley-Blackwell
350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148
www.wiley.com/wiley-blackwell
9781118719619, $160.00, HC, 360pp, www.amazon.com

Now in a newly updated and expanded second edition, "Introduction to Bioethics" by John A. Bryant (Professor Emeritus of Biosciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK) and Linda la Velle (Professor of Biology in Education, Institute of Education, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK, and Visiting Professor of Education, Bath Spa University, UK) offers complete information about all aspects of bioethics and its role in our world. It tackles the concerns of bioethicists, dealing with the ethical questions that arise in the relationships among life sciences, biotechnology, medicine, politics, law, and philosophy. "Introduction to Bioethics" also introduces the various modes of ethical thinking and then helps the reader to apply that thinking to issues relating to the environment, to plants and animals, and to humans. "Introduction to Bioethics, Second Edition" additionally focuses on key issues directly relevant to those studying courses ranging from medicine through to biology and agriculture. Ethical analysis is threaded throughout each chapter and supplementary examples are included to stimulate further thought. Enhanced with numerous mini-case studies to aid understanding, together with key references and further reading, "Introduction to Bioethics" covers such topics as: genetic modification; GM crops, human genetics and genomics; cloning and stem cells; assisted reproduction; end of life issues; human enhancement; transhumanism and more. Of special note is the inclusion of new chapters on Biofuels and on Synthetic Biology. An ideal and unreservedly recommended textbook for undergraduate students taking courses in biomedical sciences, biological sciences, and medicine, "Introduction to Bioethics" will also be especially useful for non-specialist general readers with an interested in the ethics of biological and biomedical science, including science journalists and reporters, who want to inform themselves about current developments. While very highly recommended for both community and academic library Bioethics collections, "Introduction to Bioethics" is also available in a paperback edition (9781118719596, $55.00) and in a digital book format (eTextbook, $35.99).

Polarization in Electromagnetic Systems, second edition
Warren Stutzman
Artech House
9781630811075 $179.00 www.artechhouse.com

The second updated edition of Polarization in Electromagnetic Systems has been completely revised and expanded to include the latest coverage of applications in wireless communications, and is recommended as a foundation text for engineers and reference systems catering to them. The basics of polarization processes are explained from scientific to mathematical perspectives, and then systems are analyzed in detail, emphasizing antennas for generating polarization. From wave interaction to different systems, including depolarizing media, this reference provides everything needed to serve as both a refresher course and a review of the latest findings.


The Agriculture Shelf

Compendium of Lettuce Diseases and Pests
Krishna V. Subbarao, R. Michael Davis, Robert L. Gilbertson, & Richard N. Raid
APS Press
3340 Pilot Knob Road, St. Paul, MN 55121
www.shopapspress.org
9780890545775, $169.00, PB, 165pp, www.amazon.com

The collaborative project of agriculturalists Krishna V. Subbarao, R. Michael Davis, Robert L. Gilbertson, and Richard N. Raid, and now in a newly updated and expanded second edition, "Compendium of Lettuce Diseases and Pests" is a concise yet comprehensive instructional reference and guide that is ideal for large and small commercial growing operations, as well as the advisors that serve them, including plant pathologists, entomologists, breeders, seed company personnel, crop production specialists, growers, diagnosticians, agricultural students, regulatory personnel, crop consultants, educators, researchers, extension personnel, and others involved in the diagnosis and management of lettuce diseases, pests, and disorders. Profusely illustrated and effectively organized and presented, "Compendium of Lettuce Diseases and Pests" is a critically important and essential addition to college and university library Agricultural & Farming instructional reference collections.


The Literary Studies Shelf

The Handy Literature Answer Book
Daniel S. Burt & Deborah G. Felder
Visible Ink Press
43311 Joy Rd., #414, Canton, MI 48187-2075
www.visibleinkpress.com
9781578596355, $21.95, PB, 450pp, www.amazon.com

From the epic of Gilgamesh to Aristotle and Cicero, and from Shakespeare and the King James Bible to Wuthering Heights, War and Peace, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and the Nobel-winning lyrics of Bob Dylan, the world of literature is an integral part of our lives. Great literature can shape and form thoughts and opinions as well as influence politics and predict the future. Reading can truly enrich our lives, but it can sometimes be daunting to get the most out of a great work of literature. "The Handy Literature Answer Book: Understand and Enjoy Meanings, Symbolism, and Signs in Great Works" is an engaging, easy-to-read look at literature basics such as themes, symbols, context, and other literary devices. Different literary forms, including novels, poems, plays, short stories, memoirs, and literary nonfiction are analyzed. Hundreds of important stories and great works are used as illustrative examples. "The Handy Literature Answer Book" covers the five basic questions for any work of literature, including "What is the significance of a title?" "What is conflict?" "What is character development?" "What is point of view?" "How does a setting affect a story?" "What are the different schools of literary criticism?" and many more. Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "The Handy Literature Answer Book" is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended for personal, community, highschool, college, and university library collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of students and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "The Handy Literature Answer Book" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $18.99).

A Beginner's Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy
Jason M. Baxter
Baker Academic
c/o Baker Publishing Group
6030 East Fulton, Ada, MI 49301
www.bakerpublishinggroup.com
9780801098734, $17.99, PB, 224pp, www.amazon.com

Dante's Divine Comedy is widely considered to be one of the most significant works of literature ever written. It is renowned not only for its ability to make truths known but also for its power to make them loved. It captures centuries of thought on sin, love, community, moral living, God's work in history, and God's ineffable beauty. Like a Gothic cathedral, the beauty of this great poem can be appreciated at first glance, but only with a guide can its complexity and layers of meaning be fully comprehended. Now in an especially accessible introduction to Dante, which also serves as a primer to the Divine Comedy, and helps readers better appreciate and understand Dante's spiritual masterpiece, "A Beginner's Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy" by Jason Baxter (Associate Professor of Fine Arts and Humanities at Wyoming Catholic College in Lander, Wyoming and an expert on Dante), covers all the basic themes of the Divine Comedy, such as sin, redemption, virtue, and vice. "A Beginner's Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy" also contains a general introduction to Dante and a specific introduction to each canticle (Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso), making it especially well suited for classroom and homeschool use. Impressively informative and thoroughly 'reader friendly' in tone, commentary, organization and presentation, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "A Beginner's Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).


The Native American Studies Shelf

Towards a New Ethnohistory
Edited by Keith Thor Carlson, et. al.
University of Manitoba Press
301 St. John's College, Winnipeg, MB, Canada, R3T 2M5
www.uofmpress.ca
9780887558177 $31.95 pbk / $25.00 Kindle amazon.com

Edited by Keith Thor Carlson (Professor of History, University of Saskatchewan), John Sutton Lutz, David M. Schaepe, and Naxaxalhts'i (Albert "Sonny" McHalsie), Towards A New Ethnohistory: Community-Engaged Scholarship among the People of the River is an anthology of essays by learned authors about the history, culture, politics, traditions, and more pertaining to the Sto:lo community of Native Americans, who inhabit the Fraser Valley and lower Fraser Canyon of British Columbia, Canada. What distinguishes this title is its connection to and communication with members of this indigenous community; their aid was engaged to identify research questions, host the researchers themselves, and participate meaningfully in the findings. Individual writings include "Sto:lo Ancestral Names, Identity, and the Politics of History", "Food as a Window into Sto:lo Tradition and Sto:lo-Newcomer Relations", "Totem Tigers and Salish Sluggers: A History of Boxing in Sto:lo Territory, 1912-1985", and much more. Towards a New Ethnohistory represents not only masterful scholarship, but also the highest respect for the people being studied, and is highly recommended especially for public, college, and gradual school Native American Studies shelves.

Plains Indian Buffalo Cultures
Emma I. Hansen
University of Oklahoma Press
2800 Venture Drive, Norman, OK 73069
www.oupress.com
9780806160115, $50.00, HC, 208pp, www.amazon.com

Native American art is as diverse as the tribal based Native American cultures. Over the course of his career, artist Paul Dyck (1917 - 2006) assembled more than 2,000 nineteenth-century artworks created by the buffalo-hunting peoples of the Great Plains. Only with its acquisition by the Plains Indian Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming has this legendary collection become available to the general public. Now "Plains Indian Buffalo Cultures: Art from the Paul Dyck Collection" compiled and edited with commentary by Emma I. Hansen (Curator Emerita and Senior Scholar of the Plains Indian Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West) allows readers, for the first time, to experience the artistry and diversity of the Paul Dyck Collection -- and the Native American cultures it represents in showcasing a wide array of masterworks created by members of the Crow, Pawnee, Lakota, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Shoshone, Hidatsa, Mandan, Arikara, Dakota, Kiowa, Comanche, Blackfoot, Otoe, Nez Perce, and other Native groups. From hide clothing, bear claw necklaces, and shields to buffalo robes, tipis, and decorative equipment made for prized horses, the artworks in the Paul Dyck Collection provide a firsthand glimpse into the traditions, adaptations, and innovations of Great Plains Indian cultures. A simple pleasure to browse through, "Plains Indian Buffalo Cultures" is a work of extensive and seminal scholarship, resulting in a unique and valued contribution to personal, community, college, and university library Native American Culture & Art collections and supplemental studies reading lists. Beautifully and profusely illustrated throughout, it should be noted for students, academia, and the non-specialist general readers with an interest in Native American Studies in general and Native American Art History in particular that "Plains Indian Buffalo Cultures" is also available in a paperback edition (9780806160122, $34.95).


The American History Shelf

This Used to Be St. Louis
NiNi Harris
Reedy Press
PO Box 5131, St. Louis, MO 63139
https://www.reedypress.com
9781681061139, $20.95, PB, 192pp, www.amazon.com

St. Louis's history is sequentially layered. Each individual layer, from the French pioneers establishing St. Louis as a river trading post, to Swiss immigrants starting dairy farms and dairies, to immigrants from Europe putting on the uniforms of the American doughboy, has left a distinctive imprint on the city. Profusely illustrated throughout with period photographs, "This Used to Be St. Louis" is a fun and informative trip through those layers of history in the form of true stories like: the glamorous, urban lofts that had been the factory for ball turrets for World War Two Air Force bombers; the dock of the pasta plant where the Civil War ironclads were built; the elegant townhouse that once served as a Albanian Orthodox Church. A memorable tribute by way of an inherently fascinating history, "This Used to Be St. Louis" is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to both community and academic library American History collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "This Used to Be St. Louis" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).

Border Bandits Border Raids
W.C. Jameson
Lone Star Books/Globe Pequot
9781493028344 $16.95 www.rowman.com

Border Bandits Border Raids is especially recommended reading for U.S. history readers interested in border skirmishes between early Texas and Mexico, and compiles a survey of events of the late 19th and early 20th centuries as conflicts took place before checkpoints and border control was enacted. Chapters collect some seventeen stories of such encounters and tells of the Mexican and American individuals who participated in them, making for a lively survey that lends facts and detail to the story of the U.S. border's ongoing controversies.


The World History Shelf

Gun Control in Nazi Occupied-France
Stephen P. Halbrook
The Independent Institute
100 Swan Way, Oakland, CA 94621-1428
www.independent.org
9781598133073, $28.95, HC, 256pp, www.amazon.com

The nation of France was invaded by Nazi Germany in 1940. In every occupied town, Nazi soldiers put up posters that demanded that civilians surrender their firearms within twenty-four hours or else be shot. Despite the consequences, many French citizens refused to comply with the order. In "Gun Control in Nazi-Occupied France: Tyranny and Resistance", academician and historian Stephen P. Halbrook (who is Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute) tells this story of Nazi repression and the brave French men and women who refused to surrender to it. Drawing on records of the German occupation and testimonies from members of the French resistance, "Gun Control in Nazi-Occupied France" is the first book to focus on the Nazis' efforts to disarm the French. Impressively informative, exceptionally well written, organized, and presented, as well as featuring eight pages of rare historical photographs, "Gun Control in Nazi Occupied-France" is unreservedly recommended for community and academic library World War II Military History collections and supplemental studies lists. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Gun Control in Nazi Occupied-France" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $16.99).


The Civil War Shelf

That Field of Blood
Daniel J. Vermilya
Savas Beatie
PO Box 4527, El Dorado Hills, CA 95762
www.savasbeatie.com
9781611213751, $14.95, PB, 192pp, www.amazon.com

Daniel J. Vermilya is a Civil War historian who works as a park ranger at Gettysburg National Military Park. He has previously worked as a park ranger at Antietam National Battlefield and Monocacy National Battlefield and is also a licensed battlefield guide at Antietam. In "That Field of Blood: The Battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862" September 17, 1862" (one of the most consequential days in the history of the American Civil War) Daniel reveals that it was a moment in time when the future of the country could have veered in two starkly different directions. Confederates under General Robert E. Lee had embarked upon an invasion of Maryland, threatening to achieve a victory on Union soil that could potentially end the Civil War in Southern Independence. Lee's opponent, Major General George McClellan, led the Army of the Potomac to stop Lee's campaign. In Washington D.C., President Lincoln eagerly awaited news from the field, knowing that the future of freedom for millions was at stake. Lincoln had resolved that, should Union forces win in Maryland, he would issue his Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. All this hung in the balance on September 17: the day of the battle of Antietam. The fighting near Sharpsburg, Maryland, that day would change the course of American history, but in the process, it became the costliest day this nation has ever known, with more than 23,000 men falling as casualties. A meticulous and impressively informative read, "That Field of Blood" is a very highly recommended addition to personal, community, and academic library American Civil War History collections and supplemental studies lists.


The Social Issues Shelf

Homeless Youth and the Search for Stability
Jeff Karabanow, Sean Kidd, Tyler Frederick, and Jean Hughes
Wilfrid Laurier University Press
wlupress.wlu.ca
9781771123334 $29.99 pbk / $20.99 Kindle amazon.com

Experts and professionals in fields of social work, clinical psychology, and nursing present Homeless Youth and the Search for Stability, an in-depth study of why youth are the fastest- growing segment of the homeless population, and the challenges they face in the difficult pathway off the streets. Interviews with struggling youth in Toronto and Halifax over a year-long period form an invaluable bedrock of this studious yet compassionate study, ultimately created to aid the search for long-term solutions by better understanding the problems. Homeless Youth and the Search for Stability is highly recommended especially for public and college libary social issues collections.

Immigration and the Law
Edited by Sofia Espinoza Alvarez & Martin Guevara Urbina
University of Arizona Press
Main Library Building, 5th Floor, P.O. Box 210055, Tucson, AZ 85721-0055
9780816537624 $45.00 pbk / $45.00 ebook www.uapress.arizona.edu

Available in both paperback and ebook editions, Immigration and the Law: Race, Citizenship, and Social Control is an anthology of scholarly essays by learned authors discussing migration into the United States, particularly Latino and Latina migration, in social, political, and economic contexts. Individual writings include "Divided Lines: The Politics of Immigration Control in the United States", "Always Running: La Migra, Detentions, Deportations, and Human Rights", "Covering the Immigrant Story: Immigration Through the Lens of the American Media", and more. Of particular note is the essay "Five Myths About Immigration", which debunks widely held false beliefs such as "Most Latino immigrants are in the United States Illegally" (in 2013 the Pew Research Center determined that more than 30 million of 40 million total Latino immigrants were authorized). The need for research and statistics-backed evidence to counter widely held myths, misconceptions, and outright racism is greater than ever, making Immigration and the Law a "must-have" for public and college library social issues collections. Highly recommended.

At the Boundaries of Homeownership
Chloe N. Thurston
Cambridge University Press
One Liberty Plaza, Fl. 20, New York, NY 10006
www.cambridge.org
9781108422055, $99.99, HC, 275pp, www.amazon.com

A traditional element of the 'Great American Dream', home ownership is synonymous with economic security and middle-class status. Owning your own home has played this role in American life for almost a century, and as a result, home ownership's centrality to Americans' economic lives has come to seem natural and inevitable. But this state of affairs did not develop spontaneously or inexorably. On the contrary, home ownership as a desired personal goal was the product of federal government policies, established during the 1930s and developed over the course of the twentieth century. In the pages of "At the Boundaries of Homeownership: Credit, Discrimination, and the American State", Chloe N. Thurston (Assistant Professor of Political Science, Northwestern University) deftly traces how the government's role in this became submerged from public view and how several groups who were locked out of home ownership came to recognize and reveal the role of the government. Through organizing and activism, these boundary groups transformed laws and private practices governing determinations of credit-worthiness. "At the Boundaries of Homeownership" also describes the important policy consequences of their achievements and the implications for how we understand American state building. Enhanced with listings of figures, tables, and abbreviations, as well as an appendix (Archival Sources and Congressional Hearings), a twelve page bibliography, and a six page index, "At the Boundaries of Homeownership" is an extraordinary study of impeccable scholarship and unreservedly recommended for both community and academic library Social Issues collections in general, and American Home Ownership supplemental studies reading lists in particular. It should be noted for students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "At the Boundaries of Homeownership" is also available in a paperback edition (9781108434522, $29.99) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $24.00).


The Psychology Shelf

Cognitive Neuroscience
Marie T. Banich & Rebecca J. Compton
Cambridge University Press
One Liberty Plaza, Fl. 20, New York, NY 10006
www.cambridge.org
9781107158443, $130.00, HC, 786pp, www.amazon.com

Now in a fully updated and expanded fourth edition, "Cognitive Neuroscience" by the team of Marie T. Banich (University of Colorado - Boulder) and Rebecca J. Compton (Haverford College, Pennsylvania) is an ideal cognitive neuroscience curriculum textbook that is organized and presented in three major sections: Fundamentals; Neural Bases of Mental Functions; Brader Applications. Beginning with an Introduction to the Nervous Systems, "Cognitive Neuroscience" covers Motor Control; Sensation and Perception; Object Recognition; Spatial Cognition; Language; Memory and Learning; Attention; Executive Function and Higher Order Thinking; Emotion; social Cognition; Psychopathology; Brain Development and Plasticity; Generalized Cognitive Disorders; and Cognitive Neuroscience and Society. Enhanced for academia with the inclusion of a fourteen page Glossary; ninety pages of References; and a six page Index. While unreservedly recommended for college and university library Psychology/Psychiatry instructional reference collections in general, and Cognitive Neuroscience supplemental studies reading lists in particular, it should be brought to the attention of students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that this new edition of "Cognitive Neuroscience" is also available in a digital book format (eTextbook, $28.99).

The Handbook of Child Life
Richard H. Thompson, editor
Charles C. Thomas, Publisher
2600 South First Street, Springfield, IL 62704
http://www.ccthomas.com
9780398078324, $59.95, PB, 378pp, www.amazon.com

It has been said that the moral test of a society is how it treats its most vulnerable citizens. Those who enter the field of child life daily encounter those in our society who are among the most vulnerable simply because of their age and their ways of interpreting the world, vulnerable because of their physical circumstances, vulnerable because of the unfamiliar they encounter, vulnerable at times because of additional barriers such as language, poverty or prejudice. Yet, the child life specialist understands that each individual, despite the vulnerabilities he or she may bring to an encounter, also brings strength and resiliency. The task of the child life specialist is to build upon those strengths and to minimize individual vulnerability and maximize the growth of the individual. Compiled and edited by Richard H. Thompson (Professor Emeritus, The College of New Rochelle), "The Handbook of Child Life: A Guide for Pediatric Psychosocial Care" is comprised of contributions by experts in the field that address the most important aspects of the practice of child life. "The Handbook of Child Life" is geared toward an audience beyond the introductory level and includes information on the state of the art in each chapter covered. Wherever possible, "The Handbook of Child Life" demonstrates application of the contents in practice through case studies. The goal of this text is to assist in this process, drawing upon the expertise of leading figures in the field to help provide child life specialists, and other allied health professionals, with the knowledge and skills they will need to accomplish this important task. An ideal curriculum textbook and an invaluable instructional reference, "The Handbook of Child Life" is an especially recommended addition to professional, community, and academic library Pediatric Psychology collections and supplemental studies lists. It should be noted for students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "The Handbook of Child Life" is also available in a digital book format (9780398092139, $59.95).


The Technology Shelf

Vertical GaN and SiC Power Devices
Kazuhiro Mochizuki
Artech House
685 Canton Street, Norwood, MA 02062
www.artechhouse.com
9781630814274, $169.00, HC, 308pp, www.amazon.com

Kazuhiro Mochizuki is affiliated with the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan. Previously he was involved in the research of GaN and SiC power devices at the Central Research Laboratory, Hitachi Ltd., Tokyo, Japan. He is a senior member of IEEE and a member of the Japan Society of Applied Physics. He is also a lecturer at the University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo, Japan and Hosei University, Tokyo, Japan. With "Vertical GaN and SiC Power Devices" he offers a unique new resource that provides a comparative introduction to vertical Gallium Nitride (GaN) and Silicon Carbide (SiC) power devices using real commercial device data, computer, and physical models. "Vertical GaN and SiC Power Devices" uses commercial examples from recent years and presents the design features of various GaN and SiC power components and devices. Vertical verses lateral power semiconductor devices are explored, including those based on wide bandgap materials. The abstract concepts of solid state physics as they relate to solid state devices are explained with particular emphasis on power solid state devices. Impressively well organized and presented, "Vertical GaN and SiC Power Devices" is an ideal instructional textbook and professional reference that is unreservedly recommended for corporate, technical college, and university library technology collections and supplemental studies reading lists.

Technologies for RF Systems
Terry Edwards
Artech House
685 Canton Street, Norwood, MA 02062
www.artechhouse.com
9781630814502, $159.00, HC, 330pp, www.amazon.com

"Technologies for RF Systems" by Terry Edwards (who is an executive director at Engalco Research) is comprehensive resource that provides an complete introduction to the main concepts, technologies, and components in microwave and RF engineering. "Technologies for RF Systems" presents details about how to design various amplifiers, circuits, and chips for communication systems. It offers insight into selecting appropriate ADC and DAC technology. Several worked examples are found throughout the book. "Technologies for RF Systems" also provides a summary of 21st century RF systems and electronics and discusses the challenges of frequency bands and wavelengths, software-defined radio (SDR) and cognitive radio. RF semiconductors are covered, including bandgap, drift velocity, resistors, diodes, and various transistors. "Technologies for RF Systems" offers details about passive RF components, capacitors, inductors, resistors, coaxial, and microstrip lines as well as coplanar waveguide. Passive RF circuit elements are presented, along with the fundamentals of directional couplers, including Lange couplers and Wilkinson dividers. Switches, attenuators, and digital circuits are discussed. It should be noted that "Technologies for RF Systems" is packed with additional coverage of RF filters, antennas, and small-signal RF amplifiers, and includes chapters on noise and LNAs, RF power amplifiers and RF-oriented ADCs and DACs. Modulation techniques and technologies are also presented. An essential, core addition to corporate, technical college, and university library Technology collections in general, and RF Systems supplemental studies lists in particular.

Software-Defined Radio for Engineers
Travis F. Collins, et al.
Artech House
685 Canton Street, Norwood, MA 02062
www.artechhouse.com
9781630814571, $159.00, HC, 352pp, www.amazon.com

"Software-Defined Radio for Engineers" by Travis F. Collins (who is a development engineer at Analog Devices), with significant contributions by analog devices expert Robin Gertz, applications engineer Di Pu, and wireless communications expert Alexander M. Wyglinski provides a practical approach to quickly learning the software-defined radio (SDR) concepts needed for work in the field. Completely up-to-date, :Software-Defined Radio for Engineers" deftly guides readers on how to quickly prototype wireless designs using SDR for real-world testing and experimentation. "Software-Defined Radio for Engineers" also explores advanced wireless communication techniques such as OFDM, LTE, WLA, and hardware targeting. Readers will gain an understanding of the core concepts behind wireless hardware, such as the radio frequency front-end, analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters, as well as various processing technologies. A complete course of instruction under one cover, "Software-Defined Radio for Engineers" is an ideal textbook and an unreservedly recommended addition to corporate, technical college, and university library technology collections and supplemental studies reading lists.


The Music Shelf

Folksongs of Another America
James P. Leary
University of Wisconsin Press
1930 Monroe Street, Third Floor, Madison, WI 53711-2059
www.uwpress.wisc.edu
9780299301545, $24.95, PB, 464pp, www.amazon.com

Challenging and considerably broadening popular and scholarly definitions of American folk music, "Folksongs of Another America: Field Recordings from the Upper Midwest, 1937 - 1946" by James P. Leary (who is Professor Emeritus of Folklore and Scandinavian studies, as well as cofounder of the Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures, at the University of Wisconsin - Madison) recovers the diverse, multilingual traditions of immigrant, Native American, rural, and working-class performers in America's Upper Midwest during the 1930s and 1940s. "Folksongs of Another America" extensively documents 187 tunes and songs in more than twenty-five languages, with full original lyrics and English translations, and biographical notes on the performers. It should be noted that the companion musical tracks and documentary film will be freely available for listening, viewing, or download through a partnership with the University of Wisconsin Libraries' Digital Collections Center. Enhanced for the reader with the inclusion of a twelve page listing of Sources, a four page Index of Recitations, Songs, and Tunes, a sixteen page Index, and a one page author biography of Professor Leary and his credentials, "Folksongs of Another America" is a unique and seminal body of simply outstanding scholarship that is unreservedly recommended for community and academic library American Music History & American Folklore collections, as well as the personal reading lists of students, academia, and the non-specialist general reader with an interest in subject.


The Dance Shelf

Ballet & Modern Dance: A Concise History, third edition
Jack Anderson
Princeton Book Company
614 Route 130, Highstown, NJ 08520
www.dancehorizons.com
9780871273963, $34.95, PB, 336pp, www.amazon.com

Now in a fully updated and expanded third edition, "Ballet & Modern Dance: A Concise History" by Jack Anderson (who is the dance critic for The New York Times) meets the needs of both students and inquisitive dance goers through an historical narrative focused on the development of Western theatrical dance from the Renaissance to the first decades of the 21st century, incorporating the most recent scholarship and projecting trends. The text is impressively illuminated by excerpts from primary sources and embellished by 65 photos. A section of biographical profiles at the end of the book serves as a supplementary reference source. Intended to be entertaining as well as enlightening "Ballet & Modern Dance: A Concise History" successfully expresses the value of dance history as a field of study. "Ballet & Modern Dance: A Concise History"" is an especially and unreservedly recommended study for both community and academic library Dance History collections as well as the personal reading lists of dance students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject.


The Travel Shelf

200 Waterfalls in Central and Western New York
Rich Freeman & Sue Freeman
Burford Books, Inc.
101 East State Street, #301, Ithaca, NY 14850
www.burfordbooks.com
9781580801874, $19.95, PB, 384pp, www.amazon.com

Rich and Sue Freeman are long-time outdoor enthusiasts and authors of many other guides to outdoor activities in upstate New York. There are more waterfalls in central and western New York State than anywhere in the East. Some are well known, like Niagara and Taughannock Falls, others await discovery around the bend of a trail. With "200 Waterfalls in Central and Western New York: A Finder's Guide", Rich and Sue Freeman draws upon their years of experience and expertise so that anyone can enjoy the magic of these waterfalls utilizing this thoroughly 'user friendly', map-filled guidebook that includes: Over 100 locations where you can see over 250 waterfalls; When and where to go for best viewing; The time and effort required to reach each waterfall. Now in a newly revised and updated edition, "200 Waterfalls in Central and Western New York" has added some waterfalls to take the place of others that are now inaccessibly located on private property, making it unreservedly recommended for personal and community library New York Travel Guide instructional reference collections.


The Political Science Shelf

Political Vocabularies
Mary E. Stuckey
Michigan State University Press
1405 South Harrison Road, Suite 25, East Lansing, MI 48823-5245
http://msupress.org
9781611862652, $44.95, PB, 298pp, www.amazon.com

In "Political Vocabularies: FDR, the Clergy Letters, and the Elements of Political Argument" Mary E. Stuckey (Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences at Pennsylvania State University) uses a set of letters sent to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935 by American clergymen to make a larger argument about the rhetorical processes of our national politics. At any given moment, national politics are constituted by competing political imaginaries, through which citizens understand and participate in politics. Different imaginaries locate political authority in different places, and so political authority is very much a site of dispute between differing political vocabularies. Opposing political vocabularies are grounded in opposing characterizations of the specific political moment, its central issues, and its citizens, for we cannot imagine a political community without populating it and giving it purpose. These issues and people are hierarchically ordered, which provides the imaginary with a sense of internal cohesion and which also is a central point of disputation between competing vocabularies in a specific epoch. Each vocabulary is grounded in a political tradition, read through our national myths, which authorize the visions of national identity and purpose and which contain significant deliberative aspects, for each vision of the nation impels distinct political imperatives. Such imaginaries are our political priorities in action. Taking one specific moment of political change, Professor Stuckey illuminates the larger processes of change, competition, and stability in national politics. A seminal work of original scholarship, "Political Vocabularies" is enhanced for academia with the inclusion of forty-two pages of Notes, an eighteen page Bibliography, and an eight page Index, making it an exceptional and very highly recommended addition to college and university library Political Science collections. It should be noted for students and non- specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Political Vocabularies" is also available in a digital book format (eTextbook, $35.95).

First Amendment For Beginners
Michael J. Lamonica, author
Jeff Fallow, illustrator
For Beginners LLC
155 Main Street, Suite 211, Danbury, CT 06810
www.forbeginnersbooks.com
9781939994745, $15.95, PB, 176pp, www.amazon.com

"First Amendment For Beginners" by Michael J. Lamonica" takes the reader on an information- ladened journey through the ins and outs of an amendment that means so much more than just freedom of speech. "First Amendment For Beginners" explores some of the biggest cases ever to come before the Supreme Court and answer questions such as whether it really is okay to shout "fire" in a crowded theater, wear a T-shirt that reads "F**K THE DRAFT!" (without the asterisks) into a courthouse, burn the flag, burn your draft card, join the Communist party, sell nudie magazines, ban Ku Klux Klan marches, and publish confidential government secrets in a newspaper, to name just a few. The religion clauses are included too, with pertinent questions such as whether the First Amendment protects your right to use psychoactive drugs in religious rituals, marry multiple partners, or engage in animal sacrifice. "First Amendment For Beginners" also wades into the political maelstrom to examine recent controversies such as whether money really equals speech and if corporations have constitutionally protected rights to speech and religion. Impressively informative and exceptionally well written, "First Amendment For Beginners" will prove to be of enduring interest and value for political science students, history buff, civil libertarian, news enthusiast, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject. While very highly recommended for school and community library Political Science collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "First Amendment For Beginners" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $15.15).

Secret Empires
Peter Schweitzer
Harper
9780062569363 $28.99 www.harpercollins.com

Secret Empires: How the American Political Class Hides Corruption and Enriches Family and Friends exposes corruption by top Washington officials, demonstrating that there is a long history of bipartisan corruption that leaves no presidential administration in recent times innocent of such charges. Some of the oldest and dearest friends of this nation's leaders have taken positions that doubled their net worths, placed family on boards of directors and in political positions, and even made children and stepchildren rich through deals that flowed through political office to private sector finances. The result is a hard-hitting and serious examination that leaves no modern administration unexamined as it considers the circumstances and processes of corruption, and is highly recommended for general-interest and political readers alike.

China Rx
Janardan Prasad Singh
Prometheus Books
9781633883819 $25.00 www.prometheusbooks.com

China Rx: Exposing the Risks of America's Dependence on China for Medicine could have been featured in our 'Health' section but is reviewed here because of its dual importance to political and health issues collections alike. Several decades ago, major drugs were manufactured in the U.S.; but as global trade and business developed, antibiotics, antidepressants, and many other key drugs began to be made in China and sold in the U.S. This book argues that not only is this a bad idea for this country; but any scenario in which America becomes dependent on another country for vital medicines is a bad one. From the issues of contaminated medicine to those of who controls drugs, China Rx is a deeply disturbing portrait of what could go wrong when the manufacturing of drugs is done out of the country.


The Architecture Shelf

The Tower of the Winds in Athens
Pamela A. Webb
American Philosophical Society
104 South Fifth Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106-3387
www.amphilsoc.org
9780871692702, $65.00, HC, 172pp, www.amazon.com

The Tower of the Winds is a unique structure that has stood in the shadow of the Acropolis in Athens for more than 2,100 years. This tall octagonal building, one of the best preserved monuments from the classical period, was built by the architect-astronomer Andronikos of Kyrrhos as a horologion for keeping time. Almost all its features have been attributed to the period of construction by the Greeks or renovations made by the Romans. The building, however, was in use almost continuously for two millennia, which includes Byzantine and Ottoman phases. In the illustrated pages of "The Tower of the Winds in Athens: Greeks, Romans, Christians, and Muslims: Two Millennia of Continual Use", classical archaeologist Pamela Webb deftly examines the Tower throughout its entire functional existence. A series of appendices helps to put the Tower in broader context for the post-classical periods. Impressively informed and informative, exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "The Tower of the Winds in Athens" is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, and academic library Architectural History collections in general, and Athenian History supplemental studies reading lists in particular.

LA Forum Reader
The Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design
Actar D
c/o Actar Publishers
355 Lexington Avenue, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10017
http://actar.com
9781945150999, $34.95, PB, 296pp, www.amazon.com

The "LA Forum Reader" brings together three decades of discursive writings and publications on architecture, urbanism, and Los Angeles culled from the archives of the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design. Published under thematic sections: Experiments, Detours, Hunches, and Santa Anas, with interludes dedicated to Art and Architecture, Downtown, and the long-running LA Forum Newsletter, the collected essays and interviews track an uneven and lesser-known history of experimental architecture, postmodern geographies, and alternative urbanism in L.A. as told by the city's key designers and thinkers. Today, Los Angeles is a major architectural and urban player, but for decades the city was dismissed suburban and centerless. In republishing three decades of material on architecture and design in Los Angeles, the "LA Forum Reader" reclaims and reconsiders the city's architectural and discursive histories. It establishes, or reestablishes, a textual context for critical experimentation and urban investigation. This anthology includes essays, interviews, and reproductions of publications that have long been out of print, including pamphlets by Craig Hodgetts and Margaret Crawford, as well as early writings by Aaron Betsky and John Chase. A critically important and unique contribution to the subject, "LA Forum Reader" is an impressively informative and unreservedly recommended contribution to professional, college, and university library Architectural History collections and supplemental studies reading lists.


The Parenting Shelf

The Perfect Daycare Provider Tells All
Michelle McLellan
Balboa Press
c/o Hay House, Inc.
PO Box 5100, Carlsbad, CA 92018-5100
www.balboapress.com
9781504382793, $11.99, PB, 136pp, www.amazon.com

"The Perfect Daycare Provider Tells All" by twenty-year daycare provider veteran Michelle McLellan was written specifically for parents who: Have ever wondered if they do enough with their child; Have long workdays and are so exhausted when they get home that they might not read their child a story book before bedtime, making them feel bad. "The Perfect Daycare Provider Tells All" is also meant for parents who might think that: No one can help care for their child better than themselves; Who are willing to learn about what daycare providers can do for a child; Have decided to begin a journey that will only lead to greatness for their child and themselves as parents. Exceptionally well written, impressively informative, "The Perfect Daycare Provider Tells All" is very highly recommended for daycare center, community, and academic library parenting instructional reference collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "The Perfect Daycare Provider Tells All" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $3.99).


The LGBT Studies Shelf

Tinderbox
Robert W. Fieseler
Liveright Publishing Corporation
c/o W. W. Norton & Company
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110
www.wwnorton.com
9781631491641 $26.95 /$12.99 Kindle amazon.com

Before the 2016 shooting of the Pule gay nightclub, there was the Up Stairs Lounge fire of 1973. Tinderbox: The Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberation lives up to its title as an in-depth analysis of this deadly event, which was almost certainly an arson attack. No perpetrator was ever convicted, and the most likely suspect (a gay man who had been ejected from the bar, and who allegedly confessed the crime to an associate) committed suicide in 1974. Although the fire claimed dozens of lives, the nationwide reaction was even more horrifying. Neither the mayor nor the governor offered any statement of sympathy; news coverage generally avoided describing the Lounge as a gay hangout, and local coverage published a full list of those affected by the fire, effectively "outing" them - some survivors lost their jobs and had to move to other cities, while some victims' families were reluctant to claim the bodies of loved ones. Yet where government and media stumbled, ad-hoc support networks sought to help through aid from gay activist groups, religious networks, and relief organizations. In the 1990's, memories of the fire became a catalyzing force for LGBTQ Americans. Tinderbox is ultimately a history not only of a tragic disaster, but also of a civil rights history, highly recommended especially for public and college library collections.


The Military Shelf

Fight Like a Girl
Kate Germano with Kelly Kennedy
Prometheus Books
9781633884137 $18.00 www.prometheusbooks.com

Fight Like a Girl: The Truth Behind How Female Marines Are Trained tells of Kate Germano's struggle to achieve equality as a female Marine and documents entrenched prejudices and gender attacks to support the status quo. It charges gender bias in the Corps and routines that challenged her to continually prove her equality to her fellow male Marines, and it also provides important details on serving in the Marine Corps and its underlying lessons for all females serving in the military. This book should be first on the list for any female thinking of enlisting.

Combat at Close Quarters
Edward J. Marolda, editor
Naval Institute Press
291 Wood Road, Annapolis, MD 21402
www.nip.org
9781682471951, $39.95, HC, 360pp, www.amazon.com

Visually enhanced with more 200 images drawn from Navy archives and private collections, and featuring the work of five renowned historians, "Combat at Close Quarters: An Illustrated History of the U.S. Navy in the Vietnam War" (compiled and edited by Edward J. Marolda (who has served as the Acting Director of Naval History and Senior Historian of the Navy) focuses upon the U.S. Navy's major combat operations in Southeast Asia, including the Rolling Thunder and Linebacker strikes against North Vietnam, the river war in South Vietnam's Mekong Delta, and the intelligence campaign. Also offered is a select list of the most authoritative works on the subject that nicely complements the concise, readable text. The individual chapters describe not only the actions of the warships, aircraft, and river vessels involved in one of America's longest wars but the professional skill, dedication, and courage of the Navy men and women who journeyed into harm's way in Vietnam. Covering both the air war and river-based combat in Vietnam, "Combat at Close Quarters" showcases the history of the U.S. Navy's role in the entire Vietnam conflict with a special focus on the leadership of Vice Adm. Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr., the Navy's role in Linebacker, the bombing and mining campaign that helped compel Hanoi to end the war and release American POWs, as well as the Navy's intelligence efforts in Southeast Asia, from the controversial Tonkin Gulf Incident to the end of the conflict. "Combat at Close Quarters" fully explains both the operations of communications and electronics analysts at the theater level and the aerial reconnaissance, SEAL, and NILO intelligence-gathers at the tactical level, whether over North Vietnam and Laos or on the ground in South Vietnam. A critically important addition to the growing library of Vietnam War literature, "Combat at Close Quarters" is unreservedly recommended as a core addition to personal, community, and academic library 20th Century Military History collections in general, and Vietnam War supplemental studies reading lists in particular.

"I'm Not Gonna Die in This Damn Place"
Juan David Coronado
Michigan State University Press
1405 South Harrison Road, Suite 25, East Lansing, MI 48823-5245
http://msupress.org
9781611862720, $29.95, PB, 214pp, www.amazon.com

By the time of the Vietnam War era, the "Mexican American Generation" had made tremendous progress both socially and politically. However, the number of Mexican Americans in comparison to the number of white prisoners of war (POWs) illustrated the significant discrimination and inequality the Chicano population faced in both military and civilian landscapes. Chicanos were disproportionately "grunts" (infantry), who were more likely to be killed when captured, while pilots and officers were more likely to be both white and held as POWs for negotiating purposes. A fascinating look at the Vietnam War era from a Chicano perspective, "I'm Not Gonna Die in this Damn Place": Manliness, Identity, and Survival of the Mexican American Vietnam Prisoners of War by Juan David Coronado (who is a postdoctoral scholar at the Julian Samora Research Institute at Michigan State University) gives voice to the Mexican American POWs. The stories of these men and their families provide insights to the Chicano Vietnam War experience, while also adding tremendously to the American POW story. Unreservedly recommended for both community and academic library 20th Century American Military History collections, "I'm Not Gonna Die in This Damn Place" is an important read for academics and military enthusiasts alike. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "I'm Not Gonna Die in This Damn Place" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $22.00).


The Environmental Studies Shelf

The Green Burial Guidebook
Elizabeth Fournier
ElizabethFournier.com
New World Library
14 Pamaron Way, Novato, CA 94949
www.newworldlibrary.com
9781608685233 $15.95 pbk / $9.99 Kindle amazon.com

The Green Burial Guidebook is a guide to understanding how to reduce funeral expenses, and make burials more environmentally-friendly than the current standard, which often utilizes an excess of wood, concrete, metals, and carcinogenic embalming fluid. Chapters discuss what "green burial" is and isn't; the environmental impacts of traditional burial practices; religious and social attitudes toward death and burial around the world; and a step-by-step guide to planning a green burial. A wealth of information for those who wish to use the services of a funeral home or cemetery is present; also discussed are "backyard burials", which are legal in many U.S. states and provinces of North America. The Green Burial Guidebook is an invaluable resource on a delicate yet important topic, and highly recommended.


The Autism Shelf

Understanding the Challenge of "No" for Children with Autism
Colette McNeil
MSI Press, LLC
http://msipress.com
9781942891765 $12.95 pbk / $3.99 Kindle amazon.com

Understanding the Challenge of "No" for Children with Autism: Improving Communication, Increasing Positivity, Enhancing Relationships is a candid parenting and educator's guide by author Colette McNeil, who has spent 20 years instructing students with autism and related disorders. Each teaching strategy is framed with a sample life-scenario connected to the use of the word "no". For example, how should a mother teach her autistic 4-year-old to stop running in a busy parking lot upon uttering the demand "NO!", especially when her child consistently does not respond to verbal instructions without accompanying physical contact? How should a grade school teacher respond when an autistic girl throws tantrums because she is told "No", she can't have the foods she wants for lunch? Understanding the Challenge of "No" for Children with Autism is a "must-have" for parents with and educators responsible for autistic children, highly recommended.


The Journalism Shelf

The AEF in Print
Chris Dubbs and John-Daniel Kelley, editors
University of North Texas Press
1155 Union Circle #311336, Denton, TX 76203-5017
www.untpress.unt.edu
9781574417135 $29.95 hc / $23.96 Kindle amazon.com

During World War I, AEF referred to the "American Expeditionary Forces" - brave Americans who fought alongside the French Army, British Army, Canadian Army, and Australian Army on the Western Front against the German Empire. At the time, the U.S. Army sought to provide the public with news of the war while balancing the need to secrecy in military activities by including a small selection of credentialed reporters in the army. These credentialed correspondents wore military uniforms without insignia or rank, were subject to military regulations, and were the only journalists to permitted to receive AEF briefings, war zone tours, and the opportunity to witness battles. The AEF in Print: An Anthology of American Journalism in World War I gathers a wealth of news articles written by these credentialed correspondents from April 1917 to November 1918. Perusing The AEF in Print allows the reader to experience this year and a half of war the same way that most of the American public did - by reading riveting articles published in the leading newspapers of the day. A handful of black-and-white photographs and an index round out this captivating anthology, highly recommended especially for public and college library collections.


The Genealogy Shelf

Scottish Trade with Colonial Charleston 1683-1783
David Dobson
Clearfield
9780806358598 $43.50 www.genealogical.com

Scottish Trade with Colonial Charleston 1683-1783 offers genealogists and collections catering to them a solid reference to Scottish history and encounters in colonial Charleston. It covers merchants, political associations between Scotland and England, trade jurisdictions by different nations, emigrant processes and influences, and more, providing a thorough and in-depth background history. The result is a survey that is recommended reading both for Charleston history buffs and any interested in the movements and peoples of the region in early America.


The Wine/Spirits Shelf

The Bourbon Bible
Eric Zandona
Mitchell Beazley
c/o Octopus Books
9781784724573 $19.99 www.octopusbooksusa.com

The Bourbon Bible: The Complete Low-Down on the Spirit of America tests over a hundred bourbons and comes from the spirits specialist at the American Distilling Institute who provides assessments of what makes a bourbon exceptional. Flavor profiles, recommendations on the best ways to drink bourbon, history, and recipes for bourbon-based cocktails accompany small color photos of each bourbon, which will make them easy to find in a wine shop. Accompany information on each includes distilleries, price ranges, brand owners, strength, and an overview that allows novices to virtually sample each possibility without investing a lot of money in bourbons that aren't a good match for their tastes. The result is highly recommended for any would-be fan of bourbon and many a prior enthusiast who wants a quick synthesis of the latest brands and their differences.


The Relationship Shelf

Love Rules
Joanna Coles
Harper
9780062852584 $25.99 www.harpercollins.com

Love Rules: How to Find a Real Relationship in a Digital World is recommended reading for any interested in online dating, social media and match sites, and new forces purported to help find real love, and comes from a witness to how the process of identifying and keeping romance has changed for modern women. These changes result in the need for new guidelines on how to navigate the process of locating a mate through other than personal encounters. This book offers a series of guidelines based on her years working for women's magazines and interacting with coworkers and professionals like, synthesizing fifteen "love hacks" designed to help women identify the foundation values in a relationship. The result is a solid key to success that's highly recommended reading for anyone who wants new guidelines for a changing dating environment.


The Computer Shelf

Network Security and Cryptography
Sarhan M. Musa
Mercury Learning
9781942270836 $54.95 www.merclearning.com

Network Security and Cryptography covers the basic concepts of computer networks as they relate to cryptography and network security, and is recommended both for computer and network engineers and those who would survey the latest material relating to soft grids, big data analytics, blockchain, and computer network ciphers. Chapters include mathematical equations and support for this overview of cryptography and its applications in real-world network security scenarios, examining data confidentiality and internet security services alike. The result is strong in mathematical examples, reinforcement, and charts and graphs and provides professionals with a solid foundation of knowledge.


The Religion/Spirituality Shelf

Belief
James E. Alcock
Prometheus Books
9781633884038 $28.00 www.prometheusbooks.com

Belief: What it Means to Believe and Why Our Convictions Are So Compelling provides a powerful focus on the psychology of beliefs and how they are formed and influenced, and is recommended for psychological and spirituality holdings alike. The author is a social psychologist who specializes in the psychology of beliefs, and provides a survey of the psychology and physiology of belief. From experiments in paranormal and religious beliefs to how these affect behavior, this goes beyond most spiritual-based references to examine connections between belief and healing, illusory experiences, and how meditation influences consciousness or perception. While the result is recommended for psychology and health holdings alike, it's reviewed here because any spirituality collection should consider it accessible and essential reading.


The Wisconsin Shelf

Rockhounding Wisconsin
Robert Beard
Falcon Press
c/o Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group
4501 Forbes Blvd., Suite 200, Lanham, MD 20706
www.falcon.com
9781493028542, $24.95, PB, 296pp, www.amazon.com

Amateur geology (known as rockhounding in the United States and Canada.) is the recreational study and hobby of collecting rocks and mineral specimens from their natural environment. "Rockhounding Wisconsin: A Guide to the State's Best Sites " by Robert Beard (who is himself a geologist and has collected rocks for over 30 years), will enable even the most novice of rock hounds to successfully explore the mineral-rich region of Wisconsin and unearth the state of Wisconsin's very best rockhounding sites, ranging from popular and commercial sites to numerous lesser-known areas. Featuring an overview of the state's geologic history as well as a site-by-site guide to the best rockhounding locations, "Rockhounding Wisconsin" is the ideal resource for rockhounds of all ages and experience levels. Beautifully, profusely illustrated throughout and featuring National Geographic maps, "Rockhounding Wisconsin" also includes informative articles on: Rockhounding Basics; Geology of Wisconsin; Natural Resources; Map Legend; and How to Use This Guide. Impressively informative and thoroughly 'user friendly' in organization and presentation, "Rockhounding Wisconsin" is unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community library, and academic library Geology collections in general, and Wisconsin geology supplemental studies lists in particular. It should be noted for students and rockhounding enthusiasts that "Rockhounding Wisconsin" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $19.99).


The Criminology Shelf

Shadow Vigilantes
Paul R. Robinson and Sarah M. Robinson
Prometheus Books
9781633884311 $26.00 www.prometheusbooks.com

Shadow Vigilantes: How Distrust in the Justice System Breeds a New Kind of Lawlessness is recommended for social issues and legal collections alike, and identifies a pervasive problem in our current justice system which is eroding community confidence in law enforcement processes. This is a cycle in which citizens and officers alike are tired of system failures and stalemates, and so decide to subvert the system to force it to live up to their standards. Unfortunately, this perception of unreliability results in further erosion of the law enforcement process and legal strengths. This book considers how the community has stepped in when the justice system is seen to fail, considering social programs, civil rights movements, neighborhood organizations, and judicial rules that succeed and fail in the eyes of their creators. From the dangers inherent in the community's failure to perceive established justice systems as effective to moral vigilantes and dangerous trends, this is a powerful survey that should be in both legal and social issues holdings.


The Holocaust Studies Shelf

Dirty Hands and Vicious Deeds
Samuel Totten
University of Toronto Press
10 St. Mary Street, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M4Y 2W8
www.utppublishing.com
9781442635265, $99.00, HC, 494pp, www.amazon.com

Compiled and edited by Samuel Totten (Professor Emeritus, University of Arkansas-Fayetteville), "Dirty Hands and Vicious Deeds: The US Government's Complicity in Crimes against Humanity and Genocide" is a seminal collection of seven original, impressively informative, thoughtful and thought-provoking essays by erudite contributors showing how the US government repeatedly aided certain regimes as they planned and then carried out crimes against humanity and genocide. What makes the collection unique (and chilling) is the inclusion of declassified documents generated by the US government at the time including memoranda, telegrams, letters, talking points, cables, discussion papers, and situation reports. A unique and extraordinary work of seminal scholarship, "Dirty Hands and Vicious Deeds" should be considered a critically important and even mandatory addition to both community and academic library Political Science and American History collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of students, academia, social activists, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Dirty Hands and Vicious Deeds" is also available in a paperback edition (9781442635258, $44.95) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $35.95).


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