Preview Shelf by Janice Clauser

Library News and Notable New Books

Reading Ideas for December 27th - Happy Holidays to our “Words Worth Reading” blog readers. While the Crawfordsville Library is closed December 24, 25, and 26, here are fiction and nonfiction requests that might be of interest to you when the library reopens Sunday, December 27.

First, nonfiction. Tamara Lowe's "Get Motivated!" is based on an 8-year study of 10,000 people overcoming any obstacle, achieving any goal, and accelerating success. "Renegade: The Making of a President" offers exclusive interviews with Barack Obama by Richard Wolffe. Gary Pomerantz' "The Devil's Tickets" tells of the contract bridge craze of the 1920s when Ely Culbertson turned it from a social pastime into the battle of the sexes and a cultural movement, a symbol of the modern age. "Excel 2007 for Dummies" should help a lot of us figure that out. "The Passover Plot" by Hugh Schonfield is a controversial stance alleging that Jesus plotted his own arrest, crucifixion and resurrection. "Jesus, Interrupted" by Bart Ehraman reveals the hidden contradictions in the Bible and "the challenges we face when attempting to reconstruct the life and message of Jesus". "Before Oprah" is Michael Banks' report about Ruth Lyons, the woman who created talk TV, "the most influential housewife in America" in the 1950s and 1960s.

Dan Kurzman has written an extraordinary tale of intrigue and betrayal in World War II called "A Special Mission" Hitler's secret plot to seize the Vatican and kidnap Pope Pius XII. "America in Vietnam" by Herbert Schandler is touted as the first full exploration of the North Vietnamese leadership's perspectives at that time. "Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of Mona Lisa" is written by R. A. Scotti.

"The Healing of America" is T. R. Reid's global quest for better, cheaper, and fairer health care. "Healing is a Choice" is Stephen Arterburn's list of ten decisions to transform life, and ten lies that can prevent it happening. In "Service Included" Phoebe Damrosch tells her four-star secrets of an eavesdropping waiter, learned when she was the first female captain at one of New York City's most prestigious restaurants. One man's search for quiet in our noisy world is "One Square Inch of Silence" by Gordon Hampton who says natural silence is our nation's fastest disappearing resource. "Just Listen" discovers the secret to getting through to absolutely anyone; Mark Goulston says you can use the tips whenever a job, sale, or relationship hangs in the balance.

Here is some fiction requested by patrons. "Sidney Sheldon's Mistress of the Game" by Tilly Bagshawe pits survivors of a business tycoon against each other for control of a corporation. Suzanne Brockmann's "Hot Pursuit" follows Alyssa Locke, leader of Troubleshooters, guarding lives; she's hunted by "The Dentist" serial killer. Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol" takes us to Washington, D. C. and a race through codes, secrets, and unseen truths honoring the Masonic Order. "The Fixer Upper" by Mary Kay Andrews is lobbyist Dempsey Killebrew's challenge when her father wants her to help refurbish an old house in Georgia. "Rain Gods" by James Burke takes place in a tiny Texas town near the Mexican border to solve nine illegal aliens' murders. "Royal Flush" a Royal Spyness Mystery by Rhys Bowen involves Lady Georgiana, 34th in line to the throne, and penniless heiress, who tells her tale in "first-person" style. In Mary Jane Clark's "Dying for Mercy" a death shatters the serenity of the exclusive enclave of Tuxedo Park, New York, the first act in a plan to expose sins of the past. Sherryl Woods offers three new books, "Harbor Lights", "Flowers on Main", and "The Inn at Eagle Point", all Chesapeake Shores Novels. "Plain Pursuit" is a Daughters of the Promise Novel by Beth Wiseman focusing on one woman's journey into an Amish community. "The Calligrapher's Daughter" is a novel by Eugenia Kim about a privileged girl in Korea whose father tries to maintain traditional ways as the Japanese gain control of his beloved country.