Preview Shelf by Janice Clauser

Library News and Notable Newer Books

How a Book Can Inspire a Program - On February 18th, the Crawfordsville Library's Youth Services area was alive with creativity as 39 elementary, high school, and adult "students" fashioned designer wallets, sandals, visors, basketball hoops, and cup and ball games using colorful duct tape. Karen Record created this program based on Ellie Schiedermayer's book "Got Tape?". Karen commented, "From this huge response I see we need to do this again."

New books about our state offer up-dated learning and/or entertainment. "Trees of Indiana" a field guide by Stan Tekiela, is compact, colorful and most useful when we're "on foot". "Journey's End: Relics and Ruins of Indiana's Transportation Legacy" by John Bower refers to our thousands of miles of roads, rails, bridges, lake frontage, rivers and signs. Each photograph shows an element of our own special outdoors. "Weird Indiana: a Travel Guide to Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets" by Mark Sceurman and Mark Marimen reviews our Old Jail Museum on pages125-7, and Shades (of Death) State Park on page 13. "A History of the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana" by Anthony Prosen includes St. Bernard's Church and the Newman Center at Wabash College on page 93. "Steel Shavings" or "Life in the Calumet Region During the 1930s" is filled with essays and pictures of Depression Decade family histories written by Indiana University Northwest students in 1988. "My Indiana: 101 Places to See" by Earl Conn includes the Lew Wallace Study, pages 128-9, and is a good test-read to see if we've visited all the enticing places available right here in our own state. The final local book is "Homer E. Capehart, A Senator's Life 1897-1979"; he was "an energetic campaigner for the values of his Hoosier constituents" and author William Pickett makes his era come alive.

"Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer" by Novella Carpenter is a funny memoir about one woman living on a farm in downtown Oakland, California. "Weapons of Mass Instruction" is John Gatto's "journey through the dark world of compulsory schooling". He taught for 30 years in some of the worst schools in Manhattan, and in some of the best, and …became an expert in boredom."

Books about food attract most of us. "Martha Stewart's Cupcakes" is visually irresistible. Jillian Michaels' "Master Your Metabolism" offers three diets to naturally balance hormones for a healthy body. "The Food of a Younger Land" researches old WPA files on eating and eateries before the national highway system, when food was seasonal, regional, and traditional; page 252 offers southern Indiana Persimmon Pudding. "Essential Herbal Wisdom" holds Nancy Arrowsmith's "exploration of 50 remarkable herbs", with 12 pages on basil, 15 on parsley, 11 on rosemary, etc. and interesting ideas for their use.

Man Booker Prize winner Alice Monro has just issued ten stories about unpredictable events that require accommodation in families; this collection is called “Too Much Happiness". Barbara Kingsolver's "The Lacuna" finds a man pulled between Mexico, home of his favorite artists Rivera and Kahlo, and America, location of his concerns, Pearl Harbor, FDR and J. Edgar Hoover. "The Dewey Deception" by Ralph Raab is his First Adventure from the Biblio Files, a puzzle-solving adventure about a code in the Dewey Decimal System and clues hidden within web sites. Barbara Bradford's "Breaking the Rules" is a gripping story of courage and revenge in the fashion capitals New York, Paris and London, even Hong Kong and Istanbul. Sue Grafton's "U is for Undertow" is a surprise-filled thriller moving between the 1980s and 1960s and changing points of view. "Breathless" by Dean Koontz pursues a mystery high up in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.

Preview Shelf by Janice Clauser

Library News and Notable Newer Books

Deweys Do Meet March 1st - Carol Bennett and Katie Myers announce the next Crawfordsville Library "Deweys Do" book club meeting March 1st at 6:30 p.m. in the Conference Room. Robert Parker's mystery "A Catskill Eagle" is the discussion topic. The introductory quotation from Herman Melville’s "Moby-Dick" warns, "And there is a Catskill eagle in some souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges, and soar out of them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces." New members are welcome to borrow a copy of "A Catskill Eagle" at the circulation desk.

Stephanie Barron's "The White Garden" a novel of Virginia Woolf features a landscape designer at Sissinghurst Castle with two goals: to recover from a personal loss, and to study the celebrated White Garden created by Woolf's friend Vita Sackville-West. The designer "makes a shocking find, namely Woolf's last diary, its first entry dated the day after she allegedly killed herself." Author Laura King writes, "This (novel) is a mystery in a garden: a garden in war; a garden beset by modernity; a ghostly white garden haunted by the dead."

"The Summer Kitchen" by Karen Weinreb makes a heroine of a mother forced away from wealth to work in a bakery patronized by her own friends. "The Bordeaux Betrayal" is Ellen Crosby's new "wine" mystery about Mount Vernon and a nearby Virginia vineyard. Allison Brennan's thriller "Cutting Edge" requires the FBI's domestic terrorism unit to stop a sadistic assassin. "The Careful Use of Compliments" is an Isabel Dalhousie novel by Alexander McCall Smith concerning an art auction quandary, namely two paintings attributed to a now-deceased artist at the same time, so are they forgeries?

Inspirational books are arriving often. "Creating Entrepreneurs" edited by Fred Kiesner offers ideas for insight into learning activities and methodologies to help new business owners pave their ways to success. Margaret Feinberg's "Scouting the Divine" describes her search for God in wine, wool, and wild honey, using Bible pages as portals to adventures. In "In Praise of Doubt" Peter Berger notices that religion is growing and thriving in the modern world of plurality, and that doubt can help groups resolve their differences. Barbara Ehrenreich's "Bright-Sided" thinks the relentless promotion of positive thinking has undermined America. She promotes realism. Two volumes of collected writings by Joseph Campbell are "Pathways to Bliss" about mythology and personal transformation and "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" peering through centuries and showing how we're all connected. "Nightwatch: An Inquiry into Solitude" by Robert Rhodes tells of his spiritual journey and sojourn with the Starland Colony of Hutterites in Gibbon, Minnesota. "Change We Can Believe In" offers seven speeches from the 2008 campaign of Barack Obama.

In "The Relentless Revolution" Joyce Appleby writes a fascinating and centuries-long history of capitalism, showing it as a culture, important for its ideas and values, for its inventions and systems, and the framework for our lives in the modern economic world.

The first of four handwork books is Jennifer Chiaverini's "Elm Creek Quilts" inspired by the novels of the same name with 12 new patterns to share. "Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!!: the Complete Guide to Quiltmaking" is the second edition of the complete guide by Diana McClun holding 34 patterns and an expanded glossary and new index. "A Log Cabin Notebook" by Mary Ellen Hopkins points out that "You could easily dedicate your entire quilting life to this block and never repeat yourself." Thirty new designs to make and wear are collected in "Cool Crochet" by Melissa Leapman.

Library News and Notable Newer Books

"Outdoor Indiana" Features Local Maple Syrup Camp - The Crawfordsville Library reading room displays 158 different magazines. The latest issue of "Outdoor Indiana" features the Sugar Shack of Don Bickel and Charlie Kochert, whose families have a 30-year history of making maple syrup west of Waynetown. The six-page spread by Brandon Butler and Frank Oliver highlights their method. You can almost smell the syrup boiling there!

"Gladiators 100 BC-AD 200" is specific illustrated history by Stephen Wisdom. "Masters of Chaos" is the secret history of Army Special Forces written by embedded war reporter Linda Robinson, who recounts missions in many countries including Iraq. "Beyond Band of Brothers" holds Major Richard Winters' war memoirs as commander, E Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, tragically and bravely liberating Europe in World War II. "The Bomber Boys" by Travis Ayres holds stories of heroes who flew the B-17s in that same war, surviving countless sorties against the enemy. "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight" is Thom Hartmann's essay about the fate of the world and what we can do before it's too late when the last of the earth's oil reserves will be exhausted. Raymond Learsy's "Over a Barrel" is about breaking the Middle East's oil cartel. "State of War" is James Risen's study of the secret history of the CIA and the Bush administration.

Henry Adams' "Tom and Jack", cited by Andrew Wyeth as "the most extraordinary biography I have ever read on an artist" tells about the intertwined lives of Thomas Hart Benton and Jackson Pollock. Tony Scherman's "Pop: The Genius of Andy Warhol" is praised as conveying the true Sixties and this artist's inner world.

Psychologist Robin Smith, who appears with Oprah Winfrey, offers "Lies at the Altar: the truth about great marriages". "Caring for your Parents" is an AARP guide by Hugh Delehanty. "Beating Diabetes" about lowering blood sugar, losing weight, and stopping complications in their tracks comes from David Nathan. "Weight Loss Surgery: Is It Right for You?" by Merle Cantor is designed to answer the most important pertinent questions. "Beyond Cholesterol" by Julius Torelli contains seven life-saving heart disease tests that may not have been offered to you. Emilia Bazan-Salazar's "Alzheimer's Activities That Stimulate The Mind" boosts cognitive skills, improved quality of life, and the maintenance of bonds with loved ones. "Is It a Choice?" by Eric Marcus contains answers to the most frequently asked questions about gay and lesbian people. "The Complete Thyroid Book" comes from Kenneth Ain. "When a Family Member has Dementia" by Susan McCurry offers steps to becoming a resilient caregiver.

A parent's guide to first signs and next steps is Nancy Wiseman's "Could It Be Autism?" In "The Only Boy in the World" Michael Blastland, father, explores the mysteries of his son's autism. "The N30-Day Natural Hormone Plan" by Erika Schwartz shows how to balance hormones with supplements, vitamins, diet and exercise to look and feel good. "The Silent Garden" is Paul Ogden's advice on raising a deaf child and "Literacy and Your Deaf Child" by David Stewart tells what parents should know. "Wrestling with Behavioral Genetics" presents essays by geneticists, humanists, social scientist, lawyers, and journalists, edited by Erik Parens et al.

Edward Hayes' "Mouthpiece" views his practice of law in the glitter and grime of NYC as the guide to Tom Wolfe in writing "The Bonfire of the Vanities". "The Invisible War" is Chip Ingram's advice to believers about Satan, demons, and spiritual warfare.

Preview Shelf by Janice Clauser

Library News and Notable Newer Books

Noted Speaker Profiled at the CDPL - The Crawfordsville Library always offers several exhibits. A joint Wabash College Archives/Crawfordsville Library wall display on the upper floor honors W. Norbert Brigance, (1896-1960), famous Professor of Speech at Wabash College, illustrating his outstanding work as editor, author, educator, and lecturer. One of his quotes as Editor of The Quarterly Journal of Speech in 1942 reads: "What contribution does speech make to national defense? It is the chief tool with which civilization was developed and it remains the chief tool by which men work and live together. It transcends the epochs of war and peace. Our mission is to see that it is used effectively and, if possible, widely." As recently as 2007 he was given the Distinguished Scholar Award by the National Communication Association.

Here are three newly requested books. Anita Shreve's "A Change in Altitude" is fiction about a young couple living for a year in Kenya, the husband a physician, the wife a photojournalist. "The Fire" by Katherine Neville takes place both in 2003 at a Rocky Mountain hideaway regarding a chess set with secret powers, and in 1822 in Albania where an Ottoman ruler's daughter is smuggling out a valuable relic; it weaves these two settings into a vivid tale. Diana Gabaldon's "An Echo in the Bone" is the seventh volume in her Outlander saga, showing an 18th century Scotsman and his 20th century time-traveling wife.

Other new fiction is "Faefever" by Karen Moning containing Celtic mythology, Linda Miller's "Bridegroom" a Stone Creek novel, "Hidden Currents" a Drake Sisters story by Christine Feehan, Sally MacKenzie's "Naked Baron" a tale of London, and Oprah's 2009 book club selection "Say You're One of Them" by Uwem Akpan.

History comes alive in eight new selections. "Federal Justice in Indiana" by George Geib and Donald Kite is the history of the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, joining legal history and social and political issues. "The Day of the Barbarians" is Alessandro Barbero's retelling of the battle that led to the fall of the Roman Empire. Christopher Beckwith's "Empires of the Silk Road" presents a history of central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the present. "Codebreaker" by Stephen Pincock traces codes and ciphers from the ancient pharaohs to quantum cryptography. "The Peasant Prince" by Alex Storozynski profiles Thaddeus Kosciuszko who came from Poland to America in 1746, helped our Revolutionary forces as engineer of the Continental Army, devised battle plans, oversaw a ring of African-American spies, and promoted human rights. "Uncommon Defense" by John Hall, tells of Indian allies in the Black Hawk War in 1832. In that situation the Indians leveraged their relationship with the powerful new U.S. government to strike tribal enemies, but they created conditions that permanently changed their world. Elie Wiesel's "After the Darkness" gives his reflections on the Holocaust with photographs from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. summing up his firsthand knowledge and understanding of Hitler's years in power. Two more modern studies are "The Bronfmans" about the rise and fall of the House of Seagram by Nicholas Faith, and "Golden Dreams" about California's age of abundance 1950-1963 by Kevin Starr. "Crude World" by Peter Maass examines oil's indelible impact on the countries that produce it and the people who possess it.