Preview Shelf by Janice Clauser

Library News and Notable Newer Books

Group Discussion of "The Forger's Spell" Welcomes You - The next "Deweys Do" book club meeting at the Crawfordsville Library is Monday, May 3rd at 6:30. The discussion book is Edward Dolnick's "The Forger's Spell" about a big art hoax, Nazis, and painter Dutch Baroque Era painter Jan Vermeer. All are welcome to attend.

New research is exciting reading for many patrons. "Whole Earth Discipline" by Stewart Brand (editor of the Whole Earth Catalog) is an "ecopragmatist manifesto" warning that three transformations are under way on earth right now, namely climate change, urbanization, and biotechnology, and that future policies will need to shape a more sustainable society. "How Capitalism Will Save Us" is Steve Forbes' essay about why free people and free markets are the best answer in today's economy. "Pink Brain, Blue Brain" by Lise Eliot shows how small differences at birth can grow into troublesome gaps, and tells what we can do about them. The powerful evidence of evolution in human DNA is explained in Daniel Fairbanks' "Relics of Eden". "The Age of Entanglement" with history of quantum physics and its development since 1935 is written by Louisa Gilder, bringing to life the personalities and passions of the physicists themselves.

An office power ballad "Rock On" by Dan Kennedy is the absurd and funny story of his generation's relationship with the music industry, where he had a job that propels his story. "Marriage and Other Acts of Charity" is Kate Braestrup's memoir of her life as a minister performing weddings, and what it truly means to share your life with someone. "The Cello Suites" is a well-researched study by Eric Siblin concerning J. S. Bach, and why he composed for the cello, considered a lowly instrument in his day. An "ambitious student's guide to financial aid" is "Don't Miss Out" by Anna & Robert Leider. "Lit" is a humorous memoir by Mary Karr about getting drunk and getting sober, becoming a mother by letting go of a mother, and learning to write by learning to live. "Thou Art That" offers Joseph Campbell's previously uncollected hopeful essays and lectures about the Judeo-Christian tradition. Dani Shapiro's memoir "Devotion" is her "literary excavation to the core of a life", in other words, finding what she really believed. "Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies" by Marilyn McEntyre was a series of lectures at Princeton in 2004 proposing a revolution of human expression towards precision, honesty and felicity to the spoken and written word.

"The Last Steam Railroad in America" combines photos by Winston Link and texts by Thomas Garver about the Norfolk and Western Railway before it was forced to convert from steam to diesel in the mid-1950s; it's a happy look at local scenery and the accomplishments of this transportation company.

"There Goes the Bride" by M.C. Beaton is an Agatha Raisin mystery that starts with our Agatha attending her ex-husband's wedding when his new bride is shot minutes before saying "I do." "A Matter of Class" by Mary Balogh, a "tale rife with dark secrets, deception, and the trials of love" finds a bride and groom strained because their "hook-up" is forced upon them to protect funds and reputations. "Greedy Bones" is Carolyn Haines' Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery about a series of vicious illnesses that can't be explained by feuding scientists in Mississippi. In Beverly Lewis' "The Missing", the Amish narrator is mystified by her mother's night walks in a cornfield. "Winter Garden" by Kristin Hannah presents a mother promising her ill husband she'll tell her daughters the end of an unfinished story. "House Rules" by Jodi Picoult tells of a teenage boy with Asperger's syndrome who because of his manner becomes accused of the kind of murder he has solved for the police many times.

Preview Shelf by Janice Clauser

Library News and Notable Newer Books

Special Alert! Adam Rice is finishing up his Crawfordsville Library display about the earliest high schools in Montgomery County for the Upstairs Gallery Show opening this weekend. He's received several helpful items from readers. He will appreciate more treasures or papers about these schools that you'll let him copy for the local history archives. Remember too that as part of this project you'll be invited to write your memories down for future researchers to enjoy. The schools to be highlighted are Alamo, Bowers, Breaks, Coal Creek Central, Darlington, Ladoga, Linden, Mace, New Market, New Richmond, New Ross, Smartsburg, Waveland, Waynetown, and Wingate. This is the time to document your knowledge for the benefit of future local history buffs.

"The Ideas of a Plain Country Woman (1908)" by The Country Contributor Juliet Strauss reprints her columns in the Indianapolis News and the Ladies' Home Journal designed for women readers. The Rockville, Indiana native's memorial statue on one of her favorite trails in Turkey Run State Park (near the Inn) was dedicated in 1922.

This week, nonfiction covers all sorts of topics. "Barrel Racing for Fun and Fast Times" lists Sharon Camarillo's winning tips for horse and rider.

"The Meaning of Prayer" is a reprint of sermons by Harry Emerson Fosdick about ten values of praying. "God Hides in Plain Sight" by Dean Nelson shows how to see the sacred in a chaotic world, helping us realize that the mundane might actually be holy.

The book by Carol Berkin called "Civil War Wives" (Angelina Grimke Weld, Varina Howell Davis, Julia Dent Grant) connects us to our national past and provides windows into a social and political landscape strangely familiar yet shockingly foreign. "On Hallowed Ground" is Robert Poole's story of Arlington National Cemetery emphasizing its history and value as our country's most sacred ground. Timothy Egan's "The Big Burn" tells about Teddy Roosevelt's heroic encounter with the largest-ever forest fire in America (1910's wind-caused Washington, Idaho, Montana inferno).

Fern Michaels' novel "Vanishing Act" begins when a women's sisterhood learns that one of its staunch supporters is the victim of an identity theft ring. Karen Robards' "Shattered" is about a missing person case in Lexington, Kentucky. "The Moon Looked Down" by Dorothy Garlock profiles a family who after escaping Nazi Germany to Victory, Illinois, becomes a target of suspicion. E. L. Doctorow's "Homer & Langley" is a "free imaginative rendering of the lives of New York City's fabled Collyer brothers", who became recluses and hoarders. "Navajo Night" by Carol Didier explores the possible relationship between a white woman and Navajo holy man on the Wild West frontier. In "Lone Star Woman" Sadie Callahan imagines competition between a neighbor and an heir who desire to take over the same abandoned ranchland. "The Pastor's Wife" by Jennifer AlLee deals with a wife who feels she's competing for attention with her husband's congregation. "The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag" is Alan Bradley's Flavia de Luce mystery in which an eleven-year-old untangles two deaths separated by time. "So Much for That" by Lionel Shriver combines three contemporary issues about American health care with a marriage crisis (the husband wants to leave America for a Tanzanian island). Thomas Kennedy's "In the Company of Angels" shows a teacher experiencing comfort from two angels that he'll survive torture in Pinochet's Chile; this novel is one of four constituting the author's Copenhagen Quartet.

Upstairs/ Downstairs April 2010

This is a listing of the books that have moved Upstairs from the Downstairs 7-day shelf and can now be checked out for 28 days.

As of April 9, you can find the following new books in the Adult Fiction section of the library.

Six Geese A-Slaying by Donna Andrews

Lima Nights by Marie Arana

Night's Master by Amanda Ashley

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

Lie Down With the Devil by Linda Barnes

Waveland by Frederick Barthelme

The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck

A Postcard From the Volcano by Lucy Beckett

Casting Spells by Barbara Bretton

Ms. Hempel Chronicles by Sarah Bynum

Vicious Circle by Mike Carey

A Virgin River Christmas by Robyn Carr

Broken Pieces by Carla Cassidy

Long Lost by Harlan Coben

The Wildwater Walking Club by Claire Cook

Scarpetta by Patricia Cornwell

Arctic Drift by Clive Cussler

Cut to the Quick by Diane Emley

Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich

Shadows of a Childhood by Elisabeth Gille

The Reason for Crows by Diane Glancy

Deadly Night by Heather Graham

Second Chance by Jane Green

The Associate by John Grisham

Hitman by Parnell Hall

Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison

The English Major by Jim Harrison

My Immortal Protector by Jen Holling

Highland Sinner by Hannah Howell

The 7th Victim by Alan Jacobson

Dark Seduction by Brenda Joyce

True Detectives by Jonathan Kellerman

Guardian by Angela Knight

Running Hot by Jayne Ann Krentz

No Choice but Seduction by Johanna Lindsey

Life Sentences by Laura Lippman

The Summer the Wind Whispered My Name by Don Locke

First Daughter by Eric Van Lustbader

The Manning Grooms by Debbie Macomber

Married in Seattle by Debbie Macomber

Mr. and Miss Anonymous by Fern Michaels

Joelle's Secret By Gilbert Morris

The Long Fall by Walter Mosley

The Right Mistake by Walter Mosley

Dear Husband by Joyce Carol Oates

Rhyming Life & Death by Amos Oz

8th Confession by James Patterson

Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult

Starburst by Robin Pilcher

Love Finds a Way by James E. Rady

Driving Sideways by Jess Riley

Pursuit by Karen Robards

Promises in Death by J. D. Robb

The Darkest Pleasure by Gena Showalter

Testimony by Anita Shreve

Contagious by Scott Sigler

Primal Needs by Susan Sizemore

Night After Night by Kathryn Smith

The Cradle by Patrick Somerville

Second Hand Out by Jeff Spanke

Forbidden Nights With a Vampire by Kerrelyn Sparks

Dying Breath by Wendy Corsi Staub

One Day at a Time by Danielle Steel

Dead Silence by Randy Wayne White

Mounting Fears by Stuart Woods

The Shack by William P. Young

Preview Shelf by Janice Clauser

Library News and Notable Newer Books

The Crawfordsville Library is developing unique and exciting plans for this year's summer programs. The theme is "Readopoly". Youth activities featuring weekly prizes, crafts, story times, and family game nights begin June 1st and conclude on July 13th. The climax will be a performance showing "The Bubble Truck". The adult reading program challenge will open June 14th and wind up on August 31st.

New cookbooks include appealing pictures. "Soup" by Diane Worthington promotes Williams Sonoma dishes. "Butter Sugar Flour Eggs" is the title of Gale Gand's collection of "whimsical irresistible desserts". "The New Mediterranean Diet Cookbook" by Nancy Jenkins advocates vegetables, fruits, nuts, cereals, olive oil, fish, and some wine. "The Ultimate Tea Diet" to burn fat and lose pounds fast and forever, comes from Mark "Dr. Tea" Ukra, and he says, "Tea reduces your appetite and stimulates your metabolism." "Eat Carbs, Lose Weight" by Denise Austin is a 4-week plan. The authorized biography "Alice Waters & Chez Panisse" by Thomas McNamee tells the story of her restaurant's fresh food revolution in Berkeley, CA that spread across the nation.

In the spring, plants attract our attention. "The New Terrarium" by Tovah Martin is about creating beautiful displays in all kinds of containers. "Making More Plants" promotes the science, art, and joy of propagation, as Kenneth Druse shows with colorful photographs.

"Amazing Awaits" is the official publication of the United States Olympic Committee about Team USA at the games of the XXIX Olympiad at Beijing in 2008 with color photographs of the venues and events, along with each participant's statistics. "Universal Studios Monsters: A Legacy of Horror" by Michael Mallory covers the filming of movies from the 1920s through the 1950s, including biographies of major personalities, interviews with surviving actors and studio employees, and many behind-the-scenes photos.

"The Poison King" by Adrienne Mayor is the life and legend of Rome's deadliest enemy Mithradates who knew how to foil assassination attempts and eliminate rivals as a military genius who seized Greece and what is now Turkey in 88 B.C. "The Strong Horse" by Lee Smith tells about power, politics, and the clash of Arab civilizations today.

Robert Ferrell's "Five Days in October" is the World War I story of the Lost Battalion of 500 men of the 77th Division entrapped for a week in October, 1918 by German forces at a ravine in the Argonne Forest; the facts are known as the most poignant incident of the American part in the war, and its biggest newspaper story. In "The 250th Field Artillery Men Remember World War II" Ruby Gwin reviews what she calls a "Tradition of Caring" written with a lump in her throat. Eric Blehm's "The Only Thing Worth Dying For" tells how 11 Green Berets forged a new Afghanistan through uncommon bravery and terrible sacrifice. Barbara Demick's "Nothing to Envy" tells about ordinary lives in North Korea as citizens realize their government has betrayed them. Last is Kati Marton's "Enemies of the People" a true life thriller exposing the cruel mechanics of the Communist Terror State in Budapest; (she wrote "The Great Escape").

The translated (from Spanish) "The Angel's Game" by Carlos Zafon is a novel about obsession in a house in Spain, as a young writer finds material about the mysterious death of a previous owner. Lydie Salvayre's "Portrait of the Writer as A Domesticated Animal" is also a translation (from French) about the biographer of an egotistic fast-food magnate.

Preview Shelf by Janice Clauser

Library News and Notable New Books

The Story on the Wall - As part of the local Sugar Creek Quilters' exhibit this month at the Crawfordsville Library's Mary Bishop Gallery, eight pieces present a joint-effort fairy tale in which each artist wrote one chapter and made her own illustrating wall quilt. What a complex challenge! "And Then What Happened????" is the title of the story, which is beguiling and original, and each quilt shows special techniques, but the eight separate pieces also combine to form a unified and joyful pleasure to study. The Quilters' large display exudes clever ideas, unusual materials, and multi-dimensional effects, and besides hanging pieces there are quilted purses and Christmas tree ornaments. The colors provide a "Spring Dance" heralding different holidays and seasons we can anticipate as the year unfolds. An amazing "visitor experience" is guaranteed.

New DVD movies at the Crawfordsville Library include "Up" (Disney), "Julie & Julia" and "Doubt" (Meryl Streep), "Slumdog Millionaire" (a Danny Boyle film), "Seven Pounds" (Will Smith), "Gran Torino" (Clint Eastwood), "District 9" (sci-fi), and "The Vampire's Assistant" (Cirque du Freak).

"The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy" by Peter Wilson explains how it devastated 17th century Europe. Wilson's aim is to help the comprehension of modern European history. "The Last Founding Father" is Harlow Unger's biography of James Monroe and our nation's call to greatness; as a fierce fighter in the Revolutionary War, Monroe suffered a near-fatal wound at Trenton, survived the cruelest winter at Valley Forge, and fought heroically at Monmouth, serving America as its first full-time politician before becoming our fifth President of the United States. "A Song for Nagasaki" by Paul Glynn tells about Takashi Nagai, scientist, convert, and survivor of the atomic bomb. Neil Sheehan's "A Fiery Peace in a Cold War" is about Bernard Schriever, the American Air Force officer who led the high-stakes effort in the nuclear arms race that changed history. He progressed from being a boy in Texas as a six-year old immigrant from Germany in 1917, through his apprenticeship in bi-planes of the 1930s, to battles with the Japanese during WW II. In 1954 he set out to create a class of weapons that could enforce peace with the Russians.

"The Real Messiah" by Stephan Huller, is a requested book about the author of the Bible Book of Mark, in which Marcus Agrippa is considered perhaps the true Messiah. "The Time of Christ's Return Revealed" is Charles Pierce's explanations of the Bible Books of Daniel and Revelation. Richard Purtill's "Reason to Believe" discusses why faith makes sense. Karen Armstrong's "The Case for God" shows the great "lengths to which humankind has gone in order to experience a sacred reality" called by many names, and she makes clear how the changing face of the world has necessarily changed the importance of religion for societies and individuals.

Natural history book of the week is "The Sibley Guide to Trees" by David Allen Sibley; it seems top be complete in scope but small enough to carry into the field.

"The Best Plays Theater Yearbook 2007-2008" edited by Jeffrey Jenkins highlights ten plays. Alice Sebold, Editor of "The Best American Short Stories of 2009" offers 20 pieces selected from publications in the U. S. and Canada. She says, "Stories provide an endless access into another world, brought forth by an infinite number of gifted minds." The book cover says these twenty "demonstrate the human ability to endure crises and to regenerate afterward."

Preview Shelf by Janice Clauser

Library News and Notable Books

As the Parking Lot Gains Shape - West of the Crawfordsville District Public Library, in the new parking lot area, a fuel storage tank was discovered under the sidewalk. This tank has been removed. The adjacent soil is being tested and if any soil there proves to be toxic, it too will be removed and replaced.

Meanwhile, on to books, "Megatrends 2010" contains seven ideas that will transform how we work, live, and invest, as Patricia Aburdene discusses the rise of conscious capitalism, social responsibility, and spiritual values. "The Battle for Peace" by Tony Zinni is his view of how America's future should proceed, learned from his experience as Commander-in-Chief of CENTCOM. Jack Goldsmith and Tim Wu write in "Who Controls the Internet" that it might be liberating us from government, borders, and our physical selves, but also reflect the interests of powerful nations and the conflicts within and between them. In "The Good Fight" Peter Beinart gives his theory why only liberals "can win the war on terror and make America great again". Lessons make up James McGregor's "One Billion Customers", commenting, "Business in China is conducted with a lot of subterfuge - nothing is as it seems and nothing about doing business in China is easy."

"Globaloney" is Michael Veseth's study unraveling the myths of globalization. In "The U.N. Exposed" Fox News anchor Eric Shawn makes the case that this body has drifted dangerously astray, sabotages America's security, and fails the world. Gilbert Tuhabonye, African genocide survivor now celebrity coach and athlete in Austin, Texas, expresses his forgiveness in "This Voice in My Heart". James Carroll's "House of War" is a sweeping look at the Pentagon and its vast impact on America. Eviatar Zerubavel discusses "open secrets" in which we ignore truths that are known to all of us, as silence and denial exist at every level of society. He says the longer we ignore "The Elephant in the Room", the larger it looms in our minds.

"Wins, Losses, and Lessons" is the autobiography of Lou Holtz, winner of three Coach of the Year honors, who chooses to write about the people who shaped his life and the decisions he made that shaped the lives of so many others. "The Last Algonquin" by Theodore Kazimiroff, son of one who knew the story personally, tells of the last powerful Indians who as recently as 1924 lived in Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx, New York City; Joe Two Trees was the last of his people. "Original Zinn" contains author David Barsamian's conversations with the historian Howard Zinn about civil disobedience, the role of artists, and remembering our past, portraying the acute perceptions of this Boston University scholar."American Green" by Ted Steinberg is our foremost environmental historian's comments and stories about obsessive quests for the perfect lawn.

"The Collected Works of F.A.Hayek" is a gift from the Liberty Fund. The five volumes include an autobiographical dialogue, photos, essays, documents, correspondence, and reviews, edited by Stephen Kresge and Leif Wenar.