Preview Shelf by Janice Clauser

Library News and Notable New Books

Meet a New Library Staff Member - Andrew Swank is the newest member of the circulation group at the Crawfordsville District Public Library. A 2006 graduate of Southmont High School, Andrew is studying Elementary Education at Purdue and says, "This part-time job enlarges my concepts about teaching and the importance of reading."

Here are requested books of fiction. In "The Aloha Quilt" Jennifer Chiaverini's latest Elm Creek Quilts novel, the quilt camp manager is invited to Maui to help launch a quilters' retreat at a bed and breakfast. Robin Pilcher's "The Long Way Home" features a step-daughter flying back to Scotland to care for her step-father during the summer, and perhaps to build a care center for him on his property. "Shanghai Girls" by Lisa See shows that city in 1937 when the sisters' father loses his wealth forcing them to flee across China and eventually to Los Angeles for a new life. "The Inn at Angel Island" is first in a brand-new series by Thomas Kinkade, developing the idea of harbor angels that guide the lost. "The Queen's Governess" by Karen Harper tells about Elizabeth I's closest ally and trusted confidante, a woman "whose story has never been told...until now". "Best Friends Forever" by Jennifer Weiner involves neighbors from the age of nine years, later opposites in high school, still later one a weathergirl suddenly urgently needed by her childhood buddy.

"Caught" by Harlan Coben deals with a missing girl, the stunned community, a predator who may have taken her, and a reporter who must see through what seems true about the situation. In "Nightwalker" by Heather Graham a Las Vegas visitor witnesses a sudden crime leading to her search for answers in an outlying ghost town. "A Promise for Spring" by Kim Sawyer is set in 1874 when a well-bred Englishwoman becomes a "wildflower bride" in Kansas; her groom is forced to offer her a deal if she will remain there until warm weather returns. "Think Twice" by Lisa Scottoline makes the reader question the nature of evil, and if it is born in us or is bred in some. (One twin is the victim of the other.) Karen Kingsbury's inspirational "Take Three" is part of the Above the Line series; it's about film producers with family crises that lead them forward.

A pair of romance novels from Tessa Dare includes "Surrender of a Siren" a passion for the high seas, and "A Lady of Persuasion" a passion to win another's lover.

Requested nonfiction begins with Gavin Menzies' "1421" his high-spirited composition about the year China discovered America, when "the largest fleet the world had ever seen sets sail from China to proceed all the way to the ends of the earth to collect tribute from the barbarians beyond the seas." On the other hand, Nick Schuyler's "Not Without Hope". His story `starts on February 28, 2009, when four sports-lovers take a deep-sea fishing trip in the Gulf of Mexico where their anchor gets stuck and a nightmare begins amidst brutal waves. Biography by the late Mafia boss John Gotti's daughter Victoria Gotti is "This Family of Mine" with "bombshell revelations and stunning insider secrets. "Open" is Andre Agassi's autobiography admitting his hostile feeling about tennis, his obsessed father/coach, his triumphs and setbacks, his knowledge of the sport, and his stirring farewell to his profession. "Heaven and Hell' is Don Felder's story of life in the Eagles band (1974-2001).

Three inspirational books are "Life After Death: The Evidence" by Dinesh D'Souza, director of the Y God Institute, "Love & War: Finding the Marriage You've Dreamed Of" by John Eldredge, Director of Ransomed Heart Ministries, and "The Magnificent Obsession: Embracing the God-Filled Life" by Anne Lotz, daughter of Billy Graham.