Preview Shelf by Janice Clauser

Library News and Notable New Books

New Book by Former Coach Now Available - A recent gift to the Crawfordsville Library is "The Battle of Waikiki" written by Thomas Speaker of West Lafayette who was coach for the Linden Bulldogs crowned Montgomery County Champs in 1971. His novel is dedicated "to every senior citizen that is starting a new career". It is a story of a young teenager growing into a responsible adult through his experiences while serving in the United States Army, reflecting Speaker's own military career. The novel tells of the young man's religious growth with appreciation of Father Damien and James Michener's "Hawaii" where Speaker also served. Another new novel is "The Nearest Exit" by Olen Steinhauer, which Stephen King writes is" the best spy novel I've ever read that wasn't written by John le Carre". "American Taliban" by Pearl Abraham depicts a typical upper-middle-class family snared by the forces of history, politics, and faith, with provocative and unsettling consequences.

"Enlightening the World" by Yasmin Khan tells about the creation of the Statue of Liberty, conceived in the aftermath of the American Civil War and the grief that swept France over the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and unveiled in 1886 on Bedloe's Island in New York harbor. "The Great American University" is Jonathan Cole's study of the American research university, arguably the world's most powerful engine of innovation and discovery, yet widely misunderstood and in danger of losing its capacity to improve our lives. Purdue University is included.

"Globish" by Robert McCrum tells how the English language became the world's language, and was "England's greatest contribution to the world. The empire may be gone, but the book explains why the language still rules." (Quote by Malcolm Gladwell) Gail Sheehy's "Passages in Caregiving" offers eight stages, with insight for successfully navigating each one with empathy and intelligence. "To Change the World" is James Hunter's writing about the irony, tragedy, an possibility of Christianity in the late Modern World through "faithful presence" instead of political theologies that often worsen the problems they are designed to solve. "Intellectuals and Society" by Thomas Sowell shows how as a class they affect opinion, how often they've been proved wrong, and how little their views have changed in response to empirical evidence of the dangers of those views.

2009 Man Booker International Prize winner Alice Munro has issued "Too Much Happiness", a group of 10 stories with complex and difficult events, showing "unpredictable ways people accommodate and often transcend what happens in their lives." "Breaking the Rules" by Barbara Bradford takes the reader to New York, Paris, and London, even Hong Kong and Istanbul in a gripping story of courage and revenge. "The Lacuna" by Barbara Kingsolver invites us to the Mexico City of artists Rivera and Kahlo, and to the America of Pearl Harbor, FDR, and J Edgar Hoover, to learn about a man pulled between two nations. "The Dewey Deception" by Ralph Raab includes scenes at the Morgan Library in New York.

"Drink the Tea" by Thomas Kaufman has won the PWA Best First Private Eye Novel competition for his story about seeking one missing person and discovering a ruthless multinational corporation, a two-faced congressman, and a young woman desperate to conceal her past. Another PWA winner Michael Wiley's new book is "The Bad Kitty Lounge" that begins when an unassuming bookkeeper hires a PI to dig up dirt on his wife and her lover. In Lisa Jackson's "Without Mercy", behind an elite boarding school's idyllic veneer is an evil force on a brutal and terrifying mission. Last, "Nashville Noir" a Murder She Wrote mystery by Donald Bain based on the TV series, takes Jessica Fletcher to Music City, USA only to discover that some songs end on a fatal note.

Preview Shelf by Janice Clauser

Library News and Notable New Books

"The Indiana Book of Quotes", a new book at the Crawfordsville Library, is "dedicated to the many Hoosiers and adopted Hoosiers whose comments and written statements through the years have been worth repeating." For instance the references to music are by George Ade, Ambrose Bierce, Paul Dresser, Kin Hubbard, and John Mellencamp. Cole Porter wrote about the theater critic, "George Jean Nathan wouldn't recognize The Star Spangled Banner unless he saw everyone else standing up."
A teenage rebellion against low expectations is "Do Hard Things" by Alex & Brett Harris showing five powerful ways teens can respond for personal and social change. A Single Parent Wisdom series book, "25 Ways to Encourage Good Behavior" with more discipline, less punishment is Julie Prescott's planned advice coming from her own experience. "Ill Fares the Land" by Tony Judt addresses our common needs and how we can do better since the financial collapse of 2008, by looking at our recent past and choosing fairness over mere efficiency. Stan Hinden's "How to Retire Happy" tells about the twelve most important decisions to make first.
Bernice Lifton's "Bug Busters" is a manual about poison-free pest controls for your house and garden. In "On Cats" Doris Lessing offers a small memoir that extols her pets especially the lovable El Magnifico, the last feline to share her home. "Fishes of the Open Ocean" is an education in itself by Julian Pepperell.
"George, Nicholas and Wilhelm" by Miranda Carter tells of the three royal first-cousin rulers George V of Britain, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, and the road to World War I.
"After the Prophet" by Lesley Hazleton is the epic story of the Shia-Sunni split in Islam. It shows the volatile intersection of religion and politics, history, and current events there, a revelation for Western readers. "Talking to Terrorists" tells why America must engage with its enemies, according to author Mark Perry.
"The Death of American Virtue" by Ken Gormley has interviews with President William Clinton, Ken Starr, Monica Lewinsky and her family, Linda Tripp, Paula Jones and her lawyers, Susan McDougal, and others about an epic drama in our nation's political history. "American Conspiracies" by Jesse Ventura is his take on murders of prominent individuals, the wrongful acts and ensuing cover-ups, what the government knows and what is revealed to the American people, and the place played by our media.
"The Stein Book" is an illustrated catalog with current prices and information for collectors of mugs, simple or embellished, by Gary Kirsner and Jim Gruhl and features the Stroh Brewery Company's stein collection. "Home Winemaking Step-by-Step" comes from Jon Iverson.
Other new ideas are editor A. Vasudevan's collection "Poems and Readings for Weddings and Civil Partnerships", "Dictionary of Mathematics Terms" by Douglas Downing, and "The Millionaire Maker" by Loral Langemeier showing how to act, think, and "make money the way the wealthy do", "A Hundred or More Hidden Things" by Mark Griffin is about the life and films of Vincinte Minnelli.

Adult Summer Reading Program

Readopoly: The 2010 Adult Summer Reading Program

As we approach our halfway mark (July 23rd) in Readopoly 2010, 74 patrons have signed up to play. Four of those patrons have finished the game, Cathy M. was our first to complete the board, and we have 13 people who have passed the halfway mark. We have had 5 weekly prize drawings with the winners selecting the Weird and Bizarre, Suspense, Mystery, Nora Roberts and Danielle Steel, and Music and Motorcycles Prize Packages.

Sign ups are still open; you don’t have to complete the board to win prizes so come in to the Circulation Desk and sign up!

CDPL staff would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank the businesses and organizations in our community that have graciously donated prizes for our summer reading club participants. Those businesses and organizations include:
Arthurs
Athens Nutrition and Smoothies
Caldwell Sew and Vac
Creekside Lodge
Bindings and Grinding
China Inn
Family Video
Joey’s
La Rose on Main
Little Mexico
McDonalds
Milligan’s
Papa Johns
Taylor Lanes
Heathcliff
The Iron Gate
The Sewing Guild
The Vanity Theater

Preview Shelf by Janice Clauser

Library News and Notable New Books

Trivia Can Be Significant - New at the Crawfordsville Library is "The Indiana Book of Trivia" by Fred Cavinder listing facts by subjects alphabetically. The chapter "Letters" tells "Ben-Hur", famed novel by Lew Wallace, sold only 2,800 copies in the first seven months after it was published, but six years later, in 1886, sales were 4,500 a month, and by 1911 sales had surpassed one million. In 1913 "Sears Roebuck ordered one million copies at thirty-nine cents each for catalog sales." In Football, "In 1967 Indiana State University at Terre Haute became the first college in the nation to install artificial turf on its outdoor football stadium." In War and Warriors, "George Fruits, buried in the Stonebraker Cemetery in Montgomery County, is believed to have been the oldest survivor of the Revolutionary War when he died in 1876 at…114 years, 7 months, and 4 days. He had moved to near Alamo, Indiana in the 1820s and was married to Catherine Stonebraker."

"Building Strong Nonprofits" tells about organizations that can profit from new strategies for growth and sustainability; the group of essays is edited by John Olberding and Lisa Williams.

"Matterhorn" is a novel of the Vietnam War by Karl Marlantes who served as a Marine there and was awarded many medals including two Purple Hearts. "A Reliable Wife" by Robert Goolrick tells of a man advertising for a good spouse and a responder claiming to be "a simple, honest woman". Turns out she was planning to kill him and become a wealthy widow. But then, he had a plan of his own (too). "The Patience Stone" (a Persian folklore phrase) by Atiq Rahimi shows a wife caring for a brain-dead husband, hoping he hears her confession under the oppressive weight of Islamic fundamentalism. "By Accident" by Susan Kelly portrays a year in the life of a woman after the accidental death of her teenage son, and how the year provides her with new relationships. Anne Lamott's "Imperfect Birds" finds a "perfect" daughter has lied to her parents, and illustrates how life's traps require us to make new connections. "Elliot Allagash" by Simon Rich is his debut novel about high school, focusing on a transfer student, evil heir to America's largest fortune, full of rampant delinquency and boredom, who decides to transform the school's shyest boy into a popular hero; the story is about all the incredible things money can buy, and the one or two things it can't.

The 1200-page "Christianity" by Diarmaid MacCulloch surveys the "first three thousand years" The book's jacket says "Once in a generation a historian will redefine his field, producing a book that demands to be read… It ranges back to the origins of the Hebrew Bible and covers the world, following the three main strands of the Christian faith." Paul Verhoeven's "Jesus of Nazareth" "breaks down the gospels…and reassembles them into a unique and fascinating reconstruction of the historical Jesus".

Finally, in the large picture book "A Shadow Falls" Nick Brandt says "Photography stokes and channels our fascination and wonder, our curiosity and response to whatever strikes us as exotic, our respect for fearsome power, and our awe in the face of such strange beauties." His own "beauties" are large black-and-white images of the majestic creatures of East Africa.

Preview Shelf by Janice Clauser

Library News and Notable New Books

The Library Appreciates Donations - The Crawfordsville Library staff appreciates book donations placed on the bench just inside the entrance. When they're given into the outside book collection slot, please attach a statement that the book is being donated; unlabeled books found in the drop box must be saved for two months in case they were inadvertently placed there.

Requested fiction begins with "State Fair" a Benni Harper mystery by Earlene Fowler in which a champion quilt is stolen at the San Celina Mid-State celebration. Robert Parker's "Blue-Eyed Devil" tells about a chief of police with so much ambition he begins shaking down local merchants for protection money, and then..." Jennifer Weiner's "Best Friends Forever" is billed as "hilarious, edge-of-your-seat adventure" showing two close-knit girls at nine, hit by betrayal as teenagers, and otherwise separated as adults until one desperately needs the other. Jane Smiley's "Private Life" traverses one woman's “intimate landscape from post-Civil War to the World War II" period. "Executive Intent" by Dale Brown imagines America's ultimate weapon leading to world crises.

Other new novels just arrived. Jeffery Deaver's "The Burning Wire" is a Lincoln Rhyme story, and this time he's on the trail of a killer whose weapon of choice cripples New York City with fear. "The Telling" by Beverly Lewis combines an Amish daughter searching for her mother in Ohio and the mother looking for the missing piece of her life, torn between her family and an old yearning. "Mornings in Jenin" captures the Palestinian experience when one of its families was driven from its ancestral village by the newly formed state of Israel in 1948; its author Susan Abulhawa helps build playgrounds for children in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. "Wrecked" by Carol Higgins Clark is a Regan Reilly mystery taking place in April on Cape Cod during a storm. "Broken" by Karin Slaughter tells of the deaths of a prisoner and a police chief with secrets inside the police department. "Death Echo" has a main character by Elizabeth Lowell whose work investigating yacht thefts is as scary as a previous job at the CIA, and the new work has just seven days until "a major American city will be lost." In "Family Ties" by Danielle Steel an adoptive mother successfully raising three children faces plots in Manhattan, Paris, and Tehran that complicate family bonds.

Non fiction offers variety too. "Keepers of the Trees" by Ann Linnea is a guide to re-greening North America. It includes true stories of a tree doctor, a big tree hunter, an L. A. tree planter, a Plant Amnesty pruner, and a 98-year-old logger. "Facebook for Dummies", "Horses for Dummies", and "Horseback Riding for Dummies" are the latest in that series. "Logicomix" is a biography of Bertrand Russell, cleverly designed as a comic book (graphic novel) created by Apostolos Doxiades. "An Uncommon History of Common Things" by Bethanne Patrick explains the meanings of many words and phrases like sandwich, salute, cologne, and hot dog. "Running Through the Ages" by Edward Sears begins with the necessity to move for survival and follows the history to today's sport meant for enjoyment.

Books about the arts this week begin with "Mr. Langshaw's Square Piano" by Madeline Goold. The author shares research about the first pianos, which revolutionized music and culture; taken up by high society and then popularized for people in Europe and North America, they were small and charming and their sound was new, depending on hammers instead of the previous quills in harpsichords. "The Necessity of Theater" by Paul Woodruff preaches that the art of theater is as necessary and as powerful as language itself. He separates theater into the twin arts of watching and being watched.