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.