Preview Shelf by Janice Clauser

Library News and Notable New Books

Deans Donate New Book about Lew Wallace - The Crawfordsville Library staff appreciates a gift by Phillip and Gordon Dean in memory of Dr. James Kirtley, in the form of the new book by Gail Stephens, called "Shadow of Shiloh" about Major General Lew Wallace in the Civil War. The author gave a talk at Wabash College last November 30th, discussing her work.

Monticello, Indiana author W. C. Madden's "Lafayette Murder and Mayhem" covers five crimes that led to a death sentence in Tippecanoe County, and in the introduction he says "The county has averaged four murders per year since 1988." It's good thorough local history.

Zac Bissonnette's "Debt-Free U" explains how he paid for an outstanding college education at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst without loans, scholarships, or mooching off his parents. It is interesting reading. James Thom's "The Art and Craft of Writing Historical Fiction" looks authentic and helpful; he says we need to realize we're all a part of history. Scott Simon's "Baby, We Were Meant for Each Other" is a book that praises adoption by relating a hundred anecdotes.

Next is "Can America Survive?" by Pastor John Hagee and the cover also lists his "10 prophetic signs that we are the terminal generation"; the author describes the year 2012, a look at Armageddon - and the ultimate coming of the Messiah. In Billy Graham's "Storm Warning" we're told that today's events must bring us back to the Gospel. Steven Furtick's "Sun Stand Still", is, he says, what happens when you dare to ask God for the impossible, "to rise above mundane living and embrace faith-filled audacity". "Even Silence Has an End" is Ingrid Betancourt's review of her campaign for the presidency of Colombia in 2002, retelling her captivity in the Colombian jungle for over six years, and how she developed a spirit to have daily rituals, prayers, and joy at helping others.

The new fiction list begins with Ruth Rendell's "Portobello" weaving together the troubled lives of several people in the gentrified neighborhood of London's Notting Hill after an area resident discovers an envelope bulging with cash and posts a notice to attract its owner. "The Mullah's Storm" by Thomas Young, shows Afghanistan as seen by two survivors of a plane crash battling for survival across forbidding terrain while being stalked by the Taliban. David Grossman's "To the End of the Land" is a tribute to family life and the cost of war, when a middle-aged Israeli mother hikes in the Galilee with a companion to avoid receiving bad news about her son at war; the two express their life stories illustrating the "surreality of daily life in Israel". "The Outward Room" by Millen Brand tells of a young woman's journey from madness to self-discovery (first published in 1937 and fresh learning for today). "Ambush Creek" by Phil Dunlap is a Western in which a U.S. marshal is asked by the sheriff to look into suspicious activity by three unsavory bounty hunters; the search leads him straight into a deadly game.

"The 2nd Lie" by Tara Quinn describes several families' challenges in Chandler, Ohio; "It's small-town America at its best". "Indigo Blue" by Catherine Anderson tells about an elusive-spirited woman in Wolf's Landing, Oregon who has to make a choice when influenced by betrayal and suspicion. "Everlasting Kiss" by Amanda Ashley visits L.A. where a woman is attracted to a vampire who is out to hunt the Blood Thief draining young vampires. "Wild Fire" by Christine Feehan offers the Panama rain forest where leopard people act like wild animals. Debbie Macomber's third volume of "Midnight Sons" includes three novellas about Hard Luck, Alaska, researched personally by panning for gold, interviewing bush pilots, and dining on moose meat.