Preview Shelf by Janice Clauser

Library News and Notable New Books

New Reading That Entertains and Also Informs - Diverse and profitable nonfiction is the latest reading requested by patrons at the Crawfordsville District Public Library. First, Steve and Annette Economides' "Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half with America's Cheapest Family" asks, "What could the average family do with an extra $3,000 a year?" The book shows strategies, tips, tools, and tricks for this "extra income". Next, Louis Eguaras offers "101 Things I learned in Culinary School", which hits the nail on the head for intelligent cooking; instead of recipes it explains techniques for good work. "Mad as Hell: How the Tea Party Movement is Fundamentally Remaking our Two-Party System" by Scott Rasmussen and Douglas Schoen describes it as a classic populist uprising, and they explore it as a broad-based grassroots movement with legitimate issues. Damon Vickers' "The Day after the Dollar Crashes" is a survival guide for the rise of the new world order". He says, "Huge changes are coming" and he offers information to adapt to and flourish during and after this transformation. The final request this week is "Classic Car Electrics" by Martin Thaddeus, a manual of restoration and maintenance procedures.

"Forgotten Tales of Indiana" by Keven McQueen includes an extensive bibliography to authenticate the stories he tells of grave robbers, haunted houses, and buried treasure. A documentary by Janet Edwards is "Diana of the Dunes" about Alice Gray who traded her days in Chicago for a solitary life in the hills of northwest Indiana along Lake Michigan. She later explained her diary of 1915-1918 when she was featured speaker and exponent of protecting the dunes from development. "Messenger" by Jennifer Stepanek is a life story that illustrates the power of practicing peace that becomes a habit attained simply by giving it to others.

"In the Presence of History" is Steven and Jonas Raab's authoritative guide to historical autographs for collectors, history enthusiasts, and investors. "Genealogy Online" by Elizabeth Crowe reviews genealogy websites, covers the latest Web 2.0 tools, and explains details of the redesigned FamilySearch site.

"33 1/3" is a series of music album essays from the Continuum Publishing Group. One title is "AC/DC's Highway to Hell" by Joe Bonomo celebrating the album about teenage fandom that makes "disaster sound like the best fun in the world". "OK Computer" by Dai Griffiths describes Radiohead’s 1997 album, its chord changes and analyzes each of the album’s songs. "In Utero" by Gillian Gaar explores Nirvana’s last album, its meanings of the phrase, and how the lyrics express a cry for help. "Highway 61 Revisited" by Mark Polizzotti defines the career of Bob Dylan and the timeless qualities that make his songs so effective.

Bruce Machart's novel "The Wake of Forgiveness" connects a son to the mother he's never seen and shows how he finally handles that loss. Unusual and compelling fiction is David Levithan's "The Lover's Dictionary" handled as a series of word definitions defined in the first and second person, "I" and "you" with a plot and a final question. Gish Jen's "World and Town" is a big novel set in a small New England town, describing the main character as "the spirited offspring of a descendant of Confucius and an American missionary to China".

An attractive new craft guide is "Making Handmade Books" and Alisa Golden shows 100+ bindings, structures & forms for clever products. I suppose each of us should sometime make one handmade book.