Preview Shelf by Janice Clauser

Library News and Notable New Books

The Crawfordsville Library has just received its copy of the R.R. Donnelley & Sons’ latest annual Lakeside Press Classic. “Narratives of the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906”, edited by Roger Lotchin, is colorfully presented. Its historical introduction begins: “One of the best-kept secrets in the history of American cities is that most were put in a place that would make their residents face dramatic environmental challenges.” It offers maps, unique photos, personal stories, and special pieces of art; the timely articles provide compact history preserved for the serious reader.

Why did Gandhi hate iodine? Why did the Japanese kill Godzilla with missiles made of cadmium? How did radium nearly ruin Marie Curie's reputation? The book "The Disappearing Spoon" by Sam Kean tells of events involving the periodic table of the elements, as how lithium helped cure poet Robert Lowell of his madness. A surgeon reveals weight-loss secrets in "Feed Your Brain, Lose Your Belly" by Larry McCleary. "Wicked Bugs" by Amy Stewart is a little book of important tales about louses, stinging caterpillars, and chigger mites in history. Wayne Dyer's title "Getting in the Gap:" continues “Making Conscious Contact with God through Meditation”. Michael Willrich's "Pox" is the history of how America's progressive-era war on smallpox sparked one of the great civil liberties battles of the 20th century. In "Medical Muses: Hysteria in Nineteenth-Century Paris", Asti Hustvedt recalls three women of the 1870s called Blanche, Augustine, and Genevieve in the hysteria ward of a Paris hospital, who became celebrities when crowds gathered to observe their symptoms. There's advice about having a better quality of life despite breathlessness in "Positive Options for Living with COPD" by Teri Allen.

Now on to fiction. "The Buddha in the Attic" by Julie Otsuka is about a group of young women brought from Japan to San Francisco as "picture brides" a century ago. "Ella Finds Love Again" by Jerry Eicher shows a lovely Amish girl confused by her three choices for a husband. "Hatteras Girl" by Alice Wisler shows a young lady wanting to own a bed-and-breakfast on the Outer Banks in North Carolina who finds its owner's past a challenge to her purchase. "Heat Wave" by Jill Landis tells about a woman's life unraveling, and her search for the strength to live and love again. Kathy Reichs' "Flash and Bones" sends us to race week in Charlotte, North Carolina, where a body is found next to the Motor Speedway, testing the FBI. The theme of "Kill Me if you Can" by James Patterson is an innocent art student finding a huge cache of diamonds, then finding himself hunted by a murderer who "lost?" that valuable stuff.

Five new mysteries begin with P. D. James’ “Death Comes to Pemberley” drawing the characters of Jane Austen’s novel “Pride and Prejudice” into a tale of murder and mayhem. James Patterson’s “Private: #1 Suspect” is his second “Private” novel; a company’s director is accused of a horrible murder, and not even his own world-class investigators can prove he didn’t do it. “The Jaguar” by Jefferson Parker is a Charlie Hood novel that redefines the landscape of the cartel wars as an epic clash of good and evil. Elizabeth George’s “Believing the Lie” is an Inspector Lynley novel of 600 pages taking place in Cumbria, the Lake District of England. The inside cover has a good map to follow and the investigation of a death leads to a study of the victim’s clan, awash in secrets and lies. Faye Kellerman’s “Gun Games” is her 20th Decker/Lazarus story, and deals with a secret cabal of some of Los Angeles’ most wealthy and vicious teens.