Preview Shelf: Notable New Books by CDPL Volunteer Janice Clauser

One of Montgomery County’s fine businesses is featured in the new photography and story book called Food for Thought: an Indiana Harvest, by David Hoppe and Kristin Hess. The book is being cherished by local readers as it explores Indiana foods and agriculture as a renaissance movement. Lali Hess is featured with her first-person story: her catering business The Juniper Spoon represents the best in “permaculture” right here in Crawfordsville.

Remembrance, Faith, and Fancy by Glory-June Greiff introduces  Henry Cross, a stone carver in the 1850s who made the first outdoor public sculptures in the Hoosier State. The book also examines more than 1,500 pieces of present-day outdoor sculpture in Indiana. In Montgomery County, it mentions the 12-foot cast aluminum replica of the Statue of Liberty on SR 236, the Soldiers and Sailors Monument at the courthouse, the bronze plaque about Civil War soldiers from Wabash College along with the famous repainted Wabash bench on campus, the bronze statue of Lew Wallace at his study, and the funerary art in Oak Hill Cemetery.

Fishes of the Central United States by Joseph Tomelleri bridges the gap between technical studies and popular field guides in a volume indispensable for anglers and naturalists alike. Unforgettable Canada: 115 Destinations by George Fischer entertains as it educates about travel to places that appeal to naturalists, animal watchers, food lovers, art lovers, history buffs, music fans, and adventure seekers. Call of the Cow Country contains true tales by bronco buster Harry Webb. He calls the life “good, bad, and plain hell,” and his stories prove it.

            Mark Pagel’s Wired for Culture is a study of how our species’ capacity for culture altered our social and evolutionary history, beginning when tribes found it advantageous to work together and to distinguish themselves from other groups. Before the Lights Go Out is Maggie Koerth-Baker’s plea to conquer the energy crisis before it conquers us.  
      Requested novels begin with I, Michael Bennett by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge. Michael arrests an infamous Mexican crime lord in a deadly chase that leaves his own lifelong friend dead.  From jail, the prisoner vows to attack New York City and get revenge on Michael.  These two authors have also released Zoo, “the thriller Patterson was born to write.”  In Maria Snyder’s Touch of Power, a healer is hunted instead of being honored for her skills.  Heartbroken by Lisa Unger, another thriller, finds three women on a heart-wrenching collision course none of them could have seen coming.   On lighter notes are The Darling Dahlias and the Confederate Rose by Susan Albert in which garden club ladies like to solve mysteries, and Summer Breeze by Nancy Thayer, which shows how three women forge a unique bond one summer on a New England lake beach. Kay Hooper’s Haven is a Bishop/Special Crimes Unit novel. Sacre Bleu is a comedy d’art by Christopher Moore; inside the cover is a map of Paris with a clue that reads: “In 1890 Vincent van Gogh went into a cornfield and shot himself.  Or did he?” This is a “delectable confection of intrigue, passion, and art history.” Ransom River by Meg Gardiner has a deeply flawed heroine, a mesmerizing crime, and a long-unsolved mystery.