Catastrophe 1914 - Max Hastings

Catastrophe 1914: Europe Goes to War - Hastings, Max

Summary: A history of the outbreak of World War I from the breakdown of diplomacy to the dramatic battles that occurred before the war bogged down in the trenches.




Booklist Reviews
After writing almost exclusively about WWII, eminent historian Hastings (Inferno) turns his attention to the outbreak of WWI. Chronicling both the prelude to the war and its initial battles, he concentrates on events occurring between June 28, 1914, when Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo, and December 31, 1914, when soldiers on both sides of the conflict languished in trenches. Drawing on accounts generated from rarified diplomatic circles, seasoned military leaders, and ordinary citizens helplessly caught up in the international catastrophe, he examines the origins and the onset of the Great War in minute and vivid detail. Hastings, unlike many contemporary historians, refuses to indulge in any retrospective hand-wringing, concluding rather firmly that Germany and Austria must accept principal blame for the war and that it is an analytical and an ethical mistake to believe that it did not matter which side won. This compelling reexamination of the commencement of the conflict represents an important contribution to the scholarship of the "war to end all wars."

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Garlic and Sapphires - Reichl, Ruth

Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise - Reichl, Ruth

Summary: A new installment in the Gourmet editor-in-chief's series of memoirs recounts her visits to some of the world's most acclaimed restaurants, both as herself and as an anonymous diner in disguise, to offer insight into how her dining experiences changed according to her character and whether or not she was recognized.



Booklist Reviews
This third volume of Reichl's autobiography covers her years as the New York Times' powerful restaurant critic, and readers of her previous books will relish the tales of her life at the summit of her power. Having been lured east from a successful stint in Los Angeles, Reichl faces a hideously competitive market, where even her predecessor seems out to get her. She adopts a number of disguises to keep restaurant owners from recognizing her. Repeated visits to Le Cirque, Sirio Maccioni's lionized temple of dining, yield wildly differing experiences, so she pens a so-so review only to find out it's the publisher's favorite restaurant. Reichl's insistence on reviewing non-mainstream restaurants upsets those who think Manhattan ends at Central Park North. Reichl offers few other insights into the inner workings of the nation's most powerful newspaper. Some of the book's most affecting episodes involve her young son's love of potatoes in all forms. And a touching encounter with a homeless man in the subway after a particularly chic and elegant lunch outlines the ironies of her profession. Reichl reproduces a number of her most significant reviews, and she also offers recipes for favorite dishes.

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Americanah - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Americanah - Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi

Summary: A young woman from Nigeria leaves behind her home and her first love to start a new life in America, only to find her dreams are not all she expected.




Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* To the women in the hair-braiding salon, Ifemelu seems to have everything a Nigerian immigrant in America could desire, but the culture shock, hardships, and racism she's endured have left her feeling like she has "cement in her soul." Smart, irreverent, and outspoken, she reluctantly left Nigeria on a college scholarship. Her aunty Uju, the pampered mistress of a general in Lagos, is now struggling on her own in the U.S., trying to secure her medical license. Ifemelu's discouraging job search brings on desperation and depression until a babysitting gig leads to a cashmere-and-champagne romance with a wealthy white man. Astonished at the labyrinthine racial strictures she's confronted with, Ifemelu, defining herself as a "Non-American Black," launches an audacious, provocative, and instantly popular blog in which she explores what she calls Racial Disorder Syndrome. Meanwhile, her abandoned true love, Obinze, is suffering his own cold miseries as an unwanted African in London. MacArthur fellow Adichie (The Thing around Your Neck, 2009) is a word-by-word virtuoso with a sure grasp of social conundrums in Nigeria, East Coast America, and England; an omnivorous eye for resonant detail; a gift for authentic characters; pyrotechnic wit; and deep humanitarianism. Americanah is a courageous, world-class novel about independence, integrity, community, and love and what it takes to become a "full human being."

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Inventing LA: The Chandlers and Their Times (DVD)

Inventing LA: The Chandlers and Their Times (DVD)

Summary: The story of the Chandler family's influence over Los Angeles through their publication, the Los Angeles Times, and its entwinement with politics, civic ideals, and personal agendas.




Video Librarian Reviews
This PBS documentary, narrated by Liev Schreiber, chronicles the rise and fall of the Chandler family—who for four decades owned the Los Angeles Times and helped provide the vision that transformed L.A. from a sleepy agricultural town to a bustling metropolis—while also charting the shifting political culture and the decline of newspapers in the Internet age. Two-time Emmy Award–winning filmmaker Peter Jones traces the family lineage from the paper's founder, Harrison Gray Otis, a tireless, often self-serving California promoter and rabid anti-union businessman; to his son-in-law Harry Chandler, who became a trusted confidante, drawing the nickname "pirate visionary"; to the savvy third-generation head Norman Chandler, whose wife, Dorothy, built a concert hall and saved the Hollywood Bowl; and their son Otis, who led the Los Angeles Times into its glory days in the 1970s. Along the way, the paper exploited its political and Hollywood connections—at one point even encouraging MGM boss Louis B. Mayer to produce a fake documentary that helped crush socialist Upton Sinclair's bid to become state governor. Eventually, political divides, attempts to diversify holdings, and the gradual decline of the newspaper business led the Chandlers to sell to out-of-town interests. Drawing upon extensive archives, this is a vivid, informative social history, featuring insights from historians, former employees, and select family members. Recommended.

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Rebozo de aromas - Esther Rizo Campomanes

Rebozo de aromas - Rizo Campomanes, Esther

Summary: A family’s intimate portrait is woven into the social changes that took place between the first half of the 19th century and the Mexican Revolution.




Library Journal Reviews
Rizo Campomanes's debut effort is published at the eve of her 89th birthday. This is the fictionalized story of her family's life from the mid 19th century to the 1920s. The author attended various writing workshops led by established Mexican writers, such as Elena Poniatowska and Monica Lavin, when Lavin recognized the quality of Rizo Campomanes' narrative. Born in Cuba of an exiled Mexican family, Rizo Campomanes here gives voice to her ancestors. Interweaving her own family tree, historical research, and the stories passed on through generations, she relates the past using a rich descriptive language, including Nahuatl. The dramatic story is not told in a linear fashion, although it does begin with an abandoned blonde baby of noble ancestry discovered by childless peasants (the author's great grandfather) and conclude with her mother arriving in Cuba to escape the Mexican Revolution. Notable characters are the author's two grandmothers (after both of whom the author is named): Eloisa, who cures people with psychic powers, and Esther, who remains mute after having left Mexico for Cuba. Rizo Campomanes, an avid reader, thinks of herself as having self-taught skills because she did not finish high school; we can only be grateful that she had the courage and stamina to finish this long-envisioned project.

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The Castle Behind Thorns - Merrie Haskell

The Castle Behind Thorns - Haskell, Merrie

Summary: Awakening in the ruin of a castle with no memory of how he got there, Sand discovers that he is trapped inside by a thorny bramble before encountering the castle's lost heir, Perrotte, and embarking on an effort to gain their freedom.




Booklist Reviews
Sand, a 13-year-old boy who dreams of becoming a blacksmith, finds himself trapped in a magical castle with no means of escape. Destroyed in an earthquake 20 years earlier and surrounded by an impenetrable forest of deadly thorns, the Sundered Castle has always been the stuff of legend. As Sand repairs the damage around him piece by piece, the castle slowly returns to life, and when long-dead royal daughter Perrotte appears in the courtyard, Sand can no longer deny that there is powerful magic behind the castle's stories. Haskell has created a rich fantasy set in medieval Brittany that reads almost like a parable. Sand and Perrotte, each harboring deep secrets that explain their imprisonment, forge a tentative alliance that blossoms into true friendship as they work toward escape. Themes of self-reliance, forgiveness, and personal integrity figure prominently but are developed naturally through the intricate plot and personal growth of the characters. The straightforward narration belies the introspective core of this appealing story.

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Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography

Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography - Harris, Neil Patrick

Summary: The Emmy Award-winning star of How I Met Your Mother shares his experiences as a child star, Broadway performer and father in an over-the-top, humorous account creatively designed in the style of the popular interactive adventure series.



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What If? - Randall Munroe

What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions - Munroe, Randall

Summary: The creator of the popular webcomic "xkcd" presents his heavily researched answers to his fans' oddest questions, including "What if I took a swim in a spent-nuclear-fuel pool?" and "Could you build a jetpack using downward-firing machine guns?"


Library Journal Reviews
Have you ever wondered at what point in history there were too many English-language books to read in one lifetime? Or what would happen to the Earth if the Sun didn't exist? Munroe has your answers. A former NASA roboticist, the author launched the weblog xkcd.com, which purposely has no phonetic pronunciation, in 2005. The blog's blend of math and science, sarcasm, and stick-figure drawings has gained a loyal following. (His etching of someone who reads a book on juggling, tries to juggle, fails, and immediately trashes the book is especially poignant.) In 2012, Munroe started answering reader-submitted hypotheticals using Internet research along with his own knowledge. That series, "What If," is the focus of this witty nonfiction debut, which features a plethora of new black-and-white cartoons. VERDICT Those who enjoyed the irreverent style of Allie Brosh's best-selling memoir, Hyperbole and a Half, will enjoy Munroe's serious and silly musings on everything from science to romance.

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The Key That Swallowed Joey Pigza - Jack Gantos

The Key That Swallowed Joey Pigza - Gantos, Jack

Summary: A conclusion to the series that includes Joey Pigza Loses Control finds Joey dropping out of school to help care for his baby brother and searching for clues to his father's disappearance.




Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* The fifth and (ostensibly) final book in the multi-award-winning Joey Pigza chronicle features all of the drama, havoc, and heart readers have come to expect, dread, and love. Joey is back in his roachy row house with his mother and new baby brother, Carter Jr., as the family works to find some normalcy following the tragicomic chaos perpetrated by his now-absent father. But it's not long before Fran, struggling with postpartum depression, checks herself into a hospital, leaving Joey to take care of the baby alone. Gantos piles on the problems, defining them in searing, heartrending detail; for all the peril of Joey's circumstances, it is his parents' brutal honesty that leaves welts. Still, Joey's indomitable spirit, grounded in his fierce, tender devotion to baby Carter and expressed through Gantos' inimitable comic tone, shows the fragile adults around him just what it looks like to be the man of the house. The book, with the series, closes on a fitting note of tenuous, plausible hope. High-Demand Backstory: The conclusion of Gantos' beloved and much-lauded series is big news, and Joey's fans of all ages will want to grab their copies as soon as possible.

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Ten Years in the Tub - Nick Hornby

Ten Years in the Tub: A Decade Soaking in Great Books - Hornby, Nick

Summary: Culling the best of his monthly column "Stuff I've Been Reading" in The Believer magazine, the bestselling author presents hilarious observations on a vast array of topics, and provides a wide-ranging reader list that serves as a reminder as to why we read.


Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* How often do you begin reading a book that makes you—immediately, urgently, desperately—want to read more books? Collecting 10 years of Hornby's wonderful Stuff I've Been Reading column in The Believer, this is the next best thing to having a real-live Hornby to urge you on. Each column starts with a list of Books Bought and Books Read, instructive in themselves, and then proceeds to a digressive discussion that is as much about the enterprise of reading as it is about the books he discusses; I haven't even read the books I think I've read. I can't tell you how depressing this is. Frequently funny and endlessly quotable, Hornby's columns discuss reading out of his comfort zone, binge reading, reading fasts (usually when soccer season starts), reading his writer-friends' books, and the rarely aired idea that, sometimes, when a book doesn't seem good, maybe—just maybe—it's the reader's fault. Through it all, he struggles, cheekily, against The Believer's dictum that all reviews be positive. (Disliked books, sadly, must not be named.) Bursting with enthusiasm and clear-eyed about the author's own contradictions, Ten Years in the Tub deserves to be devoured whole by anyone willing to spare 10 minutes to think about the books they read.

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Paganini's Ghost - Paul Adam

Paganini's Ghost - Adam, Paul

Summary: After an unsavory art dealer is found dead in his hotel room, violinmaker Giovanni Castiglione must search for an instrument once owned by famed violinist Niccoláo Paganini--and solve a mystery that has gone unanswered for over a century.



Booklist Reviews
A day after a heavily promoted violin recital in Cremona, Italy, at which prize-winning Russian prodigy Yevgeny Ivanov plays the priceless violin once owned by Paganini, a visiting French art dealer is found murdered in his hotel room. When a scrap of paper torn from a Paganini piece played by Ivanov seems key to opening an ornate gold box found in the victim's possession, violin maker Gianni Castiglione (introduced in The Rainaldi Quartet, 2006) is called into the case by his friend, police detective Antonio Guastafeste. Castiglione cracks the code to find that the now-empty box once housed a small violin, setting him—with Guastafeste—on a cross-continental search, during which other murders are committed, and Castiglione must call on his knowledge of history, genealogy, and provenance to find long-missing treasures and solve the crimes. In this stylish mystery, widower Castiglione is further humanized by his developing romance with Margherita Severini and his relationship with young Ivanov. An intriguing puzzle combines with an enthralling mix of Italian ambience, history, and—most of all—music.

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Lionheart - Sharon Kay Penman

Lionheart - Penman, Sharon Kay

Summary: A tale inspired by the life and reign of Richard I traces how a second surviving son of Henry Plantagenet and Eleanor of Aquitaine inherits the throne from his brother before embarking on the Third Crusade and a war against the Saracens, a conflict that is complicated by the schemes of his usurping brother, John.



Library Journal Reviews
The Saracens called him Malik Ric. The English called him Lionheart. In Penman's latest historical, Richard I, determined to conquer the Holy Land and capture Jerusalem, journeys first to Sicily and Cyprus to free his imprisoned sister, Joanna; battle against self-proclaimed emperor Isaac Comnenus; and marry his bride, Berengaria of Navarre. Despite the departure of the French from Outremer (the Crusader states established after the First Crusade), Richard seizes strategic cities in the Holy Land as he maintains diplomatic relations with the Saracens. His legendary feats in battle and genius as a military commander bring him closer to capturing the Holy City. When word reaches him that England is in turmoil, Richard must decide whether to make a peace treaty with the Saracens or continue to fight for Jerusalem. His surprising choice will leave readers begging for more of Lionheart; Penman will continue his story in 2012 with A King's Ransom. VERDICT As in her previous historical novels (Time and Chance) and mysteries, Penman expertly weaves well-researched historical events into her fast-paced revisionist story. Certain to appeal to historical fiction fans interested in the medieval era.

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The Fault in Our Stars - John Green

The Fault in Our Stars - Green, John

Summary: Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few more years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis, but when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at the Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.



Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* At 16, Hazel Grace Lancaster, a three-year stage IV–cancer survivor, is clinically depressed. To help her deal with this, her doctor sends her to a weekly support group where she meets Augustus Waters, a fellow cancer survivor, and the two fall in love. Both kids are preternaturally intelligent, and Hazel is fascinated with a novel about cancer called An Imperial Affliction. Most particularly, she longs to know what happened to its characters after an ambiguous ending. To find out, the enterprising Augustus makes it possible for them to travel to Amsterdam, where Imperial's author, an expatriate American, lives. What happens when they meet him must be left to readers to discover. Suffice it to say, it is significant. Writing about kids with cancer is an invitation to sentimentality and pathos—or worse, in unskilled hands, bathos. Happily, Green is able to transcend such pitfalls in his best and most ambitious novel to date. Beautifully conceived and executed, this story artfully examines the largest possible considerations—life, love, and death—with sensitivity, intelligence, honesty, and integrity. In the process, Green shows his readers what it is like to live with cancer, sometimes no more than a breath or a heartbeat away from death. But it is life that Green spiritedly celebrates here, even while acknowledging its pain. In its every aspect, this novel is a triumph.

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The Witch's Boy - Kelly Barnhill

The Witch's Boy - Barnhill, Kelly

Summary: When a Bandit King comes to steal the magic that Ned's family is meant to take care of, Ned struggles to summon the strength to protect his family and community, while the bandit's daughter puzzles over a mystery that ties her to Ned.




Publishers Weekly Reviews
In a story of an unexpected hero, a thief's daughter, and some very tricky magic, Barnhill weaves a powerful narrative about the small tragedies that happen when parents fail their children, even with the best intentions. After Ned's twin brother, Tam, drowns, his mother, the village's Sister Witch, binds Tam's soul to Ned, who grows up as an awkward, stuttering boy ostracized by the rest of his village. Áine's widower father loves her, but he loves his life as a Bandit King more. The magic that touches both Ned and Áine draws their lives inexorably together as they are caught up in the machinations of King Ott's selfish empire-building. Barnhill (The Mostly True Story of Jack) makes bold character choices: Ned is soft, but never weak, while Áine is tough, prickly, yet sympathetic. Peripheral adults are well fleshed out, from Ned's father, devastated by the loss of one child and afraid to show his love for the other, to a sensible queen who knows the value of a good witch. Barnhill elegantly joins the story's diverse threads in a complex tale whose poignancy never turns sentimental. Ages 9–up.

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Unmarked - Kami Garcia

Unmarked - Garcia, Kami

Summary: Kennedy Waters and her companions find themselves in a world where vengeance spirits kill, ghosts keep secrets, and a demon walks the Earth. As they learn more about their ancient secret society, its longtime rivals the Illuminati, and Kennedy's mysterious family, they wonder whether Kennedy is really meant to be a member of the Legion.



Booklist Reviews
Accidentally releasing the powerful demon Andras (in Unbreakable, 2013) leaves Kennedy Waters guilt-ridden, especially as destructive weather, widespread violence, and eerie kidnappings dominate the nightly news—surely it's a sign of Andras' evil at work. Even after her friends, especially hunky Jared, rescue her from boarding school, she still can't quite shake the feeling that she deserves all the blame. But her inner struggles quickly take a backseat to their quest to uncover the secret last member of the Legion, who happens to be Kennedy's long-lost relative. In this installment of Garcia's popular series, the teens dig up encoded clues all over the Eastern Seaboard to trace the ancient history of the Legion, and in the process, they learn life-altering truths about Kennedy's past and the source of her gifts. Garcia's cinematic scenes—full of timely reveals, terrifying moments of demonic possession, and crackerjack detective work— zip on by with a pace that rivals Dan Brown. That, coupled with snarky, mood-lightening teenage interludes, makes this a crowd-pleasing page-turner. Readers new to the series should start with the first installment.

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Ansel Adams: 400 Photographs - Ansel Adams

Ansel Adams: 400 Photographs - Adams, Ansel

Summary: A visual celebration of the eminent photographer's most significant works collects four hundred chronologically arranged, essay-complemented pieces, from his first landscapes of Yosemite and the High Sierra in 1916, to his depictions of national parks in the 1940s, to his last achievements from the 1960s.

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Lifetime - Lola Schaefer

Lifetime: The Amazing Numbers in Animal Lives - Schaefer, Lola

A counting primer combines contrasting illustrations with animal facts that invite young children to count a woodpecker's thirty roosting holes, a giraffe's two hundred spots, and one thousand baby seahorses.

Booklist Reviews
Schaefer combines her interest in animals and her fascination with numbers, using sparse text to introduce both animals and a numerical fact about a specific characteristic of each animal. An introduction provides the caveat that approximations differ depending on many factors in the life of the animal. The text is matter-of-fact, and the colors of the mixed-media illustrations subdued, but they complement each other in tone. It takes a bit to realize that Neal's illustration for each animal matches the number Schaefer uses in the text. For instance, the illustration for sea horses has 1,000 "teeny-weeny, squiggly-wiggly baby sea horses." (Feel up to counting all of them?) Thankfully, as part of the back matter, Schaefer adds detailed information about each animal and its life span, how she calculated the estimations she uses throughout the book, two animal math problems to solve, and more. Fills a clever niche for both animal science and mathematics.

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War Brides - Helen Bryan

War Brides - Bryan, Helen

Summary: Five women form a bond of friendship in the English village of Crowmarch Priors as they find their lives altered by loss and love during World War II.

Journal Gazette and Times-Courier Review
It will enthrall you until you get to the end, which you might want to relish a second time, and then you’ll wish for a bit more.

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Behind the Beautiful Forevers - Katherine Boo

Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity - Boo, Katherine

Summary: Profiles everyday life in the settlement of Annawadi as experienced by a Muslim teen, an ambitious rural mother, and a young scrap metal thief, illuminating how their efforts to build better lives are challenged by religious, caste, and economic tensions.



Kirkus Reviews
In her debut, Pulitzer Prize–winning New Yorker staff writer Boo creates an intimate, unforgettable portrait of India's urban poor. Mumbai's sparkling new airport and surrounding luxury hotels welcome visitors to the globalized, privatized, competitive India. Across the highway, on top of tons of garbage and next to a vast pool of sewage, lies the slum of Annawadi, one of many such places that house the millions of poor of Mumbai. For more than three years, Boo lived among and learned from the residents, observing their struggles and quarrels, listening to their dreams and despair, recording it all. She came away with a detailed portrait of individuals daring to aspire but too often denied a chance--their lives viewed as an embarrassment to the modernized wealthy. The author poignantly details these many lives: Abdul, a quiet buyer of recyclable trash who wished for nothing more than what he had; Zehrunisa, Abdul's mother, a Muslim matriarch among hostile Hindu neighbors; Asha, the ambitious slum leader who used her connections and body in a vain attempt to escape from Annawadi; Manju, her beautiful, intelligent daughter whose hopes laid in the new India of opportunity; Sunil, the master scavenger, a little boy who would not grow; Meena, who drank rat poison rather than become a teenage bride in a remote village; Kalu, the charming garbage thief who was murdered and left by the side of the road. Boo brilliantly brings to life the residents of Annawadi, allowing the reader to know them and admire the fierce intelligence that allows them to survive in a world not made for them. The best book yet written on India in the throes of a brutal transition

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Un Lun Dun - China Mieville

Un Lun Dun - Mieville, China

Summary: Stumbling into an alternate funhouse version of her home city, twelve-year-old Londoner Deeba finds herself trapped in a world of killer giraffes, animated umbrellas, and ghost children, and must take on the role of savior to prevent utter destruction.



Kirkus Reviews
Acclaimed fantasist Miéville's first foray into youth literature starts predictably but progresses to match his reputation. The overlong first section, in which two girls (chosen Zanna and sidekick Deeba) travel to UnLondon, a dream-logic London (houses made of obsolete technology; walking bushes; feral giraffes) where sentient smog threatens the populace, will entice imaginations. Unfortunately, it is also too reminiscent of Neil Gaiman's work (particularly MirrorMask). Zanna fails and has her memory wiped, but Deeba can't forget their adventures, especially when she discovers the threat is worse than anyone thought. She returns to UnLondon, flouting destiny and distressing all, especially the talking book of prophecy, which becomes highly and comically insecure. Deeba must journey through this truly fantastic world, with no guidance except her own wits. Intrigue with London officials, a half-ghost ally and fighting "unbrellas" all play a role, as does a definite but not heavy-handed message about pollution and the environment. Ultimately, this is a compelling tale of heroism from someone foretold as merely "the funny one," and a well-evoked dreamscape that readers will embrace.

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Percy Jackson's Greek Gods - Rick Riordan

Percy Jackson's Greek Gods - Riordan, Rick

Summary: Percy Jackson, a modern-day demigod, tells the origin stories of the gods of Olympus and provides an insider's point of view while offering a personal take on his ancient associates.



Kirkus Reviews
Percy Jackson takes a break from adventuring to serve up the Greek gods like flapjacks at a church breakfast.Percy is on form as he debriefs readers concerning Chaos, Gaea, Ouranos and Pontus, Dionysus, Ariadne and Persephone, all in his dude's patter: "He'd forgotten how beautiful Gaea could be when she wasn't all yelling up in his face." Here they are, all 12 Olympians, plus many various offspring and associates: the gold standard of dysfunctional families, whom Percy plays like a lute, sometimes lyrically, sometimes with a more sardonic air. Percy's gift, which is no great secret, is to breathe new life into the gods. Closest attention is paid to the Olympians, but Riordan has a sure touch when it comes to fitting much into a small space—as does Rocco's artwork, which smokes and writhes on the page as if hit by lightning—so readers will also meet Makaria, "goddess of blessed peaceful deaths," and the Theban Teiresias, who accidentally sees Athena bathing. She blinds him but also gives him the ability to understand the language of birds. The atmosphere crackles and then dissolves, again and again: "He could even send the Furies after living people if they committed a truly horrific crime—like killing a family member, desecrating a temple, or singing Journey songs on karaoke night."The inevitable go-to for Percy's legions of fans who want the stories behind his stories.

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The Mirror Empire - Kameron Hurley

The Mirror Empire - Hurley, Kameron

Summary: Forced into a mirror universe as soldiers overran her village, Lilia, the orphan of a blood witch, begins making unsettling discoveries about her past and the nature of the dark star Oma, which has not been seen for two thousand years.


 

Publishers Weekly Reviews
Across the realms of the Dhai and beyond, people's lives are ruled by the changing stars; those whose star is ascendant gain grand powers and prosper, while those whose stars are in decline are consigned to more humble roles. When the star Oma returns to the sky after two millennia, it brings calamity, death, and the fall of civilizations. As baleful Oma rises, raiders search for forgotten knowledge, assassins strike down rulers, and entire cultures are coldly targeted for genocide in the name of realpolitik. Young Lilia, orphan of a slain blood witch, makes the disquieting discovery that the attackers and victims are reflections of each other, seen through a glass darkly. Hurley (Rapture) reuses old tropes to excellent effect, interweaving them with original elements to create a world that will fascinate and delight her established fans and appeal to newcomers. Readers will blaze through this opening installment and eagerly await the promised sequel.

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Amadeus - Peter Shaffer

Amadeus - Shaffer, Peter

Summary: Presents the life of Antonio Salieri, a mediocre 18th century Viennese composer obsessed with and jealous of the musical genius of the age, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Saturday Review
"....Shaffer orchestrates this gripping and fascinating conflict with consummate skill and delicious wit."

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The End - Ian Kershaw

The End: The Defiance and Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1944-1945 - Kershaw, Ian

Summary: Examines why the Third Reich was able to resist surrender for months after they had clearly lost World War II, drawing on testimony from civilians and former military insiders to discuss the Nazis' psychological power over German citizens.



Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* By September 1918, Germany's military position on the Western Front had severely deteriorated, and political turmoil, military demoralization, and the abdication of the kaiser soon followed. Kershaw, an acclaimed expert on Hitler and the Third Reich, asks why this collapse did not happen to Hitler's Germany during 1944–45, when the military situation clearly was hopeless? Instead, German soldiers and civilians struggled and endured to the bitter end. That question lies at the center of this superb examination of the final defeat of Hitler's tyranny. Military affairs play a part, but Kershaw's narrative concentrates on the mechanics of Nazi administration, civil and military, and efforts to keep the state functioning. The chief functionaries in this task, referred to by Kershaw as the "quadrumvirate," were Himmler, Goebbels, Bormann, and Speer. Kershaw describes in fascinating detail their maneuvers as they jockeyed for power and influence with Hitler. Some of Kershaw's conclusions will be hotly debated. Nevertheless, this is an excellent portrait of the regime's death throes.

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Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill (CD)

Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill (CD)

Summary: Experience on disc the performance that won Audra McDonald her unprecedented sixth Tony Award. 'One of the greatest performances I ever hope to see' is how New York Magazine described McDonald's portrayal of Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill, Lanie Robertson's award-winning play with music dramatizing one of the final concerts in the beloved singer's extraordinary, tragic life. Recorded live at Broadway's Circle in the Square Theatre, the two-disc set features McDonald's 'spellbinding, tour-de-force' (NY Daily News) renditions of signature Holiday songs such as 'God Bless the Child,' 'What a Little Moonlight Can Do,' 'Strange Fruit' and 'Taint Nobody's Biz-ness.' The Associated Press proclaimed Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill 'one of the supreme honors of the Broadway season,' while The New York Times delighted in 'the pleasure of hearing Ms. McDonald breathe aching life into some of Holiday's greatest songs... with sensitive musicianship and rich seams of feeling that command rapt admiration.' Now, 'the best 90 minutes you'll ever witness' (NY1) have been preserved on disc by PS Classics, giving audiences the chance to savor 'not just one but two of the most extraordinarily gifted dramatic vocalists America has produced' (Los Angeles Times). -Amazon

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Letters of Note

Letters of Note: An Eclectic Collection of Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience

Summary: This collection of 125 letters offers a never-before-seen glimpse of the events and people of history--the brightest and the best, the most notorious, and the endearingly everyday. Letters are not ordered chronologically or thematically, but are artfully arranged for a discovery-rich reading experience. Each entry includes a transcript of the letter; a short contextual introduction; and, in 100 cases, a facsimile of the letter itself

Library Journal Reviews
Based on the blog of the same name, this collection of letters is so handsome that it looks like a coffee-table book, but it's more than that. In it, Queen Elizabeth II sends a note to President Dwight Eisenhower reflecting on Mamie and Ike's visit to Balmoral Castle: she appends her recipe for scones. The chairman of the Whitehall Vigilance Committee receives a package with a note from Jack the Ripper accompanied by half a human kidney, pickled in wine: "I fried and ate it was very nise." Gandhi appeals to Hitler as the only one who can avert the impending war. Bank robber Clyde Barrow tells Henry Ford he only drives Fords. Francis Crick alerts his son about DNA. A wife writes to her samurai husband on the eve of battle (he died in the fighting, she committed suicide) and an ex-slave addresses his former master. This treasure trove of fascinating material includes more than 125 letters from both the famous and the unknown dating as far back as 1340 BCE, many reproduced in facsimile. VERDICT A beautiful collection that should appeal to everyone. Start reading it and you're lost.

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Restless Empire - Odd Arne Westad

Restless Empire: China and the World Since 1750 - Westad, Odd Arne

Summary: A prize-winning historian and expert on Chinese foreign relations examines China's role in the world throughout recent centuries to demonstrate how its past is shaping the nation's future, explaining how Western influences have reinforced traditional Chinese mores while establishing potential international partnerships.



Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* With the largest national population and soon the largest national economy. China appears to most internal and external observers to stand on the precipice of world dominance. But as Bancroft Award winner Westad makes abundantly clear, China's eventual hegemony in the global marketplace may rely more on overcoming internal obstacles and on cooperating with its close neighbors the many challenges presented by an American-led West. Building a superb story of China's historically schizophrenic relationship with the outside world, Westad reaches back to the long twilight of the Qing dynasty, canvassing the nation's conflicts with Western imperialists, expansionist neighbors, and internal minorities and revealing a country in which the past threatens to overwhelm the present. However, it is the Chinese foreign-policy developments of the twentieth century, including the republic under Chiang Kai-shek, triumph of Mao's Communists, and economic transformation under Deng Xiaoping, that form the bulk of this compelling, expansive account. Westad has provided readers with both a remarkable and timely glimpse behind the curtain that is required reading for anyone interested in Chinese political history and economic development and the future of China's position in the international community.

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G'night Wolfgang - Ric Louchard (CD)

G'night Wolfgang: Classical Piano Solos for Bedtime - Louchard, Ric (CD)

Contents: Adagio (from Sonata in F Major, K. 332) / Mozart -- Adagio sostenuto (from Sonata Quasi Fantasia op. 27 no. 2 "Moonlight") / Beethoven --Sarabande (from French Suite #5 in G major, BWV 816) / J.S. Bach -- Sarabande (from French Suite #3 in B minor, BWV 814) / J.S. Bach -- Prelude 1 (from the Well tempered clavier, vol. 1) / J.S. Bach -- Trois gymnopedies / Satie --Adante (from Sonata in C major, K. 545) / Mozart -- Scenes of childhood (opus 15) / Schumann.


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On Saudi Arabia - Karen Elliott House

On Saudi Arabia - House, Karen Elliott

Summary: A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist from The Wall Street Journal draws on three decades of firsthand experience to profile the Saudi Arabia of today, offering insight into its leaders, citizens, cultural complexities and international prospects.




Booklist Reviews
Saudi Arabia, ruled by the royal Al Saud family, provides one of every four barrels of oil exported around the world. It is a little-understood nation of inordinate importance to the rest of the globe. As the Arab Spring has transformed other oil-producing nations in the Middle East, forcing developed nations to consider democratic ideals versus oil economies, Saudi Arabia has so far managed to stay outside that debate despite its repressive regime. House, Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter and former Wall Street Journal correspondent, spent five years traveling the kingdom to study a society she calls Islam Inc., owned and operated by the Al Saud royal family for generations. By exploiting deep religious, tribal, and regional differences for hundreds of years, the Sauds rely on an Islam that demands obedience of men, who demand obedience of women, and allows for no questioning of authority, despite widespread poverty, unemployment, and roiling discontent. House explores the history and fragility of the royal family and the interplay of religion, economics, and culture as well as the forces of modernity, including the Internet, that promise transformation.

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Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage - Haruki Murakami

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage - Murakami, Haruki

Summary: Thirty-six-year-old Tsukuru Tazaki meets a woman named Sara who raises questions about a painful incident from his youth in which his closest friends all cut off relations with him without explanation, and inspires him to find out why.




Publishers Weekly Reviews
Murakami's latest novel, which sold more than a million copies during its first week on sale in Japan, is a return to the mood and subject matter of the acclaimed writer's earlier work. Living a simple, quotidian life as a train station engineer, Tsukuru is compelled to reexamine his past after a girlfriend suggests he reconnect with a group of friends from high school. A tight-knit fivesome for years, the group suddenly alienated Tsukuru under mysterious circumstances when he was in college. For months after the break, not knowing what had gone wrong, he became obsessed with death and slowly lost his sense of self: "I've always seen myself as an empty person, lacking color and identity. Maybe that was my role in the group. To be empty." Feeling his life will only progress if he can tie up those emotional loose ends, Tsukuru journeys through Japan and into Europe to meet with the members of the group and unravel what really happened 16 years before. The result is a vintage Murakami struggle of coming to terms with buried emotions and missed opportunities, in which intentions and pent up desires can seemingly transcend time and space to bring both solace and desolation.

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He Died with His Eyes Open - Derek Raymond

He Died with His Eyes Open - Raymond, Derek

Summary: Murders are a dime a dozen in Margaret Thatcher's London, and when it comes to the brutal killing of a middle-aged alcoholic found dumped outside of town, Scotland Yard has more important cases to deal with. Instead it's a job for the Department of Unexplained Deaths and its head Detective Sergeant. With only a box of cassette-tape diaries as evidence the rogue detective has no choice but to listen to the haunting voice of the victim for clues to his gruesome end. The first book in Derek Raymond's acclaimed Factory Series is an unflinching yet deeply compassionate portrait of a city plagued by poverty and perversion, and a policeman who may be the only one who cares about the 'people who don't matter and who never did.

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Wedgies (Lenore series) - Roman Dirge

Wedgies - Dirge, Roman

Summary: A full-color collection of comics featuring Lenore, a cute little dead girl with a knack for unintentional mayhem and occasional wanton destruction, features limbless cannibals, clock monsters, cursed vampire dolls, taxidermied friends, an obsessed would-be lover and more.



Booklist Reviews
With her pale face, huge eyes, skull barrettes, lack of a pulse, and propensity for senseless violence, Lenore could be the next full-fledged, merchandise-ready goth-girl icon. This compendium collects four comics, though there's no through line anywhere. Rather, each issue is a hodgepodge of stories, poems, twisted fables, and tattoo designs. The jokes are pretty sick and swerve between genius (the taxidermied chipmunk who bemoans his missing back half until Lenore jams a pair of Barbie legs onto it) and the uncomfortably cruel ("Kittie #53" involves the relatively straightforward drowning of a cat). What keeps it afloat—for the right reader, of course—is Lenore's obliviousness to wrongdoing. When she engages in "13 hours of gnome slaughter," it's only because she was overcaffeinated. It's all a lot funnier and cuter than it sounds, which is a credit to Dirge's ability to inject personality into his morbid mix of pale colors and black humor. Interestingly, Dirge's occasional autobiographical intrusions ("Things Involving Me") steal the show.

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A Private Venus - Giorgio Scerbanenco

A Private Venus - Scerbanenco, Giorgio

Summary: Recently released from prison for having practiced euthanasia, Duca Lamberti, now unable to work in medicine, takes a job helping Davide, a young and depressed alcoholic, whose past involves prostitution, pornography, and murder.




Library Journal Reviews
Originally published in 1966 and now finally translated into English, Scerbanenco's first book in his award-winning Milano Quartet, A Private Venus, is an arresting noir novel that examines the themes of alcoholism, deviant sex, remorse, retribution, and murder. Duca Lamberti, the antihero protagonist, is a disbarred doctor just out of prison after serving three years for the assisted suicide of a terminally ill woman. He has a penchant for making bad choices, opposing authority, and being obstinate—a potent mix of personality traits for a successful noir lead character. He is hired by a rich industrialist to babysit his wayward son, an apparent chronic alcoholic. Behind the son's behavior there is a secret—the murder of a young woman.Traitors to All is even more impressive. It's not surprising that it won the most prestigious European crime fiction prize, the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière. The novel is astonishing—bleak to the bone with great dialog, black humor, unforgettable characters, and a complex plot that is not in the least heavy-handed. Duca is asked to investigate a drowning, which the police have dismissed as an accident. The ultimate denouement is thoroughly satisfying. The sense of time and place (1960s Milan) is palpable and impeccable. Scerbanenco's prose is brilliant and disquieting. It's a shock to realize how powerful European noir writing was 40 to 50 years ago. VERDICT: Brave and beautiful, these novels are highly recommended for fans of literary noir; Scerbanenco's appellation as godfather of Italian Noir is not hyperbole.

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Prelude to a Scream - Jim Nisbet

Prelude to a Scream - Nisbet, Jim

Summary: Near death, Stanley Ahearn awakes three days after meeting a tearful woman in a San Francisco bar to discover he is missing a kidney and vows to exact revenge.




Library Journal Reviews
Among the sudden rash of nephro-bandits in San Francisco, one-time local hero turned do-nothing-drunk Stanley Ahearn awakens to find himself with a faint memory of a green-eyed seductress, a splitting hangover, and one kidney missing. When doctors inform him that his remaining organ is all but shot with a rare disease, an unlikely investigator is born in Ahearn. Souped up on painkillers while he is assisted by two pubescent computer hacks, he searches the Bay Area streets for the body scrappers before his own time is up. Nisbet's latest work is macabre masquerading as chic, quick to the punch with a philosophical underbelly that questions the human propensity toward greed and revenge. Not for the faint of heart.

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Turn Right at Machu Picchu - Mark Adams

Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time - Adams, Mark

Summary: Traces the author's recreation of Hiram Bingham III's discovery of the ancient citadel, Machu Picchu, in the Andes Mountains of Peru, describing his struggles with rudimentary survival tools and his experiences at the sides of local guides.




Booklist Reviews
This year is the centenary of Hiram Bingham's finding of Machu Picchu, which the Indiana Jones prototype touted as the final Andean redoubt of the Inca. After an editorial career spent sending travel writers to remote corners of the earth, Adams decided to assign himself the adventure of retracing Bingham's steps. Wryly recounting his learning curve of roughing it and getting along with his guide, crusty Australian John Leivers, Adams brings an amusing mixture of credulity and skepticism to his multistrand accounting of Machu Picchu––its contemporary look as a crowded tourist attraction; Bingham's theories about the terraced, mountaintop citadel; and subsequent ideas about the ruins fervently advanced by amateur and credentialed archaeologists alike. Weighing Bingham's accounts to figure out exactly what he had achieved (if not exactly "discovering" Machu Picchu, Bingham sensationally publicized it), Adams fronts the history with entertaining descriptions of his badinage with Leivers about Bingham-associated sites. Retaining its mysterious aura, Machu Picchu will no doubt prove as alluring to modern readers as it did to Bingham. A well-embroidered portrayal.

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Planet of the Apes (DVD)

Planet of the Apes (DVD)

Summary: Astronaut Taylor crash lands on a distant planet ruled by apes who use a primitive race of humans for experimentation and sport. Soon Taylor finds himself among the hunted, his life in the hands of a benevolent chimpanzee scientist.



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I Work at a Public Library - Gina Sheridan

I Work at a Public Library: A Collection of Crazy Stories from the Stacks - Sheridan, Gina

Summary: Collects strange-but-true anecdotes, heartwarming stories, and humorous interactions with patrons from a public librarian.



St. Louis Post-Dispatch Reviews
"Librarians will surely nod their heads and either sigh or laugh. As they say at the library: Check it out."

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