New Books for April :::

Fiction

Binchy, Maeve.  Whitethorn Woods .  When a new highway is planned that will bypass the town of Rossmore and cut through Whitethorn Woods, the town’s inhabitant’s are divided on whether or not the town will benefit or suffer from the construction, while Father Flynn worries about the fate of St. Anne’s Well an age-old shrine on the edge of the woods that is slated for destruction. (NC)

Bohjalian, Christopher A.  The double bind : a novel .  After surviving an attack while biking, Vermont college student Laurel Estabrook decides to volunteer at a homeless shelter where she meets Bobbie Cocker, a mentally ill man who claims to have been an established photographer and whose life she becomes infatuated with. (SC)

Chevalier, Tracy.  Burning bright.   The Kellaway family, newly arrived in London in 1792 where father Thomas has been offered work by circus entrepreneur Philip Astley, discovers they are neighbors to famous printer, poet, and political radical William Blake, who is inspired by the coming-of-age adventures of young Jem  Kellaway and his sister Maisie to writer one of his most famous works. (SC)

Hoffman, Alice.  Incantation .  Sixteen-year-old Estrella, raised in the Catholic faith during the time of the Spanish Inquisition, discovers her family's true Jewish identity.  When their secret is betrayed by Estrella's best friend, the consequences are tragic. (SC)

Kinsella, Sophie.  Shopaholic & baby.   Becky Brandon (nee Bloomwood) is back in a new hilarious Shopaholic novel.  Now pregnant and house hunting with her husband, her life is blooming!  But when her husband’s ex-girlfriend appears,  Becky’s perfect world starts to crumble.  (NC)

Lahiri, Jhumpa.  The namesake .  A young man born of Indian parents in America struggles with issues of identity from his teens to his thirties. (SC)

MacCullough, Carolyn.  Stealing Henry.   Seventeen-year-old Savannah runs away from her abusive step-father taking her eight-year-old half brother with her. (NC)

See, Lisa.  Snow Flower and the secret fan : a novel.   Lily at 80 reflects on her life, beginning with her daughter days in 19th-century rural China.  At the instigation of a matchmaker, Lily and Snow Flower, a girl from a larger town and supposedly from a well-connected, wealthy family, become laotong, bound together for life. When war comes, Lily is separated from her husband and children. She survives the winter helped by Snow Flower's husband, a lowly butcher, until she is reunited with her family. (SC)

Toole, John Kennedy.  A confederacy of dunces.   This comic masterpiece won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1981 eleven years after the author’s suicide.  The main character is Ignatius J Reilly, a huge fastidious Don Quixote of the French Quarter whose antics will have you laughing out loud.  This novel has been lately in the media for both its author’s tragic story and the novel’s growing literary reputation. (NC)

Toops, Laura Mazzuca.  Hudson Lake.   “Hudson Lake” by local LaGrange author Laura Toops is set in Chicago and a rural Indiana resort town during the summer of 1926.  It is a blend of fact and fiction, focusing on real-life jazz legend Bix Beiderbecke and how he influenced the lives of two very different women and reached a turning point in his own life and career. (NC)

Zusak, Markus.  The book thief.    Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel--a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors. (SC)

Nonfiction

Ang, Tom.  How to photograph absolutely everything .  A comprehensive guide to photography that covers camera settings, focus, exposure, zoom, framing, light, color, rightness, contrast, and other elements; provides suggestions for photographing people,  landscapes and nature, animals, architecture, and events; and includes discussions on artistic expression and other applications. (SC)

Bartlett, R.D.  Corn snakes & other rat snakes: everything about acquiring, housing, health and breeding .  This simple guide shows how the average person can have healthy snakes as household pets. (NC)

Beckett, Wendy.  Speaking to the heart : Favorite poems .  Sister Wendy Beckett presents one hundred of her favorite poems grouped under themes such as longing, sorrow, hope, courage and wonder. (SC)

Confessions of a High School Word Nerd.   Increase your vocabulary while reading hilarious tales of high school life. (NC)

Cummings, Betsy.  Real world careers: why college is not the only path to becoming rich.   There are high paying jobs and careers that do not require a college degree, in fields like small business, technology, and the restaurant business.  Learn how apprenticeships, trade schools, and vocational training can lead to successful careers.  Online resources for jobs and internships are also included.  (NC)

Dear Author; letters of hope.   Teen letters to YA authors whose books “spoke” to them and the authors’ responses. (NC)

Deen, Paula H.  Paula Deen : it ain't all about the cookin'.  Courageously honest, downright inspiring, and just a little bit saucy, Paula shares the highs and lows of her life with inimitable charm and the irreverent style familiar to her television audience. (SC)

DiClaudio, Dennis.  The hypochondriac's pocket guide to horrible diseases you probably already have. A pocket-guide to forty-five disgusting, horrible diseases that provides information on each disease's symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, and prevention. (SC)

D'Orso, Michael.  Eagle blue : a team, a tribe, and a high school basketball season in Arctic Alaska .  Follows the Fort Yukon Eagles high school basketball team from its 2004 preseason to the 2005 Alaskan state championship, exploring the lives of its players and coach and examining the six-hundred-person village's Gwich'in Athabascan heritage. (SC)

Egan, Timothy.  The worst hard time : the untold story of those who survived the great American dust bowl.   Recounts the experiences of six families as they struggle to survive the dust storms that terrorized America's High Plains during the Great Depression. (NC & SC)

Evans, Gavin. Kings of the ring : the history of heavyweight boxing.   Discusseses the origins and evolution of the sport of boxing, as well as memorable events and key personalities in the game's history. (SC)

Garza, Jesse and Joe Lupo.  Nothing to wear? A 5-step cure for the common closet .  Follow the five steps to a new you:  define your style, edit your wardrobe, fill in the gaps, pull it all together, and nurture the new you. (NC)

Genetic Diseases and Disorders Series .  Three new titles, Alopecia Areata, Tay-Sachs Disease and Huntington’s Disease address the symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and future of these disorders.  (NC)

Gillespie, Ric.  Finding Amelia : the true story of the Earhart disappearance.    Recounts the events surrounding the mysterious disappearance of aviator Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan during a flight over the Central Pacific. Includes notes, historical messages and maps, official reports, and other resources on DVD. (SC)

Graydon, Shari. Made You Look; how advertising works and why you should know.   Not just for kids, a witty look at how the industry manipulates our thinking and has actually turned you into the product! (NC)

Haines, Tim.  The Complete Guide to Prehistoric Life.   Through modeling and computer-enhancement, prehistoric creatures come to life in a visual delight.  The most current information on 100 species is given. (NC)

Iman with Tia Williams.  The beauty of color: the ultimate beauty guide for skin of color.    The first beauty and makeup book to address skin tones across the spectrum from Latina to Middle Eastern as well as multiple ethnicities. (NC)

Jones, Ann.  Kabul in winter: life without peace in Afghanistan.    Ann Jones is a woman reporter who went into the streets, prisons and schools after 9/11 to see if society and especially the lives of Muslim women had changed in Afghanistan.  (NC)

Koehler, Steven.  Postmortem; establishing the cause of death .  Dr. Koehler takes the reader step-by-step through the forensic pathologist’s role in the crime scene investigation.  Profiles of the responsibilities of the other team members complete the picture. (NC)

Kurson, Robert.  Shadow divers : the true adventure of two Americans who risked everything to solve one of the last mysteries of World War II .  Tells the story of the discovery in 1991 of a World War II German U-boat, sunk sixty miles off the coast of New Jersey, by deep sea divers John Chatterton and Richie Kohler, and their six year obsession with identifying the submarine which sank with its crew onboard. (SC)

Nunn, Brett.  Panic rising : true-life survivor tales from the great outdoors.   Presents the true stories of ordinary people whose innocent excursions into the outdoors--sledding, hiking, snowmobiling, and other activities--placed them in life-threatening situations. (SC)

Sedaris, David.  Naked.  Sedaris has fashioned a funy memoir of his wonderfuly offbeat life.  To call his family "dysfunctional" would be an enormous understatement.  His humor is wickedly irreverant but not mean spirited. (SC)

Sedaris, David.    Me Talk Pretty One Day.   Sedaris shares stories from his peculiar childhood in North Carolina, his bizarre career path, and his move to France.  The title is his rendition in transliterated English of how he and his fellow students of French in Paris mangle the language. (SC)

Siglag, Lisa S.   The best of American dream homes .  Thirty outstanding homes are featured in full clor photos chosen from the pages of the nation's premier home magazine. (SC)

Sterbenz, Gabrielle.  Jeanstyle: must-have looks using embellishments. Embellish your jeans with patches, fabric flowers, rhinestones, fur, ribbons, holes, and many more creative add-ons. (NC)

Rick Steves Travel Guides.  America's number one authority on travel to Europe, Rick's time-tested recommendations for safe and enjoyable travel in Europe have been used by millions of Americans in search of their own unique European travel experience.  2007 titles available include:
Rick Steves' Provence & the French Riviera 2007 . (SC) 
Rick Steves' Paris 2007 . (SC)
Rick Steves' best of Europe 2007. (NC & SC)
Rick Steves' Venice 2007.  (SC)
Rick Steves' Prague & the Czech Republic 2007 . (SC)
Rick Steves' Florence & Tuscany 2007.   (SC)
Rick Steves' London 2007.  (SC)

Wolf, Marie GHB and Analogs; High-Risk Club drugs - Spalding, Frank. Methamphetamine; the Dangers of Crystal Meth - Ramen, Fred.  Prescription Drugs. Each title gives a clear overview of the history, abuse, treatment and impact of modern drugs of abuse. (NC)

Wurdinger, Scott D.  Kayaking.   Full-color illustrated photographs describes the sport of kayaking, equipment used, and the dangers involved. (SC)

Biographies/Memoirs

Bickel, Lennard.  Shackleton's forgotten men : the untold tragedy .  A true story of the heroic group that was to bring supplies across the Great Ross Ice Shelf in preparation of the Endurance expedition. Launched by Shackleton, and led by Captain Aenaes Mackintosh, the team accomplished most of their mission, but all suffered, and some died. Bickel drew most information from interviews with surviving team member Dick Richards. (SC)

Hershey : Milton S. Hershey's extraordinary life of wealth, empire, and utopian dreams.   Milton S. Hershey set out to create "a self-perpetuating little utopia of capitalism and charity."  Hershey  pursued riches but believed deeply in social responsibility. His devotion to the latter created a legacy that exists to this day in Hershey, PA, the charming company town that was one of the few American communities virtually unaffected by the Great Depression. Fascinating details about candy production and Hershey's personal life sweeten the story. (SC)

Eggers, Dave.  What is the what : the autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng. Valentino Achak Deng, real-life hero of this work, was a refugee from the Sudanese civil war-the bloodbath before the current Darfur bloodbath-of the 1980s and 90s. Separated from his family when Arab militia destroy his village, Valentino joins thousands of other "Lost Boys," beset by starvation, thirst and man-eating lions on their march to squalid refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya, where Valentino pieces together a new life. (SC)

Erlbaum, Janice.  Girlbomb : a halfway homeless memoir .  Erlbaum, a columnist for Bust, left her Manhattan home at 15 after her mother reunited with Erlbaum's abusive stepfather. Landing first in a shelter and then a group home, Erlbaum—shattered by her mother's choice—embarks on a treacherous course of self-destruction. (SC)

Greenlaw, Linda.  The lobster chronicles : life on a very small island .  Greenlaw describes the challenges she faced moving home to a very small island off the Maine coast, after seventeen years as a swordboard captain, in an effort to reconnect with her parents, become a professional lobsterman, and hopefully find love. (SC)

Grogan, John.  Marley & me : life and love with the world's worst dog.   The author presents a tender story of his family's love for their golden retriever, Marley, and recalls how he grew from a mischievous puppy into a nearly impossible adult that no amount of obedience school training could correct, and of the love they felt for him. (SC)

Key, Joshua.  The Deserter’s Tale; the story of an ordinary soldier who walked away from the war in Iraq.   Key recounts his daily life with the occupation forces, revealing the horrors of war and the events that finally drove him to desert. (NC)

Shields, Charles J.  Mockingbird : a portrait of Harper  Lee.    Shields takes on the elusive writer in this first-ever biography of Harper Lee. Without direct input from his  subject, the author's extensive research combines sources in local-history collections, interviews and correspondence  with Lee's acquaintances, and Internet resources to piece together the details of the writer's life. Starting with Lee's childhood in Monroeville, AL, Shields depicts the people and events that inspired To Kill a Mockingbird's characters. (SC)

Slater, Kelly.  Pipe dreams : a surfer's journey.   Kelly Slater chronicles his  rise to the top of the surfing world, sharing his memories of his family, his obsession with the sport, and his thirst for competition. (SC)

Spinner, Jackie.  Tell them I didn't cry : a young journalist's story of joy, loss, and survival in Iraq.   Washington Post reporter Jackie Spinner recounts the experiences she had as a journalist in Iraq, describing the realities of life in the war-torn country, the powerful sense of purpose she gained while being there, and the violence and destruction she witnessed. (SC)

Woodruff, Lee.  In an instant : a family's journey of love and healing.    Lee and  Bob Woodruff share the story of their life together and tell of their experiences after Bob suffered a critical head injury in an attack while covering the war in Iraq for ABC News. (SC)