New Books for March :::


Fiction 

Atkinson, Kate.  One good turn : a novel . While waiting outside a theater with dozens of other fans, ex-private detective and recent millionaire Jackson Brodie witnesses a shocking act of road rage that thrusts him into a world of corruption, violence, and danger that threatens his riches and his life. (SC)

Child, Lincoln.  Deep Storm . Physician Peter Crane is summoned to a remote oil rig to diagnose a strange medical ailment.  He soon discovers that the condition is linked to the underwater excavation being done at the science research station Deep Storm. (NC)

Connolly, John.  The book of lost things .  Twelve-year-old David's grief over his mother's death at the start of World War II intensifies with his father's remarriage and the impending birth of a sibling, so when his books begin talking to him, tempting him to enter a portal into a magical world, he decides to take the risk. (SC)

Fairstein, Linda.  Bad Blood. Manhattan prosecutor Alexandra Cooper is in the middle of a murder trial, when a mysterious explosion below street level is traced back to her case.  (NC)

Foden, Giles.  Last King of Scotland .  Historical novel revealing the life and times of Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin. (NC)

Gruen, Sara.  Water for elephants : a novel .  Ninety-year-old Jacob Jankowski finds himself haunted by memories of his past in the circus and the freaks, exotic animals, and other people he encountered as a performer. (SC & NC)

Hart, John.  The King of Lies . When his father is found murdered, the investigation into the crime uncovers dark family secrets in the life of North Carolina lawyer Work Pickens and his sister. (NC)

Hautman, Pete. Invisible . Doug and Andy are unlikely best friends--one a loner obsessed by his model trains, the other a popular student involved in football and theater--who grew up together and share a bond that nothing can sever. (NC)

Hillerman, Tony. The Shape Shifter . Retired Police Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn returns to finally solve an old case of the disappearance of a priceless Navajo rug. (NC)

Hopkinson, Christina. Cyber Cinderella . Stagnating in an unfulfilling job and boring relationship, Izobel Brannigan performs a Google search for her own name and discovers a Web site that depicts her as an exciting, glamorous woman, a finding that prompts her to discern the identity of the person who holds her in such high regard.  (NC)

Isaacs, Susan.  Past Perfect . Thirteen years ago, Katie Schottland was fired from her dream job at the CIA.  Now a cable television writer, Katie is contacted by an old colleague who asks for her help and reveals the mystery of Katie’s dismissal. (NC) 

Jacobs, Kate. The Friday Night Knitting Club . Gathering for their weekly knitting club at a small yarn shop on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, a group of friends share their challenges raising children, pursuing careers and looking for love. (NC)

Johansen, Iris.  Stalemate. Forensic sculptor Eve Duncan is forced to do a reconstruction assignment by a ruthless and sinister man who is willing to ensure her cooperation by any means necessary. (NC)

King, Stephen.  Cell : a novel.   Maine artist Clayton Riddell, elated after closing the deal for his first comic book, comes down to Earth quickly when a brain-zapping energy burst--The Pulse--strikes, reducing cell phone users to zombie-like creatures, and leaving Clayton desperate to find a way home from Boston to see if his wife and son have survived. (SC)

Krentz, Jayne Ann.  White Lies . Fearing that her psychic abilities have damaged her chances of having a healthy relationship, Clare Lancaster travels to California to assist her father’s business and meets financial consultant Jake Salter, with whom she shares an unlikely chemistry. (NC)

Lansens, Lori.  The girls : a novel . A fictional autobiography of conjoined twins told by Rose and Ruby Darlen, two young women who, nearing the age of thirty, are about to become history's oldest surviving twins to be joined at the head. (SC)

Mailer, Norman.  Castle in the Forest . A mysterious SS man offers an insightful glimpse of the life, career and evil of Adolf Hitler, through a unique perspective of Hitler’s  childhood and adolescence and his evolution into the man who became the personification of evil. (NC)

Patterson, James.  Step on a Crack .  Armed men disguised as monks seize a New York City Cathedral and take dozens of hostages.  NYPD officer Michael Bennett must negotiate with the terrorists in the standoff.  (NC)

Ruiz Zafon, Carlos.  The Shadow of the wind .  Daniel Sempere, the son of a widowed bookstore owner, is 10 when he discovers a novel, The Shadow of the Wind, by Julián Carax. The novel is rare, the author obscure, and rumors tell of a horribly disfigured man who has been burning every copy he can find of Carax's novels. (SC)

Saenz, Benjamin Alire.  Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood . As a Chicano boy living in the unglamorous town of Hollywood, New Mexico, and a member of the graduating class of 1969, Sammy Santos faces the challenges of "gringo" racism, unpopular dress codes, the Vietnam War, barrio violence, and poverty.  (NC)

Setterfield, Diane.  The thirteenth tale : a novel .  Former academic Setterfield pays tribute in her debut to Brontë and du Maurier heroines: a plain girl gets wrapped up in a dark, haunted ruin of a house, which guards family secrets that are not hers and that she must discover at her peril.

Tyler, Anne.  Digging to America : a novel . A chance encounter between two families--the Donaldsons, and the Iranian-born Yasdans—a t the Baltimore airport prompts an examination about what it means to be an American. (SC)

Velde, Vivian Vande.  Being Dead. Seven supernatural stories, all having something to do with death.  (NC)

Vickers, Lu.  Breathing Underwater . We all have our dreams. Lily’s crazy mother wanted to be Miss Florida and ride around in a Cadillac, but all she got was kids, three of them, including Lily, the oldest, who drives her even crazier than she already is. As for Lily, her dream is to be a boy so she can marry bad-girl Rae, and together they can fly out of «this made-up town.  Lily’s struggle to find her sexual identity and a life she can call her own has emotional integrity and authenticity of real life.  (NC)

Walde, Christine.  The Candy Darlings . A girl, grieving for her dead mother and emotionally detached from her father, becomes fast friends with a mysterious classmate who constantly eats sweets as the two of them battle the vicious popular girls at school and listen to the stories of an elderly patient at the hospital where they volunteer. (NC)

Non-Fiction

Annotated Guides by Robert Cumming. Great Artists and Art .  Each title looks at famous paintings of about 50 different artists and annotates the significant details and techniques used in each of the paintings. (NC)

Baddeley, Alan.  Your Memory; a user’s guide .  An in depth look at the scientific and practical aspect of memory in laymen’s language, including exercises for improving memory. (NC)

Bledsoe, Lucy Jane.  How to survive in Antarctica .  The author describes her experiences visiting Antarctica and shares information on how to get there, what to bring, what to wear, what to eat, how to build a snow shelter, how to avoid crevasses, how to study Antarctic seals, and other survival strategies. (SC)

Chopra, Deepak.  Fire in the heart : a spiritual guide for teens . By recounting his own experiences at age fifteen, Deepak Chopra, a noted Hindu author and physician, provides a blueprint for teens who are seeking their own spiritual paths. (SC)

D’Orso, Michael.  Eagle Blue; a team, a tribe, and a high school basketball season in Arctic Alaska .  Heartfelt and thrilling account of the Native American basketball team from the tiny village of Fort Yukon in search of pride and identity. (NC)

Delamore, Philip.  The Perfect Wedding Dress .  The main styles broken down by silhouette, neckline, sleeves, train, etc. in this lavishly illustrated book. (NC)

Fessler, Ann.  The girls who went away : the hidden history of women who surrendered children for adoption in the decades before Roe v. Wade .  Describes the experiences of single women pressured into giving babies up for adoption between 1945 and 1973, drawing from interviews with more than one hundred women to discuss social attitudes of the time, the shaming and confinement women in this situation faced, and the impact the experience had on the rest of their lives. (SC)

Fraser, Antonia.  Love and Louis XIV : the women in the life of the Sun King.    Offers a biography of Louis XIV that focuses on his relationships with women, discussing his mother, wives, mistresses, liaisons, and children. (SC)

Freedom Writers.  The Freedom Writers diary : how a group of extraordinary teens used writing to change themselves and the world around them .  Tells the story of how young English teacher Erin Gruwell confronted the problem of racial and ethnic intolerance in her classroom, and features excerpts from the diaries of her students, now known as The Freedom Writers. (SC)

Hubner, John.  Last chance in Texas : the redemption of criminal youth.   Journalist John Hubner reveals the aggressive methods used by the Giddings State School in Texas to rehabilitate criminal youths. (SC)

Johnson, Ned. Conquering the SAT: how parents can help teens overcome the pressure and succeed .  Focuses on process rather than memorizing and what intangible support parents can provide. (NC)

Kollmann, Dana.  Never Suck a Dead Man’s Hand ; Curious adventures of a CSI.   Learn the process and science of crime scene investigation through the entertaining narrative of a real CSI. (NC)

Leive, Cindi.  Glamour’s Big Book of Do’s and Don’t s. Glamour editors give you the big rules of what to wear and then show pictures of those who flaunt the rules.  Helpful and fun. (NC)

McCloud, Scott.  Making comics : storytelling secrets of comics, manga and graphic novels .  (SC)

Owen, David.  Police Lab.   Learn the science and techniques of forensics through short easy to understand case studies.  (NC)

Perry, Bruce.  The boy who was raised as a dog; and other stories from a child psychiatrist's notebook: what traumatized children can teach us about loss, love and healing .  Through the narrative of real case studies, the author shows how early traumatic environments affect children’s brains and how sensitive treatment can make them whole again. (NC)

Posner, Richard.  The Little Book of Plagiarism.  Not a “how to cite,”  this title by Judge Posner gives intriguing insight into what has and has not been deemed plagiarism in numerous case studies.  (NC)

Powell, Julie.  Julie & Julia: 365 days, 524 recipes, 1 tiny kitchen . Julie Powell tells how she tried every recipe in Julia Child’s The Art of French Cooking interspersing her cooking experiences with anecdotes from Julia Child’s life and her own. (NC)

Powell, Richard J., 1953-.  Black art and culture in the 20th century .  Examines twentieth century African-American art and how these works, created during times of social change and unrest, represent African-American cultural themes depicting the philosophical and social forces which influenced the artists. (SC)

Sugar, Bert Randolph.  Boxing's greatest fighters . Profiles the lives and careers of 100 championship boxers including Sugar Ray Robinson, Jack Dempsey, Muhammad Ali, Rocky Marciano, and Joe Louis. (SC)

Quilliam, Susan.  Body Language.  What signals are you sending?   Learn what you are unconsciously saying to others and how you can get your real message across. (NC)

Rosi, Mauro.  Volcanoes.   Beautifully illustrated introduction to volcanology with in depth descriptions of 100 active volcanoes around the world. (NC)

Scott, Damion.  How to draw hip-hop .  A full-color instructional guide to drawing Hip-Hop gear, characters, graffiti, and environments. (SC)

Stoppato, Marco.  Deserts.   Beautifully illustrated introduction to the geology of deserts with an in depth description of 50 deserts around the world. (NC)
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The Iraq Study Group Report.  The official edition of the findings and proposals for rebuilding and stabilizing Iraq. (NC)

Thimmesh, Catherine.  Team Moon : how 400,000 people landed Apollo 11 on the moon .  Chronicles the Apollo 11 mission, the spaceflight that landed the first man on Earth's moon on July 20, 1969, emphasizing the contributions and reactions of the thousands of people who made the mission successful.

Viesturs, Ed.  No shortcuts to the top : climbing the world's 14 highest peaks .  How to get there, what to bring, what to wear, what to eat, how to build a snow shelter, how to avoid crevasses, how to study Antarctic seals, and other survival strategies. Mountaineer Ed Viesturs details some of his more intense climbs, and discusses how his personal beliefs and camaraderie with other climbers help him with his efforts. (SC)

View from the Ground; experiences of Civil War soldiers .  A collection of essays on the beliefs of the common man, both North and South, through the perspective of Civil War soldier diaries.  (NC)

Wright, Lawrence.  The Looming Tower : Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 .  Chronicles the events leading up to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, offering an in-depth look at the Al Qaeda terrorist group's planning of the attacks and the events that prompted them. (NC)

Zoellner, Tom.  The heartless stone : a journey through the world of diamonds, deceit, and desire .  Follows the author across fourteen nations and six continents to research the mythology and fascination with diamonds, how they have been used to fund civil wars, and the exploitation of diamond workers in India and Africa. (SC)

Biography               

  
Grandin, Temple.  Thinking in pictures : and other reports from my life with autism.   Relates the author's experiences living with autism. Discusses methods for coping with autism and how the disorder affects relationships and the ability to communicate. (SC)

Grealy, Lucy.  Autobiography of a face .  A memoir in which award-winning poet Lucy Grealy recalls her experiences with a potentially terminal cancer that required she have a third of her jaw removed when she was nine years old, and discusses the suffering she endured as she was growing up from classmates, strangers, and other people because of her looks. (SC)

Gruwell, Erin.  Teach with your heart : lessons I learned from the Freedom Writers : a memoir .  The author presents her personal memoir and the lessons she learned as an English teacher for 150 troubled teens. (SC)

Fleischman, Sid.  Escape! : the story of the great Houdini . A biography of the magician, ghost chaser, aviator, and king of escape artists whose amazing feats are remembered long after his death in 1926. (SC)

Lauck, Jennifer.  Blackbird : a childhood lost and found.   Writing from the viewpoint of the child, rather than as an adult looking back with a mature perspective, Lauck's memoir recounts a childhood troubled by an unending string of upheavals and heartbreaks. (SC)
               
Maynard, Kyle.  No excuses : the true story of a congenital amputee who became a champion in wrestling and in life . He was born a congenital amputee, his arms ending at his elbows and his legs at his knees. But that didn't stop Kyle Maynard from becoming a champion, on the wrestling mat and in his life. (SC)

Rachlin, Nahid.  Persian girls : a memoir .  As an infant in 1946, Rachlin was given to her mother's favorite sister, a widow who had been unable to conceive, and was lovingly raised among supportive widows who took refuge in religion from their frustrations as women in an oppressive society. But at the age of nine, Rachlin's father, whom she barely knew, met her at school without warning and brought her to Ahvaz to live with her birth family. (SC)

Reston, James.  Fragile innocence : a father's memoir of his daughter's courageous journey .  A personal narrative of a father's attempt to understand and accept the disease that left his young daughter unable to speak or understand language, and his quest to find answers. (SC)

Rice, Jerry.  Go long! : my journey beyond the fame and the game . Football star Jerry Rice reflects on his life, career, triumphs, and disappointments to reveal the factors that influenced his success both on and off the playing field. (SC)

Tammet, Daniel.  Born on a blue day : inside the extraordinary mind of an autistic savant . Daniel Tammet, an autistic savant, offers an inside look at his life, describing how his rare condition, which gives him incredible mental powers and a compulsive need for order and routine, has influenced every aspect of his life and what challenges he has faced while trying to be independent. (SC)