Barnes & Noble @ Norterra in north, north Phoenix, Arizona, USA


"A house without books is
like a room without windows."

Heinrich Mann

Mr. Wonderful's©
Interesting Books

June to August 2009

"Fiction is like a spider's web, attached ever so slightly perhaps, but still attached to life at all four corners. Often the attachment is scarcely perceptible."

Virginia Woolf
1/25/1882 - 3/28/1941
Designed for
Internet Explorer

Medium Text  1024x768
Back to Frontpage
of Interesting Books
MW Honest Review of Books
Click Now to Visit
MW's Review of Books
Search for Title, Author, Subject
Using MS Internet Explorer?

  • Highlite Edit (top left corner)
  • Click Find on this page...
  • Type search item in Find block
highlite EDIT, scroll down to FIND ON THIS PAGE

fill in FIND block with search word, item, or term

Books
Books
Books
Books
Cagney by Cagney 
by James Cagney
(March 2005)
a favorite book
of Dennis Miller
Cagney by Cagney
by James Cagney

"Born into poverty on New York's Lower East Side, Cagney survived a rough childhood and his share of street fights before setting out as a vaudeville hoofer. Having taken up acting in the mid-'20's, he was signed by Warner Brothers in 1930 following his Broadway stage appearance in Penny Arcade. Catapulted to stardom the following year in The Public Enemy, Cagney went on to make..."

Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews,
used without permission.

(Autobiography)
Patient Zero 
by Jonathan Maberry
(Mar. 2009)
read more
Patient Zero
by Jonathan Maberry

"When you have to kill the same terrorist twice in one week there's either something wrong with your world or something wrong with your skills... and there's nothing wrong with Joe Ledger's skills. And that's both a good, and a bad thing. It's good because he's a Baltimore detective that has just been secretly recruited by the government to lead a new taskforce created to deal with the problems that Homeland Security can't handle..."


(Zombie Fiction)
Emily the Strange,
by Rob Reger, Jessica Gruner, Buzz Parker (Artist) (July 2001)
read more
Emily the Strange
by Rob Reger,
Jessica Gruner,
Buzz Parker
(Artist)

"Meet Emily, the peculiar soul with long black hair, a wit of fire, and a posse of slightly sinister black cats. Famous for her barbed commentary and independent spirit, this rebel-child in black has spawned an Internet and merchandising phenomenon..."


(Young Adult)
The Ascent of Money: 
A Financial History 
of the World 
by Niall Ferguson
(Nov. 2008)
read more
The Ascent of Money:
A Financial History of the World
by Niall Ferguson

"Money, says the song, makes the world go round. It can also threaten to stop it. Thus, a book that explains the origin and growth of money, banks, stock markets, and the exotic growth of the financial instruments and institutions that often bewilder even those who live by them, is a valuable thing. Despite the fact that Niall Ferguson finished writing The Ascent of Money in the late spring of 2008, while the international financial crisis was still gathering momentum, this is a highly relevant book..."


(History)
How Russia Really Works:
The Informal Practices 
That Shaped Post-Soviet 
Politics and Business 
by Alena V. Ledeneva
(Dec. 2006)
read more
How Russia Really Works:
The Informal Practices That
Shaped Post-Soviet
Politics and Business
by Alena V. Ledeneva

"During the Soviet era, blat-the use of personal networks for obtaining goods and services in short supply and for circumventing formal procedures-was necessary to compensate for the inefficiencies of socialism. The collapse of the Soviet Union produced a new generation of informal practices. In How Russia Really Works, Alena V. Ledeneva explores practices in politics, business, media, and the legal sphere in Russia..."


(History)
Headless Horsemen: 
A Tale of Chemical Colts, 
Subprime Sales Agents, 
and the Last Kentucky 
Derby on Steroids 
by Jim Squires
(Aug 2009)
read more
Headless Horsemen:
A Tale of Chemical Colts, Subprime
Sales Agents, and the Last
Kentucky Derby on Steroids
by Jim Squires

"He describes a cluster of problems: a small club of blue-blood owners who preside over racing as their personal fiefdom but who do nothing to save it; a staggering proliferation of illegal drugs, juicing up the performance of horses. . ."

WSJ  July 29, 2009
Ray Kerrison

(Sports, kinda)
The Hunger Games
(Hunger Games Series #1) 
by Suzanne Collins
(Oct. 2008)
read more
The Hunger Games:
by Suzanne Collins

"In a nation called Panem, which occupies the landmass that is the present United States, a parasitical fascist Capitol dominates 12 conquered districts. There was a thirteenth district but it was obliterated during a rebellion. The totalitarian government keeps the subjected populations in line by threatened devastation, starvation, and brutality..."


(Young Adult)
Game Plan for Life: Your Personal Playbook for Success by Joe Gibbs, Jerry B. Jenkins, Tony Dungy (July 2009) read more
Game Plan for Life:
Your Personal Playbook for Success
by Joe Gibbs,
Jerry B. Jenkins,
Tony Dungy

"[I]n this book, Gibbs presides over a Bible-centered playbook for men aged 20 to 50. The book focuses on real-world issues, including: relationships; living a life of purpose; finances; finding the right vocation; physical, emotional, and spiritual health; and overcoming sins and addictions. True to his style, this hardworking leader isn't too proud to call in expert help: Game Plan for Life features contributions by Randy Alcorn, Ravi Zacharias..."


(Self Improvement)
Voodoo Science: 
The Road from 
Foolishness to Fraud 
by Robert L. Park
(Aug. 2001)
read more
Voodoo Science:
The Road from Foolishness to Fraud
by Robert L. Park

"In a time of dazzling scientific progress, how can we separate genuine breakthroughs from the noisy gaggle of false claims? From Deepak Chopra's "quantum alternative to growing old" to unwarranted hype surrounding the International Space Station, Robert Park leads us down the back alleys of fringe science, through the gleaming corridors of Washington power and even..."


(Science)
If I Stay 
by Gayle Forman
(April 2009)
read more
If I Stay
by Gayle Forman

"In a single moment, everything changes. Seventeenyear- old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall riding along the snow-wet Oregon road with her family. Then, in a blink, she fi nds herself watching as her own damaged body is taken from the wreck...A sophisticated, layered, and heartachingly beautiful story about the power of family and friends, the choices we all make—and the ultimate choice Mia commands."


(Young Adult)
K Blows Top: 
A Cold War Comic Interlude 
Starring Nikita Khrushchev, 
America's Most Unlikely Tourist 
by Peter Carlson
(June 2009)
read more
K Blows Top:
A Cold War Comic Interlude
Starring Nikita Khrushchev,
America's Most Unlikely Tourist
by Peter Carlson

"Carlson doesn't focus on big politics but on the mountains of Kruschev quotes and anecdotes about the visit, all of which make fascinating reading. Carlson has clearly struck gold with the material and produced a well-written narrative with a brilliant eye for the absurd."

FT.com  8-1/2-2009
Charles Clover

(History - Politics)
I Hate People! : 
Kick Loose from 
the Overbearing 
and Underhanded 
Jerks at Work 
and Get What 
You Want Out of 
Your Job
by Jonathan Littman, 
Marc Hershon
(June 2009)
read more
I Hate People!:
Kick Loose from the Overbearing and Underhanded Jerks at Work and Get What You Want Out of Your Job
by Jonathan Littman,
Marc Hershon

"Face it, whether your company has 10 employees or 10,000, you must grapple with people you can't stand in the office. Luckily Jonathan Littman and Marc Hershon have written I HATE PEOPLE!, a smart, counter-intuitive, and irreverent turn on the classic workplace self-help book that will show you how to identify the Ten Least Wanted--the people you hate..."


(Business)
R.U.R.
(Rossum's 
Universal 
Robots)
by Karel Capek, 
Claudia 
Novack-Jones 
(Translator)
(1920)
read more
R.U.R.
(Rossum's Universal Robots)
by Karel Capek,
Claudia Novack-Jones
(Translator)

"R.U.R.-written in 1920, premiered in Prague in 1921, and first performed in New York in 1922-garnered worldwide acclaim for its author and popularized the word robot. Mass-produced as efficient laborers to serve man, eCapek's Robots are an android product-they remember everything but think of nothing new..."


(Foreign Language Novel)
Bread & Wine
by Ignazio Silone
(June 2005)
read more
Bread & Wine
by Ignazio Silone
Eric Mosbacher
(Translator)

"One of the 20th century's essential novels depicting Fascism's rise in Italy.    Set and written in Fascist Italy, this book exposes that regime's use of brute force for the body and lies for the mind. Through the story of the once-exiled Pietro Spina, Italy comes alive with priests and peasants, students and revolutionaries, all on the brink of war."

(Original Publish Date 1937)


(Foreign Language Novel)
The Art of Making Money:
The Story of a 
Master Counterfeiter
(June 2009)
read more
The Art of Making Money:
The Story of a Master Counterfeiter
by Jason Kersten

"Eventually a man nicknamed "DaVinci" taught him the centuries-old art of counterfeiting. After a stint in jail, Williams emerged to discover that the Treasury Department had issued the most secure hundred-dollar bill ever created: the 1996 New Note. Williams spent months trying to defeat various security features before arriving at a bill so perfect that even law enforcement had difficulty distinguishing it from the real thing."


(Nonfiction)
Stalin's Nemesis
by Bertrand Patenaude
(June 2009)
read more @ 
Amazon-UK
Stalin's Nemesis:
The Exile and Murder
of Leon Trotsky
by Bertrand Patenaude

"Leon Trotsky was the charismatic intellectual of the Russian Revolution, a brilliant writer and orator who was also an authoritarian organizer. He might have succeeded Lenin and become the ruler of the Soviet Union. But by the time the Second World War broke out he was in exile, living in Mexico in a villa borrowed from the great artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, guarded only by several naive young Americans in awe of the great theoretician. The household was awash with..."


(Biography)
Roseanna 
by Maj Sjowall, 
Per Wahloo, 
Lois Roth
(Translator)
(Orig Publ 1976)
read more
Roseanna
by Maj Sjowall
and Per Wahloo
Lois Roth
Translator

"The masterful first novel in the Martin Beck series of mysteries by the internationally renowned crime writing duo Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, finds Beck hunting for the murderer of a lonely traveler.   On a July afternoon, a young woman's body is dredged from Sweden's beautiful Lake Vattern. With no clues Beck begins an investigation not only to uncover a murderer but also to discover..."


(Foreign Language Mystery)
The Gardner Heist: 
The True Story of the 
World's Largest 
Unsolved Art Theft 
by Ulrich Boser
(Feb 2009)
read more
The Gardner Heist
The True Story of the World's
Largest Unsolved Art Theft
by Ulrich Boser

"Shortly after midnight on March 18, 1990, two men broke into the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and committed the largest art heist in history. They stole a dozen masterpieces, including one Vermeer, three Rembrandts, and five Degas. But after thousands of leads, hundreds of interviews, and a $5-million reward, not a single painting has been recovered. Worth a total of $500 million, the missing masterpieces have become..."


(True Crime)
The Hermit Crab 
by Carter Goodrich 
(Illustrator)
(June 2009)
read more
The Hermit Crab
by Carter Goodrich

"When the critter (who has reclusiveness running through his DNA) takes up residence in the top half of a discarded, sternly muscular action figure, he becomes the inadvertent rescuer of a flounder that's caught under a lobster trap. Crab isn't driven by an awakened sense of civic virtue, but rather..."


(6 to 10)
The Murder Stone 
by Charles Todd
(Aug 2004)
read more
The Murder Stone
by Charles Todd

"The Great War is still raging in the autumn of 1916, when Francesca Hatton’s beloved grandfather dies on the family estate in England’s isolated Exe Valley. Grieving for the man who raised her, Francesca is stunned to find an unsigned letter among his effects, cursing the Hattons and their descendants. Now a stranger has shown up on her doorstep, accusing her grandfather of being a murderer..."


(Murder Mystery)
Bury Me Deep 
by Megan Abbott
(July 7 2009)
read more
Bury Me Deep
by Megan Abbott

"In October 1931, a station agent found two large trunks abandoned in Los Angeles's Southern Pacific Station. What he found inside ignited one of the most scandalous tabloid sensations of the decade.   Inspired by this notorious true crime, Edgar®-winning author Megan Abbott's novel Bury Me Deep is the story of Marion Seeley, a young woman abandoned in Phoenix by her doctor husband. At the medical clinic where she finds a job, Marion becomes fast friends with Louise, a..."


(Fiction)
Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall
of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City 
by Greg Grandin
(June 2009)
read more
Fordlandia:
The Rise and Fall of
Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City

by Greg Grandin

"The stunning, never before told story of the quixotic attempt to recreate small-town America in the heart of the Amazon.   In 1927, Henry Ford, the richest man in the world, bought a tract of land twice the size of Delaware in the Brazilian Amazon. His intention was to grow rubber, but the project rapidly evolved into a more ambitious bid to export America itself..."


(History)
Dark Places 
by Gillian Flynn
(May 2009)
read more
Dark Places
Gillian Flynn

"Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in “The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.” As her family lay dying, little Libby fled their tiny farmhouse into the freezing January snow. She lost some fingers and toes, but she survived–and famously testified..."


(Fiction)
The Salaried Masses: Disorientation
and Distraction 
In Weimar Germany 
by Siegfried 
Kracauer, 
Quintin Hoare 
(Translator), 
(1st Published 1930)
read more
The Salaried Masses: *
Disorientation and Distraction
In Weimar Germany
by Siegfried Kracauer
Quintin Hoare
(Translator)
(* purchased by MW)

"A fascinating study of Germany society on the eve of Nazism. First published in1930, Siegfried Kracauer's work was greeted with great acclaim and soon attained the status of a classic. The object of his inquiry was the new class of salaried employees who populated the cities of Weimar Germany. Spiritually homeless, divorced from all custom and tradition, these white-collar workers sought refuge in entertainment -- or the "distraction of industries," as Kracauer put it -- but, only three years late, were to flee into the arms of Adolf Hitler."


(History)
Triple Cross: 
How bin Laden's 
Master Spy 
Penetrated the CIA
the Green Berets, 
and the FBI 
by Peter Lance
(June 2009)
read more
Triple Cross:
How bin Laden's Master Spy
Penetrated the CIA, the Green Berets,
and the FBI
by Peter Lance

" 'This is the most dangerous man I have ever met. We cannot let this man out on the street.' -— Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, 1997      In the years leading to the 9/11 attacks, no single agent of al Qaeda was more successful in compromising the U.S. intelligence community than Ali Mohamed. A former Egyptian army captain, Mohamed succeeded in infiltrating the CIA in Europe, the Green Berets at Fort Bragg, and the FBI in California—even as he helped to orchestrate the al Qaeda campaign of terror that culminated in..."


(Terrorism)
American Adulterer
by Jed Murcurio
(July 7th, 2009)
read more
American Adulterer
by Jed Murcurio

"From its opening line, American Adulterer examines the psychology of a habitual womanizer in hypnotically clinical prose. Like any successful philanderer, the subject must be circumspect in his choice of mistresses and employ careful calculation in their seduction; he must exercise every effort to conceal his affairs from his wife and jealous rivals. But this is no ordinary adulterer. He is the 35th President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy.  JFK famously confided that if he went three days without a woman, he suffered severe headaches. Acclaimed author Jed Mercurio takes inspiration from the tantalizing details surrounding the President's sex life to conceive this provocatively intimate perspective on Kennedy's affairs."


(Fiction)
The Last Champion: 
The Life of 
Fred Perry 
by Jon Henderson 
(May 2009)
read more
@ Amazon-UK
The Last Champion
The Life of Fred Perry
by Jon Henderson

"For fifty weeks a year, Fred Perry is more associated with the laurel logo and leisure wear that bears his name than his tennis exploits. Then, as Wimbledon returns, and the British hunt for his successor, he stands again as a sporting great. For Perry, Wimbledon champion three times in the 1930s, is the finest player Britain has produced. One of the world's first truly international sportsmen, he won the game's..."


(Sports)
The Shadow Over 
Santa Susana: 
Black Magic, 
Mind Control 
& the Manson 
Family Mythos
by Adam Gorightly 
(Sept 2009)
read more
The Shadow Over Santa Susana:
Black Magic, Mind Control
& the Manson Family Mythos
by Adam Gorightly

"40 years after the infamous Tate-LaBianca murder case of August 1969, Creation Books presents a definitive account of those killings and their perpetrators, the Charles Manson Family. In this revised and updated edition of The Shadow Over Santa Susana, investigative journalist Adam Gorightly takes his readers on a black magic carpet ride from the Hollywood "Beautiful People" scene of the late 60's through to the vast desert landscapes of a Death Valley gone mad - with all the love-ins and murderous creepy-crawls that happened along the way. The result is the most..."


(True Crime)
Uncle 
by J. P. Martin, 
Quentin Blake 
(July 2007)
read more
Uncle
by J. P. Martin,
Quentin Blake

"If you think Babar is the only storybook elephant with a cult following, then you haven’t met Uncle, the presiding pachyderm of a wild fictional universe that has been collecting accolades from children and adults for going on fifty years. Unimaginably rich, invariably swathed in a magnificent purple dressing-gown, Uncle oversees..."


(Age Range: 8-12)
A Coffin for Dimitrios 
by Eric Ambler
(Sept 1996)
read more
Coffin for Dimitrios
by Eric Ambler

"A chance encounter with a Turkish colonel with a penchant for British crime novels leads mystery writer Charles Latimer into a world of sinister political and criminal maneuvers throughout the Balkans in the years between the world wars. Hoping that the career of the notorious Dimitrios, whose body has been identified in an Istanbul morgue, will inspire a plot for his next novel..."


(Fiction)
Pants On Fire: 
How Al Franken Lies, 
Smears, and Deceives 
by Alan Skorski
(Oct 2005)
read more
Pants On Fire:
How Al Franken Lies,
Smears, and Deceives
by Alan Skorski
(Oct 2005)

"Al Franken was a 'nobody' in the arena of political punditry before he wrote two best-selling books, Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Lies and Lying Liars Who Tell Them. Now one of the most prominent figures on the liberal Air America radio network, formed to counter the mostly conservative voice of mainstream talk radio, he consistently boasts 'I tell the truth' and 'I hold myself to an impossibly high standard when it comes to telling the truth.'"


(Biography)
Bring Me the Head
of Sergio Garcia
by Tom Cox
(Oct 2008)
read more
Bring Me the Head of Sergio Garcia
by Tom Cox

"A hilarious account of one man s pursuit of his dream of becoming a professional golfer. After one tough year, Tom Cox asks whether pros are that much more gifted. Does an..."


(Sports)
Hullabaloo in 
the Guava Orchard 
by Kiran Desai
(May 1999)
read more
Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard
by Kiran Desai

"Praised by Salman Rushdie as 'lush and intensely imagined,' Kiran Desai's wryly comic story of life, love, and family relationships simultaneously captures the vivid culture of the Indian subcontinent and the universal intricacies of human experience. A failure at school and a failure at work, a dreamer who spends his days dreaming in tea stalls and singing to himself..."


(Fiction)
Blood and Rage: 
A Cultural History 
of Terrorism 
by Michael Burleigh
(March 2009)
read more
Blood and Rage:
A Cultural History of Terrorism
by Michael Burleigh

"Blood and Rage is a sweeping and deeply penetrating work of history that explores the nature of terrorism from its origins in the West to today's global threat fueled by fundamentalists. Distinguished historian Michael Burleigh ("There are few better writers at work today" —The Sunday Times) emphasizes the lethal resentments and the twisted..."


(Terrorism)
The Match: 
The Day the Game of
Golf Changed Forever 
by Mark Frost
(Nov 2007)
read more
The Match:
The Day the Game of
Golf Changed Forever
by Mark Frost

"The year: 1956. Four decades have passed since Eddie Lowery came to fame as the ten-year-old caddie to U.S. Open Champion Francis Ouimet. Now a wealthy car dealer and avid supporter of amateur golf, Lowery has just made a bet with fellow millionaire George Coleman. Lowery claims that two of his employees, amateur golfers Harvie Ward and Ken Venturi, cannot be beaten in a best-ball match..."


(Sports)
Quiet Bunny 
by Lisa McCue
(March 2009)
read more
Quiet Bunny
by Lisa McCue

"In this beautiful picture book by renowned artist Lisa McCue, Little Bunny discovers the importance—and pleasure—of dancing to your own kind of music.  More than anything, Quiet Bunny loves the sounds of the forest: the birds chirping..."


(Age Range: 4 to 6)
Unmasked: 
The Final Years
of Michael Jackson 
by Ian Halperin
(July 14th, 2009)
read more
Unmasked:
The Final Years of
Michael Jackson
by Ian Halperin

"In late December 2008, Ian Halperin told the world that Michael Jackson had only six months to live. His investigations into Jackson's failing health made headlines around the globe. Six months later, the King of Pop was dead.  Whatever the final autopsy results reveal, it was..."


(Biography)
Mortal Friends 
by Jane 
Stanton 
Hitchcock
(June 2009)
read more
Mortal Friends
by Jane Stanton Hitchcock

"She is drawn into the Beltway Basher case when an inscrutable detective, convinced that the perp is a Washington bigwig, solicits her aid in traversing the rough terrain known as high society. It “had ­always been a question in my mind,” Reven muses early in the novel, as she edges into the murder investigation. 'Would I recognize evil if it came close?'."

Joanne Kaufman
W.S.J. 6/27/2009

(Mystery)
Seeds of Terror: 
How Heroin Is 
Bankrolling the 
Taliban % Al Qaeda 
by Gretchen Peters
(July 2009)
read more
Seeds of Terror:
How Heroin Is Bankrolling
the Taliban & Al Qaeda
by Gretchen Peters

"Revealing the astonishing story of how Afghanistan's booming opium trade is bankrolling Al Qaeda and the Taliban, Seeds of Terror follows the drugs from the fields of the small farmers to the clandestine deals of the weapons merchants."


(Current Events)
Brodeck
by Philippe Claudel
John Cullen
(June 23, 2009)
read more
Brodeck
by Philippe Claudel
translator:
John Cullen

"There are dark shades of Kafka, Camus and Primo Levi but Claudel's lyricism evokes the deliciousness of life even as he plumbs the depths of intolerance and evil."


(Foreign Language Fiction)
Prisoner of the State: 
The Secret Journal of Premier 
Zhao Ziyang 
by Zhao Ziyang, 
Adi Ignatius (Editor), 
Bao Pu (Editor), 
Renee Chiang (Editor),
(May 2009)
read more
Prisoner of the State:
The Secret Journal of Premier
Zhao Ziyang
by Zhao Ziyang

"How often can you peek behind the curtains of one of the most secretive governments in the world? Prisoner of the State is the first book to give readers a front row seat to the secret inner workings of China’s government. It is the story of Premier Zhao Ziyang, the man who brought liberal change to that nation and who, at the height of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, tried to stop... "


(Politics--China)
To the Edge 
(#1 The Body-
guards Series) 
by Cindy Gerard
(May 2005)
read more
To the Edge
(#1 The Bodyguards Series)
by Cindy Gerard

"Bestselling author Cindy Gerard introduces a sizzling, new romance series featuring irresistible bodyguards. Whether they're strong, sexy, handsome men or self-assured, daring, beautiful women, these unforgettable bodyguards will captivate readers' hearts..."


(Fiction)
The Man Who Loved China:
The Fantastic Story 
of the Eccentric Scientist
Who Unlocked the Mysteries 
of the Middle Kingdom
by Simon Winchester
(April 2009)
read more
The Man Who Loved China:
The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric
Scientist Who Unlocked the
Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom
by Simon Winchester

"Somehow, Simon Winchester is always able to surprise us. With books like The Crack in the Edge of the World, The Professor and the Madman, and The Map That Changed the World, Winchester breathed new life into pedestrian history. In The Man Who Loved China, he uncovers the captivating story of a now neglected British scientist who forever changed our sense of world history..."


(History)
Far North
by Will Hobbs
(Sept. 1997)
read more
Far North
by Will Hobbs

"[f]ifteen-year-old Gabe Rogers is getting his first look at Canada's magnificent Northwest Territories with Raymond Providence, his roommate from boarding school. Below is the spectacular Nahanni River — wall-to-wall whitewater racing between sheer cliffs and plunging over Virginia Falls. The pilot sets the plane down on the lake-like surface of the upper river for a closer look at the thundering falls. Suddenly the engine quits..."


(Young Adult)
Far North: A Novel
by Marcel Theroux
(June 9, 2009)
read more
Far North: A Novel
by Marcel Theroux

"Out on the far northern border of a failed state, Makepeace—sheriff and perhaps the last citizen—patrols the city ruins, salvaging books but keeping the guns in good repair.   Into this cold land comes shocking evidence that life might be flourishing elsewhere: a refugee from the vast emptiness of forest, whose existence inspires Makepeace to ..."


(Science Fiction)
Death Note: 
Another Note (Novel) 
by NISIOISIN, 
Andrew Cunningham 
(Translator) 
Tsugumi Ohba 
(Concept by)
(Feb 2008)
read more
Death Note: Another Note
by NISIOISIN
Andrew Cunningham (Translator)
Tsugumi Ohba (Concept by)

"There's a serial killer on the loose in Los Angeles and the local authorities need help fast. For some reason the killer has been leaving a string of maddeningly arcane clues at each crime scene. Each of these clues, it seems, is an indecipherable roadmap to the next murder.  Onto the scene comes L, the mysterious super-sleuth. Despite his peculiar working habits - he's never shown his face in public, for example - he's the most decorated detective in the world..."


(Young Adult)
Baby Thief: 
The Untold Story of 
Georgia Tann, the Baby 
Seller Who Corrupted Adoption 
by Barbara Bisantz Raymond
(May 2008)
read more
Baby Thief:
The Untold Story of
Georgia Tann,
the Baby Seller Who
Corrupted Adoption
by Barbara Bisantz Raymond

"For almost three decades, renowned baby-seller Georgia Tann ran a children’s home in Memphis, Tennessee — selling her charges to wealthy clients nationwide, Joan Crawford among them. Part social history, part detective story, part expose, The Baby Thief is a riveting investigative narrative that explores themes that continue to reverberate today..."


(True Crime)
Caution: Funny Signs Ahead 
by RoadTrip America (Compiler) (Nov. 2008)
Caution:
Funny Signs Ahead
by RoadTrip America

"Anyone who has ever hit the open road has seen a sign that sends them into hysterics. Caution: Funny Signs Ahead is the ultimate collection of these accidentally entertaining bits of roadside Americana with signs like No Smoking On Campus Prohibited, offramps to Boring Oregon City and truck stop advertisements for Diesel Fried Chicken. Each page in Caution: Funny Signs Ahead presents a color photograph of an ironic..."


(Parodies)
The Bad Guys Won 
by Jeff Pearlman
(April 2005)
read more
The Bad Guys Won
A Season of Brawling, Boozing,
Bimbo Chasing and Championship
Baseball with Straw, Doc, Mookie,
Nails, the Kid, and the Rest
of the 1986 Mets, the Rowdiest
Team Ever to Put on a
New York Uniform--
and Maybe the Best

"It was 1986, and the New York Mets won 108 regular-season games and the World Series, capturing the hearts (and other assorted body parts) of fans everywhere. But their greatness on the field was nearly eclipsed by how bad they were off it. Led by the indomitable Keith Hernandez..."


(Sports)
Sum: Forty Tales from 
the Afterlives 
by David Eagleman
(Feb. 2009)
read more
Sum:
Forty Tales from the Afterlives
by David Eagleman

"SUM is a dazzling exploration of funny and unexpected afterlives that have never been considered–each presented as a vignette that offers us a stunning lens through which to see ourselves here and now.   In one afterlife you may find that God is the size of a microbe and is unaware of your existence. In another, your creators are a species of dim-witted creatures who built us to figure out what they could not..."

DAVID EAGLEMAN
grew up in New Mexico. As an undergraduate he majored in British and American Literature before earning his PhD in Neuroscience.
(God - Afterlife)
The Survivors Club: 
The Secrets and 
Science That Could 
Save Your Life 
by Ben Sherwood
(Jan 2009)
read more
The Survivors Club:
The Secrets and Science
That Could Save Your Life
by Ben Sherwood

"Even when we're in the safest of situations, we humans worry and wonder about survival. Whether we're imagining how we would escape from a burning building or plane; avoid a deadly wild animal attack; or stay alive as a psychopath's hostage, we all know that surviving is the bottom line. Los Angeles Times journalist Ben Sherwood traveled the world to learn the secrets that helped real men and women stay alive..."

Survivorsclub.org


(Nonfiction)
One Second After 
by William R. Forstchen
(Mar 2009)
read more
One Second After
by William R. Forstchen

"...a high-altitude nuclear bomb of uncertain origin explodes, unleashing a deadly electromagnetic pulse that instantly disables almost every electrical device in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world. Airplanes, most cars, cellphones, refrigerators-all are fried as the country plunges into literal and metaphoric darkness. History professor John Matherson, who lives with his two daughters in a small North Carolina town, soon figures..."


(Science Fiction)
Trilby 
by George Du 
Maurier,
(Dec 1994)
read more
Trilby
by George Du Maurier,

"First published in 1894, the story of the diva Trilby O'Ferrall and her mentor, Svengali, has entered the mythology of that period alongside Dracula and Sherlock Holmes. Immensely popular for years, the novel led to a hit play, a series of popular films, Trilby products from hats to ice-cream, and streets in Florida named after characters in the book..."


(Novel)
Growing Up in England: 
The Experience of Childhood 
1600-1914 
by Anthony Fletcher
(June 2008)
read more
Growing Up in England:
The Experience of Childhood
1600-1914
by Anthony Fletcher

"This book presents an entirely fresh view of the upbringing of English children in upper and professional class families over three centuries. Drawing on direct testimony from contemporary diaries and letters, the book revises previous understandings of parenting and what it was like to grow up in the period between 1600 and 1914..."


(History)
Dog on It: 
A Chet and Bernie Mystery
by Spencer Quinn
(Feb. 2009)
read more
Dog On It:
A Chet & Bernie Mystery
by Spencer Quinn

"As sidekicks, Maxwell Smart and Agent 99 have nothing on Chet and Bernie. This charming detective duo make their debut in Dog On It, the first volume in Spencer Quinn's new mystery series. The fast-paced and funny tale is narrated by the inimitable Chet, Bernie's best friend and canine partner, whose personality and preferences are never in doubt: "I liked to sleep at the foot of Bernie's bed, but my favorite napping spot was in..."


(Mystery)
Shop Class as Soulcraft:
An Inquiry into 
the Value of Work 
by Matthew B. 
Crawford
(May 2009)
read more
Shop Class as Soulcraft:
An Inquiry into the Value of Work
by Matthew B. Crawford

"Motorcycles enjoy a mystique from their association with speed and danger (not to mention their central role in Robert Pirsig's 1974 classic, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, whose precedence "Shop Class as Soulcraft" duly acknowledges). But Mr. Crawford insists that the psychic benefits of manual work are also available in less glamorous activities -- an electrician wiring a house, for instance, or a plumber working under a sink."


(Work - Philosophy)
The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod:
Ninth Grade Slays 
by Heather Brewer
(April 2008)
read more
The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod:
Ninth Grade Slays
by Heather Brewer

"High school totally bites when you're half human, half vampire.  Freshman year sucks for Vlad Tod. Bullies still harass him. The photographer from the school newspaper is tailing him. And failing his studies could be deadly. A trip to Siberia gives "study abroad" a whole new meaning as Vlad connects with other vampires and advances his mind-control abilities, but will he return home with..."


(Age 12)
Americans in Paris: 
Life & Death Under 
Nazi Occupation 
1940-44
(March 2009)
by Charles Glass 
read more @ 
Amazon-UK
Americans in Paris:
Life and Death Under
Nazi Occupation 1940-44
by Charles Glass

"So complete was the flight of French authority, Bullitt became 'the American Mayor of Paris', dealing with the arriving Germans as if he had authority to dispose of issues."

John Lloyd
Ft.com
6/1/2009
(World War II)
Under the Wire: 
The Bodyguards 
by Cindy Gerard
(Nov 2006)
read more
Under the Wire:
The Bodyguards
by Cindy Gerard

"Cindy Gerard returns with an all-new adventure of desire and danger featuring the men and women of E.D.E.N.--bodyguards riding the razor’s edge between duty and temptation...   BECAUSE OF HER, HE LOST EVERYTHING. Manny Ortega is a man without a country, and he has one woman to thank for it. She was his first and only true love, and when..."


(Novel)
D-Day: 
The Battle 
for Normandy
by Antony Beevor 
(May 2009)
read more @
Amazon-UK
D-Day:
The Battle for Normandy
by Antony Beevor

"The Normandy Landings that took place on D-Day involved by far the largest invasion fleet ever known. The scale of the undertaking was simply awesome. What followed them was some of the most cunning and ferocious fighting of the war, at times as savage as anything seen on the Eastern Front. As casualties mounted, so too did the tensions between the principal commanders on both sides..."


(World War II)
Interesting Books ... Last Entry