My LINKcat AccountI'm back! And I bet you didn't even know I was gone. I left for Stratford, Ontario on the 12th, having already submitted my column for last Thursday, and got home on the 17th in time to write this for this Thursday. I go to see the great repertory theater that exists out in a city of about 25,000 that just happened to have the Stratford name and decided to create a Shakespeare festival back in 1951. It was an idea that caught on. Every year I go for a week and go to theater twice a day (which is really arduous). This year I saw four Shakespeare plays (Merchant of Venice, Romeo & Juliet, Measure for Measure and Othello), two musicals (Fiddler on the Roof and Tommy-two very distant ends of the musical spectrum), a Noel Coward play (Blithe Spirits), and a swashbuckling adaptation of the Three Musketeers. All were excellent productions. I find theater one of the most relaxing things do. There's something about the cadence of iambic pentameter that syncs with the heart beat and gets you into a deep awareness state (which some would call sleeping). While not going to theater one can go into the charming shops and restaurants and walk around in parks with ancient trees and listen to band concerts and watch the swans glide down the Avon River. The down side of being on vacation is, of course, returning to work. The piles of mail weren't too bad - only about 4 inches thick when stack both at work and at home-it's my email inbox that's the problem. There were over 300 emails just waiting for me to do something about them. Oh, well. The vacation was great while it lasted. In the meantime, there are lots of new books to take you away on a mental vacation. Enjoy!
New Non-Fiction
Crazy rich : power, scandal, and tragedy inside the Johnson & Johnson dynasty / by Jerry Oppenheimer. A painstakingly researched, unauthorized family portrait by the best-selling author of "Front Row" documents the private lives of the Johnson empire, providing coverage of such topics as their high-profile affairs, their struggles with addiction and mental illness and the obsessions of a dynasty ruler who abandoned members of his family in favor of his ideals.
The happy atheist / by P.Z. Myers. The creator of the popular science blog, "Pharyngula", presents a bitingly uproarious assessment of religious fanaticism that imparts his infectious disdain for such topics as creationism, biblical literalism and "intelligent design" theory.
Let freedom ring : Stanley Tretick's iconic images of the March on Washington / by Kitty Kelley. A 50th anniversary account of the 1963 March on Washington as recorded from the perspectives of the legendary photographer documents the historic Civil Rights bill and is complemented by an essay and captions that provide behind-the-scenes insights. By the best-selling author of "Oprah: A Biography".
Ninety percent of everything : inside shipping, the invisible industry that puts clothes on your back, gas in your car, and food on your plate / by Rose George. Revealing the workings and dangers of freight shipping, which is the key to our economy, environment and civilization, the author sails from Rotterdam to Suez to Singapore to present an eye-opening glimpse into an overlooked world filled with suspect practices, dubious operators and pirates.
The chaos imperative : how chance and disruption increase innovation, effectiveness, and success / by Orie Brafman & Judah Pollack. The co-author of the best-selling "The Starfish and the Spider" outlines professional strategies that reveal how efficient organizations from Fortune 500 companies to the U.S. Army are benefitting from small allowances of unstructured space and disruption in their planning and decision-making processes.
New Fiction
The truth / by Michael Palin. The Monty Python comedian and author of "Hemingway's Chair" presents the story of an everyday man at a crossroads in life who accepts an offer to travel to India as part of an effort to pen the biography of an elusive but highly influential activist and humanitarian.
Compound murder / by Bill Crider. When an English instructor is found murdered on Clearview's community college campus, Sheriff Dan Rhodes arrests chief suspect Ike Terrell, a student known for confrontations with staff whose survivalist father had disapproved of his son's college ambitions. By the Anthony Award-winning author of "Murder in the Air".
Murder, she rode / by Holly Menino. Forced by an injury to allow her prized horse to compete in a prestigious event with another rider, former champion Tink Elledge investigates a suspicious accident that has killed a respected horseman and threatened the lives of all of her competitors.
The last kiss goodbye : a novel / by Karen Robards. Assisting a hysterical woman who claims she was forced to commit murder, serial killer expert Dr. Charlotte Stone, remembering a similar claim by a mental patient, reluctantly taps her psychic powers to uncover the work of a sadistic serial killer while struggling with torn feelings between her murderous ghost lover and special agent Tony Bartoli.
Rose Harbor in bloom : a novel / by Debbie Macomber. A sequel to "The Inn at Rose Harbor" finds Jo Marie Rose welcoming a new set of guests including a cancer survivor who regrets ending a relationship with the one man she truly loved and a woman who remembers her own broken engagement while planning an anniversary celebration for her grandparents.
Alien hunter by Whitley Strieber. When brilliant police detective Flynn Carroll's young wife vanishes inexplicably in the middle of the night, his obsessive investigation reveals a string of similar disappearances and draws the attention of secret police Special Agent Diana Glass, whose team invites Carroll into their world of extraordinary challenges and lethal dangers.
Let me go / by Chelsea Cain. Attending a masked Halloween party as part of his investigation into Jack Reynolds's drug enterprise, Detective Archie Sheridan recognizes the handiwork of killer Gretchen Lowell when one of the guests is murdered, a situation that forces Archie to risk everything and reevaluate the people he most trusts.
Tragic : a thriller / by Robert Tannenbaum. When a whistleblower, while trying to clean up a corrupt longshoremen's union, is brutally murdered, district attorneys Butch Karp and Marlene Ciampi work together to expose the ruthless union leader for the fraud and murderer that he is before the body count increases.