My LINKcat AccountI was up in LaCrosse a weekend ago and ran across a couple of pieces of weather lore I had never heard before. The first was that that it is “six weeks from the time the locust start calling until the first frost”. You may (or may not) recall the version that I have reported about predicting the first frost by using the date the (fall) crickets sing. The locust which my informant referred to are undoubtedly dog-day cicadas. They are called dog-day cicadas because they hatch and start singing during the dog days of summer which you may (or may not) recall is that time period from roughly 40 days from July 3rd to August 11th, when Sirius, the dog star, rises at dawn and summer is typically at its warmest. I’m not sure when the cicadas started singing this summer: I didn’t know I should be paying attention so that a first frost prediction could be made. I’m guessing they’ve been singing for at least three weeks now which would put a first frost in the middle of September (which sounds about right). The second piece of weather lore is however many fogs you get (once the locusts are singing? I’m not sure if this lore is linked to the first lore or not) is how many snows you will get in the upcoming winter. My weather lore informants are snowmobilers so are very interested in snow, lots of snow. Based on the number of foggy mornings we’ve been having this model for predicting the number of snows has me very worried. But while the sun is still warming and the precipitation is still falling as rain and with a holiday weekend in the not-too-distant future to enjoy, let us just carpe diem. And while we’re seizing the day, let us seize a book as well (carpe liber). Some of the library’s newest titles are listed below.
New Non-Fiction
“Baseball Cop” by Anonymous. Presents the story of baseball in America, looking at not just the sport itself but also the Americans who love baseball.
“The Only Girl: My Life and Times on the Masthead of Rolling Stone” by Robin Green. The only woman writer on the masthead of Rolling Stone magazine in the early 70s provides a raucous and vividly dishy memoir.
“Playing to the Gods: Sarah Bernhardt, Eleonora Duse, and the Rivalry that Changed Acting Forever” by Peter Rader. Traces the infamous rivalry between two renowned 19th-century actresses, credited with popularizing the natural style of acting that is celebrated today, sharing insights into their personalities, ambitions and relationships with each other’s' lovers.
“Aware” The Science and Practice of Presence” by Daniel Siegel. The New York Times best-selling author of Brainstorm and Mindsight introduces readers to his science-based Wheel of Awareness meditation discipline, demonstrating how a practice of focused attention and kindness can promote brain health and psychological wellness.
“The Great American Read: The Book of Books” by PBS. Illustrated with original-manuscript and first-edition covers, a companion to the PBS 2018 summer series reveals America's 100 best-loved novels, profiling each for author stories, social relevance, media adaptations, rejections and bannings.
“The Younger Next Year Back Book: The Whole-body Plan to Conquer Back Pain Forever” by Chris Crowley. A whole-body guide to back pain and fitness incorporates recommendations by a back-pain doctor and patient that identify triggering movements to reduce or potentially heal pain to help sufferers pursue long-term health goals. Part of a New York Times best-selling series.
New Fiction
“Foundryside, No.1 (The Founders Trilogy)” by Robert Jackson Bennett. A thief in a city controlled by industrialized magic joins forces with a rare honest police officer to stop an ancient evil ritual that endangers thousands of lives. By the author of “City of Stairs”.
“Relic” by Alan Dean Foster. A lone surviving human of a destructive engineered virus is rendered a research subject by his alien rescuers, who outmaneuver his reluctance by offering to help him find the mythical planet Earth. By the #1 New York Times best-selling author of “Strange Music”.
“If You Leave Me” by Crystal Hana Kim. Forced into the life of a refugee when the North Korean army invades her home, 16-year-old Haemi is forced to choose between love and security in ways that resonate throughout generations of her family. A first novel.
“Meet Me at the Museum” by Anne Youngson. A disenchanted farmer's wife and a widowed museum curator begin a correspondence over their mutual fascination with poet Seamus Heaney's "The Tollund Man" and gradually share details from their lives, forging an unexpected bond along the way. A first novel.
“Pieces of Her” by Karin Slaughter. The daughter of a woman who has wanted nothing more than a quiet life in her small beachside home embarks on a desperate search for answers when she discovers the explosive truth about her mother's true identity.
“Toucan Keep a Secret, No.23 (Meg Langslow)” by Donna Andrews. Discovering the body of an elderly parishioner who had threatened to reclaim his wife' ashes from the church crypt, Meg uncovers local secrets with the help of The Reverend Smith's foster toucan. By the New York Times best-selling author of “Gone Gull”.
“Texas Ranger” by James Patterson & Andrew Bourelle. Dedicated Texas Ranger Rory Yates is wrongly implicated in the murder of his ex-wife and finds his skills pushed to the limit in his effort to discover the real killer and prove his own innocence. Co-written by a #1 best-selling author.