My LINKcat AccountWe have been counting down to this day for seemingly months now and here it is. I know, I know. There is no time to read between now and the end of the year, but you never know. Reading is one of those things you can do for just a few minutes when the opportunity arises. You don’t always have to do extended reading. If the weather forecast proves as true and mild as it purports at this writing, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day shall be pleasant for traveling. This mild weather has certainly confused the flora and fauna. I say robins on South Street last week and I have heard reports of dandelions start to rear their heads in certain lawns and crocuses near buildings starting to poke out of the ground. Squirrels are running around as if it were the middle of spring. When I was coming back from the west side on the 17th I saw a flock of 26 sandhill cranes grazing on a picked cornfield and a little further on a family of 4 more cranes and then 7 more. This is highly unusual. Since I have slipped into giving a bird report, on Friday, the 18th, there were two bald eagles soaring at high altitude over the village and then the library and then headed north. And since I have now mentioned Christmas and birds in the past (what passes for a) paragraph, let me just mention the Annual Christmas Bird count. This is the 116th year of the count which was founded in 1900 when conservation was in its beginning stages and concerns about declining bird populations were beginning to be noted. Prior to the turn of the 20th century, hunters engaged in a holiday tradition known as the Christmas "Side Hunt." They would choose sides and go afield with their guns—whoever brought in the biggest pile of feathered (and furred) quarry won. Ornithologist Frank M. Chapman, an early officer in the Audubon Society, proposed a "Christmas Bird Census" that would count birds during the holidays rather than hunt them. And the rest, as they say, is history. Enjoy the books listed below and enjoy the holiday with family and friends;
New Non-Fiction
438 days : an extraordinary true story of survival at sea / by Jonathan Franklin. Based on interviews with the man who survived alone and adrift at sea longer than anyone in recorded history and interviews with his colleagues, an epic tale of survival chronicles Salvador Alvarenga’s 14 months at sea during which he imagined a method of survival that kept his body and mind intact until he was rescued.
Alex Haley and the books that changed a nation / by Robert Norrell. A deeply researched book examines the life and work of the author of Roots and The Autobiography of Malcolm X, including his career as one of the first African-American star journalists during a dramatic time of change in American history.
Boys in the trees : a memoir / by Carly Simon. The successful singer-songwriter describes her life growing up amidst the glamour of literary New York with her father who co-founded Simon & Schuster, her path to art and music, her marriage to James Taylor and her famously cryptic song lyrics.
It ended badly : thirteen of the worst breakups in history / by Jennifer Wright. The New York Observer columnist and co-founder of TheGloss.com presents a lighthearted, carefully researched pop history of the disastrous love lives of prominent historical figures, from Emperor Nero and Lord Byron to Norman Mailer and Elizabeth Taylor.
Queen Victoria's mysterious daughter : a biography of Princess Louise / by Lucinda Hawksley. Written by a descendant of Charles Dickens, a portrait of the sixth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert shares insights into her difficult youth, her passionate civil rights campaigns and the mystery that caused her Royal Archives files to be locked.
Black box thinking : the surprising truth about success (and why some people never learn from their mistakes) / by Matthew Syed. Drawing on interviews, stories and cutting-edge science, the author of Bounce, moving from anthropology to psychology and from history to complexity theory, reveals how an acknowledgment of failure and a willingness to engage with it is how we learn, progress and excel.
New Fiction
The bone labyrinth : A Sigma Force novel / by James Rollins. An eon-spanning epic by the best-selling author of “Bloodline” finds Sigma Force Commander Gray Pierce making paradigm-shifting discoveries about human evolution while investigating shadowy figures depicted in Neanderthal cave paintings.
Rules for a knight : the last letter of Sir Thomas Lemuel Hawke / by Ethan Hawke. A knight writes a letter to his children containing his thoughts on a variety of topics, from courage to grace, in the event that he doesn’t return from battle, in a new novel from the Academy Award-nominated actor and author.
Time and time again : a novel by Ben Elton. Having learned from a Cambridge academic that time travel is possible, traumatized ex-soldier Hugh Stanton returns to June 1914 to prevent World War I by stopping an assassination. By the best-selling author of Popcorn.
The wheel of time companion : the people, places, and history of the bestselling series / by Robert Jordan. Draws on Robert Jordan's personal files to illuminate aspects of the Wheel of Time universe that were never published, sharing character biographies and motivations, an Old Tongue dictionary, new Last Battle maps and descriptions of world nation histories and customs.
All the houses : a novel / by Karen Olsson. Returning to her Washington, D.C. hometown to care for her ailing father, a depressed Hollywood employee struggles with memories of her family's involvement in the scandalous Iran-Contra affair and reassesses the choices that led to the estrangements of her loved ones.
Precious gifts : a novel / by Danielle Steel. An unfaithful husband with three daughters rendered suspicious of men leaves at his death bequests that enable them to realize their dreams, freeing his former wife to embrace an unexpected future. By the best-selling author of Prodigal Son.