February 1, 2018 - Groundhog's Day Eve

You all know what today is, right? Yes. It is the first day of the second month of the year or February 1st, but, more importantly, it is also the eve of Ground Hog’s Day. Punxsutawney, PA has Phil. Sun Prairie has Jimmy. The DeForest Library has a different prognosticator – Booky the Badger. Booky has only been making predictions since 2015 and has been batting a thousand or is two for two (which is the same thing, I believe). Booky will be making a prediction on FaceBook some time tomorrow, February 2nd, after sunrise. Now, it is totally up to you which prediction you choose to believe, if indeed to choose to believe any. We are all looking for a glimmer of hope as the days of winter drag on and on. Sure, we got a wonderful taste of spring at the end of last week when the sun was shining the birds were chirping and it seemed absolutely balmy. But, alas, in January we recognize this as what it is; teasing. A prediction at the beginning of February saying the winter will be ending soon lifts the spirits and a forecast saying it will be winter for at least six more weeks just really confirms what we already know in our hearts to be true. Hope is what Wisconsinites need this time of year. So, believe Phil or Jimmy if you want – they do have more years of prognosticating under their belts (the mind reels imagining a groundhog wearing a belt, but I digress.)—but remember in nature, where badgers and groundhogs both live, badgers literally eat groundhogs for lunch. (Of course Booky is well fed and would never, ever, eat the competition. Booky is the most benevolent of creatures – and extremely well read too.) While waiting for this breaking news, there are many new books that will help you forget about however many days remain in this winter. Enjoy!

New Non-Fiction

  • “The Longevity Code: The New Science of Aging” by Kris Verburgh. Thoroughly explains why and how we age—and the four most crucial areas we have control over, to slow down, and even reverse, the aging process—in a book that discusses new types of vaccines, and the use of mitochondrial DNA, CRISPR proteins, stem cells and more. Includes recipes.
  • “Rebel: My Life Outside the Lines” by Nick Nolte. The Academy Award-nominated actor famed for such films as Rich Man, Poor Man and 48 Hrs. traces the story of his life and career, touching on subjects ranging from his relationships and addiction struggles to his method-acting approaches and his experiences as a father.
  • “Modern Loss: Candid Conversations About Grief, Beginners Welcome” by Rebecca Soffer & Gabrielle Birkner. The founders of Modern Loss draw on personal experience and the insights of their numerous followers to share irreverent counsel on how to navigate grief and establish resilience in the age of social media, sharing candid essays and wry infographics on how to cry, remember and empathize in healthier and more beneficial ways.
  • “The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow’s World” by Charles Mann. The award-winning author of 1491 and 1493 presents an incisive portrait of lesser-known, 20th-century scientists Norman Borlaugh and William Vogt, whose diametrically opposed views shaped modern understandings about the environment and related public policies.
  • “How Democracies Die” by Steve Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt. A cautionary assessment of the demise of history's liberal democracies identifies such factors as the steady weakening of critical institutions, from the judiciary to the press, while sharing optimistic recommendations for how America's democratic system can be saved.
  • “Advice Not Given: A Guide to Getting Over Yourself” by Mark Epstein. The Harvard-trained psychologist and author of The Trauma of Everyday Life explores how the traditions of Buddhism and Western psychotherapy can complement each other to promote a healthier ego and maximize the human potential for living a better life.

New Fiction

  • “The Days When Birds Came Back” by Deborah Reed. A woman struggling with her divorce, sobriety and a stalled career returns to the Oregon coast of her childhood to renovate and sell her late grandparents' memory-laden home and shies away from a relationship with a contractor who is reeling from his own losses. By the author of “Things We Set on Fire”.
  • “Eternal Life: A Novel” by Dara Horn. Ever since she made a deal to save her son's life in Roman-occupied Jerusalem, Rachel has been doomed to live eternally—having hundreds of children and being stalked by an obsessed man—but as her descendants develop new technologies for immortality, she realizes that, for them to live fully, she must die. By the author of “The World to Come”.
  • “Our Lady of the Prairie” by Thisbe Nissen. Setting aside the complications of her extramarital affair to oversee her unstable daughter's wedding on the Iowa prairie, a newly single theater professor navigates such challenges as a wedding-day tornado, a fascist mother-in-law and her once-docile ex's tragicomic revenge fantasies.
  • “The Pearl Sister, No. 4 (The Seven Sisters) by Lucinda Riley. Outcast adopted daughter CeCe investigates the mystery of her family origin, shaped a century earlier by a pioneering clergyman's daughter who became a wealthy woman's companion before finding love and adventure among the Aboriginal people of Australia's dusty Red Centre plains. By the New York Times best-selling author of the “The Shadow Sister “
  • “The Mitford Murders, No. 1”by Jessica Fellowes. A Golden Age-style mystery based on a real unsolved murder and written by the best-selling author of the official companion novels to the Downton Abbey series follows the experiences of a lady's maid to the youngest of three wealthy sisters in an Oxfordshire countryside manor, whose dark secrets implicate them in a murder.
  • “Fall From Grace” by Danielle Steel. When her wealthy and devoted husband dies suddenly in an accident, Sydney is devastated to learn that he left his estate to his vindictive daughters, a situation that forces her to take a job where she is wrongly set up to take the fall for a corrupt employer's illegal activities. By the best-selling author.
  • “Promise Not to Tell, No. 2 (Cutter, Sutter & Salinas)” by Jayne Ann Krentz. Having spent years battling demons stemming from her childhood in a cult and a fire that ended her mother's life, a Seattle gallery owner is devastated when one of her artists commits suicide after sending her a mysterious picture that compels her to team up with a fellow cult survivor, a private investigator who uncovers the work of a determined killer.