My LINKcat AccountBy the time you read this, assuming you read it on the paper’s publication date, Friday, January 12th, then we shall have, perhaps, passed the first major snow event of the season that has any chance of staying around. As of this writing on Monday, the forecast is full of possibilities, but nothing tangible yet. Libraries, like grocery stores, sometimes experience a run in front of major snow storm predictions. There is often a run on milk, eggs, and bread at one place and books, dvds, board games, and puzzles at the other. Everyone is stocking up in order to make it through a couple of days without easy access to what might be needed. I hope you had a chance to stock up, or if not, that the potential forecast didn’t pan out. I would like to note that as of January 10th, we started gaining a minute of light in the morning which will accelerate to a minute every couple of days going forward. At the evening end of the day, since the earliest sunset which occurred at 4:22 on 8th, 9th, and 10th of December, we have already gained 20 minutes. Of course, we all know the old weather adage about January, don’t we? As the days lengthen, the cold strengthens. As we head towards the coldest couple of weeks in the year, there are some new book titles, listed below, to keep you warm. Enjoy!
New Non-Fiction
“The Lost Tomb: And Other Real-life Stories of Bones, Burials, and Murder” by Douglas Preston. From the haunted country of Italy to the largest tomb in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, the #1 “New York Times” bestselling author of “The Lost City of the Monkey God” presents extraordinary and enthralling true stories of Egyptian burial chambers, lost treasure, mysterious murders, strange crimes and more.
“The New Leviathans: Thoughts After Liberalism” by John Gray. Filled with fascinating and challenging observations, this thought-provoking meditation on historical and current folly, based on Thomas Hobbes’s “Leviathan”, which was published in 1651, shows how we as a species always seem to be struggling to face the reality of base and delusive human instincts.
“The Book of Animal Secrets: Nature’s Lessons for a Long and Happy Life” by David Agus. In this eye-opening and entertaining guide, a visionary physician and biomedical researcher explores the many ways we can harness the wonders of the animal kingdom in our own, very human lives.
“Calm Your Mind With Food: A Revolutionary Guide to Controlling Your Anxiety” by Uma Naidoo. A revolutionary full-body approach to relieving anxiety, from a best-selling author and nutritional psychiatrist.
“The Official MIND Diet: A Scientifically Based Program to Lose Weight and Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease” by Martha Clare Morris. From the creator of the MIND diet and author of “Diet for the MIND” comes a guide to eating for optimum cognitive health, weight loss and longevity.
“The Rest is History: From Ancient Rome to Modern China—History’s Most Curious Questions, Answered” by Goalhanger Podcasts. From modern to ancient and every time in between, this entertaining companion to the popular podcast brilliantly distills major moments in human history, offering readers a fun new wide-ranging tour of humanity’s essential—and essentially weird—moments.
“The Palace: From the Tudors to the Windsors, 500 Years of British History at Hampton Court” by Gareth Russell. Takes us into every room of Hampton Court Palace—the stage of some of the most important events in British history, such as the commissioning of King James’s version of the Bible and Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation ball, illustrating what was at play politically, socially and economically at the time.
“Silent Cavalry: How Union Soldiers from Alabama Helped Sherman Burn Atlanta—and Then Got Written Out of History” by Howell Raines. Part American history, part family saga, part scholarly detective story, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist brings to life the little-known story of the First Alabama Cavalry—renegade Southerners who played a decisive role in the Civil War but who were scrubbed from the history books.
“Correction: Parole, Prison, and the Possibility of Change” by Ben Austen. The acclaimed author of “High-Risers” examines the system of parole in the criminal justice system—an opaque and confounding process riddled with inequities that serves to exacerbate the cycle of mass incarceration.
New Fiction
“Murder at Haven’s Rock” by Kelley Armstrong.Deep in the Yukon wilderness, a town is being built. A place for people to disappear, a fresh start from a life on the run. Haven’s Rock isn’t the first town of this kind, something detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton, know first-hand. They met in the original town of Rockton. But greed and deception led the couple to financing a new refuge for those in need. This time around, they get to decide which applicants are approved for residency.
“The Expectant Detectives” by Kat Ailes. For Alice and her partner Joe, moving to the sleepy village of Penton is a chance to embrace country life and prepare for the birth of their first child. He can take up woodwork; maybe she’ll learn to make jam? But the rural idyll they’d hoped for doesn’t quite pan out when a dead body is discovered at their local prenatal class, and they find themselves suspects in a murder investigation.
“Holmes, Marple & Poe: The Greatest Crime-Solving Team of the Twenty-First Century” by James Patterson. In New York City, three intriguing, smart, and stylish private investigators open Holmes, Marple & Poe Investigation. Brendan Holmes—The Brain: Identifies suspects via deduction and logic.Margaret Marple—The Eyes: Possesses powers of observation too often underestimated. Auguste Poe—The Muscle: Chases down every lead no matter how dangerous or dark. The agency’s daring methodology and headline-making solves attract the attention of NYPD Detective Helene Grey. Her solo investigation into her three unknowable competitors rivals the best mysteries of Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle, Agatha Christie, and Edgar Allan Poe.