My LINKcat AccountIt's hard to believe it's already the 7th of August. We have rolled past the Harry Potter Birthday Party which was attended by hundreds of people, many dressed as Harry Potter and Hermione. The Summer Reading Club has ended. We have missed Lammas Day (It was on August 1st. It is a Northern European festival celebrated in Anglo-Saxon countries as the first harvest festival of the year when it was customary to bring a loaf of bread made from the newly harvested grain to church to be blessed. Lammas Day is also known as the "feast of the first fruits". This feast of the first fruits was annually celebrated on the 1st or the 6th of August (which was also the feast of the Transfiguration)). Phew! That was a long digression. I know the first fruits of my porch tomatoes have started to arrive. August 7th is the approximate midpoint of summer in the Northern Hemisphere and it is also National Lighthouse Day. Tomorrow is "Sneak Some Zucchini On to Your Neighbor's Porch Day", and August 9th is "Book Lover's Day when you are encouraged to find a place in the shade and relax with a good book. And speaking of good books, if you look down the page you will find a bunch of dandy new titles that have arrived at the library. Enjoy!
New Non-Fiction
Tantric coconunts by Greg Kincaid. The best-selling author of "A Dog Named Christmas" presents a quirky spiritual journey across the wild roads of America that finds a woman and her dog taking over her family's bookmobile only to collide with a dog-loving Harvard lawyer for the American Beef Federation.
Shadows in the vineyard : the true story of a plot to poison the world's greatest wine / by Maximillian Potter. In this real-life mystery, a reporter, on assignment in Burgundy for "Vanity Fair", uncovers a villainous plot to destroy the vines of France's most expensive and exquisite wine by poison, which threatens to destroy the fiercely traditional culture surrounding the world's greatest wine.
The Nixon tapes, 1971-1972 / by Douglas Brinkley and Luke Nichter. Revealing a flawed president's hubris, paranoia and political genius, this selection of transcribed audio recordings of Oval Office, Cabinet Room and Camp David conversations between 1971 and 1972 sheds new light on one of the most important and controversial presidencies in U.S. history.
A spy among friends : Kim Philby and the great betrayal / by Ben MacIntyre. The best-selling author of "Operation Mincemeat" presents a definitive portrait of the notorious 20th-century spy that discusses his rise in MI6, high-profile intelligence friendships and 20-year espionage operation that culminated in his 1963 defection to Moscow.
The Nixon defense : what he knew and when he knew it / by John W. Dean. A former White House Counsel and one of the last surviving major figures from Watergate uses his own transcripts from hundreds of conversations as well as documents in the archives to definitively determine what Nixon knew and when he knew it.
The alliance : managing talent in the networked age / by Reid Hoffman. Arguing that today's dynamic business environments have irrevocably transformed the employer-employee relationship, a guide for managers outlines win-win strategies that promote trust between workers and management through flexible, alliance-based working agreements.
New Fiction
The fortune hunter : a novel / by Daisy Goodwin. A beautiful empress trapped in a loveless marriage, a dashing but impoverished horseman and a clever heiress form a passionate love triangle in 19th-century England against a backdrop of the legendary Grand National competition. By the best-selling author of "The American Heiress".
Lucky us : a novel / by Amy Bloom. Forging a life together after being abandoned by their parents, half-sisters Eva and Iris share decades in and out of the spotlight in golden-era Hollywood and mid-20th-century Long Island. By the author of the National Book Award finalist, "Come to Me".
The bone seeker / by M.J. McGrath. A former polar bear hunter and Inuit guide in the Canadian arctic investigates after finding one of her summer school students dead near Lake Turngaluk, in the third novel of the mystery series following "The Boy in the Snow".
Fast track / by Julie Garwood. Devastated by the health setbacks of the father who lovingly raised her alone, Cordelia learns a shocking truth about her mother and enlists the help of her best friend's hotel magnate older brother, Aiden, who is being targeted by a powerful congressman. By the best-selling author of "Hotshot".
Texas true / by Janet Dailey. The widow Natalie Haskell hopes to make a happy life with cowboy, and military veteran, Beau, but an accusation of murder puts their love to the ultimate test.
Alien hunter / by Whitley Strieber. A sequel to "Alien Hunter "finds CIA alien communications agent Flynn Carroll tracking down murderous rogue agents from the planet Aeon, an assignment that separates him from his unit and causes him to question what he believes about his own existence. By the best-selling author of "Communion".
Echo's bones / by Samuel Beckett. Published for the first time, this story by the Nobel Prize-winning Irish author was originally intended to appear in his collection of interrelated stories "More Pricks Than Kicks" but was rejected by his editor due to inconsistencies in the collective narrative.