My LINKcat AccountThose of you who are regular readers of this column, know that I am what you might call a “craniac”. I am crazy for sandhill cranes. One of the ways this mania manifests itself is that I try to see cranes every month of the year. So in February, I make my annual pilgrimage to Kearney, Nebraska to see the greatest sandhill crane migration on this continent. Cranes arriving in Wisconsin in March and in recent years have hung around into December. This year I did see –well, I’m pretty sure I saw (almost for sure) flying across Highway M by Governors State Park the second week of January. But, just to make sure I wasn’t seeing what I wanted to see rather than what I was actually seeing, I made a little trip to Wheatfield, Indiana last Saturday with a friend. Last Saturday was just before this latest arctic blast. It was 45 degrees, the sun was shining brightly under cobalt blue skies, and there were cranes everywhere. These Indiana cranes hang out in an area of maybe 10 square miles. Within that area they were lined up and flying here and there, dancing, and calling as if it were spring in Nebraska. It was a reminder that spring isn’t only (pick a number, any number) 45 days away, it is also only miles away heading south. There were loose flocks of robins, and juncos, and red-winged-black birds, and Lapland longspurs, in the fields and ditches. Oh, by the way, did I mention there was no snow cover and the water standing in the ditches was water, not ice? It was a very nice taste of spring. Then I drove back to Wisconsin as the temperatures started their dive to below zero. Below you will find some new titles to help you make it through this cold stretch. Cozy up under a blanket and your fingerless gloves and enjoy some of these books.
New Non-Fiction
But you did not come back : a memoir by Marceline Loridan-Ivens. An activist and documentary filmmaker, who was arrested in occupied France at the age of 15, presents this deeply personal account of her experiences during the Holocaust and the death of her father in a concentration camp that overshadowed her whole life.
The family tree : a lynching in Georgia, a legacy of secrets, and my search for the truth / by Karen Branan. A provocative true account of the hanging of four black people by a white lynch mob in 1912 is written by a descendant of the sheriff charged with protecting them and draws on diaries and letters to piece together the events and motives that led up to the tragedy.
The lost airman : a true story of escape from Nazi-occupied France by Seth Meyerowitz. Documents the story of a World War II American Air Force turret-gunner who was one of two escapees when his team's plane was shot down near Cognac in 1943, tracing his harrowing six-month flight to safety across the Pyrenees under constant pursuit by the Gestapo.
The productivity project : accomplishing more by managing your time, attention, and energy better by Chris Bailey. The author reveals the results of his yearlong investigation into how to be more productive at work and in every other facet of one's life
Cure : a journey into the science of mind over body / by Jo Marchant. Drawing on the latest research and traveling the world to interview physicians, patients and researchers on the cutting edge of a new world of medicine, an award-winning writer presents a rigorous, skeptical, deeply reported examination into the science behind the vast potential of the mind’s ability to heal the body.
New Fiction
Man without a shadow : a novel / by Joyce Carol Oates. A mid-20th-century neuroscientist shares a decades-long relationship with a famous amnesiac, making discoveries about the labyrinthine mysteries of the brain while gradually falling in love with him. By the National Book Award-winning author of ”Lovely, Dark, Deep”.
The things we keep / by Sally Hepworth. While a couple with early-stage Alzheimer's disease struggles to hold fast to their memories and growing relationship with one another, a chef at their assisted-living facility questions her willingness to help them in the wake of a tragic incident. By the best-selling author of “The Secrets of Midwives”.
Only the stones survive / by Morgan Llywelyn. Orphaned when the Gaels invaded the peaceful island home of the Túatha Dé Danann, Joss tries to reunite his broken and scattered people. By the author of “Lion of Ireland”.
Your heart is a muscle the size of a fist : a novel / by Sunil Yapa. Follows seven different people, including a marijuana dealer and his estranged police chief father, who have their lives altered one afternoon in Seattle during the WTO protests that tried to shut the city down in 1999.
Warriors of the storm / by Bernard Cornwell. Loyalties and ambitions are put to the test by raids on the wealthy lands and churches of Wessex, where a fragile peace is maintained by the security-minded children of King Alfred and the kingdom's greatest warrior, Uhtred of Bebbanburg.
Downward facing death by Michelle Kelly. Moving back to Belfrey, her traditional English village hometown, to open a yoga café, where she would sell vegan food by day and teach yoga classes at night, Keely Carpenter discovers that some of the residents do not take kindly to her business plan when someone sets fire to her shop and tries to frame her for murder.
Even dogs in the wild / by Ian Rankin. Investigating the robbery-related death of a senior lawyer who had recently received a mysterious warning, Siobhan Clarke and John Rebus follow leads to a ruthless crime family. By the Edgar Award-winning author.
The bitter season / by Tami Hoag. While Nikki spends time with her family and misses more satisfying work with her former partner, Sam struggles with a rookie new partner and investigates a double homicide before unexpectedly teaming up with Nikki to stop a threat against a former foster child.