My LINKcat AccountI got an email last Friday from my east-coast of Wisconsin cousins with an invitation for Thanksgiving dinner and food assignments. I didn’t think much about it since it had only become November a couple of days prior. Now today, when I am really looking at calendars, I am forced to note that Thanksgiving is a mere 14 days – that’s two weeks—from the date of the publication date of this newspaper. “Is it just me?” I asked myself, “Or does Thanksgiving this year seem awfully early?” Since I often answer my rhetorical questions or track down the information so that a highly credible source can answer my questions, I now know the answer. Thanksgiving falling on November 22nd, is the earliest that Thanksgiving can be. The bad news about such an early Thanksgiving is that it really can sneak up on you. The good news is that the time from Thanksgiving to the Christmas and New Year holidays is a week longer. Great for the merchants because of the longer shopping period but good for us shoppers and bakers and family event planners too. So while you may feel a bit pressed right now to find time to read, there is more time coming in the not-too-distant future. Below are some of the new book titles that arrived at the library recently. If you can’t read them now, you can add them to your TBR (to be read) list. Enjoy!
New Non-Fiction
“American Prison: A Reporter’s Undercover Journey Into the Business of Punishment” by Shane Bauer. The National Magazine Award-winning investigative journalist and co-author of A Sliver of Light draws on his experiences working in a Louisiana private prison to connect today's brutal for-profit prison system to the Civil War-era mass incarcerations of African-American workers.
“Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist” by Eli Saslow. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Ten Letters traces the story of prominent white supremacist Derek Black and how his college and adult encounters with diverse perspectives changed his heart and mind.
“Sleepyhead: The Neuroscience of a Good Night’s Sleep” by Henry Nicholls. A science writer recounts his life dealing with chronic narcolepsy and explores the world of sleeping disorders and its victims—including insomniacs, fellow narcoleptics and sleep-apnea sufferers—and uncovers the secrets of a good night's rest.
“The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure” by Greg Lukianoff & Jonathan Haidt. The author of the best-selling The Righteous Mind and his co-author controversially link rising rates of depression and anxiety to today's culture of safety, social media and political divides, arguing in favor of traditional wisdom that promotes grit and antifragility.
“Blowing the Bloody Doors Off: And Other Lessons in Life” by Michael Caine. With over 100 movies and two Academy Awards to his credit over six decades, a Hollywood legend discusses the wisdom, stories, insight and skills that life has taught him in his remarkable career.
“Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom” by David Blight. The author of Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory chronicles the life of the escaped slave who became one of the greatest orators of his day and a leading abolitionist and writer.
New Fiction
“Death of a Neighborhood Scrooge, No.16 (Jaine Austen Mysteries)” by Laura Levine. When the neighborhood scrooge, former child star Scotty Parker, is murdered, freelance writer Jaine Austen, who was helping him stage a comeback, finds herself on the list of suspects and must find the real killer.
“Red Moon” by Kim Stanley Robinson. Three travelers to the Moon, now fully colonized, in 2048 find that it is a very deadly place. By a New York Times best-selling author.
“Irish Country Cottage, No. 13 (Irish Country)” by Patrick Taylor. When the Donnallys lose everything to a home fire, doctors O'Reilly and Laverty rally the citizens of Ballybucklebo to help the family rebuild while navigating a young couple's high-risk efforts to build a family.
“The Rain Watcher” by Tatiana de Rosnay. A patriarch's birthday gathering in Paris is violently disrupted by a natural disaster, revealing to a charismatic young photographer hidden fears and secrets that test the limits of family bonds. By the best-selling author of “Sarah's Key”.
“The Collector’s Apprentice” by A.B. Shapiro. Abandoned in 1922 Paris when she is wrongly accused of theft, 19-year-old Paulien changes her identity and is swept up in the expatriate art world of Gertrude Stein and Henri Matisse while working to recover her father's stolen collection. By the author of “The Art Forger”.
“Killing Commendatore” by Haruki Murakami. An epic novel of love, war and art stands as an imaginative homage to “The Great Gatsby”. By the award-winning author of “Colorless Tsukuro Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage”.
“Shell Game, No 19 (V.I Warshawski)” by Sara Paretsky. Returning to Chicago to prevent an erroneous murder charge, V. I. Warshawski traces a stolen artifact with links to a network of international mobsters, terrorist financiers, scammers and art thieves. By the New York Times best-selling author of “Fallout”.