New Arrivals

ADULT FICTION

"Best Friends Forever" by Jennifer Weiner - a grand hilarious, edge-of-your-seat adventure: a story about betrayal and loyalty, family history and small-town secrets. It's about living through tragedy, finding love where you least expect it, and the ties that keep friends together. - inside front cover

"Change in Altitude" by Anita Shreve - a spellbinding new novel about the fragility of a young marriage .... With stunning language and striking intensity, Anita Shreve transports us to the exotic panorama of Africa and into the core of our most intimate relationships. - inside front cover

"Color of Lightening" by Paulette Jiles - an extraordinary and powerfully moving novel inspired by a true story--a heartrending tale of two American cultures separated by fatal misunderstandings...and one family that walked between them. - inside front cover

"Elegance of the Hedgehog" by Murile Barbery - "By turns very funny (particularly in Paloma's sections) and heartbreaking, Barbery never allows either of her dour narrators to get to cerebral or too sentimental. Her simple plot and sudden denouement add up to a great deal more than the sum of their parts." ---Publishers Weekly

"South of Broad" by Pat Conroy - Charleston, S.C., gossip columnist Leopold Bloom King narrates a paean to his hometown and friends...The story alternates between 1969, the glorious year Leo's coterie stormed Charleston's social, sexual and racial barricades, and 1989, when Sheba, now a movie star, enlists them to find her missing gay brother in AIDS-ravaged San Francisco. Too often the not-so-witty repartee and the narrator's awed voice (he is very fond of superlatives) overwhelm the stories surrounding the group's love affairs and their struggles to protect one another from dangerous pasts. Some characters are tragically lost to the riptides of love and obsession, while others emerge from the frothy waters of sentimentality and nostalgia as exhausted as most readers are likely to be. Fans of Conroy's florid prose and earnest melodramas are in for a treat. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. -- Publishers Weekly

"The Women" by T.C. Boyle - a sexy, gripping, fabulously entertaining drama about marriage, the bargains that men and women make, and the privilege and twisting of genius and fame... inside back cover

ADULT NON-FICTION

"Underground: My Life with the SDS and the Weathermen" by Mark Rudd - The leader of the student uprising of 1968 and founding member of the notorious Weather Underground tells his story - for the first time. Rudd speaks out about this tumultuous period, the role he played in its crucial events, and its aftermath, revealing the drama and tension. -- inside cover

MYSTERY

"Swimsuit" by James Patterson - A serial killer with an urge to break into print propels this thriller from bestseller Patterson and collaborator Paetro (4th of July). Ben Hawkins, a former L.A. cop turned reporter and author, travels to Hawaii to look into the disappearance of model Kim McDaniels, who has fallen victim to a sadistic fiend who calls himself Henri Benoit. Ben meets with Kim's distraught parents, but the investigation soon runs into dead ends, even as the body count rises. Back in Los Angeles, Henri gets in touch with Ben, and offers the story of his life and the reasons he continues with his murderous spree. As part of the deal, Henri asks the reporter to write his tell-all book. Ben can't refuse given the killer's threat to his life as well as his girlfriend's. In just one of many clever twists, Henri proves to be the consummate storyteller. Patterson fans will devour this one in a single sitting.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. -- From Publishers Weekly

DVD's

"Steve Martin is The Jerk" - Steve Martin portrays Navin Johnson, adopted son of a poor black sharecropper family, whose crazy inventions lead him from rags to riches and right back to rags. Along the way, he's smitten with a lady motorcycle racer, survives a series of screwball attacks by a deranged killer, becomes a millionaire by inventing the "Opti-grab" handle for eyeglasses - and shows why he's one of the hottest comic performers in the world.

"Castle: The Complete First Season" - Rick Castle is a world-famous crime novelist whose stories come to life when a copycat killer follows his literary blueprint. Enlisted to help the NYPD stay a step ahead of the murderer, Castle realizes working with the police can also supply him with a slew of ideas for his next book. The relationship gets a little more complicated - and a whole lot more fun - when he is paired with the attractive Detective Beckett, who doesn't appreciate Castle's unorthodox style.

"88 Minutes with Al Pacino" - a riveting thriller about a forensic psychologist who receives a phone call threatening that he has only 88 minutes to live. As the clock ticks away, tension mounts, suspicions rise and blood flows. With a serial killer he helped convict awaiting execution and a copycat killer on the loose, Jack Gramm has 88 minutes to solve the biggest murder of his career: his own.

"The Wizard of Oz: 70th Anniversary" - Young Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland), her dog, Toto, and her three companions on the yellow brick road to Oz--the Tin Man (Jack Haley), the Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr), and the Scarecrow (Ray Bolger)--have become pop-culture icons and central figures in the legacy of fantasy for children. As the Wicked Witch who covets Dorothy's enchanted ruby slippers, Margaret Hamilton has had the singular honor of scaring the wits out of children for more than six decades... The Wizard of Oz may not appeal to every taste as the years go by, but it's required viewing for kids of all ages. --Jeff Shannon

PICTURE BOOKS

"Swing" by Rufus Butler Seder - a scanimation picture book - Seeing is believing! The swimmer swims, the gymnast cartwheels, the skater twirls. Just watch these kids go. Flip the pages--it's magical -- back cover

"The Curious Garden" by Peter Brown - a magical story about a boy's dream and how the efforts on one small person can help change the world. -- inside front cover

"Amelia Bedelia's First Day of School" by Herman Parish - "Readers will giggle over Amelia's mishaps, and her genuine joie de vivre may assuage first-day fears." Publishers Weekly

"The Hair of Zoe Fleefenbacher Goes to School" by Laurie Halse Anderson - a terrific tale of hairy hijinks, classroom chaos, and the importance of teachers and students learning to work together. -- inside front cover