NEW ARRIVALS

ADULT FICTION

"Chasing Fire" by Nora Roberts -  "This book celebrates the smoke jumpers of Missoula, Mont., who routinely risk life and limb to beat down raging forest fires. As close knit as any military combat unit, the "Zulies" include veteran Rowan Tripp, haunted by the loss of Jim Brayner, her onetime jump partner who was killed the previous season in a fall, and rookie Gulliver Curry, who soon earns the nickname "Fast Feet" for his speed and prowess. Threatening trouble is cook Dolly Brakeman, Jim's girlfriend, who blames Rowan for his death—and whose new baby may well be Jim's. Rowan and Gull grow closer as the team battles fires from Montana and Idaho to California and Alaska. Meanwhile, the Zulies are plagued by vandalism and sabotage as well as a killer with arson among his crimes. Roberts fans can expect another bestseller. -- Publisher's Weekly

"The Land of Painted Caves" by Jean M. Auel - "Spellbinding drama, meticulous research, fascinating detail, and superb narrative skill combine to make The Land of the Painted Caves a captivating,, utterly unbelievable creation of a civilization that resonates long after the reader has turned the last page"--inside back cover


"The Passages of H. M.: A Novel of Herman Melville" by Jay Parini --"Once again Jay Parini has taken us into literary imagination, cultural history, and biography through his ingenious fiction. In The Passage of H.M. we encounter the inner life and conflicts of one of the seminal minds of American literature...This is a novel of startling and inventive journeys, and no reader will come away from it seeing Melville the same. -- Peter Balkian, author of Black Dog of Fate

"Pym" by Mat Johnson -- "Pym reframes far more than Poe--it reframes everything American, from the whiteness of Ahab's whale to Detroit bus drivers; from DNA testing to tenure review; from the Gatsbyesque dream of romantic love to the dream of Utopia; from our fear of life to our love of death. No one writes inside the brilliant mind better." -- Alice Randall, author of The Wind Done Gone

"Sing You Home" by Jodi Picoult -- "Sing You Home is about identity, love, marriage, and parenthood. It's about people wanting to do the right thing for the greater good, even as they work to fulfill their own personal desires and dreams. And it's about what happens when the outside world brutally calls into question the very thing closest to our hearts: family." -- inside front cover

ADULT NON-FICTION

"Liberty Defined: 50 Essential Issues that Affect Our Freedom"" by Ron Paul -- "An indispensable guide to the thinking of an honorable American rebel who believes that those who preside over our fates on Capitol Hill have routinely betrayed the word and spirit of the American Revolution." -- New York Sun

"On China" by Henry Kissinger - "Nobody living can claim greater credit than Mr. Kissinger for America's 1971 opening to Beijing, after more than two decades of estrangement, and for China's subsequent opening to the world. So it's fitting that Mr. Kissinger has now written On China, a fluent, fascinating...book that is part history, part memoir and above all an examination of the premises, methods and aims of Chinese foreign policy." -The Wall Street Journal

"Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-1962" by Frank Dikotter - "Mao's Great Famine is a gripping and masterful portrait of the brutal court of Mao, based on new research but also written with great narrative verve, that tells the story of the man-made famine that killed 45 million people." -- Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Stalin, The Court of the Red Tsar 


 BIOGRAPHY

 
"In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin" by Erik Larson -- "A hugely engrossing chronicle of events public and private. Exceedingly well-documented, exhaustive without being excessive, and utterly facsinating." -- Chicago Tribune 
 
"Bossypants" by Tina Fey -- "From her lifetime pursuit of the perfect Beauty Routine to the oversold joys of breastfeeding, from her whirlwind tour of duty as the Other Sarah Palin on "Saturday Night Live" to her early days in the comedy trenches - Tina Fey puts her unique and endlessly funny mark on modern life, work, marriage, and motherhood." -- Amazon.com

"Washington: A Life" by Ron Chernow --"A vastly enlightening, overwhelmingly engaging treatment of a great man ...another book on Washington? is a question rendered pointless by this one, which happens to be the author's masterpiece. Definitive Washington is the point and effect of this biography."
-Booklist

MYSTERY

"The Sixth Man" by David Baldacci -"Edgar Roy-an alleged serial killer held in a secure, fortress-like Federal Supermax facility-is awaiting trial. He faces almost certain conviction. Sean King and Michelle Maxwell are called in by Roy's attorney, Sean's old friend and mentor Ted Bergin, to help work the case. But their investigation is derailed before it begins-en route to their first meeting with Bergin, Sean and Michelle find him murdered.

It is now up to them to ask the questions no one seems to want answered: Is Roy a killer? Who murdered Bergin? With help from some surprising allies, they continue to pursue the case. But the more they dig into Roy's past, the more they encounter obstacles, half-truths, dead-ends, false friends, and escalating threats from every direction. Their persistence puts them on a collision course with the highest levels of the government and the darkest corners of power. In a terrifying confrontation that will push Sean and Michelle to their limits, the duo may be permanently parted." -- inside front cover

"Eve" by Iris Johansen -- "the forensic sculptor zeros in on the kidnapper and serial killer who years earlier abducted and murdered her seven-year-old daughter, Bonnie. Eve's obsession with the case draws in her good friend, CIA agent Catherine Ling, as well as her lover and would-be protector, police detective Joe Quinn. In spite of their problematic relationships due to Eve's protracted and intense search, Ling and Quinn work together to call in favors and pursue every possible lead. Their joint efforts uncover a cadre of sharply drawn malefactors who may be deeply involved, notably emotionally unstable John Gallo, Eve's former lover and Bonnie's father, who spent six years as a prisoner in North Korea. The explosive finale set in the Wisconsin woods leads to an emotional cliffhanger, as Johansen deftly baits the hook for the next volume.

"The Snowman" by Jo Nesb0 - "With Henning Mankell having written his last Wallander novel and Stieg Larsson no longer with us, I have had to make the decision on whom to confer the title of best current Nordic writer of crime fiction. After finishing Jo Nesb0's The Snowman, I hestitate no longer...This is crime writing of the highest order." -- Marcel Berlins, The Times (London)

AUDIO - JUVENILE

"The Danger Box" by Blue Balliett -"A sight-impaired boy in a small town becomes part of a big mystery involving a curious girl, a box containing a mysterious notebook, a fire, a stranger and a death." -- Brodart