HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

January 1, 2009

Calendar Muchachas-

This marvelous, colorful illustrated history of a popular art from was years in the making, and it's both a treat for the eye and an unusual piece of cultural history. Bilingual text explains the background of the calendars and provides biographies of the artists. With a foreward by renowned Mexican cultural critic Carlos Monsivalis.

Title- Mexican Calendar Girls(Chicas De Calendarios Mexicanos

Author-Angela Villalba
Published-2006 by Chronicle Books

January 2, 2009

In Janet Evanovich's 13th series mystery, Stephanie Plum, the scrappy bounty hunter from Trenton, N.J., is up to her cute little neck in the familiar cast of characters(ex-husband Dickie, charismatic sometime boyfirend Joe, sexy colleague Ranger, eccentric Grandma Mazure), as well as new adventures in money laundring, drug running, and of course, murder. A delightful dish of laughs and adrenaline from a much-loved series. Publishers Weekly starred reviewed.

Title- Lean Mean Thirteen
Author- Janet Evanovich
Published-2007 by St. Martin's Press

January 3, 2009

Eat Your Heart Out, France-

Once upon a time America was a land of canned vegetables. Dinner out was a grilled steak and a baked potato. No longer. We have become a land of foodies, gobbling up fresh spinach and broccoli rabe. We dine out on sushi and tapa--and we crave things like the deconstructed osso buco with saffron orzo, cavolo nero, and chestnut gremolata at Babbo. Whence did this gastronomic revolution come? David Kamp says James Beard, Julia Child, and Craig Claiborne led the way, and he gives us the full page-turning story. Better have something to snack on as you digest Kamp's first-rate account.

Title- The United States of Arugula: How We Became a Gourmet Nation
Author-David Kamp
Published-2006 by Broadway Books

January 4, 2009

A Brooklyn State of Mind-

A shady old place, Brooklyn is brimming with stories and rich with an atmosphere of striving and mystery. Tim McLoughlin has gathered together 19 stories that show Brooklyn's ever-fascinating ways with wickedness. From Pete Hamill's Park Slope in "The Book Signing" to Abraham Pearl's Wiliamsburg in "Hasidic Noir," McLoughlin's collection takes us to a borough of sly intrigue and delicious mendacity.

Akashic Books has published a whole Noir series, which includes anthologies set in Los Angeles, Chicago, London, and other perfidious places--even the Twin Cities.

Title-Brooklyn Noir
Author-edited by Tim McLoughlin
Published- 2004 by Akashic Books

January 5, 2009

What Would Xerxes Think?


Iran, one of George Bush's "axis of evel" countries, is governed by ayatollahs and religious fanatics and seems to Americans a place of anger and confusion. But Jason Elliot's travels through what was once the Persian Empire have revealed to him a nation of diverse and fascinating people: tribal horsemen, remote villagers, and sophisticated urbanites in Tehran who, when out of sight of the mullahs, kick back and relax with a drink--the women enjoying life as freely as the men do. Elliot, one of our finest travel writers, presents this intriguing world with enthusiasm and style.

Title-Mirrors of the Unseen: Journeys in Iran
Author-James Elliot
Published-2006 by St. Martin's Press

January 6, 2009

Curl Up By The Fire-

"That was how Tucker Coulter first saw her--standing toe-to-toe with a man twice her size." She is Samantha Harrigan, and she is trying to save a horse from its abusive owner. Tucker takes her side, and so begins another Catherine Anderson love story--a reliable mixture of sweetness and emotional vacillation, with a pinch of suspense, horses, of course, and a happy ending. A very cozy romance for a cold winter's night.

Title-Sun Kissed
Author-Catherine Anderson
Published-2007 by Signet

January 7, 2009

A Kind of Genius-

In a captivating first-person account of life with autism, Daniel Tamnmet tells of his double-edged life of amazing gifts and bizarre handicaps. Ultimately, his story is one of triumph and transcendence. Besides the usual astounding abilities of such people(he can recite pi out to the 22,514th digit, for instance,and learned a foreign language in a single week), Tammet is also a gifted storyteller. Booklist said(in a starred review) that Tammet writes with "the clearest prose this side of Hemingway."

Title: Born On A Blue Day: Inside The Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant
Author-Daniel Tammet
Published-2007 by Simon&Schuster

January 8, 2009

That War To End War-

After giving us bestselling novels set during the Civil War and the Revolutionary War, Jeff Shaara turns his his talent for vivifying military history to World War I. "Black Jack" Pershing, the "Red Baron" Manfred von Richthofen, and marine private Roscoe Temple are three of the major characters who come alive in this engrossing narration of brutal,total warfare. The book has earned praise for such military masters as General Tommy Franks and General Wesley Clark.

Title-To The Last Man: A Novel of the First World War
Author-Jeff Shaara
Published-2005 by Ballantine Books

January 9, 2009

Class in America-

Americans like to think that they live in an almost classless society, but this book, by a team of reporters at The New York Times, reveals a much more complex class structure with many social, economic, and occupational strata. No mere collection of statistics and theories, the book is made up of engaging stories about individuals and their experiences: a Mexican line cook, a Greek diner owner, a foster child who became a lawyer, heart attack victims, the wife of an executive who is scrambling his way up the corporate hierarchy. Class Matter provides an interesting and thought-provoking insight into today's society.

Title- Class Matters
Author-The New York Times and Bill Keller
Published-2005 by Times Books

January 10, 2009

No Business Like Cop Business-

The Sergeant known as "The Oracle" oversees a collection of cops who work out of the LAPD's Hollywood Station: Flotsam and Jetsam, a couple of surfers; Budgie Polk, an unwed mother; Fausto Gamboa, a somewhat cranky and aging officer; and others. Joseph Wambaugh is a master of the southern-California crime novel. With edgy black humor and his own experience in the LAPD, he possesses an exceptional talent for combining cops and lowlifes to create high-energy, compulsively readable stories. Starred reviews from both Publishers Weekly and Booklist.

Title-Hollywood Station
Author-Joseph Wambaugh
Published-2006 by Vision

January 11, 2009

Father and Son and the Rest-

One night after an argument with his son, Jack Crystal went bowling and died of a heart attack. It was a devastating blow for the 15-year-old boy. But hey grew up and became Billy Crystal. In this book(and in a Tony Award-winning Broadway show), he conveys the richness of the approximately 700 Sundays he enjoyed with his father and the rest of his not quite ordinarily family. Crystal tells great stories of a Long Island childhood that inluded going to the movies with Billie Holiday, and Louis Armstrong showing up at the family seder. A book as sharp, warm, and funny as its author.

Title-700 Sundays
Author- Billy Crystal
Published-2006 by Grand Central

January 12, 2009

Another Unhappy Family-

Bruce Wagner brings his dark, jaundiced eye and startling verbal virtuosity to bear on a family of four Los Angeles souls adrift in modern angst as they try to paddle their way toward some sort of redemption. Wagner is known for his caustic takes on celebrity and the pop shallows of the American scene, and there's plenty of that here. But a real sympathy ultimately informs these characters and their longings. Wagner isn't for everyone, but if you like Didion and Nathanael West, this might be a voice you've been waiting for.

Title- Memorial
Author-Bruce Wagner
Published-2006 by Simon&Schuster

January 13, 2009

1812-

This engrossing account of the war that established America's independence once and for all and further established its claims on the North American continent is rich with great personalities--both the famous(Jefferson, Jackson, Madison and his wife, Dolley) and the lesser-known(Zebulon, Pike, Stephen Decatur, Oliver Perry, the Shawnee chief Tecumseh). Their lives are the stuff of legend, and A.J. Langguth has brought them together into a scholarly and absorbing read.

Title- Union 1812: The Americans Who Fought The Second War of Independence
Author-A.J. Langguth
Published-2006 by Simon&Schuster

January 14, 2009

Chile Con Carne-

In her 15th book, Isabel Allende gives us a sweeping, ambitious historical epic. It is literally a rags-to-riches story of the little seamstress, Dona Ines Suarez(1507-1580), who followed her husband from Spain to Peru and, after he was killed, found passionate love and a worthy cause, eventually setting up a new colony in Chile with Don Pedro de Valdiva. Publishers Weekly starred review.

Title-Ines Of My Soul
Author-Isabel Allende; translated from the Spanhish by Margaret Sayers Peden
Published-2006 by HarperCollins

January 15, 2009

City of Shadow-

In this secret history, we are shown a Paris of workers, artists, flaneurs, alchemists, bohemians, drunkards, and prostitutes. This is not the Paris of the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, but of the Palais-Royal, where erotic pleasures were pursued during the revolution; and the cemetery of the Saints-Innocents, where the soil was once believed my necromancers to have magical properties. Exhilirating stuff and worthy of the city that inspired it.

Title-Paris:The Secret History
Author-Andrew Hussey
Published-2006 by Bloomsbury, USA

January 16, 2009

Remembrance-

Forgetfullness was all Thomas Railles wished for after terrorists murdered his wife. It wasn't possible, of course, nor even desirable. But he also wanted to avoid mindless vengeance, "the anger of the American...after September 11." This thriller of CIA agents, terrorists, and an artists(a former agent himself) whose world has been shattered analyzes--with subtlety, maturity, intelligence--themes that have preoccupied Americans since 2001.

Title- Forgetfullness
Author- Ward Just
Published-2006 by Houghton Mifflin

January 17, 2009

Fear and Trembling-

Allen Shawn is the son of the great New York editor William Shawn and the brother of actor and playwright Wallace Shawn. He has his own very distinctive story to tell, one of crippling phobias(his fears include subways, elevators, bridges, open spaces, closed spaces, and heights), a fther with similar anxieties, and an autistic sister. Educated in Freudian studies and the latest brain research, he has written a lucid and evocative account of a difficult yet productive life.

Title-Wish I Could Be There: Notes From A Phobic Life
Author-Allen Shawn
Published-2007 by Viking

January 18, 2009

Fans of Tony Hillerman's Navajo series(Skinwalkers, A Theif of Time, and Coyote Waits) will be glad to see Joe Leaphorn playing a more prominent role here, in a mystery that revolves around a native "storyteller" rug with magical and malign properties. A strong feature is Hillerman's gentle, observant style and rich insights into Navajo culture. Publisher's Weekly starred reviewed.

Title-The Shape Shifter
Author-Tony Hillerman
Published-2006 by HaperCollins

January 19, 2009

Poe Lives-

America, it's time to get out your "Annabel Lee", your "Purloined Letter", your "Teltale Heart", and your bells, bells, bells, bells! Two hundred years ago today, one of America's great orginals came into the world, and by the time he mysteriously expired a mere 40 years later, he had changed the landscape of literature forever. Harold Bloom called this subperb edition of Poe's works the "first truly dependable collection." But even if you have only a beat-up high school paperback, pull it down from the shelf tonight and remind yourself of the unique and eerie genius of a Poe tale or poem.

Title- Edgar Allan Poe: Poetry and Tales
Author- Edgar Allan Poe; edited by Patrick F. Quinn
Published-1984 by Library of America

January 20, 2009

Eye Opener-

The murder of Theo Van Gogh--a well known fimmaker and personality in the Netherlands--by an Islamic radical in November 2004 shocked the world. But Ian Buruma, an American journalist born in Holland, realized that there was a story far beyond what seemed to be another terrorist act, a story that has its roots in European rather than U.S. history. He describes a fascinating arc of domestic policy through the eyes of the Dutch.

Title-Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo Van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance

Author-Ian Buruma
Published-2006 by Penguin Press

January 21, 2009

Love and/or Sex-

The author of Caught Inside and Looking for Mo delivers a coming-of-age tale set in Berkeley, California, as a grad student "Harp" becomes enmeshed in the sexy spell of neurotic Joan, while sweet Shauna waits around for him with nice vegetarian meals. Spicy and up-to-date, with humor and well-placed lampoons of academic political correctness.

Title- A Mouth Like Yours
Author-Daniel Duane
Published-2005 by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux

January 22, 2009

Ye Gods-

Weighing in at around 700 pages, Ramesh Menon's vibrant retelling of the Ramayana, the Indian classic from around 300 BCE, has been hailed as a classic in its own right. The magnitude and magnificence of Prince Rama's epic struggles, part ripping good story, part history, part scripture, will fascinated as no mere dry history of this subcontinent and its literature could.

Title-The Ramayana: A Modern Retelling of the Great Indian Epic

Author-Ramesh Menon
Published-2004 by North Point

January 23, 2009

That's Style-

With contributions by Susan Sontag, Irving Penn, Helmut Newton, Annie Leibowitz, Anna Wintour, and others, this handsome volume captures the illustrious scope of Vogue, the world's most famous fashion magazine, from its beginnings in 1892 to today.The New York Times Book Review called it "substantive and sumptuous".

Title-In Vogue: The Illustrated History of the World's Most Famous Fashion Magazine

Author- Alberto Oliva and Norberto Angeletti
Published-2006 by Rizzoli

January 24, 2009

Classic For All Time-

Known as Pliny the Elder, Gaius Plinius Secundus(23-79 CE) produced the Western world's first encyclopedia, in 37 books. This selection, even at around 450 pages, is only a teaser, but it is still chock-full of the wonderful, the marvelous, the bizarre, the minute, and the colossal. Anthony Doerr(author of Four Seasons in Rome) says of the work, "His subject is the universe, from stars all the way down to polyps...a panorama of an ancient world crawling with myth and misinformation, but also elegant and ordered and deeply beautiiful."

Title- Natural History: A Selection
Author-Pliny the Elder;introduction and translation by John F. Healey
Published-1991 by Penguin Classics

January 25, 2009

Food For Fido-

With the pet-food scare of 2007 still fresh in our minds, a cookbook for our furry companions is welcome and perhaps necessary. This one has a twist: Almost all the recipes can be eaten by the cook, too. Includes sections on nutrition for dogs, foods that must be avoided, and fun party ideas for canines.

Title-The Dog Ate It: Cooking For Yourself and Your Four-Legged Friends
Author-Linda West Eckhardt and Barbara Bradley with Judy Kern
Published-2006 by Gotham Books

January 26, 2009

Money Talks-

Showing that capitalism comes in different shapes and sizes, the authors skillfully document four varieties and describe how America can sustain prosperity and growth in the years to come and what developing countries can do to stay in the game. "A daring book with big, bold, important ideas," says George Akerlof, 2001 Nobel Laureate in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Title-Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism, and the Economics of Growth and Prosperity
Author-William Baumol, Robert Litan, and Carl Schramm
Published-2007 by Yale University Press

January 27, 2009

British author Ian Samsom(The Impartial Recorder) gives us a hilarious mystery series set in Northern Ireland and starring Israel Armstrong, a bumbling, loveable, vegetarian nebbish of a librarian who takes a new job with a mobile library. Even while you're laughing out loud, you get a real sense of Ireland's present realities. Marvelous characters and situations. Booklist starred review.

Title- The Case of the Missing Books: A Mobile Library Mystery
Author-Ian Samsom
Published-2007 Harper Paperbacks

Title-Mr. Dixon Disappears: A Mobile Library Mystery
Author-Same
Published-Same

January 28, 2009

Punkadelic-

If you lived in New York in the 1970s and 1980a, or even just passed through, you probably heard of CBGB's, a hole-in-the-wall in a seedy section of the Bowery. Just hearing about it, though, would not have illuminated the real story that emerges here. It is a rich tale of the vitality, talent, and anger that fueled the punk movement, featuring mavericks such as CBGB owner Hilly Kristal, Lou Reed, the Ramones, Blondie, and the Beastie Boys.

Title-The Heebie-Jeebies At CBGB's: A Secret History of Jewish Punk
Author- Steven Lee Beeber
Published-2006 by Chicago Review Press

January 29, 2009

RX For The Blues-

What a treat--400pages of the dlicious, oddball humor and the shaky, incredibly detailed pastel drawings of Roz Chast, longtime contributor to The New Yorker. "Everything" means mothers-in-law, children, pets, neuroses, urban life, travel...the works. You don't have to be a New Yorker to love this zany national treasure.

Title-Theories of Everything: Selected, Collected, and Health Inspected Cartoons 1978-2006
Author-Roz Chast
Published-2006 by Bloomsbury, USA

January 30, 2009

If you were a fan of The West Wing, you'll love curling up with this one. Brad Meltzer gives us a recognizable White House and Washington,D.C., real flesh-and-blood characters, plenty of political scandal, and a walloping good mystery involving President Leland Manning and his top aides.

Title-The Book of Fate
Author-Brad Meltzer
Published-2007 by Vision

January 31, 2009

Don't Drink The Water-

In 1854, London(then a city of about 2 million) ws hit by the worst--though by no means the first--cholera epidemic in its history. Prevailing notions of how the disease was caused featured ideas as far-fetched as the "miasma theory". Here is the compelling story of Dr. John Snow's persevering search for the real source, and of how cities and societies evolve in response to events. Publishers Weekly.

Title- The Ghost Map: Th Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic and How it Changed Cities, Science, and the Modern World.

Author-Steven Johnson
Published-2006 by Riverhead

February 1, 2009

This unquantifiable masterpiece is divided into seven chapters, each named after a stage in the alchemical pursuit of perfection and knowledge. It invites you to examine and create a world out of the materials of the world, bot real and imaginary(invoking the whole Dewey decimal system of human knowledge). Each exhibit has an interactive paper model, its own Muse, and its own beauty. Be prepared to think, dream, and create. Publishers Weekly starred review.

Title-The Museum of Lost Wonder
Author-Jeff Hoke
Published-2006 by Weiser Books

February 2, 2009

Tell Me A Story-

If you don't believe in happy endings or don't want to hear about them, this book isn't for you. But if you do believe, you will be amply rewarded. Elise Valmorbida(Matilde Waltzing) interviewed many couples with extremely different,often harrowing, stories, all with happy endings. Better than Santa Claus. "Rare and precious...[Valmorbida:] writes like an angel."--John Madden, director, Shakespeare in Love

Title-The Book of Happy Endings: True Stories About Finding Love
Author- Elise Valmorbida
Published-2007 by Cyan Communications

February 3, 2009

Zombies Among Us-

In a sequel to The Zombie Survival Guide(2003), Max Brooks gives us another seemingly journalistic account of life with zombies from every important angle: political, social, domestic, military, international, and personal. Like every good parody, it points outs what is desperately wrong in the world--even before zombies get here.

Title-World War Z: AN Oral History of The Zombie War
Author-Max Brooks
Published-2006 by Crown


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February 4, 2009

Have Some Desert-

Gemma Bastian goes to Egypt, newar Nag Hammadi, to investigate the mysterious death of her archaeologist father, and becomes entangled in his studies: the role of women in early Christianity and translations of apocryphal gospels of Philip, Thomas, and Mary Magdalen. A cast of interesting characters who deal in antiquities and these provocative texts, as well as two brothers who become romantically involved with her, and great period details make this a fun addition to the ever-growing Da Vinci Code knockoffs.

Title-Resurrection
Author-Tucker Malarkey
Published-2006 by Riverhead

February 5, 2009

What A Read-

Between the tiime John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln on April 14, 1865, escaping Ford's Theater on a waiting horse, and April 26, when he was smoked out of a barn in Virginia and shot, were 12 days of unrelenting tension, outrage, ingenuity on the part of both pursuers and pursued, and finally a cathartic conclusion that leap off the pages of this book in living, fire-breathing history. Publishers Weekly stareed review.

Title-Manhunt: The 12 Day Chase For Lincoln's Killer
Author-James L. Swanson
Published-2007 by Harper Perennial

February 6, 2009

When journalist Ridley Jones discovers that her "late uncle" Max Smiley is not only alive but also her real father--and a criminl--she starts digging in, and then keeps on digging. Though what she finds seems to be never-ending, unsavory, hard to believe, and difficult to digest, you'll want to stay with her all the way. Following the success of Beautiful Lies, Lisa Unger delivers a thriller that has inspired comparisons to masters such as Peter Straub. Publishers Weekly starred reviewed.

Title-Sliver of Truth
Author-Lisa Unger
Published-2007 by Shaye Areheart

"Between the tiime John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln on April 14, 1865, escaping Ford's Theater on a waiting horse, and April 26, when he was smoked out of a barn in Virginia and shot, were 12 days of unrelenting tension, outrage, ingenuity on the part of both pursuers and pursued, and finally a cathartic conclusion that leap off the pages of this book in living, fire-breathing history."

According to the Booth family, news of John Wilkes's slaughter was Pinkerton covering their arse. According to the family, John escaped to live to a ripe old age in Kansas or Missouri. According to the family, my late husband's mother and thus my late husband were direct descendents.

February 7, 2009

A Major Talent-

The author of two acclaimed graphic novels, Persepolis and Persepolis 2, turns here to the story of her Uncle, well-known musician, who dies of grief eight days after his wife breaks his prized tar(a lutelike instrument)over her knee during an argument. His life, loves, career, and sadness are treated as a free-flowing hallucination by Marjane Satrapi with her signature humor and cultural tidbits, all told with powerful black-and-white illustrations.

Title-Chicken with Plums
Author-Marjane Satrapi
Published-2006 by Pantheon

February 8, 2009

Crime and Punishment-

The setting is Boston in 1963, when the Strangler held the city in fear. But the real focus is on the family of a slain cop: his three complex, troubled sons and his widow, who is being courted by his former partner. The themes of love, loyalty, honesty, and revenge build movingly and powerfully toward a steamroller finish.

Title-The Strangler
Author-William Landay
Published-2007 by Delacorte Press

As this topic is ovbiously a One Woman Show for posting not for reading and/or discussion I will withdraw.

February 9,2009

The Nose Knows-

Chandler Burr, perfume critic for The New York Times, takes as his subject Luca Turin, a maverick biophysicist and lover of scents who develops a theory of smell, a mystery that has spawned a $20-billion-a-year industry and more than a few romances and obsessions over the centuries. Turin was rebuffed, dismissed, even ridiculed at every turn by perfumers and by the scientific community. Burr's sparkling reporting and Turin's intriguing personality make wonderful reading. (For more, see Turin's own book, The Secret of Scent: Adventures in Perfume and the Science of Smell, Ecco, 2006.)

Title-The Emperor of Scent: A True Story of Perfume and Obsession
Author-Chandler Burr
Published-2004 by Arrow Books

Peggy,

I just post what is exactly written from the 2009 Page-a-Day calendar...Book Lover's Edition.

Fine but what's the point if there's no discussion?

February 10, 2009

Epic Battles-

In the third of the Saxon Chronicles series, set in A.D. 878, the Saxons, Christians, and Scots are in the thick of the battle for what will become Great Britain. You will cheer for the young Saxon warrior Uhtred, as valiant in love and war as anyone could wish and imbued with complexities of doubt andmercy by master storyteller Bernard Cornwell.

Title-Lords of the North
Author-Bernard Cornwell
Published-2007 by HarperCollins

February 11, 2009

Windows of the World-

Alain de Botton,(How Proust Can Change Your Life) believes that "buildings speak....They speak of democracy or aristocracy, openess or arrogance, welcome or threat, a sympathy for the future or a hankering for the past." He has been listening to what buildings say, and the result is a passionate, learned, yet very personal conversation about how architecture, both private and public, interacts with people, cities, and societies. The widely traveled and erudite author is the perfect companion for this unusual and eye-opening tour.

Title-The Architecture of Happiness
Author- Alain de Botton
Published-2006 by Pantheon

February 12, 2009

Natural Selection At Work-

You might commemorate today, Charles Darwin's 200th birthday, by breezing through The Origin of Species. In case you're in the mood for lighter fare, though, may we recommend this latest in the ever-inspiring seres the Darwin Awards, which honors "those who improve our gene pool by inadvertently removing themselves from it." To give you an idea of what awaits of what awaits: The farmer who protected himself from bees by tying a plastic bag over his head; the man who tried to weld a hand grenade to a chain; the homeowner who solved his termite problem by filling his house with natural gas. Endlessly entertaining.

Title- The Darwin Awards 4: Intelligent Design
Author-Wendy Northcutt and Christopher M. Kelly
Published-2006 by Dutton

February 13, 2009 Friday the 13th How's your luck?

In this sequel to the excellent Sacred Cut(2005), detectives Nic Costa and Gianni Peroni have been reassigned to Venice after incurring the displeasure of the powers that be in Rome. They will be allowed to return only when they have done the paperwork on the murder of a woman by her glassmaker husband. Once they and their boss, Leo Falcone, are drawn into the labyrinthine lure of Venice and Murano, however, the investigation turns very, very interesting. Rich character studies and beautiful writing are hallmarks of this wonderful crime series. Publishers Weekly starred review.

Title-The Lizard's Bite
Author-David Hewson
Published-2007 by Dell

February 14, 2009 Happy Valentine's Day

Broken Hearts and Then Some-

Has any couple ever fallen as deeply, unreservedly, and tragically in love as Abelard and Heloise? He was her tutor and she was only 18 when they met. Their love survived castration and banishment and much, much more. It is one of the great love stories of all time, and, unlike Romeo and Juliet's, it is entirely true. To top it off, James Burge has found additional material and has retold and analyzed the 12th-century love story in this excellent biography.

Title-Heloise&Abelard: A New Biography
Author-James Burge
Published-2006 by HarperSanFrancisco

Title-The Letters of Abelard and Heloise
Author-Translated from the Latin by Betty Radice, revised by M.T. Clancy
Published-1943;2004 by Penguin Classics

February 15, 2009

Father Love-

Adam Gopnik has beguiled readers of The New Yorker for years with reports from Paris and now, with two children in tow, in New York. His willingness to enter, metaphorically and literally, the Children's Gate(a section of Central Park) make him an ideal observer as he turns his curious, gentle, and meticulous eye to parenting, city-dwelling, writing, and the mysterious persona of Charles Ravioli, his daughter's imaginary playmate, who finds it impossible to fit her into his busy schedule.

Title-Through The Children's Gate: A Home In New York
Author-Adam Gopnik
Published-2006 by Knopf