Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Books ordered for September


A Wanted Man (Jack Reacher Series #17)A Wanted Man (Jack Reacher Series #17)   
  • Lee Child

  • Synopsis

  • Reacher is back! A Wanted Man is a new masterpiece of suspense—from #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Child. 
    Four people in a car, hoping to make Chicago by morning. One man driving, eyes on the road. Another man next to him, telling stories that don’t add up. A woman in the back, silent and worried. And next to her, a huge man with a broken nose, hitching a ride east to Virginia. 
    An hour behind them, a man lies stabbed to death in an old pumping station. He was seen going in with two others, but he never came out. He has been executed, the knife work professional, the killers vanished. Within minutes, the police are notified.  Within hours, the FBI descends, laying claim to the victim without ever saying who he was or why he was there. 
    All Reacher wanted was a ride to Virginia. All he did was stick out his thumb. But he soon discovers he has hitched more than a ride. He has tied himself to a massive conspiracy that makes him a threat—to both sides at once. 
    In Lee Child’s white-hot thriller, nothing is what it seems, and nobody is telling the truth. As the tension rises, the twists come fast and furious, keeping readers guessing and gasping until the explosive finale.


  • The Casual VacancyThe Casual Vacancy   
  • J. K. Rowling

  • Synopsis

  • When Barry Fairweather dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock.
    Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.
    Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils…Pagford is not what it first seems.
    And the empty seat left by Barry on the town's council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?
    Blackly comic, thought-provoking and constantly surprising, The Casual Vacancy is J.K. Rowling's first novel for adults.

    All That IsAll That Is   
  • James Salter

  • Synopsis
  • A literary event—a major new novel, his first work of fiction in seven years, from the universally acclaimed master and PEN/Faulkner winner: a sweeping, seductive love story set in post-World War II America that tells of one man's great passions and regrets over the course of his lifetime.
  • From his experiences as a naval officer in battles off Okinawa during World War II, Philip Bowman returns to America and finds a position as a book editor. It was a time when publishing was still a private affair—a scattered family of small houses here and in Europe—a time of gatherings in fabled apartments, parties into the night. It is a world in which to immerse himself, a world of intimate connections and surprising triumphs. But the deal that Philip cannot seem to close is love: one marriage goes bad; another fails to happen; and, finally, he meets a woman who enthralls, then betrays him, setting him on a course he could never have imagined for himself. Written with Salter's signature economy of prose, All That Is fiercely, fluidly explores a life unfolding in a world on the brink of change: a dazzling, sometimes devastating labyrinth of love and ambition, of the small shocks and grand pleasures of being alive.

    Changeling (Order of Darkness Series #1)Changeling (Order of Darkness Series #1)   
  • Philippa Gregory

  • Synopsis
  • Dark myths, medieval secrets, intrigue, and romance populate the pages of this first in a four-book teen series from the #1 bestselling author of The Other Boleyn Girl.
  • The year is 1453 and all signs point to it being the end of the world. Accused of heresy and expelled from his monastery, handsome seventeen-year-old Luca Vero is recruited by a mysterious stranger to record the end of times across Europe. Commanded by sealed orders, Luca is sent to map the fears of Christendom and travel to the very frontier of good and evil.
    Seventeen-year-old Isolde, a Lady Abbess, is trapped in a nunnery to prevent her from claiming her rich inheritance. As the nuns in her care are driven mad by strange visions, walking in their sleep, and showing bleeding wounds, Luca is sent to investigate and driven to accuse her.
    Forced to face the greatest fears of the dark ages—witchcraft, werewolves, madness—Luca and Isolde embark on a search for truth, their own destinies, and even love as they take the unknown ways to the real historical figure who defends the boundaries of Christendom and holds the secrets of the Order of Darkness.

    One Last Strike: Fifty Years in Baseball, Ten and a Half Games Back, and One Final Championship SeasonOne Last Strike: Fifty Years in Baseball, Ten and a Half Games Back, and One Final Championship Season   
  • Tony La Russa

  • Synopsis
  • One Last Strike by legendary baseball manager Tony La Russa is a thrilling sports comeback story. La Russa, the winner of four Manager of the Year awards—who led his teams to six Pennant wins and three World Series crowns—chronicles one of the most exciting end-of-season runs in baseball history, revealing with fascinating behind-the-scenes details how, under his expert management, the St. Louis Cardinals emerged victorious in the 2011 World Series despite countless injuries, mishaps, and roadblocks along the way. Talking candidly about the remarkable season—and his All-Star players like Albert Pujols and David Freese—the recently retired La Russa celebrates his fifty years in baseball, his team’s amazing recovery from 10 ½ games back, and one final, unforgettable championship in a book that no true baseball fan will want to miss.
    The Roots of the Olive Tree

  • The Roots of the Olive Tree 
  • Courtney Miller Santo
  • Synopsis

    Meet the Keller family, five generations of firstborn women—an unbroken line of daughters—living together in the same house on a secluded olive grove in the Sacramento Valley of Northern California.

  • Anna, the family matriarch, is 112 and determined to become the oldest person in the world. An indomitable force, strong in mind and firm in body, she rules Hill House, the family home she shares with her daughter Bets, granddaughter Callie, great-granddaughter Deb, and great-great-granddaughter Erin. Though they lead ordinary lives, there is an element of the extraordinary to these women: the eldest two are defying longevity norms. Their unusual lifespans have caught the attention of a geneticist who believes they hold the key to breakthroughs that will revolutionize the aging process for everyone.
    But Anna is not interested in unlocking secrets the Keller blood holds. She believes there are some truths that must stay hidden, including certain knowledge about her origins that she has carried for more than a century. Like Anna, each of the Keller women conceals her true self from the others. While they are bound by blood and the house they share, living together has not always been easy. And it is about to become more complicated now that Erin, the youngest, is back, alone and pregnant, after two years abroad with an opera company. Her return and the arrival of the geneticist who has come to study the Keller family ignites explosive emotions that these women have kept buried and uncovers revelations that will shake them all to their roots.
    Told from varying viewpoints, Courtney Miller Santo's compelling and evocative debut novel captures the joys and sorrows of family—the love, secrets, disappointments, jealousies, and forgiveness that tie generations to one another.
    My Cool Classic Car: An Inspirational Guide to Classic Cars

    My Cool Classic Car: An Inspirational Guide to Classic Cars   
  • Chris Haddon
  • Lyndon McNeil (Photographer)

  • Synopsis
  • A celebration of our love affair with the car, from the humble Citroen 2CV to the sleek Mercedes 300 SL Roadster, with owners' stories and vehicle notes 
    Forty two vehicles from around the world are featured in this gem for vintage car and retro design enthusiasts, including the small but perfectly formed Fiat 500, the Bavarian Goggomobil, Willys WW2 Jeep, the Plymouth Belvedere with its extraordinary trademark wings, the popular and trustworthy Morris Minor, and the Mini, the design success of the 1960s. Cars are frequently an expression of their owners' personalities, and the wealth of examples and owners' stories included here are testament to this. The book also includes details of extraordinary journeys, some short and some long, that some of these cars have made—London to Mexico and 2,000-mile round trips to Italy, along with heartwarming stories of how a car has become a priceless part of the family. The photography focuses on the design specifics which have earned these cars the label "classic," while the owners' stories and accompanying vehicle notes, which explain the influence of car design on the wider design community, offer interesting insights as well as inspiration to the design conscious. It is guaranteed to leave the reader contemplating the joys of embarking on a road trip in any one of the iconic cars featured.

    Winter of the World (The Century Trilogy #2)Winter of the World (The Century Trilogy #2)   
  • Ken Follett
  • Synopsis

    Ken Follett follows up his #1 New York Times bestseller Fall of Giants with a brilliant, page-turning epic about the heroism and honor of World War II, and the dawn of the atomic age.

  • Ken Follett’s Fall of Giants, the first novel in his extraordinary new historical epic, The Century Trilogy, was an international sensation, acclaimed as “sweeping and fascinating, a book that will consume you for days or weeks” (USA Today) and “grippingly told and readable to the end” (The New York Times Book Review). “If the next two volumes are as lively and entertaining as Fall of Giants,” said The Washington Post, “they should be well worth waiting for.”
    Winter of the World picks up right where the first book left off, as its five interrelated families—American, German, Russian, English, Welsh—enter a time of enormous social, political, and economic turmoil, beginning with the rise of the Third Reich, through the Spanish Civil War and the great dramas of World War II, up to the explosions of the American and Soviet atomic bombs.
    Carla von Ulrich, born of German and English parents, finds her life engulfed by the Nazi tide until she commits a deed of great courage and heartbreak. . . . American brothers Woody and Chuck Dewar, each with a secret, take separate paths to momentous events, one in Washington, the other in the bloody jungles of the Pacific. . . . English student Lloyd Williams discovers in the crucible of the Spanish Civil War that he must fight Communism just as hard as Fascism. . . . Daisy Peshkov, a driven American social climber, cares only for popularity and the fast set, until the war transforms her life, not just once but twice, while her cousin Volodya carves out a position in Soviet intelligence that will affect not only this war—but the war to come.
    These characters and many others find their lives inextricably entangled as their experiences illuminate the cataclysms that marked the century. From the drawing rooms of the rich to the blood and smoke of battle, their lives intertwine, propelling the reader into dramas of ever-increasing complexity.
    As always with Ken Follett, the historical background is brilliantly researched and rendered, the action fast-moving, the characters rich in nuance and emotion. With passion and the hand of a master, he brings us into a world we thought we knew, but now will never seem the same again.

    Delusion in Death (In Death Series #35)Delusion in Death (In Death Series #35)   
  • J. D. Robb
  • Synopsis

    It was just another after-work happy-hour bar downtown, where business professionals unwound with a few drinks . . .until something went terribly wrong. And after twelve minutes of chaos and violence, eighty people lay dead.

    Lieutenant Eve Dallas is trying to sort out the inexplicable events. Surviving witnesses talk about seeing things—monsters and swarms of bees. They describe sudden, overwhelming feelings of fear and rage and paranoia. When forensics gives its report, the mass delusions make more sense: It appears the bar patrons were exposed to a cocktail of chemicals and illegal drugs that could drive anyone to temporary insanity—if not kill them outright.
    But that doesn’t explain who would unleash such horror—or why. And if Eve can’t figure it out fast, it could happen again, anytime, anywhere. Because it’s airborne. . . .
    Father Night: A McClure/Carson Novel

    Father Night: A McClure/Carson Novel   
  • Eric Van Lustbader
  • Synopsis

    “An eye for an eye will make the world go blind.”—Gandhi

  •  A tidal wave of reform is sweeping across the Middle East. Many lurk in the shadows, eager to seize power—giants of a vast criminal underworld, fueled by revenge and vengeance. Their wars know no end.  Their power knows no bounds. 
     At the center of it all are two men who are inches away from holding the world in their hands: one is known as Dyadya Gourdjiev and the other is known only as the Syrian.
     Department of Defense special agent Jack McClure has followed this trail of shadows and lies right into the arms of Gourdjiev’s alluring, powerful granddaughter, Annika Dementiev. The lovers are in Moscow when news of Dyadya’s failing health draws a slew of vultures—circling, anxious to seize the empire of secrets he spent a lifetime building. Jack and Annika find themselves locked in battle to ensure his safety…but when it comes to Dyadya, nothing is as it seems.
     Alli Carson, the child of a dead US president, has become Jack’s surrogate daughter. While Jack is in Russia, Alli is targeted by a cyber-stalker who knows more about her than anyone should. With no one to trust but her friend, Vera Bard, Alli is determined to discover the truth, but her path forces her to come face-to-face with the nightmarish terror of her past.
     As these two stories play out, Secretary of Defense Dennis Paull, with the help of detectives Nona Hendryx and Alan Frain, follows a trail of lies, corruption, and secret pacts that begins with Washington D.C.’s Head of Detectives.
     All paths collide at the feet of one man, an old legend adapting to an ever-changing landscape… a man history might have forsaken, but whose heinous evil is still very much alive: Father Night.
    Concussions and Our Kids: America's Leading Expert on How to Protect Young Athletes and Keep Sports Safe

    Concussions and Our Kids: America's Leading Expert on How to Protect Young Athletes and Keep Sports Safe   
  • Robert Cantu,
  •  
  • Mark Hyman
  • Synopsis

    From Washington to Quebec, from offices at the NFL to the New York Times, from the NHL players union to the soccer fields of Anytown, U.S.A., people are talking about concussions. Long believed by experts to be a silent epidemic, concussions are fast becoming the most dominating and important issue in all of sports. At the center of this crisis—and one of the key reasons for this increased awareness—is Dr. Robert Cantu, the country’s leading expert on athletic brain trauma and a pioneer in the study of the link between concussions and progressive brain disease in athletes. He has treated thousands of patients who have experienced brain trauma, from high-profile professional athletes to peewees, including young boys and girls who play soccer, football, lacrosse, hockey, and other sports. And he is on the frontlines of groundbreaking research that is changing the way sports are played.

    Concussions and Our Kids is the first prescriptive book of its kind to address the issue of head trauma in sports and provide preventive solutions to protect athletes and give guidelines for the way sports can be played safely. Dr. Cantu and sports journalist Mark Hyman have crafted a book that is part manifesto, part manual, explaining to parents and coaches what head trauma is, why it has become a focus of national attention, and why some practices in youth sports must change. They also outline the measures we can take to protect our children. Readers will learn:
    • The signs and symptoms of a concussion
    • Three concussion tests parents can give at home
    • Concussions and what “rest” really means
    • How concussions improperly treated can develop into post-concussion syndrome
    • Why total brain trauma (not just the number of concussions) is a risk factor for chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)
    • Why helmets are no guarantee of safety
    • Why concussions are prevalent in all sports, not just football and hockey And more
    Addressing what sportswriter Bill Simmons calls “the single most important issue in sports today,” this book is essential reading for parents, coaches, players, and all those interested in young athletes, their safety, and their future well-being.

    The Politics of Barbecue: A NovelThe Politics of Barbecue: A Novel   
  • Blake Fontenay
  • Synopsis

    Barbecue and politics have one thing in common: both can be messy. And nowhere is barbecue more famous or politics more strange than in Memphis, Tennessee.

  • Pete Pigg is the owner of a popular Beale Street restaurant, the Pigg Pen, where customers ogle the "Pigglette" waitresses and toss gnawed-on pork bones into strategically placed buckets. Thanks to a quirk in the city's election laws, Pigg has managed to get himself elected mayor by campaigning in quilt-patched overalls and using schmaltzy slogans like "Nobody knows how to cut pork like Mr. Pigg."
    But Mayor Pigg is no rube. He's now firmly in control of city hall and up to something sleazy. When he announces plans to build the World Barbecue Hall of Fame in Memphis, it sounds good, but something unsavory lies just below the surface.
    Even con artists trolling for taxpayer dollars, an adult filmmaker intent on making Memphis the porn capital of the East, a serial arsonist known as the Ghetto Blazer, and a nefarious Kansas City entrepreneur who made his fortune on "Rip-A-Chunk" beef jerky may be no match for Mayor Pigg's wheeling and dealing.
    It's up to an unlikely crew consisting of a cynical public relations man, a famous actress who's smarter than the roles she plays, a feisty female lawyer, an Elvis "tribute artist," and a crossbow-toting hermit to expose the truth.
    As the story moves past Memphis landmarks such as Beale Street, Graceland, and Mud Island, the unlikely group of heroes gets a glimpse into the greed and corruption all too rampant in government.


  • Bella FortunaBella Fortuna   
  • Rosanna Chiofalo

  • Synopsis
  • In this warm, enchanting debut novel, Rosanna Chiofalo evokes the extraordinary beauty of Venice, the charm of a close-knit New York neighborhood, and the joys of friendship, family, and surprising second chances. . .
  • Valentina DeLuca has made hundreds of brides' dreams come true. At Sposa Rosa, the Astoria, New York, boutique where she, her sisters, and their mother design and sew couture knock-off gowns, she can find the perfect style for even the most demanding customer. Now, it's her turn. Valentina has loved Michael Carello ever since he rescued her from a cranky shopkeeper when she was ten years old. He's handsome, chivalrous, and loyal. And in a few weeks, she's going to marry him--in Venice.
    But just when she thinks everything is falling into place, Valentina is forced to re-examine her life to see what truly makes her happy. And as she soon learns, in a place as magical as Venice, what seems like misfortune can turn out to be anything but, although who knows what may be waiting around the next corner? The chance to enjoy a moonlit gondola ride, to sip Prosecco in St. Mark's Square, to eat mouthwatering gelato, to put aside "sensible" for once and see where the warm Italian breezes guide her as she visits all the sights she's dreamed of: The Doge's Palace, Il Rialto, the little islands of Murano and Burano. And maybe, along the way, to discover that bella fortuna--good luck--isn't what you're given, but what you make.

    Low PressureLow Pressure   
  • Sandra Brown

  • Synopsis
  • Bellamy Lyston was only 12 years old when her older sister Susan was killed on a stormy Memorial Day. Bellamy's fear of storms is a legacy of the tornado that destroyed the crime scene along with her memory of what really happened during the day's most devastating moments.
  • Now, 18 years later, Bellamy has written a sensational, bestselling novel based on Susan's murder. Because the book was inspired by the tragic event that still pains her family, she published it under a pseudonym to protect them from unwanted publicity. But when an opportunistic reporter for a tabloid newspaper discovers that the book is based on fact, Bellamy's identity is exposed along with the family scandal.
    Moreover, Bellamy becomes the target of an unnamed assailant who either wants the truth about Susan's murder to remain unknown or, even more threatening, is determined to get vengeance for a man wrongfully accused and punished.
    In order to identify her stalker, Bellamy must confront the ghosts of her past, including Dent Carter, Susan's wayward and reckless boyfriend -- and an original suspect in the murder case. Dent, with this and other stains on his past, is intent on clearing his name, and he needs Bellamy's sealed memory to do it. But her safeguarded recollections -once unlocked-pose dangers that neither could foresee and puts both their lives in peril.
    As Bellamy delves deeper into the mystery surrounding Susan's slaying, she discovers disturbing elements of the crime which call into question the people she holds most dear. Haunted by partial memories, conflicted over her feelings for Dent, but determined to learn the truth, she won't stop until she reveals Susan's killer.
    That is, unless Susan's killer strikes her first...

    ZooZoo   
  • James Patterson,
  •  
  • Michael Ledwidge

  • Synopsis
  • Once in a lifetime, a writer puts it all together. This is James Patterson's best book ever.
    Total
    For 36 years, James Patterson has written unputdownable, pulse-racing novels. Now, he has written a book that surpasses all of them. ZOO is the thriller he was born to write.
    World
    All over the world, brutal attacks are crippling entire cities. Jackson Oz, a young biologist, watches the escalating events with an increasing sense of dread. When he witnesses a coordinated lion ambush in Africa, the enormity of the violence to come becomes terrifyingly clear.
    Destruction
    With the help of ecologist Chloe Tousignant, Oz races to warn world leaders before it's too late. The attacks are growing in ferocity, cunning, and planning, and soon there will be no place left for humans to hide. With wildly inventive imagination and white-knuckle suspense that rivals Stephen King at his very best, James Patterson's ZOO is an epic, non-stop thrill-ride from "One of the best of the best." (TIME)

    Robert Ludlum's The Janus ReprisalRobert Ludlum's The Janus Reprisal   
  • Jamie Freveletti

  • Synopsis
  • With U.S. intelligence agencies wracked by internal power struggles and paralyzed by bureaucracy, the president was forced to establish his own clandestine group--Covert-One. It is activated only as a last resort, when the threat is on a global scale and time is running out.
  • THE JANUS REPRISAL It begins with a terrorist attack. Covert-One operative Colonel Jon Smith is attending a conference in The Hague on infectious diseases, together with leading scientists and political figures from around the world. Without warning, the conference hotel is consumed in a bloodbath. Smith is caught in the crossfire and barely escapes . . . but not before discovering a picture of himself and two other targets in the pocket of one of the shooters.
    But the hotel is not the only location under attack in The Hague. Bombs are going off at the train station, the airport, and the International Criminal Court, where Pakistani warlord Oman Dattar is being held while he's tried for crimes against humanity. In the resulting chaos, the prisoner escapes.
    Dattar nurses a special hatred for the United States and its allies. With his freedom, and access to a mysterious new weapon, Dattar puts in motion a murderous, ambitious plot to exact his revenge and bring down the West once and for all--unless Covert-One can stop him.
  • Return to Willow Lake: The Lakeshore ChroniclesReturn to Willow Lake: The Lakeshore Chronicles   
  • Susan Wiggs

  • Synopsis
  • "The Deepest Waters is a story that's been waiting to be told for 150 years. What a blessing that Dan Walsh is the one to tell it. It is inspirational, spiritual, and miraculous—a hopeful message when the world needs it most."—Jason F. Wright, New York Times bestselling author, The Wednesday Letters
  • For John and Laura Foster, what began as a fairytale honeymoon in 1857 aboard the steamship SS Vandervere soon becomes a nightmare. A terrible hurricane strikes and the grand ship is lost in the murky depths of the Atlantic. Laura finds herself rescued with the other women and children, but how can she feel anything but despondent without her groom? Suspecting her John is gone but still daring to hope for a miracle, Laura must face the possibility of life alone.
    Talented author Dan Walsh skillfully tells an epic story of hope, faith, and love through an intimate lens. Inspired by real events, this emotional and honest story will capture your heart as you sail through its pages.
    "A delightful story that took me back to an era when men were gallant and women were virtuous. Dan Walsh fully immersed me in a fascinating world and left me longing for the movie."—James L. Rubart, bestselling author, Rooms and Book of Days
    Dan Walsh is the award-winning author of The Unfinished Gift and The Homecoming. A member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Dan served as a pastor for 25 years. He lives with his family in the Daytona Beach area, where he's busy researching and writing his next novel.
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