The Short List

More great new books are arriving every day. Here is just a sample of our new arrivals:

Hallam’s War by Elizabeth Rosen ~~ “Rosen paints a balanced picture of antebellum life and writes convincingly about the horrors of combat. (Her description of field hospitals is especially chilling.) Civil War buffs in particular will welcome this thoughtful historical novel.” Publishers Weekly

Inside Egypt: the land of the Pharaohs on the brink of a revolution by John R. Bradley ~~ Five decades after Nasser and the Free Officers overthrew the British-backed monarchy in a dramatic coup d’état, the future of Egypt grows more uncertain by the day. John Bradley examines the junctions of Egyptian politics and society as they slowly disintegrate under the twin pressures of a ruthless military dictatorship at home and a flawed Middle East policy in Washington.

Lamentations Of The Father by Ian Frazier ~~ Frazier’s work is funny and elegant and poetic and of the highest literary aspiration, all at the same time.

Rivals: how the power struggle between China, India and Japan will shape our next decade by Bill Emmott ~~ The former editor in chief of the Economist returns to the territory of his bestselling book The Sun Also Sets to lay out an entirely fresh analysis of the growing rivalry between China, India, and Japan and what it will mean for America, the global economy, and the twenty-first-century world.

The Demon Of Dakar by Kjell Eriksson ~~ In The Demon of Dakar, Ann Lindell and her motley crew of colleagues are faced with a most baffling murder case in which all clues lead straight back to a popular local restaurant named Dakar. The owner, Slobodan Andersson, has some shady connections in his past, and his partner’s reputation is equally murky. The kitchen crew is not above suspicion, either. The meat chef is an oddball, to say the least, while unbeknownst to the rest, the newest hire’s personal life is a tangled web of lies. Even Eva Willman, the seemingly blameless older woman returning to the workforce as a waitress, has skeletons in her closet. And then the tension rachets up a number of notches as it becomes apparent that one murder has not satisfied the killer in the least.

Dream Lucky when Franklin was in the White House, Count Basie was on the radio, and everyone wore a hat by Roxane Orgill ~~ Dream Lucky covers politics, race, religion, arts, and sports, but the central focus is the period’s soundtrack—specifically big band jazz—and the big-hearted piano player William “Count” Basie. His ascent is the narrative thread of the book—how he made it and what made his music different from the rest. But many other stories weave in and out: Amelia Earhart pursues her dream of flying “around the world at its waistline.” Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., stages a boycott on 125th Street. And Mae West shocks radio listeners as a naked Eve tempting the snake.

Fidelity by Thomas Perry ~~ When Phil Kramer is shot dead on a deserted suburban street in the middle of the night, his wife, Emily, is left with an emptied bank account and a lot of questions. How could Phil leave her penniless? What was he going to do with the money? And, most of all, who was he if he wasn’t the man she thought she married?

Fathers And Sins by Jo Bannister ~~ When Robin Firths son Mouse is blamed for a fatal car crash, Robins fury stuns both the boy and Agnes, his new wife. Then the village church burns down, and suspicion falls on Mouse. And then there’s the interest of a band of New Age travelers in the improbable survival of the church’s relic. Its supposed to be a Crusader banner, but that just doesn’t make any sense . . .

The Essex Library now has a teen blog available. It is a space where teens in the Essex area can make the library their own. Find out about teen programs, books and interesting web sites. We’re looking for feedback from our local teens, so log on and let us know what you’d like to see and do at the Library.

On Sunday, June 1st at 4:00pm, the Essex Library will host a presentation and book signing by Jan Mann, author of Cruising Connecticut with a Picnic Basket. With the price of gas expected to soar even higher this summer, many Connecticut residents will find this book the perfect companion to take on daytrips in their own backyards. Mann gives a detailed description of forty-two diverse destinations with daytrip information suitable to a variety of ages and interests. Readers will be introduced to new places as well as get updates on well-known tourist spots. Those who attend will also enjoy tasting some of the favorite picnic basket recipes included in the book.

Jan Mann is the founder of the Open Circle Writer’s Group and is a member of Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. She has long had a passion for day tripping and has enjoyed many years of designing special outings for friends and family before embarking on the adventure of writing this day tripping book.

The event is free but seating is limited. To register, or for more information, call 860-767-1560.

THE WORLD’S NEW SUPERPOWER, THE EUROPEAN UNION

The Story Behind Peace in Europe and the Euro

“There is one international body that is not as well known as it should be,” says Jerome Wilson, a member of the Southeast Connecticut Committee on Foreign Relations, “and that is the European Union.” Wilson will introduce what he terms “this remarkable world body ” at a program at the Essex Library on Sunday, May 18 at 4:00 p.m.

Wilson will note the sheer immensity of the European Union, which is far larger in size and economic output than our own United States. The 27-member nation body extends from Ireland in the west to Romania in the east, from Finland in the north to Italy in the south. Members of the group include Europe’s major powers, Germany, France and Britain, and smaller countries, Malta and Slovenia.

The major accomplishment of the European Union, according to Wilson, is that for over half a century there has been peace among Europe’s major powers. “No more World Wars, which we were dragged into, no more saturation bombings of German and English cities, no more millions and millions killed, no more death camps, no more atrocities …”

In addition to being a peaceable union, the European Union has set up a single, free market for European goods, services, capital and labor. Internal border controls and tariffs have been eliminated.

Then there’s the euro. In less than ten years, the euro has become a major world currency. To make way for the euro, the French franc, the Italian lira, the Spanish peseta, the Greek drachma and the German mark are no more, although Britain has stuck with the pound.

Jerry Wilson has written a number of op-ed pieces on the European Union and recently appeared on WNPR’s Faith Middleton Show on the same topic.

There are some excellent books being published this spring and here are a few that have arrived this week:

Around The World In 80 Dinners by Cheryl and Bill Jamison ~~ After years of writing award-winning cookbooks, renowned culinary experts Cheryl and Bill Jamison were ready to take a break. So in the fall of 2005 they packed their bags, locked up their house in Santa Fe, and set off on a three-month-long visit to ten countries—all on frequent-flier miles.

The Lady Elizabeth by Alison Weir ~~ A fictional portrait of the tumultuous early life of Queen Elizabeth I describes her perilous path to the throne of England and the scandal, political intrigues, and religious turmoil she confronted along the way.

Metro Stop Paris: underground tales from the City of Light by Gregor Dallas ~~ Métro Stop Paris recounts the extraordinary and colorful history of the City of Light, by way of twelve Métro stops—a voyage across both space and time. At each stop a Parisian building, or street, or tomb or landmark sparks a story that holds particular significance for that area of the city.

Physics Of The Impossible: a scientific exploration into the world of phasers, force fields, teleportation, and time travel by Michio Kaku ~~ A fascinating exploration of the science of the impossible—from death rays and force fields to invisibility cloaks—revealing to what extent such technologies might be achievable decades or millennia into the future.

We Would Have Played For Nothing: baseball stars of the 1950s and 1960s talk about the game they loved by Fay Vincent ~~ The second volume of former Commissioner of Baseball Fay Vincent’s oral-history project — the first was The Only Game in Town – this rich work records Vincent’s own interviews with 11 major league stars from the 1950s and ’60s talking about their careers and their fellow competitors. Included are interviews with the Hall of Famers Whitey Ford, Brooks Robinson, Harmon Killebrew, Billy Williams, Robin Roberts, Duke Snider, Ralph Branca, Carl Erskine, Bill Rigney, Lew Burdette, and Frank Robinson.

The United Kingdom’s oldest and most prestigious children’s book award is the Carnegie Medal. Similar to our Newberry Award and named for Andrew Carnegie, (the man responsible for building many outstanding libraries in the U.S.) it is selected by children’s librarians for an outstanding book for children. Here are the seven finalists for the 2008 Award:

Crusade by Elizabeth Laird

Apache by Tanya Landeman

Here Lies Arthur by Philip Reeve

Ruby Red by Linzi Glass

Gatty’s Tale by Kevin Crossley-Holland

What I Was by Meg Rosoff

Finding Violet Park by Jenny Valentine

The winner will be announced during a ceremony at the British Library on June 26.

See all the past winners here.

The Orange prize celebrates fiction by women and is open to any novel written in English. The winner will receive £30,000 (US$58,893) at a ceremony in London’s Royal Festival Hall on June 4. Here are the short listed books:

• The Outcast by Sadie Jones
• Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O’Neill
• Lottery by Patricia Wood
• When We Were Bad by Charlotte Mendelson
• The Road Home by Rose Tremain
• Fault Lines by Nancy Huston

Thanks to the Essex Garden Club, we have 5 new DVDs in the Garden Collection:

The Art and Practice of Gardening Hosted by Penelope Hobhouse, a garden writer, designer, historian, lecturer and gardener. Includes: Roses For the Garden; Visions of Nature; The Summer Garden; Design Basics; Planting the Bones of a Garden; and more.

The Best of Ground Force: Garden Rescues A celebration of six years of garden makeovers under the direction of gardener Alan Titchmarsh. Includes rare segments and classic moments from the BBC television series.

Five Secrets of Great Gardening All you need to know to create the garden of your dreams. Five chapters: horticultural design, water management and irrigation, pruning, pest management, propagation.

An Introduction To Landscape Design A beginning presentation on landscape design , including history, design concepts, common styles, performing a site analysis, developing a design program, drawing a plan, and budgeting.

Hometime How-To Guide To Landscaping A step-by-step instruction for installing a new landscape, from planning to planting and adapting basic elements of landscaping to your situation.

We have recently purchased some especially good books on World War II for the buffs in our community.

Candy Bombers: The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America’s Finest Hour by Andrei Cherny: “The author sets the scene with the dramatic meeting of Russian and American troops at the banks of the Elbe on April 25, 1945. “The forces of liberation have joined hands,” announced the BBC; only Berlin remained to be subdued to end the war in Europe. The Red Army was first into the bombed-out city, which it vengefully pillaged and raped. Within three years, the Soviet Union had methodically expanded its hegemony in Eastern Europe, and relations with America were dangerously strained. Closing entrances into the American, British and French sectors of the city on June 25, 1948, the Soviets hoped to push out the West for good, in the process consigning 2.5 million Berliners to starvation. The U.S. airlift of coal and food into Tempelhof was initially intended to buy time during the standoff, but over the course of 11 months Operation Vittles would employ an armada of Skymaster C-54s and deliver millions of tons of cargo.” Kirkus Reviews

The Day Of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943–1944 by Rick Atkinson “The liberation of Europe marches on in the second volume of Atkinson’s sterling Liberation Trilogy—though readers may sometimes wonder how the Allies ever won. FDR pointedly said that he shrank from “the thought of putting large armies in Italy,” a country that was historically hard to attack and historically easy to defend. Yet the British were successful in arguing for an Italian front and “making the elimination of Italy from the Axis partnership an immediate goal,” even if the Americans did pledge not to reinforce the front and extracted a due-by date from the British for the invasion of France. How the British succeeded is a tale in itself, one that Atkinson relates with due suspense.” Kirkus Reviews

Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization by Nicholson Baker “Using period sources such as newspaper articles, excerpts from speeches and diaries and congressional testimony, Baker presents an in-the-moment reenactment of 20th-century world events. Baker’s chronological collage juxtaposes official government maneuvers by Churchill or Roosevelt with antiwar activity such as U.S. Representative Jeannette Rankin’s vote against declaring war on Germany in 1917. Eloquent quotes from Gandhi reflect momentous events in India; bombastic speeches by Hitler and Goebbels chronicle the Nazi seizure of power in Germany; evasive utterances by Roosevelt finesse the issue of raising Jewish immigration quotas on the eve of World War II. Baker reveals a weighty pacifist presence and moral outcry against oppression of the Jews in Europe, while authorities hurtled toward a military solution. His selections contrast the inhumanity of the powerful with the heart-wrenching testimony of victims and survivors.” Kirkus Reviews

Killing Rommel by Steven Pressfield: “Autumn,1942: Hitler’s legions have swept across Europe. Soviet Russia reels under the German onslaught while across the channel, Britain struggles on. And in North Africa, Field Marshall Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps have routed the 8th Army, threatening the oil fields of the Middle East. Out of this, the British hatch a desperate plan - to send a small, heavily armed yet highly mobile force behind enemy lines to strike a blow that will stop Rommel’s army in its tracks. It is to be called the Long Range Desert Group and its exploits will become the stuff of legend. Based on real events, Steven Pressfield’s bold new novel brings to pulse-racing life the ingenuity and daring of this maverick commando unit - a disparate, dedicated ‘band of brothers’ who sacrificed so much for the sake of freedom…” Amazon.com

Retribution: The Battle For Japan, 1944-45 by Max Hastings: “With unprecedented insight, Hastings discusses Japan’s war against China, now all but forgotten in the West, MacArthur’s follies in the Philippines, the Marines at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and the Soviet blitzkrieg in Manchuria. He analyzes the decision-making process that led to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki—which, he convincingly argues, ultimately saved lives. Finally, he delves into the Japanese wartime mind-set, which caused an otherwisecivilized society to carry out atrocities that haunt the nation to this day.” Barnes & Noble

The Steel Wave by Jeff Shaara: “The epic-scale novel opens on January 25, 1944, with British commandos gathering soil samples on Omaha Beach to assess landing sites. Shaara gives the Americans, called “the great waves of steel” by the Germans, their due portion in the grisly, brutal Allied invasion, and the experiences of the grunt soldiers. The Allied leaders’ personalities emerge with agile clarity, while German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel embodies “the good soldier” laboring under a delusional Hitler and German High Command ensconced in cozy Berlin. Rommel’s ambivalent complicity in the assassination plot on Hitler is convincingly rendered and paves the way for the final act. The muscular prose, deft sense of military drama and relentless pacing are well suited for this crackerjack saga.” Publishers Weekly

Although its cash award is not the largest at $10,000, it remains one of the most respected literary prizes in the world. The Pulitzer Prize, now in its 92nd year, recognizes excellence in journalism, letters, drama and music. The winners of this year’s Pulitzer’s include:

• Fiction: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
• History: What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 by Daniel Walker Howe
• Biography: Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father by John Matteson
• Poetry: Time and Materials by Robert Hass and Failure by Philip Schultz
• General Nonfiction: The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945 by Saul Friedlander

One additional note: Steve Fainaru of the Washington Post, who won the international reporting category for his series on private security contractors in Iraq has written a book called Big Boy Rules: In the Company of America’s Mercenaries Fighting in Iraq to be published in November.