1/27: New at the library this week

DVDs:

• Flightplan
• The matador
• Stealth
• The world's fastest Indian

Books:

• Heritage of Lancaster County / Beverly Lewis — The Shunning, The Confession, The Reckoning (read an exerpt, the front cover flap)
• Casa Mexicana / Tim Street-Porter
• Downsize this! / Michael Moore — Nothing but the truth is sacred in Michael Moore's hilarious screed on the state of America, Downsize This! With the same in-your-face tenacity that has made him everyman's hero, Moore gets under the skin of corporate giants, politicians, lobbyists, and the media - anyone who has made life tougher for the millions of Americans who are working longer hours for less pay and have had enough. (read an exerpt)
• Mexico : architecture, interiors, design / Mark Luscombe-Whyte — From simple rural adobe dwellings and ornately decorated churches to deluxe seaside retreats and high-tech modern structures they explore the evolution of Mexican style from the traditional dwellings of ancient civilizations to the cutting-edge examples of today's most influential architects and designers. (preview table of contents)
• Quilts in the tradition of Frank Lloyd Wright / Jackie Robinson — Wright's art glass designs (1900-1923) inspired these quilts. Take a tour with Jackie Robinson as she guides you through construction of your "Wright window" in fabric using machine piecing methods. Directions for 18 projects.
• The illustrated atlas of Hawaii / Gavan Daws — Along with detailed, full-color maps, this richly illustrated text brings to life the diverse landscapes and cultures of Hawaii in one concise source. (preview table of contents)
• How to design & build decks & patios / Lin Cotton — Shows how to create decks and patios to extend living spaces outdoors. Includes guidelines for developing a design, drawing up a working plan to obtain a permit, and calculating materials needed. Includes complete constructions details for finishing a project.
• Converting basements, garages & attics : expanding your usable space easily, attractively & affordably / Roger Dodge Woodson — Found space...that's what this book is all about. You'll learn how to maximize the usable but unfinished areas in your house-including the basement, attic, or garage-as new living space for your growing family, without the expense of a costly addition and without the trouble of moving to a larger house.

1/21: New at the library this week

Videos:

• Hook
• Coyote ugly
• Panic room
• Mother's boys
• Hanoi Hilton
• SNL goes commercial
• Dumb and dumber
• With honors
• The three stooges: 4 episodes
• Death becomes her
• Housesitter
• Mrs. Soffel
• Duel in the sun
• Final analysis
• Return to me
• Mulholland Falls
• There's something about Mary

DVDs:

• Prime
• The man
• The white countess
• Birth
• The lake house
• L'enfant
• Take the lead

Books:

• True evil / Greg Iles — If you wanted to kill your spouse and get away with it, you had to do something truly ingenious: something that wouldn't even be perceived as murder. And that was the service that Andrew Rusk had found a way to provide. Like any quality product, it did not come cheap. Nor did it come quickly. And perhaps most important of all, it was not for those with weak constitutions. (read a sample chapter)
• Cross / James Patterson — Cross's former partner, John Sampson, calls in a favor. He is tracking a serial rapist in Georgetown, one whose brutal modus operandi recalls a case Sampson and Cross worked together years earlier. When the case reveals a connection to [his wife] Maria's death, Cross latches on for the most urgent and terrifying ride of his life. (Alex Cross Series, #12) (read a sample chapter)
• That wild berries should grow : the story of a summer / Gloria Whelan — Elsa is a precocious fifth-grade girl who cannot imagine living anywhere but amid the hustle and bustle of busy downtown Detroit. Even in the midst of the Great Depression there are many exciting things to occupy her time. But when the prescription for a sudden illness includes spending the summer at her grandparents’ country cottage beside Lake Huron, Elsa must learn to find excitement in "empty" places. (Age Range: 9 to 12)
• The Pox party, volume one (The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation) / M. T. Anderson — It sounds like a fairy tale. He is a boy dressed in silks and white wigs and given the finest of classical educations. Raised by a group of rational philosophers known only by numbers, the boy and his mother - a princess in exile from a faraway land - are the only persons in their household assigned names. As the boy's regal mother, Cassiopeia, entertains the house scholars with her beauty and wit, young Octavian begins to question the purpose behind his guardians' fanatical studies. Only after he dares to open a forbidden door does he learn the hideous nature of their experiments - and his own chilling role in them. (Age Range: Young Adult) (National Book Award winner)(download a study guide from the publisher)
• Web of evil / Judith A. Jance — The highway from Los Angeles to the Palm Springs desert is parched, unforgiving, and deadly. In the suffocating stillness of a car trunk, a man — his mouth and hands bound with tape — waits to learn his fate. Fortunately for him, he'll never know. What possible enemy could be bitter enough to commit such a heinous crime? And when will the monster make another move?

Download a free book for your iPod

Choose Your Own Adventure: The Abominable Snowman comes to life! is available for download in a format that can be read on an iPod, complete with links to each of the story's plot alternatives. The free file download runs through January 25, 2007, and installation instructions are available. (via The Consumerist)

1/6: New at the library this week

Videos:

• Her alibi
• Wagons east!
• Black hawk down
• The horse soldiers
• Mission: impossible
• My girl
• Scent of a woman
• Batman returns
• Dangerous liasons
• World war II : The Stillwell Road; The Nuremberg trials
• Family business
• Brubaker
• Romeo & Juliet
• Foul play
• Guarding Tess

DVDs:

• Tristram Shandy
• The Da Vinci Code
• Black Books
• Cars
• M:i:III
• Domino

Books:

• The Mephisto Club / Tess Gerritsen — The Latin is scrawled in blood at the scene of a young woman's brutal murder: I HAVE SINNED. It's a chilling Christmas greeting for Boston medical examiner Maura Isles and Detective Jane Rizzoli, who swiftly link the victim to controversial celebrity psychiatrist Joyce O'Donnell-Jane's professional nemesis and member of a sinister cabal called the Mephisto Club. (Jane Rizzoli & Maura Isles Series, #6)
• Mannheim Steamroller Christmas : a night like no other / Jill (Jill Parsons) Stern — When Evan Darling realizes that his children have become so focused on gifts that they've completely lost sight of the true meaning of Christmas, he knows he has to do something to help them see the wonder of it all. As a blizzard rages, Evan sits the family down and tells them the extraordinary tale of a young boy's magical experience during another blizzard long ago.
• Retro stud : muscle movie posters from around the world / David Chapman
• Public radio : behind the voices / Lisa A. Phillips — After adecade of working at public radio stations around the country, Phillips was driven to know more about the people who deliver the news, the conversation and the diverse programs that she and millions of listeners enjoy every day. The result is a collection of personal stories from more than 40 of the most listened to voices in public radio. (read an exerpt)
• Stalemate / Iris Johansen — Eve Duncan has turned down the job twice already. Her skill and devotion in identifying murder victims and helping bring their killers to justice may be world-renowned. But Eve works exclusively for law enforcement and the families of the innocent, and the man on the other end of the phone is many things-none of them law-abiding or innocent. (Eve Duncan Series, #7)
• The thirteenth tale / Diane Setterfield — Margaret Lea works in her father's antiquarian bookshop where her fascination for the biographies of the long-dead has led her to write them herself. She gets a letter from one of the most famous authors of the day, the mysterious Vida Winter, whose popularity as a writer has been in no way diminished by her reclusiveness. Until now, Vida has toyed with journalists who interview her, creating outlandish life histories for herself - all of them invention. Now she is old and ailing, and at last she wants to tell the truth about her extraordinary life. Her letter to Margaret is a summons. (read an exerpt)
• Lisey's story / Stephen King — Lisey Debusher Landon lost her husband Scott two years ago, after a twenty five year marriage of the most profound and sometimes frightening intimacy. Lisey knew there was a place Scott went -- a place that both terrified and healed him, could eat him alive or give him the ideas he needed in order to live. Now it's Lisey's turn to face Scott's demons, Lisey's turn to go to Boo'ya Moon. What begins as a widow's effort to sort through the papers of her celebrated husband becomes a nearly fatal journey into the darkness he inhabited. (read an exerpt)
• Barefoot Contessa at home : everyday recipes you'll make over and over again / Ina Garten — Ina shares her life in East Hampton, the recipes she loves, and her secrets to making guests feel welcome and comfortable.
• The innocent man : murder and injustice in a small town / John Grisham — In 1982, a 21-year-old cocktail waitress in Ada named Debra Sue Carter was raped and murdered, and for five years the police could not solve the crime. For reasons that were never clear, they suspected Ron Williamson and his friend Dennis Fritz. The two were finally arrested in 1987 and charged with capital murder. If you believe that in America you are innocent until proven guilty, this book will shock you. If you believe in the death penalty, this book will disturb you. If you believe the criminal justice system is fair, this book will infuriate you.
• The Bancroft strategy / Robert Ludlum — When Todd Belknap—a legendary field agent for Consular Operations with a reputation as something of a cowboy— is cut loose from the agency after an operation goes wrong, his best friend and fellow agent is abducted in Lebanon by a militia group with a vicious reputation. When the government refuses to either rescue him or negotiate for his release, Belknap decides to take matters into his own hands.
• State of denial / Bob Woodward — examines how the Bush administration avoided telling the truth about Iraq to the public, to Congress, and often to themselves. (read a sample chapter)