BookPeeks — Volume 4  by   Jack  Karolewski October 15, 2009

Non-Fiction            
1. The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment — A.J. Jacobs.
 Daring author outsources several aspects of his life to India, spends a month being totally honest, goes to the Academy Awards in disguise to find out what it’s like to be famous, and agrees to his wife’s every whim for a month.

2. A World Without Bees — Alison Benjamin and Brian McCallum.
                   Examines how the alarming disappearance of honey bees can (through “Colony Collapse Disorder”) threaten global agriculture and world food supplies.

3. Tropic of Capricorn: A Remarkable Journey to the Forgotten Corners of the World — Simon Reeve.
 A fascinating trip around the 23,000 mile invisible southern globe line through Africa, South America and Australia.

4. Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal — Tristam Stuart.
 Details how the world wastes food, how that impacts world resources, and what we can do to stop wasting food when so many go hungry each day.

5. The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation’s Call to Greatness — Harlow Giles Unger.
 Historian gives the fifth U.S. president the spotlight as witness and shaper of important early American events.

Mystery
1. Smasher — Keith Raffel
 Set in Silicon Valley, a husband seeks justice when his prosecutor wife is put into a coma by a suspicious hit-and-run driver.

2. It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder — Jeff Markowitz.
 New Jersey tabloid reporter tackles two murders at a shopping mall during the Christmas rush.

3. Evidence of Murder — Lisa Black.
 Female forensic investigator is baffled by the unlikely suicide of a young mother.                               4. Locked In — Marcia Muller. 
 Woman private eye Sharon McCone waits at death’s door while her husband and her office staff try to unravel who shot her.

5. Shimmer — Hilary Norman.
 Miami detective finds two mutilated bodies within days and fears that a serial killer is on the loose.

SF / Fantasy
1. Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms — Ethan Gilsdorf.
 True account of a 40-year-old former D&D addict as he crisscrosses the globe and cyberspace delving into “why?”

2. Chasing the Dragon (Quantum Gravity, Book 4) — Justina Robson.
 A quantum bomb in the year 2015 fuses dimensions, opening our world to invading ghosts, elves, and demons. Rebuilt special agent  Lila Black — half robot, part AI, and armed to the teeth – tackles a variety of challenges.

3. Frostbitten (Women of The Otherworld, Book 10) — Kelley Armstrong.
 The world’s only female werewolf and other Supernaturals from “The Otherworld” venture to the dark forests of Alaska.

4. The Magicians — Lev Grossman.
 This thriller mixes aspects of J.K.Rowling, Tolkien and C.S.Lewis, when a teen finds a mysterious portal to a magic academy.

5. The Gathering Storm (Wheel of Time) — Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson.           
 First of three novels making up the final volume of the “Wheel of Time” saga; the author died in 2007, so his editor chose another to complete the story.

 Romance
1. Covet: A Novel of the Fallen Angels — J.R.Ward .        A fallen angel must save seven souls from the Seven Deadly Sins, but falls unexpectedly in love along the way.

2. An Echo in the Bone — Diana Gabaldon.
 7th volume of the Jamie Frasier story, about an 18th century Scotsman and his 20th Century time-traveling wife, Claire.

3. Perfect Timing; When You Meet the Man of Your Dreams on the Night Before Your Wedding — Jill Mansdell.
 Poppy Dunbar cancels her wedding and runs off to London to ponder with friends the choice between newly-met Tom and fiancé Rob.

4. Rainwater — Sandra Brown.
 Stirring historical novel of an independent woman who runs a boarding house in Texas during the Dust Bowl years.

5. Cornhusker Dreams: Love Wins During the Second World War — Cara Putman.
 Home-front Nebraska in the 1940’s finds three women working for the war effort while relationships blossom.

BookPeeks — Volume 3       by Jack Karolewski                                                         September 15, 2009                
Titles Available in September/October 2009

Non-Fiction
1. A God Who Hates: The Courageous Woman Who Inflamed the Muslim World Speaks Out Against the Evils of Islam — Wafa Sultan.             
Syrian woman relates bitter memories of her Muslim upbringing, then analyzes Islam in detail as it relates to women, politics, and repression.    

2. Past Due: The End of Easy Money and the Renewal of the American Economy — Peter S. Goodman.           
Examines how our current economic meltdown occurred, and what to do about it.  

3. Total Recall: How the E-Memory Revolution Will Change Everything — Gordon Bell and Jim Gemmell.             
Outlines how, in the near future, all personal information for each individual will be stored and instantly accessed through inter-connected technologies.                    

4. The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America — Timothy Egan.       
Shows how the Conservation Movement was initially brokered by Roosevelt and others as a result of the handling of the massive 1910 Idaho-Montana forest fire.        

5. The Good Soldiers — David Finkel.         
A behind-the-scenes exploration and analysis of the military Surge in Iraq in 2007.                                       

SF/Fantasy             
1. The Year of the Flood — Margaret Atwood.         
A viral “waterless flood” decimates a future Earth, with few survivors.            

2. In the Valley of the Kings — Terrence Holt.          
A collection of short stories, including a frightening mission to Jupiter, a human heart in a jar, and an Egyptian scholar contracting a deadly disease upon opening a tomb.            

3. The Island at the End of the World — Sam Taylor.           
Like Noah, a father and his three children build an ark and survive a future world-wide flood, when an unexpected stranger arrives on their island of refuge.             

4. The Bell at Sealey Head — Patricia A. McKillip.               
An old mansion in a seaside town has doors that lead to an enchanted world, while a mysterious bell tolls each night at sunset, but is never seen.               

5. Harmony — C.F. Bentley.                   
A cult-governed planet is targeted for its unique “Badger Metal”, which protects inter-planetary spaceships from radiation and hyperspace travel.                               

Mystery             
1. Arctic Chill — Arnaldur Indridason.           
The murder of an immigrant child from Thailand in Reykjavik, Iceland and its aftermath.                  

2. The Silent Spirit — Margaret Coel.             
Disappearances and murder on an American Indian reservation.             

3. The Stranger in the Opera House — Helen Macie Osterman.        
If you like Miss Marple, you should like Emma Winberry as a female sleuth in this character-driven mystery.     

4. Missing, Presumed Wed — Sharon Wildwind.         
Vietnam vets assemble for a wedding in 1974 and get entangled in murder.           

5. Dead Reckoning — Claire Lorrimer.          
Three school friends reunite to help solve a murder.

Romance             
1. The Cavalier in the Yellow Doublet — Arturo Prez-Reverte.             
17th Century swashbuckler, the fifth starring dashing Captain Diego Alatriste.          

2. Love and Summer — William Trevor.           
Tender Irish love story, with the classic conflict of duty vs. true love.                      
3. Fast and Loose — Elizabeth Bevarly.        
Female artist rents out her home during the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, with romantic results.        

4. Storm of Visions: The Chosen Ones — Christina Dodd.             
Long ago abandoned twins found two new societies, one for Good (The Chosen Ones) and one for Evil (The Others). Flash forward to modern times: the descendants of the two lines clash in love and life. Begins a new paranormal romance series.             

5. Bed of Roses — Norah Roberts.       
Second novel in the “Bride’s Quartet” series, with four friends and their wedding planning company and their own lives.

Titles coming in August/September 2009
Written by Jack Karolewski     August 15,  2009

 NON-FICTION
1. Dancing in the Dark: A Cultural Guide of the Great Depression — Morris Dickstein
 Explores the creative energies of the 1930’s in movies, art, architecture, music and literature.

2. Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear — Max Lucado
 Popular minister suggests faith can trump fear and renew hope in troubled times.

3. My Prison, My Home: One Woman’s Story of Captivity in Iran — Haleh Esfandiari
 True account of an Iranian-American scholar imprisoned in Iran and the international attention it garnered.

4. Cheap: The High Price of Discount Culture — Ellen Ruppel Shell
 Author argues that buying low-priced foreign goods lowers U.S. worker wages and causes a spiral of reduced quality goods overall.

5. In Search of Bacchus: Wanderings in the Wonderful World of Wine Tourism — George M. Taber
 A 12-country romp exploring the delights of The Grape.

 MYSTERY
1. For Better, For Murder — Lisa Bork
 Upstate New York woman car dealer confronts puzzling murders.

2. Red Bones — Ann Cleeves
 Mysterious deaths at a Shetland Island archeological dig.

3. The Council of the Cursed — Peter Tremayne
     Monks and murder in a 6th Century French abbey.

4. A Drunkard’s Path — Clare O’Donohue          Artist in a quilting class tries to protect her grandmother from a possible murderer. 

5. Skeleton Hill — Peter Lovesey
 An inspector finds a fresh bone at an English Civil War re-enactment, when the actual battle was over 350 years ago.

 SF / FANTASY
1. Dark Slayer — Christine Feehan
 A woman who travels with a wolf pack (and who destroys any vampire who crosses her path) finds her lifemate.

2. Anathem — Neal Stephenson
 Earth-like planet in the far future cloisters its top-brain scientists behind walls until an extraterrestrial catastrophe erupts.

3. Daniel X : Watch the Skies — James Patterson and Ned Rust
 Outlaw gang sets out to destroy a small town and all its inhabitants, but Daniel X steps in to stop them.

4. The Sword of the Lady: A Novel of the Change — S. M. Stirling
 America is transformed by a world-altering event called “The Change.” The main character journeys to find out how and why.

5. The Winds of Dune — Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
 Begins a new “Dune” series, penned by originator Frank Herbert’s son.

 ROMANCE
1. The White Queen — Philippa Gregory
 First in a new series set in England during the “War of the Roses”, with intrigue, secret marriage and royalty in jeopardy.

2. There’s Something About St. Tropez — Elizabeth Adler 
 Several unrelated characters arrive at the same rented chateau in southern France – coincidence or conspiracy?

3. Deep Kiss of Winter — Kresley Cole
 A brutal vampire warrior falls in love for the first time in 300 years, with a mysterious Ice Maiden.

4. A Cousin’s Prayer — Wanda E. Brunstetter
 Young Amish girl, traumatized by the death of her boyfriend, gets a second chance at love.

5. Loving a Lost Lord — Mary Jo Putney
 Amnesiac shipwreck survivor is convinced by a beautiful woman that she is his wife – but is she? – in this 19th Century English hi

The Arthur F. Turner Library is pleased to introduce our new book pre-view blog , Book Peeks, written and edited by library staff member, Jack Karolewski, a retired K-12 teacher (30 years), who has enjoyed the past four years as a Yolo County Library substitute reference librarian. Jack’s specialty is non-fiction books — specifically the areas history, biography, and travel — but he also enjoys good historical fiction and mysteries.  Check this site for regular updates and read below for Jack’s first installment.  

BOOK  PEEKS    VOL.  ONE,  Titles coming in July/August
by   Jack Karolewski    7-14-09

NON-FICTION
1. Crude World: The Violent Twilight of Oil — Peter Maass   
Examines the largely negative effect of oil production on several countries around the world.

2. You Can Adopt: An Adoptive Families Guide — Susan Caughman and Isolde Motley
Practical, realistic advice from a variety of sources on how to successfully adopt a child.

3. Tattoo Machine: Tall Tales, True Stories, and My Life in Ink — Jeff Johnson
Veteran tattoo artist tells gritty tales of the trade and its customers.

4. Golden Dreams: California in an Age of Abundance, 1950-1963 — Kevin Starr
Last in a seven-volume history of California, encompassing pivotal events, culture, politics and personalities.

5. Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam, and the West —    Christopher Caldwell Islamic immigrants largely resisting enculturation in Europe and how that changing demographic is effecting Continental traditions.

SF / FANTASY
1. Naamah’s Kiss — Jacqueline Carey
Seventh installment in the best-selling Kushiel series.

2. Skin Trade: An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Novel — Laurell K. Hamilton
 A vampire serial killer is loose in Las Vegas, in this 17th Anita Blake novel.

3. Johannes Cabal: The Necromancer — Jonathan L. Howard
 A scientist who sold his soul to Satan for the ability to summon the dead has second thoughts and strikes a bargain to get his soul back.

4. The Affinity Bridge: A Newbury and Hobbes Investigation — George Mann
 1901 Victorian England from an alternative perspective, with robots, zombies, and airships.

5. 23 Hours: A Vengeful Vampire Tale — David Wellington                          
Vampire hunter cop-turned-con is locked up in prison to foil the evil designs of the world’s oldest living vampire before twenty-three hours end.
                                                                                                                                 
MYSTERY
1. The Devil’s Punchbowl — Greg Iles
 Riverboat casino gambling in Natchez, Mississippi weaves murder, corruption, money and blood sports.

2. Get Real — Donald E. Westlake
 15th (and final) comic caper from the late author has oddball crew trying to heist a reality-show company.

3. Guardian of Lies — Steve Martini
 10th thriller in a series, this time about deceit and murder, the CIA, Cold War secrets, and an assassin.

4. The Defector — Daniel Silva
 Continues where “Moscow Rules” leaves off, with double agents, defectors, and Russian/British intelligence.

5. The Lost Symbol — Dan Brown
 Long-awaited return of the author of “The DaVinci Code” and “Angels & Demons”: another huge hit, or a big flop?

 ROMANCE
1. Burn: A Novel — Linda Howard
    A woman who wins a lottery jackpot gets more than she bargains for.

2. Black Hills — Nora Roberts
 Female wildlife biologist and ex-cop/P.I. fall in love while chasing a serial killer in South Dakota.

3. Hot Pursuit — Suzanne Brockman
 Female personal security company head is shadowed by a sadistic serial killer known only as “The Dentist”.                   
        
4. The Years to Come — Janet Tanner
 Love in early 19th Century Australia, fraught with danger, challenges, and tragedy.

5. The Lucky One — Nicholas Sparks
 U.S. Marine in Iraq finds a photo of a mystery woman and enjoys a remarkable string of good luck. He sets out to find the real woman upon returning home to Colorado.