Library Journal articles from February 2008

Library Journal archives from February 2008

Xpress reviews: first look at new books.(ON THE WEB: www.libraryjournal.com)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... "Verdict: Hacker's plain sentences and long paragraphs bring to mind William Faulkner's deceptively simple narrative style. This honest portrayal of the dark side of the human psyche understandably won the 2006 German Book Prize for best...

Student affairs: library student blog.(ON THE WEB: www.libraryjournal.com)(Brief article)
February 15, 2008... "The hardest part of my long-term employment/moving strategy is that I've actually purged a lot of my old professional clothing.... I desperately want to run out and buy something to fill the void. But each library system has a different...

Roy Tennant's: Digital Libraries.(ON THE WEB: www.libraryjournal.com)(Brief article)
February 15, 2008... After ten years in the pages of LJ, Digital Libraries columnist Roy Tennant is now exclusively on the web. He's still bringing you the digital potential and pitfalls that prompted his first column in the November 15, 1997, issue.

Gender matters: if you think the so-called women's movement is irrelevant, you're wrong.(editorial)(Editorial)
February 15, 2008... LOOKING AT MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND OTHERS who hold high office during the recent State of the Union address put into sharp relief once again how few women have positions of power in the United States. There was House Leader Nancy Pelosi up on...

The vanishing librarians: the library becomes a dehumanized supermarket or a chaotic bookstore.(blatant berry)(Viewpoint essay)
February 15, 2008... IT LOOKS LIKE THE "TRANSFORMATION" WE SEEK for libraries and librarianship may turn out to be more of a "deskilling" of library jobs than an enhancement of the profession. More and more working librarians are "managed" by a new breed of...

Nintendo donates 21 Wiis to encourage use at libraries.(front desk)(Brief article)
February 15, 2008... Game-maker Nintendo is donating 21 Wiis (valued at $250 each) to encourage library gaming. The recipients are the Alpena County Library, MI; Free Library of Philadelphia; Pasco County Library, FL; Ann Arbor District Library, MI; New York...

LC agrees to reinstate Scottish literature category.(front desk)(Brief article)
February 15, 2008... Is Robert Louis Stevenson an English author? For a brief while he was, as the Library of Congress (LC) began reclassifying some 600 titles by Scottish writers as "English literature," albeit with subheadings such as "Scottish authors" or...

Erik the Librarian.(60 FRAMES)(Brief article)(Video recording review)
February 15, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] So, Erik the Librarian (ErikLibrarian.notlong.com), a series of two-minute web video shorts, has finally debuted, and it's a low point in the ongoing wars against the librarian stereotype. The show describes Erik...

Heard.(front desk)(Brief article)
February 15, 2008... "In an era where sexual images are a product for popular consumption, the library has decided to lift the veil on this world of imagination and fantasy." BRUNO RACINE, DIRECTOR OF THE FRENCH NATIONAL LIBRARY, REGARDING A NEW EXHIBIT OF...

Dissing Amazon's kindle.(front desk)(Brief article)
February 15, 2008... "It doesn't matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don't read anymore." --Apple's Steve Jobs in the New York Times's Bits blog, January 15, 2008

ALA draws crowd to Philadelphia; FBI whistle-blower, bibliographic control, graduated dues among issues.(lj news)
February 15, 2008... Mild weather and easy downtown access to the convention center and hotels added convenience to a successful Philadelphia American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting in mid-January. More than 13,000 librarians, publishers, exhibitors,...

UK study: libraries must step up.(lj news)(Report)
February 15, 2008... A new study commissioned by the British Library and JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) says that members of the "Google Generation"--youth born or brought up in the Internet age--are not particularly web literate, and their research...

Porn 7.5% of Dallas PL net hits: some city officials support filtering; issue headed for city council.(lj news)(Brief article)
February 15, 2008... A local newspaper's analysis of web pages accessed at the Dallas Public Library's central library showed that some 7.5 percent of pages viewed during one 45-minute period contained pornography, prompting concern from city officials and a new...

Got coupon? Transition to digital TV.(lj news)(Brief article)
February 15, 2008... Residents of the United States have all of a year to adjust to a sea change in television broadcasting, and libraries have a key role to play. Analog broadcast television will become history on February 17, 2009, as the nation completes its...

PL PC access to be assessed: study will show value of free access, may bolster support.(lj news)(Brief article)
February 15, 2008... Most people agree that free access to computers in public libraries is a good thing. But exactly how and why? The federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) will work with the University of Washington Information School (iSchool)...

E-reserve reached under duress? Publishers influence new guidelines from three universities.(lj news)(Brief article)
February 15, 2008... As the Association of American Publishers (AAP) announced new "agreements" with three universities to issue guidelines on e-reserves, one administrator anonymously told the Chronicle of Higher Education that the agreement was made under a...

Calendar.(lj news)(Brief article)(Calendar)
February 15, 2008... APRIL 15-18--Texas Library Assn., Dallas www.txla.org 16-18--Washington Library Assn./ Oregon Library Assn., Vancouver www.wla.org; www.olaweb.org 21-23--Oklahoma Library Assn., Tulsa www.oklibs.org 22-25--Alabama Library...

ALISE conference draws 500.(CONFERENCE REPORT)(Brief article)
February 15, 2008... Prior to the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia, the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) attracted nearly 500 attendees to its annual conference, titled "Community Engagement:...

Preservation task force named: library leaders to advise on future of digital materials.(lj news)(Brief article)
February 15, 2008... Several library leaders, scholars, and technologists have been named to the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Sustainable Digital Preservation and Access, announced last September and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Andrew W....

Databases abound at ALA's Midwinter Meeting: ProQuest, Gale Cengage, EBSCO all sport new releases.(infotech)
February 15, 2008... The American Library Association's (ALA) Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia, January 11-16, brought numerous product announcements from tech vendors, which should be welcomed by librarians. Though veteran ILS producers were out in force,...

OCLC acquires EZproxy.(infotech)(Brief article)
February 15, 2008... The seemingly ever-growing OCLC has expanded again, acquiring EZproxy, a leading remote authentication software for licensed databases, in January. EZproxy creator Chris Zagar won the 2006 Library and Information Technology Association...

Gale Cengage offering RA tool.(infotech)(Brief article)
February 15, 2008... At the Midwinter Meeting, Gale Cengage Learning's Marc Cormier January 13 provided a hot demo of its forthcoming readers' advisory tool, Books and Authors. The subscription database pulls from the vendor's What Do I Read Next? print series...

EBSCO enhances visual searching.(infotech)(Brief article)
February 15, 2008... The EBSCOhost interface has gotten a face-lift thanks to new "Visual Search options and additional clusters," designed to expedite searching. The vendor said the new Visual Search options "provide visual learners" with graphical approaches to...

LexisNexis debuts stats tool.(infotech)(Brief article)
February 15, 2008... LexisNexis has released Statistical DataSets, a new online service for academic libraries that aggregates 100 licensed and public domain sources of government and business data and makes 750 million data points accessible through one...

Brodart hires Dieffenbacher.(infotech)(Bonnie Dieffenbacher on Brodart Books and Automation)(Brief article)
February 15, 2008... Brodart Books & Automation has tapped industry veteran Bonnie Dieffenbacher as director of data and collections management. She "will assume oversight [of the] division's collections management, acquisitions, and data management teams," the...

Insights from the front line.(THE TRANSPARENT LIBRARY)(Viewpoint essay)
February 15, 2008... THIS COLUMN IS DIRECTED TO front-line librarians and staff, who deliver customer service and have damn good ideas for what can be done to improve things. It's often a hurdle to get library administrators and managers to listen to your...

Enforcing copyright: mediating between law and technology requires vigilance and education, not a technical solution.(INFOTECH FEATURE)
February 15, 2008... Librarians face a dilemma when it comes to copyright. On the one hand, if content providers disappeared, libraries and our patrons would suffer. By doing our part to eliminate copyright violations, we help keep publishers in business. On...

Take the RA talk online: in person and via web tools, readers' advisory is all about how well we talk to patrons.(LJ SERIES: REDEFINING RA)
February 15, 2008... Right now people are talking about books--in coffee shops, at school basketball practices, and in beauty salons. One reader notices another and a conversation begins. Fun, eager, trip-over-each-other-sharing conversations that range from...

Pushing circ with E-service: rising book budgets meet growing creativity with online tools.(BOOK BUYING SURVEY 2008)
February 15, 2008... A flock of hot new titles has just landed at the library. You could stand in the stacks and shout about it, print up an announcement and set your assistant to licking 10,000 stamps, or hope that word of mouth will get things moving. Or...

Motivate your Millennials!(NEXTGEN)
February 15, 2008... IN OCTOBER 2007, MY COLLEAGUE and fellow instruction librarian Stacy Russo wrote about providing creative and insightful library instruction and research strategies to a younger generation not-so-easily impressed in this techsavvy/Google...

Prepub alert.(Bibliography)
February 15, 2008... FICTION Akpan, Uwem. Say You're One of Them. Little, Brown. Jun. 2008. 240p. ISBN 978-0-316-11378-6. $23.99. Already featured twice in The New Yorker, Nigerian (and Jesuit priest) Akpan here collects his stories of Africa's troubled...

Romance.(Book review)
February 15, 2008... HISTORICALS REVISITED Once again, historical romances are hot--and I don't mean just in sensuality! Romances set in the past are on a roll, and while always a distant second to contemporary romance (primarily because of the large number of...

Q & A: Sherry Thomas.(ROMANCE)(Interview)
February 15, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Sherry Thomas's first novel, Private Arrangements (see review, p. 87), a story of love betrayed and love delayed, is a sensual Victorian romance that reveals a sophistication and purity of language and character...

Adiga, Aravind. The White Tiger.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... * Adiga, Aravind. The White Tiger. Free Pr: S. & S. Apr. 2008. c.288p. ISBN 978-1-4165-6259-7. $24. F This first novel by Indian writer Adiga depicts the awakening of a low-caste Indian man to the degradation of servitude. While the early...

Albert, Elisa. The Book of Dahlia.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] * Albert, Elisa. The Book of Dahlia. Free Pr. S. & S. Mar. 2008. c.288p. ISBN 978-0-7432-9129-3. $23. F At age 29, Dahlia Finger is diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Dahlia's life is studded with...

Bass, Jefferson. The Devil's Bones.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Bass, Jefferson. The Devil's Bones. Morrow. Feb. 2008. c.352p. ISBN 978-0-06-075985-8. $24.95. F As this third thriller (after Carved in Bone and Flesh and Bone) by the pseudonymous Bass (the writing team of Dr. Bill Bass, forensic...

Brandon, John. Arkansas.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Brandon, John. Arkansas. McSweeney's. Feb. 2008. c.336p. ISBN 978-1-932416-90-9. $22. F Brandon's first novel details the grim misadventures of two young drug runners, Kyle and Swin. With boss Pat Bright, they work for a mysterious man...

Cain, Tom. The Accident Man.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Cain, Tom. The Accident Man. Viking. Feb. 2008. c.336p. ISBN 978-0-670-01849-9. $24.95. F In this clever debut novel, the pseudonymous Cain, an award-winning British journalist, successfully tackles a larger-than-life, real-world event....

Carr, Alex. The Prince of Bagram Prison.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Carr, Alex. The Prince of Bagram Prison. Random. Mar. 2008. c.304p. ISBN 978-08129-7709-7. pap. $13.95. F With several successful crime novels already published under her real name, Jenny Siler, Carr sets her second espionage thriller...

Dietrich, William. The Rosetta Key.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Dietrich, William. The Rosetta Key. Harper: HarperCollins. Apr. 2008. c.352p. ISBN 9780-06-123955-7. $25.95. F In this exciting and well-written follow-up to Napoleon's Pyramids, which traced American frontiersman Ethan Gage's adventures...

Dobbs, Michael. Churchill's Triumph: A Novel of Betrayal.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Dobbs, Michael. Churchill's Triumph: A Novel of Betrayal. Sourcebooks Landmark. Apr. 2008. c.320p. ISBN 978-1-4022-1045-7. pap. $14.95. F Dobbs's fourth Winston Churchill novel (after Never Surrender), and his 12th book, attempts to...

Erdrich, Louise. The Plague of Doves.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... * Erdrich, Louise. The Plague of Doves. HarperCollins. May 2008. c.320p. ISBN 978-0-06-051512-6. $25.95. F Erdrich adds more layers of history to her community centered on an Ojibwe reservation in rural North Dakota, and as her loyal...

Fforde, Katie. Practically Perfect.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Fforde, Katie. Practically Perfect. St. Martin's. Apr. 2008. c.384p. ISBN 978-0-312-37854-7. $24.95. F British chick lit author Fforde (Bidding for Love) writes great stories about funny, smart women. Her latest is the tale of Anna, an...

Fioretos, Arts. The Truth about Sascha Knisch.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Fioretos, Arts. The Truth About Sascha Knisch. Rookery: Overlook. Mar. 2008. c.320p. ISBN 978-1-58567-957-7. $25.95. F In a world dominated by extremes, Fioretos, a Swedish-born novelist living in Berlin, presents an honest and...

Harleman, Ann. The Year She Disappeared.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Harleman, Ann. The Year She Disappeared. Univ. of Texas. Mar. 2008. c.320p. ISBN 978-0-292-71747-3. $24.95. F Nan Mulholland is 60 and still getting used to being widowed. Though not really dose to her daughter, Alex, she at least has the...

Harris, Joanne. The Girl with No Shadow.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Harris, Joanne. The Girl with No Shadow. Morrow. Apr. 2008. c.444p. ISBN 978-0-06-143162-3. $24.95. F Seeking stability for her two children, Vianne Rocher has suppressed her magical powers since last seen in the much-acclaimed Chocolat....

Hoffman, Alice. The Third Angel.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Hoffman, Alice. The Third Angel. Shaye Areheart: Harmony. Apr. 2008. c.288p. ISBN 978-0-307-39385-2. $25. F Once again, novelist Hoffman (Skylight Confessions) weaves a mesmerizing tale of the human condition, this time examining the...

Jewell, Lisa. Roommates Wanted.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... * Jewell, Lisa. Roommates Wanted. Harper: HarperCollins. Mar. 2008. c.480p. ISBN 978-0-06-113747-1. pap. $14.95. F Jewell (Vince and Joy) weaves together the oddball lives of London misfits in this well-rafted and entertaining seventh...

Kellerman, Jonathan. Compulsion.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Kellerman, Jonathan. Compulsion. Ballantine. Apr. 2008. c.368p. ISBN 978-0-345-46527-6. $26.95. F When a retired schoolteacher is brutally stabbed in her driveway, LAPD Detective Milo Sturgis and psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware must...

Lippman, Laura. Another Thing To Fall.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Lippman, Laura. Another Thing To Fall. Morrow. Mar. 2008. ISBN 978-0-06-112887-5. $24.95. F Baltimore is the temporary home of a big-budget television series, which doesn't please the locals as much as one would think. Tess Monaghan (No...

Livesey, Margot. The House on Fortune Street.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Livesey, Margot. The House on Fortune Street. Harper: HarperCollins. May 2008. c.320p. ISBN 978-0-06-145152-2. $24.95. F Dara, a therapist at a women's center, lives in the downstairs flat of her friend Abigail's London home. A workaholic...

MacDowell, Heather & Rose MacDowell. Turning Tables.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... MacDowell, Heather & Rose MacDowell. Turning Tables. Dial: Random. Mar. 2008. c.336p. ISBN 978-0-385-33856-1. $24. F The authors, identical twins, have drawn on their joint experiences waiting tables to write a novel about the struggles...

McKenna, Christina. The Misremembered Man.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... McKenna, Christina. The Misremembered Man. Toby. Mar. 2008. c.310p. ISBN 978-1-59264-219-9. $24.95. F Jamie McCloone is a middle-aged Irish farmer of modest means and simple ways. Unmarried and lonely, he lives in bachelor squalor and...

High-stakes fiction: hold the garlic: vamp up your fantasy shelf with these five titles.(FICTION)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Urban fantasy is hot these days, and its biggest stars are vampires, those blood-sucking, night-prowling paranormal creatures. As these five new titles demonstrate, the undead are not so very different from their human counterparts, running...

Navarro, Julia. The Bible of Clay.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Navarro, Julia. The Bible of Clay. Bantam. Apr. 2008. c.512p, tr. from Spanish by Andrew Hurley. ISBN 978-0-385-33963-6. $24. F Best-selling Spanish author Navarro (The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud) crafts two fiction genres into one...

Newton, Charlie. Calumet City.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... * Newton, Charlie. Calumet City. Touchstone: S. & S. Mar. 2008. 320p. ISBN 978-1-4165-3322-1. pap. $14. F Newton hits the ground running with this debut thriller, an action-packed, noir-as-can-be account of a week in the life of Chicago...

Picoult, Jodi. Change of Heart.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Picoult, Jodi. Change of Heart. Atria: S. & S. Mar. 2008. c.447p. ISBN 978-0-7434-9674-2. $26.95. F Noted for her heart-wrenching stories and the complicated humanity of her characters, Picoult (The Tenth Circle; My Sister's Keeper)...

Ramirez, Sergio. Margarita, How Beautiful the Sea.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Ramirez, Sergio. Margarita, How Beautiful the Sea. Curbstone, dist. by Consortium. Mar. 2008. c.314p, tr. from Spanish by Michael B. Miller. ISBN 978-1-931896-41-2. pap. $15.95. F In this country, Ramirez (To Bury Our Fathers) is probably...

Rebeck, Theresa. Three Girls and Their Brother.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... * Rebeck, Theresa. Three Girls and Their Brother. Shaye Areheart: Harmony. Apr. 2008. c.352p. ISBN 978-0-307-39414-9. $23.95. F The three beautiful, red-headed Heller sisters, granddaughters of a respected literary critic, are...

Skarmeta, Antonio. The Dancer and the Thief.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Skarmeta, Antonio. The Dancer and the Thief. Norton. Feb. 2008. c.320p, tr. from Spanish by Katherine Silver. ISBN 978-0-393-06494-0. $24.95. F Known for his canny knack for combining the elements of love, national crisis, and humor,...

Acevedo, Mario. The Undead Kama Sutra.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Acevedo, Mario. The Undead Kama Sutra. Eos: HarperCollins. Mar. 2008. c.384p. ISBN 978-0-06-083328-2. pap. $13.95. FANTASY In his third outing, after X-Rated Bloodsuckers and The Nymphos of Rocky Rats, Latino vampire detective Felix Gomez...

Ash, Sarah. Tracing the Shadow.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Ash, Sarah. Tracing the Shadow. Bantam. (The Alchymist's Legacy). Feb. 2008. c.432p, ISBN 978-0-553-80519-2, $24. FANTASY After the Kingdom of Francia purged its mages, the official church believed itself rid of practitioners of magic....

British Invasion.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... British Invasion. Cemetery Dance. Feb. 2008. c.458p. ed. by Christopher Golden & others. ISBN 978-1-58767-175-3. $40. HORROR From Gord Rollo's transcendentally eerie tale of a comatose young boy's revenge ("Lost in a Field of Paper...

Garton, Ray. Slivers of Bone.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Garton, Ray. Slivers of Bone. Cemetery Dance. Feb. 2008. c.508p. ISBN 978-1-58767-022-0. $40. HORROR From a tale of vengeance gone awry in Middle America ("The Guy Down the Street") to a frightening story of one man's solution to the...

Graham, Jo. Black Ships.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... * Graham, Jo. Black Ships. Orbit: Hachette. Mar. 2008. c.448p. ISBN 978-0-316-068000. pap. $14.99. FANTASY Born to a slave taken at the fail of Troy, the child named Gull is chosen by the oracle Pythia to succeed her in service to the...

Henry, Mark. Happy Hour of the Damned.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Henry, Mark. Happy Hour of the Damned. Kensington. Mar. 2008. c.320p. ISBN 978-0-7582-2522-1. pap. $15. HORROR An unexpected encounter with a man whose breath turns her into a flesh-eating zombie marks Amanda Feral's induction into...

Hobb, Robin. Renegade's Magic.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Hobb, Robin. Renegade's Magic. Eos: HarperCollins. (Soldier Son Trilogy, Bk. 3). Feb. 2008. c.672p. ISBN 978-0-06-075764-9. $25.95. FANTASY Convicted of a crime he did not commit, Nevare Burvelle has fled the town of Gettys and his...

Kenyon, Kay. A World Too Near.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Kenyon, Kay. A World Too Near. Pyr: Prometheus. (The Entire and The Rose, Bk. 2). Mar. 2008. c.456p. ISBN 978-1-59102-642-6. $25. SF Within the five-armed radial universe known as the Entire, many species, copied from other universes,...

Martinez, A. Lee. The Automatic Detective.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Martinez, A. Lee. The Automatic Detective. Tor. Feb. 2008. c.320p. ISBN 978-0-7653-1834-3. pap. $14.95. SF In Empire City, whose official name is Technolopia, free-willed robot Mack Megaton undergoes rehabilitation to help him develop...

McCaffrey, Anne & Elizabeth Ann Scarborough. Deluge.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... McCaffrey, Anne & Elizabeth Ann Scarborough. Deluge. Bantam. (Twins of Petaybee, Bk. 3). Feb. 2008. c.384p. ISBN 978-0-345-47006-5. $23.95. SF The selkie twins, Ronan and Murel, leave their home on the sentient planet Petaybee to rescue...

Meaney, John. Bone Song.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Meaney, John. Bone Song. Bantam. Feb. 2008. c.384p. ISBN 978-0-553-38514-4. $24. FANTASY In a city based around death, murder still stands out as a crime--particularly when the murderer is targeting celebrities. Police Lieutenant Donal...

Strauss, Darin. More Than It Hurts You.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... * Strauss, Darin. More Than It Hurts You. Dutton. Jun. 2008. c.416p. ISBN 978-0-525-95070-7. $24.95. F In Strauss's (Chang and Eng) third novel, TV airtime salesman Josh Goldin learns that his wife, Dori, has just taken their...

Melko, Paul. Singularity's Ring.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Melko, Paul. Singularity's Ring. Tor. Feb. 2008. c.320p. ISBN 978-0-7653-1777-3. $24.95. SF The event known as the Singularity has left an artificial ring around Earth and destroyed or transformed into energy 90 percent of the human...

Moon, Elizabeth. Victory Conditions.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Moon, Elizabeth. Victory Conditions. Del Rey: Ballantine. (Vatta's War, Bk. 5). Feb. 2008. c.416p. ISBN 978-0-345-49161-9. $26. SF Since the death of most of her family at the hands of political assassins, Kylara Vatta has sought...

The New Weird.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... * The New Weird. Tachyon, dist. by Independent Pubs. Group. Feb. 2008. c.320p. ed. by Ann VanderMeer & Jeff VanderMeer. ISBN 978-1-892391-55-1. pap. $14.95. FANTASY The 2000 publication of China Mieville's Perdido Street Station codified...

Banks, Iain M. Matter.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Banks, Iain M. Matter. Orbit: Hachette. Feb. 2008. c.608p. ISBN 978-0-316-00536-4. $25.99. SF Fans of the sf alter ego of literary fiction writer Banks will welcome his new Culture novel. The Culture, a highly evolved humanoid and...

Todd, Jack. Sun Going Down.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Todd, Jack. Sun Going Down. Touchstone: S. & S. May 2008. c.384p. ISBN 978-1-41655048-8. $26. F Award-winning sports columnist Todd's debut novel is based on family diaries and journals. Covering a 70-year span from 1863 to 1933, and set...

Wesselmann, Debbie Lee. Captivity.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... * Wesselmann, Debbie Lee. Captivity. Blair. Feb. 2008. c.300p. ISBN 978-0-89587-3538. $22.95. F Primatologist Dana Armstrong is passionate about making a difference in the lives of the animals living at a South Carolina chimpanzee...

Woodward, Gerard. A Curious Earth.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Woodward, Gerard. A Curious Earth. Norton. Mar. 2008. c.304p. ISBN 978-0-393-33097-7. pap. $14.95. F In this third in the author's series of witty novels about an eccentric and driven English family (after I'll Go To Bed at Noon and...

Dean, Debra. Confessions of a Falling Woman: And Other Stories.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Dean, Debra. Confessions of a Falling Woman: And Other Stories. Perennial: HarperCollins. Feb. 2008. c.256p. ISBN 978 0-06-082532-4. pap. $13.95. F Dean, author of the best-selling The Madonnas of Leningrad, has put together a stunning...

Millhauser, Steven. Dangerous Laughter: Thirteen Stories.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Millhauser, Steven. Dangerous Laughter: Thirteen Stories. Knopf. Feb. 2008. c.256p. ISBN 978-0-307-26756-6. $24. F A sense of mystery and strangeness pervades these 13 stories by Pulitzer Prize winner Millhauser. Divided into three...

Alliance Graphique International. AGI: Graphic Design since 1950.(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Alliance Graphique International. AGI: Graphic Design Since 1950. Thames & Hudson, dist. by Norton. 2007. c.800p. ed. by Ben Bos & Elly Bos. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 978-0-500-51342-2. $65. The Big Book of Graphic Design. Collins...

Anawalt, Patirica Rieff. The Worldwide History of Dress.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Anawalt, Patirica Rieff. The Worldwide History of Dress. Thames & Hudson, dist. by Norton. 2007. c.608p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 978-0-500-51363-7. $100. FINE ARTS This is an excellent browser's book on ethnic dress, here defined as...

Bertolotti, Alessandro. Books of Nudes.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 15, 2008... Bertolotti, Alessandro. Books of Nudes. Abrams. 2007. c.280p. illus. index. ISBN 978-0-8109-9444-7. $60. PHOTOG Photographing nudes is an art that goes back to the late 19th century and is as controversial today as it was then....