Library Journal articles from March 2008

Library Journal archives from March 2008

Express reviews: first look at new books.(ON THE WEB: www.libraryjournal.com)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Verdict: Ultimately, this book shows that comfort, healing, and even growth are possible after the death of a child. This powerfully authentic book is highly recommended for large public libraries and counseling...

In the bookroom: JL book blog.(ON THE WEB: www.libraryjournal.com)(Brief article)
March 15, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Castro's own 'spoken autobiography' (in effect answers to coauthor Ignacio Rfamonet's questions) was just published in English translation. Fidel Castro: My Life is not necessarily revealing of the man's persona,...

Roy Tennant's: Digital Libraries.(ON THE WEB: www.libraryjournal.com)
March 15, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 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...

The borders concept: bookstores modeled on the library minus the public service ethos.(Borders Inc.)(Editorial)
March 15, 2008... LATE LAST MONTH, BORDERS OPENED ITS NEW "concept store" in its corporate hometown, Ann Arbor, MI, to so much hoopla and crowds that librarians from Ann Arbor District Library (AADL) had to wait a few days to check it out. Before we all get...

Correct the din of the spin: libraries must get serious about informing the electorate.(blatant berry)
March 15, 2008... I HAVEN'T EVER BEEN AS MOTIVATED TO PARTICIPATE in a national election as I was the first time I voted in the middle of the fearful and repressed Fifties. Americans were scared stiff of Communists then. It turned out that we "had nothing to...

Transformation engine.(feedback)(Quotation)(Brief article)
March 15, 2008... Right on, John Berry ("The Vanishing Librarians," LJ 2/15/08, p. 10). In public librarianship, there has been a consistent trend away from seeing the role of the librarian as educator and the role of the public library as "the people's...

A library-themed wedding invite.(front desk)(Scott Douglas La Counte)
March 15, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Southern California public librarian Scott Douglas La Counte, aka "Scott Douglas," author of the upcoming humor memoir Quiet, Please (Da Capo) and the "Dispatches from a Public Librarian" column for McSweeney's, is...

No kidding.(front desk)(J.D. Roth's comment)(Quotation)(Brief article)
March 15, 2008... "My library system lets me renew [materials] for nearly six months. I believe that every smart, frugal person should make active use of the public library." --J.D. Roth from the Get Rich Slowly blog, on MSN Money's Smart Spending blog,...

Seek and ye shall ...(front desk)(Roy Tennant's observation)(Quotation)(Brief article)
March 15, 2008... "Only librarians like to search. Everyone else likes to find," LJ contributor Roy Tennant has observed trenchantly more than once. The Cuyahoga County Public Library, Parma, OH, has taken the logical next step. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Librarian's Epitaph.(front desk)(Ruth Lee)(Poem)
March 15, 2008... Librarian's Epitaph No reference question Could unflap her, Until she reached Her Final Chapter. --Ruth Lee, Library Assistant, Gary Byker Memorial Library, Hudsonville, MI

Heard.(front desk)(Quotation)(Brief article)
March 15, 2008... "I would like to see Kansas City dedicate an 'Appreciation of Librarians Day' that would be celebrated every year. Librarians have broadened minds, kept people informed, and of course provided reading that entertains.... We owe them that...

Harvard mandates open access: unanimous vote; still, will "opt-out" clause undermine participation?(lj news)(Harvard University)
March 15, 2008... The Harvard University Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) on February 12 unanimously approved a motion that compels FAS members to deposit their scholarly articles in an open access (OA) institutional repository, thus raising the bar for...

Borders advances the superstore.(lj news)(Brief article)
March 15, 2008... Book superstore chain Borders on February 22 was to open, in its headquarters city of Ann Arbor, MI, the first of 14 new "concept stores." The 28,900 square foot store offers not just a cafe and a community space with stage but also...

Speaker flaps in Greenwich & BC: cancellation reversed; fringe author part of Freedom To Read.(lj news)(British Columbia)
March 15, 2008... In Greenwich, CT, the library reversed its decision to cancel two mid-February talks by pro-Palestinian speaker Alison Weir. The Greenwich Library's meeting room was booked by a local resident who belongs to the group If Americans Knew, which...

Victoria PL closed in conflict; five-month labor battle, revenue loss, lead to lockout.(lj news)(Greater Victoria Public Library)(Brief article)
March 15, 2008... The five-month labor dispute between Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 410 and the nine-branch Greater Victoria Public Library (GVPL), BC, escalated to the point where management has chosen a forceful countermeasure, announcing...

Welcome to the lending machine.(lj news)(Brief article)
March 15, 2008... Self-service gets a boost with the nation's first Library-a-Go-Go machine, to be installed next month in a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) location, before the fare gate, thanks to the Contra Costa County Library (CCCL), Pleasant Hill. CCCL...

Woman's Day & PL entrepreneurs.(lj news)(Jessica Sequinot, Helen Oram, Donna Hrezo, Michele Onofrey)(Brief article)
March 15, 2008... Over the past seven years, a partnership between the American Library Association's (ALA) Campaign for America's Libraries and Woman's Day magazine has reminded readers how libraries help individuals and communities. The magazine's March...

New ULC report on immigrants: five strategies used by libraries to serve "New Americans" detailed.(lj news)(Urban Libraries Council)
March 15, 2008... More and more, urban public libraries are stepping up to serve immigrants, and a new report from the Urban Libraries Council (ULC), Welcome, Stranger: Public Libraries Build the Global Village, explains those strategies. The 20-page report is...

Memphis PL led by nonlibrarian: dismay expressed after news surfaces Drescher was forced out.(lj news)(Memphis Public Library and Information Center, Keenon McCloy, Judith Drescher)(Brief article)
March 15, 2008... Eyebrows were raised in December upon news regarding the seemingly sudden retirement of Judith Drescher, longtime director of the Memphis Public Library and Information Center, and two colleagues (see News, LJ 1/08, p. 25ff.). After all,...

Unusual library merger in NJ: two-campus community college joins Burlington County system.(lj news)(Burlington County, New Jersey)(Burlington County College Library)(Burlington County Library System)(Brief article)
March 15, 2008... Burlington County, NJ, is the site of an unusual, perhaps unique collaboration: the library at a two-campus community college has been incorporated into the Burlington County Library System (BCLS). The merger, BCLS director Gall Sweet...

Union gains in Jackson Cty., OR; LSSI agrees to negotiate after NLRB complaint filed.(lj news)(Service Employees International Union)(Jackson County, Oregon)(Library Systems and Services, LLC)(National Labor Relations Board)(Brief article)
March 15, 2008... After winning the bid last year to operate the 15-library system in Jackson County, OR, Library Systems & Services, LLC (LSSI), will now have to negotiate with the union that formerly represented a majority of its workers. In December,...

Indianapolis PL gets partial settlement.(lj news)(Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library)(Brief article)
March 15, 2008... After years of frustrating delays and cost overruns owing to faulty construction, the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library (IMCPL) opened its revamped central library late last year (see News, LJ 1/08, 18ff.). Now it has announced that...

UIUC's LRC changes name, focus.(lj news)(University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's Library Research Center)(GSHS Center for Informatics Research in Science and Scholarship)(Brief article)
March 15, 2008... The Library Research Center at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) is expanding the scope of its activities and changing its name to the GSHS Center for Informatics Research in Science and Scholarship (CIRSS). In addition to...

CLIR issues digital preservation report.(lj news)(Council on Library and Information Resources)(Brief article)
March 15, 2008... A new study from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIP,), funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, suggests that in an age of mass digitization, it is time to reassess best practices and put forth a practicable preservation...

Calendar.(lj news)(Calendar)
March 15, 2008... APRIL 29-May 1--New Jersey Library Assn., Long Branch www.njla.org 29-May 2--Utah Library Assn./ Mountain Plains Library Assn., Salt Lake City www.ula.org MAY 6-9--Massachusetts Library Assn., Falmouth www.masslib.org ...

Sophia Anastos.(people)(Brief article)
March 15, 2008... Sophia Anastos, Director of River Grove Public Library District, IL, has been chosen to become Director of the River Forest Public Library, IL. Anastos is a Microsoft-certified systems engineer as well as a librarian.

Harford County Public Library.(people)(Brief article)
March 15, 2008... Mary Hastier has been appointed Associate Director of the Harford County Public Library (HCPL), Belcamp, MD. She was Associate Director for Support Services at the Baltimore County Public Library, Towson, MD, since August 2006 and, before...

SOLINET.(people)(Brief article)
March 15, 2008... Ed McBride has been named to the newly created position of Chief Marketing and Outreach Officer at the SOLINET library consortium. McBride's previous experience included a stint as Senior Vice President overseeing the customer resource center...

Multnomah County Library.(people)(Brief article)
March 15, 2008... Vailey Oehlke is the new Deputy Director, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR. Previously, Oehlke was Director of Mulmomah's central library.

Jackson-Madison County Library.(people)(Brief article)
March 15, 2008... Richard Salmons is the new Director of the Jackson-Madison County Library, TN, a system run by Library Systems & Services, LLC (LSSI). He most recently was Head of the Reference Department at Oklahoma Baptist University, Shawnee.

University of Maryland.(people)(Brief article)
March 15, 2008... Ann Carlson Weeks has been appointed Coordinator of the school library media specialization at the College of Information Studies, University of Maryland, College Park. She was Director for Collection Research/Use of the International...

Marquette University Libraries.(people)(Brief article)
March 15, 2008... Jean Zanoni has been named Associate Dean of Libraries at Marquette University Libraries (MUL), Milwaukee. She was Head of Bibliographic Control at MUL.

Obituary.(people)(Obituary)(Brief article)
March 15, 2008... Robin Dombrowsky, Head of Adult Services at Palm Harbor Library (PHL), FL, passed away after a brief illness on December 2; she was 56. Before joining PHL in May 2006, she was Assistant Director of the Temple Terrace Public Library, FL. ...

Librarians in step at O'Reilly's tools of change: libraries as publishers and lessons learned from for-profits mark meeting.(infotech)(O'Reilley Tools of Change for Publishing Conference)
March 15, 2008... With faces aglow in the glare of a sea of laptops and Black-Berries[R] a cadre of publishers, librarians, techies, and business suits pondered and predicted the future of publishing at the O'Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing Conference in...

ProQuest acquires WebFeat.(infotech)(Brief article)
March 15, 2008... ProQuest gave itself a great big Valentine's gift, announcing February 14 the purchase of WebFeat, which will be merged with its Serials Solutions unit under general manager Jane Burke. ProQuest said a new platform incorporating the...

Scopus adds 600 preselected titles.(infotech)(Brief article)
March 15, 2008... Scopus is adding 600 new titles recommended by its users to its database of 15,000 peer-reviewed journals. "We believe the best way to identify relevant and high-quality content is to work closely with the scientific community," said Scopus's...

Ingram Digital Group on Top 100.(infotech)(100 companies that matter most)(Brief article)
March 15, 2008... eContent Magazine has dubbed the Ingram Digital Group one of the "100 companies that matter most." Ingram said that the list, appearing in the publication's December issue, "was developed by a panel of preeminent experts," including CMS Watch...

Cheers and jeers.(THE TRANSPARENT LIBRARY)
March 15, 2008... WE'VE BEEN WRITING THE TRANSPARENT Library for a year, so it's time for some thumbs up and thumbs down. Cheers to the widespread librarians, library staff, administrators, trustees, and others from libraries small and large who have...

After oil: public libraries will have an important role to play in our new post-peak-oil society.(Cover story)
March 15, 2008... Public libraries were indispensable were indispensable resources for newcomers during the height of European immigration to the United States. They were havens for the poor and jobless during the Great Depression and bridges between rural and...

Spurring engagement.(University of California-Santa Barbara Reads program)
March 15, 2008... The University of California--Santa Barbara (UCSB) Libraries' John Cotton Dana Award--winning "UCSB Reads" program, now in its second year, lays out a blueprint for other libraries wanting to stimulate ecologically focused discussion and...

Rising tides: bios, histories, and books on the U.S. economy, globalization, and workplace relationships were big business for 2007.(BEST BUSINESS BOOKS 2007)
March 15, 2008... The Dow's losses over this year's first 12 days of trading erased nearly all of last year's gains; the pace of new homebuilding was, in January, reportedly at its lowest in 16 years; and recession rumblings, too, are making themselves heard....

A mixed ballot bag: the measures reported did well overall, though planning and parsimony were big factors.(LIBRARY REFERENDA 2007)
March 15, 2008... According to the results of LJ's latest annual referenda survey, covering measures held between December 1, 2006, and November 30, 2007, voters approved both operating and building referenda at very high rates. If your library reported a...

Debuts unlimited.(FIRST NOVELS)
March 15, 2008... Murder and magic, illicit love and puppy love, home-grown tragedy and the ravages of far-off war. No one topic defines a first novel, and, no, they aren't all autobiographical. Among last season's top debuts, published from August through...

Forthcoming debuts.(FIRST NOVELS)(List)
March 15, 2008... NORTHEAST Shirley Abbott. The Future of Love. Algonquin. Mar. New York Mark Alpert. Final Theory. Touchstone/Fireside: S. & S. Jun. New York Toby Barlow. Sharp Teeth. Harper: HarperCollins. Feb. New York (LJ 1/08) ...

What's your role?(NEXTGEN)(Ohio Library Council's You Offer Me Nothing conference)
March 15, 2008... IN MINDY KLASKY'S NOVEL GIRLS' Guide to Witchcraft, a librarian named Jane Madison has it pretty rough. Not only does she have to wear Colonial garb in an effort to promote her library's special collections, she has to serve as a barista,...

Prepub alert.(fiction books)
March 15, 2008... FICTION Bilston, Sarah. Sleepless Nights. Morrow. Jul. 2008. 304p. ISBN 978-0-06-0889944. $24.95. A holiday in the country? Not when your enfant is acting sick and your younger sister is acting like an enfant. Block, Lawrence....

Graphic novels.(Book review)
March 15, 2008... 2007 IN REVIEW More comics--What's not to like? With comics as the new poster child for literacy, good GN news for 2007 includes more variety and titles. Foreign works beyond manga--Franco-Belgian, Scandinavian, Indian, and even Russian (see...

Barron, Stephanie. A Flaw in the Blood.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... Barron, Stephanie. A Flaw in the Blood. Bantam. Mar. 2008. c.304p. ISBN 978-0-553-80524-6. $24. F In her first stand-alone penned under the Barron name, the author of the acclaimed Jane Austen mystery series (she also writes as Francine...

Bausch, Richard. Peace.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... Bausch, Richard. Peace. Knopf. Apr. 2008. c.192p. ISBN 978-0-307-26833-4. $19.95. F Bausch is best known for his short stories, but this powerful novella demonstrates his skill at spare language and tight construction. In the winter of...

Crouch, Katie. Girls in Trucks.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... Crouch, Katie. Girls in Trucks. Little, Brown. Apr. 2008. c.240p. ISBN 978-0-316-00211-0. $21.99. F Crouch's debut novel-in-linked-stories chronicles the life of Charleston debutante Sarah Waiters from her learning the fox trot in grade...

Delbanco, Nicholas. The Count of Concord.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Delbanco, Nicholas. The Count of Concord. Dalkey Archive. May 2008. c.480p. ISBN 978-1-56478-509-1. $34.95; pap. ISBN 978-1-56478-495-7. $15.95. F Delbanco (What Remains) here fictionalizes the life of one of...

Gulland, Sandra. Mistress of the Sun.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... Gulland, Sandra. Mistress of the Sun. Touchstone: S. & S. Jun. 2008. c.387p. ISBN 978-0-7432-9887-X. $26. F From the time Louise de Valliere was a little girl, she had a way with animals, horses being her particular favorite. After her...

Halter, Marek. The Messiah.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... Halter, Marek. The Messiah. Toby. Apr. 2008. c.485p, tr. from French by Lauren Yoder. ISBN 978-1-59284-216-8. $24.95. F The author of both historical fiction (e.g., The Wind of the Khazars) and religious fiction (see the following review)...

Halter, Marek. Mary of Nazareth.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... Halter, Marek. Mary of Nazareth. Crown. Apr. 2008. c.304p, tr. from French by Howard Curtis. ISBN 978-0-307-39483-5. $24. F Known for his previous fictionalizations of biblical women ("The Canaan Trilogy": Sarah, Zipporah, and Lilah),...

Hanif, Mohammed. A Case of Exploding Mangoes.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... Hanif, Mohammed. A Case of Exploding Mangoes. Knopf. May 2008. c.320p. ISBN 978-0-307-28807-5. $24. F Set in Pakistan in the 1980s, this first novel revolves around the events leading up to the plane crash that killed General Zia, then...

Hawley, Ellen. Open Line.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... Hawley, Ellen. Open Line. Coffee House, dist. by Consortium. May 2008. c.288p. ISBN 978-1-58689-209-4. pap. $14.95. F Annette Majoris is bored to death with her job as host of a nighttime talk show in Minneapolis, and on one shift, she...

Heim, Scott. We Disappear.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... Heim, Scott. We Disappear. Perennial: HarperCollins. Mar. 2008. c.304p. ISBN 978-0-06-146897-1. pap. $13.95. F When his mother's cancer worsens, Scott leaves New York and returns home to Kansas to help her. He is quickly drawn into...

Herendeen, Ann. Phyllida and the Brotherhood of Philander.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... Herendeen, Ann. Phyllida and the Brotherhood of Philander. HarperCollins. Apr. 2008. c.544p. ISBN 978-0-06-145136-2. pap. $14.95. F It is the usual romantic tale of a marriage of convenience: a devastatingly attractive, confirmed bachelor...

Hustvedt, Siri. The Sorrows of an American.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... Hustvedt, Siri. The Sorrows of an American. Holt. Apr. 2008. c.320p. ISBN 978-0-8050-7908-1. $25. F "Dear Lars, I know you will never ever say nothing about what happened." These words, found in an old letter addressed to his deceased...

Jiang Rong. Wolf Totem.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... Jiang Rong. Wolf Totem. Penguin Pr: Penguin Group (USA). Apr. 2008. c.544p, tr. from Chinese by Howard Goldblatt. ISBN 978-1-59420-156-1. $26.95. F Deep in Inner Mongolia, at the time of the Great Leap Forward, Han Chinese scholar Chen...

Kalla, Daniel. Cold Plague.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... Kalla, Daniel. Cold Plague. Forge: Tor. Apr. 2008. c.304p. ISBN 978-0-7653-1833-6. $24.95. F Kalla's fifth thriller is the second to feature Dr. Noah Haldane, an infectious-disease specialist working for the World Health Organization. In...

Lee, Don. Wrack and Ruin.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... Lee, Don. Wrack and Ruin. Norton. Apr. 2008. c.288p. ISBN 978-0-393-06232-8. $23.95. F Lee's second novel (after Country of Origin) returns to the fictional town of Rosarita Bay, CA, a bucolic location outside of San Francisco that also...

Medwed, Mameve. Of Men and Their Mothers.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... Medwed, Mameve. Of Men and Their Mothers. Morrow. May 2008. c.304p. ISBN 978-0-06-083121-9. $24.95. F Mothers, from the overbearing to the overly accommodating, interact more or less successfully with their sons in this fifth novel from...

Meyer, Deon. Devil's Peak.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... Meyer, Deon. Devil's Peak. Little, Brown. Mar. 2008. c.416p, tr. from Afrikaans by K.L. Seegers. ISBN 978-0-316-01785-5. $24.99. F In his fourth thriller set in and around Cape Town, South African crime writer Meyer interweaves the...

Noble, Elizabeth. Things I Want My Daughters To Know.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... Noble, Elizabeth. Things I Want My Daughters To Know. Morrow. Apr. 2008. c.384p. ISBN 978-0-08-112219-4. $22.95. F Four sisters come to terms with the death of their mother over the course of one year, buoyed and buffeted by the letters...

Randall, Brant. Blood Harvest.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... Randall, Brant. Blood Harvest. Capital Crime. May 2008. c.286p. ISBN 978-0-9799960-1-8. $19.95. M The year is 1929, and in a small New England town, Jackie Sue McKay and Angus DeCosta are caught in a compromising position. McKay's family...

Rice, Anne. Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... * Rice, Anne. Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana. Knopf. Mar. 2008. c.256p. ISBN 978-1-4000-4352-1. $25.95. F The second title in Rice's "Christ the Lord" series (after Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt) picks up with the life of Jesus...

Rosen, Elisabeth Payne. Hallam's War.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... Rosen, Elisabeth Payne. Hallam's War. Unbridled. May 2008. c.480p. ISBN 978-1-932961-49-2. $25.95. F A big, sprawling Civil War epic, Rosen's first novel contains enough romance and history to draw Miss Scarlett's fans like flies to...

Sarvas, Mark. Harry, Revised.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... * Sarvas, Mark. Harry, Revised. Bloomsbury, dist. by Macmillan. May 2008. c.272p. ISBN 978-1-59691-462-9. $24.95. F Sarvas, writer of the highly praised literary blog, The Elegant Variation, has written a brilliantly funny and...

Schutt, Christine. All Souls.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... Schutt, Christine. All Souls. Harcourt. Apr. 2008. c.240p. ISBN 978-0-15-101449-1. $22. F In this latest novel by Schutt (Florida,), the angst of very rich girls undergoing the stress of senior year in a Manhattan prep school is leavened...

Scott, Manda. The Crystal Skull.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... Scott, Manda. The Crystal Skull. Delacorte. Apr. 2008. c.373p. ISBN 978-0-385-34010-6. $25. F Scott (Hen's Teeth; Boudica) has already achieved success as a suspense and Celtic historical/fantasy author. With this new work, she makes her...

Sinha, Indra. Animal's People.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... Sinha, Indra. Animal's People. S. & S. 2008. c.384p. ISBN 978-1-4165-7878-9. $25. F Last year's Man Booker Prize winner is a story with a message: Animal is a teenage boy who lives on the streets of the Indian city of Khaufpur. He goes...

Barr, Nevada. Winter Study.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... Barr, Nevada. Winter Study. Putnam. Apr. 2008. c.384p. ISBN 978-0-39915-458-4. $24.95. M Park ranger Anna Pigeon returns to Michigan's bitterly cold, icebound Isle Royale National Park (first featured in A Superior Death) in the 13th...

Estleman, Loren D. Frames.(Forge)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... Estleman, Loren D. Frames. Forge: Tor. May 2008. c.272p. ISBN 978-0-7653-1575-5. $23.95. M Valentino is a UCLA film archivist with a passion for the silent screen. When he buys a decrepit movie theater in West Hollywood, he gets much...

Fate, Robert. Baby Shark's High Plains Redemption.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... Fate, Robert. Baby Shark's High Plains Redemption. Capital Crime. May 2008. c.287p. ISBN 978-0-9799960-2-3. pap. $14.95. M Pulp fiction makes a comeback with this series featuring Kristin Van Dijk, better known as Baby Shark, the...

Wolfe, Inger Ash. The Calling.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... * Wolfe, Inger Ash. The Calling. Harcourt. May 2008. c.384p. ISBN 978-0-15-101347-0. $24. M Sixty-one, divorced, and a semirecovering alcoholic, Def. Insp. Hazel Micallef is the epitome of the antihero. In her position as acting...

Smith, Tom Rob. Child 44.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... Smith, Tom Rob. Child 44. Grand Central. May 2008. c.439p. ISBN 978-0-446-40238-5. $24.99. F Grisly, gruesome, and gory are just three ways to describe this debut novel by young British screenwriter Smith. While adapting a short story by...

Tan Twan Eng. The Gift of Rain.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... * Tan Twan Eng. The Gift of Rain. Weinstein. May 2008. c.448p. ISBN 978-1-60286-024-7. $23.95. F This epic first novel involves the life of Philip Arminius Khoo-Hutton--half-British and half-Chinese, who lives on the Malaysian island of...

Taylor, Benjamin. The Book of Getting Even.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... Taylor, Benjamin. The Book of Getting Even. Steerforth, dist. by Random. May 2008. c.176p. ISBN 978-1-58642-143-4. $23.95. F This elegiac novel features the long, tragic friendship of three young people coming of age in the 1970s. They meet...

Trollope, Joanna. Friday Nights.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... Trollope, Joanna. Friday Nights. Bloomsbury, dist. by Macmillan. May 2008. c.336p. ISBN 978-1-59691-407-0. $24.95. F Trollope (The Rector's Wife) excels at character development and realistic dialog, two talents displayed in this novel of...

Asprin, Robert. Dragons Wild.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... Asprin, Robert. Dragons Wild. Ace: Berkley, dist. by Penguin Group (USA). Apr. 2008. c.368p. ISBN 978-0-441-01470-5. pap. $14. FANTASY Fresh out of college, Griffen McCandless meets with his wealthy uncle to discuss his employment...

Binder, Alan. Moon Quake.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... Binder, Alan. Moon Quake. Ken Pr. Apr. 2008. c.328p. ISBN 978-1-928771-25-8. pap. $7.99. SF Following years of success with launches of the space shuttle and the building of a space station, NASA attempts to build a permanent base on the...

Brotherton, Mike. Spider Star.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... Brotherton, Mike. Spider Star. Tor. Mar. 2008. c.464p. ISBN 978-0-7653-1125-2. $26.95. SF Humans on the planet Argo have long used the alien technology left by the world's former inhabitants, called Argonauts. When a group of...

Drake, David. When the Tide Rises.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 15, 2008... Drake, David. When the Tide Rises. Baen, dist. by S. & S. Mar. 2008. c.368p. ISBN 978-1-4165-5527-8. $25. SF As tension between the Republic of Cinnabar and the rival Alliance mount, the RCN (Republic of Cinnabar Navy) sends its best...