Library Journal articles from September 2008

Library Journal archives from September 2008

Xpress reviews: first look at new books.(ON THE WEB)(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... "Verdict: Hailing from the worlds of the theater and poetry, award-winning Portuguese novelist Peixoto (b. 1974) writes straightforward prose that, with its incantatory cadence, brings readers to new heights of realization. Recommended."--from...

In the bookroom: LJ book blog.(ON THE WEB)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... "Perhaps you should steer [Dan Brown] readers to Katherine Neville, who first burst upon the adventure-historical mystery scene in 1988 with her debut novel, The Eight. Featuring time-shifting storytelling and guest appearances by such...

Knee-jerk values: without librarians' reactions, our values would be empty platitudes.(Editorial)
September 1, 2008... "SOMETIMES OUR PROFESSION HAS A KNEE-JERK reaction," Darrell Batson, director of the Frederick Public Library (FPL), MD, and president of the Maryland Library Association, told me when I gave him a call. Batson's comment came when I asked about...

ALA vs. privatization.(feedback)(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2008... Francine Fialkoff called for the American Library Association (ALA) to take a stronger stand against the privatization of library services ("The Privatization Threat," Editorial, LJ 6/1/08, p. 8). In fact, the association has taken a strong...

The inspiring Michaels.(feedback)(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2008... As LJ arrives at my desk, I look forward to The Transparent Library by the two Michaels (Stephens and Casey). I need the inspiration they provide for changing libraries, incorporating emerging technologies, and finding myself in my work. They...

Desperate for relevance.(feedback)(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2008... I cannot let Francine Fialkoff's "Beyond the Kindle" (Editorial, LJ 7/08, p. 8) pass without comment. This is less about the Kindle, which l think may be just another step down a path that will turn out to be an alley, than it is about ebooks....

Antivendor philosophy.(feedback)(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2008... Shannon Bohle's inaccurate and unnecessary hyperbole ("The New Digital Awareness," LJ 7/08, p. 26-28) seems to do more to create conflict and divisiveness than a feeling of community. Explain how using a turnkey solution such as CONTENTdm turns...

Read.(front desk)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... "When I feel that shopaholic urge threatening to derail my investment plans, I go to the library with cloth book bags and borrow 30 books at one time. I exit the building feeling like the wealthiest woman in the world." --AUTHOR KIMBER...

Coinage.(front desk)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Q. What's a Larchiveum (L-archiv-eum)? A. The (imaginary) combination library/archive/museum that might collect massively multiplayer online (MMO) games, which often involve interactive role-playing. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Credit...

Libraries and the immigrant experience.(front desk)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... "It's here--on public streets, in public parks, at public schools, in public libraries--that people truly become Canadians." --Toronto Mayor David Miller, February 11, 2008 (cited at the Canadian Library Association annual conference in...

A librarian's lexicon for the layperson.(front desk)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... LJ Digital Libraries blogger Roy Tennant, imbibing the spirit of acid aphorist Ambrose Bierce, decided recently to offer some definitions of terms favored in libraryland. Here's a sampling: TWITTER: A method by which those who believe their...

Joke.(front desk)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Q: How many American Library Association (ALA) Councilors does it take to change a light bulb? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A: 186 1 to change the bulb 3 to post in opposition to the change 2 to post in favor of the change ...

Maryland PL gives up computers: afterward, in anthrax case, FBI gets judge's permission for search.(lj news)(Frederick County Public Libraries )
September 1, 2008... Though the director of the Frederick County Public Libraries (FCPL), MD, in August acceded to the request by the FBI for two library computers without getting a warrant, the FBI later asked for and got permission to search those computers,...

Cedar Rapids Main closed three years?(lj news)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... The Main Library of the Cedar Rapids Public Library (CRPL), IA, devastated by floods in June (see News, LJ 7/08, p. 16), likely will be closed for not one year, as previously estimated, but for three years. The initial estimate is "just not...

Long Beach Main Library may close.(lj news)
September 1, 2008... Result: increased hours, but much less public space The mayor of Long Beach, CA, wants to close the Main Library of the Long Beach Public Library (LBPL) to most public use and would instead expand service at the branches. However, the 11...

NIH mandate seems to work.(lj news)(National Institutes of Health)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... PubMed Central submissions rise after mandatory policy Since passage of the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) mandatory public access policy last year, the number of submissions to the National Library of Medicine's (NLM) PubMed Central...

PL board rejects grand jury report.(lj news)(Sacramento Public Library )(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Sacramento board won't comment publicly on fate of director Gold The Sacramento Public Library (SPL) has rejected a grand jury's report bashing the library and suggesting the dismissal of Director Anne Marie Gold (see News, LJ 6/15/08, p....

Hennepin's Ryan to head Boston PL.(lj news)(Hennepin County Library, Amy Ryan, Boston Public Library )(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... In a unanimous vote, the Board of Trustees of the Boston Public Library (BPL) named Amy Ryan, director of the Hennepin County Library (HCL), MN, as the new BPL president. In doing so, the board bypassed Thomas Birmingham, a lawyer and former...

DCPL avoids $2m budget cut.(NEWS)(District of Columbia Public Library )(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... San Francisco Public Library sees budget increase of 8% The District of Columbia Public Library (DCPL) in July was threatened with a $2 million cut (from a $9.4 million budget) by October 1, the start of the fiscal year, but, as DCPL...

Gomez leaves ULC for CA job.(NEWS)(Martin Gomez, Urban Libraries Council )(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Organization has grown, moved during leader's four-year tenure Martin Gomez, president of the Urban Libraries Council (ULC) for four years, will leave on October 24 to head the San Mateo County Library (SMCL), CA, near his home in San...

NJ Knowledge Initiative resumes.(NEWS)(New Jersey Knowledge Initiative )(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... The New Jersey Knowledge Initiative (NJKI), temporarily closed this year (see News, LJ 4/15/08, p. 20), has been revitalized with the inclusion of $2 million in the FY09 state budget. Small business owners and others once again will be able to...

Digital Bookmobile begins tour.(NEWS)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... The Digital Bookmobile from digital media distributor OverDrive began its national tour August 10 at an event in New York City's Central Park, hosted by the New York Public Library (NYPL). [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] About 300 people...

Calendar.(NEWS)(Brief article)(Calendar)
September 1, 2008... OCTOBER 1-3--Missouri Library Assn., St. Louis molib.org 1-3--Wyoming Library Assn., Casper www.wyla.org 1-4--Idaho Library Assn., Idaho Falls www.idaholibraries.org 1-4--Kentucky Library Assn./ Kentucky School Media Assn./...

Pyper named new chief of Toronto PL.(NEWS)(Jane Pyper, Toronto Public Library )(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... The Toronto Public Library (TPL) board July 30 announced the appointment of Jane Pyper as TPL's new chief librarian, effective September 2. Pyper, who has 25 years of experience in libraries, is currently TPL's director of policy and planning...

Drexel establishes Sacramento Center.(NEWS)(Drexel University )(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Philadelphia's Drexel University will open a Center for Graduate Studies in Sacramento, CA, in January 2009, featuring degrees in library and information science and information systems among the five master's programs to be offered. Drexel...

Renovation drives sale of photographs.(NEWS)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... The Carnegie-Stout Public Library (CSPL), Dubuque, IA, has sold one of its most prized possessions, a 20-volume set of Edward Curtis photos, The North American Indian, for $500,000 to raise money for a $6.8 million renovation of the main...

Francis Marion University.(people)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Paul Dove, Dean of the Library at Francis Marion University, Florence, SC, has retired after 33 years of service.

OCLC.(people)(OCLC WorldCat Global Metadata Network)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Ted Fons has joined OCLC as Director, OCLC WorldCat Global Metadata Network. He was most recently Director of Customer Services, Innovative Interfaces, Inc.

Greenwich Library.(people)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Mario Gonzalez retired August 31 from his position as Director of the Greenwich Library, CT. Before coming to Greenwich in 1999, Gonzalez was a Deputy Director at the Brooklyn Public Library, NY.

Felician College.(people)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Stephen Karetzky has retired after serving for two decades as the Library Director at Felician College, Lodi, NJ.

Cornell University Library.(people)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Dean B. Krafft, Senior Research Associate and Director of Information Technology at Cornell University Library, Ithaca, NY, has been named to the newly created senior-level post of Chief Technology Strategist at that institution.

Washoe County Library System.(people)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Arnold Maurins is the new Director of the Washoe County Library System, Reno, NV. He has been serving as Interim Director since January 2008.

Garden City Public Library.(people)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Alan Roeckel, Director of the Garden City Public Library, NY, has retired. Roeckel joined the library in 1976 and became director in 1987.

McArthur Public Library.(people)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Dora St. Martin has become Director of the McArthur Public Library, Biddeford, ME. She was Director of the Pollard Memorial Library, Lowell, MA.

Boulder Public Library.(people)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Tony Tallent is now Director of the Boulder Public Library, CO. He was Director of Youth and Outreach for the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, NC, and a 2008 LJ Mover & Shaker.

Chester County Library System.(people)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... John Venditta is the new Executive Director at Chester County Library System, Exton, PA. He formerly was Associate Director of the Western Maryland Regional Library, Hagerstown.

British Columbia Library Association.(people)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Alane Wilson has been named Executive Director of the British Columbia Library Association, Vancouver. Wilson was most recently Senior Library Market Consultant with OCLC in Dublin, OH.

Rutgers University.(people)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Mark Winston, Associate Professor in the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill since 2006, will become Assistant Chancellor and Director of the John Cotton Dana Library at Rutgers...

LibraryThing releases one million free covers: hits milestone at 30 million user-added records; Amazon.com gains minority stake through AbeBooks acquisition.(infotech)
September 1, 2008... LibraryThing, the popular social network book cataloging site, made waves in the library world with three significant announcements during the first week of August. Of the most direct benefit to libraries, LibraryThing announced August 7 that...

WebJunction's 2.0 redesign.(infortech)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... WebJunction debuted its highly anticipated redesign on August 4 to great acclaim from the library social networking community. Described as a kind of "Facebook for librarians" and as a place "by and for" library staff, new elements on the site...

Duke open source ILS funded.(INFOTECH)(Duke University Libraries, )(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded a $475,700 grant to the Duke University Libraries (DUL) to lead an international team in the design of "a next-generation, open source library system." The project, dubbed the Open Library Environment...

CARE affiliates/ Ex Libris acquired.(INFOTECH)(LibLime and Leeds Equity Partners buys CARE affiliates and Ex Libris Group respectively)
September 1, 2008... Two integrated library system (ILS) vendors in recent weeks have announced major acquisitions. First, open source solutions outfit LibLime July 29 announced the acquisition of CARE Affiliates. The sale, said LibLime, includes "select products,...

Dialog finds a new home.(ONLINE DATABASES)(Dialog Corp. acquired by ProQuest L.L.C.)
September 1, 2008... THE BIGGEST INDUSTRY NEWS this summer was the announcement that proQuest had acquired Dialog from Thomson Reuters. Dialog was beginning to look like an unwelcome stepchild as new strategies by Thomson Reuters were moving the firm away from...

Editors' fall picks.(Cover story)
September 1, 2008... Ah, fall, that time of amethyst mists and a cascade of great new books. From fiction set in Colonial America to this feature's first audio, these picks are not the usual suspects but titles we know you'll want to rake in. Politics and...

Immigrant nation: how public libraries select materials for a growing population whose first language is not English.
September 1, 2008... In an August 14 story, the New York Times reported that ethnic and racial minorities will likely be a majority of the U.S. population by 2042. Many of the blacks, Asians, Hispanics, and others constituting this emerging majority will be...

A perfect storm.(Collection Development: Mormonism)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Since well before the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and through Mitt Romney's run for the U.S. Presidency, an unprecedented number of news stories have been published about the Mormon faith; indeed,...

Check your references.(CASE STUDY)
September 1, 2008... "YES, I UNDERSTAND. THANK YOU for bringing this to our attention, Mrs. Lombardi," said Norma Goerz, head of reference at the Caulfield Public Library, into the phone. She replaced the receiver, blew out a long breath, and said, "This isn't...

Three years after Katrina.(BACKTALK)
September 1, 2008... "IT'S BEEN REALLY HAD HERE," a former colleague told me, as we caught up on one of my recent visits back to New Orleans. "While you are m the safe, cozy hills in Georgia, we are working... to rebuild the library and cleaning up debris in...

Prepub alert.
September 1, 2008... FICTION Arana, Marie. Lima Nights. Bantam. Jan. 2009. 256p. ISBN 978-0-385-34258-2. $25. Carlos Bluhm leads an elegant, throwaway sort of life in upper-class Lima--until he meets a 16-year-old tango dancer on the wrong side of town....

Mystery.
September 1, 2008... THE BIG QUESTION What would you do to save someone in mortal danger? As demonstrated here, this is a recurring theme in modern crime fiction. In Eric Stone's Flight of the Hornbill, hero Ray Sharp discovers that he is powerless to protect his...

Prepub mystery.
September 1, 2008... Block, Lawrence. Killing Castro. Hard Case Crime: Dorchester. Jan. 2009. 208p. ISBN 978-0-8439-6113-9. pap. $6.99. First published the year before the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis under a pen name and now finally back in print, the "rarest of...

Christian fiction.
September 1, 2008... THIS FALL brings a rich crop of novels by veteran CF authors, including Lynn Austin's historical drama, Until We Reach Home; Karen Kingsbury's conclusion to the Baxter "Sunrise" series; Kim Vogel Sawyer's Mennonite tale, Where the Heart Leads;...

Abeel, Erica. Conscience Point.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... Abeel, Erica. Conscience Point. Unbridled. Oct. 2008. c.272p. ISBN 978-1-932961-53-9. $24.95. F Abeel's fifth novel (after Women Like Us) is an engaging read with plot twists and complex characters. Madeleine Shaye, a pianist and TV arts...

Aswani, `Ala. Chicago.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... Al Aswany, Alaa. Chicago. Harper: HarperCoUins. Oct. 2008. c.342p, tr. from Arabic by Faruuk Abdel Wahab. ISBN 978-0-06-145256-7. $25.95. F In this absorbing novel by best-selling Egyptian author Al Aswany (The Yacoubian Building), Egyptian...

Bartis, Attila. Tranquility.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... Bartis, Attila. Tranquility. Archipelago. Sept. 2008. c.296p, tr. from Hungarian by Imre Goldstein. ISBN 978-0-9800330-0-7. pap. $15. F Bartis's third novel (and the first to appear in English) is what Gyorgy Konrad's The Loser (1982) was...

Berger, John. From A to X: A Story in Letters.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... Berger, John. From A to X: A Story in Letters. Verso, dist. by Norton. Sept. 2008. c.198p. ISBN 976-1-84467-288-2. $22.95. F This short novel by Booker Prize-winning novelist Berger (G) takes the form of letters written by a woman to her...

Bushnell, Candace. One Fifth Avenue.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... Bushnell, Candace. One Fifth Avenue. Voice: Hyperion. Sept. 2006. c.416p. ISBN 976-1-4013-0161-3. $24.95. F Bushnell most definitely had a good summer. The movie version of Sex and the City was a hit, and the NBC drama based on her last...

Bynum, Sarah Shun-Lien. Ms. Hempel Chronicles.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... * Bynum, Sarah Shun-Lien. Ms. Hempel Chronicles. Harcourt. Sept. 2008. c.208p. ISBN 978-0-15-101496-5. $23. F Among the most popular fiction of the mid-1960s was Bel Kaufman's Up the Down Staircase, the story of an idealistic public school...

Campbell, Broos. Peter Wicked.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... Campbell, Broos. Peter Wicked. McBooks Pr. Sept. 2008. c.320p. ISBN 978-1-59013-1527. $23.95. F The third novel in the Matty Graves series (after The War of Knives and No Quarter) takes place during the Quasi War of 1798 to 1800, an...

Carroll, Jonathan. The Ghost in Love.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... * Carroll, Jonathan. The Ghost in Love. Sarah Crichton: Farrar. Oct. 2008. c.320p. ISBN 978-0-374-16186-6. $25. F [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Carroll (Glass Soup) has a gift for finding a fantastic core hidden inside everyday life that is...

Connelly, Michael. The Brass Verdict.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... * Connelly, Michael. The Brass Verdict. Little, Brown. Oct. 2008. c.400p. ISBN 978-0-316-16629-4. $26.99. F Mickey Hailer, last seen in The Lincoln Lawyer, returns to the courtroom in an unusual way here. Former colleague Jerry Vincent is...

Corrick, Martin. By Chance.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... Corrick, Martin. By Chance. Random. Oct. 2009. c.240p. ISBN 978-0-375-50813-4. $25. F In late middle age, James Bolsover journeys by ferry over a stormy sea to a remote English island to start his life over again. What has brought him and...

Cox, Michael. The Glass of Time: The Secret Life of Miss Esperanza Gorst.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... * Cox, Michael. The Glass of Time: The Secret Life of Miss Esperanza Gorst. Norton. Oct. 2008. c.544p. ISBN 978-0-393-06773-6. $24.95. F [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] When orphaned 19-year-old Esperanza Gorst is hired as a lady's maid by...

Q & A: Tom Piazza.(FICTION)(Interview)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Within weeks of the biblical disaster called Katrina, New Orleans novelist-turned-hurricane refugee Tom Piazza wrote an impassioned book-length essay, Why New Orleans Matters (just out in paperback), that celebrated...

De Bernieres, Louis. A Partisan's Daughter.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... De Bernieres, Louis. A Partisan's Daughter. Knopf. Oct. 2008. c.208p. ISBN 978-0-307-26887-7. $21. F De Bernieres, whose sweeping epics took us to Turkey in Birds Without Wings and to Greece in Corelli's Mandolin, turns closer to home with...

Gaylin, Alison. Heartless.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... Gaylin, Alison. Heartless. Obsidian Mysteries: NAL. Sept. 2008. c.323p. ISBN 978-0-451-22497-2. $21.95. F Edgar Award nominee Gaylin's fourth thriller (after Trashed) features Zoe Greene, an investigative reporter who has turned to writing...

Gout, Leopoldo. Ghost Radio.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... Gout, Leopoldo. Ghost Radio. Morrow. Oct. 2008. c.368p. illus. ISBN 978-0-06-124268-7. $25.95. F This debut novel by a graphic novelist, producer, director, and composer is an eerie narrative of a Mexican radio host, Joaquin, whose spooky...

Hamilton-Paterson, James. Rancid Pansies.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... Hamilton-Paterson, James. Rancid Pansies. Europa Editions, dist. by Consortium. Nov. 2008. c.304p. ISBN 978-1-933372-62-4. pap. $15.95. F The title of this outlandish, hilarious, and brilliant novel is an anagram for the name of a famous...

Hinnefeld, Joyce. In Hovering Flight.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... * Hinnefeld, Joyce. In Hovering Flight. Unbridled. Sept. 2008. c.263p. ISBN 978-1-932961-58-4. $24.95. F [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Hinnefeld (Tell Me Everything: And Other Stories) has written a rich first novel about love, loss, and the...

Inoue Yasushi. The Blue Wolf: A Novel of the Life of Chinggis Khan.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... Inoue Yasushi. The Blue Wolf: A Novel of the Life of Chinggis Khan. Columbia Univ. (Weatherhead Books on Asia). Sept. 2008. c.288p, tr. from Japanese by Joshua A. Fogel. maps. ISBN 978-0-231-14616-6. $29.50. F An exciting first English...

Joern, Pamela Carter. The Plain Sense of Things.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... Joern, Pamela Carter. The Plain Sense of Things. Bison: Univ. of Nebraska. Sept. 2008. c.256p. ISBN 978-0-8032-1619-8. pap. $18.95. F In this "novel in stories," Joern (The Floor of the Sky) gives us a portrait of a rural Nebraska family...

Johansen, Iris. Dark Summer.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... Johansen, Iris. Dark Summer. St. Martin's. Oct. 2008. c.384p. ISBN 978-0-312-368081. $26.95. F In Johansen's latest (Quicksand), readers meet Jude Marrok, who has devoted his life to protecting the "Dogs of Summer" from certain death if...

Kallos, Stephanie. Sing Them Home.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... * Kallos, Stephanie. Sing Them Home. Atlantic Monthly. Jan. 2009. c.560p. ISBN 978-0-87113-963-4. $24. F The Jones family would seem to have no luck. Aneira Hope Jones, already terminally ill, was swept away by a tornado in 1978. Now her...

Kamensky, Jane & Jill Lepore. Blindspot by a Gentleman in Exile and a Lady in Disguise.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... * Kamensky, Jane & Jill Lepore. Blindspot by a Gentleman in Exile and a Lady in Disguise. Spiegel & Grau. Dec. 2008. c.483p. ISBN 978-0-385-52619-7. $24.95. F Portrait painter and libertine Stuart Jameson arrives in 1764 Boston as many...

Kelly, Elizabeth. Apologize, Apologize!(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... Kelly, Elizabeth. Apologize, Apologize! Twelve: Hachette. Mar. 2009. c.324p. ISBN 978-0-446-40614-7. $23.99. F Listen up, readers. Neophyte Canadian novelist Kelly wants you to meet the Flanagans, a quasifunctional family that might give...

Kelman, James. Kieron Smith, Boy.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... Kelman, James. Kieron Smith, Boy. Harcourt. Nov. 2008. c.432p. ISBN 978-0-15-101348-7. $26. F Set in late 1950s Glasgow, Kelman's latest (after You Have To Be Careful in the Land of the Free) novel vividly portrays a boy's growing up from...

Le Carre, John. A Most Wanted Man.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... le Carre, John. A Most Wanted Man. Scribner. Oct. 2008. c.336p. ISBN 9"/8-1-4165-9488-8. $28. F When private British bankers Brue Freres took on some unusual clients at the time of the former Soviet Union's collapse, the prospect of...

Lodge, David. Deaf Sentence.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... Lodge, David. Deaf Sentence. Viking. Sept. 2008. c.320p. ISBN 978-0-670-01992-2. $25.95. F Desmond Bates has been going deaf for some time. Hearing aids help in some ways but make life more difficult in others. As a recently retired...

Merritt, Donigan. The Common Bond.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... Merritt, Donigan. The Common Bond. Other. Oct. 2008. c.392p. ISBN 978-1-59051-306-4. $25.95. F Morgan Cary grows up in Hawaii, counting many native Hawaiians among his close friends, namely, Tioni Brown. They become partners on a fishing...

Monroe, Mary. She Had It Coming.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... Monroe, Mary. She Had It Coming. Dafina: Kensington. Sept. 2008. c.320p. ISBN 978-0-7582-1219-1. $24. F Best-selling author Monroe (Deliver Me from Evil) serves up a tasty dish of murder, deception, lust, and just deserts in her new novel....

Nelson, Willie with Mike Blakely. A Tale Out of Luck.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... Nelson, Willie with Mike Blakely. A Tale Out of Luck. Center Street. Sept. 2008. c.256p. ISBN 978-1-59995-732-6. $21.99. F Veteran singer/songwriter Nelson and Spur Award-winning cowriter Blakely have crafted a fine novel set in and around...

Neville, Katherine. The Fire.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... * Neville, Katherine. The Fire. Ballantine. Oct. 2008. c.464p. ISBN 978-0-345-50067-0. $26. F Dan Brown stands on the shoulders of a giant. Twenty years have passed since Neville (A Calculated Risk; The Magic Circle) transfixed readers...

Peacock, Justin. A Cure for Night.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... Peacock, Justin. A Cure for Night. Doubleday. Sept. 2008. c.352p. ISBN 978-0-385-52580-0. $24.95. F Joel Deveraux is not the high-minded, dogooder type usually found in the Public Defender's Office. He landed there only after being caught...

Pendle, George. Death: A Life.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... Pendle, George. Death: A Life. Three Rivers: Crown. Sept. 2008. c.272p. ISBN 978-0-307-39560-3. pap. $13.95. F First-time author Death offers his side of the story in this tell-all memoir. This jerky, quirky, and allusive tale begins even...