Untitled

Eleven men of a close-knit Montana college football championship team enlist in the thick of World War II. The Eleventh Man, Ben Reinking, is pulled from his pilot training, to write uplifting articles on his former teammates for the propaganda pushing arm of the combined armed forces. Most of the novel follows him as he chronicles his teammates' war experiences, finds love from an unexpected place, and deals with the deaths of his friends and teammates who frequently seem to be deliberately thrust into harm's way. Doig offers “an old-fashioned greatest generation story, well told.”

Ben Gould falls in the snow and hits his head on the curb while walking his dog. The ghost that has been sent to collect his soul is standing nearby but, due to some computer error in heaven, Ben doesn't die like he's supposed to. The ghost's boss says they're working on the situation and asks him to stay with Ben to figure out what's going on. The ghost falls madly in love with Ben's girlfriend and things become even more complicated. In this humorous and surrealist story, Carroll explores what happens to us when we discover that we have becomes masters of our own fate. Stephen King says “Carroll is as scary as Hitchcock, when he isn't being as funny as Jim Carrey.”

This multi generational family saga begins with three brothers struggling to survive on a family farm at the end of the 19^th century. The eldest brother, Justo, marries and raises his daughter Miriam. Miriam marries Miguel Navarro and they move to Guernica after a run-in with the Spanish Civil Guard. This moving tale is an epic of love, family, and war set in the Basque town of Guernica before, during, and after its infamous destruction during the Spanish Civil War.

This book has been called The Arabian Nights for the 21^st century. Alameddine incorporates ancient tales from the Middle East into the lives of a contemporary Lebanese family. Osama al-Khattar returns to war-torn Beirut in 2003 to hold vigil for his dying father. Osama narrates his family's history, going back to his great-grandparents. The story includes his grandfather, a hakawati, or storyteller. Osama and his “family take solace in the things that have always sustained them: gossip, laughter, and, above all, stories.”

In one way or another, every character, in this novel that runs concurrent to Robinson's Pulitzer Prize winning Gilead, is searching for what it means to come home. Reverend Robert Boughton's daughter Glory has come home to take care of her ailing father. The prodigal son, Jack, also makes his way back and it is an uneasy homecoming with echoes of the scandal that forced him away twenty years earlier. It is a quietly beautiful and simplistic story that belies the characters' complexities.

Pairing poetic lyricism with repeated phrases and an allegorical setting, Peixoto has created a haunting story of two generations of ordinary Portuguese villagers. José, a shepherd, is told by the devil that his wife is having an affair with a giant. A pair of twins conjoined at the pinky have their lives disrupted when one of the falls in love with a local cook. Through shifting view points the story follows them as they explore the never-ending cycle of violence, retribution, and death.

This harrowing, heartbreaking, and unforgettable book is a compendium of five short stories set in various countries in war-torn Africa. The stories are told through the eyes of the children. An Ex-Mas Feast was first published in 2005 in the New Yorker and My Parents' Bedroom was a finalist for the Caine Prize for African writing. According to one review “Repeatedly these stories quietly enable us to imagine the unimaginable, and offer up to our view the unspeakable rendered with clarity and grace.”

In 1862, the American Civil War rages, while educated Virginia plantation slave, Cassius, sets out to track down whoever killed his surrogate mother and mentor, Emoline. In his journey he encounters Underground Railroad conspirators, soldiers, spies, slave and free African-Americans, and slave traders. Part procedural and part historic narrative of American slave life, Sweetsmoke resonates with it's unforgettable characters and the lives of people, both free and slaves, fighting for identity, salvation, and freedom.

Using her own family stories and extensive archival research, Kushner has developed a stunning debut novel that is a portrait of many voices of the American industrial executives and their families in Cuba in the last years before Castro and the beginning of his revolution. She “writes with wisdom and beauty about adolescence, racism, class conflict, and politics in Cuba on the eve of insurrection.” The many third person perspectives never obtain a complete picture or understanding of the revolution, but portrays a compelling and haunting message “with the urgency of a telex from a forgotten time and place.”

Thirty-seven year old Anna K. is married to the much older, prominent businessman Alexei from her Russian-Jewish immigrant community in Queens, New York. Anna K. meets her cousin Katia's boyfriend and the two embark on a reckless affair. Meanwhile, Lev, from the nearby Bukharian-Jewish community, pursues Katia. This novel explores, with sparkling and fresh insight, the struggles of identity, fidelity, and community.

This book explores the diversity and biology of bees including their relationships with flowers, their mental abilities, and their socio sexual arrangements. She explores the scientific work on bees by Karl von Frisch and his student during the end of the Third Reich. It includes fascinating sidebars with beautiful works of art, illustrations, and photography, and literary references.

Christopher (Kit) Lukas, an Emmy Award-winning TV producer, author, and actor explores his family's history of depression, bi-polar disorder, and suicide. His Pulitzer prize-winner brother Tony Lukas committed suicide shortly before the publication of his last book, Big Trouble. He portrays the lives of two brothers who alternately butted heads and also found solace in each other. This surprisingly uplifting memoir details the strength and hope of escaping a family legacy of depression.

In over 100 brief captivating chapters, McMurtry shares his lifelong passion and pursuit of books. As a boy he grew up in a largely “bookless” world. Here he chronicles his blooming passion for literature, his first forays into writing and eventually his development into one of America's prominent bookmen as not only a Pulitzer prize winning author but also an avid book scout and collector.

This little treasure of a book tells the parable of the hummingbird who does what she can to put out the raging forest fire that threatens her home. It includes commentary from Nobel Peace Prize Winner Wangari Maathai, who launched the Green Belt Movement in Kenya, as well as commentary from His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Renowned artist Yahgulanaas provides simple and intriguing illustrations.

Have you ever wondered how many houseflies it would take to pull a car? Or how large your vocabulary is? No? I haven't either, but this entertaining read tackles these and other interesting questions with surprisingly simple and workable solutions. Dr. Tattersall is a freelance engineer and confirmed math geek who teaches us the art of geekspeak without making it too complicated. According to the jacket he “has rescued math from the prison of the classroom and put it to use in novel and unexpected ways.”

Eric Weiner, a correspondent for National Public Radio, is a self-proclaimed grump who decided he has nothing to lose and sets out on journey to find the world's happy places. He discovers that contrary to expectations, greater social equality and diversity does not equal greater happiness. This humorous travelogue weaves the scientific literature on happiness into the narrative. The result is a book that provides great happiness for its readers.

Mary Ellen Geist was a successful news radio anchor who in 2004 left her career in order to return home to take care of her father with Alzheimer's. She provides compassion and insight on encouraging interaction with the loved one you're caring for; determining achievable and rewarding daily tasks; how the patient's personality affects the progression of the disease and the type of caregiving needed; as well as advice on how caregivers can take care of themselves emotionally and psychologically while accomplishing the daunting task of constantly caring for others. This book is a deeply affecting memoir of heart and personal growth. According to Geist, “These days, it is the measure of the heart that matters most to me.”

Thirteen women take a chance on purchasing an expensive diamond necklace that they will share. The experience affects and transforms their lives in different ways. The story is ultimately about more than just a piece of jewelry, it is about the power of possibility, social awareness, and what it means to be a middle-aged woman in America.

In this controversial book that has inflamed British critics, Greer posits new theories about the life of Shakespeare's wife, Ann Hathaway. Often portrayed as an unattractive woman who seduced and trapped Shakespeare in an unwanted marriage, Greer sets out to propose a much more significant and important life for her. She offers detailed account of the lives of ordinary women in Stratford in the late 16^th and early 17^th centuries. Partly scholarly and partly speculative; either way it is an intriguing alternative to the traditional views of Ann Hathaway's life.

Things That Make Us [Sic]: The Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar Takes on Madison Avenue, Hollywood, The White House, and the World.

This book is a laugh-out-loud guide to grammar that is filled with practical tips. Brockenbrough founded National Grammar Day and SPOGG, The Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar. It is a funny and irreverent compilation of letters, pop culture, rants, and historical references about bad grammar.

Did you know that most crashes happen on sunny, dry days? Or that road rage can be good for society? Vanderbilt explores these and other surprising traffic tidbits in this fascinating exploration of the mysteries of the road. He looks at the psychology of driving and uses economic, sociological, psychological, and civil engineering to explain a topic we live with every day.