New Books! 5/12/15

New in Hardback

Hold Still: A Memoir with Photographs by Sally Mann

In this groundbreaking book, a unique interplay of narrative and image, Mann’s preoccupation with family, race, mortality, and the storied landscape of the American South are revealed as almost genetically predetermined, written into her DNA by the family history that precedes her.

Sorting through boxes of family papers and yellowed photographs she finds more than she bargained for: “deceit and scandal, alcohol, domestic abuse, car crashes, bogeymen, clandestine affairs, dearly loved and disputed family land . . . racial complications, vast sums of money made and lost, the return of the prodigal son, and maybe even bloody murder.”In lyrical prose and startlingly revealing photographs, she crafts a totally original form of personal history that has the page-turning drama of a great novel but is firmly rooted in the fertile soil of her own life.

The Fangirl’s Guide to the Galaxy: A Handbook for Girl Geeks by Sam Maggs

Fanfic, cosplay, cons, books, memes, podcasts, vlogs, OTPs and RPGs and MMOs and more–it’s never been a better time to be a girl geek. The Fangirl’s Guide to the Galaxy is the ultimate handbook for ladies living the nerdy life, a fun and feminist take on the often male-dominated world of geekdom. With delightful illustrations and an unabashed love for all the in(ternet)s and outs of geek culture, this book is packed with tips, playthroughs, and cheat codes, including:
– How to rock awesome cosplay
– How to write fanfic with feels
– How to defeat Internet trolls
– How to attend your first con
And more! Plus, insightful interviews with fangirl faves, like Jane Espenson, Erin Morgenstern, Kate Beaton, Ashley Eckstein, Laura Vandervoort, Beth Revis, Kate Leth, and many others.

Reagan: The Life by H.W. Brands

“Monumental life of the president whom some worship and some despise—with Brands providing plenty of justification for both reactions.”

“Brands gives Reagan full honors for realism and hard work, as well as a grasp of the need to do sometimes-unpopular things like raising taxes…Given the timidity of later politicians to own up to unpleasant facts, there’s fresh air in all that, even when it had bad or mixed results.

“An exemplary work of history that should bring Reagan a touch more respect in some regards but that removes the halo at the same time.” –Kirkus starred review

Dry Bones by Craig Jonson

In the latest installment of his New York Times bestselling Longmire series, Wyoming’s beloved lawman takes on his coldest case yet.

When Jen, the largest, most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton ever found surfaces in Sherriff Walt Longmire s jurisdiction, it appears to be a windfall for the High Plains Dinosaur Museum until Danny Lone Elk, the Cheyenne rancher on whose property the remains were discovered, turns up dead, floating face down in a turtle pond. With millions of dollars at stake, a number of groups step forward to claim her, including Danny s family, the tribe, and the federal government. As Wyoming’s Acting Deputy Attorney and a cadre of FBI officers descend on the town, Walt is determined to find out who would benefit from Danny s death, enlisting old friends Lucian Connolly and Omar Rhoades, along with Dog and best friend Henry Standing Bear, to trawl the vast Lone Elk ranch looking for answers to a sixty-five million year old cold case that’s heating up fast.”

Year of the Dunk: A Modest Defiance of Gravity by Asher Price

By embarking on a quest to dunk a basketball at the age of 34, journalist Asher Price investigates the limits of human potential–starting with his own. He seizes on basketball’s slam dunk–a feat richly freighted with distinctly American themes of culture, race, and upward mobility–as a gauge to determine his own hidden potential. The showmanship of the dunk mesmerized Asher as a child, but even with his height (six foot plus) and impressive wingspan, he never pushed himself to try it. Now, approaching middle age, Asher decides to spend a year remaking his body and testing his mind as he wonders, like most adults, what untapped talent he still possesses.

IAlong the way he dives into the history and science of one of sports’ most exuberant acts, examining everything from our genetic predisposition towards jumping to the cultural role of the slam dunk. The year-long effort forces him to ask some fundamental questions about human ability and the degree to which we can actually improve ourselves, even with great determination.

Find Momo Coast to Coast: A Photography Book by Andrew Knapp

Momo loves to hide–and you’ll love looking for him! In this follow-up to the New York Times best seller Find Momo, the canine Instagram superstar (and his best buddy, Andrew Knapp) travel across the United States and Canada, visiting iconic landmarks and unique off-the-map marvels. Look for Momo hiding in Grand Central Station, in front of the White House, and in the French Quarter of New Orleans . . . as well as at diners, bookstores, museums, and other locales that only a seasoned road-tripper like Andrew could find. It’s part game, part photography book, and a whole lot of fun.

A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal by Macintyre, Ben

What Joe has to say: “Kim Philby and the Cambridge Five spy ring were the direct inspiration for John Le Carre’s masterpiece novel Tinker, Taylor, Soilder, Spy. Ben MacIntyre (author of Double Cross) revisits this oft visited tale, focusing on Philby’s betrayal of he supposedly closest friends, Nicholas Elliot (the partial inspiration for Le Carre’s George Smiley) and the CIA Counter-Intelligence chief James Jesus Angleton. This is an utterly fascinating book about the nature of identity and is required reading for any and all fans of espionage fiction and history.”

The Fever by Megan Abbott

From Molly: “In many ways, The Fever reads like a retelling of the Salem Witch Trials, if the accusations of delusional teenagers had led to a thoughtful investigation as well as a mass hysteria. Abbott’s characters use YouTube instead of the pulpit to bring attention to their bizarre sufferings. Some of the characters dabble in mysticism, but all believe in modern science. The convulsions, seizures and accusations, however, fit right in with sixteenth-century style madness, and at the end of Abbott’s novel, we are left with the sense that when it comes to those most intimate connections in our lives – friendship, family, a crush – very little changes over time.”

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

“Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet” . . . So begins the story of this exquisite debut novel, about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee; their middle daughter.When Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together tumbles into chaos, forcing them to confront the long-kept secrets that have been slowly pulling them apart.

A profoundly moving story of family, history, and the meaning of home, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, exploring the divisions between cultures and the rifts within a family, and uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.

New in YA

A Tale of Two Besties: A Hello Giggles Novel by Sophia Rossi (with a foreword by New Girl star Zooey Deschanel)

Best friends. BFFs. Soul twinsies. Whatever you want to call them, Harper and Lily were born to be besties. With high school just around the corner, casual-cool Cali girl Harper and awkward, always-costumed Lily are determined to keep their bond. But can BFF-ship survive the tidal wave of HS drama, or does growing up mean leaving some friends behind?