The Adult Book Discussion Group will meet Wed. Nov. 2 to discuss the book "Walking On Eggshells" by Jane Isay.

Christmas Book Recommendation. Christmas Letters by Debbie Macomber.

NEW MATERIALS

Adult

The Litigators  by John Grisham 
Product Description
The partners at Finley & Figg—all two of them—often refer to themselves as “a boutique law firm.” Boutique,

as in chic, selective, and prosperous. They are, of course, none of these things. What they are is a two-bit operation always in search of their big break, ambulance chasers who’ve been in the trenches much too long making way too little. Their specialties, so to speak, are quickie divorces and DUIs, with the occasional jackpot of an actual car wreck thrown in. After twenty plus years together, Oscar Finley and Wally Figg bicker like an old married couple but somehow continue to scratch out a half-decent living from their seedy bungalow offices in southwest Chicago.
And then change comes their way. More accurately, it stumbles in. David Zinc, a young but already burned-out attorney, walks away from his fast-track career at a fancy downtown firm, goes on a serious bender, and finds himself literally at the doorstep of our boutique firm. Once David sobers up and comes to grips with the fact that he’s suddenly unemployed, any job—even one with Finley & Figg—looks okay to him.

A Man Of Parts  by David Lodge 
Product Description
A riveting novel about the remarkable life-and many loves-of author H. G. Wells.
H. G. Wells, author of The Time Machine and War of the Worlds, was one of the twentieth century's most

prophetic and creative writers, a man who immersed himself in socialist politics and free love, whose meteoric rise to fame brought him into contact with the most important literary, intellectual, and political figures of his time, but who in later years felt increasingly ignored and disillusioned in his own utopian visions. Novelist and critic David Lodge has taken the compelling true story of Wells's life and transformed it into a witty and deeply moving narrative about a fascinating yet flawed man.
Wells had sexual relations with innumerable women in his lifetime, but in 1944, as he finds himself dying, he returns to the memories of a select group of wives and mistresses, including the brilliant young student Amber Reeves and the gifted writer RebecWest. As he reviews his professional, political, and romantic successes and failures, it is through his memories of these women that he comes to understand himself. Eloquent, sexy, and tender, the novel is an artfully composed portrait of Wells's astonishing life, with vivid glimpses of its turbulent historical background, by one of England's most respected and popular writers.

The Keeper of Lost Causes  by Jussi Adler-Olsen 
Product Description
Jussi Adler-Olsen is Denmark's premier crime writer. His books routinely top the bestseller lists in northern Europe, and he's won just about every Nordic crime-writing award, including the prestigious Glass Key Award-also won by Henning Mankell, Stieg Larsson, and Jo Nesbo. Now, Dutton is thrilled to introduce him

to America. 
The Keeper of Lost Causes, the first installment of Adler- Olsen's Department Q series, features the deeply flawed chief detective Carl MØrck, who used to be a good homicide detective-one of Copenhagen's best. Then a bullet almost took his life. Two of his colleagues weren't so lucky, and Carl, who didn't draw his weapon, blames himself.
So a promotion is the last thing Carl expects.
But it all becomes clear when he sees his new office in the basement. Carl's been selected to run Department Q, a new special investigations division that turns out to be a department of one. With a stack of Copenhagen's coldest cases to keep him company, Carl's been put out to pasture. So he's as surprised as anyone when a case actually captures his interest. A missing politician vanished without a trace five years earlier. The world assumes she's dead. His colleagues snicker about the time he's wasting. But Carl may have the last laugh, and redeem himself in the process.

Only Time Will Tell  by Jeffery ArcherBook Description

Series: The Clifton Chronicles | Publication Date: August 30, 2011
From the internationally bestselling author of Kane and Abel and A Prisoner of Birth comes Only Time Will Tell, the first in an ambitious new series that tells the story of one family across generations, across oceans,

from heartbreak to triumph.
The epic tale of Harry Clifton’s life begins in 1920, with the words “I was told that my father was killed in the war.” A dock worker in Bristol, Harry never knew his father, but he learns about life on the docks from his uncle, who expects Harry to join him at the shipyard once he’s left school. But then an unexpected gift wins him a scholarship to an exclusive boys’ school, and his life will never be the same.

The Friends of Webb Library are Having a Membership Drive. If you would like to help support Morehead City’s Public Library you are encouraged to stop by the Webb or call 726-3012 for more information.

NEW MATERIALS
 

Adult 

The Butterfly Cabinet  by Bernie McGill 
Product Description
Vivid, mysterious and unforgettable, The Butterfly Cabinet is Bernie McGill’s engrossing portrayal of the dark history that intertwines two lives. Inspired by a true story of the death of the daughter of an aristocratic Irish family at the end of the nineteenth century, McGill powerfully tells this tale of two women whose lives will become upended by a newly told secret.

The events begin when Maddie McGlade, a former nanny now in her nineties, receives a letter from the last of her charges and realizes that the time has come to unburden herself of a secret she has kept for over seventy years: what really happened on the last day in the life of Charlotte Ormond, the four-year-old only daughter of the big house where Maddie was employed as a young woman. It is to Charlotte’s would-be niece, Anna—pregnant with her first—that Maddie will tell her story as she nears the end of her life in a lonely nursing home in Northern Ireland.
The book unfolds in chapters that alternate between Maddie’s story and the prison diaries of Charlotte’s mother, Harriet, who had been held responsible for her daughter’s death. As Maddie confesses the truth to Anna, she unravels the Ormonds’ complex family history, and also details her own life, marked by poverty, fear, sacrifice and lies. In stark contrast to Maddie is the misunderstood, haughty and yet surprisingly lyrical voice of Harriet’s prison diaries, which Maddie has kept hidden for decades. Motherhood came no more easily to Harriet than did her role as mistress of a far-flung Irish estate. Proud and uncompromising, she is passionate about riding horses and collecting butterflies to store in her prized cabinet. When her only daughter, Charlotte, dies, allegedly as the result of Harriet’s punitive actions, the community is quick to condemn her and send her to prison for the killing. Unwilling to stoop to defend herself and too absorbed in her own world of strict rules and repressed desires, she accepts the cruel destiny that is beyond her control even as, paradoxically, it sets her free.
The result of this unusual duet is a haunting novel full of frightening silences and sorrowful absences that build toward the unexpected, chilling truth.

Light From A Distant Star  by Mary McGarry Morris 
Product Description 
Light from a Distant Star is a gripping coming-of-age story with a brutal murder at its heart and a heroine as unforgettable as Harper Lee’s "Scout."
It is early summer and Nellie Peck is on the cusp of adolescence – gangly, awkward, full of questions, but keenly observant and wiser than many of the adults in her life. The person she most admires is her father, Benjamin, a man of great integrity. His family’s century old hardware store is failing and Nellie’s mother has

had to go back to work. Nellie’s older half-sister has launched a disturbing search for her birth father. Often saddled through the long, hot days with her timid younger brother, Henry, Nellie is determined to toughen him up. And herself as well.
Three strangers enter Nellie’s protected life. Brooding Max Devaney is an ex-con who works in her surly grandfather’s junkyard. Reckless Bucky Saltonstall has just arrived from New York City to live with his elderly grandparents. And pretty Dolly Bedelia is a young stripper who rents the family’s small, rear apartment and becomes the titillating focus of Nellie’s eavesdropping.
When violence erupts in the lovely Peck house, the prime suspect seems obvious. Nellie knows who the real murderer is, but is soon silenced by fear and the threat of scandal. The truth, as she sees it, is shocking and unthinkable, and with everyone’s eyes riveted on her in the courtroom, Nellie finds herself seized with doubt.
No one will listen. No one believes her, and a man’s life hangs in the balance. A stunning evocation of innocence lost, Light from a Distant Star stands as an incredibly moving and powerful novel from one of America's finest writers.

Juvenile

Jellies: The Life of Jellyfish  by Twig C. George 
From School Library Journal

Grade 2-4-Gorgeous full-color underwater photos and a simple, readable text provide a fascinating introduction to some little-known and often unheralded marine organisms. Less detailed than Elizabeth Gowell's equally spectacular Sea Jellies (Watts, 1993; o.p.), George's informative narrative presents these gelatinous wanderers as mindless entities mostly at the mercy of tides and currents, opportunistic in their encounters with other marine food sources, and astonishing in their wide variety. For detailed data on reproduction or nematocysts, students will need to consult Gowell's title, but for novices meeting these insubstantial, fluid invertebrates for the first time, this colorful, attractive book will entice and inform.

Dolphin  by Mymi Doinet 
Product Description

The book tells the tale of a young male dolphin who is woken from his dreams by the cries of a female in distress. He discovers that she is caught in coral and is being menaced by a white shark. With the help of the other dolphins, a blue whale, and a school of hungry parrot-fish, the female is rescued. Leaving the furious shark, the dolphins celebrate her escape.
Throughout the story and following it are fascinating facts about the lives of dolphins and their marine cousins. Also included is a game page that will delight young naturalists.
This wonderful nature book with its inviting illustrations is both fun and educational, and children will want to own all the books in the series.

Abe's Honest Words: The Life of Abraham Lincoln  by Doreen Rappaport 
From School Library Journal
Starred Review. Grade 3–6—Written in prose as elegant and spare as that of its subject, this distinguished book takes readers from Abe's backwoods boyhood in Kentucky to his first harrowing witnessing of slavery

in New Orleans, on to the Illinois legislature and the presidency. Each half-page of generously spaced text appears against a white background. Rappaport's carefully chosen words are both accessible and effective: "The war dragged on./Lincoln grew sadder and sadder/as more men died." Until, "The South finally surrendered./The job of healing the nation began./But Lincoln was not there to help./An assassin's bullet ended his life." Corresponding quotes from Lincoln appear in italics, e.g., "The moment came when I felt that slavery must die that the nation might live!" Handsome, larger-than-life paintings fill the remaining page and a half of each spread with powerful images—of Abe as a strong, lanky youth with a book or oar in hand, then later as a lawyer with unkempt hair, feather pen, and midnight candles burning. Readers see the somber, resigned faces of slaves—young and old—first in chains, then picking cotton under a blazing sun, and later the proud faces of an all-black regiment of the Union Army. From Lincoln's striking countenance on the cover—scruffy dark hair tinged with gray, big ears, bright eyes, and benevolent face, lined with worry and age—to the end, this is one Lincoln book that all libraries will want to have

An Island Scrapbook: Dawn To Dusk On A Barrier Island  by Virginia Wright-Frierson 
From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 3?Another splendid picture book by the author and illustrator of A Desert Scrapbook (S

& S, 1996), this time focusing on a North Carolina barrier island. Perfectly suited to being read aloud, the first-person narrative describes what Wright-Frierson and her young daughter observe during a September day spent exploring the island where they spend the summer. Torn-out notebook pages containing snippets of information; sketches and paintings of plants and wildlife; and photolike pictures alternate with scenes of the mother and daughter walking on the beach, lunching on the dock, and gazing out at the open ocean. The accurately rendered, muted watercolors and pencil drawings on glossy paper present a vivid portrait of island ecology and convey the author's keen sense of observation. The combination of text and artwork gives readers an appealing picture of barrier island plant and animal life, both on the dunes and in the maritime forest. A carefully detailed look at a unique ecosystem, sensitively described and beautifully rendered.

Do Whales Have Belly Buttons?  by Melvin and Gilda Berger

No reviews available.

NEW MATERIALS

Adult

Robert B. Parker's Killing the Blues  by Michael Brandman 
Product Description 
Paradise, Massachusetts, police chief Jesse Stone returns in a brilliant new addition to the New York Times-bestselling series.

Paradise, Massachusetts, is preparing for the summer tourist season when a string of car thefts disturbs what is usually a quiet time in town. In a sudden escalation of violence, the thefts become murder, and chief of police Jesse Stone finds himself facing one of the toughest cases of his career. Pressure from the town politicians only increases when another crime wave puts residents on edge. Jesse confronts a personal dilemma as well: a burgeoning relationship with a young PR executive, whose plans to turn Paradise into a summertime concert destination may have her running afoul of the law.
When a mysterious figure from Jesse's past arrives in town, memories of his last troubled days as a cop in L.A. threaten his ability to keep order in Paradise-especially when it appears that the stranger is out for revenge.

The Race  by Clive Cussler 
Product Description
Detective Isaac Bell returns, in the remarkable new adventure from the #1 New York Times-bestselling author.

It is 1910, the age of flying machines is still in its infancy, and newspaper publisher Preston Whiteway is offering $50,000 for the first daring aviator to cross America in less than fifty days. He is even sponsoring one of the prime candidates-an intrepid woman named Josephine Frost-and that's where Bell, chief investigator for the Van Dorn Detective Agency, comes in.
Frost's violent-tempered husband has just killed her lover and tried to kill her, and he is bound to make another attempt. Bell has tangled with Harry Frost before; he knows that the man has made his millions leading gangs of thieves, murderers, and thugs in every city across the country. He also knows that Frost won't be only after his wife, but after Whiteway as well. And if Bell takes the case . . . Frost will be after him, too.

The Burning Soul  by John Connolly 
Product Description
What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?
“There are some truths so terrible that they should not be spoken aloud, so appalling that even to

acknowledge them is to risk sacrificing a crucial part of one’s humanity, to exist in a colder, crueler world than before.”
Randall Haight has a secret: He is a convicted murderer, a man with the blood of a young girl on his hands. He has built a new life for himself in the small Maine town of Pastor’s Bay, but someone has discovered the truth about him. He is being tormented by anonymously sent reminders of his crime. He wants private detective Charlie Parker to make them go away.
But another girl has gone missing, this time from Pastor’s Bay itself, and her family has its own secrets to protect. Now, in a town built on blood and shadowed by old ghosts, Parker must unravel a twisted history of violence and deceit involving the police and the FBI, a doomed mobster and his enemies, and Randall Haight himself.
Because Randall is telling lies. . . .

Young Adult

Going Underground  by Susan Vaught 
Product Description
Del is a good kid who's been caught in horrible circumstances. At seventeen, he's trying to put his life together

after an incident in his past that made him a social outcast-and a felon. As a result, he can't get into college; the only job he can find is digging graves; and when he finally meets a girl he might fall in love with, there's a sea of complications that threatens to bring the world crashing down around him again. But what has Del done? In flashbacks to Del's fourteenth year, we slowly learn the truth: his girlfriend texted him a revealing photo of herself, a teacher confiscated his phone, and soon the police were involved.

Basing her story on real-life cases of teens in trouble with the law for texting explicit photos, Susan Vaught has created a moving portrait of an immensely likable character caught in a highly controversial legal scenario.

City Of Orphans  by Avi 
Review

“An immigrant family tries to survive crime, poverty and corruption in 1893 New York City. Earning enough money to cover the rent and basic needs in this year of economic panic is an endless struggle for every

member of the family. Every penny counts, even the eight cents daily profit 13-year-old Maks earns by selling newspapers. Maks also must cope with violent attacks by a street gang and its vicious leader, who in turn is being manipulated by someone even more powerful. Now Maks’ sister has been wrongly arrested for stealing a watch at her job in the glamorous Waldorf Hotel and is in the notorious Tombs prison awaiting trial. How will they prove her innocence? Maks finds help and friendship from Willa, a homeless street urchin, and Bartleby Donck, an eccentric lawyer. Avi’s vivid recreation of the sights and sounds of that time and place is spot on, masterfully weaving accurate historical details with Maks’ experiences as he encounters the city of sunshine and shadow. An omniscient narrator speaks directly to readers, establishing an immediacy that allows them to feel the characters’ fears and worries and hopes. Heroic deeds, narrow escapes, dastardly villains, amazing coincidences and a family rich in love and hope are all part of an intricate and endlessly entertaining adventure. Terrific!”

Leviathan  by Scott Westerfield 
From School Library Journal
Starred Review. Grade 7 Up—This is World War I as never seen before. The story begins the same: on June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife are assassinated, triggering a sequence of alliances that plunges the world into war. But that is where the similarity ends. This global conflict is between the Clankers, who put their faith in machines, and the Darwinists, whose technology is based on the development of new

species. After the assassination of his parents, Prince Aleksandar's people turn on him. Accompanied by a small group of loyal servants, the young Clanker flees Austria in a Cyklop Stormwalker, a war machine that walks on two legs. Meanwhile, as Deryn Sharp trains to be an airman with the British Air Service, she prays that no one will discover that she is a girl. She serves on the Leviathan, a massive biological airship that resembles an enormous flying whale and functions as a self-contained ecosystem. When it crashes in Switzerland, the two teens cross paths, and suddenly the line between enemy and ally is no longer clearly defined. The ending leaves plenty of room for a sequel, and that's a good thing because readers will be begging for more. Enhanced by Thompson's intricate black-and-white illustrations, Westerfeld's brilliantly constructed imaginary world will capture readers from the first page. Full of nonstop action, this steampunk adventure is sure to become a classic.

Juvenile

Hound Dog True  by Linda Urban
"Urban (A Crooked Kind of Perfect) traces a highly self-conscious child's cautious emergence from her shell in this tender novel about new beginnings and "small brave" acts... Urban's understated, borderline naïf

narrative gives voice to Mattie's many uncertainties ("Always Mattie has been shy. Always school had made her feel skittish and small") while expressing the quiet yet significant moments in her day-to-day life. Mattie's growing trust of others and her attempts to be "bold and friendly" lead to gratifying rewards for Mattie and poignant moments for readers.."—Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Internal drama, compelling characters, and Mattie’s strong voice propel the story of learning to do "a small brave thing."—Booklist
"There are many books that offer adventure and twists and unusual story lines. Most of them do not offer young readers such fine writing and real characters. That is hook enough."—School Library Journal

Wonder Struck  by Brian Selznick 
Amazon.com Review Amazon Best Books of the Month, September 2011:
In a return to the eye-popping style of his Caldecott-award winner,The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Brian

Selznick’s latest masterpiece, Wonderstruck, is a vision of imagination and storytelling . In the first of two alternating stories, Ben is struck deaf moments after discovering a clue to his father’s identity, but undaunted, he follows the clue’s trail to the American Museum of Natural History, in New York City. Flash to Rose’s story, told simultaneously through pictures, who has also followed the trail of a loved one to the museum--only 50 years before Ben. Selnick’s beautifully detailed illustrations draw the reader inside the museum’s myriad curiosities and wonders, following Ben and Rose in their search for connection. Ultimately, their lives collide in a surprising and inspired twist that is breathtaking and life-affirming.

Picture Books

Anton Can Do Magic  by Ole Konnecke 
Product Description

Anton wants to do some magic. He wants to make something disappear... First Anton tries to make a tree vanish, but it s too big. He manages to make a bird disappear, and even his friend Luke. But where did Luke go? Anton Can Do Magic is a perfectly simple and hilarious picture book about believing in yourself.





Mouse Shapes  by Ellen Stoll Walsh 
From Booklist
When three little mice run from a cat, they find a cluster of brightly colored squares, triangles, rectangles,

circles, ovals, and diamonds where they hide until he leaves. Soon they are moving the shapes about to create pictures: a house, a wagon, and even a cat. After the real cat pounces, they hatch a clever plan to scare him away. Just as visually appealing as Mouse Paint (1989) and Mouse Count (1991), this little book features simple, elegant page design using cut-and-torn-paper collage figures silhouetted against a clean, white background and framed by a strong black rectangle. Walsh accomplishes her purpose of teaching shapes subtly and playfully through the text and illustrations. Though the statement "any shape with three sides is a triangle" wouldn't pass muster in a geometry class, it may not raise much concern in the preschool or kindergarten classroom. Parents and teachers can easily extend the lesson and the fun by providing cutout colored-paper shapes for children to play with after the story ends.

Doggone Dogs  by Karen Beaumont 
From School Library Journal
PreSchool-K—The hapless owner of 10 energetic dogs is rudely awakened at dawn by their barking. When they are told to lie down or sit, they do not obey. Instead, they run helter-skelter outdoors, with their

pajama-clad owner chasing them and clutching empty leashes all the way to Central Bark. The dogs wreak havoc at the Perfect Pooch Obedience School and cavort through the grass, dumping the trash, climbing the slide, and making a mess of everything. Further disaster ensues when the pups poop. The trainer quits, the Pup Tech 5000 comes rolling along to clean up, and the dogs are put in a pen. However, they are not ready to bow to defeat. They leap and dig their way out and run back home, followed by their still-pajama-clad owner still clutching the leashes. The dogs collapse on the couch and rest up, as they "Cannot wait to go again!" The minimal rhyming text is paired with Catrow's exuberant, comic, pencil and watercolor illustrations. The frenetic, goofy-looking dogs of various sizes and breeds romping through the park are sure to bring smiles to young faces.

Time For Bed  by Mem Fox 
From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 2-Charming illustrations and comfortable rhymes characterize this appealing bedtime book. A twilight mood is set by dusky endpapers sprinkled with twinkling yellow stars, and by a title page showing a

mother reading to a child. Double-page spreads feature animal pairs, each with a parent settling its offspring down for the night. An orange tabby kitten receives a soothing bath, a sleepy blue bird is tucked into a warm nest, and a delicate fawn curls up against its mother. Each babe is lulled by a gently rhyming couplet beginning with the phrase, "It's time for bed." Dyer's watercolor illustrations are dear. Large, clearly drawn animals are placed against backgrounds of vivid hues. A variety of landscapes keeps each scene looking fresh as a foal settles down in a moonlit meadow, a pair of fish blow bubbles in blue water, and two snakes curl up in overgrown grass. Working beautifully with the soothingly repetitive text, each painting conveys a warm feeling of safety and affection. A wonderful bedfellow for Ginsburg's Asleep, Asleep

Where's My Truck  by Karen Beaumont 
Product Description 

Tommy's not himself today. He's lost his T-R-U-C-K! And no matter what Mom, Dad, sis, brother, and Grandma offer, it's just not as fun as his best red truck. The family dog isn't as picky, and sharp-eyed readers will wonder what happens to the cast-off toys Bowser gets his mouth around. Meanwhile, Tommy tears through the house and yard to hilarious and poignant effect, only to discover, in a grand moment of triumph, sneaky Bowser's secret stash. Hooray! Tommy's found his T-R-U-C-K! Come on Bowser, let's go play!

A welcome addition to the community of strong-willed but endearing picture-book protagonists, Tommy proves you can be in a funk and still be a sweet kid.

J. Hartman is the latest winner of  our "Name The Fictional Character Contest". He correctly identified Special Agent Pendergast from the Preston and Childs novels as our character. Our new contest starts this week and is found in the right nargin.

The “Friends of the Library” continue their sale of discarded books for $1.00 each. Proceeds go to "Friends of The Library". Selections are displayed in the north and south hallway. Authors include: Ludlum, McBain, Woods, King, W.E.B. Griffin, Koontz and several others.

NEW MATERIALS

Adult

Victory and Honor  by W.E.B. Griffin 

The spectacular new book in New York Times-bestselling author W.E.B. Griffin's Honor Bound saga of World War II espionage.Wars come to an end. But then new ones begin. Just weeks after Hitler's suicide, Cletus Frade and his colleagues in the OSS find themselves up to their necks in battles every bit as fierce as the ones just ended. The first is political-the very survival of the OSS, with every department from Treasury to War to the FBI grabbing for its covert agents and assets. The second is on a much grander scale-the possible next world war, against Joe Stalin and his voracious ambitions. To get a jump on the latter, Frade has been conducting a secret operation, one of great daring-and great danger-but to conduct it and not be discovered, he and his men must walk a perilously dark line. One slip, and everyone becomes a casualty of war.

The Magician King  by Lev Grossman 
Amazon.com Review 
Amazon Best Books of the Month, August 2011: This second volume in Lev Grossman’s celebrated series picks up just after the events of its 2009 prequel The Magicians. Quentin, Eliot, Janet, and Julia are

now the High Kings and Queens of Fillory, a fantastic realm not unlike Narnia, and they pass their days “deliquescing atom by atom amid a riot of luxury.” To ease his royal boredom, Quentin embarks on a quest with Julia. Despite his romantic visions of heroic feats and easy accolades, the quest goes horribly awry, and they find themselves back in the depressingly real world of Chesterton, Massachusetts. With the help of seedy underground magicians, a dragon, and a young boy named Thomas, they undertake a desperate journey back to Fillory. Grossman’s writing here is sharp and self-aware, and the characters feel like people you actually know, but cooler: they are delightfully profane and dripping with irony, they are arrogant and shallow, they are finding their way in a magically perfect world that somehow still lets them down, and they are learning to fight for the things they love. The Magician King is a triumph of (and an homage to) modern fantasy writing, and a must-read for grown-up fans of Narnia and Harry Potter.

The Art Of Fielding  by Chad Harbach 
Amazon.com Review 
Amazon Best Books of the Month, September 2011: Though The Art of Fielding is his fiction debut,

Chad Harbach writes with the self-assurance of a seasoned novelist. He exercises a masterful precision over the language and pacing of his narrative, and in some 500 pages, there's rarely a word that feels out of place. The title is a reference to baseball, but Harbach's concern with sports is more than just a cheap metaphor. The Art of Fielding explores relationships--between friends, family, and lovers--and the unpredictable forces that complicate them. There's an unintended affair, a post-graduate plan derailed by rejection letters, a marriage dissolved by honesty, and at the center of the book, the single baseball error that sets all of these events into motion. The Art of Fielding is somehow both confident and intimate, simple yet deeply moving. Harbach has penned one of the year's finest works of fiction.

Juvenile

Captain John Smith's Big and Beautiful Bay  by Rebecca C. Jones 
Book Description
When Captain John Smith and his crew set out from Jamestown to explore a body of water known as the Chesapeake in 1608, they didn't know what to expect. Would their small, crowded boat sink? Would someone attack them? Would they die in a terrible storm? Or would they find another ocean and discover the gold that would make them rich? Based on Captain Smith s diaries, this true story describes how the men fought hurricane-force winds, searched for gold, faced hostile (and friendly) natives, and suffered gnawing hunger and terrible sickness. After a total of fourteen weeks on the bay, they returned to Jamestown with the sure knowledge that the Chesapeake was bigger and richer than anyone had imagined and so was the land around it. Charming illustrations provide a touch of humor and more information about the history and wildlife of the big and beautiful Chesapeake Bay. Grades 1-5.

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I would like to fill this space with patron book reviews. If you would like to contribute a book review Email James at webblibrary@gmail and use review as your subject.

Return to regular schedule. After being disrupted by the Seafood Festival this past weekend, the Webb will return to a regular schedule.

Looking for patrons who would like to write book reviews of the books they read. Email James at webblibrary@gmail and use review as your subject.

The Friends still have a few books for sale for $1. Look for them in the north-south hall.

NEW MATERIALS 

Adult 

Bloodline  by Mark Billingham 
Product Description
A killer is on the loose. The victims: children whose mothers can't protect them.
The past is coming back to haunt the people of London: a murderer is targeting the children of victims of Raymond Garvey, an infamous serial killer from London's past.

When Murder Squad veteran Detective Tom Thorne, who solves the London Police Department's most difficult cases, is called into what seems like, for once, an ordinary domestic murder, he thinks he's caught a break. A woman has been murdered by someone she knows. A positive pregnancy test found on the floor beside her. Thorne plans to question the husband, arrest him and return home to deal with his own deteriorating personal life.
But when a mysterious sliver of bloodstained X-ray that was found clutched in the victim's fist is replicated at other crime scenes around the city, Thorne realizes that this is not a simple case. As the bits of X-ray begin to come together to form a picture, it becomes clear that the killer knows his prey all too well and is moving through a list that was started long ago.
As Thorne attempts to protect those still alive, nothing and nobody are what they seem. Not when Thorne is dealing with one of the most twisted killers he has ever hunted.

Pirate King  by Laurie R. King 
Product Description
In this latest adventure featuring the intrepid Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, New York Times bestselling author Laurie R. King takes readers into the frenetic world of silent films—where the pirates are real and the shooting isn’t all done with cameras.

In England’s young silent-film industry, the megalomaniacal Randolph Fflytte is king. Nevertheless, at the request of Scotland Yard, Mary Russell is dispatched to investigate rumors of criminal activities that swirl around Fflytte’s popular movie studio. So Russell is traveling undercover to Portugal, along with the film crew that is gearing up to shoot a cinematic extravaganza, Pirate King. Based on Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance, the project will either set the standard for moviemaking for a generation . . . or sink a boatload of careers.
Nothing seems amiss until the enormous company starts rehearsals in Lisbon, where the thirteen blond-haired, blue-eyed actresses whom Mary is bemusedly chaperoning meet the swarm of real buccaneers Fflytte has recruited to provide authenticity. But when the crew embarks for Morocco and the actual filming, Russell feels a building storm of trouble: a derelict boat, a film crew with secrets, ominous currents between the pirates, decks awash with budding romance—and now the pirates are ignoring Fflytte and answering only to their dangerous outlaw leader. Plus, there’s a spy on board. Where can Sherlock Holmes be? As movie make-believe becomes true terror, Russell and Holmes themselves may experience a final fadeout. 
Pirate King is a Laurie King treasure chest—thrilling, intelligent, romantic, a swiftly unreeling masterpiece of suspense.

The Submission  by Amy Waldman 

Amazon.com ReviewAmazon Best Books of the Month, August 2011: Amy Waldman has performed a rare and dangerous feat in writing an airtight, multi-viewed, highly readable post-9/11 novel. When a Muslim architect wins a blind contest to design a Ground Zero Memorial, a city of eleven million people takes notice. Waldman, a former bureau chief for the New York Times, explores a diversity of viewpoints around this fictional event, bringing in politicians, businessmen, journalists, activists, and normal people whose lives--whether by happenstance, choice, or even due to their country of origin--get caught up in the controversy. Incredibly, she manages to keep all the balls in the air without ever fumbling. The story is moving and keeps the pages turning, but there are also bigger themes at work: of individuals versus groups; about the purpose of art, commerce, government, and journalism in society; of how people respond to grief and terror. The result is honest, compelling, and breathtaking.