The Body of Jonah Boyd: A Novel

by David Leavitt
New York: Bloomsbury, 2004
PS 3562 E2618 B64 2004

"It's 1969, and Judith 'Denny' Denham has just begun an affair with Dr. Ernest Wright, a psychology professor at Wellspring University, who just happens to be her boss. But her position in the Wright household is not merely as a mistress. Ernest's wife, Nancy, has taken Denny under her wing as a four-hand piano partner and general confidante, although Denny can never seem to measure up to Anne, Nancy's best friend from back east. Ernest's eldest son has fled over the Canadian border to escape the draft, while his only daughter has embarked on a secret affair with her father's protégé. The remaining son, Ben, is fifteen, and as delicate and insufferable as only a poetry-writing fifteen-year-old can be."

The Great Game: The Myth and Reality of Espionage

by Frederick P. Hitz
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004
PR 830 S65 H57 2004

"In this fascinating analysis, Frederick Hitz, former inspector general of the Central Intelligence Agency, contrasts the writings of well-known authors of spy novels—classic and popular—with real-life espionage cases. Drawing on personal experience both as a participant in 'the Great Game' and as the first presidentially appointed inspector general, Hitz shows the remarkable degree to which truth is stranger than fiction."

Geronimo's Bones: A Memoir of My Brother and Me

"Born to migrant parents—his father a self proclaimed 'cowboy' and his Navajo mother, tender-hearted and flawed—Nasdijj knew little of the conformity spreading across America in the 1950s. He was busy surviving the migrant camps in Texas, Florida, Oklahoma, and North Carolina, where despair and death were familiar faces. Nasdijj and Tso were boys racing trains and demons, whispering tales about Spider Woman, Sa, Geronimo, and Coyote, the stories of their mother's people that they had heard at bedtime. Nasdijj writes: 'Geronimo is a voice who comes to me at night, when all the other creatures are asleep and the universe belongs to us.'"

The Importance of Being Famous: Behind the Scenes of the Celebrity-Industrial Complex

by Maureen Orth
New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2004
E 169.02 O75 2004

"The Importance of Being Famous is a portrait of an era where the media grew larger, the distinction between fame and infamy grew smaller, and celebrity ruled all. Orth presents a gallery of influential characters (stars and statesmen, monsters and murderers), linking tales of their sometimes outrageous behavior with her own, from-the-trenches 'Notes from the Celebrity-Industrial Complex.' These smart and funny observations—drawn from Orth's memories, including Elvis's funeral and the Triumph of Arnold in the California Recall Election—detail the increasing difficulty of reporting in an arena of Superstars and Big Media, where pasts are perpetually reinvented."

A Year at the Races: Reflections on Horses, Humans, Love, Money, and Luck

"Smiley draws upon her firsthand knowledge of horses, as well as the wisdom of trainers, vets, jockeys, and even a real-life horse whisperer, to examine the horse on all levels—practical, theoretical, and emotional. She shares not only 'cute stories' about her own horses, but also fascinating and original insights into horse—and human—behavior. To all this she adds an element of drama and suspense as two of her own horses begin their careers at the racetrack. As the sexy black filly Waterwheel and the elegant gray colt Wowie aspire to the winner's circle, we are enchanted, enthralled—and informed about what it's really like to own, train, and root for a Thoroughbred."

The New Division of Labor: How Computers Are Creating the Next Job Market

"As the current recession ends, many workers will not be returning to the jobs they once held—those jobs are gone. In The New Division of Labor, Frank Levy and Richard Murnane show how computers are changing the employment landscape and how the right kinds of education can ease the transition to the new job market. The book tells stories of people at work—a high-end financial advisor, a customer service representative, a pair of successful chefs, a cardiologist, an automotive mechanic, the author Victor Hugo, floor traders in a London financial exchange. The authors merge these stories with insights from cognitive science, computer science, and economics to show how computers are enhancing productivity in many jobs even as they eliminate other jobs—both directly and by sending work offshore."

Now Is the Time To Open Your Heart

by Alice Walker
New York: Random House, 2004
PS 3573 A425 N69 2004

"In Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart, Alice Walker created a work that ranks among her finest achievements: the story of a woman's spiritual adventure that becomes a passage through time, a quest for self, and a collision of love. Kate has always been a wanderer... Now at fifty-seven, she leaves her lover, Yolo, to embark on a new excursion, one that begins on the Colorado River, proceeds through the past, and flows, inexorably, into the future."

Divining Women: A Novel

"Autumn 1918: Rumors of peace are spreading across America, but spreading even faster are the first cases of Spanish influenza, whispering of the epidemic to come. Maureen Ross, well past a safe childbearing age, is experiencing a difficult pregnancy. Her husband, Troop—cold and careless of her condition—is an emotional cripple who has battered her spirit throughout their marriage. As Maureen's time grows near, she becomes convinced she will die in childbirth. Into this loveless ménage arrives Mary Oliver, Troop's niece. The sheltered child of a well-to-do, freethinking Washington family, Mary comes to help Maureen in the last weeks of her confinement. Horrified by Troop's bullying, she soon discovers that her true duty is to protect her aunt."

Pull Me Up: A Memoir

"The American memoir now has a Long Island voice. In Pull Me Up, a deeply affecting book with prose that to Frank McCourt 'flashes with poetry.' New York Times columnist Dan Barry sings, to startling and profound effect, the song of his life. Beginning with his boyhood in a distant time when Kennedy was president and Mantle was God. Barry weaves the rhythms of Galway, Ireland—his mother's birthplace—and Deer Park, New York, to tell the story of an unforgettable American family."