Simply Irresistible!

Do you have a small space that needs some TLC? Check out Janet Lee’s Living in a  Nutshell: Posh and Portable Decorating Ideas for Small Spaces for some striking projects. She is a veteran apartment dweller with bold sense of style. Although her style is based on her mother's vintage elegance, I love the modern quirkiness and innovative use of everyday items. Her suggestions are not only colorful and entertaining but time-saving too. Janet uses snappy shortcuts and inexpensive materials for a designer look. She really thinks outside-the-box. Fabulous---darling! DB

Skin Deep

Skin Rules: Trade Secrets from a Top New York Dermatologist by Debra Jaliman, M.D.

This book is for all ages and will tell you everything you need to know to attain beautiful skin and keep a youthful appearance. It also covers the different types of lasers and treatments (including freezing fat!) needed to repair damaged or aging skin. Instead of getting your beauty tips online or from a magazine, pick up this small book packed with 77 tips for beautiful skin.  SG

Gruesome!

Tess Gerritsen writes about murder and the evils of the criminal mind.  I didn't think I would ever go for this type of book, as it can be quite brutal, but the writing is so interesting.  Her books are under the series name "Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles" (to find what books are in a particular series, and in what order try our Reading Ideas link and click on "what's next").  The books have also been made into a television series called Rizzoli and Isles.  I started out reading book two, The Apprentice, and have to admit it didn't make much difference when I finally started The Surgeon, book one.  The Apprentice is about a serial killer terrorizing Boston.  Rizzoli, as the only female homicide detective, is fighting for the respect of the Boston P.D. while also trying to catch a brutal killer who is leading her into his trap.  SG

Your Every Baby Concern Covered!

Your baby's first year is full of more firsts than any other time. The Mayo Clinic Guide to Your Baby's First Year by the baby experts at Mayo Clinic provides a wealth of information to the endless questions that arrise concerning the ever changing little one you brought home from the hospital (who came with no owner's manual). With so many varying opinions and information regarding the do's and don'ts of your baby's first year it is reassuring to have a medically sound resource to refer to in those times your family doctor is not readily available. CKW 

Buried Secrets

Ashes to Dust is the third title in Yrsa Sigurdardóttir's series following the somewhat hectic life of lawyer/reluctant crime fighter/single mother Thóra Gudmundsdóttir.  Following the excavation of a town buried under volcanic ash, Thóra must rush to solve a decades-old quadruple homicide to clear her client's name.  When the only person that could provide insight into the slayings turns up dead from apparent suicide, things get a bit more interesting.  Can Thóra juggle her private and professional lives and get to the bottom of the buried secrets in Ashes to Dust?  HM

Working with what you have!

The title, Landscaping for Privacy, says it all. Have a landscape feature you want to screen out? Things like noisy neighbors, road noise, or that dingy area where the garbage cans are, do you want to screen them out? This book by Marty Wingate gives you plant suggestions for all of the above with many photos to illustrate. ML

Talking Back to Autism

Kate Winslet met Margret Ericsdottir and her son Keli while recording the narration for Margret's documentary about Keli and his autism. She was so impressed by the story of Keli's struggle to communicate (he doesn't speak, he has non-verbal autism) that she decided to do this book to raise money and awareness of this difficult disease. In the book we meet Margaret and Keli and hear their story. One fun aspect of this book is the interesting photos: Kate sent her favorite hat and a camera to many of her celebrity friends who took a picture of themselves wearing the hat, inspired by Keli's poem, The Golden Hat. which is also the title. An informative and visually arresting book. ML

Hollywood Hijinks

Regan and Jack Reilly head to Hollywood for a Law Enforcement Conference and some relaxation. While Jack attends the meetings, Regan goes shopping and runs into an old friend. Zelda, who has inherited eight million dollars from a reclusive neighbor, is hosting a party and insists that Regan attend. The get-together is in a crumbling old mansion in the Hollywood Hills. Regan finds several of the guests very suspicious and is concerned for her friend’s welfare. A fast-paced series of events involving a cast of quirky characters ensues. Gypped : A Reagan Reilly Mystery by Carol Higgins Clark is a quick, entertaining read for cozy mystery lovers. DB       

Winter in the Country.

Fans of Flavia de Luce, the bratty, chemistry obsessed eleven year old, will want to read the latest in the series. In I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley, it's Christmas, and a film crew is at the crumbling mansion in the country Flavia shares with her befuddled dad and two mean older sisters. When the star of the film turns up with film tied around her neck in a strangulation bow, Flavia solves the mystery in spite of the adults who try to dampen her zest for all things sinister. Engaging writing,a precocious heroine and the gloomy country house that contributes to the mood make this a winner. M.L.

What Is Your Library Worth To You?

Have you ever wondered how much money you are saving by using the Library?  Try this Library Calculator to see what your library is worth to you!

Linked by Tragedy

In Carol Anshaw's Carry the One, a group of friends and siblings are linked by a tragedy on one summer's night in their youth. As this group is leaving a wedding in the country, sleepy,drunk and stoned, they hit and kill a young girl who appears out of nowhere. The book follows the group for twenty-five years and how their lives are profoundly affected by this shared experience. The strength of this novel is the quality of the writing,funny,profane and most of all thoughtful. Her power of language is evident in the title; as one of the characters thinks,“When you add us up, you always have to carry the one.” ML

SHARK!!

The summer of 1916 was a scorcher.  To escape the heat of the city, New Yorkers flocked to the thriving seaside playgrounds of Coney Island and the Jersey Shore -- only to be terrorized by (amazingly) a rogue great white shark.  In Close to Shore: A True Story of Terror in an Age of Innocence, Pulitzer Prize nominee Michael Capuzzo delves into the fear and panic of the weeks following the first attack, painting a vivid portrait of the era and the characters who inhabited it.  HM