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The Bookwatch
Table of Contents
Reviewer's Choice
Self-Care for Winter
Suzy Reading
Aster
c/o Octopus Books
www.octopusbooksusa.com
9781783256358, $19.99
https://www.amazon.com/Self-Care-Winter-thriving-colder-months/dp/1783256354
Self-Care for Winter: Seven Steps to Thriving in the Colder Months addresses a common form of depression that hits many in the cold of winter. It covers an alternative, better way of embracing the season without its usual impact on energy, productivity, and self-expectations. Psychologist and self-care author Suzy Reading creates seven easy steps that encourage extra nourishment and health in the winter, applying lessons from nature to strengthen these revised approaches to life. From maximizing light and color to outdoors meditation, star gazing, and woods baths, a wide range of rituals that embrace the season provide satisfying alternatives to those tired of dreading winter months.
The Cookbook Shelf
Forgotten Skills of Cooking
Darina Allen
Kyle Books
c/o Octopus Books
www.octopuspublishingusa.com
9781804192764, $39.99
https://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Skills-Cooking-Recipes-Time-honoured/dp/1804192767
Forgotten Skills of Cooking is not a typical collection of old-fashioned or lost recipes, but a key to using ingredients that involve forging, curing meats, growing herbs and vegetables, or smoking food (among other routines and "lost" culinary traditions). Its 700 recipes draw important links between forgotten food processes that can lend to home achievement and recipes that make the most of the homemade produce. Dishes such as Crispy Chicken Livers with Lime, Pork and Apple Burgers, and a Rose Petal Syrup excel in covering production and usage in an inviting manner that returns forgotten skills to everyday household efforts.
The Theatre/Cinema Shelf
Hollywood Blackout
Ben Arogundade
Cassell
c/o Octopus Books
www.octopusbooksusa.com
9781788405492, $26.99
https://www.amazon.com/Hollywood-Blackout-battle-recognition-white/dp/1788405498
Hollywood Blackout: The Battle for Inclusion at the Oscars documents how minorities and women have largely been left out of Hollywood awards. It features statistics that follow the process of a system which has embedded discrimination into its very structure. Ben Arogundade's revisionist history of the Oscars identifies many battles by minorities and women who fought for inclusion in the past... and are still fighting today. Individual stories of such battles capture the ceremonies, politics, and costs of Hollywood acclaim. This will prove eye-opening even to the most avid of Hollywood enthusiasts. Libraries adding Hollywood Blackout to their collections will want to see that patrons beyond the usual Hollywood reader learn about this title. It should be central to discussions of inclusion, documenting historic struggles that have (until now) received relatively little public or media attention.
The Wine Shelf
Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book 2025
Hugh Johnson, author
Margaret Rand, editor
Mitchell Beazley
c/o Octopus Books
www.octopusbooksusa.com
9781784729592, $17.99
https://www.amazon.com/Hugh-Johnsons-Pocket-Wine-Book/dp/1784729590
Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book's annual publication means that a wealth of wine facts are updated, maintaining the relevancy of wine information for buyers, restaurants, and anyone involved in the wine industry. New to this edition is a color supplement on Pinot Noir that concludes the book with much discussion and a narrow focus on the grape. The pocket size, of necessity, translates to small print. Readers should be prepared for a lot of information packed into a very small font size. That said, the value of a book packed with information on varieties, food pairings, and wine history should not be underestimated. There's a reason why Hugh Johnson's annual guide has become an industry standard reference. This is it.
The Fantasy/SciFi Shelf
Baen Books
www.baen.com
New arrivals from Baen offer science fiction and fantasy fans with intriguing plots and original adventures.
https://www.amazon.com/Icarus-Needle-Saga/dp/1982193794
Timothy Zahn's The Icarus Needle (9781982193799, $28.00) features the same nonstop staccato pace of The Icarus Twin, which will attract prior fans and newcomers to Zahn's world. Gregory and his Kadolian partner Selene are to locate missing alien artifacts and bring them under the wing of the Icarus Group. When group leadership changes, they find themselves immersed in a new plan which ultimately lands them on a strange world where aliens aim to use the light-year transport portals to bolster their power. Intrigue, action, and good characterization mark an adventure that is hard to put down.
https://www.amazon.com/1919-Romanov-Rising-Tom-Kratman-ebook/dp/B0D63HTQR
Tom Katman, Kacey Ezell and Justin Watson's 1919: The Romanov Rising (9781982193812, $28.00) is especially recommended for sci-fi readers of alternative history who will appreciate its intersection with military sci-fi in this story. The campaign to defeat the Bolsheviks mires a range of characters in a rescue mission laden with battle, corpses, and unpredictable outcomes. Readers interested in stories packed with Russian characters and flavors will find this alternative story to be gripping and completely immersive.
Both of these new titles from Baen Books are excellent choices for sci-fi readers looking for engrossing stories sporting novel flavors of intrigue and adventure.
Baen Books
www.baen.com
https://www.amazon.com/Depth-Charge-Hank-Davis/dp/1982193824
Hank Davis and Jamie Ibson edit Depth Charge (9781982193829, $18.00), which gathers ocean-oriented sci-fi in a powerful collection featuring such classic authors as Robert Silverberg, Arthur C. Clarke, and even horror writer H.P. Lovecraft. The diversity and strength of these talents who share the theme of producing aquatic adventures creates an exceptional collection that proves the depth of the oceans both on Earth and on other planets. Readers will find the juxtaposition of various premises and environments to be thoroughly immersive.
https://www.amazon.com/Ice-Trials-M-Rothman-ebook/dp/B0CYVPCTHJ
M.A. Rothman and D.J. Butler's Ice Trails (9781982193805, $28.00) is Book Two of the Time Trials series and will attract fans of timeslip stories where the characters find themselves transported to a very different world. A prophecy, a massive flood, and more challenges Marty Cohen and his team with new obstacles to returning to their starting point and going home as leadership creates dangerous connections and struggles.
https://www.amazon.com/Through-Storm-2-TransDimensional-Hunter/dp/1982193840
John Ringo and Lydia Sherrer's Through the Storm (9781982193843, $9.99) is a TransDimensional Hunter adventure that focuses on teen gaming prodigy Lynn, who has honed her skills under a cloak of anonymity. Her decision to abandon this disguise in order to compete in the augmented reality game TransDimensional Hunter creates some incongruities not only in identity, but in reality. The fast pace and powerful representation of this young woman's character and purpose makes for a read that is filled with technology, threats, and action that is satisfyingly unpredictable and always engrossing.
All of these new titles from Baen Books are fine recommendations for sci-fi readers and libraries seeking to add vivid, memorable books to their collections.
James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Diane C. Donovan, Editor
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