 |
Book
Reviews,
Book Lover Resources, Advice for Writers and Publishers |
| Home / The Bookwatch |
The Bookwatch
Table of Contents
Reviewer's Choice
A Country Style: Living and Creating With Nature Through the Seasons
Harriet Thistlethwayte
Mitchell Beazley
c/o Octopus Publishing
https://www.octopusbooks.co.uk
9781840919707, $39.99
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Country-Style-Creating-through-Seasons/dp/1840919701
Harriet Thistlethwayte's A Country Style: Living and Creating With Nature Through the Seasons surveys the nature-connected character of "country style" and will appeal to a wide audience, from interior and exterior designers to homeowners interested in capturing the basics of such style. Its attention to atmosphere, budget, and seasonal representation make it especially attractive to homeowners considering renovations. Packed with full-page color photos, A Country Style even includes gardening tips and some recipes in its wide-ranging attention to bringing the joys of country living and the greater outdoors inside. Librarians seeking a warm, embracing look at living not just alongside, but within nature will find A Country Style a delightful acquisition.
The Cookbook Shelf
Wojtek's Bistro
Wojtek Van Portek
Mitchell Beazley
c/o Octopus Publishing
https://www.octopusbooks.co.uk
9781846016783, $34.99
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Wojteks-Bistro-Recipes-Polish-Kitchen/dp/1846016789
Wojtek's Bistro: Recipes from a Polish Kitchen blends the author's Polish roots with flavors from his adopted city of London. Wojtek Van Portek presents over a hundred recipes that meld the two influences into fare ranging from one-pot dishes to soups, small plates, and sweets. From classic Potato Pancakes to Garlic Pepper Rabbit with Pear & Miso or Pork Belly Casserole, the dishes are accompanied by facing page color photos and feature fare which is hearty, appealing, and reflective of two different cultural influences. Cooks interested in European cooking syntheses will appreciate the entwining of Poland and England in these blends of classic and creative dishes.
The Wine Shelf
The World Atlas of Wine, 9th edition
Hugh Johnson, Jancis Robinson, and Julia Harding
Mitchell Beazley
c/o Octopus Publishing
https://www.octopusbooks.co.uk
9781784729707, $75.00
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/World-Atlas-Wine-9th/dp/1784729701
The completely revised wine bible The World Atlas of Wine by Hugh Johnson, Jancis Robinson and Julia Harding appears in its 9th edition, extensively updating references to the point that any library holding an older version will want to replace it with this latest rendition. Not only has the text been fully revised and updated and new photographs added, but all information on every existing map has been checked and updated, with eighteen new maps added for this edition, while eight others hold major extensions. With new illustrations throughout, new themes, climate change maps contrasting regional shifts, and revised history and modern additions, this essential reference has been extensively revamped. Any library strong in wine knowledge needs to include it in their reference collection.
The Astronomy Shelf
Philip's Little Book of Eclipses
Tom Kerss & Dr. Ryan French
Philips/Octopus Publishing
https://www.octopusbooks.co.uk
9781849077545, $19.99
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Philips-Little-Book-Eclipses-essential/dp/1849077541
Philip's Little Book of Eclipses: An Essential Companion to Solar & Lunar Events is a treasure trove of global eclipse locations and science that will delight anyone interested in observing eclipses. History, mythology, science, and travel meld in a survey of human observations of and speculations about eclipses over the centuries, broadening the appeal of a lively global guide that can also be used to chart upcoming events. Philip's Little Book of Eclipses will appeal to and delight a wide audience of amateur and serious astronomy buffs, as well as libraries catering to them.
The Music Shelf
Cassell/Octopus Publishing
https://www.octopusbooks.co.uk
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Blitz-Beyond-Revolution-Romantics-revolutionised/dp/1788406591
Blitz and Beyond: The New Romantic Revolution by Graham Smith with Chris Sullivan (9781788406598, $49.99) covers the New Romantic post-punk rock movement of the late 1970s through the photographic lens of Smith, who was in the thick of the action, documenting their rise and the culture the group fostered. Some 500 images accompany behind-the-scenes inspections of the New Romantics, offering vivid descriptions not only of the people, but the places that hosted them. One example includes Le Kilt: "with its walls covered in tartan fabric, festooned with the heads and antlers of beasts far happier elsewhere and a DJ booth fashioned from a Regency stagecoach, Le Kilt appropriately resembled a Scottish hunting lodge." There is no better "you are here" description in print of the post-punk movement and music.
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Madonna-Songs-Story-Behind-Every/dp/1788406346
Madonna: All The Songs: The Story Behind Every Track by Benoit Clerc (9781788406345, $60.00) is a definitive "must have" acquisition for music libraries and anyone having more than a casual interest in Madonna's musical impact. This weighty unofficial survey is a comprehensive study of Madonna's music that embarks on an album-by-album swing through her songs and art, blending biography with musical insights that embrace both song contents and themes and behind-the-scenes events. Packed with color photos throughout, this definitive Madonna discography/biography is a 'must' that will delight a wide audience of popular music lovers, historians, and collectors. Popular music libraries will find both volumes essential.
The General Fiction Shelf
Big Store Window
Tyler Marioni
DartFrog Books
https://dartfrogbooks.com
B0HCD7YQCB, $4.99, Kindle, 275pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Big-Store-Window-Tyler-Marioni/dp/1965253938
Big Store Window is a novel that opens with narrator Cole Anthony Edwards's receipt of a television ad bragging the high-tech opportunities of P.T. Global Innovation's Window, a creation that uses spectacle to promise customers better control over their destiny. While he readily admits skepticism ("Patrick Turner always shocked me, but this time he sells a new level of insanity."), he's also intrigued enough to want to know more. And so he falls into the promise and clutches of a TV apparition whose latest creation rivals any of the possibilities Edwards experienced while briefly working for Turner in the past.
The Window project holds the signature hallmarks of Turner's proclivity for loopholes and big dreams. It lures Edwards with these dreams - but the man is too savvy to fall for such bait easily:
I do not fear this organization in a general sense; I fear its stranglehold on the world.
As he works to convince others that the Window and its treatments are a disaster rather than a blessing, readers become absorbed in the ways in which technology and human ambition intersect, the results of enhancement efforts gone wry, and the efforts of an ordinary Joe to battle its promise:
Using a faulty key, Turner's company tried to pick the lock of human life. Realizing their key didn't fit the lock's grooves, they angrily broke it off inside and left shards of shrapnel behind, leaving us in this current worldwide disaster.
The challenge lies in convincing the rest of the world.
Librarians and readers seeking a futuristic, compelling story of transformation, struggle, and possible evil forces will find Big Store Window frighteningly realistic and thoroughly compelling.
Tyler Marioni crafts the story in the form of a memoir, which adds a sense of immediacy and personality into the evolving dilemma. This choice makes it easy for readers to become immersed in Edwards's perceptions about the true definition of worth.
The Fantasy/SciFi Shelf
Baen Books
www.baen.com
Two new arrivals from Baen provide sci-fi readers with involving stories.
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Hell-Wheels-D-J-Butler/dp/1668073293
D.J. Butler and David J. West's Hell on Wheels (9781668073292, $28.00) provides another magickal America story set in 1975, where Silas Danger drives a GTO inhabited by the ghost of his sister Betty and part of the demon that killed her. His task is to figure out how she died and how to save her, but that's only one charge in a world where half a demon can kill as effectively as a whole one. Other America comes to life in this story as spy and adventurer Silas navigates the undead, the impossible, and the strange seeking information that can help him save his sister.
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Ishtar-Deception-Billion-Worlds/dp/1668073307
The Ishtar Deception by James L. Cambias (9781668073308, $18.00) is a novel of the billion worlds that takes place at the end of the Tenth Millennium as government agent Sabbath Okada comes to the city of Ishtar on Venus to investigate the death of an undercover agent. His search for the truth, aided by an aging but sly AI, takes him into the worlds of Ishtar's elite as well as its rugged and challenging environment. The blend of hard science, investigative mystery, and adventure will especially please sci-fi readers interested in all these elements, which coalesce into a riveting saga that is hard to predict or put down.
James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Diane C. Donovan, Editor
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive
Oregon, WI 53575-1129
phone: 1-608-835-7937
e-mail: mbr@execpc.com
e-mail: mwbookrevw@aol.com
www.midwestbookreview.com
Copyright ©2001
Site design by Williams Writing, Editing &
Design