New Books - 1/5/2011

Fiction
Artichoke’s heart / Suzanne Supplee
Rosemary Goode faces some challenges: her mother’s cancer; her binge eating and resulting weight problem; her “un-cool” social status and awful nickname, “Artichoke.” Her mother’s frank, positive outlook, a new girlfriend who enjoys exercise, and a new boyfriend give Rosemary a new perspective.

Jerk, California / Jonathan Friesen
“In rural Wisconsin, Sam, a high-school student with Tourette’s Syndrome, is alienated from his peers and rejected by his stepfather, and he has trouble getting close to lovely, kind Naomi. After graduation, his stepfather kicks him out of the house, and he accepts a job and lodging from [George], who knew Sam’s late father and dispels some of Sam’s misconceptions about his dad. . . . Sam embarks on a road trip with Naomi to California, [searching for] answers left by Sam’s dad along the way.” (from Amazon.com; 1/4/10]

The sky is everywhere / Jandy Nelson
Seventeen-year-old Lennie’s older sister died suddenly from an arrhythmia. Now Lennie must deal with conflicted feelings about grief, joy, and moving on with her own life.

The ugly tree / Tamara Lyon
When a tornado destroys Cane Kallevik’s home and leaves her Grandma Betty in a coma, Cane goes to live with her employer’s family. She spends her summer keeping vigil at her grandmother’s bedside, fighting with her boss, falling in love with her boss’s nephew, and continuing her love/hate relationship with her former best friend, Mikayla. When Cane’s world “literally goes up in flames, instead of losing everything, she finds exactly what she’s looking for in the most unexpected way.” Set in a rural farm town in Illinois by an author who lives in Wisconsin. (from the back cover)

Biography
Autobiography of Mark Twain, vol. 1
Presenting Mark Twain as himself. He insisted that his autobiographical writings and dictations not be published until 100 years after his death. Time’s up!

House rules : a memoir / Rachel Sontag
Rachel Sontag was a smart, accomplished teenager from a nice family; her father was a doctor, her mother, a social worker. Behind the pretty picture was the grim truth of her father’s psychological abuse, control, and manipulation. Sontag tells the story of the courage to endure and finally, to break away.

History
The Boer Wars (1) 1836-98 / Ian Knight
European settlers of South Africa – Dutch, French, and German – came to consider themselves white Africans; they were also known as “Boers”, meaning famers. This book tells of their many conflicts with native African peoples. (Think Conrad, people!)

The Boer War 1899-1902 / Gregory Fremont-Barnes
While the British had easily defeated the native Africans, they had a much more difficult task in fighting the white Africans. Book covers 19th century history of South Africa, including the discovery of diamonds and gold; background on the British Empire and the Boers; and a narrative of the conflicts which includes maps. (Again, think Heart of Darkness!)

Ratification : the people debate the Constitution, 1787-1788 / Pauline Maier
Across the country, the work of the Constitutional Convention was carefully read and widely debated in pubs, in private homes, and in the press. Ratifying conventions debated the document clause by clause. Maier, a professor of American History at MIT, presents the first history of the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.