February 1998 RETURN TO HOME PAGE FEEDBACK

Adult Fiction

Set in "Gold Rush" San Francisco, Daughter of Joy, by Jo Ann Levy, is a historical novel that portrays Ah Toy, a financially successful Asian woman, who challenges the American judicial system.

A novel about love, longing, and emptiness, Eve's Apple, by Jonathan Rosen, depicts a woman with an eating disorder and the man who adores her.

In Hotel Sarajevo, by Jack Kersh, a group of teenage Bosnian war orphans live as a family in an abandoned hotel.

Slippage, by Harlan Ellison, a master of horror and suspense, contains his latest short stories and novella.

In Walking Back the Cat, a literary spy thriller by Robert Littell, a KGB agent located near an Apache reservation, is given assassination orders.

Adult Nonfiction

The Best American Essays 1997, edited by Ian Frazier, contains prize-winning
works by twenty-four writers, among them Gay Talese, Susan Sontag, and Richard Ford.

The recently revised edition of Irma Rombauer's classic Joy of Cooking contains new chapters on grains, beans, pasta, and desserts.

A poetry collection by the author of Mistress of Spices, Leaving Yuba City, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, explores the Indian immigrant experience in the United States.

Written at the height of his commitment
to Buddhism, Some of the Dharma, by Jack Kerouac, contains poems, journal entries, prayers, and meditations.

Children's Fiction

One rainy night, a small white dog and
a loving family happily find each other in McDuff Moves In, by Rosemary Wells.
Ages 3 to 5.

Two brothers, one collecting puddle designs and the other preferring to collect "real things," have a good time together in Elisa Klevens' The Puddle Pail. Ages 3 to 6.

"Picture Clues," "Rebuses," and "Mini-Books" are some of the sections in a new anthology, Bug in a Rug: Reading Fun for Just-Beginners, by Joanna Cole and Stephanie Calmenson. Ages 5 to 7.

In Spaceman, by Jane Cutler, Gary has many problems in fifth grade, but then his situation improves a great deal when he goes to a school geared toward children with different learning styles. Ages 9 and up.

A surprising interaction between a dog and a much-feared man leaves the reader with some hope at the end of Shiloh Season, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. Ages 9 and up.

Buck is forced to see a very painful social reality as he tries to come to the aid of his friend in Dangerous Skies, by Suzanne Fisher Staples. Ages 10 and up.

Children's Nonfiction

In Common Ground, Molly Bang encourages us to consider the future when we make decisions about how to interact with our home, planet Earth. Ages 5 to 8.

An 11-year-old boy describes his life with his mother and her partner in Zack's Story: Growing Up with Same-Sex Parents, by Keith Elliot Greenberg. Ages 6 and up.

Movies, Stories, and Lapsits

The library screens films for children ages 3 to 5 on Tuesday, Feb. 17, at 10 and 11 a.m.

Preschool story time for kids 3 to 5 is 10 a.m. on Tuesdays Feb. 3, 10, and 24.

Babies and toddlers and their parents are invited for songs and stories at the Wednesday lapsits Feb. 4, 11, 18, and 25, at 7 p.m.