bookshelf

The Draining Lake by Arnaldur Indridason

312 Pgs (c)  2004 Translated from the Icelandic by Bernard Scudder
Broward Library 04/04/09

A body, tethered to Cold War era Russian communications equipment, is revealed when an Icelandic lake is drained. Old memories and rivalries surface, involving socialist students studying in East German in the late 1950s.

Gravewriter by Mark Arsenault

272 pgs (c) 2006, New York: Thomas Dunne Books
Broward Library Read: 12/03/07

A strong middle-of-the-pack mystery that introduces the amateur sleuth Billy Povich. 

Empires of Trust by Thomas Madden

How Rome Built - and America Is Building - A New World
10 CDs, 12.5 hours. (c) 2008. Narrated by Richard Poe
Recorded Books, Read: 03/22/09, Blog 03/23/09

Madden compares the development and influence of Rome (defined as both the Republic and the Empire, covering a span of 2,000 years) and the U.S. on the larger world. Unexpected and thought-provoking parallels are drawn, challenging conventional thinking.

Green With Envy by Shira Boss

Why Keeping Up with the Joneses Is Keeping Us in Debt
A Whole New Way to Look at Financial (Un)Happiness
205 pgs (c) 2006, Warner Business Books
Borrowed from Broward County Library 332.024BO Read: 01/05/08

A more apt subtitle would be "an envious writer in need of a book deal exposes financial shortcomings of her friends and neighbors." Schadenfreude is typical behavior and not a "whole new way to look at financial (un)happiness.”

Patriotic Grace by Peggy Noonan

What It Is and Why We Need It Now
192 pages (c)2008 Peggy Noonan, published by Collins
Broward Library 324.70973 NO. Read: 02/24/09

Just a suggestion, unless you are a militant Pollyanna, do not read this on the same night that you watch the "Cosmic Apocalypse" episode of the "The Universe" series from The History Channel. Through an unfortunate congruence of events, that's what I did. I'm no Chicken Little; well, maybe I am one now.

The Birthday Party by Stanley Alpert

306 pgs (c) 2007, G.P. Putnam
Broward County Library, Biography Albert, Read 9/10/08

Mild-mannered, Assistant U.S. Attorney Stanley Alpert gets mugged on his birthday and spends the night as a hostage, tied and blindfolded, while the disorganized kidnappers and their sidekicks try to figure out what, exactly, to do with him.