August 31, 2017 - September Eve

Here we sit on the 31st of August, or September Eve, I suppose. The beginning of September brings, of course, Labor Day, which is immediately followed by the start of school. But today, August 31st is the last day of “Be Kind to Human Kind Week”. There is still time to celebrate. Just find a human being and be kind to them. Easy peasy! The last full weekend of August is International Bat Night. Bat Night has taken place every year since 1997 in more than 30 countries on the last full weekend of August. Its purpose is to pass on information to the public about the way bats live and their needs with presentations, and importance ecologically. It is also National Matchmaker Day which celebrates those well-intentioned people who want to set you up with this really nice girl or boy that they think would just be perfect for you. It is also National Trail Mix Day. Celebrating this day only requires you to open up a package and eat the trail mix blend of your choice. The most unusual day to celebrate this August 31st is National Diatomaceous Earth Day. Here is a quote about the day from the blog at EP minerals.com : Most people know of diatomaceous earth because it's used to filter beer or wine, for swimming pools, or for its insecticide properties to control insects around homes or in gardens. Biologists know about diatoms, the single-celled plants that form diatomaceous earth, because they are truly the lungs of the earth, in that they produce about ¾ of the world’s new oxygen supply. Materials scientists know about diatom skeletons (called frustules), the tiny, intricate porous opal structures because they are known to be the strongest naturally-occurring substances.” So, now you know. But, I’m not exactly sure how you would celebrate the day. Perhaps by reading one of the new book titles listed below. Enjoy!

New Non-Fiction

  • cover art Policing the Black man : arrest, prosecution, and imprisonment / by Angela J. Davis, editor. A comprehensive, thought-provoking analysis of the key issues behind the Black Lives Matter movement features 12 essays by some of America's most influential criminal justice experts and legal scholars, including Equal Justice Institute Director Bryan Stevenson, NAACP Legal Defense Fund President Sherrrilyn Ifill and John Jay College of Criminal Justice President Jeremy Travis.

New Fiction

  • cover art Domina / by L.S. Hilton. A sequel to the best-selling Maestra finds femme fatale Judith Rashleigh on the run when she is wrongly implicated for a murder and targeted by the owner of a stolen masterpiece who compels her to maneuver the underworld landscapes of wealth from St. Mortiz to Serbia.
  • cover art Hook's tale : being the account of an unjustly villainized pirate written by himself / by John Pielmeier. A first novel by a Golden Globe-nominated screenwriter reimagines the childhood of a much-maligned Captain Hook, who recounts his quest for buried treasure, his friendship with Peter Pan and the story behind the swashbuckling world of Neverland.
  • cover art House of spies / by Daniel Silva. A latest entry in the best-selling series continues the adventures of Israeli assassin and art restorer-turned-spy Gabriel Allon. By the author of “The Black Widow”.
  • cover art Look behind you / by Iris & Roy Johansen. Cooperating with the FBI when a serial killer begins leaving mysterious relics at his crime scenes, Kendra Michaels discovers that the objects are souvenirs from other unsolved murders and that the new killings have been orchestrated to taunt her personally.
  • cover art The lying game / by Ruth Ware. In the wake of a woman's horrifying discovery of human remains along a scenic tidal estuary, the members of a once-inseparable clique from a second-rate boarding school near the English Channel reflect on their participation in a dangerous game of deception that contributed to the death of a teacher. By the best-selling author of “In a Dark, Dark Wood”.
  • cover art Three minutes / by Anders Roslund & Borge Hellstrom. A stand-alone sequel to the best-selling Three Seconds finds homicide detective Ewert Grens and undercover criminal informant Piet Hoffmann maintaining unofficial contact while outmaneuvering a Colombian drug cartel that raises the stakes by kidnapping the U.S. Speaker of the House.
  • cover art Two nights : a novel / by Kathy Reichs. A stand-alone thriller by the best-selling author of the Temperance Brennan series introduces Sunday Night, a woman whose secret past has left her with scars and a killer instinct that proves helpful to a desperate family in the wake of a bomb explosion and a girl's disappearance.