February 21, 2019 - Winter Weather

Another week, another couple of “Winter Weather Advisories”. This is beginning to feel like a winter that will never end which is great for working your way through your TBR (To Be Read) pile of books, but it is getting old. However, even in the face of relentless snows, there are subtle signs that a change in the season is coming. The most noticeable is that length of day. Since that shortest day of the year when sunrise was at 7:25 and sunset at 4:25 we have gained a whole lot of daylight. Sunrise is now at 6:47 a.m. and the sun stays up in the western sky until 5:36. If my math is correct that means we’ve gained over two hours of daylight. The birds are also starting to change their tunes. Chickadees have started singing their “phoebe” song; the great horned owls have found their mates with all their hooting back in January and are now settling down to setting up housekeeping. The other birds breeding in Wisconsin at the end of February are Rock pigeons (a.k.a. the common pigeon that hangs out almost everywhere but seems to like underpasses and bridges a lot). Horned larks are starting to migrate into and through the state. In the midst of the seemingly-endless winter the business of living continues. If part of the business of your life includes reading, below you will find some of the new books that have recently arrived at the library. Enjoy!

New Non-Fiction

“The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump” by Andrew McCabe. The former deputy director of the FBI details how law enforcement battles terror threats, Russian crime and attacks by the White House itself on the U.S. Constitution.

 

“The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America From 1890 to the Present” by David Treuer. An anthropologist's chronicle of Native American life from the Wounded Knee massacre to the present traces the unprecedented resourcefulness and reinvention of distinct tribe cultures that assimilated into mainstream life to preserve Native identity.

 

“The New Rules of War: Victory in the Age of Durable Disorder” by Sean McFate. The Georgetown University professor of national defense and author of Shadow War draws on his expertise as an elite military veteran to outline a provocative exploration of modern warfare that makes controversial recommendations for establishing peace.

 

“Unexampled Courage: The Blinding of Sgt. Isaac Woodard and the Awakening of President Harry S. Truman and Judge J. Waties Waring” by Richard Gergel. Documents the 1946 case of decorated African-American veteran Isaac Woodard, whose victimization by police brutality prompted Harry Truman to establish the first presidential commission on civil rights and order the desegregation in the U.S. armed forces.

New Fiction

“The Best of Us, No.4 (Sullivan’s Crossing)” by Robyn Carr. A latest entry in the best-selling series that includes The Family Gathering continues the story of the beloved three-generation family on the rustic campground crossroads of the Colorado and Continental Divide trails.

 

“Crucible, No. 14 (Sigma Force)” by James Rollins. A Christmas Eve attack on his home and the abduction of his pregnant girlfriend prompts Commander Gray Pierce and the Sigma Force to confronting deep spiritual mysteries tracing back to the Spanish Inquisition.

 

“The Current” by Tim Johnston. Surviving the accident that killed her friend, a young woman delves into the case of another victim from a decade earlier to identify a killer among her neighbors. By the author of the best-selling “Descent”.

 

“Freefall” by Jessica Barry. After surviving the crash of a private jet that killed her husband, Allison struggles across the Colorado Rockies to make it home while, in Maine, her estranged mother tries to find her.

 

“Golden State” by Ben Winters. A veteran of the Speculative Service in an alternate-world California where the law and truth are valued above all else uses his rare authority to question the facts when truth enforcement is manipulated for corrupt purposes.

 

“The Nowhere Child” by Christian White. A young woman's life is turned upside down when she discovers that she may have been abducted in early childhood by her recently deceased mother, in a U.S. release of an award-winning debut from Australia.

 

“The Rule of Law, No.18 (Dismas Hardy)” by John Lescroart. Attorney Dismas Hardy finds himself in the unlikely position of having to defend his faithful longtime assistant, Phyllis, from being charged as an accessory to murder at the same time her brother is released from prison.

 

“The Woman Inside” by E. G. Scott. A compelling domestic thriller of secrets and revenge traces the psychologically charged perspectives of a husband and wife who are both the most perfect and the most dangerous match for each other.