Garden Valley District Library

It took over five years for Nathaniel Rich to finish his first novel — maybe because he was writing The Mayor's Tongue secretly, first as a college student, and then while writing film criticism during the day.

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Until his arrest in 2004, nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan — the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb — ran a vast smuggling network that sent nuclear materiel to Iran and Libya. In his book Peddling Peril: How the Secret Nuclear Trade Arms America's Enemies, weapons expert David Albright explains how Khan's network continues to threaten global security.

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by Gene ( link | email | twitter )

Question of the Week: Barb's school is having an open house for prospective students and their parents. She asked how to wow a teenage crowd in 1.5 minutes. I'll post my answer, which involves 500 rubber balls, 20 rolls of duct tape, and a can of lighter fluid, as soon as I can find a picture.

Answer of the Week: To Anne, for her response to Georgeanne’s question about the ramifications of moving reference books into the regular collection. Anne shares her experience and gives a very balanced answer, though I’m sure those of us who like our reference collections are chilled by the thought that kids don’t know they exist.

Both winners get the signed Unshelved collection of their choice.

Visit Unshelved Answers if you've got questions or want to share your knowledge with others. And please vote up good questions and answers.

Lionel Shriver's novel So Much for That tells the story of Shep Knacker, who is about to retire to a tropical island when his wife gets diagnosed with cancer. To keep his insurance, Shep has to keep his hated job, but he soon discovers that even the full coverage of the fully employed may not be enough to keep him afloat.

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Sebastian Faulks' satirical novel is a weeklong tour of modern London, woven together in Dickensian style. Dickens' 19th century characters dealt with class conflict, wealth, poverty and true love. Faulks' contemporary characters deal with terrorism, greed, the Internet and — because some things never change — true love.

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A riveting account of the flawed leadership, bad luck and virulent personalities that led to the 2006 murder of an entire Iraqi family by American soldiers.

Turkish novelist Elif Shafak's new novel, The Forty Rules of Love, takes us into the life of a middle-aged Jewish woman from central Massachusetts, who as a reader for a literary agent, has just picked up a copy of a novel by a modern Sufi mystic.

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The book by the conservative strategist is called Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight. Rove tells Fresh Air the decision to go to war in Iraq in 2003 was not based on wrong information from the Bush administration, but was based on wrong information from the intelligence community.

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by Bill ( link | email | twitter )

It's that time of the year where it seems like Gene and I are at one conference or another nonstop. This week it's the Tennessee Library Association annual conference in Memphis, TN, where we're doing the keynote Thursday morning and then a fun little program in the afternoon. We look forward to seeing you there!

U.S. military officials are preparing to attempt to take control of Kandahar away from the Taliban later this year. Two young Western residents of the city, Felix Kuehn and Alex Strick van Linschoten, describe what it's like to live and work under Taliban rule.

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Ada Calhoun, author of Instinctive Parenting, makes the case that children will turn out fine if parents simply trust their gut. But Po Bronson, co-author of NurtureShock, begs to differ — he says instincts may tell parents when something needs to be done, but not how to do it. He maintains experts are still relevant for that.

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The crime writer has more than 40 books to his name and dozens of films made from that source material. Leonard gives NPR's Noah Adams a tour of his hometown, with stops at some of the places that taught the writer about the language of crime, and at his writing desk at home.

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Diane Ravitch's Death and Life of the Great American School System is a scathing report card of U.S. education. The former assistant secretary of education hands down a withering critique of the nation's schooling efforts — from charter schools, to No Child Left Behind, to Teach for America.

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Michael Lewis' new book The Big Short chronicles the 2008 financial collapse through the investors who realized what was happening to the U.S. economy while it was happening — and then made a fortune by betting against the markets.

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Linda Wertheimer hails a Dickensian novel of London in the boom days of 2007, before the banking bust. An encore by child detective Flavia de Luce (Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie) is both creepy and laugh-out-loud funny. And So Much for That finds the hilarity in a relentless tale of runaway health care costs.

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Drop-In Titles

A paid service from Unshelved letting you know about titles so hot off the press you won't find them in any catalog! How to list titles

In the Key of Genius Adam Ockelford / Random House UK / Arrow / $15.95 / 9780099513582 / 0099513587 / Biography / Music / Trade Paper / On Sale: April 2010 / Told through the eyes of his music professor, this biography chronicles the life of blind piano prodigy Derek Paravicini. Although autistic and unable to care for himself, he has found an outlet for expression and communication through his music.

by Bill ( link | email | twitter )

Yesterday morning at Emerald City Comicon we sold out of the Intellectual Freedom Fighter messenger bag. But Jana just found another box hiding out in the basement. Doh! Order now and she'll ship it out on Friday.

(Next-most-popular item at the show, the Today is a Good Day to Read t-shirt, followed closely by our latest collection Reader's Advisory.)

Michael Lewis, who wrote the best-seller Liar's Poker, is back with a new book examining those who profited from shorting subprime mortgages. In The Big Short, Lewis profiles extreme characters — outsiders — who are the sane people in an insane world.

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