bookpagedev

FictionHistorical Fiction

Intrigue in London

Review by bookpagedev

In this sequel to A Conspiracy of Paper, David Liss provides another varied and vivid portrait of early 18th-century British life. His protagonist, Benjamin Weaver, is a well-known “thief-taker.” In a society in which there is no professional police force, Weaver and others like him perform many of the functions of today’s police, private investigators, bounty hunters and criminal “enforcers.” Already straddling the lines that divide respectability and criminality, Weaver is additionally vulnerable because he is a Jew in a Protestant country in which any evidence of foreignness is viewed with immediate suspicion.

The action hinges on the parliamentary elections of 1722, a referendum not only on the standing Whig government but also on the first Hanoverian monarch, King George I. Although he is not eligible to vote and has very little interest in politics, the amateur detective gets caught up in the intrigue surrounding this pivotal election: while investigating threatening letters sent to a cleric, Weaver is convicted and sentenced to hang for a dockworker’s murder.

The working out of this mystery involves a fantastic prison escape, an audacious impersonation and all sorts of side-alley plot elements, including romantic tensions. Liss describes a wide range of characters and settings with such vivid and selective detail that they are pointedly individualized. All sorts of information on the life of the period from the source of the clichŽ “a chip on one’s shoulder” to the popularity of boxing matches between male and female fighters are integrated into the narrative in a manner that enriches its immediacy, rather than compromising its focus. The descriptive details appeal to or, more often, assault all five senses, convincing the reader that England in this period was a fairly miserable place in which to live. This masterful evocation of time and place, along with the story’s charm and adventure, make A Spectacle of Corruption a fascinating and worthwhile read. Martin Kich is a professor of English at Wright State University.

In this sequel to A Conspiracy of Paper, David Liss provides another varied and vivid portrait of early 18th-century British life. His protagonist, Benjamin Weaver, is a well-known "thief-taker." In a society in which there is no professional police force, Weaver and others like him…
PhotographyArts & Culture

Passion for fashion

Review by bookpagedev

The photographer’s lens magnifies both personality and era, the seen and unseen. Richard Avedon, staff photographer for Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue and The New Yorker, was one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century, famous for his revealing portraits of women. About 125 tritone and color photographs shot during his decades-long career are compiled in Woman in the Mirror 1945-2004. Avedon redefined the fashion photograph, making clothes another prop in his layered, staged scenarios where even the flare of a tulle skirt acted as punctuation. His photographs of fashion models in the ’40s and ’50s embody that formal and glamorous sartorial age in highly dramatic scenes mixing high and low, like his picture of a model clad in Balenciaga standing in a brick-lined alley in Le Marais, Paris, as acrobats perform tricks above her well-coiffed head. His portraits during the ’60s (Janis Joplin, Brigitte Bardot, Claude and Paloma Picasso), ’70s and ’80s (fashion editor Polly Mellen in a too-tight skirt, the writer Marguerite Duras shrugging in ankle boots and a lumberjack shirt) continued to capture women ever more candidly at the intersection of fascinating and dangerous. That mood is summed up by a shot of leggy model Stephanie Seymour caught in mid-fall off high heels and still luminous in a Karl Lagerfeld dress for Chanel in a moment that surely broke a bone.

The photographer's lens magnifies both personality and era, the seen and unseen. Richard Avedon, staff photographer for Harper's Bazaar, Vogue and The New Yorker, was one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century, famous for his revealing portraits of women. About 125 tritone…
Mystery & SuspenseSuspense

An American abroad

Review by bookpagedev

Edgar Allan Poe arguably one of America’s most influential writers makes an appearance in Andrew Taylor’s literary thriller An Unpardonable Crime. Although Poe, a precocious 10-year-old living with his foster family in London in 1819, is very much a peripheral figure in Taylor’s grisly tale of treachery and murder, he is the spindle on which the numerous plots and subplots revolve. The story is narrated by Thomas Shield, Edgar Allan’s teacher at the Reverend Bransby’s Manor House School. A disgraced veteran of the battle of Waterloo who was recently hospitalized for mental instability, Shield is a highly intelligent and hopelessly romantic man struggling to find his place in an England of extremes ranging from the lavish mansions of Mayfair to the crumbling tenements of St. Giles and Seven Dials. While at the school, Shield becomes involved with two young students who have befriended each other: Charles Frant, the overly sheltered son of a prominent banker, and Edgar Allan, the foster son of an American businessman managing his interests in London. In a series of gruesome plot twists that would make Poe himself proud an audacious deathbed robbery, a brutal murder, an incarceration in a coffin, the discovery of a rotting human fingertip and a French-speaking parrot squawking enigmatic warnings Shield slowly loses control of his own destiny as he is drawn into a dangerous game of subterfuge and duplicity.

Aside from the rich descriptions (the use of fog as metaphor throughout is brilliant), the most notable aspect of this novel is Taylor’s masterful use of some of Poe’s most renowned themes, including victimization, extreme states of existence, mysterious presences and mourning for the dead. A delectably dark blend of mystery, gothic horror, romance and literary history, An Unpardonable Crime will leave readers captivated until the very end a fittingly macabre tribute to the master of the macabre.

Edgar Allan Poe arguably one of America's most influential writers makes an appearance in Andrew Taylor's literary thriller An Unpardonable Crime. Although Poe, a precocious 10-year-old living with his foster family in London in 1819, is very much a peripheral figure in Taylor's grisly…
Self-HelpLifestyles

O, so wonderful

Review by bookpagedev

Live Your Best Life: A Treasury of Wisdom, Wit, Advice, Interviews and Inspiration from O, the Oprah Magazine is the first annual compilation of articles and essays from O magazine, the print arm of the Oprah Winfrey empowerment empire. A hybrid of thoughtful, even poetic, nonfiction and succinct, quality service pieces emphasizing the beauty of best self and the power in personal growth, the magazine raises the bar for women’s publications. Live Your Best Life saves readers the trouble of ripping out around 100 keepers on complex topics including dieting and health, dating and relationships, parenthood and family, mature life and giving back, by both famous and familiar (Francine Prose, Ann Patchett, Suze Orman, Dr. Phil) and lesser known but knowing writers. Proving that Oprah walks the walk, 100 percent of the profits from the book will benefit Angel Network, her charitable foundation that helps educate and advance women and children around the world.

Live Your Best Life: A Treasury of Wisdom, Wit, Advice, Interviews and Inspiration from O, the Oprah Magazine is the first annual compilation of articles and essays from O magazine, the print arm of the Oprah Winfrey empowerment empire. A hybrid of thoughtful, even poetic,…
Fiction

A graceful portrait of grief

Review by bookpagedev

Rebecca’s mother left her in a shoebox outside an Italian restaurant in 1965. Miraculously, someone found the infant before the rats did. There was, however, no miracle to save the grown-up Rebecca’s child Ruby from a tragic death. In Mourning Ruby, Helen Dunmore depicts with aching sensitivity this mother who loses not only a beloved child but the only blood relative she knows, and eventually manages to go on.

The author of seven novels, and the first winner of England’s Orange Prize, Dunmore excels at making grief palpable and new. A poet as well as a fiction writer, she creates with small details the lives Rebecca lived before and after Ruby died. The novel is not divided that simply, though: the reader goes back and forth in time with Rebecca and the men in her life. First is Joe, the historian Rebecca loves platonically. Her roommate and soulmate, he introduces her to Adam, the dedicated neonatal doctor who becomes her husband and Ruby’s father. Soon afterwards, Joe leaves Rebecca, realizing that they will never have a romantic connection. This lost love colors his life, as does Rebecca and Adam’s loss of their child. Given the title and the explicit prologue, there is never any doubt what will happen to Ruby. It’s just a matter of when. Dunmore lets Ruby reach age five, to become a person on her own (“She had her life, and it was her own life.”), before she is struck down by a speeding car. Questions of guilt and responsibility haunt Rebecca and Adam’s relationship, and both must try to rebuild their lives.

As the novel develops, one imaginative story follows another, and some of the strangest tales prove to be real. Mourning Ruby takes readers on multiple journeys that seem somehow related. At once confusing and challenging, Dunmore’s graceful novel calls out to be re-read until it all makes a kind of sense. For after all, we ask more of books than we do of life. Anne Morris is a writer in Austin, Texas.

Rebecca's mother left her in a shoebox outside an Italian restaurant in 1965. Miraculously, someone found the infant before the rats did. There was, however, no miracle to save the grown-up Rebecca's child Ruby from a tragic death. In Mourning Ruby, Helen Dunmore depicts with…
LiteratureArts & Culture

Creating a memorable book, in short order

Review by bookpagedev

Sunset, evening star, good red wine and a view of a great bend in the Cumberland River brought recollections one evening of traveling the mountains of Wyoming with Lucius. We had a yen for a book a book to jog our memory and, in these uncertain days, give a clue to the question, “What would Lucius say?” By coincidence, I had recently read a prospectus of Cold Tree Press, a high-quality, print-on-demand publishing business based in Nashville. If they could and would do what they promised, such a book would be do-able, even for people like us, who knew nothing about publishing.

We started the process in early May 2003 and wanted to have books ready by Christmas. (I didn’t want to do any Christmas shopping and had promised someone that they would have a book for Christmas a rash move, perhaps.) No narrative can depict a man’s life as accurately as his own words. I had stacks of Lucius’ papers given to me over the years speeches, articles, letters. With the miracle of a computer and help from technically adept friends, these papers were scanned to my laptop, arranged, minimal connective material was added and final editing was completed. We turned in a disk to Cold Tree Press on October 1. They printed a double-sided, unbound copy so we could see what it would look like as a book. We found some typos on this proof and were allowed to make corrections. Unlike traditional publishing, we discovered that authors are involved throughout the process and are able to participate in important decisions.

And, voilˆ, just in time for Christmas, we had our first book. Peter Honsberger, the Cold Tree partner who worked with us, handled the project with good humor. Even more, his experience in advertising and graphics is evident in the excellent formatting and design. The quality of the paper is what I first notice in any book, and when I saw the quality of paper they used, I knew we had made the right choice. We were also pleased by the remarkably reasonable cost and the fact that we will never be burdened with too many books only as many as we need.

The result is a beautiful book, worthy of its subject. Start with “Recollections of a Bounty Hunter,” the only published account of shooting eagles, wolves and hair seals for bounty during the Great Depression of the early ’30s paid by the Territory of Alaska and encouraged by the U.S. Biological Survey. “Dromahair” is Everyman’s dream of owning a castle in Ireland. Searching for the wrecks of the Armada off the wild northern coast of Scotland and Ireland leads to the raising and dedication of three cannons of the Dutch island in the Caribbean, St. Eustatius, which fired the first salute to an American warship, thus recognizing the United States as an independent nation. Of the practice of law, Lucius writes, “I should like to convince you that no activity surpasses the practice of law in social usefulness. Second, of all professions, it permits more freedom, is more conducive to living an expansive personal life, and, finally, that no way of life is more stimulating and challenging.” Also included is an abridged transcript of successful federal court proceedings to lift an injunction against a protest march led by Martin Luther King Jr. on the day he was shot in Memphis. Ambassador Andrew Young, who served as King’s aide, says, “During the times of social unrest, many of the unsung heroes of the South were lawyers and judges. To me, Lucius Burch was the best. His writings confirm the courage and intelligence of a great man who made a difference.” Through the tenets of conservation, the law and equal opportunity for all people, there run through Lucius’ life whimsical and optimistic tying rods of personal freedom and life lived to the utmost. His life was divided, at his will, between advocating unpopular causes and exploring the wilderness of the earth, usually on foot, either alone or with those who loved him. Now we can vicariously roam his world and, in days of diminishing private rights, read his thoughts, which leave no doubt as to “what would Lucius say?” Lucius: Writings of Lucius Burch (Cold Tree Press, $26.95, ISBN 1583850198) was edited by Shirley Caldwell-Patterson, Cissy Caldwell Akers, Bill Coble and John Noel.

 

Sunset, evening star, good red wine and a view of a great bend in the Cumberland River brought recollections one evening of traveling the mountains of Wyoming with Lucius. We had a yen for a book a book to jog our memory and, in…

Children's & YA

Out of step, out of sync

Review by bookpagedev

E.

L. Konigsburg’s new heroine dares to be different Mean cabinmates, eccentric family members, a surprisingly artistic handyman, and one very unique teenager these are but a few of the many intriguing people readers will meet in The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place, the new novel from two-time Newbery Medal winner E.L. Konigsburg.

Konigsburg, whose writing for young readers has spanned three decades, is the beloved author of classics such as From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and The View from Saturday. Her latest book is the story of teenager Margaret Rose Kane, a character who made a brief appearance in Konigsburg’s previous book, Silent to the Bone.

“After I finished Silent to the Bone, Margaret Rose’s character kept haunting me,” says Konigsburg. Throughout the creative process, she had written much about the background and history of Margaret Rose, the half-sister of the book’s protagonist, but since the material didn’t work well with that particular story, Konigsburg left it out. Now, four years later, Margaret Rose is having her say. In Outcasts, we find her at a sleep-away camp, the first she has ever attended. While she’s initially excited about the experience and, in fact, chose the camp after she “sent away for thirty-six brochures, sent away for thirty-two tapes, and watched a total of nineteen all the way through,” Margaret Rose quickly realizes that spending an entire summer at camp is not something that she prefers to do. Her difficulties begin when she “prefers not to” exchange bunks with one of the girls in her cabin. This is the first time she uses the phrase, but hardly the last. Margaret Rose also “prefers not to” participate in arts and crafts, sing camp songs and go on nature walks. Her lack of interest in participating in any camp activities infuriates the director and earns her the label “incorrigible” from the camp nurse. While her antics are indeed cause for frustration, they are not without merit. Interestingly enough, they also bring to mind the actions of another, more famous non-conformist, Bartleby, the main character in Herman Melville’s classic story “Bartleby the Scrivener.” Konigsburg does not hide the fact that her character is meant to resemble Bartleby, and in fact mentions him by name in several instances in the book. Literature is not the only cultural element that Konigsburg alludes to here. She also explores the definitions of art and history in society. After surviving just two weeks at camp, Margaret Rose is rescued by a great-uncle who comes to her aid and takes her to his house, where three spiraling towers of discarded metal, clock-parts and glass adorn the backyard. Although Margaret and her great-uncles (two brothers who have been building such towers for 45 years) find the spirals beautiful, several new neighbors are unable to see their magnificence. When a community renovation initiative is passed by the local homeowner’s board, the towers are slated to be demolished. Margaret Rose, however, refuses to let this happen, and in her quest to save the towers, shows readers that art is not merely the stuff of museums, and that history is more than places and dates.

Through her efforts to save the towers and her various antics at camp, we see multiple sides of Margaret Rose’s character. She has, at times, a smart mouth, but she’s also devoted to her great-uncles and is a resolute non-conformist among her peers. Margaret Rose is like no other, and this is perhaps the theme that Konigsburg most wants readers to understand. During her experience teaching adolescent girls (Konigsburg was once a science instructor), she found a common thread among all of her students. “Regardless of background, every child is searching to find a unique identity,” she says. “They are struggling between conforming to a group and being accepted as an individual.” Some people, like Margaret Rose, are able to understand their uniqueness early on. Others take years to learn that following the pack isn’t always the right path. Art, history, literature. The search for identity. These are just a few of the many threads running through Konigsburg’s terrific new book. The author’s ability to weave these themes (and several more) into a story with such a unique narrator only proves that Konigsburg herself (like Margaret Rose!) is definitely like no other.

E.

L. Konigsburg's new heroine dares to be different Mean cabinmates, eccentric family members, a surprisingly artistic handyman, and one very unique teenager these are but a few of the many intriguing people readers will meet in The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place, the…
Mystery & SuspenseSuspense

The third time’s the charm for James Patterson

Review by bookpagedev

 

With the third entry of the Women’s Murder Club series, James Patterson and co-author Andrew Gross don’t even wait until the opening chapter to get the ball rolling. There, shining out from the dust jacket, is the warning, “One of James Patterson’s best-loved heroines is about to die.” This tantalizing but gratuitous revelation sets the pace for the book, which reads like a package of rapidly exploding firecrackers. But it’s bombs not firecrackers that are blowing people up in San Francisco as the city prepares to host a G-8 meeting of the world’s top finance ministers.

As in the two earlier books in the series 1st To Die and 2nd Chance the principal characters here are San Francisco Police Lieutenant Lindsay Boxer (who serves both as chief investigator and narrator), reporter Cindy Thomas, assistant district attorney Jill Bernhardt and medical examiner Claire Washburn. Each has a life, but they are most alive when they involve themselves in each other’s problems and triumphs.

Soon after Boxer is almost blown away in a townhouse explosion, it becomes clear that she is up against homegrown terrorists who are intent on slowing the juggernaut of global capitalism. At least that’s what they boast in the notes they leave behind with their victims and in the carefully masked e-mails they send to Thomas at her newspaper. Adding to Boxer’s burdens is her discovery that Bernhardt’s husband is abusing her. Then there’s the sticky matter of her growing attraction to Joe Molinari, who’s been sent in from Washington by the Department of Homeland Security to help out with the case.

Boxer’s sleuthing takes her across the bay to “The People’s Republic of Berkeley,” where she begins to unearth a cell led by radical holdovers from the1960s. While their rhetoric is dated, their weapons are state of the art: C-4 explosives ignited by cell phone, intimidation by internet and in an eerie anticipation of recent headlines the lavish use of the deadly poison ricin. In typical Patterson style, the chapters are so brief and filled with action that they flash by like movie scenes.

In an earlier interview with BookPage, Patterson brushed aside discussions of his prolific output this is his 25th book and his massive sales. “I think one of the most interesting things is the diversity of these books,” he said, “and the fact that on a pure readership level, a pure, spellbinding, can’t-put-it-down level, that they’re pretty successful. Forget about sales. They just move along real well.” This is Patterson’s third co-authorship with Gross, who made his debut with 2nd Chance and then went on to collaborate on the historical thriller, The Jester. Patterson’s reputation extends beyond writing a lot of fast-paced books to overseeing the ways they’re promoted and marketed. So the teasing dust jacket tip-off that a major character is “about to die” has his fingerprints all over it. “I involve myself in a fair amount of [planning],” he told BookPage. “We kind of like to sit in a room and go, ‘Do we like the cover?’ ‘Do we like the book?’ ‘Do we like the [proposed] tour?’ I think that’s a healthy thing to do. It works out very well.” It certainly works out well for 3rd Degree. By now the ladies are like old friends, whose quirks we cherish and whose troubles immediately become our own.

 

With the third entry of the Women's Murder Club series, James Patterson and co-author Andrew Gross don't even wait until the opening chapter to get the ball rolling. There, shining out from the dust jacket, is the warning, "One of James Patterson's best-loved heroines…

Children's & YA

More reasons to enjoy being a girl

Review by bookpagedev

A quality collection of stories aimed at females in an in-between, sometimes overlooked age group readers who are older than the picture book crowd, but not yet teens On Her Way: Stories and Poems About Growing Up Girl is a diverse, compelling group of narratives representing a wide range of personalities, cultures and historical periods. “I want to show girls like those I’ve met all across this country that Ôdifferent’ is okay. In fact, it’s cause for celebration!” editor Sandy Asher writes in the introduction. With On Her Way, she does just that.

Readers can celebrate characters like Joanie, the heroine of Francess Lantz’s “The Day Joanie Frankenhauser Became a Boy.” When tomboy Joanie moves to a new school, a typographical error transforms her into “John,” and she makes a split-second decision during roll call to pose as a boy. Suddenly happily she is accepted at recess basketball games instead of standing on the sidelines. However, Joanie also witnesses several instances of cheating and cruelty, and she must ultimately decide whether to “go along with the boys” or stand up for herself and reveal her true identity. Readers travel back in time with “Rabbit Stew,” Marion Dane Bauer’s story about a young girl in a wagon train who unexpectedly encounters her worst fear, an Indian on horseback. Elaine Marie Alphin’s “New World Dreams,” set in colonial Boston, features Irish immigrant Katie Reilly, an indentured servant who is almost forced to leave her mother behind as she witnesses the events leading up to the Boston Tea Party. Each of these girls shares hopes, dreams and fears, some big, some small, but all intriguing nonetheless. Asher’s collection is nicely rounded off with contributors’ notes, which include a photo of each author as a young girl and background about what inspired their stories. Reading On Her Way is like going to a sleepover party and staying up all night with a great group of new friends. As the mother of a ten-year-old son, I’d love to see a similar collection for boys! Alice Cary writes from Groton, Massachusetts.

A quality collection of stories aimed at females in an in-between, sometimes overlooked age group readers who are older than the picture book crowd, but not yet teens On Her Way: Stories and Poems About Growing Up Girl is a diverse, compelling group of narratives…
Children's & YA

Some important advice for parents

Review by bookpagedev

If you’re a parent, you’ll identify with Robie Harris’ hilarious new book, Don’t Forget to Come Back!, the story of a child determined not to have a babysitter. This fireball of a little heroine whips up her own brand of logic to convince mom and dad of the disasters likely to befall her in their absence. She warns them that a thunderstorm will come and blow the house down, that she’ll get a stomachache and throw up, that she’ll be eaten by a moose in their very own kitchen.

The girl’s parents react perfectly to her theatrics: they’re mildly sympathetic but unflappable, and as equally determined to go to the opera as their daughter is to have them stay. As the girl runs away (to a closet), they don their own coats and shout, “We miss you already, Sugar. Hope you won’t be gone forever!” A popular children’s author, Robie Harris has written a zippy text that’s full of easy-to-read dialogue between family members, with much of the conversation presented in comic book-style balloons. Harry Bliss, cartoonist for The New Yorker, has also sketched his characters in comic-book style, with simple facial lines but wonderfully real details and expressions.

In the end, the parents leave, and a very nice babysitter named Sarah saves the evening. Yes, our heroine has a good time pretending to go to the South Pole, painting her toenails and using makeup to give herself a clown face. Most importantly, though, her parents do come home.

Bliss and Harris have teamed up to tackle a very tough subject for young children, and they do so with heartfelt emotion and humor. (Just take a look at the final spread I won’t spoil the surprise!) It’s no easy task to express a child’s fears and still be reassuring, but this duo pulls it off. No doubt kids across the country will be shouting a new code phrase to their departing parents after sharing this book: “Don’t forget to come back!”

If you're a parent, you'll identify with Robie Harris' hilarious new book, Don't Forget to Come Back!, the story of a child determined not to have a babysitter. This fireball of a little heroine whips up her own brand of logic to convince mom and…
Children's & YA

Winter wonderland

Review by bookpagedev

What would the holiday season be without a new offering from pop-up wizard Robert Sabuda? This year, Sabuda celebrates nature in Winter’s Tale. Known for his astounding white paper sculptures that rise from vibrantly colored pages, Sabuda brings in darker colors appropriate for winter scenes in this latest book. Browns and purples suggest depth in the cave where the foxes live, the tree stump home of the mice and especially in the squirrel-filled tree.

A thick coating of white mixed with a dusting of glitter stands in for the deep, crunchy snow of the forest and adds texture to the pages. Just as in 2004’s America the Beautiful, Sabuda uses silver for water, this time adding an iridescent element to mimic frozen crystals on the surface (kids will love the escaping fish). Of the wonderful spreads in Winter’s Tale, especially impressive are the owl flying straight at the reader and the majestic moose standing amid logs in a swamp. For pure holiday spectacle, however, nothing can match the final spread with its myriad pine trees, candy cane-like birches and little house, complete with snowman and twinkling lights.

What would the holiday season be without a new offering from pop-up wizard Robert Sabuda? This year, Sabuda celebrates nature in Winter's Tale. Known for his astounding white paper sculptures that rise from vibrantly colored pages, Sabuda brings in darker colors appropriate for winter scenes…
LifestylesHealth & Fitness

A healthier new you for the New Year

Review by bookpagedev

This New Year is going to be different. Four months from now, you’ll be shedding pounds and enjoying spring while everyone else will be regretting another season wearing larger sizes. Whether you’re new to weight loss and fitness, or you’ve already made smart diet and exercise choices, there’s enough information in the following books to motivate and invigorate you over the next few months.

Tips for new moms
 Every woman who has had a child knows how difficult it is to get back into smaller sizes. Moms-to-be have special diet and exercise concerns, but Outsmarting the Female Fat Cell After Pregnancy: Every Woman’s Guide to Shaping Up, Slimming Down and Staying Sane After the Baby by Debra Waterhouse can help after the new baby arrives. Waterhouse explains why postpartum pounds are hard to get rid of: a woman’s waist has expanded about 50 inches, her skin has stretched by 400%, her hips have widened half a foot and her fat cells have grown to 125% their original size. Despite these seemingly insurmountable odds, new mothers can regain their slim, fit shape by following the sensible advice offered by this respected nutrition expert. Waterhouse dispels long-held myths and shows readers how to achieve a healthier, fitter body than the one they had before pregnancy.

Taking control
 In The Take-Control Diet: A Life Plan for Thinking People, Ian K. Smith, M.D., medical correspondent for NBC’s Today show, explains how your body uses energy so that you can stabilize your ideal weight. Smith’s idea is that once you understand your body’s nutrition and exercise needs, you can take control of your life. The author explains why crash diets and medications are not good long-term solutions to weight loss, how to eat sensibly during holidays, vacations and business travel, and how to create menus using substitution options for long-term weight loss. Fortunately, Smith’s plan does not require slavish adherence to specific food preparation or programs, nor does it offer a magic bullet for rapid weight loss. Smith simply presents the truth about losing weight and offers a workable program that will fit into anyone’s lifestyle.

Yee’s yoga
Speaking of lifestyle, yoga has become just that for millions, young and old alike. There is good reason why devoted practitioners continue their programs year after year: quite simply, it works. Yoga:The Poetry of the Body by Rodney Yee, with Nina Zolotow is an excellent book for the beginner and the experienced. With more than 400 photos and easy-to-read instructions, the book offers eight step-by-step, full yoga practices. In addition, readers will find breath exercises and explanations of the philosophy behind yoga. Practicing yoga for more than 20 years and teaching around the world, Rodney Yee has made a name for himself one that has become synonymous with the word "yoga."

Six weeks to fitness
Recognize the names Ivana Trump and Heidi Klum? These gals stay in shape with fitness trainer David Kirsch, and now you can too. Kirsch’s new book Sound Mind, Sound Body: David Kirsch’s Ultimate 6-Week Fitness Transformation for Men and Women reinforces the author’s belief that by changing your mindset, you can change your body. His workout program contains 50 exercises and a comprehensive eating program. Kirsch also includes his strategy for using the mind-body connection to increase workout efficiency and shows you how to set up your own home gym. As an added bonus, the book features photos and instructions for Heidi Klum’s Bikini Boot Camp fitness program, which Kirsch designed to get Klum into shape for a Sports Illustrated shoot. As the owner of one of the finest fitness clubs in New York City, Kirsch incorporates into his book every element of wellness: diet, emotional well-being, stress reduction and spirituality. "You don’t have to spend hours pumping iron," says Kirsch, "But you do need to do the right exercises for your goals; you need to do them correctly . . . and you need to engage your mind." Excellent advice for us all.

Pat Regel lectures on weight loss and fitness for business professionals.

This New Year is going to be different. Four months from now, you'll be shedding pounds and enjoying spring while everyone else will be regretting another season wearing larger sizes. Whether you're new to weight loss and fitness, or you've already made smart diet…

Children's & YA

A girl’s tragic secret

Review by bookpagedev

Akilah Hunter and Victoria Ojike are best friends, the kind of friends who can read each other’s thoughts. But when Victoria goes to visit her grandmother in Nigeria, Akilah is troubled. She receives only two letters from her friend. Things are changing, Akilah can tell, and she does not like the changes. Mrs. Hunter, Akilah’s social worker mother, was an "early bloomer" and all signs point to Akilah following in her mother’s footsteps. Mrs. Hunter carefully and honestly explains the changes young girls go through as they become women, providing her daughter with the information she needs to know about the onset of menstruation. Needless to say, Akilah is not excited about these changes and launches a campaign to defy the lunar pull, to exercise, to do anything she can to slow the passage of time, at least until Victoria gets back from Africa.

Victoria does return from her trip, but she is not the same girl who left. The two friends enter fifth grade, where they have the teacher of their dreams, but something isn’t right. Victoria is nothing like the smart, quick fourth-grader Akilah knew, and she seems intent on keeping to herself until one day in health class. When Victoria neglects to have her permission slip signed, Akilah thinks nothing of forging Mrs. Ojike’s name. This little decision is what brings the secret out. After swearing Akilah to secrecy, Victoria plainly tells her friend that she isn’t like the girls in the pictures in health class, that her aunties and grandmother in Nigeria took her to a doctor, where she had an operation that removed a section of her private parts so that she would no longer have any feeling "down there."

The topic of female circumcision (FGM, for female genital mutilation) is a difficult one. A custom that most of us in the Western world find horrible, the subject could seem sensational and simply shocking in less sensitive hands. Luckily, Williams-Garcia paints a wonderful picture of a strong-willed girl on the brink of womanhood. A powerful book that deals with an important and disturbing topic, <B>No Laughter Here</B> is a one-of-a-kind, coming-of-age novel that young readers will appreciate as their own lives change.

Akilah Hunter and Victoria Ojike are best friends, the kind of friends who can read each other's thoughts. But when Victoria goes to visit her grandmother in Nigeria, Akilah is troubled. She receives only two letters from her friend. Things are changing, Akilah can tell,…

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