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Books: Subjects: Birds
In Cold Bloodby Truman Capote List Price: $14.00 Available from Amazon $8.40 On 7-18-2006 
See Item's Page Product Review "Until one morning in mid-November of 1959, few Americans--in fact, few Kansans--had ever heard of Holcomb. Like the waters of the river, like the motorists on the highway, and like the yellow trains streaking down the Santa Fe tracks, drama, in the shape of exceptional happenings, had never stopped there." If all Truman Capote did was invent a new genre--journalism written with the language and structure of literature--this "nonfiction novel" about the brutal slaying of the Clutter family by two would-be robbers would be remembered as a trail-blazing experiment that has influenced countless writers. But Capote achieved more than that. He wrote a true masterpiece of creative nonfiction. The images of this tale continue to resonate in our minds: 16-year-old Nancy Clutter teaching a friend how to bake a cherry pie, Dick Hickock's black '49 Chevrolet sedan, Perry Smith's Gibson guitar and his dreams of gold in a tropical paradise--the blood on the walls and the final "thud-snap" of the rope-broken necks. The New York Times Book Review, Conrad Knickerbocker The resulting chronicle is a masterpiece--agonizing, terrible, possessed, proof that the times, so surfeited with disasters, are still capable of tragedy. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. |
The Devil Wears Prada: A Novelby Lauren Weisberger List Price: $13.95 Available from Amazon $8.37 On 7-18-2006 
See Item's Page Product Review It's a killer title: The Devil Wears Prada. And it's killer material: author Lauren Weisberger did a stint as assistant to Anna Wintour, the all-powerful editor of Vogue magazine. Now she's written a book, and this is its theme: narrator Andrea Sachs goes to work for Miranda Priestly, the all-powerful editor of Runway magazine. Turns out Miranda is quite the bossyboots. That's pretty much the extent of the novel, but it's plenty. Miranda's behavior is so insanely over-the-top that it's a gas to see what she'll do next, and to try to guess which incidents were culled from the real-life antics of the woman who's been called Anna "Nuclear" Wintour. For instance, when Miranda goes to Paris for the collections, Andrea receives a call back at the New York office (where, incidentally, she's not allowed to leave her desk to eat or go to the bathroom, lest her boss should call). Miranda bellows over the line: "I am standing in the pouring rain on the rue de Rivoli and my driver has vanished. Vanished! Find him immediately!" This kind of thing is delicious fun to read about, though not as well written as its obvious antecedent, The Nanny Diaries. And therein lies the essential problem of the book. Andrea's goal in life is to work for The New Yorker--she's only sticking it out with Miranda for a job recommendation. But author Weisberger is such an inept, ungrammatical writer, you're positively rooting for her fictional alter ego not to get anywhere near The New Yorker. Still, Weisberger has certainly one-upped Me Times Three author Alex Witchel, whose magazine-world novel never gave us the inside dope that was the book's whole raison d' etre. For the most part, The Devil Wears Prada focuses on the outrageous Miranda Priestly, and she's an irresistible spectacle. --Claire Dederer
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott List Price: $13.95 Available from Amazon $10.74 On 7-18-2006
See Item's Page Product Review Think you've got a book inside of you? Anne Lamott isn't afraid to help you let it out. She'll help you find your passion and your voice, beginning from the first really crummy draft to the peculiar letdown of publication. Readers will be reminded of the energizing books of writer Natalie Goldberg and will be seduced by Lamott's witty take on the reality of a writer's life, which has little to do with literary parties and a lot to do with jealousy, writer's block and going for broke with each paragraph. Marvelously wise and best of all, great reading. From Publishers Weekly Lamott's ( Operating Instructions ) miscellany of guidance and reflection should appeal to writers struggling with demons large and slight. Among the pearls she offers is to start small, as their father once advised her 10-year-old brother, who was agonizing over a book report on birds: "Just take it bird by bird." Lamott's suggestion on the craft of fiction is down-to-earth: worry about the characters, not the plot. But she's even better on psychological questions. She has learned that writing is more rewarding than publication, but that even writing's rewards may not lead to contentment. As a former "Leona Helmsley of jealousy," she's come to will herself past pettiness and to fight writer's block by living "as if I am dying." She counsels writers to form support groups and wisely observes that, even if your audience is small, "to have written your version is an honorable thing." Copyright 1994 Reed business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. |
The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North Americaby David Allen Sibley, Rick Cech List Price: $19.95 Available from Amazon $13.57 On 7-18-2006 
See Item's Page From Publishers Weekly Providing birders the convenience of portability, Sibley's newest volume breaks down the information in The Sibley Guide to birds into specific regions (The Sibley Field Guide to birds of Western North America will be published the same month). The guide includes much of the basic information in the Guide to Birds, such as the parts of a bird and general color-coded maps, but focuses most of its attention on birds who make their home east of the Rocky Mountains, such as the Double-crested Cormorant and the Eastern Screech-Owl. The color-coded maps that accompany each bird show where the birds live throughout North America, so that birders in, say, Pennsylvania, will know to look for the Northern Mockingbird in California as well. And, of course, Sibley's beautiful full-colored paintings of birds jump out at every page-even in small format. Copyright 2003 Reed business Information, Inc. From Library Journal Not just spin-offs from the famed Sibley Guide to Birds, these field guides are specifically designed to tote along on outings. The maps are new. Copyright 2002 Reed business Information, Inc. |
Hawks from Every Angle: How to Identify Raptors In Flightby Jerry Liguori, David Sibley (Foreword) List Price: $19.95 Available from Amazon $12.97 On 7-18-2006 
See Item's Page Product Review Donald S. Heintzelman International Hawkwatcher : A major advance in our knowledge of identifying raptors in flight. Dan R. Kunkle Wildlife Activist : No one knows the intricacies of raptor identification better. . . . [E]very hawkwatcher will want to own this great new book. Product Review David A. Sibley, author of the National Audubon Society's "The Sibley Guide to Birds" : Jerry Liguori has spent most of the last twenty years in the field watching and photographing hawks, and thousands of hours poring over photos and research to piece the puzzle of identification together. The result . . . is this guide, which is the most detailed and confident explanation yet of the myriad clues that lead to successful identification of hawks. This book is the first of its kind that deals with the real-world problems of identifying flying raptors from different angles. . . . The understanding of what hawkwatchers actually face in the field comes through on every page. Pete Dunne, Vice President of Natural history Information, New Jersey Audubon Society, coauthor of "Hawks in Flight" : There is nobody in North America whose identification skills and knowledge base concerning the flight identification of birds of prey surpasses Jerry Liguori. If you want to know where the high water mark in raptor identification falls today, it is in your hands. If you aspire to pin names to birds that fly just this side of the limit of conjecture with a high degree of confidence, start reading. Brian K. Wheeler, author of "Raptors of Eastern/Western North America", illustrator and coauthor of "A Field Guide to Hawks of North America" : We have all been perplexed and downright dumbfounded trying to identify flying raptors when seen at odd, but regularly viewed angles! Such difficult angles often offer only glimpses of identification markings shown in typical raptor field guides and bird guides. This impressive book, with its superb collection of color and black and white photographs and concise and informative data, tackles raptor identification problems that hawkwatchers face under real field conditions. Jerry Liguori has created a book that can easily be toted in the field, and is an absolute must-have for any raptor enthusiast! Clay Sutton, coauthor of "Hawks in Flight" and "How to Spot Hawks and Eagles" : Jerry Liguori has long been one of our best raptor experts, and this stunning book proves it yet again. Depicting hawks in the real world, in the hawkwatching arena-and not in an idealized situation that rarely occurs-is this book's forte. Comparisons, contrasts, key points, and even potential pitfalls are highlighted in the excellent photos-and set the book apart. There are a number of raptor guides available, but we finally have one that shows hawks as they are truly seen in the field. Tony Leukering, Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory : Hawks from Every Angle takes in-flight identification further than any previous book. Being a seasoned hawkwatcher, I can attest to the accuracy and usefulness of the material presented. Until now, much of the information herein has resided only in the heads of very experienced hawkwatchers and some of it, in the heads of only one or two very experienced hawkwatchers. Well organized and well written. Brian L. Sullivan, Cornell Lab of Ornithology : Hawks from Every Angle will be quite useful to those seeking a better understanding of the field identification of raptors rather than a feather-by-feather description of plumages. Ultimately, birders want to know which species they are seeing, and this book will guide them to the correct identification. |
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National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds: Eastern Region - Revised Edition by NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY List Price: $19.95 Available from Amazon $12.97 On 7-18-2006
See Item's Page Product Review Covering 508 bird species found east of the Rocky Mountains, the revised second edition takes into account changes in taxonomy and uses improved photography. At the heart of the guide is a set of 646 well-made color photographs whose subjects are organized by easily discerned characteristics (e.g., "chicken-like marsh birds," such as the clapper rail; "gull-like birds," such as the kittiwake; and "upright-perching water birds," such as the common murre). The photographs are then keyed to textual descriptions of the birds' appearance, range and habitat, nesting characteristics, and behavior. Easy to use and handsomely produced, this belongs in every eastern birdwatcher's collection. --Gregory McNamee Book Description Introduced in 1977 and completely revised in 1994, these bestselling photographic field guides have become the birding bibles of more than four million enthusiasts. Virtually every bird found in North America is brought to life in a full-color photograph and with textual information on the bird's voice, nesting habits, habitat, range, and interesting behaviors. Accompanying range maps; overhead flight silhouettes; sections on bird-watching, accidental species, and endangered birds make these the most comprehensive field guides to birds available. Note: the Eastern Edition generally covers States east of the Rocky Mountains, while the Western Edition covers the Rocky Mountain range and all the States to the west of it. |
Birds Without Wings (Vintage International)by Louis De Bernieres List Price: $15.00 Available from Amazon $10.20 On 7-18-2006
See Item's Page Product Review “Astonishing, and compulsively readable.” -- Los Angeles Times Book Review "Fascinating, evocative. . . . Rich and compelling. . . . A thrilling ride through a whirlwind of history. . . . De Berni?res has reached heights that few modern novelists ever attempt." --The Washington Post "Engrossing. . . . The prose is gorgeous. . . . Everyone in this cast of characters is someone memorable, and their lives and fates intertwine to make a marvelously engaging story of a village." --Chicago Tribune "Marvelous. . . . Breathtaking. . . . Heartbreaking yet resplendent. . . . De Bernières masterfully explores the terrible price of love, politics and war. . . . [He is] a magnificent storyteller." --The Miami Herald "A masterpiece. . . . Display[s] de Bernières' remarkable literary voice: erudite, compelling, witty." --USA Today "An absorbing epic. . . . De Berni?res [is] adept at juxtaposing brutality with episodes of high comedy or romance." --The New York Times Book Review "A sweeping account of the rise of modern Turkey and the last days of the Ottoman Empire. In an intensely personal way, [de Berni?res] shows how these historic changes affected the inhabitants of Eskibahçe . . . and in a more global way . . . how misplaced imperial aspirations and gratuitous war can devastate ordinary people." --Newsday "Beguiling. . . . Startlingly unique. . . . De Bernières is so inventive--celebratory but never sentimental." --Newsweek "A literary triumph. . . . Louis de Bernières [may be] the next Leo Tolstoy." --Seattle Post-Intelligencer "Lovely. . . . Epic in scope and with a clear message: Peace is a more livable climate than war, and the political aspirations of power mongers waste the lives of the humble populace." --Oregonian "The most eagerly awaited novel of the year . . . . A mesmerizing patchwork of horror, humor and humanity." --Independent (UK) "De Bernières is at his finest when he allows us to experience the hardships and horrors through the lives of the villagers. He writes movingly of the battle of Gallipoli from the Turkish point of view, and the brutal, dehumanizing conditions of trench warfare." --The Seattle Times "Fine-grained prose that moves with the measured grace of a 19th century novel." --San Francisco Chronicle "A rich, mottled chorus, an amalgam of subplots that weave and complement each other in such a way that the town itself might be better called the central character. . . . Do read it before you die. It would be a terrible thing to have missed a work of such importance, beauty and compassion." --The Globe and Mail "An absorbing read about a remote but captivating time. The Ottoman world's break-up is a rich, poignant story, and Mr. de Berni?res is a good storyteller." --The Economist "De Bernières has a gift for irony, a sure hand for fast-moving plots . . . a talent for bringing the written word to life, and a delicious sense of the absurd." --Washington Times "Rich prose and vivid descriptions. . . . De Bernières writes powerfully of the savagery of war." --Pittsburg Tribune-Review "A magnificent, poetic, colossal novel, filled with wry, poignant stories. . . . Louis de Bernières' rapaciously sensuous writing makes the pages of this book crackle with heat and resonate with birdsong. . . . Birds Without Wings is superbly written, gathering people and their hearts and souls and all their baggage of loss and hope together in one place and giving a point to life. It is, in every sense, a sublime book." --The Irish Times "A vast book, told in de Bernières' signature style . . . . We feel everything through a host of vivid, moving, and often amusing characters." --San Jose Mercury News “Unites the chimerical poetry of Gabriel Garcia Marquez with the fine-grained domesticity of Trollope. . . . de Bernières . . . can move seamlessly from humor to poignancy and from easy charm to a searing anger.” --Financial Times "Enchanting. . . . At once intimate and sweeping. . . . At a time when the hypocrisy of modern invasions and of simplistic caricatures of other faiths circulates all too easily, this book offers a timely message to us all." --The Sydney Morning Herald "Bears de Bernières' literary hallmarks--vast emotional breadth, dazzling characterization, [and] rich historical detail . . . swerving between languid sensuality and horror, humor and choking despair." --Scotland on Sunday "Rendered in greater detail and with greater emotional impact than the prize-winning author has accomplished in any of his previous work." --Richmond Times-Dispatch "Operatic. . . . Splendid, lyrical. . . . De Bernières is a writer who can make you want to turn the page to find out what happens. . . . He has a blockbuster audacity in bringing together elements that work." --The Age "Stunning. . . . Haunting. . . . Both exotically remote and tragically relevant. . . . So much is remarkable about this novel, from the heft of its history to the power of its legends. . . . A deeply rewarding work." --The Anchorage Press "Armies march, populations flee, and mountains of corpses lie rotting, the landscapes of horror brought fully to our imaginations in terms so visceral we could weep. . . . One of the most profound and moving books you're likely to read." --The New Zealand Herald Book Description In his first novel since Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernières creates a world, populates it with characters as real as our best friends, and launches it into the maelstrom of twentieth-century history. The setting is a small village in southwestern Anatolia in the waning years of the Ottoman Empire. Everyone there speaks Turkish, though they write it in Greek letters. It’s a place that has room for a professional blasphemer; where a brokenhearted aga finds solace in the arms of a Circassian courtesan who isn’t Circassian at all; where a beautiful Christian girl named Philothei is engaged to a Muslim boy named Ibrahim. But all of this will change when Turkey enters the modern world. Epic in sweep, intoxicating in its sensual detail, Birds Without Wings is an enchantment. |
Bear's New Friendby Karma Wilson, Jane Chapman (Illustrator) List Price: $16.95 Available from Amazon $11.02 On 7-18-2006
See Item's Page From School Library Journal PreSchool-Grade 2–A mystery character is introduced in this fourth book about Bear and his friends. One summer morning, the cub heads out to play. He hears someone in the tree and thinks it might be his friend Mouse. But Mouse arrives and eliminates that possibility. So begins the guessing game that makes up the rhyming text as, page by page, the various woodland animals come on the scene narrowing the choices of the creature's identity. The refrain And the Bear asks, 'Who?' gives readers a heavy-handed clue, but not until the end does this shy newcomer make his appearance. Chapman's acrylic illustrations are as soft and cuddly as ever and the familiar rhythm works well for reading aloud. While this isn't the strongest of the titles, Bear's many fans won't want to miss it.–Julie Roach, Cambridge Public Library, MA Copyright © Reed business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Book Description Bear is going to the swimming hole, but first he must find his friends. There's a clatter in the tree! Is it Mouse? No . . . "Who?" calls Bear. Something quickly scampers by! Is it Hare? No . . . "Who?" calls Bear. Someone seems to be hiding from Bear and his friends. Who is it? WHO? How Bear and his forest friends discover a NEW FRIEND will enchant young readers. Karma Wilson's playful text and Jane Chapman's radiant illustrations make Bear's New Friend a perfect summertime read-aloud companion to the bestselling Bear Snores On.
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