Title: How To Disappear. Erase your Digital Footprint, Leave False Trails, and Vanish Without a Trace

 Author: Frank M. Ahearn

Publisher: Lyons Press, Sep 2010

Summary: The author of this book used to be a “skip tracer”, which is a person who tracks people by uncovering private information.  He or she will find jailbirds, subpoenaed witnesses, and anybody else, including movie stars, who are trying to hide.  The reason why this former profession is so important is that Mr. Ahearn knows how to obtain information on just about anybody– and in this book he describes exactly where and how he can do it.  You may ask yourself why you should care?  Who would want to find out about me?  It is important to know that your personal information is a valuable commodity, no matter who  you are.

You will be surprised to learn some of the most fruitful sources of information are real live customer service representatives:  the author says that with charm and pretext, he can get just about any information that he needs.   Ahearn also names utility companies and cable TV companies as a valuable repository of customer information and easy to infiltrate.  (In one instance, he pretended to be a repair person for a cable company and called in requesting a telephone number of a customer who needed service–the number was promptly provided. ) 

And as you may have guessed, social networks and viral media are privacy’s worst enemies.
The use of credit cards leaves a long trail information.  According to the author, other rich sources of  personal information are phone companies, cellular companies, Video rental stores, banks, magazine subscription services, and frequent flier accounts!

If you are curious about what sort of information is out there (other than googling) on you, take a look at Zabasearch, which is known as the skip tracers promised land. I did not want to pay the $10 to see what else they had about me, but someone might.   While I personally do not need to or want to disappear, I have become uncomfortable about my personal security.  This book is not a complete “how to” on how to protect yourself from identity theft, but it is an short and easy read that will have you thinking of being less casual with your personal information.

Recommended by: Susan Z., Reference Librarian

Title: Babushka’s Beauty Secrets: Old World Tips for a Glamorous New You 

Author: Raisa Ruder and Susan Campos

Publisher: Wellness Central, June 2010

Summary: Today, spa-owner Raisa Ruder is a renowned celebrity esthetician in Los Angeles, but she was born in the Ukraine and learned by the side of her grandmother, or Babushka, who created beauty treatments out of the simplest ingredients available. Part of Ruder’s popularity is her reliance on many of these same ‘recipes,’ and in this charming, easy-to-follow instructional book, she shares them with everyone.

The formulas are basic and easy to assemble with a minimum of time and equipment – the most complicated tool needed is a blender. Ruder provides recipes to create a natural – and comparatively inexpensive – version of every type of beauty product imaginable, from an eyelash lengthener to body scrubs to foot treatments. This book is a great choice for people looking to downsize their beauty and cosmetics budget or for planning a ‘girls night in.’ Ruder gets my vote of confidence: She includes instructions for boosting your hair’s natural shine and highlights with beer – something that I learned when I was little from my own grandma!

If you like this, try this: Return to Beauty by Narine Nikogosian. The Beauty Cookbook by Kym Douglas.

Recommended by: Nicole, Teen Librarian

Title: Father of the Rain

Author:  Lily King

Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, July 2010

Summary: Daley Amory is eleven years old when her mother leaves her father. Caught in the middle between her social activist mother and her bigoted, alcoholic father, Daley struggles to find a balance in her life. As her father’s bitterness leads him to the bottle more and more, the emotional abuse he unleashes on Daley increases. As an adult, Daley rejects her father’s values (or lack thereof), and starts her life far from his anger and prejudice. When her father’s lifestyle catches up with him and he hits rock bottom, Daley’s brother leaves her with the burden of picking up the pieces.

The subject matter may be difficult for some, but this is a thoroughly engrossing and satisfying story. The writing in this novel is mesmerizing, and the characters are so well developed I frequently thought to myself ‘thank God I don’t know anyone like them”.

Recommended by: Sue, Circulation Coordinator

Title: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

Author:  Aimee Bender

Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group,  June 2010

Summary: This is the type of book you can’t put down once you start it – it’s not because you’re loving it so much, it’s because it’s so complicated, odd, and twisted.  The first line of the book “it happened for the first time on a Tuesday afternoon…” sets the stage for this engrossing novel.  The author’s narrator is a young girl named Rose.  On this particular Tuesday afternoon, when she is turning twelve, the favorite birthday cake her mother makes her suddenly doesn’t seem as good.  Rose can taste, to her surprise, her mother’s emotions with every bite.  She quickly learns that she can literally taste the emotions of whoever prepares her food, giving her unwanted insight into other people’s secret emotional lives.  Rose’s brother and father also possess odd gifts and as we follow this family’s lives from Rose’s third grade year to adulthood we become watchers of a family in distress and the sadness it brings to them. 

Recommended by: Nancy, Deputy Town Librarian

Title: The Convent

Author:  Panos Karnezis

Publisher: Norton, November 2010

Summary: The setting for this new novel by Panos Karnezis is a 16^th century nunnery in the Spanish Sierra. There are only 6 nuns living at Our Lady of Mercy in the early 1920’s when a newborn baby is left on the steps of the convent. Of the six, only two are eager to keep the baby. The Mother Superior, Sister Maria Ines, believes the baby is God’s way of letting her know that her past sins have been forgiven and that his arrival on their doorstep is a miracle. Sister Beatriz is happy to help Sister Maria Ines with the baby in any way she can. The Mother Superior’s maternal instincts kick into high gear but are accompanied by an increasing paranoia. She begins to see almost everyone and everything as a threat to the precious child she has named Renato. It doesn’t help that one of the nuns, Sister Ana, believes the baby was sent by Satan himself. Sister Ana’s suspicions are reinforced as she witnesses the changes in the Mother Superior’s behavior. The mystery of the baby’s parentage and his fate are revealed slowly and deliberately in this sparse novel.

The main character in this novel is certainly Sister Maria Ines. There is very little said about most of the other characters in this story, including the baby. Her obsessive love for the baby, caused by her desperate need to be forgiven, becomes a character of its own. Though the ending doesn’t come as much of a surprise, it is heartbreaking none the less. This is a story of promises made and promises broken, and the price paid for both.

Who will like this book? Readers of historical fiction.

Recommended by: Sue, Circulation Coordinator

Title:  Let’s Take the Long Way Home

Author:  Gail Caldwell

Publisher:  Random House, 2010

“It’s an old, old story: I had a friend and we shared everything, and then she died and so we shared that, too.”  So begins Gail Caldwell’s devastatingly beautiful memoir about her soul-deep friendship with writer Caroline Knapp, who died from lung cancer at the age of 42.  It is a true privilege to bear witness to the relationship that develops between these two women.  It’s seems as though they were twins, separated at birth, twins whose lives had unknowingly taken eerily similar paths – successful writing careers, alcoholism, canine companions, a love of watersports – only to be reunited in a friendship that completes them both.

At the heart of their friendship are the dogs, Lucille and Clementine – it’s during hours-long walks through the woods with them that Gail and Caroline begin and build their relationship. It’s not hard to believe, then, that Caroline’s spirit is summoned when the woods become a dark place during a particularly terrifying event for Gail and Clementine, coming to their aid.

Whenever we open our hearts to love, we know that we’re also making ourselves vulnerable to the pain of loss.  The story of this “pack of four” is an elegant reminder of why we take the plunge again and again.

If you like this try: “Drinking: A Love Story” and “Pack of Two” by Caroline Knapp

Title: The Language of Trees

Author:  Ilie Ruby

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers, July 2010

Summary: Ilie Ruby’s debut novel opens with a canoeing accident in the waters of the Canandaigua Lake. The three small Ellis children have stolen a canoe and are making their way out to Squaw Island, a few miles away. When a storm springs up, the wind and waves prove to be too much for the children; only two will survive the storm. Twelve years later, the tragedy continues to haunt the residents of Canandaigua figuratively and literally.

Grant Shongo has returned to his family’s cabin on the lake. His wife Susanna left him a year ago and Grant has come back to heal. Back to the place his Seneca ancestors called The Chosen Spot, where the earth split open and his people emerged. Grant isn’t the only one who has been drawn back to Canandaigua. Echo, his first love, has returned from Boston, fearing that Joseph, the man who raised her, is in far worse health than he has let on.

The reunion of Grant and Echo is overshadowed by the disappearance of Melanie Ellis. Melanie has led a troubled life since that night twelve years ago, when she and her brother and sister were caught in the storm so far from shore. Now she is gone without a trace, leaving behind her boyfriend and young child. Some believe she is on yet another binge, but others are not convinced. Either way, her family is determined to find her. It is a perfect storm of sorts, these events that are unfolding. Events that will reveal secrets long kept hidden, a lifetime of secrets and mistakes “that catch up with a person in a span of a few hours”.

This is a great novel with endearing characters that will touch your heart. This is not a novel about regret; instead it is a story of accepting choices made and moving on without regret. It is a story that demonstrates that “not everything is meant to happen. Some things should stay as they are, just like that, full of possibility. It’s wanting them that gives you something to hope for, a reason to get up in the morning and put on a fancy dress”. I loved this novel and its message.

Who will like this book? Everyone, especially those who like literary fiction.

Recommended by: Sue, Circulation Coordinator

Title: Room

Author:  Emma Donoghue

Publisher:  Little, Brown and Company, September 2010

Summary:  This is a raw, astonishing story of a boy and his mother who live as prisoners in a single, small room. It may be a reminder of headline grabbing kidnapping cases, but as narrated by the child, it is a testament to a mother’s love and resiliency. Sometimes very disturbing, the horror is darkly beautiful as Ma creates a life for her son. Jack’s innocence and curiosity builds as Ma’s desperation forces them both to confront a certain reality. Very inventive and poignant, Jack is so endearing, that his voice will stay with you for a long time.

 Recommended by : Cindy B., Children’s Department

Title: The Thieves of Manhattan

Author:  Adam Langer

Publisher: Spiegel & Grau (2010)

Summary: Ian Minot is a struggling writer working at the Morningside Coffee diner. Ian works alongside Joseph, a struggling actor, and Faye, an aspiring artist. Of the three, Ian has been the least successful in his career. His Romanian girlfriend Anya, however, is very close to getting her collection of short stories published while Ian continues to get rejection letters. One of the most memorable of these comes from the literary agent Geoff Olden who simply wrote “good luck placing this and all future submissions elsewhere”.

When Faye draws Ian’s attention to a customer they have nicknamed The Confident Man, Ian is appalled to see that he is reading a copy of the recently published memoir “Blade by Blade”. In Ian’s opinion, the book is a “bogus piece of crap”. As it turns out, The Confident Man feels the same way about it. The Confident Man is Jed Roth, a former editor at a very respectable publishing house. Jed left his position at Merrill Books when his decision not to publish “Blade by Blade” was overruled by the owner of Merrill Books. Jed has devised a plan to bring down Merrill Books and agent Geoff Olden and recruits Ian to play a crucial role in his scheme. Ian agrees but soon finds himself in over his head and unsure who to trust.

This is a fun story, full of humor and intrigue, which takes a few shots at the publishing industry along the way. The last few pages contain a glossary of selected terms used throughout the book, all based on literary figures.

Who will like this book? Anyone looking for a fun read, especially those who like intrigue. Anyone familiar with the publishing industry.

Recommended by: Sue, Circulation Coordinator

Title: Death Echo

Author:  Elizabeth Lowell

Publisher: HarperCollins, June 2010

Summary: Emma Cross, former CIA agent now working for St. Kilda Consulting, must rustle with Russian spies and a terrorist plot in Elizabeth Lowell’s latest book.  Emma needs to chase down “The Blackbird” a yacht that could have explosives attached to it… enough explosives to blow up a major city. The story moves from the Puget Sound to Vancouver Island.   Interestingly, a “twin” yacht went missing never making it to its port. Are the two connected somehow? Did they have the same owner? 

Fortunately for Emma she doesn’t have to work alone. Enter Mackenzie Mac Durand, a former Special Ops guy, and the transit captain for “The Blackbird.” Sparks fly between the two and a romance blossoms amidst all of the turmoil.

 They are in for a bumpy ride in this romantic suspense novel, fighting off Russian Spies, CIA agents, and a very hazardous sea -  and time is not on their side.

Recommended by: Nancy, Deputy Town Librarian