Preview Shelf -- Holiday Reading Offers New Ideas

The Christmas story "Finding Noel" by Richard Evans about how people come into our lives for a reason is a love story about two young people from different worlds. It and other seasonal stories are new at the Crawfordsville District Public Library. Anne Perry's "A Christmas Secret" is her 4th novel of the season revealing deadly danger to a visiting vicar and his wife who'd hoped to have a lovely getaway among new parishioners. Thomas Kinkade and Katherine Spencer's "A Christmas to Remember" is the eighth Cape Light Novel; a curmudgeon confined to bed lets her thoughts drift back to the holiday season of 1955, when she met her dashing husband, and when she made some mistakes. M. C. Beaton's Agatha Raisin mystery "Kissing Christmas Goodbye" finds our detective looking forward to the upcoming festivities and hoping to rekindle the object of her affections, but she gets sidetracked to help a wealthy widow who fears for her life. In Joanne Fluke's "Candy Cane Murder" a bakery owner must solve the murder of Kris Kringle as the holiday gala is eminent. This season brings ideas for different foods. "The Latin American Kitchen" by Elisabeth Luard tells about essential ingredients with over 200 authentic recipes (with beautiful photos). "The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen" displays Donna Klein's meat-free, dairy-free dishes from "the healthiest region under the sun". "The Pressure Cooker Cookbook" is designed to make cooking a pleasure offering 250 recipes for all types of slow cookers. James Halliday & Hugh Johnson's "The Art and Science of Wine" explains places, equipment, climate, and all the ingredients required for different products, along with the latest developments in the industry. If you give gifts, "Wrap It Up" has Sally Walton's 50 creative and stylish gift-wrap ideas and their processes. "The Billboard Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music" edited by Tony Byworth shows how this music has constantly grown and developed from the first tunes brought to the New World by British and European settlers. Architecture of the Air" means sound, light and interactive technology used for public works involving spectators, by Christopher Janney, who has won many awards; examples are the sounds of certain runways, the special steamboat monument from 2002 in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the Sonic Plaza 1997 at East Carolina University in Greenville, N. C. Three craft books are Kathryn Berenson's "Quilts of Provence" about French quiltmaking, "Afghans Tradional and Modern" by Bonita Bray, and "Two-Hour Scrap Crafts" by Anita Crane, all stunning visual and detailed artworks illustrated with their historical significance. "Through Deaf Eyes" is a photographic history of the American community from archives at Gallaudet University, using 200 photographs examining historical eras through a deaf lens. "Way of the Peaceful Warrior" is touted as a book that changes lives, now a major motion picture, written by Dan Millman. It features a champion athlete/college student looking for what's missing in his life; he meets Socrates, and begins a spiritual odyssey into challenging confrontations speaking to the peaceful warrior in each of us. "The Buried Book" by David Damrosch is a riveting story of the first great epic composed in Babylonia more than 3,000 years ago, telling of one hero's travels in search of immortality. Lost to the world for 2,500 years and rediscovered in the 19th century, the story features daring adventurers, fearless explorers, ancient kings, goddesses and gods.