Preview Shelf -- Here Is The Upcoming Library Holiday Schedule

This year's schedule of closings at the Crawfordsville District Public Library encompasses Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays, namely December 23, 24, and 25, and December 30, 31, and January 1st. The staff wishes everyone happy holidays. There is a new translation of "War and Peace" by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky to be more faithful to Tolstoy's style and accessible prose. Sean Covey's "The 6 Most Important Decisions You'll Ever Make" looks like an important guide for teens about academic stress, parent commmunication, media bombardment, dating drama, abuse, bullying, addictions, depression and peer pressure. Current event treatises begin with Mike Evans' "The Final Move Beyond Iraq" which he says is the battle for the soul of America. "Afghanistan: A Companion and Guide" by Bijan Omrani and Matthew Leeming, which in a world full of books about abuses and terror, gives greater confidence that the country might be firmly put on the road to recovery; it is published to appeal to the armchair traveller by including history and culture, 19 maps and many color photos. "The Devil Came on Horseback" is Brian Steidle's document as a witness to the genocide in Darfur. Anne McKinney offers three volumes of "Real Resumes", one about manufacturing jobs, one about administrative support, office & secretarial jobs, and one about customer service jobs. Four new books discuss houses. "Frank Lloyd Wright Design" by Maria Constantino shows many of his buildings illustrating his constant goal to move forward with new concepts. "House Thinking" is Winifred Gallagher's room-by-room look at how we can make arrangements more logical. "Smaller, Smarter Home Plans" from the Garlinghouse Company features 300 space-saving designs. "Let's Get Comfortable" is Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams' illustrated manual of welcoming interiors. A beautiful colored craft book is "Basketry: A World Guide to Traditional Techniques" by Bryan Sentence. An equally appealing volume is Frank and Stephen Philbrick's "The Backyard Lumberjack" showing felling, bucking, splitting, and stacking. "Start Your Own Business on eBay" is explained by Jacquelyn Lynn . MP Dunleavey's "Money Can Buy Happiness" shows how to get out of debt, and how to spend to get the life you want. Moira and Nicholas Hankinson's "Recycle!" contains 60 projects for home and garden using materials at hand, like an ax-handle stool, hoop chandelier, slate-tiled wall, and a cast-iron boiler planter. An instructional manual about "Photography" by Barbara London et al teaches skills, emphasizing both technique and visual awareness. "Math for the Trades" offers skills needed for work from Learning Express. Two animal books are Jon Katz' "Dog Days" telling about the animals of Bedlam Farm in the unpredictable adventure of farm life. "Penquin Life" by Andy Rouse photographs scenes of the Antarctic species including Macaroni, Rockhopper, Gentoo, and Chinstrap penguins."The World Without Us" by Alan Weisman is about our effects on the planet, how if humans disappeared our massive infrastructure would collapse and vanish, while some of our highest art and culture might endure for a while.Jack Devitt's "Indiana Toolmakers and Their Tools" explains American "whatsits", tools whose value and use are not readily apparent, dedicated to Milan Ramsey who studied them. His lifelong mission of giving hope to the world describes the series of photographs that show "Billy Graham: God's Ambassador" by Russ Busby. "Faith & Doubt" is an anthology of poems edited by Patrice Vecchione

Preview Shelf -- Holiday Library Books are Easy to Find

On the Crawfordsville District Public Library main floor the east wall has a colorful label to indicate the youth department's holiday materials, books, videos, and DVDs placed together for your convenience, and marked with a green candy cane label. Upstairs is a section collecting Christmas reading on both sides of the third set of shelves from the elevator. Here's some new fiction. Nicolas Sparks' "The Choice" is a tale about love found and lost, and the decisions we hope we'll never have to make. Doris Lessing's "The Cleft" finds an aging Roman senator telling the story of an ancient community of women living in an coastal wilderness Eden. "The White Cascade" is Gary Krist's recounting of the Great Northern Railway disaster and America's deadliest avalanche in 1910. Leslie Meier's "Bake Sale Murder" is about cul-de-sac politics and backstabbing .Susan Mallery's "Irresistible" is about romance. Debbie Macomber's "Back on Blossom Street" weaves a tale of a variety of women in a Seattle knitting class who help each other solve their personal problems. "Beautiful Dreamer" by Christopher Bigsby finds a white man trying to prevent a lynching in a small southern town, then finding himself branded by the mob."Letter from Point Clear" by Dennis McFarland is about the Alabama south, dealing with character differences and attempts to soothe them. "Code Black" by Philip Donlay is an airplane thriller. "Regatta" is Benjamin Ivry's celebration of oarsmanship for all of us who passed that way and enjoyed being part of a racing crew. Another helpful book is "Stealing Your Life" in which Frank Abagnale offers the ultimate identity theft prevention plan. "Rural Renaissance" by John Ivanko and Lisa Kivirist is a personal guide to the joys of country living and the statistics and resources that help. Voyage of the Turtle" by Carl Safina pursues the earth's last dinosaur. Thorsten Milse's "Little Polar Bears" is a book of photographs from the Wapusk National Park west of Hudson Bay which protects them while still allowing controlled visits to the area. Erin Williams and Margo DeMello's "Why Animals Matter: The Case for Animal Protection" puts forward the idea that making humane choices helps our whole planet. New possibilities fill "Retired with Husband: Superwoman's New Challenge" by Mary Louise Floyd. "House of Testosterone" holds Sharon O'Donnell's hilarious essays of survival as a mom in a household of males. "Hard Call" is John McCain's review of historic great decisions; some were Winston Churchill's foresight in preparing England's Navy for war, Gertrude Ederle's confidence in swimming the English Channel, Reinhold Niebuhr's humility in changing his pacifist views, and Lincoln's decision to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. Betty Rollin's "Here's the Bright Side" is about the silver linings in clouds, in other words it's a funny book about surprising upsides to challenging low blows. Preacher Tony Campolo's "Letters to a Young Evangelical" argues against politically polarized and predominantly secular living. Kerry Patterson and four other authors' "Influencer: The Power to Change Anything" begins with three ideas - motivating others to change, replacing bad behaviors with powerful new skills, and making things happen. Leonard Susskind's "The Cosmic Landscape" explains his thoughts about string theory and the illusion of intelligent design. "Ancestral Trails" The Complete Guide to British Genealogy and Family History" is Mark Herber's second helpful edition.