Brisingr

by Christopher Paolini

(Hardcover)

Summary

OATHS SWORN . . . loyalties tested . . . forces collide.Following the colossal battle against the Empire’s warriors on the Burning Plains, Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, have narrowly escaped with their lives. Still there is more at hand for the Rider and his dragon, as Eragon finds himself bound by a tangle of promises he may not be able to keep.First is Eragon’s oath to his cousin Roran: to help rescue Roran’s beloved, Katrina, from King Galbatorix’s clutches. But Eragon owes his loyalty to others, too. The Varden are in desperate need of his talents and strength—as are the elves and dwarves. When unrest claims the rebels and danger strikes from every corner, Eragon must make choices— choices that take him across the Empire and beyond, choices that may lead to unimagined sacrifice.Eragon is the greatest hope to rid the land of tyranny. Can this once-simple farm boy unite the rebel forces and defeat the king?

Aftermath
Meyerowitz, Joel

Title: Aftermath
Subtitle: World Trade Centre Archive
Author/Artist: Meyerowitz, Joel
Publisher: Phaidon Press Ltd
Format: Hardback; H:380; W:275; D:38; 304p.; 400 col. ill.
Status: In print
Publication Date: 06/09/2006
Primary Subject: Photographic reportage
Secondary Subject: American history: postwar, from c 1945 -
Readership: General/trade

Summary
After the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York on September 11th 2001, the world-renowned photographer Joel Meyerowitz felt compelled to visit the site. In his own words, he was 'overcome by a deep impulse to help, to save, to soothe, but, being far away, there was nothing I could do. On his return, Meyerowitz soon made his way to the scene where, upon raising his camera, he was reminded by a police officer that this was a crime scene and that no photographs were allowed. Meyerowitz duly left the scene but within a few blocks the officer's reminder had turned into consciousness. To Meyerowitz, 'no photographs meant no history' and he decided at that moment to find a way in and make an archive for the City of New York. Within days, he had established strong links with many of the firefighters, policemen and construction workers contributing to the clean up. With their assistance he became the only photographer to be granted unimpeded access to Ground Zero.Once there, he systematically began to document the wreckage followed by the necessary demolition, excavation and removal of tens of thousands of tonnes of debris that would transform the site from one of total devastation to level ground. Soon after, the Museum of the City of New York officially engaged Meyerowitz to create an archive of the destruction and recovery at Ground Zero. The 9/11 Photographic Archive numbers in excess of 5,000 images and will become part of the permanent collections of the Museum of the City of New York. Meyerowitz takes a meditative stance toward the work and workers at Ground Zero, methodically recording the painful work of rescue, recovery, demolition and excavation. His pictures succinctly convey the magnitude of the destruction and loss and the heroic nature of the response. The images included here are a combination of prints from a large format camera, which allows for the greater detail, and standard 35mm, a format which provided Meyerowitz with the freedom to move easily around the site and capture each moment as it happened.The remarkable pictures in the archive visually relate the catastrophic destruction of the 9/11 attacks and the physical and human dimensions of the recovery effort. The aim of this book is to provide record of the extraordinary extent of the World Trade Center attacks and to documents the recovery efforts. The book will serve as both a poignant elegy to those that lost their lives and as a celebration of the tireless determination of those left behind to reclaim and rebuild the area known as 'Ground Zero'. Twenty eight of the images in from the archive were displayed in New York and then in over fifty cities around the world in a travelling exhibition entitled After September 11: Images from Ground Zero.

Contents
Over 400 colour illustrations shown in chronological order charting the clean-up process at Ground Zero from September 2001 to May 2002.

Six Degrees
Lynas, Mark

Title: Six Degrees
Subtitle: Our Future on a Hotter Planet
Author/Artist: Lynas, Mark
Publisher: HarperPerennial (HarperCollins Publishers)
Format: Paperback; H:197; W:130; 288p.
Status: In print
Publication Date: 04/02/2008
Primary Subject: Global warming
Readership: General/trade

Summary
An eye-opening and vital account of the future of our earth, and our civilisation, if current rates of global warming persist, by the highly acclaimed author of 'High Tide'. Picture yourself a few decades from now, in a world in which average temperatures are three degrees higher than they are now. On the edge of Greenland, rivers ten times the size of the Amazon are gushing off the ice sheet into the north Atlantic. Displaced victims of North Africa's drought establish a new colony on Greenland's southern tip, one of the few inhabitable areas not already crowded with environmental refugees. Vast pumping systems keep the water out of most of Holland, but the residents of Bangladesh and the Nile Delta enjoy no such protection. Meanwhile, in New York, a Category 5-plus superstorm pushes through the narrows between Staten Island and Brooklyn, devastating waterside areas from Long Island to Manhattan. Pakistan, crippled by drought brought on by disappearing Himalayan glaciers, sees 27 million farmers flee to refugee camps in neighbouring India.Its desperate government prepares a last-ditch attempt to increase the flow of the Indus river by bombing half-constructed Indian dams in Kashmir.The Pakistani president authorises the use of nuclear weapons in the case of an Indian military counter-strike. But the biggest story of all comes from South America, where a conflagration of truly epic proportions has begun to consume the Amazon! Alien as it all sounds, Mark Lynas's incredible new book is not science-fiction; nor is it sensationalist. The title, 'Six Degrees', refers to the terrifying possibility that average temperatures will rise by up to six degrees within the next hundred years. This is the first time we have had a reliable picture of how the collapse of our civilisation will unfold unless urgent action is taken. Most vitally, Lynas's book serves to highlight the fact that the world of 2100 doesn't have to be one of horror and chaos. With a little foresight, some intelligent strategic planning, and a reasonable dose of good luck, we can at least halt the catastrophic trend into which we have fallen -- but the time to act is now.

Foreskin's Lament
Auslander, Shalom

Title: Foreskin's Lament
Author/Artist: Auslander, Shalom
Publisher: Picador (Pan Macmillan)
Format: Hardback; H:216; W:135; 320p.
Status: In print
Publication Date: 15/02/2008
Primary Subject: Biography: general
Readership: General/trade

Summary
"Foreskin's Lament" reveals Auslander's youth in a strict, socially isolated Orthodox community, and recounts his rebellion and efforts to make a new life apart from it. Auslander remembers his youthful attempt to win the 'blessing bee' (the Orthodox version of a spelling bee), his exile to reform school in Israel after being caught shoplifting a cassette tape of "West Side Story", and his twenty-five-mile hike to watch the New York Rangers play in Madison Square Garden without violating the Sabbath. Throughout, Auslander struggles to understand God and His complicated, often contradictory laws. But ultimately, he settles for a ceasefire with God, accepting the very slim remaining hope that his newborn son might live free of guilt, doubt, and struggle.Auslander's combination of unrelenting humour and anger a voice that compares to those of David Sedaris and Dave Eggers delivers a rich and fascinating self-portrait of a man grappling with his faith, family, and community. Praise for "Shalom Auslander": 'There is a serious point to Auslander's fictional games. He wants us to be careful of taking any figure of authority too seriously; God is just the prime example...Its real heroes are literary: writers such as James Joyce and Samuel Beckett who use prose to get at something more mysterious and mystical than any religion - our love of and trust in language, to amuse and distract us from death'.- "Times Literary Supplement".

Girl of His Dreams
Leon, Donna

TitleGirl: of His Dreams
Author/Artist :Leon, Donna
Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd (Arrow Books Ltd)
Format:Hardback; H:223; W:143; D:27; 288p.; maps
Status: In print
Publication Date: 03/04/2008
Primary Subject: Crime & mystery
Readership: General/trade

Summary
On a rainy morning, not long after the funeral of his mother, Commissario Brunetti and Ispettore Vianello respond to a 911 call reporting a body floating near the steps in one of Venice's side canals. Reaching down to pull it out, Brunetti's wrist is caught by the silkiness of golden hair, and he sees a small foot - together he and Vianello lift a dead girl from the water. But, inconceivably, no one has reported a missing child, nor the theft of the gold jewellery that she carries.So Brunetti is drawn into a search not only for the cause of her death but also for her identity, her family, and for the secrets that people will keep in order to protect their children - be they innocent or guilty. The investigation takes Brunetti from the canals and palazzos of Venice to a Gypsy encampment on the mainland, through quicksands of connections and relationships both known and concealed, as he struggles with both institutional prejudice and entrenched criminality to try to unravel the fate of the dead child.

Six Degrees
Lynas, Mark
Title:Six Degrees
Subtitle: Our Future on a Hotter Planet
Author/Artist: Lynas, Mark
Publisher: HarperPerennial (HarperCollins Publishers)
Format: Paperback; H:197; W:130; 288p.
Status: In print
Publication Date: 20/04/2008
Primary Subject: Global warming

Readership: General/trade

Summary
An eye-opening and vital account of the future of our earth, and our civilisation, if current rates of global warming persist, by the highly acclaimed author of 'High Tide'. Picture yourself a few decades from now, in a world in which average temperatures are three degrees higher than they are now. On the edge of Greenland, rivers ten times the size of the Amazon are gushing off the ice sheet into the north Atlantic. Displaced victims of North Africa's drought establish a new colony on Greenland's southern tip, one of the few inhabitable areas not already crowded with environmental refugees. Vast pumping systems keep the water out of most of Holland, but the residents of Bangladesh and the Nile Delta enjoy no such protection. Meanwhile, in New York, a Category 5-plus superstorm pushes through the narrows between Staten Island and Brooklyn, devastating waterside areas from Long Island to Manhattan. Pakistan, crippled by drought brought on by disappearing Himalayan glaciers, sees 27 million farmers flee to refugee camps in neighbouring India.Its desperate government prepares a last-ditch attempt to increase the flow of the Indus river by bombing half-constructed Indian dams in Kashmir.The Pakistani president authorises the use of nuclear weapons in the case of an Indian military counter-strike. But the biggest story of all comes from South America, where a conflagration of truly epic proportions has begun to consume the Amazon! Alien as it all sounds, Mark Lynas's incredible new book is not science-fiction; nor is it sensationalist. The title, 'Six Degrees', refers to the terrifying possibility that average temperatures will rise by up to six degrees within the next hundred years. This is the first time we have had a reliable picture of how the collapse of our civilisation will unfold unless urgent action is taken. Most vitally, Lynas's book serves to highlight the fact that the world of 2100 doesn't have to be one of horror and chaos. With a little foresight, some intelligent strategic planning, and a reasonable dose of good luck, we can at least halt the catastrophic trend into which we have fallen -- but the time to act is now.

His Illegal Self
Carey, Peter; Ring, Johnny (Illustrator)

Title: His Illegal Self
Author/Artist: Carey, Peter
Illustrator: Ring, Johnny
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Format: Hardback; H:241; W:165; D:25; 288p.
Status: In print
Publication Date: 07/02/2008
Primary Subject: Modern fiction
Readership: General/trade

Summary
Che is raised in isolated privilege by his New York grandmother, precocious son of radical Harvard students in the sixties. Yearning for his famous outlaw parents, denied all access to television and the news, he takes hope from his long haired teenage neighbour who predicts they will come for you, man. They'll break you out of here. Soon Che too is an outlaw, fleeing down subways, abandoning seedy motels at night, as he is pitched into a journey that leads him to a hippy commune in the jungle of tropical Queensland. Here he slowly, bravely, confronts his life, learning that nothing is what it seems. "His Illegal Self" is an achingly beautiful and emotional story of the love between a young woman and a little boy, and a wonderful journey of self-discovery.

Penguin History of Modern China

Penguin History of Modern China
Fenby, Jonathan

Title: Penguin History of Modern China
Subtitle: The Fall and Rise of a Great Power, 1850 - 2008
Author/Artist: Fenby, Jonathan
Publisher: Allen Lane (Penguin Books Ltd)
Format: Hardback; D:52; 816p.; Illustrations (some col.)
Status: In print
Publication Date: 29/05/2008
Primary Subject: Asian / Middle Eastern history: c 1500 to c 1900
Secondary Subject: Asian / Middle Eastern history: from c 1900 -
Readership: General/trade

Summary
In the second half of the 19th century, China appeared as the sick man of Asia, rocked by recurrent revolts and huge natural disasters, ruled by an anachronistic imperial system and humiliated by foreign invasions. Karl Marx saw it as bound to disintegrate, like 'any mummy carefully preserved in a hermetically sealed coffin'. The first half of the 20th century was even worse, culminating in fourteen years of invasion by Japan, four years of civil war and three decades of chaotic, oppressive rule by Mao Zedong that killed tens of millions. Now, at the start of the 21st century, China is a major global force, booming economically and confident that it holds the keys to a future in which it will rival the United States.It is impossible to understand modern China without understanding the country's terrible recent past and Jonathan Fenby's magnificent new book is the essential work. "The Penguin History of Modern China" is both a brilliant narrative, crammed with surprising and interesting stories, and a profound study of the nature of political power and its abuse.

Down River
Hart, John

Title: Down River
Author/Artist: Hart, John
Publisher: John Murray Publishers Ltd (John Murray General Publishing Division)
Format: Paperback; H:196; W:136; D:26; 384p.; ill
Status: In print
Publication Date: 16/06/2008
Primary Subject: Adventure / thriller
Readership:General/trade

Summary
Going back is never easy ...Adam Chase has spent the last five years in New York trying to forget. When he left North Carolina, Adam left for good. Now he has no choice but to return -- and being remembered as a murderer doesn't help. Within hours of arriving, Adam is beaten up, accosted and has to face the hostility of those closest to him, including Grace, the young woman he cannot forget. Nothing has changed. And then people start turning up dead. For a man only just acquitted of murder, Adam's homecoming does not go well. And he has a dark streak, a history of violence. Everyone doubts. No one trusts him. And as the past threatens to overshadow the present, Adam becomes the prime suspect for the new murders. He alone can clear his name ...

Resurrectionist
Bradley, James

Title: Resurrectionist
Author/Artist: Bradley, James
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Format: Paperback; H:198; W:128; D:21; 352p.
Status: In print
Publication Date: 19/06/2008
Primary Subject :Modern fiction
Readership :General/trade
Summary
This book is set in London, 1826. Leaving behind his father's tragic failures, Gabriel Swift arrives to study with Edwin Poll, the greatest of the city's anatomists. It is his chance to find advancement by making a name for himself. But instead he finds himself drawn to his master's nemesis, Lucan, the most powerful of the city's resurrectionists and ruler of its trade in stolen bodies. Dismissed by Mr Poll, Gabriel descends into the violence and corruption of London's underworld, a place where everything and everyone is for sale, and where - as Gabriel discovers - the taking of a life is easier than it might seem.