Alvar Aalto Houses , by Jari Jetsonen & Sirkkaliisa Jetsonen
 
During the course of a career spanning more than fifty years, Finnish architect and designer Alvar Aalto designed nearly one hundred single-family houses. Aalto, also known for his furniture and glassware, worked in a distinctive style that blended modernism and traditional vernacular architecture. This book presents twenty-six of Aalto's innovative residences,from small summer homes and postwar standardized housing to large housing complexes for industrial commissions, built between the 1920s and the 1960s. 

The Edwardian Country House: a social and architectural history, by Clive Aslet
 
The magnificent country houses built in Britain between 1890 and 1939 were the last monuments to a vanishing age. Many of these great mammoths of domestic architecture were unsuited to the changes in economic and social priorities that followed the two world wars, and rapidly became extinct. Those that survive, however, provide tangible evidence of the life and death of an extraordinarily prosperous age. Originally published in 1980, long out of print and now thoroughly revised and re-illustrated, this book recounts the architectural and social history of the era, describing the clients, the architects, the styles and accoutrements of the country houses. The people who could afford them had grown rich by exploiting the new economic opportunities of the age, and the houses they built in the years before the First World War reflect the desire for two contrasting ways of life. The social country house was the setting for the opulent world associated with Edward VII. The romantic country house was simpler, more genuinely rural, for those who wanted to be in closer contact with the countryside and the vanishing rural crafts, or who wanted an idyll of the past that did not suggest the world of the motor car. These traditions lost coherence after the war, and the period ended with a number of spectacular, and often eccentric, houses. Some of the most remarkable were those that not only replicated the look of old buildings, but used genuinely old materials and even incorporated whole Tudor buildings moved from other places. 

Everything All At Once : the film and software projects of MOS , by Michael Meredith
 
In less than a decade, Michael Meredith and Hilary Sample have emerged as two of architecture's most daring experimenters. Their New York City-based studio MOS is home to an unusually eclectic band of collaborators for whom new media technologies offer not simply better means of presentation, but rather become the radical tools necessary to create groundbreaking architecture. By exchanging plans and sections for software and film, MOS eschews the static forms of traditional architecture in favor of a working technique that is inventive and playful. Everything All at Once showcases over twenty-five projects on screen and in built form. 

Great Houses of London, by James Stourton; photographs by Fritz von der Schulenburg
 
The great houses of London represent one of the marvels of English architecture and yet they are almost entirely unknown. They are for the most part disguised behind sober facades but their riches within are astonishing. From the romantic 17th century Ashburnham House, nestling in the shadow of Westminster Abbey, through the splendid 18th century aristocratic palaces of the West End, to the curious and quirky arts and crafts houses of Holland Park and Kensington, to the cool modernist houses of Hampstead and the exuberant post-modern interiors of the last thirty years, every house has its own story to tell. 

Houses of the Presidents: childhood homes, family dwellings, private escapes, and grand estates , by Hugh Howard; original photography by Roger Straus III
 
This book offers a unique tour of the houses and day-to-day lives of America's presidents, from George Washington's time to the present. Author Hugh Howard weaves together personal, presidential, and architectural histories to shed light on the way our chief executives lived. Original photography by Roger Straus III brings the houses and furnishings beautifully to life. From Jefferson's Monticello to Reagan's Rancho del Cielo, with fascinating and surprising stops between and beyond, Houses of the Presidents presents a fascinating alternative history of the American presidency. 

Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis: intensities , by Paul Lewis, Marc Tsurumaki, David J. Lewis
 
Since the release of their best-selling monograph Opportunistic Architecture in 2007, New York City-based Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis has picked up a National Design Award from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum while continuing to produce work featuring their unique combination of programmatic wit, material fabrication, and construction. Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis: Intensities presents twenty new built and speculative projects ranging from small installations to interior home and office transformations to large cultural institutions and urban renewal plans. The firm's signature drawings and process shots reveal the methods behind their remarkably diverse works. 

Le Corbusier Redrawn: the houses , by Steven Park
 
Le Corbusier was the most significant architect of the twentieth century. Every architecture student examines the Swiss master's work. Yet, all too frequently, they rely on reproductions of faded drawings of uneven size and quality. Le Corbusier Redrawn presents the only collection of consistently rendered original drawings (at 1:200 scale) of all twenty-six of Le Corbusier's residential works. Using the original drawings from the Le Corbusier Foundation's digital archives, architect Steven Park has beautifully redrawn 130 perspectival sections, as well as plans, sections, and elevations of exterior forms and interior spaces. These remarkable new drawings-which combine the conceptual clarity of the section with the spatial qualities of the perspective-not only provide information about the buildings, they also help students experience specific works spatially as they learn to critically examine Le Corbusier's works. 

Magni Modernism , by James Magni
 
James Magni's highly sophisticated, modern home design is highly sought after the world over and showcased here for the first time. Magni Modernism displays the designer's sensibilities through 14 private residences found in such diverse locales as Beverly Hills, Mexico City, Jackson Hole, Aspen, and Moscow. With elegant restraint, Magni's interiors complement the architecture of these magnificent homes, reflecting his training as an architect and spotlighting the buildings' dramatic lines, open spaces, and spectacular views. From the limestone walls of a penthouse in Mexico City to the dark wood and concrete of a home in the mountains of Jackson Hole, each residence is beautifully captured in photographs and accompanied with text by design writer Marc Kristal. 

Overdrive: L.A. constructs the future, 1940-1990 , by edited by Wim de Wit and Christopher James Alexander
 
From 1940 to 1990, Los Angeles rapidly evolved into one of the most populous and influential industrial, economic, and creative capitals in the world. During this era, the region was transformed into a laboratory for cutting-edge architecture. Overdrive: L. A. Constructs the Future, 1940-1990 examines these experiments and their impact on modern design, reframes the perceptions of Los Angeles's dynamic built environment, and amplifies the exploration of the city's vibrant architectural legacy. The drawings, models, and images highlighted in the Overdrive exhibition and catalogue reveal the complex and often underappreciated facets of Los Angeles and illustrate how the metropolis became an internationally recognized destination with a unique design vocabulary, canonical landmarks, and a coveted lifestyle. This investigation builds upon the groundbreaking work of generations of historians, theorists, curators, critics, and activists who have researched and expounded upon the development of Los Angeles. In this volume, thought-provoking essays shed more light on the exhibition's narratives, including Los Angeles's physical landscape, the rise of modernism, the region's influential residential architecture, its buildings for commerce and transportation, and architects' pioneering uses of bold forms, advanced materials, and new technologies.

Gran Cocina Latina : the food of Latin America, by Maricel E. Presilla; photography by Gentl & Hyers/Edge; illustrations by Julio Figueroa
 
Gran Cocina Latina unifies the vast culinary landscape of the Latin world, from Mexico to Argentina and all the Spanish-speaking countries of the Caribbean. In one volume it gives home cooks, armchair travelers, and curious chefs the first comprehensive collection of recipes from this region. An inquisitive historian and a successful restaurateur, Maricel E. Presilla has spent more than thirty years visiting each country personally. She's gathered more than 500 recipes for the full range of dishes, from the foundational adobos and sofritos to empanadas and tamales to ceviches and moles to sancocho and desserts such as flan and tres leches cake. 

American Cooking

Mastering the Art of Southern Cooking , by Nathalie Dupree & Cynthia Graubart; photographs by Rick McKee; with a foreword by Pat Conroy
 
Dupree and Graubart make it easy to learn the techniques for creating the South's fabulous cuisine. From basics such as cleaning vegetables and scrubbing a country ham, to show-off skills like making a soufflé and turning out the perfect biscuit-all are explained and pictured with clarity and plenty of stories that entertain. Traditional Southern recipes and ingredients are also given modern twists to make them relevant for today's healthy lifestyle. With more than 750 recipes and 650 variations, making a perfect pie crust, a heavenly biscuit, mouthwatering vegetables, or crispy fried chicken is attainable for any home cook. The recipes and directions are easily accessible to kitchen novices as well as seasoned cooks-there is plenty here for everyone. 

Baking & Dessert

Flour Water Salt Yeast: the fundamentals of artisan bread and pizza , by Ken Forkish
 
In Flour Water Salt Yeast, Forkish translates his obsessively honed craft into scores of recipes for rustic boules and Neapolitan-style pizzas, all suited for the home baker. Forkish developed and tested all of the recipes in his home oven, and his impeccable formulas and clear instructions result in top-quality artisan breads and pizzas that stand up against those sold in the best bakeries anywhere. Whether you're a total beginner or a serious baker, Flour Water Salt Yeast has a recipe that suits your skill level and time constraints: Start with a straight dough and have fresh bread ready by supper time, or explore pre-ferments with a bread that uses biga or poolish. If you're ready to take your baking to the next level, follow Forkish's step-by-step guide to making a levain starter with only flour and water, and be amazed by the delicious complexity of your naturally leavened bread. Pizza lovers can experiment with a variety of doughs and sauces to create the perfect pie using either a pizza stone or a cast-iron skillet. 

Beverage

Wine Grapes: a complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours , by Jancis Robinson, Julia Harding, José Vouillamoz
 
An book for every wine lover, from some of the world's leading wine experts. Where do wine grapes come from and how are grape varieties related to one another? What is the historical background of each one? Where are they grown? What sort of wines do they make? Using cutting-edge DNA analysis and detailing almost 1,400 distinct grape varieties, this book examines grapes and wine as never before. Here is a complete, alphabetically presented profile of all grape varieties of relevance to the wine lover, charting the relationships between them and including unique and astounding family trees, their characteristics in the vineyard, and--most important--what the wines made from them taste like. 

Focus on Health

The New Way to Cook Light: fresh food & bold flavors for today's home cook , by Scott Mowbray & Ann Taylor Pittman
 
Inspired by fresh, local ingredients and infused with bold, authentic flavors, this book is a celebration of healthy cooking and eating in America today. The more than 400 recipes, tips, and techniques in this book represent the new way to cook light--fresh, healthy, and local. This collection contains recipes that are as fun and satisfying to cook as they are to eat. 

General Cooking

Canal House Cooks Every Day, by Hamilton & Hirsheimer
 
From the award-winning authors of the Canal House Cooking series, their first comprehensive collection of recipes by home cooks for home cooks. This compilation celebrates the everyday practice of simple cooking and the enjoyment of eating. The authors use the best seasonal ingredients available to cook every day. Their recipes reflect the seasons, their appetites, their cravings, the occasions, and/or the demands of feeding their own busy families. This instant classic includes recipes for dishes as simple as a lunch of splendid summer tomato sandwiches or crackers spread with preserved lemon butter with smoked salmon and fresh chives to more complex meals like braised chicken with wild mushrooms and fine egg noodles.

International

Jerusalem: a cookbook, by Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi
 
Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi explore the vibrant cuisine of their home city--with its diverse Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities. Both men were born in Jerusalem in the same year--Tamimi on the Arab east side and Ottolenghi in the Jewish west. This stunning cookbook offers 120 recipes from their unique cross-cultural perspective, from inventive vegetable dishes to sweet, rich desserts. 

Photography

What Katie Ate: recipes and other bits & pieces , by Katie Quinn Davies
 
After spending more than a decade as an art director working for some of the top design studios in Ireland, the United States, and Australia, Katie Quinn Davies refocused her creativity towards food and lifestyle photography and created a blog called What Katie Ate. Showcasing her extraordinary eye, this debut cookbook is a unique combination of food diary and how-to, with tips and tricks, photographs, recipes, and stories. Sharing more than one hundred simple culinary recipes drawn from Katie's travels, dinner party cooking and foodie haunts, the book emphasizes seasonal ingredients and irresistible flavors. Perfect for entertaining, this cookbook minimizes the time spent in the kitchen and maximizes the time spent enjoying the meal with friends and family. 

Reference & Scholarship

The Art of Fermentation : an in-depth exploration of essential concepts and processes from around the world, by Sandor Ellix Katz; foreword by Michael Pollan
 
The most comprehensive guide to do-it-yourself home fermentation ever published. Sandor Katz presents the concepts and processes behind fermentation in ways that are simple enough to guide a reader through their first experience making sauerkraut or yogurt, and in-depth enough to provide greater understanding and insight for experienced practitioners. While Katz expertly contextualizes fermentation in terms of biological and cultural evolution, health and nutrition, and even economics, this is primarily a compendium of practical information--how the processes work; parameters for safety; techniques for effective preservation; troubleshooting; and more. With full-color illustrations and extended resources, this book provides essential wisdom for cooks, homesteaders, farmers, gleaners, foragers, and food lovers of any kind who want to develop a deeper understanding and appreciation for arguably the oldest form of food preservation, and part of the roots of culture itself. 

Single Subject

Ripe: a cook in the orchard , by Nigel Slater; photography by Jonathan Lovekin
 
Britain's foremost food writer returns to the garden in this sequel to Tender, his volume on vegetables. With a focus on fruit, Ripe is equal parts cookbook, primer on produce and gardening, and affectionate ode to the inspiration behind the book--Slater's forty-foot backyard garden in London. Intimate, delicate prose is interwoven with recipes in this lavishly photographed cookbook. Slater offers more than 300 dishes, both sweet and savory. With a personal, almost confessional approach to his appetites and gustatory experiences, Slater has crafted a book that will gently guide you from the garden to the kitchen, and back again. 

Vegetable Focused & Vegetarian

Roots: the definitive compendium with more than 225 recipes, by Diane Morgan; foreword by Deborah Madison ; photographs by Antonis Achilleos
 
This is a comprehensive guide and collection of recipes using root vegetables. Discover the fascinating history and lore of 29 major roots, their nutritional content, how to buy and store them, and more, from the familiar (beets, carrots, potatoes) to the unfamiliar (jicama, salsify, malanga) to the practically unheard of (cassava, galangal, crosnes). It also features more than 225 recipes; salads, soups, side dishes, main courses, drinks, and desserts--that bring out the earthy goodness of each and every one of these intriguing vegetables. From Andean tubers and burdock to yams and yuca, this essential culinary encyclopedia lets dedicated home cooks achieve a new level of taste and sophistication in their everyday cooking. 

Writing & Literature

Yes, Chef: a memoir, by Marcus Samuelsson
 
"It begins with a simple ritual: Every Saturday afternoon, a boy who loves to cook walks to his grandmother's house and helps her prepare a roast chicken for dinner. The grandmother is Swedish, a retired domestic. The boy is Ethiopian and adopted, and he will grow up to become the world-renowned chef Marcus Samuelsson. This book is his love letter to food and family in all its manifestations. Marcus Samuelsson was only three years old when he, his mother, and his sister--all battling tuberculosis--walked seventy-five miles to a hospital in the Ethiopian capital city of Addis Adaba. Tragically, his mother succumbed to the disease shortly after she arrived, but Marcus and his sister recovered, and one year later, they were welcomed into a loving middle-class white family in Gothenburg, Sweden. It was there that Marcus's new grandmother, Helga, sparked in him a lifelong passion for food and cooking with her pan-fried herring, her freshly baked bread, and her signature roast chicken. From a very early age, there was little question what Marcus was going to be when he grew up. Yes, Chef chronicles Marcus Samuelsson's remarkable journey from Helga's humble kitchen to some of the most demanding and cutthroat restaurants in Switzerland and France, from his grueling stints on cruise ships to his arrival in New York City, where his outsize talent and ambition finally come together at Aquavit, earning him a coveted New York Times three-star rating at the age of twenty-four. But Samuelsson's career of "chasing flavors," as he calls it, had only just begun--in the intervening years, there have been White House State dinners, career crises, reality show triumphs and, most important, the opening of the beloved Red Rooster in Harlem. At Red Rooster, Samuelsson has fulfilled his dream of creating a truly diverse, multiracial dining room--a place where presidents and prime ministers rub elbows with jazz musicians, aspiring artists, bus drivers, and nurses. It is a place where an orphan from Ethiopia, raised in Sweden, living in America, can feel at home. With disarming honesty and intimacy, Samuelsson also opens up about his failures as a man--the price of ambition, in human terms--and recounts his emotional journey, as a grown man, to meet the father he never knew. Yes, Chef is a tale of personal discovery, unshakable determination, and the passionate, playful pursuit of flavors--one man's struggle to find a place for himself in the kitchen, and in the world

The Black Rabbit, written and illustrated by Philippa Leathers
 
Rabbit woke to a beautiful sunny day. Everywhere he goes, a giant "Black Rabbit" follows him. The Black Rabbit stays right beside him when he's still, and runs just as fast as he does everywhere Rabbit goes. The watercolor and ink illustrations (combined digitally) are adorable, making this a cute story to share with little ones who will no doubt be shouting out who the "Black Rabbit" really is. 

The Dark, by Lemony Snicket ; illustrated by Jon Klassen
 
Are you afraid of the dark? Lazlo was. But the dark was not afraid of Lazlo. Cleverly written by Lemony Snicket with illustrations by Caldecott winner Jon Klassen (This is Not My Hat). Lazlo and the dark live in the same house, although the dark lives mostly in the basement, in corners, closets, and behind the shower curtain. This witty picture book for children grades K and up tells what happens when Lazlo visits the dark. It turns out that just as we need closets for shoes and shower curtains to keep the bathroom floor dry, we also need the dark.

Picture A Tree, by Barbara Reid
 
"There is more than one way to picture a tree" begins Barbara Reid's new picture book. Share this book with a little one to open their imagination and appreciation of nature. Barbara Reid uses plasticine clay that is shaped and pressed onto illustration board and painted for special effects. The result is pages of illustrations rich with color and texture. Readers discover that by using their imagination, trees can be a tunnel, a pirate ship, a clubhouse, a friend and more. Read aloud to toddlers, preschoolers and kindergarteners, then take a walk outside to look at the trees. What do you see? 

Children's Fiction

Hero On A Bicycle, by Shirley Hughes
 
Author Shirley Hughes presents a World War II adventure proving that in extraordinary circumstances, people are capable of extraordinary things. Italy, 1944: Florence is occupied by Nazi forces. The Italian resistance movement has not given up hope, though -- and neither have thirteen-year- old Paolo and his sister, Costanza. As their mother is pressured into harboring escaping POW's, Paolo and Costanza each find a part to play in opposing the German forces. Both are desperate to fight the occupation, but what can two siblings -- with only a bicycle to help them -- do against a whole army? Middle-grade fans of history and adventure will be riveted by the action and the vividly evoked tension of World War II. Grade 5 and up. 

Rump: the true story of Rumpelstiltskin , by Liesl Shurtliff
 
This is the story of Rump, who feels his destiny is to discover his full name. What was the name his mother whispered to him as he was born, just before she took her last breath? When Rump turns twelve, he discovers he may have a different destiny before him in this poor village, a destiny that may have something to do with his ability to turn straw....into gold. But with the magic comes a curse, and Rump will go on a quest to find his true name to break free. Grade 4 and up. 

Non-Fiction

Batter Up!: history of baseball, by Dona Herweck Rice
 
From Time for Kids, Batter Up! History of Baseball is a great introduction for second and third graders. Readers will learn (and most definitely share with their grown-ups) interesting facts about one of America's favorite pastimes, presented with very appealing photos and graphics. Includes a timeline of the changing rules, facts about famous players, a brief history of Little League and more. 

Look Up!: bird-watching in your own backyard, by Annette LeBlanc Cate
 
Though not a field guide, this is a fun introduction to bird watching and bird drawing. Cate gives great tips on how to find birds, where to search and includes funny "do" and "don't" tips among her advice including "don't sit on poison ivy". The illustrations are part graphic novel, part sketch book and are very inviting, while the layout of the book provides great information without sounding like a textbook. Look Up! might inspire a new hobby, or a fun afternoon of bird watching for the reader. Grade 3 and up. 

13 Painters Children Should Know , by Florian Heine
 
13 Painters is the new acquisition in the "Children Should Know" series of art books by Prestel Publishing. Featuring thirteen painters from a variety of historical periods and styles, this book demonstrates just how interesting and exciting art can be. Each painter is presented in double-page spreads that feature beautiful reproductions and interesting facts. Greenwich Library also has 13 Optical Illusions Children Should Know and 13 American Artists Children Should Know from the series. Grade 4 and up.

Balthazar Korab: architect of photography , by John Comazzi
 
No one captured the midcentury modernism of the Mad Men era better than Balthazar Korab. As one of the period's most prolific and celebrated architecture photographers, Korab captured images as graceful and elegant as his subjects. His iconic photographs for master architects immortalized their finest works, while leaving his own indelible impact on twentieth century visual culture. In this illustrated biography, the first dedicated solely to his life and career, author John Comazzi traces Korab's circuitous path to a career in photography. 

Coming into Fashion: a century of photography at Condé Nast , by Nathalie Herschdorfer
 
Condé Nast launched the careers of many great photographers. The discovery of most of the biggest names in fashion photography and the nurturing of their talent can rightly be credited to that visionary publisher. Condé Nast himself was gifted at spotting future stars and by surrounding himself with the very best and most creative he placed Vogue magazine, along with other titles such as Glamour, at the forefront of the photographic avant-garde and propelled them to positions of great social and cultural influence. This volume, the result of unprecedented access to the empire's archives, reaches back to 1910. The list of photographers included in this treasury is impressive. Edward Steichen, Cecil Beaton, Irving Penn, Helmut Newton, Patrick Demarchelier, Ellen von Unwerth, and Mario Testino are just some of the figures who, working with masterful art directors, created a legacy that left its mark on the history of photography and is being built upon in the present day. 

The Disappearance of Darkness: photography at the end of the analog era, by Robert Burley
 
Over the past decade, photographer Robert Burley has traveled the world documenting the abandonment and destruction of film-based photography, namely, the factories where film was produced and the labs that developed it. Burley's atmospheric large-format photographs transport viewers to rarely seen sites where the alchemy of the photographic process was practiced over the last century, from the Polaroid plant in Waltham, Massachusetts to the Kodak-Pathé plant in Chalon-sur-Saône, France, the birthplace in 1827 of photography itself. As both fine art and documentary, this book is a reflection on the resilience of traditional art forms in the digital era and a vital commemoration of a century-old industry that seems to have disappeared overnight. 

Faking It: manipulated photography before Photoshop, by Mia Fineman
 
Photographic manipulation is a familiar phenomenon in the digital era. What will come as a revelation to readers of this wide-ranging book is that nearly every type of manipulation we associate with Adobe's now-ubiquitous Photoshop software was also part of photography's predigital repertoire, from slimming waistlines and smoothing away wrinkles to adding people to (or removing them from) pictures, not to mention fabricating events that never took place. Indeed, the desire and determination to modify the camera image are as old as photography itself--only the methods have changed. By tracing the history of manipulated photography from the earliest days of the medium to the release of Photoshop 1.0 in 1990, Mia Fineman offers a corrective to the dominant narrative of photography's development, in which champions of photographic "purity," such as Paul Strand, Edward Weston, and Henri Cartier-Bresson, get all the glory, while devotees of manipulation, including Henry Peach Robinson, Edward Steichen, and John Heartfield, are treated as conspicuous anomalies. Among the techniques discussed on these pages--abundantly illustrated with works from an international array of public and private collections--are multiple exposure, combination printing, photomontage, composite portraiture, over-painting, hand coloring, and retouching. The resulting images are as diverse in style and motivation as they are in technique. \

Laundromat, by Snorri Bros.
 
Laundromats are as varied as the people inside. They often reflect the social, cultural, and economic fabric of the neighborhood they reside in (announcements, flags, and symbols displayed often reveal something about their mainly mom-and-pop owners), yet they additionally possess a story of commercial storefront design, inspired and mundane: the trend date of awning design and lettering; the poster advertising for cleaning; the refreshment options for adults and their charges. Neighborhood laundromats are one of the last holdouts of the disappearing storefronts of New York City as small shops are driven out of business by chains and venture-capital initiatives. Like the beloved Korean green grocer/bodega/Arab deli, someday soon there could be far fewer of these ugly ducklings, and another genuine element of New York's street life will be...washed away. Laundromat was photographed from 2008 to 2012 and represents all five New York boroughs and most of its neighborhoods. 

Leica: witness to a century, by Alessandro Pasi; English translation by Jay Hyams
 
This revised English-language edition celebrates the 100-year history of the fine, portable camera created by a German engineer named Oskar Barnack in 1913. The volume contains plenty of Leica-made images made by world-famous photographers as well as pictures of the camera itself as it evolved. The text, interwoven with the images, sets the political and cultural context of the camera and its use over the decades.

More Than Human, by Tim Flach
 
Award-winning photographer Tim Flach has spent years inquiring into the essential bond we have with animals. Now he presents the culmination of a career-long endeavor. The book showcases a menagerie of creatures--pandas, tigers, bats, lions, orangutans, cobras, bullfrogs, chimpanzees, wolves, porcupines, elephants, owls, armadillos, among many others--as they have never been seen before. 

Reconstructing the View : the Grand Canyon photographs of Mark Klett and Byron Wolfe, by Mark Klett & Byron Wolfe
 
Using landscape photography to reflect on broader notions of culture, the passage of time, and the construction of perception, photographers Mark Klett and Byron Wolfe spent five years exploring the Grand Canyon for their most recent project, Reconstructing the View. The team's landscape photographs are based on the practice of rephotography, in which they identify sites of historic photographs and make new photographs of those precise locations. Klett and Wolfe referenced a wealth of images of the canyon, ranging from historical photographs and drawings by William Bell and William Henry Holmes, to well-known artworks by Edward Weston and Ansel Adams, and from souvenir postcards to contemporary digital images drawn from Flickr. The pair then employed digital postproduction methods to bring the original images into dialogue with their own. 

Terrywood, by Terry Richardson
 
Terrywood is the Richardson's vision of everything that Hollywood has meant and continues to mean in the public imagination: grand-scale glitz, big-budget glamour-and of course the awards ceremonies, in homage to which Terry Richardson produced a series of ten award statuettes for the show, fashioned in his own bespectacled likeness. These works and all of the photographs included in the exhibition are reproduced here, alongside documentation of the year-long process of planning the exhibition, and coverage of the opening night. This volume compiles all of the photographs from his 2012 show Terrywood, held at the OHWOW gallery in Los Angeles. 

Vivian Maier: out of the shadows , by Richard Cahan & Michael Williams
 
This volume is the first attempt to put Vivian Maier's work in context and create a moving portrait of her as an artist. Though she created more than 10,000 negatives during her lifetime, only a few of them were ever seen by others. Shortly after her death in 2009, the first group of her unseen photographs--gritty with humanity and filled with empathy and beauty--were shown online. What followed was a firestorm of attention, catapulting Maier from previous obscurity to being labeled as one of the masters of street photography. Her work has appeared in numerous museum exhibits and a feature-length documentary on her life and art has already been planned.

the backyard parables, by Margaret Roach
 
After ruminating on the bigger picture in her memoir And I Shall Have Some Peace There, Margaret Roach has returned to the garden, insisting as ever that we must garden with both our head and heart. Roach uses her fundamental understanding of the natural world, philosophy, and life to explore the ways that gardening saved and instructed her, and meditates on the science and spirituality of nature, reminding her readers and herself to keep on digging.

Designing Gardens, by Arabella Lennox-Boyd with Caroline Clifton-Mogg
 
The first part of this book explores Arabella Lennox-Boyd's philosophy and establishes the principles of her approach to design: the importance of relating the garden not only to the landscape but also to the spirit of the house and the individuality of the owner; how to establish the bare bones of a design, enclosing garden rooms, and opening up garden space; how to use vertical structures to best effect; and how to clothe bare bones with plants appropriate to the type of garden. Design ideas for everything from paving and pergolas to perennial plantings are featured, captured in Andrew Lawson's atmospheric images and Lennox-Boyd's plans. The second part of the book looks in detail at more than 20 very different gardens, many these are private and never photographed before. 

A Garden Makes a House a Home, by Elvin McDonald
 
This features twenty-five residential gardens from every region across the United States, presented by veteran shelter magazine garden editor Elvin McDonald.

Gardening By Cuisine: an organic-food lover's guide to sustainable living , by Patti Moreno
 
Patti Moreno has devised a unique plan for creating low-maintenance organic "cuisine gardens" that produce the vegetables, fruits, and herbs people love and eat. She supplies dozens of easy plans, plus a generous collection of simple, delicious recipes and menus that will make the most of any garden's bounty.

Kiss My Aster: a graphic guide to creating a fantastic yard totally tailored to you, by Amanda Thomsen
 
A hilarious, interactive guide to designing an outdoor space that is exactly what you want. Combining entertaining illustrations with laugh-out-loud text, Amanda Thomsen lays out the many options for home landscaping and invites you to make the choices. Whether you want privacy hedges, elegant flower beds, a patio for partying, a food garden, a kids' play space, a pond full of ducks, or all of the above, you'll end up with a yard you'll adore. Forget about doing it the "right" way: Do it your way! 

Powerhouse Plants: 510 top performers for multi-season beauty, by Graham Rice
 
Gardeners, like everyone, are too short on time and money to waste either on plants that only look good for a few weeks. You want hardworking, eye-catching plants that provide beauty for multiple seasons. You want powerhouse plants -- plants with colorful spring flowers and summer fruits, or summer fruits and fall foliage, or summer flowers, fall foliage and winter stems ... or any combination of two or more of these desirable features. Like flowering dogwood that boasts summer flowers and fall fruit and foliage. Or honeysuckle that has fragrant spring flowers, summer and fall foliage, and fall fruit. 

The Professional Design Guide to Green Roofs, by Karla Dakin, Lisa Lee Benjamin & Mindy Pantiel
 
Until recently, most green rooftop gardens were little more than variations on sedum mats on four inches of soil. Now, designers are creating cutting-edge green roofs that focus not only on critical environmental issue like heat, storm management, and ecosystem development, but also on the aesthetics, offering beautiful, livable, sustainable landscapes. This book is a comprehensive exploration of rooftop garden design and the process behind it. It covers everything landscape architects and garden designers need to know to create a beautiful garden in the sky. 

The Speedy Vegetable Garden , by Mark Diacono and Lia Leendertz
 
Typically, vegetable gardening is about the long view: peas sown in spring aren't harvested until summer, and tomatoes started indoors in February can't be eaten until July. But it's not true for all plants. Some things can be planted and eaten in weeks, days, even hours. The Speedy Vegetable Garden highlights more than 50 quick crops, with complete information on how to sow, grow, and harvest each plant, and sumptuous photography that provides inspiration and a visual guide for when to harvest. In addition to instructions for growing, it also provides recipes that highlight each crop's unique flavor. 

Storey basics starting seeds: how to grow healthy, productive vegetables, herbs, and flowers from seed, by Barbara W. Ellis*
 
Growing plants from seeds isn't difficult; it just takes a little know-how. Now, gardeners of any experience level can get a jump on the growing season with this concise, straightforward guide. Expert gardener Barbara Ellis provides the basic information that you need and teaches you foolproof starting techniques for a variety of vegetables, herbs, and flowers.

Bean Spasms, collaborations by Ted Berrigan & Ron Padgett ; illustrated & drawings by Joe Brainard
 
Originally published in 1967 by Kulchur Press in an edition of 1,000, and out-of-print for more than 40 years, Bean Spasms is a book many have heard about but relatively few have seen, and which--until now--has been shrouded in legend. The text is comprised of collaborations between poets Ted Berrigan and Ron Padgett, with further writings, illustrations and cover by artist and writer Joe Brainard. The three began collaborating in 1960, and kept a folder of their works titled "Lyrical Bullets" (a humorous homage to the well-known collaboration between Coleridge and Wordsworth, "Lyrical Ballads"). As Ron Padgett describes, in his introduction to this new facsimile edition, their collaborations included "plays, a fictitious correspondence, a picaresque novel, goofy interviews and poems of various types and lengths, as well as mistranslations and parodies of each others work and the work of others." 

City of Rivers, by Zubair Ahmed
 
This is what the folks at Rumpus.net have to say about this debut poetry collection: "The poems in Zubair Ahmed's debut collection, City of Rivers, are not exceptional because he is a twenty-three year old engineering student at Stanford; they are exceptional because he is a dedicated craftsman with a developed artistic vision and voice, regardless of age. History has taught us that excellence in poetry can come early in life, or much later (see A.R. Ammons or a more contemporary example in Claudia Emerson). While I imagine one of the reasons readers might find themselves interested in City of Rivers will be due to Ahmed's relatively young age, such readers will invariably find themselves more interested in exploring the range of his vision and the confidence he seems to have hammered into every one of his sharp, stoic lines." This is published by the tastemakers at McSweeney's.

Collected Poems, by May Swenson, edited by Langdon Hammer
 
In celebration of the centenary of May Swenson's birth, The Library of America presents a one-volume edition of all of the poems that Swenson published in her lifetime--from her first collection Another Animal (1954) to the innovative shaped poems of Iconographs (1970) to her final work In Other Words (1987)--as well as a selection of previously uncollected work. The collection reveals the sweeping compass of Swenson's curiosity: nature poems display her keen observation of wildlife; exuberant and erotic love poems celebrate beauty and passion; place poems record her travels to the American Southwest, France, and Italy and her residence in New York City and Sea Cliff, Long Island; verse "analyses" investigate baseball, wave motion, the DNA molecule, bronco busting, James Bond movies, and the first walk on the moon. While preserving the order of publication, this volume presents the author''s final or definitive versions of these poems. Substantive textual variants and title changes are detailed in the notes to the volume. 

Exit, Civilian: poems , by Idra Novey
 
In her second collection, Idra Novey steps in and out of jails, courthouses, and caves to explore what confinement means in the twenty-first century. From the beeping doors of a prison in New York to cellos playing in a former jail in Chile, she looks at prisons that have opened, closed, and transformed to examine how the stigma of incarceration has altered American families, including her own. Novey writes of the expanding prison complex that was once a field and imagines what's next for the civilians who enter and exit it each day.

Fast Animal, by Tim Seibles
 
A finalist for the 2012 National Book Award for poetry. Jen Bervin of Undertow Magazine loved it, dubbing it "one of the best books I've read recently." Here's the rest of her review.

In time: poets, poems, and the rest , by C. K. Williams
 
Not a collection of poetry but rather a "meditation on poetic subjects" from the Pulitzer Prize winning poet. In the book he also reflects on such forebears as Philip Larkin and Robert Lowell. The book's innovative middle section, the author extracts short essays from interviews into an alphabetized series of reflections on subjects ranging from poetry and politics to personal accounts of his own struggles as an artist. The seven essays of the final section branch into more public concerns. Written in his lucid, powerful, and accessible prose, Williams's essays are characterized by reasoned and complex judgments and a willingness to confront hard moral questions in both art and politics.

Mayakovsky's Revolver , by Matthew Dickman
 
At the center of Mayakovsky's Revolver is the suicide of Matthew Dickman's older brother. Bobby Elliott in his blog post on the Huffington Post calls it "a book of dark and reeling poems." Evan Hanson takes things further in his review on thethepoetry.com. THis book and Hanson's review are thought provoking. 

Night Thoughts: 70 dream poems & notes from an analysis , by Sarah Arvio
 
In a "self-interview" on the Best American Poetry blog, Sarah Arvio explains the background of her latest book of poetry in which she studied her dreams over a ten year period. The poems, in the form of irregular sonnets, describe her dreamworld. 

Red doc> , by Anne Carson
 
A continuation of the author's Autobiography of red, following the characters in later life, but in a different style and with changed names. The notoriously private poet was recently profiled in the New York Times Magazine. During the course of the profile she gives insights into this book as well as her approach to poetry writing. 

Special Powers and Abilities: poems, byRaymond McDaniel
 
Inspired by The Legion of Super-Heroes, a comic series about a group of teenage superheroes in the future, McDaniel's poems morph superheroes into religious and mythological narratives. Jacob Canfield over at the Hooded Utilitarian takes a closer look at the book.

The Baseball Trust: A History of Baseball's Antitrust Exemption, by Stuart Banner
 
Legal historian Stuart Banner illuminates the series of court rulings that resulted in one of the most curious features of our legal system-baseball's exemption from antitrust law. It provides a history of the game as seen through the prism of an extraordinary series of courtroom battles, ranging from 1890 to the present. The book looks at such pivotal cases as the 1922 Supreme Court case which held that federal antitrust laws did not apply to baseball; the 1972 Flood v. Kuhn decision that declared that baseball is exempt even from state antitrust laws; and several cases from the 1950s, one involving boxing and the other football, that made clear that the exemption is only for baseball, not for sports in general. He reveals that for all the well-documented foibles of major league owners, baseball has consistently received and followed antitrust advice from leading lawyers, shrewd legal advice that eventually won for baseball a protected legal status enjoyed by no other industry in America.

The Bird: the life and legacy of Mark Fidrych , by Doug Wilson
 
The first biography of the eccentric pitcher, rookie All-Star starter, 70's pop icon, and first athlete on the cover of Rolling Stone. Through extensive interviews and meticulous research, the author recounts Fidrych's meteoric rise from Northborough, Massachusetts, to the big leagues, his heartbreaking fall after a torn knee ligament and then rotator cuff, his comeback attempts with the Tigers and in the Red Sox system, and one unforgettable night when The Bird pitched a swan song for the Pawtucket Red Sox against future star Dave Righetti in a game that remains part of local folklore. Finally, Wilson captures Fidrych's post-baseball life and his roles in the community, tragically culminating with his death in a freak accident in 2009. 

Chicago Cubs: Where Have You Gone?: Ernie Banks, Andy Pafko, Ferguson Jenkins, and other Cubs greats, by Fred Mitchell
 
Newly revised and updated, this exciting book catches up with more than 50 former Cubs players including Ferguson Jenkins, Dickie Noles, Milt Pappas and Don Zimmer,letting fans know where their heroes have gone and what they have been up to since capturing their full attention at Wrigley Field. As a former (and successfully rehabilitated) Cubs fan, this book brings back many memories, mostly of the sad and tragic variety. But, it is full of insight and good humor. and much more enjoyable now that  I've moved on. 

Francona: the Red Sox years , by Terry Francona and Dan Shaughnessy
 
From 2004 to 2011, Terry Francona managed the Boston Red Sox, perhaps the most scrutinized team in all of sports. During that time, every home game was a sellout. Every play, call, word, gesture--on the field and off--was analyzed by thousands. And every decision was either genius, or disastrous. In those eight years, the Red Sox were transformed from a cursed franchise to one of the most successful and profitable in baseball history--only to fall back to last place as soon as Francona was gone. Now the decorated manager opens up for the first time about his tenure in Boston, unspooling the narrative of how this world-class organization reached such incredible highs and dipped to equally incredible lows. But through it all, there was always baseball, that beautiful game of which Francona never lost sight. 

Game of My Life: New York Yankees: memorable stories of Yankees baseball , by Dave Buscema
 
In a book that's very similar in concept to the Cubs title above, some of the biggest names to ever don the pinstripes are captured in personal portraits here, from Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera to Don Mattingly, Reggie Jackson, Ron Guidry, and all the way back to Yogi Berra and Tommy Henrich. Along with taking readers behind the scenes of the greatest moments in Yankees history--from Bucky Dent's home run to David Wells's perfect game--the book offers a glimpse of what helped the stars reach their peak. This is a great opportunity for Yanks fans to revel in their team's many years of success. 

Hank Greenberg: baseball star, Jewish hero, American legend , by John Rosengren
 
Baseball in the 1930s was more than a national pastime; it was a cultural touchstone that galvanized communities and gave a struggling country its heroes despite the woes of the Depression. Hank Greenberg, one of the most exciting sluggers in baseball history, gave the people of Detroit a reason to be proud. But America was facing more than economic hardship. With the Nazis gaining power across Europe, political and social tensions were approaching a boiling point. As one of the few Jewish athletes competing nationally, Hank Greenberg became not only an iconic ball player, but also an important and sometimes controversial symbol of Jewish identity and the American immigrant experience. When Hank joined the Detroit Tigers in 1933, they were headed for a dismal fifth-place season finish. The following year, with Hank leading the charge, they were fighting off the Yankees for the pennant. As his star ascended, he found himself cheered wherever he went. But there were other noises also. On and off the field, he met with taunts and anti-Semitic threats. Yet the hardship only drove him on to greater heights, sharing the spotlight with the most legendary sluggers of the day, including Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, and Lou Gehrig. This biography is an intimate account of the man's life on and off the field. It is a portrait of integrity and triumph over adversity.

Inside the Baseball Hall of Fame : the national baseball hall of fame and museum, foreword by Brooks Robinson
 
A lavishly photographed tour of the Baseball Hall of Fame's greatest treasures provides authoritative coverage of such subjects as FDR's "Green Light Letter," the Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day Trophy and the shoes worn by "Shoeless" Joe Jackson during the infamous 1919 World Series.This is excellent to thumb through between innings. 

Total Mets: the definitive encyclopedia of the New York Mets, by David Ferry
 
Published in conjunction with the franchise's 50th anniversary, this is the definitive historical and statistical compendium for the ball club. Spanning the team's entire history--from their inception in 1962, through the World Series championships of 1969 and 1986, and right up to the most current squads--this volume is loaded with features that include season recaps of every Mets season, statistics and highlights for every game in franchise history, team and individual records in every major statistical category, and biographies for every Mets player. This may help you make it through a season that looks less than encouraging. 

Trading Bases: a story about Wall Street, gambling, and baseball (not necessarily in that order), by Joe Peta
 
After the fall of Lehman Brothers, Joe Peta was out of a job. He found a new one but lost that, too, when an ambulance mowed him down. In search of a way to cheer himself up while he recuperated in a wheelchair, Peta started watching baseball again, as he had growing up. That's when inspiration hit: Why not apply his outstanding risk-analysis skills to improve on sabermetrics, the method made famous by Moneyball--and beat the only market in town, the Vegas betting line? Why not treat MLB like the S&P 500? Peta shows how to subtract luck--in particular "cluster luck," as he puts it--from a team's statistics to best predict how it will perform in the next game and over the whole season. His baseball "hedge fund" returned an astounding 41 percent in 2011--and has never been down more than 5 percent. Peta takes readers to the ballpark in San Francisco, trading floors and baseball bars in New York and sports books in Vegas, all while tracing the progress of his wagers. Often humorous, occasionally touching, and with a wink toward the sheer implausibility of the whole project, Trading Bases is all about the love of critical reasoning, trading cultures, risk management, and baseball. And not necessarily in that order.

Who's on Worst?: the lousiest players, biggest cheaters, saddest goats and other antiheroes in baseball history, by Filip Bondy
 
A whimsical celebration of professional baseball's lowest-achieving players and contributors draws on extensive research to provide richly detailed stories profiling batters who fell below the "Mendoza Line," managers who led losing teams in spite of steroids and more, in a volume complemented by top-ten worst lists.

The Coming Prosperity: how entrepreneurs are transforming the global economy, by Philip Auerswald
 
Auerswald argues that it is time to overcome the outdated narratives of fear that dominate public discourse and to grasp the powerful momentum of progress. Acknowledging the gravity of today's greatest global challenges--like climate change, water scarcity, and rapid urbanization--Auerswald emphasizes that the choices we make today will determine the extent and reach of the coming prosperity. To make the most of this epochal transition, he writes, the key is entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs introduce new products and services, expand the range of global knowledge networks, and, most importantly, challenge established business interests, maintaining the vitality of mature capitalist economies and enhancing the viability of emerging ones. 

Contagious: why things catch on, by Jonah Berger
 
Why do people talk about certain products and ideas more than others? Why are some stories and rumors more infectious? And what makes online content go viral? Wharton marketing professor Jonah Berger has spent the last decade answering these questions. He's studied why New York Times articles make the paper's own Most E-mailed List, why products get word of mouth, and how social influence shapes everything from the cars we buy to the clothes we wear to the names we give our children. In this book, Berger reveals the secret science behind word-of-mouth and social transmission. Discover how six basic principles drive all sorts of things to become contagious, from consumer products and policy initiatives to workplace rumors and YouTube videos. Contagious combines groundbreaking research with powerful stories. Learn how a luxury steakhouse found popularity through the lowly cheese-steak, why anti-drug commercials might have actually increased drug use, and why more than 200 million consumers shared a video about one of the seemingly most boring products there is: a blender. If you've wondered why certain stories get shared, e-mails get forwarded, or videos go viral, Contagious explains why, and shows how to leverage these concepts to craft contagious content. This book provides a set of specific, actionable techniques for helping information spread--for designing messages, advertisements, and information that people will share. Whether you're a manager at a big company, a small business owner trying to boost awareness, a politician running for office, or a health official trying to get the word out, Contagious will show you how to make your product or idea catch on.

The Founders and Finance: how Hamilton, Gallatin, and other immigrants forged a new economy, by Thomas K. McCraw
 
In 1776 the United States government started out on a shoestring and quickly went bankrupt fighting its War of Independence against Britain. At the war's end, the national government owed tremendous sums to foreign creditors and its own citizens. But lacking the power to tax, it had no means to repay them. The Founders and Finance is the first book to tell the story of how foreign-born financial specialists--immigrants--solved the fiscal crisis and set the United States on a path to long-term economic success. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Thomas K. McCraw analyzes the skills and worldliness of Alexander Hamilton (from the Danish Virgin Islands), Albert Gallatin (from the Republic of Geneva), and other immigrant founders who guided the nation to prosperity. Their expertise with liquid capital far exceeded that of native-born plantation owners Washington, Jefferson, and Madison, who well understood the management of land and slaves but had only a vague knowledge of financial instruments--currencies, stocks, and bonds. The very rootlessness of America's immigrant leaders gave them a better understanding of money, credit, and banks, and the way each could be made to serve the public good.

Global Tilt: Leading your business through the great economic power shift , by Ram Charan
 
The global tilt is nothing less than an irreversible shift of economic power--jobs, wealth, and market opportunities--from a small part of the world to its entirety. It is improving the lives of millions of people around the world, and while it is creating immense opportunities, it is disrupting the world as you know it with dizzying speed. In Global Tilt, Charan gives business leaders the guidance they need to succeed in a tilted world, including gaining an edge by cutting through the complexity of demographics, different forms of government, and even the global financial system, to identify "unstoppable trends" better and sooner than others. Charan discusses challenging your reliance on core competence and the incremental improvement that results. Instead, look "outside-in" and "future-back," determine the capabilities you need to build, and muster the psychological fortitude to make occasional strategic bets that can potentially alter the competitive landscape. For a brief overview, read this recent interview from The Economic Times" with Charan where he discusses discusses the "Global Tilt."

The Impact Equation: are you making things happen or just making noise?, by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith
 
Brogan and Smith offer guidelines for getting customer attention and building community online through social media and social networks. Rather than offering technical details on how to use social media, the authors instead explain how to build ideas, how to move the ideas through a platform so they will be seen and discussed, and how to build a strong human element around those ideas so that people know you care about their participation. You can watch the authors discuss the book on their YouTube channel .

Indispensable: when leaders really matter, by Gautam Mukunda
 
Harvard Business School professor Gautam Mukunda offers afresh look at how and when individual leaders really can make a difference. By identifying and analyzing the hidden patterns of their careers, and by exploring the systems that place these leaders in positions of power, Indispensable sheds new light on how we may be able to identify the best leaders and what lessons we can learn, from both the process and the result. Profiling a mix of historic and modern figures?from Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln to Winston Churchill and Judah Folkman?and telling the stories of how they came to power and how they made the most important decisions of their lives, Indispensable reveals how, when, and where a single individual in the right place at the right time can save or destroy the organization they lead, and even change the course of history. 

Leading So People Will Follow, by Erika Andersen
 
Exploring the 6 leadership characteristics that inspire followers to fully support their leaders, and featuring examples from forward-thinking organizations as Apple and MTV Networks, Andersen, a popular Forbes blogger and renowned leadership coach provides a proven framework that creates loyalty, commitment and results.

The Org: the underlying logic of the office, by Ray Fisman and Tim Sullivan
 
The world is full of organizational cynics. Look around, look in the mirror. We sit in our cubes, adjust our chairs, sharpen our pencils and stare at our computer screens with the sense that we're immersed in dysfunction. We could, we're sure, do a far better job of running things if we were given the chance. But we know we won't get the chance and so sink into doubt, distrust, and pessimism. But it doesn't have to be that way. Authors Ray Fisman and Tim Sullivan take readers through the logic of organizations using basic economic principles as their guide. Examining why organizations exist in the first place, The Org explores the tradeoffs that every corporation faces-from how to select members to how to inspire and discipline them-and then looks at the components of the whole structure from cubicle dwellers to CEOs. Using the tools of organizational economics, The Org provides readers with a concrete, logical, and practical way of thinking about how organizations ought to work. The insights unearthed in The Org may surprise you and may also explain how, with a few tweaks, the dysfunctional nature of today's office may nonetheless provide the ideal structure for getting the job done. More from the authors on NPR's "Talk of the Nation" here. 

The Physics of Wall Street: a brief history of predicting the unpredictable, by James Owen Weatherall
 
A Harvard scholar challenges popular beliefs to argue that mathematical models can provide solutions to current economic challenges, citing the pivotal historical contributions of physicists to Wall Street while explaining that the economic meltdown of 2008 was based on a misunderstanding of scientific models rather than on the models themselves. 

Vested: how P&G, McDonald's, and Microsoft are redefining winning in business relationship , by Kate Vitasek and Karl Manrodt with Jeanne Kling
 
What do Procter and Gamble, Microsoft, McDonald's and The Department of Energy have in common? They have all recently implemented a vested relationship with their partners and suppliers, leading to innovation and a better bottom line. Here the authors show how P&G partnered with Jones Lang LaSalle to manage over 14 million feet of facilities in 60 countries and how the Minnesota Department of Transportation turned tragedy into success after the I35 bridge crumbled into the water by rebuilding the bridge with state-of-the-art design under budget in less time than anticipated. Working with partners is the future of business. 

The Zen of Steve Jobs, by written by Caleb Melby; concept, design, and illustration by Jess3
 
An illustrated depiction of Steve Jobs' friendship with Zen Buddhist Kobun Chino Otogawa and the impact it had on Jobs' career. Their time together was integral to the big leaps that Apple took later on with its product design and business strategy. Was the revolutionary circular scroll wheel on the Apple iPod inspired by kinhin, the Zen practice of walking in circles while meditating? Told using stripped down dialogue and bold calligraphic panels, The Zen of Steve Jobs explores how Jobs might have honed his design aesthetic via Eastern religion before choosing to identify only what he needs and leave the rest behind.

Baking Out Loud, by Hedy Goldsmith
 
The Food Network-featured executive pastry chef of Michael's Genuine Food & Drink presents a collection of recipes inspired by popular supermarket treats, from Red Velvet Twinks and Chocolate Caramel Peanut Bars to Dunk in Da Trunk Cookies and Banana Toffee Panini. 

Clean Eating for Busy Families: get meals on the table in minutes with simple & satisfying whole-foods recipes you & your kids will love, by Michelle Dudash, R.D
 
Clean Eating for Busy Families takes the challenge out of putting delicious food on the family table on a nightly basis by providing you with a clear plan for dinner success. With streamlined weekly grocery lists, simple-yet-delicious recipes, and practical tips for healthy family eating, you'll find it a cinch to trade in that uninspired takeout for wholesome meals that don't just put your tummy to ease, but your mind too. 

Cooking With Love: real comfort food from Carla's kitchen, by Carla Hall with Genevieve Ko
 
Carla Hall is co-host of ABC's daily lifestyle series The Chew. Carla first won the hearts of fans nationwide on Bravo's Top Chef. When she returned for Top Chef All-Stars, she went on to win Fan Favorite with her warmth, enthusiasm, and delicious food. In this book, she serves up more than 100 fantastic recipes that revolutionize comfort food by using fresh ingredients in her twists on tried-and-true classics. 

The Epicurious Cookbook , by Tanya Steel
 
Organized seasonally and by meal type, The Epicurious Cookbook offers everything from 30-minute weeknight dinners to weekend warrior show-stoppers. Also included are comfort food favorites, small dishes perfect for parties and plenty of repertoire-building mains and sides, plus breakfasts, breads, and desserts. Throughout are Epicurious member suggestions for tweaking recipes, ideas for menu planning, smart substitutions, and homespun recipes from dozens of Epicurious members newly tested for this cookbook. 

Gran's Kitchen: recipes from the notebooks of Dulcie May Booker , compiled by Natalie Oldfield
 
Seventy-six of the best tried-and-true homemade recipes from a bygone era, lovingly selected from the notebooks of 95-year-old Dulcie May Booker. This edition, Compiled by her granddaughter, talented foodie Natalie Oldfield, Gran's Kitchen is sure to satisfy the current interest in traditional cookery in a very personal way. A little of the old, a little new, it is full of simple, comforting, and easy-to-make cakes, breakfasts, dinners, and desserts, as well as her secrets to award-winning baking and preserving. Not only is this book a beautiful cookbook, but it is also filled with wonderful family love and community spirit. 

The Hamptons & Long Island homegrown cookbook : local food, local restaurants, local recipes, by Leeann Lavin
 
Profiles twenty-seven of the well-known chefs and restaurant owners of the region and the farmers who supply them with fresh ingredients, with seventy-five recipes for seasonal dishes. 

The Latin Road Home : savoring the foods of Ecuador, Spain, Cuba, Mexico, and Peru, by Jose Garces
 
The essential book for experiencing the joy of sitting down to dinner in a Latin household. Capture the vibrant regional flavors of Latin America and Spain with ease in your home kitchen with Jose Garces as your guide. 

Now Eat This! Italian: favorite dishes from the real mamas of Italy, all under 350 calories, by Rocco DiSpirito
 
Weight-conscious food lovers no longer need to deprive themselves of the ever-popular cuisine of Italy. In his signature style, Rocco DiSpirito has recreated 100 classic Italian recipes to be healthy and low in calories and fat-yet still full of flavor. After traveling to Italy and perfecting the dishes side-by-side with the chefs who make them best-the Italian mamas-he offers sinful pastas, sauces, and desserts you never thought you could eat while keeping healthy. 

Real Snacks : make your favorite childhood treats without all the junk, by Lara Ferroni
 
Imagine homemade Twinkies, Ding-Dongs, Doritos, and Cheez-Its made in your own kitchen, even with gluten-free and vegan variations. Make your favorite snacks with whole grains and natural sweeteners full of wonderful flavors and nutrients not artificial colors and preservatives. Lara Ferroni shows you how with this collection of 50 nostalgic childhood treats that satisfy your junk food cravings, but without all the junk. Gluten free and vegan options are included for every recipe. 

Sweet Paris : a love affair with Parisian pastries, chocolate and desserts, by Michael Paul
 
More than just a cookbook, this is a sweet-toothed guide to Paris. With more than thirty distinctly Parisian recipes, ranging from tarts and macarons to madeleines and chocolates, let your taste buds do the walking. A sophisticated design and stunning images help to make this book a timeless keepsake that will be cherished for years to come. 

Try This at Home, by Richard Blais
 
From Bravo's Top Chef All-Stars winner Richard Blais comes his very cool debut cookbook for home cooks looking to up their game with more excitement in the kitchen. This is accessible and fun, and includes the signature recipes, flavor combinations, and cooking techniques that have made him such a popular chef.

Vietnamese Home Cooking, by Charles Phan
 
When Charles Phan opened his now- legendary restaurant, The Slanted Door, in 1995, he introduced American diners to a new world of Vietnamese food: robustly flavored, subtly nuanced, authentic yet influenced by local ingredients, and, ultimately, entirely approachable. In this same spirit of tradition and innovation, Phan presents a landmark collection based on the premise that with an understanding of its central techniques and fundamental ingredients, Vietnamese home cooking can be as attainable and understandable as American, French, or Italian.

A&M Records 50: the Anniversary Collection, by Various Artists
 
A three-disc, 60-song set that takes the listener through the hits that turned a tiny artist-driven imprint into one of the most important, era-defining names in popular music. This collection features something for everyone, from Burt Bacharach to Barry White to Soundgarden. 

Parklive: Live in Hyde Park 12th August, 2012, by Blur
 
This live double cd set commemorates Blur's reunion show that marked the closing of the London summer Olympics. By most accounts, this show was a huge success that has cemented Blur as a critical and culturally essential part of England's musical history. And to some, this was the best part of the Olympics. Here's a link to the album trailer if you want a quick taste.

Live at the Bowl '68, by The Doors
 
wo years after the Beatles rolled out the hits for the final time further up the West Coast at Candlestick Park -- and over a year into a Rolling Stones touring hiatus -- the Doors played a set at the Hollywood Bowl that is widely regarded to be their finest ever captured. it's clear from this recording that they were keen to impress the 18,000 people who filled the Bowl on July 5, 1968. It's a tight, musically impressive, well-paced set that falls at that sweet spot in the Doors' career, between the laid-back hesitancy of early club performances and the often overblown, strident, and bluesy improvisation of later gigs. It is also a bit of a technical marvel. This restoration makes dramatic improvement audio quality,and has made previously unreleased songs from the performance available for the first time. Technical glitches had prevented three songs from being included in previous versions, but thanks to the restoration process, the concert can now be seen in its entirety, complete with the previously missing performances of "Hello, I Love You," "Caravan" and "The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat). 

Trouble Man, by Marvin Gaye
 
A funky blacksploitation soundtrack from 1972, conceived and composed by Marvin himself and served up with some occasional vocals that work beautifully with the album's cool instrumental grooves. It's Gaye's only soundtrack and film score and shouldn't be missed. 

Bop! Bang! Boom!, by Grant Geissman
 
Grant Geissman's lengthy career as a guitarist and composer started in the early '70s. His résumé includes the guitar solo on flugelhornist Chuck Mangione's 1978 hit single "Feels So Good," a discography of around 15 albums as leader and compositions for TV such as the theme for the CBS comedy Two And A Half Men. Bop! Bang! Boom! is the final installment of a trilogy. It features a strong core band plus guest appearances from Geismann's friends and colleagues including saxophonist Tom Scott, guitarists Larry Carlton and Albert Lee, and Brian Wilson collaborator Van Dyke Parks, on accordion and runs the stylistic gamut from Latin and bebop to blues. 

Palindrome Hunches, by Neil Halstead
 
This is the perfect dreary weather album. These songs are so quiet and beautiful that it makes me want to put on a big rumpled sweater and give everyone a hug.This record was was recorded live in a weekend at a music room in a UK primary school and it has that cozy feeling. With more than just a nod to the legendary Nick Drake, former Mojave 3 and Slowdive leader Halstead has made a record that is just the most recent in a long line of  brilliant traditional British folk music. 

The Gift, Deluxe edition, by The Jam
 
It's true that the band weren't quite up to the top of their game by the time this, their final record, came around but it's also true that even a less than perfect record by The Jam was still better than %90 of most other records. Originally released in March of 1982, it found the band moving further towards the R&B sound that they had been dabbling in since their early records. This 30th anniversary 2cd edition features the original album plus rounds up non-album tracks of the period, including the 12-inch version of Precious and the swansong Beat Surrender EP. It also includes some demo recordings of several songs from the album. And, if that isn't enough for you, there is also a "super deluxe" edition, which features 3 cd's, 1 DVD and a few other things. 

The Complete Studio Recordings, by Roxy Music
 
Whether you are new to Roxy Music or just want to re-visit their work, this 10 cd is a good place to visit. Includes each of the eight Roxy Music studio albums released in the ten year period of 1972-1982, on CD plus two discs of bonus tracks containing tracks previously unavailable on CD. Each album has been taken back to its original form. They are housed in a swanky black box that will probably look awesome in your apartment.

The Essential, by Mindy Smith
 
Best of collection from the critically acclaimed singer-songwriter Mindy Smith featuring songs from three of her Vanguard Records studio albums.

Listening to the music of Mindy Smith, you get the sense that this is a woman who has been well prepared for adversity or at least has found a way to deal with it when it arises. As the thirteen songs on this collection reveal, ever since the release of her auspicious 2004 debut album, One Moment More, Smith has fearlessly put herself on the line in her writing, confronting her questions and troubles with songs that are impeccably crafted and indelibly intimate. From the liner notes by Alan Light 

Bish Bosch, by Scott Walker
 
This is not for the meek of heart. A troubling, disturbing but brilliant album that could only come from the mind of Scott Walker. It features drums and guitars and other passing references to rock music, but its deepest roots are in the dissonant, turn-of-the century compositions by Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Webern, and Berg, with a dash of Kurt Weill thrown in for good measure. Don't try this at home, kids.

Beautiful Indifference: stories, by Sarah Hall
 
This unique and disturbing collection includes stories in which the serenity of a Finnish lake turns sinister when a woman's lover does not come back from his swim, a bored London housewife discovers a secret erotic club, and a shy, bookish girl develops an unlikely friendship with the schoolyard bully. In reviewing the book, The Guardian, called these stories "dark, fierce and sensual." 

Fire and Forget: short stories, edited by Roy Scranton and Matt Gallagher
 
An unprecedented collection of hard-hitting, poignant short stories written by thirteen young veterans of the Iraq. The stories aren't pretty and they aren't for the faint of heart. They are gritty and haunting. Television reports, movies, newspapers, and blogs about the recent wars have offered snapshots of the fighting there. But this anthology brings us a chorus of powerful storytellers--some of the first bards from our recent wars, emerging voices and new talents--telling the kind of panoramic truth that only fiction can offer.

Love, In Theory: ten stories , by E.J. Levy
 
Ms. Levy looks at romance through the lens of scholarly theories to illuminate love in the information age. She takes readers through the surprisingly erotic terrain of the intellect, offering a smart and modern take on the age-old theme of love--whether between a man and woman, a man and a man, a woman and a woman, or a mother and a child--drawing readers into tales of passion, adultery, and heartbreak. Incorporating theories from physics to film to philosophy, from Rational Choice to Thorstein Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class, these stories movingly explore the heart and mind--shooting cupid's arrow toward a target that may never be reached. 

Married Love: and Other Stories, by Tessa Hadley
 
This new collection of short fiction from the acclaimed novelist delves into domestic dramas, generational sagas, tragic love affairs and life-altering realizations, from an 18-year-old girl who insists on marrying her music professor to the wife of a film producer who gets the chance to lead a much different life after her husband's death. Read the glowing NY Times book review here. 

The Middle Men: stories, by Jim Gavin
 
In Middle Men, Stegner Fellow and New Yorker contributor Jim Gavin delivers a panoramic vision of California, portraying a group of men, from young dreamers to old vets, as they make valiant forays into middle-class respectability. The men in Gavin's stories all find themselves stuck somewhere in the middle, caught half way between their dreams and the often crushing reality of their lives. A work of profound humanity that pairs moments of high comedy with searing truths about life's missed opportunities, Middle Men brings to life a series of unforgettable characters learning what it means to love and work and be in the world as a man, and it offers our first look at a gifted writer. 

No Animals We Could Name: stories, by Ted Sanders
 
The animals (human or otherwise) in these stories are oddly familiar, yet unlike anyone you've met before. A lion made of bedsheets, with chicken bones for teeth, is brought to life by a grieving mother. When Raphael the pet lizard mysteriously loses his tail, his owners find themselves ever more desperate to keep him alive, in one sense or another. A pensive tug-of-war between an amateur angler and a halibut unfolds through the eyes of both fisherman and fish. And in the collection's unifying novella, an unusual guest's arrival at a party sets idle gears turning in startling new ways. Mr. Sanders recently put together a music playlist to accompany this collection, read about it here. 

Pu-239 and other Russian Fantasies, by Ken Kalfus
 
First published in 1999 and written during a four-year residency in Moscow where his wife served as bureau chief to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Kalfus shows us the heart of Russian people against the tumultuous backdrop of Soviet history. These five short stories and one novella demonstrate Kalfus's sense of the absurd. Worth taking a look, 12 plus years after its first release. This was also made into an HBO movie in 2008.

Spectacle: stories, by Susan Steinberg
 
Spectacle bears witness to alarming and strange incidents: carnival rides and plane crashes, affairs spied through keyholes and amateur porn, vandalism and petty theft. These wounded women stand at the edge of disaster and risk it all to speak their sharpest secrets. In lean, acrobatic prose, Susan Steinberg subverts assumptions about narrative and challenges conventional gender roles. She delivers insight with a fierce lyric intensity in sentences shorn of excessive sentiment or unnecessary ornament. By fusing style and story, Steinberg amplifies the connections between themes and characters so that each devastating revelation echoes throughout the collection. The SF Gate blog calls it "a marvel." 

This Cake Is For The Party, by Sarah Selecky
 
In these ten stories, linked frequently by the sharing of food, Ms. Selecky reaffirms the life of everyday situations with startling significance. This Cake Is for the Party reminds us that the best parts of our lives are often the least flashy. These absorbing stories are about love and longing, that touch us in a myriad of subtle and affecting ways.

The Bughouse Affair: a Carpenter and Quincannon mystery , by Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini
 
This first of a new series of lighthearted historical mysteries is set in 1890s San Francisco where former Pinkerton operative Sabina Carpenter and her detective partner, ex-Secret Service agent John Quincannon, undertake what initially appear to be two unrelated investigations. Sabina's case involves the hunt for a ruthless lady "dip" who uses fiendish means to relieve her victims of their valuables at Chutes Amusement Park and other crowded places. Quincannon, meanwhile, is after a slippery housebreaker who targets the homes of wealthy residents, following a trail that leads him from the infamous Barbary Coast to an oyster pirate's lair to a Tenderloin parlor house known as the Fiddle Dee Dee. The two cases eventually connect in surprising fashion, but not before two murders and assorted other felonies complicate matters even further. And not before the two sleuths are hindered, assisted, and exasperated by the bughouse Sherlock Holmes.

Death in Breslau: an Inspector Eberhard Mock investigation, by Marek Krajewski; translated by Danusia Stok
 
Occupied Breslau, 1933: Two young women are found murdered on a train, scorpions writhing on their bodies, an indecipherable note in an apparently oriental language nearby. Police Inspector Eberhard Mock's weekly assignation with two ladies of the night to play chess is interrupted as he is called to investigate. But uncovering the truth is no straightforward matter to Breslau. The city is in the grip of the Gestapo, and has become a place where spies are everywhere, corrupt ministers torture confessions from Jewish merchants, and Freemasons guard their secrets with blackmail and violence. And as Mock and his young assistant plunge into the city's squalid underbelly, the case takes on a dark twist of the occult with the discovery that the killings may be rooted in an even more ancient history. 

A Grain of Truth: a Teodor Szacki mystery, by Zygmunt Miloszewski; translated from the Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
 
It is spring 2009, and prosecutor Szacki is no longer working in Warsaw--he has said goodbye to his family and to his career in the capital and moved to Sandomierz, a picturesque town full of churches and museums. Hoping to start a "brave new life," Szacki instead finds himself investigating a strange murder case in surroundings both alien and unfriendly. The victim is found brutally murdered, her body drained of blood. The killing bears the hallmarks of legendary Jewish ritual slaughter, prompting a wave of anti-Semitic paranoia in the town, where everyone knows everyone. The murdered woman's husband is bereft, but when Szacki discovers that she had a lover, the husband becomes the prime suspect. Before there's time to arrest him, he is found murdered in similar circumstances. In his investigation Szacki must wrestle with the painful tangle of Polish-Jewish relations and something that happened more than sixty years earlier. 

The Hollow Man: a Detective Nick Belsey mystery , by Oliver Harris
 
Detective Nick Belsey is broke. Now it looks like he's out of a job - something happened last night, something with the boss' wife...At dawn, on what should be the last day of Belsey's career, Hampstead CID is ghostly quiet. Belsey checks the overnight files. There's a missing-person report. But this one's different. It's on the Bishops Avenue, London's richest street. Belsey sees a scam, an escape route. But someone else has got there first. Furiously paced and thrillingly plotted. 

Island of Bones: a Mrs. Westerman and Mr. Crowther mystery, by Imogen Robertson
 
A continuation of the series that includes Instruments of Darkness and Anatomy of Murder finds reclusive anatomist Gabriel Crowther investigating an ancient tomb where an extra body and clues about Crowther's haunting past are discovered. Fans of both historical fiction à la Anne Perry and the intricate forensics of Tess Gerritsen will be delighted by Robertson's latest.

Outrage: a Reykjavik murder mystery , by Arnaldur Indridason; translated from the Icelandic by Anna Yates*
 
Haunted by personal demons, Detective Erlunder decides to take a short leave of absence, putting a female detective, Elínborg, in charge while he is gone. When a troubling case lands on Elínborg's desk, she's quickly thrust into a violent and volatile situation with extremely high stakes. Soon, her investigation uncovers a twisted tale of double lives that may be connected to the unsolved disappearance of a young girl. The clock is ticking to solve the case before a serial rapist strikes again. Perfect for the many devoted fans of this series as well as for the reader who's never visited Iceland through Indridason's books, Outrage will lead you down a trail of hidden violence, psychological brutality, and wrongs that may never fully be righted. 

The Rage, by Gene Kerrigan
 
Vincent Naylor, just released from jail, resumes doing what he does best, planning for an armored car robbery. Bob Tidey, an honest policeman, discouraged by his colleagues making deals with criminals and about to commit perjury, is investigating the murder of a crooked banker. A call from an old acquaintance will change his course of investigation. Maura Coady, a retired nun living on regrets and bad memories, sees something that she can't ignore and decides to tell someone. She makes a phone call that sets in motion a violent fate. 

Ratlines, by Stuart Neville
 
Ireland 1963. As the Irish people prepare to welcome President John F. Kennedy to the land of his ancestors, a German national is murdered in a seaside guesthouse. Lieutenant Albert Ryan, Directorate of Intelligence, is ordered to investigate. The German is the third foreigner to die within a few days, and Minister for Justice Charles Haughey wants the killing to end lest a shameful secret be exposed: the dead men were all Nazis granted asylum by the Irish government in the years following World War II. A note from the killers is found on the dead German's corpse, addressed to Colonel Otto Skorzeny, Hitler's favorite commando, once called the most dangerous man in Europe. The note simply says: "We are coming for you." As Albert Ryan digs deeper into the case he discovers a network of former Nazis and collaborators, all presided over by Skorzeny from his country estate outside Dublin. When Ryan closes in on the killers, his loyalty is torn between country and conscience. Why must he protect the very people he fought against twenty years before? Ryan learns that Skorzeny might be a dangerous ally, but he is a deadly enemy. 

Safe House, by Chris Ewan
 
When Rob Hale wakes up in a hospital after a motorcycle crash, his first thought is for the gorgeous blonde, Lena, who was on the back of his bike. The doctors and police, however, insist that he was alone at the scene. The shock of the accident must have made him imagine Lena, especially since his description of her resembles his late sister, Laura. Convinced that Lena is as real as he is, Rob teams up with Rebecca Lewis, a London-based PI who has a mysterious connection to Laura--and learns that even a close-knit community like the Isle of Man can hide dangerous secrets that will not stay safe forever. 

Salvation of a saint: a Detective Galileo mystery , by Keigo Higashino; translated by Alexander O. Smith ; with Elye Alexander
 
In 2011, The Devotion of Suspect X was a hit with critics and readers alike. The first major English language publication from the most popular bestselling writer in Japan, it was acclaimed as "stunning," "brilliant," and "ingenious." Now physics professor Manabu Yukawa--Detective Galileo--returns in a new case of impossible murder, where instincts clash with facts and theory with reality. Yoshitaka, who was about to leave his marriage and his wife, is poisoned by arsenic-laced coffee and dies. His wife, Ayane, is the logical suspect--except that she was hundreds of miles away when he was murdered. The lead detective, Tokyo Police Detective Kusanagi, is immediately smitten with her and refuses to believe that she could have had anything to do with the crime. His assistant, Kaoru Utsumi, however, is convinced Ayane is guilty. While Utsumi's instincts tell her one thing, the facts of the case are another matter. So she does what her boss has done for years when stymied--she calls upon Professor Manabu Yukawa. But even the brilliant mind of Dr. Yukawa has trouble with this one, and he must somehow find a way to solve an impossible murder and capture a very real, very deadly murderer. Salvation of a Saint is Keigo Higashino at his mind-bending best, pitting emotion against fact in a beautifully plotted crime novel filled with twists and reverses that will astonish and surprise even the most attentive and jaded of readers. 

Talking to the dead: a Fiona Griffiths mystery, by Harry Bingham
 
A U.S. debut by an award-winning British novelist introduces rookie cop Fiona Griffiths, who on the cusp of breaking her first big case uncovers a dire conspiracy that takes her into a dark underworld that threatens her with her own personal demons. 

What the Cat Saw: a Nela Farley mystery, by Carolyn Hart
 
A woman able to understand the thoughts of cats becomes an unwitting investigator when her sister's co-worker is murdered and the only witness was her beloved feline, in this new novel from the author of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated Letter from Home.

Americano, directed by Mathieu Demy
 
After receiving news of his mother's death, Martin leaves his girlfriend (Chiara Mastroianni) and home in Paris and sets off for Los Angeles to tie up the loose ends of his rocky maternal relationship. Arriving in the United States, Martin is greeted by his mother's best friend Linda who agrees to help him settle his late mother's affairs. As Martin digs deeper into his mother's past, he discovers she had a hidden relationship with a beautiful woman named Lola ), who he finds at a seedy strip club in Tijuana called the Americano. As Lola recounts her affair with his mother, Martin discovers there may have been more than he ever hoped to know about his mother's sordid past and his own problems with commitment. New York Times film critic A.O. Scott says the film "demonstrates unassuming self-assurance and an admirable willingness to take formal and emotional risks in pursuit of a complicated and elusive truth." You can read the rest of the review here.

Black Butterflies, directed by Paula van der Oest
 
Poetry, politics, madness, and desire collide in the true story of the woman hailed as South Africa's finest poet. In 1960s Cape Town, as Apartheid steals the expressive rights of blacks and whites alike, young Ingrid Jonker finds her freedom scrawling verse while frittering through a series of stormy affairs. Amid escalating quarrels with her lovers and her rigid father, a parliament censorship minister, the poet witnesses an unconscionable event that will alter the course of both her artistic and personal lives.

Comes a Bright Day, directed by Simon Aboud
 
Sam is a bright, ambitious, and handsome bellboy at a five-star hotel who has big dreams of one day running his own restaurant. On a seemingly ordinary day, he suddenly finds himself in a life-or-death hostage situation with the radiantly beautiful Mary and her elderly boss. Against the backdrop of an armed jewel robbery that goes badly wrong, hostages Sam and Mary, flung together, discover their true feelings for each other. 

Eating Raoul, directed by Paul Bartel
 
A prudish married couple are feeling put upon by the swingers who live in their apartment building; one night, by accident, they discover a way to simultaneously realize their dream of opening a little restaurant and rid themselves of the "perverts" down the hall. A mix of hilarious, anything-goes slapstick and biting satire of me-generation self-indulgence, Eating Raoul marks the end of the sexual revolution with a thwack. Reissue of the early '80's cult classic. 

Enlightened: The complete season 1 , creators, Laura Dern & Mike White
 
Enlightened centers on Amy Jellicoe (Laura Dern), a 40-year-old woman who returns home to California after a month's stay at a holistic treatment facility, a result of having a mental breakdown at work triggered by her self-destructive ways. Amy returns to her old life with a new cultivated approach and perspective, which includes daily meditation and exhorting the power of self-help and inner healing. Though Amy wants to be an "agent of change" in the world, the people who know her best are skeptical of her latest intentions. This subtle comedy is also notable for its take on office and family dynamics. Stick with it, it takes some getting used to but well worth your time.

La Terra Trema , directed by Luchino Visconti
 
Italian neo-realism at it's most epic. Originally released in 1948. Sicilian fishermen exploited for their cheap labor vainly strike out on their own. Everything goes well until a storm ruins the family's boat, leaving them with nothing to keep the new business going. Following this disaster, the family experiences several unfortunate events that tests their bonds. For more details, read this excellent overview from the The Movie Projector blog. 

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, directed by Hayao Miyazaki
 
From the maker of Ponyo and Spirited Away, this amazing animated films takes place after a global war, and tells the story of the seaside kingdom known as the Valley Of The Wind, which remains one of the last strongholds on Earth untouched by a poisonous jungle and the powerful insects that guard it. Led by the courageous Princess Nausicaa, the people of the Valley engage in an epic struggle to restore the bond between humanity and Earth. 

Ruby Sparks, directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
 
Struggling with writer's block and a lackluster love life, once-famous novelist Calvin creates a beautiful fictitious character named Ruby who inspires him. But not only does this bring his work to life, it also brings Ruby to life, literally. Face-to-face with an actual relationship with his once virtual girlfriend, Calvin must now decide whether to pen this love story or let it write itself. 

The Trench, directed by William Boyd
 
A group of young British soldiers are on the eve of the Battle of the Somme, the worst defeat in British military history. At the center of the troops is 17-year-old Billy Macfarlane with his older brother Eddie who have volunteered for service. Like their fellow squad members, they are boys dressed as men. Their survival is in the hands of war-hardened Sergeant Winter and bookish Lieutenant Harte. When word comes the squad will join the first wave of attacks, they all face an equal fate. 

The Wise Kids, directed by Stephen Cone
 
Three members of a church youth group struggle to find their identities in their senior year of high school. Well reviewed and highly regarded. Read Roger Ebert's review here.

Burn for Burn, by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian
 
Postcard-perfect Jar Island is home to charming tourist shops, pristine beaches, amazing oceanfront homes--and three girls secretly plotting revenge. Kat is sick and tired of being bullied by her former best friend. Lillia has always looked out for her little sister, so when she discovers that one of her guy friends has been secretly hooking up with her, she's going to put a stop to it. Mary is perpetually haunted by a traumatic event from years past, and the boy who's responsible has yet to get what's coming to him. None of the girls can act on their revenge fantasies alone without being suspected. But together...anything is possible. With an unlikely alliance in place, there will be no more "I wish I'd said..." or "If I could go back and do things differently..." These girls will show Jar Island that revenge is a dish best enjoyed together. 

Cadillac Chronicles, by Brett Hartman
 
Sixteen year-old Alex Riley's top priority in life is to find his long-absent father. But his mother has a knack for sabotaging his plans. To advance her political career, she takes in an elderly black man named Lester Bray. Lester arrives with a vintage Cadillac and an old man's personality. It takes only a week for Alex's mother to ask Lester to leave. That makes Alex angry. On the morning of his eviction, Lester and Alex set out on a road trip, ostensibly to find the boy's father in Fort Lauderdale. But the two don't just head south. They also cross through un-navigated political, racial, and personal territory. 

Come August, Come Freedom: the bellows, the gallows, and the black general Gabriel, by Gigi Amateau
 
In a time of post-Revolutionary fervor in Richmond, Virginia, an imposing twenty-four-year-old slave named Gabriel, known for his courage and intellect, plotted a rebellion involving thousands of African- American freedom seekers armed with refashioned pitchforks and other implements of Gabriel's blacksmith trade. The revolt would be thwarted by a confluence of fierce weather and human betrayal, but Gabriel retained his dignity to the end. History knows little of Gabriel's early life. But here, author Gigi Amateau imagines a childhood shaped by a mother's devotion, a father's passion for liberation, and a friendship with a white master's son who later proved cowardly and cruel. She gives vibrant life to Gabriel's love for his wife-to-be, Nanny, a slave woman whose freedom he worked tirelessly, and futilely, to buy. Interwoven with original documents, this poignant, illuminating novel gives a personal face to a remarkable moment in history.

The Diviners, by Libba Bray
 
Evie O'Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City--and she is  thrilled. New York is the city of speakeasies, shopping, and movie palaces! Soon enough, Evie is running with glamorous Ziegfield girls and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is Evie has to live with her Uncle Will, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult--also known as "The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies." When a rash of occult-based murders comes to light, Evie and her uncle are right in the thick of the investigation. And through it all, Evie has a secret: a mysterious power that could help catch the killer--if he doesn't catch her first. 

Entice: a Violet Eden chapters novel , by Jessica Shirvington
 
Protecting humans from the vengeance of exiled angels, 17-year-old half-angel Violet Eden discovers that her Grigori reinforcements, including Lincoln, are hiding potentially dangerous secrets that may tilt the balance of power during a battle against the forces of Phoenix. This is the much anticipated follow-up to Embrace. 

The Opposite of Hallelujah, by Anna Jarzab
 
Caro Mitchell considers herself an only child--and she likes it that way. After all, her much older sister, Hannah, left home eight years ago, and Caro barely remembers her. So when Caro's parents drop the bombshell news that Hannah is returning to live with them, Caro feels as if an interloper is crashing her family. To her, Hannah's a total stranger, someone who haunts their home with her meek and withdrawn presence, and who refuses to talk about her life and why she went away. Caro can't understand why her parents cut Hannah so much slack, and why they're not pushing for answers. Unable to understand Hannah, Caro resorts to telling lies about her mysterious reappearance. But when those lies alienate her new boyfriend, friends, and put her on the outs with her parents, Caro seeks solace from an unexpected source. And as she unearths a clue from Hannah's past--one that could save Hannah from the dark secret that possesses her--Caro begins to see her sister in a whole new light. 

Reached: a Matched novel , by Ally Condie
 
In the long-anticipated conclusion to the #1 New York Times best-selling Matched Trilogy, Cassia will reconcile the difficulties of challenging a life that is too confining, seeking a freedom that she never dreamed possible and honoring a love she cannot live without. 

Regine's book: a teen girl's last words , by Regine Stokke
 
Regine Stokke began to blog about her day-to-day life shortly after she was diagnosed with leukemia in 2008. Regine's stated purpose with her posts was to give people a sense of "what it's like to live with" such a serious illness, and her blog became an almost instant classic. It was first adapted into book form in 2010, and became a best seller in Norway.

Rootless, by Chris Howard
 
17-year-old Banyan is a tree builder. Using salvaged scrap metal, he creates forests for rich patrons who seek a reprieve from the desolate landscape. Although Banyan's never seen a real tree--they were destroyed more than a century ago--his missing father used to tell him stories about the Old World. Everything changes when Banyan meets a mysterious woman with a strange tattoo, a map to the last living trees on earth, and he sets off across a wasteland from which few return. Those who make it past the pirates and poachers can't escape the locusts . . . the locusts that now feed on human flesh. But Banyan isn't the only one looking for the trees, and he's running out of time. Unsure of whom to trust, he's forced to make an alliance with Alpha, a beautiful, dangerous pirate with an agenda of her own. As they race towards a promised land that might only be a myth, Banyan makes shocking discoveries about his family, his past, and how far people will go to bring back the trees. 

Safekeeping, by Karen Hesse
 
Coming back from volunteering abroad, Radley just wants to get home to Vermont, and the comfort and safety of her parents. Travel restrictions and delays are worse than ever, and by the time Radley's plane lands in New Hampshire, she's been traveling for over twenty-four hours. Exhausted, she heads outside to find her parents--who always come, day or night, no matter when or where she lands--aren't there. Her cell phone is dead, her credit cards are worthless, and she doesn't have the proper travel papers to cross state lines. Out of money and options, Radley starts walking. . . . 

Sumo, by Thien Pham
 
Scott is a washed-up football player who never made it, and whose girlfriend abandoned him along with his dreams of playing pro football. But things have a way of working out, in this sweet, poetic tale--and a new chapter in Scott's life begins as the old one ends. Offered a position in a Japanese sumo training "stable," Scott abandons his old life, his old name, and even his old hair color, and becomes an aspiring sumo wrestler. And in so doing, he begins to find some kind of center in himself...a center that had seemed lost for good. This graphic novel is an unusual and beautiful book. It's nearly a contradiction in terms: a delicate, deft, tender tale about...sumo wrestling. 

Unstoppable, by Tim Green
 
A tale inspired by interviews with real-life cancer survivors and the author's experiences as a defensive end for the Atlanta Falcons traces the challenges faced by foster kid and aspiring NFL athlete Harrison, who received a devastating diagnosis after a routine sports injury. 

Ann Getty: interior style, by Diane Dorrans Saeks; photography by Lisa Romerein
 
The first-ever compilation of the luxurious interiors from the influential designer and philanthropist Ann Getty. Fluent in classical styles and periods and known for sourcing her vast array of objects and opulent materials from across the globe, Getty creates interiors that are steeped in historical style yet remain fresh and vibrant for today's clientele.From the exceptional residence she and her music-composer husband, Gordon Getty, use for entertaining and displaying their world-class collection of art and antiques, to the comfortable yet elegant townhouse she designed for a stylish young family, the book showcases richly detailed interiors that are coveted by design enthusiasts and collectors. Featured are pieces from Getty's successful furniture line of original designs inspired by the renowned Getty collection as well as her own extensive travel and design studies.This intimate look, Getty's first-ever monograph, demonstrates how to combine objects from different time periods and styles in a sumptuous atmosphere rich in bold colors, vibrant textures, and classic elegance. 

Atomic Ranch Midcentury Interiors , by Michelle Gringeri-Brown; with photographs by Jim Brown
 
Traveling from upstate New York to Washington, D.C., to San Mateo, California, and various places in between, the authors found eight great examples of ranch interiors sure to inspire. Flip through the pages of this book and you'll find kitchens and baths that stand out from the crowd but are still at home in this modest architectural style. You'll see how the judicious addition of the most inexpensive details can make your house look like a zillion bucks. The homeowners of our featured homes share their tips on color, flooring, window coverings, furniture arrangements, and more. They turn off-the-shelf components into custom features and talk about both their successes and their challenges. But most importantly, they show how to live stylishly while still having a life. Like you, they have kids, pets, and jobs, and would trade a kitchen floor that doesn't show muddy footprints for a white carpet any day. Their stories explain why these rooms work, and provide you with resources and ideas for everything from the garage door to the art on the wall. Read a review of the book from the Los Angeles Times Home blog. 

The Collected Home, by Darryl Carter with Trish Donnally
 
Readers who love new traditional design that's clean and refined yet comfortable will find inspiration and liberation in how acclaimed designer and author Darryl Carter perceives the home as a collection of beloved hand-selected items. The Collected Home dazzles with gorgeous photographs of rooms and details, and enlightening text about what makes a space extraordinary. Additionally, the author provides--for the first time ever--hands-on advice for approaching home design, such as defining short- and long-term goals, from selecting an antique door knocker to planning the architectural elements of an addition. 

Interiors, by Martyn Thompson
 
Photographer Martyn Thompson has managed to assemble a stunning collection of the homes of the most well-known figures in the design world. Featuring such fascinating subjects as Francisco Costa, creative director of Calvin Klein; Italian jewelry designer Elsa Peretti; interior designer Thomas O'Brien; fashion designer Francisco Costa; hotelier Sean MacPherson; designer Sonja Nuttall; and fashion designer Anna Sui; this book is a sneak-peak into the interiors of the style-makers.

Mirrors: reflections of style, by Paula Phipps
 
Presents a history of the mirror, discussing the different forms it has taken and its various uses a decorative detail throughout history, from the artifacts of the ancient world, to the refinements of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, to the modern innovations of the twenty and twenty-first centuries. 

100 ways to happy chic your life , by Jonathan Adler
 
A vibrant, hilarious mash-up of style bible, decorating tome, and self-help guide. In gorgeous, full-color spreads, 100 bold ideas for Happy Chic dwelling, decorating, and entertaining are revealed. As a bonus, five project gatefolds invite readers to create their own Happy chic handicrafts. 

Jennifer Post: pure space, elegant minimalism, by Anna Kasabian
 
This book showcases fresh, contemporary interiors that reflect Jennifer Post's "pure space" philosophy: a serene, meticulously organized volume that offers a peaceful break from a busy world. From lofts in New York City to Miami high-rises to Palm Beach villas, each interior is immaculately conceived, detailed, and constructed--the epitome of pure, tailored modernism. In her own words, Post demonstrates how she transforms living environments into elegantly edited spaces, using clean lines, white surfaces that reflect natural light, and open areas that allow a home to breathe. Since the age of eight, when she traveled to neighbors' houses offering to organize their closets and rearrange their rooms, Post has been dedicated to her pure aesthetic vision, resulting in a timeless body of work. 

Vintage remix : the interiors of Kishani Perera , by Kishani Perera
 
Interior designer Kishani Perera knows that good design is everywhere and at every price point. Mixing modern with vintage, and retail with custom, her eclectic interiors incorporate pieces from designer showrooms and Etsy alike to create spectacularly layered, vibrant homes. In Vintage Remix, Perera's striking interiors serve as a guided tour through the stages of design, from deciding when to skimp or splurge to adding the finishing touches and unexpected elements of whimsy. Her mix-and-match philosophy will help readers discover and express their own tastes. Perera takes the intimidation out of blending styles, proving that pairing seemingly opposing pieces can strike a balance that is classically chic.