eBranch Blog

March 30, 2005

Tayshas Reading List 2005-2006

"Tayshas" takes its name from the Caddo Indian word meaning "friends or allies". Written texas, texios, tejas, teyas, or tayshas , the word was applied to the Caddos by the Spanish in eastern Texas, who regarded them as friends and allies against the Apaches. (Newcomb, W.W., Jr. The Indians from Texas: Prehistoric to Modern Times. University of Texas Press, 1961.)

The objectives of the Tayshas project are to motivate young adults to read more and to enjoy opportunities to become a community of readers in Texas.

The Tayshas Reading List

Kathe Koja. Buddha Boy
Justin spends time with Jinsen, the unusual and artistic new student whom the school bullies torment and call Buddha Boy, and ends up making choices that impact Jinsen, himself, and the entire school.

March 29, 2005

New Bestsellers 3/28/05

The following books are appearing on the best seller lists for the first time this week. For a complete listing see our collection of Best Seller Lists.

NYT = New York Times
PW = Publisher's Weekly
USA = USA Today
WSJ = Wall Street Journal

Fiction

EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE, by Jonathan Safran Foer. (Houghton Mifflin, $24.95.) A 9-year-old boy searches New York City for the lock that fits a key belonging to his father, who died on Sept. 11. (NYT #15)

Elizabeth George. With No One as a Witness
When an adolescent boy's mutilated body is found, it doesn't take long for the police to realize that this is the work of a serial killer. (NYT #6, PW #5, WSJ #3)

Stephanie Laurens. The Truth About Love
The Cynster phenomenon continues with this new addition to the beloved series from the international bestselling author of "The Ideal Bride" and "The Perfect Lover." (NYT #13, WSJ #10)

Nonfiction

Kurt Eichenwald. Conspiracy of Fools
With Conspiracy of Fools, Eichenwald has done it again. Say the name ?Enron? and most people believe they?ve heard all about the story that imperiled a presidency, destroyed a marketplace, and changed Washington and Wall Street forever. But in the hands of Kurt Eichenwald, the players we think we know and the business practices we think have been exposed are transformed into entirely new?and entirely gripping?material. (NYT #4, PW #6, WSJ #3)

THE GLASS CASTLE, by Jeannette Walls. (Scribner, $25.) The author, a contributor to MSNBC.com, recalls a bizarre childhood during which she and her siblings were constantly being moved from one bleak place to another. (NYT #12)

Christiane Northrup. Mother-Daughter Wisdom: Creating a Legacy of Physical & Emotional Health
The bonds are laid down in the womb, passed from generation to generation; they continue throughout life, shaping our physical, mental, and spiritual well being. By understanding these mother-daughter bonds, we can rebuild our own health, whatever our age, and insure a healthy future for our daughters. (PW #14, WSJ #11)

March 23, 2005

Living Wills & End of Life Planning

Living wills, advanced directives and end of life care are very much in the news right now. If you are searching for information on this topic, the Texas Partnership for End of Life Care offers information on all of these issues, including sample forms.

For general legal web sites, check out our Find It! Guide for Law.

New Bestsellers 3/21/05

The following books are appearing on the best seller lists for the first time this week. For a complete listing see our collection of Best Seller Lists.

The Library Journal Lists of Most Borrowed Books in Public Libraries for Fiction and Nonfiction were updated for March 15.

NYT = New York Times
PW = Publisher's Weekly
USA = USA Today
WSJ = Wall Street Journal

Fiction

Mary Pope Osborne. Magic Treehouse 33: Carnival at Candlelight
While on a mission to prove to Merlin that they can use magic wisely, Jack and Annie travel to seventeenth-century Venice, Italy, to save the city from disaster. (USA #10)

Robert B. Parker. Cold Service
Spenser--"God's gift to the Boston crime scene" ("Kirkus")--and his redoubtable sidekick, Hawk, seek revenge on a cold-blooded killer. Spenser is forced to employ some questionable techniques and even more questionable hired guns while redefining his friendship with Hawk in the name of vengeance. (NYT #6, WSJ #2)

Nonfiction

Catherine Crier. A Deadly Game: The Untold Story of the Scott Peterson Investigation
Thoroughly engrossing yet highly disturbing, A Deadly Game is the definitive account of a murder that left an indelible stain on the American psyche. (NYT #3, PW #3, USA #11, WSJ #2)

Elizabeth Warren & Amelia Warren Tyagi. For All Your Worth
The bestselling mother/daughter coauthors of "The Two-Income Trap" now pen an essential guide to the five simple keys to lasting financial peace. (WSJ #9)

WSJ Business

Marcus Buckingham. One Thing You Need to Know
Following the success of the landmark bestsellers First, Break All the Rules and Now, Discover Your Strengths, Marcus Buckingham offers a dramatically new way to understand the art of success. (#8)

We now have copies of several bestsellers that have been on the lists for a while:

Anne Bird. Blood Brother: 33 Reasons My Brother Scott Peterson Is Guilty
The story no one else can tell?for the first time, the sister of Scott Peterson comes forward with her account of his marriage and her brother's disturbing behavior?and how she slowly realized that her brother was capable of murder. The most chilling inside look at Scott Peterson from the first family member to open a public window on the Peterson family. Blood Brother includes dozens of headline-making revelations and contains previously unpublished photos, e-mails, and letters, including Scott's bizarre letters to Anne from prison.

Giada de Laurentiis. Everyday Italian
Charming and extremely talented, Giada D. Laurentiis is the star of Food Network's Everyday Italian. Filled with 130 gorgeous photos and more than 100 recipes for speedy but special dinners, this is the debut cookbook from a major new culinary star.

March 14, 2005

New Bestsellers 3/14/05

The following books are appearing on the best seller lists for the first time this week. For a complete listing see our collection of Best Seller Lists.

NYT = New York Times
PW = Publisher's Weekly
USA = USA Today
WSJ = Wall Street Journal

Fiction

VC Andrews. Child of Darkness
From "New York Times" bestselling author V.C. Andrews comes the thrilling conclusion to the Gemini series about a mystical family with a terrible secret. (USA #14)

Orson Scott Card. Shadow of the Giant
"The complexity and serious treatment of the book's young protagonists will attract many sophisticated YA readers, while Card%%%'s impeccable prose, fast pacing and political intrigue will appeal to adult fans of spy novels, thrillers, and science fiction."--Publishers Weekly (starred review). (NYT #10, PW #11, WSJ #8)

Frank Delaney. Ireland
This unforgettable "tour de force" marries the intimate, passionate texture of the Irish spirit with a sweeping, epic historical scope, to tell the story of how the character of the land and its people were shaped by history, neighboring England, and the Irish themselves. (WSJ #15)

Tim LaHaye & Jerry B. Jenkins. The Rising: Antichrist is Born Before They Were Left Behind
The newest book in the Left Behind series gives readers a glimpse into the lives of their favorite characters before the Rapture. Plus they can see how Nicolae Carpathia came into power, why Viv Ivans played such a pivotal role in Nicholae's life, and more. (NYT #2, PW #6, USA #1, WSJ #7)

Jodi Picoult. Vanishing Acts
From the bestselling author of "My Sister's Keeper" and "Second Glance" comes the shocking story of a woman caught between a past she can not recall and the life she cannot lead without it. (NYT #7, WSJ #6)

Nora Roberts. Divine Evil
When an industrial artist returns to her hometown to face the half-remembered nightmares that have plagued her since childhood, she falls in love with a bad-boy-turned-sheriff and must pay the price for digging up the secrets of the past. (USA #12)

Danielle Steel. Impossible
When a high-powered gallery owner collides with an offbeat artist, it's the perfect recipe for disaster. With unerring insight into the hearts of men and women--and into the soul of the artist--Danielle Steel takes readers into a world of glamour and genius, priceless art and dazzling creativity. (NYT #3, PW #5, USA #13, WSJ #5)

MISSING PERSONS, by Stephen White. (Dutton, $25.95.) The psychologist Alan Gregory looks for a young girl who has either run away or been abducted. (NYT #16)

Nonfiction

TAKING HEAT , by Ari Fleischer. (Morrow, $26.95.) A White House memoir by President Bush's former press secretary. %(NYT #7)

Anne Lamott. Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith
With the trademark wisdom, humor, and honesty that made "Traveling Mercies" a runaway bestseller, "Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith" is a spiritual antidote to anxiety and despair in increasingly fraught times. (NYT #4, PW #12)

Suze Orman. The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous, & Broke
From the world's most trusted expert on personal finance comes a "route planner," identifying easy moves to get young people on the road to recovery and within reach of their dreams. (PW #14, WSJ #14)

PW Audio Fiction

James Luceno. Star Wars: Labyrinth of Evil
Based on information from Lucasfilm and written by bestselling "Star Wars" author James Luceno, this is a Jedi adventure that is a direct prequel to the upcoming movie, "Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. (Abridged CD) (#12)

JD Robb. Survivor in Death
In her newest novel in the #1 "New York Times" bestselling series, Nora Roberts writing as J.D. Robb returns to the New York city of 2059%2, where Lieutenant Eve Dallas will struggle to solve murder of a seemingly ordinary family, and protect one small, terrified survivor. (Unabridged CD) (#14)

PW Audio Nonfiction

David Bach. Start Late, Finish Rich: A No-Fail Plan for Achieving Financial Freedom at Any Age
In Start Late, Finish Rich, David Bach takes the ?Finish Rich? wisdom that has already helped millions of people and tailors it specifically to all of us who forgot to save, procrastinated, or got sidetracked by life?s unexpected challenges. (Abridged CD) (#15)

Jared Diamond. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Brilliant, illuminating, and immensely absorbing, Collapse is destined to take its place as one of the essential books of our time, raising the urgent question: How can our world best avoid committing ecological suicide? (Abridged CD) (#13)

PW Religion

Deepak Chopra. Peace Is the Way: Bringing War and Violence to an End
Peace Is the Way challenges each of us to take the next leap in personal evolution. ?You aren?t asked to be a saint, or to give up any belief. You are only asked to stop reacting out of fear, to change your allegiance from violence to peace.? In a practical seven-step program, Chopra shows the reader how to become a true peacemaker. (#5)

Western Heritage Award for Movies List

We have added a movie list for the Western Heritage Award for Theatrical Motion Picture. The Western Heritage Awards are given annually by the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in a variety of categories.

2004
Open Range
Boss Spearman, a rugged old-timer, free grazes cattle. He and Charley have been partners for ten years. The pair and their employees, Mose and Buttons, are driving their cattle across the West. Mose is attacked and thrown in jail during a visit to a town. The local cattle rancher, Baxter, wants the free grazers off his land and when Boss and Charley retrieve Mose, they are warned that they have until the next day to be out of the area. Charley confesses his past as a killer during the Civil War and strikes up a tentative romance with Sue, the sister of the town doctor. Directed by Kevin Costner. Starring Kevin Coster & Robert Duvall. Based on the book Open Range Men by Lauran Paine. R

New Books/Movies/Audio Lists Updated

The New Books, Audios, and Movies lists have been updated with titles cataloged in February 2005.

March 08, 2005

New Bestsellers 2/7/05

The following books are appearing on the best seller lists for the first time this week. For a complete listing see our collection of Best Seller Lists.

NYT = New York Times
PW = Publisher's Weekly
USA = USA Today
WSJ = Wall Street Journal

Fiction

IRELAND, by Frank Delaney. (HarperCollins, $26.95.) Inspired by an itinerant storyteller, a boy immerses himself in the history and mythology of his country. (NYT #15)

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ME & EMMA, by Elizabeth Flock. (Mira, $17.95.) Living with a drunken stepfather in an impoverished home in North Carolina, an 8-year-old girl tries to create a new life for herself and her younger sister. (NYT #14)

Greg Iles. Blood Memory
Forensic expert Catherine "Cat" Ferry is a 31-year-old woman at the peak of her professional career when she begins to have panic attacks and blackouts at murder scenes. As she pieces together horrifying childhood events she has been shielded from all her life, both she and the FBI realize that current murders in New Orleans are intimately tied to Cat's family and her past. (WSJ #12)

Nora Roberts. The Calhouns: Suzanna and Megan
The #1 "New York Times" bestselling author continues the saga of the Calhoun sisters, who are determined to save their magnificent family mansion in Maine against all odds. This two-in-one volume contains "Suzanna's Surrender" and "Megan's Mate." Reissue. (USA #2)

Daniel Silva. Prince of Fire
A knife-edged thriller of astonishing intricacy and feeling, filled with exhilarating prose, this is Daniel Silva's finest novel yet. Gabriel Allon is pitted against a Palestinian mastermind, as hunter and hunted pursue each other across a landscape drenched with generations of blood. (NYT #5, WSJ #5)

Nonfiction

T. Harv Eker. Secrets of the Millionaire Mind
For the first time, the secrets, principles, and techniques of Eker's popular personal success seminars are captured on the page for readers across North America. Eker teaches people how to play the inner game of money so that they not only achieve financial success, but keep it once they have it. (USA #4, WSJ #1)

NYT Children's Chapter

Gary D. Schmidt. Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster
Boy In 1911, Turner Buckminster hates his new home of Phippsburg, Maine, but things improve when he meets Lizzie Bright Griffin, a girl from a poor, nearby island community founded by former slaves that the town fathers--and Turner's--want to change into a tourist spot. (#8)

March 03, 2005

Staff Favorites

Ever wonder what your favorite staff member likes to read? Now you can find out through our new Staff Favorites feature - on our Books & Reading (and Movies) page. . There are Adult, Teen and Children's favorites. You can also search the staff favorites by title, author, genre, and staff member. The Staff Favorites feature complements the Book and Movie Reviews. Check it out today and find something good to read!

March 01, 2005

New Bestsellers 2/28/05

The following books are appearing on the best seller lists for the first time this week. For a complete listing see our collection of Best Seller Lists.

The Library Journal Lists of Most Borrowed Books in Public Libraries for Fiction and Nonfiction were updated for March 1.

The Cr?ticas [Spanish language] Bestsellers were updated for January.

NYT = New York Times
PW = Publisher's Weekly
USA = USA Today
WSJ = Wall Street Journal

Fiction

Robert Crais. The Forgotten Man
In his major "New York Times" bestseller "The Last Detective," Crais returned to his signature characters, private investigator Elvis Cole and partner Joe Pike. Now, after scratching the surface of Cole's troubled past, Crais returns with a stunning suspense novel that leads to the dark secrets of Cole's own life. (NYT #7, PW #6, WSJ #6)

Greg Iles. Blood Memory
Forensic expert Catherine "Cat" Ferry is a 31-year-old woman at the peak of her professional career when she begins to have panic attacks and blackouts at murder scenes. As she pieces together horrifying childhood events she has been shielded from all her life, both she and the FBI realize that current murders in New Orleans are intimately tied to Cat's family and her past. (NYT #8, PW #9)

James Patterson. Honeymoon
When rich men begin to die mysteriously%2, FBI agent John O'Hara is on the case. After a young writer succumbs to an apparent heart attack, John turns a probing eye to the man's ambitious widow. (NYT #1, PW #1, USA #1, WSJ #1)

Mary Doria Russell. A Thread of Grace
Set in Italy during the dramatic finale of World War II, this new novel is the first in seven years by the bestselling author of "The Sparrow" and "Children of God." (NYT #15, PW #14)

M. Walsh & M. Malone. Killing Club
A suspenseful novel crackling with murder, love, and betrayal -- introducing the smart young detective Jamie Ferrara. In this One Life to Live tie-in novel, Jamie Ferrara is a spunky, attractive detective engaged to Rod Wolenski, the Chief of Detectives and her boss, and still living with her retired cop father and spacey rock guitarist brother. When a dear old friend dies in a grotesque holiday accident, Jamie is pulled into a homicide investigation in her small New Jersey hometown, and reunited with the friends and secrets she left behind. (NYT #16, WSJ #13)

Nonfiction

Jose Canseco. Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits and How Baseball Got Big
One of the most electrifying and controversial athletes ever to step onto the baseball diamond shares outrageous tales of sex, drugs, and hard partying in the major leagues - as well as a never-before-seen look at baseball's dart secret: steroids. (NYT #1, PW #2, USA #3, WSJ #2)

Bob Greene. Bob Greene's Total Body Makeover
Bob Greene lays out a no-nonsense, accelerated program for physical transformation. Best of all, the exercise and nutrition regimen is easily customized for any diet plan--South Beach, the Zone, Atkins, Dr. Phil, Dr. Ornish, and Somersizing. (PW #1, USA #2, WSJ #1)

Business

John Perkins. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
In this riveting personal story, John Perkins tells of his own inner journey from willing servant of empire to impassioned advocate for the rights of oppressed people. (WSJ #10)

Children's Picture Books

Kevin Henkes. Kitten's First Full Moon
When Kitten mistakes the full moon for a bowl of milk, she ends up tired, wet, and hungry trying to reach it. (PW #1)

Barbara Lehman. The Red Book
A book about a book, a magical red book, without any words, and the friendship that develops around it. (NYT #10)

Michael Stadther. A Treasure's Trove
This Fairy tale takes place in a Great Forest and tells a sweet (and sometimes sad) story about friendship and greed, Good Fairies and Evil Fairies and how love is greater than fear. (PW #2)