Young, sea-loving Lily (née Harriette) is aptly nicknamed after a floating flower. A Bajan high school drop-out, she subsists passively in her grandmother’s house at the sufferance of a stern, fundamentalist task-mistress, one who malignly sees in Lily her lost, promiscuous, “wutless” mother. Adrift, born into an “island paradise” which offers few choices to her kind, she must nevertheless identify, then gain the grit and spiritual wherewithal to make them, if she’s to escape an out-of-control life of serial beatings at the hands of her first “man,” the charismatic, brutal, and finally murderous Goldie (Colvin) Edwards. Through the counsel of her appalled friend Sophie and the wisdoms of a pair of beach Rastas encountered beside her beloved Caribbean, she slowly learns not only that she is, indeed, a lovely flower, but The Rock she must leave via the freedom of primal yet navigable waters, has been the stumbling block set before an unloved female self. With a brilliant ear for both dialogue and dialect, and a great gift for ensemble scenes, Canadian-Bajan novelist Nicole Blades plants us firmly on the soil, not of the tourists’, but of the natives’ contemporary Caribbean.

"This book is an attack on current city planning and rebuilding." From this first sentence of the seminal 1961 book The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs gave voice to those who believed the bulldozing, postwar policies of urban renewal were a dangerous threat to city life. She spent the next forty-five years challenging citizens to stand up for vibrant, mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods such as New York's Greenwich Village. Jane Jacobs's death in 2006 occasioned the beginnings of a critical re-evaluation of her achievements. With major new development plans—for sites from the East River to the West Side and from Lower Manhattan to Queens—either under consideration or in progress, it seems the perfect time to assess the relevance of her ideas for contemporary urban life.

For Broyard, who was raised as white in Connecticut, the discovery that her father, the writer and critic Anatole Broyard, wasn't exactly white raised the question of how black I was—a question that set her in search of the history of the most well-known defector from the black race in the latter half of the twentieth century. In the first section, Broyard weaves her privileged childhood together with later travels to New Orleans (her father's birthplace) and Los Angeles (where there is a determinedly white set of Broyards as well as a determinedly black set). Part two extends from the first Broyard, a Frenchman arriving in mid-18th century Louisiana territory, to six-year-old Anatole's 1927 arrival in Brooklyn. The last section is devoted to Anatole's life. Broyard's identity quest takes her on an odyssey through social, military, legal, Louisiana and general American history, as well as U.S. race relations and her family DNA, introducing innumerable relatives, classmates, friends and employers, and making for a rather overstuffed account. Fortunately, she's got an ear for dialogue, an eye for place and a storyteller's pacing. But the most compelling element is her ambivalent tenor: Was my father's choice rooted in self-preservation or in self-hatred?... Was he a hero or a cad? Part eulogy, part apologia, the answer is indirect: But he was my dad and we loved each other. (Sept.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A picture book about punctuation may not sound comical, but this one has a breezy narrative, fresh illustrations, and some laugh-aloud moments. All the punctuation marks stumble into the Hiring Hall one morning, sipping cocoa and discussing their job prospects. Each receives an important assignment, even Greedy Apostrophe, who has a well-deserved reputation for his bad attitude. Maniacal Greedy isn't content with doing his job (creating a possessive in a sign); he insists on confusing matters by inserting himself into words where he's not wanted. Greedy slips into a school classroom, altering signs such as "Pencils and Rulers" into "Pencil's" and Ruler's," until the students give chase. Since they can't catch him, he's still on the loose! Students are asked to be vigilant and to take Greedy away from all the places where he inserts himself but doesn't really belong. With jazzy colors and cartoon-style characters, the upbeat artwork gives personality to the inanimate while underscoring the witty, vivacious tone of the text. Unexpected fun for grammarians-in-training. Carolyn Phelan Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Longtime best friends Naomi and Ely live in the same Greenwich Village apartment building with their mothers while attending New York University. But after Ely, who is gay, kisses Naomi's boyfriend and lies about it, she stops speaking to him, even creating rules for avoiding each other; she does not care so much about her boyfriend, but finally understands Ely "will never love me the way I love" him. Cohn and Levithan (Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist; see Reprints, below) once again create characters with attitude and fill their book with wordplay and witty conceits. But unlike Nick and Norah, Naomi and Ely come across as thoughtless and self-absorbed. Part of the problem may be that the authors rotate through the perspectives of numerous characters, including Ely's new boyfriend (Naomi's ex) and a fawning girl from Schenectady who seems to exist mainly to reinforce how cool Naomi is. These characters do not add much-with the exception of a vulnerable doorman who tries to connect with Naomi. Readers will laugh at the fun turns of phrase (Ely accuses Naomi of being "a drama queen before we were old enough to go to Dairy Queen" and appreciate the clever duplication of characters (there are two Robins and two Bruces) which plays into the book's ideas about soul mates, or lack thereof. Naomi's narration is peppered with tiny icons, which look trendy but can be hard for readers to decipher. These playful touches, however, may not be enough to hold the audience's interest until Naomi and Ely reach their own important conclusions about love. Ages 14-up. (Aug.)

Cohn (Gingerbread) delves into her darker side as she probes a teen's suicide and the painful repercussions for her loved ones. After her best friend and first cousin, Laura, kills herself with an overdose of prescription drugs, 17-year-old Miles is shattered: the person Miles believed would always be there for her has left without even saying goodbye. And when her flaky mother flees town to mourn with her boyfriend in London, Miles is left alone with Laura's father to endure a summer of grief at his D.C. estate. A prescription-drug addict herself, Miles must embark upon a journey of self-discovery if she is to survive. Cohn once again excels at crafting a multidimensional, in-the-moment teenage world, this time without recourse to her usual witty style. There is a bleakness to her language that superbly suits this sad, somber tale. Her work is heartbreaking, at times excruciating to read, but it rings with authenticity. In pursuing Miles's responses, she spares few details, neither the methods via which Miles and Laura procure their pills nor the actual medical causes of Laura's supposedly peaceful death. The tragedy of teen suicide has been the subject of countless novels, yet rarely has it been discussed with such gritty realism. Ages 12-up. (Mar.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Irrepressible Cyd Charisse returns in a third novel that picks up right where Shrimp left off. CC is now 18 and living in New York's Greenwich Village with her half-brother, Danny, thinking about culinary school and reconsidering her "no contact" agreement with Shrimp, who is surfing and writing haiku in New Zealand. Her new life features ups and downs (she breaks her leg and drops out of culinary school, but also makes new friends and lands a job as a barista). When Shrimp arrives on her doorstep just in time for a Christmas surprise, CC must decide if she wants to continue building her own life or make one with the man she loves. This book once again covers a lot of ground, including CC's first fight with Danny, the death of a friend and a trip back to California to see her parents (and to track down Shrimp), but CC's authentic voice keeps the story grounded. Fans will appreciate that this installment features a more mature CC, who considers choices more carefully, even if she complains, "What happened to us! We were once rebels! Proudly insolent teenagers!" Readers may find it hard to believe that the book's unusual characters bond so strongly (such as CC's punk boss, Johnny Mold, and her uptight half-sister LisBETH) and they may well predict the outcome—but they will have fun watching CC's free spirit take on the Big Apple. Ages 13-up. (Feb). Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Polly Birdswell has been sober for four years and deems herself fit to regain custody of seven-year-old Monroe, whom she left as a baby, but her ex-husband disagrees. In addition to fighting for Monroe, Polly also wants the Maine island—home of childhood vacations and the sacred ground where her brother died—that her hard-drinking stepfather wants to sell. Polly's obsession with the island becomes as tiresome as the uninspired prose. Though novels of abandoned daughters may abound, stories from the mother's perspective are less common; unfortunately, the issue is hardly explored and what could have been provocative falls flat. Polly is repeatedly asked how she could have given up Monroe, but Enders fails to grasp the opportunity to give an insightful answer. Efforts to signify the island as a place of healing and salvation are heartfelt, but dull characters mired in a plodding plot defeat a promising concept. (July) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A mishmash of foodie writers dispute, humorously or more self-seriously, the pros and cons of cooking and dining alone. While eating by oneself can be the busy worker's greatest pleasure, as Colin Harrison notes of his solitary Manhattan lunches during a work day ("Out to Lunch"), and mother Holly Hughes ("Luxury") agrees is a secret but too rare pleasure, other writers see it as depressing or shameful. In "The Lonely Palate," Laura Calder quotes Epicurus as saying, "we should look for someone to eat and drink with before looking for something to eat and drink"—then offers a recipe for Kippers Mash. Eating is an act of love, thus prompting Jonathan Ames ("Poisonous Eggs") to dine out and flirt with the waitress. "Table for One" by Erin Ergenbright records how the single diner is perceived uneasily by the wait staff. And M.F.K. Fisher relishes solitary dining ("A Is for Dining Alone") as a way to escape "the curious disbelieving impertinence of the people in restaurants." The collection is named after an essay by Laurie Colwin, who found a dozen different ways to cook eggplant on her two-burner hot plate while living alone in a tiny Greenwich Village flat. (July) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

For Henry Powell, every day is the same: he wakes just before 7 a.m. to prepare for work at the men's clothing store he's worked at since he was 17. Now 31, he's ready to die of boredom. Henry briefly escaped from his small New England town via college, but family problems his alcoholic mother and his emotionally icy father needed help and his brother had moved away brought him back from college in the early '80s. Every now and then, an acquaintance from Henry's prestigious prep school stops by the store, but much of Henry's time is spent in fantasyland, where he is a famous rock musician or the subject of a biography. A romance with Cathy Nicholas, who works at a neighboring coffee shop, is promising, but that, too, peters out. As Henry's temporary leave from college becomes permanent and the years tick by, it seems nothing except the style of pants he sells will change. Until the store goes out of business on wait for it September 10, 2001, and change for Henry promptly ensues. Flock (But I'm Screaming Inside; Me & Emma) fills the flashback-heavy book with cultural touchstones from the era of big hair and unfortunate fashion and manages an optimistic conclusion to Henry's drab story. (Nov.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Friedman brings together essays written over the last 20 years into a fascinating anthology. The individual pieces concern sports as varied as bowling, cycling, basketball, boxing, and golf, but they are linked by a common theme: the pursuit of excellence as a path to self-destruction. For example, take Scottish cyclist Graeme Obree, a man so determined to excel that he built his own bike (out of washing-machine parts and other scrap metal) and pitted himself against the giants of the sport. He won, too, and kept winning until cycling's regulating body changed its rules to prevent him from competing; so he changed his technique, and they changed the rules again. Finally, after he started coughing up blood months after a race, his career came to a close. His story—and the book is full of stories just like his—perfectly illustrates the physical and psychological toll that the drive to win can take on a person. An apt counterpoint to the multitude of winning-is-everything books, this one says that winning is nice, but it isn't everything (and maybe, in some cases, it can be lethal). Pitt, David

Fusselman (The Pharmacist's Mate) skated figure eights when she was little. Those become a metaphor for the way events have folded and unfolded in her life. Her pivotal event was being raped by the husband of her babysitter when she was four. She doesn't describe the actual rape, although she refers to the perpetrator over and over as "my pedophile." Around the time of the rape, she went to a performance of Sleeping Beauty with her mother, but suddenly walked up on stage to kiss the prince. She says many people, including her editor, did not find this believable. She wants readers to understand that this was "true" if "unbelievable," as her subtitle suggests. Indeed, she seems to think this is what writing a memoir is all about-making some inner truth believable to others. Though it's only 132 pages, that count has been inflated with many little vignettes-listening to a wise taxi driver, trying to learn to ride a motorcycle, being treated by "alternative" healers, watching monster truck videos with her children. Even so, there's a lot less here than meets the eye. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Enter the world of New York City's waterfront - steeped in tradition yet threatened by modernity. Join New York Times stringer Ben Gibberd as he investigates the lives of those who work and play on the fabled bodies of water that border the city's five boroughs. Among those you will meet are a dry dock operator, an eel fisherman, a fireboat preservationist, and a guerilla swimmer. Gathered from the East River to the Erie Basin, the Hudson to Hempstead Harbor, each new perspective connects a personal passion to a fabled local maritime history. Scuba diver Adam Brown explores a dangerous yet beautiful underwater world amid the piers and pilings on which the city is built. Octogenarian Olga Bloom runs a floating concert hall for chamber music in a converted coffee barge off Brooklyn's Fulton Landing. And nautical wood carver Sal Polisi uses chisels rather than power tools, believing that his visitors like to watch things being done the old-fashioned way. Each profile is complemented by award winning photographer Randy Duchaine's stunning portraits. The result: a fascinating, unique look at twenty-one of the waterfront's most interesting citizens. You'll be glad you met them.

Delectable recipes for cakes, tarts, and cookies, along with inspirational stories of lives transformed, from the award-winning bakery whose pastries and community good works nourish body and soul. On a street along the Hudson River in Yonkers, New York, is a bakery that has caused quite a stir since its inception almost 25 years ago: a bakery whose award-winning delicacies are enjoyed by devotees around the world, whose cakes and tarts earned a top rating in Zagat's, and whose brownies have made their way into several flavors of Ben & Jerry's ice creams. Baked with a sense of mission, the pastries at Greyston are beyond delicious. Devoted to improving the lives of the homeless and chronically unemployed, the bakery hires those who lack education or job skills, and those who have battled addiction, illness, or crime-ridden environments. The uplifting stories in these pages tug at the heart. Glorious recipes delight the taste buds and include such current treats from the bakery as Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake, Lotus in Mud Cake, Key Lime Tart, and Seven-Layer Cookie Bar. There are also delicious recipes from the bakery's past, an assortment of special occasion cakes, and a group of recipes developed by the author, inspired by this remarkable enterprise.

RoseLee Goldberg amazed with PERFORMA 05, billed as the city's first biennial of 'visual art performance.' Working with a tiny staff, a shoestring budget and no institutional affiliation, Ms. Goldberg put together a program that covered a lot of aesthetic bases--old school, just out of school, high-tech, no-tech--and encompassed more than 60 scheduled events all of which makes the prospect of PERFORMA 07 shine with promise. --Roberta Smith, the New York Times This volume is the first in a series of important publications drawing content and inspiration from the PERFORMA biennial. Featuring inventive documentation by the 100 artists who made the first PERFORMA so extraordinary, it offers an exhilarating view into contemporary visual art performance and "performs" as a collective artists' journal might. Vibrant photographs of each artist's performance are accompanied by their scripts, sketches and storyboards, providing unique insight into process and upending conventions around archiving performance. Lively interviews with some of the most significant artists of our time--including Francis Alys, Tamy Ben-Tor, Jesper Just, Marina Abramovic, Gelitin, Laurie Simmons and Mike Smith--appear alongside context-setting essays by some of our most inspired young curators. PERFORMA founder RoseLee Goldberg, who pioneered the study of performance art with her seminal book Performance Art from Futurism to the Present (1979), presents an authoritative introduction addressing the genre's many forms--radio broadcast, dance, live installation, new technologies, film and video, music, historic reconstructions and lecture-as-performance among them. PERFORMA is not only an invaluable reference, it is a new kind of guide to cultural life, a time capsule of this very moment in New York's eminent performance history, complete with profiles of the city's nonprofit biennial venues that, like this book, give ephemeral art a physical place in which to persist.

As Richard Novak is perfecting a life of isolation, a series of bizarre and surreal events force him to reassess his position and reconnect with the world around him. Upon emerging, he is bombarded with a cast of eccentric characters, including an unappreciated soccer mom, a reclusive writer and a jovial doughnut-shop owner. Throughout this darkly humorous audio, Scott Brick supplies excellent tone and subtlety, easily seducing his audience with the opening scene between Novak and a 911 operator. The contrast between the two highlights Brick's ability and range. While his vocal depictions of characters match up and remain consistent, Brick almost falters with the Novak. For the most part, Brick keeps Novak steady but occasionally delivers a speaking voice that doesn't fit the profile range delivered previously. While his uniformity on Novak wavers, his projection of the anxiety and agitation that plague Novak's life cannot be understated. This book probably won't save your life, but it's likely to make you laugh and ponder your own connection with the world. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Jane Adams turns her considerable talents to Homes's memoir about meeting her biological parents when she was in her early 30s. Adams captures the narrator and all the members of both the adoptive and biological families. Her rendition of Homes is so smart and urbane yet wary that listeners might assume that Homes herself is telling her own story. Ellen Ballman, the biological mother, is portrayed as Auntie Mame gone bad-her boisterous voice quickly descends from that of a woman overcome with joy at hearing her daughter to whiny demands to be taken care of. Perhaps Ellen is a bit too shrill-almost anyone would hang up after hearing this voice on the other end of a phone. Adams portrays Norman Hecht, also referred to as "the Father," with a voice as large as his considerable fortune; he cons his daughter into taking a DNA test, then refuses to give her the results. Even Adams can't make the second half of the book exciting, as she reads page after page of questions planned for a deposition. Simultaneous release with the Viking hardcover (Reviews, Jan. 15). Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Freelance editor Chapin and literary agent Wofford-Girand gather essays by 21 women writers who dish about their troubled marriages. The suicide of her violent ex-husband renders Debra Magpie Earling gun-shy of future romances, and Lee Montgomery contemplates infidelity on a flirtatious ski weekend with her former college boyfriend while her trusting husband of 20 years is off visiting his ill father. Elissa Minor Rust's commitment to her husband is unwavering despite her break from the Mormon Church that once was their union's bedrock; an unplanned pregnancy threatens Annie Echols's marriage; and Daniela Kuper battles a religious guru for child custody. Although candid and heartfelt, many of these essays are unpolished, rambling and poorly edited, like Zelda Lockhart's saga of coming into her own as a lesbian and a mother. Another low is Terry McMillan's vulgar rant about an ex-husband, who admitted to homosexual exploits on national television. The two best pieces are self-knowing, gutsy and carefully crafted: Joyce Maynard confesses how her earlier infidelity nibbled away at a lonely marriage that abruptly ended when her husband slept with the babysitter while she was away caring for her dying mother; and Ann Hood proves that a loving marriage can miraculously survive a child's death. (Feb.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The #1 bestselling title in City & Company history with 40,000 copies sold! Beyond the surface noise and chaos is a quiet New York of tranquility and blessed silence. NEW YORK’S 50 BEST PLACES TO FIND PEACE AND QUIET, takes the reader to 50 oases of serenity around the city—from gardens to spas, meditation centers to wildlife refuges—each a revitalizing place of calm amidst the daily bustle and grind of urban life. "If you’re at wit’s end and frantic for tranquility, relax…you can buy [this] sweet little book." The New York Times.

This set of 34 comic dramas, many of which would run 15 minutes at most in performance, by contemporary or nearly contemporary Americans, some famous, many not, ranges from the sublime to the tedious. The best pieces in the collection, such as Christopher Durang's divinely insane Wanda's Visit, are comic gems in miniature. Others, such as Pulitzer Prize winner David Auburn's comedy-sketch-sized Miss You, show the antic side of writers known mostly for more serious work. Other well-known names to be found in the wide-ranging anthology include Alan Ball, David Cale, David Lindsay-Abaire, Steve Martin, and Elaine May, all represented by rarely collected one acts. Still, the real strength of the book arises from editors Lane and Shengold's spirit of inclusiveness, which allows obscure but hilarious writers to appear cheek by jowl with_better-known funny women and men. Jack Helbig Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved .

Set on New York's Lower East Side, this first novel by Light (founding editor, Epiphany) introduces Morris Bliss, 35 years old and living with his widowed father. Morris has big dreams of traveling all over the world. Unfortunately, he doesn't have a job or the means to take his aspirations beyond a collection of travel brochures and pushpins in a map on his bedroom wall. This fun read boasts a likable protagonist, other quirky and interesting characters, and vivid and humorous descriptions of New York while also providing some significant social commentary. The scene in which Morris and a former high school classmate (and father of the 18-year-old girl with whom Morris is sleeping) storm a vacant building in the middle of the night to roust out a group of homeless squatters is both funny and disturbing. Recommended for large public libraries with an interest in new and unknown authors.-Karen Traynor, Sullivan Free Lib., Chittenango, NY Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

A vivid dark world of punks, demons, and blood, of red velvet and black leather dusters. Driven by necessity, dread, and love, these characters carve their names on our hearts so we will never forget. --Jeanne Cavelos, editor, The Many Faces Of Van Helsing ...[A]n exciting variation on the vampire theme. A true storyteller, Natalia Lincoln expertly weaves a mysterious tale of a powerful vampire disarmed by the dreams and memories of his intended victim. Her poetic, musical style and beautifully drawn characters hold the reader spellbound... You will not be able to put this book down. --Linda Addison, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Consumed, Reduced to Beautiful Grey Ashes Natalia Lincoln is a new voice whispering along the corridors of shadows and light -- and it would do you well to listen. --P.D. Cacek

A woman copes with tragedy and the banalities of New York life in Listfield's deeply personal sixth novel. Based on the real-life disappearance of Listfield's husband, the novel revolves around Sarah Larkin, an art lover who actually enjoys her job as an editor at a glossy women's mag. Her alcoholic sculptor husband, Todd, though, is less than happy, and flees the disintegrating marriage, ostensibly to visit an old school friend in Florida. Sarah and their six-year-old daughter, Eliza, await his return, but a phone call from a Florida policeman signals trouble: Todd has been staying with a woman and has been reported as missing. Sarah's life then spreads out into several directions. Most immediate is the investigation into Todd's disappearance (suicide is one theory), with a skeptical cop, a kindly private eye and Todd's ex as its cross-purposed cast. Sarah also navigates infighting among the ambitious and sometimes reptilian magazine staff (who mostly feel like something out of a less ambitious novel) and meets a caring and handsome new love interest. Not all of these subplots work well together, but the through line-Sarah's and Eliza's attempt to find their new normal-does more than its share to carry the book. (Oct.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

"[Jessica Lott’s] precision of language . . . makes this novella work. The sentences are clean and direct and active and with them she slowly builds a world of complex characters who are struggling, in real ways, to figure out how to connect." —Aimee Bender, author, The Girl in the Flammable Skirt

The Great Depression coincided with a wave of natural disasters, including the Dust Bowl and devastating floods of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Recovering from these calamities--and preventing their reoccurrence--was a major goal of the New Deal. In Nature's New Deal, Neil M. Maher examines the history of one of Franklin D. Roosevelt's boldest and most successful experiments, the Civilian Conservation Corps, describing it as a turning point both in national politics and in the emergence of modern environmentalism. Indeed, Roosevelt addressed both the economic and environmental crises by putting Americans to work at conserving natural resources, through the Soil Conservation Service, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the Civilian Conservation Corps (or CCC). The CCC created public landscapes--natural terrain altered by federal work projects--that helped environmentalism blossom after World War II, Maher notes. Millions of Americans devoted themselves to a new vision of conservation, one that went beyond the old model of simply maximizing the efficient use of natural resources, to include the promotion of human health through outdoor recreation, wilderness preservation, and ecological balance. And yet, as Maher explores the rise and development of the CCC, he also shows how the critique of its campgrounds, picnic areas, hiking trails, and motor roads frames the debate over environmentalism to this day. From the colorful life at CCC camps, to political discussions in the White House and the philosophical debates dating back to John Muir and Frederick Law Olmsted, Nature's New Deal captures a key moment in the emergence of modern environmentalism.

The authors, who are both infected with hepatitis C (HCV), add to Marlowe's "First Year" series for new patients with a how-to-respond guide that moves from the day of diagnosis through the first year of coping. HCV, a blood-borne virus, infects nine million Americans and nearly 200 million people worldwide. Even so, the general public remains unaware that this chronic illness is epidemic and that there is no effective treatment for the majority of its victims. The good news, as this book makes clear, is that HCV can be managed. In this straightforward, day-by-day manual, the authors provide a schedule for learning just about everything one needs to know about living with "hep C." This is an exhaustive but simpler and more direct advisory than Carol Turkington's Hepatitis C (LJ 6/1/98); healthcare libraries will want to have both books in their collections. James Swanton, Harlem Hosp. Lib., New York Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Elaborately decorated cookies fill the shelves of high-end bakery cases, tempting shoppers with bright colors and whimsical shapes. The cookies are beautiful, but buying them in a bakery can be shockingly expensive, and their flavor often doesn’t live up to their appearance. Now home bakers can have their pretty cookies and enjoy eating them too! Thanks to the clear instructions and practical methods developed by authors Valerie Peterson and Janice Fryer, amateur cookie crafters can achieve bakery-quality design and homemade fresh taste. Cookie Craft gives readers access to the entire world of decorated cookies, beginning with an inspirational gallery of 150 colorful cookies guaranteed to start those creative juices flowing. The authors go on to discuss ingredients, supplies, equipment and technique. They include four delicious recipes for rolled cookie doughs (Traditional Sugar, Chocolate, Nutty, and Gingerbread) that provide perfect blank canvases for decorating, and, of course, their recipe for versatile Royal Icing. In the most important section, they share the design techniques accumulated and perfected during hundreds of afternoons spent crafting thousands of cookies. Cookie crafters will learn how to pipe, flood, and sugar their cookies, how to design color palettes that work with every season, how to make cookies stand up in fun 3-D structures, and much more!

"...A sharply observed, intelligent novel -- finely written and without excess, it portrays a love story that is not only factually interesting, and emotionally satisfying, but also psychologically sound. - Elizabeth Strout, author of "Amy and Isabelle" Based on true historical figures, "The Queen of Cups" is the story of Juliette, the enigmatic wife of brilliant post Civil War philosopher, Charles Pierce, a man plagued by drug addiction and manic depression. From the gypsy camps of Russia, to glittering Paris, France and New York to her final exile to obscurity, Juliette's journey traces the life of an independent women who, betrayed by those she loves, never loses her belief in the possibility of redemption and in the power of love and loyalty.

Any woman who's ever wondered how her pedicurist maintains her sanity rubbing strangers' feet all day will get a kick out of these essays and interviews concerning aestheticians, hairdressers, chiropractors and psychologists. Novelist Jennifer Belle contributes a short but touching piece about a masseuse who rekindled memories of her youthful body; editor Forrest writes of the sensitive artist who tattooed an Edward Gorey illustration on her back; and in a particularly memorable essay, curly-haired actress Minnie Driver confesses that as a child all she longed for was her sister's straight blond hair: "at fourteen, I genuinely believed that if I could look like her, everything would be better." The most worthwhile parts of this collection illustrate how the business of beauty has given so many people-especially immigrant women-work, self-esteem, and entry into the American middle class. Though some pieces have the feel of hastily composed journal entries, the honesty and good humor demonstrated throughout makes it an entertaining and thoughtful read. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

For anyone who's thought to herself something like, "even my college roommate with Tourette's has a ring," the release of Torneo and Cabrera's tough but sincere guide to "keeping the crazies in check" in the wake of friends' weddings may spell relief. With care, humor, and a thorough understanding of the fine line between envy and disgust padded by single women watching friends get swept through the marriage mill, Torneo and Cabrera manage to keep everything in perspective. There are practical, if at times obvious, suggestions (tired of "lobridemized" friends? Hang out with guy friends who could care less), an empathetic and illuminating look inside the mind of the "bridal drone," and ways to get through the wedding season without overspending. Other chapters cover everything from pre-wedding parties to silencing the "when are you going to get married?" chorus to determining what marriage trajectory works for you-including, yes, whether your current boyfriend is real marriage material. The authors aren't interested in emotional depth, nor in taking on the multi-billion dollar wedding industry, but they have given voice to a particular set of young women, and this winning book should be a comforting and vindicating addition to their libraries. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Raging hormones, angsty rants and reckless behavior fuel this accomplished black comedy about coming of age in middle-of-nowhere Kansas in 1988. Debut author Uhlig brings the quintessential stuck-in-Hicksville atmosphere to idiosyncratic life by drawing plenty of small-town details. Arthur Flood, the narrator, can't wait to graduate high school and leave-that is, assuming he can get past the sheriff, who has effectively blackmailed Arty into dating his daughter, the unlovely Geraldine, and she can't wait to lose her virginity and press Arty into marriage. Then there's Mrs. Kaye, Arty's high school English teacher, who has been conducting an affair with him in the back of the Floods' hearse (yes, the family business is undertaking, and it's dying, pun surely intended, thanks to aggressive competition from the new Golden Rule chain). As the residents tune in to Dallason TV, the local soap operas include arson, lots of alcoholism and the de rigueur beautiful, mysterious girl from out of town who changes the protagonist's perspective. Giving Arty a Sister Carrie and his town a Main Street (and another character the dialogue to shore up the references), Uhlig lets readers know that the stereotypes are intentional, occasions for jokes as well as insights. With all of his propensity for exaggeration, the author manages to portray Arty as someone readers can identify with: his ambitions to make a future for himself and his desires loom at least as large as the outrageous situations that bedevil him. Ages 14-up. (Aug.)

“Don’t date this guy, he’s crazeeeee.” –Diana Abu-Jabar, “Of Romance And Revolution” Mr. Wrong is the tug behind your navel, the guy who lights you up like a Roman candle, the danger you can’t resist. And just about every woman, at some point in her life, has encountered one–or many. Women everywhere will see themselves in these witty, wise, and entertaining personal essays by some of the literary world’s most accomplished and bestselling authors, including Jane Smiley, Audrey Niffennegger, Jacquelyn Mitchard, Ntozake Shange, Roxana Robinson, Marge Piercy, and Ann Hood. Readers will delight in the array of Mr. Wrongs encountered in these pages–from harmless and charming to revolting and offensive–and ultimately relish the notion that even if we succumb to the temptation of an utterly reckless romance, we can emerge with our hearts intact. By turns wry and heartfelt, lighthearted and redemptive, these insightful, uplifting real-life stories run the emotional gamut, from Whitney Otto’s satisfying tale of a Mr. Wrong who receives his comeuppance in an unexpected way, to Robin Westen’s steamy account of lust with a zen master, to Monika Ekk’s rueful “I Married a Wanker!” Some are hilarious, like Marion Winik’s “The Ten Most Wanted,” while others, like Catherine Texier’s “Russian Lessons,” take us to the dark side of love and longing. For every prince charming there are a million frogs. If you’ve ever trusted a man you couldn’t trust, Mr. Wrong will make you laugh, cry, and shake your head in recognition at yourself and your friends..

Starred Review. Artfully stitched like a well-made quilt, the patches of Garis's memoir encompass three generations. When she was eight years old, her grandmother Lilian, who wrote the early Bobbsey Twins, and grandfather Howard Garis, who created and virtually became Uncle Wiggily, moved into her family's home in Amherst, Mass. In this spellbinding memoir of green moments and gray ones, Garis chronicles how, in this book-reading, music-playing and, most importantly, loving family of writers, her grandmother went from being a vibrant woman to a recumbent recluse and how the years damaged her father, who seemed perfect; her beautiful mother; and her adorable brothers. You can't turn away from the truth because it's lurid and jarring, her playwright father advises. In lesser hands, the quarrels, litigation and violence that surface might control the narrative, but even as the family copes with disappointment, financial stress, nervous breakdowns, physical illness and death, Garis's capacity for conveying the family's vibrancy and vigor trumps. Garis's remarkable accomplishment in this memoir is to convey the normal, the enviable and the gothic with unsentimentalized affection, grace and painful honesty. (July) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Krakauer's enthusiastic, autobiographical debut recounts her family's celebration of the Harvest Moon Festival, a Chinese holiday of thanksgiving. At the center of the tale is Hoong Wei, the author's spunky younger sister, who fears that their relatives will make fun of her piano playing when she and Hoong Yee accompany the family sing-along. After a day filled with cooking, eating and playing, Hoong Wei convinces Hoong Yee to hide with her in their favorite crab apple tree. When the girls realize they are missing all the fun of the music, they scamper eagerly to the keyboard. Despite its appealing depiction of Chinese American life, the overlong story rambles from one episode to the next, diluting the charm of the central theme. The antic, cartoon-like illustrations, meanwhile, are ripe with details that reflect a comfortable mix of Eastern and Western cultures. Chinese idioms, sprinkled throughout the dialogue, are defined in a glossary preceding the text. Ages 4-8. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Scenes from the rich, contentious life of a dying Jewish South African country doctor flash before his expatriate daughter’s eyes in Landsman’s frustrating second novel (after The Devil’s Chimney). A skinny boy with a hot-tempered mother and a good-hearted father, Harry Klein grew up in pre-WWII South Africa, where he married a woman from a socially superior Jewish family during medical school and later endured the wartime death of his father from influenza. After his emigration to South Africa, patients of all races revere him as "Doctor God," but he clashes with his artist daughter (who narrates, maddeningly, in the second person) and can’t shake his life-long jealousy of his younger brother, a flashy, respected cardiologist. This novel offers a few insights on death, the frailty of the human body and the ties between parent and child, but the overly lyrical prose tries too hard, and the second-person narration does the mostly opaque narrative few favors. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Dunbar offers sage advice on what to do-or, more specifically, what not to do-during the often daunting college admissions process in order to ensure a more successful (or at least less painful) outcome. Dunbar's first tip for getting through the "marathon" of application is simple: "Pace yourself... commit to one work session per weekend." The steps that follow are equally manageable, designed to guide even the least prepared to the halls of higher learning. All the usual ins and outs are explored: essays, extracurriculars, interviewing and getting waitlisted. More specific advice steers applicants away from dangerous essay topics and explicates the value of social sensitivity, while boxed asides ("First Aid," "Steps to Success," "Revising the Rule") provide spot treatment for mid-interview faux pas and winning strategies for asserting independence and positivity. Though he spends perhaps too much time on interviews-a step not every applicant will have to take-his background in prestigious East Coast prep school admissions makes this a top-notch resource for students applying to small private colleges or Ivy League institutions. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

“Passionate. Show-stopping. Daringly over-the-top and impressively consistent in its delirious excess. The Clean House shines.”—New Haven Advocate “The Clean House is not, by any means, a traditional boy-meets-girl story. In fact disease, death, and dirt are among the subjects it addresses. This comedy is romantic, deeply so, but in the more arcane sense of the word: visionary, tinged with fantasy, extravagant in feeling, maybe a little nuts.”—The New York Times “Touching, inventive, invigoratingly compact, and luminously liquid, Eurydice reframes the ancient myth of ill-fated love to focus not on the bereaved musician but on his dead bride—and on her struggle with love beyond the grave.”—San Francisco Chronicle This volume is the first publication of Sarah Ruhl, “a playwright with a unique comic voice, perspective, and sense of theater” (Variety), who is fast leaving her mark on the American stage. In the award-winning Clean House—a play of uncommon romance and uncommon comedy—a maid who hates cleaning dreams about creating the perfect joke, while a doctor who treats cancer leaves his heart inside one of his patients. This volume also includes Eurydice, Ruhl’s reinvention of the tragic Greek tale of love and loss, together with a third play still to be named. Sarah Ruhl received the prestigious Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2004 for her play The Clean House, which has been produced at Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven, Wilma Theatre in Philadelphia, South Coast Repertory Theatre in Costa Mesa, and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, DC. Her play Eurydice has been produced at Madison Repertory Theatre and Berkeley Repertory Theatre. “Passionate. Show-stopping. Daringly over-the-top and impressively consistent in its delirious excess. The Clean House shines.”—New Haven Advocate “The Clean House is not, by any means, a traditional boy-meets-girl story. In fact disease, death, and dirt are among the subjects it addresses. This comedy is romantic, deeply so, but in the more arcane sense of the word: visionary, tinged with fantasy, extravagant in feeling, maybe a little nuts.”—The New York Times “Touching, inventive, invigoratingly compact, and luminously liquid, Eurydice reframes the ancient myth of ill-fated love to focus not on the bereaved musician but on his dead bride—and on her struggle with love beyond the grave.”—San Francisco Chronicle This volume is the first publication of Sarah Ruhl, “a playwright with a unique comic voice, perspective, and sense of theater” (Variety), who is fast leaving her mark on the American stage. In the award-winning Clean House—a play of uncommon romance and uncommon comedy—a maid who hates cleaning dreams about creating the perfect joke, while a doctor who treats cancer leaves his heart inside one of his patients. This volume also includes Eurydice, Ruhl’s reinvention of the tragic Greek tale of love and loss, together with a third play still to be named. Sarah Ruhl received the prestigious Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2004 for her play The Clean House, which has been produced at Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven, Wilma Theatre in Philadelphia, South Coast Repertory Theatre in Costa Mesa, and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, DC. Her play Eurydice has been produced at Madison Repertory Theatre and Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

Perhaps no other genre lends itself to cliché quite as often as sports writing, with its thrilling victories and agonizing defeats, its loss and redemption. Washington Post associate editor Maraniss (author of Clemente), however, avoids the most tired sports writing and unearths some obscure gems in this installment of the Best American series. Robert Huber's rough, stylish profile of John Chaney seethes with the anger of the legendary coach ("Chaney wants to will the world into a righteous place as he kicks your ass. Or at least still have the goddamn chance to!"). Other highlights include Bob Hohler's penetrating examination of the connection between high school basketball and the sneaker business, and Larry Brown's beautifully evocative story of hunting a rare white raccoon-a story written 20 years ago but published for the first time in 2007. Moving beyond "the old baseball, football, hockey, boxing, track and field, tennis tradition," Maraniss also includes stories like William Finnegan's fascinating surfing-technology story "Black Monday," (which originally appeared not in Sports Illustrated, but The New Yorker). The result is a timely, forward-thinking collection that should please fans of just about every sport. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

"Travel is not about finding something. It s about getting lost -- that is, it is about losing yourself in a place and a moment. The little things that tether you to what s familiar are gone, and you become a conduit through which the sensation of the place is felt." -- from the introduction by Susan Orlean The twenty pieces in this year s collection showcase the best travel writing from 2006. George Saunders travels to India to witness firsthand a fifteen-year-old boy who has been meditating motionless under a tree for months without food or water, and who many followers believe is the reincarnation of the Buddha. Matthew Power reveals trickle-down economics at work in a Philippine garbage dump. Jason Anthony describes the challenges of everyday life in Vostok, the coldest place on earth, where temperatures dip as low as minus-129 degrees and where, in midsummer, minus-20 degrees is considered a heat wave. David Halberstam, in one of his last published essays, recalls how an inauspicious Saigon restaurant changed the way he and other reporters in Vietnam saw the world. Ian Frazier analyzes why we get sick when traveling in out-of-the-way places. And Kevin Fedarko embarks on a drug-fueled journey in Djibouti, chewing psychotropic foliage in "the worst place on earth." Closer to home, Steve Friedman profiles a 410-pound man who set out to walk cross-country to lose weight and find happiness. Rick Bass chases the elusive concept of the West in America, and Jonathan Stern takes a hilarious Lonely Planet approach to his small Manhattan apartment.

McMorris (Women's Best Friend: Women Writers on the Dogs in Their Lives) collects 29 well-crafted and enjoyable short essays that often focus on how the writer's cat (or cats) has affected her love life—both for better and worse. Kristen Kemp relates how she collected cats to get the affection her boyfriend wasn't giving her. Editor McMorris describes how, after a rough start, when her six-year-old tabby peed on her boyfriend's clothes, he gradually learned to enjoy the cat. A sadder story is told by Susan Schulz Wuornos, evoking the death of her pet just one week before her wedding. The majority of the selections emphasize the individuality and independence of cats, who make certain that their owners know precisely what they want. Erin Torneo stresses that felines are not people pleasers: "They won't plunge into a relationship without careful consideration," And they always have an escape route, lessons she applied to her own relationships. This collection will appeal to all those (especially women) already seduced by the enigmatic feline. (May) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

These are the ways the world ends. Thirty-four new and selected Doomsday scenarios: an enthralling collection of work by canonical literary figures, contemporary masters, and a few rising stars, all of whom have looked into the future and found it missing. Across boundaries of place and time, these writers celebrate the variety and vitality of the short story as a form by writing their own conclusions to the story of the world. Obliteration has never hurt so good. Contributors include Grace Aguilar, Steve Aylett, Robert Bradley, Dennis Cooper, Lucy Corin, Elliott David, Matthew Derby, Carol Emshwiller, Brian Evenson, Neil Gaiman, Jeff Goldberg, Theodora Goss, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Jared Hohl, Shelley Jackson, Ursula K. Le Guin, Stacey Levine, Tao Lin, Kelly Link, H.P. Lovecraft, Gary Lutz, Rick Moody, Michael Moorcock, Adam Nemett, Josip Novakovich, Joyce Carol Oates, Colette Phair, Edgar Allan Poe, Terese Svoboda, Justin Taylor, Lynne Tillman, Deb Olin, Unferth, H.G. Wells, Allison Whittenberg, and Diane Williams.

Comedy with Music Characters: 1 male, 1 or 2 female, flexible casting Interior Set Set in a small town just outside of Nashville, this slice-of-life comedic play with music is a genuine look into the hearts of everyday people. As the proprietor, Barbara Jean, tries to figure out "When is it courageous and when is it just plain crazy to hang on to love," her customers come in and take a load off by sharing their funny, heartbreaking humanity. There's Miss Morris a nurse who's planning a Pyramid prayer-time, Miss Tessie, a senior citizen who's gonna make you laugh and steal your heart, a Tupperware brandishing, plate-dropping waitress named Jeanette, Lombardo-a country-singing hairdresser, Tommy Lee, who is recovering from a dog-bite and Melissa a mixed-up Mother of three. Throughout it all, the wacky DJ from WATR, the local radio station, breaks in with local news, commercials about baldness and whole slew of quirky, unforgettable toe-tapping songs. "In fact, it's a perfectly judged balance of flavors-exactly what you'd hope for in theatrical comfort food." -Time Out New York "Winsome and winning...alive with homespun charm. In short, this countrified pocket musical is a little miracle of art and heart." -TheatreMania "Funny stuff! Wonderful! You got to go see this show!" -WOR Radio "A slice of theatre as tasty and tangy as a piece of peach pie...Barbara's Blue Kitchen: this is a place where people actually eat together in community, rather than in their own separate worlds." -Show Business "Sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking, it's a pleasure to spend time in Barbara's Blue Kitchen." -Traveler's USA Notebook "It's a tasty down-home dish..." -BACKSTAGE.com "The charismatic Lori Fischer serves up a sort of down-home Bridge and Tunnel with Barbara's Blue Kitchen..." -HX Magazine "Like Greater Tuna and Steel Magnolias, Barbara's Blue Kitchen, a play with music by and starring Lori Fischer, echoes the eccentric humor and pathos of former explorations into the human and humorous southern gothic landscape...a lovely variety of moods ranging from rueful to toe-tapping..." -New York News "Ms. Fischer has a lot of strengths, chief among them the truth that rings through ...her monologues ...She also has a sure ear for a down-home truism." -The Cincinnati Enquirer "...Wonderful, reminiscent of Garrison Keillor's weekly monologue on 'A Prairie Home Companion. ' It's tinged with gentle humor, affection and wisdom." -The Daily Gazette "Perfection...Great theatre..." -East Side Life "The playwright and actress herself is the intersection of seven memorable characters ...it's easy to see why people would want to hang out in her diner." -Cincinnati City Beat

CoThe acclaimed writer and performer Lisa Kron’s newest work is all about her mom. It explores the dynamics of health, family and community with the story of her mother’s extraordinary ability to heal a changing neighborhood, despite her inability to heal herself. In this solo show with other people in it, Kron asks the provocative question: Are we responsible for our own illness? But the answers she gets are much more complicated than she bargained for when the play spins dangerously out of control into riotously funny and unexpected territory. Lisa Kron has received numerous honors, including several OBIE Awards, the Cal Arts/Alpert Award, the Bessie Award and the GLAAD Media Award. Ms. Kron lives in New York City and Los Angeles. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

The Mom Egg is an annual collection of short fiction, prose, poetry, and drawings by cutting-edge mom-artists. Featured in this edition are prize-winning poet Sharon Dolin's wry "To Worry, A Wallow"; the exuberant prose "Marry Yourself," by Joy Rose, pink-haired lead singer of Housewives on Prozac; Caribbean-American poet Cheryl Boyce Taylor's poignant "Nineteen Seventy Five," and "CUBISM," a graphic poem by fine artist Robin Rappoport. Other writers take on global topics of cultural assimilation, war, poverty and human rights, as well as more personal matters like breastfeeding, ageing parents, sexual orientation, housework, and love. By turns controversial, funny, poignant, and beautiful, The Mom Egg provides intimate moments with moms from all over North America. Diverse, multi-generational, and not just for Mother's Day, The Mom Egg is a great read. www.myspace.com/themomegg

Ryan's debut novel, suffused with an earnestness that might seem cloying were it not for his ease and control, follows Teresa Kerrigan as she struggles to raise four children, two from each of her two failed marriages. The novel covers 30 years from the mid-1960s. By the '70s, the family is in northeast Florida, with NASA launches nearby, and youngest son Frankie can't shake his boyhood obsession with spaceships and science fiction. As an adolescent Frankie happily embraces his belief that he is gay, dreaming wistfully of Luke Skywalker. Next oldest Joe, who narrates some chapters, has a more painful time sorting through his own messy sexuality, while the eldest, Matt, leaves the household at 18 to care for his sick father, and Karen, a high school dropout, marries at 21 and withdraws emotionally from her mother-as each child does in his or her own way. Ryan gets the dreariness and tumult of the Kerrigan lives right, presenting Teresa as flawed but sympathetic, and her brood as reactive in familiar but nicely specified ways. All are compassionately drawn through Joe's articulate bewilderment, particularly the sensitive and surprising Frankie, who comes to dominate Joe's own self-exploration. When AIDS eventually figures into the plot, Ryan maintains this impressive debut's nuance and sweetness to the end. (Feb. 7) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Cruise ship entertainers fall in and out of love as they take their act from the seas to exotic luxury hotels in Tupper's promising debut. Karla, fresh out of music school, is thrilled to land a job that pays her to sing, dance and travel. When she performs with Jack, a 29-year-old British guitarist, they click, and soon they're going on dates in the passenger dining room, taking lazy off days on sandy beaches and sleeping together in Jack's tiny bunk while his cabin mate slumbers. They abandon the seaboard life to form a duo, but demeaning gigs playing covers in hotels in the United Arab Emirates and Shanghai deaden their passion and turn Jack into a boozer and Karla into a resentful musical hack. The novel, set in the 1990s, feels mustier than it should, and though the plot loses momentum as the depressed protagonists meander through countless bars on their trip to splitsville, Tupper proves herself a canny observer of the insular world of nomadic entertainers. (Feb.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Casey, a mental health journalist and editor (Unholy Ghost: Writers on Depression) has collected a remarkable array of mostly original essays by talented writers on being cared for themselves and caring for parents, children and spouses with illnesses as varied as depression and brain injuries. The writers have faced age-old dilemmas: for instance, novelist Julia Glass grapples with her own mortality and tries to raise two young children while undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. Other essays venture into more modern problems: Julia Alvarez and Anne Landsman both struggle to help parents who live in other countries. Many of the essays are beautiful and all are moving, but they are also relentless. The tales of cancer, multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's start to blur together, no matter how artfully told. Sam Lipsyte's irreverent portrayal of caring for his mother as she died of breast cancer shortly after he kicked drug addiction provides welcome relief. He describes injecting his mother's medication: I tended to make a grand, nearly cinematic deal of flicking the bubbles away, as though to say, 'Now Mom, aren't you glad I was a junkie?' Other essays are less developed, and Andrew Solomon rehashes territory he covered in The Noonday Demon. Overall, the essays are well worth reading—just not all at once. (Nov. 13) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Plays and Playwrights 2007 is the eighth volume in our annual anthology of plays recently produced in New York City by emerging playwrights. This volume contains 11 plays plus a Foreword by John Clancy, an introduction by Martin Denton and an annotated Appendix of new American Plays produced during the past season. The 11 plays are: LENZ by bluemouth, inc.; OFFICE SONATA by Andy Chmelko; KISS AND CRY by Tom Rowan; THEY'RE JUST LIKE US by Boo Killebrew; CONVERGENCE by Bryn Manion; RED TIDE BLOOMING by Taylor Mac; THE ADVENTURES OF NERVOUS-BOY by James Comtois; ANOTHER BRIEF ENCOUNTER by Stan Richardson; CORPS VALUES by Brendon Bates; DIVING NORMAL by Ashlin Halfnight; 'NAMI by Chad Beckim.