|
 Fiction
Nonfiction
Fiction
Title: Oryx and Crake: novel
Personal Author: Atwood, Margaret
Publisher: Talese
Publication Year: 2003
Pages: 376
ISBN: 0-385-50385-7, $26
Abstract: "Having once led a life of comfort and self-indulgence,
Jimmy, now known as Snowman, has survived an ecological disaster that
has destroyed the world as we know it. As he struggles to function
without everythinghe once knew, including time, Snowman reflects on
the past, on his relationships with two characters named Oryx and
Crake, and on the role of each individual in the destruction of the
natural world." (Libr J)
"Rigorous in its chilling insights and riveting in its fast-paced
'what if' dramatization, Atwood's superb novel is as brillantly
provocative as it is profoundly engaging." (Booklist)
Review: America v. 189 no. 4 (Aug. 18-25 2003). Breslin, John B.,
reviewer [with excerpt, full text]
Review: London Review of Books v. 25 no. 14 (July 24 2003). Showalter,
Elaine, reviewer [with excerpt]
Review: New York Times (Late New York Edition) (May 13 2003). Kakutani,
Michiko, reviewer [with excerpt]
Review: Quill & Quire v. 69 no. 4 (Apr. 2003). Drainie, Bronwyn,
reviewer [with excerpt]
Review: The Christian Science Monitor (Eastern edition) v. 95 no. 114
(May 8 2003). Charles, Ron, reviewer [with excerpt]
Review: The Economist v. 367 no. 8321 (May 3 2003) [with excerpt]
Review: The New Republic v. 229 no. 12 (Sept. 22 2003). Posner,
Richard A., reviewer [with excerpt, full text]
Review: The New York Review of Books v. 50 no. 11 (July 3 2003).
Mendelsohn, Daniel, reviewer
Review: The New York Times Book Review v. 108 no. 20 (May 18 2003).
Birkerts, Sven, reviewer [with excerpt]
Review: The New Yorker v. 79 no. 12 (May 19 2003). Moore, Lorrie,
reviewer [with excerpt]
Review: The Times Literary Supplement no. 5224 (May 16 2003). Wright,
Ronald, reviewer
Review: Americas v. 55 no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 2003). Mujica, Barbara,
reviewer [with full text]
Review: Canadian Literature no. 181 (Summ 2004). Griffiths, Anthony,
reviewer [with excerpt]
Review: Canadian Literature no. 183 (Wint 2004). Howells, Coral Ann,
reviewer [with excerpt]
Review: Leonardo v. 37 no. 5 (2004). Gessert, George, reviewer
Review: Science v. 302 (Nov. 14 2003). Squier, Susan M., reviewer
IN Fiction Catalog
Title: The evidence against her: a novel
Personal Author: Dew, Robb Forman
Publisher: Little, Brown
Publication Year: 2001
Pages: 327
ISBN: 0-316-89019-7
Abstract: This novel is "set in the small town of Washburn, Ohio. The
story begins with three children born on the same September day in
1888, and it ends with those same three, grown and with children of
their own, in the summer of 1927. Lily Scofield, her cousin Warren
Scofield and Robert Butler, son of the Methodist pastor, grow up as an
inseparable group. . . . Even after Lily marries Robert in June 1913,
she assumes that Warren will still somehow always be close by. . . .
But he meets Agnes Claytor, who was a 14-year-old guest at Lily's
wedding." (N Y Times Book Rev)
"A marvel of lyrical understatement, the narrative flows like a
river--smooth, with surprising depths, some turbulence and the
inexorability of time's passing." (Publ Wkly)
Review: Booklist v. 97 no. 21 (July 2001). Haggas, Carol, reviewer
Review: Library Journal v. 126 no. 14 (Sept. 1 2001). Perkins,
Christine, reviewer
Review: New York Times (Late New York Edition) (Nov. 9 2001). Kakutani,
Michiko, reviewer [with excerpt]
Review: The New York Times Book Review v. 106 no. 41 (Oct. 14 2001).
Frase, Brigitte, reviewer [with excerpt]
IN Fiction Catalog
Title: The Babel effect: a novel
Personal Author: Hecht, Daniel
Publisher: Crown
Publication Year: 2001
Pages: 438
ISBN: 0-609-60729-4, $23
Abstract: "Ryan and Jessamine McCloud are doctors with an interracial
marriage, a beautiful daughter, and a partnership in research. Along
with their research group/think tank, they are studying the etiology
and epidemiology of violent, antisocial behavior. The broadening of
their purview leads to Jess's abduction and the theft of important
data." (Libr J)
"An intellectually stimulating example of the thriller genre."
(Booklist)
Review: Booklist v. 97 no. 6 (Nov. 15 2000). Beatty, William, reviewer
Review: Library Journal v. 126 no. 3 (Feb. 15 2001). Katz, LInda M.G.,
reviewer
Review: The New York Times Book Review v. 106 no. 4 (Jan. 28 2001).
Stasio, Marilyn, reviewer [with excerpt]
IN Fiction Catalog
Title: Fever, 1793
Personal Author: Anderson, Laurie Halse
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Bks. for Young Readers
Publication Year: 2000
Pages: 251
ISBN: 0-689-84891-9. (paperback), $5.99
Abstract: In 1793 Philadelphia, sixteen-year-old Matilda Cook,
separated from her sick mother, learns about perseverance and
self-reliance when she is forced to cope with the horrors of a yellow
fever epidemic
"A vivid work, rich with well-drawn and believable characters.
Unexpected events pepper the top-flight novel that combines accurate
historical detail with a spellbinding story line." (Voice Youth
Advocates)
Review: Booklist v. 97 no. 3 (Oct. 1 2000). Bradburn, Frances,
reviewer
Review: Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books v. 54 no. 2 (Oct.
2000). Bush, Elizabeth, reviewer [with excerpt]
Review: School Library Journal v. 46 no. 8 (Aug. 2000). Isaacs,
Kathleen, reviewer [with excerpt]
Review: The Horn Book v. 76 no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 2000). Burkam, Anita L.,
reviewer [with excerpt]
Review: The New York Times Book Review v. 105 no. 47 (Nov. 19 2000).
Thompson, Constance Decker, reviewer [with excerpt]
Reading Level: 5 and up
IN Children’s Catalog and Middle & Junior High School Library Catalog
Title: Gravity
Personal Author: Gerritsen, Tess
Publisher: Pocket Bks.
Publication Year: 1999
Pages: 342
ISBN: 0-671-04618-7
Abstract: This "thriller is set aboard the International Space
Station, where a team of six astronauts suddenly find themselves
threatened by a virulent biohazard. . . . As astronaut Emma Watson,
the station's onboard doctor, struggles to fight the outbreak, her
colleagues are dying one by one." (Publ Wkly)
"Gerritsen creates believable characters and ably captures
astronautical and scientific work in fashioning another fascinating
story replete with cleverly intertwined subplots." (Booklist)
IN Fiction Catalog
Title: Welcome to the Ark
Personal Author: Tolan, Stephanie S.
Publisher: Morrow Junior Bks.
Publication Year: 1996
Pages: 250
ISBN: 0-380-73319-6 (paperback), $7.99
Abstract: "Four troubled young people live in a group home: Doug,
seventeen, Miranda, sixteen, Taryn, nine, and Elijah, eight. Formerly
patients in a psychiatric hospital, they are chosen for the home
because of their exceptional intelligence and psychic powers. . . .
The kids 'connect' with each other through dreams and telepathy, and
reach out to others like themselves all over the world via the
Internet. . . . Tolan does a superb job depicting emotionally
disturbed, gifted youth." (Voice Youth Advocates)
Review: Booklist v. 93 (Oct. 15 1996). Sherman, Chris, reviewer [with
excerpt]
Review: Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books v. 50 (Nov. 1996).
Brandt, Amy E., reviewer [with excerpt]
Review: School Library Journal v. 42 (Oct. 1996). Cole, Margaret,
reviewer [with excerpt]
Reading Level: 7 and up
IN Middle & Junior High School Library Catalog
Title: Contagion
Personal Author: Cook, Robin
Publisher: Putnam
Publication Year: 1995
Pages: 434
ISBN: 0-399-14106-5
Abstract: "After he loses first his midwestern ophthalmology practice
to a for-profit medical giant and then his family to a commuter
airline tragedy, Dr. John Stapleton's life is transformed to ashes.
Feeling less the golden boy than a jaded cynic, Stapleton retrains in
forensic pathology and relocates to find an uneasy niche for himself
in a city that suits his changed perspective: the cold, indifferent,
concrete maze of New York. Stapleton thinks he is past pain and past
caring, but as a series of virulent and extremely lethal illnesses . .
. strikes the young, the old, and the innocent, his suspicions are
aroused. When the apparent epicenters of these outbreaks are revealed
to be hospitals and clinics controlled by the same for-profit giant
that cannibalized his old ophthalmology practice, Stapleton fears he
has stumbled upon a diabolic conspiracy of catastrophic proportions."
(Publisher's note)
IN Fiction Catalog
Title: Outbreak
Personal Author: Cook, Robin
Publisher: Putnam
Publication Year: 1987
Pages: 366
Abstract: "Dr. Marissa Blumenthal, pert, pretty, diminutive, is
assigned by Atlanta's Centers for Disease Control to investigate a
series of outbreaks of a mysterious, untreatable and highly contagious
virus that is felling physicians and their patients in several
hospitals around the country. Unless contained and checked, the deadly
virus poses a threat to the entire populace. Unaccountably hampered by
her superiors, Marissa persists in her sleuthing and, to her dismay,
comes to suspect the viral contagion is the work of a sinister cabal
of ultraconservative doctors trying to undermine the public's faith in
prepaid health-maintenance facilities. Marissa finds her career
endangered, her very life in peril. As in his previous medical
whodunits, Mr. Cook is nimble at stitching together the ingredients of
terror, suspense, intrigue and medical expertise." (N Y Times Book
Rev)
IN Fiction Catalog
Title: The stand
Personal Author: King, Stephen
Publisher: Doubleday
Publication Year: 1978
Pages: 823
Abstract: "A flu-like plague escapes from an experimental lab. Within
days it devastates the country, leaving only a few thousand immune
people. Besides their immunity, the survivors have in common a
terrible dream pitting a faceless man of evil against a woman of
goodness. The survivors make their choices and head west, gathering
for the confrontation between the satanic Randall Flagg and the
God-anointed Mother Abigail." (Libr J)
"Stephen King takes liberties permitted in science fiction and
thrillers (the good guys share clairvoyant powers, and the plot often
turns on lucky coincidences), but he grounds his apocalyptic fantasy
in a detailed vision of the blighted American vista, and he avoids the
formulas of less talented popular novelists." (New Yorker)
IN Fiction Catalog
Title: Divining women
Personal Author: Gibbons, Kaye
Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons
Publication Year: 2004
Pages: 205
ISBN: 0-399-15160-5, $23.95
Abstract: In this "tale of marital strife and female resilience,
Gibbons considers conflicts between blacks and whites and men and
women within the context of the First World War and the Spanish
influenza epidemic. Martha has sent her intelligent daughter, Mary, to
North Carolina to help Martha's half-brother, Troop, and his expectant
wife, Maureen, and Mary is amazed to find herself in a household as
miserable as it is opulent. Troop is a coldhearted, possibly insane
despot; lovely and muddled Maureen is his prisoner; and Zollie and
Mamie, their kind African American employees, are treated with
appalling indifference. The hate, lies, and machinations at work in
this psychotic hothouse rival that of the most gothic of southern
melodramas, a tradition Gibbons shrewdly subverts as she divines the
true nature of feminine power and points the way toward justice in
this gorgeously moody and piquant fairy tale." (Booklist)
Dewey Decimal Classification: 813
Review: Kirkus Reviews (New York, N.Y.: 1991) v. 72 no. 2 (Jan. 15
2004)
Review: Library Journal (1976) v. 129 no. 5 (Mar. 15 2004). Smith,
Starr E., reviewer [with full text]
Review: Publishers Weekly v. 251 no. 7 (Feb. 16 2004) [with full text]
IN Fiction Catalog
^ TOP
Nonfiction
Title: The black death and the transformation of the west
Personal Author: Herlihy, David; Cohn, Samuel K. Jr.
Publisher: Harvard Univ. Press
Publication Year: 1997
Pages: 117
ISBN: 0-674-07613-3 (paperback), $12
Abstract: These "essays redefine the historical study of the Black
Death. . . . Herlihy's contention is that we can learn from this
'devastating natural disaster': for example, parallels can be drawn to
today's pandemic of AIDS, especially in the resultant bigotries that
both engendered. Cohn introduces the lectures, admirably setting the
scene. This book, which opens a new chapter on the history and
implications of the plague, is essential for all readers of medieval
history." (Libr J)
Dewey Decimal Classification: 940.1
Review: Booklist v. 94 (Sept. 15 1997). Beatty, William, reviewer
[with excerpt]
Review: History Today v. 48 no. 6 (June 1998). Marks, Lara, reviewer
Review: Library Journal v. 122 (Oct. 1 1997). Doherty, John J.,
reviewer [with excerpt]
Review: The New York Review of Books v. 46 no. 4 (Mar. 4 1999). Cohen,
Joel S., reviewer [with excerpt]
Review: The Times Literary Supplement no. 4968 (June 19 1998). Wear,
Andrew, reviewer
Review: American Scientist v. 86 no. 4 (July/Aug. 1998). McVaugh,
Michael R., reviewer [with full text]
Review: Isis v. 89 no. 1 (Mar. 1998). Crosby, Alfred W., reviewer
Review: JAMA v. 279 no. 8 (Feb. 25 1998). Muendel, John, reviewer
Review: Renaissance Quarterly v. 52 no. 2 (Summ 1999). Eamon, William,
reviewer
Review: Speculum v. 74 no. 1 (Jan. 1999). Horrox, Rosemary, reviewer
Review: The History Teacher (Long Beach, Calif.) v. 32 no. 1 (Nov.
1998). Sankey, Margaret, reviewer [with full text]
Review: The Journal of Economic History v. 58 no. 4 (Dec. 1998).
Botticini, Maristella, reviewer
Review: The Sixteenth Century Journal v. 29 no. 4 (Wint 1998). Cox,
Catherine I., reviewer [with full text]
Review: The Wilson Quarterly v. 21 (Aut 1997). Tenner, Edward,
reviewer [with full text]
IN Public Library Catalog Title: The great
mortality: an intimate history of the Black Death, the most
devastating plague of all time
Personal Author:Kelly, John
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication Year: 2005
Pages: 364
ISBN: 0-06-000692-7, $25.95
Abstract: "Western Europe is the primary focus of Kelly's compact
history, which is 'intimate' in that it highlights many particular
persons' passages through the crucible years, 1348-49. . . . Kelly
proceeds chronologically, beginning with the plague's prehistory in
north central Asia and its spread through China before empire-building
Mongols brought it west. . . . This sweeping, viscerally exciting book
contributes to a literature of perpetual fascination: the chronicles
of pestilence." (Booklist)
Subject(s): Plague
Dewey Decimal Classification:614.5
Review: New York Times (Late New York Edition) (Mar. 4 2005). Kakutani,
Michiko, reviewer [with excerpt]
Review: Booklist v. 101 no. 12 (Feb. 15 2005). Olson, Ray, reviewer
Review: The New Yorker v. 81 no. 5 (Mar. 21 2005). Acocella, Joan,
reviewer [with excerpt]
Review: New Statesman (London, England: 1996) v. 134 (Apr. 25 2005).
Saunders, Frances Stonor, reviewer [with excerpt, full text]
Review: The New York Times Book Review v. v[v110 no. 14] (Apr. 3
2005). Lewis, Mark, reviewer [with excerpt]
Review: Publishers Weekly v. 252 no. 3 (Jan. 17 2005)
Review: Lancet (North American edition) v. 365 (Apr. 30-My 6 2005).
Bynum, Bill, reviewer
Review: The New England Journal of Medicine v. 353 no. 18 (Nov. 3
2005). Dattwyler, Raymond J., reviewer
IN Public Library Catalog Title: The Black Death
Personal Author: Peters, Stephanie True
Publisher: Benchmark Books
Publication Year: 2004
Pages: 69
Physical Description: Illustration; Map
ISBN: 0-7614-1633-1 (lib bdg), $29.93
Abstract: Describes the 1347 - 1351 outbreak of plague in Europe,
known as the Black Death, which killed one out of three people and
changed the course of European history.
Series:Epidemic!
Subject(s): Plague; Middle Ages
Dewey Decimal Classification: 614.5
IN Middle & Junior High School Library Catalog
Title: Plague: the mysterious past and terrifying future of the
world's most dangerous disease
Personal Author: Orent, Wendy
Publisher: Free Press
Publication Year: 2004
Pages: 276
Physical Description: Illustration
ISBN: 0-7432-3685-8
Abstract: Orent's "history of Yersinia pestis begins and ends in
Russia. . . . Plague's homeland is Mongolia and the adjacent north and
west; it spread through Asia to Europe and Africa from there, and
there it still flares, killing entire families. . . . Three times
plague waxed pandemic, and Orent charts its course and effects under
the sixth-century Byzantine emperor Justinian, whose attempted revival
of the Roman empire it quashed; in the mid-fourteenth century,
devastating Europe before subsiding in waves extending to the
eighteenth century; and in 1894 to 1920, especially in China, during
which investigators discovered much of what is definitely known about
it." (Booklist)
Subject(s): Plague
Dewey Decimal Classification: 614.5
Review: Booklist v. 100 no. 18 (May 15 2004)
Review: London Review of Books v. 27 no. 8 (Apr. 21 2005). Pennington,
Hugh, reviewer [with excerpt]
Review: Nature v. 430 (July 8 2004). Titball, Richard W., reviewer
IN Senior High School Library Catalog and Public Library Catalog
Title: In the wake of the plague: the Black Death and the world it
made
Personal Author: Cantor, Norman F.
Publisher: Free Press
Publication Year: 2001
Pages: 245
Physical Description: Illustration; Map
Language of Document: English
ISBN: 0-684-85735-9, $25
Abstract: The author "looks at the effects of the Black Death on
14th-century Europe." (Libr J)
"By animating history and demonstrating our times' connections to even
as remote an event as the Black Death, Cantor's erudite excursion
proves most engrossing." (Booklist)
Note(s): Also available in paperback from Perennial
Includes bibliographical references
Subject(s): Plague
Dewey Decimal Classification: 614.5
Review: Booklist v. 97 no. 13 (Mar. 1 2001). Taylor, Gilbert, reviewer
Review: Library Journal (1976) v. 126 no. 7 (Apr. 15 2001). Andrews,
Robert J., reviewer [with excerpt]
Review: New Statesman (London, England: 1996) v. 130 no. 4538 (May 21
2001). Furedi, Frank, reviewer [with excerpt]
Review: The New York Review of Books v. 49 no. 9 (May 23 2002). Duffy,
Eamon, reviewer [with excerpt]
Review: The Times Literary Supplement no. 5162 (Mar. 8 2002). Dobson,
R.B., reviewer
Review: Endeavour (Oxford, England) v. 25 no. 3 (Sept. 2001). Beard,
Jonathan, reviewer
Review: JAMA v. 286 no. 17 (Nov. 7 2001). Rietz, Robert, reviewer
Review: New Statesman (London, England: 1996) v. 130 (May 21 2001).
Furedi, Frank, reviewer [with full text]
Review: The Historian v. 65 no. 2 (Wint 2002). Forgeng, Jeffrey L.,
reviewer [with full text]
Review: The New England Journal of Medicine v. 347 no. 4 (July 25
2002). Markel, Howard, reviewer
IN Senior High School Library Catalog and Public Library Catalog
Title: When plague strikes: the Black Death, smallpox, AIDS
Personal Author: Giblin, James; Frampton, David, il
Responsibility: by James Cross Giblin; woodcuts by David Frampton
Publisher: HarperCollins Pubs.
Publication Year: 1995
Pages: 212
ISBN: 0-06-446195-5 (paperback), $7.95
Abstract: "Giblin takes a look back to ancient Egypt, to the Dark
Ages, and to the age of the smallpox epidemics and finds intriguing
historic parallels. Then he traces what is known about the AIDS
epidemic from its earliest suspected case to the present. Giblin
closes his study with the report of a new plague, a mutation of the
hantavirus, which seems to be ready to continue to wreck havoc on
populations worldwide." (Book Rep)
The author "writes with simplicity and drama about three terrible
plagues and about the suffering, bigotry, and humanity of people, then
and now." (Booklist)
Subject(s): Plague; Smallpox; AIDS (Disease); Epidemics
Dewey Decimal Classification: 614.4
IN Senior High School Library Catalog Title: A
distant mirror: the calamitous 14th century
Personal Author: Tuchman, Barbara Wertheim
Publisher: Knopf
Publication Year: 1978
Pages: 677
Physical Description: Illustration; Map
ISBN: 0-345-34957-1 (paperback), $17.95
Abstract: The author traces the history of the fourteenth century by
following the career of a "feudal lord, Enguerrand de Coucy VII, the
seigneur of some 150 towns and villages in Picardy. He was born in
1340, and he died in captivity in 1397, having been made a prisoner by
the Turks." (Time)
Note(s): Includes bibliographical references
Subject(s): France/History/1328-1589, House of Valois; World
history/14th century; Medieval civilization; Church history/600-1500,
Middle Ages; Plague; Women/Europe; Great Britain/History/1154-1399,
Plantagenets; Crusades; Coucy, Enguerrand de, 1340-1397
Dewey Decimal Classification: 944
IN Senior High School Library Catalog and Public Library Catalog
^ TOP |
