Briefly Noted

Children & YA
Daddy Loves His Little Girl
By John Carter Cash
Little Simon Inspirations
32 pages
$16.99

"John Carter Cash flies readers to magical castles by the sea as one little girl shares an adventure with her daddy by her side. The special bond between father and daughter protect them from pirates and alligators and guide them on the backs of eagles on which they return to their own home where Daddy tucks his little girl safely in her bed. Daddy reminds his little girl that however far they might roam and however high they fly, his love for his little girl will always keep them safe and strong."

—from the publisher

Read an interview with John Carter Cash in Chapter 16 here.

Fiction
Murder She Wrote: Nashville Noir
By Donald Bain
NAL
288 pages
$22.95

"Jessica Fletcher knows that creativity must be nurtured. So when a young lady from Cabot Cove shows promise as a singer and songwriter, Jessica and a local citizens committee send Cyndi on a scholarship trip to Nashville, Tennessee, where she can benefit from professional instruction. Only weeks later, Cabot Cove is shocked to hear of the cold-blooded murder of a brash country music publisher—by the young talent Cyndi! And as Cyndi's mother begs Jessica to help her daughter, Jess heads to the country music capital of the world to help the wayward starlet."

—from the publisher

Nonfiction
Home Cooking With Tricia Yearwood: Stories and Recipes To Share With Friends and Family
By Tricia Yearwood
Clarkson Potter
224 pages
$29.99

"Singer Trisha Yearwood has found another way to reach her audience—with this follow-up to her successful Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen, she serves up more homey, Southern-inflected fare from her country music kitchen. And this newest is every pinch of salt the sequel—from the foreword by her husband, Garth Brooks, and her intimate personal anecdotes to the recipes donated by family and friends (her grandmother's strawberry cake; Brooks's mother's cabbage rolls, her mama's homemade waffles). Yearwood jumps off with some helpful hints, such as the importance of fresh-shredded cheese and how to use scissors to release a stubborn piecrust. The meat of the book is rib-sticking classics for both special occasions and weeknights, like sweet potato pudding, jalapeño hushpuppies, and a Lowcountry boil. … Yearwood's enthusiasm and warmth come through, particularly in the handwritten notes at the bottom of the pages."

Publisher's Weekly

Nonfiction
30 Life Lessons My Boys Learned From Baseball
By Andy Norwood
Pelican Publishing
136 pages
$14.95

"Baseball parallels life in so many ways that it can be an incredible blessing to have some understanding of the game. Andy has written a heartfelt and entertaining book for novice and expert alike. These thirty insightful lessons aren't only a necessity for our boys, but the men who impact their lives every single day."

—Kent Bottenfield, former Major League Baseball pitcher

"Andy Norwood catches with impeccable timing and skill the very essence of what is good and solid and true about America's favorite game and, more to the point, what is good and solid and true about America's dads and their sons. This one will warm your heart and reassure your mind and, along the way, it will also rejoice your soul."

—Phyllis Tickle, former religion editor of Publishers Weekly

Nonfiction
Democracy and Moral Conflict
By Robert B. Talisse
Cambridge University Press
216 pages
$90

"Robert Talisse has provided us with a timely, original, and unapologetic defense of constitutional democracy. It is, he says, the only form of government suited to persons who are already committed in their everyday lives to giving reasons for their beliefs. Artfully blending careful philosophical analysis with contemporary illustrations and accessible prose, Democracy and Moral Conflict makes an authentically democratic and powerfully reasoned case for democracy."

—John C. P. Goldberg, Professor of Law, Harvard University

Nonfiction
The Blind Side
By Michael Lewis
Norton
352 pages
$13.95

"Lewis has made a habit of writing about sport recently, but sport is really only a subtext for a much more meaningful examination of class and race. I wept at the end, something I have not done at the end of a work of non-fiction for a very long time."

—Malcolm Gladwell, The Observer Books of the Year 2006

Nonfiction
How Much More Longer?
By Steve Elder
WinePress Publishing
152 pages
$15.99

"Steve Elder writes with such "down to earth" candor that you get caught up in his story. Then you realize it is not so different from yours. His humorous, introspective and honest approach is refreshing and challenging. We need men who will be honest about their humanity. Men who aren't afraid to laugh at themselves and talk about their mistakes and the lessons learned. Steve is one of those guys, and he speaks the refreshing language of an authentic heart in a way that invites you right in—to his story and yours."

—Russ Lee, recording artist and lead singer of Newsong

Nonfiction
Dog Joy: The Happiest Dogs in the Universe
By the Editors of The Bark
Rodale
192 pages
$16.99

"Sometimes the best moments in human relationships are the ones in which we have the self-restraint to say nothing at all, to demonstrate our love and our joy instead of trying to break down the experience and reshape it into words. This is the genius of dogs, one of the many geniuses of dogs—they have the nonverbal-expression thing down cold. And if we're reading too much into everything they're not saying, then so be it. They'll forgive us. They always do."

—Ann Patchett, from the foreword to Dog Joy