In the late nineteenth century Austro-Hungarian Empire, two Jewish astronomy professors work tirelessly to unearth new academic research for their chosen field. But their participation in adultery, deception, and murder will follow them throughout time, weaving a complicated web into future generations, and setting the stage for the age-old question, "Are the sins of the fathers visited upon the sons?" Years later, the professors' families having immigrated to Cleveland, Ohio, the old axiom comes to a strange and chilling climax. The grandsons of the astronomers supposedly influenced by ancient Jewish mysticism are murdered-one allegedly at the hands of the other. Detective Sergeant Marty Kowalski investigates the murders, with the assistance of an astronomy professor and two of her students from the University of Michigan. Spending considerable time and meticulous effort, Kowalski slowly unravels the complicated past behind the two victims and unearths a shattering truth that will leave both families reeling. A fascinating blend of philosophy, history, and religion, The Noble Profession of Leaf Chasing delivers a compelling read.

In the late nineteenth century Austro-Hungarian Empire, two Jewish astronomy professors work tirelessly to unearth new academic research for their chosen field. But their participation in adultery, deception, and murder will follow them throughout time, weaving a complicated web into future generations, and setting the stage for the age-old question, Are the sins of the fathers visited upon the sons? Years later, the professors families having immigrated to Cleveland, Ohio, the old axiom comes to a strange and chilling climax. The grandsons of the astronomers supposedly influenced by ancient Jewish mysticism are murderedone allegedly at the hands of the other. Detective Sergeant Marty Kowalski investigates the murders, with the assistance of an astronomy professor and two of her students from the University of Michigan. Spending considerable time and meticulous effort, Kowalski slowly unravels the complicated past behind the two victims and unearths a shattering truth that will leave both families reeling. A fascinating blend of philosophy, history, and religion, The Noble Profession of Leaf Chasing delivers a compelling read.

This playful counting book shares the colorful highlights of the four seasons in charming illustrations. Count your way through the seasons! In spring, the tree’s leaves appear, one by one. By summer, there’s a glorious canopy. And when autumn winds blow, leaves fly from the tree, one after another, leading us into winter. There’s a world of activity to spy in and around this beautiful tree as the wild creatures, and one little boy, celebrate the cycles of nature. As little ones count leaves, look for animals, and enjoy the changing seasonal landscape, bouncy rhymes and bold illustrations make learning to count easy—corresponding numerals reinforcing the learning fun.

The ostensible purpose of a library is to preserve the printed word. But for fifty years our country’s libraries–including the Library of Congress–have been doing just the opposite, destroying hundreds of thousands of historic newspapers and replacing them with microfilm copies that are difficult to read, lack all the color and quality of the original paper and illustrations, and deteriorate with age. With meticulous detective work and Baker’s well-known explanatory power, Double Fold reveals a secret history of microfilm lobbyists, former CIA agents, and warehouses where priceless archives are destroyed with a machine called a guillotine. Baker argues passionately for preservation, even cashing in his own retirement account to save one important archive–all twenty tons of it. Written the brilliant narrative style that Nicholson Baker fans have come to expect, Double Fold is a persuasive and often devastating book that may turn out to be The Jungle of the American library system.

A Minneapolis Star Tribune Best Book of 2014 • Recommended by The New Yorker, The New York Public Library, Alan Cheuse of NPR, Grantland • Shortlisted for the 2014 International Dylan Thomas Prize • Longlisted for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award A "ruminative...lovely...accomplished" (The New York Times Book Review) and "touching" (The Seattle Times) debut collection of stories that "sparkles with the brilliance and charm of Chekhov." (Simon Van Booy, award-winning author of Love Begins in Winter and The Illusion of Separateness) Kseniya Melnik's Snow in May introduces a cast of characters bound by their relationship to the port town of Magadan in Russia's Far East, a former gateway for prisoners assigned to Stalin's forced-labor camps. Comprised of a surprising mix of newly minted professionals, ex-prisoners, intellectuals, musicians, and faithful Party workers, the community is vibrant and resilient and life in Magadan thrives even under the cover of near-perpetual snow. By blending history and fable, each of Melnik's stories transports us somewhere completely new: a married Magadan woman considers a proposition from an Italian footballer in '70s Moscow; an ailing young girl visits a witch doctor's house where nothing is as it seems; a middle-aged dance teacher is entranced by a new student's raw talent; a former Soviet boss tells his granddaughter the story of a thorny friendship; and a woman in 1958 jumps into a marriage with an army officer far too soon. Weaving in and out of the last half of the twentieth century, Snow in May is an inventive, gorgeously rendered, and touching portrait of lives lived on the periphery where, despite their isolation—and perhaps because of it—the most seemingly insignificant moments can be beautiful, haunting, and effervescent.a