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In the Stacks is a weekly newspaper column by librarian Kathy Ward that highlights parts of the Juneau Public Library's collection by topic. You can browse these columns by date or by topic.

“The Devil wears Prada,” by Lauren Weisberger
Andrea Sachs has landed the perfect job: assistant to Miranda Priestly, super-star editor of the top fashion magazine Runway. From the beginning, personalities and goals clash. Andrea’s ultimate goal: a job with the New Yorker magazine. Miranda’s goal: to cut her assistant down at every turn and drive her insane. Good thing Andrea only signed a one-year contract!

“Temporary Sanity,” by Rose Connors
When Buck Hammond shoots and kills the pedophile who raped and murdered Hammond’s seven-year old son, cameras are rolling - there’s no chance of mistaken identity. If Marty Nickerson, Hammond’s attorney, can’t get Hammond to plead temporary insanity, how can she defend him? And then another case of vigilante justice lands on Marty’s desk: an abused woman who is accused of murdering her abusive boyfriend. Can murder ever be right?

“The Center of Everything,” by Laura Moriarty
Gifted Evelyn grows up with her very young and very single mother, Tina, and her severely disabled brother, Samuel, longing for a real life. Evelyn is a good girl, going to church with her grandmother and appropriately appalled at her mother’s irresponsible behavior, but when it comes to her teenage years, she navigates them only with her mother’s help, learning along the way that no-one is all good, and luck isn’t always bad.

“The Outside of August,” by Joanna Hershon
Alice Green grows up with two parents, a brother, and a strange feeling of hollowness that she can’t identify or understand. Charlotte, her mother, and Gus, her brother share an unexplained bond, as do her Charlotte and Alan, her father, but Alice is an outsider, untethered to her family. It isn’t until Alice and Gus are adults that she comes to understand how fractured her family is beneath the surface.

“Ghost Riders,” by Sharyn McCrumb
As a young boy, Rattler had an encounter with a Civil War era ghost, one of many who haunt the North Carolina mountains. Now, his hills are full of Civil War buffs, re-enacting battles that ended before they were born. But the hills are also filled with ghosts, and Rattler begins to doubt that the war ever ended.

“Waterloo Station,” by Emily Grayson
When Maude Latham arrived in Great Britain in 1939 to study literature, she never expected that she’d meet the love of her life, much less that he’d be her married literature tutor. World War II interrupts their affair, Stephen joins the Royal Navy, and Maude awaits his return, working in a hospital. But years go by without Stephen, and Maude doesn’t know what to think about herself, Stephen, or the love they shared.

“I am the Central Park Jogger,” by Trisha Meili
In 1989, a young woman jogger was brutally beaten, raped, and left for dead in Central Park. The victim of a “wilding,” a group of teens looking for something to do, she was found barely alive, and more than 5 weeks go by before she came out of a coma. With the help of her family and friends, and great care from medical staff, she not only recovered, but healed. This is her story.

“The Crisis of Islam,” by Bernard Lewis
Lewis, a Middle East historian, examines the key events leading up to today’s violent clashes between militant Islamic groups and the Western world. Covering thirteen centuries of history, Lewis outlines the historic roots of Islam and explores the resentments behind the acts of terrorism. Fascinating reading, helpful in putting current events into perspective.

“Seeking Enlightenment: hat by hat,” by Nevada Barr
Best-selling mystery writer Barr turns her hand to memoir in this chronicle of her journey from atheism to religion. The process was slow: from a childhood suspicion that only the gullible went to church to her first steps inside an Episcopalian church at Christmas took many years and the pain of a failed marriage. Now, she describes herself as still heathen, but no longer godless.

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