Bookmarks

Here are some books that have crossed our desks recently.

HARDBACKS

"LABOR DAY," by Joyce Maynard, William Morrow, $24.99 (f)

Thirteen-year-old Henry spends most of his time watching television, reading and daydreaming. For company Henry has his mother, Adele — a onetime dancer whose summer project was to teach him how to foxtrot; his hamster, Joe; and awkward Saturday-night outings with his estranged father and new stepfamily. That all changes the Thursday before Labor Day when a mysterious man named Frank approaches Henry and asks for a hand. Over the next five days, Henry and his mother learn valuable life lessons.

"STORM CYCLE," by Iris Johansen and Roy Johansen, St. Martin's Press, $26.95 (f)

Rachel Kirby is a computer genius whose beloved twin sister is plagued by a chronic illness that will eventually kill her. Rachel gets an e-mail one day from archeologist John Tanek. He's trapped inside a collapsed Egyptian tomb with a functioning laptop. He knows Rachel is the only person who can help him. The collapse is not an accident because John has discovered something valuable in that tomb, something that people have been searching for throughout history, something that may hold the key to her sister's cure.

Rachel soon finds herself trapped in deceit and murder. She'll do anything to save her sister, but who can she trust?

More hardbacks recently released:

"Old Girlfriends," by David Updike (f); "Zero at the Bone: The Playboy, the Prostitute, and the Murder of Bobby Greenlease," by John Heidenry (nf); "The Last Godfathers: Inside the Mafia's Most Infamous Family," by John Follain (nf); "Sandman Slim," by Richard Kadrey (f); "The Dead of Winter," by Rennie Airth (f); "Dead Docket," by Mitchell Graham

PAPERBACKS

"BENNY & SHRIMP," by Katarina Mazetti, Penguin $14 (f)

This is the story of Shrimp, a young widowed librarian with a sharp intellect and a home so tidy that her jam jars are in alphabetical order; Benny, a gentle, overworked milk farmer who fears becoming the village's Old Bachelor; and an unlikely love that should not be as complicated as it seems.

More paperbacks recently released: