So it’s really cold out there today.  Like, record-breaking, it-hasn’t-been-this-cold-on-this-day-in-over-a-century cold out there.  Do you know what that means?

According to the entry in Wikipedia, blanket forts are “a staple of early childhood entertainment”, however, we here at the Library know that blanket forts are for everyone, and blanket forts are for always.  In case you need some inspiration, there are a number helpful hints here, though we recommend bringing your books into the fort, rather than using them as counterweights.  Books work much better as books.

And speaking of books….why not pick up a few books from the library to bring into your fort?  Here are five new titles that have graced our shelves this week that would love to come and visit:

My American Duchess: There are very few writers, especially romance writers, whose every release is a sure-fire success, but Eloisa James is absolutely one of them.  Instead of building a story around a tragic event, or a dark, traumatic past, or a lurking secret, she tells stories about real, honest, troubled, lovely, loveable people who are empathetic and whose relationships are wholly believable; in sort, she writes real, honest-to-goodness love stories that are just irresistible.  In this newest release, Merry Pelford arrived in London with two failed engagements in her past, but she has vowed that her third engagement will be a success, no matter what.  And things seem to be going along swimmingly–until she meets the Duke of Trent.  Trent could very well be everything that Merry wants in a man…if she weren’t already engaged to his brother.  This trope is a tricky one, but James pulls it off in a story that is light, wise, and perfectly charming.  RT Book Reviews agrees, cheering “Smart heroines, sensual heroes, witty repartee and a penchant for delicious romance have made James a fan favorite … readers will be hooked from beginning to end.”

Youngblood: Non-fiction writer Matt Gallagher’s first novel begins as the American Army is about to withdraw from Iraq, but newly-minted lieutenant Jack Porter can’t seem to find any reason to celebrate.  A series of backhand deals and schemes have made this withdrawal possible, and he knows that chaos still looms just around the corner.  But even as the arrival of a new, brutal commanding officer unleashes Jack’s worst fears, he finds himself growing increasingly intrigued by a tale of a lost American soldier, and Rana, a local sheikhs’ daughter, a story that could bring down Jack’s new commander–or lead to his own destruction.  But as his fate grows intertwined with Rana’s, Jack realizes that the truth may be worth any price.  This book has been getting a good deal of attention, partly because it manages to tell a kind of parable out of such hard and true facts, and partly because of Gallagher’s intense humanity in depicting some of humanity’s greatest shortcomings.  Kirkus gave this book a starred review, calling it, “A complex tale about the Iraq War, intrigue, love, and survival…Gallagher subtly weaves throughout this excellent, brutal tale intrigue, a mystery, and two compelling love stories… A fresh twist on the Iraq War novel adds depth to this burgeoning genre.”

The Killing Forest: Sara Blaedel’s work has flown off the shelves in her native Denmark, and her series featuring DI Louise Rick has grown into an internationally-bestselling one, so now seems like a perfect time to jump on the bandwagon!  In this eighth series installment, Louise Rick has returned to work at the Special Search Agency, an elite unit of the National Police Department, and is quickly assigned the case of a 15-year-old boy who disappeared the previous week–but Louise soon realizes that this new case dovetails with her own personal investigation into her long-ago boyfriend’s death.  But the farther she digs into the past, and re-enters the complex world of her hometown, the more she realizes that some secrets are better left uncovered, and some truths are too dark for the light of day. Booklist loves Blaedel’s work, and calls this book “Another suspenseful, skillfully wrought entry from Denmark’s Queen of Crime.”

Shylock is My Name: Howard Jacobson takes one of Shakespeare’s most memorable characters from out of the pages of The Merchant of Venice, and re-imagines him in the present day, as an art dealer named Simon Strulovitch.  While remaining faithful to the basic premise that Shakespeare set out, Jacobson uses Shylock’s feelings of betrayal, his anger, and his shocking bargain (in the original, a pound of flesh, but Jacobson gets a bit more creative….) to explore questions about Jewish and English culture that makes this story feel wholly original.  Critics in the UK are going wild over this book, and the Independent has declared it “Supremely stylish, probing and unsettling…This Shylock is a sympathetic character in his private life…In his dialogues with Strulovitch he is both savagely funny and intellectually searching, both wise and sophistical, intimate and coldly controlling… Jacobson’s writing is virtuoso. He is a master of shifting tones, from the satirical to the serious. His prose has the sort of elastic precision you only get from a writer who is truly in command.”

In Europe’s Shadow: Two Cold Wars and a Thirty-Year Journey Through Romania and Beyond: Journalist Robert Kaplan has made his career by writing about the Balkans, and all of his books are beautifully sympathetic and insightful, offering a fascinating blend of history and current events that will make you feel like you’ve lived there with him for some time.  In this newest release, he focuses on Romania, a country that exists somewhere between the East and the West, a place that experienced some of the worst effects of Communism, that is now, somehow, transforming itself into a place for Western tastes and tourism.  Kaplan makes the generations of history that have formed Romania’s ambiguous relationship with Europe, and it’s very tense, storied experience with Russia clear, accessible, and deeply empathetic, and may just make you want to back your own bags for a visit.  The New York Times Book Review seems to agree, calling this work a “haunting yet ultimately optimistic examination of the human condition as found in Romania . . . Kaplan’s account of the centuries leading up to the most turbulent of all—the twentieth—is both sweeping and replete with alluring detail.”

Until next week, beloved patrons, keep warm and happy reading!  If anyone needs me, I’ll be in my blanket fort….