Author Timothy C. Winegard traces mosquito through history

J.D. Salinger’s books are finally going digital

By Tracee M. Herbaugh

A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator” (Dutton), by

Since the dawn of humankind, mosquitoes have been around to pester us, buzzing in an ear before selecting a blood vessel on which to feast. But these tiny, disease-transmitting bugs are more than a summertime nuisance; they’ve played a significant role in shaping our world today.

“The Mosquito: A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator” by Timothy C. Winegard chronicles the pest’s role that it played from the fall of Rome to a rise in Christianity to how the Civil War ended.

“As the pinnacle purveyor of our extermination, the mosquito has consistently been at the front lines of history as the grim reaper, the harvester of human populations, and the ultimate agent of historical change,” writes author Timothy C. Winegard, a professor of history and political science at Colorado Mesa University.

Winegard traces the mosquito through history, starting with the dinosaurs up to present day. It’s when humans began to cultivate farm animals in close proximity about 10,000 years ago that the mosquito really flourished. With the bug’s ubiquity, it’s no surprise ancient philosophers such as Homer have touched on the mosquito’s disease.

Readers of non-fiction, history and science will enjoy Winegard’s unique take on the ever-present pest. If you can’t get away from mosquitoes in your backyard, then immerse yourself in this book and learn a new perspective on this seemingly insignificant part of summer.

“The Hidden Things” Books), by

Secrets have a way of getting out, and with viral videos and social media, few things stay hidden for long as Jamie Mason illustrates in her sly, satisfying third novel. “The Hidden Things” starts as a plucky teenager surviving a possible home

(Gallery invasion, then quickly moves into a compelling tale about con artists, regrets and fresh starts.

Mason’s innovative plotting with touches of devious humor fuels the story, but “The Hidden Things” is driven by its perceptive character studies of criminals, the criminally inclined and two innocents whose worlds are about to implode.

Coming home from a typical day at school, 14-year-old Carly Liddell is attacked just outside her home. Carly fends off the teenage thug and somehow gets the front door open to set off the alarm. The attack continues until Carly is able to knock out her attacker with her “cool boots” and then runs to the nearest neighbor.

Carly’s stepfather, John Cooper, installed security cameras around their suburban home, but neither she nor her mother, Donna, know that he has also installed a camera inside the home. The police upload the video on their website and soon catch the assailant. The video quickly goes viral with thousands of viewers riveted by, and rooting for, the plucky Carly. But some people are more interested in what is partly visible in the video - a corner of 17th-century Dutch master Govaert Flinck’s painting “Landscape with Obelisk,” taken in a decades-old heist at Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Donna and Carly know nothing about John’s criminal history.

The plot unfurls showing how John – whose real name is Jonathan Spera – obtained the painting, how two people were killed, one left for dead and two escaped when he tried to sell it, and how the survivors are affected.

Art expert Marcelline Gossard’s life was the most drastically changed. Still bearing the scars from when she almost died, she went off the grid, calling herself Emma and taking jobs that were the “stuff that fresh starts and soul starvations were made of.” For Marcelline, fixer Owen Haig and the homeless Roy Dorring, the painting becomes akin to the Holy Grail. If they can just get hold of it, their lives will be back on track. John wants to know how to escape while Carly gets a master class in devious adult behavior and becomes a determined sleuth as she spies on her stepfather.

Violence simmers throughout “The Hidden Things,” ready to explode at any moment.

NEW YORK:

Also:

You’ll finally be able to catch the late J.D. Salinger’s books in digital format.

Longtime Salinger publisher Little, Brown and Company said all four of his works, including “The Catcher and the Rye,” will be made available as e-books Tuesday, marking the first time that the entirety of his published work will be available in digital format.

His son, Matt Salinger, said the digital holdout ended because many readers use e-books exclusively and some people with disabilities can only use them.

“There were few things my father loved more than the full tactile experience of reading a printed book, but he may have loved his readers more – and not just the ‘ideal private reader’ he wrote about, but all his readers,” said Salinger, who helps oversee his father’s literary estate.

In addition to “The Catcher in the Rye,” the e-books include “Nine Stories,” ‘’Franny and Zooey,” and “Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction.”

The electronic publication continues a yearlong centennial celebration of author’s birth and his contributions to literature.

Salinger, who died in 2010, lived a reclusive life in Cornish, New Hampshire, and rarely spoke to the media. He not only stopped releasing new work, but rejected any reissues or e-book editions.

But things are changing. In addition to the e-books, there have been new covers and a boxed edition.

Matt Salinger also has said unpublished work by his late father will be coming out. But he said any publication of new works may be years away. (AP)