The more that February feels like April, the worse our yearning gets for spring and sunshine. To tide you over for the next few weeks, here are some spring-y titles to keep smiling through the dog days of winter. We also have a some great events, a chance to pick Portland's best, and another galley contest! Read on for details.

CAST YOUR VOTE!

Time, once more, to make your voices heard! Voting has begun for the Portland Phoenix 2010 Best of Portland Issue. Click the link below, and cast your vote for your favorites in every conceivable category: Best Divebar, Best Haircuts, Best Jukebox, and yes, even Best Bookstore. Follow this link and pick the best of Portland!

At the age of 80, venerable literary figure Norman Mailer met a young writer, Dwayne Raymond, moonlighting as a waiter in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and hired him as his personal assistant. In the new book, Mornings with Mailer, Raymond recounts the four years they spent working together before Mailer's death in 2007.

The author of more than 40 books, Norman Mailer was one of our country's most distinguished writers. He was twice awarded a Pulitzer Prize for fiction, first for The Armies of the Night (1968), and later for The Executioner's Song (1979), and his first novel The Naked and the Dead (1948) was named one of the best 100 English language novels by the Modern Library.

"Dwayne Raymond adds another dimension to our appreciation of a great man's genius, the paradoxes of his genial belligerence, his obstinacy at once maddening and endearing, and his unaffected originality," says Harry Evans, the bestselling author of They Made America. "This is a fascinating, touching memoir, and often funny too."

Raymond worked with Mailer on a daily basis on both personal and professional matters, and provided editorial assistance on his last four published works. They eventually became close friends, and remained so up until Mailer's passing. "Raymond provides an intimate look at the daily routine of a great writer in the last years of his life," explains Pulitzer Prize-winner Doris Kearns Goodwin, "[He] poignantly describes how Mailer fought like a lion to continue writing even as age and illness slowed him down." Mailer died of kidney failure in 2007.

Dwayne Raymond contributes regularly to the Huffington Post and has written for The New York Times Brief Guide to Essential Knowledge, The Mirror, In Newsweekly, and The Boston Reader. He lives in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

In his new book, Crashes and Collapses, physicist and forensic scientist Thomas Bohan explores the science behind crime scene and accident investigations. How can you recreate a car crash based on the tire marks? Who's to blame for a construction crane collapsing, or a New York subway accident? Bohan shows how scientists analyze these precarious situations, and how much they can determine from the limited data available. Along with Bohan's clear and systematic explanations, he also provides a history of forensic science and numerous sidebars and diagrams to help explain important terms and ideas. For the mathematically inclined, he even walks you through the calculations used to reach his conclusions. Whether you're a CSI fan, an amateur physicist, or simply a curious bystander, Crashes and Collapses provides insight and understanding into the everyday world.

"...[an] interesting book...an ideal primer for teachers, aspiring forensic scientists and engineers, as well as members of the general public..."
- Journal of Forensic Sciences

"Bohan uses real-life and fictionalized cases to explain how the country's super sleuths use principles of science - some going back to Archimedes and Kepler - to get to the core of seemingly impossible problems."
- Portland Press Herald

Thomas L. Bohan, Ph.D., received his degree in physics from the University of Illinois-Urbana. He is currently the director of MTC Forensics in Portland, Maine. He has published articles in refereed physics and forensic science journals and is on the editorial board for the Journal of Forensic Sciences. Bohan is also president-elect of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and a board member of Forensic Specialties Accreditation Board. He lives on Peaks Island.

New Books!

A Little Piece of Earth: How to Grow Your Own Food In Small Spaces
by Maria Finn (Universe, $19.95)

Apartment dwellers, rejoice! Whether you have a rooftop, a porch, or just a sunny window, A Little Piece of Earth shows you how to make the most of the space you've got, and start growing your very own garden. Everything from the traditional herbs-in-window-boxes to citrus trees and mushroom logs! With diagrams, tips and recipes, think of this as half education, and half inspiration.

"There's no better place to find real food than from right next door to your own kitchen."
- Nina Planck, author of Real Food

Native Plants For Your Maine Garden
by Maureen Heffernan (Down East, $24.95)

What's the big deal about native plants? For starters, they're hardy, disease-resistant, non-invasive, and beneficial to wildlife. In Maureen Heffernan's new book she profiles more than 140 native Maine plants and gives you the information you need to select the right ones for your home and garden -- and as the Executive Director of Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, you know she knows her stuff.

"Reintroducing native plants into landscapes strengthens a sense of place... natives make great choices, aesthetically and ecologically."
- from the Introduction

The Bill James Handbook
by Bill James (ACTA, $23.95)

Baseball season is almost upon us (pitchers and catchers have already reported to spring training!), and like clockwork, James has released his latest bible of baseball statistics and analysis, The Bill James Handbook, 2010. A must for all the fans that can't wait for opening day.

"The prize for our winter hibernation."
- Peter Gammons, ESPN

Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend
by James Hirsch (Scribner, $30)

For the first time ever, the great Willie Mays has authorized the story of his life. In this new biography of the Say Hey Kid, New York Times reporter Hirsch chronicles Mays' rise from poverty in Alabama to become an enduring icon of American sports, and perhaps the most complete baseball player in history.

"It's really a pleasure to read the true facts about the life and career of the greatest center fielder of all time."
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Remainders!

Remainders are great books at ridiculous prices. Check out these featured titles and more, on display now at the front of the store.

Cowboy Stories
illustrated by Barry Moser (Chronicle), normally $16.95, now only $7.00!

A beautiful hardcover collection of Wild West stories from an all-star cast of contributors: Larry McMurtry, Louie L'Amour, Annie Proulx, Elmore Leonard, Zane Gray, O. Henry and more. Each story is accompanied by one of Moser's woodcut engravings. The only thing better is the price: $7.

"Moser's work is never less than dazzling."
- Newsweek

The World in Six Songs
by Daniel Levitin (Penguin), normally $16, now only $8.00!

Levitin's follow up to This is Your Brain on Music explores the effects of music on the mind, its remarkable relationship to human nature. Levitin has a knack for providing clear explanations for those unmistakable, but difficult-to-articulate musical experiences.

"A literary, poetic, scientific, and musical treat."
- Seattle Times

Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy through Jokes
by Thomas Cathcart & Daniel Klein (Abrams), normally $18.95, now only $8.00!

A crash-course through the history of philosophy, from Buddha and Plato to Camus and Foucault, accompanied by lots and lots of hilarious jokes.

"The zaniest bestseller of the year."
- Boston Globe

Dawn of the Dreadfuls: A Prequel

Are you a fan of zombie mash-ups? Looking for something new to read? Edgar Award-nominated novelist Steve Hochensmith takes you back to the early days of Elizabeth Bennet, Zombie Killer, in this prequel to the wildly bestselling Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. The new volume, Dawn of the Dreadfuls, won't be released until March 23rd, but we have an advance copy, and we're going to give it away to the winner of our little contest. The contest is simple: be the first person to reply to this email with the answer to our trivia question: Where were the Bennet Sisters trained in zombie-slaying? Good luck!

Yours in Books,

Chris & Co.
Longfellow Books