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EDITORIAL REVIEW:

New York Times bestselling author Vince Flynn returns with his most explosive political thriller yet. A tour de force of action-packed suspense, Protect and Defend delivers an all-too-realistic and utterly compelling vision of nations navigating the minefield of international intrigue. A true  heavyweight in the political thriller arena  (Minneapolis Star Tribune), Vince Flynn has created a flesh-and-blood hero that readers can cheer for and a  finger-blistering page-turner  they won t dare put down.In Protect and Defend, the action begins in the heart of Iran, where billions of dollars are being spent on the development of a nuclear program. No longer willing to wait for the international community to stop its neighboring enemy, Israel launches one of the most creative and daring espionage operations ever conceived.  The attack leaves a radioactive tomb and environmental disaster in the middle of Iran s second largest city.  An outraged Iranian government publicly blames both Israel and the United States for the attack and demands retribution.  Privately, Iran s bombastic president wants much more.  He wants America and Israel to pay for their aggression with blood.Enter Mitch Rapp, America s top counterterrorism operative. Used to employing deception, Rapp sees an opportunity where others see only Iranian reprisals that could leave thousands of Americans dead.  Rapp convinces President Josh Alexander to sign off on a risky operation that will further embarrass the Iranian government and push their country to the brink of revolution.  As part of the plan, CIA director Irene Kennedy is dispatched to the region for a clandestine meeting with Azad Ashani, her Iranian counterpart.But Rapp isn t the only one hatching plans.  Iranian President Amatullah, has recruited Hezbollah master terrorist Imad Mukhtar to do his dirty work.  For decades Mukhtar has acted as a surrogate for Iran, blazing a trail of death and destruction across the Middle East and beyond.  When Kennedy s meeting with Ashani goes disastrously wrong, Rapp and Mukhtar are set on a collision course that threatens to engulf the entire region in war.  With the clock ticking, Rapp is given twenty-four hours, no questions asked, to do whatever it takes to stop Mukhtar, and avert an unthinkable catastrophe.


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EDITORIAL REVIEW:

Fearless counterterrorism operative Mitch Rapp finds himself directly in the line of fire in the latest riveting political thriller from *New York Times* bestselling author Vince Flynn.

For years, Mitch Rapp's bold actions have saved the lives of countless Americans. His battles for peace and freedom have made him a hero to many, and an enemy to countless more. In the tangled, duplicitous world of espionage, there are those, even among America's allies, who want to see Mitch Rapp eliminated. They have decided the time has come.

Now, the powerful father of a dead terrorist demands vengeance in its simplest form -- an eye for an eye, and Rapp instantly becomes the target of an international conspiracy. This time, he must use all of his vigilance and determination to save himself before he can turn his fury on those who have dared to betray him.

*Consent to Kill* takes listeners behind the headlines and catapults them to the front lines of the global war on terror. It sizzles "with inside information, military muscle, and CIA secrets" (Dan Brown). Vince Flynn mixes military technology with his exclusive knowledge of Washington politics to create a hero that Americans will wish existed outside the realm of fiction.


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EDITORIAL REVIEW:

**In the newest devastatingly intense thriller by #1 *New York Times* bestselling phenomenon Vince Flynn, his deadly and charismatic hero Mitch Rapp wages a war against a new enemy with the help of a fellow soldier as dedicated and as lethal as they come.**

Vince Flynn's thrillers, featuring counterterrorism operative Mitch Rapp, have dominated the imagination of readers everywhere. In them, Flynn has captured the secretive world of the fearless men and women, who, bound by duty, risk their lives in a covert war they must hide from even their own political leaders.

Now, Rapp and his protege, Mike Nash, may have met their match. The CIA has detected and intercepted two terrorist cells, but a third is feared to be on the loose. Led by a dangerous mastermind obsessed with becoming the leader of al-Qaeda, this determined and terrifying group is about to descend on America.

Rapp needs the best on this assignment, and Nash, who has served his government honorably for sixteen years first as an officer in the Marine Corps and then as an operative in an elite counterterrorism team run by Rapp is his choice. Together, they have made careers out of meeting violence with extreme violence and have never wavered in the fight against the jihadists and their culture of death. Both have fought the war on terrorism in secret without accolades or acknowledgment of their personal sacrifices. Both have been forced to lie to virtually every single person they care about, and both have soldiered on with the knowledge that their hard work and lethal tactics have saved thousands of lives.

But the political winds have changed in America, and certain leaders on Capitol Hill are pushing to have men like Rapp and Nash put back on a short leash. And then one spring afternoon in Washington, DC, everything changes.

Using his insider knowledge of intelligence agencies and the military, Flynn once again delivers an all-too-real portrayal of a war that is that is waged every day by a handful of brave, devoted souls. Smart, fast-paced, and jaw-droppingly realistic, *Extreme Measures* is *the* political thriller of our time.


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On a busy Washington morning, amid the shuffle of tourists and the brisk rush of government officials, the stately calm of the White House is shattered in a hail of gunfire. A group of terrorists has descended on the Executive Mansion, and gained access by means of a violent massacre that has left dozens of innocent bystanders murdered. Through the quick actions of the Secret Service, the president is evacuated to his underground bunker, but not before almost one hundred hostages are taken. While the politicians and the military leaders argue over how to negotiate with the terrorists, one man is sent in to break through the barrage of panicked responses and political agendas surrounding the chaotic crisis. Mitch Rapp, the CIA's top counterterrorism operative, makes his way into the White House and soon discovers that the president is not as safe as Washington's power elite had thought. Moving stealthily among the corridors and secret passageways of the White House, stepping terrifyingly close to the enemy, Rapp scrambles to save the hostages before the terrorists can extract the president from the safety of his bunker. In a race against time, Rapp makes a chilling discovery that could rock Washington to its core: someone within his own government is maneuvering in hopes that his rescue attempt will fail. With the crackling tension and explosive action that made Term Limits "a roller-coaster, edge-of-your-seat thriller" (Minneapolis Star-Tribune), Vince Flynn delivers Transfer of Power -- a blockbuster novel that carries us just beyond today's headlines.


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When diplomacy has failed and military intervention is deemed inappropriate, our leaders sometimes takeTHE THIRD OPTIONMitch Rapp, the CIA's most lethal and efficient counterterrorism operative, is putting into play a meticulous plan to take out a notorious sponsor of terrorism -- When he falls prey to government forces with an agenda of their own.Dr. Irene Kennedy is named the successor to dying CIA Director Thomas Stansfield -- a choice that enrages many inside the world's most powerful intelligence agency. And her detractors will resort to extreme measures to prevent her from taking the reins.But what the Washington conspirators and backstabbing insiders do not know is that Mitch Rapp won't tolerate being their pawn. And he will stop at nothing to find out who has set him up.New York Times bestselling author Vince Flynn brings this first-rate political thriller to life with authentic detail and action that sizzles.


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CIA superagent Mitch Rapp s cover has been blown -- just when the world needs him more than ever....EXECUTIVE POWERReturning from a covert mission， Mitch Rapp was publicly hailed by the president for his role in the fight against terrorism. After years of working in the shadows， Rapp was caught in the media spotlight -- and marked for death by virtually every terrorist in the world. Now a CIA advisor， Rapp is ready to battle terror far from the front lines. But when a Navy SEAL team in the Philippines is ambushed， all evidence points to a leak within the U.S. State Department. And a greater threat still lurks -- a ruthless assassin working for the most powerful men in the Middle East， who are bent on igniting a world war. With the world watching， Rapp must hold back the flames of Armageddon....


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CIA superagent Mitch Rapp is back in action in Vince Flynn's high-velocity New York Times bestseller.Newly appointed CIA director Dr. Irene Kennedy is the target of an inside plot to destroy her and prematurely end the American President's term. To make matters worse, Saddam Hussein is close to entering the nuclear arms race -- something Israel has vowed to stop. With the haunting specter of World War III looming, the President calls on his secret weapon: top counterterrorism operative Mitch Rapp. But with only two weeks to take out the nukes, Rapp is up against a ticking clock -- and impossible odds.


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#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR VINCE FLYNN RETURNS WITH HIS MOST EXHILARATING POLITICAL THRILLER TO DATE, A PULSE-POUNDING TALE OF ESPIONAGE, COVERT INTELLIGENCE, AND COUNTERTERRORISM.The action begins six days after a series of explosions devastated Washington, D.C., targeting the National Counterterrorism Center and killing 185 people, including public officials and CIA employees. It was a bizarre act of extreme violence that called for extreme measures on the part of elite counterterrorism operative Mitch Rapp and his trusted team member, Mike Nash. Now that the initial shock of the catastrophe is over, key Washington officials are up in arms over whether to make friends or foes of the agents who stepped between the enemy's bullets and countless American lives regardless of the legal consequences. Not for the first time, Rapp finds himself in the frustrating position of having to illustrate the realities of national security to politicians whose view from the sidelines is inevitably obstructed.Meanwhile, three of the al Qaeda terrorists are still at large, and Rapp has been unofficially ordered to find them by any means necessary. No one knows the personal, physical, and emotional sacrifices required of the job better than Rapp. When he sees Nash cracking under the pressure of the mission and the memories of the horrors he witnessed during the terrorist attack, he makes a call he hopes will save his friend, assuage the naysayers on Capitol Hill, and get him one step closer to the enemy before it's too late. Once again, Rapp proves himself to be a hero unafraid "to walk the fine line between the moral high ground and violence" (The Salt Lake Tribune) for our country's safety, for the sake of freedom, for the pursuit of honor.


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EDITORIAL REVIEW:

Fearless counterterrorism operative Mitch Rapp is called upon to fight against the world's most deadly terrorists in this harrowing political thriller by *New York Times* bestselling author Vince Flynn. 

 It's just seven days before Memorial Day, and the nation's capital is buzzing with last-minute preparations for the unveiling of the magnificent new memorial honoring the men and women who fought in World War II. Despite the hopeful energy of the city, Mitch Rapp senses trouble. A spike in CIA intelligence has pointed to a major terrorist attack on the United States. Now it's up to Rapp to pull out all the stops. 

 Rapp immediately leaves for Afghanistan, where he leads a special forces unit on a daring commando raid across the border into a remote Pakistani village. Their target: an al Qaeda stronghold. Within a subterranean room, Rapp and his team discover a treasure trove of maps, computers, files, and bills of lading for multiple freighters heading to U.S. ports -- all pointing to plans for a catastrophic nuclear attack on Washington, DC. 

 Information is quickly relayed back to CIA headquarters, and a nuclear emergency support team scrambles to the scene. In a few hours, the freighters have been located and disarmed and the danger has been averted. Or has it? 

 Despite all the backslapping and congratulations, Mitch Rapp can't shake the feeling that the operation seemed just a bit too easy. Rapp follows his instincts on a quest to unearth the whole truth. What he finds is truly terrifying, and with Memorial Day closing fast, Rapp must find a way to prevent a disaster of unimaginable proportions. 

 Packed with the heartstopping action and political intrigue that Vince Flynn's fans love, here is a stylish thriller exalting America's past battles for freedom as well as its continued fight for peace.


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Taking America back...one politician at a time   TERM LIMITS In one bloody night， three of Washington s most powerful politicians are executed with surgical precision. Their assassins then deliver a shocking ultimatum to the American government: set aside partisan politics and restore power to the people. No one， they warn， is out of their reach -- not even the president. A joint FBI-CIA task force reveals the killers are elite military commandos， but no one knows exactly who they are or when they will strike next. Only Michael O Rourke， a former U.S. Marine and freshman congressman， holds a clue to the violence: a haunting incident in his own past with explosive implications for his country s future.... "Ingenious....Outpaces anything recently published， including Baldacci and Clancy."  -- Florida Times-Union Includes an excerpt from Memorial Day， Vince Flynn s electrifying new hardcover


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Huck is a page-turning, unforgettable true story of the tenacity of one small dog, the unexpected, extraordinary kindness of strangers, and a family's devotion to each other. Michael was four when his relentless campaign for a dog began. At seven he made a PowerPoint presentation, "My Dog," with headings like "A Childhood Without a Dog is a Sad Thing." His parents, Janet and Rich, were steadfast; bringing a dog into their fast-paced New York City lives was utterly impractical. However, on a trip to Italy, a chance happening leads Janet to reconsider, a decision then hastened by a diagnosis of breast cancer. Janet decides the excitement of a new puppy would be the perfect antidote to the strain on the family of months of arduous treatments for her illness. The prospect of a new puppy would be an affirmation of life, a powerful talisman for them all. On Thanksgiving weekend, soon after the grueling months of treatments are over, Huck, a sweet, mischievous, red-haired, toy poodle joins the family and wins everyone's heart. A few months later the family ventures to baseball's spring training, leaving Huck with Janet's sister in Ramsey, New Jersey. Barely twenty-four hours into the trip, Janet receives the dreaded phone call: Huck has slipped through the backyard fence and run away. Broken-hearted and frantic, the family catches the first plane to New Jersey to begin a search for their lost puppy. It is a race against time, for little Huck is now lost in an area entirely unfamiliar to him, facing the threat of bears and coyotes, swamps and freezing temperatures, rain and fast cars. Moved by the family's plight, strangers - from school children to townspeople to the police lieutenant - join the search, one that proves to be an unyielding test of determination and faith. Touching and warm-hearted, Huck is a spirit-lifting story about resilience, the generosity of strangers, and hope.


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Before turning to high-tech fertility treatments, the 15 percent of all  couples who experience fertility problems might consider reading and trying  the many conception tips in Winifred Conkling's highly helpful Getting  Pregnant Naturally: Healthy Choices to Boost Your Chances of Conceiving  Without Fertility Drugs. Conkling, an experienced medical and natural  health writer and mother of two children (one who took a long time to  conceive), differentiates between "infertile" and "subfertile" couples, and  asserts that more than half of all couples who have failed to conceive in a  year or more of trying can go on to get pregnant and have healthy babies.  Her book describes how.
    Conkling begins with a clear description of the complicated mechanics of  conception and the basics of enhancing conception chances.  Combining  accessible and straightforward information with simple checklists, she  then presents dietary suggestions (men should avoid cottonseed oil, a  natural antifertility agent), herbal remedies, homeopathy, acupressure  (complete with pressure-point maps), and stress-reduction techniques  (including enjoying good orgasms, biofeedback, meditation, visualization,  massage, and refraining from adopting a child as a means to reduce  infertility stress). For each suggestion and remedy, a complete,  easy-to-follow description is provided. Getting Pregnant Naturally  concludes with lifestyle suggestions such as losing weight gradually (if  needed) and avoiding bicycling (for men), as well as quitting smoking and  recreational drugs, minimizing air travel, and limiting computer use (there  may be a link between computer use and miscarriage). A 27-page appendix  listing resources rounds out this highly helpful guide.  --Ericka Lutz


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Newly promoted to sergeant， Philadelphia detective Matt Payne finds himself in the middle of three assignments at once: trying to nail down a cop killer， a serial rapist， and a murderer who fled to France 20 years ago. It s enough to burn out any cop. But Payne s not just any cop. And he s about to show the bad guys that there s no place they can hide from him-or from justice...


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A vicious madman is on a kidnapping and rape spree. Inspector Peter Wohl, commander of the new Special Operations task force, is determined to stop the maniacal reign of violence, facing off against a desperate public, a hostile press and reluctant witnesses.


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Tony the Zee DeZego is found dead and bleeding on the concrete， and it is clear that it was a Mafia hit. But one puzzling fact remains: Penny Detweiler， a wealthy debutante involved with DeZego， was also shot. Policeman Matt Payne is a prime suspect--even by the police! Original.


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The dramatic new novel in Griffin's New York Times- bestselling chronicle of the Philadelphia police force. There's a sudden spike in murders in Philadelphia, but no one seems to mind much because the victims all seem to be lowlifes. The more Homicide Sergeant Matthew Payne investigates, however, the more he gets a bad feeling-one that only gets worse when vigilante groups spring up claiming credit for some of the hits, even though Payne knows it can't be true. As the targets get bigger and events start moving out of control, Payne realizes that if he and his colleagues can't figure out who's behind this very soon, the violence could overtake them all. Filled with authentic color and detail, this is a riveting novel of the men and women who put their lives on the line-storytelling at its absolute best.


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Officer Matt Payne is assigned to protect a witness to a robbery and murder of an innocent bystander by terrorists. In a deadly confrontation， Payne kills one of the terrorists . . . and his hame is added to their hit list. "(Griffin) captivates you with characters the way few authors can."--Tom Clancy. Original.


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A vice cop is shot dead in his home. A bar owner and his wife are gunned down during a robbery. And in a mansion, a young woman dies of a heroine overdose. The crimes seem unconnected. But these deaths are about to trigger a convergence of corruption, cops, and the mob that could tear the Philadelphia Police Department apart from the inside out.


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Philadelphia Homicide Sergeant Matthew Payne is paired with a Texas Ranger to bring down a murderer with Mexican cartel connections. The odd couple of the Philly cop and the Texas lawman must run down the killer and his gang-before the body count rises again.


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A cop has been shot--cold-bloodedly gunned down while trying to prevent a holdup. Regulations say the investigation is to be handled like any other homicide. But when a cop is killed in the line of duty， it is different. And the brotherhood in blue will stop at nothing to bring the killer to justice. Original.


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A stirring portrait of the decade when the Steelers became the greatest team in NFL history, even as Pittsburgh was crumbling around them. In the 1970s, the city of Pittsburgh was in need of heroes. In that decade the steel industry, long the lifeblood of the city, went into massive decline, putting 150,000 steelworkers out of work. And then the unthinkable happened: The Pittsburgh Steelers, perennial also-rans in the NFL, rose up to become the most feared team in the league, dominating opponents with their famed "Steel Curtain" defense, winning four Super Bowls in six years, and lifting the spirits of a city on the brink. In The Ones Who Hit the Hardest, Chad Millman and Shawn Coyne trace the rise of the Steelers amidst the backdrop of the fading city they fought for, bringing to life characters such as: Art Rooney, the owner of the team so beloved by Pittsburgh that he was known simply as "The Chief"; Chuck Noll, the headstrong coach who used the ethos of steelworkers to motivate his players; Terry Bradshaw, the strong-armed and underestimated QB; Joe Green, the defensive tackle whose fighting nature lifted the franchise; and Jack Lambert, the linebacker whose snarling, toothless grin embodied the Pittsburgh defense. Every story needs a villain, and in this one it's played by the Dallas Cowboys. As Pittsburgh rusted, the new and glittering metropolis of Dallas, rich from the capital infusion of oil revenue, signaled the future of America. Indeed, the town brimmed with such confidence that the Cowboys felt comfortable nicknaming themselves "America's Team." Throughout the 1970s, the teams jostled for control of the NFL-the Cowboys doing it with finesse and the Steelers doing it with brawn-culminating in Super Bowl XIII in 1979, when the aging Steelers attempted to hold off the Cowboys one last time. Thoroughly researched and grippingly written, The Ones Who Hit the Hardestis a stirring tribute to a city, a team, and an era.


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 <h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3>
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 Starred Review. As 18-year-old orphaned actor Will Hawthorne explains early on in this clever page-turner, I don't want you thinking you're going to get a tale about some blue-eyed tyke with a heart of gold in a world where good triumphs over evil. You're not, I'm not, and in my experience it never does. Charged as a rebel after escaping the authorities in a world not unlike Elizabethan England, obnoxious, charming Will joins a small mercenary group and proves himself the least honorable of them all. When the group comes under attack from crimson-armored raiders, Will reluctantly fails to betray the companions he is even more reluctantly growing to like. In small, swift scenes, Hartley (<i>On the Fifth Day</i>) deftly proves that people you shouldn't trust at your back can be the best ones to have at your side. <i>(Mar.)</i> <br>Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
 
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 This fantasy by a Shakespearean scholar tells the story of hapless young actor William Hawthorne in a fictional world that, not unlike Elizabethan England, brims with intrigue. Saving his neck by joining a band of heroes led by a warrior possessed of a magical and powerful sword, Hawthorne unwittingly joins a battle against an evil empire bent on crushing everyone to its will. The subsequent story is at times formulaic, the whole piece a pastiche of clichés and plot twists from better-known movies and adventure fiction. Only someone unfamiliar with the genre may be surprised, for example, that Hartley’s foolish and cowardly protagonist learns, over the course of this ripping yarn, to be wise and brave. Hartley’s prose is so graceful, his narrative so taut, and his battle scenes so exciting and well described, however, that one quickly forgives his betimes paint-by-numbers development. All this is especially true of the compulsively readable second half, which unfolds with remarkable elegance and power. --Jack Helbig
 
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 Fans of 2009's <i>Act of Will</i>, Hartley's first tale featuring roguish almost-hero Will Hawthorne, may be disappointed that the adventurers split up early on and two don't reappear until late in the story. Fortunately, all of the fast pacing, outrageous dilemmas, and sharp, cynical humor are back in full force. Will and his intermittently traitorous friends are about to be captured by soldiers of the Diamond Empire when a mysterious ambassador smuggles them out of the city and possibly the world. They're almost immediately enmeshed in a war between goblins and the eerily humanlike Fair Folk, where nothing is certain except Will's ability to make a bad situation worse. Fans will dive in with the gusto of Will quaffing a tankard of beer, and new readers should have no problem keeping up. <i>(Feb.)</i> <br>Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
 
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 <div><div><div>While on the run from Empire guards, Will Hawthorne and his band of thieves are transported to a mysterious land that none of them recognize or know how to get home from. Turns out that they've landed right in the middle of a battle between goblins and humans. Their human allies are practically storybook counterparts to the rough sorts they knew in Stavis, speaking in high-flown prose, dressed to the height of fashion, and dripping with wealth and social propriety. Will's companions are quite taken by these fine folks, but the Fair Folk are appalled by Will's unorthodoxy.<br><br>At first Will does whatever he can to try to squirm into their good graces, but just when his efforts are feeling totally futile, he begins to wonder if these too-perfect courtiers and warriors have anything to offer beyond their glamour and their burning hatred of the goblins. But is there any recourse for Will and his friends once it turns out that the humans who are sheltering them may not be on the right side of their eternal conflict?<br><br>Will Power is a funny and fleet-footed stand-alone fantasy featuring the characters readers grew to love in <i>Act of Will </i>in an all-new adventure about the danger of first impressions.</div></div></div>
 
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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Furst ( Night Soldiers ) will make his mark with this intelligent, provocative and gripping novel. In 1933, Andre Szara, a highly regarded Polish-born foreign correspondent for Pravda , is asked to perform small espionage tasks by the NKVD. These assignments escalate, until Szara finds himself responsible for obtaining vital production figures from a German-Jewish industrialist who fabricates steel wire essential to airplanes. Inevitably, Szara's integrity as a journalist is also compromised. During this period of Stalinist purges, clearly and chillingly described by Furst, only unpredictability is certain. Szara senses the precariousness of his position, which is compounded by an urgent appeal from a wealthy Jewish Frenchman for Szara to honor his own Jewish heritage by trading his steel wire information to the British in exchange for desperately needed immigration certificates to mandated Palestine. Furst depicts the historical, geographic and political context in lucid and highly readable prose; his observation that Russia annexed Lithuania and Estonia while the world's attention was focused on France's struggle with Germany has an eerie timeliness. As darkness descends over Europe, Szara clings to life while simultaneously attempting to make some meaning of it. His story is not a pretty one; but it is beautifully and compellingly told. <br />Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p><h3>From Library Journal</h3><p>This is an intriguing combination of spy story and historical novel. It is about a Pravda journalist forced to become a Soviet intelligence agent in the years immediately before World War II. It is also about a Europe being driven into war, not simply by supposedly irresistible social forces but by the genuinely evil men who manipulate and direct events. Seen in this way, Stalin is as responsible for the coming of war as Hitler, and Stalin's Russian purges signal the future deaths of millions in Central Europe. Agents in this novel are not just spies but metaphors for the actors, large and small, on the stage of history. Entertaining, exciting, and thought-provoking reading.<br /><em>- Charles Mi chaud, Turner Free Lib., Randolph, Mass.</em><br />Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p>


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<h3>Product Description</h3><p>Grilling is a science, and it's only when you understand the science of grilling that you can transform it into an art. That's what makes <em>Mastering the Grill</em> a standout on the cookbook shelf. From equipment (grill types and tools) to fire (wood, charcoal, or gas) to ingredients (meat, poultry, fish, and vegetables), the authors have shared their impressive grilling know-how to explain the whys and the hows and guarantee the wows clearly and comprehensively. In addition to hundreds of tips and techniques, this ultimate guide is packed with how-to illustrations and mouthwatering photographs plus 350 surefire recipes everything from rubs and marinades to appetizers, entrees, side dishes, and desserts. <em>Mastering the Grill</em> is a master class in cooking, destined to become a sauce-stained, well-thumbed classic. </p><h3>About the Author</h3><p>Andrew Schloss is a well-known teacher, food writer, cookbook author, and food industry consultant. He lives in Pennsylvania.  </p><p>David Joachim has authored, edited, or collaborated on more than 25 cookbooks. He lives in Pennsylvania. </p>


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>At the start of this tepid stand-alone from Vachss (Haiku), professional thief Tim "Sugar" Caine finds himself in an interesting dilemma--a rape victim has mistakenly identified him as her attacker, but he hesitates to tell the cops the truth because he was participating in a jewel robbery at the time. The canny ex-con figures that if he does time for the sex crime, he will evade scrutiny for the crime he did commit. Caine ends up serving a five-year sentence for sexual assault before he's back on the New York City streets, where he reconnects with Solly Vizner, the man who put the jewel heist together. Most of the book concerns Caine's efforts to track down another member of the crew who Vizner fears could squeal on everyone else, but a less than exciting lead and a slow-moving plot make this one of Vachss's weaker crime novels. (Nov.) (c) <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>Review</h3><p>"Andrew Vachss can always be depended on to deliver powerful fiction, and his new novel, <em>The Weight</em>, is no exception."<br />-Chet Williamson  </p><p>--chetwilliamson.com/2010/09/andrew-vachsss-the-weight-due-in-november-first-review/  </p><p>"[Andrew Vachss'] new book, <em>The Weight</em>, may be his finest hour to date. [It] works on the surface as a stunning mystery. Compulsively readable."<br />-Ken Bruen --mulhollandbooks.com/2010/11/04/ken-bruen-reviews-the-weight-by-andrew-vachss/  </p><p>"Andrews Vachss at his best" --_Los Angeles Times_ --latimes.com/features/books/la-et-book-20101120,0,7958452.story  </p><p> “The hardest-boiled crime fiction this side of Sing Sing.” <br />—_USA Today_   </p><p>“Many writers try to cover the same ground as Vachss. A handful are as good. None are better.” <br />—_People_  </p><p>“Vachss is red hot and as serious as a punctured lung.” <br />—_Playboy_  </p><p>“[Vachss writes] some of the cleanest, meanest, stripped-down-and-sparkling prose ever penned.” <br />—_The Austin Chronicle_  </p><p>“Vachss’s writing is like a dark roller-coaster ride of fear, love, and hate.” <br />—New Orleans <em>Times-Picayune</em>  </p><p>“There’s no way to put a [Vachss book] down once you’ve begun.” <br />—_Detroit Free Press_  </p><p>“Andrew Vachss is a contemporary master.” <br />—_The Atlanta Journal-Constitution_</p>


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 Separate from the government; outside the police, beyond the United Nations; Torchwood sets its own rules. A team of investigators, using alien technology to solve crime - both alien and human. This new British sci-fi crime thriller, created by Russell T. Davies, sees them delve into the unknown. A group of people fighting the impossible. The series stars Captain Jack Harkness, last seen in Doctor Who. This novel is a brand-new Torchwood story.
 
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<h3>Review</h3><p>“Addictive… Packed with wild action and revealing tradecraft.”<br />_–Daily Telegraph  </p><p>_“McNab is a terrific novelist. When it comes to thrills, he’s Forsyth class.”<br /><em>–Mail on Sunday</em>  </p><p><em>From the Paperback edition.</em></p><h3>Product Description</h3><p>The stunning new thriller from the master of the genre.  </p><p>Nick Stone seems to be living his dream, not a care in the world as he steers his camper van round the surfing and parachuting centres of Australia, a board on the roof, freefall rig behind him, and a beautiful young backpacker at his side. But when he witnesses on TV the massacre of children in a terrorist siege on the other side of the world, long-suppressed memories are triggered and Nick finds himself catapulted once more into working for the American secret services — only this time, of his own free will.  </p><p>As events unfold in the bleak, medieval villages of Azerbajhan, and the teeming streets of modern Istanbul, it isn’t long before Nick discovers the true objective of the mission on which he has embarked. His talents are being misused by those who stalk the corridors of power, and he is determined to make a stand.  </p><p>Hurtled at breakneck pace through a deadly landscape of greed, violence and ever-shifting allegiances, the reader will be left in no doubt that McNab is the master of the genre — and <strong>Aggressor </strong>is McNab at his searing, blockbusting best.  </p><p><em>From the Trade Paperback edition.</em></p>


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<h3>Product Description</h3><p>The Weavers’ grip on Saramyr’s rulers has grown ever more powerful, and all the while, the blight they have brought grows harsher. The land is slipping into civil war. In the mounting chaos, Kaiku and the orphaned heir-Empress must fight for their destiny and their survival, as Saramyr succumbs to the twisting of the Weave and the unknowable ambitions of the secretive Weavers.</p><p>Written by young publishing phenomenon Chris Wooding, <em>The Braided Path</em> is a dark, manga-influenced fantasy of a terrifying world—a world across which plays a spellbinding plot of power, violence, and betrayal. Still in his twenties, Chris Wooding has published 18 books, including the <em>Broken Sky</em> series, which has sold more than 200,000 copies in the U.S. alone. He is also a winner of Britain’s prestigious Silver Smarties Prize for his acclaimed novel, <strong>The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray</strong>, which he is now adapting for a Hollywood film. </p><h3>About the Author</h3><p>Chris Wooding is 26. He has had more than a dozen novels published including the Silver Smartie Award-winning THE HAUNTING OF ALAIZABEL CRAY and the much praised POISON. HAUNTING has been bought by Hollywood and Chris has been employed to write the screenplay. He lives in North West London. </p>


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Christopher Hitchens, described in theLondon Observeras "one of the most prolific, as well as brilliant, journalists of our time" takes on his biggest subject yetthe increasingly dangerous role of religion in the world. In the tradition of Bertrand Russell'sWhy I Am Not a Christianand Sam Harris's recent bestseller,The End Of Faith, Christopher Hitchens makes the ultimate case against religion. With a close and erudite reading of the major religious texts, he documents the ways in which religion is a man-made wish, a cause of dangerous sexual repression, and a distortion of our origins in the cosmos. With eloquent clarity, Hitchens frames the argument for a more secular life based on science and reason, in which hell is replaced by the Hubble Telescope's awesome view of the universe, and Moses and the burning bush give way to the beauty and symmetry of the double helix. From the Hardcover edition.


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>In this sequel to Bram Stoker's <em>Dracula</em>, his great-grandnephew offers one of the rowdiest revisionist treatments of the most influential vampire novel ever written. In 1912, as Stoker labors to adapt <em>Dracula</em> for the stage, its characters are dying gruesomely all over London. It turns out they are as real as Stoker himself, who learned their secret story on the sly and took creative liberties when turning it into his popular penny dreadful. Dracula's true story involves the passing of his blood line through Mina Harker to her son; a malignant Dr. Van Helsing, who Scotland Yard suspects had a hand in the murders attributed to Jack the Ripper; and the exploits of a 16th-century vampire countess, Dracula's former lover, who cuts a bloody swath through London seeking the survivors of Dracula's last stand in Transylvania. Energetically paced and packed with outrageously entertaining action, this supernatural thriller is a well-needed shot of fresh blood for the Dracula mythos. <em>(Oct.)</em> <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>Review</h3><p>"Energetically paced and packed with outrageously entertaining action, this supernatural thriller is a well-needed shot of fresh blood for the Dracula mythos." <br />--_Publisher's Weekly_   </p><p>"The authors (Stoker is a descendant of Bram, and Holt is a noted Dracula historian) skillfully explore the nature of evil while weaving together several complex plotlines throughout this mesmerizing story. Readers who enjoy dark fantasy with fast-paced action will plow through this book, not wanting to stop." <br />--_Library Journal_</p>


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<h3>From</h3><p>Timothy doesn’t really know what to make of Abigail, the new girl in his seventh-grade class. After she is humiliated before her classmates, bad things start happening. Timothy’s best friend sees the clawed monster from his favorite video game at the bottom of a pool. Their teacher begins to get paranoid about the creepy specimen jars surrounding his classroom. But it’s not Abigail’s fault; in fact, she is seeing visions of the Nightmarys—two sinister little girls who beckon her to come play with them. It’s a marvelously disorienting setup, and Poblocki has a knack for cornering his characters in the most unlikely of vulnerable places: a laundry room, a changing room, a hospital bed. As the plot begins to hammer sense into the horrific happenings—it all has to do with a mystical jawbone, an insane professor, and a demon called the Daughter of Chaos—the scares get bigger, though often less impactful. More than anything, this is a mystery, complete with clues and secret codes, and Poblocki’s deft handling of the multiple threads makes this a devilish delight. Grades 6-10. --Daniel Kraus </p><h3>Product Description</h3><p>Timothy July has been having nightmares. About his brother, who is in a coma after being wounded in Iraq; about his best friend, Stuart, who is behaving like a jerk; about the old biology specimens in jars lining the walls of his classroom; and about Abigail, the new girl who seems to be a magnet for trouble. Or perhaps she is the cause.  </p><p>Suddenly Timothy’s nightmares are coming true. His brother, his face decaying, approaches Timothy on the street. Stuart ends up in the hospital, terrified that monsters are stalking him. And the specimen jars are tormenting not only Timothy but his teacher as well.   </p><p>What is the secret in Abigail’s past that is the key to these horrors? And can Timothy figure it out before his nightmares become a deadly reality?  </p><p>A follow-up to the well-received <em>Stone Child</em>, Dan Poblocki’s second novel will have his readers mesmerized until the last page—and sleeping with the lights on. </p>


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3>
<p>Traversing broiling deserts, snowy mountain passes and dank rain forests on its crooked way from Mexico to Canada, the Pacific Coast Trail is an epic challenge for die-hard backpackers. White and his girlfriend, Melissa, set out, late in the season and bereft of experience, to tread all 2,650 miles of it, leaving behind lousy reporting jobs and hoping to find self-definition and a deepened relationship. (They call their trek the Lois and Clark Expedition.) Hilarious greenhorn misadventures ensue—including the author's ill-advised chomp, while dizzy with dehydration, into a reputedly moisture-laden prickly-pear cactus—that tested their survival skills and commitment as a couple. The trail becomes less an itinerary than a world unto itself, full of squalor, discomfort and majestic scenery, and peopled by charismatic misfits and an austere cult of ultra-light speed-hikers, as the couple rely on arcane camping gear and bizarre gummy-bear-and-marshmallow diets. The wilderness authenticity the author seeks proves elusive; all journey and no destination, the story itself eventually trails off with the hero even more callow and confused than when he started. Still, White's vivid prose and hangdog humor make readers want to keep up. <em>(June)</em> <br />
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<p>"Drawing on diaries he kept at the time, White polishes up these memories, serving them forth with brio and dash…[The Cactus Eaters] brings a fresh perspective to the timeworn adventure-travel genre." -- <em>Kirkus Reviews</em>  
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<p>"In the well-written, laugh-out-loud, self-deprecating spirit of Bill Bryson’s A Walk In The Woods and Nora Ephron’s When Harry Met Sally, Dan White takes us along for a walk on the wild side of adventure and love. I could not put it down." -- <em>Eric Blehm, National Outdoor Book Award-winning author of THE LAST SEASON.</em>  
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<p>"It is a funny, frequently harrowing, and altogether mesmerizing memoir about just how wrong a backpacking expedition can go….‘The Cactus Eaters’ is far more than a Sierra Club-approved romp. It’s gorp for the soul, a fascinating and surprisingly moving testament to the call of the wild." -- <em>Steve Almond, Boston Globe</em>
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<h3>From School Library Journal</h3><p>Grade 7-10–In this sequel to <em>Traitor</em> (Putnam, 2005), Danny and his ex-SAS grandfather, Fergus Watts, survive an attempt on their lives while hiding out in Spain. They stop running and return to the UK with the hope of clearing their names and resuming a normal life, and are recruited to help uncover a corrupt MI5 agent who, at the same time, is trying to have them killed. Danny enlists the help of his friend Elena so that he and Fergus can accomplish the impossible: breaking into the heavily secured British Ministry of Defense in order to get official proof of Fergus's background and save their lives. The police are on high alert because of a series of suicide bombings carried out by teenagers, and MI5 tries to frame Danny as a terrorist. Adventure and suspense drive this plot. Despite some weak character development, the book will find a ready audience._–Michael Giller, South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities, Greenville_ <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>From</h3><p>This sequel to <em>Traitor</em> (2005) opens with Danny Watts and his former secret-service-agent grandfather, Fergus, hiding out in Spain. An attempt on their lives, however, sends them back to England, where the country is in turmoil after a series of suicide bombings. After Fergus is seriously wounded, he and Danny enlist Danny's friend Elena to help unravel the mystery of the attackers' identities. Despite many loose ends, young spy-fiction fans will enjoy entering Danny's murky world, where things are not as they initially seem. Teens will also enjoy the fast-paced, action-laden plot and the wealth of details about tricks of the spy trade. Some may find the thicket of English phrases and place-names a little dense, but a glossary at the front of the book will help them sort out vocabulary questions. This second book in the Danny Watts series will pull in plenty of new fans. <em>Todd Morning</em><br /><em>Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved</em></p>


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>The territory Evans covers in her debut collection may be small, but she owns it. Her main characters are almost all teen girls and young women who struggle with disorder, and the reader is given close access to each one's interior, from which the muted plots originate. "Jellyfish," one of the better stories, starts out with the plight of middle-aged William, whose roof has just collapsed, before settling on his adult daughter, Eva, and examining her life. The two friends in "Virgins," the opening and best story, maneuver unsteadily through the minefield of casually predatory men and boys. "Snakes" looks back on a consequential summer in the lives of two little girls. "The King of a Vast Empire" is the biggest departure from form and is narrated by good son Terrence, who frustratedly tells the story of his free-spirited sister, Liddie. The stories are beautifully observed, though their similarities in theme and voice make them better read individually than together. Evans has some great chops that would really shine with a little more narrative breadth. <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>From</h3><p>Evans’ first collection of short stories deals thoughtfully and incisively with considerations of class, race, and coming-of-age. That six of the stories are told in their female or male protagonists’ first-person voices brings them immediacy and emotional resonance. Sometimes, though, this device results in narrative voices that sound too much alike while the stories they tell lack thematic originality. Interestingly, two of the best stories—“Someone Ought to Tell Her There’s Nowhere to Go,” about a deeply troubled veteran of the Iraq War, and “Jellyfish,” about the fraught relationship of a young woman and her father—are told in third person. Yet, whether told in first or third person, what all of the stories share is a demonstration of the profound influence of the past on the present-day lives of their characters and the intricacies of relationships among African American, white, Hispanic, and mixed-race young people. Clearly, Evans lives up to her reputation as an important new voice in literary fiction. --Michael Cart </p>


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A fully illustrated edition of the international best-seller "Longitude." "The Illustrated Longitude" recounts in words and images the epic quest to solve the greatest scientific problem of the eighteenth and three prior centuries: determining how a captain could pinpoint his ship's location at sea. All too often throughout the ages of exploration, voyages ended in disaster when crew and cargo were either lost at sea or destroyed upon the rocks of an unexpected landfall. Thousands of lives and the fortunes of nations hung on a resolution to the longitude problem. To encourage a solution, governments established prizes for anyone whose method or device proved successful. The largest reward of 20,000-- truly a king's ransom-- was offered by Britain's Parliament in 1714. The scientific establishment-- from Galileo to Sir Isaac Newton-- had been certain that a celestial answer would be found and invested untold effort in this pursuit. By contrast, John Harrison imagined and built the unimaginable: a clock that told perfect time at sea, known today as the chronometer. Harrison's trials and tribulations during his forty-year quest to win the prize are the culmination of this remarkable story. "The Illustrated Longitude" brings a new and important dimension to Dava Sobel's celebrated story. It contains the entire original narrative of "Longitude," redesigned to accompany 183 images chosen by William Andrewes-- from portraints of every important figure in the story to maps and diagrams, scientifc instruments, and John Harrison's remarkable sea clocks themselves. Andrewes's elegant captions and sidebars on scientific and historical events tell their own story of longitude, paralleling and illuminating Sobel's memorable tale. Dava Sobel is the author of the best-sellers "Longitude" and "Galileo's Daughter," and the editor and translator of "Letters to Father." She lives in East Hampton, New York. William J. H. Andrewes is a museum consultant specializing in the history of scientific instruments and time measurement. He is the editor of "The Quest for Longitude" and lives in Concord, Massachusetts. Praise for "The Illustrated Longitude" "Two respected tellers of the longitude tale have teamed up! Sobel 's compelling prose is coupled with colorful and detailed illustrations provided by Andrewes. This edition responds to entreaties by readers who loved Sobel's "Longitude" but who wanted pictures to go with it."-- "Mercator's World" "Enormous care has been devoted to the illustrations and captions. Readers will finish this book considerably more educated about geography and navigation."-- "USA Today" "This new illustrated edition of Sobel's 1995 study of Harrison's remarkable instrument strikingly illuminates this largely unknown but crucial discovery."-- "Dallas Morning News" Praise for "Longitude" "As much a tale of intrigue as it is of science .... A book full of gems for anyone interested in history, geography, astronomy, navigation, clockmaking, and-- not the least-- plain old human ambition and greed."-- "Philadelphia Inquirer" "Intricate and elegant .... No novelist could improve on the elements of Dava Sobel's "Longitude.""-- "Newsweek" "Anyone with an interest in history or things maritime should consider "Longitude." This fascinating volume brings alive the eighteenth century."-- "USA Today" "Nearly perfect prose and a magnificent story, an extraordinary book."-- "Washington Post Book World"


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<h3>Product Description</h3><p>From David Weber to David Feintuch to David Drake, military writers have exploded onto the science fiction scene and continue to leave their mark. Now, bestselling Hammer's Slammers creator David Drake pays homage to his own sub-genre by gathering 10 classic tales of men at arms by SF greats, including Hary Harrison, Joe Haldeman, Richard C. Matheson, Gene Wolfe, Keith Laumer, and David Drake himself. </p><p>A stronghold of bestselling authors </p><p>Contributors to this collection include such notable authors as Hugo and Nebula Award-winner Joe Haldeman, Harry Harrison, Richard C. Matheson, and many more. </p>


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<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p>A fool and his money are soon parted--and nowhere so quickly as in the stock market, it would seem. In David Liss's ambitious first novel, <em>A Conspiracy of Paper</em>, the year is 1719 and the place London, where human greed, apparently, operated then in much the same manner as it does today. Liss focuses his intricate tale of murder, money, and conspiracy on Benjamin Weaver, ex-boxer, self-described "protector, guardian, bailiff, constable-for-hire, and thief-taker," and son of a Portuguese Jewish "stock-jobber." Weaver's father, from whom he has been estranged, has recently died, the victim of a horse-drawn carriage hit and run. Though his uncle has suggested that the accident wasn't quite so accidental, Benjamin doesn't give the idea much credence: </p><blockquote><p>I blush to own I rewarded his efforts to seek my opinion with only a formal reply in which I dismissed his ideas as nonsensical. I did so in part because I did not wish to involve myself with my family and in part because I knew that my uncle, for reasons that eluded me, had loved my father and could not accept the senselessness of so random a death. </p></blockquote><p>But then Benjamin is hired by two different men to solve two seemingly unrelated cases. One client, Mr. Balfour, claims his own father's unexpected death "was made to look like self-murder so that a villain or villains could take his money with impunity," and even suggests there might be a link between Balfour senior's death and that of Weaver's father. His next customer is Sir Owen Nettleton, an aristocrat who is keen to recover some highly confidential papers that were stolen from him while he cavorted with a prostitute. Weaver takes on the first case with some reluctance, the second with more enthusiasm. In the end, both converge, leading him back to his family even as they take him deep into the underbelly of London's financial markets. </p><p>Liss seems right at home in the world he's created, whether describing the company manners of wealthy Jewish merchants at home or the inner workings of Exchange Alley--the 18th-century version of Wall Street. His London is a dank and filthy place, almost lawless but for the scant protection offered by such rogues as Jonathan Wilde, the sinister head of a gang of thieves who profits by selling back to their owners items stolen by his own men. Though better connected socially, the investors involved with the shady South Sea Company have equally larcenous hearts, and Liss does an admirable job of leading the reader through the intricacies of stock trading, bond selling, and insider trading with as little fuss, muss, and confusion as possible. What really makes the book come alive, however, are the details of 18th-century life--from the boxing matches our hero once participated in to the coffee houses, gin joints, and brothels where he trolls for clues. And then there is the matter of Weaver's Jewishness, the prejudices of the society he lives in, and his struggle to come to terms with his own ethnicity. <em>A Conspiracy of Paper</em> weaves all these themes together in a manner reminiscent of the long, gossipy novels of Henry Fielding and Laurence Stern. Indeed, Liss manages to suggest the prose style of those authors while keeping his own, less convoluted style. This is one conspiracy guaranteed to succeed. <em>--Alix Wilber</em></p><h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>This remarkably accomplished first novel, by a young man still completing his doctoral dissertation at Columbia, has a great deal going on. It is at once a penetrating study of the beginnings of stock speculation and the retreat from a mineral-based currency in early 18th-century London, a sympathetic look at the life of a Jew in that time and place and a vision of the struggle between the Bank of England and the upstart South Sea Company to become the repository of the nation's fiscal faith. If all that sounds daunting, it is above all a headlong adventure yarn full of dastardly villains, brawls, wenches and as commanding a hero as has graced a novel in some time. He is Benjamin Weaver, a Jewish former boxer who had once abandoned his family, and virtually his faith, too, for a life on the fringes of criminal society as a kind of freelance bailiff who brings debtors to book for their creditors. When his uncherished father dies suddenly, however, and he has reason to suspect the apparent accident was actually murder, he plunges himself into a hunt for those responsible, and in the process changes his life. With his native cunning and his brawling skills, he soon finds himself deeply embroiled with the villainous Jonathan Wild, thief-taker par excellence, who has institutionalized criminal mayhem. He also becomes the pawn of some powerful financial giants lurking in the shadows (much like the corporate villains in contemporary thrillers), comes to suspect his glamorous cousin Miriam of actions unbecoming a lady and employs the wiles of his philosophical Scottish friend Elias to decode the mysterious ways of finance and the laws of probability. The period detail is authentic but never obtrusive; the dialogue is a marvel of courtly locution masking murderous bluntness; and the plot, though devious in the extreme, never becomes opaque. It seems clear that Weaver is being set up as a series hero, which can only be good news for lovers of the best in dashing historical fiction. Agent, Liz Darhansoff. (Feb.) <br />Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p>


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<h3>Product Description</h3><p>In this candid and gripping account, President George W. Bush describes the critical decisions that shaped his presidency and personal life.  </p><p>George W. Bush served as president of the United States during eight of the most consequential years in American history. The decisions that reached his desk impacted people around the world and defined the times in which we live._  </p><p>Decision Points_ brings readers inside the Texas governor's mansion on the night of the 2000 election, aboard Air Force One during the harrowing hours after the attacks of September 11, 2001, into the Situation Room moments before the start of the war in Iraq, and behind the scenes at the White House for many other historic presidential decisions.  </p><p>For the first time, we learn President Bush's perspective and insights on:  </p><ul> <li>     His decision to quit drinking and the journey that led him to his Christian faith </li> <li>     The selection of the vice president, secretary of defense, secretary of state, Supreme Court justices, and other key officials </li> <li>     His relationships with his wife, daughters, and parents, including heartfelt letters between the president and his father on the eve of the Iraq War </li> <li>     His administration's counterterrorism programs, including the CIA's enhanced interrogations and the Terrorist Surveillance Program </li> <li>     Why the worst moment of the presidency was hearing accusations that race played a role in the federal government’s response to Hurricane Katrina, and a critical assessment of what he would have done differently during the crisis </li> <li>     His deep concern that Iraq could turn into a defeat costlier than Vietnam, and how he decided to defy public opinion by ordering the troop surge </li> <li>     His legislative achievements, including tax cuts and reforming education and Medicare, as well as his setbacks, including Social Security and immigration reform </li> <li>     The relationships he forged with other world leaders, including an honest assessment of those he did and didn’t trust </li> <li>     Why the failure to bring Osama bin Laden to justice ranks as his biggest disappointment and why his success in denying the terrorists their fondest wish—attacking America again—is among his proudest achievements  </li></ul><p>A groundbreaking new brand of presidential memoir, <em>Decision Points</em> will captivate supporters, surprise critics, and change perspectives on eight remarkable years in American history—and on the man at the center of events.  </p><p>Since leaving office, President George W. Bush has led the George W. Bush Presidential Center at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. The center includes an active policy institute working to advance initiatives in the fields of education reform, global health, economic growth, and human freedom, with a special emphasis on promoting social entrepreneurship and creating opportunities for women around the world. It will also house an official government archive and a state-of-the-art museum that will open in 2013. </p><h3>About the Author</h3><p>George W. Bush is the 43rd President of the United States. </p>


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p><em>Sex and the City</em> meets London's Roaring '20s in Davis's satisfying fifth novel. Grace Rutherford leads a double life: by day she's an advertising copywriter supporting a widowed sister and mother. By night, she's Diamond Sharp—a newspaper gossip columnist and glamorous lady about town. She adores her single status until she meets mysterious American author Dexter O'Connell, with whom she begins a steamy cat-and-mouse affair that turns her world upside down. The trouble? She's concurrently swept off her feet by her charming and equally delicious neighbor John Cramer—Dexter's bitter enemy. Grace is determined to get to the bottom of their hatred for each other. But whose story should she believe? To make matters worse, her sister is possibly falling for John, too. When Grace delves into their closets looking for skeletons, she realizes she must ultimately face her own. Davis, best known for <em>The Shoe Queen</em>, delights once again with this romp through pre-Manolo chick lit turf. <em>(June)</em> <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>From</h3><p>Grace is an iconic flapper in the Roaring Twenties, burning the candle at both ends between her job as a copywriter in a London ad agency and a newspaper columnist under the pen name Diamond Sharp. Her frantic pace and upbeat writing keep her from thinking about the responsibilities at home, where she takes care of her mother, widowed sister, and young niece and nephew. Things become even more hectic when she spots a gorgeous American author, and taunts him in her columns until they start a fiery love affair. Dexter is as mysterious and dramatic as the book that made him famous. In contrast to her tempestuous relationship with Dexter, she meets her neighbor John Cramer, also an American, who writes for the New York Times. There is bad blood between the two men, and Grace is torn between her “Devil” Dexter and his antagonist, John, who may have captured her sister’s heart. Davis presents a rip-roaring read filled with enticing characters emulating the American literati living it up overseas after the First World War. --Patty Engelmann </p>


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<h3>Product Description</h3><p><em></em>Piper Hecht’s first and greatest secret is that he knows <strong></strong>how to kill gods. What’s not a secret is that he knows how to win wars   </p><p><em></em>Piper Hecht’s secrets make him dangerous, but his skill and his  reputation put him in danger—from his enemies, who fear what he might do, or who want revenge for what he has already done; and from his friends, who want to use his military gifts for their own purposes. His sister Heris and his living ancestor  Cloven Februaren, the Ninth Unknown, have made Hecht part  of their fight against the return of the dark god Kharoulke the Windwalker. At the same time, the half-mad Empress Katrin wants  him to lead the armies of the Grail Empire eastward on a crusade  against his old coreligionists the Praman.   </p><p>Meanwhile, all around them, the world is changing. The winters are growing longer and harder every year, and the seas are  getting shallower. The far north and the high mountain ranges are  going under the ice, and fast. The Wells of Power, everywhere,  keep getting weaker. And the old evils, the Instrumentalities from the Time Before Time, have begun to ooze back into the world.  As ever, the genius of Glen Cook’s storytelling lies in his common  touch: in soldiers who are like real soldiers, in men and women  who love and laugh and sweat, with real hopes and real fears, united only in their determination to face the oncoming night. </p><h3>About the Author</h3><p>GLEN COOK, author of the bestselling Black Company series, lives in St. Louis, Missouri.</p>


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Starred Review. Sedaris's sparkling essays always shimmer more brightly when read aloud by the author. And his expert timing, mimicry and droll asides are never more polished than during live performances in front of an audience. Happily, four of the 22 pieces are live recordings, and listeners can hear Sedaris's energy increase from the roaring, rolling laughter of the appreciative audience. Sedaris's studio recording of his 10-page Of Mice and Men runs 16 minutes, while the live recording of Town and Country, which runs the same length in print, expands to 22 minutes thanks to an audience that often doesn't let him finish a sentence without making him pause for laughter to subside. The studio recordings usually begin with an acoustic bass and brief sound effect (a buzzing fly, the lighting of a cigarette, the clinking of ice in a drink, etc.). Sedaris's brilliant magnum opus, The Smoking Section (about his successful trip to Tokyo is quit smoking) stretches across the final two CDs. <em>A Little, Brown hardcover (Reviews, Apr. 28). (June)</em> <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>From</h3><p>With essay collections such as Naked (1997) and Me Talk Pretty One Day (2000), Sedaris kicked the door down for the “quirky memoir” genre and left it open for writers like Augusten Burroughs and Jeannette Walls to mosey on through. Sometimes the originators of a certain trend in literature are surpassed by their own disciples—but, this is Sedaris we’re talking about. When it comes to fashioning the sardonic wisecrack, the humiliating circumstance, and the absurdist fantasy, there’s nobody better. Unfortunately, being in a league of your own often means competing with yourself. This latest collection of 22 essays proves that not only does Sedaris still have it, but he’s also getting better. True, the terrain is familiar. The essays “Old Faithful” and “That’s Amore” again feature Sedaris’ overly competent boyfriend, Hugh. And nutty sister Amy can be found leafing through bestial pornography in “Town and Country.” Present also are Sedaris’ favored topics: death, compulsion, unwanted sexual advances, corporal decay, and more death. Nevertheless, Sedaris’ best stuff will still—after all this time—move, surprise, and entertain. --Jerry Eberle </p>


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 <span>"A sprawling epic...action packed and romantic...twists through vast swathes of time, space and metaphysics. A great read for sci-fi lovers everywhere." </span> --award winning filmmaker and author Martin Simpson<br><br>"This is a really interesting novel that touches on a number of subjects, including very ancient history, religion and racial prejudice. Yes, it's very much worth reading." --Dead Trees Review
 
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 In the far future, the last free humans have fled to a massive space station in Earth's orbit. On the planet below lurk their oppressors: a race of vampires who seek to breed and harvest them like animals. Orphaned as a child, Alex grows to manhood in the shadow of his legendary father who united the scattered remnants of humanity. But as he takes up his father's banner, he uncovers a frightening secret about himself: he is the Falsifier, fated to bring down the Vampire Empire. As he struggles with his destiny, the vampires abduct him in a surprise raid. With humanity's survival at stake, Alex must find and fight his way back and take his place in history.
 
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<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p>The year is 1929. New York is ruled by the Bright Young Things: flappers and socialites seeking thrills and chasing dreams in the anything-goes era of the Roaring Twenties. </p><p>Letty Larkspur and Cordelia Grey escaped their small Midwestern town for New York's glittering metropolis. All Letty wants is to see her name in lights, but she quickly discovers Manhattan is filled with pretty girls who will do anything to be a star… </p><p>Cordelia is searching for the father she's never known, a man as infamous for his wild parties as he is for his shadowy schemes. Overnight, she enters a world more thrilling and glamorous than she ever could have imagined—and more dangerous. It's a life anyone would kill for . . . and someone will. </p><p>The only person Cordelia can trust is Astrid Donal, a flapper who seems to have it all: money, looks, and the love of Cordelia's brother, Charlie. But Astrid's perfect veneer hides a score of family secrets. </p><p>Across the vast lawns of Long Island, in the illicit speakeasies of Manhattan, and on the blindingly lit stages of Broadway, the three girls' fortunes will rise and fall—together and apart. From the <em>New York Times</em> bestselling author of <em>The Luxe</em> comes an epic new series set in the dizzying last summer of the Jazz Age. </p><hr /><p><strong> Anna Godberson’s Playlist </strong><br /><strong> </strong> _<br />Bright Young Things_ may take place during the Jazz Age, but author Anna Godberson shows us that the tunes she prefers range from Cat Power to Prince. Check out what she loves and why. (Click on the song name to listen to a sample) <em></em>  </p><p><em></em><br />I spend a lot of time in a chair in front of my computer obsessively reworking sentences. This song is ecstatic and full of life and whenever I hear it I want to get up and move.  </p><p><hr />This song sounds to me like the wise, sad, tired, wired, voice of experience, the kind of beauty that you can only see after you’ve been worn down. That’s what <em>Bright Young Things</em> is all about.   </p><p><hr />This one is like an exquisite <em>New Yorker</em> story, perfect in its simplicity and specificity but universal in what it expresses.   </p><p><hr />That’s where I’m from, and this is the soundtrack of my homesickness. Plus, the lyrics are literary and whip-smart and impossible for a California girl to forget.   </p><p><hr />People like to make fun of Liz Phair these days, but her voice was the voice of my young womanhood, and “Go West” was the anthem of all to-hell-with-men, bridge-burning episodes.   </p><p><hr />The title says it all, and it just gets better from there.   </p><p><hr />Awesome plea for romantic decency, but in that raw, lusty, commanding voice. After at least four thousand listens, I still nod along like the first time.   </p><p><hr />Not to date myself, but around the time I graduated from college, this was the coolest band to mock. Who cares? In my opinion, this is the ultimate jogging song.   </p><p><hr />This is also an instant dance party number for me—is anyone as weird and cool as Prince?   </p><p><hr />To me, this is the ultimate expression of an artist’s belief in self. There is something bleak, but also really clear-eyed and uplifting about. Plus, it’s gorgeous.   </p><p><hr />If I could curl up in Sam Cooke’s voice and sleep forever, I’d do it. This one is just so desperate and romantic and it sounds just like what it means.   </p><p><hr />My parents were hippies, and I grew up in the Church Of Dylan. For a guaranteed good time, get on the freeway, roll the window down, step on the gas, and turn the volume up on this number. Please be prepared to sing along.   </p><hr /><h3>Review</h3><p>Praise for the Luxe series:“Characters are vividly sketched, and the suspenseful story is propelled by interwoven scandals and well–supported plot twists. A compulsively readable romance about young women who strain against societal conventions.” (ALA Booklist )  </p><p>“Mystery, romance, jealousy, betrayal, humor, and gorgeous, historically accurate details. I couldn’t put The Luxe down!” (Cecily von Ziegesar, author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Gossip Girl series )  </p><p>“Readers will clamor for this sharp, smart drama of friends, lovers, lies and betrayal.” (Kirkus Reviews ) </p>


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>This debut novel follows the adventures of 14-year-old Princess Emeralda and the talking frog she meets one day in a swamp. The frog begs her to give him a kiss so that he will turn back into Prince Eadric, his identity before an evil witch turned him into an amphibian. When the young royal obliges, she, too, is transformed into a frog, and the two leap off in search of the spell-casting witch to ask her to reverse her handiwork. Describing the duo's futile quest in laborious detail, the author pads her tale with some curiously drab characters, including another witch (who hopes to use Emeralda and Eadric in a spell she's concocting) and a bat and snake who reside in her cottage. The tale occasionally offers peppy dialogue and some comical scenes-particularly as the newly transformed Emeralda adjusts to catching flies with her tongue ("My eye-tongue coordination wasn't very good," she admits). Unfortunately, the plot doesn't make much of the magical elements (for example, the characters' encounters with a dragon and a nymph seem inconsequential), resulting in a disappointingly flat fantasy. Ages 8-14. <br />Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p><h3>From School Library Journal</h3><p>Grade 4-6–In E.D. Baker's twist on the classic fairy tale (Bloomsbury, 2002), Princess Emeralda has quite an adventure when she kisses a prince-turned-frog and everything goes terribly awry. The book follows her exciting quest, along with the frog prince Eadric, to transform themselves back into their human selves. The text itself is weak, with poor story logic, many fruitless tangents, and excessive detail. However, the dialogue between the perky princess, her valiant but foolish prince, and some of the other odd characters they encounter is often genuinely funny. Narrator Katherine Kellgren produces a variety of voices that are well tailored to the characters and their personalities. This romantic comedy and non-violent adventure would appeal to youngsters fond of twisted fairy tales, but some of the jokes and sophisticated vocabulary will be beyond the intended audience.–_Jenna Innes, Edmonton Public Library, Alberta, Canada_ <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p>


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Starred Review. Multiple Hugo and Nebula winner Bear (City at the End of Time) sets this difficult but rewarding short novel on an interstellar colony ship gone astray. Teacher was supposed to be awakened just before landfall. What he finds when he gains some semblance of consciousness, however, is a dangerous and chaotic environment, with monsters roaming the ship's corridors and no one in charge. As he and a small band of equally ignorant crew members attempt to reach the gigantic ship's control center, they travel through a series of labyrinthine spaces, uncovering a variety of clues to the disaster that has destroyed large parts of the starship and damaged the controlling AIs. Not for those who prefer their space opera simpleminded, this beautifully written tale where nothing is as it seems will please readers with a well-developed sense of wonder. (Dec.) <br />(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. </p><h3>From</h3><p>Never one to play it safe in his consistently inventive fiction, Bear takes the reader for a harrowing ride on a labyrinthine starship in his latest hard-SF-oriented novel. Bear’s protagonist is an amnesiac starship crew member just released from a deep hibernation state called Dreamtime. Naked, disoriented, and forced by extreme temperature and gravity fluctuations to find safety somewhere among a confusing network of passageways, the man eventually receives help from an odd assortment of fellow Dreamtime refugees. Taking stock of their surroundings, while avoiding onboard killing machines, the gang quickly realizes the starship has given them each a unique role to play, including discovering collectively why the ship has been seriously damaged and cast aside from its mission to seek out habitable worlds. Bear’s pithy, occasionally cryptic writing style perfectly captures the chaotic experiences and unsettling revelations the team endures, while putting an intriguing spin on the timeworn SF theme of interstellar planet hunting. One of Bear’s most thought-provoking and well-crafted novels to date. --Carl Hays </p>


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<div>
 
 <h3>From Library Journal</h3>
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 This reading of Anne Perry's sixth Victorian mystery featuring Thomas and Charlotte Pitt (Defend and Betray, Audio Reviews, LJ 6/15/96) is skillfully rendered by David McCallum, who gives an impeccable performance. Here Perry explores the social and moral issues of the day. Unity Bellwood, assistant to Reverend Ramsey Parmenter, falls down a flight of stairs to her death; her last words are: "No, no, Reverend!" He is suspected of pushing the young woman to her death. There are, however, other people in the house. Thomas, commander of the Bow Street police station, will not be satisfied until the whole truth can be unearthed. Engrossing and enjoyable for lovers of traditional mystery novels, although it holds few surprises for the discerning. Recommended for public library collections.?Jacqueline Seewald, Red Bank Reg. H.S., Little Silver, NJ.<br>Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
 
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 <h3>Product Description</h3>
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 <br>In London's affluent Brunswick Gardens, the battle over Charles Darwin's revolutionary theory of evolution intensifies as the respected Reverend Parmenter is boldly challenged by his beautiful assistant, Unity Bellwood--a "new woman" whose feminism and aggressive Darwinism he finds appalling.<p>When Unity, three months pregnant, tumbles down the staircase to her death, superintendent Thomas Pitt is virtually certain that one of the three deeply devout men in the house committed murder. Could it have been the Reverend Parmenter, his handsome curate, or his Roman Catholic son? Pitt and his clever wife, Charlotte, refuse to settle for less than the truth--and justice. . . .
 
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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3>
<p>Benford (The Martian Race), a physics professor at UC-Irvine and a Nebula winner for his novel Timescape, is one of the leading exponents of hard SFAwhich, no matter how fantastic it might seem, never violates established scientific laws. His newest novel takes one of the oldest SF plotsAfirst contactAand spruces it up with great success using the latest developments in astronomy and, in particular, new information on black holes. In the early 21st century, astronomers observe what appears to be a distant gamma-ray burster, a black hole swallowing another star many light years away. The data is troubling because a second burster occurs only 13 h ours later, which, given the immense distance between stars, should be impossible. Eventually, the astronomers realize that the black hole, rather than being incredibly distant, is on the edge of our solar system, and moving our way at considerable speed. Stranger still, it appears to be under intelligent guidance, or, perhaps, to be intelligent itself. One of Benford's specialties is presenting science the way it's really done, and this is clearly the case here. His three astronomer-protagonistsABenjamin Knowlton; his cancer-stricken wife, Channing; and the British Astronomer Royal, Kingsley Dart, whom Benford has partly based on Freeman DysonAare nicely drawn and highly believable. His alien is, well, incredibly alien and endlessly fascinating. Less successful are Benford's government officials, who can come across as caricaturesAbut this is a minor fault. Full of astronomical pyrotechnics and the kind of intellectual verbal fencing that seems to go along with creative scientific thinking, Benford's latest should delight any serious reader of SF. Agent, Ralph Vicinanza. <br />
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. 
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<h3>From School Library Journal</h3>
<p>YA-Long before there was time, a black hole became a wandering entity, feeding on asteroids, planets, and remnants of the Big Bang. Eventually, it began engulfing ancient civilizations in its never-ending roaming across the expanse of time and space. When it reaches the edge of Earth's solar system, three scientists, Benjamin Knowlton, his wife Channing, and their friend and colleague Kingsley Dart, take on the fight to prevent the black hole, named Eater, from annihilating the Earth. Basing the foundation of the story on scientific knowledge in the fields of physics and astronomy, Benford gives enough background in both areas to elucidate concepts without overstating the obvious. He develops the main characters as the story unfolds, paralleling their personal changes, their shared history, and their heroic interactions with the increasing malevolence of the Eater. Deftly weaving scientific procedure around an exciting plot of adventure and destruction, and inserting the interpersonal relationships of three intense personalities, Benford creates scientific fiction that sounds very real.<br />
<em>Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA </em><br />
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. 
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<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p><strong>A Q&amp;A with Anne Rice</strong>   </p><p><strong>Question:</strong> You’ve written about many kinds of immortal or supernatural beings. What inspired you to turn to angels in this new book? </p><p><strong>Anne Rice:</strong> I have always been fascinated by the idea of angels--these perfect beings who are God’s messengers, sinless, bold, and unfathomable to the human mind. I was deliciously challenged to be biblically correct about them, and theologically correct: to present Malchiah as truly perfect, yet sent to interact with my hero Toby, and commissioned therefore to take a human body and reflect human emotions and respond to Toby’s human emotions.</p><p><strong>Question:</strong> How did imagining a character like Malchiah the angel differ from creating one like the vampire Lestat?</p><p><strong>Anne Rice:</strong> Well, again, Malchiah is perfect and sinless. And to make such a character appealing is a challenge; he has to reflect God’s love for human beings, God’s compassion. He’s not sent to judge Toby; he’s sent to guide him to salvation, and to enlist Toby in working for the angels on earth. He must feel things; he must have a personality, but with marvelous theological constraints. Doing Lestat was entirely different: Lestat is sinful and ferociously human, a rebel who wants to be good at being bad; a rebel who is seeking redemption but turning away from it all the time. There is a certain joy in writing about Malchiah because he is sent from God. There was never a perfect joy in writing about Lestat: Lestat suffers too much and does too many bad things with relish.</p><p><strong>Question:</strong> The hero of <em>Angel Time</em> is Toby O’Dare, a boy who had a tough life growing up in New Orleans and who goes on to become a skilled assassin before meeting Malchiah. How does Toby compare to your past protagonists? What is unique about him?</p><p><strong>Anne Rice:</strong> Well, Toby is deeply flawed, much like the vampires. He’s an assassin, and he has done terrible things, and questionable things. But he turns around in the very first book of the series and sets out to do the bidding of the angels in helping others. I think of all those characters I’ve created, Toby is most like Michael Curry in </p><p><strong>Question:</strong> People who have read your memoir </p><p><strong>Anne Rice:</strong> Yes, I did identify with Toby, though my life has been nothing like his. I know what it is like to struggle with an alcoholic parent; I know what it is like to care for younger siblings in an alcoholic household. But of course Toby suffers a family tragedy that I didn’t suffer, and he turns to evil in a defiant way, whereas I only turned to writing about evil.</p><p><strong>Question:</strong> How did you imagine the concept of Angel Time (as opposed to Normal Time)? And what sources did you reference while reading about angels?</p><p><strong>Anne Rice:</strong> I came up with the concept of Angel Time through meditating on it; really, figuring that from God’s standpoint there is no linear time. I felt certain that the angels would be able to move back and forth in our linear time, and to grasp how some one can be lifted from one century and put down in another to work a solution that then becomes part of the very future from which the original person came. I think meditation led to this definition of Angel Time, more than any actual reading. It seemed logical to me that the angels could do this. I did read theology about angels, of course, including St. Thomas Aquinas and books by Catholic writers who have studied angels and all the biblical references to them. It all starts with the Bible, of course and how angels appear in those pages. But the scholars Pascal Parente and Peter Kreeft help me to cover the sources. I stayed away from other writers’ more fanciful conjectures about angels. I wanted the biblical facts, and the way that the theologians interpreted them. </p><p><strong>Question:</strong> People are clearly fascinated with angels. Why do you think even those people who do not consider themselves religious are so drawn to the idea of angels?</p><p><strong>Anne Rice:</strong> People are drawn to angels because there is a deep seated instinctive belief that they do exist, that creatures from Heaven are here on Earth looking out for us and playing a special role in our care. Of course we read of this in the Bible. And it is a very seductive idea. It’s sometimes easier to pray to one’s guardian angel than to pray to the saints or even to the Lord. It’s easy to imagine that our guardian angel is right here with us. In my novel, Toby really does believe this, though after he suffered tragedy, he blamed the angels in charge for not stopping it. And he lived as a cursed human being for ten years.</p><h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Full of provocative moral reflections, this kickoff to bestseller Rice's new Songs of the Seraphim religious romance series centers on hired assassin Toby O'Dare, a one-time aspirant to the priesthood until personal tragedy unmoored his life. Guardian angel Malchiah visits Toby, who's just consummated his latest kill, and offers him redemption for his sins. After accepting the offer, Toby is whisked away to 13th-century England, where, in the guise of a Dominican friar, he becomes the protector of a Jewish couple accused wrongly by the gentile populace of having murdered their young daughter for her conversion to Christianity. Two eloquently told if clunkily joined digressions give the backstory on Toby and on the persecution of the Jews in medieval Europe. Readers will revel in Rice's colorful recreation of the historical past and in her moving depiction of characters struggling to reconcile matters of the heart with their personal sense of faith. <em>250,000 first printing. (Oct.)</em> <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p>


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<h3>Product Description</h3><p>Max Parkman—autistic and whip-smart, emotionally fragile and aggressive—is perfect in his mother[HTML_REMOVED]s eyes. Until he[HTML_REMOVED]s accused of murder.</p><p>Attorney Danielle Parkman knows her teenage son Max[HTML_REMOVED]s behavior has been getting worse—using drugs and lashing out. But she can[HTML_REMOVED]t accept the diagnosis she receives at a top-notch adolescent psychiatric facility that her son is deeply disturbed. Dangerous.</p><p>Until she finds Max, unconscious and bloodied, beside a patient who has been brutally stabbed to death.</p><p>Trapped in a world of doubt and fear, barred from contacting Max, Danielle clings to the belief that her son is innocent. But has she, too, lost touch with reality? Is her son really a killer?</p><p>With the justice system bearing down on them, Danielle steels herself to discover the truth, no matter what it is. She[HTML_REMOVED]ll do whatever it takes to find the killer and to save her son from being destroyed by a system that[HTML_REMOVED]s all too eager to convict him. </p><h3>Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.</h3><p>Danielle falls gratefully into the leather chair in Dr. Leonard's waiting room. She has just raced from her law firm's conference room, where she spent the entire morning with a priggish Brit who couldn't imagine that his business dealings across the pond could possibly have subjected him to the indignities of a New York lawsuit. Max, her son, sits in his customary place in the corner of the psychiatrist's waiting room—as far away from her as possible. He is hunched over his new iPhone, thumbs punching furiously. It's as if he's grown a new appendage, so rarely does she see him without it. At his insistence, Danielle also has an identical one in her purse. The faintest shadow of a moustache stains his upper lip, his handsome face marred by a cruel, silver piercing on his eyebrow. His scowl is that of an adult, not a child. He seems to feel her stare. He looks up and then averts his lovely, tenebrous eyes.</p><p>She thinks of all the doctors, the myriad of medications, the countless dead ends, and the dark, seemingly irreversible changes in Max. Yet somehow the ghost of her boy wraps his thin, tanned arms around her neck—his mouth cinnamon-sweet with Red Hots—and plants a sticky kiss on her cheek. He rests there a moment, his small body breathing rapidly, his heart her metronome. She shakes her head. To her, there is still only one Max. And in the center of this boy lies the tenderest, sweetest middle—her baby, the part she can never give up.</p><p>Her eyes return to the present Max. He's a teenager, she tells herself. Even as the hopeful thought flits across her mind, she knows she is lying to herself. Max has Asperger's Syndrome, high-functioning autism. Although very bright, he is clueless about getting along with people. This has caused him anguish and heartache all his life.</p><p>When he was very young, Max discovered computers. His teachers were stunned at his aptitude. Now sixteen, Danielle still has no idea of the extent of Max's abilities, but she knows that he is a virtual genius—a true savant. While this initially made him fascinating to his peers, none of them could possibly maintain interest in the minutiae Max droned on about. People with Asperger's often wax rhapsodic about their specific obsessions—whether or not the listener is even vaguely interested in the topic. Max's quirky behavior and learning disabilities have made him the object of further ridicule. His response has been to act out or retaliate, although lately it seems that he has just withdrawn further into himself, cinching thicker and tighter coils around his heart.</p><p>Sonya, his first real girlfriend, broke up with him a few months ago. Max was devastated. He finally had a relationship—like everybody else—and she dumped him in front of all his classmates. Max became so depressed that he refused to go to school; cut off contact with the few friends he had; and started using drugs. The latter she discovered when she walked into his room unannounced to find Max staring at her coolly—a joint in his hand; a blue, redolent cloud over his head; and a rainbow assortment of pills scattered carelessly on his desk. She didn't say a word, but waited until he took a shower a few hours later and then confiscated the bag of dope and every pill she could find. That afternoon she dragged him—cursing and screaming—to Dr. Leonard's office. The visits seemed to help. At least he had gone back to school and, in an odd way, seemed happier. He was tender and loving toward Danielle—a young Max, eager to please. As far as the drugs went, her secret forays into his room turned up nothing. That wasn't to say, of course, that he hadn't simply moved them to school or a friend's house.</p><p>But, she thinks ruefully, recent events pale in comparison to what brings them here today. Yesterday after Max left for school and she performed her daily search-and-seizure reconnaissance, she discovered a soft, leather-bound journal stuffed under his bed. Guiltily, she pried open the metal clasp with a paring knife. The first page so frightened her that she fell into a chair, hands shaking. Twenty pages of his boyish scrawl detailed a plan so intricate, so terrifying, that she only noticed her ragged breathing and stifled sobs when she looked around the room and wondered where the sounds were coming from. Did the blame lie with her? Could she have done something differently? Better? The old shame and humiliation filled her.</p><p>The door opens and Georgia walks in. A tiny blonde, she sits next to Danielle and gives her a brief, strong hug. Danielle smiles. Georgia is not only her best friend—she is family. As an only child with both parents gone, Danielle has come to rely upon Georgia's unflagging loyalty and support, not to mention her deep love for Max. Despite her sweet expression, Georgia has the quick mind of a tough lawyer. Their law firm is Blackwood &amp; Price, a multinational firm with four hundred lawyers and offices in New York, Oslo and London. She is typically in her office by now—seated behind a perfectly ordered desk, a pile of finished work at her elbow. Danielle can't remember when she has been so glad to see someone. Georgia gives Max a wave and a smile. "Hi, you."</p><p>"Hey." The monosyllabic task accomplished, he closes his eyes and slouches lower into his chair.</p><p>"How is he?" asks Georgia.</p><p>"Either glued to his laptop or on that damned phone of his," she whispers. "He doesn't know I found his…journal. I'd never have gotten him here otherwise."</p><p>Georgia squeezes her shoulder. "It'll be all right. We'll get through this somehow."</p><p>"You're so wonderful to come. I can't tell you how much it means to me." She forces normality into her voice. "So, how did it go this morning?"</p><p>"I barely got to court in time, but I think I did okay."</p><p>"What happened?"</p><p>She shrugs. "Jonathan."</p><p>Danielle squeezes her hand. Her husband, Jonathan, although a brilliant plastic surgeon, has an unquenchable thirst that threatens to ruin not only his marriage, but his career. Georgia suspects that he is also addicted to cocaine, but has voiced that fear only to Danielle. No one at their law firm seems to know, despite his boorish behavior at the last Christmas party. The firm, an old-line Manhattan institution, does not look kindly upon spousal comportment that smacks of anything other than the rarified, blue-blooded professionals they believe themselves to be. With a two-year-old daughter, Georgia is reluctant to even consider divorce.</p><p>"What was it this time?" asks Danielle.</p><p>Her azure eyes are nubilous. "Came in at four; passed out in the bathtub; pissed all over himself."</p><p>"Oh, God."</p><p>"Melissa found him and came crying into the bedroom." Georgia shakes her head. "She thought he was dead."</p><p>This time it is Danielle who does the hugging.</p><p>Georgia forces a smile and turns her gaze upon Max, who has sunk even lower into his leather chair and appears to be asleep. "Has the doctor read his journal?"</p><p>"I'm sure he has," she says wearily. "I messengered it to him yesterday."</p><p>"Have you heard from the school?"</p><p>"He's out." Max's principal had politely suggested to Danielle that another "environment" might be more "successful" in meeting Max's "challenges." In other words, they want him the hell out of there.</p><p>Max's Asperger's has magnified tenfold since he became a teenager. As his peers have graduated to sophisticated social interaction, Max has struggled at a middle-school level. Saddled with severe learning disabilities, he stands out even more. Danielle understands it. If you are incessantly derided, you cannot risk further social laceration. Isolation at least staunches the pain. And it isn't as if Danielle hasn't tried like hell. Max had cut a swath through countless schools in Manhattan. Even the special schools that cater to students with disabilities had kicked him out. For years she had beaten paths to every doctor who might have something new to offer. A different medication. A different dream.</p><p>"Georgia," she whispers. "Why is this happening? What am I supposed to do?" She looks at her friend. Sadness is one emotion they mirror perfectly in one another's eyes. Danielle feels the inevitable pressure at the back of her eyes and fiddles with the hem of her skirt. There's a thread that won't stay put.</p><p>"You're here, aren't you?" Georgia's voice is a gentle spring rain. "There has to be a solution."</p><p>Danielle clenches her hands as the tears come hard and fast. She glances at Max, but he is still asleep. Georgia pulls a handkerchief from her purse. Danielle wipes her eyes and returns it. Without warning, Georgia reaches over and pushes up the sleeve of Danielle's blouse—all the way to the elbow. Danielle jerks her arm back, but Georgia grabs her wrist and pulls her arm toward her. Long, red slashes stretch from pulse to elbow.</p><p>"Don't!" Danielle yanks her sleeve down, her voice a fierce whisper. "He didn't mean it. It was just that one time—when I found his drugs."</p><p>Georgia's face is full of alarm. "This can't go on—not for him and not for you."</p><p>Danielle jerks back her arm and fumbles furiously with her cuff. The scarlet wounds are covered, but her secret is no longer safe. It is hers to know; hers to bear.</p><p>"Ms. Parkman?" The bland, smooth voice is straight from central casting. The short haircut and black glasses that frame Dr. Leonard's boyish face are cookie-cutter perfect—a walking advertisement for the American Psychiatric Association.</p><p>Still panicked by Georgia's discovery, she wills herself to appear normal. "Good morning, Doctor."</p><p>He regards her carefully. "Would you like to come in?"</p><p>Danielle nods, hastily gathering her things. She feels hot crimson flush her face.</p><p>"Max?" asks Dr. Leonard.</p><p>Barely awake, Max shrugs. "Whatever." He struggles to his feet and reluctantly follows Dr. Leonard down the hall.</p><p>Danielle flin... </p>


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Singers and musicians are gathered for a course in folk music that will occupy a weekend in the fantastic country mansion called Follymead. Most come only to sing or to listen, but one or two have non-musical scores to settle. When brilliantly talented Liri Palmer sings " Black, black, black is the color of my true-love's heart!" she clearly has a message for someone in the audience. Passions run high, and there is murder brewing at Follymead.


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<div>
 
 <h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3>
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 In the sure-to-please follow-up to Michael Tolliver Lives, the bestselling Tales of the City reboot, it's been 20 years since series anchor Mary Ann Singleton left her family and headed to New York. Maupin's San Francisco is comforting in its familiarity, and the gang is (mostly) all here, older, wiser, and settled in: Michael "Mouse" Tolliver is married to Ben; Shawna, Mary Ann's estranged daughter, is a popular sex blogger who is dating Otto, an enigmatic professional clown; and grand dame Anna Madrigal, once landlady to Michael and Mary Ann, is still kicking in her late 80s. Into this milieu returns Mary Ann, who ditched her husband and the young Shawna for a career in television. Now, nearing 60, she's back with news she can't bear to tell anyone but Michael. From the haven of his tiny garden cottage, Mary Ann regroups and confronts some uncomfortable chapters in her past. As ever, Maupin's edgy wit energizes the layered story lines. His keen eye for irony and human foible is balanced by an innate compassion in this examination of the life of a woman of a certain age. <br>Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
 
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 <h3>Review</h3>
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 “Sure-to-please...Maupin’s edgy wit energizes the layered story lines. His keen eye for irony and human foible is balanced by an innate compassion in this examination of the life of a woman of a certain age.” (Publishers Weekly )<br><br>“Even more satisfying than Michael Tolliver Lives, [Mary Ann in Autumn] is a juicy, twisty tale that’s of the moment (Facebook plays an essential role) as it takes us back to the heady days of our beloved San Francisco fantasyland.” (Modern Tonic )<br><br>“This novel shows the beloved characters of Barbary Lane approaching middle age and beyond with grace and thoughtfulness. . . . The charm of the Tales has not waned. . . . A must for fans, but new readers will find it an accessible entry point.” (Library Journal )<br><br>“The graying of the Tales of the City cast won’t sadden readers. This affectionate novel, with its carefully unfolding story line (and perfect ending), will work its warmth and charm.” (Booklist )<br><br>“You don’t review a new installment of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City series—you rejoice in it...[These] are not fictional characters but dear friends and soul mates, as permanently a part of this town’s heart as cable cars, the Folsom Street Fair, and Maupin himself...” (San Francisco magazine )<br><br>“Maupin’s chronicle of interconnected lives and tangled personal relations is as engaging and warmhearted as ever.” (Kirkus Reviews )
 
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<h3>Product Description</h3><p>The ancient Roman city exuded evil. From the moment she entered the walls of Aurae Phiala, Chrlotte Rossignol knew her life was in danger. But she coudn't turn back. As the only surviving heir of Dr. Alan Morris, she would never rest until her missing relative was found. </p>


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3>
<p>In this captivating memoir, Steinberg, a Harvard grad and struggling obituary writer, spends two years as a librarian and writing instructor at a Boston prison that's an irrepressibly literary place. True, his patrons turn books into weapons (and one robs him while out on parole), but he's beguiled by the rough poetry of inmate essays and "kites"--contraband notes secreted in library books--and entranced by the "skywriting" with which they semaphore messages letter-by-letter across the courtyard. And there's always an informal colloquium of prostitutes, thieves, and drug dealers convened at the checkout desk, discussing everything from Steinberg's love life to the "gangsta" subculture of Hasidic Jews. Gradually, the prison pulls him in and undermines his bemused neutrality. He helps a forlorn female prisoner communicate with her inmate son, develops a dangerous beef with a guard, and finds himself collaborating on the memoir of a charismatic pimp whose seductive rap disguises a nasty rap sheet; he has to choose sides, make queasy compromises, and decide between rules and loyalty. Steinberg writes a stylish prose that blends deadpan wit with an acute moral seriousness. The result is a fine portrait of prison life and the thwarted humanity that courses through it. (Oct. 26) (c) <br />
Copyright © PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. 
</p>

<h3>From</h3>
<p>When Steinberg graduated from Harvard, he expected to become a rabbi, but neither his faith nor his chosen lifestyle made that a suitable career choice. As a stopgap, he applied to work in a Boston jail library. There he was responsible not only for the day-to-day functioning of the library but also for teaching inmates creative writing. A dedicated intellectual and instinctively diffident, he was almost too easy prey for tough, aggressive, streetwise, ever-conniving criminals. To his chagrin, the hard-bitten prison staff equally tested his presuppositions about humanity’s benevolence. Caroming instantaneously from profane comedy to abysmal tragedy, Steinberg recounts his struggles to relate humanely to people at the edge of society. Prison librarianship offers some of the profession’s greatest challenges, and Steinberg tells just what it’s like to suddenly recognize that the mugger attacking him in the park was the same guy he had checked out some books to a few months earlier. --Mark Knoblauch 
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One of the George Felse mysteries. Det Sgt Felse is called in to investigate a murder at a new roadhouse, once a beautiful old inn known as "The Joyful Woman". There is no shortage of suspects, but the arrest of Kitty Norris leads Felse's young son, who is convinced she is innocent, into danger.


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Dominic Felse and the Swami Premanathanand, a man of peace, unravel a deadly Indian rope trick of hatred and murder when they try to discover who is behind the violent deaths of several landlords.


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<h3>Review</h3>
<p>“Fascinating . . . One of the finest works of history written . . . A splendid and glittering performance.”<br />
–_The New York Times<br />
_<br />
“MORE DRAMATIC THAN FICTION . . . A MAGNIFICENT NARRATIVE . . . elegantly phrased, skillfully paced and sustained . . . The product of painstaking and sophisticated research.”<br />
–_Chicago Tribune_<em></em>  
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<p><em></em>“A BRILLIANT PIECE OF MILITARY HISTORY which proves up to the hilt the force of Winston Churchill’s statement that the first month of World War I was ‘a drama never surpassed.’ A writer with an impeccable sense of telling detail, Mrs. Tuchman is able to evoke both the enormous pattern of the tragedy and the minutiae which make it human.”<br />
–_Newsweek_  
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<p>“[A] BEAUTIFULLY ORGANIZED, COMPELLING NARRATIVE.”<br />
–_San Francisco Chronicle<em></em><br />
<em></em>_<br />
“AN EPIC NEVER FLAGGING IN SUSPENSE . . . It seemed hardly possible that anything new of significance could be said about the prelude to and the first month of World War I. But this is exactly what Mrs. Tuchman has succeeded in doing . . . by transforming the drama’s protagonists as well as its immense supporting cast, from half-legendary and half shadowy figures into full-dimensional, believable persons.”<br />
–_The Christian Science Monitor_  
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<p>“EXCELLENT . . . [_The Guns of August_] has a vitality that transcends its narrative virtues.”<br />
–_The Wall Street Journal_<em></em><br />
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<h3>Product Description</h3>
<p>"More dramtatic than fiction...THE GUNS OF AUGUST is a magnificent narrative--beautifully organized, elegantly phrased, skillfully paced and sustained....The product of painstaking and sophisticated research."<br />
CHICAGO TRIBUNE<br />
Historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Barbara Tuchman has brought to life again the people and events that led up to Worl War I. With attention to fascinating detail, and an intense knowledge of her subject and its characters, Ms. Tuchman reveals, for the first time, just how the war started, why, and why it could have been stopped but wasn't. A classic historical survey of a time and a people we all need to know more about, THE GUNS OF AUGUST will not be forgotten.  
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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Originally published in 1951, but just now making its first American appearance, this mystery launched Peters's Inspector Felse series. Set in Britain just after WW II, the main sleuth here is not actually George Felse but his 13-year-old son Dominic. He and his best friend, Pussy Hart, are playing when Dom finds the body of Helmut Schauffler, an ex-P.O.W. who had stayed on after the war in the Comerford area. An autopsy indicates that Schauffler's skull was fractured by blows that were "precise, neat and of murderous intention." Helmut, a loathsome blend of cruelty, cowardice and anti-Semitism, is hardly mourned, but his death so rends the village's social fabric that solving the case is imperative. In his first murder investigation, George has difficulty viewing his neighbors as suspects, although the area does have its share of demobilized veterans, i.e., trained killers. Even more distressing to George and his wife Bunty is the proprietary--and potentially fatal--interest that Dom takes in the case. By giving the youth a finely balanced blend of doggedness, good luck, ingenuity and foolhardiness, Peters sets out a very effective mystery while expressing, through the gradual unfolding of the character of Helmut,her own serious skepticism that aperson--or a country--can change his--or its--spots. In 1991, Mysterious reissued Flight of the Witch , a Felse mystery written in 1964. <br />Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p><h3>From Library Journal</h3><p>Widely known for her Brother Cadfael medieval mysteries, Peters also built a series around British detective George Felse. This title, which initiated that series, is now published in the United States for the first time.<br />Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p>


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Product Description

 Affordable, compact, and authoritative, this one-volume edition of <b>The Annotated Milton</b> encompasses the monumental sweep of John Milton’s poetry. Here are Milton’ s early works, including his first great poem, “On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity,” the light and lyrical “L’Allegro” and “Il Penseroso,” the masque <i>Comus,</i> and the lushly beautiful pastoral elegy “Lycidas.” Here, too, included in their entirety, are the three epic poems considered to be among the finest works in the English language: <i>Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained,</i> and <i>Samson Agonistes.<br><br></i>Fully annotated by Burton Raffel, this distinguished edition clarifies the complex allusions of Milton’s verse and references the personal, religious, historical, and mythical influences that inspired the great blind poet of England, who ranks among the undisputed giants of world literature.
 
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 <h3>About the Author</h3>
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 Burton Raffel is a translator, poet, and scholar whose major translations include <b>The Canterbury Tales</b>, <b>Beowulf</b>, <i>Don Quijote</i>, <i>The Red and the Black</i>, and <i>Gargantua and Pantagruel</i>. He has also annotated several Shakespeare plays for Yale University Press. He was the Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Arts and Humanities and emeritus professor of English at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette until 2003. He lives in Louisiana.
 
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<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3>
<p>Your initial reaction to Bill Bryson's reading of <em>A Walk in the Woods</em> may well be "Egads! What a bore!" But by sentence three or four, his clearly articulated, slightly adenoidal, British/American-accented speech pattern begins to grow on you and becomes quite engaging. You immediately get a hint of the humor that lies ahead, such as one of the innumerable reasons he longed to walk as many of the 2,100 miles of the Appalachian Trail as he could. "It would get me fit after years of waddlesome sloth" is delivered with glorious deadpan flair. By the time our storyteller recounts his trip to the Dartmouth Co-op, suffering serious sticker shock over equipment prices, you'll be hooked. 
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<p>When Bryson speaks for the many Americans he encounters along the way--in various shops, restaurants, airports, and along the trail--he launches into his American accent, which is whiny and full of hard <em>r</em>'s. And his southern intonations are a hoot. He's even got a special voice used exclusively when speaking for his somewhat surprising trail partner, Katz. In the 25 years since their school days together, Katz has put on quite a bit of weight. In fact, "he brought to mind Orson Welles after a very bad night. He was limping a little and breathing harder than one ought to after a walk of 20 yards." Katz often speaks in monosyllables, and Bryson brings his limited vocabulary humorously to life. One of Katz's more memorable utterings is "flung," as in flung most of his provisions over the cliff because they were too heavy to carry any farther. 
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<p>The author has thoroughly researched the history and the making of the Appalachian Trail. Bryson describes the destruction of many parts of the forest and warns of the continuing perils (both natural and man-made) the Trail faces. He speaks of the natural beauty and splendor as he and Katz pass through, and he recalls clearly the serious dangers the two face during their time together on the trail. So, <em>A Walk in the Woods</em> is not simply an out-of-shape, middle-aged man's desire to prove that he can still accomplish a major physical task; it's also a plea for the conservation of America's last wilderness. Bryson's telling is a knee-slapping, laugh-out-loud funny trek through the woods, with a touch of science and history thrown in for good measure. (Running time: 360 minutes, four cassettes) <em>--Colleen Preston</em>
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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3>
<p>Returning to the U.S. after 20 years in England, Iowa native Bryson decided to reconnect with his mother country by hiking the length of the 2100-mile Appalachian Trail. Awed by merely the camping section of his local sporting goods store, he nevertheless plunges into the wilderness and emerges with a consistently comical account of a neophyte woodsman learning hard lessons about self-reliance. Bryson (The Lost Continent) carries himself in an irresistibly bewildered manner, accepting each new calamity with wonder and hilarity. He reviews the characters of the AT (as the trail is called), from a pack of incompetent Boy Scouts to a perpetually lost geezer named Chicken John. Most amusing is his cranky, crude and inestimable companion, Katz, a reformed substance abuser who once had single-handedly "become, in effect, Iowa's drug culture." The uneasy but always entertaining relationship between Bryson and Katz keeps their walk interesting, even during the flat stretches. Bryson completes the trail as planned, and he records the misadventure with insight and elegance. He is a popular author in Britain and his impeccably graceful and witty style deserves a large American audience as well. <br />
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. 
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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>This trio of novels by the author of the acclaimed Brother Cadfael mysteries features Detective Chief Inspector George Felse, said to be among the best-portrayed British policemen in fiction today. <br />Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p><h3>Product Description</h3><p>When beautiful Annet Beck disappears into the remote Welsh Country believed to be the domain of witches and returns five days later, claiming she was only gone for two hours, Detective Inspector George Felse steps in to investigate. Reprint. <em>AB. K. PW. </em></p>


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<h3>Product Description</h3><p>As a favour to his girlfriend Tossa's beautiful but erratic filmstar mother, Dominic Felse agrees to escort a teenage heiress to her father in India. But travelling with the spoilt, precocious Anjili is no sinecure -- and the task of delivering her back to her family proves less than easy. Dominic and Tossa find themselves embroiled in a mystery that swiftly and shockingly becomes a murder investigation. For behind the colourful, smiling mask of India that the tourist sees is another country -- remote, mysterious -- and often shatteringly brutal... </p><h3>About the Author</h3><p>Ellis Peters gained worldwide praise and recognition for her crime fiction and for her meticulous recreations of monastic life in the twelfth century in the Chronicles of Brother Cadfael. </p>


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<h3>Review</h3><p>?Has all the zest, humor and spare lean prose of its forerunner: it has a beautifully complex plot which leaves you squirming at the final sentence and a set of slippery characters who never turn out to be just exactly what they seem. <em>Confess, Fletch</em> is as stimulent slipped into your nightcap that will have you up to dawn no matter what you think you have to do tomorrow.? --Joe Gores -- <em>Review</em></p><h3>Product Description</h3><p>Confess, Fletch  </p><p>The flight from Rome had been pleasant enough, even if the business he was on wasn’t exactly. His Italian fianc?e’s father had been kidnapped and presumably murdered, and Fletch is on the trail of a stolen art collection that is her only patrimony. But when he arrives in his apartment to find a dead body, things start to get complicated.   </p><p>Confess, Fletch  </p><p>Inspector Flynn found him a little glib for someone who seemed to be the only likely suspect in a pretty clear case of homicide. He wasn’t exactly uncooperative, but it wasn’t like he was entirely forthcoming either. And Flynn wasn’t entirely convinced that the nineteenth-century Western artist Edgar Arthur Tharp really occupied most of Fletch’s thoughts.  </p><p>Confess, Fletch  </p><p>With the police on his tail and a few other things to do beside prove his own innocence, Fletch makes himself at home in Boston, renting a van, painting it black, and breaking into a private art gallery. That is when he’s not “entertaining” his future mother-in-law <br />and visiting with the good Inspector Flynn and his family. </p>


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SUMMARY:
In the wake of a series of killings that disturbingly emulates the works of a trio of inmates currently being held at the Minnesota Security Hospital, Lucas Davenport investigates a missing man who was released from the hospital weeks earlier. By the author of Hidden Prey. Lit Guild Main. BOMC Main. Doubleday Main. Mystery Guild Main.


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When someone pushes a troublesome newcomer from the steeple of St. Eata's church, Superintendent George Felse is charged with sifting through a long list of suspects to catch the killer.


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SUMMARY:
In the richest neighbourhood of Minneapolis, two elderly women lie murdered in their home, beaten to death with a metal pipe, the rooms ransacked, only small items stolen. It's clearly a random break-in by someone looking for money to buy drugs. But as he looks more closely, Davenport begins to wonder if the items are actually so small or the victims so random, if there might not be some invisible agenda at work here. Gradually, a pattern begins to emerge - and it will lead Davenport to somewhere he never expected. Which is too bad, because the killers - and there is more than one of them - the killers are expecting him.


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3>
<p>After 20 years as a London-based reporter, American journalist Bryson ( The Mother Tongue ) set out to retrace a youthful European backpacking trip, from arctic Norway's northern lights to romantic Capri and the "collective delirium" of Istanbul. Descriptions of historic and artistic sights in the Continent's capitals are cursory; Bryson prefers lesser-known locales, whose peculiar flavor he skillfully conveys in anecdotes that don't scant the seamy side and often portray eccentric characters encountered during untoward adventures of the road. He enlivens the narrative with keen, sometimes acerbic observations of national quirks like the timed light switches in French hallways, but tends to strive too hard for comic effects, some in dubious taste. He also joins other travelers in deploring the growing hordes of peddlers who overrun major tourist meccas. <br />
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. 
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<h3>From Library Journal</h3>
<p>Born in Iowa, Bryson (A Walk in the Clouds) backpacked through Europe as a young man. While living in England some 20 years later, he revisited many of the same places, and here he jumps back and forth between old memories and new experiences. He begins with rather negative incidents and throughout spends a great deal of time on his woes, often due to hangovers, missed opportunities with young women, and difficulties with transportation and hotel personnel. Bryson is a rather talented, opinionated writer who obviously has spent a fair amount of time walking and traveling by bus and train in Europe. Since he is given to serious profanity at times and brushes upon topics such as sex with animals and prostitutes, this is definitely not family entertainment. His descriptive ability is considerable, and his commentary, while rambling, is generally interesting. His enunciation and inflection are good, but an affected British accent creeps in at times. It's like a self-indulgent memoir of which few will care and some will be offended. Only libraries willing to risk patron indignation at his profanity, some of his topics, and his repeated generalizations about nations and their people should consider.ACarolyn Alexander, Brigadoon Lib., Salinas, CA <br />
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. 
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<h3>Product Description</h3><p>A reissue of the crime novel first published in 1968, featuring the detective George Felse.Previous reissues include A NICE DERANGEMENT OF EPITAPHS and THE KNOCKER ON DEATH'S DOOR. </p><h3>From</h3><p>With her policeman husband gone to investigate yet another murder on the eve of her 41st birthday, Bunty Felse feels dejected until she finds herself involved in kidnapping, chases and murder. Bishop's smoothly flowing voice deftly narrates the story, keeping the tension and suspense moving forward. Balancing timing and pace with the momentum of the story, she adroitly dramatizes the emotions of the characters. The minor characters' voices are as easily distinguished and individualized as those of the main characters. The Scottish accents are most enjoyable. P.A.J. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine </p>


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SUMMARY:
Edited and introduced by Bill Bryson, and with contributions from Richard Dawkins, Margaret Atwood, David Attenborough, Martin Rees and Richard Fortey amongst others, this is a remarkable volume celebrating the 350th anniversary of the Royal Society.On a damp weeknight in November, 350 years ago, a dozen or so men gathered at Gresham College in London. A twenty-eight year old ' and not widely famous ' Christopher Wren was giving a lecture on astronomy. As his audience listened to him speak, they decided that it would be a good idea to create a Society to promote the accumulation of useful knowledge. With that, the Royal Society was born.Since its birth, the Royal Society has pioneered scientific exploration and discovery. Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Robert Hooke, Robert Boyle, Joseph Banks, Humphry Davy, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, John Locke, Alexander Fleming ' all were members. Bill Bryson's favourite member was Reverend Thomas Bayes, a brilliant mathematician who devised Bayes' theorem. Whilst it had little practical use in Bayes' lifetime, today his theorem is used for weather forecasting, astrophysics and stock market analysis. A milestone in mathematical history, it only exists because the Royal Society decided to preserve it ' just in case.The Royal Society continues to do today what it set out to do all those years ago. Its members have split the atom, discovered the double helix, the electron, the computer and the World Wide Web. Truly international in its outlook, it has created modern science. 'Seeing Further' celebrates its momentous history and achievements, bringing together the very best of science writing. Filled with illustrations of treasures from the Society's archives, this is a unique, ground-breaking volume that you'll want to pick up again and again.


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SUMMARY:
A famous singer wakes up in hospital after a car crash, haunted by the certainty that she has been responsible for a death at some time in the past. She hires an private investigator, who launches a hunt across Europe with the trail leading to Felse's wife, Bunty.


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<h3>Product Description</h3><p>Some doors are better left unopened. Some doors, you don't want to find out what lies behind them. In the Forbidden Doors series by bestselling author Bill Myers, teenager Rebecca 'Becka' Williams, her younger brother Scott, and her friend Ryan Riordan are swept into heart-stopping encounters with an all-too-real invisible world---a world fraught with deception and spiritual adversaries that promise goodness and enlightenment but will stop at nothing to destroy life, sanity, and human souls. Witchcraft. Reincarnation. Ouija Boards. UFOs. Shamanism. Counterfeit spiritualities are widespread and popular with spiritually searching young adults such as Becka's peers. What's the harm? Find out. Join Becka, Scott, and Ryan as they head for mind-bending clashes between the forces of darkness and the kingdom of God. Combining meticulous research, realistic settings, and masterful storytelling, the Forbidden Doors novels take you from the mountains of New Mexico to the inner workings of a secret society---and into the truth of God's Word, which exposes lies and reveals the reality of spiritual warfare. Each volume in the series contains three books that center around a particular kind of Forbidden Door. Book One: Dark Powers contains The Society, The Deceived, and The Spell; Book Two: Invisible Terror contains The Haunting, The Guardian, and The Encounter; Book Three: Deadly Loyalty contains The Curse, The Undead, and The Scream; Book Four: Ancient Forces contains The Ancients, The Wiccan, and The Cards </p><h3>From the Back Cover</h3><p>Some doors are better left unopened. Some doors, you don't want to find out what lies behind them. In the Forbidden Doors series by bestselling author Bill Myers, teenager Rebecca 'Becka' Williams, her younger brother Scott, and her friend Ryan Riordan are swept into heart-stopping encounters with an all-too-real invisible world---a world fraught with deception and spiritual adversaries that promise goodness and enlightenment but will stop at nothing to destroy life, sanity, and human souls. Witchcraft. Reincarnation. Ouija Boards. UFOs. Shamanism. Counterfeit spiritualities are widespread and popular with spiritually searching young adults such as Becka's peers. What's the harm? Find out. Join Becka, Scott, and Ryan as they head for mind-bending clashes between the forces of darkness and the kingdom of God. Combining meticulous research, realistic settings, and masterful storytelling, the Forbidden Doors novels take you from the mountains of New Mexico to the inner workings of a secret society---and into the truth of God's Word, which exposes lies and reveals the reality of spiritual warfare. Each volume in the series contains three books that center around a particular kind of Forbidden Door. Book One: Dark Powers contains The Society, The Deceived, and The Spell; Book Two: Invisible Terror contains The Haunting, The Guardian, and The Encounter; Book Three: Deadly Loyalty contains The Curse, The Undead, and The Scream; Book Four: Ancient Forces contains The Ancients, The Wiccan, and The Cards </p>


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<h3>Product Description</h3><p>The knocker hung on a very special door--heavy oak, with a late-Gothic arch, and apparently a late-Gothic curse. The door was moved from an old abbey to the village church, and legend held that sinners who seized the knocker had their hands burned. But Gerry Bracewell didn't die of burns . . . </p>


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<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p>David Beck has rebuilt his life since his wife's murder eight years ago, finishing medical school and establishing himself as a pediatrician, but he's never forgotten the woman he fell in love with in second grade. And when a mysterious e-mail arrives on the anniversary of their first kiss, with a message and an image that leads him to wonder whether Elizabeth might still be alive, Beck will stop at nothing to find the truth that's eluded him for so many years. A powerful billionaire is equally determined to make sure his role in her disappearance never comes to light, even if it means destroying an innocent man. </p><p>In David Beck, Harlan Coben, the author of the popular series starring sports agent Myron Bolitar (__ et al.) has created a protagonist who shares many of Bolitar's best qualities--he's a decent, generous, gentle guy whose loyalty to those he loves is unquestionable. So when he discovers that people he was close to may be responsible not only for Elizabeth's murder but also the "accidental" death of his father, Beck's sense of betrayal is as understandable to the reader as his uncharacteristically violent reaction. Coben is a skillful storyteller with a gift for creating likable characters caught up in circumstances that illuminate their complex emotional lives and deep humanity. This should be the thriller that breaks this talented writer out of the mystery genre and earns him the recognition he deserves. <em>--Jane Adams</em></p><h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Every writer likes to stretch his legs, and here Coben, author of seven acclaimed Myron Bolitar mysteries (Darkest Fear, etc.), stretches his. He doesn't quite kick his reputation aside in the process. This thriller, Coben's first non-Bolitar novel, is a breezy enough read, but it's not up to snuff. It's got a nifty setup, though. David Beck and Elizabeth Parker, just-married childhood sweethearts, are vacationing at the Beck family retreat when Beck is knocked unconscious and Elizabeth is kidnapped. Cut to eight years later: Beck is a young physician working with ghetto kids in Manhattan, and Elizabeth, we learn, is dead, victim of a serial killer known as KillRoy. Or is she? For immediately after two bodies eight years old are uncovered on the Beck land, Beck receives a series of e-mails apparently from Elizabeth. His frantic search to find out if she lives dovetails with the equally frenzied efforts of cops to pin Elizabeth's murder on Beck, as well as the antic moves of a mysterious billionaire an old friend of the Beck family and his two hired thugs to frame Beck for that murder. Beck finds himself a man on the run from the cops his only ally a black drug dealer whose child he's treating for hemophilia caught in an overcomplicated tangle of lies and vengeance. Coben knows how to move pages, and he generates considerable suspense, but there's little new here. The narrative style is cloned from James Patterson, alternating first-person with third. The villains, particularly the billionaire and a Chinese martial artist, are as old as mid-Elmore Leonard or even Chandler. The black drug dealer isn't a character, he's a plot device, and the climax packs the emotional wallop of a strong episode of The Rockford Files. (June 19)Forecast: Heavy-hitting blurbs from Jeffery Deaver and Phillip Margolin, among others, indicate more about the solidarity of the mystery community than about this book's excellence, but should attract browsers. The publisher will pitch this as a summer beach read, and it's not a bad one. In fact, it may outsell Coben's mysteries, despite its flaws.</p><p>Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.</p>


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<h3>Product Description</h3><p>The world’s most elite counterterrorism unit has just taken its game to an entirely new level. And not a moment too soon . . .</p><p>From behind the rows of razor wire, a new breed of counterterrorism operator has emerged. </p><p>Just as skilled, just as fearsome, and just as deadly as their colleagues, Delta Force’s newest members have only one thing setting them apart—their gender. Part of a top-secret, all-female program codenamed <em>The Athena Project, </em>four of Delta’s best and brightest women are about to undertake one of the nation’s deadliest assignments. </p><p>When a terrorist attack in Rome kills more than twenty Americans, Athena Team members Gretchen Casey, Julie Ericsson, Megan Rhodes, and Alex Cooper are tasked with hunting down the Venetian arms dealer responsible for providing the explosives. But there is more to the story than anyone knows. </p><p>In the jungles of South America, a young U.S. intelligence officer has made a grisly discovery. Surrounded by monoliths covered with Runic symbols, one of America’s greatest fears appears to have come true. Simultaneously in Colorado, a foreign spy is close to penetrating the mysterious secret the U.S. government has hidden beneath Denver International Airport. </p><p>As Casey, Ericsson, Rhodes, and Cooper close in on their target, they will soon learn that another attack—one of unimaginable proportions—has already been set in motion, and the greatest threat they face may be the secrets kept by their own government. </p><h3>Book Description</h3><p>Tucked away in a remote corner of North Carolina’s Fort Bragg, behind rows of razor wire and heavily armed guards, lies the headquarters of the nation’s most elite counter-terrorism unit - the United States Army’s 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment Delta. Here, a brilliant new approach to combating terrorism has just been born. Its codename: The Athena Project.   </p><p>The novels will follow an elite team of female warriors from their recruitment as top-level athletes, through their training, to their deployment on some of the most exciting and dangerous international assignments the fiction world has ever seen.  </p><p>Brad Thor’s readers will be electrified as he employs his vast knowledge of covert operations and military intrigue to bring to life his most heart-pounding, globe-trotting thrillers yet.</p>


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SUMMARY:
When Herbert Terrell falls off a mountain during a vacation in Czechoslovakia, accidental death is the verdict. Then his step-daughter Tossa receives a note suggesting Terrell was murdered--turning Tossa's long-planned European holiday with college friends into a hunt for the killer.


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<h3>From Library Journal</h3>
<p>This review is based on the galley issued by Ellis's original publisher, Simon &amp; Schuster, before it cancelled the book. The book is now going through the editing process at Vintage. There may be some changes in the final version. The indignant attacks on Ellis's third novel (see News, p. 17; Editorial, p. 6) will make it difficult for most readers to judge it objectively. Although the book contains horrifying scenes, they must be read in the context of the book as a whole; the horror does not lie in the novel itself, but in the society it reflects. In the first third of the book, Pat Bateman, a 26-year-old who works on Wall Street, describes his designer lifestyle in excruciating detail. This is a world in which the elegance of a business card evokes more emotional response than the murder of a child. Then suddenly, for no apparent reason, Bateman calmly and deliberately blinds and stabs a homeless man. From here, the body count builds, as he kills a male acquaintance and sadistically tortures and murders two prostitutes, an old girlfriend, and a child he passes in the zoo. The recital of the brutalization is made even more horrible by the first-person narrator's delivery: flat, matter-of-fact, as impersonal as a car parts catalog. The author has carefully constructed the work so that the reader has no way to understand this killer's motivations, making it even more frightening. If these acts cannot be explained, there is no hope of protection from such random, senseless crimes. This book is not pleasure reading, but neither is it pornography. It is a serious novel that comments on a society that has become inured to suffering. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 9/15/90 and 12/90.<br />
<em>- Nora Rawlinson, "Library Journal"</em><br />
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. 
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<h3>Review</h3>
<p>“Bret Easton Ellis is a very, very good writer [and] <strong>American Psycho</strong> is a beautifully controlled, careful, important novel…. The novelist’s function is to keep a running tag on the progress of culture; and he’s done it brilliantly…. A seminal book.” —Fay Weldon, <em>The Washington Post</em>   
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<p>“A masterful satire and a ferocious, hilarious, ambitious, inspiring piece of writing, which has large elements of Jane Austen at her vitriolic best. An important book.” —Katherine Dunn   
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<p>“A great novel. What Emerson said about genius, that it’s the return of one’s rejected thoughts with an alienated majesty, holds true for <strong>American Psycho</strong>…. There is a fever to the life of this book that is, in my reading, unknown in American literature.” —Michael Tolkin   
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<p>“The first novel to come along in years that takes on deep and Dostoyevskian themes…. [Ellis] is showing older authors where the hands come to on the clock.” —Norman Mailer, <em>Vanity Fair</em>
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<div>
 
 <h3>Amazon.com Review</h3>
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 <hr><strong>Amazon Exclusive: Joe Hill Reviews <em>Djibouti</em></strong> <br><br><strong>The author of the critically acclaimed novels <em>Djibouti</em>:</strong> <br><p><img></p> <p>In the spirit of <em>Djibouti</em>, his 48th novel.</p> <strong>10. The babes.</strong> The heroine of Djibouti would be one Dara Barr, who has touched down in Africa to make a documentary about the booming piracy business and maybe win herself another Oscar. Dara is as laconic and unflappable as any of Leonard’s finest heroes (see: <em>waaaaaay</em> overmatched. <p></p> <strong>9. The bad boys.</strong> Creative writing teachers who want to show their students how to draft an unforgettable antagonist ought to tear out chapter 18 and pass it around. That’s where Leonard tells us the story of James Russell, a clever Miami lowlife, who reinvents himself as Jamal Raisuli, al-Queda bomb-thrower… all in 7 pages of breezy, economical characterization. <p></p> <strong>8. The talk.</strong> Plenty has been written about Elmore Leonard’s mastery of dialogue, and I don’t need to rehash it. Why bother, when I could just quote some of it? An elderly terrorist, jailed in <em>The States</em>, gets talking with James Russell:<br> “What is it you hope to become in your life?” <br> “Famous,” James said. “I been looking at ways.” <br> “Become a prophet? <br> “I don’t tell what will happen. I do it.” <br><p></p> <strong>7. The walk.</strong> Everyone hustles in an Elmore Leonard novel; you can’t stand still and hope to score. From the slums, where life is the only thing cheaper than khat, to the clubs, where it’s easier to find a pirate than out on the open ocean, everyone is on their way up or on their way down… in a hurry. <strong><br><br>6. The sound.</strong> Leonard famously said that if his sentences sound like writing, he rewrites them, but don’t be fooled. These sentences jump to their own dirty, hothouse jazz rhythm. There isn’t a better stylist anywhere in American letters. <p></p> <strong>5. The seduction.</strong> Dara isn’t just curious about piracy; she spends thirty days on a boat with 73-year-old Xavier LeBo, long enough to fall a little in love with her best friend, and wonder if the old dude can still get it up. Xavier bets her ten-thousand dollars he can. It’s the book’s biggest gamble; trust me, it earns out big. <p></p> <strong>4. More boom for your buck.</strong> A lot of the suspense in Djibouti revolves around a tanker filled with enough liquefied natural gas “to set off an explosion a hundred times bigger than the Hindenburg disaster.” It’s an atom bomb with a rudder and all it needs is a target. <p></p> <strong>3. The place.</strong> Leonard doesn’t beat anyone over the head with his research, but from Djibouti to Eyl to New Orleans (the three backdrops for this story), the details are crisp, unforgettable, and right. You don’t read Djibouti. You live there. <p></p> <strong>2. The pay-off.</strong> Everyone in an Elmore Leonard story wants one, but only the reader is guaranteed to get one, and boy do they, in a final chapter that seems inevitable, yet comes as completely unexpected. <p></p> <strong>1. The know-how.</strong> Let’s get to it. In the fifty-plus years he’s been turning out lean, loose, laid-back thrillers, Elmore Leonard has cast his indelible stamp on American crime fiction, inspired his peers, and spawned a thousand imitators. He’s the kind of guy critics describe as old school, but that’s missing it. Elmore Leonard isn’t old school. He built the school. <p></p> (Photo of Joe Hill by Shane Leonard) <p></p> <hr><br></div>
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 *Starred Review* Crime fiction grand master Leonard, who turns 85 in October, remains in top form. He has a new publisher and a new subject—Somalian pirates—but all the signature Leonard elements are shining as brightly as ever: the back-and-forth banter, always oozing wit but never too smart for the room; the cast of wonderfully idiosyncratic characters, each capable of a star turn; the always startling juxtaposition of the mundane against the violent. This time, mixed in with all of that, Leonard gives us one of his trickiest plots and cleverest turns of storytelling. Dara Barr is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, recently arrived in Djibouti, on the Horn of Africa (the gateway to Islam . . . or the back door to the West) to film Somalian pirates in action. With her assistant, a 72-year-old sailor named Xavier, Dara, armed with a concealed spy camera, sets off onboard the Buster in search of pirates. She finds plenty, but she and Xavier also land in the middle of an al-Qaeda plot to blow up a tanker loaded with liquefied natural gas. Portions of the tale are related in real time, but much of the narration comes in the form of Dara and Xavier viewing film of what’s already happened and debating how to structure the documentary. This curious dramatic technique works magnificently, taking us inside the characters in a way that straight, action-oriented narration might not do. Leonard never tells a story in the expected way, but this time he outdoes himself. Marvelous entertainment. --Bill Ott
 
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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Murakami's 12th work of fiction is darkly entertaining and more novella than novel. Taking place over seven hours of a Tokyo night, it intercuts three loosely related stories, linked by Murakami's signature magical-realist absurd coincidences. When amateur trombonist and soon-to-be law student Tetsuya Takahashi walks into a late-night Denny's, he espies Mari Asai, 19, sitting by herself, and proceeds to talk himself back into her acquaintance. Tetsuya was once interested in plain Mari's gorgeous older sister, Eri, whom he courted, sort of, two summers previously. Murakami then cuts to Eri, asleep in what turns out to be some sort of menacing netherworld. Tetsuya leaves for overnight band practice, but soon a large, 30ish woman, Kaoru, comes into Denny's asking for Mari: Mari speaks Chinese, and Kaoru needs to speak to the Chinese prostitute who has just been badly beaten up in the nearby "love hotel" Kaoru manages. Murakami's omniscient looks at the lives of the sleeping Eri and the prostitute's assailant, a salaryman named Shirakawa, are sheer padding, but the probing, wonderfully improvisational dialogues Mari has with Tetsuya, Kaoru and a hotel worker named Korogi sustain the book until the ambiguous, mostly upbeat dénouement. <em>(May)</em> <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>From</h3><p>Other than an unexpected cheerfulness, <em>After Dark</em> is classic Haruki Murakami, featuring themes of loneliness and alienation, carefully crafted characters, Western references (such as an all-night Denny's where Hall &amp; Oates plays in the background), and distinctive magical-realist twists of fate. Critics also praised the impassive, omniscient narration, like a constantly shifting video camera, which renders each scene in magnificent detail. The chief complaint was the brevity of the novel, and the <em>Los Angeles Times</em> felt that Eri's dreamlike scenes missed the mark as well. "For the unfamiliar, it's the perfect appetizer. For the established fan, it's a quick work that is over far too soon" (_Denver Post_).</p><p><em>Copyright © 2004 Phillips &amp; Nelson Media, Inc.</em></p>


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Simon Koo is an ambitious Australian-born Chinese who goes to Singapore in the mid-sixties to work for Samuel Oswald Wing, an advertising agency. But the Wing brothers, who run the agency, are not what they seem. There is soon trouble when Simon falls in love with the forbidden Mercy B. Lord, the illegitimate daughter of a Japanese officer and a Chinese mother who abandoned her on the doorstep of a Catholic orphanage.

With no family or connections, this beautiful young woman is powerless to resist the evil influence of Beatrice Fong, a manipulative businesswoman, who, in league with the Wing brothers, lures her into the dark and dangerous international trade in sex workers and heroin trafficking involving the American CIA. Simon, my unlikely hero, must save her at any cost.


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>A juicy, sprawling beach read with a suspenseful twist, Richards's sunny sequel to <em>Happiness Key</em> reveals the next life step for Tracy Deloche and her tenant friends in Florida. The group of seaside cottages are the only asset Tracy retained after her ex-husband, CJ Craimer, landed in prison because of some shady business dealings. The former Bel-Air trophy wife now works at a recreation center while treasuring her support system: Rishi and Janya Kapur, a young Indian-American couple trying to have a baby; pie maker entrepreneur Wanda and cop husband Ken Gray; Alice Brook and her granddaughter, Olivia Symington; plus secretive newcomers Dana Turner and her daughter, Lizzie, who dish up a poignant mystery for Tracy and friends to solve. When CJ unexpectedly shows up, wanting to reconnect after he's released from prison pending a new trial, Tracy ponders giving him a second chance. But then there's Marsh Egan, her off/on environmentalist boyfriend whose troublemaking ex, Sylvia, is also back in town. Secrets, friendships, and the Florida gulf coast all come into play in Richards's engaging latest. <em>(July)</em> <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>From</h3><p>The five women who own cottages at Happiness Key could not be more different, but that doesn't stop them from being friends. Janya hasn't been able to get pregnant, and her husband has turned cold and distant. For support she turns to Tracy, a type A businesswoman who is being stalked by her criminal ex-husband as she tries to reenter the dating world. But Tracy's problems can't compare to those of Wanda, who has lost her job and struggles to start a business of her own as suggested by Alice, who has offered to babysit the daughter of new Happiness Key resident Dana. Women's-fiction favorite Richards uses wit, suspense, and the relatable and extremely touching friendships of her main characters to weave an exciting and mysterious story revolving around a secret Dana is hiding whose revelation may well change their lives forever. --Claire Orphan </p>


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<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p>Haruki Murakami, a writer both mystical and hip, is the West's favorite Japanese novelist. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Murakami lived abroad until 1995. That year, two disasters struck Japan: the lethal earthquake in Kobe and the deadly poison gas attacks in the Tokyo subway. Spurred by these tragic events, Murakami returned home. The stories in <em>After the Quake</em> are set in the months that fell between the earthquake and the subway attack, presenting a world marked by despair, hope, and a kind of human instinct for transformation. A teenage girl and a middle-aged man share a hobby of making beach bonfires; a businesswoman travels to Thailand and, quietly, confronts her own death; three friends act out a modern-day Tokyo version of __. There's a surreal element running through the collection in the form of unlikely frogs turning up in unlikely places. News of the earthquake hums throughout. The book opens with the dull buzz of disaster-watching: "Five straight days she spent in front of the television, staring at the crumbled banks and hospitals, whole blocks of stores in flames, severed rail lines and expressways." With language that's never self-consciously lyrical or show-offy, Murakami constructs stories as tight and beautiful as poems. There's no turning back for his people; there's only before and after the quake. <em>--Claire Dederer</em></p><h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>These six stories, all loosely connected to the disastrous 1995 earthquake in Kobe, are Murakami (The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle; Norwegian Wood) at his best. The writer, who returned to live in Japan after the Kobe earthquake, measures his country's suffering and finds reassurance in the inevitability that love will surmount tragedy, mustering his casually elegant prose and keen sense of the absurd in the service of healing. In "Honey Pie," Junpei, a gentle, caring man, loses his would-be sweetheart, Sayoko, when his aggressive best friend, Takatsuki, marries her. They have a child, Sala. He remains close friends with them and becomes even closer after they divorce, but still cannot bring himself to declare his love for Sayoko. Sala is traumatized by the quake and Junpei concocts a wonderful allegorical tale to ease her hurt and give himself the courage to reveal his love for Sayoko. In "UFO in Kushiro" the horrors of the quake inspire a woman to leave her perfectly respectable and loving husband, Komura, because "you have nothing inside you that you can give me." Komura then has a surreal experience that more or less confirms his wife's assessment. The theme of nothingness is revisited in the powerful "Thailand," in which a female doctor who is on vacation in Thailand and very bitter after a divorce, encounters a mysterious old woman who tells her "There is a stone inside your body.... You must get rid of the stone. Otherwise, after you die and are cremated, only the stone will remain." The remaining stories are of equal quality, the characters fully developed and memorable. Murakami has created a series of small masterpieces.<br />Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. </p>


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Murakami's lightning prose more than sustains the elaborate plot of this thriller, set in a Tokyo of the near future. <br />Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p><h3>From Library Journal</h3><p>The last surviving victim of an experiment that implanted the subjects' heads with electrodes that decipher coded messages is the unnamed narrator of this excellent book by Murakami, one of Japan's best-selling novelists and winner of the prestigious Tanizaki prize. Half the chapters are set in Tokyo, where the narrator negotiates underground worlds populated by INKlings, dodges opponents of both sides of a raging high-tech infowar, and engages in an affair with a beautiful librarian with a gargantuan appetite. In alternating chapters he tries to reunite with his mind and his shadow, from which he has been severed by the grim, dark "replacement" consciousness implanted in him by a dotty neurophysiologist. Both worlds share the unearthly theme of unicorn skulls that moan and glow. Murakami's fast-paced style, full of hip internationalism, slangy allegory, and intrigue, has been adroitly translated. Murakami is also author of A Wild Sheep Chase ( LJ 10/15/89); his new work is recommended for academic libraries and public libraries emphasizing serious contemporary fiction.<br /><em>- D.E. Perushek, Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville</em><br />Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p>


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<h3>From</h3><p>This superior history of the AK family of assault rifles begins with the invention of the machine gun by Hiram Maxim and traces automatic weapons through WWII. In 1947, Russian army officer Mikhail Kalashnikov adapted a German design of automatic infantry rifle to become the AK (for Avtomat Kalashnikov). It first attracted world attention in Vietnam by proving superior to the American M-16. Since then it has developed several relatives and been produced in many other countries, the total running into the hundreds of millions. It has armed regular armies, irregular armies, police forces, terrorists, common criminals, and ordinary householders in the majority of the world’s countries, creating a proliferation problem that has to date killed far more people than the nuclear kind. The author is a former U.S. Marine officer and prizewinning journalist who has written incisively and researched exhaustively. It lends force to his arguments that some of his informants have been assassinated with assault rifles for talking. --Roland Green </p><h3>Review</h3><p><strong>Advance Praise for</strong></p><p><strong><em>The Gun</em></strong><strong> </strong></p><hr /><p><strong>“C. J. Chivers’ <em>The Gun</em> does exactly what the best art history or music writing does—it opens our eyes to see anew the familiar. Chivers' reach and scope is syncretic, omnivorous—he is dazzling in his research and reporting. This is a book about connections between people and culture, people and history, nations with nations. Chivers pulls together vast threads of an expanding portrait and what emerges is startling. <em>The Gun</em> is filled with a sense of discovery in the way that John McPhee’s work is filled with delight, tribulation, and surprise.”</strong></p><p><strong> --Doug Stanton, author of <em>Horse Soldiers</em></strong>  </p><p><strong><em>“The Gun </em>is for those who wonder how we fight today and why we fight that way. C. J. Chivers has given us a seminal work that will be respected by future generations trying to understand us.”</strong></p><p><strong> --James Bradley, author of <em>Flags of Our Fathers, Fly Boys, </em>and <em>The Imperial Cruise</em></strong>  </p><p><strong>“_The Gun_ is a model of research, historical writing, military expertise, and a soldier’s ungrudging respect for a weapon that really works.”</strong></p><p><strong> --Thomas Powers, author of <em>Intelligence Wars</em></strong>  </p><p><strong>“C. J. Chilvers tells a remarkable story of how this one, superbly reliable firearm became the most abundant ever produced, and was to exceed the consequences even of Soviet nuclear know-how in the Cold War, and beyond.”</strong></p><p><strong>--Alistair Horne, author of <em>The Price of Glory</em> and <em>A Savage War of Peace</em></strong>  </p><p><strong>“Thanks to C. J. Chivers, every G.I. and Marine in Vietnam who threw down his jammed M-16 in despair can trace the development of the better weapon he envied. <em>The Gun</em> is part a biography of Mikhail Kalashnikov and his AK-47, part grim social history and, in all its parts, entirely absorbing.”</strong></p><p><strong> --A. J. Langguth, <em>Our Vietnam: The War 1954-1975</em></strong>  </p><p><strong>“C.J. Chivers, a brilliant war correspondent, is an equally capable military historian. By telling the story of a gun--well, not just any gun but arguably ‘the’ gun--he reveals much about crime, war, and terror, and he does so in convincing and compelling fashion.”</strong></p><p><strong> --Evan Thomas, author of <em>The War Lovers</em></strong></p>


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>A divorcée is handed a swath of Gulf Coast Florida real estate in Richards's slow if involving latest. After Tracy Deloche's ex-husband lands in federal prison, she takes control of his Happiness Key development, which consists mostly of a handful of ramshackle cottages. Her tenants—Wanda Gray, Janya Kapur, Alice Brooks and Herb Krause—are misfits, but when Herb dies, Tracy goes on a quest to find his family that ends up forcing her to bond with her tenants in ways she never thought possible. In the meantime, the mismatched crew learns that in helping each other, they are really helping themselves. This quintessential beach read is full of intrigue, romance, comedy and a splash of mystery, and while it could be shorter and faster paced, the women at its center—and the problems they face—are fully believable. They deserve a better plot. <em>(July)</em> <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>Product Description</h3><p><strong>Meet four women who think they share nothing but a spit of land called Happiness Key.</strong></p><p>With her husband in prison, pampered Tracy Deloche is left with five ramshackle beach houses and no idea how to start over. Janya Kapur left her close-knit Indian family for an arranged marriage to a man she barely knows. Wanda Gray takes a job guaranteed to destroy her already failing marriage—if her husband cares enough to notice. Widow Alice Brooks has grown forgetful and confused. Her family comes to stay with her, but Alice isn't sure she's grateful.</p><p>When the only other resident of Happiness Key dies alone in his cottage, the four women warily join forces to find his family. Together they discover difficult truths about their own lives and the men they love—and uncover the treasure of an unlikely friendship. </p>


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3>
<p>The virtuoso Japanese novelist presents 17 playful and darkly comic existentialist conundrums. <br />
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. 
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<h3>From Library Journal</h3>
<p>This collection of 15 stories from a popular Japanese writer, perhaps best known in this country for A Wild Sheep Chase ( LJ 11/15/89), gives a nice idea of his breadth of style. The work maintains the matter-of-fact tone reminiscent of American detective fiction, balancing itself somewhere between the spare realism of Raymond Carver and the surrealism of Kobo Abe. These are not the sort of stories that one thinks of as "Japanese"; the intentionally Westernized style and well-placed reference to pop culture gives them a contemporary and universal feel. Engaging, thought-provoking, humorous, and slyly profound, these skillful stories will easily appeal to American readers but must present something of a challenge to the Japanese cultural establishment. At their best, however, they serve to dispel cultural stereotypes and reveal a common humanity. Recommended for libraries with an interest in contemporary fiction.<br />
<em>- Mark Woodhouse, Elmira Coll. Lib., N.Y.</em><br />
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. 
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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3>
<p>Named for the trademark elaborate cast-iron grillwork of many New Orleans homes, Iron Lace is more aptly suited to describe the protagonists' lives in Richards's (Bayou Midnight) first title for Mira. Globe-girdling African American journalist Phillip Benedict is leery when he's asked by Aurore Gerritsen, an elderly white socialite to ghost her autobiography. She doesn't intend to publish it so Phillip asks the natural question: Why? "When we've finished, you'll have your answer," is Aurore's answer. As the story slowly unfolds (take a deep breath here), Phillip learns that his great-grandmother, Marcelite Cantrelle, had once been Aurore's father's mistress, and that Phillip's mother, Nicolette, is Aurore's daughter from a love affair with Raphael Cantrelle, Marcelite's half-caste son. (Whew!) Unwilling to raise a child of mixed blood in rigid New Orleans society, Aurore had given Raphael custody of Nicolette. Now, after nearly 50 years, Aurore is trying to right a wrong. This portrait of racism from 1919 to the mid-1960s is intricate, seductive and a darned good read. <br />
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. 
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<h3>Review</h3>
<p>"Richly textured and deeply moving, <em>Iron Lace</em> is a break-your-heart love story in the grand tradition." -- <em>Karen Harper, bestselling author of Shaker Run</em>
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Zombies and Witches and Vamps . . . Oh, My!What happens in Vegas stays in Vegasat least that's Delilah Street's hope. With Sin City's vampire and werewolf mobs wanting to cash in her chips once and for all, she's retreating with her partner Ric Montoya and half-wolfhound Quicksilver to her Kansas birthplace. Unfortunately, when it comes to finding trouble, there's no place like home. . . .It doesn't take long before Delilah realizes she's not in Vegas anymore. Zombie cowboys and spectral cattle drives are kicking up dust, the local weather girls are total witches who forecast perfect storms, and some Hollywood fanatic is recasting zombies as the greatest stars of the silver screen. And speaking of silver, Delilah's special affinity for the all-purpose monster-repellent leads her posse straight down a silver brick roadand into a notso- fun house of mirrorsputting her face-to-face with her dicey past and a mystery woman named Lilith, who's a real dead ringer for Delilah. The key word beingdead.


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One dark night on the island of Great Saltee, fourteen-year-old Conor is framed for a terrible crime he didn't commit. Thrown into prison by the dastardly Hugo Bonvilain, Conor is trapped in a seaswept dungeon and branded a traitor. He must escape and clear his name; he wants his old life back his family, his friends . . . and his princess. Conor knows there is only one way out. It's an impossible task, which has never been done before. But Conor is determined to do it. He'll have to fly. Swashbuckling new fiction from the amazing Eoin Colfer, ideal for readers aged 11+.


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3>
<p>On March 20, 1995, followers of the religious cult Aum Shinrikyo unleashed lethal sarin gas into cars of the Tokyo subway system. Many died, many more were injured. This is acclaimed Japanese novelist Murakami's (The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, etc.) nonfiction account of this episode. It is riveting. What he mostly does here, however, is listen to and record, in separate sections, the words of both victims, people who "just happened to be gassed on the way to work," and attackers. The victims are ordinary people bankers, businessmen, office workers, subway workers who reflect upon what happened to them, how they reacted at the time and how they have lived since. Some continue to suffer great physical disabilities, nearly all still suffer great psychic trauma. There is a Rashomon-like quality to some of the tales, as victims recount the same episodes in slightly different variations. Cumulatively, their tales fascinate, as small details weave together to create a complex narrative. The attackers are of less interest, for what they say is often similar, and most remain, or at least do not regret having been, members of Aum. As with the work of Studs Terkel, which Murakami acknowledges is a model for this present work, the author's voice, outside of a few prefatory comments, is seldom heard. He offers no grand explanation, no existential answer to what happened, and the book is better for it. This is, then, a compelling tale of how capriciously and easily tragedy can destroy the ordinary, and how we try to make sense of it all. (May 1)Forecast: Publication coincides with the release of a new novel by Murakami (Sputnik Sweetheart, Forecasts, Mar. 19), and several national magazines, including Newsweek and GQ, will be featuring this fine writer. This attention should help Murakami's growing literary reputation. 
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<p>Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
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<h3>From Library Journal</h3>
<p>The deadly Tokyo subway poison gas attack, perpetrated by members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult on March 20, 1995, was the fulfillment of every urban straphanger's nightmare. Through interviews with several dozen survivors and former members of Aum, novelist Murakami (The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle) presents an utterly compelling work of reportage that lays bare the soul of contemporary Japan in all its contradictions. The sarin attack exposed Tokyo authorities' total lack of preparation to cope with such fiendish urban terrorism. More interesting, however, is the variety of reactions among the survivors, a cross-section of Japanese citizens. Their individual voices remind us of the great diversity within what is too often viewed from afar as a homogeneous society. What binds most of them is their curious lack of anger at Aum. Chilling, too, is the realization that so many Aum members were intelligent, well-educated persons who tried to fill voids in their lives by following Shoko Asahara, a mad guru who promised salvation through total subordination to his will. For all public and academic libraries. Steven I. Levine, Univ. of Montana, Missoula <br />
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<h3>Review</h3><p>A racy yarn with plenty of globe trotting colour. The Independent Frequently hilarious, occasionally sad, and often surreal GQ A man who makes Peter Pan look like a geriatric with sleeping sickness Loaded A folk legend-Howard Marks has huge charisma. He sounds like Richard Burton and looks like a Rolling Stone Daily Mail Marks weaves a fascinating story spiced with brilliant detail, far stronger than fiction FHM Magazine </p><h3>Product Description</h3><p>During the mid-'80s Howard Marks had forty-three aliases and eighty-nine phone lines, and he owned twenty-five companies trading throughout the world. Bars, recording studios, offshore banks -- all were money-laundering vehicles serving the core business: dope dealing. At the height of his career he was smuggling consignments of up to thirty tons of marijuana and had contact with organizations as diverse as MI6, the CIA, the IRA, and the Mafia. Following a worldwide operation by the DEA, he was busted and sentenced to twenty-five years in prison at Terre Haute Penitentiary, Indiana. He was released in April 1995 after serving seven years of his sentence. With pages of photographs, and told with humor, charm, and candor, Mr Nice is his own extraordinary story. Mr Nice has been one of the biggest-selling memoirs in Britain in recent memory, topping both the Sunday Times hardcover and paperback best-seller lists. Also translated into eight languages, this edition offers American readers the first-ever opportunity to read this riveting book. "Frequently hilarious, occasionally sad, and often surreal." -- GQ "Only the Welsh could have produced ... Howard Marks.... In or out of handcuffs, he is always welcome in my home." -- Robert Sabbag, author of Snowblind "A folk legend ... Howard Marks has huge charisma. He sounds like Richard Burton and looks like a Rolling Stone." -- Daily Mail (London) "Marks weaves a fascinating story spiced with brilliant detail, far stronger than fiction." -- FHM </p>


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>"Bunting's straightforward story about an Oregon boy who learns to accept the loss of loved ones, including a dog, is heartwarming despite some heavy touches," said PW. Ages 8-12. (Apr.) <br />Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p><h3>From School Library Journal</h3><p>Grade 4-6-With the recent death of his grandfather and his parents' decision to separate, 11-year-old William struggles with his grief and anger until an abandoned Lab comes into his life. Boy and dog bond immediately, but then William takes him to visit a neighbor. Without warning, Riley breaks away and begins to chase Peachie's old racehorse, causing injury to him. When the dog runs over to her farm again, she calls the animal-control officers and they take Riley away. Determined to save his pet from a possible death sentence, William begins a publicity campaign to vie for the townspeople's sympathies. Riley is saved when a man offers to take him and train him to keep an airport runway clear of birds. Although William loses the dog he loves, he realizes that he has done his best and begins to accept the changes that are taking place in his life. The interactions among various characters are well developed. This is a thought-provoking story but the resolution, though believable, is not totally satisfying since it gets everyone off the hook without any real change taking place concerning the law or people's attitudes. It is disturbing how quickly everyone except William gives up on Riley. Everything is great when he appears to be "the perfect dog," but one flaw and immediately he becomes a "throwaway" once again. Bunting has really captured the dilemma of our contemporary society, which wants simple solutions to complex situations, often demands perfection, and rejects anything less.<br /><em>Carol Schene, Taunton Public Schools, MA </em><br />Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p>


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A frank, funny, no-holds-barred memoir that reveals the Deal or No Deal host’s ongoing struggle with OCD and ADHD–and how it has shaped his life and career. Howie Mandel is one of the most recognizable names in entertainment–respected by his peers and beloved by audiences as the host of the enormously popular prime-time game show Deal or No Deal. With a career that spans three decades and many different show-business platforms–he’s a renowned stand-up comedian who continues to perform more than 150 sold-out shows a year, he created the award-winning TV show Bobby’s World, he’s starred in feature films and the hit TV series St. Elsewhere, and he’s also hosted his own daytime talk show–he’s one of the most versatile performers anywhere. But there are aspects of his personal and professional life he’s never talked about publicly–until now.Eleven years ago, Mandel first told the world about his “germophobia.” He’s recently started discussing his adult ADHD as well. Now, for the first time, he reveals the details of his struggle with these challenging disorders. He catalogs his numerous fears and neuroses and shares entertaining stories about how he has tried to integrate them into his act. “If I’m making myself laugh,” he writes, “then I’m distracted from all the other things going on in my head that are, at times, torturous.” And he speaks frankly and honestly about the ways his condition has affected his personal life–as a son, husband, and father of three.Fans who’ve been dying to know “the deal” behind Mandel’s remarkable rise through the show-business ranks will be rewarded with many never-before-told anecdotes, each one generously leavened with Mandel’s trademark humor. There are tales from every phase of his colorful career–from his early days as a teenage carpet salesman and aspiring stand-up comic to his stint opening for Diana Ross, his six years on St. Elsewhere, and beyond. As heartfelt as it is hilarious, Here’s the Deal: Don’t Touch Me is the story of one man’s effort to draw comic inspiration out of his darkest, most vulnerable places. It’s sure to please Howie Mandel’s legion of fans–and provide hope to the millions who strive to succeed in spite of OCD and ADHD.


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<h3>Product Description</h3>
<p><em>Some vampires are good. Some are evil. Some are faking it to get girls.</em> Awkward and allergic to the sun, sixteen-year-old Finbar Frame never gets the girl. But when he notices that all the female students at his school are obsessed with a vampire romance novel_ called Bloodthirsty_, Finbar decides to boldly go where no sane guy has gone before-he becomes a vampire, minus the whole blood sucking part. With his brooding nature and weirdly pale skin, it's surprisingly easy for Finbar to pretend to be paranormal. But, when he meets the one girl who just might like him for who he really is, he discovers that his life as a pseudo-vampire is more complicated than he expected. This hilarious debut novel is for anyone who believes that sometimes even nice guys-without sharp teeth or sparkly skin-- can get the girl. 
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<h3>About the Author</h3>
<p>Flynn Meaney lives in Mamaroneck, New York. She is an alumna of the University of Notre Dame and is currently a poetry student in the Hunter College MFA Creative Writing program. <em>Bloodthirsty</em> emerged out of Flynn's broad love of pop culture vampires and her friend Lucila's comment: "Now that vampires are so hot, we can stop tanning." Lucila's observation made Flynn think about how the paranormal craze would benefit the pale and thin teens who would have suffered during the <em>Baywatch </em>years.  
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<p>Flynn is currently working on her second novel, coming Fall 2011. 
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<h3>From</h3>
<p>Katz, best-selling author of the anecdotal Bedlam Farm books, returns to his fiction roots with this gently appealing tale of a sheepdog named Rose. Fully immersing himself inside the mind and the soul of his furry protagonist, he conjures up a believably canine view of the joys and sorrows of life on a small farm. Spinning the narrative from Rose’s point of view, he paints a portrait of a close-knit community, where animals and humans rely on one another for comfort and protection. With her master injured and a ferocious storm swirling around at the height of lambing season, it is up to Rose to call upon all her instinctive resources to battle the elements of nature in order to save the lives of her sheep and rescue her farmer. Heartwarming fodder for the pet set. --Margaret Flanagan 
</p>

<h3>Product Description</h3>
<p>From <em>New York Times bestselling</em> author Jon Katz comes a moving and powerful novel, the first one inspired by life on his celebrated Bedlam Farm—and perceptively told from the point of view of Rose, a dedicated working dog.  
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<p>Rose is determined and focused, keeping the sheep out of danger and protecting the other creatures on the farm she calls home. But of all those she’s looked after since coming to the farm as a puppy, it is Sam, the farmer, whom she watches most carefully.   
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<p>Awoken one cold midwinter night during lambing season, Rose and Sam struggle into the snowy dark to do their work. The ever observant Rose has seen a change in her master of late, ever since Sam’s wife disappeared one day. She senses something else in the air as well: A storm is coming, but not like any of the ones she’s seen over the years. This storm feels different, bigger, more foreboding.   
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<p>When an epic blizzard hits the region, it will take all of Rose’s resolve, resourcefulness, and courage to help Sam save the farm and the creatures who live there.  
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<p>Jon Katz consulted with animal behavior scientists to create his unique and convincing vision of the world as seen through the eyes of a dog. Poignant, thrilling, and beautifully wrought, Rose in a Storm is a wonderfully original and powerful tale from a gifted storyteller. 
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SUMMARY:
Edited and with an Introduction by Bryant MangumForeword by Roxana RobinsonBenediction • Head and Shoulders • Bernice Bobs Her Hair • The Ice Palace • The Offshore Pirate • May Day • The Jelly Bean • The Diamond as Big as the Ritz • Winter Dreams • AbsolutionIn the euphoric months before and after the publication of This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald, the flapper’s historian and poet laureate of the Jazz Age, wrote the ten stories that appear in this unique collection. Exploring characters and themes that would appear in his later works, such as The Beautiful and Damned and The Great Gatsby, these early selections are among the very best of Fitzgerald’s many short stories. This Modern Library Paperback Classic includes notes, an appendix of nonfiction essays by Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and their contemporaries, and vintage magazine illustrations.


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SUMMARY:
In A Class Of New Police Recruits, Augustus Plebesly Is Fast And Scared. Roy Fehler Is Full Of Ideals. And Serge Duran Is An Ex-Marine Running Away From His Chicano Childhood. In A Few Weeks, They'Ll Put On The Blue Uniform Of The Lapd. In The Months To Come, They'Ll Learn That Right And Wrong Aren'T Always Clearly Black And White. Bad Guys Populate Both Sides Of The Law. Rules Are Subject To Interpretation. Justice Is Slow And Convoluted. And Life Is Not Fair. But For These Men, These New Centurions, Time Is An Enemy. The Year Is 1960. The Streets Are Burning With Rage. And Before They Can Grow Old On This Job, They'Ll Have To Fight For Their Lives...  &Nbsp;


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>After encountering the alien Dhyrn on earth and later nearly dying on the Dhyrn home world in Czerneda's <em>Survival</em> (2004), biologist Mackenzie "Mac" Connor returns to her job at Norcoast Salmon Research Facility in the Pacific Northwest in this action-filled sequel, which likewise explores the complexities of interspecies culture and understanding with humor and dash. When the Interspecies Union discovers that the formerly peaceful Dhryn have abandoned their world and set off across space, destroying every life form in their path, Mac leads the effort to find a way to stop them. Her Dhryn experience and knowledge of biological drives and animal instinct may provide the key—but her expertise also makes her a target for a hidden enemy, who may have already infiltrated the Interspecies Union. Czerneda's characterizations, both human and alien, are as intricate and entertaining as the twisty plot. Fans of SF adventure and intrigue—and of C.J. Cherryh's masterfully drawn alien cultures, in particular—are in for a treat. <em>(May 3)</em> <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>Review</h3><p>Brilliant world building, action-packed creative space opera that will become imperative for fans to read. -- <em>_</em>Midwest Book Review_</p>


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SUMMARY:
Years ago, noted science teacher and writer Chet Raymo embarked upon his own quest to reconcile the miracle stories he learned as a child with the science he learned as an adult.Skeptics and True Believersis the culmination of that searcha passionate, ever-inquisitive statement that science and religion can mutually reinforce the way we experience the world. Acknowledging that the scientific and the spiritual communities are increasingly split, Raymo builds strong bridges between them. He illustrates his argument with an array of thought-provoking stories, such as the remarkable migratory flight of a small bird called the red knot; the long, glorious glide of the Comet Hyakutake across the night sky; a hilarious alien abduction that didn't happen. Together, they are compelling evidence that religion should embrace the reliable knowledge of the world that science provides, while at the same time science should respect and nourish humankind's need for spiritual sustenance. "Miracles are explainable," Raymo paraphrases the writer Tim Robinson, "it is the explanations that are miraculous." For anyone drawn to reflect on life's meaning and purpose, Chet Raymo's uncompromising skepticism and reverence for mystery will affirm and inspire. Chet Raymois the author ofThe Dork of Cork,Honey from Stone, andThe Soul of the Night. He is a professor of physics and astronomy at Stonehill College in Massachusetts. Years ago, noted science teacher and writer Chet Raymo embarked upon his own quest to reconcile the miracle stories he learned as a child with the science he learned as an adult.Skeptics and True Believersis the culmination of that searcha passionate, ever-inquisitive statement that science and religion can mutually reinforce the way we experience the world. Acknowledging that the scientific and the spiritual communities are increasingly split, Raymo builds strong bridges between them. He illustrates his argument with an array of thought-provoking stories, such as the remarkable migratory flight of a small bird called the red knot; the long, glorious glide of the Comet Hyakutake across the night sky; a hilarious alien abduction that didn't happen. Together, they are compelling evidence that religion should embrace the reliable knowledge of the world that science provides, while at the same time science should respect and nourish humankind's need for spiritual sustenance. "Miracles are explainable," Raymo paraphrases the writer Tim Robinson, "it is the explanations that are miraculous." For anyone drawn to reflect on life's meaning and purpose, Chet Raymo's uncompromising skepticism and reverence for mystery will affirm and inspire. "These confessions of a wise religious humanist who also loves, practices, understands, and lives by the ideals and findings of science show us how to heal the false and unnecessary rifts in our intellectual cultures, and to bridge the gap between knowledge and morality."Stephen Jay Gould "His book is engaging, entertaining, and illuminating, filled with intelligence, humor, and refreshing humility."Boston Globe "Declaring himself a 'Skeptic who believes that words like God, soul, sacred, spirituality, sacrament, and grace can retain currency in an age of science,' noted science writer Raymo argues for a reconciliation between science and religion.Library Journal "Responding in part to the rise of millennial-driven New Age spirituality, Raymo (Honey from Stone: A Naturalist's Search for God) writes along the tender edges of mystery that bind off objective science from religious faith. Using a light journalistic style, Raymo seeks to find some common ground upon which to construct mutual appre


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3>
<p>This new volume of autobiographical writings (never before translated into English) by Calvino, whose short stories and novels gave him international acclaim as one of the 20th century's most important Italian fiction writers, is a welcome addition to his extensive works as well as to The Road to San Giovanni, a posthumous collection of autobiographical essays published more than a decade ago. This volume includes a series of articles and interviews that builds on the understanding of Calvino's life after World War II when he returned to Italy from the Communist resistance in the Alps, a period when Calvino felt a "moment of uncertainty" and a "perplexity about" his vocation as a writer before producing his first novel, The Cloven Viscount. The articles also feature Calvino's views on some of his most popular novels: "In the United States... the book of mine that became a hit was the one that you would have said was the furthest from American reading habits: Invisible Cities." But it is Calvino's lifelong fascination with America that makes this collection remarkable: more than half the book is given to an "American Diary 1959-1960," written during Calvino's two years traveling in the U.S., as he explores New York's thriving Greenwich Village and Actors Studio; a "violent, tough" Chicago; San Francisco's "squalid and filthy" beatnik scene; and Montgomery, Ala., where Calvino (who died in 1985) finds himself "in the middle" of "crucial days of struggle" of the Civil Rights movement. His diary reveals an obsession with what he later says most interests him as a writer: "daily life as the constant nourishment for writing." <br />
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. 
</p>

<h3>From Library Journal</h3>
<p>Posthumous writings from Calvino. <br />
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. 
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<h3>Product Description</h3><p><em></em>WHAT ARE THE ODDS YOU'LL WIN THE LOTTERY?<br /><em></em></p><p>How long will your kids wait in line at Disney World? </p><p>Who decides that “standardized tests” are fair? </p><p>Why do highway engineers build slow-moving ramps? </p><p>What does it mean, statistically, to be an “Average Joe”? </p><p><strong>NUMBERS RULE YOUR WORLD</strong><br />In the popular tradition of eye-opening bestsellers like Freakonomics, The Tipping Point, and Super Crunchers, this fascinating book from renowned statistician and blogger Kaiser Fung takes you inside the hidden world of facts and figures that affect you every day, in every way. </p><p>These are the statistics that rule your life, your job, your commute, your vacation, your food, your health, your money, and your success. This is how engineers calculate your quality of living, how corporations determine your needs, and how politicians estimate your opinions. These are the numbers you never think about-even though they play a crucial role in every single aspect of your life. </p><p>What you learn may surprise you, amuse you, or even enrage you. But there's one thing you won't be able to deny: <em>Numbers Rule Your World…</em></p><p>"An easy read with a big benefit."<br />--Fareed Zakaria, CNN</p><p>"For those who have anxiety about how organization data-mining is impacting their world, Kaiser Fung pulls back the curtain to reveal the good and the bad of predictive analytics."<br />--Ian Ayres,Yale professor and author of <em>Super Crunchers: Why Thinking By Numbers is the New Way to Be Smart</em>   </p><p>"A book that engages us with stories that a journalist would write, the compelling stories behind the stories as illuminated by the numbers, and the dynamics that the numbers reveal."<br />--John Sall, Executive Vice President, SAS Institute </p><p>"Little did I suspect, when I picked up Kaiser Fung's book, that I would become so entranced by it - an illuminating and accessible exploration of the power of statistical analysis for those of us who have no prior training in a field that he explores so ably."<br />--Peter Clarke, author of _ Keynes: The Rise, Fall, and Return of the 20th Century's Most Influential Economist_   </p><h3>About the Author</h3><hr /><p>Kaiser Fung is a statistician with more than a decade of experience in applying statistical methods to unlocking the relationship between advertising and customer behaviors. He leads a team of statisticians at Sirius XM Radio that is responsible for gleaning insight into customers and operational best practices. His blog, "Junk Charts," pioneered the genre of critically examining data and graphics in the mass media. Since 2005, "Junk Charts" has received rave reviews from <em>Science</em> magazine, the <em>Guardian</em>, Yahoo!, and Stanford University Libraries. He is an adjunct professor at New York University where he teaches practical statistics to professionals, and holds statistics, business, and engineering degrees from Cambridge, Harvard, and Princeton Universities. Fung is also a fellow of the Royal Statistics Society.</p>


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<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3>
<p>When English sheep shearer Chris Stewart (once a drummer for Genesis) bought an isolated farmhouse in the mountains outside of Granada, Spain, he was fully aware that it didn't have electricity, running water, or access to roads. But he had little idea of the headaches and hilarity that would follow (including scorpions, runaway sheep, and the former owner who won't budge). He also had no idea that his memoir about southern Spain would set a standard for literary travel writing. 
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<p>This rip-roaringly funny book about seeking a place in an earthy community of peasants and shepherds gives a realistic sense of the hassles and rewards of foreign relocation. Part of its allure stems from the absence of rose-colored glasses, mainly Stewart's refusal to merely coo about the piece of heaven he's found or to portray all residents as angels. Stewart's hilarious and beautifully written passages are deep in their honest perceptions of the place and the sometimes xenophobic natives, whose reception of the newcomers ranges from warm to gruff.
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<p>After reading about struggles with dialects, animal husbandry, droughts, flooding, and such local rituals as pig slaughters and the rebuilding of bridges, you may not wish to live Chris Stewart's life. But you can't help but admire him and his wife, Ana, for digging out a niche in these far-flung mountains, for successfully befriending the denizens, and for so eloquently and comically telling the truth. The rich, vibrant, and unromanticized candor of <em>Driving over Lemons</em> makes it a laudable standout in a genre too often typified by laughable naiveté. <em>--Melissa Rossi</em>
</p>

<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3>
<p>Stewart, a former drummer in Genesis, middle-aged travel writer and professional sheepshearer, never quite explains why he and his wife, Ana, decided to quit England 11 years ago for a dilapidated farm without electricity, water or even a road in Andaluc!a, Spain. Perhaps the olives, almonds and rosemary had something to do with it. Stewart clearly has found contentment in his good place among a lovingly described collection of local farmers, New Age travelers, artists and the occasional Buddhist. His hilly farm is a harsher place than Peter Mayle's Provence or Frances Mayes's Tuscany, and the local cuisine far less appetizing, yet his unfailing good humor and invincible optimism carry him past obstacles that would send most readers scurrying for home. More than a travel book, this is a record of Stewart's slowly flourishing friendship with his neighbor, Domingo, and of how Stewart gradually sank roots deep into his beautiful Andaluc!an hillside. A bestseller in England, this enchanting memoir is likely to prove popular in North America with both armchair travelers and readers who, while curious about the odd life choices others make, would just as soon give scorpions and clouds of flies a miss. (May) <br />
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. 
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<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p>Why read Italo Calvino's book on the classics? Because it passes his own test for what a classic is, and its brisk prose can blast your concept of the word clean of the dusty associations that cling to it. Calvino gives 14 offbeat definitions of <em>classic</em>, my favorite being "a work which constantly generates a pulviscular cloud of critical discourse around it, but which always shakes the particles off." His sharp essays on Conrad, Dickens, Diderot, Flaubert, Ovid, and others constitute an act of self-criticism too, a novelist's imaginative autobiography. In 1955, when rave-reviewing __, he called Daniel Defoe the "inventor of modern journalism." In 1954, he overcame his disgust with Hemingway's life "of violent tourism," coolly assessed his dry heights and sodden depths, and called himself Papa's apprentice. And the 1984 piece on Borges shows who influenced Calvino most once he'd become a master himself.</p><p>From both the American and the Argentinian, Calvino learned to be concise, and his quick sketches of books like the "unqualified masterpiece" <em>_</em>Our Mutual Friend_ provide a contact high--one wants to drop everything and head straight to a library, so infectious is his enthusiasm. "How many young people will be smitten" by Stendhal's recently, brilliantly retranslated Waterloo-era adventure <em>_</em>The Charterhouse of Parma_, he writes, "recognizing it as the novel they had always wanted to read... the benchmark for all the other novels they will read in later life." Like a great teacher, Italo Calvino distills a writer's essence in a vivid phrase: money, for instance, serves as "the motive force of Balzac's narrative, the true test of feeling in Dickens; but in Mark Twain money is a game of mirrors, causing vertigo over a void." <em>--Tim Appelo</em></p><h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Although the title suggests that this posthumous collection was cobbled together to capitalize on the latest culture wars, the great Italian novelist who died in 1985 had himself planned to compile it. The book remains an uneven hodgepodge of essays and brief introductions. In the outstanding opening essay, Calvino begins with the lighthearted remark that "classics are those books about which you usually hear people saying 'I'm rereading... ' never 'I'm reading,'" then goes on to show a contagious passion for great literature of all types. Reading criticism of classics, he writes, is often a waste of time; reading, savoring, and rereading them is of much greater importance. However, many of these critical studies suffer from too much deference to the texts, and too few flights of critical fancy. The high points of the collection are the title essay and longer pieces presenting overviews of the work of great writers who were Calvino's contemporaries. He begins an engaging discussion of Hemingway (written in 1954) by remarking that there were times when "Hemingway was a god. And they were good times, which I am happy to remember, without even a hint of that ironic indulgence with which we look back on youthful fashions." His accounts of authors less known to a modern American audience will leave readers eager to sample the otherwise daunting works of Francis Ponge and Eugenio Montale. Still, this collection is on the whole surprisingly lackluster; the beloved postmodernist will ultimately be better remembered for such earlier, more spirited essay collections as The Uses of Literature. (Sept.) <br />Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p>


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3>
<p>Veteran editor Dozois, 15-time Hugo winner, offers 30 stories, several of them Hugo-nominated. The table of contents is dominated by familiar names like Michael Swanwick and Greg Egan, but occasionally leavened with relative newcomers like Hannu Rajaniemi and more obscure authors like James Alan Gardner. Settings range from the present-day (Nancy Kress's The Erdmann Nexus) to the distant future (Ian McDonald's The Tear) and alternate history (Aliete de Bodard's Butterfly, Falling at Dawn). Similarly the moods range from relatively upbeat (Dominic Green's Shining Armour) to pessimistic (Swanwick's From Babel's Fallen Glory We Fled). In some entries the SF elements appear to be almost an afterthought, but most earn their inclusion. Dozois also provides short biographies, a detailed overview of the year in SF and a lengthy list of honorable mentions. This is a worthy addition to a venerable series. <em>(July)</em> <br />
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 
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<h3>Review</h3>
<p>Praise for Gardner Dozois and <em>The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-fifth Annual Collection</em>:
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<p>“The 25th installment of editor extraordinaire Dozois's annual collection packs a wallop.” –_Publishers Weekly_
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<p>"For more than a quarter century, Gardner Dozois's _THE BEST SCIENCE FICTION OF THE YEAR_ has defined the field. It is the most important anthology, not only annually, but overall." --Charles N. Brown, publisher of <em>Locus Magazine</em>
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<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3>
<p>The multitudes of __ fans) will be thrilled to find that the author has penned yet another story about Brian Robeson. Although Paulsen once claimed that he would "write no more about Brian," he seems to have been softened by the "staggering amounts of mail from readers" begging for more about the teen who is more at home alone in the wilderness than in the hustle and bustle of city life. In <em>Brian’s Hunt</em>, the 16-year-old returns to the remote woods and lakes of Canada, where he encounters a mysteriously injured dog. His experiences two years earlier, after surviving a plane crash and months alone with only a hatchet to protect and provide for himself (<strong>, </strong>, etc.), have prepared him well to survive now. But can anything prime him for the horror that awaits him on an island campsite where he intends to meet his Cree friends? 
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<p>This short episode is rife with the kind of gritty--even gruesome--details readers have come to expect from the Newbery Honor author. In an afterword, Paulsen reminds readers that he bases his stories on personal experiences and his extensive knowledge of the wild side of nature. 
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<p>Confidential to avid fans: an intimation of romance amid all the rugged drama hints that <em>this</em> will not be the last <em>Brian</em> book, either. (Ages 10 to 13) <em>--Emilie Coulter</em>
</p>

<h3>From School Library Journal</h3>
<p>Grade 6-9-In an author's note, Paulsen explains why he decided to reopen the story first begun in Hatchet (Bradbury, 1987). In this short installment, Brian, now 16, is back in the wilderness and encounters a savagely wounded dog. He makes his way to the lake island home of the Cree man he met in Brian's Return (Delacorte, 1999), where he discovers the tragedy that led to the dog's liberation. David and his wife have been partially eaten by a bear, which necessitates the hunt mentioned in the title and described in the final chapter. Throughout, the protagonist frequently remembers events from his original stranding, alludes to the problems he had faced trying to return to "civilization," and ultimately explains the special arrangement by which he has returned to the "bush" instead of high school. Although the story does stand alone, these many references will make the audience want to read (or reread) the earlier books. This story is not as well developed as the other episodes but it is a must-read for the hordes of existing Hatchet fans out there, and it may also serve to draw some new readers into the fold. An afterword discusses bear behavior and Paulsen's experiences with these animals.<br />
<em>Sean George, Memphis-Shelby County Public Library &amp; Information Center, Memphis, TN</em><br />
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 
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<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3>
<p>A deer in his canoe, a bear attack, a leg stabbed with an arrowhead--it's just another week in the life of 16-year-old Brian Robeson. In his opinion, this beats a date at Mackey's Pizza Den, a fight with a bully, and a video game at the mall any day. After having survived a plane crash and 54 days in the Canadian wilderness several years earlier, Brian can't seem to fit into "civilization." The world of high school and family life makes no sense anymore. So Brian begins to plan. It's time to return to the woods. This time, though, he makes no plans to come back home. 
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<p>Gary Paulsen, the popular author of many critically acclaimed books for young people and winner of the 1997 Margaret A. Edward Award, has written another sequel to the Newbery Honor Book __. (<strong> and </strong> were earlier sequels.) Paulsen's graphic and detailed descriptions of Brian's adventures demonstrate a deep familiarity and connection to the wilderness; and in fact the author has spent much of his life in the bush, living almost entirely off the land. Brian's experiences in nature parallel his growing independence and maturity; readers who don't feel like they "fit in" will easily relate to the young protagonist's search for identity and purity. (Ages 11 and older) <em>--Emilie Coulter</em>
</p>

<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3>
<p>The appearance of yet another sequel to Hatchet may raise a few eyebrows, but Paulsen delivers a vigorous, stirring story that stands on its own merits. Whereas the previous continuations, The River and Brian's Winter, essentially offer more of the same survivalist thrills that have made Hatchet so popular, this novel goes further, posing a more profound question: How does someone go from living on the edge to polite membership in ordinary society? (Paulsen addresses the same theme, albeit more grimly, in his Civil War novel Soldier's Heart.) Here, Brian has returned to his mother's house and can barely reconcile the seemingly arbitrary demands of high school with the life-or-death challenges he surmounted during his months alone in the wilderness. With the aid of a counselor, Brian formulates what had been an almost instinctual, unacknowledged plan to revisit the bush, and this solo trip, not his interlude with his mother, marks the true "return" of the title. The few cliff-hangers are almost beside the point: the great adventure here is the embrace of the wild, the knowledge of life at its most elemental. Aside from its occasional use of YA conventions (e.g., the preternaturally sensitive counselor; jejune rhapsodies over the relevance of Shakespeare), this work is bold, confident and persuasive, its transcendental themes powerfully seductive. Ages 12-up. <br />
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. 
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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3>
<p>First there was Hatchet, Paulsen's classic tale of a boy's survival in the north woods after a plane crash. Then came a sequel, The River, and, last year, Father Water, Mother Woods, a collection of autobiographical essays introduced as the nonfiction counterpart to Hatchet. Now Paulsen backs up and asks readers to imagine that Brian, the hero, hadn't been rescued after all. His many fans will be only too glad to comply, revisiting Brian at the onset of a punishing Canadian winter. The pace never relents-the story begins, as it were, in the middle, with Brian already toughened up and his reflexes primed for crisis. Paulsen serves up one cliffhanger after another (a marauding bear, a charging elk), and always there are the supreme challenges of obtaining food and protection against the cold. Authoritative narration makes it easy for readers to join Brian vicariously as he wields his hatchet to whittle arrows and arrowheads and a lance, hunts game, and devises clothes out of animal skins; while teasers at the ends of chapters keep the tension high ("He would hunt big tomorrow, he thought.... But as it happened he very nearly never hunted again"). The moral of the story: it pays to write your favorite author and ask for another helping. Ages 12-up. <br />
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. 
</p>

<h3>From School Library Journal</h3>
<p>Grade 5-9-At the conclusion of Hatchet (Macmillan, 1987), Brian Robeson is rescued after surviving a plane crash and summer alone in the north Canadian woods. Now, in this second sequel, Paulsen shows what would have happened if the 13-year-old boy had been forced to endure the harsh winter. For a brief time, Brian lives in relative luxury, living off the contents of the recently recovered survival pack, which included a gun for hunting. Then, his freeze-dried food runs out and his rifle fails, and he realizes how careless and complacent he has become. Suddenly aware of the changing seasons, he works frantically to winterize his shelter, fashion warmer clothes from animal skins, and construct a more powerful bow and arrow. About the time he has mastered winter survival, he discovers a dog-sled trail that leads him to a trapper and final rescue. The same formula that worked before is successful here: the driving pace of the narration, the breathtaking descriptions of nature, and the boy who triumphs on the merits of efficient problem solving. The author's ability to cast a spell, mesmerize his audience, and provide a clinic in winter survival is reason enough to buy this novel. Although the plot is both familiar and predictable, Paulsen fans will not be disappointed.?Tim Rausch, Crescent View Middle School, Sandy, UT<br />
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. 
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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3>
<p>When the pilot of a small, two-person plane has a heart attack and dies, Brian has to crash land in the forest of a Canadian wilderness. He has little time to realize how alone he is, because he is so busy just trying to survive. And learning to survive, to plan on food not just for a day but untiland ifhe is rescued, only begins when he stops pitying himself and understands that no one can help him. He is on his own, without his divorced father, whom he was to visit, or his mother, whom Brian saw kissing another man before the divorce. This is a heart-stopping story: it seems that at every moment Brian is forced to face a life-and-death decision, and every page makes readers wonder at the density of descriptive detail Paulsen has expertly woven together. Poetic texture and realistic events are combined to create something beyond adventure, a book that plunges readers into the cleft of the protagonist's experience. Ages 11-13. <br />
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. 
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<h3>From School Library Journal</h3>
<p>Grade 8-12 Brian Robeson, 13, is the only passenger on a small plane flying him to visit his father in the Canadian wilderness when the pilot has a heart attack and dies. The plane drifts off course and finally crashes into a small lake. Miraculously Brian is able to swim free of the plane, arriving on a sandy tree-lined shore with only his clothing, a tattered windbreaker, and the hatchet his mother had given him as a present. The novel chronicles in gritty detail Brian's mistakes, setbacks, and small triumphs as, with the help of the hatchet, he manages to survive the 54 days alone in the wilderness. Paulsen effectively shows readers how Brian learns patienceto watch, listen, and think before he actsas he attempts to build a fire, to fish and hunt, and to make his home under a rock overhang safe and comfortable. An epilogue discussing the lasting effects of Brian's stay in the wilderness and his dim chance of survival had winter come upon him before rescue adds credibility to the story. Paulsen tells a fine adventure story, but the sub-plot concerning Brian's preoccupation with his parents' divorce seems a bit forced and detracts from the book. As he did in Dogsong (Bradbury, 1985), Paulsen emphasizes character growth through a careful balancing of specific details of survival with the protagonist's thoughts and emotions. Barbara Chatton, College of Education, University of Wyoming, Laramie<br />
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. 
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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3>
<p>In a boxed review, PW praised the "terse, heart-stopping prose" of this follow-up to Hatchet : "The new adventure is as riveting as its predecessor . . . the psychological terrain of the sequel is fresh and distinct." Ages 10-14. <br />
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. 
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<h3>From Kirkus Reviews</h3>
<p>A sequel to the most popular of Paulsen's three Newbery Honor books (Hatchet, 1987), based on an unlikely premise-- government researchers want Brian to reenact his northwoods survival so that his strategies can be observed and taught to others. Derek, a young psychologist, and Brian are dropped off at another Canadian lake, near the first one, equipped only with knives and a radio that Derek has promised not to use except in a dire emergency. Everything goes all too smoothly until their camp is struck by lightning, zapping the radio and leaving Derek in a coma. Brian manages to float Derek 100 miles down a river to a trading post, thus saving his life. The lyrically described details of Brian's adventure-- building a fire, making a raft--are of most interest here; for all its graphically evoked perils (rapids, the craft's unwieldiness, exhaustion), the journey's successful outcome seems less in doubt than did the outcome of the compelling autobiographical wilderness experiences described in Woodsong (1990). In Hatchet, Brian discovered his own strength, adding depth, complexity, and tension to the story; here, that strength is a given--as he himself points out. Perfunctory in design but vividly written, a book that will, as intended, please the readers who hoped that Paulsen, like Brian, would <code></code>do it again.'' (Fiction. 11-14) -- <em>Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.</em>
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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>The sequel to 2008's <em>Inside Straight</em>, a revamp of the shared Wild Cards universe, features crises ripped directly from today's newspaper headlines and summer blockbusters. A burgeoning gas shortage has sparked an invasion into the Middle East; New Orleans is hurricane-beset and zombie-ravaged; someone has set off a nuclear explosion in Texas; and genocide rages in Nigeria. The conflicts between the compellingly human superheroes on the U.N.'s Committee shape this fast-paced alternate history. Veteran contributor and now assistant editor Melinda M. Snodgrass pens standout chapters featuring British triple-agent Double Helix, who drives the plot while posing as both seductive Committee member Lilith and Middle Eastern assassin Bahir. While those unfamiliar with the Wild Cards mosaic novels will flounder, the clever twists on today's political landscape and the unique powers of several new aces will lure back past readers. <em>(Dec.)</em> <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>From</h3><p>The Wild Cards revival continues in a second round of the TV show American Hero, a playoff contest between superheroes created by a mostly lethal alien virus and set in a realistically tangled and bloody world. Some players are troubleshooters, others cause trouble and shoot back, and a govement agency wants to get its hands on newcomer Drake, who can generate nuclear explosions out of his body. Drake’s jailbreak is one plotline in this installment of the multi-authored (one scribe or scribe-team per chapter) series, and it ropes in a Barbarian Days festival in Cross Plains, Texas, home of Conan creator Robert E. Howard. Others include an action-packed civil war in Nigeria and the effort to rescue humans and, this time, zombies from another New Orleans–bound hurricane. Somehow, characters remain the foci of a busy book that mixes the comic and the grim to good effect. For readers who can’t get enough, there’s an interactive Wild Cards Web site, too. --Roland Green </p>


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<h3>Product Description</h3><p>IN this star-studded cross-genre anthology, seventeen of the greatest modern authors of fantasy, science fiction, and romance explore the borderlands of their genres with brand-new tales of ill-fated love. From zombie-infested woods in a postapocalyptic America to faery-haunted rural fields in eighteenth- century England, from the kingdoms of high fantasy to the alien world of a galaxy-spanning empire, these are stories of lovers who must struggle against the forces of magic and fate. </p><p>Award-winning, bestselling author Neil Gaiman demonstrates why he’s one of the hottest stars in literature today with “The Thing About Cassandra,” a subtle but chilling story of a man who meets an old girlfriend he had never expected to see. </p><p>International blockbuster bestselling author Diana Gabaldon sends a World War II RAF pilot through a stone circle to the time of her Outlander series in “A Leaf on the Winds of All Hallows.” Torn from all he knows, Jerry MacKenzie determinedly survives hardship and danger, intent on his goal of returning home to his wife and baby—no matter the cost. </p><p>New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher presents “Love Hurts,” in which Harry Dresden takes on one of his deadliest adversaries and in the process is forced to confront the secret desires of his own heart. </p><p>Just the smallest sampling promises unearthly delights, but look also for stories by New York Times bestselling romance authors Jo Beverley and Mary Jo Putney, and by such legends of the fantasy genre as Peter S. Beagle and Tanith Lee, as well as many other popular and beloved writers, including Marjorie M. Liu, Jacqueline Carey, Carrie Vaughn, and Robin Hobb. This exquisite anthology, crafted by the peerless editing team of George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, is sure to leave you under its spell. </p><p>Discover the many realms of the heart with this extraordinary cast of acclaimed authors: </p><p>PETER S. BEAGLE </p><p>JO BEVERLEY </p><p>JIM BUTCHER </p><p>JACQUELINE CAREY </p><p>DIANA GABALDON </p><p>NEIL GAIMAN </p><p>YASMINE GALENORN </p><p>M.L.N. HANOVER </p><p>ROBIN HOBB </p><p>CECELIA HOLLAND </p><p>TANITH LEE </p><p>MARJORIE M. LIU </p><p>MARY JO PUTNEY </p><p>LINNEA SINCLAIR </p><p>MELINDA SNODGRASS </p><p>LISA TUTTLE </p><p>CARRIE VAUGHN </p>


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 Lt. Eve Dallas of the New York Police and Security Department returns home from a long overdue Irish vacation to a string of bizarre murders in Robb's thrilling 32nd future cop novel (after Fantasy in Death). The crossbow killing of chauffeur Jamal Houston in his limo in a La Guardia parking lot is followed by the death of high-rent prostitute Ava Crampton, found at Coney Island's House of Horrors stabbed with a bayonet. Other victims include Luc Delaflote, a celebrity chef who's harpooned, and Adrianne Jonas, "a facilitator for the rich" strangled with a handmade bullwhip. Eve, assisted by her trustworthy sidekicks, Det. Delia Peabody and husband Roarke, uncovers a wicked game that grows increasingly macabre. Robb (the pseudonym of Nora Roberts) keeps the reader squirming as Eve and company try to avoid dying in weird ways themselves. (Nov.) (c) <br>Copyright © PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
 
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 NYPD lieutenant Eve Dallas might have been on holiday, but as she knows all too well, murder never takes a vacation. No sooner does Eve return from Ireland with her husband, Roarke, than she is back on the job looking into the death of a limousine driver who has been shot with a crossbow. The very next day, a high-priced licensed companion is stabbed to death in an amusement park horror house. The only connection between the two killings is the choice of weapons: the second involved an antique bayonet. As Eve and her team scramble to find more clues, Eve begins to think she is on the track of a thrill killer. When it comes to finding a killer, the smart money is always on Eve Dallas. The latest addictive addition to Robb’s long-running series features spiky humor; a cleverly constructed, adrenaline-raising plot; and the requisite amount of sexy passion between Eve and her soulmate, Roarke. --John Charles
 
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<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p>"Long before it legally served me, the bar saved me," asserts J.R. Moehringer, and his compelling memoir <em>The Tender Bar</em> is the story of how and why. A Pulitzer-Prize winning writer for the Los Angeles Times, Moehringer grew up fatherless in pub-heavy Manhasset, New York, in a ramshackle house crammed with cousins and ruled by an eccentric, unkind grandfather. Desperate for a paternal figure, he turns first to his father, a DJ whom he can only access via the radio (Moehringer calls him The Voice and pictures him as "talking smoke"). When The Voice suddenly disappears from the airwaves, Moehringer turns to his hairless Uncle Charlie, and subsequently, Uncle Charlie's place of employment--a bar called Dickens that soon takes center stage. While Moehringer may occasionally resort to an overwrought metaphor (the footsteps of his family sound like "storm troopers on stilts"), his writing moves at a quick clip and his tale of a dysfunctional but tightly knit community is warmly told. "While I fear that we're drawn to what abandons us, and to what seems most likely to abandon us, in the end I believe we're defined by what embraces us," Moehringer says, and his story makes us believe it. <em>--Brangien Davis</em></p><h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>[Signature]_Reviewed by_ Terry GolwayYou needn't be a writer to appreciate the romance of the corner tavern—or, for that matter, of the local dive in a suburban strip mall. But perhaps it does take a writer to explain the appeal of these places that ought to offend us on any number of levels—they often smell bad, the decor generally is best viewed through bloodshot eyes and, by night's end, they usually do not offer an uplifting vision of the human condition.Ah, but what would we do without them, and what would we do without the companionship of fellow pilgrims whose journey through life requires the assistance of a drop or two?J.R. Moehringer, a Pulitzer Prize–winning writer for the <em>Los Angeles Times</em>, has written a memoir that explains it all, and then some. <em>The Tender Bar</em> is the story of a young man who knows his father only as "The Voice," of a single mother struggling to make a better life for her son, and of a riotously dysfunctional family from Long Island. But more than anything else, Moehringer's book is a homage to the culture of the local pub. That's where young J.R. seeks out the companionship of male role models in place of his absent father, where he receives an education that has served him well in his career and where, inevitably, he looks for love, bemoans its absence and mourns its loss.Moehringer grew up in Manhasset, a place, he writes, that "believed in booze." At a young age, he became a regular—not a drinker, of course, for he was far too young. But while still tender of years, he was introduced to the culture, to the companionship and—yes—to the romance of it all. "Everyone has a holy place, a refuge, where their heart is purer, their mind clearer, where they feel close to God or love or truth or whatever it is they happen to worship," he writes. For young J.R., that place was a gin mill on Plandome Road where his Uncle Charlie was a bartender and a patron._The Tender Bar_'s emotional climax comes after its native son has found success as a journalist for the <em>Los Angeles Times</em>. On September 11, 2001, almost 50 souls who lived and loved in Moehringer's home town of Manhasset were killed in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. One was a bartender we've met along the way. Another was one of the author's cousins.Moehringer drove from Denver, where he was based as a correspondent for the <em>Times</em>, to New York to mourn and comfort old friends. He describes his cousin's mother, Charlene Byrne, as she grieved: "Charlene was crying, the kind of crying I could tell would last for years."And so it has, in Manhasset and so many other Long Island commuter towns. Moehringer's lovely evocation of an ordinary place filled with ordinary people gives dignity and meaning to those lost lives, and to his own. <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p>


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Ellison's fourth Taylor Jackson thriller finds a serial killer murdering young women in both the United States and Europe. Such an international crime brings New Scotland Yard Detective/profiler James Memphis Highsmythe into the investigation, causing an unexpected hitch in homicide detective Jackson's romantic involvement with fianceÌüe FBI profiler Dr. John Baldwin. But personal feelings or no, the trio must pool their resources to find the serial killer known as the Conductor in the United States and Il Macellaio across the Atlantic, before he can strike again. Joyce Bean is perfectly cast; her narration keeps the book moving at a steady pace and infuses the prose with just the right amount of menace and suspense. Her reading of the killer's chance encounter with a young woman destined to become his next victim is chilling. Even when the writing may be a little over the top at times, Bean's performance is down to the ground solid. A Mira paperback. <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>Review</h3><p>Everything a great crime thriller should be. --Allison Brennan on <em>All the Pretty Girls</em>  </p><p>Fusing gritty cop drama with dark psychological thriller, Ellison distinguishes herself with exceptional character development, consistently breakneck pacing and a sense of authenticity throughout. ----_Chicago Tribune_ on 14 </p>


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Higgins's thrillers may evoke a strong sense of deja vu (same basic story, different time frame), but that doesn't seem to diminish the impact of each new novel. Early in 1991, while the Gulf war is in full bloom, operatives of Saddam Hussein hire legendary terrorist Sean Dillon to take the war to the enemy. A master of disguise and subterfuge, Dillon began his career with the IRA, earning the enmity of Liam Devlin--the unforgettable antihero of The Eagle Has Landed , who makes a featured appearance here--and of Martin Brosnan, an American Special Forces hero and IRA member turned college professor. After Dillon's attempt to assassinate former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher during a visit to France fails, he decides to go after her successor, John Major, and his War Cabinet with a mortar attack on 10 Downing Street. Learning that British Intelligence is recruiting Brosnan to track him down, Dillon confronts his old enemy, a meeting that ends in tragedy and leaves Brosnan bitterly committed to revenge. Although readers can be sure that Dillon's scheme will be foiled, fun remains in the how and why. Standard Higgins in style, plot and resolution, this is bound for bestsellerdom. BOMC feature alternate; Reader's Digest Condensed Books selection; audio rights to Dove. <br />Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p><h3>From Kirkus Reviews</h3><p>A world-class assassin goes after British PM John Major in Higgins's latest firmly engaging round of speculative derring-do. The Day of the Jackal this isn't, although Sean Dillon--a rogue IRA hit-man who's also a master thespian--is nearly as charismatic a killer as Forsyth's Jackal; and the author's own The Eagle Has Landed it isn't quite either, though Higgins, a diligent literary recycler, revives the spirit, pacing, and even one major player from that 1975 classic. This is the vigorous, rather simple tale of what might have been behind the real-life, still unexplained, mortar attack on Number Ten Downing Street on February 7, 1991. Here, Saddam Hussein, reeling under the allied bombing of Baghdad, asks oily Iraqi billionaire Michael Aroun to avenge Iraqi honor, which Aroun does by joining forces with Stalinist KGB Colonel Josef Makeev and hiring Dillon to blow away Margaret Thatcher, now visiting in France. When Dillon is betrayed by two hirelings and misses his shot at the Iron Lady, he ups the stakes- -why not, he proposes, go after the current PM (here, a most charming chap) and in fact the entire British War Cabinet? Using his Olivier-like powers to pose as several characters, including a bag-lady, and aided by a sexy KGB spy, Dillon sneaks into England, then Ireland, contacts old criminal/IRA pals, and plans. Arrayed against him in an ever-more suspenseful chase are several stalwart British agents, male and female, and two ex-IRA men, including Liam Devlin of Eagle fame. The mortar attack itself has about as much dramatic impact as a hiccup, but Higgins saves his big melodrama for Dillon's attempted escape--which will leave readers happily breathless and waiting for a sequel. The action's so fast, the heroes so valiant, and the villains so blackhearted that not even Higgins's syntax-crunching prose will keep his fans from driving this--his most enjoyable book in years- -up the charts. (Book-of-the-Month Split Main Selection for July) -- <em>Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.</em></p>


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<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p>Over the last few years, Jack McDevitt has quietly been producing an outstanding collection of science fiction novels. Earlier works such as <em>Moonfall</em> he takes off the gloves to create a splashy, near-future science fiction thriller with a big cast of characters and a do-or-die attitude. At the center of the story is Charlie Haskell, the U.S. vice president, who in 2024--an election year--has arrived at the American Moonbase to cut the ribbon and declare it operational. But there's a problem, and it's a doozy: a "sun-grazer" comet, with immense mass and speed, is on a collision course with the moon. Haskell, with an eye to his public image, puts himself at the bottom of the evacuation list. But time grows critically short, and soon more than his political future is in jeopardy--broken chunks of moon will begin exploding outwards. If they reach Earth, some of the chunks are big enough to cause an extinction event. McDevitt pays attention to his science while revving the action, and the stakes couldn't be higher: Haskell's choices will decide who lives and who dies--if anyone survives at all. <em>--Blaise Selby</em></p><h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Racing neck and neck with doomsday, this breathless near-future thriller pits young, single and politically hopeful U.S. V.P. Charlie Haskell and a gigantic international cast of heroic helpers against an interstellar comet that blows the Moon to lethal smithereens and threatens to wipe out life on Earth. Just before the comet is spotted, cancer-riddled President Kolladner dispatches Charlie to the ceremonial opening of the U.S.-led commercial Moonbase, setting Charlie up for a spacewalk into destiny. Loaded with flaming action and fortified with characters from today's headlines, the novel hurtles cinematically from one point of view to another so rapidly that the characters, except for Charlie, tend to blur into one another. After McDevitt explodes the Moon midway through the novel, fearsome tsunamis wreak havoc on both American coasts. With a murderous gang of rocket-hating backwoods militants thrown in for a whisker too much good measure, U.S. know-how and rough-riding true American grit save the day on the ground. In space, Charlie faces more perils than Pauline did?and loses some of his credibility as a result. Overall, though, McDevitt's scrupulous research and ability to bring the arcane intricacies of space engineering within the grasp of the earthbound make this a fine-tuned disaster to remember. <br />Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p>


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The deepest cave on earth was a prize that had remained unclaimed for centuries, long after every other ultimate discovery had been made: both poles by 1912, Everest in 1958, the Challenger Deep in 1961. In 1969 we even walked on the moon. And yet as late as 2000, the earth’s deepest cave—the supercave—remained undiscovered. This is the story of the men and women who risked everything to find it, earning their place in history beside the likes of Peary, Amundsen, Hillary, and Armstrong. In 2004, two great scientist-explorers are attempting to find the bottom of the world. Bold, heroic American Bill Stone is committed to the vast Cheve Cave, located in southern Mexico and deadly even by supercave standards. On the other side of the globe, legendary Ukrainian explorer Alexander Klimchouk—Stone’s polar opposite in temperament and style, but every bit his equal in scientific expertise, physical bravery, and sheer determination—has targeted Krubera, a freezing nightmare of a supercave in the Republic of Georgia, where underground dangers are compounded by the horrors of separatist war in this former Soviet republic.Blind Descent explores both the brightest and darkest aspects of the timeless human urge to discover—to be first. It is also a thrilling epic about a pursuit that makes even extreme mountaineering and ocean exploration pale by comparison. These supercavers spent months in multiple camps almost two vertical miles deep and many more miles from their caves’ exits. They had to contend with thousand-foot drops, deadly flooded tunnels, raging whitewater rivers, monstrous waterfalls, mile-long belly crawls, and much more. Perhaps even worse were the psychological horrors produced by weeks plunged into absolute, perpetual darkness, beyond all hope of rescue, including a particularly insidious derangement called The Rapture. James M. Tabor was granted unprecedented access to logs, journals, photographs, and video footage of these expeditions, as well as many hours of personal interviews with surviving participants. Blind Descent is an unforgettable addition to the classic literature of discovery and adventure. It is also a testament to human survival and endurance—and to two extraordinary men whose relentless pursuit of greatness led them to heights of triumph and depths of tragedy neither could have imagined.


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Negative attitudes scar our hearts, enslave our spirits, and keep us from experiencing abundant life in Christ. These attitudes are pervasive in the Christian church today and, according to James MacDonald, they thrust children of God into a dry, spiritual wilderness. In his new book, Lord, Change My Attitude ... Before It's Too Late, MacDonald walks readers through how to "put off" five common negative attitudes and "put on" five positive attitudes in their place. Practical instruction will boldly challenge readers to let God transform their attitudes before it's too late.
 
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 <div><div><b>JAMES MACDONALD</b> is the founding pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel in Rolling Meadows, Illinois.  His radio broadcast <i>Walk in the Word </i>can be heard daily on over 650 stations around the country, and <i>Listen Up</i>, his 1-minute feature, can be heard on nearly 1,100 stations.  He is the author of four books, including <i>Seven Words to Change Your Family, Gripped By the Greatness of God,</i> and <i>I Really Want to Change...So Help Me God</i>.  <br></div></div>
 
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 <i>Starred Review.</i> In the distant future—year 1070 of the Dragon Age, to be exact—Earth has been commandeered by dragons, who subject their human inferiors to lives of misery and squalor, either as slaves or pets. Human Bant Bitterwood, consumed with thoughts of vengeance against the dragons he believes murdered his family, goes on a dragon-killing spree that makes him a folk hero among the oppressed human populace. When Bitterwood slays the dragons' crown prince, Bodiel, their king vows to exterminate humankind—the only way he can be certain of victory over Bitterwood. To that end, the king enlists his murderous brother Blasphiel to build a city that will serve as humanity's abattoir. Maxey's world is stunningly imaginative, a landscape both familiar and alien, and packed with thoughtful treats for readers. Skillfully examining themes of faith, martyrdom and heroism, Maxey maintains an unflagging believability even while borrowing some of the most generic elements from science fiction and fantasy. The dragons are wonderfully written, as is the tormented hero; it is almost a shame that the story is so self-contained, as many readers will pine for a whole series of Dragon Age titles. <i>(July)</i> <br>Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
 
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 Bitterwood has spent the past twenty years hunting down dragons, one at a time. But he is getting old and the hate that he has carried in his heart since a group of dragon-soldiers killed his family is beginning to fade. When he kills the royal prince dragon, the king decides the only retribution is genocide of the human race. Bitterwood is forced to enter the Free City, the grand trap designed to eradicate mankind, with thousands of others. Can he lead from within, or can a select few dragons unite to stop the king's madness from becoming reality. Full of rich characters and drama, this is an amazingly astute vision of our own culture by way of a feudal kingdom where dragons rule, and humans are used as workers or pets.
 
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 After the death of King Albekizan, Shandrazel and his allies struggle to keep the kingdom intact as the radical human prophet, Ragnar gathers forces to launch a full scale rebellion against the dragons. When all out war erupts, legendary dragon hunter, Bitterwood, must face his own personal daemons and choose where his loyalty really lies
 
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 James Maxey lives in Chapel Hill, NC. After graduating from the Odyssey Fantasy Writers' Workshop and Orson Scott Card's Writer's Boot Camp, James broke into the publishing world in 2002 when he won a Phobos Award for his short story, Empire of Dreams and Miracles. Phobos Books later published James' debut novel, the cult-classic superhero tale Nobody Gets the Girl. His short stories have since appeared in Asimov's and numerous anthologies.
 
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 After the death ok King Albekizan, Shandrazel and his allies struggle to keep the kingdom intact as the radical human prophet, Ragnar gathers forces to launch a full scale rebellion against the dragons. When all out war erupts, legendary dragon hunter, Bitterwood, must face his own personal demons and choose where his loyalty really lies.
 
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 James Maxey lives in Chapel Hill, NC. After graduating from the Odyssey Fantasy Writers' Workshop and Orson Scott Card's Writer's Boot Camp, James broke into the publishing world in 2002 when he won a Phobos Award for his short story, Empire of Dreams and Miracles. Phobos Books later published James' debut novel, cult-classic superhero tale Nobody Gets the Girl. His short stories have since appeared in Asimov's and numerous anthologies.
 
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<h3>Product Description</h3><p>Since 1973, Storey's Country Wisdom Bulletins have offered practical, hands-on instructions designed to help readers master dozens of country living skills quickly and easily. There are now more than 170 titles in this series, and their remarkable popularity reflects the common desire of country and city dwellers alike to cultivate personal independence in everyday life. </p><h3>From the Back Cover</h3><p>Since the 1973 publication of Storey's first Country Wisdom Bulletin, our commitment to preserving the arts, crafts, and skills of country life has never wavered. We now have more than 200 titles in this series of 32-page publications, and their remarkable popularity reflects the common desire of country and city dwellers alike to cultivate personal independence in everyday life. </p><p>Storey's Country Wisdom Bulletins contain practical, hands-on instructions designed to help you master dozens of country living skills quickly and easily. From traditional skills to the newest techniques, Storey's Bulletins provide a foundation of earth-friendly information for the way you want to live today. </p>


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Martha Carrier was one of the first women to be accused, tried and hanged as a witch in Salem, Massachusetts.  Like her mother, young Sarah Carrier is bright and willful, openly challenging the small, brutal world in which they live.  Often at odds with one another, mother and daughter are forced to stand together against the escalating hysteria of the trials and the superstitious tyranny that led to the torture and imprisonment of more than 200 people accused of witchcraft.  This is the story of Martha's courageous defiance and ultimate death, as told by the daughter who survived. Kathleen Kent is a tenth generation descendent of Martha Carrier.  She paints a haunting portrait, not just of Puritan New England, but also of one family's deep and abiding love in the face of fear and persecution.


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 <i>Bones</i>, brings her bestselling blend of science and suspense to teens with the first in a new series, <i>Virals</i>. Tory is the science-obsessed niece of a famous forensic anthropologist, Temperance Brennan (star of the <i>Bones</i> program and novels), living on a remote island off the coast of South Carolina. An old military ID tag leads Tory and her best friends, Ben, Hi, and Shelton--all self proclaimed “sci-philes”--to an illegal research lab, where they are exposed to a mutant strain of canine parvovirus. When the teens begin experiencing preternatural physical changes, their search for answers brings them in contact with cold-blooded killers. Reichs’s characters are realistically drawn modern teenagers, and the state-of-the-art forensic details give this thriller an added edge. Short, heart-pounding chapters move the action forward at breakneck speed and the satisfying conclusion sets the tone for the next installment (coming in summer of 2011). --<i>Seira Wilson</i><br></div>
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 Tory Brennan, transplanted from New England to South Carolina after her mother’s death, is getting used to life with her hitherto-unknown marine-biologist father when life throws her a curve in the form of an odd virus. Along with her friends—a multiethnic group of science nerds all living, like her, on a remote barrier island—Tory finds a set of military ID tags linked to a missing-person’s case. The subsequent sleuthing exposes the gang to a disease, leaving them with heightened senses that flare when they’re in danger. They get plenty of opportunities to exercise their powers of intense sight, smell, and hearing in this suspenseful, if a bit exaggerated, plot-driven novel by the creator of the Bones TV drama. Despite one-dimensional villains, the book flows and is full of snappy dialogue guaranteed to draw in adventure junkies. Grades 6-9. --Karen Cruze
 
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William and Harry is a fascinating insight into the lives and loves of two extraordinary young men who have captured not only the hearts and minds of not only the British public, but those the world over. This is the definitive book about the princes, bringing their story right up to date. It is the tale of two brothers who have carried the legacy of their mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, into the twenty-first century and on whom the future of the House of Windsor largely depends.Drawing on her unique set of contacts Katie Nicholl recounts the royal brothers' extraordinary lives and reveals William and Harry's real characters as they become front-line soldiers and modern princes. Through her network of sources, some of whome have agreed to speak for the very first time, Katie tells the story of one of Prince William's earliest romances, and his struggle with his destiny as a future King of England.As a royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton seems more probable, Katie has spoken to a wealth of contacts close to the couple who reveal how their love affair really started at St Andrews, the hurdles the pair overcame and the challenges they still face. She recounts the story of Harry's time at Eton, his relationship with Chelsy Davy, and his three months he spent on the front line in Afghanistan. She analyses William and Harry's complex relationship with their father, and the woman who will one day become Queen Camilla. She talks to their friends, contemporaries and confidants to paint a unique and revealing portrait of the two most famous brothers in the world.


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 <h3>Product Description</h3>
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 <strong>The long-awaited autobiography of the guitarist, songwriter, singer, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Ladies and gentlemen: Keith Richards.</strong><br><br>With The Rolling Stones, Keith Richards created the songs that roused the world, and he lived the original rock and roll life.<br><br>Now, at last, the man himself tells his story of life in the crossfire hurricane. Listening obsessively to Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters records, learning guitar and forming a band with Mick Jagger and Brian Jones. The Rolling Stones's first fame and the notorious drug busts that led to his enduring image as an outlaw folk hero. Creating immortal riffs like the ones in "Jumping Jack Flash" and "Honky Tonk Women." His relationship with Anita Pallenberg and the death of Brian Jones. Tax exile in France, wildfire tours of the U.S., isolation and addiction. Falling in love with Patti Hansen. Estrangement from Jagger and subsequent reconciliation. Marriage, family, solo albums and Xpensive Winos, and the road that goes on forever.<br><br>With his trademark disarming honesty, Keith Richard brings us the story of a life we have all longed to know more of, unfettered, fearless, and true.
 
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 <h3>About the Author</h3>
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 Keith Richards was born in London in 1943. A guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, and cofounder of the Rolling Stones, he has also released solo albums with his band, The X-Pensive Winos. He lives in Connecticut with his wife, Patti Hansen.<br><br>James Fox was born in Washington, D.C., in 1945 and has known Keith Richards since the early 1970's when he was a journalist for the Sunday Times in London. His books include the international bestseller <i>White Mischief</i>. He lives in London with his wife and sons.
 
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<h3>From</h3>
<p>John Cage, whose pieces dazzled and confounded audiences for six decades, hardly seems the easiest of subjects for the biographer, but this is a well-researched, coherent, quite readable account of the composer and his work. What comes across is a man who was ferociously driven to create music and to promote it to those who could most effectively advance it. Cage was an iconoclast, yet he developed relationships—often symbiotic—with some of the iconic artists of the past century, including Arnold Schoenberg, Jasper Johns, Marcel Duchamp, Buckminster Fuller, Pierre Boulez, Robert Rauschenberg, and longtime companion Merce Cunningham. What also comes across is a humanity and openness that served Cage well in his personal life and his work, personified in his advice to young percussion student Cunningham: “You were playing everything absolutely perfectly. Now go a little further and make a few mistakes.” --Alan Moores 
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<h3>Review</h3>
<p>"Excellent, thoroughly researched . . . The first in-depth, detailed account of Cage's rich and colorful life . . . Silverman's prose is lively and occasionally mirrors Cage's own wit." --_Library Journal (starred review)_   
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<p>“Since his death almost two decades ago, Cage's influence has increased to the point where he is now seen as one of the major creative spirits of his age. This marvelous biography brings into focus the many elusive facets of his music, and situates them against the background of his personal life and the seething cultural currents of the era.” —John Ashbery   
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<p>“Silverman’s artful narrative lays bare Cage’s compositional processes, aesthetic posturing and the cross-cultural philosophical underpinnings to his work with a clarity that musicologists and art historians have yet to achieve.  Not just an exemplary biography, but a significant contribution to the cultural history of American music.”—_Kirkus,_ starred review  
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<p>“John Cage, whose pieces dazzled and confounded audiences for six decades, hardly seems the easiest of subjects for the biographer, but this is a well-researched, coherent, quite readable account of the composer and his work.”  —Alan Moores, <em>Booklist </em> <br />
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“John Cage, a master of musical modernism, meets Kenneth Silverman, a master of the biographical art.  Cage, the most innovative composer of recent times, comes freshly alive in Kenneth Silverman’s magisterial biography.  Silverman distills an astonishing amount of information in an engaging, fluid narrative that brings alive every facet of John Cage’s life—his loves, his friendships, his career, and his path-blazing experiments with sound.   Cage expanded music, and Silverman considerably expands our knowledge of Cage by interweaving fascinating new details of his everyday life with insightful accounts of his musical maturation. A gripping, ceaselessly revelatory biography.” —David S. Reynolds, author of <em>Waking Giant: America in the Age of Jackson </em>and <em>Walt Whitman’s America: A Cultural Biography</em>.<br />
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“_Begin Again_ is a glittering manifestation of the biographer’s craft. With impeccable aim and pitch-perfect tone, Kenneth Silverman has curated the crowded, cacophonous, frenetic and fractured details of modernist master John Cage’s life into a witty and sensuous literary exhibition. Readers will feel privileged to attend the gala opening of this cosmopolitan show—performance art between two covers!” —Neil Baldwin, author of <em>Man Ray: American Artist</em><br />
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<h3>From</h3><p>It’s 1914, on the brink of the Great War, when three longtime friends who grew up together in an orphanage are awarded scholarships to the University of Southern Missouri. But Petey, destined for the ministry, harbors revenge in his heart against the parents who cast him away when he was only seven years old, resulting in the loss of one foot and part of his leg. Libby’s impetuousness repeatedly lands her in trouble and hinders her ambition to become a top-notch reporter, and Bennett substitutes food and fighting for the respect, admiration, and sense of belonging he desperately craves. As the school year progresses and their beliefs are tested, their ambitions take them in different directions until they are brought together again by an impending execution. Sawyer’s stand-alone Christian historical is more judgmental than her usual fare, but there is still plenty of action, emotion, and background color to carry the story. --Lynne Welch </p><h3>Product Description</h3><p>As three friends who grew up in the same orphanage head off to college together, they each harbor a cherished dream. Libby wishes to become a famous journalist, Pete plans to study to become a minister, and Bennett wants to join a fraternity and have as much fun as possible. But as tensions rise around the world on the brink of World War I, the friends' differing aspirations and opinions begin to divide them, as well. And when Libby makes a shocking discovery about Pete's family, will it drive a final wedge between the friends or bond them in ways they never anticipated? </p>


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<p>Two childhood friends reunite when stressful circumstances bring them back to their hometown. Anna, distraught over the loss of a beloved mentor, takes a leave of absence from her law firm and returns to her mother, Maeve, and their family convenience store. Cami deals with a gambling addiction and breakup by hiding out at her father’s home. Sadly, coming home doesn’t bring them the solace they seek. Maeve’s store is being threatened by an upscale development. Anna is nursing lingering feelings for the high-school sweetheart she left, who now has a wife and family. Cami still mourns her mother’s long-ago death and resents her alcoholic father’s emotional withdrawal. Riggle, author of Real Life and Liars (2009), explores what happens when real life diverges sharply from childhood dreams. Her strong and complicated female characters are interesting and likable, and she ably weaves together multiple story lines. --Aleksandra Walker 
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<h3>Review</h3>
<p>“Backed by Riggle’s trademark unflinching honesty and imbued with heart and hope, The Life You’ve Imagined is a terrific novel about love and loss, letting go and holding on. A book to share with family and friends—I loved it.” (Melissa Senate, author of The Secret of Joy )  
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<p>“Kristina Riggle writes women’s fiction with soul. Her characters are both familiar and quirky, and reading their stories is like spending a weekend catching up with your oldest friends. You come away laughing and also touched that someone knows you so well.” (Tiffany Baker, New York Times' bestselling author, The Little Giant of Aberdeen County )  
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<p>“The Life You’ve Imagined is a richly woven story laced with unforgettable characters. Cami, Maeve, Anna, and Amy will snag your heart as they explore the sometimes-wide chasm between hope and reality. A beautiful book.” (Therese Walsh, author of The Last Will of Moira Leahy )  
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<p>“An entertaining, challenging story with the potential to change us if we let it.” (Grand Rapids Press )  
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<p>Riggle, author of Real Life and Liars (2009), explores what happens when real life diverges sharply from childhood dreams. Her strong and complicated female characters are interesting and likable, and she ably weaves together multiple story lines. (Booklist ) 
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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3>
<p>The pseudonymous Cain, a British journalist, has come up with a clever premise for his first novel. One summer night in 1997, Samuel Carver, an extremely capable assassin who only targets bad guys, is in a Paris tunnel ready to make a hit. He causes a speeding black Mercedes to smash into a stone pillar, leaving the car's principal passenger, a dangerous terrorist, he's been told, undoubtedly dead. Moments later, Carver himself is on the run from a Russian thug. Only after escaping the Russian does Carver realize he's caused the death of Princess Diana. Carver vows revenge on those who set him up. A number of spy organizations are involved as well as several intermediaries, all of whom Carver must work his way through before finding who's behind the conspiracy. A likable hero and nicely detailed action help offset a predictable and at times overwrought romance between Carver and the Russian's female accomplice. Hopefully, Cain will keep the mayhem and soft-pedal the love interest in his next Samuel Carver thriller. <em>(Feb.)</em> <br />
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 
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<h3>Review</h3>
<p>“Audacious, authentic, full of tension and tradecraft . . . Maybe it’s true and maybe it isn’t, but either way it’s a great thriller read. I loved it.”<br />
—Lee Child   
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<p>“This is the best first thriller I have read since <em>The Day of the Jackal</em>, and that was a long time ago. With one mighty bound Tom Cain has vaulted over Archer and Grisham and stands close on Frederick Forsyth’s tail.”<br />
—Wilbur Smith 
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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Wallowing in a post–Bay of Pigs funk, ex-CIA agent Jack Teller is called out of retirement in 1963 and sent to Berlin to meet an East German agent with a message for Jack's ears only in the debut of screenwriter and former TV producer Gabbay. Jack is floored by both his contact's identity and his information about a plot to kill President Kennedy during an upcoming visit to West Berlin. His dormant idealism roused, Jack delves into the conspiracy while dodging the threats of corrupt CIA higherups and falling in with colorful residents of Berlin's Cold War demimonde. Mixing cynical world-weariness with dead-pan humor and a refreshing lack of Bond-style omnicompetence (random mishaps include a nasty dog bite and a disastrous attempt to shoot off a pair of handcuffs), Jack's story is part John le Carré and part Elmore Leonard. Gabbay constructs the thriller as a dress rehearsal and what-if scenario for the actual Dallas assassination. With rogue intelligence operatives, gangsters, Texas tycoons and a mob of snipers, coverup hit men, fall guys, fall guy impersonators, and miscellaneous functionaries all jostling each other, the plot's many moving parts make the climax a virtual parody of ponderous JFK conspiracy theories. But until this odd turn, Gabbay offers a stylish thriller with an appealing hero. <em>(Jan. 3)</em> <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>From School Library Journal</h3><p>Adult/High School–The nuances of the JFK assassination conspiracy theories chillingly collide with the intricacies of Cold War espionage in this well-crafted, fast-paced thriller. CIA agent Jack Teller is a hard-boiled, world-weary pragmatist who would rather be fishing in Florida but warms to the notion that fate has selected him to abort an assassination attempt in Berlin. If allowed to succeed, it could lead in a matter of minutes to all-out nuclear war and the end of the world as we know it. Teller soon finds himself in that never-never land of spies where no one is who he seems to be, and where danger lurks behind, above, below, and within every doorway. As implausible as this may sound, Gabbay does a credible job of juxtaposing his story with historically accurate but equally implausible events, namely the Bay of Pigs fiasco and the assassination in Dallas. The novel could be viewed as simply a good escapist read, but there is an enormously significant lesson at its core: in a world with stockpiles of nuclear weapons, it only takes a well-placed loose cannon or two to set us all on a course of utter destruction. That story has been told before, but it bears repeating. This is a thrilling tale with historical lessons of lasting consequences.–_Robert Saunderson, Berkeley Public Library, CA_ <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p>


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SUMMARY:
A brand new original paperback series from a military man--and a skilled writer of military adventure. Old soldiers never die...except inside...when they lack a reason to live. Old soldier Wes Stauer is dying inside, from sheer lack of purpose. And then comes the knock on the door: "Our leader's son and heir has been kidnapped. We don't know where he is. We need you to get him back for us. The people who have him are numerous, warlike, and well armed. But money is no object." And then old soldiers--sailors and airmen, too--stop fading away and come back intosharpfocus. "Kratman's dystopia [inCaliphate] is a brisk page turner full of startling twists . .. he's a professional military man . . . so he's certainly up to speed on the military and geopolitical conceits of the book." --Mark Steyn,Maclean's Magazine "Kratman's written the future [inCaliphate], and it's scary." --John Ringo


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>A mysterious biblical object, nefarious Vatican spies and a deadly centuries-old religious cabal—sound familiar? Sacramento veterinarian Rollins offers more <em>Da Vinci Code</em>–style thrills for the seriously addicted. In this seventh outing, hooded men invade midnight mass at the Cologne Cathedral and slaughter almost everyone present, then break open a gold sarcophagus and steal... the bones of the Three Wise Men. Grayson Pierce, top agent in the Department of Defense's covert Sigma Force, takes a team to Rome, joins up with love-interest Rachel Verona, a <em>carabinieri</em> corps lieutenant, and her Vatican official uncle, Vigot. It seems that the Dragon Court, a medieval alchemical cult-cell that still operates within the Catholic Church, is to blame, and it also seems that the bones of the Magi aren't really bones, but the highly reactive Monatomic gold that the group plans to use to accomplish its ultimate goal—Armegeddon. Rollins has few peers in the research department, which makes the historical material fascinating, and he keeps the dialogue believably colloquial and the incidental elements motivated—and plausible for at least short stretches. Clumsy romance is mostly overcome by lots of action. Dan Brown-ers looking for methadone will add to Rollins's usual solid numbers. <em>(June)</em> <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>From</h3><p>This novel about an ancient secret society and the race to find priceless antiquities is sure to be compared to Dan Brown's <em>Da Vinci Code,</em> but, in every way, it's a much better book. Where Brown's best-seller was predictable despite its compelling premise, this tale is clever and suspenseful. Where <em>Code</em> featured ropey dialogue and assembly-line characters, this one offers (mostly) real people engaging in (mostly) real discourse. Like Brown, Rollins makes the most of a moderately implausible premise, this one requiring that the reader accept the literal truth of a certain allegorical aspect of the Bible. But, as both books prove, a thriller can be as implausible as it likes as long as it is entertainingly developed. Fans of <em>The Da Vinci Code</em> will obviously want to read <em>Map of Bones,</em> but even those who found Brown's opus unpalatable will thoroughly enjoy the taste of this one. <em>David Pitt</em><br /><em>Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved</em></p>


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 <h3>Amazon.com Review</h3>
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 <strong>Product Description</strong><br> Jane Leavy, the acclaimed author of the <em>New York Times</em> bestseller <p></p> <p>Meticulously reported and elegantly written, <em>The Last Boy</em> is a baseball tapestry that weaves together episodes from the author's weekend with The Mick in Atlantic City, where she interviewed her hero in 1983, after he was banned from baseball, with reminiscences from friends and family of the boy from Commerce, Oklahoma, who would lead the Yankees to seven world championships, be voted the American League's Most Valuable Player three times, win the Triple Crown in 1956, and duel teammate Roger Maris for Babe Ruth's home run crown in the summer of 1961—the same boy who would never grow up.</p> <p>As she did so memorably in her biography of Sandy Koufax, Jane Leavy transcends the hyperbole of hero worship to reveal the man behind the coast-to-coast smile, who grappled with a wrenching childhood, crippling injuries, and a genetic predisposition to alcoholism. In <em>The Last Boy</em> she chronicles her search to find out more about the person he was and, given what she discovers, to explain his mystifying hold on a generation of baseball fans, who were seduced by that lopsided, gap-toothed grin. It is an uncommon biography, with literary overtones: not only a portrait of an icon, but an investigation of memory itself. How long was the Tape Measure Home Run? Did Mantle swing the same way right-handed and left-handed? What really happened to his knee in the 1951 World Series? What happened to the red-haired, freckle-faced boy known back home as Mickey Charles?</p> <p>"I believe in memory, not memorabilia," Leavy writes in her preface. But in <em>The Last Boy</em>, she discovers that what we remember of our heroes—and even what they remember of themselves—is only where the story begins.</p> <span><strong> Amazon Q&amp;A: Bill Madden Interviews Jane Leavy </strong></span><br><br><strong> For more than 30 years <em>New York Daily News</em>. The author of several books about the Yankees, including </strong> <br><span><strong> </strong></span><img><p><strong>Madden:</strong> Your best-selling biography of Sandy Koufax was a tour de force, partly because Koufax was a very private man whose life story had never really been told before. Mickey Mantle’s life is quite the opposite, it’s been in the subject of a spate of different “autobiographies,” some of which he even wrote. Under those circumstances, what made you want to take up another book about him?</p> <p><strong>Leavy:</strong> Originally, I wanted to write about Willie, Mickey and The Duke in New York in the Fifties. The publisher said, “Do The Mick. Everybody loves The Mick.” I was wary because so much had been written about him—he left a paper trail as long as the drive from Commerce, Oklahoma to the Bronx, so I didn’t expect to learn that he’d been raised by a den of Alaskan she-wolves. My challenge was to strip away all the layers of myth that had accumulated and let Mickey breathe. And he, of all people, was my worst source. For example: the knee surgery he said he had after tripping over a drain in the 1951 World Series trying not to run into Joe DiMaggio in centerfield. In fact, he didn’t have surgery until two years later. I only learned that because I went through every day of the <em>New York Times</em> from October 1951 to November 1953 looking for the date the knife fell! That’s why this book took five years and nearly 600 interviews. I wanted to try to understand why after all these years, and all these revelations, Mickey Mantle still means so much to so many people—including me—and the first step was to get the basic facts straight.</p> <p><strong>Madden:</strong> You make the point early on in the book that Mickey was a childhood hero, but you also have a recurring sequence in the book of your first interview with him in Atlantic City in 1983, where—at one point—he drunkenly makes a pass at you. What lingering effect did this have on how you ultimately approached your book?</p> <p><strong>Leavy:</strong> I was plenty nervous when I met him. Mickey was my hero. But, he was also a very particular kind of role model. I was born two months prematurely (in a hospital a mile from Yankee Stadium) and came with some of the flaws that afflict those who don’t incubate as long as we’re supposed to. Mickey taught me how to function with pain and without complaint—his triumphs were mine. I was devastated with how he acted. After I’d taken his hand from my knee, I called the only person I could think of still awake at that hour, a new mother, who basically told me to grow up.</p> <p>The next morning, over breakfast, I vented my anger and disappointment, railing at him for, among other things, greeting my youthful autograph request with flatulence. He was stunned and remorseful, albeit in a hilariously idiosyncratic manner. He gave me an 8 x 10 glossy that said, “Sorry, I farted, your friend, Mick.” For a moment, I felt I saw behind his crude façade. I decided the only way I could write this book was to acknowledge my lack of dispassion and scrutinize him completely. That’s what happened that weekend in Atlantic City. It forced me to see the world as it was, not how I wanted it to be.</p> <p><strong>Madden:</strong> One of the people I wish I'd been able to interview for my Steinbrenner book was Mantle, if only because I detected a very strained relationship between the two of them. Steinbrenner made a point to deify DiMaggio and had memorial services for Joe, Billy Martin, Roger Maris and Mel Allen, but did nothing for Mickey when he died. In your conversations with Mickey did he ever talk about Steinbrenner and anything that might have led to ill feelings toward each other?</p> <p><strong>Leavy:</strong> When I told Mantle I’d heard the Boss was thinking of turning Monument Park in centerfield into a water park for the disadvantaged youth of the South Bronx, Mantle was completely incredulous. He told me, “It was 480 in centerfield when I played. It’s 420 now and he’s talking about bringing them in farther,” and shook his head. “I was at a banquet one time and I said to him, ‘they ought to let those boys throw the ball up and hit it.’ That pissed him off.”</p> <p>Mantle was interested in Yankee history—he grilled a friend who saw Babe Ruth lying in state in the rotunda at the Stadium about what it was like to be there that day. But I don’t think he had a whole lot of patience with “Yankeeography.” It was a quick disillusionment. When he signed with the Yankees, reporters asked which Yankee had been his childhood hero. He said, “Stan Musial.” George Weiss, the general manager, immediately “corrected” his memory and from then on Joe D. was his hero. Furthermore, I think he was deeply disappointed with the baseball community’s response—or lack of response—when commissioner Bowie Kuhn banned him in 1983 because of his affiliation with the Claridge Hotel and Casino, a job he had taken to pay for his son Billy’s treatment for non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. He told me, “I feel really kind of bad no one took up for me.” By “no one” I was pretty sure he meant Steinbrenner. The Yankees did little more than observe a moment of silence when Mantle died.</p> <p><strong>Madden:</strong> It would seem that most everybody pertinent to the book cooperated with you, especially the Mantle family. I was grateful for the cooperation I had from George Steinbrenner’s friends and associates when I wrote <em>Steinbrenner</em>, but I had an advantage that you didn’t in that most of them knew me personally and, I suppose, trusted me. As a stranger, did you meet any significant resistance?</p> <p><strong>Leavy:</strong> Danny and David Mantle—Mickey’s sons—and their late mother, Merlyn—were extremely generous with their recollections and insights. Their openness about their lives and their relationship with their father was extraordinary. Like him, they are extremely honest. There’s no put on, as folks in Commerce, Oklahoma like to say. I hope they’ll come away from the book with a deeper understanding of the forces that formed him and contributed to his downfall, but I don’t know how they’ll react.</p> <p><strong>Madden:</strong> This is the definitive “warts and all” biography of Mickey, with heavy emphasis on all of his demons. How do you think Mickey himself would feel about the book?</p> <p><strong>Leavy:</strong> I think it’s an honest book and Mantle was a very honest man. I don’t see this is as a dark book. I hope it’s enlightening in the most literal sense of the word and I hope that critics—and readers at large—will agree. I think the tragedy of Mantle is that he had so little time, at the beginning of his baseball career, and at the beginning of his sober life, to be his best self. He was a decent man who was genetically pre-disposed to alcoholism and enabled his whole life by the trappings of his celebrity. That’s his story. As Billy Crystal told me about his movie, <em>61*</em>, Mickey wouldn’t have wanted the sugar coat.</p> <p>His late wife, Merlyn, wrote about the sexual abuse he suffered as a young boy in the family memoir, “A Hero All His Life” and she elaborated on it when we spoke, as did several of his close friends. It turned out that his half sister wasn’t his only abuser and experts tell me that many of the destructive behaviors he manifested are seen in victims of childhood sexual abuse. So, I came away with enormous compassion for him and, I hope, with an answer to the question posed by one of his minor league teammates: “Mickey, what happened?”</p> <p></p> <p></p>
 
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 <h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3>
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 Starred Review. Bob Costas eulogized the Yankee great as "a fragile hero to whom we had an emotional attachment so strong and lasting that it defied logic." The "we" in Costas's remarks--with author Leavy (Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy) as stand-in--is as much the subject of this fascinating biography as the ballplayer himself. Mantle, who succumbed to cancer in 1995 at age 63, was justly famous for his baseball exploits, but what Costas described as Mantle's "paradoxical grip" on a certain generation of baseball fans is exactly what Leavy tackles in this book. She should know. She spent much time in her childhood in the shadow of Yankee Stadium, a tomboyish "Mickey guy" listening to the roar of the crowd from across the Grand Concourse. While a sportswriter for the Washington Post, she won a 1983 assignment to interview Mantle for his upcoming golf tournament in Atlantic City. What happened that day and night between the fading, embittered Mantle and the former fan girl trying to do her job is the drama that structures Leavy's narrative--she has never reported the truth till now, and she does so without judgment. Instead, she proceeds with steely determination to understand what brought this onetime golden boy from the zinc mines of Oklahoma to center stage at Yankee Stadium and made him into America's quintessential tragic hero, a freakily gifted athlete haunted by a deadly genetic inheritance, including alcoholism. With storytelling bravado and fresh research, Leavy weaves around her own story the milestone dates in "the Mick's" career, which as often burnishes the legend as tarnishes it. Leavy concludes that Mantle cavorted in a more innocent time, when people believed in sports heroes and would not hear otherwise. That's hardly a new idea, but no matter: by the end of this book, readers will know what made Mantle rise, fall, and survive into recovery for his last 18 months. In Leavy's hands, the life of Mantle no longer defies logic: it seems inevitable. She's hit a long home run. 8 pages of color and 8 pages of b&amp;w photos. <br>Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
 
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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Married 30-something artists Claudia and Jeremy Munger are the unlucky anchors of Brown's shaky sophomore novel, an of-the-moment time capsule in the mold of her well-received <em>All We Ever Wanted Was Everything</em>. Claudia is a filmmaker whose first feature is about to be released; Jeremy is a musician on the brink of mainstream success; together they are living in boho splendor in a newly purchased L.A. bungalow. But when Claudia's film bombs, Jeremy's band breaks up, their adjustable rate mortgage balloons, and Jeremy's famous painter ex-girlfriend, Aoki, comes back on the scene, the Mungers' sense of themselves is harshly tested. The gauntlets the Mungers face verge on Kafkaesque, yet the novel proceeds with painful earnestness. Particularly detracting are the one-note supporting characters: Jeremy and Claudia's parents, an annoying roommate, the corpulent potential producer of Claudia's next film. Aoki, meanwhile, plays a pivotal role but is burdened with a heavy load of temperamental artist clichés. There are lovely small moments—Claudia's awkward run-in with a former student, for instance—that give hope that the undeniably talented author will find her footing again after this flawed effort. <em>(June)</em> <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>From</h3><p>Brown's skillful follow-up to her well-received debut (All We Ever Wanted Was Everything, 2008) is set in L.A. and opens with a minor earthquake, signaling the fissure that's about to open up in the marriage between Claudia, an aspiring filmmaker, and Jeremy, an aspiring musician. Career setbacks and the reappearance of Jeremy's former flame aren't the only cracks in their foundation. The couple is also saddled with debt, and foreclosure looms. Their differing reactions to this crisis suggest how far both are willing to compromise their dreams to save their home. Alternating between Claudia's and Jeremy's perspectives, Brown proves adept at fully inhabiting both male and female characters in her sympathetic portrait of a troubled marriage. She also elevates her material with sharp cultural observations and pointed commentary on the current economy while gamely tackling what it means to be a grown-up and how our idea of who we think we should be gets in the way of who we really are. At once playful and heartbreaking, this novel never feels less than wholly true. --Patty Wetli </p>


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In the good old days, magic was powerful, unregulated by government, and even the largest spell could be woven without filling in the magic release form B1-7g. But somewhere, somehow, the magic started draining away. Jennifer Strange runs Kazam!, an employment agency for state-registered magicians, soothsayers and sorceresses. But work is drying up. Drain cleaner is cheaper and quicker than a spell. Why trust a cold and drafty magic carpet when jetlines offer a comfy seat and an in-flight movie? And now potions are eligible for VAT . . . But then the visions start. The Last Dragon is going to be killed by a Dragonslayer at 12.00 on Sunday. The death will unleash untold devastation on the UnUnited Kingdom, setting principality against dukedom and property developer against homesteader. And all the signs are pointing to Jennifer Strange, and saying &#8216;Big Magic is coming . . .&#8217;


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3>
<p>Set in an unnamed city, Berry's ambitious debut reverberates with echoes of Kafka and Paul Auster. Charles Unwin, a clerk who's toiled for years for the Pinkerton-like Agency, has meticulously catalogued the legendary cases of sleuth Travis Sivart. When Sivart disappears, Unwin, who's inexplicably promoted to the rank of detective, goes in search of him. While exploring the upper reaches of the Agency's labyrinthine headquarters, the paper pusher stumbles on a corpse. Aided by a narcoleptic assistant, he enters a surreal landscape where all the alarm clocks have been stolen. In the course of his inquiries, Unwin is shattered to realize that some of Sivart's greatest triumphs were empty ones, that his hero didn't always come up with the correct solution. Even if the intriguing conceit doesn't fully work, this cerebral novel, with its sly winks at traditional whodunits and inspired portrait of the bureaucratic and paranoid Agency, will appeal to mystery readers and nongenre fans alike. <em>(Feb.)</em> <br />
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 
</p>

<h3>From</h3>
<p>The comparisons used by critics in describing The Manual of Detection—Borges! Chesterton! Bradbury! Kafka! Lynch! Gilliam!—may seem overblown. But this list of literary (and cinematic) heavy hitters may not be hyperbolic praise so much as the only means available to explain how a book that initially seems to be a private eye novel can also be a work of absurdist art, “a surreal transmogrification of a genre” (Wall Street Journal). The critics might not have been able to categorize it, but they were also unable to put it down. However, as more than one reviewer pointed out, this may not be the best book for those who like their gumshoes straight, no chaser.<br />
Copyright 2009 Bookmarks Publishing LLC 
</p>


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<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p><strong>Kylie Ladd on <em>After the Fall</em></strong></p><p>Whenever I meet someone new and they ask me about my occupation I always reply that I’m a psychologist. It’s true. I’m a clinical neuropsychologist, to be precise, with a Ph.D. in the field and fifteen years' experience working in both the public and private sectors. What I fail to mention--mostly because I still can’t quite believe that it’s true, and I’m stupidly afraid that saying it out loud will make it disappear--is that I’m also a writer.</p><p>I never planned to study psychology. At the time it simply seemed like a good compromise between the medical degree my parents wanted me to do and the arts degree I was keener on, but now I realize what a great fit it was. I have always been fascinated by people, and more specifically how we become who we are and why we make the choices we do. I'm also--as is true for most writers--rather a voyeur. Psychology gave me the tools to observe others; writing gives me the reason to do so. </p><p>Psychology has also helped me understand something I think every writer needs to grasp: that "story" is a fluid concept, depending wholly on perspective. In the clinic where I work, part of my role is to take a history from both the client and a member of his or her family. Though I have been doing so for many years, the process still has the power to surprise, given how differently the same events can be perceived and experienced by different people. It seems there is always some fresh way for us to love or hate, to accommodate or alienate each other; there are at least two sides to every story. Listening to my patients and their families gave me the idea for the narrative structure of <em>After The Fall</em>, where four main characters take turns at telling their side of a shared story.</p><p>Now that both my children are in school, I write three days a week and practice as a psychologist for two--but the distinction is often blurred. When I write, I am using the resources that psychology has given me; when I am seeing a client I am simultaneously alert for what I can learn from them about being human. In both cases, I am listening for story--the stories that explain and define us all.</p><h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Neuropsychologist Ladd's flat debut is narrated by four Australians who make three pairs: Cary and Kate, and Luke and Cressida, two married couples—and Kate and Luke, who fall headlong into an affair that could have big consequences. Cary is a chivalrous doctor who desperately wants children, while his impetuous wife, Kate, an anthropologist, is the lusty life of every party. Then there's Luke, the dashing ad man everyone falls in love with, and Cressida, his beautiful pediatrician wife, who is more dedicated to her patients than to her personal life. Short, snappy chapters alternate between the voices of these characters, building the story of the two marriages and the infidelity that dismantles them. Ladd can turn a phrase and spin a metaphor, but the characters are too thin to sustain sympathy, and little is done to find a new angle on the familiar setup of desire and adultery. <em>(June)</em> <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p>


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<h3>From School Library Journal</h3><p>Grade 9 Up—After high school, two best friends move to Los Angeles hoping to start "a new and amazing life," but their existence is anything but glamorous. Jane is an intern for a famous event planner and Scarlett is a freshman at U.S.C. However, things change quickly when a TV producer asks them to be in a new reality series along with Madison and Gaby, following their lives as they try to make it in L.A. After signing on, the two friends move into a posh apartment and get into the hottest clubs. Scarlett is skeptical about all the attention, but Jane enjoys being in the limelight. When Jane becomes the show's star, Madison is jealous and plots to bring her down. By story's end, Jane learns that having cameras follow you everywhere isn't what it is cracked up to be. The cliff-hanger climax indicates that there will be more to come. Conrad writes from experience (she stars in MTV's <em>The Hills</em>) and the result is a light read that will leave readers wanting more. The novel contains underage drinking and sexual liaisons, activities that are realistic for the lifestyle of the young women portrayed.—_Shannon Seglin, Patrick Henry Library, Vienna, VA_ END </p><h3>Product Description</h3><p>Los Angeles is all about the sweet life: hot clubs, cute guys, designer . . . <em>everything</em>. Nineteen-year-old Jane Roberts can't wait to start living it up. She may be in L.A. for an internship, but Jane plans to play as hard as she works, and has enlisted her BFF Scarlett to join in the fun. </p><p>When Jane and Scarlett are approached by a producer who wants them to be on his new series, a "reality version of <em>Sex and the City</em>," they can hardly believe their luck. Their own show? Yes, please! </p><p>Soon Jane is TV's hottest star. Fame brings more than she ever imagined possible for a girl from Santa Barbara—free designer clothes, the choicest tables at the most exclusive clubs, invites to Hollywood premieres—and she's lapping up the VIP treatment with her eclectic entourage of new pals. But those same friends who are always up for a wild night are also out for a piece of Jane's spotlight. </p><p>In a city filled with people chasing after their dreams, it's not long before Jane wakes up to the reality that everyone wants something from her, and nothing is what it seems to be. </p><p><em>L.A. Candy</em> is a deliciously entertaining novel about what it's like to come of age in Hollywood while starring in a reality TV show, written by a girl who has experienced it all firsthand: Lauren Conrad. </p>


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SUMMARY:
Steve Jobs has turned his personality traits into a business philosophy. Here's how he does it. It's hard to believe that one man revolutionized computers in the 1970s and '80s (with the Apple II and the Mac), animated movies in the 1990s (with Pixar), and digital music in the 2000s (with the iPod and iTunes). No wonder some people worship him like a god. On the other hand, stories of his epic tantrums and general bad behavior are legendary. Inside Steve's Brain cuts through the cult of personality that surrounds Jobs to unearth the secrets to his unbelievable results. It reveals the real Steve Jobs-not his heart or his famous temper, but his mind. So what's really inside Steve's brain? According to Leander Kahney, who has covered Jobs since the early 1990s, it's a fascinating bundle of contradictions. Jobs is an elitist who thinks most people are bozos-but he makes gadgets so easy to use, a bozo can master them. He's a mercurial obsessive with a filthy temper-but he forges deep partnerships with creative geniuses like Steve Wozniak, Jonathan Ive, and John Lasseter. He's a Buddhist and anti-materialist-but he produces mass-market products in Asian factories, and he promotes them with absolute mastery of the crassest medium, advertising. In short, Jobs has embraced the traits that some consider flaws-narcissism, perfectionism, the desire for total control-to lead Apple and Pixar to triumph against steep odds. And in the process, he has become a self-made billionaire. In Inside Steve's Brain, Kahney distills the principles that guide Jobs as he launches killer products, attracts fanatically loyal customers, and manages some of the world's most powerful brands. The result is this unique book about Steve Jobs that is part biography and part leadership guide, and impossible to put down. It gives you a peek inside Steve's brain, and might even teach you something about how to build your own culture of innovation.


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<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p><em>Half a Life</em> finds the veteran Booker and Nobel Prize-winning author V.S. Naipaul on familiar territory, blending autobiography and fiction in an exploration of the "half lives" of individuals brought up in the English colonies and educated in metropolitan cities. </p><p>Naipaul's protagonist is Willie Somerset Chandran, named after Somerset Maugham's encounter with Willie's father in the 1930s while traveling "to get material for a novel about spirituality." Willie travels to England for his education, where he becomes "part of the special, passing bohemian-immigrant life of London of the late 1950s." Willie soon realizes that his colonial background allows him to write short stories for well-meaning white liberals, and he begins "to understand that he was free to present himself as he wished" and that he could "remake himself and his past" through his writing. The effect is suffocating rather than liberating, and he marries a vaguely sketched "girl or young woman from an African country," who has read his one published book. Willie begins another "half life" in colonial Mozambique, where he soon tires of the domestic and sexual tedium of plantation life and flees to Germany, mournfully reflecting that "I have been hiding for too long."</p><p>This is classic Naipaul, with its effortless dissection of the damaging personal consequences of post-war decolonization, but its virtue seems its primary vice, as the novel feels like a conflation of several earlier Naipaul books, including <strong> and the brilliant </strong>. Consequently, some readers may well find that <em>Half a Life</em> reads more like half a novel. <em>--Jerry Brotton, Amazon.co.uk</em></p><h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>V.S. Naipaul has often been accused of being ungenerous, especially in his scathing accounts of Third World countries. His slim new novel tacitly poses the question of the worth of generosity without clarity and purpose. Willie Chandran, the central figure here, is born in India in the 1930s, the son of a bitter mixed caste marriage between a Brahmin and a "backwards" person, or untouchable. Willie learns as a child to despise his father's ineffectuality and his mother's coarseness. His father's vague motive in marrying his mother had been to break out of the provincial mold in which he was raised and to "live out a life of sacrifice," but too late he discovered that he retained all the prejudices of his caste and despised his wife. Going to London on a scholarship, Willie mixes in immigrant and bohemian circles, and even publishes a book. Naipaul's detached rendering of Willie's travails shows what happens to a young man who pieces his life together around the great, central dread of not being taken seriously the image of his father as an "idler" is always in his mind. Willie meets Ana, a woman of mixed African descent, when she writes him a fan letter about his novel. They become lovers. Willie goes back with Ana to her large outback estate in the "half and half" world of a Portuguese colony like Mozambique, where he remains for 18 years. Naipaul's plain narrative is studded with beautifully realized scenes, such as the London party at which a newspaper editor reads his own, self-written obituary, or the night Willie goes to an African brothel with Alvaro, an estate overseer. Although this novel does not aspire to the breadth of Naipaul's earlier fiction, it reminds us that his vision is on par with Conrad's or Graham Greene's. 40,000 first printing; 5-city author tour. </p><p>Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.</p>


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<h3>Product Description</h3>
<p>Are you the innovative type, the cook who marches to a different drummer -- used to expressing your creativity instead of just following recipes? Are you interested in the science behind what happens to food while it's cooking? Do you want to learn what makes a recipe work so you can improvise and create your own unique dish?
</p>
<p>More than just a cookbook, <em>Cooking for Geeks</em> applies your curiosity to discovery, inspiration, and invention in the kitchen. Why is medium-rare steak so popular? Why do we bake some things at 350 F/175 C and others at 375 F/190 C? And how quickly does a pizza cook if we overclock an oven to 1,000 F/540 C? Author and cooking geek Jeff Potter provides the answers and offers a unique take on recipes -- from the sweet (a "mean" chocolate chip cookie) to the savory (duck confit sugo).
</p>
<p>This book is an excellent and intriguing resource for anyone who wants to experiment with cooking, even if you don't consider yourself a geek.
</p>
<ul>
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     Initialize your kitchen and calibrate your tools 
 </li>

 <li>
     Learn about the important reactions in cooking, such as protein denaturation, Maillard reactions, and caramelization, and how they impact the foods we cook 
 </li>

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     Play with your food using hydrocolloids and sous vide cooking 
 </li>

 <li>
     Gain firsthand insights from interviews with researchers, food scientists, knife experts, chefs, writers, and more, including author Harold McGee, TV personality Adam Savage, chemist Hervé This, and xkcd 
 </li>
</ul>
<p><strong>From <em>Cooking for Geeks</em>: Butternut Squash Soup</strong>
</p>
<p>Purée in a food processor or with an immersion blender:<br />
2 cups (660g) butternut squash, peeled, cubed, and roasted (about 1 medium squash)<br />
2 cups (470g) chicken, turkey, or vegetable stock<br />
1 small (130g) yellow onion, diced and sautéed<br />
1/2 teaspoon (1g) salt (adjust to taste)
</p>
<p>Notes
</p>
<ul>
 <li>
     The weights are for the prepared ingredients and only rough suggestions. So, prepare each item individually. For example, for the squash, peel it, then coat it with olive oil, sprinkle it with salt, and roast it in the oven at a temperature around 400–425 F / 200–220 C until it begins to brown. When you go to purée the ingredients, hold back some of the squash and some of the stock, taste the purée, and see which you think it needs. Want it thicker? Add more squash. Thinner? Add more stock.
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     This soup by itself is very basic. Garnish with whatever else you have on hand that you think might go well, such as garlic croutons and bacon. Or top with a small dab of cream, some toasted walnuts, and dried cranberries to give it a feeling of Thanksgiving. How about a teaspoon of maple syrup, a few thin slices of beef, and some fresh oregano? Chives, sour cream, and cheddar cheese? Why not! Instead of purchasing items to follow a recipe exactly, try using leftover ingredients from other meals to complement the squash soup.
 </li>

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     If you’re in a rush, you can “jump-start” the squash by microwaving it first. Peel and quarter the squash, using a spoon to scoop out the seeds. Then, cube it into 1–2” / 3–5 cm pieces, drop it into a glass baking pan that’s both oven and microwave safe, and nuke it for four to five minutes to partially heat the mass. Remove from microwave, coat the squash with olive oil and a light sprinkling of salt, and roast it in a preheated oven until done, about 20 to 30 minutes. If you’re not in a rush, you can skip the peeling step entirely: cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds, add oil and salt, roast it for about an hour (until the flesh is soft), and use a spoon to scoop it out.
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</ul>
<p><strong>Pumpkin Cake</strong>
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<p>There are two broad types of cake batters: high- ratio cakes--those that have more sugar and water than flour (or by some definitions, just a lot of sugar)--and low-ratio cakes—which tend to have coarser crumbs. For high-ratio cakes, there should be more sugar than flour (by weight) and more eggs than fats (again, by weight), and the liquid mass (eggs, milk, water) should be heavier than the sugar.
</p>
<p>Consider this pumpkin cake, which is a high-ratio cake (245g of pumpkin contains 220g of water--you can look these sorts of things up in the USDA National Nutrient Database, available online at http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/).
</p>
<p>In a mixing bowl, measure out and then mix with an electric mixer to thoroughly combine:<br />
1 cup (245g) pumpkin (canned, or roast and puree your own)<br />
1 cup (200g) sugar<br />
3/4 cup (160g) canola oil<br />
2 large (120g) eggs<br />
1 1/2 cups (180g) flour<br />
1/4 cup (40g) raisins <br />
2 teaspoons (5g) cinnamon <br />
1 teaspoon (5g) baking powder<br />
1/2 teaspoon (5g) baking soda<br />
1/2 teaspoon (3g) salt<br />
1/2 teaspoon (2g) vanilla extract
</p>
<p>Transfer to a greased cake pan or spring form and bake in an oven preheated to 350 F / 175 C until a toothpick comes out dry, about 20 minutes.
</p>
<p>Notes
</p>
<ul>
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     Try adding dried pears soaked in brandy. You can also hold back some of the raisins and sprinkle them on top.
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 <li>
     One nice thing about high-ratio cakes is that they don’t have much gluten, so they won’t turn out like bread, even with excessive beating. With a total weight of 920 grams, of which only roughly 20 grams is gluten, there just isn’t enough gluten present in this cake to give it a bread-like texture. There’s also a fair amount of both sugar and fats to interfere with gluten development.
 </li>
</ul>

<h3>About the Author</h3>
<p>Jeff Potter has done the cubicle thing, the startup thing, and the entrepreneur thing, and through it all maintained his sanity by cooking for friends. He studied computer science and visual art at Brown University.
</p>


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<h3>Review</h3>
<p>?No one has ever excelled Tolstoy in expressing that specific flavor, the exact quality of a feeling.? ?Isaiah Berlin -- <em>Review</em>
</p>

<h3>Product Description</h3>
<p>This new edition combines Tolstoy’s most famous short tale, <em>The Death of Ivan Ilyich</em>, with a less well known but equally brilliant gem, <em>Master and Man</em>, both newly translated by Ann Pasternak Slater. Both stories confront death and the process of dying: In <em>Ivan Ilyich</em>, a bureaucrat looks back over his life, which suddenly seems meaningless and wasteful, while in Master and Man, a landowner and servant must each confront the value of the other as they brave a devastating snowstorm. The quintessential Tolstoyan themes of mortality, spiritual redemption, and life’s meaning are nowhere more movingly and deftly explored than in these two tales.   
</p>
<p>This unique edition also includes a critical Introduction and extensive notes by Ann Pasternak Slater, a Fellow at St. Anne’s College, Oxford. 
</p>


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Melissa’s most recent troubles stem from a secret: her 28-year-old boyfriend, Michael, has just broken up with her. Melissa clings to the memories, riding a relentless wave of hope and disappointment. Meaningless sexual escapades, drunken nights, and drug-induced blackouts help her cope with heartbreak, but her pain goes much deeper than unrequited teenage love. Her insight, sense of humour, optimism, and sheer determination prove to be saving graces, as is her ability to find solace in the Greek myths she’s learned about in grade ten English class. And in the end, it is Melissa’s mother who proves to be the real victim, and Melissa who must save her.


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<h3>Review</h3><p>?One of the few contemporary writers of whom we can speak in terms of greatness.? ?Mel Gussow, <em>Newsday</em>  </p><p>?Miguel Street is the Bowery, the Tenderloin, and the Catfish Row of Trinidad?s Port of Spain?its citizens a loony multitude whose knavery often rises from real kinship with pathos and tragedy. . . . Naipaul is at his best in these swift caricatures of human depravity.? ?_San Francisco Chronicle_  </p><p>?Amusing and poignant. . . . Excellent reading.? ?_Chicago Tribune_  </p><p>?Naipaul does not tell stories. By some miraculous sleight-of-hand he takes you to Port of Spain and shows you the rich, bawdy, consequential lives of the Trinidadians, as though there were no intervening veil of words. . . . I rather suspect the mantle of Chekhov has fallen on Mr. Naipaul?s shoulders.? ?Robert Payne, <em>Saturday Review</em> -- <em>Review</em></p><h3>Product Description</h3><p>“A stranger could drive through Miguel Street and just say ‘Slum!’ because he could see no more.” But to its residents this derelict corner of Trinidad’s capital is a complete world, where everybody is quite different from everybody else. There’s Popo the carpenter, who neglects his livelihood to build “the thing without a name.” There’s Man-man, who goes from running for public office to staging his own crucifixion, and the dreaded Big Foot, the bully with glass tear ducts. There’s the lovely Mrs. Hereira, in thrall to her monstrous husband. In this tender, funny early novel, V. S. Naipaul renders their lives (and the legends their neighbors construct around them) with Dickensian verve and Chekhovian compassion.<br />Set during World War II and narrated by an unnamed–but precociously observant–neighborhood boy,<strong> Miguel Street</strong> is a work of mercurial mood shifts, by turns sweetly melancholy and anarchically funny. It overflows with life on every page. </p>


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>At the start of the entertaining second Body Farm novel from the pseudonymous Bass (the writing team of forensic anthropologist Dr. Bill Bass and journalist Jon Jefferson), Dr. Bill Brockton ties a dead man dressed in drag to a tree at the Body Farm (a facility he heads outside Knoxville, Tenn., devoted to researching postmortem decay), in an effort to replicate a recent murder. Dr. Bill's just beginning a romantic relationship with another participant in this experiment, Chattanooga medical examiner Dr. Jess Carter. The story veers wildly from fascinating forensics with a high yuck factor to sophomoric and corny romantic byplay, often in the same scene. Fans of the bestselling first book in the series, <em>Carved in Bone</em>, and readers with a penchant for the gross and grisly will take to Dr. Bill, a hero with a big heart who isn't afraid to tackle complicated issues while solving mildly engrossing mysteries. Dr. Bass and Jefferson are the coauthors of <em>Death's Acre</em>, about the actual Body Farm. <em>7-city author tour. (Feb.)</em> <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>From</h3><p>Forensic anthropologist Bill Brockton, who made his debut in <em>Carved in Bone</em> (2005), returns to defend himself against a charge of murder. The mummified body of a woman is found in a cave in Tennessee. Brockton, who works at the University of Tennessee's Body Farm (founded in real life by Bill Bass, one-half of "Jefferson Bass"), has seen his share of gruesome sights, but this one has him stymied. And when a second body turns up, Brockton finds himself square in the spotlight. The second Body Farm mystery is as smoothly written as the first (Bass' coauthor, Jon Jefferson, is an accomplished journalist), but it goes a lot farther in exploring its protagonist, a man who spends his life looking at death. The story is razor sharp, too, with a nice mixture of mystery and horror. Fans of forensic fiction will want to add this author to their list of favorites. <em>David Pitt</em><br /><em>Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved</em></p>


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<h3>From School Library Journal</h3>
<p>Grade 8 Up—Beatrice Shakespeare Smith, Mistress of Revels, takes her show on the road in this rousing sequel to <em>Eyes Like Stars</em> (Feiwel &amp; Friends, 2009). Abandoning the enchanted Théâtre Illuminata to rescue her beloved pirate Nate from watery doom in the lair of Sedna the Sea Goddess, the 17-year-old embarks on the journey accompanied by four feisty fairies and seductive Ariel, air spirit from <em>The Tempest</em> and Nate's rival for Bertie's heart. By turns perilous and comedic, the tale rolls along at breakneck speed as the troupe encounters danger and delight, negotiating predicaments with magic and wit. The fairies' constant clamor for pie adds hilarity as Bertie explores the extent of her magical powers, untangles her origins, and meets her father, the brooding bird-man Scrimshander. Mantchev's highly imaginative prose bursts with lush imagery and literary riffs, and the party's encounter with the Innamorati, a traveling circus inspired by Cirque du Soleil, enhances the book's surrealism. Although the lack of backstory may leave readers new to Bertie in the dust of confusion, fans of the first book will cry "Encore!" as the ending sets up the third in the series.—_Joyce Adams Burner, National Archives at Kansas City, MO_ <br />
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 
</p>

<h3>From</h3>
<p>This sequel to Eyes like Stars (2009) returns to the fantastical Théâtre Illuminata, where 17-year-old Bertie Shakespeare Smith continues her wild, swashbuckling, genre-twisting adventures through magical, theatrical worlds. As in the previous volume, romance (more steamy suggestion than actual bodice-ripping) drives the girl-power plot, but the humorous allusions to famous literature, the breakneck banter among the magical cast, and, most of all, Bertie's astonishing ability to influence the course of actions with her written words will captivate readers. Fans of the first title will be equally enchanted and will hope for a third act from Bertie. Grades 9-12. --Gillian Engberg 
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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Discursive and ruminative, more like an extended essay than a novel, the intricately structured chapters in this highly autobiographical book reveal "the writer defined by his . . . ways of seeing." Naipaul, in his own person, narrates a series of events, beginning during a period of soul-healing in Wiltshire, circling back to the day of his departure from Trinidad in 1950 when he was 18, describing his time in London before he went up to Oxford, moving back to Trinidad after his sister's death: these journeys are a metaphor for his life. With beautiful use of detail recaptured from an extraordinary memory, with exquisitely nuanced observations of the natural world and his own interior landscape, he shows how experience is transmogrified after much incertitude and paininto literature. This is a melancholy book, the testament of a man who has stoically willed himself to endure disappointment, alienation, change and grief. Naipaul lays bare the loneliness, vulnerability and anxieties of his life, the sensibility that is both an asset for the writer and a burden for the man. He demonstrates this brilliantly by describing other peoplemainly his neighbors in a village near Stonehenge. Using these characters as catalysts, Naipaul peels back protective layers of memory, sparing himself nothing, revealing the mistakes and inadequacies of his life. The drama resides in small incidents: the death of a cottager, the firing of an estate's gardener; with each account, the narrative is spun more tightly into a seamless tapestry, a powerful document by a master of his craft. Readers Subscription Book Club main selection. <br />Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p><h3>Review</h3><p>"An elegant memoir, a subtly incisive self-reckoning." ?_Washington Post Book World_  </p><p>"Far and away the most curious novel I've read in a long time, and maybe the most hypnotic book I've ever read." ?_St. Petersburg Times_  </p><p>"The conclusion is both heart-breaking and bracing: the only antidote to destruction ? of dreams, of reality ? is remembering. As eloquently as anyone now writing, Naipaul remembers." ?_Time_  </p><p>"V.S. Naipaul is a man who can inspire readers to follow him through the Slough of Despond and beyond? Like a computer game [this book] leads the reader on by a series of clues, nearer and nearer to an understanding of the man and the writer. Few memoirs can claim as much." ?_Newsday_ -- <em>Review</em></p>


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<h3>From</h3><p>Comedienne McCarthy, who has written more serious books on raising a child with autism in recent years, returns to lighter fare in this fun and funny guide to dating and relationships. McCarthy tackles everything from first loves to STDs, boob jobs to bootie calls, masturbation to abusive relationships. Some chapters are just for laughs, like when McCarthy recounts suiting up in a trash bag to help a roommate confirm she has come down with crabs, while others are more serious in tone, such as when McCarthy interviews author Byron Katie about living a fulfilling life or details the warning signs of an abusive relationship. She shares some personal anecdotes as well, from her experience the first time she posed for Playboy to dating a man who reminded her of a Teletubby because she thought he’d treat her well. Even those who wouldn’t usually pick up a relationship-advice book will find plenty to enjoy in this laugh-out-loud guide to the pitfalls of modern dating. --Kristine Huntley </p><h3>Product Description</h3><blockquote><p><em>New York Times</em> bestselling author Jenny McCarthy returns to her comic roots in this candid, wise, and witty look at women, men, sex, romance, heartbreak, love, and how (not) to fake it. </p></blockquote><p>In <em>Belly Laughs</em>, Jenny McCarthy told you what you could really expect when you're expecting. In <em>Baby Laughs</em> and <em>Life Laughs</em>, she gave you the unfiltered ups and downs of motherhood and marriage. Now, in Love, <em>Lust &amp; Faking It</em>, the inveterate truth teller turns the lights on for a funny, often poignant, and no-holds-barred look at the essence of relationships: love and sex. </p><p>Jenny explores the intensity of first love, introducing us to Tony, the boy of her teenage dreams, and Tubby, her dirty, sexy stuffed teddy bear. She takes us on a whirlwind tour of the world of aphrodisiacs and fetishes, explains the importance of playing doctor and other nice and naughty fantasies, and gives thanks for the pleasures of chocolate. And she sets the story straight on STDs, man junk and lady bits, why we <em>really</em> cheat, why women are master manipulators, the virtues of sex with the lights off, the power of a "loving no," the satisfaction of the perfect booty call, and so much more. </p><p>Filled with humorous stories about her own out-rageous exploits—from becoming a <em>Playboy</em> Miss October to the pain of getting a discount boob job to meeting Brad Pitt—as well as the lessons she's learned from family, friends, and fans, <em>Love, Lust &amp; Faking It</em> takes on a subject the sex symbol, mother, television star, comedian, and divorcÉe can be trusted to examine with nothing but unvarnished honesty and earthy humor. Throughout, Jenny reminds us to aim higher, believe in true love, and, most of all, be kind to ourselves. And to have lots of fun and sex—without faking it. </p>


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SUMMARY:
Like all of V. S. Naipaul’s “travel” books, The Masque of Africa encompasses a much larger narrative and purpose: to judge the effects of belief (in indigenous animisms, the foreign religions of Christianity and Islam, the cults of leaders and mythical history) upon the progress of civilization.From V. S. Naipaul:For my travel books I travel on a theme. And the theme of The Masque of Africa is African belief. I begin in Uganda, at the center of the continent, do Ghana and Nigeria, the Ivory Coast and Gabon, and end at the bottom of the continent, in South Africa. My theme is belief, not political or economical life; and yet at the bottom of the continent the political realities are so overwhelming that they have to be taken into account.Perhaps an unspoken aspect of my inquiry was the possibility of the subversion of old Africa by the ways of the outside world. The theme held until I got to the South, when the clash of the two ways of thinking and believing became far too one-sided. The skyscrapers of Johannesburg didn’t rest on sand. The older world of magic felt fragile, but at the same time had an enduring quality. You felt that they would survive any calamity.I had expected that over the great size of Africa the practices of magic would significantly vary. But they didn’t. The diviners everywhere wanted to “throw the bones,” to read the future and the idea of “energy” remained a constant, to be tapped into by the ritual sacrifice of body parts. In South Africa body parts, mainly of animals, but also of men and women, made a mixture of “battle medicine.” To witness this, to be given some idea of its power, was to be taken far back to the beginning of things.To reach that beginning was the purpose of my book.


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SUMMARY:
As a freelance writer, Jack Naile was used to getting an occasional letter from one of his readers, but when one of those readers sent him a clipping from a magazine, it would not only change his life, but could alter the course of history as well. The clipping had a photo, taken in Nevada in 1903, of a street scene, including a story with a sign, "Jack Naile--General Merchandise."Intrigued, Jack phoned the Nevada town's historian and asked for more information. When the historian sent him a photo of the 19th century Jack Naile, what had seemed like an interesting coincidence immediately became much more bizarre. The four people in the photo, dressed in the style of the time, were unmistakably Jack, his wife, their grown son and teenage daughter. Jack decided he would have to take a trip to that town to investigate further. And if he and his family were somehow going to travel back in time, he was going to be prepared--and be well-armed.


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<h3>Review</h3><p>?A Tolstoyan spirit.... The so-called Third World has produced no more brilliant literary artist.??John Updike, _The New Yorker  </p><p><em>?Ambitious and successful.??</em>The Times _(London) -- <em>Review</em></p><h3>Product Description</h3><p>A profound novel of cultural displacement, <strong>The Mimic Men</strong> masterfully evokes a colonial man’s experience in a postcolonial world.  </p><p>Born of Indian heritage and raised on a British-dependent Caribbean island, Ralph Singh has retired to suburban London, writing his memoirs as a means to impose order on a chaotic existence. His memories lead him to recognize the paradox of his childhood during which he secretly fantasized about a heroic India, yet changed his name from Ranjit Kripalsingh. As he assesses his short-lived marriage to an ostentatious white woman, Singh realizes what has kept him from becoming a proper Englishman. But it is the return home and his subsequent immersion in the roiling political atmosphere of a newly self-governed nation that ultimately provide Singh with the necessary insight to discover the crux of his disillusionment.   </p>


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<div>
 
 <h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3>
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 Mapson's (Hank &amp; Chloe) latest is an emotionally genuine if predictable story of three lonely, damaged people who find solace in one another. A year after the untimely death of her husband, Dan, Glory Solomon is adrift, in financial trouble, and unable to find much meaning in a world without her mate. But when she opens a wedding chapel on her historic California ranch (known for its ancient oak tree), she attracts a variety of couples in search of unconventional nuptials--and two lost souls. Juniper McGuire, an angry teenage girl, is still reeling from the tragedy that put her into the foster care system. And a former crime scene photographer, Joseph Vigil, suffers chronic pain from an on-the-job accident. Together, the three grievers form a tentative support system that could--if they'll let it--be called love. As in her previous novels, Mapson seems most at ease describing the relationship between human and animal--especially dogs and horses--and in rendering the Western landscape. Her facility with dialogue, however, is less impressive, but most readers will be too involved in the sweep of loss and recovery to stumble for long over awkward talk. <br>Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
 
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 Newly widowed, Glory Solomon is barely holding on to her feelings or her finances when she begins hosting destination weddings in the rustic chapel her late husband built in the shade of their towering, historic white oak. On the day a pirate-themed ceremony takes place, however, Glory embarks on a bigger adventure than any saucy bride or her swashbuckling groom could imagine. Having raised foster sons in the past when Dan was alive, Glory finds herself totally unprepared for the tattooed, pierced, and ill-tempered 14-year-old girl who is put in her care. Juniper’s family fell apart when her older sister disappeared, and her raw emotions at being abandoned by her loved ones prove to be more than fragile Glory can handle. Fortunately, help arrives in the form of Joseph Virgil, a wounded ex-cop with significant emotional baggage of his own. With abundant compassion and soothing humor, three damaged souls are rescued in Mapson’s delicate tale of renewal and healing. --Carol Haggas
 
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<h3>From School Library Journal</h3><p>Grade 8 Up—Alton Richards is resigned to spending a slow summer on his own after his girlfriend leaves him for his best friend and he finds himself with no money and no job. Unfortunately, his mother insists that he become his blind great-uncle's chauffeur and cardturner at local bridge tournaments. Though the 17-year-old has only met Lester Trapp on a few occasions, his mother hopes that this connection will inspire the wealthy old man to write the family into his will. Alton reluctantly agrees, even though he knows nothing about bridge and has no interest in learning the game. He meets Toni Castaneda at the tournaments and soon discovers that he's not the only long-lost relative intent on winning over Trapp and his inheritance. What transpires is an intriguing glimpse into a crazy family full of secrets and unusual quirks. The characters are well limned, and the narrative is laced with Sachar's trademark wry humor. Most teens have very little knowledge about bridge, a fact that Alton acknowledges several times throughout the novel. At times, the story line becomes thick with technical game descriptions, though he does offer an option to skip these sections by providing a symbol to indicate more in-depth card instructions. This well-written novel contains a rewarding intergenerational friendship and a sweetly appealing romance in the making. Nonetheless it may require an additional nudge to hook readers. It's a nudge worth giving for motivated teens and those who enjoy Sachar's novels.—_Stephanie Malosh, Donoghue Elementary School, Chicago, IL_ <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>From</h3><p><em>Starred Review</em> With his latest novel, the Newbery-winning author of Holes (1998) fulfills a need the world probably didn't even know it had: the great teen bridge novel. Alton Richard's great-uncle Lester Trapp is rich and ailing, a combo that leads Alton's parents to hatch a plan for the teen to cozy up to the old man and carve out a chunk of inheritance. Though blind, Trapp is a brilliant, world-class bridge player and needs someone to read him his cards and make his plays. Enter Alton, who wouldn't begin to know how to decipher questions like “One banana, pass, pass, two no-trump. Is that unusual?” But he withstands the constant barbs from his irascible uncle and grows more intrigued by the game (in no small part due to the cute, kind-of-crazy girl who also plays). Sachar liberally doles out detailed commentary on the basics and then nuances of the game, and in a nod to the famously dull Moby-Dick chapter on the minutiae of whaling, a little whale image appears when the bridge talk is about to get deep so readers can skip right ahead to a pithy wrap-up. But don't be fooled: it is astonishing how Sachar can make blow-by-blow accounts of bridge not only interesting but exciting, treating each play like a clue to unravel the riddle of each hand. An obvious windfall for smart and puzzle-minded teens, this is a great story to boot, with genuine characters (save the scheming parents) and real relationships, balanced by casual, confident storytelling. Grades 9-12. --Ian Chipman </p>


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<h3>Review</h3><p>?V. S. Naipaul is the world?s writer, a master of language and perception.? ?_The New York Times Book Review_  </p><p>?As delightful as anything Naipaul has written.? ?_The New York Review of Books_  </p><p>?V. S. Naipaul has a substantial claim as a comic writer. . . . This humor, conducted throughout with the utmost stylistic quietude, is completely original.? ?Kingsley Amis, <em>The Spectator</em> -- <em>Review</em></p><h3>Product Description</h3><p>V. S. Naipaul’s legendary command of broad comedy and acute social observation is on abundant display in these classic works of fiction–two novels and a collection of stories–that capture the rhythms of life in the Caribbean and England with impressive subtlety and humor.<br /><em>The Suffrage of Elvira </em>is Naipaul’s hilarious take on an electoral campaign in the back country of Trinidad, where the candidates’ tactics include blatant vote-buying and supernatural sabotage. The eponymous protagonist of <em>Mr. Stone and the Knights Companion</em> is an aging Englishman of ponderously regular habits whose life is thrown into upheaval by a sudden marriage and unanticipated professional advancement. And the stories in <em>A Flag on the Island</em> take us from a Chinese bakery in Trinidad–whose black proprietor faces bankruptcy until he takes a Chinese name–to a rooming house in London–where the genteel landlady plays a nasty Darwinian game with her budgerigars. Unfailingly stylish, filled with intelligence and feeling, here is the work of a writer who can do just about anything that can be done with language.<br />_<br />_</p>


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SUMMARY:
When a plot of land is being developed in Vermont against the will of a local Native American tribe, strange things begin to happen - and Ross Wakeman, a paranormal investigator, is asked to get involved. He's a desperate drifter who's taken up ghost hunting in an effort to cross paths again with his fiancee, who died in a car crash eight years ago, but he has yet to experience anything even remotely paranormal. Then Ross meets Lia . . . As a seventy-year-old murder case is reopened, a shocking secret about a crime of passion long past is revealed.Jodi Picoult's eeriest and most engrossing work yet, this is a story about the things that come back to haunt us - literally and metaphorically. Science is pitted against the supernatural, and Picoult examines why we tend to think of science as objective, when it is always at the mercy of those who interpret it. Is fate any more reliable than coincidence? And is love any less real just because it has no scale of measurement?


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3>
<p>A collaborator with legendary primatologist Jane Goodall and the 2000 winner of the Exemplar Award from the Animal Behavior Society, author and Colorado University professor Bekoff (The Emotional Lives of Animals) lays out the "unique responsibilities" of human beings, as "moral agents," to overcome speciesism and recognize animals "as fellow sentient, emotional beings," with all the attendant rights that implies. Taking examples from everyday life-from rodeos and circuses to word-processors that replace "who" with "that" when referring to animals-Bekoff illustrates the lengths to which humans go to convince themselves animals don't think, feel, and suffer like we do. Concerning a topic of growing popularity, Bekoff's arguments can be less than rigorous; an "unwavering optimist and dreamer," he focuses more on anecdotes and emotions ("alienation from nature... kills our hearts") than practicalities or a concrete agenda. Instead, Bekoff encourages readers to start simply, by being "mindful" in their interactions with animals. Addressing a weighty issue with gentle but insistent charm, Bekoff's manifesto will nudge skeptics in the direction of enlightenment (assuming anyone but the choir is buying copies). <br />
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 
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<h3>From</h3>
<p>Following the premises that animals both feel and convey emotion, are capable of actions that are motivated by compassion, and exhibit attitudes of kindness and empathy, preeminent ethologist and prolific author Bekoff comprehensively posits that the time has come for humans to return the favor. Just as environmental activists advocate reducing one’s carbon footprint in order to live more responsibly, Bekoff argues that expanding one’s compassion footprint, that is, treating animals more humanely, can have equally beneficial consequences. Supporting current scientific research with a wide range of anecdotal evidence, Bekoff outlines six guiding principles designed to increase awareness of the deplorable conditions animals experience across a broad spectrum of activities. From food production to circus acts, drug testing to wildlife encroachment, animals have long been considered objects to be manipulated for the express pleasure and benefit of humans. Unabashedly speaking on their behalf, Bekoff presents impassioned reasons why, and explicit ways in which, such destructive behaviors should stop. --Carol Haggas 
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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3>
<p>Buntin, a crime writer for Governing magazine, chronicles the complex, interlocking lives of brutal gangster Mickey Cohen and durable police chief William Parker, telling their stories against the backdrop of Tinseltown from the 1930s to the '60s. The author adds to the mix the colorful cultural and political saga of the star-struck metropolis, a city ripe for a bitter power play between the crooks and cops, rampant with drug dens, pleasure palaces, illegal gambling and other assorted vices. The ruthlessness of Cohen, an heir to "Bugsy" Siegel, and the deadpan determination of Parker are placed in proper context with the seminal events of Prohibition, the Red scare, the federal crackdown on mobsters, and the Watts riots. Packed with Hollywood personalities, Beltway types and felons, Buntin's riveting tale of two ambitious souls hell-bent on opposing missions in the land of sun and make-believe is an entertaining and surprising diversion-as well as a sobering look at the role of the LAPD in fomenting racial tensions in L.A. 16 pages of b&amp;w photos. <br />
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 
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<h3>Review</h3>
<p><strong>Named One of Daily Beast's "Favorite Books of 2009"</strong>  
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<p>"Important and wonderfully enjoyable….A highly original and altogether splendid history that can be read for sheer pleasure and belongs on the shelf of indispensable books about America's most debated and least understood cities…..Utterly compelling reading."<br />
–_Los Angeles Times<br />
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"Completely entertaining….a colorful and entirely different take on the vices of Tinseltown."<br />
–Daily Beast  
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<p>"Echoes crime stylists Raymond Chandler and James Ellroy."<br />
–_American History_   
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<p>"_L.A. NOIR _is a fascinating look at the likes of Mickey Cohen and Bill Parker, the two kingpins of Los Angeles crime and police lore. John Buntin's work here is detailed and intuitive. Most of all, it's flat out entertaining."<br />
–Michael Connelly  
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<p>"A roller coaster ride....Gripping social history and a feast for aficionados of cops-and-robbers stories, both real and imagined."<br />
–_Kirkus Reviews_  
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<p>"Packed with Hollywood personalities, Beltway types and felons, Buntin's riveting tale of two ambitious souls on hell-bent opposing missions in the land of sun and make-believe is an entertaining and surprising diversion."<br />
–_Publishers Weekly_  
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<p>"Reads like a novel....almost impossible to put down. Buntin has written an important and entertaining book about one of America's greatest cities in the 20th century that echoes down to the world we live in today." <br />
–_Bookreporter.com<br />
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<p>"In this breathtaking<strong> </strong>dual biography of mobster Mickey Cohen and police chief William Parker, John Buntin confronts America's most enigmatic city.  For a half century and more, the chiaroscuro of Los Angeles, its interplay of sunshine and shadow, has inspired novelists and filmmakers alike to explore what Buntin has now explored in a tour de force of non-fiction narrative."<br />
–Kevin Starr, University Professor and Professor of History, USC  
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<p>"John Buntin's nonfiction cops and robbers narrative about mid-20th century Los Angeles is not only compelling reading, but a heretofore unexplored look into the LAPD and the city it tried "To Protect and Serve" during one of the most colorful and tumultuous eras in the always provocative history of the City of Angels (and badmen). <em>Dragnet</em>, <em>One Adam Twelve</em>, <em>Police Story</em>, <em>LA Confidential</em> all rolled into one captivating book. Buntin nails it in this great read.'"<br />
–William Bratton, Chief of Police, LAPD 
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<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p>In this Hugo-winning 1991 SF novel, Vernor Vinge gives us a wild new cosmology, a galaxy-spanning "Net of a Million Lies," some finely imagined aliens, and much nail-biting suspense. </p><p>Faster-than-light travel remains impossible near Earth, deep in the galaxy's Slow Zone--but physical laws relax in the surrounding Beyond. Outside that again is the Transcend, full of unguessable, godlike "Powers." When human meddling wakes an old Power, the Blight, this spreads like a wildfire mind virus that turns whole civilizations into its unthinking tools. And the half-mythical Countermeasure, if it exists, is lost with two human children on primitive Tines World. </p><p>Serious complications follow. One paranoid alien alliance blames humanity for the Blight and launches a genocidal strike. Pham Nuwen, the man who knows about Countermeasure, escapes this ruin in the spacecraft <em>Out of Band</em>--heading for more violence and treachery, with 500 warships soon in hot pursuit. On his destination world, the fascinating Tines are intelligent only in combination: named "individuals" are small packs of the doglike aliens. Primitive doesn't mean stupid, and opposed Tine leaders wheedle the young castaways for information about guns and radios. Low-tech war looms, with elaborately nested betrayals and schemes to seize <em>Out of Band</em> if it ever arrives. The tension becomes extreme... while half the Beyond debates the issues on galactic Usenet. </p><p>Vinge's climax is suitably mindboggling. This epic combines the flash and dazzle of old-style space opera with modern, polished thoughtfulness. Pham Nuwen also appears in the nifty prequel set 30,000 years earlier, __. Both recommended. <em>--David Langford, Amazon.co.uk</em></p><h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>It has been six years since Vinge's last book ( Marooned in Realtime ), but the wait proves worthwhile in this stimulating tale filled with ideas, action and likable, believable characters, both alien and human. Vinge presents a galaxy divided into Zones--regions where different physical constraints allow very different technological and mental possibilities. Earth remains in the "Slowness" zone, where nothing can travel faster than light and minds are fairly limited. The action of the book is in the "Beyond," where translight travel and other marvels exist, and humans are one of many intelligent species. One human colony has been experimenting with ancient technology in order to find a path to the "Transcend," where intelligence and power are so great as to seem godlike. Instead they release the Blight, an evil power, from a billion-year captivity. As the Blight begins to spread, a few humans flee with a secret that might destroy it, but they are stranded in a primitive low-tech world barely in the Beyond. While the Blight destroys whole races and star systems, a team of two humans and two aliens races to rescue the others, pursued by the Blight's agents and other enemies. With uninterrupted pacing, suspense without contrivance, and deftly drawn aliens who can be pleasantly comical without becoming cute, Vinge offers heart-pounding, mind-expanding science fiction at its best. <br />Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p>


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<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p>When Mother Nature rages, the physical results are never subtle. Because we cannot contain the weather, we can only react by tabulating the damage in dollar amounts, estimating the number of people left homeless, and laying the plans for rebuilding. But as John M. Barry expertly details in <em>Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America,</em> some calamities transform much more than the landscape. </p><p>While tracing the history of the nation's most destructive natural disaster, Barry explains how ineptitude and greed helped cause the flood, and how the policies created to deal with the disaster changed the culture of the Mississippi Delta. Existing racial rifts expanded, helping to launch Herbert Hoover into the White House and shifting the political alliances of many blacks in the process. An absorbing account of a little-known, yet monumental event in American history, <em>Rising Tide</em> reveals how human behavior proved more destructive than the swollen river itself. </p><h3>From Library Journal</h3><p>In the spring of 1927, America witnessed perhaps its greatest natural disaster: a flood that profoundly changed race relations, government, and society in the Mississippi River valley region. Barry (The Transformed Cell, LJ 9/1/92) presents here a fascinating social history of the effects of the massive flood. More than 30 feet of water stood over land inhabited by nearly one million people. Almost 300,000 African Americans were forced to live in refugee camps for months. Many people, both black and white, left the land and never returned. Using an impressive array of primary and secondary sources, Barry clearly traces and analyzes how the changes produced by the flood in the lower South came into conflict and ultimately destroyed the old planter aristocracy, accelerated black migration to the North, and foreshadowed federal government intervention in the region's social and economic life during the New Deal. His well-written work supplants Pete Daniel's Deep'n as It Come: The 1927 Mississippi Flood (1977) as the standard work on the subject. Recommended for public and academic libraries.<br /><em>-?Charles C. Hay III, Eastern Kentucky Univ. Libs., Richmond</em><br />Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p>


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 <h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3>
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 <i>Starred Review.</i> George (<i>Mary, Called Magdalene</i>) depicts with bravado, grace and eloquence the grand spectacle surrounding Helen of Troy. The author's research into Mycenaean culture, coupled with Trojan War mythology's larger-than-life heroes, enliven a bold story pulsing with romance and sacrifice, omens and battles. Helen's noble Spartan parents try to defy the fates when a seer foretells the tragedy Helen and her legendary beauty will cause, but, as the myth of Helen demonstrates, destiny cannot be altered. Helen's years of seclusion in Sparta lead to a frigid marriage to Menelaus before she connects with Paris, the Trojan prince with whom she forges an inextricable bond. Barely into her 20s, Helen escapes with Paris to Troy, but finds the Trojan royals welcome her with less than open arms. The mythic war, which, in less capable hands, might be over-romanticized, is portrayed with an enthusiasm that rings true to the period without verging on stagy—no small feat when dealing with such a sweeping conflict. George's extraordinary storytelling abilities shine in her portrayal of Helen as both a conflicted woman who abandoned her homeland and child for true love, and as a legendary figure whose beauty and personal choices had epic consequences. <i>(On sale Aug. 7)</i> <br>Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
 
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 <h3>From </h3>
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 When Helen of Sparta is seven years old, the sibyl at Delphi prophesies she will start a war in which many Greeks will die. King Tyndareus and Queen Leda, stricken with panic, keep their younger daughter in seclusion, discouraging rumors that Zeus is her real father. To marry her off quickly, they spread word that Helen is the most beautiful woman in the world. But because Helen fails to invoke Aphrodite when choosing a husband, her marriage to Menelaus of Mycenae is passionless. The fickle goddess finally hears Helen's pleas, yet Aphrodite's powers affect only Paris, a visiting Trojan prince, with whom Helen immediately falls in love. When the pair elopes one night to Paris' affluent homeland, it precipitates a war destined to last 20 years, one that Menelaus' restless and greedy brother, Agamemnon, has been itching to fight. Only George, reigning queen of the epic fictional biography, could render Helen's story with all the emotion, grandeur, and tragedy it deserves. Her characters are precisely crafted, and the lovely Helen, clear-eyed and intelligent, is a sympathetic narrator. Despite the novel's length, the pages practically turn themselves. An absorbing retelling of the classic Trojan War myth, and a sobering look at the utter futility of trying to change one's fate. <i>Sarah Johnson</i><br><i>Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved</i>
 
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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3>
<p>Cookbook author Bittman (_How to Cook Everything_) offers this no-nonsense volume loaded with compelling information about how the food we eat is doing damage to the environment, what changes to make and why. Authors have covered this topic before (Michael Pollan, for example, in <em>The Omnivores Dilemma</em> and <em>In Defense of Food</em>), but Bittman takes a practical turn by concluding with 77 recipes that make earth-friendly eating doable and appealing. His collection of reliable recipes even includes such meat dishes as Thai beef salad, which isnt meat-heavy, but rather has just the right balance of meat to greens. There are also such staples as super-simple mixed rice; chicken not pie; and modern bouillabaisse. Bittman decries consumption of over-refined carbohydrates, but doesnt leave off without some sweets, including chocolate semolina pudding and nutty oatmeal cookies—suggesting, as the whole book does, that a diet in synch with the needs of the earth doesnt result in a sense of utter deprivation. <em>(Jan.)</em> <br />
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 
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<h3>From</h3>
<p>Only America could produce a Mark Bittman. One moment, he’s traversing Spain on public television with celebrities in tow, peddling the newest fad in high-end dining and drooling over prodigious quantities of savory food in tight closeup. The next moment he’s promoting minimalist cooking. Now he reports his own passionate belief in agricultural sustainability and slow food, and he touts a new diet that not only offers guilt-free pleasure but also makes Americans look as good as the beautiful people he hangs out with. His prescription: become aware of where food comes from; choose foods intelligently; pay attention to broad, inclusive nutritional principles; balance intake and exercise; snack judiciously; and make sure that whatever one eats, it’s as attractive to the palate as it is to the waistline. Bittman’s fame will generate lots of attention, and his commonsense advice, while not new, bears the hallmarks of contemporary nutritional wisdom. Recipes included. --Mark Knoblauch 
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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3>
<p>Bittman here offers a sampling of 404 inspiring recipes. But don't expect another <em>How to Cook Everything</em>. This newest is of a different kind—simple and snappy, and rarely calls for measuring spoons. The no-sweat recipes are divided into four sections: summer, fall, winter and spring, capitalizing on the freshest ingredients of each season while whittling down the prep time of ordinarily elaborate dishes like coq au vin and ricotta cheesecake to 10 minutes or less. The book includes a drill-down of how best to stock your kitchen, and given the impromptu nature of the book, the substitution grid proves indispensable. While many dishes are sandwiches, dips or salads, Bittman offers a handful of innovative gems like figs in a blanket and pasta jambalaya, drawing from a diverse gastronomical panorama including Latin, Asian, Mediterranean and Creole flavors. And while quick, Bittman's recipes don't lack his signature creative punch. Lavender-thyme braised chicken, scallop and peach ceviche and a five-spice lobster sandwich will make most readers both salivate and appreciate the ease of his recipes. <em>(June)</em> <br />
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 
</p>

<h3>Product Description</h3>
<p>Cooking can be one of life's essential pleasures, even when you have to put dinner on the table every night. Now, with Mark Bittman's trusted voice as your guide, quick, easy, and fresh meals are always a realistic option.
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<p>Presented here are 404 dishes -- 101 for each season -- that will get you in and out of the kitchen in 20 minutes or less. Mark Bittman's recipe sketches provide exactly the directions a home cook needs to prepare a repertoire of eggs, seafood, poultry, meats, vegetables, sandwiches, and even desserts. Add a salad here, a loaf of bread there, and these dishes become full meals that are better than takeout and far less expensive.
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<p>These 404 recipes are as delicious and sophisticated as they are simple: Make the most of summer produce with Scallop and Peach Ceviche or Apricot Cream Upside-Down Pie. When the air starts to cool, try Salmon and Sweet Potato with Coconut Curry Sauce or Broiled Brussels Sprouts with Hazelnuts. On a cold winter night, warm up with White Bean Stew served over crusty slices of olive oil-brushed baguette. Or welcome spring with Shrimp with Asparagus, Dill, and Spice or Poached Eggs and Truffled Arugula Prosciutto Salad.
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<p>Because good ingredients are the backbone of delicious home cooking, Bittman includes a guide to the foods you'll want on hand to cook the Kitchen Express way, as well as suggestions for seasonal menus and lists of recipes for specific uses, like brown-bag lunches or the best dishes for reheating. With <em>Mark Bittman's Kitchen Express</em>, you can have dinner on the table in not much more time than it takes to read a traditional recipe. 
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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3>
<p>Starred Review. Bittman, New York Times columnist and bestselling author (How to Cook Everything) provides a rational approach to eating that not only improves health but also helps the environment. Extolling the benefits of a plant-heavy diet, Bittman offers more than 500 healthful recipes that feature unprocessed fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and whole grains and reduce all types of meat to backup players. In addition, he shares five basic principles for sane eating that are easy to implement and understand as well as an unusually helpful pantry section and handy charts for substituting produce and seafood by season. Recipes focus on flavor, such as lemony zucchini risotto, which uses brown rice, and curried chickpeas and cauliflower with chicken. His chapter on beans offers a particularly varied selection, like a lentil stir-fry with mushrooms and caramelized onions, white beans and shrimp burgers, and beer-glazed black beans with chorizo and orange. Bittman also provides a resourceful index of dishes that can be made quickly as well as meals that can be made ahead of time. Practical and balanced, this collection will shape the way we cook at home for years to come. <br />
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 
</p>

<h3>From</h3>
<p>Two years ago, prolific cookbook author and newspaper columnist Bittman published a cogent injunction urging Americans to redirect their eating habits toward more environmentally friendly and agriculturally sustainable diets and away from sugary, meat-centric meals. Since that first volume offered only a few recipes, Bittman has come to the aid of cooks who need much more specific kitchen support. So he has engaged his formidable creativity to generate a cornucopia of recipes to inspire people to rethink what they prepare for meals. Bittman’s innovative approach starts at the market with teaching shoppers to spot and buy seasonal, fresh vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. The book’s hundreds of recipes give menu planners maximum flexibility in just about every category of cookery. Many appetizer and main-dish recipes call for some meat or seafood, but in controlled quantities. Bittman’s visionary imagination sparkles on every page, and even cooks who may not wholly resonate with his planetary concerns will find themselves intrigued and inspired on virtually every page. Promise of weight loss as a side benefit adds additional incentive. Bittman eschews rigorously exacting nutritional tables in favor of empowering cooks to find healthy balances based on broad principles of disciplined, intelligent, aware, yet joyful consumption. --Mark Knoblauch 
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<h3>Review</h3><p>"Although the concept of having mythological creatures in a modern setting isn't new, Chadbourn brings a unique quality that is rare to come by. Overall, World's End was an impressive read and a great introduction to Chadbourn's writing. The flow of the book seemed to fly right by and I was always wondering what was going to happen next. Mark Chadbourn is an author that readers of fantasy will definitely be encountering for a long time. World's End left a lasting impression and brings just an added uniqueness that is always welcome. I look forward to the second book and what surprises are in store, I'm hoping it'll be just as action packed as the first." -- Fantasy Book Critic, June 1, 2009 "World's End is an impressive opening volume to the Age of Misrule trilogy and the conclusion is such that everything that readers would have assumed about the novel series is shockingly thrown out the window. While not perfect, [it] is an impressive achievement." -- Sacramento Book Review, June 15, 2009 "The first book of the Age of Misrule is a terrific urban fantasy thriller that brings Celtic mythology into modern day London. The story line is fast-paced from the opening encounter at the bridge and never slows down as the champions are on the run. Readers will enjoy this fine beginning and look forward to more malice from Mark Chadbourn." -- Reviewed by Harriet Klausner in the July 2009 online issue of the MBR Bookwatch. "Simply put: it completely blew me away. I was sucked into the fascinating tale of Celtic magic in conflict the modern world, where evil seeks the end of the world, where 'good' may be little better, and those charged with saving us all have their own problems to deal with. Highly recommended" -- Neth Space blog, April 2009. </p><h3>Product Description</h3><p>When Jack Churchill and Ruth Gallagher encounter a terrifying, misshapen giant beneath a London bridge they are plunged into a mystery which portends the end of the world as we know it. All over the country, the ancient gods of Celtic myth are returning to the land from which they were banished millennia ago. Following in their footsteps are creatures of folklore: fabulous bests, wonders and dark terrors. As technology starts to fail, Jack and Ruth are forced to embark on a desperate quest for four magical items - the last chance for humanity in the face of powers barely comprehended. </p>


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<h3>Review</h3>
<p><em></em><em>Library Journal</em><strong></strong>, 6/25/10<br />
<em></em>“The vegan's answer to Rachael Ray and Mr. Food, this is recommended for anyone wishing to re-create their favorite Asian restaurant dishes without the meat.”
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<p><strong>Blogcritics, 6/29/10</strong>
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<p>“For vegetarians who are ready to take the step to vegan and omnivores that would like to add animal-free dishes to their diet, <em>The 30 Minute Vegan’s Taste of the East</em> offers an array of dishes that will make their experimentation easy. Vegans will find it is an excellent addition to their cookbook libraries.”
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<p><strong>VegCooking Chef Spotlight</strong>
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<p>“Mark Reinfeld is poised at the leading edge of contemporary vegan cooking.”
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<p><strong>The Hungry Vegan blog</strong><strong>, 7/9/10</strong><br />
“Like accelerated culinary nirvana…Whether you want to impress your friends and family with your cooking prowess or you just enjoy eating great Asian cuisine, get yourself a copy of _The 30 Minute Vegan's Taste of the East_. It will inspire and delight you and awaken the creative culinary genius within you.”
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<p><strong><em>Portland</em></strong><strong>_ Oregonian_, 7/13/10</strong>
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<p>“There's a…’keep it simple’ approach to <em>Taste of the East</em>. Murray and Reinfeld must have been thinking weeknight suppers with the 150 recipes they've assembled, which includes hearty noodle and rice bowls, Indian stews, Chinese stir fries and Southeast Asian fusion”
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<p><strong><em>The Hippo</em>, 7/15/10</strong>
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<p>“Aside from its veganness, <em>Taste of the East</em> also offers a nice little primer on the differences between the cuisines of Japan, China, Thailand and India…Vegan or not, if you’re looking to expand into Asian cooking_, Taste of the Ea_st can offer a good guide.”
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<p><strong>Basil &amp; Spice, 7/18/10</strong>
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<p>“An excellent cookbook for cooking Asian food in less than 30 minutes…The acquisition would be perfect for dieters everywhere.”  
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<p><strong>Leslie Loves Veggies Blog, 7/25/10</strong>
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<p>“Complete with at-a-glance cooking charts, key Asian pantry ingredients, all-new preparation techniques, and unique cooking tips, <em>Taste of the East</em> is a must-have addition to your cookbook shelf.”
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<p>Chicago Vegan Restaurant Examiner, 8/19/10<br />
“The recipes pop with bright flavors, like their Panang Curry and Tofu Tikka Masala and luscious textures, like the silky Mango Custard Pudding and Coconut Spinach Rice. Not only do the recipes emphasize fresh, healthy preparations, but they are a breeze to put together, most clocking in at thirty minutes or less with prep and cooking time included unless otherwise indicated…This cookbook is for anyone from the novice to the experienced home cook: anyone who loves the bold, satisfying aromas and flavors at the Indian buffet or wonders how much she could improve on the sesame tofu at the local Chinese restaurant should run out and get this gem of a cookbook. I've only had it for a few weeks and it has already found its way into my top ten cookbook rotation. Very impressive!”
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<p><strong><em>January Magazine</em>, 8/29/10</strong>
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<p>“Even non-vegans will enjoy these simple and well-described recipes for Madras Curry, Mu Shu Vegetables, Pad Thai, Wontons and more.”
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<p><em></em>CurledUpWithAGoodBook.com_, _9/6/10<br />
<em></em>“A new recipe book that will inspire you to cook…Will be useful for those wanting to try new flavors or improve their health through diet.”
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<p><strong><em>Midwest</em></strong><strong>_ Book Review, _September 2010</strong>
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<p>“An extraordinary compilation of vegan dishes…The recipes' instructions are described at length in user-friendly detail. Simple cooking charts, suggested preparation techniques, cooking tips and more round out this excellent, easy-to-use addition to any vegan cookbook collection.”
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<p><strong>Veganacious.com, 10/07/10</strong>
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<p>“When time is limited and you want to try something new and Asian, reach for Mark Reinfeld and Jennifer Murray’s wonderful cookbook. Whether you have experience with Asian cuisine or want to learn more about foods from the East, this is one you are sure to enjoy again and again.”
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<p>White Pumpkin Seeds Blog, 10/07/10
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<p>“The kick of hot peppers, blends of exotic spices, and the crispness of fresh vegetables all await you inside the covers of this must-try cookbook.”
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<h3>Product Description</h3>
<p>Noted vegans and vegetarians love Mark Reinfeld and Jennifer Murray’s food. Food Network host and author Ellie Krieger lauds their recipes as “delicious, exciting, healthful, [and] accessible for everyone,” while Deborah Madison notes their “appealing recipes, good information about food and cooking in general [and] surprisingly realistic approaches to thirty-minute cooking.” Now, Reinfeld and Murray turn their skillets to the East, featuring over 150 vegan versions of favorite cuisine from India, Thailand, China, and Japan. <em>Taste of the East</em> also offers inspired animal-free recipes from Indonesia, Nepal, Vietnam, Korea, Tibet, Iran, and Afghanistan.
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<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3>
<p>When Dominic Renbourne is visited by his identical twin Kyle, he steels himself for the sort of bitter confrontation that has marked their meetings for years. But when Kyle makes an exceptional request, and offers some family land as a bribe, Dominic feels his defenses failing. Unable to deny the desperation in his brother's eyes--or the chance to finally inherit some of their family's wealth--he agrees to an unusual charade. Dominic will temporarily take his brother's place in the courtship of the beautiful, if possibly mad, Lady Meriel Grahame.
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<p>The mysterious Lady Meriel is as unpredictable as was rumored. After her recovery from a childhood kidnapping, she turned inside to her secret world of silence and the comfort of her lush garden. Though two elderly relatives and an Indian caretaker have since watched over her, Meriel can not communicate, and flees from the external threat that Dominic presents.
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<p>Unable to dismiss Meriel's odd behaviors as insanity, Dominic seeks to uncover the source of her pain and the core of her complex personality. Warmed by his patient compassion and gentle encouragement, Meriel begins to open up to him. But the pressures of society and the growing threat of her commitment to an asylum force Meriel to choose between these two worlds. Helplessly in love with her, Dominic searches for a way to help her find her true identity, while continuing to conceal his own.
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<p>When switched identities, arranged marriages, and even the mildest case of insanity meet, a novel is bound to be an absolutely entertaining hoot. As well as creating sympathetic characters and their realistic development, Mary Jo Putney has a talent for capturing the complex rivalries of siblings and the conflict between our internal and external lives. Though the arrival of a final plot twist is distracting and unnecessary, Putney has once again written a solid historical novel that should support her reputation as one of the finest romance writers of our time. <em>--Nancy R.E. O'Brien</em>
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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3>
<p>Lady Meriel Grahame, the eighth heroine in Putney's Fallen Angels series, has lived in a world of self-imposed silence since the night of violence in colonial India that claimed her parents' lives. Deemed mad by her guardian uncles (one good, one evil), looked after by two widows (both good), she lives a life of fey barefoot willfulness, making weedy centerpieces for the mahogany dining table and communing with the animals who roam the gorgeous grounds of her ancestral home, Warfield. Lord Grahame, her evil uncle, would like to see her locked up in a mental asylum (Putney dwells on the horrors of early 19th-century "modern" psychiatry), but her good uncle, Lord Amworth, thinks a wedding and bedding might cure herAand the time is now, while Grahame is out of the country. Since infancy, Meriel has been pledged to Kyle Renbourne, Lord Maxwell, the future earl of Wrexham. Heart-bound to escort his dying mistress home to Spain, Kyle dispatches his twin brother, Dominic, to court Meriel in his place. The novel is most enjoyable precisely where it's most predictable, and it's in the all-consuming attraction, body and spirit, between Dominic and Meriel that it reaches its peak. Allowed unthinkable liberties, Meriel paints henna designs on Dominic's trembling torso, laughs at his morality and offers up an irresistible bargaining chip: if she may have his body, he shall hear her voice. Her words may lack the eloquence of her silence, and the second half of the novel is altogether the weaker, but there's satisfaction for readers who like to see villains die and everyone else live happily ever after. Author tour. (Aug.) <br />
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. 
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<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p>Using the same mixture of action, charm, and believable characters that made his television series like <em>The Rockford Files</em> so much fun, Stephen J. Cannell has come up with a thriller that's as bright and breezy as a day at the beach. Ace grifter Beano X. Bates and his extended family make a nice living conning folks out of their savings with scams like "The Most Valuable Dog in the World." But when a New Jersey mobster named Joe Rina puts him in the hospital, Beano is out for massive revenge. With the help of a harried but sexy female prosecutor, the Bates family pulls off a series of consummate cons that leap to life from the printed page. Cannell's last thriller, __, is available in paperback. </p><h3>From Library Journal</h3><p>New Jersey mobsters Tommy and Joe Rina kill the star witness in the state's case against them, and "King Con" Beano X. Bates plots revenge in the form of an elaborate "sting." Aiding him is former New Jersey prosecutor Victoria Hart, prim, upstanding, and dedicated, who's drawn into the sting unwillingly, then takes glee in committing felonies and telling lies right and left. Screen- and TV writer Cannell's second novel (following Final Victim, LJ 4/15/96) is pure delight; its well-developed plot line has nice detours here and there so the reader cannot quite foresee the conclusion. The entire Bates family, criminals all, are wonderful characters, and although some of the action is far-fetched and the sting dialog gets boring in its technicality, the wry humor will keep readers enthralled. Great summer reading for all libraries. (Cannell is making this into an MGM movie with John Travolta as Beano..<br /><em>-?Alice DiNizo, Raritan P.L., N.J.</em><br />Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p>


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<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3>
<p><em>Full Dark, No Stars</em>, you know you’re in for a treat--that is, if your idea of a good time is spent curled up in a ball wondering why-oh-why you started reading after dark. King fans (and those who have always wanted to give him a shot) will devour this collection of campfire tales where marriages sway under the weight of pitch-black secrets, greed and guilt poison and fester, and the only thing you can count on is that "there are always worse things waiting." <em>Full Dark, No Stars</em> features four one-sitting yarns showcasing King at his gritty, gruesome, giddy best, so be sure to check under the bed before getting started. <em>--Daphne Durham</em>   
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<p><strong>Amazon Exclusive: Justin Cronin, Suzanne Collins, Margaret Atwood, and T.C. Boyle Review Stephen King's <em>Full Dark, No Stars</em></strong>   
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<p>"King is Poe's modern heir, and no writer has a richer sense of the dark rooms in the human psyche and fiction's singular power to capture them."   
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<p>"Fast-paced and beautifully plotted, 'Big Driver' pulls you into Tess's fragmented mind and holds you hostage until the story concludes."   
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<p>"It wouldn't be Stephen King if somebody's messily bleeding neck did not sprout a huge white knob. As it were."   
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<p>"[King's] very ordinary-looking devil has no use for human souls, which, in these enervated times, 'have become poor and transparent things.'"   
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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3>
<p>Starred Review. Eerie twists of fate drive the four longish stories in King's first collection since Just After Sunset (2008). In "1922," a farmer murders his wife to retain the family land she hopes to sell, then watches his life unravel hideously as the consequences of the killing suggest a near-supernatural revenge. "Big Driver" tells of an otherwise ordinary woman who discovers her extraordinary capacity for retribution after she is raped and left for dead. "A Good Marriage" explores the aftermath of a wife's discovery of her milquetoast husband's sinister secret life, while "Fair Extension," the book's most disturbing story, follows the relationship between a man and the best friend on whom he preternaturally shifts all his bad luck and misfortune. As in Different Seasons (1982), King takes a mostly nonfantastic approach to grim themes. Now, as then, these tales show how a skilled storyteller with a good tale to tell can make unsettling fiction compulsively readable. (Nov.) (c) <br />
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 
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SUMMARY:
"Steve Berry's first ever eBook exclusive short story finds an adventurer in a strange and forbidding land, in search of a long lost treasure, and very much in harm's way." As a favor to enigmatic billionaire Henrik Thorvaldsen, Cassiopeia Vitt treks into Bulgaria's Rila mountains in search of a buried stash of exceedingly rare artifacts from a bygone civilization: the ancient tomb of a Thracian king. But when her presence is discovered by a shadowy group of Russians secretly mining the area, she needs a way out. "Who to trust" becomes the question, and her life depends on choosing the right option. Includes a sneak-preview of the new Cotton Malone thriller" The Emperor's Tomb."


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Starred Review. In bestseller Berry's fourth thriller to feature ex–Justice Department agent Cotton Malone (after <em>The Venetian Betrayal</em>), Malone embarks on a search for answers about his father, Capt. Forrest Malone, after learning that instead of dying in 1971 in a nuclear sub accident in the North Atlantic, his father actually died while on a secret submarine mission to the Antarctic. Meanwhile, bad guy Adm. Langford Ramsey schemes to become the next ranking officer of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The two story lines merge as a group led by Malone races to Antarctica, where they find a strange underground city belonging to the Aryans, an advanced race who inhabited the earth at the dawn of our own civilization. A meticulous researcher, Berry carefully integrates such elements as Charlemagne, Nazis, ancient manuscripts, historical puzzles and scientific surprises into the plot. Those who relish suspense in the <em>Da Vinci Code</em> vein will snap this one up, the best yet in the series. <em>10-city author tour. (Dec.)</em> <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>From School Library Journal</h3><p>Starred Review. Berry outdoes himself in his latest Cotton Malone adventure (after <em>The Venetian Betrayal</em>). Using his connections in the federal government, Cotton asks to see a classified file that details the mission that resulted in his father's death. He knew his father died on a submarine but none of the shocking details about where or why he died. But Cotton is not the only person who wants this file, and they kill to get it. Nazi missions to the Antarctic, ancient societies, and a valuable artifact from Charlemagne's tomb all play key roles as Malone uncovers the truth. So much is going on that there is enough material for two good books, let alone one great one. Mixed in with the complicated action, Berry finds the time to explore the characters as well, making this his most personal and best book to date. For all fiction collections. [See Prepub Alert, <em>LJ</em> 8/08.]—Jeff Ayers, Seattle P.L. <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p>


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3>
<p>Starred Review. Mosley (Known to Evil) plays out an intriguing premise in his powerful latest: a man is given a second shot at life, but at the price of a hastened death. Ptolemy Grey is a 91-year-old man, suffering from dementia and living as a recluse in his Los Angeles apartment. With one foot in the past and the other in the grave, Ptolemy begins to open up when Robyn Small, a 17-year-old family friend, appears and helps clean up his apartment and straighten out his life. A reinvigorated Ptolemy volunteers for an experimental medical program that will restore his mind, but at hazardous cost: he won't live to see 92. With the clock ticking, Ptolemy uses his rejuvenated mental abilities to delve into the mystery of the recent drive-by shooting death of his great-nephew, Reggie, and to render justice the only way he knows how, goaded and guided by the memory of his murdered childhood mentor, Coydog McCann. Though the details of the experimental procedure are less than convincing, Mosley's depiction of the indignities of old age is heartbreaking, and Ptolemy's grace and decency make for a wonderful character and a moving novel. (Nov.) (c) <br />
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 
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<h3>From</h3>
<p><em>Starred Review</em> Ptolemy Grey is a 91-year-old African American living alone in violent South Central L.A. Frail and suffering from dementia, largely forgotten by his extended family, he can’t remember to eat, his mind “scattered over nearly a hundred years.” He relives events marked by racism, lynching, poverty, and longing for his long-dead wife. His great-grand nephew, Reggie, takes him to the grocery store and prompts him to eat. When Reggie is killed in a drive-by shooting, Ptolemy’s days appear to be numbered. But Robyn, a beautiful, resourceful 17-year-old, steps in. As she sees to Ptolemy’s needs, she awakens his desire for the lucidity he once had, and he meets a doctor who offers him a chance for several months of mental clarity before almost certain death. Mosley’s dramatic departure from his Easy Rawlins and Leonid McGill crime novels appears to be a very personal one, a deeply thoughtful, provocative, and often beautiful meditation on aging, memory, family, loss, and love. Ptolemy and Robynare truly indelible characters. Mosley’s story is ultimately life affirming, and his writing is by turns gritty and sublime. Baby boomers caring for aged parents, or thinking about their own mortality, will line up for The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey. Mosley’s fans of any age will also embrace it, and every library will be better for adding it. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: A return to top form for Mosley, who has slumped a bit since ending his Easy Rawlins series. An aggressive marketing campaign and a poignant autobiographical connection (Mosley helped care for a relative with dementia) will draw deserved attention to a very fine novel. --Thomas Gaughan 
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<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p>It speaks to the failure of medieval Europe, writes popular historian William Manchester, that "in the year 1500, after a thousand years of neglect, the roads built by the Romans were still the best on the continent." European powers were so absorbed in destroying each other and in suppressing peasant revolts and religious reform that they never quite got around to realizing the possibilities of contemporary innovations in public health, civil engineering, and other peaceful pursuits. Instead, they waged war in faraway lands, created and lost fortunes, and squandered millions of lives. For all the wastefulness of medieval societies, however, Manchester notes, the era created the foundation for the extraordinary creative explosion of the Renaissance. Drawing on a cast of characters numbering in the hundreds, Manchester does a solid job of reconstructing the medieval world, although some scholars may disagree with his interpretations. </p><h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Using only secondary sources, Manchester plunges readers into the medieval mind-set in a captivating, marvelously vivid popular history that humanizes the tumultuous span from the Dark Ages to the dawn of the Renaissance. He delineates an age when invisible spirits infested the air, when tolerance was seen as treachery and "a mafia of profane popes desecrated Christianity." Besides re-creating the arduous lives of ordinary people, the Wesleyan professor of history peoples his tapestry with such figures as Leonardo, Machiavelli, Lucrezia Borgia, Erasmus, Luther, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Manchester ( The Arms of Krupp ) devotes much attention to Magellan, whose globe-straddling voyage shattered Christendom's implicit belief in Europe as the center of the universe. His portrayal of the Middle Ages as a time when the strong and the shrewd flourished, while the imaginative, the cerebral and the unfortunate suffered, rings true. Illustrations. <br />Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p>


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>In this first book-length translation into English, Japanese author Ogawa's three polished tales demonstrate her knack for a crafty, suspenseful hook. Each is narrated in the listless, emotionally remote voice of a young woman, such as the high schooler of the title story whose infatuation with her foster brother, Jun, prompts her to obsessively observe his diving practice. As the daughter of religious parents who run an orphanage, Aya feels alienated from the workings of the so-called Light House and finds an outlet for her frustration in romantic fantasy about Jun as well as in tormenting—shockingly—an orphan baby. The underhandedly creepy Dormitory is narrated by a Tokyo wife who begins nursing the ailing, armless one-legged manager at her old college dormitory. The manager's increasingly alarming tale of love for one of the renters, now vanished, enthralls the wife. Pregnancy Diary offers a bit of levity, narrated by a young unmarried woman whose rage toward her pregnant sister take the form of cooking her grapefruit jam prepared from fruit treated with a chromosome-altering chemical. Ogawa's tales possess a gnawing, erotic edge. <em>(Feb.)</em> <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>Review</h3><p>"Yoko Ogawa is able to give expression to the most subtle workings of human psychology in prose that is gentle yet penetrating."--Kenzaburo Oe, Nobel Prize-winning author of <em>A Personal Matter</em></p><hr /><p>"Three beautifully-drawn and genuinely eerie stories. Each one builds an image that you can't quite shake out of your mind."--Aimee Bender, author of <em>The Girl in the Flammable Skirt</em></p><p>"What a strange and compelling little volume this is. Yoko Ogawa's fiction is like a subtle, psychoactive drug. Long after you read it, <em>The Diving Pool </em>will remain with you, shifting your vision, eroding your composure, raising questions about even the most seemingly conventional people you encounter. Her gift is to both reveal and preserve the mystery of human nature."--Kathryn Harrison, bestselling author of <em>The Kiss</em></p><p>"Ogawa is original, elegant, very disturbing. I admire any writer who dares to work on this uneasy territory--we're on the edge of the unspeakable. The stories seem to penetrate right to the heart of the world and find it a cold and eerie place. There are no narrative tricks, but the stories generate a surprising amount of tension. You feel as if you’ve touched an icy hand."--Hilary Mantel, author of <em>Beyond Black</em></p>


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Starred Review. Ogawa (_The Diving Pool_) weaves a poignant tale of beauty, heart and sorrow in her exquisite new novel. Narrated by the Housekeeper, the characters are known only as the Professor and Root, the Housekeepers 10-year-old son, nicknamed by the Professor because the shape of his hair and head remind the Professor of the square root symbol. A brilliant mathematician, the Professor was seriously injured in a car accident and his short-term memory only lasts for 80 minutes. He can remember his theorems and favorite baseball players, but the Housekeeper must reintroduce herself every morning, sometimes several times a day. The Professor, who adores Root, is able to connect with the child through baseball, and the Housekeeper learns how to work with him through the memory lapses until they can come together on common ground, at least for 80 minutes. In this gorgeous tale, Ogawa lifts the window shade to allow readers to observe the characters for a short while, then closes the shade. Snyder—who also translated <em>Pool</em>—brings a delicate and precise hand to the translation. <em>(Feb.)</em> <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>From School Library Journal</h3><p>First published in Japanese in 2003, this gem won the prestigious 2004 Yomiuri Prize and in 2006 was adapted for film (_The Professor's Beloved Equation_). The story evolves around a young housekeeper and her ten-year-old son, who have an esoteric link to a retired university professor through "amicable numbers." Ogawa (_The Diving Pool_) deliberately avoids any hint of romance between the two adult protagonists. Instead, she delves into the educational process between the housekeeper, a high school dropout, and the professor, a mathematical genius. With a prose style justly acclaimed as gentle yet penetrating, Ogawa gives mathematical theories from Eratosthenes to Einstein a titanic wink; under her pen, they no longer are solely a topic of conversation among academics but a tool that facilitates conflict resolution, communication between commoner and intellectual, and appreciation for the nobility and individuality of everyday objects; they also help us establish our worth in a chaotic world. This novel evokes the joy of learning, and, with its somewhat eccentric yet lovable protagonists, is a pleasure to read. Highly recommended for both public and academic libraries.—Victor Or, Surrey P.L. &amp; North Vancouver City Lib., BC <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p>


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Starred Review. "The instruction was simple: make somebody up," explains novelist Smith in her introduction to this marvelous compendium of 23 distinct, pungent stories that attack the question of "character" from all angles. From David Mitchell's hilarious rendering of one menopausal woman's fantasy internet love-affair to ZZ Packer's heart-wrenching Jewish guy-black girl romance, each story is, as Smith puts it, "its own thing entirely." There are moments of prosaic precision (Andrew O'Hagan's eerily incisive "Gordon" is introduced "in the talcum-powdered air of the bathroom muttering calculations and strange moral sums about the cause of Hamlet's unhappiness"), but this volume is more than a showcase for deft prose and quirky souls. Toby Litt's lovely, lyrical "Monster," for example, playfully upends notions of personhood, as does Dave Eggers' surprising "Theo," a moving tale of a mountain who falls in love. Also on hand are a number of wonderful graphic shorts: Daniel Clowe shrewdly explores an insufferable critic's solipsistic lapses, Nick Hornby's "A Writing Life" gives a knowing wink with a series of writer bios and mock headshots, and "Jordan Wellington Lint" by Chris Ware cleverly chronicles the first 13 years of its hero's life. With so much to savor-the sensuality of Adam Thirlwell's "Nigora," the knowingness of George Saunder's "Puppy"-this anthology will sate even the most famished short story fan. Sales benefit Eggers's nonprofit literary organization 826 NYC. <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>Review</h3><p>"...But just when you're ready to howl in frustration at the anthologification of the book world-_I've seen the best minds of my generation, live blogging about recipes that inspire them_-along comes <em>The Book of Other People...Other People</em> collects 23 pieces by a who's who of 21st-century geniuses and wunderkinds, from Dave Eggers to Edwidge Dandicat...Smith sent her contributors just one instruction: Make somebody up."<br />-_USA Today_   </p><p>"Truly hip."<br />-_The Boston Globe_   </p><p>"Whether they are old-fashioned narratives, playful improvisations or comic- strip-like tales told in pictures, these stories force us to re-evaluate that old chestnut "Character is destiny." They remind us that an individual's life is itself a narrative with a beginning, a middle and at least the intimations of an end. And they showcase the many time-honored techniques that writers use to limn their characters' predicaments, from straight-up ventriloquism to the use of unreliable narrators to a "Rashomon"-like splitting of perspectives."<br />-Michiko Kakutani, <em>The New York Times</em>   </p><p>"From its strange, graphic-novelesque cover-an array of cartoonish sketches of odd-looking faces in profile, stacked like ladder rungs-to its uncommonly eye- catching lineup of contributors, "The Book of Other People," a 2008 paperback from Penguin Books, is extraordinary."<br />-_Charlotte Observer_   </p><p>"If you only read one book, make it this dazzling selection of short stories..."<br />-Eve Magazine UK   </p><p>"...Some of the wittiest and wisest stories you'll read all year..."<br />-Elle UK   </p><p>"Character provides the thematic key to these stories, all new to this collection, from some of our finest younger contemporary fiction writers.   </p><p>Editor and contributor Smith (On Beauty, 2005, etc.) invited 22 other authors, many of them (like her) better known for novels than short fiction, to write a story inspired by the creation of a character. "The instruction was simple," she writes in her introduction, "make somebody up." Yet the stories correspond to no consensus about the role of character in fiction, or a return to realism, or the responsibility of fiction to mirror society. To the contrary, what Smith believes the stories show is that "there are as many ways to create 'character' (or deny the possibility of 'character') as there are writers." The title of each story comes from the name of a character or type ("The Monster") with the selections sequenced alphabetically. Many of the writers, including Smith, come from the McSweeney's and/or Believer literary circle (Dave Eggers, Vendela Vida, Heidi Julavits, Chris Ware, Nick Hornby et al.) and most of the contributions range from the short to the very short (Toby Litt's "The Monster" is a four-page paragraph). With proceeds benefiting 826 New York (a nonprofit organization for the inspiration and development of student writing), none of the writers were paid for their work, with the results sometimes more playful (and occasionally slighter) than one has come to expect from them. Jonathan Lethem's Dickensian titled "Perkus Tooth" offers a hilarious dismissal of rock critics. A.L. Kennedy's "Frank" provides an existential parable about a man who isn't who he thinks he is. Though many of the stories have a first-person perspective, the narrator is rarely the title character, and some of the challenge for the reader can be determining whom a story is really about. In Colm T~ib"n's "Donal Webster," the name of the title character is never even mentioned, leaving the reader to guess who is addressing whom.   </p><p>While the quality inevitably varies, the spirit of the anthology is that reading should be fun rather than work. -_Kirkus Reviews_</p>


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The international bestseller, finally in paperback! "Time "magazine's #1 book of the year - 11 weeks and counting on the "New York Times" bestseller list - Shortlisted for the "Guardian "First Book Award - Longlisted for the Booker prize - A Book Sense pick - "People "Top Ten Books of the year - Salon.com Top Ten of 2004 - "New York Times "Notable Books of the Year - "Christian Science Monitor" Best Fiction 2004 - Nancy Pearl's Top 12 Books of 2004 - "Washington Post" "Book World "Best of 2004 -" San Francisco Chronicle" Best Books of 2004 - "Chicago Tribune "Best of 2004 - "Seattle Times "25 Best Books of 2004 - "Atlanta Journal-Constitution "Top 12 Books of 2004 -" Village Voice" "Top Shelf" -" Raleigh News & Observer "Best of 2004 - "Rocky Mountain News "critics' favorites of 2004" "- "Kansas City Star" 100 Noteworthy Books of 2004 -" Fort Worth Star-Telegram" 10 Best Books of 2004 -" Hartford Courant" Best Books of 2004 Susanna Clarke's brilliant first novel is an utterly compelling epic tale of nineteenth-century England and the two very different magicians who, as teacher and pupil and then as rivals, emerge to change its history. Sold in 21 languages, with a major motion picture from New Line on the way, "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell "is a tour de force that has captured the imagination of readers worldwide. Susanna Clarke was born in Nottingham, England, in 1959, the eldest daughter of a Methodist minister. She was educated at St Hilda's College, Oxford, and has worked in various areas of nonfiction publishing. She has published a number of short stories and novellas in American anthologies, including "Mr Simonelli, or the Fairy Widower," which was shortlisted for a World Fantasy Award in 2001. Susanna lives in Cambridge with her partner, the novelist and reviewer Colin Greenland. A" New York Times "Notable Book of the YearA "Chicago Tribune" Best Book of 2004 In "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" we find a debut novel marked by wonderfully vivid details, enchanting characters, and fantastic yet familiar situations--a grand and engrossing saga that reads, as "Salon.com" has noted, much like "when Harry Potter met Jane Austen." English magicians were once the wonder of the known world, with fairy servants at their beck and call; they could command winds, mountains, and woods. But by the early 1800s they have long since lost the ability to perform magic. They can only write long, dull papers about it, while the fairy servants are nothing but a fading memory. But at Hurtfew Abbey in Yorkshire, the rich, reclusive Mr. Norrell has assembled a wonderful library of lost and forgotten books from England's magical past and regained some of the powers of England's magicians. He goes to London and raises a beautiful young woman from the dead. Soon he is lending his help to the government in the war against Napoleon Bonaparte, creating ghostly fleets of rain-ships to confuse and alarm the French. All goes well until a rival magician appears. Jonathan Strange is handsome, charming, and talkative--the very opposite of Mr. Norrell. Strange thinks nothing of enduring the rigors of campaigning with Wellington's army and doing magic on battlefields. Astonished to find another practicing magician, Norrell accepts Strange as a pupil. But it soon becomes clear that their ideas of what English magic ought to be are very different. For Norrell, such power is something to be cautiously controlled, while Jonathan Strange will always be attracted to magic's wildest, most perilous forms. He becomes fascinated by the ancient, shadowy figure of the Raven King, a child taken by fairies who became king of both England and Faerie, and the most legendary magician of all. Eventually Strange's heedless pursuit of long-forgotten magic threatens to destroy not only his partnership with Norrell, but everything that he holds dear. Sophisticated, witty, and ingeniously convincing, Susanna Clarke's magisterial and widely celebrated novel weaves magic into a flawlessly detailed vision of English history. "A gorgeous book of unforgettable images."--"People""What kind of magic can make an 800-page novel seem too short? Whatever it is, debut author Susanna Clarke is possessed by it."--"USA Today""Combines the dark, wild spirit of English fantasy with the grand wit and high style of the 19th-century social novel . . . A grand performance--and the most sparkling literary debut of the year."--Laura Miller, "Salon""This book delivers splendid and unpredictable surprises . . . [It] also contrives witty interactions between its characters and real, renowned figures of the period . . . [Clarke presents] a brand new fantasy world, an intricate and fully imagined universe of bewitching tricks."--Janet Maslin, "The New York Times" "I admire Susanna Clarke's imaginative dexterity and deeply enjoyed "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" . . . [This book is] magnificent and original, and that should be enough for any of us."--Michael Dirda, "The Washington Post Book World""The drawing-room social comedies of early 19th-century Britain are infused with the powerful forces of English folklore and fantasy in this extraordinary novel of two magicians who attempt to restore English magic in the age of Napoleon. In Clarke's world, gentlemen scholars pore over the magical history of England, which is dominated by the Raven King, a human who mastered magic from the lands of faerie. The study is purely theoretical until Mr. Norrell, a reclusive, mistrustful bookworm, reveals that he is capable of producing magic and becomes the toast of London society, while an impetuous young aristocrat named Jonathan Strange tumbles into the practice, too, and finds himself quickly mastering it. Though irritated by the reticent Norrell, Strange becomes the magician's first pupil, and the British government is soon using their skills. Mr. Strange serves under Wellington in the Napoleonic Wars (in a series of wonderful historical scenes), but afterward the younger magician finds himself unable to accept Norrell's restrictive views of magic's proper place and sets out to create a new age of magic by himself. Clarke manages to portray magic as both a believably complex and tedious labor, and an eerie world of signs and wonders where every object may have secret meaning. London politics and talking stones are portrayed with equal realism and seem indisputably part of the same England, as signs indicate that the Raven King may return. The chock-full, old-fashioned narrative (supplemented with deft footnotes to fill in the ignorant reader on incidents in magical history) may seem a bit stiff and mannered at first, but immersion in the mesmerizing story reveals its intimacy, humor, and insight, and will enchant readers of fantasy and literary fiction alike."--"Publishers Weekly" (starred review) "Rival magicians square off to display and match their powers in an extravagant historical fantasy . . . English author Clarke's spectacular debut is something far richer than [Harry] Potter: an absorbing tale of vaulting ambition and mortal conflict steeped in folklore and legend, enlivened by subtle characterizations and wittily congenial omniscient authorial presence . . . Clarke sprinkles her radiantly readable text with faux-scholarly (and often hilarious) footnotes while building an elaborate plot that takes Strange through military glory, unsuccessful attempts to cure England's mad king, travel to Venice and a meeting with Lord Byron, and on a perilous pursuit of the fabled Raven King, former ruler of England, into the world of Faerie, and Hell. There's nothing in Tolkein, Mervyn Peake, or any of their peers that surpasses the power with which Clarke evokes this fabulous figure's tangled 'history.' The climax, in which Strange and Norrell conspire to summon the King, arrives--for all the book's enormous length--all too soon. An instant classic, one of the finest fantasies ever written."--"Kirkus Reviews" (starred review)


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With King Olin imprisoned and Prince Kendrick slain, the royal twins Barrick and Briony have been forced to flee their homeland. But both families and nations can hide dark and terrible secrets, and even if Barrick and Briony survive learning the astonishing truths at the heart of their own family and of Southmarch itself, they must still find a way to reclaim their kingdom and rescue their home- from traitors, tyrants, a god-king, and even the angry gods themselves.


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Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world. It is the only Islamic state to have nuclear weapons. Its border with Afghanistan extends over one thousand miles and is the likely hideout of Osama bin Laden. It has been under military dictatorship for thirty-three of its fiftyyear existence. Yet it is the linchpin in the United States' war on terror, receiving over $10 billion of American aid since 2001 and purchasing more than $5 billion of U.S. weaponry in 2006 alone.These days, relations between the two countries are never less than tense. Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf reported that U.S. deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage threatened to "bomb Pakistan back to the Stone Age" if it did not commit fully to the alliance in the wake of 9/11. Presidential hopeful Barack Obama said he would have no hesitation in bombing Al Qaeda inside the country, "with or without" approval of the Pakistani government. Recent surveys show that more than 70 percent of Pakistanis fear the United States as a military threat to their country.The Bush administration spent much of 2007 promoting a "dream ticket" of Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto to run Pakistan together. That strategy, with Bhutto assassinated and the general's party winning less than 15 percent of the contested seats in the 2008 election, is now in tatters.With increasingly bold attacks by Taliban supporters in the border regions threatening to split the Pakistan army, with the only political alternatives -- Nawaz Sharif and Benazir's widower Asif Ali Zardari -- being as corrupt as the regime they seek to replace, and with a newly radicalized movement of lawyers testing its strength as championsof the rule of law, the chances of sustained stability in Pakistan look slim. The scion of a famous Punjabi political family, with extraordinary contacts inside the country and internationally, Tariq Ali has long been acknowledged as a leading commentator on Pakistan. In these pages he combines deep understanding of the country's history with extensive firsthand research and unsparing political judgment to weigh the prospects of those contending for power today. The labyrinthine path between a secure world and global conflagration runs right through Pakistan. No one is better placed to trace its contours.


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Fifteen years after Waiting to Exhale, McMillan brings back Savannah, Gloria, Bernadine, and Robin--now in their 50s--for a disappointing and uninspired outing. As the story opens, Gloria is very happy, Savannah believes she might be happy, Bernadine is fighting addiction and losing ground, and single mother Robin is trying to resign herself to being alone while things at her job begin to unravel. Within the first few chapters, Gloria and Savannah are struck by disaster, and things go rapidly downhill from there for everyone. Most of the misery has to do with men who lie, steal, cheat, or disappear, or with adult children who face similar problems. Unfortunately, the beloved cast isn't given a story worthy of them; instead, this reunion reads like a catalogue of personal catastrophes annotated with very long, rambling discussions, with more emphasis on simple drama than character. <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>From</h3><p>For McMillan fans (and they are legion, given the immense popularity of her novels and film adaptations), the publication of <em>Getting to Happy</em> will be welcome news. The novel is full of the juicy romantic entanglements, family dysfunction, and high drama that readers have come to anticipate. The novel is not without its shortcomings; most critics noted the occasional clunky writing and predictable plot line. After all, McMillan's characters are the same as before--older and heavier, perhaps, but not necessarily happier or wiser. Still, the novel is entertaining, escapist fare, and "_Getting to Happy_ is pretty much required reading for anyone who cared about <em>Waiting to Exhale</em>" (_Miami Herald_). </p>


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<h3>From</h3><p>“Anorexia was my first love,” de Rossi declares in her memoir of her early Hollywood career and the eating disorders that went along with it. Her unflinching self-portrait depicts a cripplingly self-conscious young Australian in LA overwhelmed by the pressure to be thin. Never comfortable in her own skin, a by-product of her status as a closeted lesbian, de Rossi was sure if she ever gained weight (or came out as being gay), the shooting star she’d been cultivating would turn to lead. Weight loss was the key that allowed de Rossi to feel powerful and in control, until dieting became a sickness that nearly killed her and devastated her family. De Rossi’s story and words are not revolutionary, but they are frank, brave, and revelatory of the unhealthy trends that stardom can generate. Although more development of de Rossi’s happy ending (her eventual complete recovery, self-acceptance, coming-out, and marriage to Ellen DeGeneres) would be welcome, the book succeeds as it’s intended: a journal of her sickness and a provocatively sad love affair with dieting. --Annie Bostrom </p><h3>Review</h3><p>“Breathtakingly honest, brutal and beautiful.”</p><p>—Jonathan Safran Foer  </p><p>“De Rossi tells her story with genuine insight and unflinching honesty. You will cheer her on.” —Jeannette Walls  </p><p>“Possibly the best book on the subject ever written. De Rossi is the real deal, a fine writer with a sharp mind and substance. This rich, layered book of remarkable courage, power, and significance will serve as life-changing inspiration for many.”</p><p>—Augusten Burroughs </p>


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When Catherine Ducane disappears in the heart of New Orleans, the local cops react rapidly - she is the daughter of the Governor of Louisiana after all. But the case gets very strange, very quickly. Her bodyguard turns up horribly mutilated in the trunk of a beautiful vintage car and when her kidnapper calls he doesn't want money: he wants time alone with Ray Hartmann, who works for a Washington-based organised crime task force.All Ray wants to do is get this over with quickly, and go home to try and repair his broken marriage. Instead he must listen to the mysterious kidnapper, an elderly Cuban named Ernesto Perez, who wants to tell him his life story. It's only when he realises that Ernesto has been a brutal hitman for the Mob since the 1950s that things start to come together. But by the time the pieces fall into place, it's already too late...A QUIET VENDETTA is both the epic novel of one man's life in the Italian Mafia - a story that ranges from Cuba to Las Vegas and from L.A. to Chicago - and equally a powerful thriller of rage, love and loss.


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>As in its predecessor Joust (2003), a clear, uncluttered style marks Lackey's latest light entertainment about wizards and dragons and social struggle. Vetch (aka Kiron), the hero of Joust, has escaped from the oppressive dragon riders of Tia with Avatre, the crimson female dragon he has secretly raised. In his native Alta, the former serf finds his fate interconnected with the destinies of Orest, youngest son of the Lord Ya-tiren, and the girl Aket-ten, a "Winged One" in training capable of speaking with animals. Vetch begins a new career teaching other Altan males how to bond with dragons from the egg. Vivid depictions of mythical creatures and a pastoral, casual approach to magic enliven such emotionally charged themes as cultural displacement, alienation and search for self. The crises of individual characters with easily identifiable conflicts nicely mirror larger catastrophes of plot. Full of adventure, romance and political intrigue if low on moral complexity, this highly readable fantasy will appeal particularly to young adults. Fans of Anne McCaffrey's Pern series will also be happy. <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>From</h3><p>Young Vetch, former serf turned dragon boy in <em>Joust</em> [BKL Mr 15 03], and his hand-reared dragon, Avarte, escape from Tia and cross the deadly desert to Altan-controlled lands. Back among his own people, Vetch becomes indispensable because he knows how to tame newly hatched dragons, which then don't need to be drugged into submission. All is not well with the Altans, however. The Magi, who work their will on the world, have great powers they use to prolong the war that is raging for their own benefit. There's plenty of dragon lore as Vetch, now known as Kiron, teaches a close-knit cadre of young jousters how to bond with dragonets and train them for combat in the hope of ending the war. Rife with intrigue and dangerous counterintrigue, the story continues a classic quest-for-good-against-evil plot development while beautifully maintaining the world, society, and characterizations established in <em>Joust</em>. A very satisfying sequel with an ending that begs for another episode because the final battle is yet to come. <em>Sally Estes</em><br /><em>Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved</em></p>


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John Harper has always been alone. His mother died when he was just seven years old and he was raised in New York by an aunt he barely knew. He never even made his father's acquaintance - a man who died shortly after he was born. After leaving the Big Apple as soon as he was old enough, his life consisted of one moderately successful book, a collection affectionately received newspaper columns and a comfortable existence in Miami. Then everything changes. A liquor store heist goes wrong - and turns John's existence on its head. It seems that his father didn't die all those years ago. In fact, he has thrived in the New York underworld. But now the man himself lies critically injured in a Manhattan hospital and it's time for father and son to meet at last . . .


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<div>
 
 <h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3>
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 The cleverness Bakker displayed in his Prince of Nothing fantasy trilogy (The Darkness That Comes Before, etc.) is lacking in this suspense novel introducing Disciple Manning, a Newark, N.J., PI who can remember everything he has ever heard. Jonathan and Amanda Bonjour hire Manning to track down their missing 21-year-old daughter, Jennifer, who's joined a New Age cult known as the Framers, dropped out of nursing school, and is possibly now living at "the Compound," an old horse farm in southeastern Pennsylvania that serves as the cult's retreat. The Framers' leader, former Berkeley philosophy professor Xenophon Baars, has persuaded his followers that the world is more than five billion years older than it is and is about to end. Manning heads to the Compound in search of Jennifer, though he suspects she's already dead. A crude, off-putting hero with a flatulence problem may leave few readers eager for a sequel. (Nov.) (c) <br>Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
 
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 <div><div><p><b>A crime thriller from an acclaimed master of speculative fiction</b></p><p><i>“And you wonder why I’m cynical. I’ve literally ‘seen it all before.’ The truth is we all have, every single one of us past the age of, say, twenty-five. The only difference is that I remember.”</i></p><p>No matter how hard he drinks, gambles, or womanizes, Disciple Manning simply cannot forget: not a word spoken, not an image glimpsed, not a pain suffered.  Disciple Manning has total recall. Whatever he hears, he can remember with 100% accuracy.  He can play it back in his head for an infinite number of times without a single change.  This ability makes him a dangerously unorthodox private investigator.</p><p>When a New Jersey couple hires Manning to find their daughter, who joined a religious cult before vanishing in a small rust-belt town called Ruddick, he finds himself embroiled in a mystery that will pit his unnatural ability to remember against his desperate desire to forget.</p><p> </p></div></div>
 
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SEIZE THE FIRE Shortly after revealing its union with the Federation's newest adversary--a coalition of galactic powers known as the Typhon Pact--the Gorn Hegemony suffers an ecological disaster that destroys the hatchery world of their critically important warrior caste. Fortunately, the Gorn had already been investigating traces of an ancient but powerful "quick terraforming" technology left behind by a long-vanished civilization. This technology, should it prove controllable, promises to restore their delicate biological and social status quo. But when a Gorn soldier prepares to use the technology to reshape the planet Hranrar into a new warrior-caste spawning ground, threatening to extinguish the native Hranrarii, he draws the unwanted attention of a mad Gorn trooper determined to bring the military caste into dominance. Meanwhile, as the "U.S.S. Titan "embarks upon a search for this potent technology in the hope of using it to heal the wounds the Federation sustained during the recent Borg crisis, Captain Riker must balance his responsibility for his crew's safety against the welfare of the Hranrarii and his duty to the Prime Directive. With a menacing Typhon Pact fleet nipping at his heels, Riker must not only stop the Gorn warriors but also plumb the secrets of an ancient terraforming artifact. But of everyone serving aboard "Titan," Commander Tuvok may be the only one who understands how dangerous such planet-altering technology can be, even when used with the best of intentions. . . .


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<h3>Product Description</h3>
<p>Eli Monpress is brilliant. He's incorrigible. And he's a thief.  
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<p>He's also still at large, which drives Miranda Lyonette crazy. While she's been kicked out of the Spirit Court, Eli's had plenty of time to plan his next adventure. But now the tables have turned, because Miranda has a new job -- and an opportunity to capture a certain thief.  
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<p>Things are about to get exciting for Eli. He's picked a winner for his newest heist. His target: the Duke of Gaol's famous "thief-proof" citadel. Eli knows Gaol is a trap, but what's life without challenges? Except the Duke is one of the wealthiest men in the world, a wizard who rules his duchy with an iron fist, and an obsessive perfectionist with only one hobby: Eli.  
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<p>It seems that everyone is hunting for Eli Monpress. 
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<h3>About the Author</h3>
<p>Rachel Aaron was born in Atlanta, GA. After a lovely, geeky childhood full of books and public television, and then an adolesence spent feeling awkward about it, she went to the University of Georgia to pursue English Literature with an eye towards getting her PhD. Upper division coursework cured her of this delusion, and she graduated in 2004 with a BA and a job, which was enough to make her mother happy. She currently lives in a 70s house-of-the-future in Athens, GA with her loving husband, overgrown library, and small, brown dog. Find out more about the author at www.rachelaaron.net. 
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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3>
<p>After a slow start, debut author Aaron pulls the action together and turns in a romp of a lighthearted fantasy starring an absolutely darling rogue. Eli Monpress is a talented thief with a knack for persuasion and more than his fair share of looks and charisma, and his skill with magic makes him truly formidable. While trying to earn the title of the man with the biggest bounty on his head, Eli kidnaps the king of Mellinor, planning to let him go once the bounty goes up. Then the king's exiled brother pulls a fast one and takes over the kingdom, and Eli must make things right. Aaron's breezy style at times tends toward the farcical and absurd, which may not be what she intended but will keep humor-loving readers looking out for subsequent volumes in the planned trilogy. <br />
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<h3>Product Description</h3>
<p>Eli Monpress is talented. He's charming. And he's a thief.  
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<p>But not just any thief. He's the greatest thief of the age - and he's also a wizard. And with the help of his partners - a swordsman with the most powerful magic sword in the world but no magical ability of his own, and a demonseed who can step through shadows and punch through walls - he's going to put his plan into effect.  
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<p>The first step is to increase the size of the bounty on his head, so he'll need to steal some big things. But he'll start small for now. He'll just steal something that no one will miss - at least for a while.  
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<p>Like a king. 
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<h3>Product Description</h3><p><strong>This omnibus edition of the hugely popular <em>Myst</em> trilogy is published to coincide with the release of <em>Myst Revelations</em>, the latest in the line of the bestselling <em>Myst</em> interactive CD-ROM games.</strong></p><p>The award-winning <em>Myst</em> series is one of the most successful interactive CD-ROM computer games in history with sales of more than 12 million copies worldwide. <em>Myst</em> captivated the world when it was first conceived and created by brothers Rand and Robyn Miller. Its extraordinary success has gone on to spawn <em>Riven, Myst III Exile</em>, and most recently, <em>Uru: The Ages Beyond Myst</em>. Devoted fans of these surreal adventure games gather yearly at "Mysterium" (whose event sites are spreading to other countries) to exchange game strategies, share stories, and meet up with old friends. </p><p><em>The Myst Reader</em> is a literary companion to the CD-ROM games and a compendium of the bestselling official <em>Myst</em> trilogy: <em>The Book of Atrus, The Book of Ti'ana</em>, and <em>The Book of D'ni</em>. Devoted fans and new players alike will be delighted to have three books in this mythic saga together for the first time in one value-priced volume, which will be published in time to coincide with the long-awaited release of <em>Myst Revelations</em>. </p><h3>About the Author</h3><p><strong>Robyn Miller</strong>, best known for his work on Myst, currently lives in Spokane, Washington. <strong>Rand Miller</strong> is the CEO of Cyan Worlds, which is currently working on Uru. When not at work, Miller enjoys photography, guitar, and computer tinkering. He lives in Spokane, Washington, with his wife, Debbie, and three daughters. </p>


