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17095281 | /m/0421bck | The General of the Dead Army | Ismail Kadare | 1963 | {"/m/03g3w": "History"} | In the early 1960s, nearly 20 years since the Second World War ended, an Italian general, accompanied by a priest who is also an Italian army colonel, is sent to Albania to locate and collect the bones of his countrymen who had died during the war and return them for burial in Italy. As they organise digs and disinterment, they wonder at the scale of their task. The general talks to the priest about the futility of war and the meaninglessness of the enterprise. As they go deeper into the Albanian countryside they find they are being followed by another general who is looking for the bodies of German soldiers killed in World War II. Like his Italian counterpart, the German struggles with a thankless job looking for remains to take back home for burial, and questions the value of such gestures of national pride. |
17100250 | /m/0421q_v | Blanquerna | null | null | null | The central character of the novel named after him, Blanquerna, was born to Evast and Aloma. Before marrying, Evast, a nobleman, had wanted to follow a religious life but at the same time wished to experience matrimony. He became a merchant after his marriage to Aloma, and he gives his son an education based on religious and philosophical pursuits. In the second part of the novel, Blanquerna confronts the same choice his father did: between a celibate life and a married one. Blanquerna decides to become a hermit, which saddens his mother; she tries to have her son marry the beautiful Cana. But Blanquerna persuades Cana to become a nun, and she later becomes an abbess. Blanquerna also faces sexual temptation in the form of a maiden named Natana. This second part includes a description of the seven sins. In parts three through five of the novel, Blanquerna, having chosen a religious life, becomes a monk (though he desires to become a hermit instead), and quickly becomes an abbot. In time, he is elected pope. The road to the papacy pope is not easy; Blanquerna is constantly faced with troublesome decisions and temptations, and he is not perfect. Indeed, Blanquerna "is made credible precisely because he is prone to make mistakes and to experience temptation, and in the end this gives him an authority which other authorities are obliged to recognize." Blanquerna's life takes him through widely varying places and social strata, from uninhabited forests and wildernesses to the dense Roman urban landscape of thieves and prostitutes, from interactions with young maidens to interactions with popes and emperors. As he matures, Blanquerna listens to the advice of a jongleur, a "wise fool" named Ramon. Blanquerna reforms the Church completely as pope, with Ramon’s help, and finally becomes the hermit he had always desired to be. As a hermit, he composes a book of meditations to help his fellow hermits defeat temptation: this is the Llibre d'Amic e d'Amat, which consists of 365 love poems. This text "purports to offer the protagonist’s mystical confessions, based on personal experience and examples of 'Sufi preachers,' as a guide to contemplation within the apostolic utopia of a reform of contemporary Christendom." |
17103727 | /m/04214g5 | My Bonny Light Horseman | null | 9/1/2008 | {"/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature", "/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | The story starts with Jacky back on sea after visiting her dear friend, Amy Trevelyne, after her adventures throughout the U.S. frontier. She sails her ship the "Nancy B. Alsop" while waiting for Jaimy to come back from the Orient to marry her. Soon though, a British warship, the HMS Dauntless has come to imprison Jacky and her crew but after an intense confrontation with Bliffil (an old nemesis of Jacky's) and British soldiers, Jacky surrenders, asking that the British spare her crew. Much to their dismay, Higgins and the Nancy B. Alsop accept this change and sail away. Despite Jacky's skeptic attitude once being aboard. She is realized as nothing but a young, innocent girl that was wrongly labeled a rogue by King George, despite Bliffil's slanderous accusation of her being known as "Tuppence a lay" on the HMS Dolphin and a threat to every man board. She soon meets up with two acquaintances, David "Davy" Jones and Joseph Jared and she befriends the Dr. Sebastian and Captain Hudson of the Dauntless. Bliffil nags and nags on Jacky, libeling her name like dirt until the crew can't take it no more. Bliffil is met with several threats if he ever insults Jacky but they do not come, especially from Jared. Jacky gains freedom of the ship at will for being such a good captive. She takes up with Dr. Sebastian and paints him a much-acclaimed portrait and portfolio. He shows her a rare Mexican dung beetle and she meets his other assistant. Once Captain Hudson hears and sees of her talent, he has her paint him a portrait of his own. Later, Hudson and Sebastian meet in private discussing how they feel about Jacky being a "rogue" and a "pirate" by the King himself and how Sebastian has even taken up the idea of adopting her. Jacky loves the thought of it, smirking. They sail to British waters but after the senior crew is struck with food poisoning, Jacky persuades Hudson to allow her to take command. While Hudson and the rest of the crew that ate the fish are ill, the Dauntless is attacked by the French and Dutch. Jacky is forced to strike colours, but not before she's had the ill officers brought to their stations on stretchers, to preserve their honor. The crew is taken to the French prison of Cherbourg. Jared takes to sleeping in the same bed as Jacky, to still her continuing nightmares. Hudson is soon paroled, and Jared assaults Bliffil as he continues to insult Jacky (Now claiming to be male Midshipman "Jack Kemp", a play on "Jack Hemp"). The Dauntless prisoners are joined by the captured crew of the HMS Mercury, and Jaimy has been severely wounded. Bliffil had passed a note to a guard, and Jacky is exposed as the pirate La Belle Jeune Fille sans Merci, "The Beautiful Young Girl Without Mercy". A lawyer by the name of Jardineaux comes for Jacky to take her to the guillotine. Jared once again attempts to kill Bliffil, but is beaten down by the guards. She is sent to be executed, but en route to the site of the execution, she is switched with another girl. She is sent back to London to meet with First Lord Thomas Grenville and Mr. Peel of Naval Intelligence, with Bliffil attending. Upon her arrival, she attacks the three and attempts to garrote Bliffil. Grenville and Peel smooth things over and she releases Bliffil from near-death. Grenville leaves Mr. Peel to give Jacky the mission and he informs her of the cover-up. British Intelligence wants the French to believe that Jacky Faber is dead in order to send her back across the channel as a spy. Jacky is to train as a ballerina, performing in a Parisian nightclub frequented by French officers, who often vie to "escort" the young girls home. She is told that if she refuses the mission, British Intelligence intends to "hurt" the ones she loves. Jacky cannot bear to lose her orphanage, but bargains to have Dr. Sebastian, Jaimy, Jared and Davey released. Jacky spends the next two weeks training in Ballet, shopping for new clothing and gear, and visiting both St Paul's Cathedral and the Fletcher household, family of her betrothed. Jaimy's father and brother both receive her much more warmly than his mother had (in Under the Jolly Roger), and grimly bear the news of Jaimy's injuries. The last night Jacky is in England is the first night Jaimy is at home, and the two share a tender moment before she has to leave for her mission. The British escort Jacky to France where they place her in Paris. She establishes herself in an apartment, and learns that Jardineaux is her "Control". She acquaints herself with her Royalist Handler by the name of Jean-Paul de Valdon and they establish a fast friendship, guiding her through the Notre Dame de Paris, The Louvre (notably, a painting of one of his relations, Charlotte Corday the assassin of Revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat Jacky joins the troupe "Le Petit Gamine" under the name Jacqueline Bouvier, and she is approached by her first target, one Field Marshal de Groote, nicknamed "The Goat" by the other girls. Jacky offers to meet him the following Tuesday evening, and then arranges for his wife to catch him "in the act". He arrives on the night of the sting dressed in a wolf mask, earlier having referred to her as "Little Red Riding Hood". After plying de Groote with Cognac laced with Paregoric and prying Napoleon's troop movements out of him, his wife arrives brandishing pistols. The ensuing altercation injures de Groote, disabling him and attracting the attention of the police. Jardineaux proposes to next have Jacky serve as a camp follower, trailing Napoleon's men. Jacky, offended, decides to dress as a man once again, this time joining Napoleon's messengers, granting her ready access to military documents. She assumes the name Jacques Bouvier a West Point Cadet. Upon arrival, she is given the duties of training a unit of inexperienced, untrained soldiers. She runs afoul of a Major Levesque but also makes friends amongst the officers and soldiers under her command. She and her soldiers, nicknamed the "Clod Hoppers" due to their rough, country origins meet Napoleon, presenting him with a captured Prussian flag. Soon afterwards, Jacky is reunited with Jean Paul and Randall Trebvelyne. They see action in the Battle of Jena and Napoleon releases her from the Army, awarding her a Legion of Honour. After war, she gives Mathilde to her assistant-in-war Denis Dufour. Meanwhile, Jaimy is fully awaken from his concussion and tries to find what happened to Jacky after the stint at the French prison. They find out she was working in Paris so they set sail aboard the Nancy B. Jacky's days of war are over and she reports back to Paris. She meets Jardineaux there, where things turn fierce. Jardineaux tells Jacky his disappointment in her for not killing Napoleon and brands her a traitor. He holds her at gunpoint and has her ride with him to the docks where he would kill her. Once there, Jean Paul appears to reveal more of what Jardineaux had plotted for Napoleon and just as soon as Jardineaux is about to kill Jacky. Jean Paul impales him with Jacky's shiv (which he had taken prior to her being taken to the dock), saving Jacky. Before this, however, Jardineaux showed Jacky that her ship, the Nancy B. Alsop was coming into dock. So she leaves Jean Paul at the dock to be picked up by Jaimy, Higgins and the rest of the crew, saying, "I have come home." |
17106013 | /m/0421t07 | Lock and Key | Sarah Dessen | 4/22/2008 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | After her drug and alcohol addicted mother abandons her, child services forces 17-year-old Ruby Cooper to move in with her sister, Cora, who had left for college when Ruby was young. Ruby is upset about this arrangement and continues to wear the key to her old home on a chain around her neck. After learning she will be transferring to a new high school, Ruby attempts to run away but is found out. Nate Cross, Jamie and Cora's next-door neighbor, covers for her. Over the span of the story, Ruby slowly becomes closer to Nate. As Ruby adjusts to her new life, she learns Cora had not been avoiding her; in fact, Cora had been trying to rescue Ruby from their mother but had always been stopped. Ruby feels overwhelmed with all this, so she skips school to take alcohol and drugs, and later finds herself in Nate's car when he picks her up. Ruby comes home to a furious Jamie, who accuses her for being ungrateful to him and her sister. Having seen resemblances between herself and her mother that night, Ruby becomes determined to change her ways. One of Nate's clients, a high-strung woman named Harriet, offers Ruby a job at her jewelry store in the mall. Harriet's business booms after a line of key-shaped pendants, inspired by Ruby's necklace, becomes an instant hit. Harriet struggles with a conflict of her own: Because of her independency, she is reluctant to form a relationship with Reggie, who owns the kiosk next to her. Throughout the story Ruby becomes suspicious about Nate's father, and eventually learns that he abuses Nate. Nate is defensive about this, and that leads to them they fighting and breaking up. One day, Cora and Jamie inform Ruby that the police had found her mother unconscious in a hotel room and was sent to a rehabilitation center. Later, Ruby finds out that Nate has run away, but finds him in an apartment room that she and Nate had visited while she was tagging along with him on his job. Ruby drives Nate to the airport when he decides to leave his father to live with his mother. After a sudden realization, she takes the key to the yellow house off its chain, replaces it with the key to Cora and Jamie's house, and hands the necklace to Nate. At the end of the school year, Ruby gives her English report on the meaning of family. She offers the idea that the word has a flexible definition. For evidence, she shows two pictures, both of family. The first was of Jamie's huge family, while the second was taken at Ruby's eighteenth birthday party. After trying for months, Cora learns she is finally pregnant, and Ruby is accepted to the same university as Nate. She wants to write a letter to her mother, but not knowing what to say, simply mails a copy of her acceptance letter. At the end of the novel, she stands in the backyard, and as Cora and Jamie are calling for her to leave for her graduation, she takes out the old key to the yellow house from the pocket of her robe and drops it into the pond. |
17107438 | /m/0421k7k | The Creator | Clifford D. Simak | 1946 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"} | The novelette suggests that our universe was not created by God. |
17112533 | /m/0420zdm | The Old Red Hippopotamus | null | null | null | The first chapter of the novel is called ‘Desher Wer,’ which means ‘old red’ in Ancient Egyptian. This term for the hippopotamus, of outstanding longevity milestone, gives the novel its title ‘The Old Red’. Before the reader meets the Old Red, he begins to discover the village of 'Per Mora' or ‘the House of Mora’, who is the goddess of the village, the giant goddess of fertility and love, because most events take place on its area. Then the reader meets the grandfather Anatem, the legendary founder of the village. From him is descended Onan, the main character and master of the places with which the second chapter of the novel is particularly concerned. Then the reader discovers the eternal lake which the villagers and the other artisans depend on for their food by fishing. Finally, the reader begins to learn about ‘the old red hippopotamus,’ the lord of the lake and exclusive controller of the village and its people. Readers will appreciate the human side of the ‘old red’ as he waits for the birth of his offspring, in a state of stress and anxiety that develops during foaling as he dreams of perhaps this time having a male baby to inherit his kingdom. The reader also learns about the villagers and their activities and also the goddess Mora, the beautiful brunette mistress of the village. The real torment for the villagers is that as they sleep during the night, hippopotami eat the harvest they have struggled to grow. So they seek revenge on his herd of hippos and their leader the Old Red. After careful planning, Naram, the only son of the master of the village Onan, makes a trap with which he manages to catch the small hippopotamus, the only son of the Old Red, the master of the lake. The furious Old Red decides on reprisals against the entire village and it attacks and kills both Naram, the only son of the village master Onan, and his wife Myriam as they sail in a felucca in the middle of the lake. However, it pushes the cradle of their baby Asheel to the shore but despite this kindness, rivalry increases between the Old Red the master of the lake and Onan master of the village. The second chapter of the novel, entitled ‘Onan,’ begins with his biography and the reason for his revenge on the Old Red for killing his son after the murder of his offspring, the little red. The chapter ends with the disappearance of Onan and his execution by the ‘old red’. The third and final chapter of the novel, entitled ‘Oshtata’ concerns the most heroic of women, Oshtata, who is Onan’s wife and the mother of Naram. She decides to avenge her husband and her son. After an interminable and exhausting battle with ‘the old red’, she herself dies, thinking that she has succeeded in getting rid of him. The novel ends in an enigmatic spiral that affirms the continuity of an eternal struggle between human and divine will. The idea of revenge can destroy human life, as is shown by most of the novel's characters who fail to realize their hopes. fr:Le Vieux Rouge |
17117244 | /m/0421lmh | Behind the Evidence | William L. Crawford | 1936 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"} | The novel concerns conspiracy theories and a case similar to the Lindbergh kidnapping but set in a mythical Germanic country |
17123035 | /m/04099wh | Centurion | Simon Scarrow | 2007 | {"/m/02p0szs": "Historical fiction", "/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | During the reign of Emperor Claudius in the 1st century AD, the powers of the Roman Empire and the Parthian Empire are jockeying for influence over the Kingdom of Palmyra, which buffers the two empires and keeps an uneasy peace. Fearing a Parthian invasion of the Roman province of Syria, the Romans send an Auxiliary cohort to build a hill fort on the banks of the Euphrates. In response, the Parthians ambush the fort, slaughtering the garrison. Meanwhile, the Tenth legion, Third legion and the Sixth legion are drilling for war against the Parthians. Prefect Macro and Centurion Cato are drilling the Second Illyrian auxiliary cohort, attached to the Tenth legion for the war. Cato and Macro were sent east by Claudius' personal secretary, Narcissus, to gather proof that the Roman governor of Syria, Longinus is planning to use the Syrian legions in a bid for the imperial throne, however, thus far they failed to prove his treachery. During their time in Antioch, Crispus, a Roman legionary murders an auxiliary during an argument, leading to Crispus being put to death, causing a rift between the auxiliaries and legionaries on the base. A Parthian convoy arrives, delivering the head of Centurion Castor, the soldier who led the auxiliaries to build the Roman hillfort, and warns of Parthian intervention, should Rome continue to meddle in Palmyra's affairs. Shortly thereafter, a Roman soldier guarding a Roman diplomat, Lucius Sempronius, arrives from Palmyra, announcing that Palmyra has descended into civil war. Prince Artaxes, an ambitious heir to the Palmyran throne leads an army against his father, King Vabathus, blockading them in the Palmyran Citadel. Fearing the Parthians will arrive before the Romans can, Longinus sends the Second Illyrian, and a cohort of the Tenth legion to reinforce the Palmyran loyalists until the Roman army can arrive in force. Along the way, the Roman column under Prefect Macro are aided by the mysterious Prince Balthus, who covets the Palmyran throne, despite not being Vabathus' first born. The Roman column manages to fight their way through the city and into the citadel, where they realise the gravity of the situation. Vabathus' first born is Prince Artaxes, a Parthian sympathiser, whilst Balthus, despite being a skilled soldier squanders his time in trivial pursuits. Prince Amethus is easily persuaded, and is often used to further the ambitions of Krathos, an ambitious Palmyran noble. Following a banquet to celebrate the successful defence of a rebel attack, Amethus is found murdered, with Balthus being the prime suspect. Meanwhile, Cato meets Sempronius' daughter, Julia, and the two fall in love. Following a rebel bombardment of the citadel, the food stores are destroyed, with only two days of supplies left. However, Longinus arrives with the Tenth legion, Third Legion and several auxiliary cohorts, lifting the siege. Longinus later reveals to Macro and Cato that they were never meant to reach Palmyra, and were meant to die in the desert, thus removing the two spies that had frustrated his plans. Against the advice of Cato, Longinus leads the army out into the desert, determined to destroy Artaxes' army and his Parthian allies. During a night attack, Longinus panics, orders a retreat and leaves the army at the mercy of the Parthian horsemen. On the suggestions of Cato, the army manages to defeat the rebels and the Parthians in a pitched battle, leading to the death of Prince Artaxes on the order of Balthus. Back in Palmyra, it is revealed that Balthus had ordered his slave, Carpex, to murder Amethus, and he is arrested, to be put to death. Sempronius reveals that the Empire is to annex Palmyra, and absorb it into the province of Syria, as there are no heirs that Rome can work with. Macro and Cato are released from Narcissus' employment, ending their posting in the East, and Sempronius gives his consent for Cato to marry Julia. |
17125741 | /m/043skqd | Fearless Fourteen | Janet Evanovich | 2008 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Stephanie Plum apprehends Loretta Rizzi for failure to appear in court, but Loretta, who is a distant cousin of Stephanie's policeman boyfriend, Joe Morelli, agrees to go along only if Stephanie will take care of her son, Mario. Unfortunately, Loretta has no collateral and no relatives willing to sign for her, so she doesn't get bonded out. Meanwhile, Ranger calls Stephanie with a job: Brenda (a famous one-name singer like Cher or Madonna) is coming to town and she needs security, so Stephanie reluctantly obliges, Stephanie and Ranger's assorted merry men help to protect Brenda from PETA protesters, women protesting Brenda's breast augmentation, and Brenda's cousin/stalker, Gary, who claims to have psychic abilities since being struck by lightning. Stephanie is now responsible for Mario, a.k.a. Zook, who is obsessed with playing Minionfire. Loretta is eventually bailed out, but within hours of her release, she is kidnapped. Stephanie contacts Loretta's brother, Dom, who has a history of anger issues and has just finished a prison term for a bank robbery of nine million dollars. Dom is enraged to learn that his nephew has been staying at Morelli's, and alleges that Mario is Morelli's son (as Loretta had never revealed the identity of his father) and threatens to kill Morelli. Stephanie takes Zook to stay with her parents, and he quickly gets Stephanie's Grandma Mazur. After Zook upsets Stephanie's mother by decorating the house with graffiti, however, Stephanie has to take him back to Morelli's until she can locate Loretta. Then, Stephanie's ex-stoner classmate Mooner arrives at Morelli's, revealing that he is the Minionfire player Moondog. Stephanie is working with Ranger to protect Brenda, and trying to survive Lula's engagement to Tank, Ranger's right hand man. Brenda tries to start a bounty-hunter reality show and goes with Stephanie and Lula on an apprehension, but causes them to be attacked by the FTA's pet monkey. Gary the stalker also begins to lurk at Morelli's house with Zook and Mooner. After repeated break-ins and the discovery of a dead body in the basement, Stephanie and Morelli realize that either the money or some clue to its location is buried in the basement, which is a problem because Morelli had a concrete floor poured after inheriting the house, which would have gone to Dom, had he not been convicted of robbery. Stephanie discovers that Dom has been staying with his old friend Jelly Kantner, and breaks into the apartment to investigate, when two men come looking for Dom. She hides under the bed, but hears enough to realize that they're the other two partners in the robbery. After Brenda, who is now trying her hand as an investigative reporter, suggests on television that the money is buried in Morelli's yard, local treasure-hunters keep showing up with shovels, effectively destroying his yard. Morelli, tired of the chaos and already footing the bill to feed everyone who's begun frequenting his house, pays Zook, Mooner, and Gary to act as security and keep the treasure-diggers away. Then, in a more serious turn of events, Stephanie receives a package containing a severed pinky toe, purportedly Loretta's. Figuring out that the corpse in Morelli's basement was one of Dom's three partners in the past robbery, Stephanie goes to confront Stanley Zero, the other known partner, but finds him dead. Stephanie is contacted by the unknown fourth partner, who wants to trade Loretta for the money, which is hidden in a van in a location that only Dom knows. The police prepare a duplicate van and fake money, but the fourth partner contacts Stephanie and tells her that he's aware of the deception, and unless she gets the real money to him by noon the next day, he will cut of Loretta's hand. Then, Stephanie discovers that a camera has been mounted on the house across the street from Morelli's, which explains how the kidnapper has been aware of events at the house. Morelli sends a lab technician to disable the camera, and when Stephanie talks to him, she recognizes his voice: He was the other man in Jelly's apartment, and therefore the fourth partner in the robbery. a camera in Morelli's neighborhood and calls a tech guy to disable the camera, and see who might have hung it. Then, Dom arrives, recognizes the kidnapper, and makes a deal to take him to the money. Stephanie tries to get Dom to stall until the police arrive, but he refuses, so she, Mooner, Zook, and Gary (along with their homemade potato guns which they've been using for security) pursue them, followed by Brenda and her TV crew. As the kidnapper is escaping in the van, Mooner shoots a potato through his windshield, causing him to crash into a deli. This makes the van explode, killing the kidnapper and sending the stolen money flying. Loretta is retrieved from the kidnapper's basement, uninjured and with all her toes intact. Gary's prophecy comes true: the explosion at the deli caused Brenda to be hit by a flying frozen pizza. The story ends at Morelli's house with everyone watching the news. Mooner managed to collect some of the stolen money during the explosion, but gives most of it away. Brenda announces that she's leaving New Jersey to do a reality show with Gary. Dom decides that he no longer wants to kill Morelli, and Loretta explains that she never slept with Morelli as a teenager, and that Mario's father was a classmate who'd died in a freak accident the day after he got her pregnant. |
17126431 | /m/043psql | The Interior | Lisa See | 1999 | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/05hgj": "Novel", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"} | Flower Net ends March 14, 1997. The setting of The Interior is summer 1997—China "post- Deng Xiaoping", a period characterized by "an unholy alliance between post-Deng Communism ('market socialism') and American capitalism", the China of Jiang Zemin. In the novel the narrator speaks about the times in more personal terms: "As the saying went, the blade of grass points where the wind blows. The only problem was that the wind was blowing in so many directions these days no one could completely protect himself". The plot centers on the conniving of American and Chinese businessmen to exploit poorly paid Chinese workers, especially women, for profit and power. See describes in great detail the dangers women face because they work in an American toy factory, located in a remote part of the interior of China, that lacks adequate safety protections and is a virtual fire trap. Miaoshan was working at the toy factory before her death. Elisabeth Sherwin quotes Lisa See speaking about the role of Chinese working women from a somewhat different perspective: "'The women making $24 a month in those factories are changing the face of China . . . They are making enough money to open up small stores in their home villages. These women are working at a free market economy and are providing an economic value they never had before.'" At the end of The Interior Hulan and David solve several murders related to the toy factory. The novel begins with Hulan's friend Suchee and the murder of Miaoshan, her daughter. It concludes with the solution to the mystery of Miaoshan's death (which had nothing to do with the toy factory) and with her mother Suchee working in the fields, unable to forget her. |
17127610 | /m/043sj_6 | The Last Days of Judas Iscariot | Stephen Adly Guirgis | null | null | The Last Days of Judas Iscariot tells the story of a court case over the ultimate fate of Judas Iscariot. The play uses flashbacks to an imagined childhood, and lawyers who call for the testimonies of such witnesses as Mother Teresa, Caiaphas, Saint Monica, Sigmund Freud, and Satan. |
17129362 | /m/043sf8m | A Single Man | Christopher Isherwood | 1964 | {"/m/0cgx58": "Gay novel"} | An English professor, about a year after the sudden death of his boyfriend, is unable to cope with the despondent, bereaved nature of his existence and decides on one fateful day to make preparations to take his own life. Throughout the day, he has various encounters with different people that color his senses and illuminate the possibilities of being alive and human in the world. |
17132183 | /m/043jnmk | The Night People | George Henry Weiss | 1947 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"} | The novel concerns J. Smith who breaks out of prison by means of time travel. |
17135880 | /m/043q6ww | Against All Things Ending | Stephen R. Donaldson | 10/19/2010 | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | After the resurrection of Thomas Covenant, Covenant's mind is fractured and often becomes lost among his vast memories of the Land's past acquired from Covenant's existence as the Timewarden. Linden Avery resolves to find Jeremiah before confronting the newly awakened Worm of the World's End, when The Harrow appears and claims that he can take her to her son. It is The Harrow's purpose to confront the Worm, for which he requires the Staff of Law and the white gold ring; he demands to borrow their use, in payment for which he offers to retrieve Jeremiah. The Ardent, a representative of The Insequent, arrives to ensure that The Harrow does not betray Linden Avery. Thomas Covenant, who must struggle with his memories, takes the Krill from its place in Andelain. However, his former wife Joan is able to attack Covenant with wild magic through the Krill. And without the Krill's protection, the Skurj and the Sandgorgons (now controlled by the Raver Samadhi Sheol) will lay waste to Andelain, and the surrounding Salva Gildenbourne. Ultimately, with assurances that The Ardent - and through him, the entire race of the Insequent - will ensure that The Harrow does not deal falsely, Linden agrees to the bargain, and surrenders the Staff and the ring. The Ardent is charged by his kindred to both constrain and assist The Harrow - which means that, by the innate law of the Insequent, his life is forfeit to failure as well. The Harrow and The Ardent transport Linden and her companions to The Lost Deep, the ancient domain of the Viles, to find Jeremiah. There, at the great bridge the Viles called The Hazard, Anele becomes enraptured by the deep stone of the earth, and prophesies that the Worm will ultimately seek the EarthBlood as its final sustenance: when the Worm drinks the EarthBlood, the Arch of Time will fall. In witnessing this prophecy, The Ardent accomplishes one of his private goals; however, The Harrow fails to open the portal to the Lost Deep. Ultimately it is Linden, using the Staff, who is able to unweave the Vile magics due to the insight she gained from Caerroil Wildwood, and from her personal encounter with the Viles themselves in the Land's past. It is revealed that it was to steal this insight that motivated The Harrow's initial attempt to possess Linden, before he was denied by The Mahdoubt. By regaining the Staff, Linden also discovers that far beneath even the Lost Deep slumbers a powerful bane called 'She Who Must Not Be Named' - a tormented avatar of countless betrayed women throughout history, including Kastenessen's lover, and the banished wife of the Despiser, Diassomer Mininderain. Linden discovers that it is this bane which is the source of Kevin's Dirt. The bane slumbers, however, and without any conceivable means to oppose it, the party leave it sleeping, and enter the Lost Deep. While Linden's companions are held enthralled by the wonders of the Viles' ancient abode, The Harrow leaves them to take Jeremiah for his own ambitious schemes. There, he confronts the croyel, which hides in one of Jeremiah's constructs, designed to conceal it from the Elohim (who had previously told Linden they were unable to free her son). Liand attacks it, and the croyel nearly kills him. The Harrow believes that due to this construct, the croyel will be unable to summon aid - meaning Roger (who was gifted one of the mad Elohim Kastenessen's hands, and therefore has some Elohim powers). However, the croyel surprises him by summoning skest instead, and the party are nearly overwhelmed. In desperation, Linden destroys the construct, which immediately allows Roger to transport himself to the fight, where he promptly murders The Harrow. Before Roger can claim the Staff and Ring, however, his father intervenes, battling against him with Loric's Krill. Through the Krill, Joan exerts her power to harm Covenant, and his hands are so badly burned that Linden is later forced to amputate his remaining fingertips. With Stave's aid against the croyel, Linden is able to combine forces with Covenant to force Roger to flee. At last Esmer arrives, with the Ur-viles and Waynhim, and prevents Roger from fleeing with Jeremiah. Covenant is able to capture the croyel using the Krill, and Esmer takes Roger and transports him away from the fight; he shortly returns with a group of Waynhim and ur-viles, who assist the party to escape. The conflict of these forces awakens She Who Must Not Be Named. Linden and her companions follow the Ur-viles and Waynhim in seeking a way out, and rely heavily on the strength and endurance of Ironhand Coldspray and her Swordmainnir. By holding the croyel at bay with the threat of Loric's Krill - one of few weapons that can slay the monster - the party are able to bring Jeremiah and the croyel with them. The Skurj also arrive to worsen the situation. Exposed by her EarthSight more intimately to the bane's evil than the other party members - and being a more ready target due to her family history of abuse and despair - Linden's hope finally fails when the party is cornered, and she falls into a catatonic state, deeply traumatized. Covenant first tries to reason with She Who Must Not be Named, then tries to convince Esmer to reveal her true name which would release her. When Esmer refuses Covenant asks Anele to use Liand's orcrest stone to summon the spirits of his parents, Sunder and Hollian. They leave, however, and summon High Lord Elena's spirit as bait for She Who Must Not Be Named. This ploy succeeds at delaying She Who Must Not Be Named from attacking the group. As Elena is being consumed Covenant convinces Esmer to leave them, which allows the Ardent to transport the company away. The Ardent transports the group to a location near Landsdrop. The Ardent can no longer assist them since he failed to protect The Harrow, and begins to madden and die, though through him the race of the Insequent announce that he has become the greatest among them. Somewhat later, as a final service to Linden, he transports the Cords to Revelstone, so that they might convince the Masters to march against the Sandgorgons and Skurj that are attacking the Upper Land. In the meantime, the party rest and recuperate from their narrow escape from death. Linden is recalled from her catatonic state by Covenant, but her yearning for his love is (from her point of view) spurned. She grows bitter towards him as a result, and refocuses herself on the plight of her son. After a failed attempt by Linden to free Jeremiah from the croyel - during which the flames of Earthpower which she draws from the staff are tainted black, apparently permanently - the group are attacked by caesures, brought on by Joan's awareness of Linden's attempted use of wild magic. No less than six caesures assail the company, and in the chaos Anele touches the dirt and is possessed by Kastenessen; the mad Elohim immediately kills Liand in an effort to protect the croyel. After Linden quenches the caesures, the Giants and Stave construct a rocky cairn for the slain Stonedownor, whose lover Pahni is inconsolable. The devastated group is soon attacked again by Roger and an army of Cavewights. During the battle, Galt sacrifices himself to protect Anele, indicating an alteration in The Humbled's stance towards the menace of his Earthpower. Anele then uses Liand's Orcrest and sacrifices his life to both slay the croyel, and to transfer his innate Earthpower, and heritage as the "Last hope of the Land", into Jeremiah. During the battle, Esmer arrives in yet another attempt to betray Linden for Kastenessen, but is pursued by the ur-Viles, who at last reveal the purpose of the manacles they forged: they capture Esmer with them, restraining his power and freeing the wild magic to act. Infuriated by the loss of Anele and Galt, and exalted by the rescue of her son, Linden wields the white gold and utterly routs Roger and his Cavewights. In the battle's aftermath, it is revealed that Jeremiah remains locked in his isolated mental state, and that Galt was actually Stave's son, though the two had become estranged by Stave's repudiation of The Masters. As for Esmer, the tormented half-Haruchai begs Linden for the release of death, but she cannot bring herself to do it, though the required weapon, Loric's Krill, is at hand. Stave sees this and kills Esmer as an act of mercy - upon both Esmer and Linden, so that she would not have to. Finally, through the offices of the Giants, whose gift of tongues is restored upon Esmer's death, Linden is finally able to communicate with the ur-Vile Loremaster, who she thanks and promises to give assistance to at some later time. The Demondim-spawn then depart. Abruptly, Covenant leaves with the two remaining Humbled to confront Joan. Linden and her companions follow the Ranyhyn, trusting the wise horses to know best what they must do next to confront the Land's doom. They lead Linden to a quarry of bones named Muirwin Delenoth. The bones belonged to Quellvisks, an extinct race of monsters that Lord Foul created in an attempt to rouse the Worm by attacking the Elohim (this plot failed, and the Quellvisks were eradicated by the Elohim). Unprompted, Jeremiah begins building a construct with the Quellvisk bones, somehow using the ancient lost craft of anundivian yajna. The group are promptly targets for more than one foe: Joan begins assailing them with caesures, and shortly afterward Infelice appears and attempts to stop them. She hints that Jeremiah's construct will capture the Elohim, which she cannot permit. She describes his actions as "ruin incarnate". She also warns that Lord Foul's "deeper purpose" (which he hinted at when Linden was summoned in Runes of the Earth) is to use Jeremiah's power, after the fall of the Arch of Time, to create a prison for the Creator, allowing Foul to rule all universes. This, at last, is what has long been hinted at in references to "the shadow on the heart" of the Elohim: Infelice insists that Jeremiah's building must not be completed. In exchange for Linden stopping Jeremiah, Infelice offers a promise of the Elohim's protection for the boy, to ensure he does not fall back into the Despiser's hands. Linden refuses the bargain, and as a caesure attacks, Infelice binds Linden and Stave with enchantment, and moves to attack Jeremiah. However, Stave and Linden resist, and with the assistance of the Ranyhyn, Linden is able to throw Jeremiah's old toy race car (that Esmer had previously repaired) to her son, who uses it to complete his construct. Infelice vanishes, presumably ensnared by the construct, and Jeremiah is simultaneously freed from the prison of his mind. At last he and his mother share an embrace, and Linden is able to believe "that her rent heart might heal". Meanwhile, Thomas Covenant travels to the ruins of Foul's Creche to face Joan. He refuses to ride a Ranyhyn per his ancient bargain with them, so the Humbled's Ranyhyn bring with them the steed formerly ridden by The Harrow, which they compel to bear Covenant. On the journey he speaks to the Feroce, diminutive creatures who worship the Lurker of the Sarangrave. They are offshoots of the same race that produced the skest and the sur-jheherrin. The Feroce tell Covenant that the Lurker wants to be allied with Covenant, since it has realised the peril of the Worm as a common enemy. Covenant accepts this alliance, and the Feroce later help him when they battle with the Skest. Covenant reaches Joan by entering a caesure; Branl and Clyme follow him with dogged Haruchai loyalty, though Covenant is only able to free himself from the warped instant of time. He realises that Joan is beyond reach as she rebukes his efforts to help her, and intends to kill him. Covenant calls the Ranyhyn, who are able to distract Joan - due to her love of horses. The distraction provides him the opportunity to drive the Krill through Joan's heart, ending the caesure and freeing the Humbled. Turiya Herem, the Raver who had possessed Joan, flees, and Covenant takes his ex-wife's wedding ring, stripping Foul and his allies of the white gold. Covenant and the Humbled climb onto the shore to evade a tidal wave caused by the Worm's approach to the Land; they survive, though the Humbled's Ranyhyn mounts are lost. The morning sun has failed to dawn, and Thomas Covenant watches as the stars begin to wink out, one by one. |
17136775 | /m/043ndlw | Conan the Formidable | Steve Perry | 1990 | {"/m/0dz8b": "Sword and sorcery", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The novel opens with Conan walking to Shadizar through the Karpash Mountains. He is ambushed by some bandits in mountains and rescued by the giantess Teyle. She leads Conan back to the giant village in the swamp they inhabit at the foot of the mountains. The swamp is also inhabited by Vargs, who are described as "Green dwarves" but act more like goblins or orcs. Upon arriving, he is knocked out by Teyle to be experimented upon by the request of Raseri the giant chieftain and Teyle's father. Conan awakes in a cage made of the bones of giants and finds he is being experimented upon by Raseri to research the physical endurance for damage of humans. At the same time, Dake the freakmaster is on his way to the giant's village with his entourage of Penz the wolfman, Tro the catwoman, Sab the four-armed man, and Kreg the assistant to the freakmaster. Dake's mission is to capture a giant and a "green dwarf" for his freak show. On the way, the freak show is attacked by vargs, but the vargs scared off by a massive, red demon that Dake summons (which is an illusion). Penz captures one of the Vargs at the behest of Dake. Dake promptly enspells the Varg into servitude. The Varg that is captured turns out to be Vilken, the son of Fosull the Varg chieftain. Conan eventually escapes the cage in which he is being held and sets fire to the hut he was stored in sending all of Raseri's research on humans into flames. Conan escapes into the swamp, running through some Vargs and killing several of them. At the same time, Dake arrives in the night in the hopes of capturing a giant for his freak show with the help of Tro the catwoman's night vision. The flaming hut distracts many of the giants and Dake is able to capture Teyle, as well as Morja and Oren who are also Raseri's children. As Conan escapes, the giants release their "Hellhounds", a massive beast with the appearance of a cross between a bear and a wolf. The hellhounds, Vargs, and giants are tracking Conan in that order of following. Conan slays all the hellhounds. When the Vargs and giants find these corpses they are amazed. Conan finally escapes the swamp only to be magically captured by Dake. Figuring that more of his own kind will attract too much attention, Raseri decides to leave the swamp to look for his children by asking the local humans if they have seen a man like Conan. Fosull decides likewise but coats himself in mud (so as not to display his green skin) and follows the cart's tracks, knowing what they look like. Fosull manages to get a ride with a drunk wine seller in the wine cart. Dake forces Conan to display his strength so that it may be measured. Dake learns that Conan is stronger than all the rest of the freak show combined and sets Conan to use as his strongman for the traveling circus. Raseri eventually finds Fosull's wagon and learns that the cart in front of him contains a Varg that is tracking their children. Fosull learns that he is being tracked by a giant, but knows not who. Dake exhibits his circus to a village. Conan learns that rage helps to weaken Dake's spell. Penz reveals that he knows a few of Dake's spells. Fosull and Raseri form a temporary alliance to rescue their children. Dake meets up with a caravan of other merchants. They stop for the night and Dake sends Morja to the leader of the caravan as a gift. Raseri and Fosull have managed to sneak up This enrages Dake's slaves and they manage to break the spell of entrapment set upon them. The former-slaves, Raseri, and Fosull manage to rescue Morja before she arrives at the merchant's wagon, kill some guards, and escape. The group kills the merchant and several guards in the ensuing battle. Oren throws a rock at Dake as Dake is reciting his enslavering spell. The spell gets 2/3 done and binds the ex-slaves and Raseri and Fousull (except for Conan) before the thrown rock smashes Dake's teeth preventing the final articulations of the spell. Conan promptly slays Dake. Raseri is convinced that the group should not be able to leave knowing how to get to the swamp village of the giants. Raseri tells the group that he has a potion which will help them forget how to get to the village. The potion is actually poison. Penz sprinkles a powder (Stolen from Dake) that turns all liquid to water into the cups of the slaves while Raseri is not watching. All the group drinks the potion and Raseri reveals they are about to die. Fosull, whose drink was not sprinkled with the magical powder, kills Raseri with his poisoned spear and dies shortly afterwards. Teyle decides to let the group go and the book is concluded. |
17139588 | /m/043mvvd | The Fermata | Nicholson Baker | null | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Arno Strine discovers he can stop time when he is a young man. He works on this power, and learns how to trigger and control these time stoppages. However, instead of becoming rich or a diabolic criminal, Strine becomes an elaborate voyeur. He stops time so that he can see women naked, and eventually creates scenarios that he can watch after he allows time to start again. But despite his enjoyment of this power, Arno wants a real relationship, and he overcomes his shyness to begin a relationship. When he finally consummates this relationship, his power to stop time passes to his girlfriend, whose own time adventures begin. Arno works on the story of this time power, under the title "The Fermata." |
17141716 | /m/043rm_7 | Brasyl | Ian McDonald | 5/3/2007 | {"/m/01qpc": "Cyberpunk", "/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Brasyl is a story presented in three distinct strands of time. The main action concerns Marcelina Hoffman; a coked-up, ambitious reality TV producer in contemporary Brazil, a striving amateur capoeirista who transcends the cliches of luvvy television phony and becomes a full-fledged, truly likable person as we watch her embark upon a mad new project. Marcelina is going to find the disgraced goalie who lost Brazil a momentous World Cup half a century before and trick him into appearing on television for a mock trial in which the scarred nation can finally wreak its vengeance. Another strand is set in mid-21st century São Paulo, at a moment when the first quantum technologies are reaching the street, which industriously finds its own use for these things. Q-blades that undo the information that binds together the universe, Q-cores that break the crypto that powers the surveillance state that knows every movement of every person and object in Sampa and beyond. The final strand is an 18th-century Heart of Darkness adventure in the deep Amazon jungle, as we follow an Irish-Portuguese Jesuit into slaver territory where he is sent to end the mad, bloody kingdom of a rogue priest who scours the land with plague and fire. He is joined by a French natural philosopher, who intends to reach the equator and discover the shape of the world with a pendulum. |
17142041 | /m/043s6h0 | Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married | Marian Keyes | 1996 | null | Lucy visits a fortune teller with her three mis-matched friends, and a marriage is predicted in her future. When the fortune-teller's prophecies for her friends come true, Lucy begins to suspect that she will soon be marrying. Lucy spends the following 12 months looking for Mr Right. Various eligible bachelors are introduced, among them Gus, Lucy's unreliable lover; Daniel, her oldest friend; Chuck, a handsome American; and Adrian, the video shop man. This is followed by a series of disastrous dates, drunken nights out, confessions and revelations. Author Keyes has said, "I'm very fond of that book and I think I have the most affection for Lucy Sullivan as a character. There's a lot of me in there [...] I wanted to write about a single girl in London who goes out with eejit after eejit, you know, because that was really the life I had led, and there was this strange culture of singleness I encountered and I found this very funny. Lucy's depressive, but she has a sense of humour, and that's why I like her." |
17142627 | /m/043qngd | Elite da Tropa | null | null | null | Based on real facts, this book shows stories about the Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais (BOPE), considered an elite squad in Rio de Janeiro's Military Police. The book shows the officers from BOPE as an incorruptible and extremely violent troop. This book also shows the plan to assassinate Leonel Brizola, at that time, governor of Rio de Janeiro. es:Elite da Tropa pt:Elite da Tropa |
17147981 | /m/043mh4g | Barbaro, Smarty Jones & Ruffian: The People's Horses | null | null | null | Through the lives of these three dynamic “fan favorites,” Hanna shares all aspects of the sport as well as many pieces of personal information on Barbaro, Smarty Jones and Ruffian gathered from her research. Through exclusive interviews with owners, trainers, jockeys, equine veterinarians, pedigree specialists and racing officials, she carries fans to a new level of knowledge and appreciation. Speaking from the perspective of a “fan,” Hanna educates her audience in the nuances of breeding, training and racing. The reader will be readily drawn into the “new Golden Age of Horseracing” in the ‘70s, as Ruffian makes her dramatic debut at Belmont Park and smashes track records during this brief and brilliant career. Insights from her trainer, Frank Y. Whiteley, Jr., shed new light on her devastating and fatal breakdown during The Great Match Race of 1975. As Smarty Jones captivated America with his Triple Crown bid in 2004, Hanna weaves readers into the history of horseracing in his home state of Pennsylvania and the positive reverberations there caused by the “Smarty Effect.” All aspects of Smarty Jones' brief career are presented in great detail with new revelations concerning his much-criticized retirement in August 2004. In an introduction to the book written by Smarty’s owner, Patricia L. Chapman, readers are reminded of all aspects of the sport-positive and negative. Both Chapman and Hanna speak to the need for greater rescue efforts for needy horses and to the call for greater responsibility for all within the sport. As a designated charity for a portion of the book’s proceeds, Hanna directs her readers to The Kentucky Equine Humane Center in a Preface by Staci Hancock who outlines the Center’s wonderful efforts in horse rescue and placement. Another large segment of the population was drawn to Thoroughbred horseracing, as it watched Gretchen and Roy Jackson’s Barbaro struggle for survival after breaking a leg during the 2006 Preakness Stakes. With poignant detail, Hanna moves her audience through the interworkings of veterinary orthopedics at New Bolton Center, an eight-month public relations/media effort on national television and an on-going and astounding fan base for the fallen hero, Barbaro. Since his death in January 2007, Hanna relates that fans have united in new and far-reaching causes in his name. In a final section of the book, which Hanna titles Legacy, she examines significant and timely equine topics. Some of these include: the injuries of these horses, an analysis of their pedigrees, efforts toward anti-slaughter, the need for rescue efforts, the work of the Fans of Barbaro and the legacies of these three special equine athletes. As a final kudo to fans young and old, Governor Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania addresses the wonderful careers of Barbaro, Smarty Jones and Ruffian in what has evolved as a feel good story about these horses’ lives. |
17149705 | /m/043kwbc | Keeping the Moon | Sarah Dessen | 9/1/1999 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Nicole Sparks (Colie) and her mother used to be poor and moved often. They were very overweight and spent most of the time living in their car while her mother switched jobs. That all changed when her mother started taking aerobics classes, which lead to both of them losing weight and her mother becoming a well known aerobics instructor. Eventually her mother had a line of fitness equipment, a television show and TV specials, improving their financial status greatly. Colie remains insecure, however, and bullied by other students at school. Before she lost the weight, they made fun of her for her size, but after she lost the weight, they made up rumors about her being promiscuous, giving her the nickname "Hole In One". When Colie's mother goes over to Europe for a tour of her new fitness line one summer, Colie spends it with her aunt Mira in Colby, North Carolina, a prospect that she isn't too thrilled about. When she meets her Aunt Mira and her hippie tenant Norman, they do not improve her first impressions of Colby. She explores the town and arrives at the Last Chance Bar and Grill where she meets perfectionist Morgan and in-your-face Isabel, who immediately rejects Colie. Colie is convinced that no one in Colby will want her, similar to her life back home. Later, Morgan makes Isabel apologize for her rude commentary, and when she and Norman stop in to help with a particularly rough shift, she lands herself a job at the grill. Morgan and Isabel help Colie build confidence and start loving herself. Colie endures the aftermath of “chick night” and enjoys her new found confidence, finally standing up to her bully back home and giving her number to a cute guy she meets, Josh. He calls her at the restaurant, and Norman gets jealous. Colie realizes that she has to mend their friendship, and asks Norman for a second shot at being in a portrait for his art school, that she forgot about the night before. Meanwhile Morgan decides to go to Durham to surprise her fiance, Mark, which worries Isabel because of past problems with Mark. Morgan gets hit with reality when she finds Mark married to a pregnant stripper, and she takes it out on Isabel by locking her out of the house. Colie and Norman become more interested in each other while they are working on the portrait, and when the art sessions end, Norman invites Colie over for a date for the unveiling of Colie’s finished portrait. The novel comes to an end with all of the characters in balance: Morgan is getting over her loss for Mark, Norman and Colie are in a relationship, and Isabel and Morgan reunite during a disco beat. At 12:15 Colie gets to see her first eclipse and watches in awe as she looks across her row of new friends, and at the sky as the moon disappears. |
17151926 | /m/043jx67 | A Fraction of the Whole | Steve Toltz | 2007-07 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | A Fraction of the Whole uses a multi-perspective narrative, often going back in time to show Martin's perspective on events before returning to Jasper's story in the present. The framing narrative of the novel is written from the perspective of Jasper, writing secretly from the prison cell he is incarcerated in for an initially undisclosed crime. The story jumps back to when Jasper was five, and was pulled out of school by his father, Martin. Rather than using a typical school curriculum, Martin teaches his son his beliefs about how life is, how it should be, and how to survive it. Martin gives Jasper a highly detailed account of his own childhood. He has dealt with many problems in his life, from Terry's criminal behavior, to Martin's own depression, to his four year coma, to his mother poisoning him while she went mad from fear of her terminal cancer. Martin clearly remembers telling his brother that the two criminal kids, whom Terry would later join, are cheating. These kids had been beating Martin up, and he knows that telling Terry this lie would make him go after them. Terry does go after the bullies, and they stab him in the leg. This injury cripples Terry for life and renders him incapable of playing sports. Martin comes up with the idea of a suggestion box, where everyone in town is welcome to enter recommendations for town life. It starts off well, but soon everyone in town is criticized by someone else. Each slip is anonymous, making it impossible for anyone to get mad, except at the person who invented the suggestion box. No one ever finds out that it was Martin. Finally, there is the loss of Martin's true love, Caroline, to Terry. After Terry is imprisoned, she leaves the town and visits every now and then. Martin's mother is diagnosed with Cancer, and Martin vows that he won't leave her, effectively trapping himself in the town he hates. Once the town burns down, killing his mother and stepfather, and burning down the prison, he leaves town for good, having wanted to for so many years. Before he leaves he collects what he believes to be his brother's ashes from the prison, and scatters them in a puddle. Martin leaves his hometown in Australia for Paris. He has picked Paris because he figures that he may as well start where he believes Caroline Potts to be. He has traced the postcard he has received from her to the original address. Upon arrival, he learns that she has recently moved, and no one is quite sure where. Martin decides to live in Paris, where he meets two important people. Eddie comes off as a very friendly Thai who loves to take pictures and constantly takes Martin's photograph. Eddie is not the type of person Martin likes and he decides never to see him again but unfortunately for Martin, Eddie becomes his dearest and longest friend. Eddie is always there for Martin, giving him jobs and money when he needs it. Martin also meets Astrid (real name unknown) in a café. He finds her extremely attractive and assumes that his affair with her will be a one night stand, but in fact it becomes the exact opposite. Astrid and Martin move in together, and Astrid unexpectedly becomes pregnant. During her pregnancy, Astrid becomes crazy, repeatedly painting a violent and horrific face and trying to converse with God. She becomes angry when God does not respond, so Martin starts pretending to be him, answering her questions while hiding in the bathroom. He learns a great deal about her, and realizes that she is becoming suicidal. After giving birth to Jasper, Astrid commits suicide. Eddie continues to help the Dean family financially. The Deans meet another central character, Anouk. Although they meet on undesirable grounds (Anouk vandalizes Martin's car), they become close family friends, as Martin hires Anouk to clean for them. Martin is deemed mentally unstable and is sent to mental institution. Jasper (Martin's child with Astrid) is sent to a foster home against his will. When Martin is released, he buys a rotting, broken-down house in the middle of nowhere. Martin builds a house and labyrinth on the property to have maximum privacy. Jasper, in high school, meets the Towering Inferno (real name unknown). She is Jasper's first girlfriend, but everything ends in shambles when Jasper discovers that she is having an affair with her ex-boyfriend, Brian the newscaster. Finally, with the assistance of Anouk, Martin finds his purpose in life: to tell his ideas. Martin comes up with a way to make everyone in Australia a millionaire, using a system similar to a lottery. He proposes the idea to Anouk, who helps get it approved by the most wealthy man in Australia and his son, both of whom are in charge of the nation's network of tabloids and paparazzi artists. Anouk eventually marries Oscar, the son. They put him on the covers of all the newspapers. Martin becomes the most beloved person in the country, except for Terry. People often refer to Martin in terms of being Terry's brother. This annoys Martin, but he is happy to know he is famous now. Out of the few randomly selected winners, Caroline, his true love from his childhood, is picked. Right before the ceremony, they get engaged, as do Anouk and the son of the wealthy man who had helped them. While presenting the first millionaires, Martin declares that he is running for prime minister. Being beloved so much despite his foul speech, he is elected by a landslide. With Eddie at his side helping with the lottery, it seems that nothing can go wrong, but eventually everything does. Soon after Martin's victory, he, Jasper and Caroline are living happily. It is discovered that Eddie has committed fraud; he has fixed the whole idea, setting it up so Caroline and all of Eddie's friends would win. When the story gets out, Martin becomes the most hated man in Australia, and is forced to leave the country. After escaping to Thailand, with Eddie leading the way, Jasper, Caroline and Martin have no idea where they are going. They had never suspected that someone had been paying Eddie to be friendly to Jasper and Martin, yet he has hated them the entire time. It turns out that Terry has been alive after all. He has not been killed in the fire, but instead has just run away and employed Eddie to give money to the Deans and take photographs. Terry has become very fat, and is the head of an entire criminal group. He has also forgotten about love, but instead has three prostitutes as friends whom he hires almost every night. Soon afterwards it is revealed that Caroline is having an affair with Terry. Martin is dying of cancer, Eddie has gone completely crazy and Jasper tries to get the family back together. Eddie, desperate to make his dead parents proud, tries to resume his pre-Dean career of being a doctor, but finds that the local population are happy with their existing doctor and his apprentice. He poisons them and upon discovery the village turn on Eddie and all of the Deans. Eddie and Caroline are killed. With Martin nearly dead from his cancer, he says he wants to die in Australia and Jasper decides to go with him. Terry arranges it for Jasper and Martin to be smuggled back to Australia on a smuggling boat. On their return Jasper and Martin bond for the very first time. They enjoy each other's company and understand each other better. Just when Australia comes in sight, Martin dies smiling, and his dead body is thrown overboard, just as he had requested. Jasper is arrested on the boat's arrival by immigration and Jasper ends up in a detention center, grieving for his father. Eventually Jasper reveals who he is and he is released. The authorities take him to a storage room where Martin's belongings have been stored. Jasper is convinced it is mostly junk but discovers Martin's diaries, on which some of the book is based, and paintings of a face painted by his mother. He realizes he's seen this face before and has been haunted by it. Jasper also realizes that he will not become his father - his greatest fear - because his mother is part of him as well. He sets off to Europe in search of his mother's past, with financial assistance from Anouk who has become the richest woman in Australia. |
17152401 | /m/043jx0r | The Sunken World | Stanton A. Coblentz | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"} | The novel concerns Anton Harkness, the commander of an American submarine in World War II which is caught in a whirlpool which drags it to the bottom of the sea where it collides with a glass dome. The crew are rescued by the Atlanteans who live beneath the dome. Harkness falls in love with an Atlantean girl with whom he escapes after the Atlantean dome is destroyed. |
17155058 | /m/043kthr | Death's Deputy | L. Ron Hubbard | null | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | The novel concerns a man who is unnaturally accident-prone. |
17155179 | /m/043lt_7 | Cecilia Valdés | Cirilo Villaverde | null | null | Action (in both the novel and the zarzuela) takes place in colonial Cuba about 1830. The young and beautiful light skinned mulatta, Cecilia Valdés, is the illegitimate daughter of powerful land magnate and slave trader, Candido de Gamboa. Leonardo de Gamboa is his legitimate son. Leonardo falls in love with Cecilia not realizing that she is his own half-sister, and they become lovers. At the same time, hopelessly in love with Cecilia is also another man, the poor black musician, José Dolores Pimienta. His advances Cecilia rejects; and she conceives Leonardo's son. Love between Leonardo and Cecilia does not last, however. He abandons her and becomes betrothed to a white upper class woman, a certain Isabel Ilincheta. Cecilia turns to the faithful Pimienta to plan revenge. On the day of his wedding he is assassinated on the steps of the cathedral by Pimienta who acts on the instigation of Cecilia. He is executed, and she is thrown in prison. Cecilia Valdés reveals the intricate problems of race relations in Cuba. There are the elite social circles of Spanish-born and creole whites; the growing number of mulattos, of which Cecilia is one, and the blacks, some slaves, some freed men. The blacks are also divided between those who were born in Africa and those who were born in Cuba, those who worked on the sugar plantation and those who worked in the households of the wealthy in Havana. Cecilia Valdés is a canvas displaying the sexual, social, and racial interaction of the Cubans of the day. |
17158679 | /m/043p72_ | The Radio Man | Roger Sherman Hoar | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"} | The novel concerns electrical engineer Myles Cabot, who disappears from his home in Boston while performing an experiment. He finds himself transported to the planet Venus where he is captured by the Formians, a race of ant-like creatures. After learning of the Cupians, a human-like race that is subservient to the Formians, Cabot escapes and falls in love with the Cupian princess Lilla. He goes on to introduce the Cupians to gunpowder and leads them in a revolt against their Formian masters. |
17160931 | /m/043l06w | Dragon Bones | Lisa See | 2004 | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | At the start of the novel, the couple mourns the death of their young daughter Chaowen. Guilt and anguish have driven the lovers apart, unable to get past their mutual loss. Hulan's inner turmoil is made even worse when she is forced to shoot and kill a woman at an All-Patriotic Society rally to save a young girl from being stabbed by her mother. The Chinese government opposes the Society as a threat to public order, an opinion that Hulan strongly shares. Hulan and David are brought together to work on the same case from different perspectives. Hulan is sent to an archaeological site near the construction of the massive 3 Gorges Dam project to investigate a suspicious death. In an NPR report, See emphasizes the potent symbolism of the Dam, alluding to a 4,000 year old Chinese saying: "He who controls the water controls the people". She concludes her report by returning to the same idea: ". . . no matter how the outside world views the dam, inside China it will be there to remind the people of a sage emperor; in other words, the current government, who serves the people by controlling the waters". David is sent to the same site to find out how precious Chinese artifacts are being smuggled out of China. The archaeologists at the site are working frantically to find as many antiquities as they can before the dam is completed, flooding their dig site as well as many others. They are especially interested in finding evidence that people in the area have maintained continuous culture for 5000 years. The plot weaves together several story lines. One involves the difficult task of finding out the true intentions of the All-Patriotic Society. Another is concerned with Chinese archaeology and whether the men and women who work at the dig site are involved in the smuggling of antiquities. With dead bodies turning up rather frequently, Hulan's task in solving these crimes is challenging. And there is also the painful journey of Hulan and David as they try to accept their daughter's death. Reviewers of Dragon Bones have tended to be somewhat ambivalent about it. Lev Raphael's review is rather typical in this regard. Raphael finds the novel to be "overly romantic" and the conclusion melodramatic. On the other hand, "the real strength of this book is the absorbing portrait of China, from the bugged office of a high official to the dismal hut of a starving peasant, the kind of person who knows what it is 'to eat bitterness.'" See presents an "effective depiction of a modern land held emotionally and socially hostage to the past . . ." |
17164647 | /m/043pfwr | An Expert in Murder | Nicola Upson | 3/6/2008 | {"/m/0lsxr": "Crime Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | The novel is set in the London theatres of the 1930s. The book revolves around Josephine Tey, a version of the famous novelist. The story begins with Tey taking the train from Scotland to London in order to attend the final week of performances of her renowned play, Richard of Bordeaux, written under the pseudonym Gordon Daviot. On board, she meets a young woman, Elspeth Simmons, the adopted daughter of hatmakers from Berwick-upon-Tweed. The two strike up a friendship on the journey, as the girl is a fan of Tey's work, and is on her way to see the play again. Upon arriving in London, the pair separate, as Elspeth has left her bag on the train. Soon after, the girl is found dead, apparently having been stabbed with a hat pin, a crime which seems to have been carefully planned. Here enters Detective Inspector Archie Penrose, an old acquaintance of Tey's, the best friend of her lover, whom Penrose saw die at the Somme. Clues and circumstance suggest that Tey may have been the intended target, so the narrative follows her and her time at the theatre. There, we are introduced to a world of excitement and intrigue, and more death follows. We meet the leads in the play, Johnny and Lydia; the two are presumably based on the real life leads in the best-selling run, John Gielgud, whose career it, arguably, made, and Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies. The back-stabbing world of casting and performance combines with the classic murder mystery plot. |
17165147 | /m/043qzn_ | Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers | Lois-Ann Yamanaka | 1996 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The novel takes place, roughly, over a period of three years. Part One begins when Lovey is in the sixth grade and she and her best friend Jerry are watching a Shirley Temple movie. Lovey comments on how there is always a happy ending in movies, but never in real life – especially in her own life where she is pure Japanese, and not pretty like the haoles and hapa children in her class. And so she and Jerry constantly make up their own obituaries when they are playing together. We are introduced to both of Lovey’s parents in Part One: Verva Nariyoshi being the mother that always seems unhappy with Lovey, and Hubert Nariyoshi being the father that treats Lovey like the son he never had. Other characters in this section include Katy – the Nariyoshi’s pregnant teenage neighbor that teaches Lovey that babies come out of a woman’s vagina and not the other end. Aunt Helen is another neighbor, and Verva's best friend. Among all the characters in the novel, Lovey learns the most from her father Hubert. He teaches her about the "dominate and recessid jeans" of pea flowers and rabbit mating on their farm, hunting wild turkey and other animals, and tells her not to get too close to any the animals bred for food - like the cow that Calhoon names Bully. Hubert also teaches Lovey about his Japanese Samurai ancestors, how they moved to Hawai'i to work on the plantations on the island of Kaua'i, and how Lovey should be proud of her heritage. Part Two begins at school, probably at the beginning of the seventh grade. Although Jerry is handsome enough to attract the eyes of the popular Lori Shigemura, their classmates still call him "Queer" and "Fag" and call Lovey "Queen" and "Lez." This is the section where Jerry's homosexuality is alluded to the most. He and Lovey both argue over who David Cassidy would rather date, and they both decide that it would be a blonde haole girl. This is also where Lovey gets her period and realizes that she hates being a girl. In this section we are introduced to Jerry's older high school-aged brother Larry. Larry is always violent towards Lovey and Cal and Jerry, later killing their pet Koi in Part Three because they watch him and his girlfriend Crystal have sex in her bedroom. Part Three is where most of the rising action occurs throughout the novel. Lovey and Jerry are now in their last year of middle school. We are given fuller descriptions of the Rays of the Rising Sun, a YMCA club consisting of the most popular girls in Lovey's class. Lori is a part of this group, and dances with Jerry at their Graduation Dance at the end of the year. Lori is constantly calling Lovey names because she is jealous of the relationship she has with Jerry. And as mentioned before, Larry kills Lovey and Calhoon's pet Koi out of anger - Crystal gets pregnant and her mother takes her to Japan to abort the baby. However, a few months after she comes back home, she again gets pregnant by Larry. Refusing to live with the shame, she hangs herself. But the most traumatic event in Part Three is when Hubert loses his eyesight during a hunting accident. Out of anger he yells and throws dirt at Lovey. And out of guilt he gets drunk and accidentally blows out his eyes when trying to shoot a deer. Lovey feels responsible, and finally learns that being proud of her ancestry is more important than the physical things that she lacks - things that society tells her she should have. Lovey flies to the island of Kaua'i to get a bag filled with dirt for her father to "see" his home again. |
17166254 | /m/043l6s1 | Murder Madness | Murray Leinster | 1931 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"} | The novel concerns a tyrant that attempts to control civilization by using a madness inducing drug. |
17182328 | /m/043k7hh | Cereus Blooms at Night | Shani Mootoo | 1996 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | At the beginning of Part I, Tyler addresses the general audience. His intention for telling the story of Mala is in hopes that the book will eventually reach Asha Ramchandin, Mala’s long-lost younger sister. Mala is an aging, notoriously crazy woman suspected of murder. She was ordered to Paradise Alms House after the judge found her unfit to stand trial. Part I opens with Mala first arriving to Paradise Alms House. She is heavily sedated and kept under physical constraint. All of the nurses are afraid to attend to her because of her infamous reputation. Tyler, being the only male nurse in the nursing home and a subject of gossip and scrutiny for his alternative sexuality, is immediately drawn to her. He cares for her and slowly gains her trust. The first sounds that Mala makes are perfect imitations of crickets, frogs, and species of birds. However, she does not speak. Then Tyler begins to tell the story of Mala’s dad, Chandin Ramchandin, which he had heard from his Cigarette Smoking Nana. Chandin’s father was an indentured field labor from India. At an early age, Chandin became the adopted Indian son of Reverend Thoroughly, a white man, in exchange for his parents’ conversion to Christianity. The Reverend also wanted to adopt an Indian child in hope to have closer connection with the Indians in Paradise. Growing up, Chandin found himself madly in love with Lavinia, the daughter of the Reverend and, therefore, his "sister." Attractive and beautiful, Lavinia brushed off all attention from boys and remained in the company of one girlfriend, Sarah, who happened to be Indian and the only other girl in the seminary school. When Chandin grow into a fine young man, he decided to confess his love to Lavinia. Lavinia firmly rejected his love and announced that she would be leaving for the Shivering Northern Wetlands in three days. Later, Chandin had heard the news that Lavinia was engaged to her distant cousin in Wetlands. Heartbroken yet trying to conceal his feelings, Chandin announced that he has fallen in love with Sarah and wanted to marry her. Then began Mala’s life. Chandin traveled around paradise with the Reverend, spreading the gospel and encouraging more conversions to Christianity. Sarah gave birth to two daughters, Pohpoh (Mala) and Asha. In the meantime, Lavinia had returned to Paradise with the news that she broke off her engagement. Lavinia visited Sarah often since they are childhood friends and Chandin again begin to feel the sting of Lavinia’s unattainability. One day, Pohpoh caught Lavinia and Sarah in a moment of intimacy. Eventually Chandin had also notice the unusual affection between his wife and Lavinia. He confronted Sarah. In hope to be with each other, Lavinia and Sarah decided to elope together with the children. However Chandin unexpected returned home early on the day of the planned escape. In the mist of confusion and screaming, Pohpoh and Asha were left behind with their enraged and demented father. After the news spread of his wife leaving her with another woman, Chandin gave up his religion, his God, and began to drink heavily. Then one night, he raped Pohpoh, his eldest daughter. The sin continued in which every night he would call one of his daughters into bed with him. During the day, the children went to school like other children but, at night, they lived under the sexual tyranny of their father. Pohpoh had a childhood admirer and friend, whom she called her Boyie. One day, she seduced him in his mother’s house but stopped right before sexual intercourse. Back in the nursing home, Mala begins to have visitors, Otoh and his father Ambrose Mohanty. Ambrose was Mala’s Boyie. Part II of the novel further traces the development of the relationship between Mala and Otoh, a plot line that interweaves with one of Mala’s memories of Pohpoh. In the memory, Pohpoh sneaks out of her father’s home, enters another house, and returns safely, all the while being “protected” by the adult Mala. The memory is rich in detail about the nature that Pohpoh feels, smells, and hears, since the entire time she is covered in darkness. At the same time that Mala is reflecting on her quite vivid recollections of Pohpoh, Otoh begins to work up the courage to come see her. His father Ambrose had taken up an almost constant sleep and only awoke once a month to prepare provisions (a source of contention with his wife), which Otoh would then deliver to Mala. During one such delivery, Otoh dared to enter the Mala’s yard dressed in his father’s old clothes. Mistaking him for Ambrose, Mala dances with him and then takes him inside to show him the long-decaying body of her father. Terrified, he ran away and collapsed on the street outside. When he recounted what he had seen, the police came into Mala’s house and investigated. Upon discovery of the body, they arrested her and prepared her for a court visit. However, before the police had a chance to retrieve the body from Mala’s house, Otoh decided to make the rather decisive move (especially in comparison to his father) of burning down Mala’s house. Parts III, IV, and V of the novel are all significantly shorter than the first two sections. Part III provides a flashback to the budding romance between Ambrose and Mala after he returned from studying in the Shivering Northern Wetlands, culminating in their act of making love. Unfortunately, it is that same day that Chandin realizes his daughter’s affair and, as a result, abuses and rapes her severely. The next day, when Ambrose returns, there is a confrontation between all three. Ambrose runs away during the conflict, leaving Mala to lock her father’s unconscious body in a room downstairs. Part IV of the novel includes the discovery that Ambrose’s wife has left him and an explanation by Ambrose to Otoh that murdering her father had driven Mala mad. She attacked Ambrose anytime he tried to visit. Part V provides a sense of resolution to the novel with the discovery of several letters sent from Asha to Mala that were never delivered and the subsequent attempt by Tyler to contact Asha through this book. |
17189201 | /m/043rgq7 | Loss and Gain | John Henry Cardinal Newman | 1848 | {"/m/07z5s9": "Campus novel"} | Charles Reding arrives at Oxford University planning to follow the advice and example of his father, and to submit to the teachings of the Church of England without becoming involved in any factious parties. Reding is inclined towards a form of Latitudinarianism, following the maxim "Measure people by what they are, and not by what they are not." His conversations with his friend Sheffield convince him, however, that there must be right and wrong answers in doctrinal matters. In order to follow the right views, Reding seeks a source of Church authority, and is disappointed to find only party dissension and the Protestant doctrine of Private Judgment, which locates interpretive authority in the individual and thereby leads (in Newman's view) to the espousal of contradictory views. Furthermore, Reding begins to have doubts about the Thirty-nine Articles, to which he must subscribe in order to take his degree. His doubts are briefly dispelled following the death of his father, but return soon afterward. In particular, several brief encounters with Willis, a former Oxford peer who converted to Roman Catholicism, greatly excite and trouble him. Suspicious of his speculations, Jennings forces Reding to live away from Oxford while studying for his exams, so as not to corrupt other students. Reding confesses his doubts to his sister Mary, who does not understand them and loses trust in her brother. When Reding finally decides he must convert, Mary, his mother, and several family friends express resentment and anger. He travels to London, on the way receiving encouragement from a Catholic priest (perhaps Newman himself), the first he has ever met. While in London Reding is confronted by emissaries from various religious and philosophical sects who, hearing about his departure from the Anglican Church, want to recruit him for their own causes. Ultimately, however, Reding arrives at the Passionists Convent, where he joins the Roman Catholic Church. |
17189926 | /m/043rd97 | The Return of Chorb | Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov | 1929 | null | The Kellers are a bourgeois couple living in a smaller German town whose daughter has married the Russian emigre writer Chorb. The distrust between Chorb and his father-in-law is deepened when Chorb and his bride escape from the formality of their wedding to spend their first night at a local seedy hotel. On the honeymoon, the bride accidentally touches a live electric wire near Nice and dies. Chorb now returns to recreate her image by visiting the sites they had been to together and to tell her parents. Arriving in the evening he only finds the maid at the Keller's home who have gone to the opera to see Parsifal. Chorb does not want to break the news to her and tells her that his bride is ill and he will be back in the morning. He returns to the hotel to spend the night in the same room he had been with his wife. Unable to stay in the room alone, he pays a prostitute to stay with him. When the Kellers get home, they are too alarmed to wait for the morning and leave for the hotel. There, during the night, Chorb sees his wife in the prostitute, screams, and the terrified woman is about to leave: at this moment the Kellers arrive. |
17191213 | /m/043qlmz | Imperial Bedrooms | Bret Easton Ellis | null | null | The novel opens with Clay, a 45-year old screenwriter, explaining that an author had adapted the events of his early-1980s Christmas vacation into a novel which later became a film. The author had been in love with Clay's girlfriend Blair, and depicted Clay somewhat differently from how he really is. The action of Imperial Bedrooms depicts Clay upon returning to Los Angeles, having lived in New York for four years, in order to assist in the casting of his new film. There, he meets up with his old friends, who were seen in Less Than Zero. Like Clay, they have all become involved in the film industry: His philandering friend Trent Burroughs- who has married Blair- is a manager, while Clay's former classmate at Camden, Daniel Carter, has become a famous producer. Julian Wells, who was a male prostitute in Less Than Zero, has become an ultra-discreet high-class pimp representing struggling young actors who do not wish to tarnish future careers. Rip Millar, Clay's former drug dealer, now controls his own cartel and has become disfigured through repeated plastic surgeries. Clay attempts to romance Rain Turner, a young woman auditioning for a role in his new film, leading her on with the promise of being cast, all the while knowing she is too old for the part. His narration betrays that he has done this with a number of men and women in the past, and yet often comes out of the relationship hurt and damaged himself. Over the course of their relationship, he is stalked by unknown persons driving a Jeep and is frequently reminded by various individuals of the grisly murder of a young producer whom he knew. Clay disinterestedly watches a snuff film of the murder—later attributed to Rip—on the YouTube application on his iPhone. As the novel progresses, Clay learns that Rip also had a fling with Rain and is now obsessed with her, killing anyone he believes will pose a threat to a future relationship. When Clay discovers that Julian is currently Rain's boyfriend, he conspires with Rip to have Julian murdered. After Julian's death, Clay receives a video of the murder from Rip, which has been overdubbed with an angry voicemail from Clay as a means to implicate him in the crime. The novel then depicts sequences of the savage sexual and physical abuse of a beautiful young boy and young girl, perpetrated by Clay. The novel offers no indication as to whether these scenes are fantasy or reality. Clay experiences no feelings of remorse or guilt for this, for Julian's death, or for exploiting Rain. In the last scenes, it is suggested that Blair could have been the one hiring people to follow Clay. In exchange for some undisclosed favor, she casually offers to provide Clay with a false alibi that will prevent the police from arresting him as an accomplice to Julian's murder. |
17192597 | /m/043qh9k | Wolf Island | Darren Shan | 10/1/2008 | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/03npn": "Horror", "/m/08sdrw": "Adventure novel"} | The book starts with Grubbs fighting a demon alongside Beranabus and Kernel in the Demonata universe. After subduing and torturing the demon they are fighting, they question it about the Shadow, but learn nothing. Later, they meet up with Shark, Meera, Bec and Dervish. They discover that the Lambs were responsible for the attack on the Grady's home in Carcery Vale and it is decided that Grubbs should go after them to find out more. Shark assembles a team of soldiers he names the "Dirty Dozen". One of them is Timas Brauss, a computer expert, who finds the Lamb's Headquarters. Upon their arrival, they find a man named Antoine Horwitzer in charge, in place of the missing Prae Athim. Antoine explains that Prae stole around six to seven hundred werewolves from their breeding facility. They learn, through Timas' efforts, that Prae took all the werewolves to "Wolf Island" and Antoine accompanies them there. On the island, they find Prae a prisoner. It emerges that Antoine and Juni Swan were behind the assault. Juni Swan arrives shortly after and they are attacked. They manage to flee and attempt to escape on the helicopter they arrived in but it is destroyed. They try to escape the released werewolves through a window but are attacked before they can open one. Shark is left behind in the subsequent fight. Grubbs, Meera, Prae and Timas try to escape by sea since the werewolves cannot swim but ultimately find themselves surrounded. Grubbs becomes a werewolf and kills the leader of the pack, replacing him and assuming control of the werewolves. He makes the wolves go back to attack Juni. Grubbs fights Juni but is eventually overpowered. Just as he is about to be killed, Juni has a vision. She says that Grubbs is tapping into great magic and that the world is being destroyed, informing him "the demons will not destroy the world, Grubbs Grady - you will." With that, she leaves. Grubbs later finds Antoine trying to escape by boat. Grubbs agrees not to kill Antoine if he calls his Lambs off their attack and has them escort Bec and Dervish to safety. Once this is done, Antoine asks Grubbs to keep his end of the bargain. Grubbs confirms he would not kill Antoine, "but that doesn't mean the pack won't". Antoine is savagely killed. On the way back to the docks, they see a man lying on his back in a boat, this is revealed to be a severely injured Shark, who fought and killed the werewolves he was left to fight with. When Grubbs gets back home, he finds Dervish has decided to stay and die instead of going to the Demonata world. A window opens and Grubbs, Bec, Dervish, and Kirilli prepare to fight. |
17194261 | /m/043qdk6 | Ivan's Appeal | null | 2007-11 | null | Whilst on a family cruise in the Antarctic, Jo and Colin meet an iceberg called Ivan. He is slowly melting and pleads with the children to help him before it's too late. Their father makes a videotape recording of Ivan and the problems faced by himself and the glaciers which is then aired on Blue Peter. This initiates a nationwide contest amongst schools to devise better environmental ways, and the prize is to visit the Antarctic to find Ivan. Thanks to a host of clever ideas from the children and an enlighted head teacher, Jo and Colin's school wins a place on the amazing sea voyage. They manage to locate Ivan, who is pretty ill, in time to tell him that his appeal has not been in vain. |
17195440 | /m/043lk22 | La Boîte à merveilles | null | null | null | The narrator adult, plagued by loneliness begins his story to better understand dating his solitude forever. It then presents the tenants Dar chouafa: lalla kenza the seer (ground floor), Driss El Aouad, his wife and their daughter Rahma zineb (first floor) and fatma Bziouya the second floor). It evokes memories Moorish Bath and its Wonders box where the objects found there to keep him company. Then he recounts memories of a dispute between his mother and Rahma. Returning from m'sid, the narrator finds his ailing mother .. Lalla Aicha her friend comes to visit and convinces to visit Sidi Boughaleb.A the end of the visit, Sidi Mohamed is scratched by a cat. Tired, the child does not go m'sid and describes the mornings at home while evoking the origin of their parents, and the memory of the nasty Driss, apprenticed to his father. The narrator recounts his day at Msid. evening, noting that Fatima Bziouiya lights with an oil lamp, Lalla Zoubida insists that her husband bought one of which is the following day. Then He reminded of the disappearance of zineb, and how his mother managed to find her at home Idrissides. Rahma, as a praise to God, preparing a meal for beggars. All the neighbors involved with a good heart. The first days of spring, Lalla Zubaida and his son visiting Lalla Aicha. Sidi Mohamed took the opportunity to play with the neighbors' children. Lalla Aicha then tells her friend the misfortunes of her husband with his partner Abdelkader. The next day, the mother reported that her husband unhappy story. This will raise with the small Sidi Mohamed Abdellah memories of the grocer who told stories. A Wednesday Fquih explains to his students his plans for Ashura. At home, Lalla Zoubida not get tired to recount the misfortunes of Lalla Aicha at Fatima Rahma then making them promise to keep the secret. Then, the narrator recounts the memory of the death of Sidi Tahar Ben billion. Who attended the scene, the child had a nightmare the night. During the preparations for the Ashura Msid the Fquih organizes the work and form teams. The small Sidi Mohamed was appointed head of the brushes. The next morning, he accompanied his mother to kissaria to buy a new jacket. Back home, Sidi Mohamed argues with Zineb.Sa mother angry. Sad and taken Hunger, the child plunges into her dreams. The narrator then tells us the story of Lalla Khadija and her husband's uncle Othman told the neighbors by Rahma. On the eve of Ashura, women buy drums and a trumpet Sidi Mohamed. He participates in Msid preparations for the feast. The next day, he accompanied his father to the hairdresser where he listens without interest to adult conversations. The day of Ashura, the child wakes up early and put his new clothes before going to m'sid celebrate this special day .. After the meal, Lalla Aicha comes to visit the family of the narrator. After Ashura, life regains its monotony. But with the first warm days, the mother declares war on bedbugs. One day, the narrator's father decides to take his wife and son to the souk to buy jewelry bracelets. Fatma Bziouya accompanied the family of the narrator arrives at jewelers souk but the father is the face all bloody after a fight with a broker. Lalla Zubaida, superstitious, does not want these bracelets, she thinks they are evil. Mother Lalla Aicha tells the misadventures of the souk. Sidi Mohamed sick. The father lost all his capital. He decides to sell the bracelets and go to work at around Fez. Sidi Mohamed still suffering from fever. Father's departure is Véu as a great drama. One day, the mother visits her friend Lalla Aicha, who offered him to consult a soothsayer: If elArafi. the narrator evokes memories of seeing if Elarafi. Lalla Zoubida returns home while keeping the secret of the visit ... she decides to keep her child at home and take each week to visit a marabout. One morning she was visited by a messenger from her husband. Lalla Aicha just ask his girlfriend to visit him the next day because she has something to tell him. In Lalla Aicha, women talk. It is visited by Salama, who recounts his role in the marriage of the daughter Larbi If the hairdresser and the problems of the new couple .. The narrator in this last chapter recounts the return of his father. Sidi Mohamed tells his father past events during his absence. The narrator's father learns that M.Larbi broke with his young wife .. Sidi Mohamed, still at the beginning and also solitary dreamer, takes out his box and wonders lulled by his dreams fr:La Boîte à merveilles |
17199676 | /m/043sgn8 | Gilda Joyce: Psychic Investigator | Jennifer Allison | 2005-07 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | Gilda Joyce is a spunky, 13-year-old that wants to be a psychic investigator. She (and her not so enthusiastic friend) start an investigation. They go around town spying on people. Gilda lives in Detroit with her mother, and older brother, Stephen, as her father died of illness two years ago. Before his death, he told Gilda that she should have his typewriter, saying that "it's a magic typewriter," so Gilda keeps it with her as much as possible and tries to incorporate it into her psychic investigations, such as for Automatic Writing. After Gilda, following her instinct, lies to her class and teacher saying that she is going to San Francisco for the summer. She looks into ways of getting to San Francisco for the summer, so that her bluff wouldn't actually have been a lie. She soon learns of her uncle, Lester Splinter, her mother's second cousin and a stranger to the family, whose sister, Melanie Splinter, met her death through a suicide jump from the top of a tower in the Splinters' own backyard. Thrilled at this opportunity for investigation into Melanie's death, Gilda quickly writes a letter to Mr. Splinter introducing herself and requesting that she be allowed to stay at his house for the summer. The letter, upon its arrival in San Francisco, is found by Mr. Splinter's assistant, Summer, who finds Gilda very intriguing and writes back inviting Gilda to stay, and providing airline fare for her. Meanwhile, Juliet Splinter, Lester Splinter's 13-year-old daughter, is bedridden with a broken rib and a twisted ankle. Juliet, having come home from ballet class one day, was considering swallowing some of her father's sleeping pills when she seemed to see Aunt Melanie standing at the top of the stair case she was climbing, causing her to faint and fall down the stairs. When Gilda arrives in San Francisco to find that the sunny, warm paradise she had pictured was covered with fog during the summer so the mansion she will be staying in is hardly a place of fun and that her only company of her age group will be Juliet Splinter, Mr. Splinter's petite who is an unsociable, sadistic daughter who is currently recovering from an "accident" which makes her enthusiasm dampen slightly. But soon, through a little investigation, Gilda and Juliet become unlikely partners on their mission to uncover what really happened to Melanie Splinter. Together, they complete the mystery all and all, and Gilda is sent back to her regular life. |
17203281 | /m/04czd3m | A Month in the Country | Ivan Turgenev | null | null | The setting is the Islaev country estate in the 1840s. Natalya Petrovna, a headstrong 29-year-old, is married to Arkadi Islaev, a rich landowner seven years her senior. Bored with life, she welcomes the attentions of Mikhail Rakitin as her devoted but resentful admirer, without ever letting their friendship develop into a love affair. The arrival of the handsome 21-year-old student Aleksei Belyaev as tutor to her son Kolya ends her boredom. Natalya falls in love with Aleksei, but so does her ward Vera, the Islaevs' 17-year-old foster daughter. To rid herself of her rival, Natalya proposes that Vera should marry a rich old neighbour, but the rivalry remains unresolved. Rakitin struggles with his love for Natalya, and she wrestles with hers for Aleksei, while Vera and Aleksei draw closer. Misunderstandings arise, and when Arkadi begins to have his suspicions, both Rakitin and Aleksei are obliged to leave. As other members of the household drift off to their own worlds, Natalya's life returns to a state of boredom. |
17204667 | /m/043ml7_ | The Widows of Eastwick | John Updike | 2008 | {"/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Thirty years have passed since Alexandra Spofford, Jane Smart and Sukie Rougemont terrorized the Rhode Island town of Eastwick with their witchcraft and cavorted with Darryl Van Horne, possibly the devil. All three women had remarried, left Eastwick and gradually fallen out of touch. They begin to restore their friendship as they one by one become widowed. After touring the Canadian Rockies (Alexandra), Egypt (Alexandra and Jane) and China (all three), they agree to revisit Eastwick, largely out of unspoken guilt for their role in the death of their romantic rival, Jenny Gabriel, who died of metastasized ovarian cancer shortly after her marriage to Van Horne. While conducting a white magic spell at their rented condominium (part of Van Horne's old mansion), Jane, who had earlier been complaining of odd electric shocks, suddenly dies of an aneurysm of the aorta. Alexandra and Sukie both learn that Jenny's brother, Christopher (who had also been Van Horne's lover) killed Jane using methods involving electrons and quantum physics he learned from Van Horne. He plans to kill the other two witches next but doesn't, possibly because Sukie seduces him. Alexandra returns to New Mexico, where she previously settled with her second husband after first leaving Eastwick, and Sukie moves to Manhattan with Christopher. |
17205642 | /m/043qqq2 | Azincourt | Bernard Cornwell | 10/1/2008 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | Nicholas Hook, a forester and archer, feuds with Tom and Robert Perrill and their biological father, the priest Father Martin. He is compelled to participate in the hanging and burning of a community of Lollard heretics. One of them, an archer himself, asks Hook to protect his granddaughter after he (the condemned man) is gone. But Father Martin decides to take the girl for himself, and in an unsuccessful attempt to shield her, Hook attacks the priest. Hook is then held for trial and anticipated execution. Father Martin and Tom Perrill rape and murder the girl, and Hook's guilt at failing to save her haunts him throughout the story. Hook escapes and joins an expedition to Soissons, in Burgundy, as a mercenary archer. Burgundy and France are in bitter conflict and the French attack, win easily, sack the town, and torture and kill the English archers as well as the loyal French citizens which shocks Europe. Hook manages to conceal himself in a house and save a local nun, Melisande, from rape. Hook believes he is guided in their escape by the voices of Saints Crispin and Crispinian, the patron saints of Soissons. Melisande becomes Hook's companion and lover. Later, he discovers she is the bastard child of the powerful French Lord Ghillebert, seigneur de Lanferelle (called the "Lord of Hell"). By returning alive from Soissons, and reporting the treachery of the English knight Sir Roger Pallaire, who conspired with the French and sacrificed his own archers, Hook earns good stead with his new lord, Sir John Cornewaille, and with King Henry V. Hook returns to France serving under Cornewaille with the royal army to win Henry the crown of France. The campaign starts horrendously with the siege of the port of Harfleur. The town's capture takes too many weeks, and disease decimates Henry's army. During a failed attack, Hook kills Robert Perrill by thrusting a crossbow bolt through the man's eye. During the siege Hook meets the seigneur de Lanferelle, who disapproves of Hook's relationship with his daughter, Melisande and claiming that he does indeed care for his illegitimate child vows to kill Hook and return Melisande to the nunnery. Sometime later Hook and Melisande are formally married. Henry, against the advice of his vassal lords, then decides to march his ragged army to Calais along the coast of France as a demonstration of his sovereignty (and an insult to the French king). The Hook - Perrill feud reignites during the march as Tom Perrill frames Hook's brother Michael for stealing a religious pyx. Henry hangs Michael in public for the crime. To reach Calais, the English army must cross the River Somme. But the far larger French army blocks the fords and the two opposing armies meet at Agincourt, on the day of St's. Crispin and Crispinian. Torrential rain soaks the newly ploughed land, turning it into a treacherous morass, especially for the French knights in full plate armour. There are natural obstacles on both sides that narrow down towards the English. The battle (like Crècy) takes place on a slope going to the English. Before the battle Henry under the guise of 'John Swan' speaks with the men, Hook realises that it is indeed the king after noticing his distinctive scar and tells 'John Swan' that the king claims to be a religious man but is sinner for killing an innocent man, Michael. 'John Swan' seems deeply affected by this and tells Hook the king will pray for Michael every day, which comforts Hook. The French foolishly allow the English to advance within range of the English longbows. The English are ordered by Henry to hammer sharpened stakes into the ground, forming an impenetrable wall to repel the cavalry, Hook and Tom Perrill agree to end their feud until the battle is over believing they will both be killed by the French anyway. The archers launch volleys as the French begin a difficult advance toward the English. The first attack is driven back by the English as they step back, behind the stakes and the French horses either bolt in terror or are impaled upon the deadly spikes. During the mayhem, Father Martin attempts to rape Melisande. Melisande kills Martin using her crossbow. The battle is also portrayed from the opposite side via the seigneur de Lanferelle who hopes to capture valuable prisoners including his rival and Hook's lord Cornwaille. The English repel the second attack through a combination of their remaining arrows and the surprising skill of the archers in hand-to-hand combat. The French decline to launch a third attack and retire, leaving thousands of French dead, and many French lords in captivity. Hook takes Lanferelle prisoner, and Lanferelle kills Tom Perrill as Hook had vowed to his friend and mentor Father Christopher that he wouldn't kill Perrill. The English claim a famous victory, and Hook returns to England with Melisande and his prisoner the seigneur de Lanferelle who now accepts and approves of Hook. Hook now a wealthy man after being promoted to command Cornwaille's archers as well the ransom from his prisoner, pays a priest to say prayers for the girl he couldn't save. |
17205776 | /m/043q5yz | The Rat Race | John Franklin Carter | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"} | The novel concerns Lieutenant Commander Frank Jacklin who is blown up in a thorium bomb explosion while on the battleship Alaska. He awakens in the body of Winnie Tompkins who had perpetrated the explosion. As Tompkins, he learns of a plot by German agents to poison Franklin D. Roosevelt and he tries to warn the authorities. He continues to become involved in intrigue until another accident restores Tompkins to his body, leaving Jacklin in the body of a dog. |
17207019 | /m/043m0xt | After 12,000 Years | Stanton A. Coblentz | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"} | The novel concerns Henry Merwin, who after taking part in an experiment finds himself 12,000 years in the future. Taken captive by a giant race, he is forced to care for their insect pets. He falls in love with a fellow prisoner, Luellan, but his captors will not allow them to marry. Instead he is forced to go to war with his insect charges. The insects eventually grow to such a size that they take over much of the earth. Merwin returns to rescue Luellen, escaping to her home in Borneo. |
17208586 | /m/043lsv3 | Leven Thumps and the Wrath of Ezra | Obert Skye | 9/30/2008 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | Foo—the place between the possible and the impossible—is a realm inside the minds of each of us that allows mankind the power to hope and imagine and dream. The powerfully gifted Leven Thumps, once an ordinary fourteen-year-old boy from Oklahoma, has been retrieved from Reality and sent to stop those in Foo who are nurturing dark dreams and plan to invade and rule Reality. In book four, the war to unite Foo and Reality has begun and is in full motion. Not only must Leven race across Foo to stop the war. With him now being The Want, Geth, Winter, and he must fight to save Foo before all is lost. There is no place like Foo. Nowhere are the shores more beautiful or the skies so deep and moving. Unfortunately, the beauty is unraveling quickly. A great darkness is ascending from beneath the dirt as the true evil of Foo is unlocked and the Dearth rises above the soil. Assisted by Azure and an army of rants and other beings determined to merge Foo and Reality, the Dearth had brought war to the very borders of Sycophant Run. Normally the sycophants would have the situation well in hand, but with the secret of their mortality finally leaked, Clover and his breed are vulnerable as never before. Wreaking havoc in Reality, Terry and Addy are about to join forces with a one-time janitor and the angriest, most confused toothpick alive-Ezra. He's got the answers. He's got the attitude. And he's selfish enough to sacrifice the dreams of all mankind for his own desires. Get ready to dine with Eggmen, ride on the backs of a Wave, find the Invisible Village, travel by rope, wrestle in chocolate, battle blindfolded, and, of course, live the impossible with the awesome Geth. |
17210447 | /m/043m23r | Tom Swift and His Aerial Warship | Victor Appleton | 1915 | {"/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature", "/m/08sdrw": "Adventure novel"} | The story was written in 1915, and World War I, known as The Great War, was already in progress. As the story opens, Tom is explaining his newest invention to his friend, Ned Newton. Just as Tom is in the middle of explaining the problems he is having, a fire erupts in one of the sheds, where explosives are stored. After the fire has been put out, careful investigation shows that the fire was set deliberately. In preparation for presenting his new airship to the United States Government, Tom has invited a Lieutenant Marbury, from the Navy, to review his ship. Marbury informs Tom of a possible plot against Tom and his inventions, past and present. Tom scoffs at the idea, but soon finds out otherwise, as his new airship is hijacked by foreign spies with an unknown agenda. |
17212708 | /m/043mzjd | The Dark Other | Stanley G. Weinbaum | null | {"/m/03npn": "Horror"} | The novel concerns Patricia Lane who is in love with Nicholas Devine, a quiet and gentle writer. Devine undergoes sudden changes becoming cold and calculating. Frightened by this, Lane consults psychologist Dr. Carl Horker who rescues her from Devine while under the influence of one of his spells. Devine again attacks Horker, and overcomes him. He is then shot by Lane and rushed to a hospital where a second brain is discovered and removed. |
17216588 | /m/043lyzm | The Iron Star | Eric Temple Bell | 1930 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"} | The novel concerns an African expedition. Swain, a member of the expedition, becomes demented and attempts to exterminate a peculiar species of African ape. The other members of the expedition are befriended by an intelligent ape called the Captain. The expedition discovers that the apes are in fact humans that have evolved in reverse due to exposure to a meteor and that the Captain was once human. |
17221944 | /m/043ngl9 | Lecture Demonstration | Hal Clement | 1973 | {"/m/03lrw": "Hard science fiction"} | Dr LaVerne, a teacher with the College, takes a party of Mesklinite students on a geological expedition. Whilst examining a layer of rock, it collapses. Teacher and students fall into a cavern. They are unable to climb out; the limiting factor is time as the teacher is enclosed in a suit with a finite oxygen supply. The students and teacher discuss various possibilities until they realise that they can raise the melting point of the surrounding ammonia 'snow' to the point where it soldifies. They climb out to safety. |
17222063 | /m/043n9rl | Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie | Jordan Sonnenblick | null | {"/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature"} | The protagonist Steven, an avid drummer, narrates the story during the month of September, discussing in the novel the previous ten months about his struggles of his little brother's cancer. Steven has had a crush on a girl named Renee Albert since the third grade. In the beginning of the novel, Steven's brother Jeffrey has been acting strangely. Finally, Steven finds out that Jeffrey has cancer. Everyone at his school starts to notice him because his brother has cancer. Towards the end of the story, Steven leaves his big fundraiser concert to go to the hospital with Jeffrey. It turns out he had an ear infection and Steven missed his performance for that. Later, Steven asks about Sam, a friend he met at the hospital who also has cancer, and finds out she had died and her sister never came to her. The story ends with Steven's Graduation. |
17224006 | /m/043pm89 | The Atom Clock | Cornel Lengyel | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/05qp9": "Play"} | The play concerns a worker who rebels against military control of atomic energy. |
17227230 | /m/043sj52 | Run Before the Wind | Stuart Woods | 1983-03 | {"/m/01jfsb": "Thriller", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"} | Will Lee ran from a life of Southern wealth and privilege to spend a peaceful summer on the coast of Ireland. But there is no peace in this beautiful, troubled land. Restless and dissatisfied, Will dreams of shipbuilding and sailing on crystal-blue waters. But an explosion of senseless violence is dragging the young American drifter into a lethal game of terror and revenge. For the fires of hatred rage unchecked in this place of lush, rolling hills and deadly secrets. Now Will Lee must run for his life from a bloody past that is not his own-and he will find no sanctuary on the rolling waves of the Irish sea. A breathtaking novel of suspense and high-adventure by New York Times bestselling author Stuart Woods. |
17227374 | /m/043rjfy | Drome | John Martin Leahy | null | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | Two explorers travel miles beneath Mount Rainier and discover a cavernous realm, filled with glowing mist, called Drome, which is home to a lost civilization and fantastic animals, including bat-apes, snake-cats, and tree-octopi. |
17227674 | /m/043s9j9 | Chiefs | Stuart Woods | 1981-06 | {"/m/01jfsb": "Thriller", "/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The First Chief: Will Henry Lee: The novel opens in 1919, when the growing town of Delano, Georgia hires its first police chief. The city council, led by banker and prominent investor Hugh Holmes, chooses farmer Will Henry Lee over Foxy Funderburke, an eccentric, wealthy, dog breeder and gun collector, for the job. Will Henry is unschooled as a policeman but is honest and determined to do the job well. Not long after he assumes his new responsibilities, the dead body of a young man is found naked at the bottom of a cliff. A medical examination concludes that the boy died from a broken neck as a result of his fall but also that he had been tortured—cuffed and beaten with a rubber hose—for some time before his death. The medical examiner tells Will Henry that the crime had a strong sexual component, and that while the boy had not yet been sodomized, the assault on him could have gone further had the boy not evidently escaped. Will Henry conducts a thorough investigation but is frustrated in his attempts to locate the killer, not least because the uncooperative Skeeter Willis, the sheriff of Meriwhether County, of which Delano is a part, insists that the boy was killed by some of the many transients in the area at the time. Will Henry is unconvinced, but eventually runs out of leads. He believes that a second murder, taking place some four years later and just outside of his jurisdiction, is connected to the first but has no real proof and no real authority to pursue the matter. Finally, Will Henry hears from Skeeter Willis about a young runaway who might be passing near Delano and also learns that someone with a Delano PO Box had attempted to purchase a pair of handcuffs from a police supplier. The box belongs to Foxy Funderburke, whom Will had questioned after the two murders, since the bodies were discovered near Foxy's property. Other clues also point in Foxy's direction. Looking around the property, Will Henry notices the outline of what appears to be a freshly dug grave but is observed by Foxy. As he rushes to obtain a search warrant, Foxy follows, intending to kill him, and so is nearby when Will, diverted by a problem involving the Coles, a black family that had once worked for him, is shot and killed by the black father, who is in the grip of a malaria-induced delirium. Will Henry dies as the shooter's teenage son, Willie, is escaping to relatives in another town. The Second Chief: Sonny Butts: The scene shifts to 1946. After World War II, Delano welcomes home its returning veterans, including Billy Lee, the late chief's son, a young lawyer who served as a bomber pilot in Europe, and Sonny Butts, a decorated Army infantryman. Billy has become a protégé of Hugh Holmes and the two men decide to launch Billy into politics by having him run for Holmes's seat in the Georgia State Senate, from which the banker intends to retire. Sonny lands a position on the Delano police force, which now consists of a chief and two officers. He is a quick success as a police officer, but rumors of abuses at the police station are heard. When the chief dies, Sonny is named his replacement. Examining old police files, Sonny comes across Chief Lee's notes on the two murders in the 1920s. He also begins to track the last known sightings of a number of young men, likely runaways, in the years since and notices a geographical pattern in the disappearances: Delano is at their center. Seeing in Will Henry's notes a reference to interviewing Foxy Funderburke, Sonny decides to keep an eye on Foxy as a possible suspect. Sonny is undone by his virulent racism and propensity to violence. After he beats and kills a local black businessman, a grand jury is empaneled for the purpose of indicting him, though perjured testimony lets him off the hook. But Sonny was also observed beating a man at the county fair the evening before, and Hugh Holmes is determined to fire him. Desperate to hang onto his job, Sonny heads to Foxy's property and catches Foxy digging a fresh grave for a recent victim. Momentarily distracted by the chance to save his reputation, Sonny is attacked by Foxy, who shoots him and buries him in the new grave with his police motorcycle. The Third Chief: Tucker Watts: The time frame changes once again, this time to 1963. Billy Lee is now Georgia's lieutenant governor and is planning to run for governor in the next election. Hugh Holmes asks Billy's help in searching for a new Chief, who will now supervise six officers. An integrationist, Billy is alerted to the resume of Major Tucker Watts, a retiring Army MP, who is black. Mindful that Delano has yet to hire a black officer, let alone a chief, Billy decides to forward Watts's resume to Holmes and recommends his hiring. Holmes makes a persuasive case for Watts at the city council hearing and he is hired as Chief, setting off a media frenzy over the first black hired to head a police force in the South. Tucker assumes his duties as Chief welcomed by many residents but scorned by others. He makes a good impression on the overall community, however, and at first seems able to weather the problems he faces. But Tucker harbors a painful secret: he is Willie Cole, whose father killed Chief Lee decades earlier and who, so far as Delano knows, died in an accident not long after fleeing. Tucker is deathly afraid of being discovered and nearly kills a man who recognizes him. After coming to his senses, he relaxes and, like Sonny Butts, begins to organize old police files. He, too, reads Chief Lee's report on the old murders and observes Sonny Butts's notations regarding the pattern of subsequent disappearances. Building on the work of his two predecessors, Tucker also begins to suspect the now-aged Foxy Funderburke and makes inquiries about him. A confluence of events distracts Tucker, including his own arrest on trumped-up charges and Billy Lee's race for governor, in which Tucker's hiring becomes an issue. These problems leave him inclined to do nothing about Foxy for the time being. Then, John Howell, a reporter for The New York Times, convinces Tucker to take his evidence to the FBI and obtain a search warrant through them. The FBI reluctantly agrees to issue the warrant, and Tucker and federal agents search Foxy's property, finding nothing at first. Tucker is fearing that he might have dealt a fatal blow to Billy Lee's campaign when one of the agents trips on what proves to be a motorcycle handlebar protruding from the ground. As Foxy emerges from the house, armed and intending to kill Tucker and the agents, he is distracted by John Howell and is himself shot dead. The ensuing investigation determines that Foxy had tortured, sodomized, murdered, and buried at least forty-three young men over the decades. John Howell discovers Tucker's true identity but decides to keep it a secret. The novel ends as Hugh Holmes, pleased for Billy's success in the election but crushed by the revelations about Foxy and the shame the murders will bring to the city he did so much to build, is suffering a potentially fatal heart attack. |
17227893 | /m/043lnwz | Green Fire | Eric Temple Bell | 1928 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | The novel concerns two corporations competing to develop the power of atomic energy. Independent Laboratories is working for the advancement of mankind, and Consolidated Power is working for personal gain. Nature goes berserk, and James Ferguson, the leader of Independent, discovers that Jevic, the Director of Consolidated, has achieved his goal. Nebulae in space are marked with a greenish glow and then are obliterated. MacRobert, who has previously refused offers from either corporation, is placed in charge of Independent. He disposes of Jevic in time to end the destruction. |
17228437 | /m/043sb1h | Deliver Us from Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism | Sean Hannity | 2005 | null | In the book, Hannity explains a direct progression from Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin through Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. He praises world leaders such as George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan for moral clarity and vision, and contrasts these with the viewpoints and actions of current politicians he sees as liberal. |
17228616 | /m/043lnmq | The Planet of Youth | Stanton A. Coblentz | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"} | The novel concerns the first real estate boom on the planet Venus. |
17241598 | /m/043ql2f | The Rich Pay Late | null | null | null | The story opens in 1955. The printing firm of Salinger & Holbrook (mainly Holbrook) is interested in becoming major shareholders in Strix, a magazine of commerce. Donald Salinger, Jude Holbrook, and Somerset Lloyd-James all have trouble with women. Holbrook and Lloyd-James are both unhappily married; Salinger gets engaged to the promiscuous Vanessa Drew who tries to restrict her sex life (to only a few places and not with people Salinger knows or even knows of). Holbrook, a repulsive man who hates old people, help his secretary Miss Beatty to force her old mother into a retirement home. The spinster Beatty becomes more lively after this and picks up a rather boring man on a pub. Later on, she is found gruesomely murdered in her flat, although the details aren’t revealed. Lloyd-James manages to make his friend Peter Morrison MP a member of the board of Strix, so the board consists of Lloyd-James, Morrison, Lord Philby, Harry Dilkes and Roger Constable. Morrison is against Salinger & Holbrook buying Lord Philby's place, despite his friendship with Salinger. One reason for this is his dislike of Holbrook, who has not given a raise to employee Dexterside and who didn’t attend Miss Beatty's funeral. Holbrook is trying to make Lloyd-James into an ally. Lloyd-James expects that this could improve his political career and also bring him some money. Holbrook also knows of the constant infidelity of Vanessa Drew to Salinger and he blackmails her to persuade Salinger to be more positive about buying Strix. Since Salinger at heart is a rather vain man, she succeeds in this. After their honeymoon, Salinger and Vanessa (now Vanessa Salinger) throw a big party which is not a complete success. Salinger tries to mix his former friends, the intellectual proletariat, with his newer acquaintances, the country gentry. Susan Grange breaks the lavatories just for the fun of it. Angela Tuck and Somerset Lloyd-James meet for the first time in over 10 years and discuss events that took place in “Fielding Gray.” Tom Llewyllyn gets extremely drunk and is rude to the Morrisons, then (for £200) reveals to Holbrook and Lloyd-James a scandalous story: in 1944, Peter Morrison MP made a 14 year old girl pregnant, and she married her fiancé who took on the role of the father. This unhappy man has told Lloyd-James of the whole thing. Towards the end of the party Llewyllyn behaves even more outrageously and knocks over statues in the garden. Right then it is revealed that the huckster Mark Lewson has stolen £75 from Salinger. Susan Grange, who bathed naked in the pool, gets really depressed and is escorted home by the chivalrous Lloyd-James. Some time after the party Vanessa finds out that she’s pregnant. Since the father may be a black man it would be tricky to suggest to Salinger that he’s the father, and Vanessa settles for abortion. Lloyd-James, who often engages in S & M, starts a relation of that kind with Susan Grange, always interested in trying something new. Susan tells Lloyd-James that he, however, must settle with the role as “second string lover” since she’s already engaged to another man. Holbrook checks the story about Morrison and finding it to be true, tries to blackmail Peter Morrison into voting for Salinger & Holbrook as new majority holders but he refuses. Right after this, Lord Philby mentions casually to Lloyd-James that he has Susan Grange as his mistress, Lloyd-James reveals nothing. Holbrook, having had a bad day in general, writes a number of letters to parliament, the press etc. with the story about Peter Morrison. People around him consider this utterly foolish. Since Llewyllyn is mentioned as a source of the story he gets haunted by the surprisingly decent journalist Alfie Schroeder. Llewyllyn, haunted by bad conscience, tries to deny the whole affair and even tries to give Peter Morrison some help but Peter refuses, in a friendly way. Salinger is going to visit old Mrs Beatty but loses his way and walks into the abortion clinic where he finds Vanessa, who faints at the sight of him. Salinger is fooled into believing the child was his and forgives Vanessa the whole thing while he promises her a trip around the world so they can have some quiet time for themselves. Both Llewyllyn and Schroeder go to the little village where Morrison’s bastard is living, to discover the truth. When they meet in the village they decide to cooperate. Schroeder finds out that the girl Morrison was said to have raped (almost) was blind at the time, but Morrison’s father later paid for an operation to recover her eyesight. Susan Grange settles for marriage with Lord Philby and Lloyd-James finds that all his plans have come to naught. He has fallen out with Salinger because of the failed affair, he has fallen out with Peter because of his betrayal to him, he will not receive money or improve his political career and he even loses his mistress. Angela Tuck, on the other side, inherits a fortune since her husband Mr. Tuck has been run over when drunk. Salinger, planning for his trip around the world, pays Holbrook to dissolve their partnership since his disgraceful role in the Morrison affair will ruin Salinger's reputation. Salinger even doubts the mental condition of his soon-to-be former partner. Schroeder and Llewyllyn find Purchase, the village clergyman, and after a bit of hesitation he tells a very different story about Peter Morrison and the girl. The young blind Betty was raped by a gang of boys after she had been deliberately left alone by Mrs Vincent, the mother of her fiancé. Peter and his father came to her rescue but when she woke up in the arms of Peter she thought, shocked as she was, that he was the seducer. The reverend had been told this by Mrs Vincent on her deathbed. Angela, now rich, summarily dumps Holbrook and tells him how inhuman he is. Llewellyn has great success with a book about communism and gives 50% of the royalties to Lloyd-James, under the terms of a loan he gave Llewyllyn. Llewyllyn don’t care much about the money (since there is lot of it) and Lloyd-James despite his earlier setbacks, makes a fortune. During a meeting Peter Morrison reveals to Llewyllyn why he didn’t try to defend himself during the scandal. The Suez crisis is approaching and as a former military man, Morrison's conscience wouldn’t allow him to criticize the army in public, despite the fact that he private feels the action foolish. He needed an excuse to resign which Llewyllyn's scandal gave him. Morrison's good friend, Detterling, is heading for Suez and that wouldn’t have made things easier for the honest MP. The book ends with a party hosted by the famous gambler Max de Freville, where the majority of the main characters appear. Donald and Vanessa are about to start their long trip, Lord Philby is there with his soon-to-be wife Susan, the pleased Lloyd-James is there, happy with his new income and a possible political career after Peter's resignation and Detterling’s adventures in Egypt. No one know where is Holbrook, who has lately lost his son Donald to meningitis. sv:The Rich Pay Late |
17246888 | /m/043nxzz | A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge | Josh Neufeld | null | {"/m/012h24": "Comics"} | The online version of the story encompasses a two-part prologue, 13 chapters, and an epilogue — 15 chapters in total. In the prologue, from a "God's eye" perspective, A.D. shows Hurricane Katrina as it builds from a tropical storm in the Bahamas and moves inexorably toward New Orleans. Katrina slams into the Gulf Coast. Winds and rain lash New Orleans and Biloxi, Mississippi. The levees burst and the city is flooded. Going back in time to more than a week before the storm, readers meet the protagonists in their pre-Katrina lives. Then in the days leading up to the hurricane, the characters learn about the approaching monster storm. On the Saturday before the hurricane, Leo tracks the storm on his computer as he and Michelle decide whether to evacuate. Meanwhile, The Doctor makes plans to host some friends at his French Quarter home for a “hurricane party.” On Sunday, August 28, 2005, one day before Katrina, Hamid sends his wife and family off to safety in Houston. Kevin helps his family prepare to evacuate to Tallahassee. Denise goes with her niece and grandniece to take shelter at the hospital where her mother works, but when they are turned away from a private room due to overcrowding, she angrily returns to her apartment alone. Leo and Michelle spend hours in bumper-to-bumper traffic to Houston, while Kevin and his family do the same en route to Tallahassee. Meanwhile, Hamid and Mansell excitedly outfit themselves for the storm at Hamid’s store. Monday, August 29. As the storm’s pre-winds batter New Orleans, The Doctor’s hurricane party is in full swing. Hamid and Mansell hunker down at the store. When the full force of the hurricane hits, Denise learns just what a mistake it was to forsake the refuge of the hospital for her apartment. Her apartment is shaken repeatedly by the storm, the ceiling in the bedroom comes down, and she spends the night holding onto a bed wedged in the hallway. We also check in on Kevin and his family in Tallahassee, and Leo and Michelle in Houston. No one is yet aware that the levees have been breached. Tuesday, August 30. Katrina has finally passed New Orleans, and Hamid and Mansell emerge, blinking in the sunlight, ecstatic to have survived the storm. But then the flooding begins. Reluctant to abandon the store and fearful of looters, the two men stand fast in the rising waters. Wednesday, August 31. Hamid and Mansell wake up from a long night on the roof of Hamid's maintenance shed. They spend the day wading through the chest-high waters, refusing a boat ride out of the flooded sections of the city. Denise and her family, having momentarily escaped the flooding, await transport out of the flooded city. What they find instead is a van to the Convention Center. In Houston, Leo and Michelle are dismayed to discover that their neighborhood took over five feet of water. The Doctor makes the rounds of the French Quarter, administering aid where needed. Hamid and Mansell deliver much-needed water to a trapped neighbor. And in Tallahassee, Kevin sees footage of the flooding and realizes he won’t be returning home any time soon. Denise arrive at the Convention Center to find it completely without vital services, and filled with abandoned people. Mansell narrowly avoids being crushed by a bobbing refrigerator case. Mansell's asthma and the high water makes Hamid face the fact that they probably should evacuate the flooded city. In Houston, Leo & Michelle discuss what their next move should be. And in Tallahassee, Kevin learns that he and his younger brother will be sent off to California to attend school there. Thursday, September 1. Three days after the hurricane and two days after the city began flooding. Denise and her family, having been dropped off at the New Orleans Convention Center, find themselves stranded and abandoned, surrounded by thousands of other refugees. And from there things only get worse. Denise and her family are still trapped at the New Orleans Convention Center. The NOLA police roll by in armored SWAT vehicles, with rifles loaded — but no food or water. This companion section to Chapter 12 tells the real story — from the perspective of the people who were there — of what went down at the Convention Center in the days after Hurricane Katrina. In the epilogue, "Picking Up The Pieces," A.D. concluded its online run with a final look at all the characters. Picking up the story a year and a half after the hurricane, readers find out about Denise's escape from the Convention Center; Hamid & Mansell's rescue from the flooded store; Kevin's years-long odyssey; the Doctor's formation of the New Orleans Health Department in Exile; and Leo & Michelle's return to their flooded home. The epilogue concludes with a jump of another year ahead in time, to early 2008, and a final check-in with the Doctor, Leo, and Denise. The A.D. book includes 25% more story and art, as well as extensive revisions to the material from the webcomic. Other changes include dividing the book into five sections rather than 15 chapters, as well as the changing of some of the characters' names. |
17249739 | /m/043khzj | Blood Red, Snow White | Marcus Sedgwick | 8/6/2007 | {"/m/02p0szs": "Historical fiction", "/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | The novel is in three parts. The first part, "A Russian Fairy Tale", deliberately evokes the atmosphere of Arthur Ransome's Old Peter's Russian Tales. It is a fairy-tale account of the circumstances leading to the Russian Revolution, featuring the poor woodcutter, the orphaned children, the romantic but oblivious Royal family, the mad monk, the sleeping bear and the two conspirators in the wood. The novel continues by presenting history from the perspective of an individual, an outsider. The English writer Arthur Ransome, in Russia to collect folktales, stays to observe events, becoming a correspondent for the Daily News. In the second part of the novel, "One Night in Moscow", Ransome is haunted by the scenes he has witnessed. They appear as a scatter of flashbacks, reflecting the confusion in his mind. He has experienced the pull of Bolshevik idealism, and has fallen in love with Trotsky's secretary, Evgenia. On the other hand he is appalled by the brutality of some revolutionaries and considers helping his friend Robert Lockhart of the British Embassy. He finally decides that he has no business interfering with the destiny of Russia, one way or the other, and leaves Moscow for Stockholm. The final part, "A Fairy Tale, Ending", focuses on Ransome's private life, and shifts into first person narration. Ransome's supposed Bolshevist sympathies bring him under suspicion when the Red Terror begins, but he redeems himself by helping to free Lockhart from the Kremlin. Ransome is happy with Evgenia in Stockholm and when she has to return to Russia, he chooses to go with her. To ease his return, he reconsiders the offer from the SIS, and becomes agent S76. Lenin welcomes him back to Russia, dismissing Trotsky's fears that he might be a spy. On what is intended to be a brief visit to England, he meets unexpected difficulties, being questioned by the authorities and losing his job with the Daily News. It is some months before he regains his journalist status, and meanwhile there is civil war in Russia. As the Tsarist White Army makes advances against the Bolshevik Red Army, he becomes worried for Evgenia's safety. He takes considerable risks to return to Russia, and eventually succeeds in bringing her back west with him. |
17253265 | /m/043rb_9 | The Celestial Plot | Adolfo Bioy Casares | 1948 | null | A soldier must pilot a new plane. He suffers an accident and is injured. He is interrogated and the army does not believe he is from Argentina. They mistake him for a spy. He calls his friends and nobody recognizes him. He cannot explain the situation, but a friend of his, the author, helps him. The author discovers the truth: he has travelled to a parallel universe, a little different from this. |
17253525 | /m/019qz_ | Flowers for Algernon | Daniel Keyes | 1959 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | The short story and the novel share many similar plot points but the novel expands significantly on Charlie's developing emotional state as well as his intelligence, his memories of childhood, and the relationship with his family and Miss Kinnian. The story is told through a series of journal entries written by the story's protagonist, Charlie Gordon, a man with an IQ of 68 who works a menial job as a janitor in a factory. He is selected to undergo an experimental surgical technique to increase his intelligence. The technique had already been successfully tested on Algernon, a laboratory mouse. The surgery on Charlie is also a success and his IQ triples. Charlie falls in love with his former teacher, Miss Kinnian, but as his intelligence increases, he surpasses her intellectually and they become unable to relate to each other. He also realizes that his co-workers at the factory whom he thought were his friends, only liked him to be around so that they could make fun of him. His new intelligence scares his co-workers at his job; they start a petition to have him fired. Everyone signs it except Fanny Girden. When Charlie finds out about the petition, he quits. As Charlie's intelligence peaks, Algernon suddenly declines — losing his increased intelligence and dying shortly afterward, to be buried in a cheese box in Charlie's backyard. Charlie discovers that his intelligence increase is also only temporary. He starts to experiment to find out the cause of the flaw in the experiment, which he calls the "Algernon-Gordon Effect". Just when he finishes his experiments, his intelligence begins to degenerate, to such an extent that he becomes equally as unintelligent as he was before the experiment. Charlie is aware of, and pained by, what is happening to him as he loses his knowledge and his ability to read and write. He tries to get his old job as a janitor back, and tries to revert back to normal but he cannot stand the pity from his co-workers, landlady, and Ms. Kinnian. Charlie states he plans to "go away" from New York and move to a new place. His last wish is that someone put flowers on Algernon's grave. The novel opens with an epigraph discouraging people from laughing at those who are perplexed or weak of vision. The epigraph is taken from Plato's The Republic, part of which reads: Charlie Gordon, 32 years of age, has an IQ of 68 and holds a menial job at a bakery which his uncle had secured for him so that Charlie would not have to be sent to a State institution. Wanting to improve himself, Charlie attends reading and writing classes at the Beekman College Center for Retarded Adults; his teacher is Alice Kinnian, a young, attractive woman. Two researchers at Beekman are looking for a human test subject on whom to try a new surgical technique intended to increase intelligence. They have already performed the surgery on a mouse named Algernon, dramatically improving his mental performance. Based on Alice's recommendation and his own peerless motivation to improve, Charlie is chosen over smarter pupils to undergo the procedure. The operation is a success, and within the next three months Charlie's IQ reaches an astonishing 185. However, as his intelligence, education, and understanding of the world around him increases, his relationships with people deteriorate. His coworkers at the bakery, who used to amuse themselves at his expense, are now scared and resentful of his increased intelligence and persuade his boss to fire him. One night at a cocktail party, a drunken Charlie angrily confronts his scientific mentors about their condescending attitude toward him. Charlie also embarks on a troubled romance with Alice. Unable to become intimate with the object of his affection, Charlie later starts a purely sexual relationship with Fay Lillman, a vivacious and promiscuous artist in the neighboring apartment. When he's not drinking at night, Charlie spends intense weeks continuing his mentors' research on his own and writing reports which include observations of Algernon who he keeps at his apartment. Charlie's research discovers a flaw in the theory behind Nemur's and Strauss's intelligence-enhancing procedure, one that will eventually cause him to revert to his original mental state. His conclusions prove true when Algernon starts behaving erratically, loses his own enhanced intelligence, and dies. Charlie tries to mend the long-broken relationships with his parents but without success. He remembered that as a boy his mother had insisted on his institutionalization, overruling his father's wish to keep him in the household. Charlie returns after many years to his family's Brooklyn home, and finds his mother now suffers from dementia and, although she recognizes him, is mentally confused. Charlie's father, who had broken off contact with the family many years before, does not recognize him when visited at his worksite. Charlie is only able to reconnect with his now-friendly younger sister, who had hated him for his mental disability when they were growing up, and who is now caring for their mother in their now-depressed neighborhood. Charlie promises to send her money. As Charlie regresses intellectually, Fay becomes scared by the change and stops talking to him. However, Charlie finally attains sufficient emotional maturity to have a brief but fulfilling relationship with Alice, who cohabits with him until the extent of his mental deterioration causes him to finally order her to leave. Despite regressing to his former self, he still remembers that he was once a genius. He cannot bear to have his friends and co-workers feel sorry for him. Consequently, he decides to go away to live at the State-sponsored Warren Home School where nobody knows about the operation. In a final postscript to his writings, ostensibly addressed to Alice Kinnian, he requests that she put some flowers on Algernon's grave in Charlie's former back yard. |
17254822 | /m/043qh3c | The High King's Tomb | Kristen Britain | 2007 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/03qfd": "High fantasy"} | Karigan G’Ladheon, a member of the King’s Green Rider messenger service, finds her life increasingly tangled in the third book of the Green Rider series. King Zachary, for whom Karigan has feelings, has admitted his feeling for Karigan but is being forced into a political marriage with Lady Estora of Coutre. This causes difficulties for all three as Karigan and Zachary cannot be together and Karigan is now jealous of Estora and ceases to show friendship to her former friend. Soon Karigan is sent on several messenger errands as Captain Mapstone attempts to separate her from King Zachary. Accompanied by rider-in-training Fergal Duff, she delivers several messages, the last one a decoy message presented to her old school nemesis, now lord-governor Timas Mirwell, in an attempt to contact Rider Beryl Spencer. Meanwhile, Riders Alton D’yer and Dale Littlepage’s attempts to mend the wall at the Blackveil Forest are met with failure, and the wall’s strength continues to wane. “Grandmother,” the leader of the Second Empire, plans to overthrow Sacoridia and return the Empire by using her magic and a book that must be read at the tomb of the Sacoridian High King which reveals the history of the D’Yer Wall, which protects the kingdom from the Blackveil Forest, and thereby how to destroy it. After delivering her messages, Karigan discovers Lady Estora, who had been kidnapped by men working with Second Empire. She offers herself as a distraction, changing clothes with Estora, to allow the King’s betrothed to escape safely and return to Sacor City. Karigan is captured but escapes with the aid of Lord Xandis Amberhill. Knowing the Grandmother’s plot, Karigan travels back to Sacor City to try to stop it. When she arrives, Karigan joins a band of Weapons, guards highly committed to guarding the King and the dead royalty, who enter the tombs to stop the Second Empire from reading the book. She successfully recovers the book, and it is revealed that she is an avatar of the god Westrion. In the aftermath of these events, Karigan is knighted by King Zachary and Alton succeeds in partially healing the wall with the help of the mages. Second Empire continues to plot as Grandmother and the Second Empire journey into the Blackveil hoping to "awake the sleepers". The author has confirmed that there are more books to come. The fourth book in the series, "Blackveil," was released in February 2011. |
17258010 | /m/043qkrf | Capital Crimes | Stuart Woods | 2003-10 | {"/m/01jfsb": "Thriller", "/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"} | In Capital Crimes, Will Lee finds himself in the middle of a tangled web of intrigue and danger, politics and power. Now at the pinnacle of his career, serving as president of the United States, Lee is faced with a most unusual task-that of marshaling federal law enforcement agencies to catch an assassin who is picking off some of the nation's high-level politicos. When a prominent conservative politician with a shady reputation is expertly killed at his lakeside cabin, authorities can come up with no suspects and even less hard evidence. But then, within days, two other, seemingly isolated deaths-achieved by very different means-are feared linked to the same ruthless murderer. With the help of his CIA director wife, Kate Rule Lee, Will trails the most clever and professional of killers before he can strike again. From a quiet D.C. suburb to the corridors of power to a deserted island hideaway, Will, Kate, and maverick FBI agent Robert Kinney track their man and set a trap with extreme caution and care-and await the most dangerous kind of quarry, a killer with a cause to die for. |
17260078 | /m/043lrjw | Fielding Gray | Simon Raven | null | null | The story starts after the end of World War II in Europe, in May 1945, at the school that is attended by Fielding Gray and his friends. A service in memory of the dead is held and among the names mentioned is Andrew Morrison, older brother of Peter Morrison. Gray, who seems bored during the whole service, mentions early in his story that he has an affection for Christopher Roland, another boy of the school. After some flirting they meet for a tryst in a barn, after a game of cricket. Roland is disgusted with himself for climaxing too soon, and believes himself to be patronised by Gray. People are starting to talk about their relationship and Gray doesn’t really dare to see Roland again, at least not in school. He is criticized by Peter Morrison, who thinks the relationship may hurt the rather fragile Roland. Gray goes home to his parents, his bullying father and weak mother, for the school holidays. A Mr. and Mrs. Tuck are introduced to the household and we soon learn that Mr. Gray and Mr. Tuck want to send Fielding to a tea plantation in India. Fielding will, of course, hear none of this, and plans to go to Cambridge to study Latin and Greek. He flirts with the young Mrs. Tuck, Angela, who even promises him a sexual relationship on a longer basis if he joins them in India. Fielding is also corresponding with Roland, who sends him a photograph with a dedication, which Fielding puts away in a drawer. On VJ-day in September 1945, Fielding is out in the streets and meets two sisters, Dixie and Phyllis. He fondles Dixie a bit and then runs away. When he makes a visit to Angela he hears her in the bedroom with his father, and slams the front door in fury when he leaves. On his arrival home, his mother tells him that Angela has called to tell her that his father has died of what seems to be a heart attack during a visit. Fielding suspects that it was because of the slamming of the door but he reveals nothing about the affair. His mother inherits the modest fortune of her husband and goes away for a while. On her return she is often visited by the Tucks, who seems to become good friends. During the period she’s away Fielding visits his friends and has a drunken party that ends with Lloyd-James vomiting. Later, he and Lloyd-James visit a drunk Angela Tuck, who is celebrating her 21st birthday. The party ends up with Angela and Lloyd-James having sex while Fielding leaves. The social climber Lloyd-James demands later that he should be taken more seriously by his comrades, since he is a man with ambitions. He even has plans of becoming head of school, a post that the headmaster wants to give to Gray. Together with Peter Morrison and his father they watch horse racing, where Morrison Senior’s horse Tiberius dies during the race. Peter does his National Service and is shipped away to India (described more closely in Sound The Retreat). Letters to Fielding from Christopher suggest that he is very depressed. Gray has dinner with the Tucks and things turn ugly when India comes up. Fielding visits a prostitute to find out what its like to be with a woman. During a meeting with the Headmaster Fielding is told that Christopher has been arrested for strange behaviour outside an army base. He is later informed that Christopher has shot himself with his father's gun. The friends are attending his funeral and on the way back to town the Headmaster and Gray give a lift to a soldier who also attended the service. The soldier (whose name is never revealed) was on the base where Christopher was arrested and had seen him standing outside every day for two weeks. Fielding receives a letter from Christopher, written before he killed himself, where he reveals that his tutor (whose name is not given) has told him that Fielding doesn’t really love him and that this is the reason for his suicide. After this, Fielding's mother finds the photo of Christopher in the drawer and blackmails Fielding into turning down his scholarship at Cambridge. When he refuses to obey (and he even hits her) she tells the board at Cambridge and Fielding's chances are spoiled. Senior Usher (a master at Fielding's school) is, however, prepared to pay for Fielding's education at Lancaster College, where Robert Constable will accept him. The plan is that Fielding will do his National Service and then go straight to Lancaster College. One evening, during his service, he meets Peter Morrison who tells a disturbing story. Morrison has met with Fielding's mother and told her about his plan, since he didn’t think he could lie to her. The mother, furious, has done what she could to prevent the plan and has told Constable about Fielding's lies and how he hit her. Constable, who said nothing about Gray's homosexual leanings, thinks this is outrageous and refuses to accept Gray as a pupil. With all roads blocked, Gray settles for a career in the army, something that Captain Detterling, an old boy of the school, had urged on him earlier. Towards the end of the book Fielding is describing a short but bitter meeting he has had with Peter on the island of Santa Kytherea (where he is stationed) in 1955. Peter admits that Fielding Gray had become alien to him already by the end of the summer 1945. sv:Fielding Gray |
17270969 | /m/043jt81 | Three Men on a Horse | John Cecil Holm | null | null | Mild-mannered Erwin Trowbridge, bored with his suburban New Jersey life with his wife and brother-in-law and frustrated by his low-paying job writing greeting card verses, decides to declare his independence by skipping work and spending the day in a local saloon. There he meets two men and a woman who make a living by betting on horse races. When they discover Erwin has an almost supernatural ability to go through a racing form and pick the winners, they persuade him to join them at a New York City hotel and regularly give them tips. Complications arise when Erwin begins to miss his wife and job and his cronies insist he put some money on a horse himself, despite his claim he will lose his power if he places a bet. |
17271493 | /m/043km4w | Snow Flower and the Secret Fan | Lisa See | 2005 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | In rural Hunan province, Lily and her friend Snow Flower are a laotong pair whose relationship is more close than a husband and wife's. Lily's aunt describes a laotong match this way: "'A laotong relationship is made by choice for the purpose of emotional companionship and eternal fidelity. A marriage is not made by choice and has only one purpose — to have sons.'" The two girls experience the painful process of foot binding at the same time, and write letters to one another on a fan with Nü Shu, a secret phonetic form of 'women's writing.' In addition to the language itself, the young women learn Nü Shu songs and stories. Both friends are born under the sign of the Horse, but they are quite different. Lily is practical, her feet firmly set on the ground, while Snow Flower attempts to fly over the constrictions of women's lives in the 19th century in order to be free. Their lives differ as well. Although Lily comes from a family of relatively low station, her feet are considered beautiful and play a role in her marriage into the most powerful family in the region. Lily is later known as Lady Lu, the region's most influential woman and a mother to four healthy children (three sons and one daughter). Although Snow Flower comes from a formerly prosperous family, she is not so fortunate. She marries a butcher, culturally considered the lowest of professions, and has a miserable life filled with children dying and beatings at the hand of her husband. The novel depicts human suffering in many ways: the physical and psychological pain of foot binding; the suffering of women of the time, who were treated as property; the terrible trek up the mountains to escape from the horrors of the Taiping Revolution; the painful return back down the mountain trail with dead bodies everywhere. Some estimate that the number of people killed during the Revolution was approximately 20 million. The detailed treatment of the suffering which Lily and Snow Flower experience in their laotong relationship is a major aspect of the book. Lily's need for love and her inability to forgive what she considers to be acts of betrayal cause her to inflict harm on many people, Snow Flower most of all. Believing that Snow Flower has not been true to her, Lily betrays her by sharing all her private secrets to a group of women, virtually destroying Snow Flower's reputation. When Snow Flower is dying, Lily is called to her bedside and tends to her until the end. As the book returns to the present (1903), Lily is an 80 year old woman who has lived 40 years after her friend's death. Her own husband and children have since died, and she quietly watches the next generation in her home. |
17276237 | /m/043kwc1 | Unwed Mother | Gloria D. Miklowitz | 1977 | null | Kathy Sellers is the daughter of lower middle-class parents, living in Los Angeles, California. Her mother Helen is on her fourth marriage to Mike, an unemployed man who uses his back as an excuse to avoid work, and living with them are Kathy's 16-year-old twin sisters, Mona and Dona. After a sexual encounter with her 18-year-old boyfriend Guy, Kathy learns she is pregnant. She is sent to live at St. Anne's, a home for unwed mothers until her delivery, which happens not long after her fifteenth birthday. After he initially reacts with outrage, she does extract a promise from Guy (who enters the Army) that he will send for her once he gets settled. Despite her regular series of letters to Guy in the military, he doesn't reciprocate. Thus, that day never comes for Kathy. She gives birth to a baby boy whom she names John. She initially decides to give John up for adoption, but changes her mind and tells Miss Ambrose, her social worker, that she wants to try to raise her baby on her own, after Helen tells her she and the family will help raise him. She is given an allotment of food stamps and welfare money, which Helen decides to use as a vehicle to move the family into a larger apartment. Within a few short months, Kathy begins to mature as a mother, wanting more for her child, and knowing that living with her parents and sisters isn't going to make that possible. She begins to explore options of moving into a place of her own, which doesn't sit well with Mike and Helen, who depend on her welfare money to pay for the bigger apartment. She makes friends with Linda and Sue, two other girls in a teen mother program to move into a rented house with their children in a middle-class family-type neighborhood. She also makes friends with her neighbor Jane, a married woman about ten years her senior with a house, her fireman husband Allen, and their young daughter Wendy. Kathy sees Jane's family as perfect and wants to aspire to that level, but isn't sure how. However, Kathy's dreams of sharing responsibilities with her roommates as a collective effort to rise above their circumstances are quashed when Linda throws a party with booze found in a baby bottle. After a near-violent confrontation, Kathy learns that her roommates (mostly Linda) are only interested in having a place of their own so they can continue their reckless behavior. Feeling trapped again, with her illusion of cooperative motherhood shattered, Kathy begins having second thoughts about her role as a mother. Following the earlier confrontation, Kathy takes her now-four-month-old son outside in their backyard and sees Allen, Jane and Wendy in their own backyard, enjoying their time as a family. Kathy decides that despite her best efforts, she ultimately has to do right by John. She calls Miss Ambrose and tells her that she's reconsidered her decision to have John put up for adoption. Most people close to Kathy condemn her decision, but she finds a friend in Jane, who offers to help her on her road to building a better life for herself if she promises to keep in touch. Kathy happily agrees. Miss Ambrose tracks down Guy in the Army and gets his permission to allow the adoption. He apologizes to Kathy through Miss Ambrose for running out on her. At the end of the story, Kathy appears to get cold feet about the adoption, but it is implied that she goes through with it. |
17278777 | /m/043jv1v | People of the Comet | Austin Hall | 1948 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"} | The novel concerns super-beings who reveal that our solar system is an atom in a larger universe. |
17278824 | /m/043rtv5 | Noite | Erico Verissimo | 1954 | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/07s9rl0": "Drama"} | In the 1950s, a man finds himself in the middle of the streets of Porto Alegre with a wallet full of money... and no memory of any past events. He finds two "vultures of the night", enigmatic noctivague figures with a high penchant for bohemian lifestyles. The "vultures" (called The Master and The Hunchback) take the man on a surrealistic journey through the darkest places of the city, to "enjoy the night": a funeral parlor, the emergency service of a hospital, a deluxe whorehouse and a low-level working class cabaret. At the same time, the two enigmatic figures surreptitiously try to make the man-with-no-memory assume that he committed a horrendous crime early that night, in which a woman was the subject of a brutal passion-related crime and no perpetrator was yet arrested by the police. The book has a unique atmosphere in depicting the low-level bohemy that crowded some places in the Brazilian urban legends. In the 1980s, Brazilian film director José Louzeiro conducted a movie loosely based on the book. |
17280018 | /m/043myd9 | The Moon Maiden | Garrett P. Serviss | 1978 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"} | The novel concerns a love tale and lunar beings who have been guiding the earth for millennia. |
17284095 | /m/043jtw9 | The Ash Garden | Dennis Bock | 9/4/2001 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The narrative alternates between three characters (Emiko, Anton and Sophie) and takes place around the fiftieth anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, though the back story of each character is told. Emiko was a small girl living in Hiroshima with her parents, younger brother, and grandfather during WWII. Following the atomic bombing, with her parents dead, Emiko and her brother recover in a hospital and her grandfather cares for patients. Though her brother dies, Emiko travels to the United States as part of a group of girls receiving reconstructive surgery. On the way, the American media takes an interest in the girls and she appears on an episode of This Is Your Life thanking the American audience for bringing her to the US. She later becomes a documentary filmmaker and, in 1995, approaches Anton Böll to be part of a new project. Anton was a scientist in Nazi Germany who, following a disagreement regarding the direction of its nuclear program, is recruited by the US and flees via France, Spain, and Portugal. He becomes a part of the Manhattan Project, witnesses the tests, and travels to Hiroshima recording the aftermath. Anton regrets the consequences of the atomic bombs, attends the Pugwash Conference, but maintains his belief that it was necessary to end the war and prevented more deaths. He marries Sophie and becomes a professor at Columbia University in New York. With Sophie, he retires to a small town outside of Toronto. As WWII was beginning, Sophie's Jewish parents sent her away from Austria. She was on board of the MS St. Louis when it was turned away from Cuba and sent to the United Kingdom. She was living in a refugee camp in Canada when she met Anton. She was diagnosed with lupus and takes up gardening, planning elaborate landscapes every year. In 1995, after refusing further medical treatments, and with Anton by her side, she succumbs to the disease. After Sophie's funeral Anton reveals to Emiko the extent to which he had been involved in Emiko's life. He first met her while volunteering at the hospital in which her grandfather was working. Feeling he had to make amends in some way, he ensured that Emiko was on the list of girls to get reconstructive surgery, and secretly filmed her at memorial events. He had been waiting for her to find him. |
17288561 | /m/043jz_z | Odd and the Frost Giants | Neil Gaiman | null | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | Odd is a young lame Norseman whose father, a woodcutter, drowned during a Viking raid. His Scottish mother marries a fat widower who neglects him in favour of his own children, and when soon after the winter drags on unnaturally long, Odd leaves his village for the forest. There he meets a fox, an eagle and a bear, the latter with its paw trapped in a tree. Odd aids the bear, and learns that these are not normal animals, but the gods Loki, Odin and Thor. The gods have been transformed and cast out of Asgard by a Frost Giant who tricked Loki into giving him Thor's hammer, granting him rule over Asgard and causing the endless winter. Deciding to help the stranded gods, Odd travels with them to Asgard. There, Thor leads him to Mimir's Well, and he receives wisdom and a vision of his parents in their youth. He eventually speaks with and outwits the Giant, convincing him to return home. In return, the goddess Freya heals his leg, though she cannot mend it completely, and Odin gives him a staff. He returns to Midgard, somewhat bigger than when he left, and as the winter ends he reunites with his mother. |
17295755 | /m/043n30s | The Post-American World | Fareed Zakaria | 2008-05 | {"/m/05h83": "Non-fiction"} | The content is divided into seven chapters. The first chapter introduces the thesis of the book: that a 'post-American' world order is emerging in which the United States of America will continue to be the most powerful nation but its relative power will be diminished. He believes that there have been three power shifts in the last 500 years: a shift of power to the West during the Renaissance, a shift of power to the US making it a superpower, and now a shift to several surging countries, especially China and India, and to non-governmental organizations. Zakaria believes that international organizations are not adapting well to emerging challenges and that there is too much focus on problems arising from potential market failures or general crises (e.g. terrorism) at the expense of focus on problems stemming from success (e.g. development causing environmental degradation, or rising demand creating high commodity prices). The second and third chapters examine factors that led to the current power balance. Power shifted to the West because it fostered trade with foreign peoples and developed superior labour productivity per capita. Power shifted to the US because of its strong democracy and capitalist market. Zakaria argues that the success of the US in promoting free market capitalism and globalization has led to power being dispersed to several other countries. Economies have been surging for decades, in part due to large new players entering the global market place. He compares this era's economic growth to the economic surges of the 1890s and the 1950s which also saw new players become global powers. At the same time, Zakaria sees attitudes in the US becoming insular and distrustful of foreigners. The fourth chapter focuses on China. Its strategy of small, gradual reforms have allowed it to quietly modernize. It has become the second most powerful nation, but still unlikely to match the US for decades to come. China's strengths include a philosophy that reflects Confucian ideals of practicality, ethics and rationalism. Its non-combative foreign policy is more appealing, most notably in Africa, over interventionist Western-style policy that demands reforms in other countries. China's weakness, though, is a fear of social unrest. The fifth chapter focuses on India. Contrasted to China, India has a bottom-up democratic political system constantly subject to social unrest but which only results in few politicians losing an election. Its political system is characterized by strong regionalism — often placing high priority on regional interests rather than national. Zakaria lists India's advantages: independent courts that enforce contracts, private property rights, rule of law, an established private sector, and many business savvy English-speaking people. The sixth chapter compares the American rise to superpower status and its use of power. He draws parallels between the British Empire in the 1890s and starting the Boer War with the US in the 2000s and starting the Iraq War. The difference between them is that the British had unsurpassed political power but lost its economic dominance, whereas the US, in the 2000s, had huge economic power but faltering political influence. Zakaria defends the US from indicators that suggest American decline but warns that internal partisan politics, domestic ideological attack groups, special interest power, and a sensationalistic media are weakening the federal government's ability to adapt to new global realities. The final chapter outlines how the US has used its power and provides six guidelines for the US to follow in the 'post-American world' envisioned by Zakaria. {| class="wikitable" |+ Zakaria's guidelines for the US in the 'post-American world' |- ! ! Guideline ! Notes |- | 1 | Choose | Choose priorities rather than trying to have it all |- | 2 | Build broad rules, not narrow interests | Recommit to international institutions and mechanisms |- | 3 | Be Bismarck, not Britain | Maintain excellent relations with everyone, rather than offset and balance emerging powers |- | 4 | Order à la carte | Address problems through a variety of different structures (e.g. sometimes UN, sometimes NATO, sometimes OAS) |- | 5 | Think asymmetrically | Respond to problems (e.g. drug cartels, terrorists, etc.) proportionately and do not respond to bait (i.e. small attacks meant to draw attention) |- | 6 | Legitimacy is power | Legitimacy creates the means to set agendas, define crises, and mobilize support |} |
17296693 | /m/043rw4g | Indignation | Philip Roth | 9/16/2008 | {"/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Set in America in 1951, the second year of the Korean War, Indignation is narrated by Marcus Messner, a college student from Newark, New Jersey, who describes his sophomore year at Winesburg College in Ohio. Marcus transfers to Winesburg from Robert Treat College in Newark to escape his father, a kosher butcher, who appears to have become consumed with fear about the dangers of adult life, the world, and the uncertainty that awaits his son. At Winesburg College, Marcus becomes infatuated with a fellow student, Olivia Hutton, a survivor of a suicide attempt. The sexually inexperienced Marcus is bewildered when Olivia performs fellatio on him during their one and only date. Marcus's mother objects to his dating someone who attempted suicide and makes him vow to end their relationship. Marcus has an adversarial relationship with the dean of men, Hawes Caudwell. In a meeting in Dean Caudwell's office, Marcus objects to the chapel attendance requirement on the grounds that he is an atheist. In this meeting, he quotes extensively from Bertrand Russell's essay "Why I Am Not a Christian". Later, the dean finds Marcus guilty of hiring another student to attend chapel in his place; when Marcus refuses to attend double the amount of chapel services as punishment, the dean expels him. His expulsion allows the U.S. Army to draft him and send him to fight in Korea where he is killed in combat. Early in the novel, Marcus explains that he is dead and telling his story from the afterlife; later it is revealed that he is unconscious from his combat wounds and the morphine that has been administered. The backdrop of Winesburg is an homage to Sherwood Anderson's book Winesburg, Ohio. |
17297134 | /m/043rtfg | The Blood Knight | Gregory Keyes | 2006 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | In this third novel of the series, Anne Dare continues her flight from her Uncle's minions, with the help of the dessrator Cazio and the knight Sir Neil MeqVren. The Holter Aspar White and the monk Stephen Darige continue on their own path, attempting to unravel the mysteries of the Briar King. Anne's mother, Queen Muriele, remains imprisoned by the usurper, Robert, while the musician Leoff engages in a dangerous game of deceit with Robert, attempting to recreate a lost dark art. |
17297456 | /m/043r8jl | The Born Queen | Gregory Keyes | 2008-04 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | In this final novel of the series, Anne Dare, finally on the throne of Crotheny, goes to war with both the Church and the powerful northern nation of Hansa. Her eldritch powers continue to grow and threaten to overwhelm her. The monk Stephen Darige, now aligned with the Blood Knight, attempts to fulfill his role in an ancient prophecy, while the Holter Aspar White continues to battle abominations and save his forest, while trying to understand the mysteries surrounding him. Meanwhile the dessrator Cazio is rescued by and reunited with his mentor, the swordmaster z'Accato. Queen Muriele and the now badly injured Sir Neil MeqVren are sent by Anne to Hansa on a mission of peace, while they covertly look for a way to defeat them. |
17297892 | /m/043pwts | On Love and Death | null | null | null | Süskind begins by describing differing views of love, and then elaborates using a combination of personal anecdotes, brief biographies of historical figures such as Heinrich von Kleist, and mythological stories of love. The first example involves Süskind bearing witness to a couple having oral sex during a traffic jam. The second example centers around a dinner party attended by Süskind, during which a couple fawn over each other and ignore the rest of the dinner guests. The third example is an account of German poet Thomas Mann and his infatuation with a young waiter named Franzl. Süskind then analyzes these examples in terms of Plato's philosophy. The first example is used to illustrate "animal love", the second used to illustrate "delusion" or "frenzy", and the third used to illustrate ideal, "Platonic love." Süskind then proceeds to relate love and death. Kleist and Goethe occupy this section of the essays. Both Kleist and Goethe harbored suicidal thoughts stemming from their respective love lives. Süskind uses these stories as well as brief references to Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde to illustrate a central theme of the essays: an "erotic longing for death." The final section of the essays is devoted to a comparison of two mythological accounts of love: the stories of Orpheus and Jesus Christ. Süskind likens the two figures to each other in that both ventured into the realm of death because of their love; however, Süskind is critical of Jesus for his almost political motives and his "distance and inhumanity", in the sense that he was completely immune to the frenzy of love. He praises Orpheus for his courage and selflessness. While Jesus could count on divine assistance, asserts Süskind, Orpheus ventured into Hades with only his prodigious skill as a musician and his desire to reclaim his beloved Eurydice. In addition, Süskind states that the story of Orpheus is more moving to readers because it is a story of failure. Whereas Jesus is "only a god", Orpheus is "a more complete human being." |
17299258 | /m/043p74c | The Diamond of Darkhold | Jeanne DuPrau | 8/25/2008 | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature"} | The story begins with the Builders discussing what the Emberites should do when they are released from the city. The chief builder decides they should give them a piece of their own technology, but it is not found by the citizens of Ember because the vault door is covered by trees. Nine months later Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow are curious when a roamer comes into town with a mysterious book. They trade the roamer a match for the book and discover it only contains eight pages. On the front of the book the words "For the People of Ember" are printed in gold letters. Since they can't make sense of the book, they decide to go back to Ember. When they return, a family of squatters has taken over the darkened city. The Troggs (Washton, Kanza, Minny, Yorick and an adopted boy called Scawgo, who are named after various American cities) believe they own Ember, and rename it Darkhold. They capture Doon while Lina goes back to Sparks for help. Meanwhile, Lizzie Bisco (from Ember), Torren Crane, and Kenny Parton (both from Sparks) realize that the two are gone, and decide to go and try to find them. They don't succeed and a search party goes to look for them. While Doon is with the family they show him a diamond they found just outside Ember. Doon steals the diamond and escapes from Ember with help from Scawgo. While escaping, he also breaks the pipe connecting the generator to a waterwheel that created power for Ember, therefore shutting down Ember's lights for good. He finds Lina, who is being attacked by a pack of wolves. Doon throws the diamond at the wolves to frighten them away but shatters it in the process. Lina treats his wound and takes Doon up to where the book with eight pages and the original diamond were discovered. They find a switch that uncovers shelves filled with hundreds of diamonds. Lina and Doon figure out that the diamonds are solar-powered sources of electricity. A lot of people decide to help them go back to Ember and look for other things to help in the winter. Doon thinks about going back to his old home and recover his book of bugs, but changes his mind, stating he can create a new one filled with the unique bugs in Sparks. Lina, however, looks for her drawings of her dream city at her old home but it isn't there. She then goes to City Hall and stands on top of the mayor's building and says "Goodbye Ember, forever." They bring back thousands of new inventions, which earns the town money and food to last the winter. A weary group of roamers, who are actually the Troggs, come into town one day, and the diamond is returned to them. But soon they learn the truth. There are hundreds (maybe thousands) of them and they can power all sorts of electronic devices as well as start fires. They also learned that Doon and many others lived in Ember before them, and that they left and evacuated because Ember was dying. So the Troggs come to live in Sparks as well. In the end, it is revealed that in the future, cities are rebuilt with the power of the diamonds and Lina, Doon, and Poppy all live together in a house in Sparks. It is revealed Lina and Doon are married,and have four kids named Mariana,Johnny, Pedro and Eliza. Lina gets a horse named Fleet and becomes a messenger between towns and Doon goes on to study the diamonds. |
17300248 | /m/043rqtp | La Rabouilleuse | Honoré de Balzac | 1842 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The action of the novel is divided between Paris and Issoudun. Agathe Rouget, who was born in Issoudun, is sent to be raised by her maternal relatives, the Descoings in Paris by her father Doctor Rouget. He suspects (wrongly) that he is not her true father. There she marries a man named Bridau, and they have two sons, Phillipe, and Joseph. Monsieur Bridau dies relatively young, Phillipe, who is the eldest and his mother's favourite, becomes a soldier in Napoleon's armies, and Joseph becomes an artist. Phillipe, the elder son is shown to be a courageous soldier, but is also a heavy drinker and gambler. He resigns from the army after the Bourbon Restoration out of loyalty to Napoleon. Joseph is a dedicated artist, and the more loyal son, but his mother does not understand his artistic vocation. After leaving the army Phillipe took part in the failed Champ d'Asile settlement in Texas. On returning to France he is unemployed, and lives with his mother and Madame Descoings, and becomes a financial drain on them, especially due to his hard drinking and gambling lifestyle. Phillipe becomes estranged from his mother and brother after stealing money from Madame Descoings. Phillipe is soon afterwards arrested for his involvement in an anti-government conspiracy. Meanwhile in Issoudun, Agathe's elder brother Jean-Jacques takes in an ex-soldier named Max Gilet as a boarder. Max is suspected of being his illegitimate half brother. Max and Jean-Jacques' servant Flore Brazier work together to control Jean-Jacques. Max leads a group of young men who call themselves "The Knights of Idleness" who frequently play practical jokes around the town. Two of these are against a Spanish immigrant named Fario, destroying his cart and his grain, and therefore ruining his business. It is now that Joseph and his mother travel to Issoudun to try to persuade Jean-Jacques to give Agathe money to help cover Phillipe's legal costs. They stay with their friends the Hochons. Jean-Jacques and Max only give them some old paintings, but only Joseph recognises their value. Joseph tells of his luck to the Hochons, not realising that their grandsons are friends of Max. Afterwards when Max discovers the value of the paintings he coerces Joseph into returning them. Then one night whilst out walking Fario stabs Max. As Max is recovering he decides to blame Joseph for the stabbing. Joseph is arrested, but later cleared and released, and he and his mother return to Paris. In the meantime, Phillipe has been convicted for his plotting. However, he cooperates with authorities and gets a light sentence of five years Police supervision in Autun. Phillipe gets his lawyer to change the location to Issoudun in order to claim his mother's inheritance for himself. He challenges Max to a duel with swords, and kills him in the duel. He then takes control of Jean-Jacques and his household, forcing Flore to become Jean-Jacques' wife. Phillipe marries Flore after the death of Jean-Jacques. Flore too soon dies. The book hints that both of these deaths are arranged by Phillipe but is not explicit about the means. Through his connections, Phillipe has now obtained the title Comte de Brambourg. Phillipe later marries a rich man's daughter. An attempt by Joseph to reconcile Phillipe and their mother before her death fails. Phillipe's fortunes take a turn for the worse after some unsuccessful speculation, and he rejoins the army to take part in the war in Algeria where he is killed in action, so that in the end Joseph, now a successful artist, inherits the family fortune. |
17302236 | /m/043p5fw | Too Loud a Solitude | Bohumil Hrabal | 1976 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The entire story is narrated in the first person by the main character Hanta. Hanta is portrayed as a sort of idiot and a hermit, albeit one with encyclopedic literary knowledge. Hanta uses metaphorical language and surreal descriptions, and much of the book is concerned with just his inner thoughts, as he recalls and meditates on the outlandish amounts of knowledge he has attained over the years. He brings up stories from his past and imagines the events of whimsical scenarios. He contemplates the messages of the vast numbers of intellectuals which he has studied. The novel is vibrant with symbolism. A simple but obscure plot is present, however. "For thirty-five years now I've been in wastepaper, and it's my love story" says Hanta in the opening line of the book. He goes on to describe his methods for work, and for using his job to "save" incredible numbers of books for reading and storage in his home... |
17303387 | /m/043n26_ | The Port of Peril | Otis Adelbert Kline | 1949 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"} | Set on Venus, the novel concerns Robert Grandon whose wife Vernia is kidnapped by the Huitsenni, a race of pirates. Grandon pursues them to their hidden port where, after joining forces with rebels, he overthrows their king. He discovers that Vernia has been taken to the north. He follows and eventually rescues his bride. They are both then captured by the Huitsenni and must be rescued by an army of allied nations working with the Huitsenni rebels. |
17306745 | /m/043s4pm | Dwellers in the Mirage | A. Merritt | 1932 | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | The novel concerns American Lief Langdon who discovers a warm valley in Alaska. Two races inhabit the valley, the Little People and a branch of an ancient Mongolian race and they worship the evil Kraken named Khalk'ru which they summon from another dimension to offer human sacrifice. The inhabitants recognize Langdon as the reincarnation of their long dead hero, Dwayanu. Dwayanu's spirit possesses Langdon and starts a war with the Little People. Langdon eventually fights off the presence of Dwayanu and destroys the Kraken. |
17309139 | /m/043pkcg | The Sabre Squadron | null | null | null | The story takes place in Göttingen in 1952. The young mathematician Daniel Mond (of Jewish-German descent but born in England) arrives to study “The Dortmund papers”, a collection of notes left by the German mathematician Dortmund (died 1938). Mond is a student of Lancaster College which appeared in Fielding Gray. Early during his stay he gets to know the American historian Earle Restarick who is friendly for a while and then withdraws. Mond meets a large number of soldiers from The Sabre Squadron in the Earl of Hamilton’s 10th Regiment, among them his comrade from Lancaster, Julian James. Fielding Gray is also in this group and the two men have many discussions. Mond follows the soldiers during a “night on the town” (the first of many) but goes on picnic with Gray and his chauffeur Michael Lamb the next day. Gray tells Mond about the reason for the army’s presence in the area: to handle a nuclear war. A big exercise called “Apocalypse” will be held in September in which the soldiers will practice what to do after a nuclear war. Mond is present at several dinners with the squadron and meets a former German officer, Pappenheim, who is very curious about Mond's research. His German colleague, Dr von Bremke, is also rather curious. Mond is trying to reveal the story about Fielding Gray and his failure to attend Lancaster, but the rumours are too vague after seven years. During a meeting with the officers Leonard Percival and Pappenheim, Mond is told that his friend Restarick (and the US) are supporting former Nazis to save West Germany from influence from the Soviet Union. They offer Mond protection if he reveals what he has found in the Dortmund papers. During an evening on the town Mond is humiliated by the antisemite von Augsburg, who is challenged to a duel by the officer Giles Glastonbury. This results in von Augsburg ending up in hospital and Glastonbury in jail. As a key witness, Mond is now prohibited from leaving Germany. This news is delivered by Tuck (from Fielding Gray) who is now a member of the Allied Control Commission. As Mond will later discover, the whole affair was arranged to keep him in Germany. Glastonbury is, however, freed when his friend Captain Detterling (from Fielding Gray) arrives on his way to Baden Baden. Detterling can’t prevent Glastonbury from being sent to Hong Kong and Fielding Gray is suddenly head of the Squadron. During a visit to Dortmund's grave, Mond is harassed by Restarick and a number of soldiers. Shaken, he tells the truth to Fielding Gray. In the papers, Mond has found a way to create atomic chain reactions much more powerful than those of an atomic bomb. Mond is really scared about what this knowledge could lead to and will not tell a single person something of substance about how to achieve this. Gray and his squadron show a touching loyalty to Mond and promise they will help him escape. Mond gets a guard consisting of soldiers Lamb, Bunce, Chead and Mugger and he is dressed up as “Trooper Lewis.” In this guise he will escape during Operation Apocalypse, earlier mentioned by Gray. All goes well except for the fact that Mugger is severely beaten up in a fight with fusiliers. During the trip Mond also meets the genial journalist Alfie Schroeder, who recognises him but is persuaded to keep quiet. Mond is handed over to Captain Detterling who, after some hesitation, smuggles him out in an ambulance. Mond is put in an anti-radiation costume, but the zipper jams and he is, for a while, afraid that he will not get out of the suit before the oxygen expires. When, after a long trip, he steps out of the ambulance he finds himself face to face with Restarick and Percival. He faints but wakes up without the suit and in Strasbourg. Percival and Restarick try to threaten him into giving away what he knows. When Mond refuses they threaten to destroy the career of Mond and his squadron since they’ve broken a number of rules to get Mond out of Germany. Mond gives up and asks for his paper. When he is alone he thinks about the motto of the Squadron (Res Unius, Res Omnium – one for all and all for one) and, touched by the loyalty of Gray and his men, he cuts his throat with a penknife. sv:The Sabre Squadron |
17315305 | /m/043kbqz | Peak | null | 2007-09 | null | Peak is a book of the writings of a fourteen-year-old boy named Peak who is climbing Mt. Everest. The narration is set up in a way that it is supposed to be like one is reading the Moleskine notebooks in which he records his adventure. In the opening scene Peak writes about scaling the Woolworth Building in New York to tag his blue mountains on them. His face freezes to the building and ends up receiving stitches when he gets back down. He is spotted by someone inside the building during a reception the mayor was attending and was thought to be a terrorist. He is arrested for climbing and vandalizing. These blue mountains are a stencil that he sprays on the buildings that he had climbed and this was the sixth. After this, he is in jail for a while then a boy dies trying to copy his stunt of climbing a building. Because of this the people of New York want to make an example of him by giving him a harsh punishment. The question is how harsh would the punishment be? When Peak goes to court, his biological father, Joshua Wood, comes and offers to take Peak back to Thailand to live with him for a while until the situation is less severe in New York. It is either jail in New York, or live in Thailand with Josh, his biological father who he hasn't seen for seven years. There is not much of a choice for Peak so he leaves to go live with his father out of the country, and to never ever give up on stupid dreams that only little kids will think of. In the first flight Josh and Peak fly to Bangkok, Thailand. Josh told Peak that they are not going to Chiang Mai, where Peak was expecting to go, but will be traveling to Kathmandu. At the Summit Hotel in Kathmandu, Josh leaves Peak and tells him to wait for one of Josh's friends, a Buddhist monk by the name of Zopa. Zopa will take him to Base Camp where they will prepare for the long climb up Everest. Sun-jo, a Nepalese boy, comes to the hotel room to take him to Zopa. Peak goes and gets climbing gear and prepares for the trip. Sun-jo, Peak, Zopa, and two climbing sherpa brothers named Yogi and Yash travel to Tibet in the back of a pick up truck. After a long journey they arrive at Base Camp. When they get there, Peak meets Holly Angelo, a reporter from New York, and he learns that she will be climbing the mountain with him. Stunningly, Peak also realizes at this point that his father Josh, bailed him out of jail to come and climb Mount Everest. This is important because if he makes the climb, he will be the youngest person to reach the top of the summit of Mount Everest. Later a German climber is brought down the mountain in a Gamow bag. A Gamow bag is designed to help prevent the progress of a disease called H.A.P.E., a disease that is a type of altitude sickness. Then they go to ABC(advanced base camp). Peak receives letters from home making him miss his family. There is a secret meeting being held at HQ, after all the other climbers go to sleep. By invitation only, Josh, the film crew, Sparky, Dr. Krieger, Thaddeus Bowen, and Zopa, who had brought Sun-jo with him, all attend. Josh asks about Peak's health, and wonders if he can make it to the top, explaining that “Peak either makes it [to the summit] on the first try or he doesn’t [make it at all]." Peak has caught some sort of virus that has been spreading throughout the camps on Mt. Everest. If you get sick on Mt. Everest, there is a very slim chance you will make it to the top. After Josh finishes explaining his concern for Peak, Holly comes in and tells them all that Sun-jo is Zopa's grandson. Becoming suspicious, Josh asks Sun-jo how old he is, to find out that he is fourteen too, and that he and Peak are climbing for the same reason. Later, Peak calls his mother, and is told that he should not be on the mountain, as well as he should be selfish, or else he will not be able to climb the mountain. After a few rough days of climbing, Peak wakes up and finds that the people paying for the trip are having a meeting of their very own. They tell Peak that they want him off the mountain. Josh tells Peak that “They're right. This is their climb. They're paying the tab.” Shocked, Peak almost explodes with anger. But despite all this, Peak climbs in the truck with Zopa, and is driven away from camp. After a while, Zopa gives Peak a letter from Josh telling him that he had staged it all, and that he would be climbing up to the summit. Now Peak has to climb on a faster but more dangerous route, with the help of Zopa, Sun-jo, Yogi, and Yash. After all the steep paths and the perilous Yellow Band, they use the last of their strength to climb up to the summit of the mountain. But Peak lets Sun-jo make it to the top, and take the title of the youngest climber to ever climb Mt. Everest. Since Sunjo's father died saving Peak’s father, reaching the top would save Sun-jo and his sisters from poverty; with the money from the equipment endorsements he would receive, they would all be able to go back to school. Sun-jo ties Peak's yellow prayer flag to the top, while Peak records the whole thing. After Peak comes back down the mountain, he flies home after saying goodbye to Josh. When he gets home, his parents throw him a birthday party and tell him how they missed him. It is also the twin's party. Peak speaks with his teacher, who tells him that his Moleskines are due, which Peak had been writing in throughout his climb. Peak then finishes his second Moleskine with the observation: “The only thing you’ll find on the summit of Mount Everest is a divine view. The things that really matter lie far below” |
17321945 | /m/043rl_m | Chances | Jackie Collins | 1981 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Chances is broken up into parts, the first part looks at the blackout in New York City and how this affects the main characters. The second is focused on Gino Santangelo and later includes his children Lucky and Dario. The third part examines the life of Carrie Berkley and later her son Steven. The blackout, a real event that Collins describes in some detail affects all the major characters either directly or indirectly. *Lucky Santangelo was in Costa Zennocotti's office, trying to convince Costa not to let her father Gino Santangelo return to America, she does not know he is in a plane circling the city. When the blackout occurs she is trapped in an elevator between floors with Steven Berkley. The two end up talking and when they are rescued from the lift Lucky goes back to Steven's apartment for breakfast and a change of clothes. *Steven Berkley, a District Attorney, was in his friend Jerry Myerson's office working on an indictment for Enzio Bonnatti. He ends up trapped in the elevator with Lucky. *Gino Santangelo was in a plane returning from a seven year tax exile in Israel when the blackout occurs. His plane is diverted to Philadelphia when in a hotel, a flight attendant tips the press that he is back in the country. *Dario Santangelo is trapped in his own apartment after his male lover takes his keys, gun and knife. Dario is forced to phone Costa in order to escape alive. *Costa Zennocotti stays in his office after the blackout, not willing to walk down all the stairs and Dario calls him and says that he needs something "arranged". Costa calls Sal, a freelance enforcer to take out the boy but ends up double crossing him and kidnapping Dario. *Carrie Berkley drives to Harlem in her Cadillac Seville to meet a blackmailer, during the blackout she is targeted by a gang of youths who assault her and strip her of her jewellery. She is arrested when she is in the area of the riots and looting but her husband, Elliot Berkley, bails her out. The next day, dressed more conservatively, she takes a cab back to Harlem having received another call from the blackmailer. Gino's story begins in 1921 but backtracks to narrate details of when Gino's parent's, Paulo and Mira Santangelo emigrated to New York City from Italy in 1909 when Gino was three. From an early age Gino takes to a life of crime, stealing a car at the age of fifteen and ending up in a juvenile home. ===Epilogue=== |
17323939 | /m/043krx0 | The Return of Tharn | null | 1956 | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | The novel concerns the prehistoric adventures of Tharn. |
17327032 | /m/043ntrn | Chaff on the Wind | null | null | null | Two young men, Dingding and Pateh, travel by ship from a rural village to the main city. Pateh is outgoing and reckless, with an eye for the ladies. Dinding is socially cautious, but sensible and possessing of business acumen. In the city, Dinding meets a young man, older than himself but not yet middle-aged, named James. James is a Christian and a very serious person. He becomes a major influence on Dingding. Pateh gets a job on the loading docks, and seduces a young girl named Isatou. Pateh is fond of fine and showy clothes. To maintain his clothing budget and his schedule with the ladies, Pateh begins working as a smuggler. Later, Isatou marries Charles, an old man who had never married before. He is the cousin of a Signare. Isatou does not feel close to Charles. After their marriage, Isatou finds herself pregnant with Pateh's child. The pair chooses to flee to Senegal. Dingding continues to prosper in business, and Pateh goes to work for Dinding. Pateh and Isatou become parents. While the child is still an infant, a French colonial policeman confronts Pateh with evidence of Pateh's criminal activities. Pateh sets the evidence on fire. During a fight with the policeman, the officer strikes a mortal blow. Pateh dies with his family by his side. |
17328064 | /m/043lf37 | The Shack: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity | William P. Young | 2007-05 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The novel is set in the American Northwest. The main character is Mackenzie Philips, a father of five, called "Mack" by his family and friends. Four years prior to the main events of the story, Mack takes three (of his five) children on a camping trip to Wallowa Lake near Joseph, Oregon stopping at Multnomah Falls on the way. Two of his children are playing in a canoe when it flips and almost drowns Mack's son. Mack is able to save his son by rushing to the water and freeing him from the canoe's webbing, but unintentionally leaves his youngest daughter Missy alone at their campsite. After Mack returns, he sees that Missy is missing. The police are called, and the family discovers that Missy has been abducted and murdered by a serial killer known as the "Little Ladykiller." The police find an abandoned shack in the woods where Missy was taken, her bloodied clothing is found, but her body is never located. Mack's life sinks into what he calls "The Great Sadness." At the beginning of the book, Mack receives a note in his mailbox from "Papa," saying that he would like to meet with Mack on that coming weekend at the shack. Mack is puzzled by the note – he has had no relationship with his abusive father since he left home at age 13. He suspects that the note may be from God, whom his wife Nan refers to as "Papa." Mack's family leaves to visit relatives and he goes alone to the shack, unsure of what he will see there. He arrives and finds nothing, but as he is leaving, the shack and its surroundings are supernaturally transformed into a lush and inviting scene. He enters the shack and encounters manifestations of the three persons of the Trinity. God the Father takes the form of an African American woman who calls herself Elousia and Papa, Jesus Christ is a Middle-Eastern carpenter, and the Holy Spirit physically manifests himself as an Asian woman named Sarayu. The bulk of the book narrates Mack's conversations with Papa, Jesus, and Sarayu as he comes to terms with Missy's death and his relationships with the three of them. Mack also has various experiences with each of them. Mack walks across a lake with Jesus, sees an image of his father in heaven with Sarayu, and has a conversation with Sophia, the personification of God's wisdom. At the end of his visit, Mack goes on a hike with Papa, who shows him where Missy's body was left in a cave. After spending the weekend at the shack, Mack leaves and is so preoccupied with his thoughts that he is nearly killed in an automobile accident. After his recovery, he realizes that he did not in fact spend the weekend at the shack, but that his accident occurred on the same day that he arrived at the shack. He also leads the police to the cave which Papa revealed, and they find Missy's body still lying there. With the help of forensic evidence discovered at the scene, the Little Ladykiller is arrested and put on trial. |
17329380 | /m/043ls0p | The Sorrows of an American | Siri Hustvedt | 2008 | null | On the death of their father Lars, a retired Professor of History, Erik Davidsen and his sister Inga, a philosopher, clean out his home office in rural Minnesota and, while going through his copious papers, find a cryptic note written and signed by someone they do not know called Lisa which suggests to them that as a boy back in the 1930s their father was involved in some illicit act and that he has kept his promise never to tell anyone about it. The siblings decide to investigate the matter further, if only half-heartedly at first. For the time being, Erik Davidsen is preoccupied reading his father's journals, which the latter completed only shortly before his demise. For Erik, all this will mean that in the months to come he will not only be haunted by the ghosts of the present but also of the past. It has been pointed out that none of the characters in The Sorrows of an American leads a carefree, untroubled existence. The narrator himself suffers from a slight form of depression triggered by his recent divorce, childless state, and subsequent feeling of loneliness but still finds satisfaction in attempting to cure his patients of the complaints he occasionally recognizes in himself. His sister Inga has had absence seizures from childhood and migraines all her adult life. What is more, when the novel opens she is being harassed by a female journalist who states her intention to publicize hitherto unknown facts about Inga's deceased husband, a cult author and filmmaker, and who demands that she be co-operative without telling her what exactly she is aiming at or planning to do. Inga's 18-year-old daughter Sonia suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder, having witnessed, from the windows of her Manhattan school, the September 11, 2001 attacks and the collapse of the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Lars Davidsen, the long-term patriarch of the family, was a fugueur. But also the characters outside the family show neurological symptoms. Whereas the journalist who is harassing Inga only bears an age-old personal grudge against her (of which the latter is unaware) and is out for straightforward revenge, Erik's friend and colleague Bernard Burton, apart from sweating excessively, has not been able to cope with the fact that Inga is not in love with him and, without her realizing it, has kept a watchful eye on her over the years in a way which might be construed as stalking. Edie Bly, a former actress who is now impoverished, is a recovering substance abuser who has an illegitimate son by Inga's deceased husband and appears to be in an unstable psychological condition. Finally, the real stalker in the novel, a photographer and installation artist called Jeffrey Lane, displays various signs of compulsive behaviour, for example the urge to document virtually everything in his life by taking photos. He crosses the psychiatrist's path while pursuing his former girlfriend, a Jamaican-born beauty who has recently rented, and moved into, the downstairs apartment of Erik's now too large Brooklyn brownstone. Erik Davidsen is immediately drawn towards Miranda, the young woman from Jamaica, and Eglantine, her pre-school daughter by Jeffrey Lane. He soon falls head over heels in love with the dark-skinned woman while at the same time watching what he perceives to be the slow but steady deterioration of his own self. Gently rejected by Miranda, he has enough willpower left to go on a date with a sexy colleague and, for purely physical reasons, starts an affair with her. As the story progresses, however, he is more and more pulled into the quagmire of events surrounding Miranda, Inga, and himself. At one point he catches a burglar in his empty house at night, is surprised to see it is Lane, confused when the escaping Lane takes a photo of him wearing nothing much but wielding a hammer, and shocked when, months later, he recognizes the image at one of Lane's exhibitions with a caption saying, Head Doctor Goes Insane. Most of the mysteries are cleared up in the end. Erik and Inga succeed in tracking down the mysterious — and now dying — Lisa, and it turns out that all those years ago a young Lars Davidsen helped her bury her illegitimate, stillborn child, in all secrecy, somewhere on his family's farm. The reputation of Inga's deceased husband is not smeared either when the existence of a batch of letters to Edie Bly can be established without doubt but when it turns out at the same time that they have no sensational value because they belong to the realm of fiction—they are addressed to the character Bly played in one of the author's films rather than Bly the actress and mother of his child. Bernard Burton proves instrumental in procuring the letters without succumbing to the temptation to actually read them, in a chivalric act in which he dresses up as a frightful bag lady in order not to reveal his identity, a scene which also provides some comic relief. The conclusion of the novel is a four-page stream-of-consciousness-like recapitulation of the story's images racing through Erik's mind, and the assurance that the characters' fragmented lives will remain that way. |
17339607 | /m/043mcd9 | The Goddess of Ganymede | Mike Resnick | 1967 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"} | The novel concerns Adam Thane, a soldier of fortune who fights for the woman he loves against the immortals of Ganymede. |
17345460 | /m/043lpvx | Tanar of Pellucidar | Edgar Rice Burroughs | 1930 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/08sdrw": "Adventure novel"} | The author’s friend Jason Gridley is experimenting with a new radio frequency he dubs the Gridley Wave, via which he picks up a transmission sent by scientist Abner Perry, from the interior world of Pellucidar at the Earth's core, a realm discovered by the latter and his friend David Innes many years before. There Innes and Perry have established an Empire of Pellucidar, actually a confederation of tribes, and attempted with mixed success to modernize the stone-age natives. Lately things have not gone well, and Innes is currently held captive in an enemy realm. Perry transmits a lengthy account of how this has come about, as reported by Innes’ native comrade in arms Tanar, and appeals for aid from the outer world. Tanar’s narrative comprises the bulk of the novel. Innes had led an army to the relief of the member tribe of Thuria and the remnants of the Empire’s former foes, the reptilian Mahars. Both had been attacked by a previously unknown people, the Korsars (corsairs), the scourge of the internal seas. These, it is eventually learned, are the descendants of outer world Moorish pirates who had penetrated Pellucidar centuries before through a natural polar opening connecting the outer and inner worlds. The empire’s forces succeed in repulsing the Korsars, but the raiders retain as hostage Tanar, son of Innes’ ally Ghak of Sari. They hope to trade him for the secret of the empire’s superior weaponry. Leaving his forces to construct ships to counter the enemy fleet, Innes and his comrade Ja of Anoroc set out alone to rescue Tanar, guided by their own prisoner, the Korsar Fitt. On the enemy flagship Tanar is interrogated by the Cid, leader of the Korsars, and his ugly henchman Bohar the Bloody. The young warrior also encounters Stellara, supposedly the Cid’s daughter, who attempts to intercede on behalf of Tanar and his fellow captives. A storm destroys the ship, and the crew takes to the lifeboats, leaving Tanar and Stellara adrift on the wreckage. Stellara confides to him that she is not really a Korsar, as her mother Allara was stolen by the Cid from the native island of Amiocap and she bears a birthmark proving she is actually the daughter of Fedol, her mother’s former mate. Eventually the derelict ship drifts to Amiocap itself, but the island’s suspicious inhabitants take the two for Korsar spies and imprison them in the village of Lar. Escaping, they by chance encounter Fedol, who recognizes Stellara by her birthmark and gives them refuge in his own village of Peraht. But Bohar’s group of Korsars attacks Peraht and kidnaps Stellara, while Tanar falls prey to the Coripies, a cannibalistic subterranean race. Escaping again, Tanar kills Bohar and frees Stellara, to whom he avows his love. Their joy is short-lived, as she is then abducted by Jude of the nearby island of Hime, who had shared Tanar’s captivity among the Coripies. Tanar pursues them to Hime, where they are overtaken by Bohar’s crew. Seeing Tanar with Gura, a girl of Hime who has developed a crush on him, Stellara rejects him and reassumes her former role among the Korsars; Tanar and Gura are taken in chains across the ocean to the Korsar city. There Tanar finds himself a fellow prisoner with David Innes and Ja of Anoroc, whose quest to succor him has miscarried. The three feign acquiescence to the Cid’s demand they manufacture modern firearms for him, and so are given greater liberty. Meanwhile Gura has discovered that Stellara, despite her jealous anger, still loves Tanar, and lets Tanar know. The party plans its escape and flees north with the reconciled Stellara. After confirming the existence of the polar opening they turn south again, bound for Sari, only to encounter a large party of pursuing Korsars, at which they split up in an attempt to ensure some at least can carry word back to the empire. Stellara, Tanar and Innes are recaptured, and the latter two each confined solitarily in lightless, snake-infested cells. Tanar, in his cell, eventually locates the opening through which the snakes enter, widens it, and achieves freedom. He locates Stellara in a heated faceoff with Bulf, the Korsar to whom the Cid has promised her; she swears to kill him and herself both rather than submit. Tanar intervenes and dispatches Bulf. He and his lover then leave the city in Korsar guise, and after many perils return to Sari, where they find Ja and Gura to have arrived safely as well. After hearing the complete transmission, Jason Gridley pledges to lead an expedition to Pellucidar through the polar opening and rescue David Innes, thus setting the stage for the sequel Tarzan at the Earth's Core, a cross-over novel linking Burroughs’ Pellucidar and Tarzan series. |
17347115 | /m/043lgc3 | Brokedown Palace | Steven Brust | 1986 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The land of Fenario, on the borders of Faerie (read:Dragaera) is ruled by King Laszlo, oldest of four brothers. Prince Andor, second son, is an indulgent man, unable to discover his place. Prince Vilmos, third son, is a giant, such as are occasionally born into the line of Fenarr. The youngest, Prince Miklos, is at the center of the story. The family makes their home in a four-hundred year old palace, which is crumbling away under their feet. The story concerns the destruction of their crumbling home, which serves as fulcrum around which many themes revolve. Desperation at things' ending, joy at new beginnings, and the way in which we choose to separate the two, are central themes of the novel. |
17350965 | /m/043nl8k | Outcast | null | null | null | The subject of Outcast is a Jewish convert to Islam, Ahmad (Haroun) Soussan, based on the historical figure, Ahmad (Nissim) Soussa. After converting in the 1930s the real-life Soussa became a tool for propaganda under the Ba'athist regime. Ballas presents Soussan in a sympathetic light, giving voice to his complex relations with his Jewish family and friends, and his struggle as he moves from genuine conviction in Islam to the realization that he will never be fully at home in the Muslim sphere, just as he was not comfortable in the Jewish sphere. Ballas' treatment of Soussan suggests that the reader should attempt to comprehend the quandaries faced by those few Jews who sought to remain in Iraq in the years after 1948. |
17351050 | /m/043p6fb | Storm Rising | Mercedes Lackey | 1995 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Duke Tremane, who has been sent by the Empire to conquer Hardorn, is having second thoughts about his homeland. Since he has been basically stranded by the Emperor, he takes matters into his own hands. As he has a copy of the Emperial Seal locked up in a special desk inherited from his aunt, he writes documents authorizing him to take all the contents of an Imperial storehouse. Then the mages in his army create a gate to the storehouse and Duke Tremane and a number of his men then proceed to take as much of the contents as they can. Meanwhile, in Valdemar, Karal has been assigned to take over as Karsite ambassador following the death of his mentor and previous ambassador, Ulrich. He has to deal with the Shin'a'in ambassador taking over from the previous one, who has also died. However, Andesha is able to help and the Shin'a'in ambassador eventually apologizes to Karal for his previous behavior. Duke Tremane has elected to sever ties with the Empire and devotes his time to helping the people of Hardorn. All spies in his army defect over to him and the local people start to like having Duke Tremane around, especially when he and some of his men help find a group of kids who ended up being lost in a snowstorm. Karal, Andesha, and Natoli use magic to spy on Duke Tremane and discover that he isn't what he seems. The firecat Altra agrees that it would be a good idea for Duke Tremane to join the Alliance and Jumps Karal with him to Hardorn. There, Karal hands Duke Tremane a message tube and asks him to consider joining the Aliiance. Altra returns a week later to collect the tube. Meanwhile, the Son of the Sun Solaris visits Valdemar with her Firecat Hansa to further relations with Valdemar and Queen Selenay. Needless to say, Solaris and Selenay are shocked when they read the message that Duke Tremane wishes to join the Alliance. Solaris confines Karal to his room and has Hansa Jump her to Hardorn. After confronting Duke Tremane, she decides that he doesn't mean any harm and leaves, but not before doing a spell that will keep him from ever lying again in the future. Karal is not punished and is allowed to continue as the Karsite Ambassador. Sejanes, a very old mage, and teacher to Duke Tremane, is sent to Valdemar to help deal with the magic storms currently going on. Karal, Andesha, Firesong, and Silverfox leave Valdemar for Uthro's tower in order to deal with the storms. The Companion Florian goes with them, and several other Companions go along as well to carry the other people. |
17351255 | /m/043l0j4 | Lady Boss | Jackie Collins | 1990 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/01qxvh": "Romance novel"} | Lady Boss tells the story of Lucky Santangelo taking over a movie studio in Hollywood called "Panther Studios." |
17352127 | /m/043kxvl | Drop Dead Beautiful | Jackie Collins | 2007 | {"/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/01qxvh": "Romance novel", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"} | The story focuses on the character Anthony Bonar (Enzio Bonatti's grandson), who's seeking revenge against the Santangelo family as Lucky Santangelo is responsible for the deaths of his grandfather and father. Lucky's daughter - the rebellious teenager Maria, also known as Max' - is arranging to meet up with a mysterious boy on the internet, in the hopes of making an ex-boyfriend jealous. However, the mystery boy turns out to be a middle-aged man named Henry, who has a hatred for Max's mother Lucky as she didn't cast him for a movie which she developed a few years ago. On the day of meeting Henry in Big Bear, many miles away from her Bel Air home, Max meets the nineteen year old Ace. |
17356159 | /m/043pkqg | The Gate House | Nelson DeMille | 10/28/2008 | null | The Gate House is the sequel to The Gold Coast, released by the aforementioned publisher. The book begins when John Sutter, former Wall Street tax attorney, returns to the Gold Coast of Long Island, NY for the imminent funeral of a family servant; Ethel Allard. On John's return to the United States he realizes that he has no standing line of credit, no money, no home, no friends and no family – that which he wants to speak to – and has therefore taken up residence in the gate house of Stanhope Hall, the ancestral manor of his ex-wife Susan Sutter. The mansion itself is huge and sits on 323 acres and has since been seized by the government after the former owner, Frank Bellarosa – the original antagonist from The Gold Coast – is charged with tax evasion and has his assets seized by the I.R.S.; therefore the government has sold the mansion to an Amir Nasim, an Iranian businessman and devout Muslim. John, realizing that Ethel has a life tenancy until she dies, takes up residence without notifying Mr. Nasim, for the purpose of both having a life tenancy and the fact that since the book takes place after 9/11, the relations between Muslims and Americans have become "frosty" at best. John had started a new life in London, after a 3-year sail around the world that finally landed him in London, England where he became a partner of a prestigious tax law firm in Britain and even got a new girlfriend named Samantha. |
17360425 | /m/043pxlj | Tom Swift and His Big Tunnel | Victor Appleton | 1916 | {"/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature", "/m/08sdrw": "Adventure novel"} | The Titus Brothers Contractors company have won a government contract in Peru to blast a tunnel through a mountain and connect two isolated railroad lines. The deadline is approaching, and the contractors have hit a literal wall: excessively hard rock which defies conventional blasting techniques. The company is under pressure to finish, or else the contract will default to their rivals, Blakeson & Grinder. Mr. Job Titus has heard of Tom Swift and Tom's giant cannon, which is used in protecting the Panama Canal, and wants to hire Tom to develop a special blasting powder to help them finish the excavation. Mr. Damon, Tom's very good friend, arrives in the middle of this conversation, and is unaware of the situation. By coincidence, Mr. Damon is invested in a business which procures cinchona bark from Peru, but production has all but ceased, prompting Mr. Damon to invite Tom to accompany him to Peru and discover the source of the problem. Tom, Mr. Damon and Mr. Titus (along with Koku, Tom's giant) embark for Peru. On the way, they encounter Professor Swyington Bumper, who is on a lifelong quest to locate the lost city of Pelone. Professor Bumper returns to Peru each season, and has thus far been unsuccessful. When Professor Bumper discovers that Tom is headed to the same general area, Rimac, Professor Bumper decides to join the company. |
17361988 | /m/043q5j6 | Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho | null | 4/15/1990 | {"/m/05h83": "Non-fiction"} | From Hitchcock's acquisition of the original novel by Robert Bloch to his work with two different screenwriters, casting, filming, editing, scoring, and promotion, the book takes readers into the day-to-day lives of moviemakers who believed they were making a modestly budgeted, black-and-white shocker that represented a radical departure from the elegant, suspenseful films that had made director Hitchcock's reputation, including Rope, Rear Window, To Catch a Thief, The Man Who Knew Too Much and North by Northwest. The project Hitchcock tackled in part as an experiment to compete with financially successful, low-budget, youth-oriented horror movies went on to astound many by becoming a cultural watershed, an international box-office success, a film classic, and a forerunner of the violent, disorienting films and real-events of the turbulent Sixties. |
17363594 | /m/043rcsr | The Lone Star Ranger | Zane Grey | 1915 | {"/m/025txgl": "Western fiction", "/m/0hfjk": "Western", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/01qxvh": "Romance novel"} | Buck Duane is the son of a famous outlaw. Though an outlaw is not always a criminal, if the Rangers say he is an outlaw, its just as bad - he's a hunted man. After killing a man, Duane is forced to 'go on the dodge'. Duane turns up at an outlaw's hideout, still revolting at the idea of outlawry. Worse still, all the men he kills haunt him, for years. At the outlaw hideout, he meets a kidnapped, beautiful young woman and desires to see her free. In the second part of the book, Duane joins the Rangers, who want him to clear the frontier of outlaws, in return for the Govenor's pardon of his illegal deeds. The book takes place in Texas, which is known as the Lone Star State. Buck Duane is made a Texas Ranger toward the end of the novel. The title also highlights the social isolation of the main character. It was adapted as a radio series in 1933. |
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