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28086601 | /m/0cmf1tj | Undead and Unfinished | MaryJanice Davidson | null | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/01qxvh": "Romance novel"} | Satan, wants her daughter Laura (Betsy's half-sister), who is the antichrist, to visit Hell so she could understand her heritage. But Satan says Laura would need Betsy to accompany her so that Laura can get to know Betsy better. Betsy agrees, but only under the condition that Satan fix things so that Betsy can read the Book of the Dead for more than just a few minutes. Reading it for more than a few minutes at a time drives a person insane. Betsy and Laura visit Hell, which results in a time-travelling journey that reveals the history of Betsy's husband, Sinclair, and that has some serious consequences. |
28090709 | /m/0cm89_l | Why I Am a Separatist | null | 1961 | null | The book opens with an 8-page foreword in which the author invites all "free men" able to rid themselves of their preconceived ideas to read the essay he has to offer, while warning them that they must not hope to find in its pages all the answers to their questions, nor a political programme, nor an accomplished literary work. The essay only pretends to treat of "permanent elements" on the basis of four postulates: * The French Canadians form a nation. * The French-Canadian nation is a nation like any other. * The State of Quebec is the national State of French Canadians. * To progress, French Canadians must be masters in their own house. The author discards not only the question of a hypothetical pro-independence political programme, but also that of the "modalities of power", all the while reassuring his readers by declaring himself personally favourable to the birth of a democratic republic. The substance of the essay consists of 21 short notebooks (cahiers) grouped into six sections. The first section contains six notebooks, the second five notebooks, the third four, the fourth three, the fifth two, and finally the sixth only one. Section 1, entitled The Six Dimensions of Separatism, treats of the consequences, for French Canadians, of constituting a minority inside the Canadian federation, through the 1) historical, 2) political, 3) economic, 4) cultural, 5) social and 6) psychological dimensions of their collective life. Chaput believes that the greatest evils caused by the confederation of 1867 are to have distorted, in the minds of French Canadians, the sense of their own borders, and to have made them a minority people. The Canadian nation, a purely political and artificial construction founded, claims the author, on the force of arms and submission, is being erected on the negation of French-Canadian identity. Despite the dark tableau he renders of the position of the French-Canadian people at all levels, the author believes in their capacity to regenerate and calls upon them to choose the highest degree of collective liberty to which they are entitled. In the conclusion of this first section, Chaput invites French Canadians to learn from the unbreakable will of the Jewish people, who, after centuries of exile, were finally reborn on the land of their ancestors, where they have been building the State of Israel since 1948. He suggests that the first task in the liberation of the French Canadians should be to rid themselves of the symbols of docility and castration that represent, to his eyes, the little curly Saint John the Baptist and his sheep who are paraded every June 24, on the National Day of French Canadians. Section 2, The Five Solutions to Our Problem, presents 1) total assimilation, 2) lucid integration, 3) provincial autonomy, 4) true confederation, and 5) the independence of Quebec as the five ways most commonly put forward to solve the existential problem of the French-Canadian nation. The author explains why according to him the first four solutions are less preferable than the fifth. Assimilation or anglicization, a clear path laid out since the Union of 1840, is proposed to French Canadians on a regular basis writes Chaput. The logic of assimilation is implacable, and those who advocate it among French Canadians share with the indépendantistes having had enough of being "second-class citizens" and being "used as innocent victims in the entertainment of an illusion, that of a bilingual Canada". The assimilationists want French Canadians to put and end to their "diminished national life" by letting themselves be won by the appeal of an all-English life, by letting themselves be vanquished by the arms used in the assimilation of peoples: "interests, thought currents, trends, psychological climates". On their side, the militants of independence claim to wish to end the diminished national life of French Canadians, the bilingualism forced upon them by their dependence on English, not by becoming fully English, but by becoming fully French. Lucid integration is proposed by the supporters of the centralization of powers in Ottawa, for whom Quebec only is, and could only ever be, a province like any other. For them, French Canadians must conquer administrative positions of importance in the federal government. In doing so, French Canadians would gain the maximum from the system in place, and, with their hands on the levers of control, would be able to give themselves a place in the federation. Chaput cannot approve this option because according to him it is founded on two fundamental errors. First, the population of Canada is not homogeneous: the demographic disequilibrium between the English element and the French element is too great for integration to succeed. Second, Quebec is not a province like any other: it is also the national State of French Canadians. Provincial autonomy is the solution put forward by a whole legion of "great defenders of the French-Canadian nations" who have fought against the encroachments of the federal government in the jurisdictions of provinces in general and of Quebec in particular. For Chaput, the Quebec autonomist was depicted in the 17th century by Jean de La Fontaine in the fable The Wolf and the Lamb. Like the lamb, the autonomist is theoretically and morally right on all points, but the practical reason of the wolf still wins because the wolf is stronger than the lamb. Chaput forgives autonomists for their too great virtue, but reproaches them for not "following their own reasoning to the end, which can only mean independence". Rendered insufficient by the reality of centralization to the profit of Ottawa, he suggests to autonomists that they trade their quest for provincial autonomy inside the federation for the achievement of a greater autonomy outside of it. The true confederation is the political ideal which many Quebec autonomists have dreamed of. For the author, there is no doubt that this ideal would be an enormous progress compared to the political status quo. However, when looking up his Quillet encyclopédique at the word confédération, he reads that all confederations tend to transform into federations, and that a federation differs from a confederation in that the member states dispose of a reduced interior sovereignty and lose their exterior sovereignty. In addition to the danger of a potential slip from the state of confederation to that of federation, Chaput does not believe that true confederation would be easier to achieve than independence, because it would require convincing Anglo-Canadians to trade their position of strength over Franco-Canadians for one of absolute equality with them. They would lose a part of their freedom of action in political matters to the profit of a population numerically inferior to their own. For French Canadians, the author believes, true confederation would be a psychological catastrophe. Only independence can free the French Canadian man from the inferiority complex which paralyses his will and undermine his action. The independence of Quebec is the solution that follows "from a mere mathematical observation on democracy: the majority wins over the minority." Militants of independence, Chaput at their head, assert that French Canadians are destined to "subjection and mediocrity" for as long as they form a linguistic and cultural minority undergoing the consequences of the political will of a majority foreign to them. In the pages of Section 3, The Four Questions Relative to Independence, the author answers the questions of the 1) legitimacy, 2) viability, 3) desirability and 4) feasibility of the independence of Quebec. Is the independence of Quebec legitimate? It is legitimate, believes Chaput, first because the French Canadians form a nation. The French-Canadian nation has institutions of its own, a territory it possesses by virtue of section 109 of the British North America Act and which it has occupied for over four centuries; it speaks a common language and demonstrates a will to live as a collectivity (vouloir-vivre collectif) which persists after two centuries of British and Anglo-Canadian domination. The French-Canadian people can legitimately choose political independence by virtue of article 1, paragraph 2 of the United Nations Charter, signed by Canada under the government of prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King and never repudiated afterwards. Is the independence of Quebec viable? It is not only viable, it is necessary to the economic liberation of French Canadians, the author claims. For Quebec's economy to pass into the hands of Quebecers, they must be able to legislate in matters of currency, banking, taxation, import and export, air, sea and ground transportation, all jurisdictions of the federal State in Canada. As for the resources Quebec would possess after independence, Chaput believes that no serious person could possibly doubt they would allow a people of five to six million to live and prosper. Is the independence of Quebec desirable? To acquire independence, to obtain international personality, is the "normal" solution adopted by dozens of peoples who have jointed the United Nations since its foundation in 1945. More than simply normal, independence is, according to Chaput, desirable for the same reasons that the Canadian federation, which makes French Canadians a minority, is not desirable. Historically, the independence of Quebec consists in bringing the French-Canadian people to the realization of their destiny, to complete Quebec's transformation from colony to sovereign nation, in the same way numerous former colonies already did. Politically, it is desirable that French Canadians cease to be a perpetual minority and also profit from the advantages of a national government democratically elected. Economically, the independence of Quebec is desirable because it would give to French Canadians mastery over the political means without which, Chaput believes, the achievement of economic independence would "remain a sweet dream". Culturally, independence is desirable because it would then be possible for French Canadians to live in a society that is as unilingual as English-Canadian society is. Socially, independence can only favour the improvement of the condition of life of the people in Quebec, because the liberties enjoyed in the other dimensions of collective life (political, economic, cultural) would make it possible to apply global solutions to the different problems of society. Psychologically, independence would be desirable because according to the author "the problems of French Canada have become psychological problems". For a man as for a people, independence is a state of mind, claims Chaput, and this state of mind would alone wash away half the symptoms of the evil eating out the French-Canadian collectivity. Is the independence of Quebec feasible? Chaput believes the international political climate to be very favourable to the accession of Quebec to independence. Chaput believes that since the cause of Quebec is legitimate, the only thing missing is the will of the people expressed by way of election or referendum in order to meet the conditions of the international community for the recognition of States. It is unthinkable, according to the author, that Ottawa or Washington would repudiate their signing of the United Nations Charter only to counter the entry of Quebec in the community of independent national States. In Section 4, The Three Major Objections to Independence, Chaput discusses 1) of the faith of French minorities, 2) the presumed isolation of Quebec after independence, and 3) the political immaturity of French Canadians, which constitute the objections most often raised against the independence of Quebec. French-speaking minorities, principally of Quebec and Acadian origins, dispersed in the nine English provinces of Canada, often constitute a cause of division and misunderstanding in discussions on the political status of Quebec. Contrary to what is often asserted on the question, Chaput believes that the independence of Quebec would change the situation of French-Canadian minorities for the better, not only in English Canada, but also in the United States and everywhere else in the world. Once sovereign, Quebec, like all other independent States, would be in a position to give itself a policy aiming to protect and support its nationals settled outside its borders. Quebec would be isolated from the rest of the world by separation, those who are not favourable to it often argue. Chaput disagrees. Far from being isolated by its accession to independence, Quebec would then entertain diplomatic relations, equal to equal, with all other countries. The political independence of nations does not mean autarky, it is not the opposite of internationalism, it is the first condition of any and all internationalism. Without the political liberty of nations, Chaput claims, the construction of large supranational political ensembles is not an enterprise of internationalism, but one of imperialism. The political immaturity of French Canadians, evoked by detractors of Quebec nationalism in general and separatism in particular, tend to refer specifically to the era of Quebec Premier Maurice Duplessis, in power during 15 years, from 1944 to 1959. Chaput says he stands together with Cité libres editorial team when they wish for French Canadians to assume responsibility over themselves, and agrees in principle with Pierre Trudeau when he writes that it is more urgent to rehabilitate democracy, attack the ideologies of the clerical-bourgeois elite, denounce the indolence of French Canadians, than to search for the culprits among the English. However, he believes the particular definition Trudeau gives to the word nationalism to be a source of confusion. It is a hasty generalization to reject all nationalisms because a political thought claiming to be nationalist (without truly being so believes Chaput) has produced bad fruits. According to him, to reason in this way amounts to "fighting the Church because of the Inquisition, life because of disease, the rule because of the exception." To complete the liberation programme of Cité libre, one not only needs for a social liberation inside Quebec, but also for the exterior liberation of Quebec, which political separation would bring. Chaput sees there two liberations that are "complementary and indispensably tied to one another". Section 5, entitled The Two Options of the French-Canadian Nation, reduces the options available to French Canadians to those of either 1) remaining a minority inside a vast country or 2) becoming a majority inside a smaller country. The sixth and final section, The Sole Reason for Our Cause, asserts that the battle for the independence of Quebec is fought above all in the name of human dignity. More than a question of logic and solid arguments, independence is a question of character. Chaput expresses his conviction that the French-Canadian nation possesses the character and sense of dignity of which free nations are made. |
28091054 | /m/0cmbkn8 | A Pele do Ogro | Miguel M. Abrahão | 1996 | {"/m/0127jb": "Magic realism"} | The story told by the novel A Pele do Ogro occurs in the cities of London, Rome, Moscow, Paris and Berlin, and as a basis for the plot, the story of 19th century Europe. The novel is divided into three parts and an epilogue. The first, located between 1848 and 1882, shows the first years of the existence of André Duroseille, desires, fears, love life and his obsession with immortality, beauty and youth. Early in the novel, André meets Claire, a poor girl from Lyon, and falls in love with her. But the intense passion between the two, will be the target of the wrath of the mysterious Pierre Labatut, who lost a family member Duroseille and was determined not to lose another. In the midst of an alleged attack of madness, Pierre puts the fire in the hut in which they live, killed his wife and stepdaughter, Claire, and disappears into the flames. André, accused of murder, he is immediately trapped in the chain of Lyon. In prison, he meets Gaston, who first told him of the existence of the mysterious Lydia, known as Romana: "Lydia, female liberation! Lydia, my dear! Lydia, his wife immortal! I will glorify and pray for you ... Take me to the promised happiness. (...) Lydia is the master! The Ser ...! The woman who gives pleasure! Lydia, the woman who is a person without being! She has been with us since the dawn of humanity and will exist until the whole sky suffer the final break. Even taking the form of Lydia, a Roman she's all woman, and it is not ...! So it is a goddess"! Leaving prison, arguing that Lydia can give you immortality, the young Duroseille, stubbornly, now married with a son, went to Italy. In his travels across the European continent, André established friendly relations with historical figures like Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, Queen Victoria and others, who talk about Lydia and their wealth, power, beauty and youth . However, life does not smile for Duroseille: he finds his brother Henry, who has been missing for years, who hates him and is mortally ill and loses his wife and young son in the middle of an arson. But Lydia dominates his thoughts ... The second part of the novel takes place between 1882 and 1894. During this period, André has finally met Lydia. In the first meeting, she said: (...) You're the only man I've been searching for centuries ... But I had to wait until you have 35 years! My Antinous, my love (...)! A strong and passionate relationship between the two soon begin to suffer the stigma of suspicion. Lydia, after telling his origin, saying he was born in ancient Rome at the time of Emperor Hadrian, reveals that he was the reincarnation of Antinous, his only love! – And invites him to participate in the Palio of Siena, where a new tragedy lies ahead: the couple will be present at the suicide of Stefano, a young athlete who kills himself for love has the Lydia: If we do not the energy of these young people before, – a power that will allow us a long life and eternal youth – young people suffer a lot. Lydia finally reveals the secret of the magic of the ancient Celts, and in the forests of Edinburgh, André became an immortal. However, to keep him, he will remove the energy of someone who loves him deeply, which claimed the life of a young Italian couple. Andre feels the weight of guilt and is believed responsible for all the ills afflicting Europe in the late nineteenth century. And he is responsible! One by one of his closest friends will suffer the process of perjury and exile because of him. The third part, between 1894 and 1900, shows André and Lydia involved in lawsuits and scandals that shook Europe in the late 19th century. At this stage, the protagonist of the story, becomes a witness to the suffering of his best friends: Oscar Wilde is demoralized and imprisoned for the crime of sodomy, Alfred Dreyfus was convicted and exiled to Devil's Island, the writer Emile Zola died in suspicious circumstances and France, his homeland!, is ruled by corrupt politicians. "Emile Zola murdered? But by whom? Lydia?" In the home, André is in conflict with the stepdaughter, Paolo, mainly because of Lydia and political beliefs. "Either you are separated from Lydia, or I do not ever want to see you"! – Paolo reproached him with great fury. With the death of his stepson, daughter and grand-son, André – convinced that Lidia was responsible for all the inequities – decides to destroy the only way possible to stop loving him. For him, there was no doubt in these cases: Lydia, the selfish Romana, wanted her for himself and for this reason, it has eliminated all those he truly loved. The epilogue behind surprising revelation. |
28092731 | /m/0cm8mjd | A Escola | Miguel M. Abrahão | null | null | The book has as background the 30s, during the dictatorship of the Vargas government. Master Bolivar Bueno, involved with dangerous ideas for the season, has a strong influence and emotional control over their traditional primary school students from Wolfgang Schubert, while dividing her love life with the teachers of the school, ideologically and being chased by the director, the Rev. Otto Faukner, and his assistant, miss Catarina. In 2005, the play was adapted by its author to the format of the novel, released in 2007. In this new format, the author expands historical themes, importants for the knowledge of Brazilian History of the 30s: Revolution to São Paulo in 1932, fascism and communism in Brazil, ruled by Getúlio Vargas. |
28098730 | /m/0cmcvzs | Harry the Dirty Dog | null | 1956 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | The family dog, Harry, disenchanted with taking baths, buries the bathtub scrubber and runs away from home. Harry gets dirty and returns home only to find his family does not recognize him. He attempts to get his family to realize it's him only succeed when he brings back the brush he buried. |
28108371 | /m/0cmdvd3 | House Rules | Jodi Picoult | 3/2/2010 | {"/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | The plot is conveyed from the points of view of the main characters in the novel. Jacob Hunt is eighteen years old and has Asperger's syndrome, which is a form of high-functioning autism. He lives with his mother and brother, Emma and Theo Hunt, and lives by a structured schedule, feeling comfortable only when all of his daily activities are planned. Any lack of structure or unexpected events cause him to feel anxious. He is obsessed with forensic analysis; the hobby consumes his life. The novel opens with Jacob setting up a crime scene (in which he is the victim) for his mother to solve. Jacob's need to engage in such activities, as well as his obsession with detail, often frustrates his mother and infuriates his brother Theo. When Jess Ogilvy, Jacob's social skills counselor, is killed, Jacob soon becomes a suspect. After arresting and releasing the first suspect, Mark Maguire, Detective Rich Matson asks Emma if he may talk to Jacob. After Jacob admits that he moved Jess's dead body, Jacob is arrested and charged with murder. The case goes to trial. In court, the prosecutor, Helen Sharp, raises the issues that all of Jacob's symptoms of Asperger's Syndrome are almost identical to the characteristics of those who are guilty. Also, the prosecution argues that most of the evidence proves that Jacob is the murderer (e.g. Jacob's fingerprints on the scene of the crime, an unlabeled crime scene evaluation identical to Jess's found in his notebook, and her backpack he retrieved from her home). At the end of the trial, Jacob testifies that he found Jess, dead in her bathroom and lying in a pool of her own blood. He admits to cleaning her, dressing her and placing her outside, then cleaning the original scene up and creating a new one that will lead investigators in a different direction. This is because he realized that, while an accident, Jess's death was the fault of his brother, Theo, after he was in the house and saw Jess naked. Jess slipped while getting out of the shower, and Theo fled the scene. In the end, Jess's death was in fact an accident. |
28108732 | /m/0cmczkz | Rock & Roll Jihad: A Muslim Rock Star's Revolution | null | 1/12/2010 | {"/m/05h83": "Non-fiction"} | The book begins with a quote from Melissa Etheridge, saying: "The story you are about to read is the story of a light-bringer....Salman Ahmad inspires me to reach always for the greatest heights and never to fear....Know that his story is a part of our history." The book tells a life story of Pakistan-born Salman Ahmad, who pioneered "Sufi rock" by marrying his teenage love of Led Zeppelin's sinuously behemoth riffs to the ecstatic vocal acrobatics of the millennia-old qawwali style of singing common to Pakistan, fronts Junoon ("passion"), the most revered rock band in all of South Asia for the past two decades. Facing down angry mullahs and oppressive dictators who wanted all music to be banned from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Salman Ahmad rocketed to the top of the music charts, bringing Westernstyle rock and pop to Pakistani teenagers for the first time. His band Junoon became the 'U2 of Asia', a sufi rock group that broke boundaries and sold a record number of albums. But Ahmad's story began in New York, where he spend his high school years rocking out in Tappan, New York. That dream seemed destined to die when his family returned to Pakistan and Ahmad was forced to follow the strictures of a newly religious. After finishing medical school he devotes his life to peace, love, and power chords as the first true Muslim rock star. "Mine was a sort of Sex Pistols situation in reverse," he writes. "I wanted to unite and heal the divisions in the Third World," not "punch conservative British nationalism and the First World Order in the gut." It didn't hurt that the process included random encounters with Mick Jagger, Bono, and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who later named Ahmad UNAIDS Goodwill ambassador. Today, Ahmad continues to play music and is also a UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador, traveling the world as a spokesperson and using the lessons he learned as a musical pioneer to help heal the wounds between East and West; lessons he shares in this illuminating memoir. |
28112055 | /m/0cm84q3 | The Heart of a Warrior | Erin Hunter | null | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | In the previous book "A Clan in Need", Ravenpaw and Barley go and ask Firestar, leader of ThunderClan for help to drive out the rogues that drove Ravenpaw and Barley away from the farm. After gathering up a patrol of cats willing to help, they attack and succeed in driving the rogues away. Firestar then promises to help Barley and Ravenpaw back to their home. The Heart of a Warrior will follow Firestar, Ravenpaw and Barley in their adventure back. The story continues where Ravenpaw and Barley are still in ThunderClan. They prepare to go back to the barn and with the help of Firestar and a warrior patrol; they are ready to reclaim the barn back. Ravenpaw and Barley wanted to leave quietly without anyone noticing, but Squirrelkit makes enough noise to get attention of the whole Clan; thus making everyone knowing that Ravenpaw and Barley are leaving. They do their farewells and depart from ThunderClan with a warrior patrol. They go in the barn finding the place all wrecked. Firestar then makes a plan to ambush the rogues in their sleep. When they carry out their plan, they are given away when the chickens are startled and make a lot of racket and noise. During the battle in the barn, the farmer goes in and makes everyone retreat. It turns out that some of the "rogues" were part of BloodClan. Firestar later then comes up with another plan, claiming that it will work. Most of the plan works out so far when they drive out the rogues out of the barn, but as the battle continues outside, it transpires that the rogues had reinforcements. They were about to lose against the rogues until the dogs got loose and attack the rogues. They finally drive out the rogues with the help of the dogs (whom Ravenpaw and Barley once saved from the fire), leaving only Barley's brothers left; Hoot and Jumper. They were about to be killed, but Barley says not to. Firestar and the warrior patrol then depart with Ravenpaw and Barley and they return to ThunderClan. Ravenpaw and Barley let Hoot and Jumper stay in the barn. While Barley goes out on a walk, Ravenpaw shows Hoot and Jumper around the farm. Ravenpaw notices that Hoot and Jumper don't even care and they don't do anything. As the three return to the barn, Ravenpaw takes a nap. when he wakes up by Barley, he finds the barn wrecked. Hoot and Jumper claim that they were trying to hunt for mice. One night Barley and his brothers go out for a walk. When they return, Hoot and Jumper order Ravenpaw to do everything for them. The next day, they still are ordering Ravenpaw around. Ravenpaw wonders why Barley isn't doing anything about it. Later in the day, Barley gets angry at Hoot and Jumper saying that he doesn't like how they are treating his friend and claims that loyalty is everything, not blood. Ravenpaw sees this but doesn't help Barley, knowing that he can handle it on his own. Hoot and Jumper later leave the barn for good. Ravenpaw and Barley finally have their home, together, and as their own. |
28114181 | /m/0cm80bx | SkyClan's Destiny | Erin Hunter | null | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | The prologue begins with the ancient SkyClan that were attacked by the rats. After another battle with the rats and the death of two of their warriors, Spiderstar, the leader, decides to have the Clan disband. Some cats decide to become house cats at the nearby town while others stay in the gorge. In present day SkyClan it has been six moons (months) since Firestar went to the gorge and reformed SkyClan. The new SkyClan has added new loners, rogues and former kittypets to the Clan. There are also kittypets that help the Clan in the day, but return to their Twolegs at night. They are called daylight warriors. Leafstar invited them into the Clan to help patrol and hunt for the Clan. However, it is clear that not everyone respects the daylight warriors. Many cats such as Sharpclaw call them "kitty warriors" feeling they are not loyal to the Clan by leaving at night. The daylight warriors are Billystorm, Ebonyclaw, Frecklepaw, Snookpaw, Harveymoon and Macgyver. Leafstar tries to keep the tensions low between the daylight warriors and regular warriors, but many regular warriors still make fun of the daylight warriors behind their backs. One day, Leafstar receives a dream from Spottedleaf, an old medicine cat of ThunderClan that helped SkyClan when Firestar first formed the Clan. She sees cats and they say, "This is the leaf-bare of my Clan. Greenleaf will come, but it will bring even greater storms than these. SkyClan will need deeper roots if it is to survive." The next day, Leafstar visits the Clan's medicine cat Echosong and they realize they each had the same dream. Later, Stick, Cora, Coal and Shorty, the four cats Firestar met on his quest arrive at the gorge. They stay with the Clan and learn battle moves, hunting techniques. In exchange, Stick teaches the Clan how to destroy a rat family that lives in a dump in the Clan's territory. After defeating the rats the four loners begin to lead patrols despite the fact that Sharpclaw still does not let the daylight warriors lead patrol and they have been around longer. One day, Leafstar follows a group of SkyClan's cats visiting the nearby town. There she realizes that the loners came to recruit help to defeat a group of cats that steal prey in their town. In the end, Leafstar agrees to help though states that she will not kill anyone. The battle is fierce and ends in SkyClan's victory, but Stick's daughter Red is killed protecting her mate who Stick tried to kill since he thinks that Red's mate threatened her to join them. Stick becomes even more infuriated when Leafstar calls off her warriors from killing anyone, a policy he disproves of. Returning to her Clan, Leafstar sets up rules for visiting cats in order to prevent any future conflicts. She makes it so that visiting cats must help hunt everyday, and the Clan shall not teach any fighting moves until they have spent a moon in the Clan and that SkyClan is "a proud, independent Clan with a code and honor of our own." Throughout the book it becomes apparent the Billystorm and Leafstar have feelings for each other especially when at the end she talks about how even if she does have kits she has an excellent deputy and medicine cat. |
28116222 | /m/0cm9m5m | Never Look Away | null | null | null | It starts with a trip to a local amusement park. David Harwood is hoping a carefree day at Five Mountains will help dispel his wife Jan's recent depression, black moods that have led to frightening thoughts of suicide. Instead, a day of fun with their four-year-old son Ethan turns into a nightmare. When Jan disappears from the park, David's worst fears seem to have come true. But when he goes to the police to report her missing, terrified that she's planning to take her own life, the facts start to indicate something very different. The park's records show that only two tickets were purchased, David and Ethan's, and CCTV shows no evidence that Jan ever entered the park at all. Suddenly David's story starts to look suspicious - suspicious enough for the police to wonder if she's already dead, murdered by her husband. To prove his innocence and keep his son from being taken away from him, David digs deep into the past and comes face to face with a terrible childhood tragedy. After finding her birth certificate he visits her estranged parents, Horace and Gretchen Richler, who tell David that their daughter Jan was killed as a five year old in a tragic car accident. Jan's story is slowly revealed as the narratives switch between her and David's perspective. It is revealed that Jan was the false identity taken by Constance Harwood, who was accidentally responsible for the death of the real Jan. After Jan's death, she moved away and left her family who blamed her, getting involved in crime with Dwayne Osterhaus. However when Dwayne got a six-year jail sentence she went into hiding to keep away from the many victims and enemies she has gained over the years. Her marriage to David was intended to keep her identity hidden from Oscar Fine, whose hand she cut off in a diamond heist several years earlier. However, Oscar sees her face on the news and tracks down Jan and Dwayne, killing Dwayne. Jan realises that Ethan's life could be in danger and travels back to Promise Falls, her and David's hometown. While this is happening, David is shaping up as the lead suspect and is being threatened by Elmost Sebastian, the head of a for-profit prison company who David was determined to defame in the newspaper. When Ethan goes missing, David presumes Sebastian responsible. But Oscar returns to the Harwood household at the same time as Jan and David finally understands the truth behind his wife, realising how little he knew. Jan is shot and David is nearly killed too but in her dying moments Jan kills Oscar. David is called by Gretchen Richler, who explains that after realising Jan was actually Constance, kidnapped Ethan in revenge but realised the error of her ways. David and Ethan are reunited. |
28123503 | /m/0cm8ggw | The Skin I'm In | Sharon Flake | 2000 | null | Bullying at school can be a terrible experience, and yet sometimes it can be quite hard to see the reason for the bullying. Why, for instance, would a black boy tease a black girl about being black? "John-John McIntyre is the smallest seventh grader in the world. Even fifth graders can see over his head. Sometimes I have a hard time believing he and me are both thirteen. He's my color, but since second grade he's been teasing me about being too black." At first, there doesn't seem to be a reason why John-John might be teasing Maleeka. Perhaps he's jealous because Maleeka is tall and, even if she doesn't quite realise it yet, she's rather gorgeous too. And perhaps he's also jealous of her relationship with Caleb: "He stared at me half the year. I thought he saw what everybody else saw. Skinny, poor, black Maleeka. But Caleb saw something different. He said I was pretty. Said he liked my eyes and sweet cocoa brown skin. He wrote me poems and letters. He put spearmint gum inside. Walked me to class. Gave me a ring. I ain't told Momma." So when John-John ruined it for Maleeka and Caleb, Maleeka was left with no-one on her side. Maybe it wasn't a very clever move, but Maleeka teamed up with Charlese and her gang, out of self-protection. That didn't improve things much, but it was better than nothing. Until Charlese decided to see how far she could push Maleeka, too ... Maleeka is in a difficult situation and there doesn't seem to be anyone she can turn to. She makes some pretty bad mistakes before she finally realises that the new English teacher, the outspoken Miss Saunders, really is on her side. |
28131626 | /m/0cmcbzp | L'Épreuve | Pierre de Marivaux | 1740 | {"/m/01z4y": "Comedy"} | Lucidor, a wealthy Parisian, is in love with Angélique, a young and innocent country bourgeois. After falling ill and watching Angélique cry for him, he is convinced that she loves him as well, but he is unsure of the motives behind this love. He thus decides to put Angélique through an ordeal to test whether he is loved for his money or for himself. In the name of friendship, Lucidor offers a rich friend to be married to Angélique to see whether she would reject him for love. In fact, this rich friend is none other than Lucidor’s valet, who is dressed up in rich man’s gear only for this trick. |
28131631 | /m/0cmd6rl | La Fausse Suivante | Pierre de Marivaux | null | {"/m/01z4y": "Comedy"} | A young woman, described as "the Parisian maiden", is due to marry Lelio without having ever met him. She decides to introduce herself to him as a Knight and become his friend. Lelio confides in the Knight his troubled situation. He is promised to a Countess he seduced, in addition to the young Parisian maiden. He would choose to marry the richest of the two, that is the heroine, if he had not already signed a contract with the Countess, which would make him lose a large sum of money if he broke his engagement to her. Lelio thus challenges the Knight to seduce the Countess, so that he could marry the Parisian maiden without paying the sum. The plan seems to work at first, the Countess falls for the Knight and forgets Lelio. But information of the Knight's real sexual identity leaks among the servants, and even if she refuses to disclose her name, the Parisian maiden has to admit her sex. She disguises herself as a servant and manages to get hold of the contract. At the end of the play, she tears it in the presence of Lelio and the Countess, and both are disappointed by her deception. The young Parisian maiden finally discloses her identity, and justifies her actions by asserting her independence. |
28131674 | /m/0cmb_l7 | Le Préjugé vaincu | Pierre de Marivaux | 1747 | {"/m/01z4y": "Comedy"} | Angélique knew very well that she loved Dorante, but she didn't want to. Being the daughter of a marquis she didn't want to marry someone middle class however rich and well brought up he may be. She shared her feelings, not to her father, who looked upon this marriage with pleasure, but to Lisette her chambermaid, who, although speaking the dialect of her village, and the daughter of a simple tax lawyer was not less determined to not marry down. Dorante, as a test, said he had a partner to suggest to Angélique: a well educated young man, rich, esteemed in all aspects, but middle class. Angélique refused. When Dorante told her that he spoke of himself, Angélique was somewhat disconcerted, but persistent. The Marquis then offered his youngest daughter to Dorante. Angélique called for Dorante; she didn't want him to see her sister, she didn't want him to leave. At first Dorante looked at her astonished then tenderly. Angélique looked at him. He fell to her feet, she made him get up: pride had given up against love. |
28138267 | /m/0cm8y2b | Sticky Beak | Morris Gleitzman | null | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | Sticky Beak picks up from where Blabber Mouth ends. Rowena's father is now married to her teacher, and at a function she throws a plate of custard and jelly into a fan, splattering it over everyone. As she tries to avoid the consequences, she rescues an abused cockatoo from the neighbourhood bully, Darryn Peck. |
28159435 | /m/05qg0w4 | The Ruby Dice | Catherine Asaro | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | Throughout the novel, the peace is contested and then established between the Skolians and the Traders. Imperator Kelric Skolia is reunited with his children, Rohka Miesa Varz Skolia (daughter of Kelricson Valdoria and Savina Miesa) and Jimorla Haka (son of Kelricson Valdoria and Rashiva Haka), and his wife Ixpar Carn. Imperator Kelric Skolia finds out about Emperor Jaibriol III's parentage during a meeting on Earth. He also discovers that Jaibriol III became a Key and a member of the Triad (the kind of Key is unspecified, whether it is Web Key, like his grandfather Eldrinson Althor Valdoria before him, or something else). Kelric and Jaibriol decide to meet on Earth in person. Kelric suspects that Jai might be a psion, but he cannot be certain unless he sees him in person. Their last meeting happened almost ten years ago at the Lock that was captured by the Traders, when Kelric took on the title of the Imperator, becoming Military Key (see Ascendant Sun). An attempt on Kelric's life occurs, killing all of his and Jai's bodyguards. While they are stranded in the Appalachian Mountains, Kelric teaches Jai Quis, the dice game that Kelric learned on Coba during his eighteen years of living there, by linking their minds. The two leaders also sign a peace treaty that would change the fates of their empires forever. After returning to the Skolians, the Imperator is thrown into jail since the Assembly contests his loyalty to the Imperialite because of his secret meeting with the Eubean Emperor. However, both the Traders and the Skolians ratify the treaty, making peace possible. In the novel, it is never revealed who attempted the assassinations on Kelric's life. The novel links to Catch the Lightning through the treaty, but apparently it did not work as intended, because even during the events of Catch the Lighning, both Skolia and Eubean Concord are still on shaky grounds. Quis refers to a dice game learned by Kelric on the planet Coba. This dice strategy game can be played with a physical set of dice that are made from hand-crafted jewels; or it can be played mentally. It originates on a planet called Coba, a former colony of the Ruby Empire that became isolated during the empire's collapses and remains so even during the time of the novels. All members of Coban society learn to play Quis, but only a few excel at it. The Quis dice can be used for a variety of purposes, including as a game, to tell stories, to exchange information, and even to gamble. But its most important use is its influence on politics, as the dice are used to compete politically, and also can convey politically important information. There are competing city-states that have isolated top Quis players, who study the art of playing Quis as their fulltime occupation. |
28160839 | /m/0cm8y8h | Keeper | null | 2010 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | After unintentionally ruining a blue moon day by messing up her guardian's crab gumbo and breaking her favorite wooden bowl, causing a friend's ukelele to break, as well as wrecking the plants of her elderly neighbor, Keeper decides to make everything right. Taking with her seven wooden figurines of different mermaids, her dog BD, and a charm she had since she was a girl, Keeper sets out to find her mother, Meggie Marie, who has not been seen in seven years. |
28163284 | /m/0cm82wp | Times Without Number | John Brunner | null | {"/m/0mz2": "Alternate history"} | In 1988, Don Miguel Navarro is a "Licentiate in Ordinary" of the Society of Time. As a Licentiate, Don Miguel's primary duty is to ensure the preservation of history, lest an alteration undo the empire. While at a party held by the Marquesa di Jorque, his hostess shows off a gold Aztec mask she had recently received as a gift. Recognizing it instantly as contraband, Don Miguel launches an investigation that eventually leads to the unmasking and arrest of Don Arcimboldo Ruiz, a prominent nobleman (and a cunning and skillful villain) engaged in the illegal acquisition of goods from the past. Don Miguel is then entrusted with returning it to the exact spot in the past from which it was taken, in time for it to be used in the Aztec bloody rites of mass human sacrifice - with which he is duty bound not to interfere but which leave him shaken. Because of his success, Don Miguel is honored and marked as a coming man. Some time later, while attending a New Year's Eve ball at the palace of the Prince of New Castile, a prince of the blood and the Commander of the Society of Time, Don Miguel meets Lady Kristina, the daughter of the Swedish ambassador. At her prompting, the two leave the party to explore the city of Londres for themselves. While walking down one of the city's streets, however, they encounter an unusually dressed woman who is assaulted by men who intend to rape her, but turns out be more than able to take care of herself, proceeding to immobilize a number of her assailants before Don Miguel is able to knock her unconscious (the reader can easily recognize that she is adept at some kind of martial art, but in Don Miguel's world these are unknown in the West). Taking the woman to the Society's headquarters, he attempts to return to the prince's palace in search of Father Ramón, the society's master theoretician, but is stopped by a panicked mob clogging the streets. There he learns of the burning of the palace and the deaths of all of the assembled dignitaries at the hands of dozens of female warriors (transported, it turns out, from an alternate timeline in which a Mongol King rules all of Asia and Europe and which senior members of the Society of Time secretly contacted). After encountering Father Ramón, the two return to Society Headquarters, where they use a special cross-temporal Mass to contact an earlier version of Father Ramón and prevent the massacre from taking place. However, though seeming to end well, the episode leaves Don Miguel with a mounting feeling of anxiety, having found out that his superiors engage in dangerous experiments and realizing by what a thin thread the entire reality he knows hangs. Needing a vacation, Don Miguel travels to California, a backwater rarely visited by Europeans. While relaxing at a hacienda near a local mine, his host, a Native American engineer named Two Dogs, shows him a steel bit from a rock drill discovered in a recently started mine. (In this timeline, there had been no California Gold Rush and gold mining is a governmental monopoly.) Fearing a violation of the treaty between the Empire and the Confederacy of the East regulating time travel, Don Miguel alerts the Society, which launches a full-scale investigation. When Father Ramón arrives on the scene, however, he insists that no violation has taken place, even though a scouting expedition confirms that there is indeed a group from the 20th Century mining the land in the past. Traveling to the site, Don Miguel and Father Ramón converse with the leader of the group and convince him to end the operation; Father Ramón is clearly determined to defuse the tension and avoid at virtually any price an escalation in the two great powers' relations. The reason for that becomes clear upon their return: Don Miguel finds out that the "discovery" had in fact been planted by Two Dogs, who is spearheading a conspiracy of anti-Mohawk native Americans seeking to bring down the Empire, and who manipulate the Eastern Confederacy and make use of it but have their own far-reaching agenda. In the ensuing melee, Two Dogs escapes and Father Ramón is killed. It is assumed that, having failed in his carefully crafted plot, Two Dogs would seek to travel into the past and deal the Empire's past a grieveous blow. Determined to preserve their history, the Society sends Don Miguel and dozens of other Licentiates into the past to prevent Two Dogs from disrupting the pivotal event of the Armada, but while undercover in 1588 Cadiz Don Miguel discovers to his horror that Two Dogs has already succeeded; Parma's second-in-command, the military genius Earl of Barton, no longer exists - having evidently been assassinated by two Dogs while still an obscure young adventurer - and Parma himself is no longer the commander of the fleet. Urgently rushing back to the present, Don Miguel hopes to still sound a last minute warning - but is overtaken by the forwardly proceeding wave of changing reality (a highly painful experience) and arrives not in New Madrid but its analogue, New York City, emerging in Central Park to the amazement of passers-by. From this Don Miguel realizes that people of the changed timeline have no knowledge of time-travel, which would have given them a clear explanation for a man appearing out of thin air, and that he is the only person in this timeline who knows the secret of time travel. Reflecting upon this he concludes that timelines where time travels exists eventually collapse on themselves, when somebody changes the reality leading to the invention of time-travel itself. He decides to accept developments as God's will and to begin a new life as "the most lonely of all exiles" in the world where he now finds himself, keeping time travel a secret and never disclosing his knowledge of how to build a working time machine. And meanwhile, Two Dogs' ruthless act against the Empire turns out to have boomeranged against Two Dogs' own people, creating a timeline where Native Americans fared much worse than in the one he destroyed. |
28163797 | /m/0cmcvc5 | Empire of Lies | Andrew Klavan | null | {"/m/01jfsb": "Thriller"} | The book is a thriller in which the protagonist Jason Harrow, a politically conservative Christian, believes that he has discovered an Islamist terrorist plot but that it being concealed by left-wing and politically-correct media. |
28188066 | /m/0cnymyy | Moribito II: Guardian of Darkness | Nahoko Uehashi | null | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | It has been a year since Balsa protected the egg of the Water Spirit from Rarunga. Balsa is traveling through caves in the Misty Blue Mountains on her way home to Kanbal. In the caves she smells a lantern and discovers the siblings Gina and Kassa defending themselves from a strange creature that Balsa drives off. It leaves behind a rare stone that is extremely valuable, luisha. Balsa sends the pair on their way. Despite attempting to cover up the event, Kassa and Gina are forced to tell the truth to the clan chief Kaguro, and his brother Yuguro a national hero and leader of the King's Spears, the elite generals of Kanbal. Yuguro sends soldiers to capture Balsa with orders to kill her on the way back. Balsa is staying with her aunt Yuka where she learns that King Rogsam blamed Jiguro for the death of his brother, King Nuguru and Jiguro is a national disgrace. Yuguro became a hero because he claimed to have killed Jiguro. Balsa knows this is a lie—they never fought each other. While staying with Yuka, Balsa is captured and poisoned. She escapes and saves a strange creature from harm. In return, the creature brings help for Balsa in the form of the herder people and their chief, Toto. As Balsa heals, the Giving Ceremony is about to begin. Kanbal is a poor land. Once every ten years, the Mountain King throws open the door to his realm. The King of Kanbal and the King's Spears descended into the mountain. They battle each other and the strongest becomes the Dancer. The Dancer faces the strongest hyohlu warrior of the Mountain King to gain the luisha Kanbal needs to survive. Further details of the ceremony have been lost. The Giving Ceremony has been delayed many years and Kanbal is in danger of starvation. King Radalle and Yuguro are planning to use the ritual to conquer the Mountain King and take all the luisha. Toto of the Herder People tells Balsa that such an act would end in failure and ensure Kanbal's destruction and she must stop it. They recruit Kassa to their side and visit Chief Laloog of the Yonsa, the only one still alive who knows the truth of the Giving Ceremony. Balsa convinces him to break his vow of silence and Laloog drafts a letter revealing the truth of the Ceremony and begging the king to abandon the plan. The Giving Ceremony begins and Yuguro defeats the others to become the Dancer. Balsa and Kassa emerge from hiding to read Laloog's letter and beg the king to abandon the plan as the hyohlu arrive. Yuguro convinces the king to ignore them and Balsa defeats him as the truth of the Ceremony is revealed: The hyohlu are the guardians spirits of the previous ceremony's human participants. The room is plunged into darkness and the strongest hyohlu appears: Jiguro Musa. Jiguro is about to kill Yuguro when Balsa challenges her foster father to battle. She completes the ceremony as the Dancer, the truth of the luisha is revealed, and Kanbal is saved. Afterward Balsa leaves Kanbal to return to Tanda. When Balsa dies, will her spirit return to Kanbal as a Guardian of the Darkness? |
28195554 | /m/0cnx3gk | Canaima | null | null | null | The Orinoco jungle is the main character and at the same time the reason behind all of the other characters' actions. The struggle against nature and yearning for riches, dominion and power are the main themes in the novel. Canaima represents a bitter struggle against caudillism. Its author depicts the jungle from an ideological standpoint, which translates into his characters' development. Marcos Vargas, returns to Ciudad Bolívar after his studies in Trinidad, finally settling by the waters of Yuruari river. |
28199024 | /m/0cnx70s | Rooftops of Tehran | null | null | null | In a middle-class neighborhood of Iran’s sprawling capital city, 17-year-old Pasha Shahed spends the summer of 1973 on his rooftop with his best friend Ahmed, dreaming about future and wrestling with a crushing secret: his love for his beautiful neighbor, Zari, who has been betrothed since birth to Pasha's friend and mentor, Doctor, a university student and political activist on the SAVAK hunt list. Despite Pasha’s guilt the long, hot summer days transform the couple's tentative relationship into a rich emotional bond. But the bliss of their perfect, stolen summer is abruptly shattered in a single night when Pasha unwittingly guides the Shah’s secret police to Doctor's hiding place. The violent consequences awaken Pasha and his friends to the reality of life under the rule of a powerful despot, leading Zari to make a shocking choice from which Pasha may never recover. |
28202228 | /m/0cmbh9n | A Happy Healthy You | null | null | null | In A Happy, Healthy You five professional women – a clinical nutritionist and internist, an oncologist, a psychologist, an exercise physiologist, and an attorney and certified life coach – collectively have authored a new book that offers a definitive guide to help empower women during the aging process, combat disease and improve overall health and well-being. Written in five parts, each of the authors shares her knowledge and experience in helping women embrace hope, spiritual guidance and the promise of rewarding relationships in every stage of life. |
28202298 | /m/0cp0xvp | Natacha | null | 1998 | null | Natasha has a mother who invents tales of monsters, a friend, Pati, who is "The Pearl Girl" and a dog, Rafles, a little destroyer. Natacha is a girl who never tires of asking questions. Her curiosity, which is shared by her friend Pati, drives her parents and other adults to despair. Sometimes they have to count to ten to calm down. In this book Natacha helps to cook by making a chocolate cake, but in place of the main ingredient she use mud. During a film she asks her mother so many questions that she cannot follow the plot. In other chapters she makes a poem but needs her mother's help with spelling, her mother tells her stories about monsters of the night and her dog "Rafles" meets various disasters. |
28206406 | /m/0cp1pj0 | A Killing Frost | R. D. Wingfield | 2008 | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery"} | The long-suffering Superintendent Mullet has enlisted the help of a new D.C.I, Skinner, to rid the Denton Police of Inspector Frost once-and-for-all. The pair see him as a hindrance to the Police Service, which is struggling to adapt to the modern era of Policing. Inspector Frost is his usual uncouth self; derogatory towards women and with a slightly perverse sense of humour, but through this we can see that in a way, they are right: Frost has no place in the modern Police Service and he knows it all-too-well. Meanwhile, Inspector Frost has to contend with missing children, severed body parts, rape cases and a man claiming to have killed his wife (even though she reports in as alive and living outside Denton). Every time Frost takes on a case, another seems to pop-up, and he begins to feel the strain. Things take an alarming turn for the worse as his nemesis discovers that Frost has been forging pay-slips for some time (a crime for which D.I Frost could very easily be fired), Frost is cornered in an abandoned butcher's shop by a knife-wielding man and the whole situation is brought to an explosive end in an armed stand-off at a remote farmhouse. |
28207892 | /m/0cnwzr3 | The God Machine | null | null | null | After the death of his girlfriend, Sith, Guy Salvatore can no longer make sense of his own world. He has hallucinations of monsters that besiege him with requests and threaten his life wherever he goes. He is completely unsure if these manifestations are real or are born in his mind. As the line between reality and insanity is blurred Guy comes across a man who calls himself Satan and claims holds the answers to all of Guy’s worries. Satan restores Guy's hope promising Sith is still alive, but the two Gods that oversee existence let her be ripped from her world by unknown forces. She is now drifting through dimensional planes known as “Dream Worlds.” Satan pleads Guy to use his power to leave his world’s plane, search for Sith, and seek retribution from the Gods that caused the ordeal. The chapter takes place in the present day in the town of Salem. Things start off with our main character, Guy, waking up and going to school after seeing a massive "hallucination" come out of his bathroom mirror and ask for floss. At school he is only reminded of the lose of his girlfriend and leaves. After a night of more strange creatures, he struggles to sleep and finally does so only to meet with a woman calling herself "sickness" in his dream. She turns into a hideous creature, kissing Guy and holding him in her clutches. Guy wakes up started and upset. We are then taken to the entrance of Heaven, the domain of the character Good God. Her character comes in hoping to get back into her office in, but has lost her key to the door to Heaven. She calls for the aid of her friend and fellow god Evil God, second in command to Good God and ruler of hell. Together they go look for the key in the last place she was, a graveyard in Guys town. At the same time this is happening, Guy has gone to the graveyard and is mourning the lose of his girlfriend. When the God's show up, he is able to see them, which shouldn't be possible for normal human beings. Upon seeing Good God, Guy locks eyes with her, but the gods disappear. Guy grows more frustrated with the series of events taking place around him, and as he expresses his anger, a man claiming to be Satan appears suddenly. He claims Guy's girlfriend is alive and that he can still find her in another dimension. Initially Guy shrugs the man off as one of his hallucinations, but as his hallucinations become more vivid and physically threatening,he begins to question our perception of reality and his own sanity. The second chapter opens in an area called "The Door Nexus" which is described as being between you, the devil and the deep blue sea". Good God and Evil God come through a door, Evil God yelling about the Fact that guy saw them. Good God says they can simply look Guy up, and go into the Limbo dimension. There they run into Limbo God, third in command and keeper of Limbo, who goes with them to go eat before looking up Guy. Meanwhile Guy is in math class, where Mortia, the girlfriend of Andrew who is Guys best friend, is hitting on guy. He yells at her drawing the attention of the teacher, but begins to see horrific things in class while his teacher is talking to him. His teacher is able to snap him out of this situation by yelling at him to go to the principals office. In the real of Heaven, the gods are investigating Guy Salvatore and why such strange events keep taking place around him. They find nothing abnormal about him, but his ability to see the God says otherwise, leaving the Gods feeling apprehensive about Guy. |
28210983 | /m/0cnxnyx | No Strings Attached | null | null | null | The sleuthing friends travel to Paris (where several previous cases have also developed). George has organized some tennis matches there, and Nancy and Bess tag along in hopes of enjoying the sightseeing. The rooming house where they stay is owned by Mimi Louseau, a 37-year-old puppeteer and museum proprietor. When they learn about a secret treasure, which will be the cause of thefts, burglaries and damage to the museum, it is up to Nancy to solve the riddle before somebody else does. |
28216363 | /m/0cp1plj | Shadow of the Dragon: Kira | null | 4/3/2008 | null | Kira is a girl whose life is governed by the first law: all girls must marry at age 13. When the Lord Dorcon and the king's men come to arrest her family, Kira and her younger sister Elspeth run away. Led by a fox named Onnie, they take shelter on Rogue's mountain, home to Ferarchie, the most ferocious dragon in the land. They rescue one of Ferarchie’s baby sons, and name it Jinx. Then they escape the mountain and find Paradon, a wizard. At this time Kira's brother Dane and his best friend Shanks-Spar are being trained to become dragon knights and go to war. However when Kira's father attacks Lord Dorcan and is killed Dane is imprisoned in his place. With help from Shanks Dane escapes and the two boys, along with their dragons Harmony and Rexor go to Paradon's castle and join the rest of Dane's family. They take shelter in his castle, until Lord Dorcon finds them. Then Paradon casts a spell to send them away from danger. At the end of the book he realises something horrible and says "What have I done?!" |
28223887 | /m/0cnyxmc | Skoggangsmand | null | null | null | The story is set in rural Norway. The main character is a wild tempered young boy "Hans Trefothaugen", who gets involved in fights and a stabbing, and ends up as an outlaw living in the forests. While enjoying the independent way of life in the wilderness, he is also desperately longing for the woman "Ingrid Ødden", whom he knew from their childhood, and who later has married. After various conflicts with the village people Hans eventually ends up being caught and brought to prison. The legend about the Hedal Church is embedded in the story. During the Black Death, in the middle of the 14th century, the valley Hedal was depopulated, and the valley became a wilderness. A hunter, an outlaw living and hiding in the forest, one day shot an arrow after a capercaillie, but missed and instead struck the church bell, after which the hunter discovered the old church. Entering the church, there was bear at the altar, and the hunter shot and skinned the bear. The hunter subsequently settled at a deserted farm south of the church. The gathering Hedalsmessa, held at Michaelmas, is a central event in the novel. |
28244296 | /m/0cnzmjq | Back Story | Robert B. Parker | 2003 | {"/m/0lsxr": "Crime Fiction"} | The novel begins with Spenser receiving a large payment for a case he worked for Rita Fiore. Due to this, Spenser decides to work a case pro bono for an aspiring young actress named Daryl Gordon who is trying to find out who murdered her mother, Emily Gordon. She tells Spenser that her mother came to Boston from California to stay with her sister, and was then murdered by The Dread Scott Brigade; a revolutionary, anti-establishment movement in the 1970s, during a Boston bank robbery in 1974. Despite the case being decades cold, and her only payment being six Krispy Kreme donuts, Spenser likes the challenge and decides to take the case. He starts by getting the case files, and speaking to the original investigators. None remember anything significant, but Spenser soon realizes that an FBI report on the case is missing. So he questions the FBI about this missing file, and they claim no such report was ever written. Soon after two FBI agents accost Spenser in his home and tell him to leave the case alone. Soon after that a couple of goons working for mob boss Sonny Karnofsky threaten Spenser and also tell him to stop investigating the cold case. The FBI and the mob not wanting Spenser to investigate the case only serve to pique his interest. He wonders what it is they are trying to hide and questions Sonny directly, who then orders his henchmen to kill Spenser. Spenser decides to speak with Emily’s sister, despite protests from Daryl. Emily’s chain-smoking sister informs Spenser that Emily had not come to see her, but that she was actually involved with the Dread Scott Brigade. She tells them that they were both hippies, and highly involved in revolutionary movements during their college days in the 1970s. They would meet with prison inmates under the guise of trying to educate them, but really they were fanning their militant flames. She also tells Spenser that Emily had split from Daryl’s father, and had followed a boyfriend of hers to Boston; a black revolutionary that called himself Shaka. Spenser and Hawk then fly to California to speak with Daryl’s father. Her father turns out to be a burnt-out old hippy who confirms Emily’s sister’s story. He also gives Spenser the names of some of Emily’s friends; another black revolutionary that called himself Coyote, and a girl named Bunny. Back in Boston, Spenser discovers that Emily Gordon attended Taft University, and decides to visit the school. There he discovers that Emily was good friends with a woman named Bonnie Karnofsky otherwise known as Bunny. While leaving the University he realizes he is being followed. He and Hawk split up and lead the followers into a trap and kill them in a shootout. Convinced the hitmen were Karnofsky’s goons, Spenser becomes even more interested in the case, especially with the connection between Karnofsky and Emily now known. He decides to head into Paradise to stake out Karnofsky’s home in hopes of following Bonnie. The local police chief there, Jesse Stone, notices Spenser and Hawk staking out the Karnofsky place and questions them about it. After checking them out with Healy, Jesse brings them coffee and they tell him about the investigation. Stone tells them that Bonnie doesn’t live there, but will have his people look into her. Later, Stone’s people inform Spenser that Bonnie often visits to sunbathe on her father’s property. Later Spenser meets with Daryl to tell her what he has discovered. She gets upset and tells him to stop investigating. After speaking with Susan, Spenser realizes that Daryl thought she had an ideal childhood that was interrupted only by her mother’s murder. She hated growing up with her father, and only wanted Spenser to confirm her mother’s saintliness and that she would have had the perfect upbringing had she not been killed. She wanted to have a picture perfect story for her memoir as she became more famous as an actress. Despite her taking him off the case, Spenser decides to continue the investigation. He then discovers that the Karnofsky’s have been paying Daryl’s father $2,000 a month for the last 28 years. He and Hawk fly out to California again, and this time Daryl’s father tells him that Daryl is actually Bonnie and Abner Fancy’s (a.k.a. Shaka) child. Bonnie had the child with Shaka, but she did not want her so she gave her to Emily who raised her for six years. After Emily was murdered they sent Daryl back to the man she knew as her father and paid him to raise her and keep his mouth shut about her true parentage. Sonny Karnofsky did this because he was humiliated that his daughter had a child with a black man. Sonny also later discovers that the man that called himself Coyote was an FBI informant, which is why the FBI buried the case. They did not want their informant in The Dread Scott Brigade revealed. Spenser goes back to Boston with this information. Once again he is trailed by gunmen, and after leading them to a stadium where Susan and he often work out, kills them in another shootout. He decides he must finish the case so he can protect himself and Susan. He then visits Jesse Stone, and after telling him the latest information, tells him he plans to kidnap Bonnie Karnofsky from her father’s house the next time she visits. Stone agrees to not get involved, and even takes Spenser out on a boat to show him the spot where Bonnie sunbathes. Later, Spenser and Hawk stake out the place and discover that she always swims out to a raft to cool down after lying in the sun a while. They wait for her to swim out again and when she does they pull up in a speed boat and kidnap her. They take her back to Susan’s place and there Bonnie confesses to being Daryl’s mother and killing Emily. She killed Emily during the robbery because she was jealous of her. She had given up her child to be with Shaka. And then Shaka left her for the woman she had given the child to. Later Shaka killed their bank robbery accomplice, Rob, as he was the only one that knew Bonnie killed Emily. Sonny Karnofsky then killed Shaka because he didn’t want his daughter with a black man. He then arranged for her to marry a man named Ziggy. Spenser calls Sonny and has him meet him at Susan’s house. He tells Sonny what he knows, but agrees to not take the information to the police if Sonny will agree to back off of him and Susan. Sonny agrees, and he and Bonnie leave. |
28246359 | /m/0cnxrhw | Forsaken House | Richard Baker | null | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | Araevin Teshurr is an elven mage who spends time with a company of human and dwarven adventurers. Upon returning to the elves' secluded home of Evermeet, he becomes embroiled in a deadly attack perpetrated by a group of outcast demon-elves, freed from their 5,000-year imprisonment and seeking revenge. While searching for a trio of mysterious magical stones, Araevin must convince the elves to end their isolation from the rest of Faerun, and band together with the other races to prevent the demon army from overrunning the world. |
28259023 | /m/0cp1d3q | The Adventures of Slim and Howdy | null | 5/12/2008 | {"/m/025txgl": "Western fiction", "/m/02yq81": "Comic novel", "/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature"} | Based on characters created by Kix Brooks (as the alter egos of country superstars, Brooks and Dunn), The Adventures of Slim and Howdy is a comic crime novel that chronicles the exploits of a couple of gifted but undiscovered guitar pickin', honky tonk entertainin', country singers. It starts with a chance meeting on a used car lot in Beaumont, Texas. Slim and Howdy agree to partner up and ride together. But before they can even get out of town, they incur the undying wrath of Brushfire Boone Tate and a guy named Black Tony. A few days later they arrive in the Texas border town of Del Rio to play at the Lost and Found, a honky-tonk run by their old friend, the widow Jodie Lee. Along the way Slim and Howdy get caught up in a rigged poker game, encounter a snake handler with a do-it-yourself amputation kit, and have a run-in with Los Zetas, the deadly Mexican organized crime gang. Before it's over, Jodie Lee gets kidnapped, suspects come crawling out of the cacti, and Slim and Howdy have to save the day. |
28269157 | /m/0cny1c9 | The Silver Ship and the Sea | Brenda Cooper | null | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction"} | In The Silver Ship and the Sea, there are six altered children: Chelo Lee, her brother Joseph, Kayleen, Bryan, Alicia, and Liam. Fremont had a single town, Artistos, where most of the people lived. There were also two bands of "Roamers": the east band and the west band. These travel around studying plants and animals. Chelo and Joseph lived with Artistos' leaders while Kayleen and Bryan lived with other families in the town. Liam went to the West Band, while Alicia was sent with the East Band. The book starts with Chelo narrating, telling how her brother Joseph, and her friend Kayleen, could hold "data streams" and could fix data networks. Joseph, especially, could use the data networks to sense people and predators in remote places, and see events such as crashing meteors. Chelo and Joseph's adoptive parents were out hunting with others when they were killed by an earthquake. The earthquake also caused much damage to Artistos. After this experience, Joseph was weak and shaken, and unable to do what he used to. Soon the East and West bands met in Artistos. Liam was treated better than anyone else, but Alicia had been accused of murder by Ruth, the East Band's leader. Judgment was reserved, and while Liam left with his adoptive father (and band's leader) Akashi, Alicia stayed. Bryan, who possessed enormous strength, was kept in Artistos. Tom and Paloma (2 people in Artistos sympathetic to the altered) took Joseph, Chelo, Kayleen and Alicia out of Artistos in an attempt to heal Joseph. Jenna, an altered adult who was left on Fremont, showed the four children around the battle headquarters of the altered. Joseph was completely healed with a help of "reading thread", and much more powerful than before. Jenna revealed to them their genemods (what they were altered to specialize in). Liam and Akashi soon joined them. They learned that Bryan had been severely hurt in a fight at Artistos, and was locked up. Joseph (who had learned that he could fly a ship) along with Jenna, Alicia, and Bryan (who was returned after Alicia threatened the people of Artistos with altered weaponry) left on the silver spaceship the New Making, while Chelo, Liam and Kayleen stayed behind. Chelo joined Liam in the West Band, and Kayleen remained with Paloma in Artistos. |
28270460 | /m/0cp1654 | Fall of Giants | Ken Follett | 9/28/2010 | {"/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | The novel begins with the thirteen-year-old Billy Williams, nicknamed Billy Twice, going to work his first day in the coal mine underneath the fictional Welsh town of Aberowen in 1911. Three years later, the main story begins. Earl Teddy "Fitz" Fitzherbert, who maintains a country estate in Aberowen, and licenses the land on which the coal mine is built, hosts a party for many powerful people around the world. His guests include: * Maud Fitzherbert, Fitz's sister, who is far more liberal than her conservative brother. * Walter von Ulrich, a German nobleman and a former schoolmate of Fitz's. He and Maud begin at the party to act on the mutual attraction they have felt for years. * Graf (Count) Robert von Ulrich, Walter's Austrian homosexual cousin. * Gus Dewar, a highly-educated American who is also a close adviser to President Woodrow Wilson. * Bea Fitzherbert, Fitz's wife, a Russian Princess. * King George V, King of the British Empire. *Mary of Teck, wife of King George V. Major characters introduced after the party include Grigori and Lev Peshkov, two Russian orphans who work in a locomotive factory, and have personal reasons to hold a grudge against Princess Bea and the rest of the Russian royal family. Grigori and Lev's father was executed by Bea's aristocratic family for alleged improper grazing of cattle on Bea's family's land. The overall theme of the novel revolves around common people trying, and many times succeeding, in throwing off the yokes so often placed on them by a society (largely focused on Britain and Russia) dominated by the landed aristocracy. The characters and their extended families find their fortunes changing for the better and for the worse due to both their interactions with each other and the effects of the First World War. |
28271374 | /m/0cp1pyr | World of Warcraft: Beyond the Dark Portal | Christie Golden | 2008-07 | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | Two years following the defeat of the Horde and destruction of the Dark Portal from Draenor to Azeroth, a small dimensional rift remains linking the two worlds. The orc shaman Ner'Zhul is approached by orc champions resurrected as undead death-knights, with a plan to re-open the Portal and catch the Alliance unaware. Using the skull of the traitorous Gul'Dan, the remaining Horde forces distract the Alliance while stealing powerful artifacts to return to Draenor and open new rifts to other worlds. The paladin Turalyon joins forces with the elven ranger Alleria, the powerful mage Khadgar, and the dwarven griffon-rider Kurdran to head off the diabolical plans, but their mission is further complicated by the deadly Black Dragonflight's collusion with the Horde. |
28273751 | /m/0cp014t | How German Is It | null | null | null | The Hargenaus were once a noble and revered family. Now the two remaining brothers, the writer Ulrich and the architect Helmut, must console their private pasts with that of their history as a whole. They are getting spied upon, bombs go off in buildings designed by Helmut, and through all this, the reality of what really went on during WWII is slowly uncovered. |
28277132 | /m/0cnw_4x | Madonna: An Intimate Biography | J. Randy Taraborrelli | 2001-04 | {"/m/017fp": "Biography"} | The book opens with Madonna's birth, her early years in Michigan, and her 1977 move to New York City where she was involved with modern dance, two pop groups, composing, and releasing her 1983 debut album, Madonna. Her rise to superstardom as a pop icon is chronicled and her cutting edge music videos, albums, first concert tour, film roles, and marriage and divorce to Sean Penn are examined. The book investigates her controversial religious imagery and her erotic productions, Erotica, Sex, and Body of Evidence. The book describes a mellowing in her appearance and provocativeness, and, among other things, the release of her next several albums, her Golden Globe Award-winning musical film portrayal of Eva Peron, and her high-grossing Drowned World Tour. The births of her elder daughter and son are chronicled and her marriage to Guy Ritchie. |
28287573 | /m/0cnxqj2 | Farthest Reach | Richard Baker | null | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | On the heels of her failed assault of Evereska, the demonelf Sarya Dlardrageth retreats in order to regroup. She summons a powerful Outer Planes denizen named Malkizid to her aid, who advises her to make the remaining elven army come to her by inhabiting the site of their most costly defeat - the legendary ruins of Myth Drannor. With the elven army weary, Araevin and the elven leaders must convince the defenders to rally and defeat the demonelf menace forever. |
28288087 | /m/0cn_qq1 | Spoilt Rotten: The Toxic Cult of Sentimentality | null | null | {"/m/022444": "Polemic"} | Dalrymple begins the chapter by citing several examples to illustrate how sentimentality is increasing as a cultural phenomenon in the United Kingdom. He then analyses falling education standards in the country, and links these trends to "powerful intellectual currents" that "feed into the great Sargasso Sea of modern sentimentality about children", and asserts that in this regard the ideas of the philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau and the psychologist Steven Pinker have been particularly influential. He then examines a newspaper article which advocates reform of the British prison system. Dalrymple states that the article aroused an emotion "whose effect, if not its intention, was to convince the person experiencing it that he was a person of superior sensibility and compassion", and that such emotionality "often attaches to the question of crime and punishment in contemporary Britain". Dalrymple also maintains that it is "the sheerest sentimentality to see drug addicts as the victims of an illness" and that, "sentimentality is now a mass phenomenon almost beyond criticism or even comment". Dalrymple advances that the kind of sentimentality that he wishes to draw attention to is "an excess of emotion that is false, mawkish, and over-valued by comparison with reason" and which is performed "in full public view". Dalrymple contends that "Sentimentality is the expression of emotion without judgment. Perhaps it is worse than that: it is the expression of emotion without an acknowledgement that judgment should enter into how we should react to what we see and hear. It is the manifestation of a desire for the abrogation of an existential condition of human life, namely the need to always and never unendingly to exercise judgment. Sentimentality is therefore childish and reductive of our humanity". In this chapter he also takes issue with a number of assertions made by the philosopher Robert C. Solomon, including that sentimentality does not manipulate emotions, cause false emotions to be shown, or distort perception and interfere with rational thought. Dalrymple criticises the introduction by Harriet Harman of the Family Impact Statement. Dalrymple writes that such statements "are not permitted to influence the outcome of a case. They are made only after a jury has made its verdict". As a result, kitsch displays of emotion are encouraged in court, of no practical benefit. Dalrymple analyses the media attention and reaction to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, and how certain media interpreted a perceived lack of emotion on the part of the girl’s parents as evidence of guilt. Dalrymple writes that the "demand that emotion should be shown in public, or be assumed not to exist and therefore indicate a guilty mind, is now not an uncommon one", and cites two similar cases involving Joanne Lees and Lindy Chamberlain. Dalrymple then analyses the outcry from the public and the media to the lack of emotion shown by the Queen after the death of Princess Diana, and contends that "the tabloid newspapers carried out what can only be called a campaign of bullying against the sovereign" and that those gathered outside Buckingham Palace were "bullying rather than expressing any genuine grief". He concludes by asserting that the sentimentality shown by both the media and the public “was inherently dishonest in a way that parallels the dishonesty that lies behind much sentimentality itself". Dalrymple analyses the poet Sylvia Plath, whom he describes as the "patron saint of self-dramatization", and interprets Margaret Drabble's descriptions of Plath as a "willing casualty" and "supremely vulnerable" to mean "virtues of a high order". He asserts that before Plath, self-pity "was regarded as a vice, even a disgusting one, that precluded sympathy", and that "the appropriation of the suffering of others to boost the scale and significance of one's own suffering is now a commonplace." and whose stories reveal perfectly "the dialectic between sentimentality and brutality". Dalrymple ends the chapter by analysing victimhood in the criminal justice system and concludes, "For the sentimentalist, of course, there is no such thing as a criminal, only an environment that has let him down". Dalrymple asserts that across the globe chronic poverty has decreased in the past twenty-five years, but mainly in China and India. As a result, "Africa is an exception and therefore is the current focus of sentimentality about poverty". In this context he examines Gordon Brown's desire as prime minister to ensure that every child in Africa receive a primary education. Dalrymple questions whether there is a link between improving educational standards and increasing economic growth in the continent, and cites the experience of Tanzania under Julius Nyerere, Equatorial Guinea under Macias Nguema, and Sierra Leone's fate after a "long history of historical effort and achievement" as evidence that this may not be so, and argues that Africa's priority is access to markets. which is "preposterous—psychologically, theoretically, and practically". In the book's Conclusion, Dalrymple contends that "in field after field, sentimentality has triumphed", and this has had a number of harmful consequences, including the lives of millions of children being blighted by overindulgence and neglect; the destruction of educational standards; and brutality wherever policies suggested by sentimentality have been advocated. |
28303004 | /m/0cnx586 | Skeleton Creek | null | null | null | The plot of the novel centers around the dredge, an abandoned gold dredge in the town, Skeleton Creek. The dredge is haunted by the ghost of Old Joe Bush. Two youths in the town, Ryan McCray and Sarah Fincher, investigate the dredge and its ghost. A video series also goes along with the novel, which show trips to the dredge and ghost sightings. The books has three sequels, Ghost in the Machine, The Crossbones, and The Raven. |
28310852 | /m/0c1cj3 | Crown of Shadows | Celia S. Friedman | 10/1/1995 | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | In Crown of Shadows, Damien and Tarrant return to the west and Jaggonath, where they agree to work together long enough to kill Calesta. Damien discovers that the Patriarch of the Church, who is firmly against sorcery, is actually an Adept himself. Tarrant further strains relations with the Unnamed by revealing this fact to the Patriarch, and is dragged off to Hell for his pains. Damien convinces another Iezu, Karril, to lead him through Tarrant's personal Hell to the Unnamed, where he bargains for the Adept's life. The Unnamed agrees, on the condition that its contract with Tarrant will be broken in thirty-one days. If the Hunter has not found another way to sustain his immortal life by then, he will die. The Patriarch, already displeased at Damien's saving Tarrant for the first time in the Rakhlands, comes extremely close to casting him out of the priesthood. In the end, however, it is Damien who chooses to no longer be a priest, because his faith has been questioned too much by the Hunter, by himself, even by the Patriarch. Gerald Tarrant, on the other hand, has found a way to destroy an Iezu: feed it with the opposite emotion it normally thrives on. Karril, who lives off Pleasure, can also accept Pain, but Apathy will destroy him. Calesta, who embodies sadism, can only be destroyed by Altruism- the ultimate sacrifice, which Tarrant, amazingly, is willing to pay. The pair make their way to Mount Shaitan, a Volcano exuding an amazing amount of earth fae. Tarrant forcefully binds Calesta by showing the depth of his sadism, then sacrificing himself, despite his belief he could still have lived forever, killing Calesta by exposing him to pure altruism. By this point, however, the Iezu's mother has been introduced. She created her children by taking emotions from human beings- in Karril's father's case, pleasure, in Calesta's, sadism. She takes away Gerald Tarrant's Hunter, the part of him that lives off pain and fear, creating the Iezu Forrest Hunte. In the process, she shocks him back to life- human life. The Neocount of Merentha has been given a second chance. However, all is not well back in the forest. In the second book, readers learned that Tarrant had not killed all of his children when he made the sacrifice to the Unnamed- he let his eldest son live. Now, after many generations, Andrys Tarrant has joined with the Patriarch in a campaign of vengeance. Gerald and Damien return to the Forest secretly, but are accosted by Andrys in the library, where they are trying to rescue the Hunter's Iezu notes from the destruction. Knowing he is about to die again, Gerald sends Damien from the room. Andrys emerges outside minutes later with the Hunter's severed head. Gerald Tarrant's original sacrifice, however, has changed the nature of the fae, so now any human willing to work it must also be willing to die. The Patriarch sacrifices himself, in a moving semi-final chapter, to ensure this effect will be permanent. Damien Vryce is left wondering what to do with the rest of his life, mourning the loss of Tarrant when he is approached by an arrogant youth who suggests that if Tarrant had been willing to sacrifice his identity, so he could never reclaim his former life, he could have created the illusion of his death and survived. |
28314866 | /m/0cp18qr | Only the Good Spy Young | Ally Carter | 2010 | null | : For earlier events, see: Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover. The story starts with student Cammie (Cameron Morgan), still enrolled at Gallagher Academy, already in London with Bex and her parents. Cammie now has strict security surrounding her because the Circle of Cavan, a terrorist group, is after her. While at an ice skating rink, she talks briefly with Zach, and he asks her if she has seen Joe Solomon. After Zach leaves, the lights go out, and Cammie is grabbed by Mr. Solomon, who tells her to run. They end up on the Tower Bridge, where Bex's parents reveal that Mr. Solomon was the threat. She demands answers but he only makes her promise to "follow the pigeons" before jumping off the bridge and escaping. She is interrogated two hours later by an MI6 agent (who is later revealed to be Edward Townsend) and is released. While in a "safe house" with Bex's family, her Aunt Abby comes to visit. Cammie is appalled and upset that her mother did not come to comfort her. After she and Bex eavesdrop on part of the conversation between the Baxters and Aunt Abby, they confront the adults. They learn that Joe Solomon has been a member of the Circle of Cavan since he was sixteen. The girls return to the Gallagher Academy, but things have changed. All of the secret passageways (except one leading to the kitchen) have been blocked. Security is much higher than before. When the girls reach their room, the MI6 agent from London (Townsend) was there. At dinner, Professor Buckingham announces that Agent Townsend would be the new CoveOps teacher. They quickly figure out that Agent Townsend is not interested in teaching at the school, but requested the job to help him find out more about Joe Solomon. They drugged him with an experiment Liz developed and interrogated him, and they found out that Mr. Solomon killed Cammie's father. Cammie's mother returned to the school shortly afterward. The roommates decided to try to find out what Mr. Solomon meant by saying "follow the pigeons". They find out there is an old carrier pigeon room, and they go there where they find a message telling Cammie to go to the gazebo. They decide to send Macey instead and discover Zach is the one that sent the message. He asks to see Cammie, and she goes down to see him. He tells her to go the Sublevels and that there is a journal there that will help them understand everything. He also reveals that Mr. Solomon was the one who rigged the alarms in the sublevels so no one could go down. While the girls try to figure out how to get down to the Sublevels, Cammie is having trouble trusting Zach, despite all they had been through. Agent Townsend takes them on a "field trip" to an amusement park, and he gives all the girls assignments. Bex is reluctant to leave Cammie, but Cammie argues that her mother would not have let her come unless it was safe. Cammie proceeds to tail an employee for her assignment. While following him into a building, she finds a rugged, tired-looking Joe Solomon. She yells at him and tells him he got her father killed, to which he wearily replies, "I know." Agents show up and Cammie discovers that it was a plot to capture Joe Solomon. She runs to a hill and finds Zach there. She asks him why Mr. Solomon would walk right into a trap, and he tells her that Mr. Solomon would do anything to keep her safe. He kissed her forehead and ran off. Three weeks later, the girls are ready to get the journal. They work their way through Sublevel Two, with some difficulty, but finally get to the place the book is supposed to be. While Liz is hoisted up to get the book, Cammie and the other roommates become aware that there is someone else trying to break in. They assume it is Agent Townsend (we later learn it was Rachel Morgan), and get out as soon as possible. The book was written in code but the girls find the key. It turns out that the journal belonged to Cammie's father, Matthew Morgan. The journal explains how Matthew Morgan and Joe Solomon tried to bring down the Circle of Cavan. Operative Morgan went missing on the way to Greece. Solomon blames himself because that was supposed to be his mission, and felt it should have been him. A couple nights later Zach sneaks into Cammie's room and wakes her up. They take a walk and she asks him why the Circle would break Joe Solomon out of a CIA prison if he was working against them. Zach responds saying, "They weren't doing him a favor". Cammie demands more answers, but Zach will not give her any. Her furious roommates show up and try to get answers from him, too. Cammie suggests a plan to go get the other notebook, the one that Joe Solomon wrote, from Blackthorne. Then, Cammie's mother arrives, and she says she will help them. While in the car, Zach tries to talk to Cammie, but she ignores him. They pull over the van, and we learn that Bex's parents and Aunt Abby are there to protect Cammie. From there, the girls and Zach walk to Blackthorne.Cammie finds out that it was her mother who had tried to get the journal. They had heard her. After going through its various defenses, they learn Blackthorne's cover: it's a school for juvenile delinquents. Macey, Bex, and Liz go shut down the defenses and keep an eye on security, leaving Zach and Cammie alone to complete the mission. Zach asks Cammie to stay, wanting her to be safe, but she responds by kissing him and asks where they are going. "The Tombs," is his reply. Zach and Cammie go out to the woods and find the entrance to "The Tombs". The make their way through a complicated maze and Zach reveals that Blackthorne is a school for assassins. They finally find the place where Joe Solomon's journal is hidden and retrieve it. As they are about to leave, they hear people coming and hide. They see several members of the Circle of Cavan, including the woman who tried to abduct Cammie from the roof in Boston last summer, and Joe Solomon. The explosives on the walls show that Mr. Solomon brought the members here to kill them and himself in the process. A man finds Cammie and Zach and brings them to the woman. We learn that she is Zach's mom, and Cammie is horrified. After a quick fight Zach manages to get a gun and take aim at the explosives. Cammie says "NO!" but cannot stop Zach, so she begins to run. She thought she had made it out but ran into Zach's mother, and we learn that she was a Gallagher Girl. She tries to convince Cammie to come to her by telling her that her father is still alive. Instead, Cammie jumps off the side of the cliff to get away, thinking that both Zach and Mr. Solomon are dead. They find her and take her back to the school's infirmary. After having her explain what happened, Agent Townsend takes her to a man who is bandaged from head to toe. We know it is Mr. Solomon, but according to Agent Townsend, Mr. Solomon is "dead". He hands her Mr. Solomon's journal and walks away. Cammie is later talking with her mom and we learn that Zach will stay the rest of the semester at the Gallagher Academy and that Mr. Solomon might not make it. Cammie gives Zach the journal before being ambushed by her distressed roommates. Cammie decides she will not be able to go to her grandparents' ranch this summer because it is too dangerous. One day Cammie and Zach talk, and Zach asks her to run away with him. She kisses him and says she cannot, to which he replies "I know". Soon after, it is revealed that she is in fact going to run away alone, promising she will have answers when she gets back. |
28318441 | /m/0cp1q76 | Dragonheart | Todd McCaffrey | 2008 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"} | Pern is still trying to recover from a deadly plague that devastated the holders and craftsmen, not even 15 turns (years) before. Although the dragonsriders and weyrfolk were spared from the devastation of that plague, they are about to be tested with a deadly illness that afflicts the dragons. Fiona of Fort Weyr, the only surviving child of Lord Holder Bemin of Fort Hold, is thrust into this situation when she accidentally impresses Gold Talenth. As first fire-lizards, and then dragons, fall prey the this mysterious illness, Fiona and all of Pern must face the possibility of no dragons being left to fight thread as it begins to fall once more. The number of casualties mount as both the illness and thread take dragons and their riders. In an attempt to save the Weyrs, Fiona and a mysterious rider, lead the injured and weyrlings back in time. The question now is, will that be enough to help? |
28323095 | /m/0fq0crs | The Dragonslayer's Apprentice | null | null | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | The novel is written primarily about a girl called Jackie, later revealed to be formally named Jacqueline, who has convinced a man known only in the book as "the Dragonslayer" to allow her to be his apprentice and to work with her along with his taciturn assistant, Ron. At the beginning, the Dragonslayer repeatedly thinks he should not have accepted her as his apprentice, believing himself mad to have taken on not only a woman, but a teenage girl, but as the story progresses, he becomes more comfortable with her and sees she really is not bad at the job of a Dragonslayer. The Dragonslayer, after he had already accepted Jackie as his apprentice, learns from Jackie that she is the daughter of a noble family who ran away because she was far too bored doing lady-like things all day. He believes most of her story, but right away thinks that she is actually from a royal family, a princess; he also manages to confirm and let Jackie know he knows, without outright asking or saying such. Near the end of the novel, the Dragonslayer and Ron are quickly told by the country's palace's chamberlain that Jackie is indeed a princess. She is allowed to receive her Dragonslayer's cape from her father, the king, and he expresses his pride and that of the kingdom in her for becoming the first female dragonslayer ever. In this book, dragons do not breathe fire, but do give off a black vapor that people usually think is smoke. The author also alludes in passing to the idea that advanced people are should be more perceptive and need to say less to communicate more, as Ron does. |
28323109 | /m/0cnz_pm | I'll Be There | Iris Rainer Dart | 5/1/1991 | null | (from the paragraph on the back of the paperback) Cee Cee is back in this sequel which picks up where the original novel Beaches left off. CC now faces the ups and downs of being a mother with Nina now living with her, CC's Career is going well especially after she runs across her first pianist that helped her launch her career way back when. Intentionally drawn to mirror the Barry Manilow-Bette Midler partnership of the early 70's in real life, Harold becomes very close to both Nina and CC. But with TWO show business people around all the time, Nina finds herself giving in to drugs and alcohol from the turmoil of life in the cast-off limelight. Somehow the two get through the trials of a new relationship, but not all is peaches and cream for the pair. Will this be a Happily Ever After? Find out in this second wonderful novel by Iris Rainer Dart. |
28341381 | /m/0cp0n9v | The Dead of the Night | John Marsden | null | {"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature", "/m/08sdrw": "Adventure novel"} | In the wake of losing Corrie and Kevin, and not knowing how either of them are faring in enemy territory, the group's morale deteriorates. Homer suggests the group attempt to track down Corrie and Kevin. They release a smoke bomb into the hospital and investigate during the evacuation. They discover that Corrie is comatose and that Kevin was beaten when he arrived. Fresh from the discovery of what had happened to their friends, the group agrees to make an attack on the convoys on the highway to Cobbler's Bay. While preparing their ambush, the group is surprised by a small patrol. Homer kills one soldier and injures another with a sawn-off shotgun at close quarters before going into shock. A third, and final, soldier panics and flees into the bush away from the highway leaving their pack and rifle behind. Ellie takes charge of the situation, kills the wounded soldier and makes the decision to continue on with the attack. The attack succeeds and the group return to Hell. They decide that their next course of action should be to investigate the other paths in and out of Hell to determine where they lead. Chris, however, decides not to go and to stay behind instead. Their exploration leads them to a group of free Australians called "Harvey's Heroes" led by former school principle and army reservist Major Harvey. He refuses to allow any portion of the group to return to Hell to find Chris. Although Harvey brags about having made several enemy attacks, these attacks are revealed to be low-risk acts. The group is invited to spectate as Harvey's Heroes destroy an abandoned tank, but they are led into an enemy ambush and have to flee from the scene. Fi is chased by an enemy soldier. Homer and Ellie ambush and incapacitate the man as he prepares to rape Fi but cannot bring themselves to kill him when they discover that he is a teenager like themselves. Lee arrives and stabs the soldier. When they return to Hell to find Chris absent and then head into Wirrawee. The group take refuge in Robyn's music teacher's house, where Ellie and Lee consummate their relationship for the first time. They move on to a church, where they keep watch over some of the early colonists. Here they discover that Major Harvey, presumed dead in the ambush, is now working directly with the enemy. Reeling from this discovery, they arrange to blow up several of the houses. The attack is successful, but on their way back to Hell they see an overturned vehicle near a dam; further investigation reveals that Chris had overturned the car and died weeks ago. The book ends where it begins, with the group depressed and with low morale. The story continues in The Third Day, the Frost. |
28348586 | /m/0crjgrg | RAW | null | null | null | The book RAW is the story of Brett Dalton's experience at The Farm, a detention/rehab centre, after being caught breaking into a liquor store at night and stealing alcohol, cigarettes and cash. When he gets to The Farm after an awful, hot, dehydrated trip in the back of a paddy wagon, he is determined not to cooperate or enjoy himself. This does not work in his favour. On meeting most of the inmates Brett makes enemies. He has confrontations with both of the “main guys” in the detention centre, Josh and Tyson. On the first night he decides he's going to run away. He sneaks out at night and plans on hitch-hiking to civilisation but the first car that picks him up is Sam. After being on the run, and realising how hard his plan is he decides on going back to The Farm. Then he tries skipping class, (which is compulsory). When he doesn't succeed he starts arguing with the teacher and gets sent out of class, which is just what he wants. He nicks off to behind the wood work shed to have a smoke, and spots a girl carrying supplies from a truck into the kitchen, he is stunned by her beauty. Eventually he meets this girl, Caitlyn and later they become more than friends. Brett meets up with his ex-girlfriend who has a new boyfriend, who tries selling drugs to Frog, (Brett's room mate) and this causes them, and Josh to cover for each other. When Brett gets up the courage to ask Caitlyn out this come in handy, as the guys covered for him when he snuck out with her, that and the fact that they would but punished to. But things go downhill after he pushes his relationship with Caitlyn too far. She breaks up with him. This makes him angry so he meets up with Rebecca and they steal alcohol and get drunk. This led to Brett drink driving and crashing Sam's ute. This led to Sam and Brett constantly fighting and Sam ends up sending Brett the magistrate. When Brett realises that he only has five days left in town he wants to 'make things right' with Caitlyn. This doesn't go well and leaves Brett more heart-broken and angry. Before he leaves town, Brett is forced to go the big Ride (a cattle drive). On the Ride Josh and Brett get paired and learn more about each other. Brett learns the real reason that Josh is at The Farm, he was raped. Brett is later re-arrested by the millicents for his newest crimes, the novel ends with Sam telling Brett that one can only change their own life. Brett now considers Sam to be an old friend of his. |
28349899 | /m/0crgfzg | The Whisperer | Fiona McIntosh | 2009 | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | The Whisperer is a fantasy novel. The story is told in third person. It follows the adventures of Griff, a thirteen-year-old boy who works in the circus,and Lute, Crown Prince of Drestonia. Griff can eavesdrop on other people's thoughts. When the circus master discovers Griff's amazing ability, he forces the young boy to appear in his show. Griff knows what he is doing is wrong and escapes from the circus with Tess, a fellow performer, and her magical creatures. Meanwhile Prince Lute's uncle Janko is scheming to overthrow his brother and become the next king. Lute is forced to flee, and seek help from a bitter dwarf and an angry pirate. One day, Griff hears a mysterious voice crying out for help in his mind. He calls the voice the Whisperer. With the help of his friends, magical and human, Griff realises that the Whisperer, whoever he is, is in great peril, and that it is up to him to save the mysterious voice. |
28351016 | /m/0crg17s | The Day of the Sardine | Sid Chaplin | null | null | The principal character of the novel is Arthur Haggerston, an intelligent but rebellious teenager who lives with his mother, Peg, and her lover, Harry Parker, a former seaman who works in a sardine-canning factory. Arthur leaves school without qualifications and takes up various menial jobs before using the influence of his Uncle George to obtain work installing sewage pipes for the local council. He conducts an affair with Stella, a married woman with a seafaring husband, and develops a friendship with another teenager, Nosey (or Stanley) Carron. After several altercations with a gang led by Mick Kelly, Arthur and Nosey form their own gang, while Nosey begins a relationship with Kelly's sister, Teresa. The violence between the two gangs escalates, which makes Arthur uneasy. After a fight between the gangs, Arthur is pursued by the police and hides in a church hall where a service is being conducted. He makes the acquaintance of the Pastor, Mr Johnson, and of Johnson's daughter, Dorothy. In a spirit of reconciliation, Arthur attends an open-air brass band concert with Harry and Peg, but Peg spots Arthur's estranged father playing with a military band. Arthur 's father is confronted, and confesses to bigamy, but agrees to a divorce, even if it means that he will face prison. Nosey claims that Kelly has beaten Teresa, and persuades Arthur to help him exact revenge. In the ensuing fight, Arthur severely injures Kelly, and later hears that Kelly's father has alerted the police. Afterwards, Nosey and Arthur decide to spy on Nosey's brother Crab, who has been conducting an affair with Mildred, the daughter of Charlie Nettlefold, a local scrap-dealer. They witness Crab leaving the scrapyard, and discover that Crab has shot the couple. After rumours of Arthur's involvement in Kelly's beating spread, he is fired from his job, after which he traps the foreman, Sproggett, and Uncle George in a large pipe, forcing them to dig their way out. Believing that the police will be searching for him in connection with the shooting, Arthur flees, and sends a night sleeping rough in the countryside. He returns to Newcastle and visits Stella, who tells him that she will be moving with her husband to another part of the country. He returns home, to find that Kelly's father did not contact the police, and that Crab Carron has been arrested for the shooting, in which Mildred died but Charlie survived to testify against Crab. Distraught by Crab's arrest, Nosey tells Arthur that he seduced Dorothy after telling her about Arthur's relationship with Stella. Some time after Crab's execution, Arthur discovers that Nosey has converted to Christianity and has begun preaching for Pastor Johnson's church. Arthur accepts Harry's marriage to Peg, and accepts a job at the sardine-canning factory. |
28351130 | /m/0crhhbc | Eternity Road | Jack McDevitt | null | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"} | In a post-Apocalypse America where almost everyone was killed by a plague over 1700 years prior, little is known about the ancient "Roadmaker" civilization that is said to have built the devastated ruins of enormous cities, and the magnificent roads that still cover the landscape. In the valley of the Mississippi River, a number of towns have united again, trade and science have begun anew. When a copy of Mark Twain's novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is discovered in the estate of the sole survivor of an earlier expedition to the north, a young woman named Chaka Milana, whose brother died in the previous expedition almost a decade ago, decides to gather a band of explorers and try to find Haven, a legendary stronghold where the knowledge of mankind is said to have been collected and kept safe for future generations. A long voyage ensues, taking the group, amongst other places, to the ruins of the ancient city of Chicago. After losing several members of their team and travelling by an extraordinary means of transport that still functions after hundreds of years, the team eventually finds Haven and salvages some of the knowledge stored there before the facility is struck by a disaster that they themselves cause. |
28353779 | /m/0czbry2 | The Intangibles of Leadership | null | 2010 | null | The Intangibles of Leadership uncovers patterns in the attributes that truly distinguish those who succeed at the top. After more than a decade of senior executive assessments, CEO interviews, and proprietary research, Davis found that extraordinary leaders possess certain characteristics that fall between the lines of existing leadership models, yet are fundamental to executive success. Davis explains each of these qualities, the people who exemplify them, how to detect them in others, and how to develop the subtle characteristics that will enable leaders to stand out from the pack. The book has been highly reviewed and was named as a "Top Business Book of 2010 by Library Journal". The Ten Intangibles outlined in the book are: # Wisdom # Will # Executive Maturity # Integrity # Social Judgment # Presence # Self-Insight # Self-Efficacy # Fortitude # Fallibility According to the author, the book is a practical atlas of the characteristics that most define extraordinary leaders and their underlying psychological mechanisms. It was designed as a mirror to help executives think about how they approach leadership and gain insights that can enable them to grow and develop. |
28360733 | /m/0crcxsr | Piano Lessons | Anna Goldsworthy | 10/12/2010 | {"/m/0xdf": "Autobiography"} | Goldsworthy was nine years old when she met Eleanora Sivan, a charismatic Russian émigré and world-class pianist who became her piano teacher. Piano Lessons documents what Mrs. Sivan brought to Goldsworthy’s lessons: a love of music, a respect for life, a generous spirit, and the courage to embrace a musical life. Piano Lessons takes the reader on a journey into the heart and meaning of music. |
28360749 | /m/0crf7xk | Rondo | null | null | {"/m/026ny": "Dystopia"} | The story opens with Josef Divonne arriving in Rondo, on the shores of the Dead Delta of the Danube, having flown in from Lower Europe. Josef believes he is driven by ideology but, in fact, it is the mystery of his mother egg (he was a free born child) and his hero father's (Uwe) record in the Purifications of Africa and the Italies which is really behind his uncertainty. Leaving the chateau outside 2me Lyon at the start of High Thermidor, he joins up with a bunch of dissidents - the Lovers of Rondo - in the 'free state' of Rondo. Overwhelmed by all he sees, Josef goes native. After a short while, he decides to become a citizen of Rondo, embracing his personal god, Zinze, following the Sublime Path and obeying all the instructions of his mentor, Adnan. He divorces his wife by electric mail. Despite melancholy flashbacks to his childhood, during the Second Sida Cycle, he decides his future lies in Rondo. But all is not as it seems. After an illegal visit to the Circus with Nor Nor, an Asian he despises, he is confronted, in his cups, by a restaurant owner who whispers to him in Lower European 'S'gibt rien aqui!'. Slowly, Josef comes to realise that he is not in a 'free state' but in a prison colony for dissidents. Waking on the night he is due to fly out of Rondo, he finds he has been left behind and that Nor Nor, his only true confidante, has been killed in a mysterious fall from a balcony. He also finds that someone has been stealing days from him, here and there, for many years. Josef is left in Rondo, as nothing more than the catamite of the great Adnan, leader of the first crossing to Rondo. He has a much coveted dragonfly in a glass case by his bed. But he has nothing. There is no home now. He will wear out his days in the realisation that to embrace the Stanislavsky method, in Rondo, is his only salvation. |
28375078 | /m/0crdpky | Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter | A.E. Moorat | 10/15/2009 | {"/m/0crjhv8": "Mashup", "/m/035qb4": "Historical fantasy", "/m/02yq81": "Comic novel", "/m/02p0szs": "Historical fiction"} | Victoria becomes Queen after the death of William IV. She is soon thrown into a fight she did not expect: the war on demons. |
28381337 | /m/0crjdnr | A Journey | Anthony Blair | 9/1/2010 | {"/m/016chh": "Memoir"} | A Journey covers Blair's time as leader of the Labour Party and then British Prime Minister following his party's victory at the 1997 general election. His tenure as Labour leader begins in 1994 following the death of his predecessor, John Smith, an event Blair claims to have had a premonition about a month before Smith died. Blair believes he will succeed Smith as Labour leader rather than Gordon Brown, who is a strong contender for the job. He likens them both to "a couple who loved each other, arguing over whose career should come first." To him, Brown is a "strange guy". with "zero" emotional intelligence. Having been elected as leader Blair moves the Labour Party to the political centre ground, repackaging it as "New Labour", and goes on to win the 1997 general election. At his first meeting with Elizabeth II following his election as Prime Minister Blair recalls the Queen telling him, "You are my tenth prime minister. The first was Winston. That was before you were born." Within a few months his government must deal with the aftermath of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, and following the Princess's funeral, Elizabeth II tells Blair that lessons must be learned from the way things have been handled. Social occasions with the Queen are also recalled, including a gathering at Balmoral Castle where Prince Philip is described manning the barbecue while Elizabeth II dons a pair of rubber gloves to wash up afterwards. From the outset Blair's government plays a significant role in the Northern Ireland peace process, during which Blair admits to using "a certain amount of creative ambiguity" to secure an agreement, claiming the process would not have succeeded otherwise. He says that he stretched the truth "on occasions past breaking point" in the run-up to the 2007 power-sharing deal which enabled the return of devolved legislative powers from Westminster to the Northern Ireland Executive. Both Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin are praised for the part they played in the peace process. One of the themes that dominates the latter part of Blair's time in office is his decision to join U.S. President George W. Bush in committing troops to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the aftermath of which he describes as a "nightmare", but that he believes to have been necessary because Saddam Hussein "had not abandoned the strategy of WMD [weapons of mass destruction], merely made a tactical decision to put it into abeyance". He would make the same decision again with regard to Iran, warning that if that country develops nuclear weapons it will change the balance of power of the Middle East, to the region's detriment. Blair believes some problems in Iraq still require a "resolution" and will fester if left unattended. Of the war dead he says, "I feel desperately sorry for them, sorry for the lives cut short, sorry for the families whose bereavement is made worse by the controversy over why their loved ones died, sorry for the utterly unfair selection that the loss should be theirs." A year on from the invasion he hopes Bush will win a second term as U.S. President: "I had come to like and admire George," he writes. In 2003, Blair promises his Chancellor, Gordon Brown that he will resign before the next general election, but later changes his mind. Brown subsequently attempts to blackmail him, threatened to call for a Labour Party inquiry into the 2005 cash for honours affair during an argument over pension policy. Brown succeeds Blair as Labour Party leader and Prime Minister in 2007. But while Blair praises Brown as a good Chancellor and a committed public servant, he believes his decision to abandon the New Labour policies of the Blair years leads to the party's 2010 election defeat. However, Brown is right to restructure British banks and introduce an economic stimulus after the financial crisis. The book closes with a final chapter offering a critique of Labour Party policy, and discusses its future. Blair warns Brown's successor that if Labour is to remain electable they should continue with the policies of New Labour and not return to the left-wing policies of the 1980s: "I won three elections. Up to then, Labour had never even won two successive full terms. The longest Labour government had lasted six years. This lasted 13. It could have gone on longer, had it not abandoned New Labour." |
28381381 | /m/0crhxdx | Hordubal | Karel Čapek | null | {"/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Juraj Hordubal returns home to Carpathian Ruthenia after eight years of hard work in America. He is looking forward to seeing his devoted wife Polana and daughter Hafia. Everything is greatly idealised in his eyes as he expects everyone to welcome him warmly. However, the reality is different, he is accepted very coldly but hopes that things will get better soon and everyone will get used to his presence. He believes that Polana was a faithful wife during the time he was abroad. Unfortunately, he later discovers that she had an affair with the farm keeper Stepan Manya who was helping her with managing the farm. The relationship between Hordubal and Manya becomes very tense and eventually, Manya is forced to leave the farm. That, however doesn't influence Manya's love affair with Polana. They still keep meeting despite the fact, that Hordubal knows about that. Manya and Polana decide to get rid of Hordubal in order to begin a new life together. They are also motivated to do it as Hordubal's savings are big enough to ensure a convenient life for a long time. Hodrubal is killed by Manya in the middle of the night. The ending of the book describes the investigation of the criminal act. All the evidence lead to Manya. He is sentenced to life. Polana is found guilty of planning the murder and is sentenced to 12 years in prison in spite of being pregnant. In the end, Polana's sinning is considered much more severe as she misused her husband's kindness and devotion and was unfaithful. The highly religious society detests her for her sins. |
28382276 | /m/0crg4m_ | The Rose in Splendour: a Story of the Wars of Lancaster and York | Leslie Barringer | 1953 | {"/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | The novel is set in England over a period of eighteen months in the years 1460-61. It tells the tale of a young boy's early life, leaving his family’s farm first to an apprenticeship in York and later getting caught up in the bloody and decisive victory for the Yorkists at the Battle of Towton (29 March (Palm Sunday) 1461). |
28400976 | /m/0dgnf6y | Sex at Dawn | null | 6/29/2010 | null | The authors argue that human beings evolved in egalitarian hunter-gatherer bands in which sexual interaction was a shared resource, much like food, child care, group defense, and so on. In this, they agree to a degree with the work of Lewis H. Morgan who proposed in the 19th century that pre-agricultural humans lived in "primal hordes" in which property and paternity was communal. They think that much of evolutionary psychology has been conducted with a bias regarding human sexuality. The authors believe that the public and many researchers are guilty of the "Flintstonization" of hunter-gatherer society; that is to say projecting modern assumptions and beliefs onto earlier societies. Thus they think that there has been a bias to assuming that our species is primarily monogamous despite what they believe to be evidence to the contrary. They argue for example, that our sexual dimorphism, testicle size, female copulatory vocalization, appetite for sexual novelty, various cultural practices, and hidden female ovulation, among other factors strongly suggest a non-monogamous, non-polygynous history. The authors argue that mate selection was not the subject of much intragroup competition among pre-agricultural humans, as sex was neither scarce nor commodified; rather sperm competition was a more important paternity factor than sexual selection. This behaviour survives among certain existent hunter-forager groups that believe in partible paternity. The authors do not take an explicit position in the book regarding the morality of monogamy or alternative sexual behaviour in modern society, but argue that people should be made aware of our behavioral history. |
28411923 | /m/0crgpln | If I Stay | Gayle Forman | 2009 | {"/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"} | Mia is a gifted cellist. When she is taken to the ICU, she has flashbacks of her life in each chapter that is somehow connected to the current situation. When Mia's boyfriend, Adam, comes to the ICU, he comes into her room after multiple tries and help from Mia's family friend, Willow, he touches her cheeck and clutches her hand. She tries with all of her might to clutch back. The book endes with her claiming that for the first time today, she can really hear and feel him. The last words of the book are Adam asking 'Mia?' |
28417327 | /m/0crj67d | Blood Feud | Rosemary Sutcliff | 1976 | {"/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | The story is told in the first-person by Jestyn the Englishman as he recounts his life and how he ended up in Constantinople. After being orphaned, he is captured by Viking raiders and sold into slavery in Dublin. His owner Thormond frees him for good service, and Jestyn joins the crew of Thormond's ship when they leave Dublin to return to Denmark. Upon return, Thormond finds his father killed by childhood friends, and swears the blood feud after which the novel is named. Jestyn and Thormond swear blood brotherhood and set off to pursue the killers. The journey takes them across the Baltic, up the Dvina and down the Dnieper to Kiev, where they enlist in the service of Khan Vladimir who has agreed to fight for Basil II in return for the hand in marriage of Basil's sister Anna. The fighting is resolved, and both Thormond and Jestyn join the newly formed Varangian Guard. The feud is ultimately resolved, but with many twists and turns, and Jestyn finally settles to live in Constantinople. The theme of the novel revolves around Jestyn's struggle to find belonging, as he is caught between conflicting values, conflicting cultures, and conflicting religions. The historical background depicts the Christianization of Kievan Rus', and Jestyn's mixed feelings as he carries an original Christian value system of his youth alongside the commitment of blood feud and blood brotherhood of Norse paganism. |
28421364 | /m/0crhpx4 | Phule's Company | Robert Asprin | 1990-07 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"} | The book begins as Willard Phule, a multimillionaire, is court-martialed by the Space Legion for ordering the strafing of a treaty signing ceremony. For his punishment, he is given command of an Omega Company full of misfits on Haskin's Planet, a mining settlement on the edge of settled space. He quickly goes to his duty station and leverages his personal money and a knack for managing people to get the company to come together as a unit. His antics attract the attention of the local and interplanetary press, but create a very cohesive unit of the Legionnaires. When a contract for an honorary duty is awarded to the Regular Army on Haskin's Planet, Phule convinces the governor to leave the contract up for competition between the Space Legionnaires and the Regular Army. The Army sends some of their most elite troops to take part in the competition, and through an impressive show of cooperation and teamwork, Phule's company ties the regular troops. In the final episode of the book, Phule's company encounters lizard-like alien explorers from the Zenobian Empire. Quickly reverting to his business instincts, Phule negotiates a business deal to sell swampland to the creatures in exchange for new technologies. This again enrages some of his superiors, but because of a show of support from the Legionnaires for their commander and a complete conviction of his own innocence, Phule evades court-martial again. |
28435548 | /m/0crcd12 | This Charming Man | null | 3/27/2008 | null | The main characters are: Paddy de Courcy, a charismatic politician; Lola Daly, a stylist; Grace Gildee, a journalist; Marnie Hunter, Grace's alcoholic sister; and Alicia Thornton, Paddy's fiancée. The story is told predominantly from the viewpoints of the first three, although there are occasional sections from Alicia's point of view. Lola, Paddy's girlfriend, is heartbroken when she hears of his engagement and moves to County Clare to get away from him. Marnie, who was Paddy's college girlfriend and still has feelings for him, is an alcoholic and eventually loses her job, husband and children; her sister Grace attempts to help Marnie, get an interview with Lola, and hide her relationship with Paddy from her partner Damien. Over the course of the book it is revealed that all three women - plus various other ex-girlfriends of Paddy's - have been abused by him. |
28448798 | /m/0crj7g0 | Warlock | Oakley Hall | null | null | In the frontier boomtown of Warlock, residents attempt to keep the peace. After violence escalates, a committee determines to take a course of action against criminal cowboys and cattle rustlers. A Texas gunslinger named Clay Blaisedell is hired and, although things go smoothly at first, the morality of life in the legal no-man's-land becomes ever more ambiguous. |
28461587 | /m/0crcfch | Stone Spring | Stephen Baxter | 6/3/2010 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"} | The focus of much of the novel is the community of Extelur. Extelur begins as a typical stone-age civilisation, remarkable only for its flint, which is prized throughout most of Northland. It is nominally ruled by a figure known as the "Giver", but as the Kirike, the current Giver, is missing, leadership falls to Zesi, his eldest daughter. Every year, Extelur and its neighbours, the brutish "Pretani" (located in modern-day England), hold a ceremony known as the Giving on Extelur soil. Representing the Pretani leader are brothers Gall and Shade, who share the house with Zesi and her 14-year-old sister Ana. Gall, the eldest brother, has been promised Zesi as a bride by his father, but Zesi instead sleeps with the younger brother Shade, enraging Gall. To make matters worse, Gall inadvertently kills a member of the neighbouring "Snailhead" tribe during a communal hunt. Tensions come to a head during the giving, whereupon the Pretani leader (or "Root") arrives and demands that Shade and Gall resolve their dispute by a fight to the death, in which Gall is killed. Kirike also returns to Extelur, along with outsiders Ice Dreamer (rescued by Kirike during his travels) and Novu (a slave who killed his master and escaped, with a particular skill for making bricks). Kirike resumes leadership of Extelur, much to Zesi's resentment. Zesi ultimately decides to leave with the Pretani to challenge them in a hunting contest on their own territory. Meanwhile, back in Extelur, rising sea levels result in a tsunami, known to the locals as the "Great Sea". Most of Extelur is destroyed, and many of its inhabitants are wiped out, including Kirike. With Zesi absent, Ana becomes the de facto leader of Extelur. During the Tsunami, Ana witnessed seabed formations resembling Extelur's religious symbols, and, believing them to hold spiritual significance, ultimately resolves to build a dyke to hold back the sea and enable the formations to be reached once again. Novu, who has the most experience, obsessively oversees the construction of the dyke, and Ana adopts increasingly Draconian measures to ensure construction continues. When Zesi returns to Extelur, she violently opposes Ana's work. She breaks one of the giant pools which holds water that is meant to flow back into the sea and kills a Snailhead child. This ultimately results in her being exiled and her child taken from her. Vowing revenge on Ana, Zesi ultimately returns to Pretani territory, where she convinces Shade (now the Root of the Pretani) to help her destroy Extelur. Together, they plan to offer slave labour to Extelur, with the intention of organising a slave uprising and then attacking Extelur in the chaos. Before this can be done, however, Ana uncovers the plan and frees the slaves herself. The Pretani attack is beaten back, and Zesi is killed during the fight. The novel ends some years later, where construction of the dykes is finally complete, and the undersea formations Ana sought to uncover have finally been reached. |
28486403 | /m/0crc1hm | The Long Loud Silence | Wilson Tucker | 1952 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Gary, an army corporal, wakes up in a hotel room in Illinois following a drunken binge. He discovers that the town is deserted except for a handful of corpses and comes to the realization that the country has been subjected to an attack. He discovers one other survivor, a girl of 19. They take a car and, after filling it with supplies, drive toward Chicago, which they find to be in flames. They drive west, only to discover that almost all bridges over the Mississippi have been disabled; the one remaining bridge is guarded by army troops on the western side, who shoot anyone attempting to cross over. The girl abandons him; as he travels further, Gary learns that the nuclear attack was combined with bacteriological warfare which infected the entire population with pneumonic plague. Only those rare individuals with natural resistance have survived, but since they are carriers of the disease, the entire eastern third of the country has been quarantined. Gary is nevertheless determined to cross over. He joins up with a former school teacher, Jay Oliver; they make camp in the hills outside an intact bridge in Kentucky, waiting for the army to allow people across. A woman joins them, trading sex for food. After realizing that the quarantine is permanent, the three decide to go to Florida for the winter where they find a fisherman's cabin on the Gulf coast. After a few months the woman becomes pregnant and expresses her preference for Oliver; Gary decides to leave. The following winter he finds himself near the Canadian border. He awakes one night in an abandoned car and sees a young girl running toward him, pursued by men with guns. Gary shoots the men and saves the girl, who tells him that the men have killed her brother. She leads Gary back to the scene of the murder; he discovers that the body has been partially dismembered and concludes that the men were cannibals. He takes the girl to her home, a farmhouse where both mother and father are still alive. Out of gratitude, the father offers to provide lodging if Gary will guard the farm. Gary agrees and spends the winter there. The following spring he sets off toward Washington DC, hoping to find remnants of the government. While passing through Ohio he chances upon a convoy of army trucks under attack. He joins the attack and saves the convoy. The commanding officer thanks him, but makes it clear that he can not join them; they have come from the west, with orders to deliver gold from Fort Knox, and have not been exposed to the virus. Gary offers to fix a tire, but does so in such a way that it slowly loses air; he catches up with the convoy and through a combination of stealth and boldness, kills most of the men and takes one of the trucks. He drives to the bridge on the Mississippi where the men had been planning to cross over. Masquerading as one of them, he is allowed to cross. From there he escapes into the country side; he is labeled an "enemy agent" and a man hunt is initiated but he evades capture. However, everyone he comes in close contact with succumbs to the plague. He finally realizes that he has no future in the west and returns over the river, to survive for a number of years until he encounters the girl he had met in Illinois. |
28486881 | /m/0crcm3j | An Octopus Followed Me Home | null | null | {"/m/016475": "Picture book", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"} | The book tells of a young girl who takes a green octopus home. When the girl asks her father if she can keep the octopus in the tub, he tells her about all the other animals he let her keep and all the sacrifices he made. The saddened girl returns the octopus back to the ocean, but becomes happy again when a gray brachiosaurus follows her home. |
28490303 | /m/0crdqbh | Saigon | null | null | null | The story is set in August–September 1964. Claire La Farge, widow of a French intelligence officer, lives in a large rice and tea plantation in North Vietnam. One night she receives a coded message in the form of a knotted belt (quipu) from a former associate of her husband. She sends her trusted servant, Saito, to Saigon to place an advert in the personal column of the Times of Vietnam hoping to contact former colleagues of her husband who can decode the message. Raoul Dupre, a former French intelligence officer and businessman in Saigon, reads the ad and makes contact. Agent Nick Carter, in Saigon posing as a WHO medical observer, answers the ad on a hunch and learns of Dupre's involvement. Dupre's daughter, Antoinette (Toni), has become a heroin addict under the influence of Lin Tong – a Chinese communist spy interested in finding out the truth about her father. Hawk orders Carter to help Raoul Dupre contact Claire La Farge to retrieve the coded message. Antoinette tells Carter that Lin Tong is pressing her to spy on her father and that she has revealed to Lin Tong what she has overheard of the coded message and the American agent who would be coming to help. Lin Tong follows Antoinette and Carter to a secluded rendezvous where he accidentally shoots and kills her. Carter and Lin Tong race each other to North Vietnam. Carter heads for the La Farge plantation accompanied by Saito while Lin Tong contacts his communist guerilla allies to be on the lookout for a western agent. Lin Tong arrives at the La Farge plantation first with a small group of North Vietnamese soldiers. He starts to interrogate and torture Claire La Farge concerning the location of the coded message. Carter and Saito arrive shortly afterwards. They assemble the plantation workers still loyal to Claire La Farge and overpower the North Vietnamese soldiers. Lin Tong is captured and Claire La Farge is released. Raoul Dupre arrives by helicopter to take Carter and Lin Tong back to Saigon. The quipu belt is decoded as a list of Chinese communist spies living and working in South Vietnam. Raoul Dupre takes charge of eliminating the spies, while Carter returns home. |
28492213 | /m/0crcpmb | Aruba: The Tragic Untold Story of Natalee Holloway and Corruption in Paradise | null | 4/11/2006 | null | The book covers Holloway's ongoing effort to locate his daughter Natalee, who disappeared during a high school graduation trip to Aruba in 2005. He details his experience following leads in crack houses and personally searching landfills. He alleges corruption among the Aruba Police Force, recalling that they asked him how much money he had upon arrival on the island. Holloway accused suspect Joran van der Sloot of repeatedly lying and believes that he is "guilty of something." |
28496471 | /m/0crcm46 | The Month of the Falling Leaves | Bruce Marshall | 1963 | {"/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | A philosophy professor is mistaken for a spy. |
28502106 | /m/0crcb0c | A veinte años, Luz | null | null | null | Upon giving birth to a son, John, a tiny doubt in Luz's mind takes root and soon grows into an obsession, and thus begins Luz's quest for her past: was she indeed, as she had always believed, the daughter and grand-daughter of a family loyal to the dictatorship in Argentina, or was she in fact one of the country's missing children, one of the desaparecidos whose whereabouts were in many cases never discovered. Luz (whose name means "light" in Spanish) seeks her true identity with great courage, bringing to light the darkest corners of the society in which she has been raised, and of which, until now, considered herself a participant. Her search will lead to the discovery of a country divided by a brutal, criminal regime, which caused its own citizens to vanish, hiding them and, worst of all, forgetting them. Luz, on her road to the truth, shines a light in the shadows covering the horrors in this poignant novel that recounts beautifully, from an opposing viewpoint, a tale from Argentina's recent past: the story of the grandchildren of the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo (Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo). |
28502190 | /m/0crhbhx | El grito | null | null | null | It's a short novel that takes place at the end of 2001 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in the middle of the economic meltdown that brought the country to the brink of social disintegration. The story follows four characters whose lives are slowly intertwined, and whose fates and problems, although different, are characteristic of the social and economic problems of the time. The helplessness, loneliness, and broken families are the rivers that Florencia Abbate helps us to navigate in this novel that examine a historical period in Argentina that is seldom explored. |
28502655 | /m/0crfvdk | Billy the Kid | null | null | null | The book is set during World War II. It is about a boy called Billy who grew up with his hobby, football, and wanted to play for the Chelsea football team. Then his mother gave birth to his brother, Joe, who later in the story joined the army at the beginning of the Second World War. Soon afterwards, his parents receive a message that Joe has died. This happened at Dunkirk on the French coast when the Germans advanced, routing the British army. Winston Churchill urged the sending of as many boats possible of all sizes for the evacuation. 250,000 were rescued; the rest were killed (there was approximately 300,000 allies). The family were depressed to hear the disappointing news. Billy later decides to join the army, fight for his country, and then succeed in the war. He survives to become a player for Chelsea Football Club and then into old age. BBM pin - 2878235A |
28542806 | /m/0czbd2j | This Alien Shore | null | null | null | The plot of this book is based in a far-future where interstellar flight caused mutations in the race as a whole. Some were minute differences, some to the point of grotesque. This eventually leads to the cessation of interstellar flight, stranding a majority of the population from their culture and supplies that were rooted on the Earth. This causes worlds to reinvent themselves and some to come out stronger. Eventually, one planet discovers a method of interstellar travel that does not cause the adverse effects. They create a company called the Outspace Guild. Due to the mutations, the Guild is the only one that can use this method of travel, and this quickly becomes a monopoly. Throughout this time, computers have advanced to a point that they are necessary for all facets of life. It is introduced early in the book that each person is entitled to a computer installed at birth. Unfortunately, it is impossible to reinstall different computers due to the complexity of the nervous system and how it so intricately ties into your body. In this future, it is extremely important to make sure that the hardware installed is some of the best. The government in this future have guaranteed that all persons shall be entitled to hardware, but the rich will tend to make sure to upgrade this for their children to guarantee them a better lifestyle. The computers that are integrated into the body can help to regulate bodily functions, such as a regular release of adrenaline at a scheduled time, as well as set up tasks and reminders for the mind. Viruses have become more dangerous as the computer can control your base functions and thus makes you vulnerable to attack on a much different level. |
28551496 | /m/0czc3fc | Phule's Paradise | Robert Asprin | 1992-02 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"} | The book begins when Phule and his "Omega Mob" receive orders to report to the space station Lorelei, a resort space station home of many casinos. The "Omega Mob" is contracted to defend the Fat Chance Casino from take over by organized Crime. Phule splits 50 of the troops from the company, giving them permission to operate under cover in order to gain intelligence on the crime syndicate. He supplements the lost legionnaires with actors and trains the whole unit, actors and legionnaires, in Casino security. Upon their arrival they learn that the Crime boss, Maxine, has partial ownership in the Casino and plans to bankrupt the Casino in order to gain a controlling interest. With this intelligence, Phule is able to thwart all of the schemes developed by Maxine thanks to his prior knowledge. In retaliation, Maxine's thugs attack two of the actors. However, upon noticing the thug's leader's possession of the company's distinctive wrist communicators, Chocolate Harry, the company's supply sergeant, retrieves the communicators and beats up the leader. Frustrated with all the failed actions, Maxine results to her backup plan: kidnap Phule and ransom him. The resourceful Omega mob foils the kidnapping, rescuing Phule and forcing Maxine to hand over her share of the Casino to the company. |
28559500 | /m/0czdmpc | Fox Hunt | James Clancy Phelan | 2006-08 | {"/m/017rf8": "Techno-thriller"} | Lachlan Fox is a former Royal Australian Navy Special Forces Clearance Diver who is living on Christmas Island after being Dishonorably discharged after a mission gone wrong in East Timor. When Fox and best friend, former Navy pilot Alister Gammaldi, discover an unusual capsual whilst diving off Christmas Island little do they know they have discovered something that could result in the outbreak of World War 3. |
28559833 | /m/0cz8q9g | Patriot Act | James Clancy Phelan | 2007-08 | {"/m/017rf8": "Techno-thriller"} | Lachlan Fox, former Royal Australian Navy Special Forces Clearance Diver, now investigative journalist for GSR (Global Syndicate Reporters) grows suspicious when several high-profile businessmen and politicians are murdered in Europe. A coup is being planned by the United States biggest European rival, France. Echelon is under attack as the United States rushes to avoid an armed conflict between France and the United States. Meanwhile, Fox's life is threatened by French DGSE agents who wish to assassinate Fox and girlfriend Kate. |
28569463 | /m/0czdv09 | Daniel X: Demons and Druids | James Patterson | 7/26/2010 | {"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"} | Daniel X's hunt to eliminate each and every intergalactic criminal on Earth is always relentless, but this time, it's getting personal. Number Three on the List of Alien Outlaws takes the form of raging, soul-possessing fire. And fire transports Daniel back to the most traumatic event of his life-the death of his parents. In the face of his "kryptonite", Daniel struggles with his extraordinary powers like never before, and more than ever is at stake: his best friends are in grave peril. The only way to save them is to travel back-through a hole in time-to the demon's arrival during the Dark Ages. In the Dark Ages, he also meets a new friend. |
28579397 | /m/0cz9_ht | De zaak Natalee Holloway | null | null | {"/m/0xdf": "Autobiography", "/m/01pwbn": "True crime"} | In the introduction to the book, Van der Sloot states, "I see this book as my opportunity to be open and honest about everything that happened, for anyone who wants to read it." The book presents Van der Sloot's account of the night Holloway disappeared and the media frenzy which followed. Details of his encounter with Holloway at the Carlos'n Charlie's nightclub in Oranjestad, Aruba is covered in explicit detail. He admits to lying in the past and apologizes for his actions, stating that he "found himself at the wrong place at the wrong time, and took a wrong decision." However, he insists that he did not break the law and is not a murderer. |
28599406 | /m/0cz8gt1 | The Black Prism | Brent Weeks | 8/25/2010 | {"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"} | The book is set in a world where colour is the foundation for all magic. Sixteen years after a war that rocked the world, the Prism receives a note from a lady named Lina, first telling him of the existence of and then telling him to come and get his now 15 year old son, a bastard child that had been conceived while he was betrothed to Karris White Oak, a member of the most elite bodyguard force, the Blackguard. The White sends Karris to Garriston, Tyrea's capital, to spy on its Satrap's army. She gives Karris a note informing her of Gavin's unfaithfulness, instructing her to not read it until after leaving the Chromeria (the center of magical learning). She sends Gavin to kill a color wight somewhere else, attempting to keep the two separated until well after Karris learned the news. However, Gavin chooses to bring Karris to Garriston himself before she can read the note, using a mode of transportation no one else even believes possible: magically-aided flight across the ocean. This allows them to enter Tyrea in hours, rather than the month or so expected otherwise. As they draw closer, Karris sees smoke, and directs them to the former town of Rekton, which has been burned to the ground. They are just in time to save a teenager from being executed, killing several of the Satrap's personal bodyguard in the process, at which point the Prism is confronted by the irate Satrap himself, self-styled King Garadul. He ordered the town to be wiped out as an example, due to their refusal to put up and pay levies. King Garadul plans to continue the march of his armies to Garriston. Due to Tyrea's role during the war, Tyreans are treated less respectfully, have no color representative on the council and have had their capital under a rotating occupation from the other Satrapies. Thus, Garadul considers himself king, not Satrap, and Garriston part of his land he intends to reclaim. The child is revealed to be none other than Gavin's bastard child, Kip. There follows some debate, which results in Kip and the Prism being allowed to leave together, though not without the exchange of several death threats. Before this occurs, however, the king takes a box from Kip which he claims was stolen from him. The box contains a white dagger given to Kip by his dying mother, who—through curses and abuse—made him promise to kill the man responsible. Away from all this, Karris reads the note given to her by the White, and is angered by Gavin's betrayal, his lies about it when breaking their engagement, and the White's attempts to manipulate her into forgiving him. Because of this, she ultimately refuses Gavin's offer of assistance the rest of the way to Garriston, opting to explore Rekton while Gavin brings Kip back to the Chromeria. She meets Corvan Danavis, Kip's tutor and a former general of Dazen Guile's army. She is eventually captured by king Garadul, while Corvan continues to Garriston. While Kip is entered into the Chromeria, shadowed by the Blackguard commander Ironfist, the Prism kills the color wight the White referred to. Before dying, the wight tells the Prism that Dazen should have won the war. Paranoid, Gavin returns quickly to the Chromeria to check on his brother, whom he has secretly imprisoned in a cell in which nothing but blue luxin can be drafted. It is then revealed that the Prism is in fact Dazen, having stolen his older brother Gavin's identity after the final battle of the war. When Dazen became Gavin after the war, he chose to break off Gavin's previous betrothal to Karis despite his own feelings, truthfully denying any affairs. Pressured by the White to teach a class of superviolets, the prism meets Aliviana Liv Danavis, Corvan's daughter and the only other person in the Chromeria from Rekton. Her tuition is paid by a sponsor from the Ruthgari Satrap, the sister of the current governor of Garriston. Her sponsor repeatedly blackmails her into spying on the Prism for Ruthgar, though her words and the lengths of cruelty she is willing to pursue to keep her hold suggest it is more a personal vendetta than any specific order. Knowing none of this, the Prism gives Liv official recognition of her bichrome nature (her second color was deemed too expensive to invest in by her contract-holder), in exchange for her teaching Kip the basics of drafting. While Kip and Liv catch up, the Prism meets with his father, Andross Guile, to speak about Tyrea. When he mentions the box Garadul took from Kip, Andross immediately asks if it is "the white luxin," a supposedly mythical substance. His brother Gavin was aware of it as well, and Andross—not knowing Dazen isn't Gavin—assumes he knows what it is. Gavin can't ask, lest his disguise be discovered. Andross Guile orders his son to defeat Garadul's armies, but at all costs retrieve the dagger. Kip, Liv, the Prism and Ironfist leave for Tyrea to defend Garriston from Garadul's armies. Corvan reaches Garriston at about this time, and agrees to be Dazen's general again. Despite their friendship in reality, they must both pretend to hate and distrust each other deeply. Liv questions her father about it, but he refuses to tell her the truth. She assumes the Prism is blackmailing him with her life, and silently vows to make him pay. Liv and Kip run away to free Karris from Garadul's captivity. Ironfist leaves a few hours later, to see to their survival. Liv infiltrates successfully, while Kip is recognized and captured, though not before drafting sub-red for the first time. Karris, meanwhile, is taken to meet Lord Omnichrome, a color wight who heads Garadul's drafters. She recognizes him as her brother Koios, thought killed by Dazen in overzealous self-defense before the war. Ironfist helps Karris and Kip escape, and they both go after Garadul directly. Kip sees Lord Omnichrome give Zymun (a red drafter Kip knows from Rekton's burning) his mother's rosewood case, but Kip decides to help Karris. Playing on her disgust with the Prism and Chromeria, Omnichrome persuades Liv to join his cause in return for aiding Kip and Karris. Omnichrome intends for Garadul to die, so Corvan and Dazen try to save him. They are unsuccessful; Kip kills him in a rage before he can be stopped. Kip, Karris and Corvan retreat to the docks, along with the Prism. Kip saves Ironfist's life before chasing the ship that's already left the dock. As Kip runs across the water, he sees Zymun attempting to stab the Prism from behind with the white luxin dagger, and tackles him off the ship. He retrieves the box and leaves Zymun for the sharks before escaping with the Prism's ship. The Prism gives Kip the case, thinking the dagger lost. In it, Kip finds a note from his mother, telling him to kill the man who raped her, and that she loves him. Kip discovers that one of the clear diamond-like stones on the dagger's handle is now a sapphire-colored stone. At about this time, Gavin escapes from his blue luxin prison after nearly killing himself, only to find himself in an identical green luxin prison. The book ends as Dazen discovers that he can no longer draft blue. |
28604443 | /m/0cz7_vv | Nine Coaches Waiting | Mary Stewart | 1958 | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/01qxvh": "Romance novel"} | Linda Martin lands in Paris on a cold, gray, and rainy day. She is on her way to her new post as a governess to the young Count Philippe de Valmy. Having lost both his parents in a tragic accident, the nine-year-old boy lives with his aunt and uncle in the vast and ornate Château Valmy in the French countryside. Léon de Valmy, Philippe's uncle, runs the estate on behalf of his underage nephew until he comes of age and arranged for a proper English governess for his charge. When Linda arrives at the imposing manor, she is at once enchanted by its beauty and history, but is also immediately struck by the sense of menace and doom surrounding the land and its inhabitants. Léon is a charismatic force of nature and quite charming and, when Linda meets his reckless and rakishly handsome son Raoul, she understands a bit more about the de Valmy heritage and what makes this family tick. As she becomes closer to Philippe and Raoul, Linda draws ever nearer to putting her finger on the source of the threat. But the layers of danger and darkness run deeper than any of them guessed and she may not be able to trust those she wants to, no matter how innocent or attractive they may seem. Soon it is up to the shy young governess to beat the clock in order to save Philippe's life as well as her own. |
28605249 | /m/0cz81tl | When the Enemy Is Tired | null | null | null | Colonel Anthony Russell, an officer in the Australian army, is captured on a mission in China along with his squad of seven men. As the Chinese are excitied of the possibilities of Russell defecting and broadcasting Communist propaganda, they assign Major Lim, a Chinese propaganda officer with a bitterness towards westerners - it is revealed later on that his parents were killed by a British Soldier. Lim forces Russell to write his life story, in order to find out information that he will use in his efforts to brainwash him. In order to convince Russell he is serious, Lim drugs him into a sedated state which makes Russell believe that he is witnessing the execution of his men. After it becomes clear that Russell will not broadcast, and prompting by the Australian Government, Russell is sent back to Australia. As he leaves he plane he is intercepted by Government officials and placed under arrest on suspicion of being a Communist spy. It is revealed that while he was a prisoner in China, he was subconsciously taught Russian; as a result of this, further suspicion falls on him. The book ends with the officials telling Russell to write his life story. |
28623936 | /m/0cz8gtr | Amis and Amiloun | null | null | {"/m/050z5g": "Chivalric romance"} | The poem's plot revolves around two sworn friends, Amis and Amiloun, who are born to different parents in different parts of a kingdom but serve the same duke. Amis falls in love with a beautiful girl, Belisaunt, who seduces him, but the duke's steward betrays him to the duke. Since Amis cannot swear to have not had relations with the girl, Amiloun takes his place in the trial by battle which ensues and kills the steward, even though an angel had told him that he would be struck with leprosy--after all, Amis was guilty. Amis and Belisaunt get married and he succeeds the duke but Amiloun, now a leper, is driven out of the land by his wife. As he begs for a living with his nephew Owain, later dubbed Amoraunt, he returns to Amis's castle and is recognized by a golden cup he had gotten from Amis while they were young. Amiloun is tended to for a year, after which angels appears to both in their dreams, saying that the blood of Amis's children will cure Amiloun's leprocy. Amis indeed performs the act, and Amiloun is cured. The children are miraculously found intact. |
28624193 | /m/0czdd77 | Wings of the Falcon | Barbara Mertz | 1977 | {"/m/01jfsb": "Thriller", "/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/01qxvh": "Romance novel", "/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | Set during Italian Risorgimento of 1860, Francesca Fairbourn arrives in Italy after she becomes an orphan to live with her mother's family. Her aristocratic Italian mother and English father had eloped which resulted in her getting deisowned by her family. Francesca's mother died during her birth which left Franseca's father to raise her all alone. When she left school at 18 she lost her father and was in desperate situation until her dashing young cousin Andrea del Tarconti rescues her and sends her to Italy to the aristocratic home of Tarconti Castle. Once there Francesca finds herself intertwined in web of political intrigue as a local disguised hero named Il Falcone is helping peasants fight against tyrant rulers. Francesca realizes that the 'Il Falcone' is closer to her family than she thinks. |
28630602 | /m/0cz9j5b | Enchanted Glass | Diana Wynne Jones | 2010 | {"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Enchanted Glass is set in the imaginary town of Melstone, England. Near the town of Melstone is Melstone House, an old place which Andrew Hope has inherited from his grandfather. With Melstone House comes a "field-of-care" which is a region of magical responsibility. Unfortunately, Andrew does not quite grasp the full implications of this, causing many of the problems in the story. Shortly after Andrew takes possession of Melstone House, Aidan Cain appears on his doorstep, asking for help. His recently deceased grandmother had told him that the owner of Melstone House could help him, if he ever needed it. Aidan is being pursued by an unknown force, which turns out to be the fairy king Oberon, who thinks he is his son. Together, Andrew and Aidan must unravel the mystery of Melstone House, and gain control of their magic. |
28639356 | /m/0czbkl6 | Delivering Happiness | null | null | {"/m/09s1f": "Business", "/m/05h83": "Non-fiction"} | The book is divided into three sections: Profits; Profits and Passion; and Profits, Passion, and Purpose. It is written in narrative form and includes short 1-2 page entries from Hsieh's friends and employees. In the first section, Hsieh details his entrepreneurial adventures from when he was young until he was in college. These include his attempt to start an earthworm breeding business at the age of 9, a mail order button business in middle school, and a grille at Harvard University. After college, Hsieh founded LinkExchange, which he sold to Microsoft for $265 million two years later. He founded Venture Frogs, an investment fund, of which Zappos was one of the investments. The second section, Profits and Passion, details Hsieh's involvement with Zappos, beginning with joining the company full-time as CEO in 2000. The third section, Profits, Passion, and Purpose, covers Zappos sale to Amazon, as well as lessons Hsieh learned in public relations and public speaking. |
28640612 | /m/0cz99ws | A Strange Discovery | Charles Romyn Dake | 1899 | {"/m/08sdrw": "Adventure novel"} | The story is set in 1877, forty-nine years after the events in Arthur Gordon Pym, and thirty-nine years after the publication of that book. The narrator is an Englishman traveling in the United States to settle business interests in Southern Illinois. During his stay in Bellevue, Illinois (corresponding to the actual Belleville), he makes acquaintance with two local doctors, an older man, Dr. George F. Castleton, and the younger Dr. Bainbridge. Dr. Castleton is an eccentric local character given to extravagant opinions, and the narrator mentions that he was later the Prohibition Party candidate for Governor of Illinois. During a discussion of Poe's works and Arthur Gordon Pym, Dr. Castleton reveals that Peters is a patient of his. Much of the first section is given to the narrator's observations on American society and to discussions between him, Castleton, and Bainbridge on topics ranging from poetry and literature (and Poe in particular), to U.S. and European politics, to Christianity and agnosticism, to medical science. Bainbridge describes his earlier discovery, at the Astor Library in New York, of a book written in 1594 and published in 1728, of a narrative purporting to tell the story of a sailor on Sir Francis Drake's voyage of circumnavigation. According to this book, Drake's ship was driven by a storm for two weeks, until, deep in the Antarctic, he arrived at a city which the author describes as comparable to Venice, but more beautiful than any European city of that time. Dr. Bainbridge visits Peters each day and elicits the story of his adventures with Pym a half-century earlier. Each night he visits the narrator in his hotel and relates, in episodic form, what he has learned from Peters. The narrator, in turn, passes on the essential points to Dr. Castleton as well as to Arthur, the hotel factotum. After leaving the island of Tsalal, Peters and Pym voyage south through a curtain of fog into the area near the South Pole, which is warmed by volcanic activity. Passing a white marble figure at the entrance to a harbor, they arrive in the city of Hili-li at 89°S latitude. Hili-li Island is one of over 200 islands in a great inland sea, surrounded by a ring-shaped continent. The continent consists of volcanic mountains and ice, making it impassable except for a 300-mile-wide gap, through which had come Francis Drake, Pym and his shipmates on the Jane Guy, and the occasional other castaway from the outside world. The Hili-lites are a white race, descendants from a shipload of ancient Romans who left Rome and the Mediterranean fleeing from the barbarian invasions of the 4th century. Hili-li's population of 100,000 to 200,000 inhabitants are ruled by a Duke. There is also a reclusive, mystic old sage, Masusaelili, who claims to be a survivor of the original voyage from Rome. Peters and Pym are treated hospitably, and Pym eventually falls in love with the Duke's niece, Lilima. The romantic interlude is interrupted when Lilima is abducted by her ex-lover Ahpilus. Ahpilus is one of a group of exiles who have been banished to the volcanic island at the pole for various offenses, mainly for engaging in forbidden sports or other physically dangerous activities. Ahpilus has gone mad as a result of his exile and unrequited love. Peters, Pym, and the Duke's son Diregus lead a rescue expedition and catch up with Ahpilus on the slopes of the 8-mile-high "Mount Olympus", below the crater lake near its summit. Ahpilus threatens to throw himself and Lilima to their deaths in a gorge, but Peters, in a feat of astounding physical prowess, leaps across the gorge and incapacitates Ahpilus by breaking his back. Returning to Hili-li, Pym and Lilima marry, but their happiness is short-lived. A rare meteorological event brings a period of intense cold and snow to Hili-li. Despite valiant efforts led by Pym, Peters, Diregus, and the returned Olympian exiles to fend off the cold, many of the Hili-lites succumb. Among these is Lilima. The grief-stricken Pym is allowed to depart, along with Peters. They leave in December 1829, are picked up by a large schooner, and are deposited in Montevideo, Uruguay in February 1830. There Pym and Peters part company. |
28643181 | /m/0czb3_m | Vesper | Jeff Sampson | null | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature"} | Vesper follows the character of Emily Webb, a geeky girl that's more likely to stay at home and watch old horror films than go to parties. Unbeknownst to her, she's been sneaking out to go to parties and thrill seek when Emily thought she was asleep. She first takes notice of her nocturnal activities when one of her classmates that shares her name has been found murdered. Despite her attempts to prevent herself from going out, Emily's other self keeps going out and getting wilder with each passing night. This other Emily is not only wilder, but stronger and faster than her normal self. As Emily tries to figure out what's going on with her, she discovers that she's not the only person that's changing as well. |
28649363 | /m/0czb88h | Cognitive Surplus | Clay Shirky | null | {"/m/05h83": "Non-fiction"} | The book's central theme is that people are now learning how to use more constructively the free time afforded to them since the 1940s for creative acts rather than consumptive ones, particularly with the advent of online tools that allow new forms of collaboration. It goes on to catalog the means and motives behind these new forms of cultural production, as well as key examples. While Shirky acknowledges that the activities that we use our cognitive surplus for may be frivolous (such as creating LOLcats), the trend as a whole is leading to valuable and influential new forms of human expression. He also asserts that even the most inane forms of creation and sharing are preferable to the hundreds of billions of hours spent consuming television shows in countries such as the United States. |
28650714 | /m/0czd_lh | O Chifrudo | Miguel M. Abrahão | null | {"/m/01z4y": "Comedy"} | O Chifrudo is a comedy that requires actors with great experience and versatility. This text gave opportunity to the author, Miguel M. Abrahão, to reassess, on his way, one of the most common themes and best known in world literature: the love triangle. The story is not focused on the content melodramatic as one would predict. First and foremost is an acid criticism of consumerism. Dayse, the woman is presented to the public as consumer object, just as Hermes, her husband, her lover, Dondoco, or even the two neighboring, whose profiles are comically different. With surprise ending and original, the piece always captivated audiences in the country and gave great opportunities to actors in search of roles that allow for true theatrical performance and not the easy laughter and obvious humor of modern. |
28664926 | /m/0czd2z1 | The Miseducation of Ross O'Carroll-Kelly | Paul Howard | null | null | The novel in its original version is strikingly similar to American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, from the many prolonged descriptions of the clothes worn by the characters to specific scenes such as Ross dispensing advice on the right shoe to wear with chinos, which is taken almost word-for-word from a similar passage in Ellis's work. Much of this content was removed in the revised edition as the comedic aspect of the series came to the fore. |
28667164 | /m/0czch5x | The Devil's Company | David Liss | 7/7/2009 | {"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery", "/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | This third memoir installment begins in November of 1722, eight months after the 1722 General Election that provided the historical setting for A Spectacle of Corruption. This time, Weaver finds himself involved in puzzling and dangerous events surrounding the all-powerful East India Company. Victimized, along with family and friends, by an elaborate extortion scheme, Weaver is forced to spy and steal for the enigmatic Jerome Cobb. Under Cobb's direction, Weaver infiltrates the Company and attempts to learn its secrets before the upcoming meeting of the board of directors (called the Court of Proprietors). Trouble is, Cobb won't (or can't) say exactly what he's looking for, or why. As is typical in this genre, the truth is not revealed until the final pages. Along the way, Weaver meets a colorful assortment of characters, including a betel-nut chewing Company director, an obsessive-compulsive clerk, a bi-sexual bigamist inventor, the London silk-weavers' guild master and several varieties of international spy. |
28671849 | /m/0czczk3 | Querelles de famille | Georges Duhamel | null | {"/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | Georges Duhamel, the narrator, in a caustic and purposefully ultra-conversative tone, criticises the technological progress of the close of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century, and the beginnings of consumer society. Its omnipresent and haunting sounds, in particular that of the phonograph, drive him to promote the creation of a national park of silence. The "grime" which, according to him, surrounds the cities, due essentially to what he calls the "société du fer blanc" (the tinplate society), is an annoyance to him. Inventors, who continue to create superficial objects, are called on to no longer submit new patents. The Church seems to Duhamel to be the next target of technological progress, and he fears the introduction of the phonograph into religious establishments for the purpose of playing chants and sacred music, and even, ultimately, replacing the sermons of the priest. Man in this society of uncontrolled technological progress loses his bearings, hungers for the latest invention and ends up hyponchondriac on its behalf, waiting feverishly for its smallest malfunction and bringing it in at the slightest sign of failure. Through several characters who become slaves to their appliances, moving from the electric pump to the car or the "téhésef", Duhamel vehemently attacks interwar French society using a backward-looking tone. Ultimately, he submits two measures to the President of the Republic, which according to him, would counter the consumerist trend in the population. In one, he proposes the creation of a Ministry of Advertising, charged with verifying the validity of corporate slogans in order to scientifically validate the "measurable and non-measurable" assertions which these corporations use to sell their products. In the other, he asks for the creation of a Ministry of Noise, charged with legislating schedules for the use of musical appliances and radios on beaches, with studying the impact of noise on health, with proposing industrial procedures for the neutralization of noise, and finally, his dream, with creating a national park of silence. |
28684181 | /m/0cz9c5n | The Secret Lives of Fortunate Wives | null | null | null | In the luxurious neighborhood of Hunting Hills, Ohio, Marti Dench realizes her husband is never around and suspects her husband is having an affair. At the same time, John Harding comes back from Prague with a new wife that is far from the normal size two socialites of Hunting Hill. The instant Marti hears John, a long time friend, is newly married, she experiences jealousy and believes that John is the real love of her life. She then sets out to seduce John and begin an affair with him. John's new (and second) wife, Clare Stark, has difficulty settling into life at Hunting Hills. Once a hot-shot journalist, Claire is now forced to be a stay-at-home wife as her new husband has a bad history with the only newspaper in town, and Claire has a romantic history with the chief editor of that paper. The other wives aren't so welcoming, and John's mother disapproves of Claire. Claire befriends Marti, who goes out of her way to invite Claire to their exclusive book club and throws a party in Claire and John's honour, but only as a ploy to get John into bed. Claire, none the wiser, continues to try and make friends with the other Hunting Hills wives. At Claire's first book club meeting, one of the wives, Karen Goss, calls for help from the police station. As everyone except Claire has been drinking, Claire drives down with Marti and Boots, John's ex-wife, to help her out. At the police station, confesses that she is confused about her sexuality, a result of her husband forcing her to commit sexual acts with other women. In an intimate rendezvous with her husband's secretary in Edgewater Park, Karen became the victim of a hate crime against homosexuals and was taken down to the police station to give a statement. She begs Claire to pull strings with Eric Schmaltz, the editor of the Cleveland Citizen newspaper, so that her name does not appear in the papers as she does not want to humiliate her family. Claire agrees to help Karen, but in a meeting with Eric, she is blackmailed into writing up an interview with a Hunting Hill wife who was convicted of manslaughter. Knowing how much her husband hates the idea of writing for the Cleveland Citizen, Claire devises a plan to get back at Eric for the blackmailing. Meanwhile, Jim Denton, Marti's husband, is caught in a compromising situation with Lisa, Marti's best friend, whom Jim is having an affair with. Having taken 4 Viagra pills, Jim's erection refuses to die down and he misses his meeting with an important client at the last minute. The client, Marguerite, is insulted at being stood up and withdraws all her money from the investment company Jim works at. It is revealed that Jim had been forging account statements to all his friends who invested with him, and with Marguerite's money gone, they are all essentially broke. At the party that Marti is throwing for them, Claire gets roped into a boring conversation with Karen's husband, while Marti gets John alone in the library. Marti throws herself at John, who feels something for her, but refuses her advances and leaves. Jim Denton arrives at the party, and Marti instantly forgets her rejection as she welcomes back her AWOL husband. While talking to Jim, Karen's husband makes an inappropriate comment about Karen's sexuality, causing her to run off and leave Hunting Hills. Jim's fraud is found out by his boss and his friends and he runs off, assuming the identity of an old fraternity brother. He divorces Marti over the phone, causing her to have a total breakdown. Marti calls John over to her house to comfort her, which he does. Claire get home in a celebratory mood after dropping off the article that she wrote, which had no relevance to the subject Eric wanted (pissing off Eric as he planned to put it on the front page). She calls Boots to ask for a cooking tip, who lets it drop that John is over at Marti's house and that they're having an affair. Devastated, Claire falls asleep on the couch. When she wakes up, John is standing over her holding the newspaper. He angrily asks her why her name is on an article about Karen Goss, and Claire accuses him of cheating. They fight and John storms out. Claire later bumps into Marti, who tells her that although she wanted to seduce John that night, he completely rejected her and all he did was talk about how great Claire was. Claire and Marti soon bond over her loss (husband and money), and they set off to find Jim. Seeing how hurt Claire is from the fight she had with John, Marti calls Eric and offers him an exclusive on her husband's fraud if he apologizes to Claire and John for deliberately placing Claire's name on an article she didn't have anything to do with. While Eric apologizes, Claire steps outside, only to be taken hostage by Jim, who's desperate to get the cops off his back. They wrestle, Jim's gun goes off, but luckily Claire is unharmed. All ends well as John and Claire make up, Jim gets sent to jail, and Marti gets an early inheritance from her dad. |
28688132 | /m/0czb12d | Amelia Bedelia | Peggy Parish | null | null | The silly Amelia Bedelia is hired as a maid for the wealthy Rogers family. Despite meaning well, Amelia cannot seem to do anything right. Mrs. Rogers gives her a list of chores to complete while the family goes out for the day. After choosing to make a lemon meringue pie to be nice, Amelia proceeds to take all the chores literally: she "dresses the chicken" in tiny clothes, "drawing the drapes" on a piece of notebook paper and "puts out the lights" by hanging them on the clothesline. When the Rogers return home, Mrs. Rogers is bewildered that none of the chores are done. On the verge of firing Amelia, she has a bite of Amelia's pie shoved in her mouth, and finds it so delicious she forgives Amelia and decides to keep her--but vows to write more explicit instructions in the future. |
28688869 | /m/0cz9d6z | The Grand Design | Leonard Mlodinow | 9/7/2010 | {"/m/01p4b_": "Popular science"} | The book examines the history of scientific knowledge about the universe. It starts with the Ionian Greeks, who claimed that nature works by laws, and not by the will of the gods. It later presents the work of Nicolaus Copernicus, who advocated the concept that the Earth is not located in the center of the universe. The authors then describe the theory of quantum mechanics using, as an example, the probable movement of an electron around a room. The presentation has been described as easy to understand by some reviewers, but also as sometimes "impenetrable," by others. The central claim of the book is that the theory of quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity together help us understand how universes could have formed out of nothing. The author writes: The authors explain, in a manner consistent with M-theory, that as the Earth is only one of several planets in our solar system, and as our Milky Way galaxy is only one of many galaxies, the same may apply to our universe itself: that is, our universe may be one of a huge number of universes. The book concludes with the statement that only some universes of the multiple universes (or multiverse) support life forms. We, of course, are located in one of those universes. The laws of nature that are required for life forms to exist appear in some universes by pure chance, Hawking and Mlodinow explain (see Anthropic Principle). |
28700143 | /m/0cz94_6 | Poil de carotte | Jules Renard | 1894 | {"/m/012jgz": "Autobiographical novel"} | The story of "Poil de carotte" is that of an unloved redheaded child, the victim of a cruel family. François Lepic, nicknamed Poil de carotte, grows up with a mother who hates him and a father who is indifferent to him. The reader follows the journey of this young boy, the relationships with his parents, with the world around him and with nature. Poil de carotte uses cunning to battle the daily humiliations he experiences and to stand up to the adult world. So, tragedy notwithstanding, the reader enjoys delightful, amusing, comical, and moving adventures. |
28701424 | /m/0cz9lv9 | Pichilemu Blues | null | 1993 | {"/m/05hgj": "Novel"} | The "Pichilemu Blues" story is situated in Pichilemu during the summer of 1973. The main characters are a group of teenagers that are discovering a world abounded with hippies, sexual revolutions, ideological transformations, own language (Chilean Spanish) and anxiety to change the world. |
28702156 | /m/0czf5lv | O Dinheiro | Miguel M. Abrahão | null | {"/m/01z4y": "Comedy"} | O Dinheiro,play written in 1976 - and revised by the author in other opportunities - is the best-known work of dramaturgy by Miguel M. Abrahão. Combining farce, comedy and elements of detective stories, the play tells the life of a family, imprisoned for twelve years in an isolated mansion, to receive the estate of the deceased uncle Josafá Paranhos I and where all members are subordinate to a testament unconventional. Each character presents an interesting pathological deviation, all linked to the habit of collecting something (syringes, boards, men, spiders), or fixed ideas (such as ET or famous characters in American films). At the end of these twelve years, advocates of Josafá, require that hosts in the mansion, a young man intern: Alexandre Pousa. And, coincidentally with his arrival, apparently accidental deaths begin to occur at the mansion, leaving the question in the air: murders or fatalities? |
28710780 | /m/0cz8k9y | Purge | Sofi Oksanen | 2010-04 | {"/m/0lsxr": "Crime Fiction", "/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"} | The plot begins in 1992 with an elderly woman, Aliide Truu, who lives in a remote portion of Estonia. The woman had isolated herself from the surrounding society and watches the youth of her nation, including her daughter, leaving the countryside for the more urban regions and Finland. One day while looking out the kitchen window, she discovers Zara, the granddaughter of her sister Ingel. Zara had been forced to partake in the sex trade by the Russian Mafia but escaped them. The only guide she had to help her find help, was a photograph from her grandmother with Aliide's name on it. The story then continues with a series of flashbacks which develops the relationship of Aliide and her sister, which hinged upon their competition for the love of Hans Pekk during World War II. The story ends as Aliide begins to reconcile herself with her jealousy of her sister and Zara's redemption from her disenchantment with the world caused by her sexual subjugation. The plot of Purge focuses on two main females, both of whom reviewers have commented on as complex and are integral to understanding the themes of the book. The novel begins with Aliide Truu, an elderly woman who has survived many of the horrors of the Soviet occupation of Estonia. The Aliide who the reader first meets has alienated herself from the local people, though strongly self-reliant. Though cloaked in a rough exterior, she represents a woman who has weathered considerable hardship. She has hardly anything in the way of motherly instinct, especially in regards to the other main character, Zara. Zara is the grandniece of Aliide and at the beginning of the book she is subjected to sex trafficking by the Russian mafia. Her interaction with her great-aunt eventually forces Aliide to reconstruct and confront the history of her past. Ultimately, Aliide is responsible for delivering Zara from the torments caused by the sexual violence persecuted against her. |
28713396 | /m/0cz87kn | Red Inferno: 1945 | Robert Conroy | 2/23/2010 | {"/m/0mz2": "Alternate history"} | Red Inferno: 1945 is a speculative fictional novel that depicts what could have happened if the Soviet Union had attempted to take all of Germany towards the end of World War II, and attacked American forces in the process, thus beginning World War III. The novel follows various historical figures and fictional characters as they battle the new enemy and deal with now defeated Germany, Japanese forces in the Pacific, and the newly created atomic bomb. The novel mostly centers around the survival of the entrapped American soldiers and German civilians in the besieged cities of Germany, the stories of Allied operations behind enemy lines to sabotage the Soviet forces, the intelligence divisions involved in deciphering Stalin's motives, and America's efforts to both hold off the Russians and defeat Japan in the Pacific simultaneously. The novel first introduces with what actual historical events happened in our timeline and then tells of the point of divergence of historical events before it tells its story; that in April 1945, the Allied forces in Europe under the command of Dwight Eisenhower halted all further advance into Nazi Germany at the Elbe River, all the while the Soviet Army battles whats left of the German forces on its way to Berlin. However in this timeline, instead of halting the Allied advance into Germany, the then-new US president Harry S. Truman authorizes the US Army to continue across the Elbe and head for Berlin to bring a quick end to the war, and thus guarantee the western nations' share of the to-be divided German capitol with their forces in the city. However, Soviet premier Joseph Stalin, despite the agreed terms of dividing Berlin and Germany amongst his mutual allies, wants to take Berlin for himself on the grounds that the Soviet Union best deserved to conquer its arch-enemy's capitol after the unparalleled brutality of the Eastern front. He even goes as far as to order the Soviet Army to attack any American forces on sight should they ever get near Berlin in order to intimidate the west into leaving Berlin to Russia. Eventually, the lead divisions of the US Army just 60 miles from Berlin encounter Soviet Armour and, as ordered, they open fire on the Americans and began to drive the US forces back across the Elbe. Word of the exchange between the American advance to Berlin and the Soviet forces reaches Moscow and Washington D.C., and it was confirmed that the US had crossed the agreed occupation boundaries. Stalin believes that both he and the US had voided the Yalta agreements and now technically meant that the United States and Soviet Union are de facto enemies. Combined with his paranoia of that the west wants to take Russia's chance of revenge on Germany from him and refuses to allow it, and with the invalidated post-war divide and already ensuing hostilities, he decides to conquer and occupy Germany and then all of Europe while Russia still has the chance, thus starting another World War. Eisenhower and the US Army gets pushed back across the Elbe while losing thousands of troops and a whole US armored division, along with fleeing German civilians and POWs are cut off from the main force and holed up in Potsdam, which the Soviets lay siege to throughout the duration of the war. Over the course of a few months from late April to August, the Soviet Army wages a war of attrition as their overwhelming numbers slowly force the Allies west across of Germany to the Weser, while the Soviets also try to divide the Allies by spreading communist influence to surrounding nations hoping to spark revolutions within the allied nations to hinder the Americans' efforts to hold the Soviets east of the Rhine. Part of the efforts to start in-fighting do work with Churchill's loss of position as Prime Minister to Clement Attlee and the Labour Party in the UK when the people of England violently protest that they are too tired to stay in the ensuing conflict; France and Italy are also plunged into the brink of civil war among their governments and their communist sympathizers, but the unrest is put down when the sympathizers are unwilling to kill their own countrymen, in fear of betrayal. The plans to hinder the American war effort eventually do back-fire on the Soviets as Switzerland and Finland cease their neutrality and allow Allied armies to cross their borders to the front lines, thus ensuring a continuous flow of troops and supplies to the Allied forces. The US Air Force also conducts long-range strategic bombing sorties into the Soviet Union with the introduction of the B-29 Superfortress from the Pacific campaign (diverted from its initial targets at Hiroshima, Nagasaki and the Kure and Yokosuka naval districts, which left them relatively intact), and target Soviet fuel and oil production, starving the Soviet Army of any means to conduct further offenses. Things also take a drastic turn when the remaining forces and government of former Nazi Germany sign an armistice with the Allies and agree to fight along side them against the Russians. Eventually the Russians cross the Weser but instead head for the Rhine, they turn north towards Dortmund, where it stores all of the American forces' weapons and supplies for the front line. It becomes apparent that if the Russians do capture it, they will have all the weapons needed to defeat the Allies in Europe (since the Russians have more men to fight then they do with weapons to arm them). But the massive storage depot of Dortmund is a ruse masterminded by Eisenhower to lure the bulk of the Soviet Army into one place in order to have it wiped out by the atomic bomb. The bomb is dropped and explodes over the Soviet Army's central divisions command center on the west side of the Weser to Dortmund on August 6, 1945, killing almost half a million Soviet soldiers instantly, including Georgy Zhukov and Vasily Chuikov. After another bomb dropped on Soviet forces in southern Germany, the Soviets are too demoralized to continue their advance and retreat in fear of more American nuclear attacks. With the war virtually lost and Stalin seen as their destroyer rather than savior, a coup erupts in the Soviet government as Stalin is ousted from and executed as a new politiburo seizes control and signs an armistice with the allies, withdrawing all their forces from Europe. With the Soviet Union's conquest of Europe stopped and after the surrender of Japan (with only the bombing of Hiroshima and not Nagasaki) World War II and III were finally over. The novel ends in the early winter of 1946, with communism collapsing and the Soviet republics breaking away from Russia to form their own sovereign nations parallel to the Commonwealth of Independent States today. China suffers from a civil war as a new communist government seizes power, and America becomes the world's sole nuclear superpower. All of Europe and Asia is in ruin as the exhausted troops, politicians, prisoners, and civilians alike of all nations involved in the conflict return home at last and begin to rebuild their world as they look forward to an uncertain but hopeful future. |
Subsets and Splits