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Golf in the Kingdom

Michael Murphy

10/1/1971

While on layover on his way to an ashram in India, Michael Murphy decides to play a round of golf at Burningbush, a famous local golf course. There he meets the mysterious and charismatic golf pro Shivas Irons who over a 24 hour period teaches him about golf and spirituality.

28723539

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This Above All

Eric Knight

1941

{"/m/050z5g": "Chivalric romance", "/m/098tmk": "War novel", "/m/01qxvh": "Romance novel"}

Spending leave together on the South Coast during the Battle of Britain and the beginning of the blitz, Clive and Prudence have an affair. Having survived Dunkirk, but having a crisis of conscience over what the war is being fought for and disgusted at the incompetence of the ruling elite, Clive decides not to return to the Army and to go absent without leave.

28724064

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A Casa

Miguel M. Abrahão

{"/m/01z4y": "Comedy"}

A Casa, tells a simple story, but its great strength lies in the description passionate and accomplice of the characters. The theme of the play revolves around a seemingly bitter and cynical idea: a woman should become a prostitute, to sustain itself without effort. Josinalda, a lady of strict principles, maintains in his house with his meager salary, Liduina, your sister, Fredegund, your niece, and Creuzilene, your neighbor . Life is peaceful and marked by seemingly commons issues until, unexpectedly, a bandit enters the residence of distinguished ladies, making them hostages. The play then becomes a police comedy, and thus a fascinating intellectual game of cat and mouse, where not everything looks, like really is.

28738140

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The End Of My Addiction

2009

{"/m/016chh": "Memoir"}

Olivier Ameisen is a French Doctor practising in New York. He has a private Cardiology practice, a varied social life, and work that he loves doing. He is a gifted pianist with a loving girlfriend. There is no reason for him to drink to excess and no history of drinking in his family, but nonetheless he becomes an alcoholic. The book starts with an embarrassing blackout episode and being treated in an emergency room by one of his ex-students. Ameisen attempts many different ways to stop drinking. He attends hundreds of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings, takes medication, goes to various expensive rehabs, and seeks the guidance of educated friends. For fear of harming patients, he quits practising and closes his business. Nothing that he tries works and he continues to relapse, regardless of the consequences. He starts to drink so much he is no longer aware if it night or day, and regularly ends up needing medical treatment for injuries sustained while drinking. He is eventually committed to hospital as a result of an intervention, and faces the loss of his New York medical licence, along with financial ruin caused by expensive stays in rehab and unemployment. Losing everything in New York, he returns home to France to live with his elderly mother. He keeps drinking and is committed to hospital again by his family. Olivier's mother dies and he begins to feel there is no chance of controlling his drinking. His girlfriend sends him an article about Baclofen. He begins experimenting with taking the drug, and finds this drug removes all his cravings for alcohol. The second part of the book details his attempts to get his findings fully researched and published, and ends with a call for more research. Despite his achievements, Ameisen relates how he has been plagued by feeling of insecurity and anxiety, and suffered panic attacks throughout his life.

28751700

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Westwind

Ian Rankin

1990

{"/m/01jfsb": "Thriller"}

The Zephyr computer system monitors the progress of the United Kingdom's only spy satellite. When this system briefly goes offline, the book's main characters Hepton and Dreyfuss (the sole survivor of a space shuttle crash) have the only key to the enigma that must be solved if both men are to stay alive.

28755850

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Room

Emma Donoghue

2010

{"/m/0488wh": "Literary fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"}

The novel begins on the fifth birthday of Jack, who lives with his Ma in Room, a small enclosed space containing a small kitchen, a bathtub, a wardrobe, a bed and a TV set. Since it is all he has ever known, Jack likes living in Room and believes that it constitutes the real world, while everything he sees on TV is completely separate and not real. Jack and his Ma are "looked after" by Old Nick (so called for his satanic traits). He visits Room on most nights (via a door secured with an electric combination lock) to bring food and to go to bed with Ma while Jack sleeps in the wardrobe. Ma tries her best to keep Jack healthy via both physical and mental exercises, keeping a healthy diet, limiting TV watching time, and strict body and oral hygiene. She herself suffers from severe toothaches and has to take painkillers regularly. A week after Jack's birthday, Ma learns that Old Nick has been unemployed for six months. Combined with an incident in which Jack startles Old Nick during the night, causing him to behave violently towards Ma and cut the power in Room for several days, this prompts her to decide that maintaining the status quo is too dangerous. She tells Jack that much of what he sees on TV is part of the real world outside Room, which Jack finds conceptually hard to believe. Ma recalls how she was abducted from college at the age of 19, had another child before Jack (a baby girl), who died at birth because the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck, and how Old Nick broke Ma's wrist during an unsuccessful escape attempt. She decides that she and Jack have to escape as soon as possible, and that the only workable plan is to simulate Jack's death, that night she demands that Old Nick take Jack to a hospital, because he is "sick", Old Nick refuses, afraid that the boy will inform the authorities about Room, so he leaves, the next night, Ma wraps Jack in their rug, and she convinces Old Nick to dispose of the wrapped body in a remote location, and on the way there have Jack escape and alert the authorities. The plan is executed and works out okay. Jack jumps off the truck a few blocks away from "Room", but Old Nick hears him and chases him up the street, Jack runs to a man named Ajeet,and his dog Raja bites Jack on the finger, Then old Nick catches up to Jack and grabs him by the waist, Ajeet is afraid for Jack so he pretends to call the police, Old Nick releases Jack and runs to his truck and drives away. Then Ajeet really calls the police. The officers quickly realize the seriousness of the case and, despite communication problems, Jack manages to give them enough information to locate Room and free Ma. The two were taken to a mental hospital, where they get medical care and Ma is reunited with her family, not entirely without conflicts. It is revealed that since Ma's abduction, her parents are now divorced, and her older brother is married with a three year-old daughter. Old Nick is found and faces several charges of abduction, rape, and child-endangerment that will likely lead to twenty-five years to life in jail. Jack however, has problems coping with the suddenly much larger world and wants to return to Room. Meanwhile, the case has attracted much attention from the public and the mass media, making it even harder for Jack and his mother to start leading a normal life. After a television interview that ends badly, Ma suffers a mental breakdown and Jack lives with his grandmother for some days. During this time Jack becomes even more confused by his surroundings, including his new extended family. Being separated from Ma is hard on Jack, but he slowly starts to adjust to the many changes in his life. Eventually, Ma and Jack move into an Independent Living residence. Jack gets his own room, and comes to accept the drastic changes in young life. At Jack's request, they go on a last visit to Room where Jack says goodbye to the items that used to make up his world, ending the book on a happy note.

28758062

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The Daydreamer

Ian McEwan

The book comprises seven interlinked stories about a young boy, Peter Fortune, whose daydreams place him into various fantastic situations: he discovers a cream that makes people vanish; transforms into a cat, a baby, a doll, and, in the last story, an adult. He is 10 years old at the start of the novel and 12 at the end.

28759407

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The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age

Simon Schama

{"/m/03g3w": "History"}

In his attempt to make a systematic overview of the Dutch Golden Age culture, Schama cites an eclectic list of period source materials from all over the world, including emblem books, period histories and novels, cookbooks, scientific discoveries, bankruptcy files, religious works, and period art including prints, paintings, sculpture, architecture and stained glass windows. He revisits Dutch Golden Age morals, from how they brought up their children, to how they mourned their dead. His conclusion is that through the continuous battle against the waters of the North Sea, the Dutch spirit can be summed up in the motto of Zeeland, scene of many floods from dike breaches, Luctor et Emergo, or I struggle and emerge. The book is easy to read and is more a group of separate essays than a cohesive unit, making it a good candidate for reading in short installments or as a quick reference for various aspects of the subject.

28771603

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The House of Arden

E. Nesbit

1908

{"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"}

Two impoverished children, Edred and Elfrida Arden, inherit the decrepit Arden Castle and search for the lost family fortune that will allow them to rebuild it. With the assistance of the magical Mouldiwarp, they travel back in time to earlier periods of English history, searching for clues.

28773934

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Love and Glory

The protagonist tells of his days at an eastern college in the United States, where he falls in love with a girl but is unable to win her. He leaves school to become a writer, but drink and his frank comments lose him his day jobs before he can become a real writer. He spirals down, moving west, while drinking and taking ever-lower jobs. Along the way, he gets sent to Korea during the Korean War. Finally, he hits bottom, but with a mis-interpreted line from The Great Gatsby, his enduring love for his unrequited love, and the good luck of getting a job from someone, he is able to turn himself around. All the time, the one thing he has been able to hold onto is his collection of unsent letters to his love. After he has regained health and direction, he returns to the east to be near his love and to work his way to being a writer. He re-enters school and winds up getting his doctorate in English at the same time she does. Through his years of finishing his bachelor's, and getting his graduate degrees, he gets closer to her, eventually becoming more than a friend, and convincing her that she should divorce her successful husband, who is the head of the English Department, to marry the protagonist.

28789481

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The Stranger Next Door

Amélie Nothomb

{"/m/05hgj": "Novel"}

There is a boy named Alex and his brother Clifford. Their family has to move away because a family member did something bad. They have to change everything to Birth sertificates to Social security numbers. Clifford is going to be a bad student in middle school.

28789487

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Cosmétique de l'ennemi

Amélie Nothomb

{"/m/05hgj": "Novel"}

"Without wanting to, I have committed the perfect crime: nobody saw me coming, except for the victim. The proof, I am still free." The whole story takes place at an airport's hall: Jérôme Angust, a man on a business trip, waits for a delayed flight. He meets another "cosmetic" man, Textor Texel, who becomes his executioner and keeps harassing him till the end, in a dialogue worthy of Hygiène de l'assassin.

28795979

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As Comadres

Miguel M. Abrahão

1978

{"/m/01z4y": "Comedy"}

Beth Beast, feminist leader, reversing the prevailing values and seeking to take over and lead women around the country to assume a dominant position and autocratic before men, resolves to promote a congress in his home in order to educate the girls of the true status of women in society. The problem occurs when Amelia, submissive neighbor, decides to participate in discussions and carries with her husband Almeida, a typical macho incorrigible.

28798311

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Medusa: A Tiger by the Tail

Jack L. Chalker

1983

{"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"}

He wakes up on the prison ship and realizes that "he" is a copy. He is in the body of a 13 year old boy named Tarin Bul, a boy who had killed the man who killed his father. The boy had his mind wiped and the Agent's mind placed in it. The ship is taking him to Medusa, the farthest out of the Diamond worlds, and the coldest. At the newcomer orientation, he learns that technology works just fine on Medusa, and due to the Warden powers, all people infected can adapt to the extreme cold automatically. It is not revealed to him that the adaptive ability is quite comprehensive, and with proper sensitization to the Wardens, one could become almost any life form. It is a totalitarian society, one headed by Talant Ypsir, who has helped perfect a system of complete surveillance of nearly all parts of the cities of the planets, overseen by The Monitor Service, who are the both the police and secret police. Given his age, he is hampered in his drive for social mobility, as it will be some years before he is old enough for any real job. He is paired with a girl and assigned a communal apartment unit. He achieves some degree of progress when The Monitor Service calls him in and it is proposed that he be an informer. TMS plans to give him a promotion that will put him in the position of being recruited by an underground group of revolutionaries who wish to overthrow the system, and who may be in league with other such groups on other Diamond worlds. "Tarin" agrees to do this, though his sympathies already lie with the revolutionaries, and he still intends to complete his mission of assassinating the Lord of Medusa. He is recruited, and quickly demonstrates to the cabal that he is a far better recruit than they had thought, given his genetically enhanced background and social training as an administrator and assassin. He then embarks on playing both sides, with the unwitting aid of the Major in TMS who recruited him who gives his girlfriend a mindprinter program that allows her to support Tarin no matter which side he is on. The revolutionists are eventually caught, and the Major is implied to have been arrested for perhaps not being loyal, and thus Tarin and his girlfriend must escape the city into the wild. They do so, accompanied by three other women, one who dies during the escape. Tarin and three remaining women find themselves alone in the frozen tundra, where they discover that their bodies have adapted quite well. Tarin speculates that if they can find "the Wild Ones", the people who left when the controls became to oppressive, they might have a pool of shape-shifting revolutionaries to draw upon so that he can still complete his mission. The Wild Ones eventually find them, and take them to a semi-religious meeting place of these nomads where they are introduced to the elders. These people have control of their Wardens and can shape-shift, and advise Tarin to go to a specific point on Medusa where people can directly detect the Warden consciousness. After a long trek with a group of pilgrims, Tarin manages to do so, and senses what feels like an enormous computer that notes him, but is unconcerned with him. It explains to him why there seems to be a form of planet worship on each of the Warden worlds. On the way back, creatures he believes to be the aliens kill off most of the group, and capture his girlfriend. Tarin sees that the aliens give the captured people to The Monitor Service, who take them to a city in a shuttle. Tarin shifts into a bird to fly after them. Reaching the city, he takes what he believes to be a brief nap, due to the exhausting flight. He awakes and using his shape shifting abilities tries to track his girlfriend down. He is caught, though, as he had actually slept a full day. He is taken up to a space station to await being mindwiped and transformed into a "Goodtime Girl", a sex slave for the amusement of the powerful. Once there, Tarin learns that Talant Ypsir knows he's a Confederacy Assassin, and plans to change Tarin into a special Goodtime Girl who is unusually sexy and developed, but whose mind will be that of a low-IQ sex slave programmed to submit to all of Talant's desires, and to protect him from any danger. The programmer who is to wipe Tarin's mind is not a loyal support of Talant's, though, and inserts a sub-program such that if Tarin, to be renamed "Ass", sees Talant Ypsir and his two immediate subordinates and successors at the same time, that "she" will go into overdrive and kill them all. At this point the story must shift to the Agent in the picket ship, who calls himself "Mr. Carroll", a Lewis Carroll reference as one of the planets of the Warden system is named "Momrath" with a moon named "Boojum" from Carroll's poem "The Hunting of the Snark". This is because the organic transmitter in Tarin Bul's head has been removed during his transformation. The Agent, Mr. Carroll, believes he now has enough information to know what the alien motives are, and what the Confederacy's likely response is to be. He submits his report to the Confederacy, in which he states his belief that the aliens, called the Altavar, are using the Warden worlds as incubators for their next generation of young, and that any threat to those worlds from the Confederacy would be viewed as genocide. He next arranges a meeting of the Four Lords, the Confederacy representatives and the Altavar, for purposes of working out a peaceable solution. The Confederacy offers to cede control of the Warden Diamond to the aliens, and to not approach the system at all. The Altavar surprise the Confederacy by rejecting this. The Altavar cite the Confederacy's - and humanity's - long standing history of only honoring treaties until they feel safe enough to destroy the other party. To this the Confederacy cannot deny, as it is to obviously true. The Altavar reluctantly offer a counter-proposal, one in which the Confederacy cease all its activities in space, and put every spaceship humanity has under the direct control of the Altavar for the next three centuries. This is rejected out of hand, and the Altavar are told that unless they accept the Confederacy's proposal, that one of the Warden worlds - Medusa - will be destroyed. This does not go over well with Talant Ypsir, who realizes that he will no longer be a Lord. A week is given to evacuate the planet's population to Charon. When the time runs out and the Confederacy attacks, a surprising thing happens. The planet, in the process of being destroyed, seems to shimmer, and a globe of an energy-like substance emerges and rushes at the fleet, destroying it. It turns out that there was a second alien race involved: the Coldah, who are planet-sized beings who enjoy merging with a planet and changing it into a human-habitable one for reasons known only to them. The Warden Organism is just a tool of theirs to do so. The Altavar were accidentally destroyed by the Coldah long ago, and after fighting it for centuries, gave up and became its assistants. The book closes with the knowledge that the Confederacy will now be collapsing due to the reprisals of the Altavar, but holds out hope when it is revealed that the humans on the Warden worlds have a symbiosis and rapport with the Coldah that the Altavar had never achieved. It is speculated that a future humanity may have all the powers of those on the Warden worlds, the ability to create and destroy by force of mind, adapt to anything, and swap bodies at will. The three copied agents are shown as being directed to the different points on their planets that will allow them to gain the most control over their Warden powers. And in the final scene, Mr. Carroll arranges a meeting with Talant Ypsir and Talant's two subordinates. When he tells "Ass" (his copy turned into a sexy female bodyguard) the names of the three, the subprogram psych command kicks in, and "she" kills all three of them. In the end then, even Tarin fulfilled his mission.

28804044

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Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife

Sam Savage

{"/m/02yq81": "Comic novel", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"}

Firmin, is a rat and the runt son of an alcoholic mother living in 1960s Boston, has been forced to survive on the pages of novels from the bookstore in which he dwells. At first everything holds the same taste, but in time Firmin begins to notice subtle changes between books, and eventually he learns to read.

28806378

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Out of the Dark

David Weber

9/28/2010

{"/m/0l13q": "Alien invasion"}

The Galactic Hegemony, an alliance of assorted alien races, sent a research and survey group to Earth (designated as "KU-197-20") for assessment. The ship arrived in Earth's orbit in the 15th century, during the Hundred Years' War. The survey group observed the Battle of Agincourt between the English and French, and were horrified of humanity's feriocity and cruelty - being that war and violence rarely happened among the Hegemony. By the 2010s, the Hegemony has reviewed the survey on Earth and is instantly repulsed. Seeing as humans are similar to a recent species reluctantly admitted to their alliance, the carnivorous, wolf-like Shongairi, the pacifist Hegemony decides to send the Shongairi to see humanity's submission or extinction before humanity will reach the same level as the Shongairi, seeing that as the "lesser of two evils", rather than a second Shongair Empire. The Shongairi see value in the human race as slave soldiers and decide to conquer Earth and make humans their subjects. Once their expedition reaches Earth, they are surprised at humanity's advancement in only six hundred years, at six times the galactic norm. Fleet Commander Thikair orders his fleet to continue the conquest by hacking into human military computer systems and laying a series of Kinetic strikes on nearly every military installation, naval fleet, and major city on the planet with Kinetic Energy Weapons, wiping out half of the human population. Expecting that this attack has crippled the humans, the Shongairi land their forces, concentrating on Europe and North America. The expect humans to surrender immediately, since the Shongairi and other alien races have a natural "submission mechanism". However, the surviving remnants of humanity begin a massive guerrilla war against the Shongairi, who have never before fought an advanced race. For every successful human attack, the Shongairi retaliate with an orbital strike on the attackers or any nearby survivors to inflict submission. The conflict lasts over two months, during which nearly half the expedition's landing forces are killed, leading Shongairi xenoanthropologist Shairez discovers the reason the humans do not submit: they lacked the "submission mechanism", and their mindset (such as morality and altruism) evolved differently from any other known Hegemony species. Attempting to subjugate them would be the height of folly, as humanity - completely unable to forgive the Shongairi for what they had done to Earth - would undoubtedly feign surrender and subsequently betray them. As a result, Thikair decides to carry out the Hegemony's order to exterminate the humans by developing a targeted bioweapon specifically designed to wipe out all humans. Efforts of creating the bioweapon involve capturing humans and transporting them to "Ground Base Seven", located west of the Black Sea, and "Ground Base Two" in North Carolina, where the weapon is to be released. Yet, in the following weeks, several bases in Europe and North America are wiped out by unknown attackers who leave no sign except for their handiwork. Eventually, nearly every Shongairi base on Earth is destroyed, forcing Thikair to get his remaining forces off the planet and proceeding to outright destroy Earth from orbit. However, their dreadnoughts are immediately hijacked following the evacuation and destroy the rest of the fleet. Thikair is confronted by the hijackers, the same enemy that attacked the bases: vampires. The Shongairi commander is brought before their leader, Mircea Basarab, who is actually the immortal Vlad the Impaler, whom humans remember as Dracula. He and his kind have been hibernating and kept hidden before the Shongairi's arrival forced them to "protect" the people of Earth by creating more vampires and build an army to eliminate the Shongairi. With Shongairi ships now in the possession of humans and vampires, in a way the aliens' arrival has allowed humanity and their new allies to become exactly what the Hegemony had feared. The hijacked dreadnoughts are sent to each of the Shongairi worlds to destroy their Empire. Thikair is slain by one of the vampires, Stephen Buchevsky, whose human family was killed by the initial bombardment. Humanity now possesses Shongairi and Hegemony technology from the Shongairi industrial ships, and is fully united under the newly established Terran Empire, becoming a mighty adversary to the Hegemony.

28809465

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Embassytown

China Miéville

5/6/2011

{"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"}

Embassytown takes place mostly in the title city, on the planet Arieka. Embassytown exists on the very edge of the "Manchmal" (from the German for "sometimes"), which is suspected to be the third iteration of the known universe, and which, given its distance from everything else, is only accessible by sailing through the "Immer" (from the German for "always"), a permanent universe with differing concepts of time and space. Avice Benner Cho is an "Immerser", a traveller on the Immer, who has returned to her childhood home from her adventures in the "Out". Arieka is a planet on which humans and "exots", a term for exotic extra-terrestrials, co-exist with the indigenous, enigmatic Ariekei — otherwise known as the Hosts. Few people can speak the language of the Hosts (which is referred to only as Language) as it requires the orator to speak two words at once; those who can are genetically-engineered linguist twins known as Ambassadors, bred solely for this purpose. The Ambassadors speak with two mouths and one mind and as such can be understood by the Ariekei, who do not recognise any other form of speech, allowing for trade in their valuable technology. Embassytown is a colony of a nation called Bremen; and these trade goods, along with Embassytown's unique position at the edge of the universe, mean that it is a colony of vital importance to them. The relationship between humans and Ariekei has proceeded in relative tranquillity for many years, however when a new Ambassador arrives, named , who has not been genetically engineered to speak Language, yet can still manage to, everything changes. The speech of the new, Bremen-engineered, Ambassador intoxicates the Hosts and results in the entire Ariekei population becoming addicted to the Ambassador's speech regardless of what is said, to the extent that they cannot live without it. * Avice Benner Cho — Embassytown native and Immerser, husband to Scile and lover of CalVin. * Scile — non-native linguist and husband to Avice; believes that Language should remain as it is regardless of the consequences. * (or CalVin) — Ambassador of high standing, lover of Avice Benner Cho. * (or MagDa) — head Ambassador. * (or EzRa) — new, Bremen engineered, Ambassador consisting of two non-identical people. Also known as the "God Drug". * Bren — ex-Ambassador still living in Embassytown and advisor to Avice, one half of the "cleaved" Ambassador BrenDan. * Ehrsul — an "autom" (from automaton), best friend of Avice. * Wyatt — Bremen's contact on Embassytown. * Hasser — a human "simile" used by the Ariekei as part of Language. Killer of . * (or Beehive) — the most successful Ariekei liar ever. Is murdered by Hasser during the Festival of Lies. * Spanish Dancer — an Ariekei with markings reminiscent of a Spanish dancer who is interested in the similes and a follower of . * YlSib (formerly ) — ex-Ambassador living in the Host city; Bren's contact.

28813637

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Hygiene and the Assassin

Amélie Nothomb

1992

{"/m/05hgj": "Novel"}

The famous novelist Prétextat Tach is stricken by "Elzenveiverplatz syndrome" (an imaginary syndrome invented by the author), a cancer of the cartilage, and has only two more months to live. Almost immediately, many journalists rush to interview Tach for a scoop. However, after the first few interviews, the reader realizes that Tach is an obese and obnoxious misanthrope of the worst kind: acerbic, intolerant, a provocateur and a misogynist, who cannot tolerate any questions about his private life and has the audacity to turn the interviews into a cesspool of disgust for his interviewers. Thus, all the interviews fall short, until a relatively unknown journalist becomes the latest victim of the novelist. Unlike all the other journalists before, however, this journalist is a woman, so that the interview quickly takes the form of a confrontation between the journalist and the Nobel literature prize laureate. In a locked room full of mysteries, she will challenge the odious misogyny of Tach and, as the questions and answers wear on, confront Tach with the demons of his former life.

28814472

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Art and Crime

Art crime has received relatively little scholarly attention. And yet it involves a multi-billion dollar legitimate industry, with a conservatively-estimated $6 billion annual criminal profit. (US Department of Justice website) Information and scholarly analysis of art crime is critical to the wide variety of fields involved in the art trade and art preservation, from museums to academia, from auction houses to galleries, from insurance to art law, from policing to security. Since the Second World War, art crime has evolved from a relatively innocuous crime, into the third highest-grossing annual criminal trade worldwide, run primarily by organized crime syndicates, and therefore funding their other enterprises, from the drug and arms trades to terrorism. It is no longer merely the art that is at stake. The book is an interdisciplinary essay collection on the study of art crime, and its effect on all aspects of the art world. Essayists discuss art crime subcategories, including vandalism, iconoclasm, forgery, fraud, peace-time theft, war looting, archaeological looting, smuggling, submarine looting, and ransom. The contributors conclude their analyses with specific practical suggestions to implement in the future.

28824609

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Sun Horse, Moon Horse

Rosemary Sutcliff

1977

{"/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"}

The story revolves around Lubrin Dhu, a younger son of the chieftain, who takes after the Little Dark People who predated the Celtic settlers of the Iceni tribe; and whose name "Dhu" is related to Gaelic "Dubh", reflecting his darker appearance. Much is made of cultural differences between the reigning Celts, who are associated with fair hair and skin, and the original Chthonic Little Dark People, who are associated with darker complexions and a closeness with the earth. This cultural contrast again comes to fore when the Iceni, being associated with the moon, are subjugated by the Attribates, who are associated with the Sun. Lubrin Dhu's upbringing allows the reader to witness the culture of his people, from a somewhat "outside" point of view, as he is considered different to his people, on account of his darker color, reserved personality, and attraction to art. His people are matrilineal, with leadership going to the husband of Lubrin's sister. His father's status as chieftain derives from being married to the "woman of the tribe", and is intertwined with his duty to lay down his life for the tribe if needed, a duty which later descends to Lubrin Dhu. After their tribe is vanquished by the Attribates and their Strong Place occupied, Lubrin Dhu finds himself nominal leader of the survivors, his father and older brothers having been killed in battle. He strikes a bargain with the conquering chieftain, who will free Lubrin's people after completion of a monumental horse carved from the hillside. This figure becomes the Uffington White Horse. The novel's title reflects how the horse connects both the Solar attributes of the Attribates and the Lunar attributes of the Iceni, being considered an invocation to Epona. Lubrin Dhu ultimately voluntarily sacrifices himself for the consecration of the horse, fulfilling his duty as a chieftain's son, and offering a depiction of possible Celtic blood sacrifice. The theme of the novel revolves around conflicting cultures, and the duties assumed and performed by individuals within those cultures. The duties of a king are shown in many of her novels, including Sword at Sunset and The Mark of the Horse Lord, and have been credited as being influenced by James Frazer's The Golden Bough.

28826019

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The Dark Volume

Gordon Dahlquist

2007

{"/m/05hgj": "Novel", "/m/06www": "Steampunk"}

The novel follows the ongoing adventures of the three protagonists of The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters and is set in what appears to be an alternative Victorian past in a series of alternative Baltic or Teutonic states. The story began as a sequel to Dahlquist's earlier, complex fantasy novel, but eventually develops into a much larger work.

28826248

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The Book of Proper Names

Amélie Nothomb

2002

{"/m/05hgj": "Novel"}

In a vaguely surreal story, an extraordinary little girl is born from strange circumstances - her mother murdered her father, gave birth in prison, and then hanged herself. Plectrude, as the girl is unfortunately named by her mother, is adopted by her aunt and lives a fairy-like existence until she enrolled into the Paris Opera Ballet School, a rigorous institution portrayed as a "scalpel to slice away the last flesh of childhood." fr:Robert des noms propres nl:Robert des noms propres

28826251

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Loving Sabotage

Amélie Nothomb

1993

{"/m/05hgj": "Novel"}

Based on the author's experiences as the daughter of diplomats stationed in Beijing from 1972 to 1975, Loving Sabotage follows the seven-year old narrator living in communist China along with the numerous unsupervised children of various nationalities spend their time fashioning an elaborate and ruthless game of war, designating the East German contingent as the enemy. Among these children is the indifferent Elena, who the narrator quickly becomes completely infatuated with and goes to great lengths to win her adoration. fr:Le Sabotage amoureux it:Sabotaggio d'amore nl:Le Sabotage amoureux ro:Sabotaj din iubire

28826710

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A Man Could Stand Up --

Ford Madox Ford

1926

A Man Could Stand Up — is the climax of the series, though it is volume 3. It opens on Armistice Day, in Valentine Wannop’s school, and the three chapters which make up the first Part are punctuated by fireworks exploding and the celebrations taking place in the surrounding streets. Valentine is on the telephone, having been called away from her duties as a physical instructress. It is around 11 a.m., and the excessive background noise means she cannot hear who it is on the phone. It eventually transpires that Edith Ethel Duchemin (now Lady Macmaster) is informing her that Christopher Tietjens is in London once more and in need of help. It is a tortuous conversation. Edith Ethel is malicious, and has managed to link Valentine’s name compromisingly with Tietjens’ in an earlier part of her conversation – which she had with her headmistress. By the end of this call, and the other conversation in Part I (between Valentine and the Head) we have been reminded of significant events from Some Do Not . . ., as well as of the characters of those involved. Valentine has also reflected on her place in what is now the after-war world, and decided that if he still wants her she will attach herself, for good or ill, to Christopher, whom she loves. Part II shifts time and place dramatically, returning us to the front on a morning in April, 1918. Tietjens is enjoying a brief period of calm, and a conversation with his sergeant, but soon, the noises of war begin. The bombardments which take place in this novel are perhaps less bloody and desperate than in No More Parades, though Tietjens does remember at one point the terrible death of O9 Morgan. Up to and even including the final explosive scene, with one notable exception, Tietjens’ emotional and psychological responses under fire are also subject to a greater sense of an evolving character. Ford, against the background of high tension, is carefully setting out the ways in which his hero will change. From the start of Part II the process is in train which culminates in Tietjens’ own declaration as to his place in the post-war world: he will retreat from his professional and personal encumbrances in order to live with Valentine and sell antiques to make a living. Part III of A Man Could Stand Up — begins as Valentine comes to Gray’s Inn in order to meet Christopher. Mrs Wannop, Valentine’s mother, and wife of Christopher’s father’s oldest friend, finds out, and seeks to prevent them becoming lovers. She telephones them, appealing to them both in different, highly manipulative, ways. While she talks to Tietjens, Valentine begins to learn about his war experiences as men from his unit arrive, honouring their promises to look him up; Tietjens, meanwhile, has confessed something of his continuing psychological and emotional terrors to Mrs Wannop. The drunken celebration and dance which ensues contains within it all the tensions of the inter-relationships between the men, as well as their combined experiences. Valentine finds herself thinking of Sylvia Tietjens more than once. The energy of the dance is compelling, and, a microcosm of Armistice Day, it draws volume 3 of Parade's End to a close.

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Conan the Great

Leonard Carpenter

{"/m/0dz8b": "Sword and sorcery", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"}

After a victorious war against the invading armies of Nemedia and Ophir, King Conan of Aquilonia rescues from the battlefield the dwarf Delvyn, jester to the enemy kings. Delvyn, however, is not the fool he appears, but the secret driving force behind the invasion. The ambitious devotee of an evil demon, he seeks a king powerful enough to spread its worship throughout the world. In the wake of his former patrons' failure to conquer Aquilonia, he believes his new employer both strong enough to unite the Hyborian nations and pliant enough to establish his universal cult. Skillfully insinuating himself into the king's confidence, the scheming jester plays on Conan's concerns over the resurgent strength of the kingdom of Koth under its new ruler, the mysterious, amoral and ruthless Prince Armiro. In a contest for empry, Aquilonia extends its conquests to the east while Koth drives west, crushing the realms between them as they approach their inevitable clash. The king is estranged from former friends and supporters and dependant on his new hanger-on as Delvyn feeds Conan's vainglory. Only the revelation that Armiro is his own son by his former lover, Queen Yasmala of Khoraja, stops Conan at the brink and spurs him to shake the jester's baleful influence.

28832041

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Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer

John Grisham

2010

{"/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature"}

Strattenburg's biggest criminal trial in a while drew a lot of attention, and the township largely suspected the defendant was guilty. He was charged with murdering his wife, but the lack of direct evidence created a problem for the prosecutor. Indeed, it seemed almost the perfect murder. Things were going so well for Pete Duffy, the defendant, that he was almost confident of acquittal. The protagonist is the last chance for the prosecution to salvage their case and get the conviction. Theodore Boone grew up an only child with two lawyers as parents. The husband and wife team make up the firm of Boone & Boone and have raised Theodore, who is extremely law sexyy and good with people, and who knows most of the legal sector in the town. He is on speaking-terms with the criminal judge and has a reputation amongst his classmates for solving day-to-day legal problems, like rescuing a dog from the pound via Animal Court

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The Very Bad Book

Andy Griffiths

8/31/2010

{"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"}

Much like its predecessor, The Bad Book, which turned standard children's fairy tales and nursery rhymes on their head by rewriting them as the "bad" version, this book contains a number of tales that are "very bad". The characters are very bad, the illustrations are very bad, and the poems and jokes are all very bad, all with the aim of delighting the children (and their parents) who will read this book. There are 51 stories, poems, jokes, etc. in all.

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How the Hangman Lost His Heart

Alice Towneley's beloved uncle, Colonel Frank Towneley, has just been executed by Dan Skinslicer for supporting Prince Bonnie Charlie during the Second Jacobite Rebellion. After the drawing and quartering, Dan expresses his sympathy towards Alice and remarks that Frank was the first condemned to have his eyes wide open during his execution.

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The House on Falling Star Hill

The novel's protagonist is Tim, a boy, who befriends a girl (Sarre) from another world. The two travel to a fantastic kingdom where an evil duke is plotting malevolence and where huge birds, used as transport, are menaced by disease spores. With the help of a group of roving merchants and minstrels, and a warrior, the children save the kingdom.

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Memoirs of an Invisible Man

1987

{"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"}

Nicholas Halloway is a 34-year-old Manhattan securities analyst who writes a narrative memoir (presumably this book) of his life starting on the day of an accident which renders him invisible. He recounts his involvement in a romantic affair with Anne Epstein, a woman who has taken interest in his aptitude for business and is a reporter for the Times. He escorts her to MicroMagnetics where scientists are holding a press conference for research on the magnetic containment of a nuclear process. While there, Nick sees a group of Marxist student protesters who demonstrate nuclear catastrophe by attempting to explode a cat. To get everyone away from the MicroMagnetics presentation, they cut off power to the laboratory where nuclear equipment is operating. The control computers lose function and in a flash of eerie light, everything in a fifty-foot radius becomes invisible, including Nick. Nick later wakes up in astonishment concluding that his limbs were blown off, that he became a ghost, and finally that he became invisible. Military personnel quickly set up fences and camps around the site and they soon discover Nick's presence. They lose his trust by bringing a net and he overhears that they plan to give him to scientists and enlist him for military espionage, while disregarding his personal liberty for national security. He decides to loot miscellaneous invisible items, shoot the leg and waist of a captor, and set fire to the building in the process of escaping. He goes back to his apartment and discovers that food becomes invisible after being digested over a long time. He can remain invisible for the rest of his life and must surmount obstacles of invisibility that wouldn't affect a visible person, for instance, driving, working, sheltering, etc. While avoiding government agents, he arranges a fake paper identity and authorizes funds to make himself a millionaire while ending up in the care of Alice Monroe, a red-blonde woman in her late twenties.

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The Color of Crime

1998

The Color of Crime provides an overview of race, crime, and law, beginning with a discussion of slavery. Russell-Brown writes that crime and young black men have become synonymous in the American mind, giving rise to the "criminalblackman" stereotype. The book popularised the term "racial hoax", which Russell-Brown defines as occurring when someone fabricates a crime and blames it on another person because of their race or when an actual crime has been committed and the perpetrator falsely blames someone because of their race. It gives the cases of Susan Smith, Jesse Anderson, and Charles Stuart as examples of racial hoaxes. She proposes six principles to achieve fairness in the criminal justice system: # Criminal penalties apply to everyone, regardless of the race of the offender. # Criminal penalties apply to everyone, regardless of the race of the victim. # The race of the offender is not relevant in determining whether his actions constitute a crime. The offender's actions would have been considered criminal, even if he were another race. # The race of the victim is not relevant in determining whether the offender's action constitutes a crime. # The offender's racial pedigree (e.g., "degree of Blackness") is not used to determine punishment. # There are checks and balances that mitigate against racial bias within the legal system.

28860707

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Johnny Mackintosh and the Spirit of London

Keith Mansfield

7/3/2008

{"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature"}

Set in the early 21st century, the book opens with Johnny Mackintosh living in a children's home (Ben Halader House) located in the fictional Castle Dudbury New Town in the county of Essex, United Kingdom. He has written a SETI-style program for the children's home's computers and, at the beginning of the book, an alien signal is detected. As the book develops Johnny Mackintosh is abducted by aliens and travels to the centre of the Galaxy, before returning to Earth, but in the distant past. He witnesses the extinction of the dinosaurs and the destruction of Atlantis, before returning to the present day and discovering the truth about his parents. The Spirit of London of the title is the name of the spaceship acquired by Johnny Mackintosh during the course of the book. From the outside it appears identical to the skyscraper situated at 30 St Mary Axe in London, known as 'the Gherkin'.

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The Cobra

Frederick Forsyth

2010

{"/m/01jfsb": "Thriller", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"}

Paul Deveraux, who previously appeared in the Forsyth novel Avenger, is tasked by the U.S. president to end the international cocaine trade. He recruits lawyer Cal Dexter, the main character in Avenger, to help him with this task. Together they set up a joint Anglo-American task force operating from 2 converted grain carriers to intercept cocaine shipments, destroy the ships and to detain the crews on a remote island. Both teams have access to a UAV that provides them with target information and other intelligence. Dexter also recruits a Blackburn Buccaneer pilot to shoot down the cartel's cocaine-carrying airplanes. When the actions of both task forces and the pilot lead to major international cocaine shortages, Deveraux starts a misinformation campaign aimed at turning the international drug cartels against each other. Since this leads to out-of-hand gang wars with innocent bystanders getting killed, Deveraux is eventually asked by the White House to stop all operations. Dissatisfied by the White House decision, Deveraux cuts a deal with a drug lord promising him the cocaine captured by the task forces. He tells Dexter the location of the captured cocaine and tells him to destroy it. However, it turns out to be fake and Cal Dexter finds out about this and has the Buccaneer pilot destroy the cocaine-carrying ship before it reaches its destination. In the epilogue, Deveraux's assassinated body is discovered. He has been shot for not keeping his promise with Don Diego Esteban and for messing with him.

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Zendegi

Greg Egan

{"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"}

Martin Seymour is an Australian news correspondent in Iran covering the 2012 Iranian parliamentary elections. The elections turn out to be a sham as many of the opposition candidates are banned, but Martin remains in Iran to cover the post election protests. Unrest escalates and the authorities are forced to hold free elections. Nasim Golestani is an Iranian computer scientist living in exile in the United States following the execution of her father by VEVAK, the Iranian secret police. She works at MIT on the Human Connectome Project (HCP), which is attempting to produce a neural map of the human brain. She develops computer software that simulates Zebra Finch song production by using thousands of finch brain scans. But when Congress turns down funding for the project, Nasim returns to Iran to help rebuild her country. The story moves to a democratized Iran in 2027. Martin lives in Tehran with Mahnoosh, an Iranian political activist he married, and their six-year-old son, Javeed. Nasim heads a company in Tehran that has developed Zendegi-ye Behtar, an online multi-player virtual reality (VR) gaming platform. Zendegi uses cloud computing to run its operations across several countries. But Zendegi has to compete with several other VR providers, and Nasim looks for something new to add to Zendegi to give it an edge. Nasim learns that HCP finally took off in the US and has published its first draft brain map based on thousands of brain scans of human organ donors. She discovers that her contributions were not used by the project – HCP's goals were aimed at helping neurologists diagnose pathologies, whereas her goal was to simulate the brain. Nasim decides to continue what she had started on HCP using the project's publically available brain scans. Her goal is to improve the realism of Zendegi's proxies, computer-generated people that flesh-out the VR's landscape. She takes this a step further and starts taking MRI brain scans of living people. Nasim's first breakthrough comes with Virtual Azimi, a proxy she creates by scanning Ashkan Azimi, Iran's national football team captain, to record his motor skills while he replays games in his head. Virtual Azimi enables football fans to play games with Azimi's proxy, and it is a huge success, boosting Zendegi's popularity. Javeed loves Zendegi and Martin often takes him to local gaming booths where together they participate in role-playing games. One day Mahnoosh is killed in a car accident, and Martin has to raise Javeed on his own. Then Martin discovers he has terminal cancer, and concerned that Javeed will grow up without a father, he contacts Nasim and asks her to create a Virtual Martin that Javeed can communicate with in Zendegi. Nasim conducts MRI scans on Martin while prompting him with images and memories. But Zendegi comes under fire from religious fanatics. Iranian clerics denounce Virtual Azimi as "an afront to God and human dignity". It is also criticized by the Cis-Humanist League (CHL), a human rights group who object to enslaved proxies, saying that "it's unethical to create conscious software that lacks the ability to control its own destiny". Nasim continues developing Virtual Martin in secret. While she knows that Virtual Azimi has no consciousnesses, she's not sure what Martin's proxy is turning into. Meanwhile Martin's health is deteriorating and she sets up a VR session for him to evaluate the current state of his proxy. Martin enters Zendegi using Javeed's avatar, making Virtual Martin think he is taking to his son, but the proxy overreacts to Javeed's (Martin's) behaviour and this upsets Martin. After Martin dies, Nasim has second thoughts about what she is doing. The Virtual Martin she has created from fragments of Martin's brain is far from human. She releases that CHL are right: to upload a complete person into VR to achieve immortality is a noble goal, but "to squeeze some abridged, mutilated person through the first available aperture [i]s not". :"If you want to make it human, make it whole." — Zendegis closing statement.

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The Crucible of Time

John Brunner

The novel deals with the efforts of an alien species to escape their homeworld, whose system is passing through a cloud of interstellar debris, resulting in a high rate of in-falling matter. The species' unique biology and their biological technology complicate matters.

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Soulless

Gail Carriger

9/30/2009

{"/m/035qb4": "Historical fantasy", "/m/03p5xs": "Comedy of manners", "/m/06www": "Steampunk", "/m/072lff": "Paranormal romance"}

Soulless is set in an alternate history version of Victorian England where werewolves and vampires are accepted as functioning members of society. Alexia Tarabotti is a woman with several critical problems: she is still searching for a husband, her late Italian father complicates her social standing in a rigid class system, and she has no soul. The fact that she is "soulless" leaves her unaffected by the powers of supernatural beings which only further complicates her life when she accidentally kills a vampire that had attacked her. Queen Victoria sends an investigator, Lord Maccon, who is himself a werewolf. As disappearances in the vampire population of London's high society increase, Alexia becomes the prime suspect. She must solve the mystery, all while maintaining proper decorum and a delicate social balance.

28912721

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Changeless

Gail Carriger

2010-03

{"/m/035qb4": "Historical fantasy", "/m/06www": "Steampunk", "/m/072lff": "Paranormal romance"}

Changeless is set in an alternate history version of Victorian England where werewolves and vampires are accepted as functioning members of society. Alexia Tarabotti still has no soul but she does now have a husband. Now known as Lady Maccon, Alexia finds her werewolf husband in distress. His sudden disappearance entangles her with a regiment of supernatural soldiers, a group of exorcised ghosts, and Queen Victoria herself. Alexia uses her sharp tongue, keen mind, and her trusty parasol in her effort to solve the problems put before her and to locate Lord Maccon. Her search takes her to Scotland and a werewolf pack where the fact that she is "soulless", and thus unaffected by the powers of supernatural beings, can make all the difference. *2010, USA, Orbit Books ISBN 0-316-07414-4, Pub date 1 April 2010, Paperback *2010, UK, Orbit Books ISBN 1-84149-974-9, Pub date 2 September 2010, Paperback *2011, Germany, Blanvalet ISBN 978-3-442-37650-6, Pub date 18 July 2011, Paperback (in German as Brennende Finsternis ("Burning Darkness") translated by Anita Nirschl) The author's official website also lists a French language edition by Orbit France/Calmann Levy, a Spanish language edition to be released by Versátil, plus an Italian language edition by Baldini & Castoldi, all with "unknown" upcoming publication dates. In November 2010, the author announced that Proszynski will publish the novel in Poland and Hayakawa will publish it in Japan, neither with announced publication dates. The original US cover for the novel was designed by Lauren Panepinto, Creative Director for Orbit Books and Yen Press. The model portraying heroine Alexia Tarabotti on the US cover is actress Donna Ricci. The original photograph of Ricci for this cover was taken by Derek Caballero.

28915734

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Monastery Among the Temple Trees

{"/m/05hgj": "Novel"}

The story is about Rahula, a Buddhist monk. Novels depict how Rev. Rahula exists in today's tumultuous society. While he gets free from all the worldly desires, he manages to make free the others who have highly involved with them. Eventually people who went against Rev. Rahula become more mature minded and mentally advanced individuals.

28916471

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In an Antique Land

The book contains two narratives. The first, an anthropological narrative, revolves around two visits made by Ghosh to two villages in the Nile Delta, while he was writing his doctoral dissertation (1980–81) and again a few years later (1988). In the second narrative, presented parallel to the first one in the book, Ghosh constructs a fictionalized history of a 12th century Jewish merchant, Abraham Ben Yiju, and his slaves Ashu and Bomma, using documents from the Cairo Geniza.

28924652

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Blameless

Gail Carriger

9/1/2010

{"/m/035qb4": "Historical fantasy", "/m/06www": "Steampunk", "/m/072lff": "Paranormal romance"}

Blending steampunk with urban fantasy, Blameless is set in an alternate history version of Victorian England where vampires and werewolves are welcomed as members of society, often in the upper class. Alexia Tarabotti, the Lady Maccon, leaves her werewolf husband Lord Maccon and moves back in with her family, only to find herself at the center of a scandal when it is discovered that she is pregnant: werewolves are not considered capable of fathering children, and therefore she must be an adulterer. She is dismissed from the Shadow Council by Queen Victoria and her social support structures disintegrate. Meanwhile, the vampire community of London has turned against her. While her estranged husband increasingly turns to drinking to ease his pain, Alexia leaves England for Italy, the birthplace of her late father, to seek out the Templars for answers. Because she is "soulless", and so unaffected by the abilities of supernatural beings, her journey to the truth is more complicated than even she can imagine. *2010, USA, Orbit Books ISBN 0-316-07415-2, Pub date 1 September 2010, Paperback *2010, UK, Orbit Books ISBN 1-84149-973-0, Pub date 2 September 2010, Paperback *2011, Germany, Blanvalet ISBN 978-3-442-37651-3, Pub date 19 September 2011, Paperback (in German as Entflammte Nacht ("Ignited Night") translated by Anita Nirschl) The author's official website also lists an Italian language edition by Baldini & Castoldi, plus a Spanish language edition to be released by Versátil. Each of these translated editions are listed with "unknown" upcoming publication dates. In November 2010, the author announced that Proszynski will publish the novel in Poland but with no announced publication date. The original US cover for the novel was designed by Lauren Panepinto, Creative Director for Orbit Books and Yen Press. The model portraying heroine Alexia Tarabotti on the US and UK covers is actress Donna Ricci. The original photograph of Ricci for this cover was taken by Tiny Dragon Productions.

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Heartless

Gail Carriger

6/28/2011

{"/m/06www": "Steampunk", "/m/072lff": "Paranormal romance"}

Blending steampunk with urban fantasy, Heartless is set in an alternate history version of Victorian England where vampires and werewolves are welcomed as members of society, often in the upper class. The protagonist of the novel is Alexia Tarabotti, the Lady Maccon, who is "soulless", and thus unaffected by the powers of supernatural beings. The author has stated in interviews that while Changeless and Blameless, the second and third books in the series, were closely linked, Heartless will be more independent, in the manner of Soulless, the series' first entry. *2011, USA, Orbit Books ISBN 0-316-12719-1, Pub date 28 June 2011, Paperback *2011, UK, Orbit Books ISBN 0-356-50009-8, Pub date 7 July 2011, Paperback On September 22, 2010, the author reported that the manuscript was "99% complete" and that the final draft of the novel was due to the publisher on November 1, 2010. Publisher Orbit Books released the book's cover on February 1, 2011, and a revised version in late March 2011. As with the first three novels in the series, this cover was designed by Lauren Panepinto and the model on the cover is Donna Ricci. The original photographs of Ricci for this cover were taken by Pixie Vision Productions. While the author's official website also lists German, Italian, Spanish, and other translated editions of the first three novels in the series to be released in the near future, no publication dates have yet been announced for any non-English language editions of Heartless.

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Through the Valley

Robert Henriques

1950

In the first scene, set around a major hunt, Miss May one of the servants at the park, is seduced by Frank the footman. Subsequently they marry. Frank becomes a taxi driver, and his gradual rise in the world mirrors the decline of the estate. That same night the three boys go clambering over the roof of Neapcaster Park. David falls, and it appears to be Ralph's fault. The friction between David and Ralph runs through the novel. Another major character is Alex, a distant relative. She grows up abroad and only comes into the story in the second part. She marries Ralph but loves Geoff and in the end they are united.

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Outcast

Rosemary Sutcliff

1955

{"/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"}

The story is about a boy named Beric, who is raised amongst the Dumnonii. After coming of age, his status within their culture comes under pressure, shown in a conflict between the acceptance of the village Bard and the condemnation on religious grounds by the village Druid. After a bad harvest is linked to his presence, the superstitious views of the Druid win-out, and Beric is exiled from the tribe. He journeys to Isca Dumnoniorum, where he falls afoul of a Greek slave trader, who tricks Beric and takes him as a slave. He us ultimately purchased by Publius Pio, a Roman Magistrate, and becomes part of Pio's patrician household on the Viminal Hill. Beric antagonizes Glaucus, son of Publius Pio, embarrassing Glaucus at a dinner celebrating Pio's election to the office of Aedile. This scene is witnessed by Centurion Justinius, and results in Beric being condemned to work in the salt mines, a certain slow and painful death. Beric makes his escape from Pio's household, hiding in a disused temple of Sylvan Pan, and making his way north on the Via Flaminia, hoping to walk back to Britain. He is caught in the Roman countryside, condemned as a bandit, and sentenced to live out his life as a galley slave. He works in the Rhenus Fleet, stationed in Colonia Agrippina, living many years on the galley 'Alcestis'. His galley is eventually sent to Britain, surviving a great storm, during which Beric is thrown overboard for dead. Beric washes ashore for the second time in his life, this time to be rescued by the Roman British household of the centurion Justinius, who had returned to his duty station after his leave in Rome. Beric now joins in the work on the Rhee Wall of Romney Marsh, where the Romans led by Justinius are working reclaim land from the sea. The progress of the Rhee Wall and the lives of the workers are threatened by a great storm, during which Beric bonds with his new comrades, and after which he concludes that he has finally found a place and a people where he belongs. Like in many Sutcliff novels, the theme of Outcast revolves around Beric's struggle to find belonging as he is caught in various degrees of acceptance and descrimination by the various societies through which he travels. Also like in many Sutcliff novels, Outcast strongly features the celtic native hound, with Beric's progress being paralleled by renouncing his native dog in the beginning of the novel, later adopting a mixed-breed dog near the Roman camp by the Rhee wall, and ultimately having his break-through moment of feeling accepted when the second dog drops her newborn pup on his feet. Richard Kennedy's cover art is in color, while the illustrations within the novel are black and white charcoal drawings.

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Fifty Years a Hunter and Trapper

Eldred Nathaniel Woodcock

{"/m/05h83": "Non-fiction"}

One of Harding's Pleasure & Profit Books. A collection of real life outdoor stories based on the experiences of the author, Eldred Nathaniel Woodcock. Writing from memory, Mr. Woodcock tells of incidents that happened during the fifty years (1855–1905) he spent camping, hunting, trapping and fishing in the wilderness of Northern Pennsylvania and several other states. Most of E. N. Woodcock's stories feature an interesting partner (who he sometimes refers to as "Pard"), and other local people who lived in the Potter County, Pennsylvania area. Many of the wild places where he made his camps are now State Parks and Forests. E. N. Woodcock tells his stories in plain language, about deer and bear hunting; trapping bear, wild cat, fox, marten, mink and muskrat; run-ins with porcupines and skunks; mishaps that happened to himself and his partners; and the everyday occurrences of camp life. He gives his opinion of state game laws and bounties, and his views on the need for conservation. The book also includes practical information on building cabins, camp fires and cooking, staying warm, finding bee hives, trap sets, building deadfalls, using baits, skinning, stretching and drying fur, tracking game, and types of guns and ammunition.

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Urban Reader

Almost everybody will give a unique explanation of what urban means to him or her. The first book centers around the terminology and perception of the word urban and dismisses established definitions. Instead of researching urbanity in cities and towns, the makers set out to find the real people that furnish urbanity - arguing that rural people portray urbanity at its best and that the countryside might reflect urban lifestyle clearer than any metropolis. In conclusion, the first issue remarks that ironically the word urban has fallen victim to urban myths, leading to the title Urban – The Biggest Urban Myth

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The Toff on the Farm

John Creasey

1958

Monty Morne, an old friend of Richard Rollison, tries to persuade The Toff to buy a farm from some friends of his, brother and sister Alan and Gillian Selby. But on arriving at Selby Farm, they discover that Alan Selby has been kidnapped and Gillian has been made offers for the farm that are much more than it is worth. Rollison is drawn into the mystery when one of the bidders and his accomplice are found murdered, with the other bidder, William 'Tex' Brandt, suspected of the crimes. The Toff has to discover the secret of Selby Farm and why rival bidders are seemingly prepared to kill for it, despite the presence of a sitting tenant who refuses to leave.

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The Cambridge Quintet

1998

{"/m/05hgj": "Novel"}

The book describes a fictitious dinner party hosted by C.P. Snow at a Cambridge University college in 1949. During the dinner party Snow and his guests discuss the limits of machines trying to simulate human thinking. Snow's guests are Ludwig Wittgenstein, Erwin Schrödinger, J.B.S. Haldane and Alan Turing.

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The Sleeping Beauty

Mercedes Lackey

{"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"}

Lily, who is half fae, is the godmother to the Kingdom of Eltaria, which is quite wealthy due to the number of mines it has. However, this means that the surrounding kingdoms wish to take it over, and so Eltaria is either at war or preparing for it much of the time. Therefore, that makes overseeing the kingdom a full-time job for Godmother Lily. However, she has mastered the ability to travel via mirrors to make things easier, which Godmother Aleksia was desirous was find out in the previous book, The Snow Queen After Queen Celeste dies, Lily takes on the appearance of an evil sorceress,with the name 'Sable', and marries King Thurman, in name only, so that he won't be trapped into marrying a real evil sorceress and Princess Rosamund won't have a real wicked stepmother. However, this doesn't stop the Tradition from focusing on Eltaria, particularly on Rosa, who ends up with two Traditional paths tangled up and directed at her, that of the Beauty Asleep and Snowskin (Snow White). While her outer appearance is that of a Sleeping Beauty, she ends up being attacked by the Huntsman and in her escape, is captured by seven dwarves. However, unlike the ones in the Traditional tale, these dwarves are renegade ones, who shackle a chain about her ankle and turn her into their virtual slave. Godmother Lily, through the help of her mirror servant Jimson, locates Rosa, and donning the disguise of an old bee-woman named Maggie, goes to help the Princess. Since there is no way to remove the chain from Rosa short of cutting her foot off or having the dwarves do it, Lily reveals herself and gives Rosa a potion that will simulate death. Meanwhile, Prince Siegfried of the Kingdom of Drachenthal, which really isn't a proper kingdom and is composed of warrior clans with gods that often sire children with mortals, arrives in Eltaria, with his companion, a Wise Bird. He is a Hero, but unlike most from his land, he is intelligent and listens to the good advice of the Bird. He is also trying to avoid his Doom, since it involves waking up a sleeping shieldwoman demigoddess(who also happens to be his aunt) in the middle of a ring of fire, and eventually leading to him getting stabbed in the back and other wretched things happening. Seigfried comes across Rosa just as Godmother Lily is in the middle of doing the spell that will wake her, and plans to wake Rosa, hoping that it will be enough to satisfy the Tradition without actually fulfilling all aspects of his fated path. At the same time, another prince, Leopold of Falkenreid, who was kicked out by his father for being too popular and therefore overshadowing his older brother and Heir, also comes along and spots Rosa. The two princes get into a minor fight over who will kiss Rosa awake, in which time Lily manages to complete the spell right before Leopold wins and tries to kiss Rosa. Understandably, Godmother Lily is quite angry with the two princes, for they could have ruined everything, but lets them come to the palace with her and Rosa, since they could be useful to have around. Once Rosa has recovered from her ordeal, she starts Godmother training, partly so that it won't be so boring having to be confined with her 'stepmother' all the time. Unfortunately, King Thurmand dies shortly after, leaving "Queen Sable" to be Regent until Rosa turns of age at twenty-one and can actually rule. This means that their enemies will descend on Eltaria, intent on taking over, unless measures can be taken to prevent it. Godmother Lily, however, comes with a plan, and it is this: for one hundred princes to come and take part in trials to see which one of them will win the hand of the princess. Adventurers are also allowed to take part, however, they are not housed at the castle like the princes. Seigfried and Leopold, naturally, decide to stay and take part in the trials, and they strike a bargain to help each other through the trials until the last task. The first trial consists of a race on horseback, in full armor, with a break in the middle to herd three sheep into a pen (either doing it yourself, with or without magic, or hiring a shepherd) and line up a dozen eggs without breaking them. Seigfried, who has tasted dragon's blood and so understands the speech of animals, finds out that sheep love clover and bean plants, and so gathers some for him and Leopold to use to herd the sheep, while Leopold buys them each a small dustpan and a wooden spoon to deal the eggs. The second test involves each prince being given a gold item that is cursed (minor curses, not serious ones), and getting rid of the curses by adding the item to the hoard of the dragon that guards a mountain pass, in any way possible, without harming him. Seigfried is cursed by having amphibians appear to fall from his mouth every time he speaks, while Leopold ends up with a curse that turns him to one of those morose poet-princes, who desire only to wear black, stay up at night, and write (usually bad) poetry and songs. Those two curses amuse the dragon immensely, which convince him to take the cursed items from them. The third trial involves the thirty-one remaining princes answering a series of riddles, with none of them getting the same riddles. Meanwhile, another prince named Desmond has also been doing quite well at the trials, and has managed to attract the attention of Rosa, up until the time they eventually kiss and she finds out that there is no spark between them. Seigfried gives the princess self-defense lessons as a gift, and Leopold gives her a necklace made of unicorn hair, freely given to Seigfried by a unicorn named Luna. By this point, Rosa and Seigfried have fallen in love. The final trial is announced, in which the remaining ten princes have to come up with a way to protect Eltaria for the present and future, and marriage is not a solution. The prince with the best answer will be declared the winner and receive Rosa's hand in marriage. The Huntsman turns out to be working for Desmond, and two kidnap Rosa when they catch her eavesdropping on them, invoking the Tradition by locking her in a tower with thorns surrounding it. However, the animals that Seigfried rescued and helped alert him to the situation, and help him and Leopold to find and rescue the princess. The Bird gets permanently turned into a Firebird, without the ability to turn into a human, to her delight, in order to help, and Luna also turns up and proves that she can help the rescue party as well. Luna drives the thorns away, while the Firebird burns it, and the ensuing ring of fire helps satisfy the Traditional Path that Seigfried is fated for without bringing the Doom. After a fight, Desmond is killed, the Huntsman and Jimson end up switching places, so that the former is trapped in the mirror world and the latter becomes human, Rosa is rescued, and both Leopold and Luna are mortally wounded. However, as unicorn blood, freely given, can heal just about any wound, Luna does one final act, allowing the blood from her wound to heal Leopold. Seigfried, who had thought up of a solution to the final test just before Rosa being kidnapped, wins her hand in marriage. Once everything is finalized, the solution is revealed to be that of good dragons to guard the borders. "Queen Sable" steps down and proclaims Rosa and Seigfried to be Queen and King of Eltaria, after which she returns to her godmother's castle with Jimson, whom she had realized she had fallen in love with and vice versa. In return for what Leopold has done, he is sent to wake the sleeping Shieldmaiden (Brunnhilde), with the two falling in love, marrying, and deciding the spend their life traveling and having adventures. The book ends up Brunnhilde telling off the god her father for setting things up so that Seigfried was supposed to have a horrible destiny and not being happy with how things turned out after all, setting off with Leopold on their adventure, and Rosa and Seigfried bidding them good-bye and then going off to 'produce an heir' before they have to appear at their coronation celebration.

28960717

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Crookedstar's Promise

Erin Hunter

{"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"}

In the prologue, the RiverClan camp is flooded. Duskwater, an elder, is washed away. Rainflower's kits are coming. Because the water was getting higher, she climbs up an oak tree to give birth. Brambleberry delivers her kits, and Rainflower names one Stormkit, after the storm they were born in, and the other Oakkit, after the tree that offered her protection from the water while she gave birth. The book follows Crookedstar, first known as Stormkit. Stormkit was chased by the ThunderClan medicine cat, Goosefeather, at the Sunningrocks, where he breaks his jaw. His mother, Rainflower, feels no sympathy for Stormkit and asks the RiverClan leader, Hailstar, to rename Stormkit to Crookedkit, and Crookedkit is left distraught by this. Crookedkit is curious of what his destiny will be, and he attempts to travel to the Moonstone. However, he gets lost and ends up at a barn instead, where he stays for a while. Mapleshade, an evil ThunderClan she-cat, talks to Crookedkit in a dream, and asks him to make a promise to be loyal to RiverClan above all other things. Crookedkit did not understand what he was promising when he made his pledge. Throughout the novel, Crookedkit, who becomes Crookedpaw and then Crookedjaw, begins to realize what "sacrifices" he has to make because of what he promised Mapleshade. He tells her he doesn't need her help, but she says she is only doing this for his good. She sends an omen, making Crookedjaw deputy. Then she kills Hailstar, making Crookedjaw leader of RiverClan. She meets him when he receives his nine lives, with the words "We did it!" Crookedstar tells her to get out of his way; he regrets making the promise. But Mapleshade says she will follow him wherever he goes.Brambleberry says that Mapleshade wasn't responsible for all the death in his family and clan. Finally, when Mapleshade "kills" Willowbreeze, Crookedstar's mate, Crookedstar demands to know from Mapleshade why she is doing this to him. Mapleshade tells him her story, and promises to keep haunting him until his dying day. Finally, when Mapleshade "takes" Silverstream's life, she visits Crookedstar to tell him his "punishment" was over and that she was "avenged".

28968882

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Facial Justice

{"/m/026ny": "Dystopia"}

After a devastating nuclear war, the surviving people of earth have been forced to live in underground caverns, ruled by harsh dictatorships. In Britain an unseen leader inspires a large section of the populace to escape the caverns and forms a new dictatorship above ground. This new society is based on a collective sense of guilt at the events of the nuclear war. All subjects are named after famous murderers from history, and are obliged to wear sackcloth so as not to provoke envy with their appearance. The Dictator is never seen, but his voice is broadcast to his subjects regularly, instructing them on the laws and morals of his society. His rule is enforced by Inspectors, who have the power to fine people for minor infringements or report them to the higher ministries for further punishment. A young woman named Jael 97, who has been reported to the Ministry of Facial Justice for being "facially over privileged" and causing discontent among other women, approaches the Equalisation (Faces) Centre to have a synthetic "Beta" face fitted so that she will blend in with the community. At the urging of a friend, however, she decides to put this off. Her resultant guilt, along with subsequent events—her forbidden delight at the idea of "height" during an excursion to the ruined tower of Ely Cathedral; her injury in a planned motor-coach accident during her return from the excursion; her rescue by the Inspector Michael, with whom she falls in love; and her involuntary "Betafication" at the hospital to which she is taken—provokes her rebellious spirit, and she forms a resistance group whose aim is to undermine the regime and show it up as ridiculous. She also writes articles in magazines and papers, in which she deliberately stretches the rules of society to ridiculous proportions—suggesting, for instance, that spelling and grammatical errors in writing should not be criticised, as this can lead to envy and bitterness between people. From the doctor who Betafied her (and who desires her), Jael manages to find out that he has also treated the Dictator and that the Dictator's chest bears a heart-shaped birthmark. In her desire to find and kill the Dictator, she writes an article urging that anyone should be able to challenge another person on the street to bare their chest and prove they have no birthmarks. This is, she claims, to ensure that everyone is as alike as possible. The idea proves divisive amongst the public and begins to cause a great deal of public disorder. Rioting breaks out on the streets, and in the absence of any advice from the Dictator, the public turn on him and denounce him. The Dictator finally responds by announcing that he can see that the public no longer appreciate his leadership and protection and, therefore, he will be leaving. The country descends into chaos after the Dictator's departure. Further rioting ensues, and food supplies are exhausted as the means of production are abandoned or destroyed. The remaining government officials realise they will have to ask the underground dictatorships for food supplies. The leaders of the underground society agree to help, but demand that in return six people be sent to them, presumably to be executed. Jael, out of a sense of guilt at her role in the collapse of society, decides to volunteer to be one of the people sent underground. On the night before she intends to so offer herself, she remains awake to savour her last few hours above ground. Then, amidst sounds of a rainstorm outside, there is a knock at her door, which she opens to reveal an old lady who had been kind to her when she was hospitalised, clearly weak with hunger and soaked from heavy rain. Jael lets her into her home and offers her some clothes to change into. To Jael's astonishment, she finds that the lady bears the Dictator's birthmark and is, in fact, the Dictator. Clearly on the verge of death, the lady reveals that Michael (who has also arrived on the scene) has acted as her "voice" in the Dictator's announcements. She also begs Jael to take on the role of Dictator and restore order and hope to the people. The novel ends with Jael, seemingly having accepted the offer from the Dictator, starting to address the public, through Michael's voice, for the first time.

28970666

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Bayou St. John

2010

{"/m/02p0szs": "Historical fiction"}

Set in 1825, Bayou St. John is a novel about two fugitives with a master/slave relationship who escape to start new lives in New Orleans. After a series of adventures and complications, they finally become free of their pursuers. The center of the story takes place at the hotel now owned by one of the fugitives, Jacques, a young French aristocrat who was once known as Count Mathieu. In France, the count won a duel with pistols to the death and fled to America to make a new start. Lucas, a young slave sold to a plantation owner, ends up killing the overseer. He attempts to escape from the dock in Charleston, where he encounters Jacques, who claims the young slave as his own, names him Pierre, and together they board a ship to New Orleans. More interesting characters enter the scene ... a beautiful woman named Yvette Osborne and her brother Henry.

28975354

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Clear Light of Day

The book is split into four sections covering the Das family from the children’s perspective in this order: adulthood, adolescence, childhood, and the time perspective returns to adulthood. The book centers on the Das family, who have grown apart with adulthood. It starts with Tara, the wife of Bakul, India’s ambassador to America, greeting her sister Bimla (Bim), who is a history teacher living in Old Delhi as well as their autistic brother Baba's caretaker. Their conversation eventually comes to Raja, their brother who lives in Hyderabad. Bim doesn’t want to go to the wedding of Raja’s daughter, showing Tara an old letter from when Raja became her landlord, unintentionally insulting her after the death of his father in law. In part two the setting switches to partition era India, when the characters are adolescents in what is now Bim’s house. Raja is severely ill with tuberculosis and is left to Bim’s ministrations. Aunt Mira (Mira masi), their supposed caretaker after the death of the children’s often absent parents, becomes alcoholic and dies of alcoholism. Earlier Raja's fascination with Urdu attracts the attention of the family's Muslim landlord, Hyder Ali, whom Raja Idolizes. When he heals, Raja follows Hyder Ali to Hyderabad. Tara escapes from the situation through marriage to Bakul. Bim is then left to provide for Baba alone, in the midst of the partition and the death of Gandhi. In part three Bim, Raja and Tara are depicted in pre-partition India awaiting the birth of their brother Baba. Aunt Mira, widowed by her husband and mistreated by her in-laws, is brought in to help with Baba, who is autistic, and to raise the children. Raja is fascinated with poetry. He shares a close bond with Bim, the head girl at school, although they often exclude Tara. Tara wants to be a mother although this fact brings ridicule from Raja and Bim, who want to be a hero and a heroine, respectively. The final section returns to modern India and showcases Tara confronting Bim over the Raja's daughter's wedding and Bim's broken relationship with Raja. This climaxes when Bim explodes at Baba. After her anger fades she comes to the conclusion that the love of family is irreplaceable and can cover all wrongs. After Tara leaves she decides to go to her neighbors the Misras for a concert and she then decides that she will go to the wedding.

28980134

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Rinascimento privato

The book is divided into seven parts, interspersed with twelve letters by Robert de la Pole. The narrative is constructed as a long flashback that takes place in 1533, when the almost sixty Isabella is writing her memoirs in the so-called Clocks' Room, in the Palazzo Ducale in Mantova. Apart from some reference to the present or the distant past, the narrative takes place mostly in chronological order, from the year 1500 to 1533, precisely the date when Isabella comes out of that scene, ending the main events of his life (she then died in 1539).

28982057

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Surface Detail

Iain Banks

10/7/2010

{"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"}

The events of Surface Detail take place around 2970 AD, according to Banks himself. The events occur six to eight hundred years after the "Chel Debacle", depicted in the earlier novel Look to Windward which is set a hundred years after the events in Use of Weapons. Each chapter of the book covers one or more of the six main protagonists—Lededje Y'breq, a chattel slave; Joiler Veppers, an industrialist and playboy; Gyorni Vatueil, a soldier; Prin and Chay, Pavulean academics; and Yime Nsokyi, a Quietus agent. Some of the plot occurs in various simulated environments. As the book begins, a simulated war game—the "War in Heaven"—has been running for several decades. The simulated war is to determine whether to allow or to disallow cultures in the galaxy from running Hells, simulated afterlives in which the mind-states of the dead are tortured. The Culture, fiercely anti-Hell, has opted to stay out of the war while accepting the outcome as binding. Vatueil is a soldier who has fought up the ranks of the war game to a position where he can determine policy, and he is instrumental in the decisions first to cheat—attempting to hack the Hells directly as well as attacking various pro-Hell side simulations—and then to take the simulated war into the real world. He is also revealed to be the character Zakalwe from another of Banks' Culture novels, Use of Weapons (or at least someone with the same last name). Prin and Chay belong to a species, the Pavuleans, which runs a Hell. While still alive, they enter the Pavulean Hell on a mission to reveal the existence and details of this Hell to the general population. Prin succeeds in getting out, but has to leave Chay behind, where she is subsequently tortured, restored to some semblance of sanity, and finally given an involuntary role in the pantheon of the afterlife. Prin, meanwhile, testifies to the Pavulean public of his experiences in Hell and attempts to convince them that it should be abolished. Veppers is a businessman and industrialist: the richest individual in his society, the multi-planet Sichultian Enablement. On the planet Sichult, Y'breq—an indentured slave owned by Veppers and a frequent victim of rape—is murdered by him as she attempts to escape. She is unexpectedly reincarnated aboard a Culture ship, having been secretly implanted with a neural lace some ten years previously by a visiting Culture ship super-AI known as a Mind. She immediately wants to return to her homeworld, to find and kill Veppers. The book hinges on Veppers' involvement in the War in Heaven. He initially appears to be a bit-player, but his involvement is gradually revealed to be more and more critical. The final revelation is that he has made some of his fortune by providing the hardware to run the Hells of various species; over a century he has accumulated about 70% of all the Hells. The hardware is located on his country estate on the planet Sichult. He sets up a secret deal to have the Hells destroyed in an attack which is to be blamed upon the Culture. His motivation is that such an attack will release him from his contracts to run the Hells, which would have become worthless if the anti-Hell side won, but which he cannot wriggle out of in any other way. Y'breq travels back to Sichult on the Falling Outside The Normal Moral Constraints, an advanced Culture warship. In hot pursuit is Yime Nsokyi, a Culture agent tasked with preventing Y'breq from killing Veppers. As they and their ships arrive, things come to a head. The Culture agents conspire to arrange that the attack on Veppers' estate successfully destroys the Hells, while simultaneously appearing to attempt to stop the attack. They also conspire to ensure that Veppers' secret deal is revealed. Veppers himself is at the estate's mansion during the attack, where Y'breq finds him for the final, personal, showdown.

28993522

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Rowan and the Travellers

{"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"}

The book picks up where the first one, Rowan of Rin (novel), ended. Rowan and the Travelers tells the story about how the tribe of the Travelers mysteriously showed up in the town of Rin. After their even more mysterious departure, a sleeping sickness appears, the Travelers is immediately mistaken, and Rowan and a couple other heroes and people of Rin, takes a trip over the sea to seek and find the answer. A terrible trip to the horrific Pit of Unrin. Here they find out that the sickness originally descends from a dangerous kind of fruit called Mountain-berries brought down from the Mountain next to Rin. Its juice lulls people drinking it, into a deep and heavy sleep. It turns out that the berries are the smaller and infantile form of big trees growing beneath the Mountain itself. After Rowan gets the sickness, causing others to dislike him, he was prevented to destroy the Mountain-berries, and in that way saving his hometown, and then the same would happen to the town as with the Valley of Gold, a large and beautiful settlement overrun and flowing with the berries, destroyed by their older adult forms. Rowan must save the town with the help of a potion made of slip-daisy roots.

29003364

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Angel Island

Inez Haynes Irwin

{"/m/02_w8": "Feminist science fiction"}

Five men are shipwrecked on an island in the Pacific Ocean while en route from America to the Orient. They are the only survivors, and their chances of being rescued are remote as a storm had driven their ship into uncharted waters before smashing it against rocks. The island is 20 miles long by 7 miles wide, and densely wooded with a freshwater lake in the center. After coming to terms with their predicament, the men begin collecting what they can from washed-up wreckage from the ship: food, clothes, tools and materials. They start building a camp near the beach and bemoan the fact that they are stuck on an island without women. But as the weeks pass, they begin the relish the absence of women and call the island an "Eveless Eden". Then one day the men start seeing what look like huge birds flying high in the sky, but when the "birds" come closer they realise that they are five beautiful winged-women. Suddenly the men are interested in women again and change the island's name to "Angel Island". Over time the women gradually come closer and start following the men around, who quickly fall in love with the women and name them Julia (their leader), Lulu, Chiquita, Clara and Peachy. But the men become frustrated by the women's aloofness and how easily they frighten, and decide to capture them, saying that they need pampering and protection. Once caught the men subdue the frightened women and cut off their wings. The women, who cannot walk on their small, delicate feet, are now completely helpless. The men quickly win their hearts by showering them with gifts and attention, and teach them English. The men and women pair off and four of them marry; Julia resists this temptation. With the women now domesticated, the men start paying less attention to them and spend long periods inland building a new camp near the lake. The women, who cannot fly, nor walk any distance, are stuck in the camp near the beach. With plenty of time on their hands, the women reminisce on how it was when they could fly. Back home, the five women, led by Julia, had rebelled when their people decided to migrate south, and flew north instead. They found Angel Island, deserted and inviting. Then the men came and the women were fascinated by these wingless creatures. They followed them, teased them, and then made the mistake of falling in love with them, resulting in their capture. The women long to fly again, but the men keep their wings clipped. Soon each of the women bears a child, four wingless boys, and a winged-girl, Angela. As Angela grows up she starts flying and the women are delighted. The men, however, are not so happy and announce that when Angela is older they will cut her wings. The women have accepted their own fate, but decide to put aside their "appealing helplessness" and stand up for Angela. While the men are working at the new camp each day, the women teach themselves how to walk. When their feet are strong enough, they trek to the new camp one day, unannounced and much to the surprise of the men. Julia presents the men with an ultimatum, let Angela keep her wings, or we will leave the island with the children. The men laugh and remind them that they cannot fly. But the women, with wing stumps that have grown since their last clipping, take off and fly (not very gracefully) over the lake. The men, horrified at the prospect of losing their women, beg them to return and promise not to cut Angela's wings. Things change on Angel Island, and the men have a new respect for the women. Not only do they honor their promise about Angela's wings, they stop clipping the women's wings. Julia decides to marry and her final triumph comes years later on her death bed when she gives birth to a son with wings.

29004140

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Where Keynes Went Wrong: And Why World Governments Keep Creating Inflation, Bubbles, and Busts

This 384 page book for both general reader and economist questions the validity of John Maynard Keynes’s assumptions. Lewis argues that The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money is based almost exclusively on Keynes’s intuition rather than on demonstrated logic or solid evidence. Lewis begins by demystifying Keynes by giving his elaboration of Keynes's writings in General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money and other works. Using claims from the Austrian School of economics and citing historical evidence, Lewis then argues that government policies based on Keynes’s prescriptions have actually made things worse, not better. Lewis presents alternatives to Keynesian intervention and urges a change in current global policy to foster economic recovery.

29005641

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The Keynes Solution: The Path to Global Economic Prosperity

2009

Davidson seeks to explain how Keynesian economics policies can lead the way out of the Financial crisis of 2007–2010. Davidson explains how the crisis was created, gives an explanation of Keynesian policies, and then offers advice on how to reform the current international trade and monetary systems to conform to Keynes’s ideas. In his appendix, he offers his view that “true” Keynesian theory was never taught in American universities and therefore has not been applied to Economy of the United States.

29015120

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Greybeard

{"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"}

Set decades after the Earth's population has been sterilised as a result of nuclear bomb tests conducted in Earth's orbit, the book shows a world emptying of humans, with only an ageing, childless population left.

29015614

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Fable: The Balverine Order

Peter David

{"/m/02xlf": "Fiction"}

The story is told from the point of view of a king of an unknown country who listens to an unnamed story-teller in the Fable universe. The central story involves the characters Thomas Kirkman, a wealthy son of a textile merchant whose mother's death puts him on his quest to find a balverine, and his manservant, James Skelton, a child in a large poor family. The two friends brave the wilds in search of a balverine that killed Thomas' brother, Stephen. The plot of the story takes place between Fable II and Fable III.

29022842

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The Scorch Trials

James Dashner

10/12/2010

{"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature", "/m/026ny": "Dystopia"}

The book picks up immediately where The Maze Runner left off, in the middle of the night with Thomas struggling to sleep. After having a brief telepathic exchange with Teresa, Thomas eventually falls asleep and cannot get Teresa's calling attention. He wakes up suddenly to find victims of the Flare - severely mutated people called "Cranks" outside their barred windows, a hot sun beating down on the desert-like expanse outside. Thomas and the rest of the Gladers decide to investigate, finding the dead bodies of their rescuers hanging from the ceiling. They enter Teresa's room, which is empty, except for a boy that emerges out of the bathroom. Aris explains he is from Group B - fully girls except for him - and he can also talk telepathically. His telepathy partner, a girl named Rachel was killed in a similar manner as Chuck in the first book. Outside of the room is a plaque that says "Teresa Agnes. Group A, Subject A1. The Betrayer." An alarm, similar to the one on the Glade, goes off, and the room door locks until the alarm stops. Thomas opens the door to find no dead bodies. Even the plaque is changed to "Aris Jones, Group B, Subject B1. The Partner." They are stuck in the house for days without food, until food mysteriously arrives in the common room and a man dubbed the Rat Man is sitting behind a desk behind a sheet of invisible glass. He tells them they are to make their way travel through the Scorch, a burned out section of the land. And as an incentive, they've all been infected the Flare and will receive a cure when they reach their destination. Shortly after he leaves, the Gladers discover tattoos on the back of their necks. Newt's says he's "The Glue". Minho's says "The Leader". Thomas's says 'To be killed by Group B". The Gladers enter a Flat Trans and wander through darkness for about an hour, when they hear strange whispers. Two boys get killed by molten steel balls that cover a persons head then decapitate them and roll away. Winston gets attacked too, but Thomas saves him. They enter the Scorch eventually come to a building, where they heard screaming from a long way away. Teresa exits the building. Thomas senses a trap and approaches her. Teresa is crying, still telling him to get away from her. She kisses him and tells him to tell the Gladers to get as far away from her as possible. Thomas and the Gladers hike towards a city to stock back up on supplies, along the way, he has another "memory dream" where Teresa and Thomas practice talking telepathically. A storm soon hits, killing off seven boys, including Winston. They stay inside a building when a Crank named Jorge welcomes them into the Crank House. Minho insults him and Jorge kicks him twice in a place where he was burnt from getting struck by lightning. Minho attacks Jorge and all the Cranks from upstairs come down. Fortunately, Thomas negotiates a deal with Jorge, keeping the Gladers from getting killed. Thomas meets Brenda, who becomes very forward when he first meets her. They go downstairs and eat, when the roof collapses, separating Thomas and Brenda from the others. The two of them walk through the Underneath and fight some Cranks. Eventually, they make it onto the surface and sleep in a cab. Thomas wakes up from a nightmare and goes back to sleep. He has another dream memory where he and Teresa are listening in on a conversation between WICKED employees. Thomas wakes up again and sees words printed on a brick saying "Thomas, you're the real leader." They leave the car and are forced into a club by a few strangers. They dance to the music and are offered drinks that, of course, they're made to take too, making them feel dizzy. Brenda tries to kiss Thomas, but he says "You're not...her." and "You could never be her." They wake up in a dark room with the 3 strangers who took them to the club. They are about to kill them when Minho and the other Gladers save them. While fleeing the strangers, a man that Thomas calls "Blondie" shoots Thomas in the left shoulder with a rusty bullet, giving him an infection. After the Gladers fail to heal Thomas, WICKED goes down and gets him in a machine called a Berg. While being healed, he overhears one the worker's conversations in which a woman stated that he wasn't supposed to get shot. He's taken back to where he came from and he explains everything to the Gladers. Later, Thomas hears Teresa's voice in his head, warning him that something terrible will happen, leaving him hurt and scared. And he had to trust her no matter what. She pauses and says that he won't hear from her for a while until they're back together. Newt and Thomas talk about how WICKED only made an exception for him and no one else. They see Teresa and Group B walking towards Group A with weapons. She hits Thomas multiple times with the butt of her spear for various reasons and take him back to their base, getting dragged across the ground for hours. Thomas is fed once they get there and falls asleep, having another memory dream. The next morning the girls decided not to kill him. Thomas and the girls get about 7 miles away from the "safe haven", when Teresa motions for Thomas to follow her. Aris appears and holds a knife to Thomas's back and leads him into a cave. Thomas sees a glowing green door, which he thinks could mean that there is radioactive substance inside. Teresa reveals that she and Aris had a thing before and during the Maze and Scorch Trials, and had also manipulated Thomas to escape the Maze. They led him through the door, and into a gas chamber, but Thomas puts up one last fight, attacking Aris and Teresa, but fails. He gets dragged into the gas chamber and the gas released. Thomas passes out, feeling betrayed and sick from the gas, and has another dream memory about being sent into the Swipe, then into the Maze. Thomas wakes up and the gas chamber's door opens. Teresa apologizes, but Thomas still feels betrayed and cannot trust her. They run to catch up with the other group, as they only have a few hours until they must be at the safe haven. Teresa explains along the way that her telepathy with Thomas was "cut off" when WICKED came into her room and told her to tell Aris that they had to get Thomas to the point that he feels totally betrayed by them, and if they did anything against WICKED, Thomas dies. They kiss near a valley, but Thomas feels nothing. The ground makes it to a flag saying "THE SAFE HAVEN", and monsters with growths similar to light bulbs covering their body appear. Fortunately, only three people die during the fight. The Berg comes back and picks up the Gladers. A guard on it gets angry for them taking Jorge and Brenda with them, forcing Thomas to choose who to kill. He chooses Brenda, thinking it's a test, but he's wrong. He manages to keep both. They're fed and bathed and all fall asleep. Thomas has one more dream where Brenda speaks to him telepathically, saying things are about to get bad. He wakes up in a padded, white room. Teresa is telepathically speaking to him, saying the Flare was rooted too deeply in him, and they took him away. Thomas tells Teresa to go away. Teresa tells him WICKED is good and leaves. The epilogue is a WICKED memorandum from a woman expressing her thoughts on the Trials, saying that there was an unexpected turn of events but the Trials went well all the same.

29049663

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By Nightfall

Michael Cunningham

2010-10

Peter and his wife, Rebecca--who edits a mid-level art magazine--have settled into a comfortable life in Manhattan's art world, but their staid existence is disrupted by the arrival of Rebecca's much younger brother, Ethan--known as Mizzy, short for "The Mistake." Family golden child Mizzy is a recovering drug addict whose current whim has landed him in New York where he wants to pursue a career in "the arts." Watching Mizzy--whose resemblance to a younger Rebecca unnerves Peter--coast through life without responsibilities makes Peter question his own choices and wonder if it's more than Mizzy's freedom that he covets.

29055790

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The Corrections

Jonathan Franzen

2001

{"/m/02xlf": "Fiction"}

The Corrections focuses on the Lamberts, a traditional and somewhat repressed Midwestern family, whose children have fled to the east coast to start new lives free from the influence of their parents. The novel moves back and forth in time throughout the late twentieth century, depicting the personal growth and mistakes of each family member in detail. The book climaxes around the time of the technology driven economic boom of the late nineties as the troubled family's problems begin to boil to the surface. Alfred Lambert is a railroad engineer and the stern patriarch of the Lambert family, based in the fictional town of St. Jude. After his children grow up and move to the east coast, Alfred retires, but soon begins to suffer from Parkinson's disease, causing his organized and repressed personality to fracture. Alfred's loyal wife Enid has long suffered from his tyrannical behavior, but his increasing dementia makes her life still harder. She is also tortured by the questionable life choices of her three children and their abandonment of midwestern Protestant values. As the economic boom of the late nineties goes into full swing, the family's massive problems become impossible to ignore. Gary, the eldest Lambert son, is a successful but seemingly depressed and alcoholic banker in Philadelphia who suspects his life is carefully controlled by his manipulative wife and children. Chip, the middle child, is a Marxist academic whose disastrous affair with a student loses him a tenure-track job and lands him in the employ of a Lithuanian crime boss defrauding American investors. Denise, the youngest of the family, is a successful chef in Philadelphia, but loses her job after interlocking romances with both her boss and his wife. The separate plot-lines converge on Christmas morning back in St. Jude, when Enid and her children are forced to confront Alfred's accelerating physical and mental decline.

29061830

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Philippa Fisher and the Dream-Maker's Daughter

Liz Kessler

5/7/2009

{"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"}

Philippa Fisher is feeling lonely. She misses her fairy godsister, Daisy. But while on vacation with her parents, she befriends a local girl named Robyn. Though she is excited to have a friend again, Philippa cannot help but feel there is something strange about Robyn and her father. Meanwhile, Daisy, who is hard at work on a new mission, misses Philippa as well, so she decides to break the rules and to visit her friend. Though the girls are happy to be reunited, things soon begin to go horribly wrong with Daisy's assignment. And when all three girls find themselves in danger, Philippa must work quickly to save her friends and herself.

29068932

/m/0dlmxnn

Mink Trapping

Arthur Robert Harding

{"/m/05h83": "Non-fiction"}

One of Harding's Pleasure & Profit Books. A collection of mink trapping instructions and tips from the author and other trappers in the United States and Canada, including photographs and illustrations. The book gives information on where and how to set for mink, including land, water, blind sets, baits and scent to use, methods in Northern and Southern states, size and care of skins.

29072318

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Anatomy of an Epidemic

2010

Whitaker begins by showing that the antipsychotics, benzodiazepines and antidepressants were discovered as side effects during research for antihistamines (specifically promethazine), gram negative antibiotics (specifically mephenesin) and the anti-tuberculosis agents isoniazid and iproniazid respectively. The psychiatric mechanisms of action of these drugs were not known at the time and these were initially called major tranquilizers (now typical antipsychotics) due to their induction of "euphoric quietiude"; minor tranquilizers (now benzodiazepines) and psychic energizers (now antidepressants) due to patients "dancing in the wards." These compounds were developed during a period of growth for the pharmaceutical industry bolstered by the 1951 Durham-Humphrey Amendment, giving physicians monopolistic prescribing rights thus aligning the interests of physicians and pharmaceutical companies. This also followed the industry's development of "magic bullets" that treat people with, for example, diabetes, which provided an analogy to sell the idea of these drugs to the public. It was not until many years later, after the mechanisms of these drugs were determined, that the serotonergic hypothesis of depression and dopaminergic hypothesis of schizophrenia were developed to fall in line with the drug's mechanisms. According to Whitaker's analysis of the primary literature lower levels of serotonin and higher levels of dopmine "have proved to be true in patients WITH prior exposure to antidepressants or antipsychotics (ie as homeostatic mechanisms) but NOT in patients without prior exposure." Another means by which he undermines the magic bullet theory is that he shows that the historical notion that the "invention of the antipsychotic Thorazine" having emptied the asylums is a myth. His case begins by showing that during the late 1940s and 1950s ~75% of cases admitted for first episode schizophrenia recovered to the community by approximately 3 years (Thorazine was not released until 1955). He then notes that the arrival of Thorazine did not improve discharge rates in the 1950s for people newly diagnosed with schizophrenia. In fact, based on the only large scale first episode schizophrenia study of this era, 88% of those who were not treated were discharged within eighteen months compared to 74% of neuroleptic treated. This is additionally evidenced by the fact that when Thorazine was introduced in 1955 there were 267 thousand schizophrenia patients in state and county mental hospitals, and eight years later, there were 253 thousand, thus indicating that the advent of neuroleptics barely budged the number of hospitalized patients. What he argues actually cleared the asylums was the beginning of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. These programs provided federal subsidies for nursing home care but no such subsidy for care in state mental hospitals, and so the states, seeking to save money, naturally began shipping their chronic patients to nursing homes. Whitaker favors psychiatric medications but believes that they must be used in a "selective, cautious manner. It should be understood that they’re not fixing any chemical imbalances. And honestly, they should be used on a short-term basis." Whitaker traces the effects of what looks like an iatrogenic epidemic: the drugs that patients receive can perturb their normal brain function. Whitaker suggests that the "wonder drug" glow around the second generation psychotropics has long since disappeared. He views the "hyping" of the top-selling atypical antipsychotics as "one of the more embarrassing episodes in psychiatry's history, as one government study after another failed to find that they were any better than the first-generation anti-psychotics." One of Whitaker's solutions is the style of care documented by professor Jaakko Seikkula at Keropudas Hospital in Tornio in Lapland where drugs are given to patients only on a limited basis, with good outcomes. According to Whitaker, the district has the lowest per capita spending on mental health of all health districts in Finland. He also advocates that those with depression engage in exercise. Exercise for depression is so successful that in the UK the doctor may write a prescription for exercise. In fact, studies have shown that exercise produces a "substantial improvement" within six weeks, that its effect size is "large," and that 70% of all depressed patients respond to an exercise program. "These success rates are quite remarkable," German investigators wrote in 2008. Whitaker sees that children are vulnerable to being prescribed a lifetime of drugs. As the author says, a psychiatrist and parents may give a child a "cocktail" to force him or her to behave. Then when this child grows up to eighteen, Whitaker says he or she becomes a disabled adult.

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The Lost Boy

The novella tells the story of an Asheville, North Carolina family that suffers the loss of Grover, the 12-year-old son, who dies of typhoid fever during an extended family visit to the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904. The story is composed of four parts. Part 1, written in third person, presents Grover's perception of a childhood epiphany experienced months before the family moves from North Carolina to St. Louis. Cheated and accused of stealing by a candy-store owner, the boy seeks out his father, who returns with him to the store and extracts retribution, leaving the boy with a restored sense of self but a deeper understanding of life's darker side. In Part 2, some 30 years after the boy's death, the still-grieving mother reflects on her "best" son and recounts the high excitement of the train trip to the Fair and the son's amazing maturity. Throughout her narrative, the mother exemplifies life's irreparable wounding. In Part 3, also 30 years later, the older sister tells of an adventure at the Fair when she and the boy, youngsters in a strange place, sneak into downtown St. Louis and eat in a cheap restaurant. Upon their return home, the boy becomes ill with the onset of typhoid fever. In the sister's story we confront not only her long-sustained grief and guilt, but her vision of the incomprehensibility of life: "How is it," she asks, "that nothing turns out the way we thought it would be." In Part 4, Eugene, the younger brother who has in the 30 intervening years become a famous writer, narrates his return to the house in St. Louis where the family had lived and the boy had died. Eugene hopes to recapture and recreate in fiction the essence of the boy, a hope not fulfilled, as the title of the story suggests. Instead, the writer-brother comes to see the limits of time and memory in recapturing the past, which marks a significant epiphany for him and a redirection of his work as writer.

29090244

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Sang Pemimpi

2006-07

{"/m/05hgj": "Novel"}

In The Dreamer, it is about life in the days of high school. The three main characters are Ikal, Arai and Jimbron. Ikal is the alter-ego of Andrea Hirata while Arai is a distant relative of an orphan called "Simpai Keramat" as he is the last family member who is still alive and eventually became the foster brother of Ikal. Jimbron is an orphan who is obsessed with horses and stutter when he's enthusiastic about something or when he is nervous. All three are intertwined in the story of friendship from childhood until they go to school in SMA Negeri Manggar (SMA means 'Sekolah Menengah Atas', equal to high school in English. The school’s name basically means The State High School of Manggar.), the first high school in the eastern Belitung. Attended school in the mornings and worked as a worker in the early morning fishing port, from their addiction of erotic movies in theaters and finally discovered by their religious teacher, the love story of Jimbron and Arai, Jimbron's farewell with Ikal and Arai who will study in Jakarta that makes them to separate but will still meet each other in France. Independently living separately from their parents with the background of poor economic conditions but with a big goal that if viewed from the background of their lives, is simply a dream.

29102497

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Framed

Gordon Korman

{"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/08sdrw": "Adventure novel"}

The story takes place in Cedarville, while 'The Man with the Plan' Griffin Bing is having a hard time adjusting to his school's new atmosphere, which is more like a strict boot camp than a middle school. His new football fanatic Principal, Dr. Egan, does not like Griffin, due to his past. To make matters worse, somebody has stolen the priceless Superbowl ring that was in the school's showcase, with Griffin's retainer that he recently lost left in its place. For once, the Man with the plan DOESN'T have a Plan. Things only go from bad to worse when Griffin is accused of stealing it by Egan, and Griffin is sent to a state school for juvenile delinquents. Griffin realizes he has been framed by somebody and calculates a list of suspects: * Dr. Egan, (dubbed Dr. Evil) the principal who hates Griffin and could gain the ring as a football collectors item, as he loves the sport. * Celia White, A nosy reporter who is digging up dirt on Griffin. She often twists his words, and she will do anything to make him look guilty, possibly to gain a promotion. * Darren Vader, A burly boy who annoys Griffin. He could steal the ring after finding Griffin's retainer in order to gain profit. His motive for framing Griffin would be to distract the police from him. * Tony Bartholomew, A boy who claims he is the rightful owner of the ring. Griffin tries to get the suspects through a metal detector at the courthouse after sending them an anonymous e-mail stating that a buyer was interested in purchasing a valuable possession that "recently" came to them. Griffin unfortunately discovers that Dr. Egan is the only suspect left. Logan, Griffin's friend and amateur actor, agrees to get to know Egan's daughter so he can search the house and find the ring, getting him off the hook. The plan fails when they discover Egan does not have the ring. Griffin is tried and placed under house arrest, where his friends meet him via video chat and formulate a final plan to clear their friend's name. Savannah, the animal lover of the group, finds that a type of mouse that is attracted to shiny objects may have found Griffin's lost retainer and swapped it out with the ring. Melissa, the computer whiz, hacks into Griffin's house arrest system that allows him to leave the house without the alarm coming off while his parents are out. At the school during its play, Hail Caesar!, Griffin leads Egan to the mouse's nest and clears his name. He is then raced home and resets his house arrest anklet as his parents arrive. Egan, who got Griffin home in time, clears up matters and apologizes to Griffin, saying that he was wrong to judge him. Also, Celia White shows up in an attempt to get a story on him. Before she can twist the words, however, Egan makes her stop and makes sure she won't be doing it again. After this, Griffin asks the court if it will take a truly good-hearted friend out of the state school, so he can have a chance at life. They accept and it is implied that life will be better for Griffin and his friends.

29104470

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Vegan Virgin Valentine

2004

{"/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature"}

The story follows Mara Valentine, a high school senior in Brockport, New York headed to Yale University, whose life is turned upside down when her sixteen-year-old niece Vivienne, who goes only by her first initial V, comes to live with Mara and her parents. V’s mother, Mara’s older sister, is a free-spirit who spends her life traveling from place to place, finding new jobs and boyfriends along the way; she is the complete opposite of Mara who has spent her life working hard to succeed in school to please her parents.

29120533

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The Lacuna

Barbara Kingsolver

2009

The novel tells the story of Harrison William Shepherd beginning with his childhood in Mexico during the 1930s. His parents are separated so he lives back and forth between the United States with his father and Mexico with his mother. During his time in Mexico he works as a plaster mixer for the mural artist Diego Rivera then as a cook for both him and his artist wife Frida Kahlo, with whom Shepherd develops a lifelong friendship. While living with and working for them, he also begins working as a secretary for Leon Trotsky who is hiding there, exiled by Stalin. Later in life, living in Asheville, North Carolina, Shepherd becomes a novelist and is subsequently investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee. He instructs his secretary, Violet Brown, to burn his papers and returns to Mexico. However, she saves his diaries and letters and it is these papers that form the bulk of the novel. There are gaps, or lacunae, in the story, hence the title.

29121910

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This Isn't What It Looks Like

Pseudonymous Bosch

2010

The story starts off with Cass awakening somewhere unknown to her, in an unknown time (she later finds she is in fact in the Middle Ages), not knowing who she is, where she came from, or what she is doing. She sees a young boy stuck in a tree, and tries to rescue him, only to hear him repeatedly shouting the word "Goat!", evidently frightened. He runs down the road to his father, but neither of them even look at the girl. Confused, the girl walks up to a puddle, only to see that she has no reflection, realizing that she must be invisible, and that the boy was shouting "Ghost," not "Goat."

29124040

/m/0dlmkts

Pandemia

Johnathan Rand

2006-07

{"/m/0hc1z": "Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction", "/m/0c3351": "Suspense"}

The main content of the book describes the disease that would later cause a global catastrophe: H5N1, the bird flu. In parts of southeastern Asia, the bird flu is a deadly epidemic that is feared by many. The bird flu has already spread to parts of Africa and most of Europe, because of today's transportation methods. Pandemia illustrates the possibility that bird flu will possibly mutate and spread to the rest of the world, creating a global pandemic in a matter of weeks. This causes a global state of emergency, and eventually causes the collapse of society and many economies across the world. The book's full plot features a group of teens in Saline, Michigan that must try and escape the city and head to the countryside where they can hopefully stay alive long enough in their uncle's cabin to be rescued. But in doing so, the teens must use whatever weapons they can find to defend themselves against looters, insane killers, and contagious, potentially dangerous infected. In a world gone mad, can the group find the necessities: food, water and shelter to survive?

29128834

/m/0dlmw57

Cargo of Eagles

Margery Allingham

1968

{"/m/0lsxr": "Crime Fiction"}

Saltey in Essex, the "Back Door to London", has a long history of smuggling, and holds a secret that leads to murder. Albert Campion sends his young American associate Mortimer Kelsey to mingle with the locals to try to solve the mystery. The evidence points to a robbery from a yacht done years before by a dangerous criminal named Teague and his associates.

29131320

/m/0dlll57

The Moral Landscape

Sam Harris

{"/m/06ms6": "Sociology"}

Sam Harris's case starts with two premises: "(1) some people have better lives than others, and (2) these differences are related, in some lawful and not entirely arbitrary way, to states of the human brain and to states of the world". The idea is that a person is simply describing material facts (many about their brain) when they describe possible "better" and "worse" lives for themselves. Granting this, Harris says we must conclude that there are facts about which courses of action will allow one to pursue a better life. Harris attests to the importance of admitting that such facts exist, because he says this logic applies to groups of individuals as well. He suggests that there are better and worse ways for whole societies to pursue better lives. Just like at the scale of the individual, there may be multiple different paths and "peaks" to flourishing for societies - and many more ways to fail. Harris then makes a pragmatic case that science could usefully define "morality" according to such facts (about people's wellbeing). Often his arguments point out the way that problems with this scientific definition of morality seem to be problems shared by all science, or reason and words in general. Harris also spends some time describing how science might engage nuances and challenges of identifying the best ways for individuals, and groups of individuals, to improve their lives. Many of these issues are covered below. Although Harris's book discusses the challenges that a science of morality must face, he also mentions that his scientific argument is indeed philosophical. Furthermore, he says that this is the case for almost all scientific investigation. He mentions that modern science amounts to careful practice of accepted first philosophical principles like empiricism and physicalism. He also suggests that science has already very much settled on values in answering the question "what should I believe, and why should I believe it?". Harris says it should not be surprising that normative ethical sciences are, or would be, similarly founded on bedrock assumptions (Basic norms). Harris says: The way he thinks science might engage moral issues draws on various philosophical positions like ethical realism (there are facts worth calling 'moral facts'), and ethical naturalism (these facts relate to the physical world). Harris says a science of morality may resemble Utilitarianism, but that the science is, importantly, more open-ended because it involves an evolving definition of well-being. Rather than committing to Reductive materialism, then, Harris recognizes the arguments of revisionists that psychological definitions themselves are contingent on research and discoveries. Harris adds that any science of morality must consider everything from emotions and thoughts to the actual actions and their consequences. To Harris, moral propositions, and explicit values in general, are concerned with the flourishing of conscious creatures in a society. He argues that "Social morality exists to sustain cooperative social relationships, and morality can be objectively evaluated by that standard." Harris sees some philosophers' talk of strictly private morality as akin to unproductive discussion of some private, personal physics. Harris also discusses how interchangeability of perspective might emerge as an important part of moral reasoning. He alludes to an 'unpleasant surprise principle', where someone realizes they have been supporting an ineffective moral norm (e.g. reported cases of Jew-hunting Nazis discovering that they themselves were of Jewish descent). Harris identifies three projects for science as it relates to morality: (1) explaining why humans do what they do in the name of "morality" (e.g. traditional evolutionary psychology), (2) determining which patterns of thought and behaviour humans actually should follow (i.e. the science of morality), and (3) generally persuading humans to change their ways. Harris says that the first project is focused only on describing what is, whereas projects (2) and (3) are focused on what should and could be, respectively. Harris's point is that this second, prescriptive project should be the focus of a science of morality. He mentions, however, that we should not fear an "Orwellian future" with scientists at every door - vital progress in the science of morality could be shared in much the same way as advances in medicine. Harris says it is important to delineate project (1) from project (2), or else we risk committing a moralistic fallacy. He also highlights the importance of distinguishing between project (2) (asking what is right) from project (3) (trying to change behaviour). He says we must realize that the nuances of human motivation is a challenge in itself; humans often fail to do what they "ought" to do to even be successfully selfish - there is every reason to believe that discovering what is best for society would not change every member's habits overnight. Harris does not imagine that people, even scientists, have always made the right moral decisions—indeed it is precisely his argument that many of them are wrong about moral facts. This is due to the many real challenges of good science in general, including human cognitive limitations and biases (e.g. loss aversion can sway human decisions on important issues like medicine). He mentions the research of Paul Slovic and others to describe just a few of these established mental heuristics that might keep us from reasoning properly. Although he mentions that training might temper the influence of these biases, Harris worries about research showing that incompetence and ignorance in a domain leads to confidence (the Dunning–Kruger effect). Harris explains that debates and disagreement is a part of the scientific method, and that one side can certainly be wrong. He also explains that all the debates still available to science illustrates how much work could still be done, and how much conversation must continue. The book is full of issues that Harris thinks are far from being empirically, morally grey areas. That is, besides saying that 'reasonable' thinking about moral issues amounts to scientific thinking. For instance, he references one poll that found that 36 percent of British Muslims think apostates should be put to death for their unbelief, and he says that these individuals are "morally confused". He also suggests it is obvious that loneliness, helplessness, and poverty are "bad", but that these are by no means as far as positive psychology has taken, and will take us. In one section, called The illusion of free will, Harris argues that there is a wealth of evidence in psychology (e.g. the illusion of introspection) or specifically related to the neuroscience of free will that suggests that metaphysically free will does not exist. This, he thinks, is intuitive; "trains of thought...convey the apparent reality of choices, freely made. But from a deeper perspective...thoughts simply arise (what else could they do?)". He adds "The illusion of free will is itself an illusion". The implications of free will's non-existence may be a working determinism, and Harris warns us not to confuse this with fatalism. One implication of a determined will, Harris says, is that it becomes unreasonable to punish people out of retribution—only behaviour modification and the deterrence of others still seem to be potentially valid reasons to punish. This, especially because behaviour modification is a sort of cure for the evil behaviours; Harris provides a thought experiment: Harris acknowledges a hierarchy of moral consideration (e.g. humans are more important than bacteria or mice). He says it follows that there could, in principle, be a species compared to which we are relatively unimportant (although he doubts such a species exists). Harris supports the development of lie-detection technology and believes it would be, on the whole, beneficial for humanity. He also supports the formation of an explicit global civilization because of the potential for stability under a world government. Consistent with Harris's definition of morality, he says we must ask whether religion increases human flourishing today (regardless of whether it increased it in the distant past). He argues that religions may largely be practiced because they fit well with human cognitive tendencies (e.g. animism). In Harris's view, religion and religious dogma is an impediment to reason, and he discusses the views of Francis Collins as one example. Harris criticizes the tactics of secularists like Chris Mooney, who argue that science is not fundamentally (and certainly not superficially) in conflict with religion. Harris sees this as a very serious disagreement, that patronizingly attempts to pacify more devout theists. Harris claims that societies can move away from deep dependence on religion just as it has witchcraft, which he says was once just as deeply ingrained.

29143431

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Living Dead Girl

When "Alice" (parenthesized since that is not her real name) was ten years old, she went on a field trip with her class to an aquarium. While she was there, she got into a fight with her friends because she wouldn't share the lip gloss that she had received from her parents on her birthday. Due to this fight, her friends wander off, leaving her alone. She then loses her class and is approached by a man. He says that her class has gone to see a movie and that he will take her there. He gives her a hat and tells her to tuck her hair into it, and then leads her out of the zoo. He tells her that the lady at the front thought she was his son. He laughs, and then abducts the young girl. This book takes place five years after "Alice's" abduction. She is now 15, and is still living with Ray, her abductor. They now portray father and daughter, though they have no connections to anyone in the outside world. During this time, he has deprived her of food, hoping that this will keep her frozen in her childlike body, has tried to dress her in childlike clothing, and has raped her daily since the day he kidnapped her.She now refers to herself as the "Living Dead Girl." She is numb on the inside and is looking forward to the day when Ray will finally kill her like he did with the "Other Alice." The "Other Alice" is the girl that he had abducted before our present-day Alice. He had kept her until she was fifteen and had outgrown her childlike body. He then killed her and dumped her body, where it was later found, but he had never been suspected with her abduction or murder. It is implied that the First Alice tried to commit suicide with a razor while taking a shower alone (this is the reason the second Alice is not allowed to take showers by herself.) Alice now hopes for death, rather than for escape. Since the day he had taken her, he had threatened that if she ever ran from him, or made one false move, he would kill her parents. She has been brainwashed with his fear and says "I could run, but he would find me. He would take me back to 623 Daisy Lane and make everyone who lives there pay. He would make everyone there pay even if he didn't find me. I belong to him. I'm his little girl. All I have to do is be good" (p. 34). So she "stays in line" even though she is left at their apartment alone all day while he is at work, and even goes to get waxes done by herself. So she sees no hope in ever returning to her home, and now wishes for death. However, Ray has other plans in mind. He tells Alice he wants her to find him "A New Alice." At first, Alice hopes that if she does, he will then free her, or at least finally take her life, but instead Ray tells her that she will train the new Alice to his liking. So Alice takes trips down to the park where Ray had taken her once before and watches the young girls that play there. She writes down in a little notebook the different girls, what they do, and what they look like. She returns to Ray and he asks her to tell him all about these little girls. On one of her trips there, she meets Lucy, a young girl who likes to swing. After Lucy tells Alice that she doesn't like her, Alice decides in anger that Lucy will be the one to replace her. Alice then meets Lucy's older brother, Jake, a troubled teenager who "pops pills." Alice returns to his car and performs a sexual act to try to get some information from him about Lucy. She finds out a little information about the girls hobbies and schedule. Before she leaves, she also meets a police officer who has a feeling that Alice is in trouble. However, Alice knows that Police only cause her trouble with Ray, so she refuses to call for help. When Ray accuses Alice of lying to him about the Lucy's where abouts Alice becomes confused as Jake told her that she would be at swimming. In the end, after being punished for Lucy not being at the park, Alice returns later at six at night and finds Lucy standing in the park. She tries to tell her to run, but Ray appears and grasps Lucy by the arm. Alice collects her remaining life in her hollow body and shouts for Lucy to run. Ray gets so angry he tries to strangle and tear the flesh out of Alice, but is shot twice by Jake. Alice says with the final words of the book being "I Am Free".

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Jihad and Genocide

According to Michael Berenbaum writing in The Forward, the book explores the question, do Islamic leaders mean what they say when they call for genocide of the Jews? According to Berenbaum, Rubenstein "offers compelling evidence that significant and prominent Muslim thinkers mean what they say and say what they mean when they speak of world peace only following Islamic world conquest." Rubenstein concluded: "Muslim ire has been aroused. At least among Islamists. It will not be calmed until the shame and the disgrace of Muslim defeats from the Battle of Lepanto (1571) to the Israeli War of Independence (1948) and the Six-Day War (1967) have been erased. If we take the Islamists at their word, nothing less than genocide would suffice."

29154764

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L'Inondation

Émile Zola

{"/m/0707q": "Short story"}

On a beautiful May day, the Garonne floods, washing away all the bridges; ruining nearly two thousand houses; drowning hundreds; and leaving twenty thousand starving to death. The novella describes the immediate impact this flood has on one household.

29156530

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Robert Parker: Les Sept Pêchés capiteux

The central character is based on the influential American wine critic Robert M. Parker, Jr. whose personal tastes and "Parker point system" is frequently blamed for the effect of "Parkerization", or homogenisation of wine across the world, in particular due to his influence on the Bordeaux wine market as his recommendation or disapproval of a wine may result in significant financial consequence with a Parker top score valued by some at potentially £5 million. The story describes his ascent to preeminent wine personality, along with the oenologist Michel Rolland who is often described to travel the world making wines in the style that pleases Parker. Also portrayed are Bordeaux winemakers Jean-Luc Thunevin and Alain Raynaud and American wine merchant Jeffrey Davies. In the plot, Parker, termed "the oracle of Maryland" arrives in Saint-Émilion in the year 2017 on his 70th birthday, is blindfolded and taken to a cellar where he stands trial before seven men in hooded purple capes for having committed seven heady sins. Parker is given three wines to blind taste which he judges to be "old marmalades". These are revealed to be a 2000 Pavie, a 2005 Valandraud and a 1995 Le Pin, wines Parker has assigned top marks.

29161024

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Gauntlgrym

Robert Anthony Salvatore

Gauntlgrym begins in the year 1409, DR in the dwarven complex of Mithral Hall. King Bruenor Battlehammer, with Drizzt Do'Urden, sits on his throne and mourns over the loss of his friend Regis and his adoptive daughter Catti-brie nearly 24 years before. Both Companions of the Hall were lost to the deadly effects of the Spellplague. Wulfgar has returned to Icewind Dale and has decided to remain in those most dangerous of lands. In a conversation with his dear friend Drizzt, Bruenor laments over all that has happened since those terrible events. The signing of the Treaty of Garumn's Gorge has brought a lasting peace to the Silver Marches. Obould II has inherited the Kingdom of Many-Arrows from his father Obould I, though he is not nearly as clever or as powerful as his father. Above all, King Bruenor regrets never completing his quest to find the legendary home of the Delzoun dwarves, Gauntlgrym. Meanwhile Nanfoodle, the gnome inventor famous for his Moment of Elminister - a purposeful explosion that sent gas swarming to the surface during a vicious battle 40 years earlier - and Jessa Dribble-Obould, an orc, hatch a plan to poison Bruenor. Nanfoodle poisons the king’s ale. Thibbledorf Pwent the battlerager notices something amiss about Nanfoodle's behavior but cannot quite place it. Bruenor drinks the ale and shortly after the entire population of Mithral Hall goes into mourning at the abrupt death of their king. Banak Brawnanvil is named Eleventh King of Mithral Hall. Pwent, distraught over the death of Bruenor, seeks out Nanfoodle and Jessa for answers in the hills outside of Mithral Hall. Upon finding the traitorous pair, he attempts to attack them for answers. During the fight, Drizzt, as well as a very-much alive Bruenor arrives; the latter demands of Pwent what he is doing here instead of at Banak's side. The ever-loyal Pwent replies that his life and his duty lie with his beloved king. It is then revealed that Bruenor faked his death with the help of Nanfoodle and Jessa in order to continue his quest for Gauntlgrym while leaving Mithral Hall in Banak's good hands. Drizzt, Bruenor, Jessa, Nanfoodle, Pwent, Guenhwyvar, and Andahar then leave on their secret quest. (Andahar is a magical unicorn that can be summoned much like Guenhwyvar, Athrogate's demon boar, or Jarlaxle's nightmare. Andahar was a gift to Drizzt from the ruling council of Silverymoon for his work with both blade and diplomacy during the Third Orc War.) 42 years later in the year 1451 DR the elf warrior Dahlia Sin'felle is engaged in a conversation with her vampire lover, Korvin Dor'crae. Dahlia has been charged by the Red Wizard of Thay lich Zulkir Szass Tam to go to create a Dread Ring. This is an enchanted area that produces countless undead minions. She is charged to go to Luskan in order to investigate possibilities. There are several flashbacks of Dahlia as a child and the cruelties she suffered at the hands of Netherese barbarians and demons. She was raped by the barbarians and impregnated by the tiefling Herzgo Alegni and forced to bear his demon offspring which she killed soon after it was born while she was still a child herself. Dahlia is an exceptionally talented warrior and uses the break staff weapon, Kozah's Needle. This is an eight-foot-long staff that can be broken into four two-foot sections attached by a chain. The break staff can be configured in many ways. It also allows the owner to summon lightning during battle. She also wears diamond studs as a tribute to her lovers. Eight are in her left ear to signify lovers she has murdered and one in her right ear for those who have so far escaped that fate. Before leaving on her mission, she kills her former lover Themerelis, a powerful ranger wielding a greatsword. This angers her rival Sylora Salm as she was also Themerelis' lover. Meanwhile Drizzt, Bruenor, and Pwent have continued to search for Gauntlgrym with no success. Nanfoodle and Jessa stay with them for many years, but eventually die of old age. While searching for the lost kingdom in Ten-Towns and Icewind Dale, they investigate rumors of a sanctuary inhabited by a beautiful witch and a halfling caretaker. While visiting Clan Battlehammer, Bruenor (traveling under the alias Bonnego) decides to continue his search for more information to the location of Gauntlgrym. Pwent, having reached an age where he is not as agile and mobile as he once was, reluctantly decides to stay in Icewind Dale when Drizzt and Bruenor take their leave. Herzgo Alegni is in the city of Neverwinter working with the Netherese and opposing the Ashmadai. Upset that the city lord will not rename a bridge after him, he recalls his chief assassin Barrabus the Gray from his home in Memnon. Barrabus is described as a dark-haired, dark-eyed, slight but muscular man. Although it is never mentioned, he bears a striking resemblance to Drizzt's former arch-rival Artemis Entreri. Barrabus is armed with a main-gauche and a magic knife. The knife can hold and deliver poison with deadly accuracy. He then instructs Barrrabus to convince the lord of the city to change the bridge's name. When Barrabus shows disdain towards Herzgo, the assassin is punished by means of a magical tuning fork on the sword that Herzgo carries. The sword is called Claw and has a blood-red blade. The magic attack causes Barrabus much pain. Barrabus is successful in getting the name of the bridge changed. Dahlia and Dor'crae arrive in Luskan and enter the Illusk (undead section of Luskan). While there, they meet the unstable lich Valindra Shadowmantle. She informs them that the magical disturbances Dahlia has been sent to investigate come from Gauntlgrym. Dor'crae is sent to investigate and returns with news of Gauntlgrym's location. Dahlia realizes that she will need a Delzoun dwarf to access the dwarf kingdom and seeks out Athrogate and his drow friend Jarlaxle and convinces them to accompany her. Herzgo is at odds with the Red Wizards and the Ashmadai, and when he learns of their agents in Luskan he tells Barrabus to go investigate. Dahlia, Dor'crae, Athrogate, Jarlaxle, and Valindra all head towards Gauntlgrym using the underground tunnels. They find the place and are able to enter because of Athrogate's heritage as a Delzoun. They encounter dwarf ghosts while there. Their goal is the Forge of Gauntlgrym at the center of the city, reputed to have crafted the finest items in its day. Dor'crae uses a magical device that allows Sylora Salm to follow them from afar. The party is attacked along the way by dire corbies. While engaged with the bird men, Sylora arrives with some henchmen and proceeds to attack the party as well. Athrogate is forced to the forge and, under the hypnotic powers of Dor'crae and Sylora, is coerced into believing that the Gauntlgrym ghosts want him to throw the lever that will activate the forge. When this happens a fire primordial (ancient being of almost godlike power) is released. Dor'crae, Valindra, and Sylora make their escape. Jarlaxle, Athrogate, and Dahlia also make their way back to Luskan. Sylora then seeks out Dahlia and commands her to follow her and serve her under threat of death and Szass Tam's displeasure. Barrabus plans to leave Neverwinter for Luskan. Drizzt and Bruenor still travel the country nearby. At this moment the primordial that has been released causes a volcanic explosion. Venting its rage against living beings, it targets Neverwinter and destroys the town. Barrabas is barely able to survive. Eleven years later in 1462 DR the Dread Ring has been completed thanks to the death and destruction caused by the primordial's rage. New types of undead stalk the land. The war between the Thayans, the Ashmadai, and the Netherese escalates. Dahlia is forced to serve Sylora and Barrabus hunts the Ashmadai with great success under orders from Herzgo. Dahlia and Barrabus fight each other in the woods to a standstill. Dahlia’s unorthodox weapon grants her an advantage over Barrabus’ two-handed style, yet it should be noted that Barrabus, even though at a disadvantage, is the one who forces Dahlia to go on the defensive multiple times and outright flee at one point as Barrabus increases the tempo of the combat, suggesting that Barrabus is actually the more skilled of the two combatants. Dahlia takes to the trees for cover as Barrabus pursues but Barrabus uses Dahlia's own trick against her as he takes to the trees as well causing Dahlia to completely lose track of him. Further combat between the two is forgone as Dahlia discovers and joins ranks with an Ashmadai patrol group. Jarlaxle and Athrogate continue to reside in Luskan, still seeking a way to avenge themselves for the events that occurred in Gauntlgrym 11 years before. The ghost dwarves of Gauntlgrym, wanting to reseal the primordial, spread out across the land searching for Delzoun dwarves to help. Eventually they arrive in Icewind Dale and cryptically inform the dwarves of their plight. They also inform Bruenor of the situation. He and Drizzt then take it upon themselves to seal the primordial. Jarlaxle meanwhile returns to Menzoberranzan to seek the help of his brother Gromph in sealing away the primordial. Jarlaxle learns that he will need a dwarf king in addition to other magical devices. Dahlia also searches for a way to get back to Gauntlgrym and to seal off the primordial, hoping this will lead to her freedom from Sylora. Finding the way blocked (the tunnels have collapsed), Dahlia seeks out Jarlaxle. Bruenor, deciding where to go next, is robbed of his maps in the woods by a drow elf. Drizzt, correctly deducing who is behind this, leads Bruenor to Luskan in search of Jarlaxle. Dahlia finds Jarlaxle and accepts a magic ring from him. Bruenor and Drizzt arrive at the Cutlass in Luskan. There they are attacked by Ashmadai led by Dahlia. Jarlaxle and Athrogate enter the fight. The four of them beat back the attackers and Dahlia appears to be captured by Jarlaxle's 'wand of goo'. Instead, Dahlia uses the ring to fake her death. Jarlaxle, Athrogate, Dahlia, Bruenor, and Drizzt decide to travel to Gauntlgrym together in an attempt to stop the primordial and hopefully destroy the Dread Ring in the process. The five proceed to Gauntlygrym overland in search of a cave that will lead them down. They are attacked by a group of Ashmadai near the cave. This battle is observed by Dor'crae and Sylora who follow them. Barrabus also witnesses the fight and upon seeing Drizzt is overcome by emotion and retreats without having been seen by anyone. The five enter Gauntlgrym whereupon Bruenor sits upon the dwarf king's throne and is enchanted with divine power and knowledge from the ancient dwarves. The primordial has attracted many minions from the Elemental Plane of Fire to fight off intruders, powerful salamanders and even a small red dragon. Sylora and Dor'crae enter along with a host of Ashmadai. Valindra uses a magical scepter given to her by Sylora to summon Beealtimatuche, a pit fiend from the Nine Hells. Meanwhile, in order to contain the primordial, the five companions must strategically place 10 bowls that summon water elementals in various places throughout the city. Fighting through waves of salamanders, the five companions begin to set the elemental bowls into the proper alcoves. During the fighting, dwarves from Icewind Dale and Mirabar (who have also been visited by dwarf ghosts) arrive in another part of Gauntlgrym in order to help seal the primordial. The companions are only able to place nine of the ten summoning bowls as one alcove had been destroyed earlier. They then head to the Forge Of Gauntlgrym. In a trance, Bruenor places his axe and shield into the forge and removes them, to find that they are magically enhanced. The shield now provides real potions of heroism to the companions. The Ashmadai, led by the pit fiend, who just killed the red dragon, then enter the forge room. The pit fiend engages the five and manages to kill the consummate survivor Jarlaxle in one blow. While Drizzt and Dahlia hold off the Ashmadai and several legion devils, Athrogate and Bruenor move deeper into the city to seal the primordial, but are intercepted by Beealtimatuche. Athrogate attempts to fight the devil, but is only able to wound the devil before he slapped aside. God-blessed Bruenor engages Beealtimatuche in a titanic battle, but even with his new powers, the devil seizes the upper hand. Thibbledorf Pwent - left behind in Icewind Dale - reappears and goes after Bruenor to protect him. Dahlia and Drizzt gain the upper hand until Valindra arrives. The lich is driven away by Jarlaxle who was not killed but saved by the same ring that allowed Dahlia to fake her own death. Drizzt, Jarlaxle, and Dahlia then go after Bruenor. Bruenor is aided by Pwent, who is nearly killed by the pit fiend. Finally, the grievously-injured King Bruenor cleaves the devil's head in half and throws him in the heart of the primordial. Pwent helps the mortally wounded Bruenor toward the lever. Dahlia enters just in time to see Dor'crae (who has followed them in) tear out Pwent's throat. Dahlia then attacks and drives the vampire off with a wooden spike from her magic ring. Bruenor, with his last ounce of strength manages to pull the lever and. Attempting to escape, Dor'crae is caught in a waterfall created when the lever was pulled, and explodes into black flakes, seemingly destroyed. The primordial is sealed. The Dread Ring is broken. Drizzt manages get to Bruenor and hold him in tender embrace and with his last breath nodded to Drizzt with a look of comfort died in an embrace of friendship. Jarlaxle manages to help Athrogate escape. Bruenor is buried in Gauntlgrym along with Pwent. Dahlia moves the last earring to her left ear, symbolizing the vampire's death. She plans to face Sylora who not only avoided the battle, but was the principal advisor to the plan. Drizzt, with growing feelings toward her, decides to accompany her. In the epilogue, Bruenor wakes up in the forest of the goddess Mielikki. He is met by his dear friend Regis and adoptive son Wulfgar. Regis remarks that Bruenor is indeed dead, and when he motions behind the dwarf king, he turns to see his adopted daughter, Catti-brie, dancing in the woods. The crusty dwarf, who so often hides his feelings from even those closest to him, sinks to his knees and cries.

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Our Kind of Traitor

John le Carré

9/16/2010

On a tennis holiday in Antigua, British university lecturer Peregrine "Perry" Makepiece and his lawyer girlfriend Gail Perkins meet mysterious Russian business oligarch Dmitri "Dima" Vladimirovich Krasnov and his family. Dima, who describes himself as "the world's number one money launderer," deliberately sought contact with Perry hoping that he is a British spy or knows one. This is because Dima wants Perry to pass on information about his criminal activities to British intelligence, in exchange for protection for himself and his family. Dima fears for his life because "The Prince", the new leader of his criminal brotherhood, had a good friend of Dima and his wife murdered. The Prince now wants Dima to come to Bern to sign over control of the money-laundering operations to him. Back in the UK, Perry reaches out to a colleague with contacts in the British intelligence community and hands over Dima's notes. Since these implicate a high-ranking decisionmaker in the UK, British intelligence decides to put government fixer Hector Meredith in charge of a secret semi-official investigation. Hector recruits disgraced intelligence officer Luke Weaver to handle the investigation. Luke, eager to redeem himself, makes all the necessary arrangements. Dima insists that Perry and Gail be present during his first contact with British intelligence in Paris during the 2009 Roland Garros final, so the couple travel to Paris where they again meet with Dima and his family. After Dima signs the papers handing over his assets to a representative of "The Prince", he meets with Luke and is extracted, along with his family, to a safe house in the Swiss Alps. They wait here until British intelligence insists that only Dima travel to the UK; his family will be allowed to join him later if his information proves correct. Dima reluctantly agrees and travels with Luke to catch the charter plane that is supposed to bring them to the UK, only to be killed as the plane explodes after take-off.

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Bodyguard of Lies

Anthony Cave Brown

1975

The book narrates Allied deception strategy on the Western Front for the years of 1943 and 1944. It particularly focuses on the strategic Operation Bodyguard and the events leading up the invasion of Normandy. In late 1942, Allied high command in London became aware of the successful deception work Dudley Clarke was achieving in north Africa. As a result they established the London Controlling Section; with a department broad powers, under colonel John Bevan, to plan deception strategy in Europe. Bodyguard of Lies follows Bevan's work in creating a deception plan to cover the Allied invasion of Normandy. Brown discusses the fictional First US Army Group, a unit of Operation Bodyguard under General George Patton, referring to it as "the greatest charade in history".

29163545

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The God Engines

John Scalzi

2009

{"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"}

The story takes place in a universe where space travel is accomplished by chaining intelligent, human-like creatures called gods to a spacecraft and torturing them to drive the ship. The people are ruled by an organization called the Bishopry Militant, who worship a powerful being. Captain Ean Tephe is completely faithful to the Bishopry, but his faith comes under test when he is assigned a secret mission which his ship's god seems to have a keen interest in.

29169225

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A Point of Law

John Maddox Roberts

{"/m/02p0szs": "Historical fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"}

Senator Decius Metellus has returned from his military expedition to Cyprus, having concluded a successful campaign against local pirates and gathered enough booty to pay off his outstanding debts and finance his campaign for praetor. He is campaigning in the Forum when a young aristocrat loudly denounces him for alleged fraud and theft while in office on Cyprus, and boldly threatening to prosecute him for said acts. A minor scuffle breaks out, before the young man is dragged away. Later, the young man is found gruesomely murdered, and suspicion falls on Decius. To his consternation, his family inform him that, although the charges are unlikely to stick, they can nevertheless delay his election for at least a year. Decius, thinking hard, realizes that the young man may have been a virtual nobody, but could recite a pedigree that would virtually guarantee him popular support - claiming descent from Scipio Africanus and the Gracchi, among others. This means that the young man was likely the figurehead of a conspiracy. The exact aim of the conspiracy is unclear, but Decius reasons that someone must be aiming at reducing the Caecilia Metelli's voting bloc in the Senate (as Decius concedes, he himself is not that important). Decius consults Sallustius, who gives him a small lecture about the Republic's political landscape: for generations, the great aristocratic families of Rome have been slowly shrinking, more dependent on adoption to sustain their numbers, and gradually losing their hold on the highest offices of state which they consider to be their birthright. Now, with Caesar's power, wealth, and popularity growing on a daily basis, these aristocrats are being pushed to increasingly desperate lengths. Sallust confides that he was a guest at several dinner parties at which schemes were discussed to seize control of the State; the young man was to have been the figurehead, and popular support was supposed to have been further mobilized by proposing a mass cancellation of debts. Of course, Sallust dismissed the scheme as hare-brained.

29174111

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El delantero centro fue asesinado al atardecer

Manuel Vázquez Montalbán

1989

{"/m/05hgj": "Novel"}

The private detective Pepe Carvalho is enquiring about a list of death threats arriving after that FC Barcelona purchases the football star Jack Mortimer. de:Der Schuss aus dem Hinterhalt it:Il centravanti è stato assassinato verso sera

29179339

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The Son of Neptune

Rick Riordan

10/4/2011

{"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature"}

The Son of Neptune begins with the amnesiac Percy Jackson being chased by the two remaining Gorgon sisters, who want to kill him to avenge the death of their sister Medusa. Percy, who has no memories of his past life except of his girlfriend, Annabeth Chase, manages to outdistance them and stumbles upon Juno, disguised as an old lady, who gives him two options: to carry her to the Caldecott Tunnel, into the Roman Camp and across the Little Tiber river—though she warns him that by crossing through the river he'll lose his Achilles-like invulnerability—or to retreat to the safety of the sea and live a long, happy life. Percy chooses to carry Juno in hopes of seeing Annabeth again. At the Caldecott Tunnel he meets two other demigods: Hazel Levesque and Frank Zhang. When they cross the river, Percy sees Frank get caught by the pursuing Gorgons and controls the river to destroy them. Juno then reveals herself to the people there, who are inhabitants of Camp Jupiter, the Roman camp for demigods. Percy is accepted by the camp's praetor, a girl named Reyna, and is made part of the Fifth Cohort when Hazel sponsors him. He and Hazel and Frank then prepare for the night's war games. During the games, the trio is responsible for the cohort's victory, and after the games Mars appears. He claims Frank as his son and sends Percy, Hazel, and Frank on a quest to free Thanatos, the god of Death, who is imprisoned in Alaska. On the quest, they bump into an old man named Phineas, who is all-knowing and all-seeing. He tells them that he will reveal the location of Thanatos if they capture a harpy named Ella and bring her to him. Before capturing Ella, they learn that she can memorize anything she reads and decide to gamble with Phineas instead. Phineas and Percy will each drink a vial of Gorgon blood, one of which kills while the other heals. Phineas ends up dying and the trio discover the location in Phineas's pocket: Hubbard Glacier in Alaska. On the way to Alaska, Hazel reveals that she was actually supposed to be dead but was rescued from the Fields of Asphodel by Nico di Angelo and that seventy years prior to the story she was originally started to wake up the giant Alcyoneus but stopped him from rising the day he was due to escape. At that point, Frank reveals to Hazel that his life depends on a piece of firewood that he always keeps. When it burns out, he dies. When they finally reach the glacier, they find the Roman Camp's eagle standard and most importantly, Thanatos in chains. His chains cannot be broken unless melted by the "fire of life", a.k.a Frank's firewood, so Frank starts melting the chains as Hazel attacks Alcyoneus, while Percy attacks Alcyoneus's ghost legion. Frank manages to free Thanatos with just a bit of his firewood left. Frank then goes to help Hazel and learns how to use his family power, which is shape shifting into any animal. He attacks Alcyoneus and dazes him, while Percy slams his sword at the edge of the iceberg where he was fighting, collapsing the iceberg and drowning the ghost legion. Frank and Hazel then drag Alcyoneus across the border into Canada, where Hazel kills him. Frank and Hazel meet back up with Percy in Alaska and then the trio rush back to Camp Jupiter, where, with the help of Tyson, Mrs. O'Leary, and the Roman Legion they fend off the Giant Polybotes's army. After seeing the eagle standard, the legion regains their hope and fights with renewed energy. Percy then challenges the giant Polybotes (born to oppose Poseidon) to a duel, as the rest of the camp fights the rest of the monsters. Percy calls to Terminus to help him defeat the giant, as giants can only be defeated by both a god and demigod. Percy eventually beats Polybotes after a battle using the head of Terminus' statue as a weapon. After the battle the legion names Percy as praetor, one of the two leaders of the Roman camp. Nearing the end, the groups of Greek camp demigods inform Percy of their arrival through a video scroll. He persuades the senate to trust him and let them in without a fight since the future of the world depends on both groups. Percy then resolves to introduce Hazel and Frank to his other family.

29195509

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Conjure Wife

Fritz Leiber

{"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"}

Tansy Saylor is the wife of an up-and-coming young sociology professor at a small, conservative American college. She is also a witch. Her husband, Norman, discovers this one day while rummaging through her dressing table: he finds vials of graveyard dirt, packets of hair and fingernail clippings from their acquaintances, and other evidence of her witchcraft. He confronts Tansy, and manages to convince her that her faith in magic is a result of superstition and neurosis. Tansy burns her charms; and Norman's luck immediately goes sour. He realizes that he had been protected, up til now, by Tansy's charms, and that as a result of his meddling, they are both now powerless to counteract the spells and charms of the other witches all around them.

29203170

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The Emperor of Nihon-Ja

Horace is missing. Months have passed since he was sent on a military mission to the court of the Emperor of Nihon-Ja with his friend and former wardmate George but he has failed to return. Evanlyn is worried, and in company with Will, Selethen, Halt, and Alyss, she sets out to discover what has become of their old friend. They find that Horace has become embroiled in Nihon-Jan politics. The arrogant Senshi sect, a class which believes that they are a superior race, has rebelled against the rightful Emperor Shigeru and Horace has chosen to stay and lend support to the deposed ruler. Their only hope is to find to the fabled Ran-Koshi which they believe is a fortress with impossibly high wall. With only 50 Senshi and around 200 untrained Kikori, they must fight hundreds of trained Senshi warriors. Now he, Selethen, and Will must trainmen willing to face the highly trained Senshi warriors, while Alyss and Evanlyn must overcome their longstanding rivalry to seek aid from a mysterious group of mountain dwellers, called the Hasanu. In the end, Horace and Evanlyn become engaged, as do Will and Alyss.

29204858

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The Dragon's Apprentice

James A. Owen

2010-10

{"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"}

The novel opens in 1943, seven years after the end of the previous book, The Shadow Dragons. It has been seven years since either of the three Caretakers has been in the Archipelago of Dreams and the Summer Country is embroiled in World War II. The Caretakers return and are faced with an issue: the Keep of Time has finally disintegrated and as a result, time has unravelled. Rose has a strange visitor in the night instructing her to find Samaranth's apprentice, ask the dragon a riddle and save the Archipelago from the Echthroi, the primordial shadows. The Caretakers are trapped in the Archipelago because of the final destruction of the Keep of Time, and when John, Jack and Charles return to the Summer Country in 1943, the Nameless Isles are ripped apart from the Archipelago and Tamerlane House, along with all of its inhabitants, are transported to 1945 and are now attached to Oxford. The Caretakers Emeritis meet a distraught John and Jack and learn that Charles died two weeks earlier. John, Jack, Fred, the Tin Man (Roger Bacon), Laura Glue, Richard Burton, Harry Houdini, Arthur Conan Doyle and the mysterious End of Time, a friend of Burton's, travel to Avalon and the Archipelago but discover that it is in ruins and that two thousand years have passed in the Archipelago of Dreams. At Paralon, they meet a little boy named Coal, the last of Arthur's descendents, and the group of animals protecting him. From Aven, the daughter of H.G. Wells, they learn of what has happened over the last two thousand years. As the dark star Rao approaches, they go through a door from the Keep of Time; the same one that was given to Madoc. They find themselves in Dickensian London. With no Caretakers in London at the time, the Caretakers and company are alone in London with a cohort of animals and a six-year-old boy from the future. However, they meet a young man named Edmund McGee after he stole the 'Geographica' from them. He leads them to his master, Benjamin Franklin. By persuading Mordred, or Madoc, to continue his apprenticeship to Samaranth and become a dragon himself, and by using Edmund McGee's prodigious skill in cartography and chronology to navigate their way through time, the Caretakers begin the process of fixing Time.

29209200

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Help! I'm Trapped in my Teacher's Body

1993

{"/m/02xlf": "Fiction"}

Jake Sherman is sitting in his sixth grade science class with his friends Josh Hopka and Andy Kent. The class is taught by the boring teacher Mr. Dirksen, who does nothing but lecture the students, and never does anything fun. As he lectures them, Jake and his friends load spitball shooters and shoot them at Mr. Dirksen. Andy and Josh manage to hide their shooters, but Jake is caught by Mr. Dirksen. After class, Mr. Dirksen talks with Jake. He informs him that he is not going to be given detention, since Mr. Dirksen does not believe it will do any good. He says instead that Jake will, as punishment, carry a heavy box home for him. After school, Mr. Dirksen and Jake walk home to Mr. Dirksen's house. As they reach it, a storm begins to come in. Mr. Dirksen shows Jake an invention that he is building in his garage. He calls it the Dirksen Intelligence Transfer System, and hopes that it will one day gain the ability to transfer intelligence from one being to another, thus eliminating the need for education or training. As he finishes explaining his invention, a bolt of lightning strikes the house, knocking Jake and Mr. Dirksen unconscious. Jake wakes up and notices things are very different. He suddenly has an aching back and things look fuzzy. He looks across the garage to see himself looking back at him. The truth suddenly hits him: Mr. Dirksen's machine has caused Jake and his teacher to swap bodies. Mr. Dirksen (in Jake's body) informs Jake that he refuses to leave his student's body, and heads home to Jake's house. Jake (in Mr. Dirksen's body) follows, but is only thrown out of his house when his father does not recognize him and threatens to call the police. The following day, Jake takes over teaching his science class. He suddenly realize that, being in Mr. Dirksen's body, he can make the class fun. During the lesson, he teaches the students how to build bombs, much to their excitement. While trapped in his teacher's body, Jake attempts to make life miserable for Mr. Dirksen in hopes that he will agree to switch back, but to no avail. Eventually, "Mr. Dirksen's" lessons to his science class prove so exciting that the impressed Principal Blanco praises him for them and declares him a model teacher. To celebrate this, Jake's other teacher, Mrs. Rogers, takes him out to breakfast, where she begins to fall in love with Jake in Mr. Dirksen's body and proposes marriage to him. She invites him to have a romantic dinner at her house where he can discuss the matter. Jake eventually is able to convince his sister Jessica of his predicament and gets her to help him. None of her efforts to make the intruder miserable, however, prove effective. Mr. Dirksen, however, learns of a fact that makes him decide to switch back: that if he is Jake, he will have to spend the weekend in a cabin with Andy and Josh. Jake, Mr. Dirksen, and Jessica head to Mr. Dirksen's home. Mr. Dirksen points out that if there is no bolt of lightning to strike his home, there is no hope of the machine working. Jake attempts to fly a kite up to the power line and run the rope down to the machine, but the kite crashes. Jake then gets the idea to use a baseball instead. He and his sister are not able to do it, so he leaves it up to Mr. Dirksen. Mr. Dirksen makes Jake promise that if he switches back, Jake will be a model student. Jake agrees, so Mr. Dirksen throws the ball. It succeeds in wrapping around the line. The trio hurry to the garage and attach the line to the machine. Soon, another lightning bolt strikes the house, knocking Jake and his teacher unconscious. When they wake, they are back in their bodies. Mr. Dirksen agrees to make his classes more exciting from then on and heads to his dinner date with Mrs. Rogers. In an epilogue, Jake talks with Mrs. Rogers, who reveals she and Mr. Dirksen are engaged.

29220616

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Small g: a Summer Idyll

The novel concerns the messy personal lives of a group of gay and lesbian patrons of a Zurich bar-cafe known locally as the "Small g". The main character, Rickie Markwelder, an HIV-positive artist, struggles to keep his life together after the murder of his lover, Peter, a crime for which he eventually becomes a suspect. Worsening his dilemma are a spate of rumours circling around the bar concerning his relationship with a teenaged boy (for whom Rickie harbors an unrequited affection), which damage his standing with his friends and family.

29228070

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Mourning Ruby

Helen Dunmore

Prologue The story opens with Rebecca and Ruby walking along the coast road from St Just to Zennor in Cornwall. This is during the time of a visit to Cornwall with Adam to visit his relative’s grave. Part One – Shoebox Story Rebecca recounts the discovery of herself as a foundling by Lucia, after she is abandoned by her young mother outside an Italian restaurant. This is at a time when she is working for Mr Damiano, a mysterious ex-circus owner who has set up a chain of boutique hotels that Rebecca helps to manage. On a flight back to England, one of the plane’s engines fails and it is forced to return to New York. It is whilst standing on the tarmac that Rebecca decides to hand in her notice, having lost all zest for her work. Rebecca’s story goes back to the time when she was sharing a flat with Joe, an intellectual who is writing a book about Nadezhda Alliluyeva, the thirty one year old wife of Stalin who committed suicide in 1932. He befriends Adam through a shared interest in chess and he and Rebecca fall in love and then marry. Joe decides to move to Moscow to further his research and lives with Olya, and Rebecca and Adam decide to visit him with Ruby. He tells them about Joseph Stalin’s character and the wave of fear that gripped Russia during his dictatorship. On their return to England, they decide to visit Adam’s grandmother’s grave at Barnoon Cemetery in Cornwall and Rebecca is happy that Ruby will have ancestors that she herself can never have. It is on their return to London on a warm August evening that tragedy strikes when Ruby is run down by a motorist. Rebecca cannot reconcile herself to her daughter’s loss and the intensity of her grief leads to their eventual separation. It is at this time that Rebecca’s shattered life is restored through her work for Mr Damiano, who tells her his life story as the son of poor trapeze artists. Joe, meanwhile, is working on his second novel – about the time of Stalin’s retreat to his dacha when Hitler invaded Russia. After talking to an Afghan war veteran, he decides to abandon the task and goes to Vancouver Island to write a novel. Rebecca leaves London and, on a visit to St Ives, starts working as a waitress in a local cafe. Here, she is visited by Joe who gives her a copy of his story. Part Two – Boomdiara This part is a narrative of Joe’s novel which describes the life of Florence, who works in Madame Blanche’s brothel to support her young daughter, Claire. It is here that she meets Will, a World War One air force pilot, with whom she falls in love. Joe writes to Rebecca that Florence’s character is based in part on her own. Part Three – Flight In this part the stories of Rebecca and Adam and Florence and Will become intertwined. Adam visits Rebecca in her boarding house and they become reunited and return to Ruby who is buried in the same grave as her great grandmother. Will’s plane is shot up in a fire fight with a German Albatros and he has to cut his engine to prevent his plane going down as a flamer.

29232760

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De brief voor de Koning

In the night before his accolade and ascension to knighthood, which is traditionally spent as a nocturnal vigil in a small chapel, 16-year-old squire Tiuri, son of a famous knight in the realm of King Dagonaut, receives a desperate plea for help from a stranger knocking at the chapel door. Unable to refuse a call for help, he breaks the tradition and goes outside, where the stranger, an old man, hands him a sealed letter and begs him to deliver it to a knight clad in black armor and a white shield residing in a nearby forest inn. Tiuri agrees to deliver it, bt upon arriving at the inn, he learns to his dismay that the kight he seeks has in the meantime been challenged by another black knight, this time with a red shield. Tracing the path the knights have taken into the forest, Tiuri finds the knight with the white shield dying, mortally wounded in a cowardly ambush. When the knight learns of Tiuri's possession of the letter, he charges him with delivering it to the neighbouring realm of the west, ruled by the wise King Unauwen, and to seek out a hermit named Menaures living in the mountains separating the two kingdoms, who would show him a secret way through the mountains. Bound by his sense of honor, Tiuri accepts the task and the ring the knight gives him in order to stress the importance of his mission, and remains with the knight until he dies. Soon, however, Tiuri finds himself hunted by riders clad in red, the henchmen of the knight with the red shield, and is forced to flee for his life. In order to speed his progress, he claims the steed of the knight with the white shield, a formidable night-black destrier who accepts him as his new rider. He also finds himself chased by a quartett of knights in grey, who are eager to kill him for unknown reasons, and temporarily loses his horse to a band of robbers, but finds help with the childish but amicable forest-dweller Marius and the monks of a nearby monastery. He eventually makes his way to a castle named Mistrinaut, where he is found and imprisoned for execution by the Grey Knights, who (as it turns out later) were close friends of the knight with the white shield and believe Tiuri to be his murderer. However, Sigirdiwarth Rafox, the lord of Mistrinaut, and his daughter Lavinia supply Tiuri with weapons to save his life, and in the end Tiuri convinces the knights of his innocence and befriends them, especially their leader, Ristridin of the South, a famous wandering knight from Dagonaut's realm.´ From Ristridin, Tiuri finally learns the name of the knight - Edwinem of Foresterra, a famous hero from Unauwen's realm - and of his steed Ardanwen; the stranger who sent Tiuri on his quest turns out to be Edwinem's squire, Vokia. As it is gradually revealed, the murder of Edwinem and the letter Tiuri carries are pivotal elements in a festering conflict between the realm of Unauwen and the realm of Evillan, a kingdom south of Dagonaut's domain. The ruler of Evillan is the younger of Unauwen's twin sons, who is torn by jealousy toward his elder brother and, seeking dominion over his father's realm, has conquered Evillan to support his own ends. Lately, there are rumors about the Lord of Evillan intending to reconcile with his brother; Edwinem was part of the delegation sent to negotiate the peace terms between the two realms. Hoever, the delegation has since gone missing, except for Edwinem, and his disguise as one of the black knights of Evillan indicates that nothing good will be forthcoming from Evillan's side. Under the company of the Grey Knights, Tiuri survives an ambush attempt by the Red Riders and some hire thugs, and safely reaches the base of the mountains, where he parts company with the knights. As he makes his way to Menaures' abode, he is met by a man called Jaro, wo claims to be a pilgrim seeking the hermit's advice, and short while later Tiuri ends up saving Jaro from a fatal fall into a ravine. Tiuri and Jaro later encounter Menaures and Piak, a young mountain boy whose services as a guide is offered by Menaures after he has learned of Tiuri's quest. Shortly after their departure, Jaro reveals himself to be one of the Red Riders sent to kill him, but since Tiuri has saved his life, Jaro finds himself unable to do him any harm. Before he departs, he warns Tiuri of another Red Rider, a vile and cunning individual named Slupor, who will be waiting for him in Unauwen's realm. Piak, who has overheard the conversation, pledges himself to Tiuri and his errand, and in the days that they spend crossing the mountains, the two become fast friends. The two boys arrive safely in the realm of Unauwen, but even there the spies and agents of Evillan are everpresent. In the city of Dangria, the mayor, an agent and sympathizer to Evillan, attempts to imprison the boys under false pretenses, but a diversion by Piak allows Tiuri to hide long enough to memorize the contents of the letter and destroy it. While attempting to free Piak, Tiuri receives help from the disgruntled citizens who have long been displeased with the despotic mayor, although only few ever suspected him being an agent of Evillan. Piak is liberated and the mayor's true allegiance exposed, but not daring to be delayed on their errand, Tiuri and Piak run away before the newly elected provisory town council can question them. Their next obstacle meets them at the Rainbow River in the form of a castle serving as a customs station. Without money to pay the toll, Tiuri and Piak decide to cross the river by stealth, but end up shipwrecked and captured. When Tirui is brought before Sir Ardian, the local Lord of Customs, he attempts to bargain for his and Piak's release by offering Edwinem's ring as a deposit. Upon recognizing the ring, and after learning about Edwinem's demise and that Tiuri carries an important message for the king, Sir Ardian promptly provides the two boys with an escort to the capital. Slupor manages to draw away the Custom guards and awaits Tiuri and Piak at the very gates of the capital, but his last-ditch attempt at Tiuri's life is foiled, and Slupor is arrested. Now able to fulfill their quest, Tiuri and Piak deliver the message the letter contained to King Unauwen. It is later revealed that the letter was a warning about the Lord of Evillan's treacherous plans which formed the core of his reconciliation attempt, since he has planned to murder his brother once the realm of Unauwen was lulled into a sense of peace and security, thereby making him the only claimant to the throne. With a heavy heart, Unauwen calls the knights of his realm to arms to prepare for war and rewards Tiuri and Piak for their valiant service to his kingdom. Soon after, Tiuri and Piak depart for Dagonaut's realm, following the very path they have taken for their outward journey. After arriving at Menaures' abode, Piak, who feels torn between his friendship with Tiuri and his home in the mountains, parts company with Tiuri, who continues his return journey alone. On his way, he meets again with most of his friends and allies, including Ristridin who invites him to his castle in the coming spring once he has completed an errand for King Dagonaut to explore the Wild Wood, a wild and desolate forest area lining the realm's southern border. After an uneventful journey, Tiuri returns to the capital of Dagonaut's realm, where he is welcomed back by the king and his family. To Tiuri's immense surprise, and quite against his expectations to the contrary, he subsequently finds himself made a full knight; even though having broken the rules of tradition, Tiuri has proven that he already is a true knight due to his sense of honor, his dedication and compassion in accepting Edwinem's quest as his own. Tiuri's joy is completed when the very next day Piak arrives at the capital, having changed his mind and decided to join Tiuri as his friend and squire. The story is continued in Geheimen van het Wilde Woud (Secret of the Wild Wood).

29262636

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The Eyes of My Princess

The story begins when Jose Carlos, a shy fifteen-year-old, realizes he has fallen in love for the first time with the new girl in his class. After school, a strange man arrives with Carlos's classmate, Mario, and lures him into his car. The man is a porn producer, and he tries to convince Carlos to get his classmate Ariadne to make porn with them. Finally Carlos escapes with the help of Ariadne, who is a friend of the new girl. Carlos tells his parents to go to the police, but they are unable to locate the man, who abducted Mario. One day he decides to talk with the new girl, Sheccid (her real name is Justiniana Deghemteri, but Carlos changes it for the name of an Arab princess). He confesses his love, but things go wrong when Ariadne recognizes him and tells Sheccid he is related to the pervert who tried to abduct her. Carlos does not give up and, moved by the love he feels, he overcomes the fears he has. At first he begins writing, like his grandparent, realizing he is good at it. His new journal is filled with all his thoughts and poems that he writes for Sheccid. As time goes by, Carlos realizes he is changing. First he begins giving speeches that impress his teachers and classmates, specially the class leader, Beatriz. Of course the speeches also impress Sheccid, who is good at giving speeches too. Ariadne realizes he is a good guy and he is not a pervert, so she begins a friendship with Carlos. They become good friends and Ariadne realizes he is in love with her friend. Suddenly a new boy who goes to the same school begins to get along with Sheccid. After some time he becomes her boyfriend. Carlos dislikes the new boy, because he knows that the guy is not truly in love with Sheccid. The new guy is bigger, stronger and more popular; however, Carlos is not afraid. One day the new guy punches Sheccid and Carlos stands up for her. Sheccid likes the actions of Carlos but her boyfriend organizes a big fight between Carlos's friends and his own friends. Almost all his classmates help Carlos; however, the other guys are gang members, carrying blades and chains to the fight. The fight is unfair, but with the help of teachers, the police arrive to calm the brawl. After that, Sheccid decides to break up with her boyfriend. Everything seems to be fine until Sheccid begins to skip school. At first Carlos does not give this much importance; however, she continues to miss class. He decides to face the problem and talks with her; she says he should just forget about her, and then she kisses him. (The following part was divided and published as “El sectreto de Sheccid”, Sheccid’s secret). Desperate, Carlos asks Ariadne for help. She agrees, and then he learns that her family is going to move to another the city, apparently because the mother is ill and the father is having an affair. Before the brawl, he gave her his journal but Sheccid does not say anything else and asks him to forget her. He falls into depression because Sheccid has left him, and does not seem to feel the same way Carlos feels for her. Ariadne tells him to go to her house, to see the "real" Sheccid. After the brawl, he goes to Sheccid's house where he discovers that Sheccid has a brain tumor, and the family is leaving the city to get her special medical attention, the day after she gets out of the hospital from a very dangerous and risky surgery: the father will leave with Sheccid first, followed later by Sheccid's mom and brother. The day of the surgery, he calls Ariadne (who knows everything), only to learn that Sheccid died from complications. Ariadne gives him a letter that Sheccid left for him. In the letter, she explains him that she loved him until the last day of her life. She tells him that there were two options for her: to die during surgery, or survive and then leave to receive attention in another city. Either way, they could not be together. She confesses him she had turned him down so he would not get hurt, whatever the outcome. He then writes in his journal a poem for Sheccid, telling that she will always be a part of him, and he will always remember her the way he knew her. This is the end of Carlos's first love, but not the end of the story. Carlos wrote "Sheccid's Secret" as a means to overcome the events that really happened. After Ariadne tells him to go see Sheccid at her house, he walks into a party. There, he sees Sheccid's mom sitting in a chair in a catatonic state. He gets introduced to Sheccid's father, who is at the party with another woman; the rumors about the problems in Sheccid's family were true. When he sees Sheccid, she is drinking, smoking and in a drug induced state, doing a dance for some men. He then faces the painful truth: he loved Justiniana because he thought of her as the embodiment of Sheccid, his ideal of the perfect woman. But Justiniana was not Sheccid. Facing this fact, he leaves the party. Heartbroken, and about to go insane, he locks himself up in his room and writes a different ending to his story; in his journal he kills Sheccid to free not only the love he felt for her, but to free himself from the pain he felt when he realized he was in love with an illusion. It is at this point that we find out that Mario, the classmate abducted by the pervert, was found alive in a car accident. The book ends with Carlos realizing that, by the love he felt, he changed for good; love made him a stronger, better person, and by keeping the innocence of his lost love, he could remain like that. In the book the main character calls the new girl in his class "Sheccid". The name Sheccid comes from a story told by his grandfather. In the story a young man is sent to prison unfairly; in the jail the man began to fill his heart and mind with despair and revenge. Then Sheccid, the king's daughter, appears and her beauty and kindness make the young man regain a good-hearted nature. Finally the princess helps him escape from jail; however, the young man never told her about his feelings and the princess married another man. The moral of the story is that true love makes people grow in every way of their lives.

29268830

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Bør Børson

Johan Falkberget

1920

{"/m/06nbt": "Satire", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"}

"Bør Børson Olderstad" is a farmer's son from the fictional valley Olderdalen. Dreaming about money, wealth and a position at the board of the local savings bank, he has changed his last name to Børson, and started a local grocery store. The name Børson is a paraphrase of the Norwegian word , from , in . Via various burlesque episodes he eventually ends up as a millionaire. The story ends with a wedding between Bør and Josefine Torsøien, a girl from a nearby farm. The novel is set in the boom period during World War I. Norway did not participate in the war, but the country's merchant fleet carried goods at increasing freight rates. The sea transport was a risky business that cost the lives of 2,000 Norwegian seamen, while a volatile stock market could multiply investments over short periods of time.

29269203

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Cop this Lot

Giovanni 'Nino' Culotta is an Italian immigrant, who came to Australia as a journalist, but became a brickie's labourer. Now, several years later, he is a builder, and married to Kay, with a daughter Maria and son Nino junior. Nino decides to travel back to Italy to see his parents, and takes not only Kay, but his mates Joe and Dennis, who have never left Sydney. They travel by aeroplane and cargo ship and buy a cheap car in Germany to drive to Italy. They arrive at the Cullota family villa, and Nino's father, a crusty patriach, is only concerned that Nino and Kay have not been 'properly' married by an Italian priest. By the time they return to Sydney, Joe and Dennis, despite their working-class 'Ocker' background, have acquired a veneer of European sophistication, preferring wine to beer and unwilling even to get drunk.

29271476

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The Coming of the Terraphiles

Michael Moorcock

{"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"}

In order to avert the impending collapse of the Multiverse from the mysterious "dark tides" that have begun to appear, the Doctor and Amy join the Terraphiles, a group of humans in the far future obsessed with recreating Earth's distant past and reenacting medieval Earth sports (or rather, unknowingly comic misinterpretations of the same). The Doctor and his new friends compete in a Grand Tournament in the Miggea star system, which lies on the border of parallel realities. The prize of the contest is an ancient artefact called the Arrow of Law, sought also by the Doctor's old foe Captain Cornelius and his crew of space pirates.

29271653

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Mary Ann in Autumn

Armistead Maupin

11/2/2010

{"/m/02xlf": "Fiction", "/m/05hgj": "Novel"}

Mary Ann Singleton Carruthers flees her luxurious life in Darien, Connecticut and for San Francisco, seeking solace from old friend Michael Tolliver. Reeling from both ill health and her husband's infidelity, she asks Michael if she can stay in his guest cottage while she recuperates. Meanwhile, other former Barbary Lane residents show up in the novel: Mary Ann's adoptive daughter Shawna is seriously dating for the first time; Anna Madrigal has mostly recovered from the stroke she had in Michael Tolliver Lives; Michael's assistant, Jake Greenleaf, wrestles with his attraction to a closeted Mormon missionary who is involved in the movement to "cure" homosexuals; and Jake, a pre-op female-to-male transsexual, despairs of ever saving enough money to pay for surgery. Ironically, his dream of having a hysterectomy is the same nightmare that Mary Ann is facing. As the novel progresses, Dede and D'Orothea show up to help Mary Ann with her recuperation, Shawna befriends a homeless junkie prostitute, Jake makes a startling discovery, and a threat from the past comes back to haunt the former Barbary Lane residents.

29313438

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Guardians of Ga'Hoole: The Capture

Kathryn Lasky

2003-06

{"/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/0dwly": "Children's literature", "/m/08sdrw": "Adventure novel"}

The Capture is about a young barn owl named Soren, who lives in the Forest Kindom of Tyto with his father and mother, Noctus and Marella, respectively, and older brother Kludd. One day, chick is hatched, and Soren's mother, Marella, names her Eglantine. Mrs. Plithiver, the nest-maid for the family, a blind snake, helps care for her. While Soren's parents are on a hunting trip, Kludd pushes Soren out of the nest. Soren gets snatched by a patrol unit from St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls. Grimble. Another owl is holding a tiny Elf Owl named Gylfie. Soon, Soren and Gylfie reach St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls. In this "orphanage", owls are "numbered" and forced to do a "sleeping march" where they march at night in the moonlight. Soren is number 12-1, and Gylfie is numbered 25-2. Hortense, a Spotted Owl, is number 12-8. Owls have to calls themselves and other owls by their numbers. The sleeping position is tipping your beak up and putting your head slightly back, while continuously repeating their own name. Gylfie tells Soren if an owl sleeps in this position under full shine (full moon) they forget their own personality and everything is the wrong side up. This is called moonblinking. Another rule is then revealed: no asking questions. Soren accidentally asks a question in the pelletorium and, as a punishment, his down gets plucked. He wakes up finding the pit guardian, Auntie Finny, standing above him. Later, forced to sleep under full shine again, Soren finds out that they are getting moon blinked by repeating their own names, which when a word is repeated continuessly, it starts to sound like a noise, not a word anymore. Gylfie then gets an idea: march in place under the rock ridge and say your number, not your real name. On the second day of doing this, an owl finds out and they are "moon scalded", or kept in full shine of the moon. Soren realizes that saying the Ga'Hoolian legends, or Tales of Yore, helps him clear his mind. Soren and Gylfie start telling legends, until the moon goes down. As they come out, they pretend to be perfectly moon blinked. Later, Gylfie sees Hortense trying to dislodge an owl's egg from the nest with bald eagles flying nearby. Gylfie and Soren confront Hortense, and find out she is not moonblinked, like them. Skench, Spoorn, Jatt, Jutt, and Auntie find Hortense trying to save the eggs. Hortense appears' to have died after being pushed off the high point of her nest in the hatchery. Grimble, who appears to be on Soren and Gylfies' side, teaches them how to fly, and they fly away, right at the moment when Skench comes in and kills Grimble. Gylfie and Soren meet Twilight, a Great Gray Owl. They agree to find the Great Ga'Hoole Tree, where a noble group of owls is found. They also agree to try to find their families, but are most unsuccessful. At the Desert Kingdom of Kuneer, they find a Burrowing Owl named Digger, who agreed to go the quest. At the Forest Kingdom of Tyto, Mrs. Plithiver was discovered and says she wants to come and go the quest,also. Mrs. P rests on Soren's shoulders, who is flying. Also, in the Desert Kingdom of Kuneer, they meet Hortense's eagles, Streak and Zan. Here, traveling to the Great Ga'Hoole Tree, the book ends off, and the book The Journey starts. The film Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole is based on this book, along with The Journey and The Rescue

29329712

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Don't Forget the Bacon!

Pat Hutchins

1976

{"/m/0dwly": "Children's literature"}

The story is about a little boy who leaves his home with his dog to shop for food items for his mother, and attempts to remember the list of things she wanted him to buy. The original request from his mother is for "six farm eggs, a cake for tea, a pound of pears, and don't forget the bacon." Along with the dog, he is accompanied on his trip by a butterfly. In order to avoid forgetting items, the boy recites his mother's list to himself. Throughout his trip to the store, the boy sees items along the way that play tricks with his memory, and items on his list one-by-one become substituted with other goods – "six farm eggs" initially becomes "six fat legs", then "six clothes pegs". By the end of his trip, the boy has forgotten the initial items requested, and supplants them in his mind with "six clothes pegs, a rake for leaves, a pile of chairs, and don't forget the bacon." A merchant in a junk shop assists the boy in compiling this odd list. While travelling back to his home, he remembers the original items and corrects his mistakes. However, he still forgets to acquire bacon. The final panel depicts the child carrying a basket and a coin purse, taking his dog attached to a leash, en route, probably to purchase the bacon.