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31396497

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Talon of the Silver Hawk

Raymond E. Feist

4/1/2004

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

Evil has come to a distant land high among the snow-capped mountains of Midkemia, as an exterminating army wearing the colors of the Duke of Olasko razes village after village, slaughtering men, women, and children without mercy. And when the carnage is done, only one survivor remains: a young boy named Kiele. A youth no longer, there is now but one road for him to travel: the path of vengeance. And he will not be alone. Under the tutelage of the rescuers who discovered him, Kiele will be molded into a sure and pitiless weapon. And he will accept the destiny that has been chosen for him . . . as Talon of the Silver Hawk. But the prey he so earnestly stalks is hunting him as well. And Talon must swear allegiance to a shadowy cause that already binds his mysterious benefactors - or his mission, his honor, and his life will be lost forever. fr:Serre du faucon argenté

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King of Foxes

Raymond E. Feist

4/1/2005

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

An exceptionally skilled swordsman, young Tal Hawkins was the only survivor of the massacre of his village - rescued, recruited, and trained by the mysterious order of magicians and spies, the Conclave of Shadows. Now one of the secret society's most valuable agents, he gains entrance into the court of Duke Olasko, the bloodthirsty and powerful despot whose armies put Tal's village to the sword, by posing as a nobleman from the distant Kingdom of the Isles. But the enemy is cunning and well protected - in league with the foul necromancer Leso Varen, dark master of death-magic - and to gain the Duke's trust and confidence, Tal Hawkins must first sell his soul. fr:Le Roi des renards

31400647

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Lazarus Rising: A Personal and Political Autobiography

{"/m/0xdf": "Autobiography"}

Lazarus Rising is a personal memoir and covers Howard's life from his early childhood years, aged about 10, through to his four terms as Prime Minister of Australia, and defeat at the 2007 federal election, also losing his seat of Bennelong. Published by Harper Collins and released in October 2010, the 711 page book drew significant controversy in his criticism of his longstanding deputy, Peter Costello, and both Nick Minchin and Jeff Kennett.

31407593

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Sherlock Holmes and the Man from Hell

1997

{"/m/028v3": "Detective fiction"}

Philanthropist Lord Backwater is found dead on his property. The police surmise that Backwater came upon some poachers which led to his murder. Holmes discounts this solution and undertakes his own investigation which leads to a hidden history of Backwater's time spent in a prison settlement on Van Diemen's Land.

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The Golden Sword

Janet Morris

Estri, the Well-Keepress of Astria and High Couch of Silistra, the highest office in the land, has continued her quest to locate her god-like "Shaper" father to his home planet, Mi'ysten, where she is tested and shown to have inherited his powers. Following further training in the ability to manipulate time and probabilities with her mind, Estri is abruptly returned to Silistra after an absence of two local years. Many changes have taken place in the power vacuum her absence left and Estri must conquer her immediate captor, Chayin, Cahndor of the violent Parset desert tribes, in order to continue her quest to save the Silistran people who are dying out from infertility. The Parset tribes cultivate and grow the plants from which the costly longevity drugs sold throughout the Bipedal Federation are made. Renegade members of the Bipedal Federation offer proscribed hi-tech weapons to leaders of the warring tribes in exchange for exclusive access to the longevity drugs, assuring that tribe’s domination of the rest. Chayin rejects their offer, knowing it will end in the destruction of his people from greed and power. The BF keeps counting on at least one tribal leader's greed to eventually agree to accept their offer, allowing one tribe to conquer all others with off-world weapons. Estri and Chayin must find Sereth, former Slayer of Estri's home who aided her in beginning her quest and was made outcast afterward (because Estri disappeared under his protection). Estri, Chayin and Sereth must join in a triad, forging a bond created by their innate powers and intense love to assure the future of the planet. After they defeat Chayin's various tribal opponents, they conquer Estri's enemy of hundreds of years, her father's grandson, Raet, and hope they can have a respite from tribulation. However, Khys, the semi-mythical, usurper overlord of the planet, abducts the triad to his sacred city and binds Estri with a device that suppresses her powers and causes her to lose her memory. With Estri in his control, he elevates Chayin to be his puppet overlord of all the Parset, but leaves active Chayin’s own in-born powers that may drive him insane. Khys forces Sereth into the role of a “trusted” vassal who remembers everything about Estri, Chayin and their pasts. Helpless before his power, Chayin and Sereth cannot stop Khys from impregnating an unsuspecting Estri to take advantage of her "Shaper" genetics. Khys gloats, triumphant in assuring himself a powerful and gifted heir, while believing no being in the universe is powerful enough to deny him what he truly desires: return of the technology that nearly destroyed the planet and forced the population underground into "hides" until their world recovered enough from the devastation to support life again. For a time, he’s correct.

31409561

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Wind from the Abyss

Janet Morris

1978

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

Wind From the Abyss picks up approximately two years after the battle for Well Astria during which two Bipedal Federation ships and crew were destroyed accidentally. Khys, the “dharen” or ruler of Silistra for thousands of years, has captured Estri, Sereth and Chayin, taking them to his exclusive city/keep at the Lake of Horns. Before being captured by Khys, Estri, Sereth, a former Slayer turned renegade, and Chayin, Cahndor of a Parset desert tribe, form a triad of sexuality and power as foretold in an ancient prophecy that threatens Khys’ rule of the planet. Immediately after the Well Astria battle, Estri, Chayin and Sereth are captured by Khys, tyrant ruler of Silistra (“the dharen”) and held hostage for over 2 years. He knows these three are key in maintaining control of the planet. He has Estri’s memories blocked so she will not attempt to wrest control from him; Estri’s journey to understand her “Shaper” heritage is interrupted. Estri regains her memory after Khys’ council fails to get information locked in her mind by her father. Khys and Estri are taken to a planet to meet Estrazi (Estri’s father) and Khystrai (Khys’ father) who tell Khys he must start over with this uninhabited planet because he has failed to govern Silistra well enough for the last 25,000 years. Estri is returned to Silistra alone and materializes in the midst of a battle between the Parset desert tribes and the privileged “Lakeborn” who live in the city of the dharen. She is reunited with Chayin and Sereth and they renew their bond to each other, although Estri fears she will hold them back with the “slave” mentality Khys forced on her. Khys returns by himself, insistent on dueling with Sereth, but is in such a depleted condition that Sereth kills him fairly easily, making Sereth the ruler of Silistra. Sereth leaves Carth, an associate of Khys and Estri’s teacher/brainwasher, to run the city but arrange it so the city cannot be rebuilt and returned to its former glory. They decide to move many of the “Lakeborn” to other parts of the planet to intermix blood lines and strengthen the Silistran gene pool. Estri, Chayin and Sereth finally admit to themselves they are the people spoken of in an ancient prophecy and they must play out the rest of their fate. They take ship to explore a continent Khys had kept off-limits for generations. Estri’s journey of self-awareness and the trio’s fulfillment of the “Seker’oth prophecy” (which means “Golden Sword”) conclude in The Carnelian Throne, the final book in the Silistra series.

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Curious George Learns the Alphabet

Margret Rey

1963

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

Readers learn the alphabet along with George as the man in the yellow hat teaches the curious monkey how to read.

31419229

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Le Loup blanc

Paul Féval, père

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

Nicolas Treml de La Tremlays is a pro-independence Breton lord. He decides to go and fight in duel with Philippe II, Duke of Orléans: if he wins Brittany will be free, but if he loses he will be sentenced for crime of lèse-majesté. Before he leaves Brittany, he makes an agreement with his cousin Hervé de Vaunoy so that his grandson Georges Treml will not be deprived of his possession. But Georges is just a five-year-old child and Nicolas is put in the Bastille with his servant Jude Leker. In Brittany Hervé tries to drown the boy but an albino peasant called Jean Blanc rescues him. Georges disappears however. Twenty years later in 1740 the Breton forest became the Wolves'den: they are poor peasants who want to take revenge of the lords who oppress them. Their leader is called the White Wolf. A young officer of the King, Captain Didier, is sent out to bring them to heel.

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Exile's Return

Raymond E. Feist

4/1/2006

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

Kaspar, former Duke of Olasko, finds himself alone and without provisions on the continent of Novindus on the other side of the world after being removed from power by the Conclave of Shadows (in King of Foxes, the preceding novel). His desire for revenge must be put aside as he struggles to survive in a harsh unfamiliar land. He happens upon a farm, where his only choice is to work for food and shelter. As he is no longer under the magical influence of Leso Varen, the evil necromancer who had manipulated him while in Olasko, he begins to show compassion, and atone for his past deeds. Kaspar later joins a band of traders who have been cursed with transporting a mysterious magical suit of seemingly invulnerable animated armor, which will not allow them to leave it. Kaspar discovers the armor's origin, and is tasked with returning it across the vast ocean to the Conclave, once his enemies, now his only hope to help prevent the world's destruction. fr:Le Retour du banni

31425429

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The Case of the Cursed Clock

ě=== Night Of The Haunted Hamburgers ===

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\\"V\\" Is for Vengeance

Sue Grafton

11/21/2011

{"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery"}

For the fourth straight novel in the Kinsey Milhone series (dating back to "S" Is for Silence), the viewpoint alternates between Milhone and other characters, principally Nora Vogelsang and Lorenzo Dante. The opening chapter, however, is told from the perspective of a well-to-do young man, Phillip Lanahan, who borrows money from Dante, misses the payback date, and then loses it playing poker in Vegas. Dante and his brother Cappi show up, and Dante agrees to take Phillip's Porsche as satisfaction of the debt. However, after Dante sends Peter and Cappi up to look at the car, Cappi has thugs throw Phillip off the top of the parking garage to his death. In the main storyline, Milhone witnesses a woman shoplifting with a confederate inside Nordstrom's. She tells a nearby clerk, who alerts store security, and they capture and arrest the woman, named Audrey, before she can escape. While this is going on, Milhone follows her confederate and is almost run over by her in the parking garage. Right after her release from jail, Audrey apparently commits suicide. Shortly thereafter, Milhone runs into a former boyfriend in the police department, Cheney Phillips, who is out for the evening with a vice officer, Len Priddy (a friend of Milhone's first husband and a longtime enemy of hers), and his much-younger girlfriend, Abbey. Priddy mocks the theory that Audrey was part of a shoplifting ring, but Audrey's boyfriend hires Milhone to investigate that theory. Meanwhile, Dante realizes that the police are closing in on his operation. Audrey was head of his shoplifting operation, but Cappi murdered her upon her release from jail because he believed she was about to turn them in. Dante believes that Cappi has been giving information to Priddy to set up his brother, so that he can take over. Nora, who has been drifting apart from her husband for the last three years (which we later learn began with the death of her son from her first marriage, Peter), learns that her lawyer husband is having an affair with his secretary. She decides to sell her possessions so that she can have money to flee, but in trying to sell an expensive ring, she is referred to Dante, who is smitten with her and offers her more than fair value for the ring. Dante becomes fascinated by Nora and all that she represents. Kinsey, still investigating the death of Audrey, is slowly pulled into the world of shoplifting ring. After having a sudden flash of inspiration from an offhanded comment by her client, she returns to Nordstrom's to view the video footage. She notices a bumper sticker on the car that leads her to the accomplice. She discovers after trailing her for several days that she is the drop off person for the stolen goods into a fake charity's drop off box. The bags are picked up minutes later by a truck that takes them to Dante's warehouse for distribution to various second hand stores around Southern California. After sending Cheney a copy of her findings thus far, he tells her to back off. That could be endangering the life of a confidential informant. This, of course, causes her to do the exact opposite. She investigates further and slowly peels back the layers of the syndicate. He old friend Pinkey (the man who gave her a set of lock picks) comes by her office and asks her to hold on to some photos for him. Kinsey refuses. Later Lt. Priddy comes to the office looking for the photos and threatens Kinsey physically. She manages to track down Pinkey and find out what the photos are about. They are blackmail material that Priddy has been using to get information from Pinkey about Dante's operation. Pinkey leaves Kinsey's care and returns to his home, where Cappi is holding his wife hostage. Kinsey tracks Pinkey to his home and comes in on the scene. Cappi orders Kinsey to burn the photos and the negatives in the fireplace. Cappi leaves without harming anyone further, but an enraged Pinkey gets his shotgun from the closet and follows him out to the street and shoots at him. Pinkey is a bad shot and misses Cappi completely. Cappi fires off a couple of rounds that seem to miss everyone, and he flees the scene. When Kinsey and Pinkey go back into the house, they see that his wife has been shot. She is taken to the hospital. Kinsey tracks down Dante and goes to his office to have a conversation with him. Being the straight shooter that she is Kinsey lays into about honor and doing the right thing. Dante sets up an account at the hospital to take care of Pinkey's wife. He also puts his plan to leave the country into motion. After feeding bad information to his brother Cappi, whom he knows is talking to the authorities, Dante tries to convince Nora to join him. He confesses the it was because of him that her son was murdered but that it was done without his consent. He explains his motivation for loaning Phillip the money in the first place. He gives her the details of his trip and leaves hoping that she will join him. On the day that Dante had told Cappi the computer records are wiped Pinkey's wife dies from her gunshot wound. Kinsey who is going to Dante's warehouse to keep Pinkey from killing Cappi notices the federal authorities staging their raid. She goes to the warehouse to find Pinkey and encounters Dante again. After the raid begins, Pinkey is wounded in the leg by Cappi whom was eventually shot by an cop. Dante punches Kinsey in the face to keep her from getting between Cappi and Pinkey and getting shot herself then disappears into the maze of tunnels under the warehouse. He is picked up by his "real" secretary and makes it to the airport. Dante proves that he is not the monster everyone thinks he is by providing for those in his care. Just as his plane is taxiing away from the gate Nora arrives and departs with him Weeks later Dante's secretary comes to Kinsey's office to give her an envelope full of cash. To make up for Dante punching her in the face, and also payment for a job he wants her to do for him. Dante had recorded a conversation with Priddy that could further implicate him in trying to gain control of Dante's operations and put him in prison when Kinsey feels he belongs. Wary of contacting the proper authorities who might bury the information and never go after Priddy, Kinsey calls a reporter whom she knows is itching for a good story.

31440066

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Implied Spaces

The plot begins with a man named Aristide, adventuring in the world of Midgarth. Midgarth was created as a medieval fantasy world and has physical laws which prevent artificial electrical charges or chemical reactions which occur fast enough to create a gun. Through genetic engineering it has been populated with various fantasy races such as orcs and trolls. Aristide is the current nom de guerre of Pablo Monagas Perez, one of the most important figures in human society. Over a thousand years ago Perez had been part of the team which created artificial intelligence, thus launching humanity along its path to paradise. Accompanied by his cat Bitsy, who is really an avatar of the supercomputer Endora, he is now dedicated to studying the "implied spaces" of the human constructed pocket universes: the places which were created as the byproduct of desired features. While working in Midgarth, Aristide learns of a series of particularly successful bandits preying on a local trade route. They are apparently led by a band of mysterious priests and kidnap their victims, who are never seen again. Aristide and a group of travelers confront these bandits. During the confrontation, Aristide discovers that the priests who lead the bandits are able to create wormholes which transport their opponents to an unknown location. Worried by the advanced technology that these priests have, he takes some of their remains to his friend and former lover Daljit to be analyzed. When it is determined that the priests were in fact "pod people", illegal artificial lifeforms, they become worried that someone is engaged in a plot to bring down civilization. Aristide and Daljit conclude that the priests were abducting people in order to reprogram then to serve the priests unknown masters. Checking records they discover that there has been a rash of unsolved disappearances in the archipelago universe Hawaiki. Aristide travels there where he encounters agents of the conspiracy and narrowly misses being kidnapped, although he loses Bitsy in the process. Returning to his home universe Topaz he informs the authorities, including his friend the Prime Minister, who begin an investigation. They determine that whoever is behind this must have corrupted one of the supercomputers, a terrifying prospect to people whose entire civilization is built around those machines. It is eventually discovered that the rogue AI is Cortland, a surprising choice given that Cortland is one of the most eccentric AIs whose interests run mostly towards ontology. Before they can act on this information their opponent reveals himself. He calls himself Vindex and closes down access to the universes based on Cortland. At the same time he launches a viral zombie plague at Topaz. Aristide is forced to kill Daljit when she becomes infected with the virus and attacks him but she is soon resurrected and along with some others who perished in the plague dedicates herself to the war effort. Aristide also dedicates himself to the war effort, volunteering to lead part of the coordinated assault against Cortland. Before the assault happens, however, he realizes that Vindex has sabotaged the resurrection machinery. All the people killed in the zombie plague have been resurrected as loyal followers of Vindex, a kind of fifth column. Before he can report his discovery he is killed by Daljit and resurrected as a loyal follower of Vindex himself. However, before he can betray Topaz the problem is discovered by the authorities who incapacitate the victims and reverse Vindex's conditioning. Aristide goes on to lead an assault on Cortland and watches as all his men are killed. He alone survives and is brought face to face with Vindex. There, the villain reveals his identity. He is in fact Pablo Monagas Perez. His personality had been calved off centuries before to lead the human expedition to Epsilon Eridani. He relates to Aristide the story of how he and a version of Daljit had gone with millions of others to colonize Epsilon Eridani, creating a new world and a supercomputer orbiting the sun. Along this trip, Pablo and Daljit had fallen deeply in love and Daljit had become more and more interested in exploring the origins of the universe. In doing so she discovered that our universe is, in fact, an artificial construct, just like the pocket universes that humanity created but on a much larger scale. However, before she can fully explore the implications of this shocking discovery Epsilon Eridani undergoes a stellar expansion which is labeled by those in the Sol system as "The Big Belch". This expansion destroys the Epsilon Eridani's orbital supercomputer and fries the day side of the artificially constructed world orbiting it. Hundreds of millions die in the conflagration. Only those on the night side of the planet, such as Pablo, are able to survive and only by hiding in deep bunkers. Most of the survivors opt to head back to Sol, life around Epsilon Eridani no longer being possible, but their ship mysteriously vanishes along the way. Pablo remains to search for Daljit, who he hopes survived. She did not but he becomes obsessed with her work and with the idea of punishing the creators of this universe, whom he calls The Inept, for all the suffering of humanity. Returning to the Sol system, he contacts Cortland, whose interest in ontology allows Pablo to convince the computer to aid him. Pablo explains that he is not attempting to destroy human civilization, but rather to take it over so that everyone will work towards his goal: using a wormhole to travel back to the origins of the universe and punish its creators. Aristide derides Pablo's plan as madness and is able to escape with the help of Bitsy, who has been living with Pablo since she disappeared. Aristide returns to Topaz where he informs the leadership of Vindex's plans. Before they can pursue any other action the supercomputer Aloysius is destroyed by a mass driver which Vindex had created in the kuiper belt. As the other supercomputers adjust their orbits in order to stay out of the line of fire, the authorities desperately attempt to come up with a plan to defeat Vindex. One person comes up with the idea of creating their own mass drivers within pocket universes. These would have the advantage of being undetectable to Vindex until they were actually fired. Aristide then comes up with the idea of creating a massive pocket universe, dubbed an "overpocket" which will encompass the inner solar system, thus cutting Vindex off from his mass driver in the kuiper belt. With the overpocket deployed, the other supercomputers unleash their own mass drivers against Vindex and Cortland, destroying them. The book concludes with Aristide concluding that Vindex's idea of using a wormhole to travel to the beginning of time is a worthy one and that he might attempt to do it with willing allies.

31442141

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You Can Say You Knew Me When

A thirty-something San Francisco gay radio journalist Jamie Garner reluctantly returns to his childhood home of Greenlawn, New Jersey, and discovers secrets from his dead father's sexual past, including photos with a friend actor Dean Foster ands entourage of Jack Kerouac all covered by a 40-year secrecy. Upon his return to San Francisco, Jamie though trying desperately to maintain a monogamous relationship with his venture-capitalist boyfriend Woody, falls into a series of promiscuous relations after a hurried sexual encounter with a man in the rest room of Newark airport. For all his faults, Jamie, a sympathetic, often frustrating character tries to make peace with his father's deep-seated prejudices toward his sexuality and come to terms with his father's mysterious long-ago alternative life.

31444572

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Blackberry Wine

Joanne Harris

{"/m/0127jb": "Magic realism"}

Writer Jay Mackintosh is suffering from writer's block. Having reached his artistic zenith with the award-winning 'Jackapple Joe', a novel published 10 years ago, he has failed to duplicate his earlier success, and now writes second-rate science-fiction novels under a pseudonym. He lives in in London with his ambitious girlfriend, Kerry, and teaches creative writing to vapid young students whilst living on his dwindling reputation. Jackapple Joe, Jay's only bestseller, was a nostalgic retelling of Jay's childhood summers in the Yorkshire town of Kirby Monckton. It is a coming-of-age story, describing how Jay was befriended, following his parents' divorce, by an eccentric old man called Joseph Cox, a gardener, poet and everyday magician, with whom he was to forge a unique relationship. Blackberry Wine acquaints readers with Joe through flashbacks as, now aged 37 and feeling increasingly unfullfilled, Jay revisits his childhood haunts and discovers a box of Joe's "Specials", bottles of home-made wine that may hold the key to Joe's unexplained disappearance. Under the influence of this magical home-brew, Jay finds himself behaving in a more and more erratic way. He buys a house he has never seen in the French village of Lansquenet-sous-Tannes and moves there, ostensibly to write, but in reality to escape from Kerry, the pressures of fame and the expectations of his public. The estate, Joe's bottles of homemade wine ("The Specials") and vivid memories of Joe that gradually become more than simply memories, inspire Jay to write again for the first time in a decade, and to rediscover what truly matters to him. He begins to write a new book about Lansquenet and its inhabitants, whilst secretly observing his neighbour, the reclusive Marise d'Api, whose land borders his own. This fiercely independent woman lives alone with her deaf daughter, and although she resists all Jay's attempts to get to know her, he becomes increasingly fascinated by her. After weeks of inspired writing, rewarding hard work in his gardens and revisiting the past through Joe's "Specials", Jay comes to feel that the life he is building for himself is more important than writing the great follow-up novel and that self-fulfillment is more alluring to him now than fame and notoriety. He finally gains Marise's confidence following a crisis at her farm, and learns the terrible secret that she has been so desperate to conceal. However, just as Jay is about to accept that he is falling in love with Marise, his ex-girlfriend Kerry arrives in Lansquenet, having gained access to Jay's whereabouts and the first pages of his new book. Determinided to 'redeem' him (and recognizing the book's potential) she prepares for a massive publicity stunt, revealing Jay's whereabouts to the press. This would re-launch Jay's flagging career; it would also mean that Lansquenet would suffer a damaging influx of tourists that might change the place forever. Jay is torn between his ambition and his growing realization that he has managed to recapture in Lansquenet the simplicity and magic of his life with Joe, and that he cannot bear to lose it a second time. To put a stop to Kerry's machinations, Jay burns the sole manuscript of his book and, finally at peace with himself, prepares to begin a new life with Marise.

31446451

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Darkness Before Dawn

Sharon Draper

2/1/2001

Book Review of Darkness before Dawn,book By: Sharon M. Draper by: anonymus Life after death is hard, and facing the world can be difficult, and in the way Sharon M Draper writes this book, Keisha, a high school senior, has experienced what most people think as “moving on”. Keisha’s ex-boyfriend, Andy, commits suicide after his best friend, Rob, dies in a car accident, leaving Keisha to wonder how life will be without them. She is desperate and sad, but then her senior year rolls around, bringing new opportunities and a fresh start. Her college student track coach, Jonathan, who also the principle’s son, falls in love with her and she quotes him as “really something” and “a lemon drop wrapped in licorice”. I don’t want to spoil the book so if you are interested, check it out yourself. The main character in this book is Keisha, who deals with her problems with the help of her friends, and opens her heart to the world. Her personality can be described as: positive, mature, and having a longing as to when she will finally be able to make her own decisions, away from the burden of her protective parents. There is also her many friends, who give her hope till the end . Her sweet and sassy best friend , Rhonda, Rhonda’s poetic boyfriend, Tyrone, past-Rob’s sister, Joyelle, Joyelle’s dancer best friend, Angel, Angel’s protective brother, Gerald, a new senior and Gerald’s girlfriend, Jalani, and lastly, the class clown, Leon. They all play a very strong role in helping Keisha get back on her feet, and walk stably, metaphorically speaking. Then there is Jonathan, the track coach and also the principle’s son, who messes up Keisha’s life in a way that creates forever scars that burn deep in her skin. He at first was appealing visually and emotionally, but in the end he became vain and conceited, following only in his own desires. If you like realistic fiction, romance, and life written out, then you will enjoy this book and read it over and over and over, as I did very pleasurably. However, if you are more into non-fiction and more informative things, you probably won’t appreciate this book, and will probably toss it away the moment you see it. But, in my own opinion, this book has turned out to be very amusing and was better than I thought it would be. links http://www.amazon.com/Darkness-Before-Dawn-Sharon-Draper/dp/0689851340 http://sharondraper.com/bookdetail.asp?id=10 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darkness_Before_Dawn

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The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

Jacqueline Kelly

{"/m/02p0szs": "Historical fiction", "/m/03mfnf": "Young adult literature"}

In the summer of 1899, Calpurnia Virginia Tate is about to turn twelve and worries about the adult responsibilities that loom on the horizon. She would much rather swim in the river near her family's pecan plantation just outside the tiny town of Fentress, Texas than learn to cook, knit, and play the piano. One day, noticing two different types of grasshoppers in the lawn around the house, Callie decides to find a copy of the infamous "Origin of the Species" by Mr. Charles Darwin. After a disastrous encounter with a lady librarian, Callie is forced to search for the illicit book elsewhere. Little does she know that there is a copy in her very own house in the personal library of her Granddaddy. An imposing and distant figure, Callie must work up her courage to ask him about her grasshopper conundrum and relay her own theory about why the grasshoppers around the house are two different sizes. Thus begins an easy sort of friendship between granddaughter and grandfather. Soon Callie is spending most of her time with Granddaddy, catching specimens of wildlife for his collection and learning about natural sciences at his side. When she is not tramping and trapping with Granddaddy, Callie finds herself sadly incapable at the skills her mother so desperately tries to teach her. She cannot cook anything other than soft-boiled eggs and cheese sandwiches. Her needlepoint is "straggly and pitiful." Her piano-playing, while adequate, is unexceptional. All of this is painfully obvious to poor Callie when she is compared to her best friend Lula. Lula is a perfect lady, excelling at all of the pursuits at which Callie fails so miserably. In fact, her proper ladylike demeanor has three of Callie's six brothers falling in love with her during the course of the summer. Callie fears that her free-roaming days may be at an end, though, when she receives a frightening Christmas gift: a book from her mother entitled "The Science of Housewifery." Throughout the novel, Callie must learn to balance her own independent and curious personality with the restrictions placed on a girl at the turn of the 19th to 20th century. As new inventions are presented in Callie's life, she adjusts and evolves, first with the wind machine her brother brings home, then with a marvelous new beverage called Coca-Cola. Ultimately, though, it is the introduction of the telephone in the small Texas town that symbolizes the changes ahead for Callie. As Granddaddy tells her, "The old century is dying, even as we watch. Remember this day.” As the book ends, the 20th century dawns, leaving the reader hopeful that it will bring with it new opportunities for the feisty young Calpurnia.

31448445

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Mind Switch

Damon Knight

1965

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

In the year 2002, the Berlin Zoo acquires a new specimen: "Fritz", a biped from "Brecht's planet." Fritz is intelligent, and his keepers treat him with a mix of courtesy and disdain; he is kept in a display with another (presumably female) biped and the two are required to work for a living, transcribing tapes made by explorers to their planet. One day, Martin Naumchik, a human male, is visiting the zoo when his personality and that of the biped are interchanged. The switch is the unintended consequence of an experiment in time travel that takes place at another location. The remainder of the story follows the two characters as they come to terms with their new bodies and new feelings. Martin quickly becomes aware of the degradation of being a zoo animal, while Fritz is forced to cope with life in a confusing and threatening alien society. Martin tries, and fails, to convince his captors that he is imprisoned in the biped's body; the biped, in Martin's body, eventually comes into contact with Martin's colleagues and his lover, and manages to continue with Martin's life. The novel also deals wryly with the theme of sexual identity. Because Fritz is provided with inguinal glands resembling a human male's, he is presumed to be male. But it turns out that the organ has nothing to do with reproduction: Fritz is a female, and the smaller primate with whom he shares a cage is a male. To reproduce, the female aggressively bites off an egglike knob from the male's forehead containing the semen. Martin (in Fritz's body), and the reader, only learn this at the end of the novel, when he is overcome by passion and commits the act.

31449485

/m/0gkyr3t

Azemia

William Thomas Beckford

1797

{"/m/06nbt": "Satire"}

Chapter 1- We learn that Azemia is the 45th daughter of Hamet-beig, who is the leader of a harem and does not know his daughter very well. She is very close with her grandmother, Birkabeba, though. We also find out that Azemia’s betrothed, Oglow, has sent for her to join him in Marseilles. She leaves immediately and is accompanied by Muzzled-Abib. On the third day of her journey, Azemia’s ship is attacked and Captain Wappingshot holds her and Muzzled-Abib prisoner. Chapter 2- Captain Wappingshot leaves Muzzled-Abib on Barbary Coast. Chapter 3- Charles Arnold, a ship hand, discovers Azemia and instantly falls in love with her and writes a poem. They arrive in England. Chapter 4- Charles attempts to convey his love to Azemia but she does not understand English so he uses his eyes and she understands. She loves him too because he is the only friendly face she has seen thus far. Mrs. Periwinkle and her daughter Miss Sally agree to take Azemia under their care. Chapter 5- The narrator (under the pretense that the narrator is a woman) digresses and muses how women can be good writers if the criteria is that they have to understand themselves if men are not even very good at that. The narrator then goes on to promise the reader not to write about slavery so as not to offend the slaves and also to show the proper respect for nobles. Chapter 6- Mrs. Periwinkle attempts to introduce Azemia to the Duke that employs her. However, the Duke takes sick with the gout and Azemia is forced to stay with Lady Belinda, one of the Duke’s close friends. Chapter 7- Wildcodger proposes to hang painting of food to make the hungry feel full and houses so the homeless will feel as though they have shelter. Chapter 8- Reverend Solomon Sheepend is introduced and Miss Ironside sets out to teach Azemia how to speak English. Chapter 9-A feud between Reverend Solomon who writes poetry in blank verse and Iphanissa who writes Italian sonnets is discussed. Chapter 10- Reverend Solomon has become very fond of Azemia and wishes to marry her. However, he learns that he must convert her to Christianity if this is to be possible. He writes a 3,996 line poem to show his love, it goes relatively unnoticed. Also, Miss Ironside becomes upset with Azemia for allegedly seducing her nephew, Reverend Solomon. Mrs. Blandford takes Azemia because she reminds Mrs. Blandford of her deceased daughter. Mrs. Blandford finishes teaching Azemia English. Story of Another Blue Beard: Mr. Grimshaw is the Esquire of a manor who is very cruel to his subordinates and especially wife. His current wife attempts to escape from his manor by the help of the ghost of deceased wife but her plan is thwarted and she is held captive. Mr. Grimshaw throws Mrs. Grimshaw in the dungeon for over a year sometimes going days with only bread and water. On a second attempt at escape, Mrs. Grimshaw meets an old family friend, Mr. Auberry, who had come to check on her well-being. Mr. Auberry learns of her misfortunes but cannot help her. Meanwhile, Mrs. Grimshaw learns that the ghost is Gertrude Grimshaw and that Mr. Grimshaw had killed her and her brother so they now walk the castle at midnight (the time of their deaths). Finally, Mrs. Grimshaw escapes with the help of the ghosts and Mr. Auberry who she then marries. Chapter 1- The main story line is resumed and the reader finds that Revered Solomon is in deep mourning because he loves Azemia and she is not in his possession. Chapter 2-Azemia is in the midst of a get together with Mr. Gallstone, Sir Baptist Bamboozle, Mrs. Albuzzi, and Dr. Prose. Mrs. Albuzzi mentions a servant of Azemia’s but Mrs. Albuzzi neglects to elaborate and it is never brought up again. Chapter 3-Due to the fact that Azemia is foreign, Mrs. Blandford’s social standing is elevated amongst her cultivated friends. Mrs. Blandford hosts a dinner party. Chapter 4-Azemia comments on the hypocrisy of the British women by saying that, with very few exceptions, they do “nothing but find fault in each other.” Chapter 5-Charles Arnold along with his servant, Bat, is travelling back to see Azemia after a year at sea. Chapter 6-Azemia enters a dark, black mausoleum. A bell tolls, a form appears and Azemia faints. It turns out to be Lord Scudabout who scared her on purpose. Chapter 7- Colonel and Lady Arsinoe Brusque host a dinner party where multiple distinguished guests talk about politics and poetry. Chapter 8-Azemia is put off by the antics and masks at a grand masquerade. Azemia is followed by a man who she finds very annoying. The man is revealed to be Mr. Perkly, a childhood friend of Charles Arnold. Chapter 9-Mrs. Blandford, Azemia, and Mr. Perkly are riding back home in Mr. Perkly’s carriages. They are stopped when the driver of Azemia and Mrs. Blandford’s cart is missing a lynchpin. They notice a small cabin and attempt to take rest there but discover that the inhabitants are stricken by extreme poverty and are dying of malnutrition. Mrs. Blandford is horrified by their predicament and hires a nurse and an apothecary to come to their aide. Mrs. Blandford and Mr. Perkly also have a heated discussion about moral and economic issues dealing with the poor, Mrs. Blandford finds Mr. Perkly’s views to be cold and moronic. Chapter 10- Mrs. Blandford leaves Azemia alone because she is called upon by an ailing friend in London. Mr. Perkly visits the house while she is away but is sent off by Azemia. Mrs. Blandford sends for Azemia to come to London but Azemia’s coach takes her through a dark forest and eventually back to the Duke’s manor and Miss Sally. It is then apparent that the Duke instructed Mr. Perkly to befriend Azemia and Mrs. Blandford so as to seize Azemia when the opportunity arose. Chapter 11-After a few weeks with Azemia under his care, the Duke falls madly in love with her. The Duke takes leave of his manor on business and leaves Azemia mostly unattended. She uses this opportunity to walk about the grounds late at night. While on one of her walks, Azemia is captured by three ruffians who are torturing rabbits. Chapter 12-Azemia is being led to a deserted cabin when they cross a road and a gun fight ensues between the lead ruffian and an oncoming traveler. Two of the captors flee the scene and the leader sustained a gunshot wound. The traveler is Charles Arnold, who has been shot in the arm. He takes Azemia to his uncle’s house and Bat removes the bullet from Charles Arnold’s arm. Chapter 13-Charles wants to marry Azemia but only has 200 pounds and a lieutenant’s salary to support them with. Both his uncle and Mrs. Blandford give them large sums of money so they can be wed.

31450946

/m/0gl089t

And There was Light

The Atlantic Union College arguably has one of the richest histories of all college establishments in the United States of America. And There was Light provides a historic view of South Lancaster Academy, Lancaster Junior College and also the Atlantic Union College. The book begins by narrating the history of South Lancaster town before it housed this institution, said to be one of the oldest educational institutions of the Seventh Day Adventist which still remains as of April 2011. According to this book, by the time South Lancaster Academy was opened in 1882, Lancaster had no sectarian schools. Nevertheless, in most New England towns, including the town of Lancaster, several congregational churches had been founded. When South Lancaster Academy opened its doors to the community, it became the first Christian Institution who operated under a sectorial system in the North-East of America. The idea of the need of a high quality education with Christian values soon was conceived in the minds of the administrators of the Seventh-day Adventist New England Conference. Stephen Haskell was one of the most prominent Christian of his time and he worked hard to encourage quality education. After several meetings, the conferences of the Seventh-day Adventist church agreed to support the idea of establishing a preparatory school in the area. With the approbation of the school, Haskell proved to be a great publicist. On April 19, 1882 the school was opened with 19 founding scholars. The second part of the book documents the transition of the school, from the level of South Lancaster Academy to Atlantic Union College. By 1885-1886 the principal of the school Charles Ramsey announced that the school had been proud to increase its population to 117 new students, and by 1887-1888 the school's opening enrolment rose again to 150 new students. In one opening ceremony, Ramsey said that the school, as a class, was more mature in mind and character than ever before. During the following years, the number of students remained almost the same, averaging 150 to 168. Years later, the school had to deal with the consequences of the World War I, the number of students decreased even though the war did not have notoriety in the United States. By the end of the World War I, in 1917, a prison camp was established in South Lancaster and German soldiers were kept there; in contrary of the rest of the nation where anti-German sentiments arose, South Lancaster Academy students were friendly that some German soldiers tried to flirt young women that came to visit the new town attraction(prison). By 1918, the school changed its name from South Lancaster Academy to Lancaster Junior College. The book explains that this change was necessary due to the new academic programs offered by the school. In addition, new graduate students believed that the name "college" would give the school greater prestige. The school move forward throughout the years and on February 17, 1922, members of the Seventh-day adventist conference in the northeast of the nation, voted to change the name of the school to Atlantic Union College. The book ends making an epilogue of the college since 1928.

31454300

/m/0glsfl5

The Druid King

The novel begins as Caesar searches for an excuse to use his Roman legions in Gaul in order to gain political capital in Rome. He makes a deal with Diviaxc of the Edui tribe, to allow the Romans to trade with the tribe and hurt another tribe attacking the Gauls. Caeser means to use the alliance and trade activities to provoke some sort of war with the Gauls and precipitate war between Rome and the Gauls. Meanwhile, Vercingetorix follows his father, who is the elected leader of the Arverni. and observes a gathering held by his father which seeks to bring together the Gallic tribes in order to oppose Roman expansion. His father attempts to become a king over all the tribes, but the other leaders resist and capture Vercingetorix's father and kill him. Vercingetorix barely escapes their pursuit with the help of the arch druid, Guttuatr. Guttuatr takes Vercingetorix under his wing, and trains him to become a druid. While training with the Druids he encounters the amazon warrior, Rhea, who teaches him how to fight and vows to always be his sister warrior upon her virginity. Caesar decides to invade Britain, offering the Gauls half of the pillage if they accompany him. However, unbeknownst to the Gallic allies, Caesar plans to send the Gauls ahead of him into battle in order for many of their warriors and leaders to be killed. While traveling north with his column of Roman infantry and his Gallic allies, Caesar encounters Vercingetorix who has left the druid training in order to reclaim his father's wealth amongst the Arverni. Vercingetorix is again elected their leader. Soon, Vercingetorix takes a military force to join Ceaser's invasion of Britain. At the camp, Vercingetorix is again reintroduced to his childhood love Marah, who has become enamoured with Caesar. Though Caesar attempts to bring Vercingetorix under his wing, Vercingetorix has a falling out with Caesar after the death of another Gallic leader. Vercingetorix becomes outlawed and Caesar leaves a portion of his army to subdue the Gallic forces which rebelled against him. This force effectively subdues Gaul before Caesar returns victorious from Britain and when Caesar returns, they have garrisoned all of the major Gallic cities. Vercingetorix resists, and eventually, through support of the high druid and political maneuvering, gains the support of the various Gallic factions. United, the next year they resist the Roman Army through a combination of scorched earth and Guerrilla tactics, overcoming the Roman superiority through discipline. However, Caesar realizing that the Gaul's could not resist a siege, and after months of maneuvering, forces Vercingetorix to move his army to Alesia where the superior siege technology of the Romans traps Vercingetorix in the city, and successfully resists the reinforcements of the all the tribes of Gaul.

31456818

/m/0gkxmpk

La Rue sans nom

Marcel Aymé

1930

The story focus on a street in the Parisian banlieue where live Italian and French workers. Their neighborhood will soon be demolished and a mysterious character hides himself in this street. The main themes are xenophobia, poverty, the importance of alcohol, love, madness and ageing

31460768

/m/0gkyly5

Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor

Lisa Kleypas

2010

Set in Friday Harbor, the novel opens with a prologue that features six-year-old Holly Nolan’s letter to Santa Claus, asking for a mother for Christmas. Following the death of Holly’s mother, Victoria Nolan, Holly is placed in the care of her uncle, Mark Nolan. Holly does not speak following her mother’s death, until she meets Maggie Conroy, a widow and the owner of a toy store, with whom Holly develops a connection. Mark, who learns of Holly’s Christmas wish, feels the need to find a mother for her. Despite being in a relationship, Mark is attracted to Maggie, while Maggie, despite her attraction to Mark, feels that she does not have enough to give to someone else since her husband’s death. The novel follows the developing relationship between Maggie and Mark, as well as their relationship with Holly, culminating on Christmas Eve.

31462253

/m/0gkxx6c

The Drop

Michael Connelly

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

The book was later mentioned in a February 2011 interview, in which Connelly explained that Bosch will be "handling two cases at once, a cold case that turns hot, and the politically charged investigation into the death of a city councilman's son. The city councilman happens to be Harry's old nemesis, Irvin Irving".

31473008

/m/0gl0fbf

Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens

Brandon Sanderson

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

Alcatraz and his companions head off to Mokia, one of the Free Kingdoms, to try and save it from a Librarian take over.

31483812

/m/0glnzt8

The Land of Painted Caves

Jean M. Auel

{"/m/0mz2": "Alternate history", "/m/014dfn": "Speculative fiction", "/m/0hwxm": "Historical novel"}

In this three-part book, Ayla is 20 (in part 1), about 23 (in part 2) and 26 (in part 3) and is training to become a spiritual leader for the Zelandonii. Most of the first and second parts of the book involve Ayla's acolyte training to become Zelandoni. The third part of the book contains most of the action of the story and plot line. In the first part, Ayla is in a Summer Meeting, and she begins to learn what an acolyte does. Ayla and the First decide to start Ayla's Donier Tour, which is a tour of the sacred caves in the wider region. Jondalar, Jonayla, and their animals as well as many others decide to travel. The second part is mainly about the caves that they visit. In many of the Sacred caves the Ancients, the people before the Zelandonii, left drawings. During this time, Ayla meets many other Zelandoni, and one of them gives her a pouch of dried herbs smelling faintly of mint. Ayla also discovers that the Clan visit some of the sacred caves as well. In the third part of the book, Ayla is marking the passage of the sun and moon's phases as part of her training as an acolyte. One night she is distracted and decides to share Pleasures with Jondalar, starting a baby. However, most of her Cave leaves for the Summer Meeting, but Ayla stays behind until Midsummer so she can finish her observation of the celestial bodies. During this time she takes care of Marthona, her mother-in-law, as well as the others in her Cave. One night Ayla makes some mint tea, actually the dried herb mixture given to her in the second part of the book, and is Called. If an acolyte is Called, then she will be tested by the Zelandonia, and initiated into the Zelandonia if the Calling is true. Ayla puts down her drink and runs along a river into a cave, where she spends the next three days hallucinating. Wolf wakes her from her visions, and she finds herself in the dark cave. She allows Wolf to lead her out of the cave, but not before finding a bag hidden there by Madroman, an unskilled acolyte who faked his Calling, and who has had a deep-seated hatred of Jondalar since adolescence. Outside are people from her Cave who were worried about her absence, and it is discovered that Ayla miscarried. She spends the next few days recovering from her experience and helps deliver a friend's baby. After delivering the baby, Ayla travels to the Summer Meeting. Upon her arrival, she finds Jondalar sharing Pleasures with Marona (Marona being Jondalar's bitter ex-girlfriend whom he abandoned to go travelling in the second book, and who actively and spitefully caused Ayla much difficultly when she first arrived at Jondalar's home). This leaves a rift between Ayla and Jondalar. She turns Madroman's bag over to the Zelandonia, and he is rejected from their ranks for his attempted deception. Ayla is accepted into the Zelandonia and attempts to use a dangerous hallucinogenic root as part of her initiation - one that was greatly feared by her first mentor, Mamut. The rift with Jondalar is only healed when he manages to call her back from the death-like coma induced by the root. The spiritual knowledge Ayla's Calling brings to the community is that men are active in the conception of a baby during 'Pleasures', which leads to the start of recognized fatherhood and that men have purpose on earth equal to that of women, and subsequently leads to the need for monogamous relationships to reduce jealousy/possessiveness over sexual partners and for fathers to take responsibility for children, thus shaping this prehistoric culture further to match our current one.

31485389

/m/0glqyjd

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

2008

The book is an epistolary novel, whose main character is a female newspaper columnist. She receives a letter from a Channel Island man who has acquired a book (Essays of Elia) which contains her name and (previous) London address on the flyleaf. He writes to her, asking for help in finding a biography of English essayist Charles Lamb, and mentions that he is a member of the Island's only book club. Intrigued both by the man's love of Mr Lamb, and by the intriguing name of the book club, she enters into a correspondence with the man, which leads to an ever-growing web of letters, then a visit to the island, which ends in a permanent residence there. As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends—and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society—born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island—boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all. Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society’s members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact which the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.

31486036

/m/0glrffw

Madonna

Andrew Morton

2001-11

{"/m/017fp": "Biography"}

The book opens with Madonna's birth, her early years in Michigan, and her 1977 move to New York City where she was involved with modern dance, two pop groups, composing, and releasing her 1983 debut album, Madonna. Her rise to superstardom as a pop icon is chronicled and her cutting edge music videos, albums, first concert tour, film roles, and marriage and divorce to Sean Penn are examined. The book investigates her controversial religious imagery and her erotic productions, Erotica, Sex, and Body of Evidence. The book describes a mellowing in her appearance and provocativeness, and, among other things, the release of her next several albums, her Golden Globe Award-winning musical film portrayal of Eva Peron, and her high-grossing Drowned World Tour. The birth of her daughter and son are chronicled and her marriage to Guy Ritchie. Madonna includes detailed descriptions of her relationship with individuals including John F. Kennedy Jr. and Michael Jackson.

31489936

/m/0glt0fy

The Claverings

Anthony Trollope

Harry Clavering is the only son of Reverend Henry Clavering, a well-to-do clergyman and the paternal uncle of the affluent baronet Sir Hugh Clavering. At the novel's beginning, Harry is jilted by his fiancée, the sister of Sir Hugh's wife, who proceeds to marry Lord Ongar, a wealthy but debauched earl. Harry's father urges him to make the church his profession; but Harry aspires to become a civil engineer, of the type of Robert Stephenson, Joseph Locke, and Thomas Brassey. To this end, he becomes a pupil at the firm of Beilby and Burton. A year and a half later, Harry has become engaged to Florence Burton, the daughter of one of his employers. He presses her for an early marriage; but although she loves him deeply, she refuses, insisting that they wait until he has an income adequate to support himself and a family. At this point, Lord Ongar dies, and his widow returns to England. Sir Hugh, her nearest male relative, is a hard and selfish man, and refuses to see her upon her arrival. This lends spurious credence to rumours about her conduct; and it forces her sister, Lady Clavering, to ask Harry to assist her when she returns. Harry fails to tell Lady Ongar of his engagement; and, in a moment of weakness, he embraces and kisses her. This puts him in a position where he must behave dishonourably toward one of the two women in his life: either he must break his engagement, or he must acknowledge that he has gravely insulted Lady Ongar. Although he loves Florence Burton and knows that she is the better woman, he is unwilling to subject Lady Ongar to further misery. Lady Ongar, because of her considerable wealth, is pursued by others. She is courted by Count Pateroff, one of her late husband's friends, and by Archie Clavering, Sir Hugh's younger brother. Count Pateroff's scheming sister Sophie Gourdeloup, the only woman who will see Lady Ongar because of the rumours about her conduct, wants her to remain single so that Mme. Gourdeloup can continue to exploit her. Mme. Gourdeloup sees to it that Lady Ongar learns about Harry's engagement. Meanwhile, Florence Burton learns that Harry has been seeing Lady Ongar regularly, and decides that she must release him if he does not truly love her. Through the good influence of his mother, Harry comes to realize that Florence Burton is the better woman and the less deserving of dishonorable treatment. To her letter offering to end their engagement, he responds with a reaffirmation of his love for her. He also writes to Lady Ongar, regretting his past conduct toward her and making it clear that he intends to remain true to his fiancée. Soon thereafter, Sir Hugh and Archie Clavering are both drowned when their yacht goes down off Heligoland. This makes Harry's father the new baronet and the possessor of Clavering Park, with Harry the heir apparent. This increase in wealth allows him to marry immediately and to give up engineering, a profession for which he almost certainly lacked sufficient self-discipline. Lady Ongar gives up much of her property to the family of the new earl, and retires into seclusion with her widowed sister.

31491240

/m/0glqxt7

Success

Success tells the story of two foster brothers—Terence Service and Gregory Riding, narrating alternate sections—and their exchange of position during one calendar year as each slips towards, and away from, success.

31499129

/m/0glqjnn

The Maker of Universes

1965

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

The story follows Robert Wolff, a man disenchanted with his life and his marriage. One day, while looking at a new house, Wolff discovers a strange horn in the basement. Blowing the horn, Wolff is transported to a strange new world, the World of Tiers. Wolff finds himself initially in an edenic paradise known as Okeanos. This region is the first level of the planet, which contains a number of tiers like a wedding cake, separated by vast mountain ranges. The entire planet is ruled over by a cruel and mysterious lord named Jadawin, who created it. Okeanos consists of a beach, an ocean, and a small forest and is populated by nymph like humans who originated in and near ancient Greece. In this new world, Wolff regains his youth and vigor and falls in love with a local woman named Chryseis who lived in Troy at the time of the Trojan War. When Chryseis is kidnapped, Wolff follows after her, climbing to the next level of the world, Amerind, a plains region populated by Native Americans and centaurs. Along the way he is joined by the adventurer Kickaha, who had also come from Earth, where he was known as Paul Janus Finnegan, some time ago. The two continue their adventure as they ascend the various levels of the World of Tiers including the medieval Dracheland and the jungle Atlantis. When they finally make it to the palace of Jadawin they make a shocking discovery; Robert Wolff is Lord Jadawin, who lost his memory after being defeated by another lord, and ended up stranded on Earth. At the end, Wolff/Jadawin is reunited with Chryseis and restored to his rightful place as ruler of the World of Tiers, his experiences as a human on Earth having tempered his previous cruelty. fr:Le Faiseur d'univers it:Il fabbricante di universi

31499578

/m/0glsw20

Too Big to Fail

Andrew Ross Sorkin

2009

The book provides an overview of the early stages of the financial crisis of 2007–2010 from the beginning of 2008 to the decision to create the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The book tells the story from the perspectives of the leaders of the major financial institutions and the main regulatory authorities.

31500509

/m/0glrx6j

Song of Scarabaeus

Sara Creasy

4/27/2010

{"/m/05hgj": "Novel", "/m/01qxvh": "Romance novel"}

*Edie Sha'nim is a cypherteck, and the best in the galaxy. It's what she's been trained to do: manipulate biocyph to terraform alien worlds, while the Crib - her employer - drains the Fringe populations dry. When a band of rovers kidnaps her, Edie can't decide if it's a blessing or a curse. Until they leash her to her new bodyguard, Finn - a serf whose past isn't clear to anyone. If she strays from his side, he dies; if she fails to cooperate, the rovers will kill them both. The deal worsens when Edie finds they're taking her to her one failure... a planet called Scarabaeus. The world itself has a few surprises in store for Edie.

31500630

/m/0glp6xj

Children of Scarabaeus

Sara Creasy

3/29/2011

{"/m/05hgj": "Novel", "/m/01qxvh": "Romance novel"}

*Barely escaping the clutches of Scarabaeus, Edie and Finn try to make it to the Fringe worlds. Liv Natesa recaptures them and puts Edie back to work on project Ardra, an accelerated terraforming plan that Edie can't see working on any scale. She's shocked to find Natesa's newest tool in her plot: children. When everything goes wrong, it seems the only way for everyone else to escape requires the ultimate sacrifice...

31501465

/m/0glrvhx

La Duchesse de Langeais

General Armand de Montriveau, a war hero, is enamored of Duchess Antoinette de Langeais, a coquettish, married noblewoman who invites him to a ball but ultimately refuses his sexual advances and then disappears. Assisted by the powerful group known as The Thirteen, who ascribe to an occult form of freemasonry, General Montriveau finds the duchess in a Spanish monastery of Discalced Carmelites under the name of Sister Theresa. Dedicated to Franz Liszt, this portrait of a vain representative of the noble families of Faubourg Saint-Germain, was inspired by the Duchess of Castries with whom Balzac had a failed romance.

31503079

/m/0glsktx

Cluny Brown

1944-08

The story follows the escapades of a plumber's niece, Cluny Brown, who is twenty years old in England in 1938. Cluny has high spirits and a constant desire for expansion of experience that leads the more staid members of her community to question whether she knows her place. As a consequence of one final London based excursion of discovery outside the bounds of what Cluny's mentors consider proper, she is sent off into good service with a charming country residence know as Friars Carmel to be a Tall Parlour Maid. The coincidental simultaneous arrivals of the young son and heir of the house, a mysterious Polish professor, and a beautiful socialite add complexity to this adventurous tale of a young woman following her dreams and finding her personal freedom in the tumultuous early 20th century.

31505316

/m/0glsv5z

The Beasts of Clawstone Castle

Madlyn and Rollo live with their parents in a ground-floor flat in south London. Mrs Hamilton runs a theatre where the plays keep running out of money, and Mr Hamilton is a designer and helps people with their houses. Madlyn is very attractive and has many friends. She has fair hair, blue eyes and a deep laugh, and likes parties and sleepovers. Rollo is two years younger and likes animals and insects. He has an adopted skink at London Zoo called Stumpy. Madlyn is helpful to her brother and mother, who is usually frantic and forgets things like car keys. At the beginning of the summer term, Mr Hamilton receives a large offer from an American college (which the family needs) to spend two months in New York setting up a business course in design. The parents cannot take the children but decide to go to America, sending Madlyn and Rollo to stay with their Uncle George and Aunt Emily (sister and brother) at Clawstone Castle at the Scottish border. Madlyn is shocked at Clawstone's appearance. When she meets her Uncle and Aunt she is uncertain. Madlyn and Rollo see their rooms and go to bed. George and his sister Emily wake early on Saturdays for that is when his castle is open to the public. George's hair is sparse and he wears a mustard coloured tweed suit. Howard Percival, their cousin, is very shy, never comes out of his room and is frightened of anyone he has not known for the last twenty years. Mrs Grove comes in from the village to help. She disapproves of how George and Emily deal with Howard. Emily prepares the gift shop. She feels sad at the thought of the rival Trembellow gift shop, which is larger. George starts preparing his work in the castle. He also feels sad at the thought of the rival Trembellow dungeons. Mrs Grove's sister comes to start taking the tickets, bringing with her what the villagers have donated to help the castle. The day does not go well; by midday only ten people have arrived, and most of them get bored. The next day Madlyn and Rollo make friends with Mrs Grove and Madlyn takes to the museum. Rollo likes the dungeon. Then Madlyn meets Mrs Grove's son, Ned, and learns about Olive, the Trembellow's daughter. Madlyn and Rollo go to Mrs Grove's house to watch TV. When they get back Emily is preparing for Open Day again. Madlyn asks why the money is so important and Mrs Grove tells her it's for the cows. The next day Sir George takes Madlyn and Rollo to see his white cows. They are astonishing, and George buys Rollo a pair of binoculars. Madlyn, Rollo and Ned go see Howard, and understand that they need ghosts to make the castle better.

31508158

/m/0glpmdp

Scrivener's Moon

Philip Reeve

{"/m/06www": "Steampunk"}

In a future land once known as Britain, nomad tribes are preparing to fight a terrifying enemy - the first-ever mobile city. Before London can launch itself, young engineer Fever Crumb must journey to the wastelands of the North. She seeks the ancient birthplace of the Scriven mutants. Scrivener's Moon is the sequel to A Web of Air, the story set centuries before Mortal Engines.

31512660

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What I Loved

Siri Hustvedt

2003

What I Loved opens with a painting of a naked woman, with the artist's shadow across the canvas. The protagonist, art historian Leon Hertzberg (Leo), purchases the painting and some time afterwards befriends the artist, Bill Wechsler. Bill is, at this stage, an unknown artist, though as the novel progresses, so too does his career in the New York art scene. This is in part due to Leo’s writing, which brings Bill's work into the public eye. Bill is married to Lucille, a highly strung poet, and Leo is married to Erica, a literary academic. The two couples become close and move into the same apartment block. Erica and Lucille fall pregnant around the same time and have sons, Mathew and Mark. The first half of the novel explores their quiet, domestic lives, through the eyes of Leo. Lucille and Bill separate after he forms a relationship with Violet, the model who posed for the painting which opens the text. The opening of part Two of the novel is described by Robert Birnaum, in an interview with the author, as like a punch in the face and the pace of the novel accelerates after this point. Leo and Erica’s son, Mathew, dies suddenly. Grief-stricken, Leo eventually loses Erica, who moves away for distance as well as work. Leo forms a close relationship with Bill’s son Mark. Mark is, however, an insincere and somewhat amoral character, and a pattern is repeated between the two, of trust and betrayal, until Leo and the reader realise Mark is probably not capable of affection. Mark befriends performance and installation artist Teddy Giles, whose art is designed to shock, but seems empty and only designed to serve that one purpose. Bill eventually dies in his studio and Violet attempts to curtail her grief by cleaning manically. Leo becomes embroiled in a thriller-like plot attempting to track down Mark who has become lost in Teddy Giles's scene. Leo finally professes his love for Violet. She tells him he can have her for one night, but that she’s then moving away. He declines and returns to his apartment alone. A minor character throughout the novel, Lazlo Finkelman, moves amongst similar circles to Teddy Giles and Mark, but with very different intentions and values. At the close of the novel, an aging Leo finds comfort in playing with Lazlo’s young son.

31519234

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An American Demon: A Memoir

5/1/2011

{"/m/06nbt": "Satire", "/m/0q9mp": "Tragicomedy", "/m/0488wh": "Literary fiction"}

The plot partially revolves around the author's life, but also delves into side topics such as religion and politics.

31520962

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Carrion Comfort

The premise of the novel is that a small number of humans are born with the Ability, which gives them the power to take control of others, mind and body. These psychic vampires vary in the strength of their gift, but most have been corrupted by it and are extremely dangerous. Not only do they use others as tools or sources of amusement, they quickly discover that they gain energy from the act, "feeding" from the emotions of those they control - and feeding most successfully when their victims are tormented or forced into acts of violence. Thus, many of the most violent and inexplicable human actions are actually signs of these mind vampires at work. Saul Laski, a former victim, is determined to track down the Nazi who used the Ability to torment him. In the course of his quest, he begins to uncover a series of deadly power struggles and intrigues that are rocking the secretive world of the mind vampires. es:Los vampiros de la mente fr:L'Échiquier du mal

31523740

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Maisie Dobbs

Jacqueline Winspear

7/1/2003

{"/m/02n4kr": "Mystery"}

Maisie becomes a maid at the Belgravia Mansion of Lady Rowan Compton in 1910 at fourteen years old after her mother dies and she must help her father make ends meet. Soon after getting caught in Lady Compton's library fulfilling her joy of reading and learning, Maisie is introduced to Maurice Blanche, close friend of the Comptons, and becomes his pupil. Blanche, a discreet investigator, teaches Maisie as much as he can about psychology, science, and anything else Maisie is willing to learn. When Maisie becomes old enough she attends Girton College at Cambridge University, but threats of war soon intervene. World War I intensifies and the pressures of war can be felt in Maisie's England. Deciding that the war efforts are extremely important to her and her country, Maisie volunteers as a nurse at the front, where she meets a young man, with whom she falls in love. Part of the mystery surrounding Maisie is what happens to the young man. After the war, Maisie apprentices with Blanche in his investigative work. In 1929, after Blanche has retired, Maisie opens her own investigation business. Her first seemingly open-and-shut case involves her in a mystery surrounding something known as The Retreat, a suspicious home for veterans of the war. Maisie must act fast when she learns that Lady Compton's own son has signed over his fortune to The Retreat and has taken asylum there. With the help of Billy Beale, a caretaker at her office and veteran of the Great War himself, she is able to infiltrate The Retreat. As Maisie uncovers the mystery of The Retreat she is also confronted with her own ghosts from the war after ten years of holding the memories at bay.

31523874

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Sign of the Moon

Erin Hunter

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

Ivypaw and Dovepaw get their warrior names of Ivypool and Dovewing. Icecloud falls through the shallow roof of a tunnel near where Hollyleaf was buried, and so Lionblaze and Jayfeather venture down the tunnel, only to find a tuft of fur in the spot Hollyleaf supposedly died in. This indicates that Hollyleaf may not be dead. Midway through the book, Jayfeather, Dovewing, Foxleap, and Squirrelflight visit the Tribe of Rushing Water when Jayfeather receives a dream from Rock, who insists he go to the mountains for a mysterious purpose. While there, Jayfeather is again sent into centuries before his own time, to convince the ancient Tribe ancestors to stay in the mountains, as they're weary and very close to returning to the lake (their previous home). Jayfeather (known as "Jay's Wing" in the ancient time he's visiting) succeeds in the mission Rock assigned him, and even completes the most important task of all: assigning the new Stoneteller of the Tribe in the ancient times, and in his own time. He appoints Half Moon as the Stoneteller of ancient times (who he has a brief relationship with, but as expected, it does not work out) and Crag Where Eagles Nest as the Stoneteller of modern times. While in his slight relationship with Half Moon, Jayfeather is tempted to never return to his own time and stay with her to become mates. This, obviously, does not succeed as their paths are very different, with destinies too great to put aside, as Rock puts it. Meanwhile, Ivypool struggles with the Dark Forest, haunted by its darkness and trying to find out answers: mainly, when the battle of the Dark Forest and StarClan will be. Lionblaze still pursues a relationship with Cinderheart, even though Cinderheart believes that Lionblaze is to good for her so Lionblaze has no success.

31527509

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The New Cool

2011

The book begins with a prologue set at the 2009 FIRST Championship in Atlanta and describes the exciting environment there. It then switches back to the kickoff event in January 2009 and describes Dean Kamen and how he founded FIRST. Afterwards, it details the history of team 1717 and the program that it is a part of, the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy. Then the book describes how the 2009 team winds its way through a 6 week build season, enduring many struggles from mechanical failures to a bout of sickness. A chapter is dedicated to team 217, the Thunderchickens, who attempt to construct a robot with military style precision, and to team 395, 2TrainRobotics, whose students must deal with issues related to being in the poor inner city, as well as to team 67, Heroes of Tomorrow. After the build season, team 1717 competes in two regional competitions, Los Angeles and Sacramento. The team loses in the finals at Los Angeles, and wins in Sacramento after going undefeated. 1717 then competes in the FIRST Championship, where it loses to a heavily favored team in the division finals.

31536697

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Honeymoon

Howard Roughan

When several rich men die mysteriously and a young investment banker allegedly dies of a heart attack, John O'Hara, an FBI agent, believes it is the work of a ruthless murderer. The only witness is the beautiful but secretive widow of the investment banker. O'Hara believes he is making progress with the case, but he is not sure if it is due obsession or in the pursuit of justice.

31539009

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The Red Queen

Isobelle Carmody

{"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/0hc1z": "Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction", "/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy"}

As the long-foreseen Seeker, Elspeth Gordie must continue to walk the black road, still haunted by memories of her love, Rushton. Yet what awaits her at the end of the black road shakes even her, for the lost community of the Compound is not what it seems. As she struggles against her captors, she learns that her friends, and Rushton, have fallen into the hands of the deadly slavemasters of the Red Land. Moreover, every mistake and delay Elspeth faces in her quest sees the Destroyer closer to realising his goal of reawakening the weaponmachines Elspeth must destroy. Will all the Seeker has sacrificed be in vain?

31542262

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Banned for Life

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

As a restless high school athlete in a small, unnamed town in North Carolina, Jason Maddox, the book's narrator, has a sexual encounter with his popular girlfriend’s alcoholic mother. Rumors of the encounter circulate at school, and Jason’s girlfriend, distraught when she learns of them, attempts suicide. Jason, himself previously popular, is shunned by his classmates, including the one who started the rumors. Jason confronts and savagely beats that classmate, and in the aftermath, he's arrested, expelled from school, and all but disowned by his conservative, mortified parents. Taking a job as a house painter, Jason moves into an apartment complex where he befriends his new neighbor, Bernard “Peewee” Mash, an intellectually precocious fifteen-year-old who, like Jason, is a local pariah. Peewee introduces Jason to art, literature, and, most importantly, punk rock. He and Jason are particularly enamored of the Los Angeles punk band Rule of Thumb, which is led by a Berkeley-educated poet, Jim Cassady, whom Jason and Peewee both revere. Learning that Rule of Thumb will be performing at New York City’s CBGB, Jason quits his job in order to drive himself and Peewee to New York. After the show, they speak to Jim Cassady, who advises them to start a band. They immediately make plans to move to Manhattan, where they live on the Lower East Side, center of the New York punk scene. There, Peewee becomes increasingly difficult, at odds with Jason musically and envious of Jason’s sexual prowess. Alternately given to tantrums and sullen silences, Peewee is ousted from the band that he co-founded. He and Jason pursue music separately until, recognizing how much they miss each other, they reconcile and start a new band. The new band has a growing reputation for its explosive, destructive shows, which result in injuries to person and property alike. Banned from most local venues, the band begins touring the U.S., and in the midst of what will prove to be its final tour, Peewee is killed in a car crash, with Jason narrowly surviving. Devastated by the loss of Peewee, Jason decides he’s finished with music, and, using money from an insurance settlement, he produces and directs a film that takes him to Los Angeles, where he falls in love with an aspiring actress who is herself seeking a new life after fleeing the civil wars in her native Yugoslavia. The actress, Irina, is married to a wealthy Englishman who is happily unaware of her affair with Jason and, possibly, others prior, though Irina denies any previous affairs to Jason. Their stormy romance is addictive to Jason, who begs Irina to leave her husband for him. She repeatedly, and emptily, assures him she will. At a party one night, Jason meets another former punk who tells him that Jim Cassady has recently been spotted, homeless and panhandling on the streets of Hollywood. This is the first sighting of Cassady, as far as Jason knows, since Rule of Thumb disbanded in the early 80s. Jason has always been mystified and intrigued by Cassady’s disappearance, and, on the Internet, he reads of other alleged Cassady sightings. Determined to find Cassady, Jason discovers that he’s now living in a bleak Los Angeles suburb with his elderly, controlling mother. He shares some of his recent songs and poems with Jason, who thinks they're deserving of a wide audience. Except for Cassady's music and the advice he gave Jason and Peewee at CBGB almost twenty years before, Jason might still be miserable in North Carolina, and he means to express his gratitude by helping Cassady gain a new following. But Cassady is resigned to obscurity, and he grudgingly submits to Jason’s efforts on his behalf. Perhaps out of spite, he causes a rupture in Jason’s relationship with Irina, and Jason promises to kill him for it, only to reaffirm, in the book's epilogue, how indebted he is to Cassady, who has again changed the course of his life.

31547419

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Salah Asuhan

Abdul Muis

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

The story revolves around the Minangkabau Hanafi and his friend, the half-French half-Minangkabau Corrie du Busee. Although Hanafi is Minangkabau and a Muslim, he considers European culture to be superior and has many European friends. After graduating from high school in Solok, Hanafi admits his love to Corrie and kisses her. However, Corrie feels ashamed afterwards and eventually flees to Batavia (Jakarta), leaving a letter for Hanafi saying that they can never be together because he is pribumi. Hanafi is then married to his cousin Rapiah, much to his discontent. He begins taking out his anger on his family, especially Rapiah. After a few years, Hanafi's European friends have left him because of his treatment of his family, including his and Rapiah's baby son. His temperament becomes worse as a result. One day, he is bitten by a rabid dog. He is sent for treatment in Batavia. Upon arrival in Batavia, Hanafi meets Corrie again and they fall in love. They eventually marry and move in together. Hanafi finds employment with the Dutch colonial government, receives the same legal status as a European, and adopts the Christian name Chrisye. He does not think of his family in Solok, even though they are worried about him. Although their married life starts well, eventually Hanafi becomes abusive towards Corrie. Upon hearing that Corrie has befriended a disreputable woman and occasionally meets other men without him knowing, Hanafi loses his temper, accuses Corrie of infidelity and hits her. Corrie runs away from home and eventually starts working at an orphanage in Semarang. Hanafi's coworkers in Batavia ostracise him after hearing of his treatment of Corrie. After one tells him that he is seen to be acting poorly, Hanafi realizes that he was wrong and goes to Semarang to apologize to Corrie. However, upon arrival he finds her dying of cholera. Corrie forgives him, and dies. Hanafi then collapses from the stress. After being treated, Hanafi returns to his village to be with his family. Not long after his arrival, he commits suicide by drinking poison and apologizes to his family on his deathbed, embracing his Minangkabau and Muslim heritage. Rapiah states that she will not raise their son to be like the Europeans.

31550424

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The Lover's Dictionary

David Levithan

2011

A nameless narrator tells the story of a relationship through dictionary entries. These short entries provide insight into the ups and downs of their romantic relationship, revealing the couple's problems with alcoholism and infidelity. The story does not unfold in chronological order; instead, it is arranged alphabetically by dictionary entries which give glimpses into the joys and struggles the characters face over the course of their relationship.

31553211

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Tre kom tilbake

Müller served in the No. 331 Squadron RAF, when he was shot down over the sea during a flight mission on 19 June 1942. He was captureed and brought a prisoner-of-war camp, Durchgangslager Frankfurt, and after interrogations eventually transferred to the camp Stammlager Luft III. As a prisoner in the camp, Müller participated in the escape plans, by helping with the ventilation of the tunnels dug by the prisoners. In 1943 the prisoners were moved to a new camp site, and shortly thereafter they secretly organized the digging of three new tunnels, called Tom, Dick and Harry. On 24 March 1944 a number of prisoners made their way out of the camp through the tunnel Harry. Along with fellow prisoner Per Bergsland from RAF 332 Squadron, Müller eventually managed to escape to Sweden, after travelling with train to Frankfurt, taking a connecting train to Küstrin, then another train to Stettin. During the travel they were camouflaged as Norwegian electricians working in Germany, equipped with false documents made by other prisoners, including travel orders to change their workplace from Frankfurt to Stettin. They finally reached Sweden by hiding on a ship. After about ten days in Stockholm they were transported to Scotland in two Mosquito aeroplanes (each Mosquito could only carry one passenger), and arrived in London on 8 April 1944. Only three of the seventy-six runaways from Stalag Luft III managed to escape to freedom, while the other 73 were caught after a giant man-hunt, and fifty men where executed by shooting as reprisal. numbers that have been corrected after later investigations.

31555240

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Memoirs of a Dervish

Robert Graham Irwin

4/14/2011

In the summer of 1964, the author left behind the popular culture of the "Swinging Sixties" in England, a time when many were journeying to the East in search of spiritual enlightenment. In the book, he contrasts that hippie subculture with the "bombs and guns and [Sufi] mysticism" which he encountered on his own travels in Algeria.

31556483

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Upsurge

J. M. (John Mews) Harcourt

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

The book tells the stories of Theodora Luddon, a 20-year-old receptionist, Peter Groom, a member of the bourgeoisie who claims unemployment benefits, city magistrate James Riddle, working class man Colin Rumble who hangs himself after murdering his family, and Paul Kronen, the owner of a big drapery store. It is set in the 1930s, starts with Theodora fined two pounds by Riddle for indecent exposure at the beach and ends with Peter sentenced to a month in jail with hard labour after a riot in the city.

31561733

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The Last of the Dying

When the world finally collapses and begins to fade away, the only chance of survival is to create a new and better earth. With millions of people paying all they have to become one of the saved and make it to New Blue 1 (the new earth) everyone who cannot pay is simply left behind to die along with the planet. Silas is one of the forgotten, but when he is forced to surrender himself to a risky experiment, he finds that the fate of humanity is left in his hands. Unsure about his new abilities, and desperate to save the lives of those left behind, Silas does not know if he will discover a secret that could change the future.

31563044

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Richard Carvel

Winston Churchill

1899

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

Foreword The novel opens with a fictitious foreword, a brief note dated 1876, in which the purported editor of the memoirs, Daniel Clapsaddle Carvel, claims that they are just as his grandfather, Richard Carvel, wrote them, all the more realistic for their imperfections. Volume One The first volume concerns Richard Carvel's boyhood and schooldays. Orphaned at an early age, Richard is raised by his grandfather, Lionel Carvel of Carvel Hall, a wealthy loyalist respected by all sections of the community. Richard describes their way of life, his growing love for his neighbor, Dorothy Manners, and the hostility of his uncle, Grafton Carvel. Richard witnesses a demonstration against a tax collector in Annapolis as a result of the Stamp Act 1765 and grieves his grandfather by his adoption of revolutionary political views. Volume Two Mr Allen, Richard's new tutor, tricks him into deceiving his ailing grandfather. Richard is tormented by the coquettishness of Dorothy. At Richard's eighteenth birthday party, he learns that she is to go to England. Volume Three With the third volume, the main action of the novel begins. Through the scheming of Grafton Carvel and Mr Allen, Richard fights a duel with Lord Comyn. He is wounded, but becomes fast friends with the lord. His grandfather learns that his political opinions are unchanged but forgives him, partly through the intercession of Colonel Washington. After his recovery, Richard is attacked on the road and kidnapped. He is taken aboard a pirate ship, the Black Moll. There is a fight with a brigantine, in which the pirate ship sinks. Volume Four In the fourth volume, the protagonist continues to meet with sudden reversals of fortune. Richard is rescued and befriended by the captain of the brigantine, John Paul, who is sailing to Solway. In Scotland, John Paul is shunned, and vows to turn his back on his country. They take a post chaise to London, and in Windsor meet Horace Walpole. In London they are imprisoned in a sponging-house, from where they are rescued by Lord Comyn and Dorothy. Volume Five Volumes five and six are set in London, where the glamor and corruption of fashionable society forms a contrast with the plain and honest values of the emerging republic, embodied in the protagonist. Richard is introduced to London society, where Dorothy is an admired beauty. He makes friends with Charles James Fox and incurs the enmity of the Duke of Chartersea. Richard declares his love to Dorothy but is rejected. Volume Six Richard risks his life in a wager but survives against the odds. He visits the House of Commons, and hears Edmund Burke and Fox speak. At Vauxhall Gardens he is tricked into a duel with the Duke, while Lord Comyn is injured saving him from a second assailant. Later he hears that his grandfather has died, and that his uncle Grafton has inherited the estate, leaving him penniless. Volume Seven Richard returns to America, where he learns his grandfather had believed him dead. Rejecting Grafton's overtures, he accepts a place as Mr Swain's factor, and for the next few years faithfully tends the Swain estate, Gordon's Pride. In 1774, the discontent among the colonists begins to escalate. Volume Eight The final volume sees the dual, interlinked fruition of the two principal aspects of the novel: the political and the romantic. With the coming of war, Richard sets out to fight for his country. He meets John Paul, now calling himself John Paul Jones, and plans to join the nascent American navy. The early years of the war are represented by a summary by Daniel Clapsaddle Carvel, and Richard's narrative resumes at the start of the North Sea action between the Bonhomme Richard, captained by Jones, and the Serapis. Richard is severely wounded, and Jones arranges for him to be nursed by Dorothy. The end of the book sees Richard back in Maryland as master of Carvel Hall, married to his childhood sweetheart.

31567409

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The November Criminals

4/20/2010

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

The hero of the book is 18-year-old Addison Schacht, a high-school senior in Washington D.C. He is in the process of applying to the University of Chicago, where he plans to study classics. The book is his response to the essay question, "What are your best and worst qualities?". He explains he has only bad qualities, as illustrated by the events of his senior year. They include collecting offensive jokes; dealing drugs to his classmates; and insulting teachers, fellow students, and his girlfriend's mother. But his classmate Kevin Broadus is killed in a senseless shooting, and he begins to investigate the death.

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Reckless

Andrew Gross

Ty Hauck learns of the murder of a close personal friend April Glassman along with her husband Marc and their daughter. The murder was clearly meant to look like one of a recent string of home invasions, but very little about this murder parallels the other home invasions. The murder of Marc Glassman, a trader at a major brokerage, has an immediate and dramatic effect on world financial markets. Coincidentally, Glassman had gone out of his way to violate company policy, having dramatically over leveraged his positions. His murder brings down one of Wall Street's oldest and most respected brokerages. Hauck has started a new job with Talon, a security firm whose largest client is Reynolds Ried, “a Wall Street icon.” Merrill Simons, the ex-wife of Reynolds Rieds' CEO, hires Hauck to check up on her suspicions about her new love interest Dani Thibault. As Hauck investigates Thibault he begins to see clues that connect Thibault to the murder of Marc Glassman and the apparent suicide of James Donovan, another over extended trader from a different firm. In Washington, Treasury agent Naomi Blum watches millions of dollars in suspicious bank transfers. Her research leads her to follow the same trail as Hauck. Hauck and Blum team up to unravel evidence that all connects back to Dani Thibault. Their search takes them to Serbia and leads back to London to find Marty al-Bashir, the chief investment officer of the Royal Saudi Partnership. As witnesses are quickly silenced in a string of murders, the trail leads all the way back to the Secretary of the Treasury in Washington and Peter Simons, the CEO of Reynold's Reid.

31579188

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Ash: A Secret History

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

Ash is an orphan foundling who grew up as a camp follower with a group of mercenaries. As a child, she discovers the Voice, a mysterious voice which only she can hear and which gives tactical advice on how to solve combat situations. As a woman in 1477, she now runs her own company, peopled by soldiers from various lands of Europe and North Africa, including her best friend the Burgundian physician Florian. Her company is hired by John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford, an exiled English nobleman, to undertake a mission to Italy for the Duke of Burgundy. When they arrive in Italy they discover the country under invasion from the forces of Carthage. This Carthage is not the civilization which clashed with Rome, but an empire established in North Africa by Visigoths. Due to a magical curse cast by a rabbi, the lands of Carthage are covered in perpetual darkness. Ash's troops flee from the invaders and Ash meets with the general of the Carthaginian forces, the mysterious Faris. During the meeting, Ash is shocked to learn that the Faris is a duplicate of her. The Faris also hears the Voice, and is using its advice to conquer Europe. As the conquest continues, darkness begins to settle over Europe. Ash herself is captured by the forces of the Faris and is sent to Carthage. There she learns the truth of her origins. Both she and the Faris are the result of a Carthaginian eugenics program designed to create a being capable of communicating with the "burnished head" a sort of mechanical military computer. The Faris was the successful result while Ash was a lesser result, intended to be destroyed but smuggled out of Carthage by a sympathetic servant. Before Ash can be killed, her men, led by Oxford, stage an assault on the city and free Ash from prison. As they leave, they pass by a set of pyramids. As they do, Ash feels a psychic presence similar to, but more powerful than, the Voice. She realizes that the pyramids are alive. They are sentient beings, artificial intelligences which they describe as "wild machines". They achieved sentience by accident and have watched mankind rise near them. Drawing their power from the sun it is they who have created the darkness above Carthage, absorbing the visible range of light to augment their powers. Working through the "burnished head" they instructed the forces of Carthage to create a being capable of communicating with the head across vast distances. They have also arranged the invasion of Europe to provide themselves with more power. Their aim is to channel that power through the Faris to create a "dark miracle": wiping out all human life. Ash and her men escape Carthage and retreat to Europe. There they find Western and Central Europe almost totally under Carthage's control. With darkness descended on the continent crops are failing and people are starving. The last holdout is the Duchy of Burgundy which is besieged by the Faris and her forces. Getting in to Burgundy, Ash discovers that the Duke of Burgundy possesses supernatural abilities which maintain reality against attempts to change it. The wild machines need to kill the Duke in order to complete their dark miracle. Unfortunately the Duke dies from an infection during the siege, but the Carthaginian forces, not realizing the Duke's true importance, allow the Burgundians to conduct a ceremonial hunt in order to choose a successor. The winner is Florian, who is revealed as both a member of the Burgundian royal family and as a transvestite woman. The new Duchess Floria takes her post, stabilizing reality, and Ash organizes an all out assault designed to kill the Faris before the wild machines can complete their dark miracle. The assault succeeds, but Ash learns that the wild machines have a backup plan. They intend to use her to complete their dark miracle and they explain why they need to. "Grace" is an ability that all humans possess to some degree. This allows them to warp reality in certain ways. For most people this is trivial and hard to use. Some extraordinary people can create major miracles, such as the one which dried up the once great river which flowed near the wild machines. The machines have run simulations that show that in a few hundred years "grace" will be so prevalent and powerful among humanity that reality itself will unravel under the constant changes being instituted. In order to save reality, they must destroy humanity. Ash tries to reason with them but they insist. As the forces of Carthage attack and attempt to kill Floria, Ash determines to kill herself before the wild machines can work their dark miracle. The wild machines fight her and reality begins to change.

31579451

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The Man who Broke into Auschwitz

Avey relates his wartime service and how he came to be held prisoner in E715A, a camp for Allied Prisoners of War adjacent to Monowitz. He describes how he exchanged uniforms with a Jewish inmate of Auschwitz III in order to enter this camp to discover more about conditions there, with a view to reporting these to the authorities after the war. He also relates how he smuggled cigarettes to another Jewish inmate Ernst Lobethal, having obtained these from Lobethal’s sister in Britain. He was convinced that Ernst had died by early 1945, because he could not have survived the death marches when the camp was evacuated. He also said that after the war the authorities were not interested in his story and he kept silence for more than half a century. Eventually he did begin to disclose his story and it came to the attention of the BBC. Rob Broomby was able to trace Lobethal’s sister Susanne and her son had a copy of a video recording which her brother before his death had made for the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education in which he describes how a British POW known as 'Ginger' smuggled the cigarettes to him and how these saved his life by enabling him to exchange them for food and to have new soles put on his boots which enabled him to survive the death march.

31580920

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Keeping Secrets

Flora, Ruby, Olivia and Nikki are expecting new neighbors to move into Row House number 2, formerly occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Willet. The girls are very much exited to hear that the Hamiltons, the new neighbors, have two children. One of them is Willow and the other is her younger brother, Cole. Willow seems to be a perfect person for the group of friends. But there is a big problem - Willow doesn't seem to want to be friends. But Flora thinks she has a secret and doesn't want to reveal it. This particular secret is obviously related to the erratic and senseless behavior of Mrs. Hamilton, Willow's mother. There are also other things going on in Camden Falls, the little town in Massachusetts. Nikki and a friend at the animal shelter are making a dog parade. Money collected on the parade goes for abandoned dogs. Meanwhile, there's a mystery at Aunt Allie's house. Ruby and Flora had found a closet full of baby's clothes at their aunt's abode. Since Allie hadn't yet married, let alone had a baby, the sisters grow suspicious. The next time, Ruby visits her aunt for a sleepover. She does her part snooping and finds a photograph with an attractive young man, but leaves it as Aunt Allie had caught Detective Ruby in the act. And Olivia also gets a boyfriend. Ruby and her friends Lacey and Hilary are going trick-or-treating. They can't decide what to wear! Flora, Min and Gigi had tailored costumes for the trio - the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty. But then the three girls had changed their minds so often that they ended up wearing costumes as 'Still Life' which was Ruby's idea. Ruby, Lacey and Hilary made these costumes: a bunch of grapes, a banana and a pear. Even though they had very little confidence in these costumes, it turned out to be a big success.

31583521

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Harbour

John Ajvide Lindqvist

The story follows Anders whose young daughter goes missing one winter day. Several years later an alcoholic and divorced Anders returns to the island. The novel also follows Anders' stepfather on the island, the illusionist Simon, who is starting to notice that there is something strange with the island and the sea itself.

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Johnny Gone Down

2010

{"/m/01jfsb": "Thriller", "/m/02xlf": "Fiction"}

Nikhil Arya has fallen. Once, he was an Ivy League scholar with a promising future at NASA; now, at forty, he is broke, homeless, and minutes away from blowing his brains out in a diabolical modern day joust. It wasn’t meant to be this. An innocent vacation turned into an epic intercontinental journey that saw Nikhil become first a genocide survivor, then a Buddhist monk, a drug lord, a homeless accountant, a software mogul and a deadly game fighter. Now, twenty years later, Nikhil aka Johnny is tired of running. With the Columbian mafia on his trail and his abandoned wife and son ten thousand miles away, he prepares for his final act, aware that he will have lost even if he wins.

31589387

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Vampireology: The True History of the Fallen

5/11/2010

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

The book purports to have been written in 1900 by Archibald Brooks, the main "protector" (vampire slayer). Brooks was killed on the night of May 10, 1920, at his office in the British Museum. The next day, Joshua T. Kraik, a private investigator, went to see his friend, and, when he did, he looked around Brooks' office and found the book. He took a look in it to see that Brooks had planned for him to have it (there was a letter for him from Brooks on the inside front cover), so Joshua took it home with him. When he started reading the book, he found he was to be the next protector, so he read on, taking all information very seriously. He saw everything about the original three fallen ones and their bloodlines. Moloch, the destroyer, whose bloodline kills for no reason. Ba'al, the deceiver, whose bloodline will do anything for power. And Belial, the tortured, who's bloodline suffers remorse for what Belial did and will limit their appetites. Belials can also feel the emotions that a normal person could. He also added notes; things like how he is getting on, a little bit of personal life, drawings, bits of newspaper, his own information, and letters. On the 14th of May in 1920, he got a strange note/letter from Venetian Contessa (Countess) Magdalena D'Amigliani that said she and Brooks were friends and that the book was hers. Joshua didn't believe her so he wrote back (He sticks the drafts into the book). Saying that no one knew about her, and Joshua can not pass on the book yet, they keep in touch. A bit later in the book he finds a picture of her and is arranged to meet up with her as he falls in love. But when he is reading the book at his hotel he gets another letter, this one is simple and Joshua's note with it is, "I am in Paris, awaiting for the train to Venice, but my mind is in turmoil. This morning I received another message from Magdalena. It was a simple note, with a smaller painting of her in the dress of violet lace attached to it. It is the most terrifying thing I have ever received, for I know for certain now what she is. Truly, I think I have always known. In the same way, I believe I knew long ago that Brooks was much more than an eccentric academic. It is too late to turn back, but I am sure that I am not the first Protector to set out on an uncertain journey." Afterwards there s a hologram picture of her. If you look at it one way, she is wearing a locket smiling normally, but the other way she has no locket, her hair is messy, her eyes are red, and she has fangs. She is a Vampire! On the last page it has Brooks' final words and it tells Joshua to take take the locket of vampire hair(vampires can't kill humans with vampire hair for some reason) and destroy her with the sword of angels (Archangel Michael's sword that he used in fighting The three original Fallen Ones, Moloch, Ba'al and Belial. It is the only sword that can destroy the fallen ones). Brooks also reveals that a long time ago, he and Magdalena were engaged but one night, a vampire attacked them and Magdalena was turned. So Joshua says he will try but we never know for sure. At the end of the book, there is the sword of angels on the back cover, a newspaper clipping about the death of Joshua's friend, Maurice Folley (who may have been killed by Magdalena) and another newspaper clipping about the burning of Palazzo D'Amigliani, which is Magdalena's home, hinting that Joshua may have succeeded in killing Magdalena because it was said that the fire was intense enough to reduce a corpse to ashes.

31597923

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Stones into Schools

Greg Mortenson

2009

{"/m/05h83": "Non-fiction", "/m/016chh": "Memoir"}

Stones into Schools picks up where Three Cups of Tea left off in late 2003. Tracing the efforts of CAI to work in the northeast corner of Afghanistan, the book describes how the book's author and Sarfraz Khan worked to establish the first schools in the area. Mortenson and Khan's efforts were thwarted for a time when a devastating earthquake hit the Azad Kashmir region of Pakistan. CAI assisted with relief efforts in the region by setting up temporary tent schools and later build several earthquake-proof schools. After CAI's relief efforts were completed, the non-profit charity organization then opens schools in areas controlled by the Taliban and Mortenson assists the US military to formulate strategic plans in the region.

31603643

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Shaken

In this novel, Judd Thompson Jr. and Lionel Washington find out from their friend, Sam Goldberg, that Nada Ameer, Judd's girlfriend, has been taken into custody at a Global Community jail. In an attempt to free her and her family, they run into a GC guard, and he shoots Nada. Before he can shoot again, he is killed by invisible horsemen that can release poisonous gases into the air. Judd is devastated by Nada's death. Sam's father, who was not a Christian, also dies from the Horsemen of Terror, the new plague from God. At the same time, Nicolae Carpathia, the Antichrist, travels to the Wailing Wall in Israel to kill the two witnesses, Eli and Moishe. When he has done the deed, the Christians are disgusted. Back in Illinois, the other kids of the Young Tribulation Force hurry to help other believers as the Global Community sets in motion a plan to trap believers. They all know that this is their most dangerous mission yet. Will they succeed? Along the way, they come face to face with the Horsemen of Terror, but are relieved that the poisonous gases they release do not affect Christians.

31605606

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Coffee: A Dark History

2005

Although he is unable to determine exactly when and where coffee was first consumed, Wild believes that its effect as a stimulant was first discovered by Ethiopian farmers. He also describes its adoption by Sufi Islam and then Arab society in general. Wild describes the global supply chain of coffee in detail. He quotes an estimate by the World Bank that 500 million people are involved in the global coffee trade. He is particularly critical of Starbucks and Nestlé, viewing them as complicit in neocolonial oppression of African farmers. He advocates the purchase of Fair Trade coffee as a way to help Third World farmers. Wild also discusses the health effects of caffeine. He believes that excessive caffeine consumption poses a risk to human health. He also argues that the coffee industry has produced flawed information that distort the actual effects of caffeine.

31608317

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High Society

Cerebus arrives in the city-state of Iest, where he checks into the high-class Regency Hotel (whose design was based on the Chateau Laurier) and becomes embroiled in political machinations as the Chief Kitchen Supervisor to Lord Julius. Cerebus is kidnapped for ransom by Dirty Drew and Dirty Fleagle McGrew. Cerebus soon arranges with the kidnappers to split the ransom money, but when the time comes to pick up the ransom, Cerebus is betrayed by the brothers and knocked unconscious, and he enters a long dream sequence where he speaks once again with Suentius Po. When he comes to, Cerebus finds himself back at the Regency Hotel, where he is told that he is expected to pay back the ransom that was paid for his release. He discovers the Regency Elf in his room, who informs him that the brothers have been captured. He goes to talk with them at the prison, but finds out they never got the moneyall they got was a statue of a "duck". With the help of the Elf, Cerebus contrives to get the money to repay his ransom. At the moment that he seems to have schemed the money out of Holland M. Hadden, Hadden is assassinated by the Moon Roach (a new guise of the Roach; a parody of Moon Knight), who is under the control of Astoria. Cerebus is under the Inquisition's suspicion for Hadden's murder, and is only safe due to his diplomatic statusa situation which is complicated by the Moon Roach's assassination of two members of the Inquisition. Astoria takes Cerebus under her wing, telling him she will make him "embarrassingly wealthy". ... ===Election=== Lord Julius puts forward a goat to run against Cerebus as Prime Minister. Election night ends in a draw, with one vote uncounted. Cerebus sets out with Astoria and the Roach (this time in a caricature of Sergeant Preston of the Mounties to find Lord Storm'send in snowy Northbell to secure the last vote. After talking with Cerebus, Storm'send lights a beacon indicating who he has voted for, but refuses to tell Cerebus whom he has decided on. Cerebus, Astoria and the Roach head back through the snow, but eventually are stopped due to a bridge being out. They check into an inn located by the bridge, where they find out that Cerebus has won. (Cerebus #45-50)

31615563

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The Half-Made World

Felix Gilman

10/12/2010

{"/m/01hmnh": "Fantasy", "/m/06www": "Steampunk"}

The reader is introduced to the character of Dr. Lysvet 'Liv' Alverhuysen at the Koenigswald Academy, where she has taught for years. A letter has come for her dead husband, a plea to come west to the edge of the world and the House of Dolorous, a hospital who takes in all wounded, regardless of which side of the war they were injured on. She begins her difficult journey with the help of the school janitor, a brain damaged but extremely large man who wants nothing more than to protect her. John Creedmore is relaxing on a ferryboat, enjoying being out of the war, when his masters, the Gun, summon him to take on a new mission. He is to go to the House of Dolorous and retrieve (but not kill) an old man believe to have secrets of a great weapon from the First Folk, wild people who live in the hills, that can kill the Line engines, which are the alternate version of the Gun. Down the Line, Lowry is tasked with the same mission. He goes about it in the opposite way from Creedmore, as an army is essentially brought in to support him. Creedmore, having continued to ride through the death of several horses, reaching the town of Kloan and decides he needs a break, contrary to his master's wishes. They reluctantly concede and he wanders through the town looking for entertainment. Instead, soldiers of the Line recognize him and the town is turned into an all-out battleground as Creedmore escapes. Lowry and his support men flood the town hours afterward, but they are too late. Instead, they set up an outpost and prepare to wait until Creedmore attempts to leave with the General. Creedmore tricks his way into the House of Dolorous because his usual method of killing is impossible in the House, which is protected by a guardian who will kill anyone who kills. Liv arrives at the same time, after a difficult journey. She unwittingly picks the General as one of her two psychology subjects to study and attempt to cure, and when Creedmore springs his trap, distracting the guardian with the pain and suffering of all the patients at once, she is carried along with the General as they head west, the only place where they can escape the Line. The soldier of the Line follow, but the going is much rougher for them in the wild west, because they are dependent upon their technology which has not yet stretched this far. Afraid of any type of failure, Lowry presses on as his soldiers dwindle. Liv and the General are discovered by what is left of the Red Valley Republic, who had moved as far west as they could years ago with their General's defeat. They call their town New Design. Creedmore has gone off to try to slay a dragon-like creature for the thrill of the hunt. His masters' voices come and go now and he sometimes thinks disloyal thoughts about them, which they note upon their return. They threaten to harm him, but he laughs it off, knowing he is the only one they have out here with the General. Liv and the General are made welcome in the New Design, but Liv can't shake off how ill-prepared the town is, even as she warns them the Line is coming. The Line comes. The town fights, but falters until Creedmore decides to throw in his hand and save most of them. During the mop up, he takes the General and Liv follows. The six remaining men of the Line follow. Liv senses that Creedmore's masters will not allow him to act in his own accord, and when she gets her chance, she stabs him repeatedly with her knife, even as he heals. She causes enough damage that the Linesmen catch up to a broken Creedmore and are able to subdue him, and they blow up his Gun, which has tied him to his masters for so many years. Once the Gun is destroyed, Liv steps forward and kills the two remaining Linesmen. The General had been shot when Liv first attacked Creedmore, and he tells them his dying story of where he had been going to find the weapon. Creedmore is still tied up, but Liv cannot decide if she will free him or let him die for his crimes committed at whim of the Gun. She eventually frees him.

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Melmoth

After Jaka, Rick and Oscar's arrest (and Pud's death), Cerebus returns to the Lower City, where he uses a gold coin to buy room and board at Dino's for the rest of his life. There he sits near-comatose for most of the rest of the story, gripping Jaka's doll Missy. Oscar has become ill...

31624125

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Theodore Boone: The Abduction

John Grisham

6/7/2011

Theodore Boone is perplexed when his best friend, April Finnemore, disappears from her bedroom in the middle of the night. No one, not even Theo—who knows April better than anyone—has any idea of what has happened. As fear ripples through his small hometown, the police continue to hit dead-ends. The police think it could be a distant cousin of April, Jack Leeper, who escaped from prison at the same time as April went missing. It is up to Theo to use his legal knowledge and investigative skills to chase down the truth and save April.

31625418

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Boom!

Jimbo's big sister Becky has convinced him that is being sent to a school for mentally ill children. But when him and his best friend, Charlie, plant walkie talkies in the staff room to find out if this is true or not, they find out that two teachers, Mr. Kidd and Mrs. Pearce, speak a different language! They track their behavior and a man confronts them, telling them to leave them alone. He also says that if they don't they can do it the "hard way". He then melts a restaurant table with his finger and leaves. Jimbo and Charlie don't do as they are told and then, they kidnap Charlie. Jimbo and Becky then leave to save him which takes them on a mission across outer space; all the way to the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy! They then rescue Charlie and go back to their normal lives.

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Beyond the Frontier: Dreadnaught

John G. Hemry

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

Admiral John "Black Jack" Geary returns from his honeymoon to take command of the Alliance fleet located at Varandal and meet with members of the Alliance Grand Council. He arrives just in time to prevent a military coup by the Fleet after Fleet Headquarters brings courts-martial charges against many of the commanding officers of the fleet. Following the meeting with members of the Grand Council, Geary is tasked with taking the newly created Alliance First Fleet to investigate the alien race, known as the "enigma race", located on the farside of Syndic space. While preparing for the mission Geary receives bizarre orders to transfer sailors with knowledge of hypernet gates and release control over some of his fast fleet auxiliaries. While Geary refuses to do either, he begins to question the true motives of the government and what they wish him to accomplish on his mission. The arrival of Victoria Rione brings new orders for Geary, requiring him to make a detour into Syndic territory to liberate some Alliance prisoners of war. Rione also informs Geary that the government still sees him and the fleet as a threat and wants both of them far away from Alliance space as possible. Geary orders the fleet into Syndic space, arriving in the Dunai star system where the POWs are being held. After the local Syndic CEO refuses to hand over the POWs without compensation, Geary orders the marines to liberate the POWs by force. The POWs turn out to all be VIPs, many in the mold of Captain Falco and some challenge Geary's right to command the First Fleet. One of them turns out to be Rione's presumed dead husband, which causes drama for Geary after he learns of his past relationship with Rione but they later get on good terms. Arriving at Midway, Geary begins to suspect that the local CEO is planning to declare independence from the Syndicate Worlds. He also gains from that CEO knowledge of how to prevent the alien race from remote detonating a hypernet gate, which causes Geary also to doubt the true reasons for why the Alliance government ordered him to carry out his mission into alien space. Arriving in enigma race territory, Geary fails to communicate meaningfully with the enigma race, but the aliens are unable to defeat the First Fleet in battle. The enigma race continues to prevent humanity from learning anything about them, going as far to blur out portions of their planets so ship sensors cannot view them. An asteroid is discovered in one alien system containing imprisoned humans inside. After managing to trick the aliens into their true intentions, the fleet manages to rescue the trapped humans before alien warships crash into the asteroid. Geary continues to explore the enigma race territory until the fleet jumps into another system and discovers a giant space station orbitting near the jump point. The stations fires hundreds giant missiles which are at first mistaken to be ships. After destroying all of the missiles the fleet discovers other such stations located at the jump points in the system, along with smaller, but still massive, warships orbiting the star. Rione concludes that the First Fleet has just discovered a second alien race.

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Hadhrat Ahmad

The following points are explained by the author in this book, related to the life of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. *The early chapters of the book explain about his background and his early life including his birth, childhood and studies. *In the next part of the book, his professional life is explained. *The book next explains his services as a religious scholar including his famous book Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya. *The author then explains about Mirza claiming to be the Promised Messiah and Mahdi and the rest of his life.

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De conscribendis epistolis

Vives begins by telling “Señor Idiáquez” to always consider the rhetorical situation for the letter, primarily evaluating the relationship of the writer to the recipient. The reason is that, as Saint Ambrose told Sabinus, "In a letter the image of the living presence emits its glow between persons distant from each other, and conversation committed to writing unites those who are separated from each other." Thus, it is not a speech delivered by an orator in a crowded assembly. Rather, it is a conversation. Vives then gives a history lesson on the letter in an attempt to show that the best letter writers of antiquity understood this conversational aspect of the letter. Vives states that the exordium of the letter is both the hardest to write and the most important part of the letter. It will color the reader’s reaction throughout the body of the letter. It is important to tailor this section to the recipient: Vives also gives instructions on how to vary the letter’s style according to genre. He covers letters of petition, instruction, congratulations, consolation, incentive, and shared interests. “We may write on every subject,” says Vives, but he focuses his attention on the most popular epistolary genres. Following the pattern Vives sets out in his discussion of the exordium, the bulk of De conscribendis epistolis covers the components of the letter and considerations for composition such as diction and addresses on superscriptions. Throughout this how-to section of the treatise, Vives offers examples and templates, which are “suitable for our use” in the 1530s, as he puts it.

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1635: The Tangled Web

Virginia DeMarce

12/1/2009

{"/m/0mz2": "Alternate history", "/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"}

The main setting takes place in Fulda in 1633 and follows in four interlinking stories which ties together near the end of the novel. The New United States decided to accept the return of Johann Bernhard Schenk von Schweinsberg as the Abbot of Fulda, but the Abbot will have to give up the title of prince. Moreover, he will not be allowed to collect tithes. The N.U.S. is now the secular authority in Fulda and will collect the taxes. The Abbot surprises Wes Jenkins - the administrator of Fulda - in his attempts to persuade the monks to abide by the new rules of his order. The local monks have been difficult over abiding by these rules. Even the import of Saint Gall monks hasn't won them over to the Tridentine doctrines. Dissatisfied Catholic conspirators in Bonn decide to unsettle affairs in Fulda, in which they initially arrange to post scurrilous flyers all over the town and then hiring Irish mercenaries led by Walter Leslie into abducting the Abbot and several N.U.S. administrators. The story focus on Martin Wackernagel. As a private courier, Martin delivers correspondence and small packages on a route stretching from Grantville to Gelnhausen along the imperial road. He also makes side trips to Barracktown and other locations near his route. Martin visits his mother now and then during his travels, but he is reluctant to face her. She keeps asking when he will be married. Then he takes Liesel Bodamer to Frankfurt to see her brother and his mother learns that he is married. “MAIL STOP” and “HAPPY WANDERER” tell the story of Martin Wackernagel, a private courier with a regular route. Martin maintains three separate households complete with wife and children unknown to his mother or his other “wives”. The woman he hopes to make his fourth wife is niece to Clara Bachmeierin, who married Wes Jenkins in the first story. The story examines the actions of the Mainz Committee of Correspondence. Bernard Eberhard - Captain Duke of the Swedish Army - is sent to Fulda by General Brahe to observe the interplay between NUS administrators and Abbot von Schweinsberg. Bernhard takes his brothers and his fellow CoC members with him to Fulda. He and his brothers began working for Major Derek Utt. Later, Utt plans an operation against the Irish soldiers who had abducted the Abbot. He sends Sergeant Helmut Herke and a small band of soldiers to determine the whereabouts of the colonels.

31638303

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Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?

Lorrie Moore

1994

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

The novel's main character and narrator is Benoite-Marie Carr (Berie). Berie, vacationing in Paris with her husband, Daniel, recalls her adolescence in Horsehearts, New York. During the summer of 1972, Berie worked with her friend, Silsby Chaussee (Sils), at Storyland, an amusement park where she sold tickets and Sils played Cinderella. The adult Berie, now a photographic curator at a local historical society, narrates the pitfalls of her marriage while searching for the close bond she shared with Sils during the summer at Storyland. In the past, Berie lived with her parents, brother Claude, and adopted sister LaRoue. Her parents hosted numerous guests, ranging from visiting academics to exchange students, that gave Berie "a tin ear for languages" and made it difficult for her to understand "foreignness, code, mood" (7). Berie and Sils made friends with their co-workers at Storyland and saved frogs from teenage boys until Sils began dating Mike, a local boy with a motorcycle. Mike dominated Sils's time, leaving Berie out and confused by the scarcity of her friend. When Sils became pregnant, Berie stole money from the Storyland register to pay for an abortion. In between recollections of Horsehearts, Berie details her troubles with Daniel. Recently, they fought and he pushed her down the stairs of their house, resulting in a broken arm. Daniel is distant from Berie, and she seeks companionship from friends like Marguerite, a Parisian artist, but is ultimately unable to recreate the closeness of her relationship with Sils. After Sils's abortion, Berie noticed her manager watching her at odd times. An accident on a ride in the park temporarily forestalled exposure, but she was eventually caught and fired. Baptized by Reverend Filo at a summer camp, she explored organized religion before finally getting her period late in adolescence. Sent to a boarding school, she achieved academic success and was astonished by her own physical development. Berie and Sils later met at a high school reunion but found that their relationship changed as they face middle age. Berie pays a last visit to LaRoue, who later commits suicide after being institutionalized for years, and the novel ends as Berie settles for comfortable distance from Daniel and her past.

31638722

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Jackals

Charles L. Grant

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

Locals from a small town cruise the rural back roads in order to prey on solitary drivers.

31638786

/m/0gmdh6f

The Wind on the Moon

Eric Linklater

1944

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

Major Palfrey is off to war. He warns his two daughters, Dinah and Dorinda, that while he is away they must behave themselves: "When there is wind on the moon, you must be very careful how you behave. Because if it is an ill wind and you behave badly, it will blow straight into your heart, and then you will behave badly for a long time to come." And so it proves: before long the girls are drinking a potion provided by the local witch and turning into kangaroos, getting stuck in the zoo, and staging an escape along with their new friends, a golden puma and a silver falcon. Their appetite for naughtiness and cleverness whetted, Dinah and Dorinda turn their attention to freeing their dancing master, Casimir Corvo, from jail. And then comes their greatest adventure: Count Hulagu Bloot, the tyrant of Bombardy – who loves torturing people and eating peppermint creams – has captured their father and imprisoned him in the dungeons of Bloot's castle. The two girls, together with their puma friend and their beloved dancing teacher, smuggle themselves from England to Bombardy in a room made of furniture hidden inside a huge removal van and stage a dramatic rescue.

31643740

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The Housing Boom and Bust

Thomas Sowell

Sowell, a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, explores political and economic causes of the American housing crisis. For example, he links the Community Reinvestment Act to decreased lending standards that resulted in an increase of subprime mortgages, as the law forced banks to set up quotas of lending to minorities. As a result, "lenders had to resort to 'innovative or flexible' standards." He also contrasts housing prices for modest middle-class homes in California and Texas and theorizes that California, with open space and various other zoning laws, had homes that were more expensive that those of similar size in Texas, which lacks such laws. Politically, Sowell targets the George W. Bush administration and Congress members of both major political parties for obstructing audits of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and enabling banks to make highly risky housing loans. Regarding housing prices, Reason magazine summarized his stance: "the immense local variability in housing prices and failed loans reveals that the government mistook a set of local problems for a national one."

31645468

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Nama Mia!

Paul Howard

10/6/2011

Ireland is in recession, but Ross's shredding company is successful. He becomes a "toy boy" for a wealthy older woman.

31648552

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Pretty Little Liars

Sara Shepard

The story introduces an exclusive group of friends: Alison DiLaurentis, the perfect yet manipulative queen bee, Aria Montgomery, an independent girl who is considered to be the weirdo in Rosewood, Emily Fields, a swimmer who holds secret feelings for Alison, Hanna Marin, the overweight girl who strives to be thin and popular like Alison, and Spencer Hastings, an ambitious girl who is brave enough to stand up against Alison's manipulative ways. Alison mysteriously disappears during a sleepover with the girls before their 8th grade school year begins. The story then jumps 3 years after, where the girls are now separated. Aria returns to Rosewood from a 3 year trip to Iceland with her family and comes back much more sophisticated than before she left. She meets and kisses a guy in a local bar who is revealed to be her English teacher, Ezra Fitz. Emily befriends the new girl in town, Maya St. Germain,and soon develops romantic feelings for her. Hanna lost the weight and is the new popular girl in town alongside the former nerd, Mona Vanderwaal. However, she and Mona will sometimes shoplift. Hanna battles urges to turn back to bulimia, and struggles to mange the stress of keeping her Queen Bee status. Spencer continues to struggle against the rivalry with her and Melissa Hastings, her perfect older sister. Problems occur when she begins to feel attracted to Melissa's new boyfriend, Wren Kim, when he is introduced to the family. Throughout the story, the liars get messages threatening to reveal their sexual secrets and their present and past emotions for each other, including a terrifying incident the girls refer to as "The Jenna Thing". They automatically believe it is their missing friend, Alison, because she is the only one each of them confided to with their darkest secrets. However, they are shocked when the police find her corpse buried in the backyard of her former house. This could only mean that A is not Alison, but whoever else knew their secrets. The book ends with the liars receiving a text at Alison's funeral saying, "I'm still here, girls. And I know everything. -A"

31648776

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1636: The Saxon Uprising

Eric Flint

3/29/2011

{"/m/0mz2": "Alternate history", "/m/06n90": "Science Fiction"}

Emperor Gustav Adolphus, ruler of the new United States of Europe, has suffered a head trauma in battle, rendering him unable to rule. The Swedish chancellor Axel Oxenstierna seizes this opportunity to try to reestablish the power of the nobility in the USE. He keeps the USE army occupied fighting against Poland and reinforcing Bohemia, leaving Swedish and Provincial forces as the only professional soldiers in the country. He uses this advantage to co-opt the ruling Crown Loyalist Party and bully its leader, Prime Minister Wilhelm Wettin, into co-operating with him. Other conservative leaders remain wary, such as the landgravine of Hesse-Kassel, which has the strongest provincial force; she chooses to keep neutral in the conflict. When Bavaria invades the Upper Palatinate the only soldiers available to meet them are the Thuringia-Franconia National Guard and one battalion of USE forces. Wettin, discovering that Bavaria invaded on the covert invitation of the Chancellor to ensure the defense forces cannot oppose his coup, confronts Oxenstierna, only to be arrested and removed from office. Meanwhile Swedish general Johan Banér lays siege to Dresden, the capital of Saxony, which is under the control of Oxenstierna's opponents. Ernst Wettin is the official Imperial Administrator, but Gretchen Richter and the Committees of Correspondence hold the real power there. They enter into an informal alliance with Saxon rebel forces in Vogtland in order to protect as many people as possible from Banér's butchery. Rebecca Stearns and the opposition Fourth of July Party coordinate with the CoC to act in a restrained manner and undermine the legitimacy of Axel Oxenstierna and the Crown Loyalists gathered in Berlin. Meanwhile, Princess Christina and Prince Ulric travel to the capital at Magdeburg, symbolically aligning themselves with Oxenstierna's opponents and further undermining the Swedish Chancellor. Mike Stearns, leader of the USE army in Bohemia, takes this opportunity to lead his Third Division into Saxony to break the siege of Dresden. He meets General Banér in battle during a snow storm in which his troops are more prepared to battle. Banér is killed, the Swedish forces routed, and the siege broken. Gustav Adolphus regains his wits soon after that and puts an end to Oxenstierna's bid for power. Wilhelm Wettin is released from custody and reinstated as Prime Minister, but with his Crown Loyalists discredited agrees to call early elections. Gustav Adolphus meets with Mike Stearns to negotiate an orderly transition of power, and the emperor commissions Stearns to take on the invading Bavarians.

31649068

/m/0gmc_zg

Flawless

Sara Shepard

In continuation from the "Pretty Little Liars" series Hanna, Aria, Spencer, and Emily continue to receive text messages from an unknown person, "A", who threatens to expose them of their secrets. At first the girls think "A" is Alison because she is the only person who knew their secrets, but then they start to believe the person behind the threats is Toby, because some messages they receive refer to 'The Jenna Thing' and with Alison dead, he is the only other person who was a part of the incident, although everyone but Spencer is unaware of why he took the blame for what happened to Jenna. "A" sends Emily a text message hinting that "A" knows about Emily and Maya's romantic relationship. "A" leaves a note for Hanna that forces her to tell Riley and Naomi that she makes herself throw up, and that Sean was the one who broke up with her. Later on, she receives a text that tells her Sean is at Foxy ( with another girl. When she arrives, she finds Sean and Aria together. "A" continuously tells Aria to either 'get rid of the problem' or to tell her mom the truth about Byron, her father, that he is seeing another woman. Spencer's sister, Melissa, finds out Spencer has been secretly dating her ex-boyfriend, Wren, by someone who Spencer believes was "A". Towards the end of the book, Hanna finds out that it's impossible for Toby to be "A" because he is found dead behind Emily's house. Emily reads a note Toby left for her that tells the truth about 'The Jenna Thing', which previously Emily thought Toby was referring to Alison when she told him "I know what you did to her." Spencer tells the other girls the truth: Toby molested his stepsister and promised to keep a secret for Alison if she did the same for him. But thinking Emily knew the truth, he committed suicide as, mentioned in the note "he couldn't live with the mistake he has made." A's identity remains unknown and Emily receives another text message from "A" saying "It's not over until I say so. -A"

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Perfect

Sara Shepard

Aria Montgomery tries to keep her father Byron's affair a secret from her mother and brother, while Hanna deals with her social downturn by resuming her bulimia. Emily Fields is in a secret romantic relationship with Maya. Spencer Hastings remembers pushing Ali back on a stone path after a heated argument, and fears that she is the one who killed her. After Aria ignores "A's" threats, "A" tells her father Byron's affair to Ella, who kicks Aria out of the house. "A" also reveals Emily and Maya's relationship publicly, and Emily's parents force her into a program to "cure" her apparent homosexuality. Aria is also cheating on her boyfriend, Sean, with her AP English teacher, Ezra; "A" sends pictures of them kissing to Aria's boyfriend, who calls the police. Hanna is humiliated at Mona's 17th birthday party, and later receives a text from "A". This time, the number is not a jumbled mess, and Hanna recognizes it: she knows who "A" is. She calls Spencer, Emily, and Aria to meet her at their special spot, the Rosewood school playground; before she can tell them what she knows, Hanna is hit by a SUV. The story ends with Spencer, Emily, and Aria receiving a text saying, "She knew too much -A".

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The Crystal Stopper

During a burglary at the home of Deputy Daubrecq a crime is committed and two accomplices of Arsène Lupin were arrested by the police. One is guilty of the crime, the other innocent but both will be sentenced to death. Lupin seeks to deliver the victim of a miscarriage of justice, but struggles against Deputy Daubrecq's ruthless blackmailer, who has an incriminating document hidden in a crystal stopper. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1563 fr:Le Bouchon de cristal ja:水晶の栓 pl:Kryształowy korek

31659169

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The Law of Nations

1758

{"/m/05r79": "Political philosophy"}

The Law of Nations deals largely with political philosophy and international relations, and has been said to have modernized the entire theory and practice of international law.

31662576

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Verukal

Malayattoor Ramakrishnan

1966

{"/m/012jgz": "Autobiographical novel"}

Verukal tells the story of a family of Tamil speaking Iyers who settled in Kerala. Raghu is the protagonist of the story. The pivotal event on which the novel turns is the return of Raghu to his native village after a lapse of several years, to raise money to build a city mansion for himself by selling his ancestral home. He sets about this reluctantly, under pressure from his shrewish and domineering wife. In the village, as he meets his sisters and others among whom he grew up, a flood of memories overwhelms him, and he abruptly changes his mind about selling the property.

31662698

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The Imperial Cruise

James Bradley

The book centers on the diplomatic mission of the SS Manchuria sent by President Theodore Roosevelt in the summer of 1905. On board was the largest diplomatic mission delegation in U.S. history, including some of the highest profile political figures of the time. They included Secretary of War (and future President) William Howard Taft; Roosevelt's daughter, Alice Roosevelt; her future husband, Congressman (and later Speaker of the House) Nicholas Longworth; along with 29 other members of the House and Senate, and their wives; and an array of additional high-ranking military and civilian officials. After his initial description and introduction of the SS Manchuria's voyage, the author explores brief excerpts of the history behind the period's American domestic and foreign policy, elaborating on its influence, motivation, and consequences, specifically in regard to American-Japanese, Sino-Japanese, and Russo-Japanese relations. More broadly, Bradley explores his contention relating to how deep-set WASP"White Anglo-Saxon Protestant" - In 1906, Roosevelt wrote: "The world would have halted had it not been for the Teutonic conquests of alien lands." - Bradley, James. The Imperial Cruise - p. 25. . biases and racially deterministic philosophies fueled and undergirded virtually all U.S. foreign and domestic policy-making in that era pertaining to U.S. relations with other nations and to populations of other racial, cultural or religious heritages. This included virtually all peoples of non-Teutonic Anglo-Saxon descent, and resulted, for example, in the slaughter of more than 250,000 Filipinos during the U.S. colonial take-over of the Philippines. It is Bradley's contention that the actions of one Roosevelt, and the diplomatic cruise in the summer of 1905, lit that fuse that would doom more than 100,000 U.S. military to die in the Pacific theater decades later under another Roosevelt in the 1940s. Through what Bradley describes as their "bumbling diplomacy", he describes how Teddy Roosevelt and his emissary Taft turned previously friendly Japanese sentiment, against the United States.

31667740

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The World Development Report 2011

2011-04

As of April 2011 the report had been published in two versions: a 65 page overview and a 352 page full version. The full version includes a forward, an acknowledgments, a notes section, a glossary, the overview, and three main parts sub-divided into a total of nine chapters. The opening chapter reviews evidence suggesting that repeated cycles of civil conflict and criminal violence are a major factor retarding development in the countries and regions they afflict. The chapter highlights the devastating effect mass violence has on the over 1.5 billion living in countries severely affected by it. The WDR also summarises progress made in reducing war and battle deaths, showing how countries such as Ethiopia, Rwanda and Mozambique were able to make very rapid development progress once mass violence had been alleviated. Chapter two discusses the role played by external and internal stresses in triggering mass violence. A case is made arguing that a critical reason why some societies are more vulnerable than others to outbreaks of violence is the lack of quality institutions able to reconcile competing factions and peacefully address grievances held by sectors of the populations. The WDR argues that while elite pacts between rival leaders can deliver short term peace, violence generally soon reoccurs unless stability can be reinforced by impersonal institutions and good governance. This chapter introduces the WDR framework. Chapter four focuses on the ways previous efforts have successfully built trust as a prelude to intuitional transformation in countries such as Chile and Indonesia. Both case studies and previous academic work are used to show that while it is important to build "inclusive enough" coalitions for positive change, they need not be all inclusive especially at the early stages of the process. Signaling a clean break with the past is also emphasised as important, as is the early delivery of tangible results. The WDR shows that national leaders driving the process often enlist help from non state actors - from both the civil and international sector. Chapter 5 is about the institutional reforms which can deliver security, justice and jobs for citizens in conflict wracked countries. The WDR emphasises that it is often essential to avoid becoming stuck trying to implement "perfect" reforms; instead early efforts should focus on pragmatic "best fit" solutions. Two other dimensions considered are the pace and prioritisation of reforms. Case studies such as the reforms initiated in China by Deng Xiaoping are presented to support the case that a gradual pace, with progressive transformations taking place over a generation, is most likely to succeed. The WDR advises that early efforts should be prioritised towards reforms that deliver citizen security, justice and jobs. While it offers numerous specific practical suggestions, the report emphasises that the best choices for each individual country should be assessed on a case by case bases by the national reform leaders. The WDR argues that building confidence and transforming institutions should be a nationally led process, but that international support is also often needed. The report finds that though international support has sometimes been a key factor in successful reform efforts, as was the case in Colombia and Mozambique, it is often inadequate. This chapter shows that various international actors typically lack the capability to provide meaningful support on their own, but also are often pulled in different directions by their own domestic pressures. Excessive fear of risk taking often leads to initiatives that have a high but still uncertain chance of delivering highly beneficial returns being passed over in favour of much less effective efforts which are chosen for their minimal risk. These and other factors prevent international actors combining their efforts to best effect. Other issues identified with international support are at excessive emphasis on post-conflict support as opposed to prevention, and a lack of capability for supporting job creation. External threats aggravating violence in fragile states often include trafficking, outside political influences favouring particular groups within a country, as well as food or water insecurity and other economic shocks. This chapter reviews how regional and international actors can help countries address these stresses. The WDR emphasises that certain cross border threats are best dealt with at regional level, providing cases studies to show how this has been successfully accomplished. Chapter 8 is addressed to both government and civil society strategic decision makers within affected countries who are trying to reduce organised criminal and political violence. It draws together some of the concepts from earlier chapters and provides insights from successful transitions in countries including South Africa and Colombia. This chapter suggests new directions for international policy and institutions. The report notes how the trans national organisations set up after WWII achieved considerable success in reducing the number of wars, and that after the cold war ended new tools were developed which successfully reduced the number the of civil wars. But comparable tools are not yet in place for dealing with the 21st century forms of mass violence, where some countries have suffered more deaths from organised criminal violence than they did while being ravaged by a traditional war. The final chapter discusses how this shortfall in international capability can be rectified.

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A Taste of Blackberries

Doris Buchanan Smith

1973-05

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

As told from the point of view of the unnamed narrator, the story begins as he and his best friend Jamie go blackberry picking. We follow the boys as they take part in a series of exploits - some told in current narrative time, some revealed in poignant flashbacks - allowing the reader to witness their world and shared experience. When one of the boys tragically dies as a result of a rare allergic reaction to bee stings, the narrator struggles to cope with denial, grief, guilt, and loneliness, before coming to terms with his loss. The setting for the story is the author's childhood home, a Maryland suburb, near the author's birthplace, in Washington, D.C..

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The Roots of the Mountains

William Morris

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

The story is set in the Burgdales, a group of small Germanic settlements in the valleys at the foot of a mountain range, and the neighboring woodlands and pastures. The area is inhabited by the interdependent Dalemen, weavers, smiths, and traders, Woodlanders hunters and carpenters, and Shepherds, respectively. Their society is challenged by disruptions from the outside world in the form of the Sons of the Wolf, the descendants of the Wolfings from the previous novel, and the invading Huns or "Dusky Men." The Sons of the Wolf, driven from their original country to the Burgdales by the Huns, continue to resist the invaders as a frontier force guarding their new home. The somewhat troubled integration of the Sons of the Wolf into the society they are protecting is told in the story of five lovers representing both peoples, four of whom eventually marry. Morris projected a sequel to The Roots of the Mountains to be called The Story of Desiderius, which was never completed.

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The Thieves’ Labyrinth

James McCreet

Following the second instalment of the series, The Vice Society, Inspector Albert Newsome of the Metropolitan Police’s Detective Force has been temporarily demoted to the Thames River Police for his insubordination. He can retain his old position only if he proves himself with good behaviour. Meanwhile, his old enemy George Williamson is working as a private detective at the theatres of London, where his job is to catch pickpockets. Both men are highly suspicious of a new face in London: Eldritch Batchem, who claims to be an investigator “By Royal Appointment”. When an outrageous theft is made from the city’s docks, a competition then begins to see who will be the first to solve the crime, with consequences that none of them could have expected.

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The Rithian Terror

Damon Knight

1965

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

The story takes place in the year 2521. The Earth is the dominant power in a Galactic empire, with a policy of ruthlessly conquering or undermining other alien races which it encounters. The latest are the Rithians, and after some years of clandestine harassment by Earth, the Rithians have managed to place a group of spies disguised as humans on the Earth. By the time the infiltration is discovered, only one of the Rithians remains. Thorne Spangler, a security officer, is given the task of locating the remaining Rithian. He enlists the help of a native of an "uncivilized" human planet on the fringes of the empire, which has good dealings with Rithians. A primary source of tension is the conflict between these two: the Earthman who rigidly follows protocols, and the outsider who is loyal to Earth but contemptuous of what he sees as an ossified and decadent civilization.

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The Gathering

Kelley Armstrong

4/12/2011

{"/m/02vzzv": "Urban fantasy"}

The setting for the Gathering is a small medical-research town called Salmon Creek on Vancouver Island. Salmon Creek was built by St. Cloud Corporation, the owners of the town and surrounding park. It was built for their employees. Maya, the main character, is the adopted daughter of the park ranger. The events actually start a year before with death of Maya's friend, Serena(who is a water paranormal) . She, Maya, and Serena's boyfriend, Daniel, were swimming in a lake. Serena, captain of Salmon Creek High swim team, drowned in the lake, and Maya is guiltridden for not being able to save her friend. A year later, Maya is getting ready to celebrate her sweet 16. She wants to tattoo her birthmark—a paw-print shape on her hip. She doesn't want it altered in any way, though; she just wants to make it more noticeable. However, she doesn't get it because the tattoo artist's aunt insults her by calling her a witch in Navajo. Later, she invites Rafe, a new bad-boy at school, to her birthday party at Daniel's house. At the party, the teens have a competition on Maya's new rock wall: if she can beat all the guys, they have to add more footholds, but if she loses to even one guy, she has to kiss him. After she defeats all the contestants, Rafe shows up. He challenges Maya individually, and beats her. He doesn't kiss her, though, promising to claim his prize without prying eyes. Maya and Rafe start going out. One day, when Maya was going over to his house for dinner with him and his childish older sister, Annie, she is attacked by someone looking for Rafe. She sees Annie transform from a cougar into herself. Rafe tells that skinwalkers are people with special abilities including being able to shift into mountain lions or bears and the ability to heal and communicate with other animals. He says that Rafe, Maya, and Annie are skinwalkers and that they carry theit animal traits with them even in human form. This explains Maya's enhanced hearing and night vision as well as her amazing skill of rehabilitating injured and sick animals. Maya makes the connection between her paw-shaped birthmark and the fact that she is skinwalker. Rafe confirms this idea, saying that paw-print birthmarks indicate skinwalkers and that her and Annie both have them. He also explains that skinwalkers had been extinct until an experiment to bring them back was enacted. He says that their birth mothers were seleccted to be part of this experiment because of their Native American DNA, but didn't realize they what was going on. Rafe thinks that Maya's biological mother learned the truth about the experiment, which would explain why she abandoned Maya when she was baby. Maya also learns she may have a twin brother from whom she was separated at birth. Rafe explains that skinwalkers can't control when they shift and points out the symptoms that occur in a skinwalker before they shift, Maya realizes that she is going through these symptoms and may shift soon. Maya dumps Rafe after thinking that he dated her only because of her being a skinwalker, however, Rafe truly does have romantic feelings for her. That same night, Annie disappeared while she was still in cougar form and her location is unknown by all characters. Rafe knows that Annie often runs off after she shifts, but is worried for her safety, especially when the forest catches fire. Maya, Daniel, and Rafe are in the forest during the fire, and start to run away when they see people. Daniel's asks Rafe and Maya to lay low because his special danger sense is tingling. They listen in on the people's conversation, and figure out that this group of people set the forest on fire in order to distract the town. The people would then break into the St. Clouds labs in order to steal the secrets housed there. The book ends after Maya, Daniel, Nicole, and an unconscious Rafe escape in a helicopter and report what they overheard to town officials.

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The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party

Alexander McCall Smith

2011

Precious Ramotswe is taunted by a dream in which she is driving her old white van. Later, Ramotswe discovers that her van is running again, and sets out to retrieve it. Meanwhile, Charlie has gotten a girl pregnant with twin boys and feeling guilty, runs away. Ramotswe investigates a case of rural jealousy in which cattle are being injured. Violet Sephotho runs for Botswana Parliament which is Botswana's worst nightmare.

31730091

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Seryozha

Vera Panova

Seryozha is the story of a young boy living in the rural Soviet Union in the mid 1950s. The novel describes Seryozha's experiences, and those of his family, friends and neighbors over the course of a summer. The most important event of the story is the marriage of Seryozha's mother to a Red Army veteran named Dmitry Korostelyev. Korostelyev becomes the new manager of the local collective farm and a strong role model for Seryozha. Throughout the novel Panova gives a relatively grim picture of life in the rural Soviet Union where both money and opportunity are scarce. The novel ends with Korostelyev being reassigned to a new collective farm in the remote Arkhangelsky District, and taking the family with him.

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The Comforters

Muriel Spark

The central character is Caroline Rose, a novelist recently converted to Catholicism who on returning from a retreat starts hearing voices and the sound of a typewriter. The words she heard appearing to coincide exactly with her own thoughts. Meanwhile her boyfriend Lawrence has been staying with his grandmother in Sussex and discovers she is involved in smuggling...

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The Dragons of Krynn

The book is a compilation of 10 short stories from various authors taking place in the fictional world of Krynn: #"Seven Hymns of the Dragon" by Michael Williams. The tale is a narrative poem. #"The Final Touch" by Michael and Teri Williams. This is a tale written about the druidess L'Indasha who found an egg of a dragon. #"Night of Falling Stars" by Nancy Varian Berberick. #"Honor Is All" by Mickey Zucker Reichert. #"Easy Pickings" by Douglas Niles. #"A Dragon to the Core" by Roger E. Moore. #"Dragon Breath" by Nick O'Donohoe. #"Fool's Gold" by Jeff Grubb. #"Scourge of the Wicked Kendragon" by Janet Pack. #"And Baby Makes Three" by Amy Stout. #"The First Dragonarmy Bridging Company" by Don Perrin. #"The Middle of Nowhere" by Dan Harnden. #"Kaz and the Dragon's Children" by Richard A. Knaak. #"Into the Light" by Linda P. Baker. #"The Best" by Margaret Weis.This is a tale written in first person perspective by man who hire a couple of best adventures, everyone of them in his skill, to kill a dragon. #"The Hunt" by Kevin Stein.

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Wither

Wither follows Wendy, a young college student living in the fictional town of Windale, Massachusetts. She attends local Danfield College, of which her father is the president, while indulging her interest in the magic and New Age. It's an idylic setting, but evil is slowly creeping into the town in the form of the ghost of Elizabeth Wither. Eight year old Abby MacNeil suffers from nightmares that eventually result in her discovering the burial site of three 17th century women that were tried and killed by the townspeople. Karen Glazer, a local professor, has vivid visions of her unborn child being attacked. Eventually they discover that Wither and her fellow witches are intent on possessing the bodies of Wendy, Abby, and Karen.

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Wither

{"/m/06n90": "Science Fiction", "/m/026ny": "Dystopia"}

Wither describes a future where genetic engineering has cured humanity of all diseases and defects. People worldwide have foregone conceiving children naturally in favor of this new science. This generation of perfect humans, later dubbed "The First Generation", lived very long and prosperous lives. Unfortunately their children ended up plagued with a virus that killed all females by the age of 20 and all males by the age of 25. Their children's children suffered the same fate. Humanity now scrambles for a cure as society has broken down into large gaps between the rich and the poor. Gatherers hunt for young girls on the streets to sell them into labs for research, and the unwanted ones go into prostitution or are simply killed. In Manhattan, 16-year-old Rhine Ellery is captured by the Gatherers and sold to Linden Ashby at his estate in Florida. Rhine finds herself forced to marry Linden along with two other girls, Jenna and Cecily. They join Rose as Linden's new brides, but the ailing Rose is already 20 years of age and does not have long left to live. Life in the Ashby manor is very comfortable. Cecily embraces it while Rhine constantly thinks of ways to escape. She befriends her servant Gabriel and behaves like a good wife in front of Linden and his father, Housemaster Vaughn, in order to earn the title of "First Wife", which would grant her additional privileges to roam the mansion. Rhine sets that as a goal in order to plan her escape. By the novel's end, Rhine successfully escapes the mansion with Gabriel and begins a journey back to New York to find her twin brother, Rowan. A sequel, Fever, has been released.

31741283

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Breakfast with Buddha

Roland Merullo

The entire story is narrated in first person by Otto Ringling. Otto is a 44-year old American who lives in a suburb of New York City and is a senior editor at a Manhattan publishing house which specializes in books on food. He has a wife named Jeannie, a daughter named Natasha and a son named Anthony. He also has a dog, Jasper. The story starts at a point when Otto's parents have been killed in a car crash in North Dakota. Otto wants to go to North Dakota to settle the estate, mainly for sentimental reasons. He therefore plans to drive from New York to North Dakota with his sister, Cecilia. Cecilia Ringling is a tarot and palm reader who lives in Paterson, New Jersey. She is fascinated by the spiritual and mystic aspects of life to such an extent that Otto looks down upon her and believes her to be "as flaky as a good spanakopita crust". When Otto reaches her place, he finds her with a spiritual guru named Volya Rinpoche. She declares her intent to let Rinpoche have her share so that he may build a meditation retreat there, and implores Otto to take Rinpoche instead of her, to their parents' North Dakota farmhouse. Otto agrees reluctantly. During the road trip, Otto is quite uncomfortable with Rinpoche, but still tries to make conversation with him. Once, while the two are conversing, Rinpoche advises him to "get off the fast road". Otto interprets this as philosophical or spiritual advice and decides not to heed it, but realizes what Rinpoche actually meant when they encounter heavy traffic on the highway due to a car crash. At first, the cause for the roadblock is not certain, and Otto goes through his habitual temper tantrums with himself. But he learns about the car crash later and feels sheepish. Amidst all this, Rinpoche remains cool and calm (as in the rest of the book). They stay in an inn in Lititz, Pennsylvania. During breakfast, Rinpoche puts some soil in Otto's glass which was filled with water. He compares the water to the mind and says that evil acts make the mind dirty. If the mind is given some time, the dirt settles down, just like in water. Otto has not warmed up to this stranger as yet and is in a bad mood when the two leave the inn. While driving, Otto starts seeing HERSHEY ATTRACTIONS signs. Being fascinated by American culture, he decides to take the monk to the Hershey's Chocolate Factory. Otto thinks that Rinpoche will be put off by the sights and sounds there and so, Otto has a "perverse urge" to show him what the American "reality" is. Rinpoche seems more excited that his photos from one of the rides were ready immediately, than on seeing all the candy in the stores. Otto buys him a bag of Hershey's Kisses. While dining in a restaurant in Bedford, Pennsylvania, Rinpoche hands him a letter from Cecilia. Cecilia requests Otto to take Rinpoche to Youngstown, Ohio, where he needs to give a talk. The talk is to take place on the same evening, and they are far away from Youngstown. Rinpoche also says that he forgot to tell Otto. Because of this, Otto gets annoyed with Cecilia and Rinpoche. During the talk, Otto asks Rinpoche, irreverently, why it is necessary to learn and try to improve if one is happy at the current situation. Rinpoche calmly suggests that Otto ponder over those questions himself and let him know the next morning. After the talk, Otto apologizes for his aggressive manner of questioning. Rinpoche assures him that his was the best question. That night, they stay in an inn in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. Next morning, Otto tells Rinpoche that wanting to be accepted in society motivates people to do good instead of bad. Good people might also have a conscience. During this stay, Otto starts seeing Rinpoche in a different light. He says, "... and one layer of foolishness [of Rinpoche] had magically evaporated... But I was beginning, just beginning, to sense something beneath the act, some force, some disguised dignity..." While stopping for tea in Oberlin, Ohio, Otto buys a book written by Rinpoche, named The Greatest Pleasure without Rinpoche's knowledge. Later, when Otto asks Rinpoche which book of his he should read first, Rinpoche replies, "For an advanced soul like you, I think the best would be the one called The Greatest Pleasure". Otto and Rinpoche spend the night in an inn in South Bend, Indiana for another talk by Rinpoche. When the two dine in a Thai restaurant, Rinpoche notices a man sitting at a table close to theirs, who was wearing earphones and talking to his young daughter. Rinpoche fails to notice the ear buds and thinks the man is talking to himself or to his dinner. Rinpoche struggles to contain his mirth and eventually runs outside onto the sidewalk, doubled up with laughter. The duo learns that Rinpoche's talk has been postponed to the next morning, so they decide to go bowling. They get assigned to a bowling lane next to a boisterous group of men and women, who were all tattooed and who smoked and drank. While bowling, Rinpoche accidentally drops the ball in the group's direction. The group starts mocking Rinpoche. In return, Rinpoche places his hands on a man's shoulders and says some prayer. This has a calming effect on the surroundings. The groups stops cursing and play their game more quietly. While leaving, one of the men exclaims, "He's the real thing, man, ain't he?" Next morning, he gets confronted by a nun in the question-and-answer session during a talk. Rinpoche maintains his composure throughout this episode, even though the nun seems displeased by his answers. The nun's resistance reminds Otto of himself. The two of them attend a baseball game at Wrigley Field. During the game, amidst all the noise, Rinpoche falls asleep with a very peaceful expression, which captivates Otto. They then take a tour of Chicago.

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Pawprints of Katrina

2008-06

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

The book begins on September 11, 2005, at a freeway off-ramp used as a boat launch, with New York City Parks Enforcement (Search & Rescue Team) Department's Captain Scott Shields, known for the efforts of his search-and-rescue dog, Bear, at the World Trade Center on 9/11. An excerpt from that chapter describes the moment: "Before we set out on a boat to look for stranded pets, the captain asked us to take a moment to remember those lost on 9/11. There, standing amidst the rubble of Hurricane Katrina with the black water just a few feet from us, we bowed our heads, and not a sound was heard. No cars. No lawnmowers. No birds. No planes. No trains. No voices. Not even the couple of dogs rescued and then tied with leashes to the off-ramp railing, awaiting transport, uttered a sound. It was as if, at that brief but somber point in time, they, too, acknowledged the loss of life. It was a poignant moment, observing those lost in the largest terrorist attack on American soil while we were in the thick of rescuing animals in the wake of the biggest natural disaster in U.S. history. The Crescent City was devoid of life, except for those of us out rescuing that day and, of course, the animals left behind." The story included in the book about Red, a partially paralyzed pit-bull terrier, was covered by CNN's Anderson Cooper. A gray cat whose whose owner drove 10 hours to reunite with his cat and covered in the book was featured by NBC's "Dateline."