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books tagged “21st century”
books tagged “21st century”
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1st to Dieby James PattersonISBN 0613608704 (0-613-60870-4)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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› Find signed collectible books: '1st to Die'Book summary:The Women's Murder Club pits four San Francisco women professionals against a serial killer who's stalking and murdering newlyweds in bestselling author James Patterson's newest thriller. Lindsay Boxer is a homicide inspector who's just gotten some very bad news. She deals with it by immersing herself in her newest case and soliciting the personal as well as professional support of her closest friend, who happens to be the city's medical examiner. The two women, along with an ambitious and sympathetic reporter and an assistant DA, form an unlikely alliance, pooling their information and bypassing the chain of command in an engaging, suspenseful story whose gruesome setup is vintage Patterson.
"What is the worst thing anyone has ever done?" the killer muses to himself early in the narrative. "Am I capable of doing it? Do I have what it takes?" Answering his own question, he embarks on a murderous spree that takes him from the bridal suite in a Nob Hill hotel to a honeymoon destination in the Napa Valley and thence to a wedding reception at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio. Dispatching his victims on the happiest day of their lives, he purposefully leaves enough clues for his distaff trackers to discover his identity and put him behind bars. But just when the women think they've got the case all wrapped up, the killer turns the tables on them in a bloody denouement that even the most discerning reader won't see coming. Patterson, author of the popular Alex Cross mysteries, promises future adventures for the Women's Murder Club, which may give him an opportunity to develop his heroines' characters more completely and win new fans among those who prefer their detectives in high heels and lipstick. --Jane Adams [via]
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All over Creationby Ruth L. OzekiISBN 0670030910 (0-670-03091-0)
Hardcover, Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
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The Arctic Incidentby Eoin ColferISBN 0613629272 (0-613-62927-2)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Arctic Incident'Book summary:FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. Twelve-year-old Artemis Fowl is the most ingenious criminal mastermind in history. With two trusty sidekicks in tow, he hatches a cunning plot to divest the fairyfolk of their pot of gold. [via]
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Author, Authorby David LodgeISBN 0670033499 (0-670-03349-9)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Author, Author'Book summary:Framed by a dramatic and moving account of Henry Jamess last illness, Author, Author begins in the early 1880s, describing Jamess friendship with the genial Punch artist, George Du Maurier, and his intimate but problematic relationship with fellow American novelist Constance Fenimore Woolson. At the end of the decade Henry, worried by the failure of his books to sell, resolves to achieve fame and fortune as a playwright while Du Maurier diversifies into writing novels. The consequences that ensue mingle comedy, irony, pathos, and suspense. As Du Mauriers novel Trilby becomes the bestseller of the century, Henry anxiously awaits the opening night of his make-or-break play, Guy Domville. This event, on January 5, 1895, and its complex sequel form the climax to Lodges absorbing novel.
Thronged with vividly drawn characters, some of them with famous names, Author, Author presents a fascinating panorama of literary and theatrical life in late Victorian England. But at its heart is a portrait, rendered with remarkable empathy, of a writer who never achieved popular success in his lifetime or resolved his sexual identity, yet wrote some of the greatest novels about love in the English language. [via]
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Bats at the Beachby Brian LiesISBN 061855744X (0-618-55744-X)
Hardcover, Houghton Mifflin
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The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2002by Dave Eggers, Michael CartISBN 0618246932 (0-618-24693-2)
Hardcover, Houghton Mifflin Company
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The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2002by Michael Cart, Dave EggersISBN 0618246940 (0-618-24694-0)
Softcover, Houghton Mifflin
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2002'Book summary:Since its inception in 1915, the Best American series has become the premier annual showcase for the country's finest short fiction and nonfiction. For each volume, a series editor reads pieces from hundreds of periodicals, then selects between fifty and a hundred outstanding works. That selection is pared down to the twenty or so very best pieces by a guest editor who is widely recognized as a leading writer in his or her field. This unique system has helped make the Best American series the most respected -- and most popular -- of its kind.[via]
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2002 is a selection for young people of the best literature from mainstream and alternative American periodicals: from the New Yorker, Jane, Rolling Stone, Zyzzyva, Vibe, The Onion, Spin, Epoch, Time, Little Engines, Modern Humorist, Esquire, and more. Dave Eggers has chosen the highlights of 2001 for this genre-busting collection that includes new fiction, essays, satire, journalism -- and much more. From Eric Schlosser on french fries to Elizabeth McKenzie on awful family to Seaton Smith on how to "jive" with your teen, The Best American Nonrequried Reading 2002 is the first and the best.More editions of The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2002:
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2003by Dave Eggers, Zadie SmithISBN 0618246967 (0-618-24696-7)
Softcover, Houghton Mifflin
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2003'Book summary:This is the second year weve put this book together, and were beginning to have some idea of what were doing. But do we know exactly what this book is? We do not. The original purpose of the collection was to introduce younger readers--high school and college-age people, more or less--to good writing from contemporary writers. But then the book came out and we discovered that the readership was not what wed expected. Sure, there were some high school and college readers, but there were also older readers, and younger readers, and readers from every walk of lifepolice officers, firefighters, animal control experts, air-conditioning repair technicians, and prisoners. It runs the gamut.[via]
Now, your questions answered:
What is the purpose of this book? Dominique, Santa Monica, CA Thank you for your question, Dominique. (Such a lovely name!) The purpose of this book is to collect good work of any kindfiction, humor, essays, comics, journalismin one place, for the English-reading consumer. The other books in the Best American series are limited by their categories, most particularly the popular but constraining Best American Catholic Badger Mystery Writing. This collection is not so limited, which is why, we think, it dominates all similar collections, making them whimper and cower in a way that is shameful.
Why aren't there more pieces about badgers? Reginald, Myrtle Beach, SC We had plans to include at least seven pieces about badgerstheir manufacture, appearance, and carebut were prevented from doing so by Zadie Smith. This was a condition of her inclusion in this volume.
In addition to the pieces included in the collection, and Ms. Smiths introductionor whatever it iswill there be a piece by the editor about a young man with a crush on a sixty-five-year-old woman whose lawn he cuts? Peter and Nam Mee, Washington, DC We might have such a piece. It might be immediately following this sentence.
(From the Foreword by Dave Eggers)
Since its inception in 1915, the Best American series has become the premier annual showcase for the country's finest short fiction and nonfiction. For each volume, the very best pieces are selected by an editor who is widely recognized as a leading writer in his or her field, making the Best American series the most respected--and most popular--of its kind.
Dave Eggers, who will be editing The Best American Nonrequired Reading annually, has once again chosen the best and least-expected fiction, nonfiction, satire, investigative reporting, alternative comics, and more from publications large, small, and on-line--The Onion, The New Yorker, Shout, Time, Zoetrope, Tin House, Nerve.com,and McSweeney's, to name just a few. Read on for "Some of the best literature you haven't been reading . . . And it's fantastic. All of it." (St. Petersburg Times).
Lynda Barry Jonathan Safran Foer Lisa Gabriele Andrea Lee J. T. Leroy Nasdijj ZZ Packer David SedarisMore editions of The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2003:
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2005by Dave EggersISBN 0618570489 (0-618-57048-9)
Softcover, Houghton Mifflin
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The Best American Short Stories 2004by Lorrie Moore, Katrina KenisonISBN 0618197354 (0-618-19735-4)
Softcover, Houghton Mifflin
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Best American Short Stories 2004'Book summary:Contemplating the appeal of the short story, Lorrie Moore writes in her introduction, "A story's very shortness ensures its largeness of accomplishment, its selfhood and purity. Having long lost its ability to pay an author's rent (in that golden blip between Henry James and television, F. Scott Fitzgerald, for one, wrote stories to fund his novels), the short story has been freed of its commercial life to become serious art, by virtually its every practitioner. As a result, short or long, a story lies less. It sings and informs and blurts. It has nothing to lose." The twenty stories in this year's volume sing to and inform the reader with honesty, intelligence, and often humor. Charles D'Ambrosio's story, "Screenwriter," explores romance in a mental hospital. In "Limestone Diner," Trudy Lewis lays bare one family's strained history in central Missouri. Angela Pneuman's hilarious "All Saints Day" gives readers a child's-eye view of religious fundamentalism. And in John Edgar Wideman's profound story, "What We Cannot Speak About We Must Pass Over in Silence," friendship leads to a meditation on freedom and fairness.[via]
Lorrie Moore has selected twenty stories that rejoice in the absurdities of life, consider the hard truths, and arrive at potent moments of understanding. With The Best American Short Stories 2004 "Lorrie Moore has done writers and readers a great service," Katrina Kenison writes in her foreword, "for her own love of the form and keen sensibility have resulted in a volume that fairly hums with life."More editions of The Best American Short Stories 2004:
The Best American Short Stories 2006by Ann Patchett, Katrina KenisonISBN 0618543511 (0-618-54351-1)
Hardcover, Houghton Mifflin Company
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The Best American Short Stories 2006by Katrina Kenison, Ann PatchettISBN 061854352X (0-618-54352-X)
Softcover, Houghton Mifflin
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The Bonesetter's Daughterby Amy TanISBN 0613426673 (0-613-42667-3)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Bonesetter's Daughter'Book summary:At the beginning of Amy Tan's fourth novel, two packets of papers written in Chinese calligraphy fall into the hands of Ruth Young. One bundle is titled Things I Know Are True and the other, Things I Must Not Forget. The author? That would be the protagonist's mother, LuLing, who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. In these documents the elderly matriarch, born in China in 1916, has set down a record of her birth and family history, determined to keep the facts from vanishing as her mind deteriorates.
A San Francisco career woman who makes her living by ghostwriting self-help books, Ruth has little idea of her mother's past or true identity. What's more, their relationship has tended to be an angry one. Still, Ruth recognizes the onset of LuLing's decline--along with her own remorse over past rancor--and hires a translator to decipher the packets. She also resolves to "ask her mother to tell her about her life. For once, she would ask. She would listen. She would sit down and not be in a hurry or have anything else to do."
Framed at either end by Ruth's chapters, the central portion of The Bonesetter's Daughter takes place in China in the remote, mountainous region where anthropologists discovered Peking Man in the 1920s. Here superstition and tradition rule over a succession of tiny villages. And here LuLing grows up under the watchful eye of her hideously scarred nursemaid, Precious Auntie. As she makes clear, it's not an enviable setting:
I noticed the ripe stench of a pig pasture, the pockmarked land dug up by dragon-bone dream-seekers, the holes in the walls, the mud by the wells, the dustiness of the unpaved roads. I saw how all the women we passed, young and old, had the same bland face, sleepy eyes that were mirrors of their sleepy minds.
Nor is rural isolation the worst of it. LuLing's family, a clan of ink makers, believes itself cursed by its connection to a local doctor, who cooks up his potions and remedies from human bones. And indeed, a great deal of bad luck befalls the narrator and her sister GaoLing before they can finally engineer their escape from China. Along the way, familial squabbles erupt around every corner, particularly among mothers, daughters, and sisters. And as she did in her earlier The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan uses these conflicts to explore the intricate dynamic that exists between first-generation Americans and their immigrant elders. --Victoria Jenkins [via]More editions of The Bonesetter's Daughter:
Brothers and Keepersby John Edgar WidemanISBN 0618509631 (0-618-50963-1)
Softcover, Mariner Books
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City Of The Beastsby Isabel AllendeISBN 061371427X (0-613-71427-X)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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› Find signed collectible books: 'City Of The Beasts'Book summary:FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. When 15-year-old Alexander Cold accompanies his grandmother on an expedition to find a humanoid beast in the Amazon, he experiences ancient wonders and a supernatural world as he tries to avert disaster for the Indians. [via]
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Coming Soon!!!by John BarthISBN 0618257306 (0-618-25730-6)
Softcover, Houghton Mifflin
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Coming Soon!!!: A Narrativeby John BarthISBN 0618131655 (0-618-13165-5)
Hardcover, Houghton Mifflin Company
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Coming Soon!!!: A Narrative'Book summary:In a novelistic romp that is by turns hilarious and brilliant, John Barth, the dean of postmodern fiction, spoofs his own place in the pantheon of contemporary fiction and the generation of writers who have followed in the wake of his literary trailblazing.
Barth's first novel in ten years, COMING SOON!!! is the tale of two writers: an older, retiring novelist setting out to write his last work and a young, aspiring writer of hypertext intent on toppling his master. Inspired by a gently sinking showboat replica called The Original Floating Opera II, grounded on a shoal somewhere in Chesapeake Bay as a hurricane (and Y2K) approaches, they race each other to write a novel about a floating opera -- a reprise of the fictional mentor's first novel, of Barth's own first novel, of Edna Ferber's literary monument Show Boat and its spawn of musicals and films. In the heat of their rivalry, the writers navigate, and sometimes stumble over, the cultural fault lines between print and electronic fiction, mentor and mentee, postmodernism and modernism.
At a time of intense renewed interest in postmodernism, COMING SOON!!! spotlights its legacy with the wit and irreverence that mark Barth as one of our most highly regarded writers. It is an extraordinary addition to, and a playful riff on, Barth's oeuvre, a series of books that have shaped contemporary literature. [via]More editions of Coming Soon!!!: A Narrative:
The Cradle Placeby Thomas LuxISBN 0618619445 (0-618-61944-5)
Softcover, Houghton Mifflin
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Cry, The Beloved Countryby Alan PatonISBN 0613709810 (0-613-70981-0)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Cry, The Beloved Country'Book summary:Set in the troubled South Africa of the 1940s, this is the deeply moving story of a Zulu pastor, his son, and a land and a people riven by racial injustice. Passionately African, yet timeless and universal, it is a work of searing beauty. [via]
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Dark Fireby C. J. SansomISBN 0670033723 (0-670-03372-3)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Dark Fire'Book summary:It is 1540, and Matthew Shardlake, the lawyer renowned as "the sharpest hunchback in the courts of England," is pressed to help a friends young niece who is charged with murder. Despite threats of torture and death by the rack, the girl is inexplicably silent. Shardlake is about to lose her case when he is suddenly granted a reprieveone that will ensnare him in the dangerous schemes of Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIIIs feared vicar-general.
In exchange for two more weeks to investigate the murder, Shardlake accepts Cromwells dangerous assignment to find a lost cache of "dark fire," a legendary weapon of mass destruction. Cromwell, out of favor since Henrys disastrous marriage to Anne of Cleves, is relying on Shardlake to save his position at court, which is rife with treasonous conspiracies.
With its wonderful attention to period detail and its brilliant handling of suspense, Dark Fire is sure to win comparisons with Margaret Georges Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles and captivate readers of Philippa Gregory and David Liss. [via]
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Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Cape Townby Paul TherouxISBN 0618446877 (0-618-44687-7)
Softcover, Houghton Mifflin
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Cape Town'Book summary:In Dark Star Safari the wittily observant and endearingly irascible Paul Theroux takes readers the length of Africa by rattletrap bus, dugout canoe, cattle truck, armed convoy, ferry, and train. In the course of his epic and enlightening journey, he endures danger, delay, and dismaying circumstances.[via]
Gauging the state of affairs, he talks to Africans, aid workers, missionaries, and tourists. What results is an insightful meditation on the history, politics, and beauty of Africa and its people, and "a vivid portrayal of the secret sweetness, the hidden vitality, and the long-patient hope that lies just beneath the surface" (Rocky Mountain News). In a new postscript, Theroux recounts the dramatic events of a return to Africa to visit Zimbabwe.More editions of Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Cape Town:
Diary of a Wombatby Jackie French, Bruce WhatleyISBN 0618381368 (0-618-38136-8)
Hardcover, Clarion Books
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A Dictionary of Philosophyby Thomas MautnerISBN 0631184597 (0-631-18459-7)
Hardcover, Blackwell Pub
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Downhill Chanceby Donna MorrisseyISBN 0618189270 (0-618-18927-0)
Softcover, Houghton Mifflin
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Drop Cityby T. C. BoyleISBN 0670031720 (0-670-03172-0)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Drop City'Book summary:With Drop City, T. Coraghessan Boyle offers proof that he has become one of America's most prolific, gifted storytellers. Set in the 1970s, Boyle entertains readers with the denizens of "Drop City," a counterculture California commune that welcomes anyone wanting to live off the grid, use drugs, and practice free love. Boyle sublimely captures the sociology of its rebellious members, who doubt the sincerity or beliefs of newcomers, express some insecurity about nonconformity, and chastise outsiders while remaining oblivious to their own hypocrisy. Marco, Pan, Star, and other "cats" and "chicks" live hassle-free until dissention and cries of racism mount amid increasing run-ins with the local government (a young girl is raped, installation of a sewage system is mandated, a mother lets her toddlers drink LSD-laced juice). Seeking refuge, the citizens move north, to Alaska, to reinvent their utopia, but soon learn the natural environment is more unforgiving of a lackadaisical lifestyle.
Drop City is funny, evocative, and well-paced, shifting between the hippies and the Alaskan locals--primarily Sess and his new bride Pamela (a city dweller who arranged stays with several trappers over a few weeks to determine whom she would marry)--until the two cultures collide. Balanced between plot and character, Boyle excels at describing the physical world and his characters' interaction with it, whether portraying the harshness (or sheer beauty) of the Alaskan wilderness, the simple survival routines of its grizzled inhabitants, or the sounds wafting through Drop City: "the goats bleating to be milked or fed, the single sharp ringing note of a dog surprised by its own hunger, the regular slap of the screen door at the back of the house--and underneath it all, like the soundtrack to a movie, the dull hum of rock and roll leaking out the kitchen windows." Truly American in spirit, Drop City is a strong novel of freedom and those in pursuit of lives of liberty. --Michael Ferch [via]
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The Dying Animalby Philip RothISBN 0618135871 (0-618-13587-1)
Hardcover, Houghton Mifflin
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Emma Brownby Charlotte Bronte, Clare BoylanISBN 0670032972 (0-670-03297-2)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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Empress Orchidby Anchee MinISBN 0618562036 (0-618-56203-6)
Softcover, Houghton Mifflin
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Empress Orchid'Book summary:From a master of the historical novel, empress orchid sweeps readers into the heart of the forbidden city to tell the fascinating story of a young concubine who becomes china's last empress. Min introduces the beautiful tzu hsi, known as orchid, and weaves an epic of a country girl who seized power through seduction, murder, and endless intrigue. When china is threatened by enemies, she alone seems capable of holding the country together. In this "absorbing companion piece to her novel becoming madame mao" (new york times), readers and reading groups will once again be transported by min's lavish evocation of the forbidden city in its last days of imperial glory and by her brilliant portrait of a flawed yet utterly compelling woman who survived, and ultimately dominated, a male world [via]
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Equal Ritesby Terry PratchettISBN 0613278089 (0-613-27808-9)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Equal Rites'Book summary:FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. A dying wizard tries to pass on his power to an eighth son of an eighth son, who is just at that moment being born. The fact that the son is actually a daughter is discovered just a little too late. [via]
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The Every Boyby Dana ShapiroISBN 0618773401 (0-618-77340-1)
Softcover, Mariner Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Every Boy'Book summary:In this addictive and highly original debut novel a fifteen-year-old boy dies mysteriously, leaving behind a secret ledger filled with his darkly comic confessions. Whether fantasizing about being a minority, breaking into his neighbors homes, or gunning down an exotic bird, Henry Everys wayward quest for betterment sometimes bordered on the criminal. Alone now in their suburban house, his father pores over the ledger in a final attempt to connect with the boy he never really knew -- and, more urgently, to figure out how he died. As Harlan Every learns the truth about his sons many misadventures and transgressions, he also discovers the part he unwittingly played in Henrys tragic death and the real reason his wife walked out years ago. The story grows into two parallel love stories -- one past, one present -- with drastically different outcomes.[via]
Witty and wise, The Every Boy is a page-turning mystery, a love story, an exploration of what it means to be a family, and a one-of-a kind celebration of human individuality. -
Fablesby Bill WillinghamISBN 0613667662 (0-613-66766-2)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Fables'Book summary:FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. [via]
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The Face of a Naked Lady: An Omaha Family Mysteryby Michael RipsISBN 0618711899 (0-618-71189-9)
Softcover, Houghton Mifflin
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![[???]: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/P/0613325419.01._SL160_SCLZZZZZZZ__.jpg "[???]: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them")
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find ThemISBN 0613325419 (0-613-32541-9)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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Finityby John BarnesISBN 0613215397 (0-613-21539-7)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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The Forest Loverby Susan VreelandISBN 0670032670 (0-670-03267-0)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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Four Fantastic Novelsby Daniel PinkwaterISBN 0613252381 (0-613-25238-1)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Four Fantastic Novels'Book summary:Whether you know Daniel Pinkwater as a children's book author (and you should, he's written over 40 fabulous books) or as a National Public Radio commentator, you must agree that he is a very, very funny guy. Though his books are perfectly nonsensical and absurd in all the best ways, they leave you feeling strangely serene about the universe. Whether his books introduce us to muffin-eating polar bears (Larry), really old time-traveling men (Uncle Borgel), or 266-pound chickens (Henrietta from The Hoboken Chicken Emergency), they each reflect a polite world where people (and other species) basically respect each other--warts, multiple heads, foul smells (we're thinking of the Bloboform), and all. As luck would have it, four of Pinkwater's previously published novels are now combined in one delicious and aptly named paperback volume, 4 Fantastic Novels. In it you'll find Borgel, Yobgorgle: Mystery Monster of Lake Ontario, The Worms of Kukumlima, and The Snarkout Boys and the Baconburg Horror, none of which will disappoint. Fans will want to pick up 5 Novels as well, a collection which includes Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars, Slaves of Spiegel, The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death, The Last Guru, and Young Adult Novel.
What are Pinkwater's novels like? Imagine the wondrous science fiction classic A Wrinkle in Time without the heavy cosmos stuff--and seventy times funnier. (In Borgel, for example, 111-year-old Uncle Borgel compares the concept of time to a map of the state of New Jersey and describes space as "sort of like a bagel, but an elliptical one, with poppy seeds.") His fast-paced and funny adventure stories are philosophical and moral, though undercut with such delightfully irreverent goofiness that they never lose their buoyancy, not for a second. Pinkwater reaches out to the kids all over the planet who feel like "the boy from Mars," and shows them that everything is not only going to be just fine, but that life is pretty darn magical. (Ages 9 to 109) --Karin Snelson [via]
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Fred and Edieby Jill DawsonISBN 0618197281 (0-618-19728-1)
Softcover, Mariner Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Fred and Edie'Book summary:In a dazzling act of literary license, the novelist and poet Jill Dawson has transformed the sensational true story of Britains infamous condemned adulteress into a dramatic novel of passion, murder, and scandal, as seductive as it is shocking. One night in London in 1922, a clerk named Percy Thompson is stabbed to death as he walks home from the theater. The spectacular case that follows captures the imagination of an entire nation, as Percys wife, Edith, and her young lover, Frederick Bywaters, are imprisoned, summarily tried, and hanged for murder, even as a petition to spare their lives receives more than one million signatures.[via]
Stylish, tantalizing, with descriptions of the sex act from a womans viewpoint [that] are both lyrical and sublime (Daily Mail), FRED & EDIE is a hauntingly authentic portrait of a woman whose passio ultimately leads to her destruction. Reminiscent of both Lady Chatterley and Emma Bovary, Jill Dawsons Edie falls into the category of the unforgettable.More editions of Fred and Edie:
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Guns, Germs & Steel: The Fates of Human Societiesby Jared DiamondISBN 061318114X (0-613-18114-X)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Guns, Germs & Steel: The Fates of Human Societies'Book summary:Explaining what William McNeill called The Rise of the West has become the central problem in the study of global history. In Guns, Germs, and Steel Jared Diamond presents the biologist's answer: geography, demography, and ecological happenstance. Diamond evenhandedly reviews human history on every continent since the Ice Age at a rate that emphasizes only the broadest movements of peoples and ideas. Yet his survey is binocular: one eye has the rather distant vision of the evolutionary biologist, while the other eye--and his heart--belongs to the people of New Guinea, where he has done field work for more than 30 years. [via]
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Hannibalby Thomas HarrisISBN 0613278658 (0-613-27865-8)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Hannibal'Book summary:Horror lit's head chef Harris serves up another course in his Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter trilogy, and it's a pièce de résistance for those with strong stomachs. In the first book, Red Dragon (filmed as Manhunter), Hannibal diabolically helps the FBI track a fascinating serial killer. (Takes one to know one.) In The Silence of the Lambs, he advises fledgling FBI manhunter Clarice Starling, then makes a bloody, brilliant escape.
Years later, posing as scholarly Dr. Fell, curator of a grand family's palazzo, Hannibal lives the good life in Florence, playing lovely tunes by serial killer/composer Henry VIII and killing hardly anyone himself. Clarice is unluckier: in the novel's action-film-like opening scene, she survives an FBI shootout gone wrong, and her nemesis, Paul Krendler, makes her the fall guy. Clarice is suspended, so, unfortunately, the first cop who stumbles on Hannibal is an Italian named Pazzi, who takes after his ancestors, greedy betrayers depicted in Dante's Inferno.
Pazzi is on the take from a character as scary as Hannibal: Mason Verger. When Verger was a young man busted for raping children, his vast wealth saved him from jail. All he needed was psychotherapy--with Dr. Lecter. Thanks to the treatment, Verger is now on a respirator, paralyzed except for one crablike hand, watching his enormous, brutal moray eel swim figure eights and devour fish. His obsession is to feed Lecter to some other brutal pets.
What happens when the Italian cop gets alone with Hannibal? How does Clarice's reunion with Lecter go from macabre to worse? Suffice it to say that the plot is Harris's weirdest, but it still has his signature mastery of realistic detail. There are flaws: Hannibal's madness gets a motive, which is creepy but lessens his mystery. If you want an exact duplicate of The Silence of the Lambs's Clarice/Hannibal duel, you'll miss what's cool about this book--that Hannibal is actually upstaged at points by other monsters. And if you think it's all unprecedentedly horrible, you're right. But note that the horrors are described with exquisite taste. Harris's secret recipe for success is restraint. --Tim Appelo [via]
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Harriet, You'll Drive Me Wild!by Mem FoxISBN 0613598970 (0-613-59897-0)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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Heir to the Glimmering Worldby Cynthia OzickISBN 0618618805 (0-618-61880-5)
Softcover, Mariner Books
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House of Sand and Fogby Andre DubusISBN 0613364082 (0-613-36408-2)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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› Find signed collectible books: 'House of Sand and Fog'Book summary:Andre Dubus III wastes no time in capturing the dark side of the immigrant experience in America at the end of the 20th century. House of Sand and Fog opens with a highway crew composed of several nationalities picking up litter on a hot California summer day. Massoud Amir Behrani, a former colonel in the Iranian military under the Shah, reflects on his job-search efforts since arriving in the U.S. four years before: "I have spent hundreds of dollars copying my credentials; I have worn my French suits and my Italian shoes to hand-deliver my qualifications; I have waited and then called back after the correct waiting time; but there is nothing." The father of two, Behrani has spent most of the money he brought with him from Iran on an apartment and furnishings that are too expensive, desperately trying to keep up appearances in order to enhance his daughter's chances of making a good marriage. Now the daughter is married, and on impulse he sinks his remaining funds into a house he buys at auction, thus unwittingly putting himself and his family on a trajectory to disaster. The house, it seems, once belonged to Kathy Nicolo, a self-destructive alcoholic who wants it back. What starts out as a legal tussle soon escalates into a personal confrontation--with dire results.
Dubus tells his tragic tale from the viewpoints of the two main adversaries, Behrani and Kathy. To both of them, the house represents something more than just a place to live. For the colonel, it is a foot in the door of the American dream; for Kathy, a reminder of a kinder, gentler past. In prose that is simple yet evocative, House of Sand and Fog builds to its inevitable denouement, one that is painfully dark but unfailingly honest. --Alix Wilber [via]
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In the Forestby Edna O'BrienISBN 0618339655 (0-618-33965-5)
Softcover, Houghton Mifflin
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The Inner Circleby T. C. BoyleISBN 0670033448 (0-670-03344-8)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Inner Circle'Book summary:Fresh on the heels of his New York Times bestselling and National Book Award- nominated novel, Drop City, T.C. Boyle has spun an even more dazzling tale that will delight both his longtime devotees and a legion of new fans. Boyles tenth novel, The Inner Circle has it all: fabulous characters, a rollicking plot, and more sex than pioneering researcher Dr. Alfred Kinsey ever dreamed of documenting . . . well, almost.
A love story, The Inner Circle is narrated by John Milk, a virginal young man who in 1940 accepts a job as an assistant to Dr. Alfred Kinsey, an extraordinarily charming professor of zoology at Indiana University who has just discovered his lifes true calling: sex. As a member of Kinseys "inner circle" of researchers, Milk (and his beautiful new wife) is called on to participate in sexual experiments that become increasingly uninhibitedand problematic for his marriage. For in his later years Kinsey (who behind closed doors is a sexual enthusiast of the first order) ever more recklessly pushed the boundaries both personally and professionally.
While Boyle doesnt resist making the most of this delicious material, The Inner Circle is at heart a very moving and very loving look at sex, marriage, and jealousy that will have readers everywhere reassessing their own relationshipsbecause, in the end, "love is all there is." [via]
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Interpreter of Maladies: Library Editionby Jhumpa LahiriISBN 0613257200 (0-613-25720-0)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Interpreter of Maladies: Library Edition'Book summary:Mr. Kapasi, the protagonist of Jhumpa Lahiri's title story, would certainly have his work cut out for him if he were forced to interpret the maladies of all the characters in this eloquent debut collection. Take, for example, Shoba and Shukumar, the young couple in "A Temporary Matter" whose marriage is crumbling in the wake of a stillborn child. Or Miranda in "Sexy," who is involved in a hopeless affair with a married man. But Mr. Kapasi has problems enough of his own; in addition to his regular job working as an interpreter for a doctor who does not speak his patients' language, he also drives tourists to local sites of interest. His fare on this particular day is Mr. and Mrs. Das--first-generation Americans of Indian descent--and their children. During the course of the afternoon, Mr. Kapasi becomes enamored of Mrs. Das and then becomes her unwilling confidant when she reads too much into his profession. "I told you because of your talents," she informs him after divulging a startling secret.
I'm tired of feeling so terrible all the time. Eight years, Mr. Kapasi, I've been in pain eight years. I was hoping you could help me feel better; say the right thing. Suggest some kind of remedy.
Of course, Mr. Kapasi has no cure for what ails Mrs. Das--or himself. Lahiri's subtle, bittersweet ending is characteristic of the collection as a whole. Some of these nine tales are set in India, others in the United States, and most concern characters of Indian heritage. Yet the situations Lahiri's people face, from unhappy marriages to civil war, transcend ethnicity. As the narrator of the last story, "The Third and Final Continent," comments: "There are times I am bewildered by each mile I have traveled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept." In that single line Jhumpa Lahiri sums up a universal experience, one that applies to all who have grown up, left home, fallen in or out of love, and, above all, experienced what it means to be a foreigner, even within one's own family. --Alix Wilber [via]More editions of Interpreter of Maladies: Library Edition:
July, Julyby Tim O'BrienISBN 0618039694 (0-618-03969-4)
Hardcover, Houghton Mifflin
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Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsarby Robert AlexanderISBN 067003178X (0-670-03178-X)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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Ladyby Melvin BurgessISBN 0613683552 (0-613-68355-2)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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The Light of Eveningby Edna O'BrienISBN 0618718672 (0-618-71867-2)
Hardcover, Houghton Mifflin
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Light of Evening'Book summary:Brimming with the lyricism and earthy insight that are the hallmarks of Edna O'Brien's acclaimed fiction, The Light of Evening is a novel of dreams and attachments, lamentations and betrayals. At its core is the realization that the bond between mother and child is unbreakable, stronger even than death.[via]
From her hospital bed in Dublin, the ailing Dilly Macready eagerly awaits a visit from her long-estranged daughter, Eleanora. Years before, Eleanora fled Ireland for London when her sensual first novel caused a local scandal. Eleanora's peripatetic life since then has brought international fame but personal heartbreak in her failed quest for love. Always, her mother beseeches her to return home, sending letters that are priceless in their mix of love, guilt, and recrimination. For all her disapproval, Dilly herself knows something of Eleanora's need for freedom: as a young woman in the 1920s, Dilly left Ireland for a new life in New York City. O'Brien's marvelous cinematic portrait of New York in that era is a tour de force, filled with the clang and clatter of the city, the camaraderie of working girls against their callous employers, and their fierce competition over handsome young men. But a lover's betrayal sent Dilly reeling back to Ireland to raise a family on a lovely old farm named Rusheen. It is Rusheen that still holds mother and daughter together.
Eleanora's visit to her mother's sickbed does not prove to be the glad reunion that Dilly prayed for. And in her hasty departure, Eleanora leaves behind a secret journal of their stormy relationship -- a revelation that brings the novel to a shocking close.
The Light of Evening is a contemporary story with universal resonance. In this beautiful and moving new novel, Edna O'Brien delves deep into the intense relationship that exists between a mother and daughter who long for closeness yet remain eternally at odds.More editions of The Light of Evening:
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The Lord of the Ringsby David BrawnISBN 0618391002 (0-618-39100-2)
Softcover, Houghton Mifflin
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Lord of the Rings'Book summary:Lavishly illustrated with 1,000 photos, paintings, maps, sculptures and sketches, most appearing here for the first time, Weapons and Warfare is an indispensable chronicle of The Lord of the Rings' many creatures, warriors, armies and battlegrounds. From the graceful and proficient Elves to the horrendous war machines of the Dark Lord, each culture's approach to warfare is explained - how they fought, why they were fighting, what armor they wore and what weapons they used against their enemies. Now you can get as close to a marauding Orc as you could ever wish, without suffering the consequences![via]
Treating the filmmakers' notes, designs and props as a true archive, Weapons and Warfare describes in detail every major conflict depicted in the film trilogy - from The Last Alliance of Elves and Men to the climactic Battle of the Pelennor Fields - each accompanied by a battle diagram from the films' chief designers.
Armed with a wealth of fascinating facts and unique imagery, and with an exclusive foreword by Christopher Lee and an introduction by the Academy Award winner Richard Taylor, Weapons and Warfare promises to be the most striking companion to The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy published to date.More editions of The Lord of the Rings:
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The Lord of the Ringsby John Howe, David BrawnISBN 0618390995 (0-618-39099-5)
Hardcover, Houghton Mifflin
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Lord of the Rings'Book summary:As The Lord of the Rings draws to a triumphant and spectacular conclusion with The Return of the King, pitching armies of Men and their allies against the evil forces of darkness, this new book reconstructs the history and events surrounding the epic battles in Peter Jackson's awesome film trilogy.[via]
Treating the filmmakers' notes, designs and props as a true archive, The Lord of the Rings: Weapons and Warfare uses these records to present a full historical account of the War of the Ring. It assembles all the background information to outline the story behind each battle and examine the strategy used by the opposing forces. Each of the major conflicts depicted in the films - from The Last Alliance of Elves and Men to the climactic Battle of the Pelennor Fields - is illustrated with a unique diagram by the films' designers that reveals how each battle was fought.
Lavishly illustrated with 1,000 photos, paintings, maps, sculptures and sketches, most appearing here for the first time, Weapons and Warfare is an indispensable chronicle of The Lord of the Rings' many creatures, warriors, armies and battlegrounds. From the graceful and proficient Elven soldiers to the horrendous war machines of the Dark Lord, each culture's approach to combat is explained - how they fought, why they were fighting, what armor they wore and what weapons they used against their enemies. Now you can get as close to a marauding Orc as you could ever wish, without suffering the consequences!
Armed with a wealth of fascinating facts and unique imagery, and with an exclusive foreword by Christopher Lee and an introduction by the Academy Award winner Richard Taylor, Weapons and Warfare promises to be the most striking companion to The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy ever published.More editions of The Lord of the Rings:
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The Lord Of The Rings: The Complete Visual Companionby Jude FisherISBN 0618258027 (0-618-25802-7)
Hardcover, Houghton Mifflin
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Lord Of The Rings: The Complete Visual Companion'Book summary:From the New York Times best-selling author of The Two Towers Visual Companion comes a lavishly illustrated keepsake guide to The Return of the King. As Frodo, Sam, and Gollum slowly make their way into the depths of the Dark Lord's realm of Mordor in their desperate quest to destroy the One Ring, the scattered members of the fellowship, now scarred and battered from the Battle of Helm's Deep, must journey to the Gondorian stronghold of Minas Tirith for a last stand against the might of Sauron and his evil minions.[via]More editions of The Lord Of The Rings: The Complete Visual Companion:
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The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Visual Companionby Jude FisherISBN 0618154019 (0-618-15401-9)
Hardcover, Houghton Mifflin
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Visual Companion'Book summary:Jude Fisher's Lord of the Rings Visual Companion is a real treat for Tolkien fans and brings readers up close to some of the amazing detail they will find in the big-screen version of this fantasy classic. Not just a straightforward movie guide, this is more of a Middle-earth encyclopedia with information on the people and places to which moviegoers will be introduced. The text is informative and never presumes any level of knowledge, making this book more than accessible for Tolkien fans or those who have yet to discover his work. The pictures are full color and quite simply superb, showcasing the movie's epic scope and exciting special effects. There is even a foldout map of Middle-earth in the center pages using shots from the movie to illustrate key locations, giving it a more realistic feel. Not an average movie tie-in book, Fisher's wonderful guide has been as lovingly put together as the movie itself and has "quality" stamped all over it. This is definitely one to add to your collection. --Jonathan Weir, Amazon.co.uk [via]
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Oh, Play That Thingby Roddy DoyleISBN 0670033618 (0-670-03361-8)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imaginationby Helen FieldingISBN 0670033332 (0-670-03333-2)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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A Painted Houseby John GrishamISBN 0613494512 (0-613-49451-2)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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The Philosopher's Toolkit: A Compendium of Philosophical Concepts and Methodsby Julian Baggini, Peter S. FoslISBN 0631228748 (0-631-22874-8)
Softcover, Blackwell Pub
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Philosopher's Toolkit: A Compendium of Philosophical Concepts and Methods'Book summary:The Philosophers' Toolkit provides all the intellectual equipment necessary to engage with and participate in philosophical argument, reading and reflection. Each of its 87 entries explains how to use an important concept or argumentative technique accurately and effectively. [via]
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![[???]: The Photograph](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/P/0670033626.01._SL160_SCLZZZZZZZ__.jpg "[???]: The Photograph")
The PhotographISBN 0670033626 (0-670-03362-6)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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The Photograph: Library Editionby Penelope LivelyISBN 0670032050 (0-670-03205-0)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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Pigs in Heavenby Barbara KingsolverISBN 0613194209 (0-613-19420-9)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Pigs in Heaven'Book summary:Six-year-old Turtle Greer witnesses a freak accident at the Hoover Dam, leading to a man's dramatic rescue. But Turtle's moment of celebrity draws her into a crisis of historical proportions that will envelop not only her and her mother, Taylor, but everyone else who touched their lives in a complex web connecting their future with their past. With this wise, compelling novel, the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of The Poisonwood Bible, The Bean Trees, and Animal Dreams vividly renders a world of heartbreak and redeeming love as she defines and defies the boundaries of family, and illuminates the many separate truths aboutthe ties that bind us and tear us apart.
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Plain Truthby Jodi PicoultISBN 0613368622 (0-613-36862-2)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Plain Truth'Book summary:The discovery of a dead infant in an Amish barn shakes Lancaster County to its core. But the police investigation leads to a more shocking disclosure: circumstantial evidence suggests that that eighteen-year-old Katie Fisher, an unmarried Amish woman believed to be the newborn's mother, took the child's life. When Ellie Hathaway, a disillusioned big city attorney, comes to Paradise, Pennsylvania, to defend Katie, two cultures collide - and, for the first time in her high profile career, Ellie faces a system of justice very different from her own. Delving deep into the world of those who live 'plain', Ellie must find a way to reach Katie on her terms. As she unravels a tangled murder case, Ellie also looks deep within - to confront her own fears and desires when a man from her past comes back into her life. [via]
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Quidditch Through the AgesISBN 0613329740 (0-613-32974-0)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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The Readerby Bernhard SchlinkISBN 0613174674 (0-613-17467-4)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Reader'Book summary:Oprah Book Club® Selection, February 1999: Originally published in Switzerland, and gracefully translated into English by Carol Brown Janeway, The Reader is a brief tale about sex, love, reading, and shame in postwar Germany. Michael Berg is 15 when he begins a long, obsessive affair with Hanna, an enigmatic older woman. He never learns very much about her, and when she disappears one day, he expects never to see her again. But, to his horror, he does. Hanna is a defendant in a trial related to Germany's Nazi past, and it soon becomes clear that she is guilty of an unspeakable crime. As Michael follows the trial, he struggles with an overwhelming question: What should his generation do with its knowledge of the Holocaust? "We should not believe we can comprehend the incomprehensible, we may not compare the incomparable.... Should we only fall silent in revulsion, shame, and guilt? To what purpose?"
The Reader, which won the Boston Book Review's Fisk Fiction Prize, wrestles with many more demons in its few, remarkably lucid pages. What does it mean to love those people--parents, grandparents, even lovers--who committed the worst atrocities the world has ever known? And is any atonement possible through literature? Schlink's prose is clean and pared down, stripped of unnecessary imagery, dialogue, and excess in any form. What remains is an austerely beautiful narrative of the attempt to breach the gap between Germany's pre- and postwar generations, between the guilty and the innocent, and between words and silence. --R. Ellis [via]
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Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Marketby Eric SchlosserISBN 0618446702 (0-618-44670-2)
Softcover, Houghton Mifflin
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market'Book summary:As much as 10% of the American economy, and perhaps more, is comprised of illegal "underground" enterprises, according to author and Atlantic Monthly correspondent Eric Schlosser. And while this segment is never discussed in the newspaper business pages, Schlosser tackles it with the same in-depth analysis and compulsive readability that made his Fast Food Nation a best seller. Reefer Madness spotlights marijuana, migrant labor, and pornography, three of the most thriving black market industries, and analyzes the often-tenuous place each holds in society as a whole. While each of the three could be the subject of its own book, Schlosser keeps his scope narrow by concentrating on the lives of the participants in the underground economy, especially Mark Young, an Indiana man given a life sentence for participating in a marijuana sale, and Ohio porn magnate Reuben Sturman. At just 21 pages, the treatment of migrant laborers in the California strawberry fields is dealt with more briefly but is just as compelling thanks to the first-person narrative of Schlossers investigation. In telling these stories, which are both personal and universal, Schlosser deftly explores the manner in which his subjects are treated (and punished) compared to others in more above-ground ventures. Along the way, he asks hard questions as to what that treatment says about America. Schlosser writing is passionately opinionated, but this is no mere opinion piece: his perspective is amply supported by extensive research and clearly reasoned interpretation of data. His direct and forceful writing style makes the impact greater still. After reading Reefer Madness, readers are likely to be shocked, appalled, and flat-out bewildered by whats happening in the cracks and crevices of American business. --John Moe [via]
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Report from Ground Zero: The Story of the Rescue Efforts at the World Trade Centerby Dennis SmithISBN 067003116X (0-670-03116-X)
Hardcover, Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
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River Thievesby Michael CrummeyISBN 0618340718 (0-618-34071-8)
Softcover, Houghton Mifflin
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Seabiscuit: Library Editionby Laura HillenbrandISBN 0613647874 (0-613-64787-4)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Seabiscuit: Library Edition'Book summary:He didn't look like much. With his smallish stature, knobby knees, and slightly crooked forelegs, he looked more like a cow pony than a thoroughbred. But looks aren't everything; his quality, an admirer once wrote, "was mostly in his heart." Laura Hillenbrand tells the story of the horse who became a cultural icon in Seabiscuit: An American Legend.
Seabiscuit rose to prominence with the help of an unlikely triumvirate: owner Charles Howard, an automobile baron who once declared that "the day of the horse is past"; trainer Tom Smith, a man who "had cultivated an almost mystical communication with horses"; and jockey Red Pollard, who was down on his luck when he charmed a then-surly horse with his calm demeanor and a sugar cube. Hillenbrand details the ups and downs of "team Seabiscuit," from early training sessions to record-breaking victories, and from serious injury to "Horse of the Year"--as well as the Biscuit's fabled rivalry with War Admiral. She also describes the world of horseracing in the 1930s, from the snobbery of Eastern journalists regarding Western horses and public fascination with the great thoroughbreds to the jockeys' torturous weight-loss regimens, including saunas in rubber suits, strong purgatives, even tapeworms.
Along the way, Hillenbrand paints wonderful images: tears in Tom Smith's eyes as his hero, legendary trainer James Fitzsimmons, asked to hold Seabiscuit's bridle while the horse was saddled; critically injured Red Pollard, whose chest was crushed in a racing accident a few weeks before, listening to the San Antonio Handicap from his hospital bed, cheering "Get going, Biscuit! Get 'em, you old devil!"; Seabiscuit happily posing for photographers for several minutes on end; other horses refusing to work out with Seabiscuit because he teased and taunted them with his blistering speed.
Though sometimes her prose takes on a distinctly purple hue ("His history had the ethereal quality of hoofprints in windblown snow"; "The California sunlight had the pewter cast of a declining season"), Hillenbrand has crafted a delightful book. Wire to wire, Seabiscuit is a winner. Highly recommended. --Sunny Delaney [via]
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Snow Crashby Neal StephensonISBN 0613361628 (0-613-36162-8)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Snow Crash'Book summary:From the opening line of his breakthrough cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson plunges the reader into a not-too-distant future. It is a world where the Mafia controls pizza delivery, the United States exists as a patchwork of corporate-franchise city-states, and the Internet--incarnate as the Metaverse--looks something like last year's hype would lead you to believe it should. Enter Hiro Protagonist--hacker, samurai swordsman, and pizza-delivery driver. When his best friend fries his brain on a new designer drug called Snow Crash and his beautiful, brainy ex-girlfriend asks for his help, what's a guy with a name like that to do? He rushes to the rescue. A breakneck-paced 21st-century novel, Snow Crash interweaves everything from Sumerian myth to visions of a postmodern civilization on the brink of collapse. Faster than the speed of television and a whole lot more fun, Snow Crash is the portrayal of a future that is bizarre enough to be plausible. [via]
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Story Of Lucy Gaultby William TrevorISBN 0670031542 (0-670-03154-2)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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Summers at Castle Auburnby Sharon ShinnISBN 0613493710 (0-613-49371-0)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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Tale of Time Cityby Diana Wynne JonesISBN 0613536541 (0-613-53654-1)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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Tales from Earthseaby Ursula K. Le GuinISBN 0613555430 (0-613-55543-0)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Tales from Earthsea'Book summary:Winner of five Nebula and five Hugo Awards, the National Book Award, the Newbery, and many other awards, Ursula K. Le Guin is one of the finest authors ever to write science fiction and fantasy. Her greatest creation may be the powerful, beautifully written, and deeply imagined Earthsea Cycle, which inhabits the rarified air at the pinnacle of modern fantasy with J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy and Jane Yolen's Chronicles of Great Alta. The books of the Earthsea Cycle are A Wizard of Earthsea (1968), The Tombs of Atuan (1971), The Farthest Shore (1972), the Nebula-winning Tehanu (1990), and now, Tales of Earthsea (2001).
If you have never read an Earthsea book, this collection isn't the place to start, as the author points out in her thoughtful foreword; begin with A Wizard of Earthsea. If you insist on starting with Tales of Earthsea, read the foreword and the appended "Description of Earthsea" before proceeding to the five stories (three of which are original to this book).
The opening story, "The Finder," occupies a third of the volume and has the strength and insight of a novel. This novella describes the youth of Otter, a powerful but half-trained sorcerer, and reveals how Otter came to an isle that cannot be found, and played a role in the founding of the great Roke School. "Darkrose and Diamond" tells of two lovers who would turn their backs on magic. In "The Bones of the Earth," an aging wizard and his distant pupil must somehow join forces to oppose an earthquake. Ged, the Archmage of Earthsea, appears in "On the High Marsh" to find the mad and dangerous mage he had driven from Roke Island. And in "Dragonfly," the closing story, a mysterious woman comes to the Roke School to challenge the rule that only men may be mages. "Dragonfly" takes place a few years after Tehanu and is the bridge between that novel and the next novel, The Other Wind (fall 2001). --Cynthia Ward [via]
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Tara Roadby Maeve BinchyISBN 0613271785 (0-613-27178-5)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Tara Road'Book summary:Oprah Book Club® Selection, September 1999: Against all odds, two newlyweds manage to buy the house of their dreams. In 1982, property speculation is beginning to be a big, big thing in Dublin--and their street is very much in an up-and-coming part of town. "They laughed and hugged each other. Danny Lynch from the broken-down cottage in the back of beyond and Ria Johnson from the corner house in the big, shabby estate were not only living like gentry in a big Tara Road mansion, they were actually debating what style of dining table to buy." But for its various inhabitants, the street is to become a boulevard of dreams--some broken, others created anew. Maeve Binchy has long proved herself a secure hand at multiple story lines, and over the course of 500 satisfying pages she focuses on Ria; her best friend, Rosemary Ryan, a beautiful, endlessly selfish career woman; Gertie, the battered wife of a drunkard; and several other intriguing women, each of whom has secrets not to be shared. There is even an all-knowing fortune teller who early on hints that Ria will travel and start a successful business--two things she knows are definitely not in the offing.
Yet after our supposedly happy housewife and mother of two is confronted by some inexorable home truths, a chance phone call from America will change her life, forcing her to discard her illusions about men, women, and marriage and start all over again. At the same time, the Connecticut caller, Marilyn Vine, has her own lessons to learn when she and Ria swap houses for the summer. Yet there's nothing remotely preachy about this novel--even the bad guys (and yes, they're usually guys) and beautiful mistresses get to maintain some appeal. Instead, Tara Road is a stirring look at the reality behind our consuming fantasies, and a page-turner to boot. --Siobhan Carson [via]
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Top Tenby Alan MooreISBN 0613922816 (0-613-92281-6)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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The Top Ten of Everything 2001by Russell AshISBN 0613333187 (0-613-33318-7)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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The Truthby Terry PratchettISBN 0613572904 (0-613-57290-4)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Truth'Book summary:The Truth, Pratchett's 25th Discworld novel, skewers the newspaper business. When printing comes to Ankh-Morpork, it "drag(s) the city kicking and screaming into the Century of the Fruitbat." Well, actually, out of the Century of the Fruitbat. As the Bursar remarks, if the era's almost over, it's high time they embraced its challenges.
William de Worde, well-meaning younger son of reactionary nobility, has been providing a monthly newsletter to the elite using engraving. Then he is struck (and seriously bruised) by the power of the press. The dwarves responsible convince William to expand his letter and the Ankh-Morpork Times is born. Soon William has a staff, including Sacharissa Cripslock, a genteel young lady with a knack for headline writing, and photographer Otto Chriek. Otto's vampirism causes difficulties: flash pictures cause him to crumble to dust and need reconstitution, and he must battle his desire for blood, particularly Sacharissa's. When Lord Vetinari is accused of attempted murder, the City Watch investigates the peculiar circumstances, but William wants to know what really happened. The odds for his survival drop as his questions multiply.
The Truth is satirical, British, and full of sly jokes. Although this cake doesn't rise quite as high as it did in previous volumes, even ordinary Pratchett is pretty darn good, and those who haven't read a Discworld novel before can start here and go on to that incredible backlist. --Nona Vero [via]
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The Virgin Suicidesby Jeffrey EugenidesISBN 061328125X (0-613-28125-X)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Virgin Suicides'Book summary:THIS EDITION IS INTENDED FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. Eugenides, Jeffrey Juxtaposing the common with the gothic, and the humorous with the tragic, the author creates a vivid and compelling portrait of youth and lost innocence. The sensational, b [via]
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When The Nines Roll Over (And Other Stories)by David BenioffISBN 0670033391 (0-670-03339-1)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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Wickedby Gregory MaguireISBN 0613621697 (0-613-62169-7)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Wicked'Book summary:An astonishingly rich re-creation of the land of Oz, this book retells the story of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, who wasn't so wicked after all. Taking readers past the yellow brick road and into a phantasmagoric world rich with imagination and allegory, Gregory Maguire just might change the reputation of one of the most sinister characters in literature. [via]
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The Wind Done Goneby Alice RandallISBN 0618219064 (0-618-21906-4)
Softcover, Houghton Mifflin
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The Winds of Changeby Martha GrimesISBN 0670033278 (0-670-03327-8)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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The Winter Queenby Jane StevensonISBN 0618382674 (0-618-38267-4)
Softcover, Houghton Mifflin
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Wyrd Sistersby Terry PratchettISBN 0613572971 (0-613-57297-1)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Wyrd Sisters'Book summary:FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. The arrival of a royal infant on their doorstep sets the three witch sisters of Lancre on an adventure that has them wresting a kingdom away from its ruler. [via]
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