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books tagged “literature”
books tagged “literature”
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The Ancient Child : A Novelby N. Scott MomadayISBN 0385279728 (0-385-27972-8)
Hardcover, Doubleday Publishing
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Arundelby Kenneth Lewis RobertsISBN 0385040245 (0-385-04024-5)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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The Beggarby Naguib Mahfouz, Kristen Walker HenryISBN 0385264569 (0-385-26456-9)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Beggar'Book summary:A complex tale of alienation and despair. Unable to achieve psychological renewal in the aftermath of Nasser's revolution, a man sacrifices his work and family to a series of illicit love affairs that intensify his feelings of estrangement. A passionate outcry against irrelevance. [via]
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The Best Loved Poems of the American Peopleby Hazel FellemanISBN 0385000197 (0-385-00019-7)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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The Birth of Tragedy and the Genealogy of Moralsby Friedrich Wilhelm NietzscheISBN 0385092105 (0-385-09210-5)
Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Birth of Tragedy and the Genealogy of Morals'Book summary:Skillful, sophisticated translations of two of Nietzsche's essential works about the conflict between the moral and aesthetic approaches to life, the impact of Christianity on human values, the meaning of science, the contrast between the Apollonian and Dionysian spirits, and other themes central to his thinking. [via]
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Black Ticketsby George Phillips, Jayne Anne PhillipsISBN 0385280882 (0-385-28088-2)
Softcover, Dell Publishing
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Black Ticketsby Jayne Anne PhillipsISBN 0385280785 (0-385-28078-5)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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Blackberry Wineby Joanne HarrisISBN 0380815923 (0-380-81592-3)
Softcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Blackberry Wine'Book summary:Joanne Harris's first novel, Chocolat, was set in the sleepy French village of Lansquenet, where enchantment, romance, and soft-centered truths issued from the local confectioner's shop. She returns to the same location for Blackberry Wine. But as the title suggests, she's shifted her focus from food to drink, choosing a half-dozen bottles of homemade plonk as the catalyst for her "layman's alchemy." And even the narrator is no human being but a faintly tannic Fleurie 1962: "A pert, garrulous wine, cheery and little brash, with a pungent taste of blackcurrant!"
There are, of course, some less vinous characters in the novel. Harris's protagonist, Jay Mackintosh, is a former literary star, now sadly stalled. He spends his time writing second-rate science fiction, leading a hollow media life, and drinking: "Not to forget, but to remember, to open up the past and find himself there again." Yet the nice, expensive wines don't do the trick. Instead, six "Specials"--a gift from his old friend Joe--function as Jay's magical elixir. Like Proust's lime-blossom tisane, they give him the gift of his memories but also unlock his future, which encourages him to flee the rut of his London life and buy a house in Lansquenet.
As Jay settles in, he contemplates his childhood friendship with Joe, whose idiosyncratic outlook was the inspiration for his only successful book. Meanwhile, he becomes involved in village life, encountering some familiar faces from Chocolat. Caro and Toinette, the snooty troublemakers, soon put in an appearance, and Josephine, the bar owner and battered wife of the earlier novel, becomes a real friend. But it's a new character, the enigmatic Marise, who becomes the focus of Jay's attention--and who helps to restore his literary joie de vivre. This feat of resurrection makes for a hugely enjoyable read. It also goes one step further in adding Lansquenet to the map of imaginary destinations, where daydreams can come true with intoxicating frequency. --Eithne Farry [via]
The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethkeby Theodore RoethkeISBN 0385086016 (0-385-08601-6)
Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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The Comic Mark Twain Reader: The Most Humorous Selections from His Stories, Sketches, Novels, Travel Books and Lecturesby Mark TwainISBN 038511334X (0-385-11334-X)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Comic Mark Twain Reader: The Most Humorous Selections from His Stories, Sketches, Novels, Travel Books and Lectures'Book summary:The Most Humorous Selections from His Stories, Sketches, Novels, Travel Books and Lectures [via]
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The Complete Humorous Sketches and Tales of Mark Twainby Mark Twain, Charles NeiderISBN 038501094X (0-385-01094-X)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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Complete Poems and Selected Letters and Prose of Hart Craneby Hart CraneISBN 0385015313 (0-385-01531-3)
Softcover, Knopf Publishing Group
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The Complete Tales of Washington Irvingby Charles Neider, Washington IrvingISBN 0385089457 (0-385-08945-7)
Hardcover, Granite Impex Ltd
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Complete Works of O. Henryby O. HenryISBN 0385009615 (0-385-00961-5)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Complete Works of O. Henry'Book summary:O. Henry's short stories are well known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization and clever twist endings. Collected in this collection is a giant anthology of his work.
Works include:
Heart of the West
Cabbages and Kings
The Four Million
The Gentle Grafter
The Gift of the Magi
Options
Roads of Destiny
Rolling Stones
Strictly Business More Stories of the Four Million
Sixes and Sevens
The Trimmed Lamp & Other Stories
The Voice of the City
Waifs and Strays
Whirligigs
The Boy Scouts Book of Stories [via]More editions of Complete Works of O. Henry:
Darconville's Catby Alexander TherouxISBN 038515951X (0-385-15951-X)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Darconville's Cat'Book summary:The main story is a love affair between Alaric Darconville, an English professor at a Virginia women's college, and one of his students, Isabel. The style relies on complex syntax and unusual words. The satire is broad, and uses southern culture cliches but is often very funny. Some of the names of the girls at the school, for example, are Mimsy Borogoves, Barbara Celarent, and Pengwynn Custiss. The story is said to be based on Theroux's years of teaching at Longwood University, and places described in the book are easily recognized buildings on the campus.[citation needed] [via]
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Dave Barry's Bad Habits: A 100% Fact-free Bookby Dave BarryISBN 0385189540 (0-385-18954-0)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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The Dead Schoolby Patrick McCabeISBN 038531423X (0-385-31423-X)
Softcover, Dell Publishing
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Dead School'Book summary:From the award-winning author of The Butcher Boy comes a new novel of extraordinary power that, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, "confirm[s] McCabe's standing as one of the most brilliant writers to ever come out of Ireland."
In The Dead School, Patrick McCabe returns to the emotionally dense landscape of small-town Ireland to explore the inner lives of two men: a headmaster and a schoolteacher, each man the product of a soul-stifling culture, each battling his own demons of loss and betrayal. Tension coils--until tragedy strikes a young student in their charge, and the latent despair and rage that has festered in their hearts explodes onto the page. As in The Butcher Boy, McCabe demonstrates his remarkable command of the vernacular and an uncanny ability to pinpoint the exact moment when ordinary minds take flight into madness. Equally compelling, equally heartbreaking in its impact, The Dead School has established McCabe as one of the most celebrated writers of literary fiction today. [via] 
Death Kitby Susan SontagISBN 0385267118 (0-385-26711-8)
Softcover, Knopf Publishing Group
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Democracy in Americaby Alexis de Tocqueville, J. P. Mayer, A. P. KerrISBN 0385081707 (0-385-08170-7)
Softcover, Knopf Publishing Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Democracy in America'Book summary:Classic analysis of America's unique political character, quoted heavily by politicians and perennially popping up on history professors' reading lists. The book's enduring appeal lies in the eloquent, prophetic voice of Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859), a French aristocrat who visited the United States in 1831. A thoughtful young man in a still-young country, he succeede in penning this penetrating study of America's people, culture, history, geography, politics, legal system, and economy. Tocqueville asserts, I confess that in America I saw more than America; I sought the image of democracy itself, with its inclinations, its character, its prejudices, and its passions, in order to learn what we have to fear or hope from its progress. [via]
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Deus Iraeby Philip K. Dick, Roger ZelaznyISBN 0385045271 (0-385-04527-1)
Hardcover, Doubleday
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A Dictionary of Maqiaoby Han Shaogong, Julia LovellISBN 0385339356 (0-385-33935-6)
Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Dictionary of Maqiao'Book summary:From the daring imagination of one of Chinas greatest living novelists comes a work of startling power and originalitythe story of a young man displaced to a small village in rural China during the 1960s. Told in the format of a dictionary, with a series of vignettes disguised as entries, A Dictionary of Maqiao is a novel of bold inventionand a fascinating, comic, deeply moving journey through the dark heart of the Cultural Revolution.
Entries trace the wisdom and absurdities of Maqiao: the petty squabbles, family grudges, poverty, infidelities, fantasies, lunatics, bullies, superstitions, and especially the odd logic in their use of languagewhere the word for beginning is the same as the word for end ; little big brother means older sister; to be scientific means to be lazy; and streetsickness is a disease afflicting villagers visiting urban areas. Filled with colorful charactersfrom a weeping ox to a man so poisonous that snakes die when they bite himA Dictionary of Maqiao is both an important work of Chinese literature and a probing inquiry into the extraordinary power of language. [via]More editions of A Dictionary of Maqiao:
Disappearing Energy: Can We End the Crisisby Dorothy Edwards Shuttlesworth, Lee Ann WilliamsISBN 0385048637 (0-385-04863-7)
Hardcover, Doubleday
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Don't Look Now: Selected Stories of Daphne Du Maurierby Daphne Du MaurierISBN 0385087330 (0-385-08733-0)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Don't Look Now: Selected Stories of Daphne Du Maurier'Book summary:A review: "Du Maurier has a clear talent for writing intelligent, engaging prose in a very accessible, clear style. Her characters are real, and their conversations are completely believable. My favorite of the five tales featured here was the title story; like du Maurier's classic novel Rebecca, this is a taunt psychological thriller with a surprise ending. In the second story, "The Breakthrough," the standard search for life after death is presented in a unique light. My least-favorite story of the book was the third, "Not After Midnight," as it had a disappointing ending which I still don't fully understand. In the fourth story, "A Border-line Case," the characters are less believable than is typical for du Maurier, yet the story is still worthwhile. Finally, for the last tale, "The Way of the Cross," du Maurier takes a different tact by telling the story from the perspectives of several main characters rather than just one, and the positive result is less thriller, more human interest. du Maurier is an excellent storyteller, and most readers are likely to find something to praise in at least one of this book's well-written stories." [via]
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The Door in the Wall : Story of Medieval Londonby Marguerite De AngeliISBN 038507283X (0-385-07283-X)
Hardcover, Random House Children's Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Door in the Wall : Story of Medieval London'Book summary:Ever since he can remember, Robin, son of Sir John de Bureford, has been told what is expected of him as the son of a nobleman. He must learn the ways of knighthood. But Robin's destiny is changed in one stroke: He falls ill and loses the use of his legs. Fearing a plague, his servants abandon him and Robin is left alone. [via]
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Draculaby Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Bram StokerISBN 0385095805 (0-385-09580-5)
Hardcover, Doubleday
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Dragon Seedby Pearl S. BuckISBN 0381980251 (0-381-98025-1)
Hardcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Dragon Seed'Book summary:A novel set in China in the early part of this century, by a winner of both the Nobel Prize for Literature and the Pulitzer Prize, who spent her early childhood in China. It tells of the courage and sacrifice of a Chinese peasant family under the impact of war and the heel of the Japanese invader. [via]
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The Fall of Hyperionby Dan SimmonsISBN 0385267479 (0-385-26747-9)
Softcover, Doubleday
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Fall of Hyperion'Book summary:The stunning continuation of the epic adventure begun in Hyperion. On the world of Hyperion the mysterious Time Tombs are opening. And the secrets they contain mean that nothing--nothing anywhere in the universe--will ever be the same. [via]
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Farmerby Jim HarrisonISBN 0385282281 (0-385-28228-1)
Softcover, Delta
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Farmer'Book summary:Joseph is 43, a farmer-teacher who suddenly finds himself at a crossroads. Forced to choose between two lovers - one a tantalizing young student, the other his childhood friend, he must also decide whether or not to stay on the farm or seek employment in the outside world. [via]
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Favorite Poems Old and Newby Helen FerrisISBN 0385076967 (0-385-07696-7)
Hardcover, Random House Childrens Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Favorite Poems Old and New'Book summary:This book is nice collection of poetry. [via]
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Forward the Foundationby Isaac AsimovISBN 0385247931 (0-385-24793-1)
Hardcover, Doubleday Publishing
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Forward the Foundation'Book summary:A stunning testament to his creative genius. Forward The Foundation is a the saga's dramatic climax -- the story Asimov fans have been waiting for. An exciting tale of danger, intrigue, and suspense, Forward The Foundation brings to vivid life Asimov's best loved characters: hero Hari Seldon, who struggles to perfect his revolutionary theory of psychohistory to ensure the survival of humanity; Cleon II, the vain and crafty emperor of the Galactic Empire,
From the Paperback edition. [via]More editions of Forward the Foundation:
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Foundation's Edgeby Isaac AsimovISBN 0385177259 (0-385-17725-9)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Foundation's Edge'Book summary:Now, 498 years after its founding, the Foundation seemed to be following the Seldon Plan perfectly. Too perfectly. Now an impossible planet -- with impossible powers -- threatens to upset the Seldon Plan for good unless two men, sworn enemies, can work together to save it!
From the Paperback edition. [via]More editions of Foundation's Edge:
The Furiesby Janet HobhouseISBN 0385245475 (0-385-24547-5)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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The Giant's House : A Romanceby Elizabeth McCrackenISBN 0385314337 (0-385-31433-7)
Hardcover, Dell Publishing
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The Golden Dropletby Michel TournierISBN 0385237596 (0-385-23759-6)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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The Great Book of Amberby Roger ZelaznyISBN 0380809060 (0-380-80906-0)
Softcover, Eos
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Great Book of Amber'Book summary:Roger Zelazny's books have three things in common: a flawed hero who sometimes fails, endlessly surprising plot twists, and a blend of lyricism, literary allusions, and sly puns that makes the pages fly. The Great Book of Amber, collecting all 10 Amber novels, is vintage Zelazny. Despite some irritating typographical errors, it's invaluable for anyone who wants to read or reread the tales of Corwin and his son, Merlin.
Corwin is a prince of Amber, the "immortal city from which every other city has taken its shape." All other worlds, including Earth, are shadows of that reality. Corwin has spent centuries on Earth as an amnesiac. But when someone in the family tries to kill him there, Corwin begins a search for his past. He quickly learns that his family has some very unusual powers. They can travel between Amber, its shadows, and Chaos by manipulating reality; use magical playing cards to communicate and travel instantaneously; and are able to walk the Pattern that created Amber. Corwin regains his memory, solves the mystery of his father Oberon's disappearance, and fulfills his destiny--only to disappear into Chaos.
Merlin searches for Corwin and his destiny as a son of both Amber and the Courts of Chaos. His story parallels Corwin's, answering many questions about Amber, Chaos, and the next generation in the family.
Many readers have complained that the series goes on too long and the ending is disappointing. None, however, would deny that it's filled with fascinating ideas, complex characters, and action-adventure. Don't miss a chance to make up your own mind. --Nona Vero [via]
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Hannibal Risingby Thomas HarrisISBN 0385339410 (0-385-33941-0)
Hardcover, Delacorte Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Hannibal Rising'Book summary:Discover the origins of one of the most feared villains of all time in Thomas Harris's Hannibal Rising, a novel that promises to reveal the "evolution of Hannibal Lecter's evil." Thomas Harris first introduced readers to Hannibal Lecter in Red Dragon, a tale wrapped around FBI agent Will Graham (the man who hunted Lecter down) and his ability to "get inside the mind of the killer." Graham consults Dr. Lecter (the man who nearly killed him) on the case, and the legend of the nefarious Dr. Lecter was born. Harris's masterful and mesmerizing follow up, The Silence of the Lambs wowed fans, but it was Jonathan Demme's terrifying, Oscar-winning (Best Actor, Actress, Director, Picture and Adapted Screenplay) film, and Anthony Hopkins's extraordinary (and arguably over the top) performance that made "Hannibal the Cannibal" a household name. Hannibal, the third book in the Lecter saga made Lecter the prey and seemingly wrapped up the tale of the cannibalistic psychiatrist, but never revealed the source of the doctor's...gifts. Fans have been waiting decades to find out how the good doctor became "death's prodigy," making Hannibal Rising one of the most anticipated books of 2006 (and movies of 2007). --Daphne Durham
Hannibal Rising: An Excerpt
Prologue
The door to Dr. Hannibal Lecter's memory palace is in the darkness at the center of his mind and it has a latch that can be found by touch alone. This curious portal opens on immense and well-lit spaces, early baroque, and corridors and chambers rivaling in number those of the Topkapi Museum.
Everywhere there are exhibits, well-spaced and lighted, each keyed to memories that lead to other memories in geometric progression.
Spaces devoted to Hannibal Lecter's earliest years differ from the other archives in being incomplete. Some are static scenes, fragmentary, like painted Attic shards held together by blank plaster. Other rooms hold sound and motion, great snakes wrestling and heaving in the dark and lit in flashes. Pleas and screaming fill some places on the grounds where Hannibal himself cannot go. But the corridors do not echo screaming, and there is music if you like.
The palace is a construction begun early in Hannibal's student life. In his years of confinement he improved and enlarged his palace, and its riches sustained him for long periods while warders denied him his books.
Here in the hot darkness of his mind, let us feel together for the latch. Finding it, let us elect for music in the corridors and, looking neither left nor right, go to the Hall of the Beginning where the displays are most fragmentary.
We will add to them what we have learned elsewhere, in war records and police records, from interviews and forensics and the mute postures of the dead. Robert Lecter's letters, recently unearthed, may help us establish the vital statistics of Hannibal, who altered dates freely to confound the authorities and his chroniclers. By our efforts we may watch as the beast within turns from the teat and, working upwind, enters the world.
Chapter 6
Lothar heard it first as he drew water, the roar of an engine in low gear and cracking of branches. He left the bucket on the well and in his haste he came into the lodge without wiping his feet.
A Soviet tank, a T-34 in winter camouflage of snow and straw, crashed up the horse trail and into the clearing. Painted on the turret in Russian were AVENGE OUR SOVIET GIRLS and WIPE OUT THE FASCIST VERMIN. Two soldiers in white rode on the back over the radiators. The turret swiveled to point the tank's cannon at the house. A hatch opened and a gunner in hooded winter white stood behind a machine gun. The tank commander stood in the other hatch with a megaphone. He repeated his message in Russian and in German, barking over the diesel clatter of the tank engine.
"We want water, we will not harm you or take your food unless a shot comes from the house. If we are fired on, every one of you will die. Now come outside. Gunner, lock and load. If you do not see faces by the count of ten, fire." A loud clack as the machine gun's bolt went back.
Count Lecter stepped outside, standing straight in the sunshine, his hands visible. "Take the water. We are no harm to you."
The tank commander put his megaphone aside. "Everyone outside where I can see you."
The count and the tank commander looked at each other for a long moment. The tank commander showed his palms.
The count showed his palms. The count turned to the house. "Come."
When the commander saw the family he said, "The children can stay inside where it's warm."
And to his gunner and crew, "Cover them. Watch the upstairs windows. Start the pump. You can smoke."
The machine gunner pushed up his goggles and lit a cigarette. He was no more than a boy, the skin of his face paler around his eyes. He saw Mischa peeping around the door facing and smiled at her.
Among the fuel and water drums lashed to the tank was a small petrol-powered pump with a rope starter.
The tank driver snaked a hose with a screen filter down the well and after many pulls on the rope the pump clattered, squealed, and primed itself.
The noise covered the scream of the Stuka dive bomber until it was almost on them, the tank's gunner swiveling his muzzle around, cranking hard to elevate his gun, firing as the airplane's winking cannon stitched the ground. Rounds screamed off the tank, the gunner hit, still firing with his remaining arm.
The Stuka's windscreen starred with fractures, the pilot's goggles filled with blood and the dive bomber, still carrying one of its eggs, hit treetops, plowed into the garden and its fuel exploded, cannon under the wings still firing after the impact. Hannibal, on the floor of the lodge, Mischa partly under him, saw his mother lying in the yard, bloody and her dress on fire.
"Stay here!" to Mischa and he ran to his mother, ammunition in the airplane cooking off now, slow and then faster, casings flying backward striking the snow, flames licking around the remaining bomb beneath the wing. The pilot sat in the cockpit, dead, his face burned to a death's head in flaming scarf and helmet, his gunner dead behind him.
Lothar alone survived in the yard and he raised a bloody arm to the boy. Then Mischa ran to her mother, out into the yard and Lothar tried to reach her and pull her down as she passed, but a cannon round from the flaming plane slammed through him, blood spattering the baby and Mischa raised her arms and screamed into the sky. Hannibal heaped snow onto the fire in his mother's clothes, stood up and ran to Mischa amid the random shots and carried her into the lodge, into the cellar. The shots outside slowed and stopped as bullets melted in the breeches of the cannon. The sky darkened and snow came again, hissing on the hot metal.
Darkness, and snow again. Hannibal among the corpses, how much later he did not know, snow drifting down to dust his mother's eyelashes and her hair. She was the only corpse not blackened and crisped. Hannibal tugged at her, but her body was frozen to the ground. He pressed his face against her. Her bosom was frozen hard, her heart silent. He put a napkin over her face and piled snow on her. Dark shapes moved at the edge of the woods. His torch reflected on wolves' eyes. He shouted at them and waved a shovel. Mischa was determined to come out to her motherhe had to choose. He took Mischa back inside and left the dead to the dark.
Mr. Jakov's book was undamaged beside his blackened hand until a wolf ate the leather cover and amid the scattered pages of Huyghens' Treatise on Light licked Mr. Jakov's brains off the snow. Hannibal and Mischa heard snuffling and growling outside. Hannibal built up the fire. To cover the noise he tried to get Mischa to sing; he sang to her. She clutched his coat in her fists.
"Ein Mannlein . . ."
Snowflakes on the windows. In the corner of a pane, a dark circle appeared, made by the tip of a glove. In the dark circle a pale blue eye.
Excerpted from HANNIBAL RISING by Thomas Harris Copyright © 2006 byThomas Harris.
The Hannibal Lecter Books
Red Dragon
The Silence of the Lambs
Hannibal
The Hannibal Lecter DVDs
Manhunter
Red Dragon
The Silence of the Lambs
Hannibal
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Herself Defined: The Poet H.D. and Her Worldby Barbara GuestISBN 0385131291 (0-385-13129-1)
Hardcover, Daedalus Books
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The Horse Whisperer: A Novelby Nicholas EvansISBN 0385315236 (0-385-31523-6)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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I Heard the Owl Call My Nameby Margaret CravenISBN 0385025866 (0-385-02586-6)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'I Heard the Owl Call My Name'Book summary:Mark Brian, a young Anglican priest who has not long to live, is sent to the Indian village of Kingcome in the wilds of British Columbia. While sharing the hunting and fishing, the festivals and funerals, the joys and sorrows of a once-proud tribe, Mark learns enough of life to be ready to die. On a cold winter evening when he hears the owl call his name, Mark understands what is to come ...An outstanding and much-acclaimed first novel. The author's perception, wisdom and insight give her unique story the quality of a legend or fable. A rare clarity and simplicity. It is a long time since I was so moved by a story, touching in its dignity and wise in its folklore' Daily Telegraph [via]
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Ice Station Zebraby Alistair MacLeanISBN 0385042671 (0-385-04267-1)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Ice Station Zebra'Book summary:A classic thriller from the bestselling master of action and suspense. The atomic submarine Dolphin has impossible orders: to sail beneath the ice-floes of the Arctic Ocean to locate and rescue the men of weather-station Zebra, gutted by fire and drifting with the ice-pack somewhere north of the Arctic Circle. But the orders do not say what the Dolphin will find if she succeeds - that the fire at Ice Station Zebra was sabotage, and that one of the survivors is a killer... [via]
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The Ill-Fated Peregrinations of Fray Servandoby Reinaldo ArenasISBN 0380750740 (0-380-75074-0)
Softcover, Avon Books
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Illness As Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphorsby Susan SontagISBN 0385267053 (0-385-26705-3)
Softcover, Knopf Publishing Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Illness As Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphors'Book summary:Brimming with humane and original ideas about a disease and the modern condition, this classic essay and its sequel -- written 10 years later -- are compassionate exhortations and a liberating event. "Taken together, the two essays are an exemplary demonstration of the power of the intellect in the face of the lethal metaphors of fear." -- The Nation [via]
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Imagining Argentinaby Lawrence ThorntonISBN 0385240279 (0-385-24027-9)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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In the Country of Menby Hisham MatarISBN 0385340427 (0-385-34042-7)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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Kiplingby Rudyard KiplingISBN 0385042450 (0-385-04245-0)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Kipling'Book summary:A Selection of Kipling's Stories and Poems by John Beecroft illustrated by Richard M. powers. Contents: Kim, The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Brothers, Hungtin-Song of the Seeonee Pack, Kaa's Hungtin, Road-Song of the Bandar-Log, How Fear Came, The Law of the Jungle, Tiger! Tiger!, Mowgli's Song, Letting in the Jungle, Mowgli's Song against People, The King's Ankus, The Song of the Little Hunter, Red Dog, Chil's Song, The Spring Running, The Outsong Just So Stories... Puck of Pook's Hill... [via]
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Lesbian Imagesby Jane RuleISBN 0385042558 (0-385-04255-8)
Hardcover, Doubleday
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Literary Womenby Ellen MoersISBN 0385074271 (0-385-07427-1)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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Little Big Manby Thomas BergerISBN 0385298293 (0-385-29829-3)
Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Little Big Man'Book summary:The story of Jack Crabbe, raised by both a white man and a Cheyenne chief. As a Cheyenne, Jack ate dog, had four wives and saw his people butchered by General Custer's soldiers. As a white man, he participated in the slaughter of the buffalo and tangled with Wyatt Earp. [via]
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Lust for Lifeby Irving StoneISBN 0385042701 (0-385-04270-1)
Hardcover, Doubleday Publishing
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Lust for Life'Book summary:The book captures the atmosphere of the Paris of the Post-Impressionists and reconstructs the development of Van Gogh's art. [via]
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Marcel Proust, Selected Lettersby Marcel Proust, Philip KolbISBN 038514394X (0-385-14394-X)
Hardcover, Doubleday
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Mary Reillyby Valerie MartinISBN 0385249683 (0-385-24968-3)
Hardcover, Doubleday Publishing
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A Medicine for Melancholy and Other Storiesby Ray BradburyISBN 0380730863 (0-380-73086-3)
Softcover, Avon Books
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Miramarby Naguib Mahfouz, John Rodenbeck, Fatma Moussa Mahmoud, Maged El KommosISBN 038526478X (0-385-26478-X)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Miramar'Book summary:A highly charged, tightly written tale of intersecting lives that provides us with both an engaging and powerful story as well as a vivid portrait of life in Egypt in the late 1960's. [via]
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Modern Baptistsby James WilcoxISBN 0385278683 (0-385-27868-3)
Hardcover, Bookthrift Co
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Momoby Michael EndeISBN 038519093X (0-385-19093-X)
Hardcover, Bookthrift Co
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Momo'Book summary:At the edge of the city, in the ruins of an old amphitheatre, there lives a little homelss girl called Momo. Momo has a special talent which she uses to help all her friends who come to visit her. Then one day the sinister men in grey arrive and silently take over the city. Only Momo has the power to resist them, and with the help of Professor Hora and his strange tortoise, Cassiopeia, she travels beyond the boundaries of time to uncover their dark secrets. [via]
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More Die of Heartbreakby Saul BellowISBN 0385318774 (0-385-31877-4)
Softcover, Dell Publishing
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Mr. Maniby A. B. Yehoshua, Hillel HalkinISBN 0385267924 (0-385-26792-4)
Hardcover, Doubleday Publishing
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The National Velvetby Enid BagnoldISBN 0380810565 (0-380-81056-5)
Softcover, Harpercollins Childrens Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The National Velvet'Book summary:The timeless story of spirited Velvet Brown and her beloved horse has thrilled generations of readers. And now the republication of this classic story in a fresh, up-to-date package will charm confirmed fans while captivating new ones. Fourteen-year-old Velvet is determined to turn her untamed horse into a champion and personally ride him to victory in the world's greatest steeplechase, the Grand National. [via]
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New Illustrated Just So Storiesby Rudyard Kipling, NicolasISBN 0385261330 (0-385-26133-0)
Softcover, Random House Children's Books
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The Nuclear Ageby Tim O'BrienISBN 0385297750 (0-385-29775-0)
Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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Our Spoons Came from Woolworthsby Barbara ComynsISBN 0385279604 (0-385-27960-4)
Softcover, Dial Press
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The Outline of History, Being a Plain History of Life and Mankindby H. G. WellsISBN 0385024207 (0-385-02420-7)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Outline of History, Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind'Book summary:Book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1920. Excerpt: ... XXVII THE TWO WESTERN REPUBLICS1 § 1. The Beginnings of the Latins. § 2. A New Sort of State. § 3. The Carthaginian Republic of Rich Men. § 4. The First Punic War. § 5. Cato the Elder and the Spirit of Cato. § 6. The Second Punic War. § 7. The Third Punic War. § 8. How the Punic War Undermined Roman Liberty. § 9. Comparison of the Roman Republic with a Modern State. IT is now necessary to take up the history of the two great republics of the Western Mediterranean, Rome and Carthage, and to tell how Rome succeeded in maintaining for some centuries an empire even greater than that achieved by the conquests of Alexander. But this new empire was, as we shall try to make clear, a political structure differing very profoundly in its nature from any of the great Oriental empires that had preceded it. Great changes in the texture of human society and in the conditions of social interrelations had been going on for some centuries. The flexibility and transferability of money was becoming a power and, like all powers in inexpert hands, a danger in human affairs. It was altering the relations of rich men to the state and to their poorer fellow citizens. This new empire, the Roman empire, unlike all the preceding empires, was not the creation of a great conqueror. No Sargon, no Thothmes, no Nebuchadnezzar, no Cyrus nor Alexander nor Chandragupta, was its fountain head. It was made by a republic. It grew by a kind of necessity through new concentrating and unifying forces that were steadily gathering power in human affairs. 1 A very convenient handbook for this and the next two chapters is Matheson's Skeleton Outline of Roman History. But first it is necessary to give some idea of the state of affaire in Italy in the centuries immediately preceding th... [via]
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Passion's Goldby Susan SackettISBN 0380753189 (0-380-75318-9)
Softcover, Harpercollins
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Republic and Other Worksby PlatoISBN 0385094973 (0-385-09497-3)
Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Republic and Other Works'Book summary:A compilation of the essential works of Plato in one paperback volume: The Republic, The Symposium, Parmenides, Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, and Phaedo. [via]
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Return to Laughterby Elenore Smith BowenISBN 0385053126 (0-385-05312-6)
Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Return to Laughter'Book summary:A vivid and dramatic account of the experiences of an American anthropologist who lived with a primitive bush tribe in Africa. [via]
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The Secret of Sierra Madre: The Man Who Was B. Travenby Will WyattISBN 0385156006 (0-385-15600-6)
Hardcover, Smithmark Pub
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Selected Poems and Letters of Emily Dickinsonby Emily DickinsonISBN 038509423X (0-385-09423-X)
Softcover, Anchor Books
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Shimmerby Sarah SchulmanISBN 0380797658 (0-380-79765-8)
Softcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Shimmer'Book summary:Shimmer is the fifth (and, to date, best) novel from Sarah Schulman, the lesbian bard of contemporary urban fiction. Set in Manhattan during the harrowing McCarthy era of the early 1950s, the book follows Sylvia Golubowsky, a Brooklyn-born and bred gay Jewish woman who aspires to a career as a reporter, biding her time as the head typist in the stenographer pool of a major New York tabloid; the aptly named Austin Van Cleeve, a conniving, pretentious "blue-blooded" Republican gossip columnist armed with a sinister pen that threatens both New York City and Washington, D.C.; and Cal Byfield, an African American Columbia University graduate married to a white jazz pianist, who finds himself working as a short-order cook while seeking recognition as a great American playwright.
It is through the eyes of each of these richly drawn characters, whose lives overlap in unexpected and credible ways, that Schulman so artfully depicts the tempo and texture of one of the lowest points in American history. Here we witness a young, insecure, and vengeful Richard Nixon as he seeks to destroy Alger Hiss to advance his own career from the perspective of Sylvia, who reveals her desire to elect the Progressive Party presidential candidate Henry Wallace, and from that of racist, archconservative Van Cleeve, who would do almost anything to see Eisenhower in office. And, through Schulman's sensitive and skillful prose, we experience the struggles Byfield must face to assert and maintain his integrity while trying to break out as a serious writer as he works to get his plays produced on Broadway.
A major departure for Schulman in both content and style, Shimmer is at once a memorable entertainment and an excellent evocation of race, class, and sex in postwar New York. --Kera Bolonik [via]
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The Sirens Sang of Murderby Sarah L. CaudwellISBN 038529784X (0-385-29784-X)
Hardcover, Dell Publishing
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Sirens Sang of Murder'Book summary:Whilst on a trip to the sunny Channel Islands to find the heir to a lucrative tax law case, young barrister Michael Cantrip finds himself in over his head. Peculiar things begin to occur on the mysterious and isolated islands with something - or somebody - bumping off members of his legal team. With the help of his mentor, amateur investigator Hilary Tamar, Cantrip, must find a safe passage back to the Lincoln's Inn Chambers. [via]
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Six Plays of Strindbergby August StrindbergISBN 0385092725 (0-385-09272-5)
Softcover, Knopf Publishing Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Six Plays of Strindberg'Book summary:offered by a trusted seller [via]
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The Sixteen Pleasuresby Robert HellengaISBN 0385314698 (0-385-31469-8)
Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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Soul on Iceby Eldridge CleaverISBN 038533379X (0-385-33379-X)
Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Soul on Ice'Book summary:The now-classic memoir that shocked, outraged, and ultimately changed the way America looked at the civil rights movement and the black experience.
By turns shocking and lyrical, unblinking and raw, the searingly honest memoirs of Eldridge Cleaver are a testament to his unique place in American history. Cleaver writes in Soul on Ice, "I'm perfectly aware that I'm in prison, that I'm a Negro, that I've been a rapist, and that I have a Higher Uneducation." What Cleaver shows us, on the pages of this now classic autobiography, is how much he was a man. [via]More editions of Soul on Ice:
The Spectator Birdby Wallace StegnerISBN 0385078900 (0-385-07890-0)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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St. Francis of Assisiby G. K. ChestertonISBN 0385029004 (0-385-02900-4)
Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'St. Francis of Assisi'Book summary:There are certainly many studies of Saint Francis of Assisi that an interested reader might find, and many of them immensely praiseworthy. But in reading G.K. Chesterton on Francis you get two glories for one: first is an enlightening study of this most beloved of Christian saints, and second is Chesterton himself, one of the great Christian writers of the 20th century, who converted to Roman Catholicism in 1922 because, it has been said, "only the Roman Church could produce a St. Francis of Assisi". Published shortly after his conversion, Chesterton wrote this book in part to reclaim Francis for the Church. There are always those who want to claim Francis for their cause, Chesterton recognised, who also fail to understand the spiritual and intellectual ground upon which he stands. Chesterton would return Francis to Christ. As he summarises:
however wild and romantic his gyrations might appear to many, [Francis] always hung on to reason by one invisible and indestructible hair ... The great saint was sane ... He was not a mere eccentric because he was always turning towards the center and heart of the maze; he took the queerest and most zigzag short cuts through the wood, but he was always going home.
As one editor of Chesterton's puts it, "of St. Francis he might have said what he said about Blake: 'We always feel that he is saying something very plain and emphatic even when we have not the wildest notion of what it is'". --Doug Thorpe [via]More editions of St. Francis of Assisi:
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Summer Sistersby Judy BlumeISBN 0385337663 (0-385-33766-3)
Softcover, Delta
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Summer Sisters'Book summary:Judy Blume first won legions of fans with such young adult classics as Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret and Forever, in which she tackles the cultural hot button of teenage sexuality. In Summer Sisters, her third novel for adults, the author again explores the ramifications of love--and lust--on two friends. Initially, the differences between Caitlin Somers and Victoria Leonard (or "Vix," as Caitlin christens her) draw them together: privileged Caitlin is wild and outspoken, beautiful but emotionally fragile, while working-class Vix is shy, reserved, and plain in comparison. After Caitlin selects Vix to accompany her to her father's home in Martha's Vineyard for the summer, the two become inextricably connected as "summer sisters."
On the Vineyard, Vix and Caitlin first find love, then sex--and lots of it. Yet Blume soon moves beyond hot fun in the summer sun, tracing the romantic and familial travails of the two from pre-adolescence to adulthood. Solid Vix evolves into Victoria, an equally solid, Harvard-educated, Manhattan public-relations exec. Unpredictable Caitlin opts out of college and travels to Europe, where she has a string of short-lived affairs with a series of intriguing (in every sense of the word) foreigners. It is only after she returns to the Vineyard that Caitlin does the unthinkable, forever changing both her friendship with Vix and their lives. Blume once again proves herself a master of the female psyche, and Summer Sisters is likely to entertain both her postadolescent and more mature readers. [via]
Tara Roadby Maeve BinchyISBN 0385333951 (0-385-33395-1)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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Tereza Batistaby Jorge AmadoISBN 0380754681 (0-380-75468-1)
Softcover, Harpercollins
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The Treasury of American Short Storiesby Nancy SullivanISBN 0385171390 (0-385-17139-0)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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Two Classics of the French Revolution: Reflections on the Revolution in France/the Rights of Manby Edmund Burke, Thomas PaineISBN 0385265778 (0-385-26577-8)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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Vampiresby Alan RyanISBN 0385185626 (0-385-18562-6)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Vampires'Book summary:short stories about vampires [via]
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Veronicaby Nicholas ChristopherISBN 0380806576 (0-380-80657-6)
Softcover, Spike
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Veronica'Book summary:When noted magician Albin White vanishes in the middle of a trick, sent hurtling back in time by his jealous apprentice, Starwood, his daughter Veronica, with the help of Leo, who becomes a conduit between father and daughter, past and present, sets out to bring him back. [via]
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The Way of a Pilgrim : And the Pilgrim Continues His Wayby Helen BacovcinISBN 0385124007 (0-385-12400-7)
Softcover, Doubleday Publishing
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Way of a Pilgrim : And the Pilgrim Continues His Way'Book summary:This enduring work of Russian spirituality has charmed countless people with its tale of a nineteenth-century peasant's quest for the secret of prayer. Readers follow this anonymous pilgrim as he treks over the Steppes in search of the answer to the one compelling question: How does one pray constantly? Through his journeys, and under the tutelage of a spiritual father, he becomes gradually more open to the promptings of God, and sees joy and plenty wherever he goes. Ultimately, he discovers the different meanings and methods of prayer as he travels to his ultimate destination, Jerusalem.
The Way of a Pilgrim is a humble story ripe for renewed appreciation today. The recent changes in Russia have revealed the great religious traditions of that land, and this work, freshly translated for modern times, is among the finest examples of those centuries-old traditions. [via]More editions of The Way of a Pilgrim : And the Pilgrim Continues His Way:
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Wayside School Is Falling Downby Louis SacharISBN 0380731509 (0-380-73150-9)
Softcover, Harpercollins Childrens Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Wayside School Is Falling Down'Book summary:The extraordinary thirty-story school and its zany inhabitants are back in the long-awaited sequel to the classic SIDEWAYS STORIES FROM WAYSIDE SCHOOL, one of the most popular Camelot books ever.
The extraordinary thirty-story school and its zany inhabitants are back in the long-awaited sequel to the classic SIDEWAYS STORIES FROM WAYSIDE SCHOOL, one of the most popular Camelot books ever. "Rib-tickling...sure-to-please..."-Kirkus [via] -
What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Dayby Pearl CleageISBN 038079487X (0-380-79487-X)
Softcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day'Book summary:Oprah Book Club® Selection, September 1998: What makes Pearl Cleage's novel so damned enjoyable? At first glance, after all, What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day seems pretty heavy going: HIV, suicide, sudden infant death syndrome, and drunk driving all figure prominently in the lives of narrator Ava Johnson and her older sister Joyce. It isn't long before crack addiction, domestic violence, and unwed motherhood have joined the list--so, where's the pleasure? The answer lies in the sharp and funny attitude Cleage brings to her depiction of one African American community in the troubled '90s. Ava Johnson, for example, might be HIV-positive, but she's refreshingly forthright about it: "Most of us got it from the boys. Which is, when you think about it, a pretty good argument for cutting men loose, but if I could work up a strong physical reaction to women, I would already be having sex with them. I'm not knocking it. I'm just saying I can't be a witness. Too many titties in one place to suit me."
Ada has spent the last 10 years living in Atlanta. When she discovers she's infected, she sells her hairdressing business and heads back to her childhood home of Idlewild, Michigan, to spend the summer with her recently widowed sister before moving on to San Francisco. Once there, however, she finds herself embroiled in big-city problems--drugs, violence, teen pregnancy, and an abandoned crack-addicted baby, to name just a few--in a small-town setting. Ava also meets Eddie Jefferson, a man with a past who just might change her mind about the imprudence of falling in love.
In less assured hands, such a catalog of disasters would make for maudlin, melodramatic reading indeed. But Cleage, an accomplished playwright, has a way both with characters and with language that lifts this tale above its movie-of-the-week tendencies. In Ava she has created a character who not only effortlessly carries the weight of the story but also provides entertaining commentary on African American life as she goes. Discussing the insular nature of the black community in Atlanta, she recalls, "I'd walk into a reception room and there'd be a room full of brothers, power-brokering their asses off, and I'd realize I'd seen them all naked. I'd watch them striding around, talking to each other in those phony-ass voices men use when they want to make it clear they got juice, and it was so depressing, all I'd want to do was go home and get drunk." Later, she describes the preacher's wife's hair as "pressed and hot-curled within an inch of its life.... Hardly anybody asks for that kind of hard press anymore. Sister seems to have missed the moment when we decided it was okay for the hair to move."
As the trials and tribulations pile on, the experiences of Cleage's characters prove to be universal: death, love, second chances. Ava's acerbic, smart-mouthed narrative keeps the story buoyant; by the time this endearingly imperfect heroine and her cohorts have negotiated the rocky road to a happy ending, readers will be sorry to see her go, even as they wish her well. --Alix Wilber [via]
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The Wolves In The Wallsby Neil Gaiman, Dave McKeanISBN 0380810956 (0-380-81095-6)
Softcover, Harpercollins Childrens Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Wolves In The Walls'Book summary:Truth be told, Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean's picture book The Wolves in the Walls is terrifying. Sure, the story is fairytale-like and presented in a jaunty, casually nonsensical way, but it is absolutely the stuff of nightmares. Lucy hears wolves hustling, bustling, crinkling, and crackling in the walls of the old house where her family lives, but no one believes her. Her mother says it's mice, her brother says bats, and her father says what everyone seems to say, "If the wolves come out of the walls, it's all over." Lucy remains convinced, as is her beloved pig-puppet, and her worst fears are confirmed when the wolves actually do come out of the walls.
Up to this point, McKean's illustrations are spectacular, sinister collages awash in golden sepia tones evocative of the creepy beauty in The City of Lost Children. The wolves explode into the story in scratchy pen-and-ink, all jaws and eyes. The family flees to the cold, moonlit garden, where they ponder their future. (Her brother suggests, for example, that they escape to outer space where there's "nothing but foozles and squossucks for billions of miles.") Lucy wants to live in her own house...and she wants the pig-puppet she left behind.
Eventually she talks her family into moving back into the once-wolfish walls, where they peek out at the wolves who are watching their television and spilling popcorn on slices of toast and jam, dashing up the stairs, and wearing their clothes. When the family can't stand it anymore, they burst forth from the walls, scaring the wolves, who shout, "And when the people come out of the walls, it's all over!" The wolves flee and everything goes back to normal...until the tidy ending when Lucy hears "a noise that sounded exactly like an elephant trying not to sneeze." Adult fans of this talented pair will revel in the quirky story and its darkly gorgeous, deliciously shadowy trappings, but the young or faint of heart, beware! (Ages 9 and older) --Karin Snelson [via]
Zabelleby Nancy KricrianISBN 0380732114 (0-380-73211-4)
Softcover, Bard
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Zenzeleby J. Nozipo MaraireISBN 0385318227 (0-385-31822-7)
Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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