"Simenon created one of the great moral detectives . . .a master of the slow unfolding of the criminal mind."-JOHN MORT I M E R Someone is moving a kind old woman's furniture while she is away, but by the time Maigret investigates, she is dead. A kind, elderly lady-meticulously groomed and showing no signs of derangement-appeals to Inspector Maigret, frightened because someone has been moving furniture in her apartment. Nothing, however, has been stolen, and Maigret's subordinates at Police Headquarters shrug her off as "Maigret's madwoman." Touched by the imploring look in her eyes, Maigret promises to investigate-but someone gets there ahead of him. "Simenon is . . . in a class by himself."-T H E N E W YO R K E R G eorges Simenon (1903-1989) was born in Liege, Belgium. He published his first novel at seventeen and went on to write more than two hundred novels, becoming one of the world's most prolific and bestselling authors. His books have sold more than 500 million copies and have been translated into fifty languages. Maigret is a registered trademark of the Estate of Georges Simenon Views: 160
This exciting new translation will appeal to modern readers who find the twists and turns of Game of Thrones so compelling.
The Three Kingdoms is an epic Chinese novel written over six centuries ago. It recounts in vivid historical detail the turbulent years at the close of the Han Dynasty, when China broke into three competing kingdoms and over half the population were either killed or driven from their homes. Part myth, part fact, readers will experience the loyalty and treachery, the brotherhood and rivalry of China's legendary heroes and villains during the most tumultuous period in Chinese history.
Considered the greatest work in classic Chinese literature, The Three Kingdoms is read by millions throughout Asia today. Seen not just as a great work of art, many Chinese view it as a guide to success in life and business as well as a work that offers great moral clarity—while many foreigners read it to gain insights into Chinese society and culture. From the saga of The Three Kingdoms, readers will learn how great warriors motivate their troops and enhance their influence, while disguising their weaknesses and turning the strengths of others against them.
This third volume concludes the tale of Liu Bei and his sworn brothers-in-arms, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu, whose loyalty and fidelity are sorely tested in a society at war for its very survival. Views: 160
Living in a seaside mobile home, the Aldens unravel the secret of two secluded women. Views: 159
SAN QUENTIN
I've got to make my older brother understand: He has to get me out of here. It's not the walls, not the monotony, not the guards, not the cell the size of a closet.
It is, very simply, a matter of life and death. It's a guard who's been assaulted … and according to California law, it's death for a lifer to strike a guard.
That's me they're talking about. I'm the lifer.
And as I sit here looking at him, I know he'll do it — for his kid brother. He always was a sucker.
"I can hardly endorse the escape plan that gives this book its excitement, but the author has really got the feel of prison life and the facts about what it's like inside." — Harley O. Teets, Warden, California State Prison, San Quentin
The House of Numbers draws its grim excitement from San Quentin, and its compelling drama from two brothers in conflict — over a desperate escape plan … and over a woman.
Soon to be an M-G-M movie starring JACK PALANCE Views: 158
Osamu Dazai is one of the most famous—and infamous—writers of 20th-century Japan. A Shameful Life (Ningen shikkaku) is his final published work and has become a bestselling classic for its depiction of the tortured struggle of a young man to survive in a world that he cannot comprehend. Paralleling the life and death of Dazai himself, the delicate weaving of fact and fiction remorselessly documents via journals the life of Yozo, a university student who spends his time in increasing isolation and debauchery. His doomed love affairs, suicide attempts, and constant fear of revealing his true self haunt the pages of the book and reveal a slow descent into madness. This dark tale nevertheless conveys something authentic about the human heart and its inability to find its true bearing. Views: 158
Published in 1905, this story of love and adventure in early seventeenth century France features the handsome, devil-may-care Bardelys, favorite of the dissolute Louis XIII, who enters into a wager with the king that will lead to Bardelys losing his heart . . . and very nearly his head. Views: 158
A "stimulating and thought-provoking" guide to help you make productive and autonomous choices toward rewriting your life (Los Angeles Times). We choose a "life script" at an early age. But you can change its course. Whether born into wealth or poverty, into nurturing families or damaged abusers, fostered by strict parents or careless and undisciplined ones, each individual still has a spiritual core that exists independent of the environment and is equally crucial to his or her destiny. Countering the fundamental principle of psychiatry which asserts that emotional and mental distress comes from within, Claude Steiner believes that people are innately healthy but develop a pattern early in life based upon negative or positive influences of those around them. Those influences can rule every detail of our lives until our death. Thus children decide, however unconsciously, whether they will be happy or depressed, winners or failures,... Views: 158
"The Bridge on the River Kwai" tells the story of three POWs who endure the hell of the Japanese camps on the Burma-Siam railway - Colonel Nicholson, a man prepared to sacrifice his life but not his dignity; Major Warden, a modest hero, saboteur and deadly killer; Commander Shears, who escaped from hell but was sent back.
Ordered by the Japanese to build a bridge, the Colonel refuses, as it is against regulations for officers to work with other ranks. The Japanese give way but, to prove a point of British superiority, construction of the bridge goes ahead - at great cost to the men under Nicholson's command. Views: 157
In a tight, dramatic, two-character, two-act play Ted Allan, one of Canada's best-known playwrights, challenges us to think again about love and guilt, about madness and normalcy. Views: 157
At thirteen, Ben O'Neal is about to begin his lifelong dream--to go to sea. But before Ben sails, he receives an urgent message from Teetoncey, saying she's in trouble. Views: 156
Raven is an ugly man dedicated to ugly deeds. His cold-blooded killing of a European Minister of War is an act of violence with chilling repercussions, not just for Raven himself but for the nation as a whole. The money he receives in payment for the murder is made up of stolen notes and when the first of these is traced, Raven becomes a man on the run. As he tracks down the agent who has been double-crossing him and attempts to elude the police, he becomes both hunter and hunted: an unwitting weapon of a strange kind of social justice. In doing so, he sets the stage for Greene’s next novel, Brighton Rock. This Penguin Classics edition features an introduction by Samuel Hynes.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators. Views: 156
