When Katie O'Roark receives an invitation from the One Last Wish Foundation to spend the summer at Jenny House, she eagerly says yes. Katie is ever grateful to the anonymous "JWC," the person who gave her the gift that allowed her to receive a heart transplant. Now Katie is asked to help others who, like herself, are facing medical odds against them.
Being a "Big Sister" to Amanda, an eleven-year-old victim of leukemia; Chelsea, a thirteen-year-old candidate for a heart transplant; and Lacey, a fifeen-year-old diabetic who refuses to face her problems, is a challenge. As the summer progresses, the girls form a bond of friendship as they behave "just like healthy kids."
When a crisis occurs and one of the girls does not get to fulfill her dreams, the friends are devastated. The girls vow to gather each summer, so long as one of them is alive, in honor of their dreams and of a friendship strong enough to endure beyond this life.
From the Paperback edition. Views: 750
On Christmas Day 1884, a desperate plea from a mysterious woman leads Arthur Conan Doyle—struggling physician, aspiring writer, and part-time demystifier of the occult—to a seance in London’s East End and into a fiendish and deadly trap. Stunned by a shocking display of black magic, Doyle witnesses a murder, nearly falling victim himself before being rescued by a secretive stranger: Jack Sparks, a man who claims to be special agent to Queen Victoria. He tells Doyle that he has been targeted by a diabolical coven of Satanists—the Dark Brotherhood.
As they track their attackers across the length and breadth of Britain, assailed by forces of darkness both human and supernatural, Conan Doyle and Sparks unmask a terrifying conspiracy that threatens not only the Crown but the very fabric of modern civilization. Their only clue: a list of seven names, the leaders of the Brotherhood.
Skeptical by nature and profession, Doyle labors to prove that the events he has witnessed—horrifying visions, zombies, ghouls, molecular alteration—are elaborate ruses with logical explanations. But if so, why? Simply because Doyle’s anti-occultist writings, never even published, have inadvertently exposed the Brotherhood’s intentions? Who is the elusive, seemingly superhuman mastermind behind the Seven? Most important, as Doyle continues to put his life in the hands of Jack Sparks, the question persists: Can Sparks be trusted? Views: 748
Paperback. Pub Date: 2000 Pages: 381 Publisher: HarperCollins The sequel to the cult classic The Dice Man this book can also change your life! Larry Rhinehart is the Son of an Infamous father. - the renegade psychiatrist Luke Rhinehart. Otherwise known as the Dice Man.Luke became a cult figure in the seventies. inspiring thousands to follow him into the anarchic world of Dice Living. where every decision is made not by the self. but by the roll of the dice.Larry. however. is emphatically not a follower. He has grown up to have a great respect for order and control. A wealthy Wall Street analyst. all set to marry the boss's daughter. Larry has got life where he wants it. Until rumours begin to circulate about the reappearance of his long-vanished father - and Larry's carefully organized world begins to look a lot less certain.By turns funny. moving and wildly erotic. The Sear... Views: 747
***NEW YORK TIMES* BESTSELLER**
The FBI doesn’t believe it. The Governor wants the problem to disappear. But agent Judy Maddox knows the threat is real: An extreme group of eco-terrorists has the means and the know-how to set off a massive earthquake of epic proportions. For California, time is running out.
Now Maddox is scrambling to hunt down a petty criminal turned cult leader turned homicidal mastermind. Because she knows that the dying has already begun. And things will only get worse when the earth violently shifts, bolts, and shakes down to its very core.
**Praise for *The Hammer of Eden***
“Follett ratchets up the Richter scale of suspense.”**—*USA Today***
* *
“Peerless pacing and character development . . . *The Hammer of Eden *will nail readers to their seats.”**—*People *(A Page-Turner of the Week)**
“The thrills hit unnervingly close to home in Follett’s latest white-knuckler.”**—*San Francisco Chronicle***
* *
“Riveting . . . taut plotting, tense action, skillful writing, and myriad unexpected twists make this one utterly unputdownable.”**—*Booklist *(starred review)**
*From the Paperback edition.* Views: 744
Someone tries to steal a horse from the Morgans' farm. Views: 740
Here is a treat for John Irving addicts and a perfect introduction to his work for the uninitiated. To open this spirited collection, Irving explains how he became a writer. There follow six scintillating stories written over the last twenty years ending with a homage to Charles Dickens. This irresistible collection cannot fail to delight and charm. Views: 734
"DRAMATIC...ENTHRALLING...EXPERTLY CRAFTED...Michener treats each of these creatures with fundamental respect, and in many cases, admiration and awe, if not outright love."
--The Virginian-Pilot & The Ledger-Star
In these sixteen wonderful stories, bestselling author James A. Michener lights up nature's most awesome and beguiling handiwork--from the sublime shaping and reshaping of earth's land and seas to the ridiculous armadillo whose assault on a bit of Texas real estate paid off handsomely. Chosen from Michener's most popular books--including one story never before published in paperback--these mini-masterpieces take us deep into the secret lives of animals and the hidden world of nature. In them we hear the music of the spheres and feel the heartbeat of creation.
"Contain[s] the dramatic elements of a life--the wonder of birth, rites of passage, lots of conflict, much of it physical and bloody, and death...As characters in a Michener novel, a beaver can know loneliness, a buffalo can bide his time, a salmon can feel encouraged, and a woolly mammoth can 'luxuriate' in the ecological rewards of a plains fire."
--Boston Sunday Herald
"Delightful...Nature writing at its most fluid and involving."
--Booklist Views: 733
Atop a twisting, canyon-climbing road, a witch lurks in a fortress built strong to keep out dragons and ogres. In another part of the countryside, a young orphan is maturing into a beautiful woman in the enchanted village that is her home. Somewhere nearby, a young man is seeking adventure after running away from his family's small farm. Suddenly a strange and terrible prophecy sets off a chain of events that will bring these three together in the heroic, romantic, and thrilling tale of an age-old battle.
From the Paperback edition. Views: 733
Being sixteen means all kids of freedom--driving on your own, going to the mall with friends, dating. But Dawn Rochelle can't feel free because of the fear that her cancer will return. Maybe her greatest freedom can only come when she has the courage to live--when she has no time to cry. Views: 732
In this all-new adventure, Nancy becomes entangled in a web of drama, danger and deadly ambition. Actress Evelyn Caldwell wants to transform a Connecticut barn into a big-time theater. When someone threatens to burn her out, Nancy investigates--but she may be the one to get burned. Views: 730
The history of Nantucket Island has too often been reduced to a collection of quaint legends and warmed-over whaling tales. In contrast, Nathaniel Philbrick's Away off Shore focuses on the real people (great and obscure, famous and infamous) behind one of America's most extraordinary success stories: Nantucket, the tiny island that became the whaling capital of the world. Views: 721
The Aldens have an adventure right in Greenfield. It all starts with some special news from Cousins Joe and Alice. Then a figure skating troupe comes to town—and a blizzard, too! Not long afterward, a house nearby is burglarized, and the evidence seems to point to the skaters. Once again, the Boxcar Children find themselves investigating a mystery! Views: 716
It's the summer holidays--time for camping, fishing or just lazing, until girls move in next door. That means war, but the girls know how to fight back. Phyllis Reynolds Naylor is the winner of the Newbery Medal. Views: 715
Stacey starts dating a jock basketball player and falls in with a super-cool crowd, including the cheerleaders who ask her to try out for the squad. Views: 712
Blue Bamboo is a collection of seven short stories by one of Japan's preeminent postwar writers and prose stylists, Osamu Dazai. Not the typical romantic fantasies so often seen in Japanese writing, filled with water sprites and vengeful ghosts, these stories are a mixture of fantastic allegory, slightly skewed fables, and affecting romantic tales. Revealing the wide range of Dazai's imaginative powers, they also give a glimpse of his humane and idealistic side.
From the title story, about an impoverished, henpecked scholar who is transformed by the love of a voluptuous bird, to "The Chrysanthemum Spirit," about a passionate gardener who meets a brother and sister with extraordinary powers, Dazai creates a world of fantasy and romance that is infused with his own psychological concerns. Many readers may recall the poignancy of Oscar Wilde's The Happy Prince or Han Christian Andersen.
The collection is capped by two delightful stories-within-a-story, in which the assorted members of a quirky family compose alternate episodes of a slightly gothic romance with hints of Poe and Saki (in "On Love and Beauty") and a wildly elaborate retelling of Rapunzel that is engaging, horrifying, and touching by turns (in "Lanterns of Romance").
All in all, these warm, inventive, and life-affirming stories will strike a deep, satisfying chord in many readers. Views: 707
