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The Mystery of the Purple Pool

Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny used to live alone in a boxcar. Now they have a home with their grandfather, and they're going on an exciting trip to New York City! The children have a great time visiting the Empire State Building and ice skating at Rockefeller Center. But they discover something very strange at the hotel swimming pool: Someone has dyed the water bright purple! Who would do that? And why?
Views: 346

Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas

When the stock market crashes on the Thursday before Easter, you - an ambitious, though ineffectual and not entirely ethical young broker - are convinced you're facing the Weekend From Hell. You don't know the half of it! This is, after all, a Tom Robbins novel. Obviously, before the market reopens on Monday, you're going to have to scramble and scheme to cover your butt, but there's no way you can anticipate the baffling disappearance of a 300-pound psychic, the fall from grace of a born-again monkey, or the intrusion in your life of a tattooed stranger intent on blowing your mind and most of your fuses. Over these fateful three days, you are jerked from one trial and one revelation to another; forced to confront things ranging from mysterious African rituals to legendary amphibians, from tarot-card bombshells to street violence, from your own sexuality to outer space. The weekend isn't from Hell, it's from Sirius the Dog Star. And by the time it's over, the glide path of your destiny has been knocked widely askew. You may or may not be a better person, you may or may not have found love, the world may or may not be a different place, yet cosmic connections have been established that cannot be broken. And as an indication of lust how strange it has all become, you - prosaic, materialistic, irritable you - are left with a complete understanding of the surprisingly serious phrase "half asleep in frog pajamas." According to the Los Angeles Times, "Trying to describe a Tom Robbins novel by summarizing its plot is like pointing to a snowflake and asking someone to grasp the concept of downhill skiing." Robbins's eagerly awaited sixth novel is no exception, but the foregoing provides acursory peek at the narrative drift of a daring, entertaining, and illuminating reading experience. In Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas, the author explores new terrain. As always, however, his prose is funny, wise, provocative, erotic, lyrical - and a little on the wild side. Longtime Rob
Views: 345

Comanche Magic

HE WOVE A SPELL AROUND HER HEART Handsome and powerful, with enough Comanche blood coursing through his veins to make him a little bit dangerous, Chase Wolf was used to getting what he wanted. So when Chase saw Franny--a golden-haired angel with deep green eyes, delicate features, and the sweetest smile--he set out to make her his. As tempted as Franny was, she had too many secrets to let someone enter her world--secrets that would send any reasonable man packing. But Chase was far from reasonable, and despite her desperate attempts to push him away, he would not let her past destroy their future. For his Comanche heart knew that no price was too great to pay for love, happiness, and most of all, magic.
Views: 344

Rhapsody in Stephen's Green/The Insect Play

Using a play by Karl and Josef Capek as source, Flann O'Brien locates his insect drama in Dublin, his most familiar stalking- territory. His adaptation is a vehicle for ridicule and invective, targeting race, religion, greed, identity and purpose. With his extraordinary ear for dialogue, O'Brien creates his own fantastical world, and the outcome is a hilarious satire of Irish stereotypes - as Orangemen, Dubliners, Corkagians and culchies become warring ants, bees, crickets, dung-beetles, and other small-minded invertebrae. The lost text of this play, Hilton Edwards' prompt copy from the 1943 Gate Theatre performance, was discovered in the archives at Northwestern University, Illinois. 'A play by Ireland's most celebrated comic writer, Flann O'Brien, lost for fifty years, has been discovered in the archives of Northwestern University, Illinois, by an American academic. The O'Brien play, Rhapsody in Stephen's Green, was put on in Dublin by the Edwards-MacLiammoir company at the Gaiety Theatre during Lent in 1943 with a cast of 150 - representing millions, as is obligatory with an insect play. But, presumably because of the offence it gave to Catholics, Ulster Protestants, Irish civil servants, Corkmen, and the aspersions it seemed to cast on married life and the superpatriotic Fianna Fail party, it only ran six days and was never again performed ... However it and the context in which it was born - and rapidly snuffed out - gives intriguing insights into neutral Ireland of the 1940s, suffocating in puritanism and insular politics.' Peter Lennon, The Guardian, 17th of November 1994
Views: 344

Queen

Queen of HeartsNo stranger to responsibility, Queen was the one who cared for her younger sisters when their errant dad was otherwise occupied. Now that the girls are all grown up, Queen is finally free to pursue her own dreams. And she knows they're bound to take her farther than the Tennessee hills...some day.Cody Bonner loves being the father of three young boys, though raising them on his own is a handful. Then Queen shows up. From the very start Cody knows this fiery, flame-haired lady is much more than just a housekeeper. Her remarkable heart and passion move him in ways he's never felt before. The proud, handsome widower's got a love in him that could make Queen Houston happy for the rest of her days. All he has to do is convince her restless royal highness that the sweetest dreams of all wait just inside his door...
Views: 343

Making a Winning Short

Making a Winning Short is the first book to give hands-on instruction on how to write, direct, edit, and produce a fictional short in film or video. Edmond Levy guides the beginning filmmaker step-by-step through the stages of making a short: writing the script (from developing the idea to fine-tuning the final draft), launching production, casting, and working with the actors, working with the crew, directing the camera, editing, and other aspects of post-production. He devotes a separate chapter to Hi-8 video and gives a list of short-film festivals, both domestic and international.
Views: 343

Skylark

The second book in the series that began with the Newbery Medal–winning Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan. My mother, Sarah, doesn't love the prairie. She tries, but she can't help remembering what she knew first. Sarah came to the prairie from Maine to marry Papa. But that summer, a drought turned the land dry and brown. Fires swept across the fields and coyotes came to the well in search of water. So Sarah took Anna and Caleb back east, where they would be safe. Papa stayed behind. He would not leave his land. Maine was beautiful, but Anna missed home, and Papa. And as the weeks went by, she began to wonder what would happen if the rains never came. Would she and Caleb and Sarah and Papa ever be a family again?
Views: 342

All the Trouble in the World

With All the Trouble in the World, P. J. O'Rourke once again landed on best-seller lists around the country, confirming his reputation as the pre-eminent political humorist of our time. Attacking fashionable worries - all those terrible problems that are constantly on our minds and in the news, but about which most of us have no real clue - P. J. crisscrosses the globe in search of solutions to today's most vexing issues, including overpopulation, famine, plague, and multiculturalism, and in the process produces a hilarious and informative book which ensures that the concept of political correctness will never be the same again. "One of the funniest, most insightful, dead-on-the-money books of the year." - Los Angeles Times; "All the Trouble in the World is O'Rourke's best work since Parliament of Whores." - The Houston Post; "The dispatches are unfailingly funny....Mr. O'Rourke gets to the heart of the matter with a steady stream of wisecracks....Economists, political scientists...
Views: 329

The Case of the Floating Crime

Volunteering on a hospital ship that brings medical care to South America, Nancy begins to suspect that someone is using the ship to transport illegal cargo and must track down the clues before her own health is risked.
Views: 327

Recessional

In this remarkable novel, Pulitzer Prize–winning author James A. Michener draws on his unparalleled gift for storytelling, his deep understanding of American society, and his own life experiences to illuminate the challenges of aging and the folly of youth. As the new director of a Florida retirement home known as the Palms, Andy Zorn suffers no shortage of loving support from his “elders,” a group of five passionate, outspoken residents. Still, Andy’s shortcomings tear him apart. But when he meets an extraordinary young woman who has been forced to rebuild her life after suffering crippling injuries, he finds himself falling in love. And with a few gentle jabs from his more mature friends, he discovers a wonderful new purpose in life. BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from James A. Michener's Hawaii. Praise for Recessional “The best moments in the novel occur when the characters disclose what’s in their hearts and minds with rueful, snappy humor.”—The New York Times Book Review “Michener hooks you with wonderfully humorous scenes. These are then interwoven between the moments of pain and heartache brought about by life choices we all must make.”—Tulsa World “Engaging . . . One will be drawn into the novelist’s world. . . . The lush natural setting provides James Michener plenty to show and tell.”—The Washington Times
Views: 324

Our Game

At forty-eight, Tim Cranmer is a secret servant in a premature retirement to deepest rural England. His Cold War is fought and won, and he is free to devote himself to his stately manor house, his vineyard, and his beautiful young mistress, Emma.
Views: 324

Boom!

Jim and his best friend Charlie bug the staff room, and overhear two teachers speak in a strange language. What does "spudvetch" mean? Why do Mr Kidd's eyes flicker with fluorescent blue light when Charlie says spudvetch to him? A high-powered adventure can end only with a Boom!
Views: 320

Samantha

Lady Samantha Barrett is determined to find the man of her dreams. Of course, he must be devastatingly handsome and just a bit dangerous. Now, her coach is filled with a collection of gothic novels and her head with romantic notions as she eagerly leaves her brother's country estate for her first London Season. Still unsophisticated and too innocent by far, Samantha is ill-prepared for the hypocrisy of the town or for the formidable stranger who crosses her path-- a stranger she is sure must be her long-awaited hero... Remington Worth, the Earl of Gresham, is reputed to be anything but a hero. He is, however, intrigued by the fresh, young Lady Samantha. At sea, Remington had been a brilliant captain. To help save his country, he has become the Crown's most deadly and dedicated covert agent, posing as a notorious womanizer and blackmailer. His latest orders are to investigate the mysterious disappearances of England's prized merchant vessels. He will allow no one to get in his way or touch his heart-- until Samantha.
Views: 310

The Body Farm

The Body Farm - a research institute that tests the decomposition of corpses. Black Mountain, North Carolina: a sleepy little town where the local police deal with one homicide a year, if they're unlucky, and where people are still getting used to the idea of locking their doors at night. But violent death is no respecter of venue, and the discovery of the corpse of the corpse of an 11-year-old girl sends shock waves through the community. Dr Kay Scarpetta, Chief medical Examiner on a similar case in Virginia, is called in to apply her forensic skills to this latest atrocity, but the apparent simplicity of the case proves something of a poisoned chalice - until Scarpetta finds enlightenment through the curious pathologists' playground known as the Body Farm. From Author’s Website
Views: 305

When Santa Fell to Earth

What would happen if Santa fell to Earth? Christmas through the eyes of Cornelia Funke: quirky, funny, ultimately heartwarming, and packaged in a collectible format. A new holiday classic! Scared by a storm, Twinklestar, the least reliable reindeer, bolts--causing Santa and his sleigh to crash-land. And though Santa has dropped into a friendly neighborhood, he's not safe: Jeremiah Goblynch, the ruthless new leader of the Council of Yuleland, is determind to put an end to children's wishes and turn the holiday season into his own personal moneymaking scheme. As the last REAL St. Nick around, only Santa stands between Goblynch and his grinchlike plan. With the help and hope of kids Charlotte and Ben, Santa must face Goblynch and his Nutcracker goons to save Christmas!
Views: 302