The Dream of the Red Chamber is one of the ôFour Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature." It is renowned for its huge scope, large cast of characters, and telling observations on the life and social structures of 18th century China and is considered by many to be the pinnacle of classical Chinese novels. The ôRed Chamberö is an expression used for the sheltered area where the daughters of wealthy Chinese families lived. Believed to be based on the authorÆs own life and intended as a memorial to the women that he knew in his youth, The Dream of the Red Chamber is a multilayered story that offers up key insights into Chinese culture. Views: 263
From Mexico’s preeminent man of letters, “a Balzacian novel in nine masterly stories” (Vanity Fair) that explores the “uneven and painful meshing of two North american cultures” (Washington Post Book World). A New York Times Notable Book of the Year. A Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year. Translated by Alfred Mac Adam. Views: 261
Something sinister is at work in Hyde River, an isolated old mining town in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest.Something evil.
Under the cover of darkness, it strikes without warning, taking life in the most chilling and savage fashion. The latest victim, nature photographer Cliff Benson, was brutally killed while camping in the mountains.
With little hard evidence to go on, Sheriff Les Collins closes the case, chalking it up to the work of a rogue bear - just like so many other unsolvable deaths and disappearances that have plagued Hyde River over the years.
But wildlife biologist Steve Benson refuses to let the cause of his brother's death remain a mystery. He is joined in his investigation by attractive, auburn-haired Sheriff's Deputy Tracy Ellis. She has grown up in Hyde River. She's seen enough things swept under the rug by local law enforcement to know that something's amiss.
The harder townsfolk are pressed for information, the more they close ranks, as if sworn to secrecy. It is only when Steve gains access to old letters and diaries of the town's forefathers that he begins to peel away the layers of mystery surrounding Hyde River. Steve and Tracy are drawn closer to each other and to the town's terrible secret. What they discover is a predator more terrifying than anything they had imagined and a town in the grip of unspeakable evil.
Once again best-selling author Frank Peretti has crafted a spellbinding novel filled with tension and suspense crescendoing to a peak of raw-edged terror that will keep you breathless. This is masterful storytelling at its very best. Views: 251
The first book of the Exiles trilogy introduces a magical world of political intrigue and family secrets that may determine the fate of an entire nation.A thousand years ago, Mageborns fled prejudice and persecution to colonize the planet Lenfell—pristine, untouched, a perfect refuge for those whose powers were perceived as a threat by people not gifted with magic. But the greater the magic, the greater the peril—and Lenfell was soon devastated by a war between rival Mageborn factions that polluted land, sea, and air with Wild Magic and unleashed the hideous specters known as Wraithenbeasts. Generations after that terrible war, with the land recovered from crippling wounds and the people no longer threatened by genetic damage, Mageborns still practice their craft—but under strict constraints. Yet so long as the rivalry between the Mage Guardians and the Lords of Malerris continues, the threat of another war is ever-present. And someone has been... Views: 250
Claire Harte-Mathias is an infinitely capable solver of other people's problems. Along with her husband, she has established a prestigious foundation to aid in the rehabilitation of people with spinal cord injuries. Training therapists, counseling patients, and conducting workshops keeps Claire busy, fulfilled, and happy. It is a life she wouldn't trade for anything...and one that is about to fall apart. One snowy night, Claire tries and fails to prevent a tragedy from occurring. The incident at first obsesses her, then seems to trigger something deep in her soul. Soon she is haunted by momentary disturbing visions - terrifying images that are vaguely familiar, yet unexplainable. Slowly Claire comes to realize that the pictures are in fact fragmented and forgotten memories of her childhood - a childhood she has always remembered as close to perfect. While part of her wants to see where these memories will lead her another part wants only to run from them, to bury them once again. Confused and frightened, Claire is caught up in a complex and devastating struggle between yesterday and today; between the man who wants to help her and the husband who cannot; between terrible secrets and life-altering revelations. In her fight to uncover and accept the truth, Claire discovers that the past, present, and future are intertwined in a way she can never change...or forget. Written with sensitivity, Brass Ring is a heartfelt and mesmerizing novel of great loss and even greater courage. Views: 244
A decade before her dazzling breakthrough novel, The Birth of Venus, Silver Dagger Award-winning author Sarah Dunant won critical acclaim for her Hannah Wolfe crime novels.
In Under My Skin, private investigator Hannah Wolfe's cushy new assignment takes her to the sumptuous Castle Dean health spa. While being plucked, crimped, steamed, and oiled, Hannah is ideally placed to probe some reported cases of sabotage -- fish in the Jacuzzi and steel nails in the massage heads. But spa owner Olivia Marchant has other problems besides sabotage. Someone is threatening her husband, Maurice, one of London's leading cosmetic surgeons and the man responsible for reconstructing many of the world's rich and famous. In a culture where no one wants to grow old and everyone seems to believe in the power of the knife, Hannah feels like an alien visitor. People will do anything in the name of beauty -- perhaps even commit murder. Views: 241
Set in New Orleans at the turn of the 21st century, this continuation of the highly acclaimed Night People provides a stark, eccentric, and wholly original plunge into the dark and grimy world of just revenge, as it vividly tracks the lives of individuals intent on making a profound difference in the world before they are willingly or forcibly removed from it."[Arise and Walk is] more colorful than a car wreck and as absurdly comprehensible." —David Lynch"Barry Gifford is laconic and intense, apocalyptic and hilarious: always, however, wonderfully readable. With his new book Arise and Walk, I am once again seduced by his Gulf Coast Louisianans, true vessels for our dreams and nightmares, at once real and marvelous." —Jose Yglesias"Gifford nails it down—his books are more fun than nearly any around. If my people ever met Gifford's they'd get along great." —Elmore Leonard"Arise and Walk is Barry Gifford's funniest and fastest yet. Surely this book should place him in the front ranks of contemporary comic novelists." —Al Young"Barry Gifford is a stylist in the manner of Tom McGuane and Joy Williams, with the heart of Raymond Carver. Gifford's sense of life takes him back to life itself as it is lived now."—Jim Harrison"Gifford’s night people are a strange mix of utter weirdness and bedrock humanity, rampant eccentricity and absolute individuality. Some things in life are beyond analysis, and Barry Gifford is one of them." —Booklist"(Barry Gifford's) consummate skills give us reflecting images and themes in quick, bright strokes that linger on the retina... The talk comes from the hot dark of the innards, reminding us that the world is ’wild at heart,' and that we fear and love it that way." —Katherine Dunn Views: 238
Veštac i Ciri u svetu zahvaćenom plamenom…
Veliki sabor čarobnjaka okončava se krvavim prevratom, dok carstvo Nilfgarda ratuje sa kraljevstvima Severa. Ratni vihor besni i razmešta Ciri, Geralta i Jenefer na različite strane sveta. Nastupilo je vreme mača i sekire. Vreme prezira.
U svetu zahvaćenom ratnim razaranjima i pustošenjem na površinu su izmileli Pacovi – banda otpadnika, životnih brodolomnika koje je iznedrio rat. Snažno povezani osećanjem prezira prema svima koji im ne pripadaju, oni ne prezaju ni pred čim, pa ni pred smrću, jer više nemaju šta da izgube.
Vreme prezira je četvrta od sedam knjiga Sage o vešcu, koju sačinjavaju dve zbirke pripovedaka i pet romana. Saga je postala bestseler ne samo u autorovoj rodnoj Poljskoj već i širom sveta. Prevedena je na brojne svetske jezike, po njoj je snimljena TV serija i napravljena čuvena kompjuterska igra The Witcher.
Ova saga je unela korenite promene u žanr epske fantastike. U maštovito oživotvorenom svetu čarobnjaka, vilenjaka, patuljaka, i najrazličitijih čudovišta, osebujno se prepliću mitologija i savremena dinamika akcije, egzotični krajolici, mistika, i sve ono što čini standarde ovog žanra.
„Četvrta knjiga Sage o vešcu je, izgleda, još bolja od prethodne. Strašnom snagom i vrtoglavom akcijom hrli ka ključnim događajima, koji će vas ostaviti bez daha. Bez razmišljanja možemo da kažemo da je ovo jedna od najboljih knjiga epske fantastike.”
Fantasy Fan
„Poput dobro uvežbanog mađioničarskog trika, svaka knjiga Andžeja Sapkovskog opčinjava spojem intelektualne oštrine, mašte i lakonskog humora.”
Qué leer Views: 238
Fame, envy, lust, violence, intrigues literary and criminal - they're all here in The Information. How does one writer hurt another writer? This is the question novelist Richard Tull mills over, for his friend Gwyn Barry has become a darling of book buyers, award committees, and TV interviewers, even as Tull himself sinks deeper into the sub-basement of literary failure. The only way out of this predicament, Tull believes, is the plot the demise of Barry.
"With The Information, Amis delivers a portrait of middle-age realignment with more verbal felicity and unbridled reach than [anyone] since Tom Wolfe forged Bonfire of the Vanities."Houston Chronicle Views: 237
A contemporary Christmas classic for children
of all ages -- including those who pretend to have grown up!
Charlotte and Emily are determined to save Santa from his mischievous twin -- Bob Claus -- who has not only stolen Santa's sleigh and stuffed his toy bag full of mud pies, cat poop, and broccoli, but has also threatened to turn Donner, Blitzen, and the others into reindeer soup!
How the brave but foolhardy sisters fly to the North Pole and rescue Santa from his "deeply troubled" twin is an utterly charming and unforgettable story sure to add sparkle to your holiday season.
Read it aloud, preferably to someone you love to hear laugh!
This perennial yuletide favorite was written by bestselling novelist Dean Koontz in 1996 at the request of his fans and has been pleasing readers every holiday season since. Winner of an Atlantic Monthly fiction competition while he was just a senior in college, Koontz today is a world-famous author whose books have been published in thirty-eight different languages and have sold more than three hundred million copies.
Lavishly illustrated with spectacular paintings by Phil Parks, this thoroughly modern masterpiece breathes new life and warmth into the world's most beloved legend. Views: 229
Best friends Nancy, Bess, and George choose ice cream as the subject of their group project, and when the best parlor in town starts serving yucky flavors, the young sleuth decides to save the day--and her grade. Views: 227
A Philadelphia narcotics cop is shot dead in his home. A bar owner's wife and partner are gunned down during an attempted robbery. And in a beautiful mansion, a young woman dies of a heroin overdose. At first the crimes seem unconnected. But these four deaths are about to trigger a massive convergence of corruption, cops, and the mob that could tear the Philadelphia Police Department apart from the inside out. All the way to the top...** Views: 225
Life in the war zone enters its sixth month of heart-stopping tension in the latest installment of the internationally bestselling Tomorrow series.
In the third installment of the Tomorrow saga, the anything-to-survive existence of Ellie and her friends has sharpened their senses and emboldened their plans. They aren't merely on the defensive anymore; they're also striking back. Their strategy? Attack the enemy not just on land, but also on water. If they have any hope of sabotaging the formidable container ship at Cobbler's Bay, then stealth is a must, but so, too, is one very big explosion.
And if they fail, they may face a whole new kind of terror -- imprisonment. Views: 224
Everyone's favourite troublemaker is causing trouble all year round!In Richmal Crompton's William at Christmas, William Brown, is back in a collection of hilarious festive stories – with a gorgeous cover illustrated by David Roberts and an introduction by The Gruffalo author Julia Donaldson. This is the perfect Christmas gift.Join William as he visits his relations at Christmas, prepares for the local pantomime and enjoys the school holidays with his gang of faithful outlaws – attracting trouble wherever he goes.There is only one William. This tousle-headed, snub-nosed, hearty, lovable imp of mischief has been harassing his unfortunate family and delighting his admirers since 1922.Enjoy more of William's adventures in Just William and Still William. Views: 222
