Günter Grass has been wrestling with Germany's past for decades now. In this new novel Grass [examines a subject that has long been taboo — the suffering of Germans during World War II. It is the story of the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, J a former cruise ship turned refugee carrier, by a Soviet submarine in January 1945. Some 9,000 people, most of them women and children fleeing from the advancing Red Army, went down in the Baltic Sea, making it the deadliest maritime disaster of all time. Grass's narrator is one of the few survivors, a middle-aged journalist who lives in Berlin. Born to an unwed mother on a lifeboat the night of the attack, Paul Pokriefke tries to piece together the tragic events. While his mother Tulla sees her whole existence in terms of that calamitous moment, Paul wishes their life could have been more normal, less touched by the past. For his teenage son Konrad, who dabbles in the dark, far-right corner of the internet, the Gustloff embodies the denial of Germany's wartime agony. Views: 46
Having finally won over Grandmother Hudson, Rain is beginning to find a measure of peace in the privileged world into which she was thrown after the death of her sister. But Rain's real love is acting, and her talent is such that, despite her growing dependence on and love for this unexpected grandchild, Grandmother Hudson decides to send Rain to London, where she will live with her sister, the aristocratic Lenora, and her husband and study at the most respected drama school in the world - RADA.Rain is treated little better than a servant by her aunt and uncle, but she is comforted by the friends she makes and the success she has as one of RADA's most promising actresses. But there is a menacing atmosphere at home which makes Rain uneasy - strange lights coming from the cottage in the garden, footsteps in the corridor in the dead of night. And then one dreadful night, she discovers the shameful secret that is hidden behind her aunt and uncle's facade of... Views: 46
The Breadwinner, the first in the Breadwinner Trilogy, is an award-winning novel about loyalty, survival, families and friendship under extraordinary circumstances. A map, glossary and author's note provide young readers with background and context.One day, Parvana's father is arrested by the Taliban — the extreme religious faction that controls Afghanistan — and the family is left without anyone to earn money and shop for food. Forbidden to work as a girl, Parvana must transform herself into a boy to save her family. The Breadwinner is a novel about loyalty, survival, families and friendship under extraordinary circumstances. A map, glossary and author's note provide young readers with background and context. Views: 46
Thanksgiving is a moving portrait of the profound effects of love when all that seems to remain is loss and grief. Unhinged by his wife’s unexpected death, Anthony, a middle-aged Seattle journalist, becomes obsessed with her past. He drives through the Nevada desert to locate her ex-husband looking for some unnamable solace. But, what awaits him is a bizarre and violent encounter with the past that entangles Anthony with his half-estranged stepchildren, the police, and his own disquieted mind and that only makes Lucy’s ghostly presence seem all the more real. The crisp dialogue, shadowy atmosphere, and sharp pacing of a master crime writer work to great effect in this arresting story that toys with the precipice of insanity and the extremes of passion and loss. This is a splendid shadow play on the enduring human mystery of love.Amazon.com ReviewThanksgiving is a small book with grand ambitions. Michael Dibdin, the author of the Aurelio Zen mysteries (which feature a strong sense of place and an eponymous, freewheeling, and urbanely skeptical Roman police inspector), has created a wisp of longing, a morsel of obsession, a covert glance at the past's capacity to haunt the present and the future.After his wife, Lucy, dies in a plane crash, something compels Anthony to visit Lucy's ex-husband, Darryl Bob, who lives in the middle of a Nevada desert in a trailer filled with audio and video evidence of Lucy's tantalizing and occasionally adulterous sexuality. What prompts the visit? Grief? Anger? A desire to reconnect with the past? We don't know, exactly, and neither does Anthony--nor is he sure why he brought a gun with him. But contrary to all rules of Chekhovian drama, he leaves, shaken and scarred after a particularly disturbing stroll down memory lane, without using the revolver.Shortly after Anthony leaves the trailer, Darryl Bob is found dead, and the police hone in on Anthony as their prime suspect. But this novel is not a mystery, not a police procedural, not a thriller. Dibdin pays scant attention to the plot twist he's created (which works itself out in a distracted sort of manner, receding politely into the background), preferring to concentrate instead on Anthony's struggle to come to terms with Lucy's death and with the idea that in death, even her life is receding from his grasp.The initial encounter between Anthony and Darryl Bob is probably the novel's strongest moment. The two men circle one another warily, feinting with acerbic humor, like lions around a carcass (the metaphor has eerily literal overtones). Darryl Bob's open acknowledgement of their bizarre, post-mortem competition doesn't lessen its impact; the men are struggling to lay claim to a dead woman, seeking to reclaim the past and possess Lucy by appropriating her life and (re)inscribing themselves within and over it. Thanksgiving is the kind of book that lends itself to refined and scholarly discussion (shall we untangle the threads of patriarchal narrative, looking for the palimpsest of a woman's voice?), but that isn't in the end very satisfying to read. The book may wish to be as challenging and austere as an '82 Château Petrus, but in (or under) the glass, it reveals itself as a thin, relatively unimpressive vin ordinaire. --Kelly FlynnFrom Publishers WeeklyA middle-aged British journalist based in Seattle tracks down his deceased wife's first husband in this novel of nostalgia and obsession, a departure for Dibdin, author of the popular Aurelio Zen mystery series. After the death of his American wife, Lucy, in a plane crash, Anthony travels to Nevada to visit Darryl Bob, Lucy's creepy and reclusive former husband, who lives in a trailer filled with porn photos of Lucy and audiotapes of her adulterous trysts. Shortly after Anthony leaves Darryl Bob's trailer, Darryl Bob is found dead. Although Anthony is blameless, he is a suspect because his handgun is found in the trailer--but only because Darryl Bob bought it when Anthony began to brandish it in agitation at Darryl Bob's sarcasm. Gradually, Anthony shakes himself loose of the murder charge. Retreating to his parents' vacation home in France, he works toward adjusting to the reality of his wife's death, despite imagined visits from her ghost. A touching flashback to his courtship of Lucy and transcriptions of his past conversations with her further fleshes out Dibdin's portrait of the couple. Snapping along persuasively as it skips back and forth in time, the novel perceptively questions the boundaries of intimacy and love, though it sometimes moves too smoothly for its own good. Although Anthony's path toward psychological repair is attentively chronicled, we never really become acquainted with his personality--he remains a cipher throughout. (Mar. 29)Forecast: Dibdin shifts easily to literary fiction with this capable offering, but his mysteries are livelier and arguably more substantial. Fans may go along for the ride, but they will surely clamor for the speedy return of Aurelio Zen. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. Views: 46
Since she was old enough to enjoy pleasure by her own hand, Lydia found that some kinds of pain made it even better. It was a secret she'd kept to herself until the day she moaned a little too loudly while tormenting her nipples with tools in the garage. Caught by her handsome next door neighbor, Lydia joined him down a road of pleasure, pain and submission that would change her life forever. Views: 46
Jess and her friends are back for another instalment in the bestselling teen series from Queen of Teen nominee, Cathy Hopkins. Views: 46
For one night Kitty will be everything Ethan and Finn want. But living out her wildest fantasies was never meant to be this good. When the sun comes up she’ll discover she’s given them more than her body. She’s given them her heart too. ***Previously published in the Down & Dirty box set. Views: 46
Life begins at 16 ...Driving. Dating. A real social life. And the one night where it all comes together ... the Sweet Sixteen is the ultimate party. Whether a total blast or a total bust, it's a memory to last a lifetime.Now you're invited to six Sweet Sixteens, in six locations across the country. The party is just getting started ...Kari has one night to make a big impression on the guy she's secretly loved since seventh grade - and a Sweet Sixteen bash featuring the coolest swing band in South Carolina seems the perfect place to do it. But when things go haywire thanks to her embarrassing family, the impression she makes isn't quite the one she had planned ... Views: 46
THE COLLAPSE AND REVIVAL OF AMERICAN COMMUNITY Views: 46
