In his first novel, Dave Eggers has written a moving and hilarious tale of two friends who fly around the world trying to give away a lot of money and free themselves from a profound loss. It reminds us once again what an important, necessary talent Dave Eggers is.
From the Trade Paperback edition. Views: 168
Anyone who loves France (or just feels strongly about it), or has succumbed to the spell of Julian Barnes's previous books, will be enraptured by this collection of essays on the country and its culture.
Barnes's appreciation extends from France's vanishing peasantry to its hyper-literate pop singers, from the gleeful iconoclasm of "nouvelle vague" cinema to the orgy of drugs and suffering that is the Tour de France. Above all, Barnes is an unparalleled connoisseur of French writing and writers. Here are the prolific and priapic Simenon, Baudelaire, Sand and Sartre, and several dazzling excursions on the prickly genius of Flaubert. Lively yet discriminating in its enthusiasm, seemingly infinite in its range of reference, and written in prose as stylish as "haute couture, "Something to Declare is an unadulterated joy. "From the Trade Paperback edition." Views: 163
For fans of Stephen King's Misery and Jo Nesbø's The Snowman comes an engrossing thriller about a monster who becomes a victim and a victim who becomes a monster. From Patrick Senécal, the Quebec author who has sold over a million books worldwide.One sunny fall day, Dr. Bruno Hamel's life changes forever. His beloved seven-year-old daughter, Jasmine, is the victim of a tragic crime. Grief-stricken, Hamel sets in play a meticulous plan. He will kidnap the man responsible for his daughter's death and make him pay horribly for what he has done. He manages to ambush a police transport and disappear with his target. But Hamel hasn't accounted for Hervé Mercure, a detective with a troubled past who becomes certain he can track down Hamel by studying clues in his past—and in the increasingly unsettling phone calls Hamel makes to his partner, Sylvie. Both riveting and provocative, this daring thriller is an enthralling... Views: 163
This multi-award winning novel set in southern Iran follows an Iranian-Armenian housewife’s struggles to find fulfilment within her family’s expectations. A model 1960s wife and mother, Clarisse leads an unremarkable life. She has all she’s ever wanted: a well-respected engineer husband and three children, tucked away in a wealthy, middle-class neighbourhood of Abadan. Swaddled in the comforting monotony of cleaning, cooking, sewing, shopping, and dining at the Oil Company club, Clarisse’s greatest anxiety is keeping the peace with her critical mother, unmarried sister, distant husband, and quarrelling children. But her tranquillity ends forever with the arrival of an enigmatic Armenian family across the street. The debonair widower, his beguiling tween daughter, and his mother, a domineering aristocrat with an exotic past, steal their way into Clarisse’s home. And before she has time to understand what’s happening, passions, politics, and a plague of locusts have whipped up emotions that she never knew she had. Suddenly, there are options, opinions, desires, a wholly different life ready for the taking – but only if she can figure out what they are. Published to instant acclaim in Pirzad’s native Iran and winning multiple awards, including the prestigious Houshang Golshiri award for Best Novel of the Year, I Turn Out the Light is a humorous yet poignant insight into the hopes and aspirations of Iranians in the years that led to the Islamist Revolution. Zoya Pirzad is a renowned Iranian-Armenian writer and novelist. She has written two novels and three collections of short stories, all of which have enjoyed international success. Her most recent collection of stories, The Bitter Taste of Persimmon, won the prize for Best Foreign Book of 2009 in France. She grew up in Abadan, where this novel is set, and now lives in Tehran. Views: 163
Eleven-year-old Samuel was born as Master Hackler's slave, and working the Kentucky farm is the only life he's ever known--until one dark night in 1859, that is. With no warning, cranky old Harrison, a fellow slave, pulls Samuel from his bed and, together, they run. The journey north seems much more frightening than Master Hackler ever was, and Samuel's not sure what freedom means aside from running, hiding, and starving. But as they move from one refuge to the next on the Underground Railroad, Samuel uncovers the secret of his own past--and future. And old Harrison begins to see past a whole lifetime of hurt to the promise of a new life--and a poignant reunion--in Canada.In a heartbreaking and hopeful first novel, Shelley Pearsall tells a suspenseful, emotionally charged story of freedom and family. Trouble Don't Last includes an historical note and map.From the Hardcover edition. Views: 163
In an alternate-world Los Angeles, prosecutor/psychic Lee Enfield and her partner, Gelert, investigate the murder of an elf. They soon reveal a deadly network of ties among organized crime, multinational corporations, and planetary governments of the Seven Worlds--all working together on the "ethnic cleansing" of elves from the alternate world of Alfheim. Original. Views: 160
In the near future, disease will be a condition of the past. Most genetic defects will be removed at birth; the remaining during infancy. Unfortunately, there will be a generation left behind. For members of that missed generation, small advances will be made. Through various programs, they will be taught to get along in the world despite their differences. They will be made active and contributing members of society. But they will never be normal.
Lou Arrendale is a member of that lost generation, born at the wrong time to reap the awards of medical science. Part of a small group of high-functioning autistic adults, he has a steady job with a pharmaceutical company, a car, friends, and a passion for fencing. Aside from his annual visits to his counselor, he lives a low-key, independent life. He has learned to shake hands and make eye contact. He has taught himself to use “please” and “thank you” and other conventions of conversation because he knows it makes others comfortable. He does his best to be as normal as possible and not to draw attention to himself.
But then his quiet life comes under attack. It starts with an experimental treatment that will reverse the effects of autism in adults. With this treatment Lou would think and act and be just like everyone else. But if he was suddenly free of autism, would he still be himself? Would he still love the same classical music–with its complications and resolutions? Would he still see the same colors and patterns in the world–shades and hues that others cannot see? Most importantly, would he still love Marjory, a woman who may never be able to reciprocate his feelings? Would it be easier for her to return the love of a “normal”?
There are intense pressures coming from the world around him–including an angry supervisor who wants to cut costs by sacrificing the supports necessary to employ autistic workers. Perhaps even more disturbing are the barrage of questions within himself. For Lou must decide if he should submit to a surgery that might completely change the way he views the world . . . and the very essence of who he is.
Thoughtful, provocative, poignant, unforgettable, The Speed of Dark is a gripping exploration into the mind of an autistic person as he struggles with profound questions of humanity and matters of the heart.
From the Hardcover edition. Views: 157
Identity crises, consumerism, and star-crossed teenage love in a futuristic society where people connect to the Internet via feeds implanted in their brains.
For Titus and his friends, it started out like any ordinary trip to the moon - a chance to party during spring break and play with some stupid low-grav at the Ricochet Lounge. But that was before the crazy hacker caused all their feeds to malfunction, sending them to the hospital to lie around with nothing inside their heads for days. And it was before Titus met Violet, a beautiful, brainy teenage girl who has decided to fight the feed and its omnipresent ability to categorize human thoughts and desires. Following in the footsteps of George Orwell, Anthony Burgess, and Kurt Vonnegut Jr., M. T. Anderson has created a not-so-brave new world — and a smart, savage satire that has captivated readers with its view of an imagined future that veers unnervingly close to the here and now. Views: 154
New York Times bestselling author Brenda Novak's beloved Dundee series begins with a one-night stand that becomes so much more in this irresistible romance originally published as A Baby of Her Own in 2002 At thirty, Delaney is no longer interested in playing the role of "good girl." After all, what has it gotten her this far in life? The one thing she wants most of all—to become a mother—still seems far out of reach. When she and her best friend go to Boise for a night out, the handsome stranger Delaney meets seems too good to be true. Conner is attractive, and she can't help but notice his other qualities too—he's healthy, seems to have good genes, and she never has to see him again. If she just so happens to get what she's always wanted out of spending the night with him, he'll never have to know. But soon after Delaney discovers she's pregnant, a newcomer moves onto the ranch just outside of Dundee. And wouldn't you know, it just... Views: 153
From Publishers WeeklyUnforgettable for his howlingly funny sendup of pro football in Semi-Tough and his equally droll spoof of the PGA Tour Dead Solid Perfect, columnist Jenkins (Golf Digest) is as irreverent and hip a sports satirist as ever tarred and feathered a poor unwary and overpaid former Muni-caddy from Fort Worth, Tex., without benefit of anesthetic. In this latest blasphemous roasting of the PGA, Jenkins's first novel in 25 years, he offers up nonhero Bobby Joe Grooves, aka "Spin" to his friends, a latter-day self-styled golf historian who resigned to his role as a "light-running money-whipped, steer-job, three-jack, give-up artist" (read: journeyman touring pro) has made a "separate peace." Bobby Joe has become disenchanted with the cheating ways (on and off the course) of the European darling superstar, Knut Thorssun, aka Knut the Nuke, who, largely thanks to his cavalier disregard for rules, has two majors to his credit. Twice-divorced, Bobby Joe is keeping his libido in bounds with Cheryl Haney, a Hooters-class Fort Worth real estate agent. Struggling to make the Ryder Cup team for the first time in his 16-year career, Bobby Joe is having a hard time pacifying his main squeeze and exes, and fighting off a self-styled wannabe golf hack who insists on calling him "Spin" and wants to pen his memoir. To make matters worse, when Cheryl learns he strayed with his amateur partner's horny wife at Pebble Beach, she goes into knee-lock. Hawaiian Open to Ryder Cup, the tour (and thereby the tale) comes down to crossed-putters mano a mano with Knut. A sort of "Saturday Night Live does Harvey Penick's Little Red Book," this goofy encyclopedia of golf shines with rays of simple truth. (Aug.)Forecast: This book will be catnip for golf lovers, and the upcoming Ryder Cup matches should feed into the pre-pub hype. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.FromIf most golf novels sound like either Saturday Night Live sketches or Sunday-morning sermons, Jenkins definitely belongs in the late-night category. His Dead Solid Perfect (1974) virtually invented the comic golf novel. Now he returns to the PGA Tour for another attempt to disprove the notion that professional golfers (other than Tiger) are bland, charisma-deprived ciphers. His hero is a good ol' Fort Worth boy called Bobby Joe Grooves. Bobby may not be the best golfer on the tour (he's never won a major tournament), but he is definitely no cipher. We pick up Bobby Joe's story in Hawaii, where he has just "three-jacked" (three-putted) his way to a disappointing nineteenth-place finish in the Hawaiian Open, which is why he's sitting in a bar downing what he calls "Juniors" (J & B scotch). As Bobby Joe grinds his way through a year on the tour, trying to qualify for the Ryder Cup while dealing with two needy ex-wives and a jealous girlfriend off the course, Jenkins keeps the jokes coming, managing to offend just about everyone with any political ax to grind. Those who enjoy seeing feathers ruffled will enjoy the PC-bashing, but the jokes themselves tend to be a bit of a hit-and-miss affair. Better is the fascinating golf history, especially regarding course design, that Jenkins filters into the story, along with his uncanny ability to expose the pretensions of both golfers and their fans. Not the landmark its predecessor was, but still dead-solid entertainment for anyone who cares about professional golf. Bill OttCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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