‘It feels like only yesterday I was the youngest person in the room, I had my whole life in front of me. I had time to burn, I spent my whole day snogging boys and backcombing my hair. I was a young thing, with a lovely body, life was fun, and I hadn’t a care in the world. Now – it feels like two minutes later – I’m a little bit old. OK, I’m not in elasticated stockings or on Meals on Wheels whizzing down the stairs on my stairlift, but my life is more than half over. I’ve been there, done that, got the packamac. I’m so old that I remember dances with drum solos, the arrival of unisex hairdressers and had a crush on Ilya Kuryakin. I am up at the top of the hill, and over the other side again. What all this means, is that I am grumpy. But I’ve earnt it…I lived through Boney M and leg warmers and the Crossroads Motel. Obviously in a book this size I wouldn’t be able to share with you ALL of my grumps. But I’ve decided to write down some of the secret thoughts that beset a woman of a certain age, some of the wicked things that occur to a woman who takes a lot of things to the dry cleaners, has to have her roots done every four weeks and finds it hard to wear high heels. And guess what: they still fancy people, still have silly little crushes on people at work, still – shock horror – have sex. You will discover that women of a certain age are just as provocative and turned on as women in their twenties. Probably more so. So get over it. Middle-aged women are sexy, funny and infinitely lovable. They are also taking over the world.’ Views: 35
Murphy's mother has just moved him and their cat, Mousetrap, back to the reserve in Port Alberni. Although he belongs to the Nuu-chah-nulth Nation, Murphy is sure that he won't fit in, and he worries about Mousetrap, who has always been an indoor cat. When a bunch of local boys drag him to their soccer practice, put him in goal and pelt him with balls, he believes that his worst fear has come true. However, he seems to be discovering a new talent at the same time. And perhaps he has misjudged. Being a light-skinned city boy thrust onto a reserve far from the city is not easy, but maybe Murphy has what it takes. Views: 35
Ever since Vladamir Putin came to power in Russia, his critics have turned up dead on a regular basis. According to Amy Knight, this is no coincidence. In Orders to Kill, the KGB scholar ties dozens of victims together to expose a campaign of political murder during Putin's reign that even includes terrorist attacks such as the Boston Marathon Bombing. Russia is no stranger to political murder, from the tsars to the Soviets to the Putin regime, during which many journalists, activists and political opponents have been killed. Kremlin defenders like to say, "There is no proof," however convenient these deaths have been for Putin, and, unsurprisingly, because he controls all investigations, Putin is never seen holding a smoking gun,. But Amy Knight offers mountains of circumstantial evidence that point to Kremlin involvement.Called "the West's foremost scholar" of the KGB by The New York Times, Knight traces Putin's journey from the Federal... Views: 35
It is 1895, and Sherlock Holmes's new client is a High Court judge, whose free-spirited daughter has disappeared without a trace. Holmes and Watson discover that the missing woman—Hannah Woolfson—was herself on the trail of a missing person, her close friend Sophia. Sophia was recruited to a group known as the Elysians, a quasi-religious sect obsessed with Ancient Greek myths and rituals, run by the charismatic Sir Philip Buchanan. Hannah has joined the Elysians under an assumed name, convinced that her friend has been murdered. Holmes agrees that she should continue as his agent within the secretive yet seemingly harmless cult, yet Watson is convinced Hannah is in terrible danger. For Sir Philip has dreams of improving humanity through classical ideals, and at any cost... Views: 35
Voula Pavlopoulos won't be planning a big fat Greek wedding anytime soon.After a turbulent childhood and two-and-a-half former boyfriends—if you can call them that—Voula's content to have alone time in her crowded apartment and drinks with her best friend, Jamie (who's never been one of those married people who ditches her pals). Voula doesn't see it coming when Jamie says the two grossest words in the English language Voula can possibly imagine—"We're trying."Of course, after "We're trying" comes "We're pregnant." Now, Jamie's busy with Lamaze class and besieged by swollen ankles, while Voula is becoming an expert on what to expect when your former wild-and-crazy girlfriend is expecting.Well, Voula's tired of sitting on the sidelines of life and has decided she'd better start living it. First step: Stop being her mother's doormat. Second step: Stop being so picky and give a guy a chance. But most importantly: It's time to say goodbye to... Views: 35
Erotica/Science Fiction. 89513 words long. First published in 2006-08-01, 2006 Views: 35
It's been two months since Belladonna Johnson discovered she was the Spellbinder, and she's full of questions about her powers. When a ghost finds Belladonna and her classmate, Steve, and gives them a mysterious map, the friends don't know if they should be looking for or hiding from the one person who holds the answers to Belladonna's powers: the Queen of the Abyss. Throw into the mix that Belladonna's parents, who are ghosts, have disappeared and that her brand-new and maybe even sinister foster family seems to know more than they'll let on, and you have a sequel made of high adventure and intrigue, seasoned with affecting characters and topped with a dollop of wit. Views: 34
Richard Siken’s Crush, selected as the 2004 winner of the Yale Younger Poets prize, is a powerful collection of poems driven by obsession and love. Siken writes with ferocity, and his reader hurtles unstoppably with him. His poetry is confessional, gay, savage, and charged with violent eroticism. In the world of American poetry, Siken's voice is striking.In her introduction to the book, competition judge Louise Glück hails the “cumulative, driving, apocalyptic power, [and] purgatorial recklessness” of Siken’s poems. She notes, “Books of this kind dream big. . . . They restore to poetry that sense of crucial moment and crucial utterance which may indeed be the great genius of the form.”Review"Vital, immediate, and cinematic in scope, [Siken's] verse offers sharply observed vignettes of longing, love, and pain."—Library Journal (Best Poetry of 2005)(Library Journal ) Book DescriptionRichard Siken’s Crush, selected as the 2004 winner of the Yale Younger Poets prize, is a powerful collection of poems driven by obsession. Siken writes with ferocity, and his reader hurtles unstoppably with him. His poetry is confessional, gay, savage, and charged with violent eroticism. Views: 34
The young Princess Victoria, strictly confined within the boundaries of Kensington Palace, is being moulded for her awesome future as Queen of England. Surrounded by her dolls and closely guarded by her domineering mother and faithful governess, she slowly becomes aware of the bitter conflicts that surround her. The jealous and scheming Duke of Cumberland is a constant threat to her rightful accession … her mother’s sinister friend, Sir John Conroy, makes her uneasy … and the bickering between her mother and the king seems neverending. Growing up is proving difficult for the princess. She longs for her eighteenth birthday when at last she will be free to rule the nation as she pleases and to re-acquaint herself with the gallant Prince Albert. Views: 34
From the acclaimed author of the "exquisitely written and deeply felt" (Geraldine Brooks, author of The Secret Chord) novel The Railwayman's Wife comes a magical and gorgeously wrought tale of an astonishing event that connects three people across three hundred years.Imagine you looked up at just the right moment and saw something completely unexpected. What if it was something so marvelous that it transformed time and space forever? The Body in the Clouds tells the story of one such extraordinary moment—a man falling from the sky, and surviving—and of the three men who see it, in different ways and at different times, as they stand on the same piece of land. An astronomer in the 1700s, a bridge worker in the 1930s, and an expatriate banker returning home in the early twenty-first century: all three are transformed by this one magical event. And all three are struggling to understand what the meaning of "home" is, and how to recognize... Views: 34
