Sixteen-year-old Austin is always messing up and then joking his way out of tough spots. The sudden appearance of his allegedly dead father, who happens to be the very-much-alive rock star Shane Tyler, stops him cold. Austin—a talented musician himself—is sucked into his newfound father's alluring music-biz orbit, pulling his true love, Josephine, along with him. None of Austin's previous bad decisions, resulting in broken instruments, broken hearts, and broken dreams, can top this one. Witty, audacious, and taking adolescence to the max, Austin is dragged kicking and screaming toward adulthood in this hilarious, heart-wrenching YA novel. Views: 51
The six stories in Haruki Murakami’s mesmerizing collection are set at the time of the catastrophic 1995 Kobe earthquake, when Japan became brutally aware of the fragility of its daily existence. But the upheavals that afflict Murakami’s characters are even deeper and more mysterious, emanating from a place where the human meets the inhuman. An electronics salesman who has been abruptly deserted by his wife agrees to deliver an enigmatic package—and is rewarded with a glimpse of his true nature. A man who has been raised to view himself as the son of God pursues a stranger who may or may not be his human father. A mild-mannered collection agent receives a visit from a giant talking frog who enlists his help in saving Tokyo from destruction. As haunting as dreams, as potent as oracles, the stories in After the Quake are further proof that Murakami is one of the most visionary writers at work today. Amazon.com Review Haruki Murakami, a writer both mystical and hip, is the West’s favorite Japanese novelist. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Murakami lived abroad until 1995. That year, two disasters struck Japan: the lethal earthquake in Kobe and the deadly poison gas attacks in the Tokyo subway. Spurred by these tragic events, Murakami returned home. The stories in After the Quake are set in the months that fell between the earthquake and the subway attack, presenting a world marked by despair, hope, and a kind of human instinct for transformation. A teenage girl and a middle-aged man share a hobby of making beach bonfires; a businesswoman travels to Thailand and, quietly, confronts her own death; three friends act out a modern-day Tokyo version of Jules and Jim . There’s a surreal element running through the collection in the form of unlikely frogs turning up in unlikely places. News of the earthquake hums throughout. The book opens with the dull buzz of disaster-watching: “Five straight days she spent in front of the television, staring at the crumbled banks and hospitals, whole blocks of stores in flames, severed rail lines and expressways.” With language that’s never self-consciously lyrical or show-offy, Murakami constructs stories as tight and beautiful as poems. There’s no turning back for his people; there’s only before and after the quake. —Claire Dederer From Publishers Weekly These six stories, all loosely connected to the disastrous 1995 earthquake in Kobe, are Murakami (The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle; Norwegian Wood) at his best. The writer, who returned to live in Japan after the Kobe earthquake, measures his country’s suffering and finds reassurance in the inevitability that love will surmount tragedy, mustering his casually elegant prose and keen sense of the absurd in the service of healing. In “Honey Pie,” Junpei, a gentle, caring man, loses his would-be sweetheart, Sayoko, when his aggressive best friend, Takatsuki, marries her. They have a child, Sala. He remains close friends with them and becomes even closer after they divorce, but still cannot bring himself to declare his love for Sayoko. Sala is traumatized by the quake and Junpei concocts a wonderful allegorical tale to ease her hurt and give himself the courage to reveal his love for Sayoko. In “UFO in Kushiro” the horrors of the quake inspire a woman to leave her perfectly respectable and loving husband, Komura, because “you have nothing inside you that you can give me.” Komura then has a surreal experience that more or less confirms his wife’s assessment. The theme of nothingness is revisited in the powerful “Thailand,” in which a female doctor who is on vacation in Thailand and very bitter after a divorce, encounters a mysterious old woman who tells her “There is a stone inside your body…. You must get rid of the stone. Otherwise, after you die and are cremated, only the stone will remain.” The remaining stories are of equal quality, the characters fully developed and memorable. Murakami has created a series of small masterpieces. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. Views: 51
The third book in the imaginative DragonSpawn Cycle begins as Donavah and the red dragon Xyla narrowly escape the dreaded dragonmasters. Suddenly they are transported from the midst of a deadly battle to Stychs, a legendary and mystical land that looks just like Donavah’s home world—though just how and why she is there yields more questions than answers.Only dragons can move between the two worlds so quickly, and Xyla is now gravely ill from the strain. Donavah and her friends must undertake a treacherous journey to find the other red dragons if Xyla is to be healed. Along the way Donovah is kidnapped and cruelly imprisonedby a rogue magician, an ordeal that leaves her forever scarred. Rescued by the desert sages of Delaron, Donavah finally learns of her role in an ancient prophecy—a prophecy that must be fulfilled if maejic is to survive in Alloway. Views: 51
Merlin the Magician will not eat or sleep or speak to anyone in Camelot. What can be done? The enchantress Morgan knows who to askfor help: young Jack and Annie of Frog Creek, Pennsylvania! The brother-and-sister team quickly head off in the magic tree house on another magical and historical adventure.Their mission: discover one of the four secrets of happiness.Their journey: to a land of fierce samurai and great beauty, the capital city of Edo (now the city of Tokyo), in ancient Japan in the 1600s.Their tools: a research book to guide them and a magic wand with three special rules.In Dragon of the Red Dawn, Mary Pope Osborne transports readers back to the splendor, rich culture, and magic of traditional Japan.From the Hardcover edition. Views: 51
Lucy stole her friend Rose's 'happily ever after' because she wanted Rose's husband, Peter, and Lucy always gets what she wants. Big mistake. Rose was the ideal wife and is the ideal mother; Lucy was the perfect mistress.Connie – best friend to both Lucy and Rose – is stuck in the middle. She's got Lucy's worries about being wife, mother and career bitch in one ear and Rose's struggle at being a plain old single mum in the other. But Connie has her own troubles: she's just got the hang of family life when an old flame pops up to rekindle a bit of passion ... on the side.For Rose, Lucy and Connie – young wives all – it looks like there's a few more twists in the marriage tale still to come ... Views: 51
With three stories in this brand-new Rainbow Magic Special Edition, readers can enjoy more fairy fun than ever!It's an ocean commotion!What's a fairy to do? Jack Frost has stolen three enchanted pearls that control the magic of the oceans. Without them, the tides are all wrong, the sea creatures are confused, and even daytime and nighttime have gotten mixed up!When Shannon the Ocean Fairy asks Rachel and Kirsty for help, they set off on a magical adventure to an underwater world. But will they find the pearls in time...or will the girls be lost at sea? Views: 51
Waking in a hospital room with no memory, Kait Selias is thrust into a middle of a centuries-old conflict between the six seductive and powerful immortals who rule the city of St. Louis. Discipline. Suffering. Peace. Freedom. Desire. Pandemonium. What will you choose? The first novella in the Hearts of Amaranth series. Views: 51
Talk about a compromising situation!A storm of political intrigue, murderous mayhem and sexual hungers is brewing on planet Regelence.Swarthy Intergalactic Navy Captain Nathaniel Hawkins ran from a past he had no intention of ever reliving. But when his Admiral asks him to use his peerage, as an earl and the heir to a dukedom, to investigate a missing weapons stash, he's forced to do just that. As if being undercover on a Regency planet where the young men are supposed to remain pure until marriage isn't bad enough, Nate finds himself attracted to the king's unmarried son.All Prince Aiden Townsend has ever wanted was to be an artist. He has no interest in a marriage of political fortune or becoming a societal paragon. Until he lands in the arms of the mysterious Earl of Deverell. One look at Nate's handsome face has Aiden reconsidering his future. Not only does Nate make a virile subject for Aiden's art, but the great war hero awakens feelings in Aiden he has never... Views: 51
