Buried in his debts, billionaire Randal T. Rumpp makes a deal with a fiend who is intent on sending the Big Apple into the darkest depths of the earth, and only Remo and Chiun can stop him. Views: 64
Amy Foster returns to Virginia when her father dies and is soon plunged into the past when the body of a young woman missing for ten years is found and the man she once loved is suspected in her death. Original. Views: 64
A police car is bombed from the air on a lonely outback road by a mysterious pilot who plans to conquer a nation. The trail through the Land of the Burning Water tests Inspector Bonaparte's endurance to the limit as takes the detective as close to death as he has ever been... Views: 64
From Publishers WeeklyCharles Dickens was almost 32 in late 1843, and his career trajectory was downward. Since the megasuccess of The Old Curiosity Shop, dwindling sales of his work and problems with his publisher left little doubt in his mind: he would support his growing household as a travel writer on the Continent. As the disappointing Martin Chuzzlewit continued its serialization, A Christmas Carol appeared in a richly illustrated edition. Although initial sales were brisk, high production costs coupled with spotty advertising and a low retail price made the book unprofitable. But, says Standiford, this modern fable had a profound impact on Anglo-American culture and its author's career. If Dickens did not precisely invent Christmas, his ghost story created a new framework for celebrating it. Standiford (The Last Train to Paradise) covers an impressive amount of ground, from the theological underpinnings of Christmas to Dickens's rocky relations with America, evolving copyright laws and an explanation of how A Christmas Carol became responsible for the slaughter of more turkeys than geese in the months of November and December. (Nov.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Review“In this small but remarkable book, Les Standiford offers readers a gift for all seasons. Carefully researched and written in a stately, lucid prose, this book will be cherished by those who love Dickens, enjoy Christmas, or ponder the endless mysteries of human behavior.” —Roland Merullo, author of American Savior “A wonderfully absorbing and revealing account, full of things I did not realize about A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens, and the world of publishing. Once I started reading this book, truly, I could not put it down.”—Dan Wakefield, author of New York in the Fifties“The Man Who Invented Christmas is destined to be a classic about a classic. As Tiny Tim might say, ‘God Bless Everyone,’ in this case Standiford, for creating such a delightful and engaging gem—part history, part literary analysis, and all heart, just like the book that inspired it.” —Madeleine Blais, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and author of Uphill WalkersFrom the Hardcover edition. Views: 64
From BooklistDumas’ builds on her first memoir, Funny in Farsi (2003), offering more amusing tales from her life in this follow-up. Like her first outing, her latest is a collection of anecdotes from different points in her life: stories from her youth in Iran mix with memories of her experiences as a wife, mother, and author. Dumas’ parents remain a big influence in her life, whether she’s dealing with her mother’s frequent and sometimes, in the case of one bright red comforter, unsightly gifts, or trying to understand her father and his brothers’ fixation on The Price Is Right. In one of the funniest chapters, Dumas recalls the time she and her kids decided to try to sell a potato shaped like a cross on eBay, hoping to make a whopping sixty grand. There’s such warmth to Dumas’ writing that it invites the reader to pull up a seat at her table and smile right along with her at the quirks of her family and Iranians and Americans in general. --Kristine Huntley ReviewAdvance praise for Laughing Without an Accent"Dumas builds on her first memoir, Funny in Farsi (2003), offering more amusing tales from her life in this follow-up. Like her first outing, her latest is a collection of anecdotes from different points in her life: stories from her youth in Iran mix with memories of her experiences as a wife, mother, and author. Dumas’ parents remain a big influence in her life, whether she’s dealing with her mother’s frequent and sometimes, in the case of one bright red comforter, unsightly gifts, or trying to understand her father and his brothers’ fixation on The Price Is Right. In one of the funniest chapters, Dumas recalls the time she and her kids decided to try to sell a potato shaped like a cross on eBay, hoping to make a whopping sixty grand. There’s such warmth to Dumas’ writing that it invites the reader to pull up a seat at her table and smile right along with her at the quirks of her family and Iranians and Americans in general." - Booklist“These stories, like everything Firoozeh Dumas writes, are charming, highly amusing vignettes of family life. Dumas is one of those rare people–a naturally gifted storyteller.”–Alexander McCall SmithPraise for Funny in Farsi“What’s charming beyond the humor of this memoir is that it remains affectionate even in the weakest, most tenuous moments for the culture. It’s the brilliance of true sophistication at work.”–Los Angeles Times Book Review“Remarkable tales of family resilience told with wry humor shorn of sentimentality.”–San Francisco Chronicle“The book brings us closer to discovering what it means to be an American.”–San Jose Mercury NewsFrom the Hardcover edition. Views: 64
Only a wall divides Earth from the beasts of Beastium. Only a boy and his dogbot defend the wall and protect Earth.Kai Masters. Border Guard and beast battler.When a freaky red tornado hits, Kai knows it's time for battle.Kai chooses his Astro-Jet Striker to battle the wind beast. Can it win over a wind hawk attack?Fast-paced and loaded with high energy, Boy vs Beast takes reading to young boys on their terms. Views: 64
It began on Freak Day--that day no one could explain, when strangers and family members alike went crazy and started biting one another. Some thought the outbreak was caused by a flu shot, others that it was a diet drug gone terribly wrong. All anyone knew is that once you were bitten and went to sleep, you woke up a freak. Views: 64
TIE ME UP! TURN ME ON!If the scent of well-oiled leather and the crack of a whip get you hot, you've come to the right place. In the kinkiest collection ever, Letters to Penthouse's most adventurous readers bare their souls and reveal their wildest fantasies. An unlucky (or lucky?) cheater gets tag-teamed by his wife and mistress. A too-sexy flirt trades her microskirt for a collar, leash, and hot wax. A stern mistress teases her slave girls inside their locked cage. Unspeakable desires become intense nights of passion for these men and women who surrender to their darkest lusts. And they've invited you to join the fun. Views: 64
A petty thief and a convicted murderer find themselves entangled in a deadly reality TV game and a heart-pounding attraction for each other. Views: 64
As a seasoned political consultant, Dev Conrad approaches working on the reelection campaign of Illinois Senator Warren Nichols with trepidation. The senator’s best friend and adviser has just committed suicide. And though Conrad agrees with Nichols's political positions, he’s leery of the senator’s reputation for sleeping around.When a major televised debate proves to be a disaster for the senator, Dev is forced to look into the backgrounds of the senator’s staff, which includes several people who have tangled and troubled relationships with their boss.Dev’s investigation takes him through the highs and lows of the political system, the well-meaning people on both sides of the aisle, and the increasingly dark forces that work to destroy reputations and lives. It also leads him into the frightening murder of a sleazy political op who knows something about Senator Nichols that could completely destroy his career.Ed Gorman is the author of several political thrillers, including the acclaimed The Marilyn Tapes and The First Lady. In Sleeping Dogs, he looks at how money, power, and unchecked ambition have turned election campaigns into modern gladiatorial contests. ** Views: 64
Martin Kilmartin is a popular young Notre Dame professor and a promising poet, and as far as everyone on campus knows, he's off to visit his ancestral Ireland over winter break. It's a shocking moment when Professor Kilmartin is discovered dead in his office, never having made it on his winter retreat. Apparently the victim of a weak heart, Kilmartin's death comes just months before he is to be wed, and on the heels of some outstanding recognition for his verse.All in all, it seems to be just another campus tragedy, and while some wonder at the authenticity of the official explanation for his death, the police are content to blame his medical condition for his untimely demise. That is, until Professor Roger Knight, big man on campus and compulsively curious amateur sleuth, gets involved. The rotund professor's interest is piqued after reading some of Kilmartin's melancholic work, and he points to several anomalies at the crime scene in questioning the case. Before... Views: 64
Everyone in Navronne seems to be after Valen. There is the fanatical Harrower priestess, Sila Diaglou, who wants to raze the kingdom. The Bastard Prince Osriel, who steals dead men's eyes. And the Pureblood Registry, determined to keep every pureblood sorcerer in thrall. Even beings out of myth, the Danae guardians, whose dancing nurtures the earth and whose attention could prove the most costly of all. As Navronne sinks deeper into civil war and perilous winter, Valen finds himself a bargaining chip in a deadly standoff. Doomed to madness by his addiction to the doulon, and bound by oaths he refuses to abandon, the young sorcerer risks body and soul to rescue one child, seek justice for another, and bring the ailing land its righteous king. Yet no one is who they seem, and Valen's search for healing grace leads him from Harrower dungeons to the very heart of the world. In the twilight of a legend, he at last discovers the hard truth of the coming dark age and the glorious, terrible price of the land's redemption...and his own. Views: 64
One part Nietzsche, one part Humbert Humbert, and a soupcon of Milton's Lucifer, Axel Vander, the dizzyingly unreliable narrator of John Banville's masterful new novel, is very old, recently widowed, and the bearer of a fearsome reputation as a literary dandy and bully. A product of the Old World, he is also an escapee from its conflagrations, with the wounds to prove it. And everything about him is a lie. Now those lies have been unraveled by a mysterious young woman whom Vander calls "Miss Nemesis." They are to meet in Turin, a city best known for its enigmatic shroud. Is her purpose to destroy Vander or to save him-or simply to show him what lies beneath the shroud in which he has wrapped his life? A splendidly moving exploration of identity, duplicity, and desire, Shroud is Banville's most rapturous performance to date. Alex Vander is a fraud, big-time. An elderly professor of literature and a scholarly writer with an international reputation, he has neither the education nor the petit bourgeois family in Antwerp that he has claimed. As the splenetic narrator of this searching novel by Banville (Eclipse), he admits early on that he has lied about everything in his life, including his identity, which he stole from a friend of his youth whose mysterious death will resonate as the narrator reflects on his past. Having fled Belgium during WWII, he established himself in Arcady, Calif., with his long-suffering wife, whose recent death has unleashed new waves of guilt in the curmudgeonly old man. Guilt and fear have long since turned Vander into a monster of rudeness, violent temper, ugly excess, alcoholism and self-destructiveness. His web of falsehoods has become an anguishing burden, and his sense of displacement ("I am myself and also someone else") threatens to unhinge him altogether. Then comes a letter from a young woman, Cass Cleave, who claims to know all the secrets of his past. Determined to destroy her, an infuriated Vander meets Cass in Turin and discovers she is slightly mad. Even so, he begins to hope that Cass, his nemesis, could be the instrument of his redemption. Banville's lyrical prose, taut with intelligence, explores the issues of identity and morality with which the novel reverberates. At the end, Vander understands that some people in his life had noble motives for keeping secrets, and their sacrifices make the enormity of his deception even more shameful. This bravura performance will stand as one of Banville's best works. A scholar and born liar, the elderly but still contentious Axel Vander is about to have his cover blown when an equally contentious young woman enters his life. Banville's lucky 13th novel. Views: 64
