Ever since their one night together, making love again to Rachel Kincaid was all Matt Hammond thought about. That and destroying the Blackstone diamond empire and avenging his family. Poised for a take-over, Matt cursed fate for bringing Rachel back now--as nanny to his motherless son. Nights with her in his house tortured him, like the Blackstones did. Matt was possessed by revenge and obsessed by a woman. The billionaire always got what he wanted, but now did he want sweet revenge...or sweet Rachel's love? Views: 37
“I did not go to Nicaragua intending to write a book, or, indeed, to write at all: but my encounter with the place affected me so deeply that in the end I had no choice.” So notes Salman Rushdie in his first work of nonfiction, a book as imaginative and meaningful as his acclaimed novels. In The Jaguar Smile , Rushdie paints a brilliantly sharp and haunting portrait of the people, the politics, the terrain, and the poetry of “a country in which the ancient, opposing forces of creation and destruction were in violent collision.” Recounting his travels there in 1986, in the midst of America’s behind-the-scenes war against the Sandinistas, Rushdie reveals a nation resounding to the clashes between government and individuals, history and morality. Views: 37
The Flood family go on holiday to the seaside! It isn't just humans who need time off. Wizards do too - and after all the wild adventures the Floods have been through, two weeks at the seaside is exactly what they need. Of course, where the Floods go, trouble is sure to follow. Will Betty use magic to cheat in the sandcastle competition? Why is Winchflat stuck in the sand with the tide coming in? Will Mordonna take revenge when she sees animals being mistreated in the circus? One thing's for sure. The sleepy town of Port Folio will never be the same . . . Views: 37
From Publishers WeeklyStarred Review. At the heart of this sprawling, dizzying debut from a quirky, assured Australian writer are two men: Jasper Dean, a judgmental but forgiving son, and Martin, his brilliant but dysfunctional father. Jasper, in an Australian prison in his early 20s, scribbles out the story of their picaresque adventures, noting cryptically early on that [m]y father's body will never be found. As he tells it, Jasper has been uneasily bonded to his father through thick and thin, which includes Martin's stint managing a squalid strip club during Jasper's adolescence; an Australian outback home literally hidden within impenetrable mazes; Martin's ill-fated scheme to make every Australian a millionaire; and a feverish odyssey through Thailand's menacing jungles. Toltz's exuberant, looping narrative—thick with his characters' outsized longings and with their crazy arguments—sometimes blows past plot entirely, but comic drive and Toltz's far-out imagination carry the epic story, which puts the two (and Martin's own nemesis, his outlaw brother, Terry) on an irreverent roller-coaster ride from obscurity to infamy. Comparisons to Special Topics in Calamity Physics are likely, but this nutty tour de force has a more tender, more worldly spin. (Feb.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ReviewSHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2008“_A Fraction of the Whole_ is that rarest of long books–utterly worth it...The story starts in a prison riot and ends on a plane, and there is not one forgettable episode in between...It reads like Mark Twain with access to an intercontinental Airbus...This book moves; it bucks and rocks in a world that feels more than a hemisphere away...So comically dark and inviting that you have no choice but to step into its icy wake.” —_Esquire “Rollicking...laugh-out-loud funny.” —Entertainment Weekly___“A rich father-and-son story packed with incident, humor, and characters reminiscent of the styles of Charles Dickens and John Irving...Occasionally, a big, sprawling first novel fights its way into print with a flourish, at which point its ambition and the eccentricities of its ‘firstness’ can become its best marketing tools. Such is the case with A Fraction of the Whole, a book that is willfully misanthropic and very funny...like Irving, Toltz makes minor characters leap off the page...He’s a superb, disturbing phrasemaker...this long novel, which lives or dies in the brilliance of its writing, has a subtle, compelling structure..._A Fraction of the Whole_ soars like a rocket.” —_Los Angeles Times___“Combines the hilarious high-low reference points of early Martin Amis with the annihilating punk inventiveness of Chuck Palahniuk.” —_Best Life _“One of the best books I’ve ever read. A Fraction of the Whole is better than The Corrections, and Toltz did it in one book while it took Franzen two to get The Corrections out into the world. Granted, you have your whole life to write your first novel, but my God, A Fraction of the Whole does things that most writers can’t do in a lifetime... A wildly addictive exploration into a man’s soul, a profoundly moving experience almost religious in its execution and possibly one of the sharpest and irresistibly humorous post-modern adventures I’ve had the pleasure to read... Steve Toltz has written a masterpiece, a smashing debut that will long be remembered as a colossal example of just how good fiction can be. He keeps you wired to the page from the jump and he defies gravity all the way to the end.” —Ain’t It Cool News “First novels these days too seldom dare to raise their voices above an elegant whisper or an ironic murmur. Not so A Fraction of the Whole, a riotously funny first novel that is harder to ignore than a crate of puppies, twice as playful and just about as messy. This is not a book to be read so much as an experience to be wallowed in. Mr. Toltz’s merry chaos–a mix of metaphysical inquiry, ribald jokes, freakish occurrences and verbal dynamite booming across the page–deserves a place next to A Confederacy of Dunces in a category that might be called the undergraduate ecstatic. A Fraction of the Whole is a sort of Voltaire-meets-Vonnegut tale.” —_Wall Street Journal_“Madcap, exhausting, and true in the way the best lies always are.” —_New York Observer _“Wild...an odyssey that’s inspired, sorta stoned, tender, and very funny. Sometimes all at the same time. Toltz’s invention is as breathtaking as the speed of his narrative in a book that seems to have had all the boring parts snipped...There is wit on every page...Jorge Luis Borges is obviously an influence on Toltz. There is also a bit of John Irving and Tom Robbins here in the wacky characters and narrative drive. A Fraction of the Whole even has a touch of the weary philosophizing of Vonnegut, too. In its structure–and especially in its ending–there is even a pinch of Tristram Shandy. Very good company, all.” —_Chicago Sun-Times_ “Hold on tight because you are about to ride a juggernaut of words, where things will go by very quickly and you better pay attention...The real pleasure in reading this book is the pace and the language. What Toltz has done masterfully is have his way with every aspect of modern life. He racks ‘em up and knocks ‘em down with a laser wit, a fine turn of phrase and a devastatingly funny outlook on everything human.” —_Seattle Times _“An exuberantly funny debut novel that you should just go away and read...There is plenty to laugh at in A Fraction of the Whole–and also, goodness knows, there is plenty of plot and the narrative pace of a puppy with attention deficit disorder. But it also has a heart...A grand achievement and the debut of a great comic talent.” —_Sunday Times_ (UK) “Sparkling comic writing...It gives off the unmistakable whiff of a book that might just contain the secret of life.” —_Independent_ (UK) “This absurdly incident-laden, feverish, farcical life story bears the watermark of long gestation. What’s more, it stands above the vast majority of debut novels because it seems so marvelously sure of itself and what it should be...Toltz’s fizzing, acid, funny prose is capable of a kind of broken, lyrical beauty...Amid the dizzying whirl of events, Toltz never loses sight of a deep current that runs throughout his story...It’s a spiritual search that allows a conclusion that finds an affecting depth of feeling. Yes, A Fraction of the Whole is a wildly looping rollercoaster. But there’s much more to it than meaningless exhilaration.” —_Independent on Sunday_ (UK)“With tinges of magical realism and buckets of misanthropic humor it's a clever and funny debut.” —_Observer_ (UK)“Very light on its feet, skipping from anecdote, to rant, to reflection, like a stone skimming across a pond...There’s a section about a labyrinth that you could imagine Borges writing, another about a lottery gone wrong that made me think of Vonnegut, and a strange, lovely account of childhood illness that had echoes of Garcia Marquez. In some ways it plays like a modern Arabian Nights...The inevitability of disaster is heartbreaking...Brilliant.” —_Guardian_ (UK) “Quirky, satirical, and absolutely delirious..._A Fraction of the Whole_ is one of the most hilarious, original literary romps in years with sizzle on each and every page. Hold on tight and enjoy the ride.” —_Tucson Citizen_ “A sprawling, dizzying debut...Comic drive and Steve Toltz’s far-out imagination carry the epic story . . . a nutty tour de force.” –_Publishers Weekly_, starred review “What satirical fun is found on the madcap pages of this rough-and-tumble tale...This hilarious, sneaky smart first novel is as big and rangy as Australia . . . Toltz salts it all with uproarious ruminations on freedom, the soul, love, death, and the meaning of life. This is one rampaging and irresistible debut.” –_Booklist_, starred review “The perfect vacation read for just about everyone...This book allows you to romp along with the characters on an epic journey with two crazy Australian brothers who you fall madly in love with despite their wild, degenerate lives...packed with so many rich characters, setting descriptions, philosophy and fun you need something to aid digestion after each reading...Steve Toltz is hilarious, smart, with a fantastic imagination...His novel is a rollicking worldwide adventure...Take time to enjoy this one; you won’t be disappointed.” —_The Daily Planet_, Telluride, CO “_A Fraction of the Whole_ belongs to a neglected subgenre: serious fiction that refuses to take itself seriously. A ballsy, beautifully idiosyncratic epic, it asks dizzying primal questions about mortality, belief, and the shadowy, unmapped alleyways of human thought–and Toltz manages his metaphysics like a master surfer riding a colossal wave...It’s a madcap, propulsive story...The energy of the writing is brilliantly infectious...The novel’s heart is as big as its intellect...It feels like an added bonus that, for all its hilarious misanthropy, A Fraction of the Whole testifies to the power of even the most reluctant love.” —_Sunday Business Post_ (Ireland) “Packed with plots, sub-plots, sub-sub-plots, tangents, flashbacks, diversions, philosophical wanderings and spectacular set pieces...Fuelled by brilliant ideas and driven by an original, bracing, and very funny voice.” --_The Age_ (Australia) “Reads like the trajectory of a gleefully crazed Roman candle...a sprawling, entertaining, decidedly quirky, and at times laugh-out-loud funny romp reminiscent of John Irving’s family sagas.” —_Library Journal_ Views: 36
SUMMARY: Captain Rali Emilie Antero and her elite corps of amazons, the Maranon Guard, must embark on a suicide mission with the wizard Gamelon on a hunt for an evil wizard who possesses a doomsday spell capable of destroying all civilization. Rali's search takes her to the end of the world and beyond -- but only in the uncharted waters of her own soul would she find the power to defeat the wizard and return home in triumph. Views: 36
"You can get through to him. I know you can."Though he heard her words, Trent Marlowe knew he had to be dreaming. What were the odds that Laurel would just reappear after vanishing seven years before? She'd turned his heart to stone and he wanted to keep it that way. Then he learned the real reason for her visit.…Laurel would regret leaving Trent until the day she died. She'd disappeared with a litany of secrets too shameful to confide in a man she'd never stopped loving. But now she desperately needed him to help her troubled young son. Yet how could she fight the desire Trent was reigniting? And the bittersweet yearning for a second chance? Views: 36
The rugged and mysterious mountains of Kingdom County are the setting for Howard Frank Mosher's brilliant new autobiographical novel, The Fall of the Year. Like Mosher's acclaimed earlier novels, The Fall of the Year celebrates the fiercely independent people of Kingdom Common, including such memorable new characters as Foster Boy Dufresne, the local bottle picker and metaphysical savant; the incomparably strange clairvoyant and matchmaker, Louvia the Fortuneteller; Dr. Sam E. Rong, a wayfaring Chinese herbalist and connoisseur of human nature; the itinerant vaudevillian mind reader, Mr. Moriarity Mentality, who uses his unusual powers to teach the town fathers a lesson they will never forget; and the daredevil tomboy, Molly Murphy, who risks her life twice in a single day to fulfill her dream of running away with the Last Railway Extravaganza and Greatest Little Show on Earth. At the heart of The Fall of the Year are Kingdom County's baseball-playing,... Views: 36
Nick Stone’s eleventh adventure is McNab at his explosive best!
A cargo ship is apprehended by the authorities off the coast of Spain, loaded to the gunwales with enough arms and ammunition to start a war…
Twenty years later, an unknown aggressor seems intent on eradicating those responsible for the treachery, one by one. And Nick Stone — ex-SAS, tough, resourceful, ruthless, highly trained — is next on the killer’s list…
The fuse is lit… and Stone is catapulted into his most daunting mission yet — a quest that takes him across two continents, and into the darker recesses of his own complex past. But first he must find a man who shared that past, and who may know more about the present threat than he is prepared to reveal.
As the two find themselves pursued across sea and desert, they become ever more enmeshed in a deadly network of betrayal, to which Stone himself unwittingly holds the key. And in a final confrontation that echoes his worst nightmares, only he can stop the unthinkable and save the lives of those he holds most dear. Views: 36
Avery Baker and her boyfriend, Derek Ellis, are flipping a seriously stigmatized house rumored to have ghosts. Soon they'll have even bigger problems-and this renovation project might haunt them forever. Views: 36
