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Books for 2008 year

Books for 2008 year

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2020

SUMMARY: The hero of Christine Falls, Quirke, is a surly pathologist living in 1950s Dublin. One night, after having a few drinks at a party, he returns to the morgue to find his brother-in-law tampering with the records on a young woman's corpse. The next morning, when his hangover has worn off, Quirke reluctantly begins looking into the woman's history. He discovers a plot that spans two continents, implicates the Catholic Church, and may just involve members of his own family. He is warned-first subtly, then with violence-to lay off, but Quirke is a stubborn man. The first novel in the Quirke series brings all the vividness and psychological insight of John Banville's writing to the dark, menacing atmosphere of a first-class thriller.

Benjamin Black

The Courtship of the Queen

A strange young boy collects seashells. It’s his way of coping with constantly having to move because his father is in the Navy. The boy has thousands of shells, all cataloged with common name, scientific name, location found, etc. His parents has bought him a multitude of dressers to keep them in because they know he is a strange, special kid, and he needs this. He reenacts battles in his room(s) using the shells, with the Queen Conch being matriarch and a multitude of smaller whelks, clams, scallops and the like defending her. The story revolves around the boy relating the trials and tribulations of the Queen’s domain to his parents. Eventually, the boy begins to grow up, and school starts to normalize him. He makes friends and even meets a girl. But what of the Kingdom of the Ancient Sea? Read to find out. Bruce McAllister, born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1946, is a writer of fantasy and science fiction known primarily for his short fiction. Over the years his short stories have appeared in the major fantasy and science fiction magazines, theme anthologies, college readers and “year’s best” anthologies, including Best American Short Stories 2007 , guest-edited by Stephen King. His first novel was Humanity Prime , published by Ace Books in Terry Carr’s “Ace Specials” series. His second novel, Dream Baby (Tor, 1988), was based on the Hugo, Nebula and Locus-finalist novelette of the same name. He was away from writing in the 90’s, and returned to the field in 2003. His short story “Kin” was a 2006 Hugo finalist; in 2007 Golden Gryphon Press published a career-spanning collection of his short science fiction, The Girl Who Loved Animals and Other Stories . He lives in Costa Mesa, California with his wife, choreographer Amelie Hunter.

Bruce McAllister

Christmas Getaway

Christmas Getaway

Desert Stars

A tale of adventure and romance on the fringes of an interstellar empire that has forgotten its holiest legend: the story of Earth.

Joe Vasicek

A Place of My Own

Michael Pollan’s unmatched ability to draw lines of connection between our everyday experiences— whether eating, gardening, or building—and the natural world has been the basis for the popular success of his many works of nonfiction, including the genre-defining bestsellers The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food. With this updated edition of his earlier book A Place of My Own, readers can revisit the inspired, intelligent, and often hilarious story of Pollan’s realization of a room of his own—a small, wooden hut, his "shelter for daydreams"—built with his admittedly unhandy hands. Inspired by both Thoreau and Mr. Blandings, A Place of My Own not only works to convey the history and meaning of all human building, it also marks the connections between our bodies, our minds, and the natural world.

Michael Pollan

To the Studs

Designed for love...No one says no to fiery but talented home designer Neve Harper—which is how she convinces her elusive neighbor, Duke Kennicot, to help out with her latest renovation job. Not only is Duke a design aficionado, he's got the inside scoop on the cabin's owner. And since Neve's ulterior motive is a romance with the boss, Duke is her ideal wingman. Except from the moment they're alone in the remote Ozark mountain location, Neve discovers Duke is just as headstrong—and a whole lot sexier—than she ever realized. Duke has always made it clear she's not his type. Yet the simmering tension between them says otherwise....Duke had been warned to steer clear of hot-tempered Neve, but his resolve is lessening with every heated exchange—and every smoldering touch. By the time Neve unearths a dangerous, age-old mystery buried on the property, Duke is ready to do just about anything to keep the brazen beauty safe....

Roxanne Smith

Oil (filmed as There Will Be Blood)

SUMMARY: The basis for the movie There Will Be Blood. Based on the Teapot Dome scandal of the Harding administration, it is the story of Bunny Ross, the son of a wealthy California oil operator, who discovers that politicians are unscrupulous and that oil magnates are equally bad.

Upton Sinclair

The Road to Vengeance

Halfdan Hroriksson is on the hunt. Determined to find and fight his brother's killer, Halfdan knows he must first gain experience as a Viking warrior. He's been lucky so far. He gained passage on a ship and is quietly learning the strategies of war and conquest from the hardy crew. Now, with a prisoner in tow - the daughter of a wealthy aristocrat - Halfdan is finally starting to earn some respect, and a name for himself. But he is not looking for praise. Halfdan is only biding his time, gaining strength and skill for his ultimate quest. Time and again he proves himself on the battlefield, using clever strategy and an uncanny talent with a bow and arrow. Halfdan is growing as a warrior, but will this be enough to beat a savage murderer? Through epic battle scenes and intimate power struggles, Judson Roberts brings the Viking world to pulsing life in this next chapter of the Strongbow Saga.

Judson Roberts

For The Thrill Of It: Leopold, Loeb, And The Murder That Shocked Chicago

SUMMARY: It was a crime that shocked the nation, a brutal murder in Chicago in 1924 of a child, by two wealthy college students who killed solely for the thrill of the experience. Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb had first met several years earlier, and their friendship had blossomed into a love affair. Both were intellectuals—too smart, they believed, for the police to catch them. However, the police had recovered an important clue at the scene of the crime—a pair of eyeglasses—and soon both Leopold and Loeb were in the custody of Cook County. They confessed, and Robert Crowe, the state's attorney, announced to newspaper reporters that he had a hanging case. No defense, he believed, would save the two ruthless killers from the gallows. Set against the backdrop of the 1920s, a time of prosperity, self-indulgence, and hedonistic excess, For the Thrill of It draws the reader into a lost world, a world of speakeasies and flappers, of gangsters and gin parties, that existed when Chicago was a lawless city on the brink of anarchy. The rejection of morality, the worship of youth, and the obsession with sex had seemingly found their expression in this callous murder. But the murder is only half the story. After Leopold and Loeb were arrested, their families hired Clarence Darrow to defend their sons. Darrow, the most famous lawyer in America, aimed to save Leopold and Loeb from the death penalty by showing that the crime was the inevitable consequence of sexual and psychological abuse that each defendant had suffered during childhood at the hands of adults. Both boys, Darrow claimed, had experienced a compulsion to kill, and therefore, he appealed to the judge, they should be spared capital punishment. However, Darrow faced a worthy adversary in his prosecuting attorney: Robert Crowe was clever, cunning, and charismatic, with ambitions of becoming Chicago's next mayor—and he was determined to send Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb to their deaths. A masterful storyteller, Simon Baatz has written a gripping account of the infamous Leopold and Loeb case. Using court records and recently discovered transcripts, Baatz shows how the pathological relationship between Leopold and Loeb inexorably led to their crime. This thrilling narrative of murder and mystery in the Jazz Age will keep the reader in a continual state of suspense as the story twists and turns its way to an unexpected conclusion.

Simon Baatz

2008 - The Book of Murder

Guillermo Martinez

The Nine

Jeffrey Toobin

The accident man sc-1

Tom Cain

In Her Name

As one reviewer said, In Her Name is “a grand story of love, power, sacrifice and good versus evil” that seamlessly blends together epic fantasy, science fiction, and romance as it chronicles the coming-of-age of a young warrior hero torn between love and honor.
The galaxy is at war. The Confederation of Humanity is a democracy fracturing under the strain of nearly a century of war with alien invaders, the warriors of the Kreelan Empire. Humanoids with blue skin, fangs and fingers that end in razor sharp talons, they have technology that is millennia beyond that of the Confederation, yet they seek out close combat with sword and claw, fighting and dying to honor their god-like Empress. For the Confederation, there is no negotiation, there is no surrender. There is only the fierce struggle to survive.
On an embattled world, young Reza Gard finds himself face to face with Tesh-Dar, the greatest of the Empire’s warriors. Born to a race whose recorded history spans half a million years, Tesh-Dar - a warrior priestess - is endowed with powers that are supernatural to human eyes. In Reza’s eyes, the eyes of a boy whose parents she has just slain, she is a monster. Holding him off the ground, face to face, she is slowly strangling him when he lashes out with his dead father’s knife, cutting her face across the left eye. Surprised and impressed with this young human animal, she bestows upon him a matching wound, a trophy of sorts, and inexplicably lets him live.
Orphaned and alone, Reza is sent to the planet Hallmark. Supposedly a safe haven for war orphans, in reality it is little more than a slave labor planet. Toiling in grain fields under a burning sun, Reza leads a ragtag band of orphans doing the best they can to survive.
But again, Tesh-Dar intervenes in his life. Leading an attack against Hallmark, she has been sent by her Empress on a special mission: to gather human children and return them to the Empire as part of an experiment to see if they have souls. Reza, along with thousands of others, is captured, with Hallmark left behind in flaming ruin.
He awakens to the silver-flecked cat’s eyes of Esah-Zhurah, a young warrior tasked with teaching him the language and customs of her people. At first beaten and caged, Reza gradually earns her grudging respect. Over the years that follow he not only survives, but thrives as he learns the warrior ways of the Empire, becoming both more and less than human. As the relationship between the two young warriors deepens, Tesh-Dar and the Empress wonder if Reza may be the One foretold in an ancient prophecy, who will redeem the Kreelan race from an ancient blood curse.
As Reza’s final challenge looms, Esah-Zhurah performs an ancient blood ritual that binds them together in body and spirit. For the first time the Bloodsong, the tie that binds every Kreelan soul to the Empress, echoes in his veins, at last making him one with the Children of the Empress.
But his acceptance of the Kreelan Way leaves him with a dreadful choice: he must either make war against the humans, or - if he refuses - leave the Empire and Esah-Zhurah behind forever.
The path he takes leads him toward a destiny set in motion millennia before, with the fate of both races hanging in the balance...

Hicks, Michael R.

Hell and Earth pa-4

From the "talented" (Entertainment Weekly) award-winning author of Whiskey and Water and Blood and Iron. Kit Marley and William Shakespeare are playwrights in the service of Queen Elizabeth, employed by the Prometheus Club. Their words, infused with magic, empower Her Majesty's rule. But some of the Prometheans, comprised of England's most influential men and mages, conspire to usurp the Queen. Able to walk in both worlds, Kit seeks allies to aid him in his mission to protect Elizabeth only to encounter enemies, mortal and monster, who will stop at nothing to usher in a new age. But despite the might of his adversaries, Kit possesses more power than even he can possibly imagine.

Elizabeth Bear

Frontier Courtship

SUMMARY: She had made a solemn promise to see her younger sister to safety in California. But the endless journey across the frontier was proving a heartbreaking test of courage and endurance for Faith Beal. All she had to sustain her was her steadfast belief in a loving God— and the guiding hand of a stranger who truly seemed heaven-sent.…and LoveConnell McClain was her selfless guardian as their wagon train slowly made its way west. And as they shared the dangers of the trail—and the closeness of a covered wagon—Faith felt the first tender stirrings of love for this roughhewn yet caring man. But would the secrets that seemed to haunt him threaten their growing feelings for one another?

Valerie Hansen

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