From School Library JournalGr 8 Up–Applying to one's dream school is a stressful process, especially if the school is Princeton, as it is for 16-year-old Lily Carter. But Lily's grandfather, an alumnus, has arranged a possible in for her: the Legacy Test. If she can pass the test by finding the Ivy Key, the exclusive Vineyard Club will guarantee her admission. The test turns out to be a means of introducing Lily to the “other” Princeton; a twin university in a parallel world inhabited by magical creatures. Tensions between the two worlds are strained, and the revelation of the Key soon brings the conflict to a head and forces Lily to confront some startling discoveries about herself, her mentally unbalanced mother, and the father who died when she was just a baby. While the story and the depiction of the magical world are fairly basic, Durst clearly enjoys spinning her supernatural ideas out of the architecture and lore of Princeton. Lily deals with the peculiarity of her situation in a believable manner, and her two potential love interests–a loner boy with orange-and-black hair and the handsome grandson of the Vineyard Club president–are charming. Fans of Lesley Livingston's “Wondrous Strange” series (HarperCollins) may find this similar melding of the mundane and the magical appealing.–Christi Esterle, Parker Library, CO. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. FromPrinceton University—prestigious, elite, and the gateway between parallel worlds. This is the stunning discovery that high-school junior Lily makes when she visits the university on the occasion of her grandfather’s fiftieth class reunion. Lily is desperate to attend Princeton, and when she is given the opportunity to take the über-exclusive Legacy Test for automatic acceptance, she thinks her dreams are about to come true. But taking the test is only part of the story, and once Lily passes, the book really kicks into gear with a monumental battle between good and evil that uncovers secret after secret not just about the university but also about Lily’s family and her unique place between the worlds of humans and monsters. While Lily is a bit slow to accept the evidence, she is a quick-thinking heroine who holds her own against not only monsters but also rival love interests who are at the ready to save her should she fall into distress. Despite the collegiate setting and high-school-age heroine, this will easily appeal to strong middle-school fantasy readers. Grades 7-12. --Kara Dean Views: 98
The Gifted class are getting suspicious that there's a spy in their midst. But who? The chief suspect is queen-of-mean Amanda, who's started acting out of character and volunteering in the school office. Tracey and Jenna join forces - and gifts - to try to find out more. But when mind-reader Jenna is framed for a crime she didn't commit and sent to an institution, Tracey is on her own. Using her ability to become invisible, Tracey searches for answers and finds out more than she bargained for . . . Views: 98
New York Times bestselling author Margaret George captures history's most enthralling queen-as she confronts rivals to her throne and to her heart. One of today's premier historical novelists, Margaret George dazzles here as she tackles her most difficult subject yet: the legendary Elizabeth Tudor, queen of enigma-the Virgin Queen who had many suitors, the victor of the Armada who hated war; the gorgeously attired, jewel- bedecked woman who pinched pennies. England's greatest monarch has baffled and intrigued the world for centuries. But what was she really like?In this novel, her flame-haired, lookalike cousin, Lettice Knollys, thinks she knows all too well. Elizabeth's rival for the love of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and mother to the Earl of Essex, the mercurial nobleman who challenged Elizabeth's throne, Lettice had been intertwined with Elizabeth since childhood. This is a story of two women of fierce intellect and desire, one trying to protect her country,... Views: 98
The last night that Sam had the dream, she was seven years old; and that was the night her parents were to die. Twenty five years later her childhood is but a bad memory. Now married to a wealthy Eurobond dealer, she has a child, two homes and a highly successful career. An enviable lifestyle. But for Sam it is becoming a nightmare. Because the childhood dreams are returning - and this time they are coming true...Gradually and subtly, the dreams of the night foretell the disasters of the day - and no-one believes her, nothing can help her. As psychiatrists, clairvoyants and dream therapy fail her, she is left to confront the evil alone, without knowing its name: hallucination, premonition, reincarnation or psychic projection? Whatever it is, it won't relinquish its hold. And then Sam starts dreaming her own death... Views: 97
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The Theocracy has been dead for twenty years, and the Polity rules on Masada. But the Tidy Squad consists of rebels who cannot accept the new order. Their hate for surviving theocrats is undiminished, and the iconic Jeremiah Tombs is at the top of their hit list.Escaping his sanatorium Tombs is pushed into painful confrontation with reality he has avoided since the rebellion. His insanity has been left uncured, because the near mythical hooder called the Technician that attacked him all those years ago, did something to his mind even the AIs fail to understand. Tombs might possess information about the suicide of an entire alien race.The war drone Amistad, whose job it is to bring this information to light, recruits Lief Grant, an ex-rebel Commander, to protect Tombs, along with the black AI Penny Royal, who everyone thought was dead. The amphidapt Chanter, who has studied the bone sculptures the Technician makes with the remains of its prey, might be useful too.Meanwhile, in deep space, the mechanism the Atheter used to reduce themselves to animals, stirs from slumber and begins to power-up its weapons. Views: 97
Alfred W. Drayson wrote this popular book that continues to be widely read today despite its age. Views: 97
Building on his Academy Award-winning screenplay of the classic film, Budd Schulberg's On the Waterfront is the story of ex-prizefighter Terry Malloy's valiant stand against corruption on the New Jersey docks. It generates all the power, grittiness, and truth of that great production, but goes beyond it in set and setting. It is a novel of strength and fallibility, of hope and defeat, of love and betrayal. In his Introduction, Mr. Schulberg writes: "The film's concentration on a single dominating character, brought close to the camera eye, made it esthetically inconvenient, if not impossible, to set Terry's story in its social and historical perspective…suggesting the knotted complexities of the world of the waterfront that loops around New York."From BooklistStarred Review Johnson was a New York Sun reporter who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1949 for his series of 24 front-page articles in 1948, detailing crime on the New York waterfront. The series exposed what he called an "outlaw frontier," where organized criminals had a stranglehold on the ports. These gangs enforced their reign of terror through thievery, control of narcotics traffic, smuggling, shakedowns, kickbacks, bribery, extortion, and murder. They were allied with a crime cartel that Johnson labeled the syndicate--now known as the Mafia--that controlled organized crime in the U.S., including the powerful International Longshoremen's Union. Among the crime bosses were Charles (Lucky) Luciano, Frank Costello, and Meyer Lansky. Johnson's stories served as primary source material for investigations, as well as for novels, radio and TV shows, and movies--most notably On the Waterfront in 1954. Haynes Johnson, a Pulitzer Prize--winning journalist and son of Malcolm Johnson, has written an engrossing foreword. Budd Schulberg, the author of What Makes Sammy Run? (1940) and the screenplay for On the Waterfront, has written an equally informative introduction and related articles that appeared later in magazines. The book will renew interest in On the Waterfront with its brilliant cast that included Marlon Brando, Rod Steiger, Eva Marie Saint, Lee J. Cobb, and Karl Malden. The book is a gripping account of one man's courage and foresight that eventually brought down the Mob. George CohenCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reservedReviewA recovered jewel! -- Scott Liell, author of 46 PagesAn intriguing episodic account of true crime and survival on New York's outer edges. -- Kirkus ReviewsOn the Waterfront is a notable example of reportage that has outlasted its dateline. -- Matthew J. Bruccoli, author of Some Sort of Epic GrandeurOne of the proudest monuments in the history of investigative journalism.... -- Benjamin C. Bradlee, former editor, Washington PostTold brilliantly and authoritatively through the eyes and ears of a fearless reporter, ON THE WATERFRONT is a remarkable achievement. -- James MacGregor Burns, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Views: 97
When firefighter Cristiano Casali is injured on duty, there is only one place he can think of to recover--Monta Correnti, his home...Estranged from his feuding family and still wounded, Cristiano finds it difficult to start living again--until he meets pretty, warmhearted Mariella and the adorable baby she cares for, Dante....As Mariella helps Cristiano recuperate and reunite with his family she realizes that she wants a family, too--with Cristiano! Views: 97
