Mitchell S. Jackson grew up black in a neglected neighborhood in America’s whitest city, Portland, Oregon. In the ’90s, those streets and beyond had fallen under the shadow of crack cocaine and its familiar mayhem. In his commanding autobiographical novel, Mitchell writes what it was to come of age in that time and place, with a break-out voice that’s nothing less than extraordinary.The Residue Years switches between the perspectives of a young man, Champ, and his mother, Grace. Grace is just out of a drug treatment program, trying to stay clean and get her kids back. Champ is trying to do right by his mom and younger brothers, and dreams of reclaiming the only home he and his family have ever shared. But selling crack is the only sure way he knows to achieve his dream. In this world of few options and little opportunity, where love is your strength and your weakness, this family fights for family and against what tears one apart.Honest in its portrayal, with cadences that dazzle, The Residue Years signals the arrival of a writer set to awe. Views: 28
Set against the backdrop of the Enlightenment, the delectable decadence of Versailles, and the French Revolution, The Last Banquet is an intimate epic that tells the story of one man’s quest to know the world through its many and marvelous flavors. Jean-Marie d’Aumout will try anything once, with consequences that are at times mouthwatering and at others fascinatingly macabre (Three Snake Bouillabaisse anyone? Or perhaps some pickled Wolf's Heart?). When he is not obsessively searching for a new taste d’Aumout is a fast friend, a loving husband, a doting father, and an imaginative lover. He befriends Ben Franklin, corresponds with the Marquis de Sade and Voltaire, becomes a favorite at Versailles, thwarts a peasant uprising, improves upon traditional French methods of contraception, plays an instrumental role in the Corsican War of Independence, and constructs France’s finest menagerie. But d’Aumout’s every adventurous turn is decided by his at times dark obsession to know all the world’s flavors before that world changes irreversibly.As gripping as Patrick Suskind’s Perfume, as gloriously ambitious as Daniel Kehlman’s Measuring the World, and as prize-worthy as Andrew Miller’s Pure, The Last Banquet is a hugely appealing novel about food and flavor, about the Age of Reason and the ages of man, and our obsessions and about how, if we manage to survive them, they can bequeath us wisdom and consolation in old age. ** Views: 28
Ben has been an underdog his whole life. But when he meets Merlin—the Merlin—the wizard delivers devastating news: a vicious band of aliens are approaching, and Ben could be the champion Earth desperately needs. Soon Ben joins the Round Table Reboot, where legendary heroes are training a new generation to battle the deadly threat. They have a secret weapon: X-Calibur. But this time X-Calibur is not a sword — it's a spaceship — and only the right kid can awaken its powers. All Ben has ever wanted is to be a hero...but is it in the stars for him? Views: 28
In 1940, Sally Bowles, that spirited character from Christopher Isherwood's Goodbye to Berlin, decides to leave her baby daughter with her parents in the country and return to London. There, despite the Blitz, she is determined to live life to the full. Moreover, she wants to find the love of her life, the elusive Theo.Despite Theo's absence, Sally cuts swathes across the cold, charmless, and secretive trio of Briggs, Pym, and Bruno. In the late 1990s, young American academic Greg Peters is trying to piece together the missing links of Sally's life for a new biography.He contacts Bruno in London and finds a man tauntingly evasive, knowledgeable but unwilling to comment. But eventually Bruno thaws, leading Greg on a fascinating and tantalizing trail of snippets, facts, and fantasies about the real Sally Bowles. Views: 28
-- Galactic Cage Fighters Book 4 --They call her Zara the Amazon. She has been a fighter from birth, a fighter growing up, and a fighter with a life's mission, so it made sense for her to fight for a living. The Galactic Cage Fighter Association is the ideal venue. She is paid to do something she enjoys, which is fighting and kicking ass. At the same time, it takes her all over the different regions where she can continue her search for the prize possession that had been taken from her years ago. Special Agent Trig Roberts agrees to help the female fighter with her search. It is part of his job and he is the best at what he does. He travels with the GCFA while doing his investigation and finds himself frustrated when the beautiful leggy woman wants to be an active participant. He normally doesn't allow the inexperienced to get involved, but he has a hard time turning her down. As they spend more time together, he realizes there is more to the woman than she allows the world to see. He finds himself not only wanting to know more--but everything. As Trig and Zara proceed with their investigation, they uncover an illegal activity that could blow the roof off the governments. There are dangerous people who want to keep things under wrap and are willing to take the drastic measures to ensure their dirty secrets--stay secrets. Will Trig and Zara find what they are looking for? How long will they continue to fight their growing attraction for one another? And when all is said and done, will they survive the dangers thrown their way? M/F Views: 28
Butterfly Tears is a collection of short fiction that depicts the experiences of Chinese immigrant women facing the challenges of life in a new country. The stories are set in different parts of China, Canada, and the United States and examine Chinese women's cross-cultural experiences in North America as well as women's issues and political discrimination in China. The stories, or parts of stories, set in China give the reader interesting glimpses into events such as the Cultural Revolution and Mao's death. In the title story, an ancient Chinese legend about two lovers and memories of a violinist who commits suicide during the Cultural Revolution haunt a young woman who fears her husband is having an affair. Leaving her abusive husband, a woman and her young son in A Beaten Mandarin Duck move to New Brunswick where they form a new family with a visiting professor from China. Twin Rivers tells the story of a female engineer who ends up in jail as a result of her love affair... Views: 28
FIRST IN A NEW SERIES!Bean there
done that
Romance is supposed to be the spice of life. But Maxie Pierce is so done with bad relationshipswell, almost. She just has to get rid of the latest loser, Roberto. Besides, she has more important things to worry about. Her daddy, Texas Jack Pierce, king of the chili cook-off circuit, has been missing for nearly six weeks now. In his place, she must team up with her irritating half sister, Sylvia, to promote the family business at the Taos Chili Showdown, to be judged by celebrity chef Carter Donnelly.But when Maxie discovers Roberto's body in the chef's traileronly hours after publicly breaking up with him while wearing a giant red chili pepper costumeshe suddenly finds she's the one in the spotlight as the police pepper her with questions. Now this Chili Chick needs to kick up the search to catch the real killer and get back to finding her father
INCLUDES DELICIOUS RECIPES! Views: 28
Christmas Pudding and Pigeon Pie are two sparkling comedies from early in the career of Nancy Mitford, beloved author of The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate, here published in one volume with a new introduction by Jane Smiley.In Christmas Pudding, an array of colorful characters converge on the hunt-obsessed Lady Bobbin’s country house, including her rebellious daughter Philadelphia, the girl’s pompous suitor, a couple of children obsessed with newspaper death notices, and an aspiring writer whose serious first novel has been acclaimed as the funniest book of the year, to his utter dismay. In Pigeon Pie, set at the outbreak of World War II, Lady Sophia Garfield dreams of becoming a beautiful spy but manages not to notice a nest of German agents right under her nose, until the murder of her maid and kidnapping of her beloved bulldog force them on her attention, with heroic results. Delivered with a touch lighter than that of Mitford’s later masterpieces but no less entertaining, these comedies combine glamour, wit, and fiendishly absurd plots into irresistible literary confections. Views: 28
