An important story for our era: How the American Dream went wrong for two immigrants, and the nightmare that resulted. On April 15, 2013, two homemade bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston marathon, killing three people and wounding more than 264 others. In the ensuing manhunt, Tamerlan Tsarnaev died, and his younger brother, Dzhokhar, was captured and ultimately charged on thirty federal counts. Yet long after the bombings and the terror they sowed, after all the testimony and debate, what we still haven't learned is why. Why did the American Dream go so wrong for two immigrants? How did such a nightmare come to pass?Acclaimed Russian-American journalist Masha Gessen is uniquely endowed with the background, access, and talents to tell the full story. An immigrant herself, who came to the Boston area with her family as a teenager, she returned to the former Soviet Union in her early twenties and covered firsthand the transformations that were... Views: 26
11 year old Tom Holliday feels that life is holding him back. This is less to do with his wheelchair but more about his over-protective father, which means that the only adventure Tom usually gets to have is through his prolific story writing. That is until a spontaneous act by his maverick grandmother, and a certain kind of magic only possible in a last breath, brings the world of Tom's imagination to life. Only, it isn't a sweet little story that Tom has been writing: it's a perilous, jaw-dropping quest. Detective Benedict Fields thinks this is nothing more than a case of a runaway kid trying to teach his father a lesson. But how is it that the boy has managed to leave his wheelchair behind? And what are the implications for the detective's own family? The monsters have been let out of their pages. How can a boy and his walking stick wielding grandmother put them back? Written by father and son for their mother / nanna, 'Leave The Last Page' is a story about independence,... Views: 26
Sometimes one night can change everything. On this particular night, Wren and her three best friends are attending a black-tie party at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to celebrate the opening of a major exhibit curated by her father. An enormous wind blasts through the city, making everyone feel that something unexpected and perhaps wonderful will happen. And for Wren, that something wonderful is Nolan. With his root-beer-brown Michelangelo eyes, Nolan changes the way Wren's heart beats. In Isabel Gillies's Starry Night, suddenly everything is different. Nothing makes sense except for this boy. What happens to your life when everything changes, even your heart? How much do you give up? How much do you keep? Views: 26
Bridal shop owner Meg Halloran spends her days making other women’s wedding dreams come true—and her nights dreaming of her childhood crush, hometown heartthrob Dr. Benjamin Rushford. After a lifetime of wearing her heart on her sleeve, she’s done waiting. Meg’s ready to find love, with or without him. Moving on feels right—until Ben pops an unexpected question.To win the open ER position in Mirror Lake, Ben has to convince the board that he’s settled and ready to put down roots. His latest stroke of genius? Asking Meg, the local good girl, to be his pretend girlfriend. With her by his side, he’s a shoo-in for the job. But he’s in over his head because, as much as he tries to deny it, Meg tempts him. And if she learns the truth about a secret that has shadowed and shaped his life, will she ever be able to forgive him? Views: 26
The "ragazzi" are the children of the streets of Rome, the children who grow up in the bombed-out ruins, the desolate housing developments, the clutter of the markets, the age-old streets and squares standing like monuments to the past. Pasolini’s novel—which aroused a storm of controversy when it first appeared in Italy—relates the story of Riccetto and his friends, the ragazzi of the title. When the book opens, they are nine or ten years old, and the German soldiers are straggling out of Rome as the Americans arrive; it ends when they are sixteen or seventeen, as the "new prosperity" is beginning to dawn. They get their education in the Roman streets: perpetually hungry, they steal from everyone in sight —blind men, beggars, each other; they are in and out of jail; and, for sport, they have only an occasional swim in the filthy Aniene river. In the background are the shadows of the larger tragedies of the times: women rioting for food and trampling each other to death; a jerry-built slum building collapsing to rubble on one of the boys; a police search for a gang of youngsters who have tied a boy to a stake and set him on fire; the unrelenting rumble of tanks on maneuvers. The author, who is well known in this country for his films, has brilliantly captured and recreated the blunt, bitter actuality of being poor— a poverty that has made these children relentlessly cynical, yet passionate; grotesquely cruel, yet often ingratiatingly innocent. Unparalleled in the fiction of this stark postwar period, closely related to the neo-realism of such Italian films as Shoeshine, The Bicycle Thief, Paisan, and Open City, this novel is a bold portrayal of the awfulness of deep poverty. Views: 26
