The time is 1968. The place is Montgomery, Alabama. The story is one of resilience in the face of discrimination and bullying. Using the racially repugnant word "nigger," two Caucasian boys repeatedly bully Miss Annie Loomis—the first African-American teacher at the all-white Wyatt Elementary School. At the same time, using the hateful word "harelip," the boys repeatedly bully Miss Loomis's eleven-year-old Caucasian student, Lisa Parker, who was born with cleft palate and cleft lip. Who will best the bullies? Only Lisa's mood ring knows for sure. Views: 17
Sometimes Bone King cannot go through doors. He has no physical impairment, but at times his brain and muscles simply can't recall how to walk him through them. Perhaps it has something to do with his being distracted thinking about grammar and etymology all the time, or maybe it's anxiety that his wife is having an affair with the yardman. But then renowned neurologist Arthur Limongello offers a diagnosis as peculiar as the ailment: Bone's self is starting to dislodge from his brain. The treatment is a series of therapeutic tasks; Bone must compliment a stranger each day, do good deeds without being asked, and remind himself each morning, that Today is a good day!"But first, as a temporary measure, he also suggests Bone simply try to dance through the doorways. And for a time, Bone's square dancing, the only kind of dance he knows how to do, seems to more or less work.Bone's condition begins to improve, but then his wife leaves him, and after a harrowing... Views: 17
Joining the ranks of Evicted, The Warmth of Other Sons, and classic works of literary non-fiction by Alex Kotlowitz and J. Anthony Lukas, High-Risers braids personal narratives, city politics, and national history to tell the timely and epic story of Chicago's Cabrini-Green, America's most iconic public housing project.Built in the 1940s atop an infamous Italian slum, Cabrini-Green grew to twenty-three towers and a population of 20,000—all of it packed onto just seventy acres a few blocks from Chicago's ritzy Gold Coast. Cabrini-Green became synonymous with crime, squalor, and the failure of government. For the many who lived there, it was also a much-needed resource—it was home. By 2011, every high-rise had been razed, the island of black poverty engulfed by the white affluence around it, the families dispersed.In this novelistic and eye-opening narrative, Ben Austen tells the story of America's public housing experiment and the changing fortunes of... Views: 17
The Citadel of Fear is a lost world story and focuses on a forgotten Aztec city, which is "rediscovered" during World War I.Excerpt:"The sun, he thought, had grown monstrous and swallowed all the sky. No blue was anywhere. Brass above, soft, white-hot iron beneath, and all tinged to redness by the film of blood over sand-tormented eyes. Beyond a radius of thirty yards his vision blurred and ceased, but into that radius something flapped down and came tilting awkwardly across the sand, long wings half-spread, yellow head lowered, bold with an avid and loathsome curiosity. "You!" whispered the man hoarsely, and shook one great, red fist at the thing. "You'll not get your dinner off me nor him while my one foot can follow the other!" Views: 16
A gripping novel of historical espionage, about an eleventh-hour attempt by members of the German elite to unseat Adolf Hitler, and its endlessly complex consequences. In late 1937, the young lieutenant Oskar Langweil is recruited to this cause while attending a party at the lavish home of a baroness. A high-ranking officer in Germany's counterintelligence agency brings Oskar into the fold because of their mutual involvement in a patriotic youth league, and soon dispatches him to Washington, D.C., on a perilous mission. Despite his best efforts, Oskar is compromised, and must immediately find a way to sneak back into Germany unnoticed. A childhood friend introduces him to Lena, a Socialist and fellow expat, and they hatch a plan to have Oskar pose as her husband as they cross the Atlantic on a cruise ship filled with Nazis and fellow travelers. But bad luck follows them at every turn, and they find themselves messily entangled with the son of a U.S. Senator, a White... Views: 16
A long-standing crush turns into a possibility when a mage embraces her chance at balance.
Melwiss has used every opportunity to get Andy over to her house for repairs and renovations. She has also used each chance to get him to take his shirt off. She might be consigned to the single life by the mages, but she can still look.
Andy has had his eye on Melwiss since the day she arrived at the Crossroads. Her job as balance mage means she is under a lot of stresses and when they spill over, he is only too happy to help.
The moment Mel gets her notice that she can find a mate at the Crossroads, Andy is at her door, and she has to deal with the sudden change from solidly single to desirable date. Views: 16
HOMEGROWN TERRORSix US Army Rangers pledge allegiance to an Islamic terror group and send their manifesto straight to Washington. Their deadly demand: broadcast the declaration on all official channels, or they'll unleash a devastating attack. Caving to the traitors is not an option. With thousands of lives at risk, the White House enlists their best hope of neutralizing this threat: The Executioner.Mack Bolan wastes no time in tracking down the deserters. But something seems off about this case. It's not uncommon for the occasional soldier to defect, but six? Before he can unravel the conspiracy, a string of deadly strikes on civilians has him racing along the Eastern seaboard, trying to head off the worst of the carnage. The Executioner will stop at nothing to blaze a fiery path to the truth...and retribution. Views: 16
