"Eteraz's narrative is witty and unpredictable...and the darkly comic ending is pleasingly macabre. As for M., in this identity-obsessed dandy, Eteraz has created a perfect protagonist for the times. A provocative and very funny exploration of Muslim identity in America today."—Kirkus Reviews"In bitingly funny prose, first novelist Eteraz sums up the pain and contradictions of an American not wanting to be categorized; the ending is a bang-up surprise."—Library Journal"Ali Eteraz has written a hurricane of a novel. It blows open the secrets and longings of Muslim immigration to the West, sweeping us up in the drama of identity in ways newly raw. This is no poised and prettified tale; buckle in for a uproariously messy and revealing ride."—Lorraine Adams, author of The Room and the Chair"Merciless, intellectually lacerating, and brutally funny, Native Believer is not merely a Gonzo... Views: 62
"An illuminating insight...fascinating." —Amanda Grange, bestselling author of Mr. Darcy's Diary"A journey through both a physical landscape and the geography of the human heart and mind...delightfully entertaining and often deeply moving, this book reminds us that Austen's world—and her characters—are very much alive." —Michael Thomas Ford, author of Jane Bites BackWHERE DO BOOKS TAKE YOU?With a suitcase full of Jane Austen novels en español, Amy Elizabeth Smith set off on a year-long Latin American adventure: a traveling book club with Jane. In six unique, unforgettable countries, she gathered book-loving new friends—taxi drivers and teachers, poets and politicians—to read Emma, Sense and Sensibility, and Pride and Prejudice. Whether sharing rooster beer with Guatemalans, joining the crowd at a Mexican boxing match, feeding a horde of tame iguanas with Ecuadorean children, or... Views: 62
Brenda Ashford is the quintessential British nanny. Prim and proper, gentle and kind, she seems to have stepped straight out of Mary Poppins. For more than six decades Nanny Brenda swaddled, diapered, dressed, played with, sang to, cooked for, and looked after more than one hundred children. From the pampered sons and daughters of lords ensconced in their grand estates, to tough East End evacuees during the war, Brenda has taught countless little ones to be happy, healthy and thoroughly well bred. In this delightful memoir, Brenda shares her endearing, amusing, and sometimes downright bizarre experiences turning generations of children into successful adults. From the moment Brenda first held her baby brother David she was hooked. She became a second mother to him, changing his nappies, reading him stories and giving all the love her warm heart had. Knowing a career caring for children was her only calling in life, Brenda attended London's prestigious Norland... Views: 61
In the fourth Railroad Semantics collection, Aaron takes you along on an epic train journey through desolate stretches of Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah. His personal accounts of train hopping are paired with newspaper clippings, photos, rail yard graffiti, and ephemera to fill in the story. In this volume, Aaron survives encounters with police, railroad workers, and hipsters posing as hobos. He drinks under overpasses, is injured alone in the desert, and even takes a legitimate, ticketed Amtrak ride. Views: 61
Aristocrat, novelist, essayist, traveler, and lover of Virginia Woolf, Vita Sackville-West lived a fascinating and daring life on the periphery of the Bloomsbury circle. She wrote in an astounding variety of genres, including travel narrative, historical and literary studies, poetry, fiction, and essays, and is probably best known or her novels, The Edwardians and All Passion Spent, and incomparable writings about English country houses and gardens. Here, for the first time, is an anthology that represents the full expanse of her interests and styles. Over half of the works, including intimate diaries and a dream notebook, have never been published. Edited by a foremost expert on the Bloomsbury circle, Vita Sackville-West: Selected Writings provides the best and most accessible introduction to this unique writer. Views: 61
“The Shiny Car in the Night” by Nick Mamatas has been selected for inclusion in The Best American Mystery Stories 2013, edited by Otto Penzler and Lisa Scottoline"There is plenty of mayhem for fans of dark fiction in the pages of Long Island Noir: shootings, killings, all manner of brutality...Suburbia may be even meaner than the big city."--The New York Times"Akashic’s Long Island volume in its regional noir series offers an eclectic and effective mix of seasoned pros (Reed Farrel Coleman, Tim McLoughlin, Sarah Weinman) and new voices (Qanta Ahmed, JZ Holden, Amani Scipio). The 17 contributors portray a wonderful diversity of people driven to extremes . . ."--Publishers WeeklyOriginal stories by: Jules Feiffer, Matthew McGevna, Nick Mamatas, Kaylie Jones, Qanta Ahmed, Charles Salzberg, Reed Farrel Coleman, Tim McLoughlin, Sarah Weinman, JZ Holden, Richie Narvaez, Sheila Kohler, Jane Ciabattari, Steven Wishnia, Kenneth Wishnia, Amani Scipio, and Tim Tomlinson.Kaylie Jones moved to Sagaponack, New York, in 1975, where her family continued to live for more than thirty years. She is the author of five novels, including A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries and the memoir Lies My Mother Never Told Me. She teaches in the MFA program at Stony Brook Southampton and in the Wilkes University low-residency MFA program in professional writing.About the AuthorKaylie Jones: Kaylie Jones moved to Sagaponack in 1975, where her family continued to live for more than thirty years. She is the author of five novels, including A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries, and the memoir Lies My Mother Never Told Me. She teaches in the MFA program at Stony Brook Southampton, and in the Wilkes University low-residency MFA program in professional writing. Views: 61
How did everything get so dumb? How did we become hostages to idiocy? What must we do to be freed from a captor whose ransom note simply reads, 'D'oh'?The deteriorating quality of our public debate and the dwindling of common sense in media, politics and culture can drive you to despair and rage. It certainly drove writers Helen Razer and Bernard Keane to a desperate act: befriending each other for long enough to write a book. Join forces with these uneasy allies to fight against a world that has lost its reason. Explore what's behind the remorseless spread of idiocy, and why there's just so much damn Stupid around you.Stupid isn't just ignorance; it's not just laziness. Worse than the absence of thought, Stupid is a virus that drains our productivity and leaves us sick and diminished. And Stupid has a long, complex and terrible past, one we need to understand in order to defeat it.A Short History of Stupid traces the origins of this maddening ill, examining... Views: 61
In the middle of the night Garrett is taken from his home to Harmony Lake, a boot camp for troubled teens. Maybe some kids deserve to be sent there, but Garrett knows he doesn't. Subjected to brutal physical and psychological abuse, he tries to fight back, but the battle is futile. He won't be allowed to leave until he's admitted his "mistakes" and conformed to Harmony Lake's standards of behavior. And there's no way to fake it. Beaten, humiliated, and stripped of his pride, Garrett's spirit is slowly ebbing away. Then he hears whispers of an escape plot. It's incredibly risky — if he's caught, the consequences will be unthinkable — but it may be his only way out. In this tense, riveting novel, award-winning YA author Todd Strasser reveals what really goes on in highly secretive — and notoriously dangerous — boot camps, a stealth prison system where any teenager under the age of eighteen can be imprisoned at his parents' whim. Views: 61
Discover a story that reveals how to risk everything to be true to yourself. Trapped on a desolate arctic island, Liana is pushed to the edge and must face her elemental fears. It is a haunting tale of the biting physical toil survival often requires. Graham Wilson simultaneously strips down the American adventure novel while broadening its concerns to encompass themes of compassion and belonging. It is a universal tale told with a simplicity and directness rarely seen today. An Island Between Two Shores is an unforgettable story of hope and possibility.Review" An Island Between Two Shores will stay with me a long time. In a profound way, I identified with this young woman, who just wanted to survive the cruel, indifferent wilderness that preys on both the strong and the weak."Danielle Hill, "The Hope Chest Reviews," October 19, 2012"This was a book that I could not put down. I managed to read it all in a few hours and love it! Liana is a splendid character and her voyage to get off the island and back to civilization kept me on the edge of my seat. She is the woman I hope I could manage to be if I was in the same situation." Rita Reviews, October 1, 2012"The story is so well told, by turns poetic and brutal, that it has huge emotional impact, gripping the reader from start to finish. I was very impressed at the depth of emotion that the author could lead me to feel for the central character in such a short, 148 page novel, and I know that I will not forget Liana and her struggle to survive whatever the cost for a long time.I think the ending is one that you'll either love or hate. I found it surprising but clever and undoubtedly the only one that could really finish the story to maintain the gritty realism it portrays from the very beginning.star rating : 5/5"Cheryl Pasquier, "Madhouse Family Reviews" September 14, 2012"At just 148 pages long, * An Island Between Two Shores* by Graham Wilson can be read in one sitting, in fact I think it really should be read like this as the story is compelling, often brutal but beautifully told."Anne Cater, "Random Things Through My Letterbox" August 30, 2012From the Author"I have lived in the Yukon since 1986. I like to paddle, ski and climb and have explored much of the north. My writing is influenced by these adventures." Graham Wilson Views: 61
Here is the American starlet: discovered, disrobed, displaced, disused, disgorged.In more than thirty haunting, visceral poetic portraits, acclaimed poet and actress Amber Tamblyn contemplates the interior lives of women who glimmered on-screen and crashed in life—figures as diverse as Frances Farmer and Brittany Murphy, Jayne Mansfield and Dana Plato, Jean Harlow and Sharon Tate, Heather O'Rourke and Dominique Dunne and Marilyn Monroe. Their stories invite us behind the eyes of a century's worth of women, the adored and the disappeared. Views: 61
