What if the bomb had actually been dropped? What if your family was the only one with a shelter? In the summer of 1962, the possibility of nuclear war is all anyone talks about. But Scott's dad is the only one in the neighborhood who actually prepares for the worst. As the neighbors scoff, he builds a bomb shelter to hold his family and stocks it with just enough supplies to keep the four of them alive for two critical weeks. In the middle of the night in late October, when the unthinkable happens, those same neighbors force their way into the shelter before Scott's dad can shut the door. With not enough room, not enough food, and not enough air, life inside the shelter is filthy, physically draining, and emotionally fraught. But even worse is the question of what will—and won't—remain when the door is opened again. Internationally best-selling author Todd Strasser has written his most impressive and personal novel to date, ruthlessly yet sensitively exploring... Views: 39
The hilarious, poignant, and true story of one teens's experience growing up in America as an undocumented immigrant from the Middle East, perfect for fans of Mindy Kaling and Lena Dunham's books.At thirteen, bright-eyed, straight-A student Sara Saedi uncovered a terrible family secret: she was breaking the law simply by living in the United States. Only two years old when her parents fled Iran, she didn't learn of her undocumented status until her older sister wanted to apply for an after-school job, but couldn't because she didn't have a Social Security number.Fear of deportation kept Sara up at night, but it didn't keep her from being a teenager. She desperately wanted a green card, along with clear skin, her own car, and a boyfriend.Americanized follows Sara's progress toward getting her green card, but that's only a portion of her experiences as an Iranian-"American" teenager. From discovering that her parents secretly divorced to facilitate her... Views: 39
In this moving memoir about the power of friendship and the resilience of the human spirit, Amy Silverstein tells the story of the extraordinary group of women who supported her as she waited on the precipice for a life-saving heart transplant. Nearly twenty-six years after receiving her first heart transplant, Amy Silverstein's donor heart plummeted into failure. If she wanted to live, she had to take on the grueling quest for a new heart—immediately. A shot at survival meant uprooting her life and moving across the country to California. When her friends heard of her plans, there was only one reaction: "I'm there." Nine remarkable women—Joy, Jill, Leja, Jody, Lauren, Robin, Valerie, Ann, and Jane—put demanding jobs and pressing family obligations on hold to fly across the country and be by Amy's side. Creating a calendar spreadsheet, the women—some of them strangers to one... Views: 39
From the National Book Award-winning author of classics like THE WOMAN WARRIOR comes a stirring collection of essays, celebrating memory, history, and island tradition.In these eleven thought-provoking pieces, originally gathered in a limited, hand-printed edition, acclaimed writer and feminist Maxine Hong Kingston tells stories of Hawai'i "piece by piece, and hope that the sum praises her." The essays provide readers with a generous sampling of Kingston's signature: her exquisite angle of vision, her balanced and clear-sighted prose, and her stunning insight that awakens one to a wealth of knowledge. Views: 39
Italy, 1980s. The unnamed narrator and her English friend Liz are booksmart but inexperienced 18-year-old students on a budget traveling around Northern Italy by train. As they share adventures and conversation, their edgy friendship not surprisingly begins to deepen. But it's on their final nocturnal train trip back to Florence that they go beyond friendship into an act of bold sexual experimentation... This short story was first published in the Cleis Press anthology Hot Ticket: Tales of Lesbians, Sex, and Travel. Views: 38
I want Cesar Cruz. God, how I want him. And he’s made it no secret he desires me. I can’t handle another heartbreak, one more haunting memory that threatens my sanity. What I need is to feel wanted by a man who will love me unconditionally and forever, a man who will be patient and loving, not apathetic and abusive.What will happen if I give in to temptation and spend one night in his arms? Will he want more? Will I? Whether I say yes or no, I fear I’ll suffer regret, but as my need for him grows stronger, I may not have a choice. I only pray he will be gentle with me and my heart. Views: 38
Best known for his novels and travel writing, Lawrence Durrell defied easy classification within twentieth-century Modernism. His anti-authoritarian tendencies put him at odds with many contemporaries—aesthetically and politically. However, thanks to a compelling recontextualization by editor James Gifford, these thirty-eight previously unpublished and out-of-print essays and letters reveal that Durrell's maturation as an artist was rich, complex, and subtle. Durrell fans will treasure this selection of rare nonfiction, while scholars of Durrell, Modernist literature, anti-authoritarian artists, and the Personalist movement will also appreciate Gifford's fine editorial work. Views: 38
'One never gets enough love.' A novel by the acclaimed author, poet and gardener which recounts the ill-fated relationship of Evelyn Jarrold, a 39-year-old fashionable upper middle class widow and 25-year-old Miles Vane-Merrick, a socially aware aristocrat. While they are passionately in love they both have powerful and contrasting domineering personalities. They make each other happy and unhappy, she beadily aware of the unconventional age gap and lacking confidence in Miles's world. Miles has many interests including his love for Evelyn, his estate, his politics, his interesting friends. He is set to become a successful, popular politician. A wonderful evocation of the complexity of 1930s high-society mores and values, Family History is a universal love story. Views: 38
Inspired by the ongoing international success of the city-based Akashic Noir Series (Brooklyn Noir, Boston Noir, Paris Noir, etc.), last year Akashic created the new Drug Chronicles series. On the heels of The Speed Chronicles (Sherman Alexie, William T. Vollmann, Megan Abbott, James Franco, Beth Lisick, etc.) and The Cocaine Chronicles (Lee Child, Laura Lippman, etc.) comes The Heroin Chronicles, a volume sure to frighten and delight. The literary styles are varied, as are the moral quandaries herein.Heroin has long been understood as the most "literary" of narcotics, and this collection will, for better and worse, have tremendous pop cultural appeal.Featuring brand-new stories by Eric Bogosian, Lydia Lunch, Jerry Stahl, Nathan Larson, Ava Stander, Antonia Crane, Gary Phillips, Jervey Tervalon, John Albert, Michael Albo, Sophia Langdon, Tony O'Neill, and L.Z. Hansen. Views: 38
In a memoir of family bonding and cutting-edge physics for readers of Brian Greene's The Hidden Reality and Jim Holt's Why Does the World Exist?, Amanda Gefter tells the story of how she conned her way into a career as a science journalist--and wound up hanging out, talking shop, and butting heads with the world's most brilliant minds. At a Chinese restaurant outside of Philadelphia, a father asks his fifteen-year-old daughter a deceptively simple question: "How would you define nothing?" With that, the girl who once tried to fail geometry as a conscientious objector starts reading up on general relativity and quantum mechanics, as she and her dad embark on a life-altering quest for the answers to the universe's greatest mysteries. Before Amanda Gefter became an accomplished science writer, she was a twenty-one-year-old magazine assistant willing to sneak her and her father, Warren, into a conference devoted to their... Views: 38
"A delightful romp!" -Wilson the Pug with Nancy Levine, authors of The Tao of PugFor Holly Golightly, there was always Tiffany's. For me, there's always Pug Hill. For as long as I've lived in New York, whenever I've just wanted to think, or relax, or be happy, or even sad, my destination of choice has been, without fail, Pug Hill.For Hope McNeill, pugs are love, unconditional friendship, happiness, and freedom-all qualities currently in short supply in her own life. She's also short on time and apartment space, and for those reasons she doesn't have a pug of her own. But she does have Pug Hill in Central Park, where pugs (and their owners) from all over New York City convene.She also has a serious crush on one of her co-workers at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a flailing relationship with her squash-playing, cold-weather-loving boyfriend, and an unspeakable fear of public speaking. When Hope's father calls with a daunting assignment--to make a speech at her parent's... Views: 38
There's a new sheriff in town, and he's got the Nightside's rich and powerful quaking in their boots. He's The Walking Man, and it's his mission to exorcise sinners — with extreme prejudice. Problem is, the Nightside was built on sin and corruption, and The Walking Man makes no distinction between evildoers and those simply indulging themselves. He'll leave the place a wasteland unless someone stops him, and P.I. John Taylor has been handed the job. No known magic or science can affect The Walking Man, and if John can't discover his weakness, he'll be facing the very Wrath of God. Views: 38
Abraham Lincoln, the greatest of all American presidents, left us a vast legacy of writings, some of which are among the most famous in our history. Lin-coln was a marvelous writer--from the humblest letter to his great speeches, including his inaugural addresses, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the Gettysburg Address. His sentences were so memorably crafted that many resonate across the years. "Fourscore and seven years ago," begins the Gettysburg Address, "our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." In 1940, the prolific author and historian Philip Van Doren Stern produced this volume as a guide to Lincoln's life through his writings. Stern's "Life of Abraham Lincoln" is a full biography of the man and includes a detailed chronology. Stern has collected all the essential texts of Lincoln's public life, from his first public address--a stump speech in New... Views: 38
She's desperate to sate her hunger. They're determined to possess her. Is she willing to give up her freedom for a taste of passion?Amara was content to live as a lone wolf, the only one of her kind—or so she'd thought. Her world was flipped on its head when a strange man with a familiar scent showed up at her work, demanding a private meeting.Desperate to find the mate Luc had scented from four hundred miles away, he was shocked to find her living as a lone wolf. Amaroki women were to be cherished and protected. What had happened to her family? More importantly, how was he going to convince her to return to the reservation with him? And how would his possessive brothers react when they found him with Amara?Amara couldn't deny her attraction to the wolf-shifter named Luc, but she wasn't about to give up her career to mate with him and his three brothers, no matter how hot and bothered he made her. When his brothers arrived—tall, tanned, and virile—she could no longer deny her savage hunger for these shifters.But how could she satisfy her desire and still maintain her independence with four overbearing wolves around? And how would she bond and adapt to their lifestyle when she couldn't shake her dark memories? More importantly, how would her mates react when they learned of her past? Would they reject her, or would they risk their lives to seek vengeance on those who've dishonored her? Views: 38
