Shapiro captures a generation through first-person reporting, interviews with refugees from the porn industry, conversations with psychologist, educators, and students, and a telling cultural critique. Views: 40
Omar is a restless young Asian man, caring for his alcoholic father in the hustling London of the mid-1980s. His uncle, a keen Thatcherite, offers Omar an entrepreneurial opportunity to revamp a dingy laundrette, and ambitious Omar rolls up his sleeves, enlisting the assistance of his old school-friend Johnny, who has since fallen in with a gang of neo-fascists. Omar and Johnny soon form an unlikely alliance that leads to business success, as well as other, more intimate surprises. Views: 40
Winner of the Whitbread First Novel Award 'A wonderful novel. I doubt I will read a funnier one, or one with more heart, this year, possibly this decade.' Angela Carter, Guardian The hero of Hanif Kureishi's first novel is Karim, a dreamy teenager, desperate to escape suburban South London and experience the forbidden fruits which the 1970s seem to offer. When the unlikely opportunity of a life in the theatre announces itself, Karim starts to win the sort of attention he has been craving - albeit with some rude and raucous results. 'One of the best comic novels of growing up, and one of the sharpest satires on race relations in this country that I've ever read.' Independent on Sunday 'Brilliantly funny. A fresh, anarchic and deliciously unrestrained novel.' Sunday Times 'A distinctive and talented voice, blithe, savvy, alive and kicking.' Hermione Lee, Independent Views: 40
The story of a field cricket named Charlie who learns to sing. Views: 40
When this true-crime story first appeared in 1980, it made the New York Times bestseller list within weeks. Two decades later, it's being rereleased in conjunction with a film version produced by DreamWorks. In the space of five years, Frank Abagnale passed $2.5 million in fraudulent checks in every state and 26 foreign countries. He did it by pioneering implausible and brazen scams, such as impersonating a Pan Am pilot (puddle jumping around the world in the cockpit, even taking over the controls). He also played the role of a pediatrician and faked his way into the position of temporary resident supervisor at a hospital in Georgia. Posing as a lawyer, he conned his way into a position in a state attorney general's office, and he taught a semester of college-level sociology with a purloined degree from Columbia University. The kicker is, he was actually a teenage high school dropout. Now an authority on counterfeiting and secure documents, Abagnale tells of his years of impersonations, swindles, and felonies with humor and the kind of confidence that enabled him to pull off his poseur performances. "Modesty is not one of my virtues. At the time, virtue was not one of my virtues," he writes. In fact, he did it all for his overactive libido-he needed money and status to woo the girls. He also loved a challenge and the ego boost that came with playing important men. What's not disclosed in this highly engaging tale is that Abagnale was released from prison after five years on the condition that he help the government write fraud-prevention programs. So, if you're planning to pick up some tips from this highly detailed manifesto on paperhanging, be warned: this master has already foiled you. -Lesley Reed *** "A book that captivates from first page to last." – West Coast Review of Books "Whatever the reader may think of his crimes, the reader will wind up chortling with and cheering along the criminal." – Charlottesville Progress "Zingingly told… richly detailed and winning as the devil." – Kirkus Reviews – Review Views: 40
Blood is a terrible gossip, it tells everything.”Dr. Miranda is faced with a tragedy: his father has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and has only a few weeks to live. He is also faced with a dilemma: How does one tell his father he is dying?Ernesto Duran, a patient of Dr. Miranda’s, is convinced he is sick. Ever since he separated from his wife he has been presenting symptoms of an illness he believes is killing him. It becomes an obsession far exceeding hypochondria. The fixation, in turn, has its own creeping effect on Miranda’s secretary, who cannot, despite her best intentions, resist compassion for the man.A profound and philosophical exploration of the nature and meaning of illness, Alberto Barrera Tyszka’s tender, refined novel interweaves the stories of four individuals as they try, in their own way, to come to terms with sickness in all its ubiquity. Views: 40
Lucy Jarrett is terrified. She s convinced that somebody is watching
her, following her home from work and lurking in shadows. But when she
looks, there s nobody there. The phone calls are real enough, even if
the caller never speaks, although they never seem to happen when her
husband is at home. She s struggling to make anybody believe her, but
with the recent murder of another young woman, DI Tom Mariner must take
Lucy s fears seriously.
However, that s not all that DI Mariner has to contend with. His team is
stretched to the limits when Nina Silvero, the widow of a former police
officer, is found brutally murdered in an attack that could hark back
to her husband s past misdemeanours. Someone, it seems, is out for
revenge... Views: 40
Considering the hundreds of thousands of words that have been written about Shakespeare, relatively little is known about the man himself. In the absence of much documentation about his life, we have the plays and poetry he wrote. In this addition to the Eminent Lives series, bestselling author Bryson (The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid) does what he does best: marshaling the usual little facts that others might overlook-for example, that in Shakespeare's day perhaps 40% of women were pregnant when they got married-to paint a portrait of the world in which the Bard lived and prospered. Bryson's curiosity serves him well, as he delves into subjects as diverse as the reliability of the extant images of Shakespeare, a brief history of the theater in England and the continuing debates about whether William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon really wrote Shakespeare's works. Bryson is a pleasant and funny guide to a subject at once overexposed and elusive-as Bryson puts it, he is a kind of literary equivalent of an electron-forever there and not there. Views: 40
Owen Deathstalkers rebellion continues to strike out against Imperial tyranny, taking the battle straight to the Empires heart on the planet of Golgothabut the cunning Empress isn't about to surrender without a fight... Views: 40
Two-time Spur Award winner Brett Cogburn brings back the true grit and glory of the Old West—with a hero as glorious as the author's real-life ancestor Rooster Cogburn . . . THEY CALL HIM THE "WIDOWMAKER" Newt Jones is none too proud of his deadly nickname. But when you tangle with the likes of Judge Roy Bean and the notorious Mexican outlaw Juan Cortina, a man's bound to earn a reputation. Or get stuck with a monicker like "Widowmaker." Even so, Newt is ready to put his gunslinging days behind him, hang up his Winchester, and take it easy. There's just one problem: Ain't nothing easy about living in Apache country . . . When Newt gets word that a renegade tribe has kidnapped Mattilda Redding's grandson, he can't just sit by and let the local authorities bungle it. Mattilda once did him a good turn up on the Pecos and—flat broke and half drunk or not—he's got to help the old gal out. So he saddles up his medicine horse,... Views: 40
No TV reporter today is more respected than NBC's Andrea Mitchell. She's covered stories from Jonestown to the fall of the Berlin Wall, gotten unexpected answers from such interviewees as Fidel Castro and Hillary Clinton, and balanced her high-wire career with a very public marriage to former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Dr. Alan Greenspan. Mitchell's candid, funny, and riveting memoir is filled with unprecedented behind-the-scenes views of the television news industry and official Washington. A classic of contemporary journalism by a woman who has taken on her profession's entire old-boy network, Talking Back deserves a place on the shelf alongside the memoirs of Hillary Clinton and Katherine Graham. Views: 40
