Joe Simpson has experienced a life filled with adventure but marred by death. He has endured the painful attrition of climbing friends in accidents, calling into question the perilously exhilarating activity to which he has devoted his life. Probability is inexorably closing in. The tragic loss of a close friend forces a momentous decision upon him. It is time to turn his back on the mountains that he has loved. Never more alive than when most at risk, he has come to see a last climb on the hooded, mile-high North Face of the Eiger as the cathartic finale.
In a narrative which takes the reader through extreme experiences, from an avalanche in Bolivia, ice-climbing in the Alps and Colorado and paragliding in Spain - before his final confrontation with the Eiger - Simpson reveals the inner truth of climbing, exploring both the power of the mind and the frailties of the body. The subject of his new book is the siren song of fear and his struggle to come to terms with it. Views: 686
In the ninth century b.c., the Phoenician princess Jezebel orders the execution of all the prophets who refuse to worship the pagan god Baal. Commanded by an angel of God to flee Israel, Elijah seeks safety in the land of Zarephath, where he unexpectedly finds true love with a young widow. But this newfound rapture is to be cut short, and Elijah sees all of his hopes and dreams irrevocably erased as he is swept into a whirlwind of events that threatens his very existence.
Written with the same masterful prose and clarity of vision that made *The Alchemist *an international phenomenon, *The Fifth Mountain* is a quietly moving account of a man touched by the hand of God who must triumph over his frustrations in a soul-shattering trial of faith. Views: 686
In these three stories Harrison writes about a home-schooled fifteen-year-old girl in rural Montana, in another his beloved recurring character Brown Dog escapes from Canada on the tour bus of an Indian rock band, and finally, he tells about a retired werewolf prone to outbursts of violence under the full moon. Views: 685
Four generations of women live and work at Bear Ranch, Prescott, Arizona. Their non-traditional life style leads to intrigue and unusual solutions.He’s desperate to keep his secret. She has questions only he can answer. Can they overcome the past to live their future?Sarah Alexander is ready to start her post-divorce life in Salem, Massachusetts. When she starts having vivid dreams about the town’s famous witch trials, she seeks out a widower who seems to know more than he lets on. James Wentworth has spent his lifetime hiding a secret. When a new woman in town reminds him of the wife he still grieves, he wonders if the connection runs deeper. When a modern-day witch hunt threatens to unravel James’ hidden knowledge, he’s faced with a choice: sacrifice himself for the woman he loves or lose everything all over again. Her Dear and Loving Husband is the first book in a series of literary paranormal romance novels. If you like rich, historical fiction, chilling suspense, and tales of enduring love, then you’ll love the first book in Meredith Allard’s Loving Husband Trilogy.Buy Her Dear and Loving Husband to be swept up in the timeless paranormal tale today! Views: 685
Objective, unbiased and hyper-rational, the Vulcan 3 should have been the perfect ruler. The omnipotent computer dictates policy that is in the best interests of all citizens—or at least, that is the idea. But when the machine, whose rule evolved out of chaos and war, begins to lose control of the “Healer” movement of religious fanatics and the mysterious force behind their rebellion, all Hell breaks loose.
Written in 1960, Philip K. Dick’s paranoid novel imagines a totalitarian state in which hammer-headed robots terrorize citizens and freedom is an absurd joke. William Barris, the morally conflicted hero, may be the only person who can prevent the battle for control from destroying the world—if, that is, he can decide which side he’s on.
Winner of both the Hugo and John W. Campbell awards for best novel, widely regarded as the premiere science fiction writer of his day, and the object of cult-like adoration from his legions of fans, Philip K. Dick has come to be seen in a literary light that defies classification in much the same way as Borges and Calvino. With breathtaking insight, he utilizes vividly unfamiliar worlds to evoke the hauntingly and hilariously familiar in our society and ourselves. Views: 685
In The Fatal Englishman, his first work of nonfiction, Sebastian Faulks explores the lives of three remarkable men. Each had the seeds of greatness; each was a beacon to his generation and left something of value behind; yet each one died tragically young.
Christopher Wood, only twenty-nine when he killed himself, was a painter who lived most of his short life in the beau monde of 1920s Paris, where his charm, good looks, and the dissolute life that followed them sometimes frustrated his ambition and achievement as an artist.
Richard Hillary was a WWII fighter pilot who wrote a classic account of his
experiences, The Last Enemy, but died in a mysterious training accident while defying doctor’s orders to stay grounded after horrific burn injuries; he was twenty-three.
Jeremy Wolfenden, hailed by his contemporaries as the brightest Englishman of
his generation, rejected the call of academia to become a hack journalist in Cold War Moscow. A spy, alcoholic, and open homosexual at a time when such activity was still illegal, he died at the age of thirty-one, a victim of his own recklessness and of the peculiar pressures of his time.
Through the lives of these doomed young men, Faulks paints an oblique
portrait of English society as it changed in the twentieth century, from the Victorian era to the modern world.
From the Trade Paperback edition. Views: 685
The breathtaking follow-up to Virals in the new forensic series from Sunday Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs
HEART-STOPPING FORENSIC ACTION WITH A LETHAL TWIST
****The Virals' home on Loggerhead Island is under threat, and only one thing can save it: a lot of money.
A 300-year-old legend
Rumour has it that notorious pirate Anne Bonny hid her treasure somewhere in Charleston in 1720. No-one knows where, but Tory Brennan - great-niece of famous forensic anthropologist Dr Tempe Brennan - is certain that the Virals can work out Bonny's cryptic clues.
A deadly path
It isn't long before the Virals are on the right track. But they aren't the only ones searching for the treasure.Someone is following them, and will stop at nothing to get their hands on it.
Dead bodies litter the trail. Time is running out before the island will be sold.
Will the Virals' special powers be enough to save them? Views: 683
*Homeland and Other Stories* offers comic, often heart-warming but always true to life tales told as only the author can, creating a world of love and possibility that listeners will want to take as their own. Views: 683
BONUS: This edition contains a Strength in What Remains discussion guide.
In Strength in What Remains, Tracy Kidder gives us the story of one man’s inspiring American journey and of the ordinary people who helped him, providing brilliant testament to the power of second chances. Deo arrives in the United States from Burundi in search of a new life. Having survived a civil war and genocide, he lands at JFK airport with two hundred dollars, no English, and no contacts. He ekes out a precarious existence delivering groceries, living in Central Park, and learning English by reading dictionaries in bookstores. Then Deo begins to meet the strangers who will change his life, pointing him eventually in the direction of Columbia University, medical school, and a life devoted to healing. Kidder breaks new ground in telling this unforgettable story as he travels with Deo back over a turbulent life and shows us what it means to be fully human. Views: 682
Deftly interweaving humor and pathos, Saul Bellow evokes in the climactic events of one day the full drama of one man's search to affirm his own worth and humanity. Views: 681
I am the self-appointed representative of the New Hope wing of the Democratic Party. You may call me a nut, a dreamer, or a socialist, but I can offer the young people in America—to me that means anyone under fifty—new hope.Dorian Evergreen de Bernard Viallet est un nouveau recueil de nouvelles de l’auteur et le titre éponyme du premier texte de l’ouvrage.Neuf autres nouvelles le suivent. On y retrouve à chaque fois l’humour de Bernard Viallet et son esprit malicieux qui ne se laisse pas faire par le monde moderne et le critique efficacement dans une dérision jubilatoire.L’anticipation et le fantastique sont souvent représentés dans ces textes, aussi bien dans Dorian Evergreen dont le nom, on le devine, dévoile un clin d’œil au célèbre portrait de Dorian Gray d’Oscar Wilde, que dans les Thanatophores ou SOS MACHOS, qui évoquent respectivement le contrôle des naissances et l’euthanasie.Bernard Viallet se moque allègrement des contradictions de notre époque et nous entraîne à rire avec lui de celles-ci.Ces nouvelles, toujours très bien écrites, se dévorent copieusement. Elles se révèlent également éclectiques, lorsque l’auteur nous conte les aventures d’une vieille péripatéticienne en fin de carrière enlevée par un ancien client amoureux sous les yeux de son antique proxénète, où lorsqu’il dépeint l’univers glauque de deux « pointeurs » violeurs et assassins d’enfants pas du tout pénitents.Certains de ces écrits sont consultables sur le site de l’auteur.On ne peut que recommander la lecture de ces nouvelles très fraîches, à l’humour bien placé, qui affirment encore un peu plus le talent de leur auteur. Views: 681
"Dr Finlay's Casebook" is a delightful collection of episodic stories of Dr Finlay and his life in the fictional Scottish village of Tannochbrae during the inter-war years and based on A.J. Cronin's own experiences as a doctor. The BBC went on to dramatise these stories on both television and radio during the 1960s and '70s, with the television adaption drawing weekly audiences of 12 million viewers. The characters were revived by ITV from 1993-96 and were adapted again for BBC radio in 2001 and 2002. This omnibus edition of "Doctor Finlay of Tannochbrae and Adventures of a Black Bag" revive Cronin's masterpiece for a contemporary audience - stories which are tragic, funny and wry and which a celebration of Cronin's tremendous talent. Views: 681
