Although Truman Capote’s last, unfinished novel offers a devastating group portrait of the high and low society of his time.
Tracing the career of a writer of uncertain parentage and omnivorous erotic tastes, Answered Prayers careens from a louche bar in Tangiers to a banquette at La Côte Basque, from literary salons to high-priced whorehouses. It takes in calculating beauties and sadistic husbands along with such real-life supporting characters as Colette, the Duchess of Windsor, Montgomery Clift, and Tallulah Bankhead. Above all, this malevolently finny book displays Capote at his most relentlessly observant and murderously witty. Views: 419
Pat O’Leary, Max Priestley, Georgina Greene and Charlene Anderson are the Team of Four. They’ve been deep sea diving in the Pacific, climbed the temples of Yucatan, trekked the icy wastes of the Himalayas, and ridden camels across the Gobi. This time they confronted a mystery on the rain swept coast of England, a mystery that spanned two centuries. This time they went treasure hunting in Cornwall.Pat O’Leary, Max Priestley, Georgina Greene and Charlene Anderson are the Team of Four. They live in Murwillumbah on the north coast of New South Wales, and attend Year 8 at Murwillumbah High School. They’ve had many adventures. They’ve been deep sea diving in the Pacific, crawled through the caves under Eight Mile Plains, climbed the temples of Yucatan, and visited the pyramids of Egypt. They’ve explored the ancient monuments of Italy, trekked the icy wastes of the Himalayas, and ridden camels across the burning sands of the Gobi. But those are other stories. This time they confronted a mystery that was more than two hundred years old. This time they went treasure hunting in Cornwall. “Well me lads and lassies, that be a right long story” said Barney. “And I be right puzzled, and not a little affrighted too, fer ‘tis early te be seein’ this I be thinkin’. And I tell ye this! That light is mebbe no light. That light is mebbe the Ghost o’ Smugglers Run. He be lookin’ fer the sailors that be lost in the storm. He be takin’ the careless, and he give none back. And the rocks he be standin’ on? Why they be The Rocks o’ Gold.”The Team of Four have stumbled across a mystery on the rain swept coast of Cornwall. With Pat’s Dad in the lead, and their friend Barney Applegate at their side, the Team set off to solve the riddle. The riddle of the Rocks of Gold.“They were ‘in the cut’, deep in the heart of the Maw, when the wave broke over the stern of the dory. Kegs of rum were swept past them and they were buried in water and foam. Purtaph was flung overboard with a scream. Jim felt his Dad’s strong hand close around his arm for a moment before it was swept away. Jim felt the boat surge forward, fully submerged, as the wave took it through the Maw. He was underwater and choking. He struggled to swim to the surface but the boots and the oilskins seemed to drag him back. He felt darkness closing over him and he thought of his brothers and sisters and the school they would never have.”Using all their wits, the Team and Dad and Barney search for clues. Their search takes them into the mighty Atlantic, where they fish off the wrecks of the Annie Rose and the U467; to the dusty bookshelves of Looe, where Dagwood Dogs and stale scones abound; and to the rocky slopes of Long Nose Point, where the broken timbers of the Powder Mill tell a dark history.Will the Team solve the riddle? Or will the Ghost of Smugglers Run once again be victorious, shrouding its secrets forever in the icy mists of winter and the crashing waves of the Rocks of Gold? Views: 419
WAS SHE A SWEET SOUTHERN CHARMER?
OR A COLD-BLOODED KILLER?
For their wedding portrait, petite Pat Taylor and handsome Tom Allanson posed as Rhett and Scarlett. Both came from fine Southern families, and dreamed of the Tara-like plantation where they would grow roses, raise horses, and move in the genteel circles of Atlanta society. Less than two months later, their dream exploded in terror and murder: their beautiful home mysteriously burned to the ground and Tom was convicted of the brutal slaying of his mother and father.
Pat's only brother had died in a puzzling suicide, her grandparents-in-law were poisoned with arsenic, and no one -- from her wealthy employers to her own children -- was safe when Pat Allanson didn't get her way. It took Georgia lawmen more than two decades to stop her for good -- if indeed they have.
In this fascinating account, Ann Rule delivers a tour de force: a whirlwind of misguided love, denial, guilt, and passions out of control; a series of brilliantly manipulated crimes; the bizarre and horrifying tale of two families brought to ruin; and, at the center of it all, the heartless, supremely selfish sociopath whose evil hid behind soft words and gentle manners, but who destroyed -- without mercy -- those who loved her. Views: 419
Short tales about deadly books, by top mystery authors
A thrilling new novella from the bestselling author of the Bob Lee Swagger series
A captain in the British Army, Basil St. Florian has been tasked with a dangerous mission in the midst of World War II. He has been sent across the English Channel to find and photograph a manuscript that does not officially exist, one that may hold the key to a code that, if cracked, could prevent the deaths of millions. St. Florian’s mission presents him with one challenge after another, and it doesn’t help that the SS and the Abwehr are following his every move in a cat-and-mouse chase across occupied France. But St. Florian is willing to risk his life to get to the manuscript—even if the genius professor Alan Turing can’t guarantee he’ll be able to break the code. Views: 418
The Purple Decades brings together the author's own selections from his list of critically acclaimed publications, including the complete text of Mau-Mauing and the Flak Catchers, his account of the wild games the poverty program encouraged minority groups to play. Views: 417
"All the tawdry details I'm dying for are in these stories, but they're given out like old sweaters—without shame, without guile. Amy Hempel is the writer who makes me feel most affiliated with other humans; we are all living this way—hiding, alone, obsessed—and that's ok." —Miranda July From legendary writer Amy Hempel, one of the most celebrated and original voices in American short fiction: a ravishing, sometimes heartbreaking new story collection—her first in over a decade.Amy Hempel is a master of the short story. A multiple award winner, Hempel is highly regarded among writers, reviewers, and readers of contemporary fiction. This new collection, her first since her Collected Stories published more than a decade ago, is a literary event. These fifteen exquisitely honed stories reveal Hempel at her most compassionate and spirited, as she introduces characters, lonely and adrift, searching for... Views: 417
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. Views: 417
More About Dave
A Man Named Dave is the conclusion to a trio of autobiographical books by Dave Pelzer, who to millions of readers of A Child Called "It" and The Lost Boy has become an inspirational figure. A Child Called "It" is the gripping and harrowing account of Pelzer's abuse at the hands of his mother, beginning when he was four years old and continuing until teachers and neighbors were finally able to intervene and he was placed in foster care at age 12. The Lost Boy picks up where A Child Called "It" leaves off and details Pelzer's experiences in foster care and his difficulty navigating the "normal" world with the dark shadows of his abuse and of his mother's actual presence in his life looming over him.
In this installment, Pelzer narrates his life from his enlistment in the Air Force at age 18 to the present day. While all three books show the consequences of profound cruelty with a frank immediacy and gut-wrenching, carefully chosen detail, they are -- as the subtitle of this final installment of the trilogy suggests -- ardently inspirational works. Pelzer's thematic focus is forgiveness and the ability of the human spirit to triumph over adversity. Pelzer demonstrates that it is possible to channel feelings and experiences of trauma into positive energy.
Pelzer includes just enough flashback and summary material that the reader new to his work has a complete grasp of the scope of his mother's abuse and his experiences in foster care. And those fans who have read his previous work will find A Man Named Dave to be an essential, capping complement to A Child Called "It" and The Lost Boy.
A Man Named Dave describes Pelzer's more recent experiences and affords readers access to a more mature, gradually ripening adult perspective during Pelzer's agonizing struggle to confront the demons of his past and conquer them. To read all three works in sequence is, therefore, to experience a voyage from darkness with only a glimmer of hope to full illumination.
Throughout A Man Named Dave, Pelzer carries with him a touchstone memory from his childhood, on which he ruminates and to which he returns in his most acute moments of distress. The memory is from his very early childhood, when he and his father had a tender talk alone during a family outing to the Russian River. This is an immensely precious memory for Pelzer, who has an abiding love for the father who mostly stood by or was absent during the long period of his mother's abuse. This treasured fragment from the past serves as a driving force in Pelzer's adult life -- he dreams of building a house on the Russian River and ultimately, living there with his father.
Sadly, this is not to be. Pelzer joins the Air Force with the intention of becoming a firefighter, which, for a time, was his father's occupation as well, and while there, he writes letter after letter to his father, who responds only once, in a mostly illegible, scrawling letter that includes no return address. Pelzer fears that his father is lost to alcoholism and vagrant wandering. When Pelzer is finally alerted to the fact that his father is near death, he rushes to be with him. Pelzer's dying father is barely able to communicate, but in spending his final days by his father's side, Pelzer is able to begin to confront his childhood and to form a positive, productive link to his traumatic past. One of his father's final actions is to pass his cherished fire department badge on to his son.
The death of Pelzer's father means that he must also confront his mother, who, though she would have little to do with her husband during his decline and death, makes her son feel ostracized and uncomfortable at the funeral. The full-grown Pelzer, an outwardly successful man in an Air Force uniform, must struggle to avoid becoming a craven boy in her presence once again. The narrative is punctuated with such excruciating encounters between Pelzer and his mother.
Despite the fact that his mother no longer has any physical or legal power over him, Pelzer is still dominated by her presence. The scenes provide a telling portrayal of the consequences of childhood trauma and illustrate the almost epic immensity of Pelzer's ultimately successful struggle to overcome the legacy of his mother's abuse.
Essential to this struggle is that Pelzer realizes despite the welling of powerful emotions inside of him, he must do all he can to not hate his mother or wreak vengeance on her in any form. If he is to "break the cycle" of abuse, he must confront his childhood and its effects on his adult life. It is this triumphal will -- to come to grips with his past and somehow transmute its effects on his character into a positive view of himself and the world he inhabits -- that forces Pelzer to seek out and speak with his mother despite his instinct to run from this past and hide it from others.
In his depiction of himself as a young boy, Pelzer showed how he used indomitable spirit to triumph over tyranny. In A Man Named Dave, he will inspire most readers as he makes his voyage to adulthood and a fulfilling life -- all the while struggling with the legacy of his abuse. Part of this legacy is a difficulty with intimacy and attachment. Pelzer hides much of his past from his first wife, Patsy, and is unable to tell her he loves her. His self-doubt contributes to the tumult of their relationship, essentially a mismatch cemented by the discovery that Patsy is pregnant.
Ultimately, the birth of his son, Stephen, is the final key to Pelzer's reconciliation with his past. Stephen is a constant reminder to Pelzer of the preciousness of life and the imperative of breaking the chain of abuse so that Stephen will grow up knowing abundant love. In order to provide this love to Stephen, Pelzer must learn to love himself as well.
In a touching moment near the book's end, Pelzer walks with his son to the very spot where, as a child, he remembers walking with his own father many years ago and sharing in the natural splendor. The cycle of abuse has been broken, and Pelzer shares his quiet triumph not only with his son but also with his readers.
David S. Rosen Views: 417
Watch a video Read discussion questions for "The Last Stand."
The bestselling author of "Mayflower" sheds new light on one of the iconic stories of the American West
Little Bighorn and Custer are names synonymous in the American imagination with unmatched bravery and spectacular defeat. Mythologized as Custer's Last Stand, the June 1876 battle has been equated with other famous last stands, from the Spartans' defeat at Thermopylae to Davy Crockett at the Alamo.
In his tightly structured narrative, Nathaniel Philbrick brilliantly sketches the two larger-than-life antagonists: Sitting Bull, whose charisma and political savvy earned him the position of leader of the Plains Indians, and George Armstrong Custer, one of the Union's greatest cavalry officers and a man with a reputation for fearless and often reckless courage. Philbrick reminds readers that the Battle of the Little Bighorn was also, even in victory, the last stand for the Sioux and Cheyenne Indian nations. Increasingly outraged by the government's Indian policies, the Plains tribes allied themselves and held their ground in southern Montana. Within a few years of Little Bighorn, however, all the major tribal leaders would be confined to Indian reservations.
Throughout, Philbrick beautifully evokes the history and geography of the Great Plains with his characteristic grace and sense of drama. "The Last Stand" is a mesmerizing account of the archetypal story of the American West, one that continues to haunt our collective imagination. Views: 416
A new memoir by the celebrated essayist that explores her relationship with her father, a lover of wine
In The Wine Lover's Daughter, Anne Fadiman examines with all her characteristic wit and feeling her relationship with her father, the celebrated multihyphenate and lover of wine Clifton Fadiman. A renowned literary critic, editor, and radio host, Clifton was born in Brooklyn, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, and spent the rest of his life trying to get away from it.
An appreciation of wine along with a plummy upper-crust accent, expensive suits, and an encyclopedic knowledge of Western literature was an essential element of Clifton s escape from lower-middle-class Brooklyn to swanky Manhattan. The Wine Lover's Daughter traces the arc of a man's infatuation, from the glass of cheap Graves he drank in 1927 in a Parisian department store; to the Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1904 he drank to celebrate his eightieth birthday, when he and the bottle were exactly the same age; to the wines that sustained him during the last years of his life, when he was blind but still buoyed, as he had always been, by hedonism.
Wine is the spine of this touching memoir; the life and character of Fadiman s father, along with her relationship with him and her own less ardent relationship with wine, are the flesh. A poignant and thoughtful exploration of love, ambition, class, family, and the pleasures of the palate, The Wine Lover's Daughter is a splendid return to form by one of our finest essayists. Views: 416
A second chance...
In the windswept sands of the Middle East, Paul Chardy fought side by side with Ulu Beg: one, a charismatic, high-strung CIA covert warrior, the other a ferocious freedom fighter. Then Chardy fell into the hands of the enemy, and Beg was betrayed. Now the two men are about to meet again.
A second gun...
Beg has come over the Mexican border under a hail of bullets--determined to assassinate a leading American political figure and avenge his people's betrayal. The CIA wants Chardy to stop the hit. Chardy wants to save Beg's life.
Between the two men is a tragic past, a failed mission, and a woman who knew them in war--and who knows their secrets now. Around both men is a conspiracy of lies and violence that reaches back to the Cold War. But as Beg moves in for his kill and as Chardy breaks loose from his handlers, a terrible truth begins to emerge: somewhere, someone wants both men to die.
From the Paperback edition. Views: 415
It's been over a year since Omri discovered in The Indian in the Cupboard that, with the turn of a key, he could magically bring to life the three-inch-high Indian figure he placed inside his cupboard. Omri and his Indian, Little Bear, create a fantastic world together until one day, Omri realizes the terrible consequences if Little Bear ever got trapped in his "giant" world. Reluctantly, Omri sends the Indian back through the cupboard, giving his mother the magic key to wear around her neck so that he will never be tempted to bring Little Bear back to life.
But one year later, full of exciting news, Omri gives way to temptation when he finds that his mother has left the magic key lying on the bathroom sink.
A whole new series of adventures awaits Omri as he discovers that his Indian has been critically wounded during the French and Indian Wars and desperately needs Omri's help.
Now, helplessly caught between his own life and his cupboard life of war and death, Omri must act decisively if he is to save Little Bear and his village from being completely destroyed. What began as a harmless game has tumed into a horrible nightmare, a nightmare in which Omri is irrevocably involved, and from which he may never escape.
From the Hardcover edition. Views: 415
Escaping from his North Carolina home after his father murders their family and commits suicide, Trevor McGee returns to confront the past, and finds himself haunted by the same demons that drove his father to insanity. Views: 415
Ann Rule's "great knack for horrific detail" (New York "Daily News" ) was briliantly displayed in "A Rose for Her Grave" and "You Belong to Me," the first two volumes of her Crime File series. Now, in "A Fever in the Heart, " she dissects a fascinating case centered around an alluring young wife and the two men desperate for her love...an explosive triangle of thwarted desire that led to obsession and murder in a small northwestern town. As the crimes that initially baffled police finally give up their shocking secrets, the story leads us to a denoument as bizarre as anything ever uncovered in the annals of true crime. Sharing other riveting cases from her personal files, Ann Rule masterfully examines the delusions of the criminal mind, the shattering passions that explode into murder, and the relentless efforts of law enforcers to ferret out the deadly truth. Views: 415
