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The Edge Of The Sea: Under The Sea-wind / The Sea Around Us / The Edge Of The Sea
by Rachel CarsonWith all the hallmarks of Rachel Carson's luminous prose combined with a scientifically accurate exploration of the Atlantic seashore comes a hauntingly beautiful account of what one can find at the edge of the sea. "The edge of the sea is a strange and beautiful place." Focusing on the plants and invertebrates surviving in the Atlantic zones between the lowest and the highest tides, between Newfoundland and the Florida Keys, The Edge of the Sea is a book to be read for pleasure as well as a practical identification guide. Its appendix and index make it a great reference tool for those interested in plant and animal life around tidepools. A new generation of readers is already discovering why Rachel Carson's books have become cornerstones of the environmental and conservation movements. With an Introduction by Sue Hubbell.
A Dangerous Friend: A Novel
by Ward JustNAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY TIME AND THE LOS ANGELES TIMES • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK&“A literary triumph that transcends its war story. . . its greatness will stand the test of time.&”—San Francisco Chronicle &“A master American novelist.&” —Vanity FairA Dangerous Friend is a thrilling narrative roiling with intrigue, mayhem, and betrayal. Here is the story of conscience and its consequences among those for whom Vietnam was neither the right fight nor the wrong fight but the only fight. The exotic tropical surroundings, the coarsening and corrupting effects of a colonial regime, the visionary delusions of the American democratizers, all play their part. A few civilians with bright minds and sunny intentions want to reform Vietnam—but the Vietnam they see isn't the Vietnam that is. Sydney Parade, a political scientist, has left home and family in an effort to become part of something larger than himself, a foreign-aid operation in Saigon. Even before he arrives, he encounters French and Americans who reveal to him the unsettling depths of a conflict he thought he understood—and in Saigon, the Vietnamese add yet another dimension. Before long, the rampant missteps and misplaced ideals trap Parade and others in a moral crossfire.
The Last Confession Of Thomas Hawkins: A Novel (Thomas Hawkins Ser.)
by Antonia HodgsonWinner of the CWA Historical Dagger Award A Publishers Weekly Top Ten Crime/Mystery Novel of 2016 &“Historical fiction just doesn&’t get any better than this.&” — Jeffery Deaver &“A rip-roaring ride . . . Wonderfully atmospheric and entertaining.&” — Good Housekeeping &“Impeccably researched and astonishingly atmospheric . . . Truly spellbinding.&” — Guardian London, 1728. Tom Hawkins is headed to the gallows, accused of murder. Gentlemen don&’t hang, and Tom&’s damned if he&’ll be the first—he is innocent, after all. It&’s hard to say when Tom&’s troubles began. He was happily living in sin with his beloved—though their neighbors weren&’t happy about that. He probably shouldn&’t have told London&’s great criminal mastermind that he was in need of adventure. Nor should he have joined the king&’s mistress in her fight against her vindictive husband. And he definitely shouldn&’t have trusted the calculating Queen Caroline. She&’s promised him a royal pardon if he holds his tongue, but there&’s nothing more silent than a hanged man. Now Tom&’s scrambling to save his life and protect those he loves. But as the noose tightens, his time is running out. &“Hodgson maintains pitch-perfect suspense, craftily constructs a fairly clued whodunit, and convincingly evokes the period . . . [This book] solidifies her position as a major talent in the genre.&” — Publishers Weekly, starred review
What Happened To Lani Garver
by Carol Plum-UcciThe close-knit residents of Hackett Island have never seen anyone quite like Lani Garver. Everything about this new kid is a mystery: Where does Lani come from? How old is Lani? And most disturbing of all, is Lani a boy or a girl?Popular Claire McKenzie isn't up to tormenting Lani with the rest of the high school elite. Instead, she decides to befriend the intriguing outcast. But within days of Lani's arrival, tragedy strikes, and Claire is left questioning herself, her friendships, and, most interesting of all, the possibility that angels may exist on earth.
The Man Who Climbs Trees: The Lofty Adventures of a Wildlife Cameraman
by James Aldred&“A vertiginous, white-knuckled adventure through some of the most spectacular forests in the world.&” ?—Washington Post Meet the man who climbs trees for a living.? In this adventure memoir, Aldred carries us with him across the globe and up to the top of these towering forest titans as he recalls his most memorable encounters with trees and their inhabitants.? Every child knows the allure of climbing trees. But how many of us get to make a living at it, spending days observing nature from the canopies of stunning forests all around the world? As a wildlife cameraman for the BBC and National Geographic, James Aldred spends his working life high up in trees, poised to capture key moments in the lives of wild animals and birds. Aldred&’s climbs take him to the most incredible and majestic trees in existence. In Borneo, home to the tallest tropical rain forest on the planet, just getting a rope up into the 250-foot-tall trees is a challenge. In Venezuela, even body armor isn&’t guaranteed protection against the razor-sharp talons of a nesting Harpy Eagle. In Australia, the peace of being lulled to sleep in a hammock twenty-five stories above the ground— after a grueling day of climbing and filming—is broken by a midnight storm that threatens to topple the tree. In this vivid account of memorable trees he has climbed (&“Goliath,&” &“Apollo,&” &“Roaring Meg&”), Aldred blends incredible stories of his adventures in the branches with a fascination for the majesty of trees to show us the joy of rising—literally—above the daily grind, up into the canopy of the forest.
The Black Notebook: A Novel
by Patrick ModianoA writer's notebook becomes the key that unlocks memories of a love formed and lost in 1960s Paris. In the aftermath of Algeria's war of independence, Paris was a city rife with suspicion and barely suppressed violence. Amid this tension, Jean, a young writer adrift, met and fell for Dannie, an enigmatic woman fleeing a troubled past. A half century later, with his old black notebook as a guide, he retraces this fateful period in his life, recounting how, through Dannie, he became mixed up with a group of unsavory characters connected by a shadowy crime. Soon Jean, too, was a person of interest to the detective pursuing their case--a detective who would prove instrumental in revealing Dannie's darkest secret.The Black Notebook bears all the hallmarks of this Nobel Prize–winning literary master's unsettling and intensely atmospheric style, rendered in English by acclaimed translator Mark Polizzotti (Suspended Sentences). Once again, Modiano invites us into his unique world, a Paris infused with melancholy, uncertain danger, and the fading echoes of lost love.
The Seville Communion: A Novel
by Arturo Perez-ReverteSomeone has hacked into the Pope's personal computer-not to spy on the Vatican or to spread a virus, but to send an urgent plea for help: SAVE OUR LADY OF THE TEARS. The crumbling Baroque church in the heart of Seville is slated for demolition-but two of its defenders have suddenly died. Accidents? Or murders? And was the church itself somehow involved? The Vatican promptly dispatches Father Lorenzo Quart, their worldly and enormously attractive emissary, to investigate the situation, track down the hacker, known only as "Vespers"-and stay alive. Thus begins a sophisticated and utterly suspenseful page-turner that has taken its readers by storm. The Seville Communion is superb entertainment, a rich and intricate thriller that announces another triumph by a master storyteller who excels at the intellectually provocative mystery.
On Native Grounds: An Interpretation Of Modern American Prose Literature (Harvest Book Ser.)
by Alfred KazinA classic interpretation of literature from America's golden age-including the work of Howells, Wharton, Lewis, Cather, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and Faulkner. New Preface by the Author; Index.
The Unbanking Of America: How the New Middle Class Survives
by Lisa Servon&“[A] startling and absorbing exposé . . . Required reading for fans of muckraking authors like Barbara Ehrenreich.&”—Publishers Weekly, starred review &“Exceptional . . . thorough, and even gut-wrenching. A significant contribution.&”—American Prospect Why Americans are fleeing our broken banking system in growing numbers, and how alternatives are rushing in to do what banks once did What do an undocumented immigrant in the South Bronx, a high-net-worth entrepreneur, and a twenty-something graduate student have in common? All three are victims of our dysfunctional mainstream bank and credit system. Nearly half of all Americans live from paycheck to paycheck, and income volatility has doubled over the past thirty years. Banks, with their high monthly fees and overdraft charges, are gouging their lower- and middle-income customers while serving only the wealthiest Americans. Lisa Servon delivers a stunning indictment of America&’s banks, together with eye-opening dispatches from inside a range of banking alternatives that have sprung up to fill the void. She works as a teller at RiteCheck, a check-cashing business in the South Bronx, and as a payday lender in Oakland. She looks closely at the workings of a tanda, an informal lending club. And she delivers engaging, hopeful portraits of the entrepreneurs reacting to the unbanking of America by designing systems to creatively serve many of us.
Mary Shelley: The Strange True Tale of Frankenstein's Creator
by Catherine ReefOn the 200th anniversary of the publication of Frankenstein, comes a riveting biography of its author, Mary Shelley, whose life reads like a dark gothic novel, filled with scandal, death, drama, and one of the strangest love stories in literary history. The story of Frankenstein&’s creator is a strange, romantic, and tragic one, as deeply compelling as the novel itself. Mary ran away to Lake Geneva with the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley when she was just sixteen. It was there, during a cold and wet summer, that she first imagined her story about a mad scientist who brought a corpse back to life. Success soon followed for Mary, but also great tragedy and misfortune. Catherine Reef brings this passionate woman, brilliant writer, and forgotten feminist into crisp focus, detailing a life that was remarkable both before and after the publication of her iconic masterpiece. Includes index.
The Great Detective: The Amazing Rise and Immortal Life of Sherlock Holmes
by Zach DundasA wickedly smart and rollicking journey through the birth, life, and afterlives of popular culture's most beloved sleuthToday he is the inspiration for fiction adaptations, blockbuster movies, hit television shows, raucous Twitter banter, and thriving subcultures. More than a century after Sherlock Holmes first capered into our world, what is it about Arthur Conan Doyle&’s peculiar creation that continues to fascinate us? Journalist and lifelong Sherlock fan Zach Dundas set out to find the answer. The result is The Great Detective: a history of an idea, a biography of someone who never lived, a tour of the borderland between reality and fiction, and a joyful romp through the world Conan Doyle bequeathed us. Through sparkling new readings of the original stories, Dundas unearths the inspirations behind Holmes and his indispensable companion, Dr. John Watson, and reveals how Conan Doyle's tales laid the groundwork for an infinitely remixable myth, kept alive over the decades by writers, actors, and readers. This investigation leads Dundas on travels into the heart of the Holmesian universe. The Great Detective transports us from New York City's Fifth Avenue and the boozy annual gathering of one of the world's oldest and most exclusive Sherlock Holmes fan societies; to a freezing Devon heath out of The Hound of the Baskervilles; to sunny Pasadena, where Dundas chats with the creators of the smash BBC series Sherlock and even finagles a cameo appearance by Benedict Cumberbatch himself. Along the way, Dundas discovers and celebrates the ingredients that have made Holmes go viral — then, now, and as long as the game&’s afoot.
Daughters Of The Witching Hill: A Novel
by Mary SharrattDaughters of the Witching Hill brings history to life in a vivid and wrenching account of a family sustained by love as they try to survive the hysteria of a witch-hunt. Bess Southerns, an impoverished widow living in Pendle Forest, is haunted by visions and gains a reputation as a cunning woman. Drawing on the Catholic folk magic of her youth, Bess heals the sick and foretells the future. As she ages, she instructs her granddaughter, Alizon, in her craft, as well as her best friend, who ultimately turns to dark magic. When a peddler suffers a stroke after exchanging harsh words with Alizon, a local magistrate, eager to make his name as a witch finder, plays neighbors and family members against one another until suspicion and paranoia reach frenzied heights. Sharratt interweaves well-researched historical details of the 1612 Pendle witch-hunt with a beautifully imagined story of strong women, family, and betrayal. Daughters of the Witching Hill is a powerful novel of intrigue and revelation. This e-book includes a sample chapter of Illuminations.
The Face Of A Naked Lady: An Omaha Family Mystery
by Michael RipsNick Rips’s son had always known him as a conservative midwesterner, dedicated, affable, bland to the point of invisibility. Upon his father’s death, however, Michael Rips returned to his Omaha family home to discover a hidden portfolio of paintings — all done by his father, all of a naked black woman. So begins Michael Rips’s exquisitely humane second work of memoir, a gloriously funny yet deeply serious gem of a book that offers more than a little redemption in our cynical times. Rips is a magical storyteller, with a keen eye for the absurd, even in a place like Omaha, which, like his father, is not what it first appears to be. His solid Republican father, he discovers, had been raised in one of Omaha’s most famous brothels, had insisted on hiring a collection of social misfits to work in his eyeglass factory, and had once showed up in his son’s high school principal’s office in pajamas. As Rips searches for the woman of the paintings, he meets, among others, an African American detective who swears by the clairvoyant powers of a Mind Machine, a homeless man with five million dollars in the bank, an underwear auctioneer, and a flying trapeze artist on her last sublime ride. Ultimately, Rips finds the woman, a father he never knew, and a profound sense that all around us the miraculous permeates the everyday.
Scenes From Village Life
by Amos Oz&“Scenes from Village Life is like a symphony, its movements more impressive together than in isolation. There is, in each story, a particular chord or strain; but taken together, these chords rise and reverberate, evoking an unease so strong it&’s almost a taste in the mouth . . . Scenes from Village Life is a brief collection, but its brevity is a testament to its force. You will not soon forget it.&”—New York Times Book ReviewStrange things are happening in Tel Ilan, a century-old pioneer village. A disgruntled retired politician complains to his daughter that he hears the sound of digging at night. Could it be their tenant, that young Arab? But then the young Arab hears the digging sounds too. And where has the mayor&’s wife gone, vanished without a trace, her note saying &“Don&’t worry about me&”?Around the village, the veneer of new wealth—gourmet restaurants, art galleries, a winery—barely conceals the scars of war and of past generations: disused air-raid shelters, rusting farm tools, and trucks left wherever they stopped. Scenes From Village Life is a memorable novel in stories by the inimitable Amos Oz: a brilliant, unsettling glimpse of what goes on beneath the surface of everyday life.Translated from the Hebrew by Nicholas de Lange&“Finely wrought . . . Oz writes characterizations that are subtle but surgically precise, rendering this work a powerfully understated treatment of an uneasy Israeli conscience." —Publishers Weekly, starred&“Informed by everything, weighed down by nothing, this is an exquisite work of art.&”—The Scotsman
Woman: An Intimate Geography
by Natalie AngierNational Book Award finalist A New York Times notable book &“One knows early on one is reading a classic—a text so necessary and abundant and true that all efforts of its kind, for decades before and after it, will be measured by it.&”—Thomas Lynch, Los Angeles Times After fifteen years in print, Woman remains an essential guide to everything from organs to orgasms and hormones to hysterectomies. With her characteristic clarity, insight, and sheer exuberance of language, bestselling author Natalie Angier cuts through the still prevalent myths and misinformation surrounding the female body, that most enigmatic of evolutionary masterpieces. &“Ultimately, this grand tour of the female body provides a new vision of the role of women in the history of our species.&”—Washington Post
The Black Hand: The Epic War Between a Brilliant Detective and the Deadliest Secret Society in American History
by Stephan TaltySoon to be a major motion picture starring Leonardo DiCaprio, this gripping true story of the origins of the Mafia in America follows the brilliant Italian-born detective who gave his life to stop it. Beginning in the summer of 1903, an insidious crime wave filled New York City, and then the entire country, with fear. The children of Italian immigrants were kidnapped, and dozens of innocent victims were gunned down. Bombs tore apart tenement buildings. Judges, senators, Rockefellers, and society matrons were threatened with gruesome deaths. The perpetrators seemed both omnipresent and invisible. Their only calling card: the symbol of a black hand. The crimes whipped up the slavering tabloid press and heated ethnic tensions to the boiling point. Standing between the American public and the Black Hand’s lawlessness was Joseph Petrosino. Dubbed the “Italian Sherlock Holmes,” he was a famously dogged and ingenious detective, and a master of disguise. As the crimes grew ever more bizarre and the Black Hand’s activities spread far beyond New York’s borders, Petrosino and the all-Italian police squad he assembled raced to capture members of the secret criminal society before the country’s anti-immigrant tremors exploded into catastrophe. Petrosino’s quest to root out the source of the Black Hand’s power would take him all the way to Sicily??—??but at a terrible cost.Unfolding a story rich with resonance in our own era, The Black Hand is fast-paced narrative history at its very best.
Fasting, Feasting: A Novel (Basic Ser. #Vol. 50)
by Anita DesaiHailed as “unsparing, yet tender and funny,” Fasting, Feasting is a “splendid novel” about siblings and their very different lives in India and America. (The Wall Street Journal)Fasting, Feasting tells the moving story of Uma, the plain older daughter of an Indian family, tied to the household of her childhood and tending to her parents' every extravagant demand, and of her younger brother, Arun, across the world in Massachusetts, bewildered by his new life in college and the suburbs, where he lives with the Patton family. Beautifully written and bleakly comedic, Fasting, Feasting explores family dynamics in opposing cultures. Desai has a gift for conveying “the tangled complexities of Indian tradition with an economy of language that is clean, simple and elegantly straightforward." (The Denver Post)
Your Score: An Insider's Secrets to Understanding, Controlling, and Protecting Your Credit Score
by Anthony DavenportAn insider’s look at what every consumer needs to know about their credit score—and most importantly, how to fix it.A healthy credit score is essential for a healthy financial life. But the precise mechanisms used to determine our credit scores are shrouded in mystery. Consumers aren’t usually told how their score is being used by all kinds of companies and banks to dictate financial terms that will strongly affect their daily lives. So when consumers interact with the world of credit, they do so from a position of weakness. With this revelatory guide, Anthony Davenport aims to change that. Finally, here is a consumer-friendly road map for understanding and navigating the secretive world of consumer credit. Davenport reveals where your credit score comes from, how to improve, maintain, or rescue it, and how to avoid hidden credit pitfalls. Your Score is an accessible manual designed to help you take control of your credit score and better navigate all the important financial decisions in your life.“Does a phenomenal job of pulling back the curtain and giving you a firsthand peek inside the hidden, often frustrating, world of credit scoring.”—Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, New York Times best-selling author of Zero Debt
Feeding On Dreams: Confessions of an Unrepentant Exile
by Ariel Dorfman"A multifaceted journey that is geographical, personal and political . . . A complex, nuanced view of United States–Latin American politics and relations of the last forty some years." — Durham Herald-Sun"One of the most important voices coming out of South America." — Salman RushdieIn September 1973, the military took power in Chile, and Ariel Dorfman, a young leftist allied with President Allende, was forced to flee for his life. In Feeding on Dreams, Dorfman portrays, through visceral scenes and with startling honesty, the personal and political maelstroms that have defined his life since the Pinochet coup. Dorfman&’s wry and masterfully told account takes us on a page-turning tour of the past several decades of North-South political history and of the complex consequences of revolution and tyranny, excavating for the first time his profound and provocative journey as an exile and the consequences for his wife and family."Fascinating." — San Francisco Examiner"A great book that will simultaneously undo us and sustain us." — Tikkun
Love Wins: The Lovers and Lawyers Who Fought the Landmark Case for Marriage Equality
by Jim Obergefell Debbie CenziperThe fascinating and very moving story of the lovers, lawyers, judges and activists behind the groundbreaking Supreme Court case that led to one of the most important, national civil rights victories in decades—the legalization of same-sex marriage.In June 2015, the Supreme Court made same-sex marriage the law in all fifty states in a decision as groundbreaking as Roe v Wade and Brown v Board of Education. Through insider accounts and access to key players, this definitive account reveals the dramatic and previously unreported events behind Obergefell v Hodges and the lives at its center. This is a story of law and love—and a promise made to a dying man who wanted to know how he would be remembered.Twenty years ago, Jim Obergefell and John Arthur fell in love in Cincinnati, Ohio, a place where gays were routinely picked up by police and fired from their jobs. In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government had to provide married gay couples all the benefits offered to straight couples. Jim and John—who was dying from ALS—flew to Maryland, where same-sex marriage was legal. But back home, Ohio refused to recognize their union, or even list Jim’s name on John’s death certificate. Then they met Al Gerhardstein, a courageous attorney who had spent nearly three decades advocating for civil rights and who now saw an opening for the cause that few others had before him.This forceful and deeply affecting narrative—Part Erin Brockovich, part Milk, part Still Alice—chronicles how this grieving man and his lawyer, against overwhelming odds, introduced the most important gay rights case in U.S. history. It is an urgent and unforgettable account that will inspire readers for many years to come.
Stillwater: A Novel
by Nicole Lea Helget"Rousing fun." — MinneapolisStar Tribune&“A wonder of a novel, rich in history, humor, and heart, with prose that flows and sparkles like a sunlit river.&” — Benjamin Percy, author of Red Moon &“Lyrical and humorous [with] gorgeous prose . . . A rich and intricate novel full of compassion for these pioneers and the place they live.&” — St. Paul Pioneer Press Raised in the same small community, Clement and Angel, fraternal twins separated at birth, grow up in different worlds. He lives among orphans, nuns, Native Americans, prostitutes. She lives in the town mansion, dressed in taffeta skirts and dodging her mother&’s manic attention. Bound by a mystical connection, the twins rarely meet, but Clement knows if he is truly in need, Angel will come. Near the Mississippi River and Canada, Stillwater becomes an important stop on the Underground Railroad. As the nation pushes boundaries, geographic and moral, and marches into civil war, the territory is at a crossroads. Clement and Angel have both learned to survive at the edge of things, but what will this new world hold for them? Will it set them free?Stillwater is a lyrical, vibrant, often hilarious, and always unforgettable journey into our past, ourselves, and the impulses that drive us to create and explore. &“Told in a vigorous and warmly resonant prose that captures both the ridiculous and the sublime . . . A steady pleasure.&” — Historical Novel Society &“Stillwater has true grit . . . Entertaining, inventive, outrageous and well-told.&”—MinnPost
Rules For Aging: A Wry and Witty Guide to Life
by Roger RosenblattOne of USA Today's Best Self-Help Books of the Year, the national bestseller Rules for Aging from acclaimed and beloved prize-winning essayist Roger Rosenblatt, is a witty and humorous guide about the trials and tribulations of getting older.Acclaimed and beloved prize-winning essayist Roger Rosenblatt has commented on most of the trends and events of our time. His columns in Time magazine and his commentaries on PBS's News Hour with Jim Lehrer have made him a household word and a trusted friend of millions. With a wry sense of humor and inimitable wit, Rosenblatt offers here guidelines for aging that are both easy to understand and, more importantly, easy to implement. More and more in the news today, we are hearing about phenomenal advances in the "fight against aging." But what Rosenblatt suggests to combat age is far more valuable than any scientific breakthrough ??—?? he breaks down the hardest part of aging, the mental anguish of growing older with fifty-four gems of funny, brilliant, wise, indispensable advice.A book to savor, a book to keep, and a book for all ages. This little guide is intended for people who wish to age successfully, or at all. . .
Mr. Mani: A Novel
by A. B. YehoshuaMr. Mani is a deeply affecting six-generation family saga, extending from nineteenth century Greece and Poland to British-occupied Palestine to German-occupied Crete and ultimately to modern Israel. The narrative moves through time and is told in five conversations about the Mani family. It ends in Athens in 1848 with Avraham Mani’s powerful tale about the death of his young son in Jerusalem. A profoundly human novel, rich in drama, irony, and wit.
One Man's Garden
by Henry MitchellIn the sequel to The Essential Earthman, the Washington Post columnist offers a harvest of sharp observations and humorous adventures gathered during a year in his garden, along with much down-to-earth advice on horticulture.
If Nobody Speaks Of Remarkable Things: A Novel
by Jon McGregorRisky in conception, hip and yet soulful, this is a prose poem of a novel—intense, lyrical, and highly evocative—with a mystery at its center, which keeps the reader in suspense until the final page. In a tour de force that could be described as Altmanesque, we are invited into the private lives of the residents of a quiet urban street in England over the course of a single day. In delicate, intricately observed closeup, we witness the hopes, fears, and unspoken despairs of a diverse community: the man with painfully scarred hands who tried in vain to save his wife from a burning house and who must now care for his young daughter alone; a group of young clubgoers just home from an all-night rave, sweetly high and mulling over vague dreams; the nervous young man at number 18 who collects weird urban junk and is haunted by the specter of unrequited love. The tranquillity of the street is shattered at day's end when a terrible accident occurs. This tragedy and an utterly surprising twist provide the momentum for the book. But it is the author's exquisite rendering of the ordinary, the everyday, that gives this novel its freshness, its sense of beauty, wonder, and hope. Rarely does a writer appear with so much music and poetry—so much vision—that he can make the world seem new.