Join Monkey D. Luffy and his swashbuckling crew in their search for the ultimate treasure, One Piece! As a child, Monkey D. Luffy dreamed of becoming King of the Pirates. But his life changed when he accidentally gained the power to stretch like rubber—at the cost of never being able to swim again! Years later, Luffy sets off in search of the “One Piece,” said to be the greatest treasure in the world.
Now, with the help of a motley collection of pirate wannabes, Luffy is setting off in search of the legendary treasure. The enchanted Gum-Gum Fruit has given Luffy the power to stretch like rubber—and his new crewmate, the infamous pirate hunter Roronoa Zolo, strikes fear into the hearts of other buccaneers! But what chance does one rubber guy stand against Nami, a thief so tough she specializes in robbing pirates, or Captain Buggy, a fiendish pirate lord whose weird, clownish appearance conceals even weirder powers?
It's pirate vs. pirate in the second swashbuckling volume of One Piece.
The acclaimed Farseer and Liveship Traders trilogies established Robin Hobb as one of the most splendidly imaginative practitioners of world-class fantasy. Now, in Book 2 of her most stunning trilogy yet, Hobb continues the soul-shattering tale of FitzChivalry Farseer. With rich characters, breathtaking magic, and sweeping action, Golden Fool brings the reluctant adventurer further into the fray in an epic of sacrifice, salvation, and untold treachery.
Golden FoolPrince Dutiful has been rescued from his Piebald kidnappers and the court has resumed its normal rhythms. But for FitzChivalry Farseer, a return to isolation is impossible. Though gutted by the loss of his wolf bondmate, Nighteyes, Fitz must take up residence at Buckkeep and resume his tasks as Chade’s apprentice assassin. Posing as Tom Badgerlock, bodyguard to Lord Golden, FitzChivalry becomes the eyes and ears behind the walls. And with his old mentor failing visibly, Fitz is forced to take on more burdens as he attempts to guide a kingdom straying closer to civil strife each day.
The problems are legion. Prince Dutiful’s betrothal to the Narcheska Elliania of the Out Islands is fraught with tension, and the Narcheska herself appears to be hiding an array of secrets. Then, amid Piebald threats and the increasing persecution of the Witted, FitzChivalry must ensure that no one betrays the Prince’s secret—a secret that could topple the Farseer throne: that he, like Fitz, possesses the dread “beast magic.”
Meanwhile, FitzChivalry must impart to the Prince his limited knowledge of the Skill: the hereditary and addictive magic of the Farseers. In the process, they discover within Buckkeep one who has a wild and powerful talent for it, and whose enmity for Fitz may have disastrous consequences for all.
Only Fitz’s enduring friendship with the Fool brings him any solace. But even that is shattered when unexpected visitors from Bingtown reveal devastating secrets from the Fool’s past. Now, bereft of support and adrift in intrigue, Fitz’s biggest challenge may be simply to survive the inescapable and violent path that fate has laid out for him.
Inferno, the first part of Dante's Divine Comedy, is one of the most elusive and challenging works to render into English verse. In this translation, Anthony Esolen tackles the daunting task with finesse, striving for a marriage of sense and sound, poetry and meaning. Esolen's translation captures the poem's line-by-line vigor while remaining faithful to its allegorically and philosophically exacting structure. This rendition of Inferno is designed to be as popular with general readers as it is with teachers and students, reflecting Dante's unyielding insistence on the absence of sentimentality or intellectual compromise—even Hell, as depicted by Dante, is a work of divine art.
Esolen's critical Introduction and endnotes, along with appendices containing Dante’s most important sources—from Virgil to Saint Thomas Aquinas and other Catholic theologians—definitively illuminate the religious universe the poet inhabited, providing readers with a comprehensive understanding of the spiritual context of Dante's epic journey.
Hundreds of years in the future, Manhattan has become a deadly slum, run by mutant crime-lords and disinterested cops. Stuck in the middle is a young girl who thought she had no future, but learns she has a great destiny.
In a world so poisoned that it doesn't notice the monsters on its streets, how can a street kid like Fray unite a fallen city against a demonic plot to consume mankind? Joss Whedon, the celebrated creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, brings his vision to the future in this unique tale.
As inventive in the comics medium as in that of television or film, Whedon spins a complex tale of a skilled thief coming of age without the help of friends or family, guided only by a demonic Watcher.
I Wish Someone Were Waiting For Me Somewhere explores how a life can be changed irrevocably in just one fateful moment. A pregnant mother's plans for the future unravel at the hospital; a travelling salesman learns the consequences of an almost-missed exit on the motorway in the newspaper the next morning; while a perfect date is spoilt by a single act of thoughtlessness.
In those crucial moments, Gavalda demonstrates her almost magical skill in conveying love, lust, longing, and loneliness. Someone I Loved offers a hauntingly intimate look at the intolerably painful, yet sometimes valuable consequences that adultery can have on a marriage and the individuals involved. A simple tale, yet long in substance, Someone I Loved ends like most great love affairs, forever leaving you wanting just one more moment.
Seven hundred years ago, a Black Widow witch saw an ancient prophecy come to life in her web of dreams and visions. Now the Dark Kingdom readies itself for the arrival of its Queen, a Witch who will wield more power than even the High Lord of Hell himself. But she is still young, still open to influence--and corruption.
Whoever controls the Queen controls the darkness. Three men--sworn enemies--know this. And they know the power that hides behind the blue eyes of an innocent young girl. And so begins a ruthless game of politics and intrigue, magic and betrayal, where the weapons are hate and love--and the prize could be terrible beyond imagining...
With empathy, compassion, and practical tools, developmental psychologist and sufferer of Sensory Defensive Disorder (SD), Sharon Heller, Ph.D., sheds light on a little-known but common affliction. Sufferers react to harmless stimuli as irritating, distracting, or dangerous.
We all know what it feels like to be irritated by loud music, accosted by lights that are too bright, or overwhelmed by a world that moves too quickly. But millions of people suffer from Sensory Defensive Disorder (SD), a common affliction where people react to harmless stimuli not just as a distracting hindrance, but a potentially dangerous threat.
Dr. Heller, being sensory defensive herself, brings both personal and professional perspectives. She is the ideal person to educate the world about this problem, which will only increase as technology and processed environments take over our lives.
In addition to heightening public awareness of this prevalent issue, Dr. Heller provides tools and therapies for alleviating and, in some cases, even eliminating defensiveness altogether.
Until now, treatment for sensory defensiveness has been successfully implemented in Learning Disabled children, where defensiveness tends to be extreme. However, the disorder has generally gone unidentified in adults who think they are either overstimulated, stressed, weird, or crazy. These sensory defensive sufferers live out their lives stressed and unhappy, never knowing why or what they can do about it.
Now, with Too Loud, Too Bright, Too Fast, Too Tight, they have a compassionate spokesperson and a solution-oriented book of advice.
Will Alexander, the sheriff of a small town in southern Appalachia, is embroiled in a baffling murder case that offers neither a body nor a suspect. Determined to uncover the truth, he embarks on a quest to discover what truly happened to the local thug, Holland Winchester.
This brilliant southern gothic novel, by the award-winning and bestselling author Ron Rash, observes the consequences of love and murder across generations. Told from the perspectives of the sheriff, a local farmer, his wife, their son, and the sheriff's deputy, the story unfolds through their unique voices, exploring crime, shifting suspicion, blame, and guilt with each new revelation.
Set in the 1950s Appalachian South Carolina, the narrative is woven with themes of infidelity, jealousy, betrayal, and the inexorable march of progress as a valley fills with water behind a new dam. One Foot in Eden signals the arrival of one of the most mature and distinctive voices in southern literature.
Cry, the Beloved Country, the most famous and important novel in South Africa’s history, was an immediate worldwide bestseller in 1948. Alan Paton’s impassioned novel about a black man’s country under white man’s law is a work of searing beauty.
Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply. Let him not laugh too gladly when the water runs through his fingers, nor stand too silent when the setting sun makes red the veld with fire. Let him not be too moved when the birds of his land are singing, nor give too much of his heart to a mountain or valley. For fear will rob him of all if he gives too much.
The eminent literary critic Lewis Gannett wrote, “We have had many novels from statesmen and reformers, almost all bad; many novels from poets, almost all thin. In Alan Paton’s Cry, the Beloved Country the statesman, the poet and the novelist meet in a unique harmony.” Cry, the Beloved Country is the deeply moving story of the Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo and his son, Absalom, set against the background of a land and a people riven by racial injustice. Remarkable for its lyricism, unforgettable for character and incident, Cry, the Beloved Country is a classic work of love and hope, courage and endurance, born of the dignity of man.
Callan Lyons is a genetic experiment. One of six fighting for freedom and the survival of their Pride. Merinus Tyler is the reporter who will tempt him, draw him, until the fury of the "mating frenzy" locks them into a battle of sexual heat there is no escape from.
Deception, blood, and the evil Genetics Council are hot on their trail. Callan will use his strength to try and save them both... and do all in his power to keep his woman in the process.
One of the most important and controversial writers of the 20th century, Knut Hamsun made literary history with the publication in 1890 of this powerful, autobiographical novel recounting the abject poverty, hunger and despair of a young writer struggling to achieve self-discovery and its ultimate artistic expression.
The book brilliantly probes the psychodynamics of alienation, obsession, and self-destruction, painting an unforgettable portrait of a man driven by forces beyond his control to the edge of the abyss. Hamsun influenced many of the major 20th-century writers who followed him, including Kafka, Joyce and Henry Miller. Required reading in world literature courses, the highly influential, landmark novel will also find a wide audience among lovers of books that probe the "unexplored crannies in the human soul" (George Egerton).
Moving from Ireland to New York City in 1741, Cormac O'Connor witnesses the city's transformation into a thriving metropolis while he explores the mysteries of time, loss, and love. By the author of Snow in August and A Drinking Life. Reprint. 100,000 first printing.
In the Nevada desert, an experiment has gone horribly wrong. A cloud of nanoparticles -- micro-robots -- has escaped from the laboratory. This cloud is self-sustaining and self-reproducing. It is intelligent and learns from experience. For all practical purposes, it is alive.
It has been programmed as a predator. It is evolving swiftly, becoming more deadly with each passing hour.
Every attempt to destroy it has failed.
And we are the prey.
When Deng Xiaoping’s efforts to “open up” China took root in the late 1980s, Xinran recognized an invaluable opportunity. As an employee for the state radio system, she had long wanted to help improve the lives of Chinese women. But when she was given clearance to host a radio call-in show, she barely anticipated the enthusiasm it would quickly generate. Operating within the constraints imposed by government censors, “Words on the Night Breeze” sparked a tremendous outpouring, and the hours of tape on her answering machines were soon filled every night.
Whether angry or muted, posing questions or simply relating experiences, these anonymous women bore witness to decades of civil strife, and of halting attempts at self-understanding in a painfully restrictive society. In this collection, by turns heartrending and inspiring, Xinran brings us the stories that affected her most, and offers a graphically detailed, altogether unprecedented work of oral history.
A riotously funny, emotionally raw novel about love, marriage, divorce, family, and the ties that bind—whether we like it or not. The death of Judd Foxman’s father marks the first time that the entire Foxman clan has congregated in years. There is, however, one conspicuous absence: Judd's wife, Jen, whose affair with his radio-shock-jock boss has recently become painfully public. Simultaneously mourning the demise of his father and his marriage, Judd joins his dysfunctional family as they reluctantly sit shiva and spend seven days and nights under the same roof. The week quickly spins out of control as longstanding grudges resurface, secrets are revealed and old passions are reawakened. Then Jen delivers the clincher: she's pregnant...
Blue is for Nightmares unfolds the story of Stacey's junior year at boarding school, a year filled with challenges and dark secrets. Stacey is not the most popular, the smartest, or the prettiest girl at school. She harbors a crush on her best friend's boyfriend and a deeper, darker secret that could shatter her friendships. Moreover, Stacey is haunted by nightmares that feel all too real, reminiscent of a past tragedy she once ignored, resulting in a fatal outcome.
These nightmares now focus on Drea, her best friend, who has become the obsession of an unsettling stalker. The situation escalates from disturbing emails and phone calls to the appearance of white lilies, ominously echoing the flowers in Stacey's dreams. As the school reels from a brutal murder with no witnesses and no clear alibis, suspicion spreads, leaving everyone a potential suspect.
Armed with the folk magic passed down by her grandmother, Stacey seeks to uncover the truth and protect those she cares about. But the question remains: Will her magic be enough to reveal the killer, or will the killer bring Stacey's worst nightmares to life?
In this Deluxe Spellbook Edition, readers will discover spells, poems, and meditations contributed by fans, alongside an interview with Laurie Faria Stolarz, enriching the narrative with a touch of the real-world magic that inspires the series.
Berserk is manga mayhem to the extreme - violent, horrifying, and mercilessly funny - and the wellspring for the internationally popular anime series.
Not for the squeamish or the easily offended, Berserk asks for no quarter - and offers none! His name is Guts, the Black Swordsman, a feared warrior spoken of only in whispers. Bearer of a gigantic sword, an iron hand, and the scars of countless battles and tortures, his flesh is also indelibly marked with The Brand, an unholy symbol that draws the forces of darkness to him and dooms him as their sacrifice.
But Guts won't take his fate lying down; he'll cut a crimson swath of carnage through the ranks of the damned - and anyone else foolish enough to oppose him! Accompanied by Puck the Elf, more an annoyance than a companion, Guts relentlessly follows a dark, bloodstained path that leads only to death...or vengeance.
Becky Bloomwood has a fabulous flat in London’s trendiest neighborhood, a troupe of glamorous socialite friends, and a closet brimming with the season’s must-haves. The only trouble is, she can’t actually afford it—not any of it. Her job writing at Successful Saving magazine not only bores her to tears, it doesn’t pay much at all. And lately Becky’s been chased by dismal letters from the bank—letters with large red sums she can’t bear to read. She tries cutting back. But none of her efforts succeeds. Her only consolation is to buy herself something . . . just a little something. Finally a story arises that Becky actually cares about, and her front-page article catalyzes a chain of events that will transform her life—and the lives of those around her—forever.
Milla Edge is fueled by an obsession to fill the void in other people’s lives. She finds lost children—all the while trying to outrun the brutal emotions stemming from a tragedy in her past.
Traveling to a small village in Mexico on a reliable tip, Milla begins to uncover the dire fate of countless children who have disappeared in the labyrinth of a sinister baby-smuggling ring. The key to nailing down the organization may rest with an elusive one-eyed man.
As Milla’s search for him intensifies, the mission becomes more treacherous. For the ring is part of something far larger and more dangerous, reaching the highest echelons of power.
Racing into peril, Milla suddenly finds herself the hunted—in the crosshairs of an invisible, lethal assassin who aims to silence her permanently.
Risky 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.
Secrets will be revealed when fire and ice collide...
In the exciting sequel to The Fire Within, David must uncover the truth behind the mysterious clay dragons. David's quest is to discover the link between the fire of the last known dragon on Earth and the icy regions of the Arctic. It's a journey that will change his life forever, a journey that will bring him to the very heart of the legend of dragons and the mysterious, ancient secret of the icefire...
Hans Thomas and his father set out on a car trip through Europe, from Norway to Greece—the birthplace of philosophy—in search of Hans Thomas's mother, who left them many years earlier. On the way, Hans Thomas receives a mysterious miniature book—the fantastic memoir of a sailor shipwrecked in 1842 on a strange island where a deck of cards come to life.
Structured as a deck of cards—each chapter is one card in the deck—The Solitaire Mystery weaves together fantasy and reality, fairy tales and family history. Full of questions about the meaning of life, it will spur its readers to reexamine their own.
Six months after losing his wife and two young sons, Vermont Professor David Zimmer spends his waking hours mired in a blur of alcoholic grief and self-pity. Then one night, he stumbles upon a clip from a lost film by silent comedian Hector Mann. His interest is piqued, and he soon finds himself embarking on a journey around the world to research a book on this mysterious figure, who vanished from sight back in 1929.
When the book is published the following year, a letter turns up in Zimmer’s mailbox bearing a return address from a small town in New Mexico inviting him to meet Hector. Zimmer hesitates, until one night a strange woman appears on his doorstep and makes the decision for him, changing his life forever.
In spring 2002, following the fall of the Taliban, Åsne Seierstad spent four months living with a bookseller and his family in Kabul. For more than twenty years, Sultan Khan defied the authorities—be they communist or Taliban—to supply books to the people of Kabul. He was arrested, interrogated, and imprisoned by the communists, and watched illiterate Taliban soldiers burn piles of his books in the street. He even resorted to hiding most of his stock—almost ten thousand books—in attics all over Kabul.
But while Khan is passionate in his love of books and his hatred of censorship, he also has strict views on family life and the role of women. As an outsider, Åsne Seierstad found herself in a unique position, able to move freely between the private, restricted sphere of the women—including Khan’s two wives—and the freer, more public lives of the men.
It is an experience that Seierstad finds both fascinating and frustrating. As she steps back from the page and allows the Khans to speak for themselves, we learn of proposals and marriages, hope and fear, crime and punishment. The result is a genuinely gripping and moving portrait of a family, and a clear-eyed assessment of a country struggling to free itself from history.
Complete 5-Book Boxed Set includes:
Join Artemis Fowl, the young criminal mastermind, in his thrilling adventures filled with magical escapades and mischievous plots. This boxed set is perfect for fans of fantasy adventures and teen masterminds!
Lestat is back with a vengeance and in thrall to Rowan Mayfair. Both demon and angel, he is drawn to kill but tempted by goodness as he moves among the pantheon of Anne Rice's unforgettable characters.
Julien Mayfair, his tormentor; Rowan, witch and neurosurgeon, who attracts spirits to herself, casts spells on others and finds herself dangerously drawn to Lestat; Patsy, country and western singer, who was killed by Quinn Blackwood and dumped in a swamp; Ash Templeton, a 5,000 year old Taltos whose genes live on in the Mayfairs.
Now, Lestat fights to save Patsy's ghost from the dark realms of the Earthbound, to uncover the mystery of the Taltos and to decide the fate of Rowan Mayfair.
Both of Anne Rice's irresistible realms - the worlds of Blackwood Farm and the Mayfair Witches - collide as Lestat struggles between his lust for blood and the quest for life, between gratification and redemption.
Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects—and he's bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and now Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil.
But when criminals begin dropping dead, the authorities send the legendary detective L to track down the killer. With L hot on his heels, will Light lose sight of his noble goal...or his life?
Een schitterend gebrek vertelt het verhaal van Lucia en haar connectie met de beroemde Casanova. In zijn memoires vermeldt Casanova terloops dat Lucia een van de weinige vrouwen is die hij ooit onrecht heeft aangedaan. Maar hoe? Wat is er werkelijk gebeurd? Waarom deed Lucia afstand van haar geluk?
Dit is haar verhaal, het verslag van een uitzonderlijk leven. Lucia en Casanova leren elkaar kennen op een feest nabij Venetië, worden verliefd en beloven elkaar eeuwige trouw. Maar kort daarna verdwijnt Lucia plotseling uit Casanova's leven.
Vele jaren later ontmoeten ze elkaar in een Amsterdamse schouwburg bij toeval opnieuw. Hij heeft er geen weet van dat zij het is omdat ze haar gezicht onder een sluier verbergt, en hij probeert haar te veroveren op de van hem bekende wijze. Voor Lucia is de schokkende confrontatie aanleiding tot een reconstructie: haar jeugd in de Veneto, haar kortstondige maar heftige liefde voor Casanova, de verwoestende ziekte die haar trof, haar vlucht naar Amsterdam en haar werk als hoer. Langzaam wordt duidelijk dat haar verdwijning geen verraad was, maar een daad van liefde.
Ghostly Riders
Karigan G'ladheon had been a Green Rider, one of the king of Sacoridia's elite magical messengers. Being a Green Rider was more perilous than Karigan had ever imagined, for rogue Eletians had cracked the magical D'Yer Wall which had protected Sacoridia for a thousand years from the evil influence of Blackveil Forest—the arboreal prison of Sacoridia's ancient enemy, Mornhaven the Black—and had brought the threat of dark magic into the land.
In the messenger service, she had been caught up in a world of deadly danger, and though she had defeated the Eletian, she had nonetheless been tainted by his wild magic. Exhausted in body and spirit, and determined to be the mistress of her own destiny, Karigan has returned to her home in Corsa.
But Karigan's determination was no match for the Rider's call. Ghostly hoofbeats echoed in the deep regions of her mind, and when she awoke to find herself on horseback halfway to Sacor City—in her nightgown—she finally gave in.
Back at court, Karigan found the Green Riders weakened and diminished. Rider magic was becoming unreliable, and she herself was having ghostly visions—visions of a strong woman with wild flowing hair and a blue and green tartan draped across her shoulder, pinned with a golden brooch.
This woman was no stranger to Karigan nor would she have been to any Green Rider, for she was Lil Ambriodhe, First Rider, and founder of the Green Rider corps. But why was she appearing to Karigan? And would Karigan be able to seek the help of a woman who had been dead for a thousand years?
In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower is Marcel Proust’s spectacular dissection of male and female adolescence. The narrative is charged with the narrator’s memories of Paris and the Normandy seaside.
At the heart of the story lies his relationships with his grandmother and with the Swann family. As a meditation on different forms of love, In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower has no equal. Here, Proust introduces some of his greatest comic inventions, from the magnificently dull M. de Norpois to the enchanting Robert de Saint-Loup.
It is memorable as well for the first appearance of the two figures who are to dominate the narrator’s life—the Baron de Charlus and the mysterious Albertine.
Stijn en Carmen behoren tot de hip, healthy and wealthy. Ze hebben beiden een eigen bedrijf en zijn de trotse ouders van de eenjarige Luna. Aan geld en vrienden geen gebrek. Ze leven als God in Amsterdam.
Totdat bij de mooie en optimistische Carmen borstkanker wordt geconstateerd. Op slag verandert hun wereld in een rollercoaster-rit langs artsen en ziekenhuizen.
De hedonistische Stijn gaat trouw mee naar Carmen's chemokuren en bestralingen, maar stort zich ’s avonds in het nachtleven en op de vrouwen van Amsterdam, Miami en Breda.
In the fall of 1888, all of London was held in the grip of unspeakable terror. An elusive madman calling himself Jack the Ripper was brutally butchering women in the slums of London's East End. Police seemed powerless to stop the killer, who delighted in taunting them and whose crimes were clearly escalating in violence from victim to victim.
And then the Ripper’s violent spree seemingly ended as abruptly as it had begun. He had struck out of nowhere and then vanished from the scene. Decades passed, then fifty years, then a hundred, and the Ripper’s bloody sexual crimes became fodder for puzzles, mystery weekends, and crime conventions.
But to Patricia Cornwell, the Ripper murders are not cute little mysteries to be transformed into parlor games or movies but rather a series of terrible crimes that no one should get away with, even after death. Now Cornwell applies her trademark skills for meticulous research and scientific expertise to dig deeper into the Ripper case than any detective before her—and reveal the true identity of this fabled Victorian killer.
In Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper, Case Closed, Cornwell combines the rigorous discipline of twenty-first-century police investigation with forensic techniques undreamed of during the late Victorian era to solve one of the most infamous and difficult serial murder cases in history.
Drawing on unparalleled access to original Ripper evidence, documents, and records, as well as archival, academic, and law-enforcement resources, FBI profilers, and top forensic scientists, Cornwell reveals that Jack the Ripper was none other than a respected painter of his day, Walter Richard Sickert.
Adding layer after layer of circumstantial evidence to the physical evidence discovered by modern forensic science and expert minds, Cornwell shows that Sickert was not only one of Great Britain’s greatest painters but also a serial killer, a damaged diabolical man driven by megalomania and hate.
New information and startling revelations detailed in Portrait of a Killer include the results of more than 100 DNA tests on samples drawn from original Ripper letters and Sickert documents.
From Brian Greene, one of the world’s leading physicists and author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Elegant Universe, comes a grand tour of the universe that makes us look at reality in a completely different way.
Space and time form the very fabric of the cosmos. Yet they remain among the most mysterious of concepts. Is space an entity? Why does time have a direction? Could the universe exist without space and time? Can we travel to the past?
Greene has set himself a daunting task: to explain non-intuitive, mathematical concepts like String Theory, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, and Inflationary Cosmology with analogies drawn from common experience. From Newton’s unchanging realm in which space and time are absolute, to Einstein’s fluid conception of spacetime, to quantum mechanics’ entangled arena where vastly distant objects can instantaneously coordinate their behavior, Greene takes us all, regardless of our scientific backgrounds, on an irresistible and revelatory journey to the new layers of reality that modern physics has discovered lying just beneath the surface of our everyday world.
كل ما أدريه أنني مذ غادرت الجزائر ما عدت ذلك الصحافي ولا المصوّر الذي كنته. أصبحت بطلاً في رواية، أو في فيلم سينمائي يعيش على أهبة مباغتة؟ جاهزاً لأمر ما.. لفرح طارئ أو لفاجعة مرتقبة.
نحن من بعثرتهم قسنطينة، ها نحن نتواعد في عواصم الحزن وضواحي الخوف الباريسي. حتى من قبل أن نلتقي حزنت من أجل ناصر، من أجل اسم أكبر من أن يقيم ضيفاً في ضواحي التاريخ، لأن أباه لم يورثه شيئاً عدا اسمه، ولأن البعض صنع من الوطن ملكاً عقارياً لأولاده، وأدار البلاد كما يدير مزرعة عائلية تربي في خرائبها القتلة، بينما يتشرد شرفاء الوطن في المنافي.
جميل ناصر، كما تصورته كان. وجميلاً كان لقائي به، وضمة منه احتضنت فيها التاريخ والحبّ معاً، فقد كان نصفه سي الطاهر ونصفه حياة.
كانت شقته على بساطتها مؤثثة بدفء عن استعاض بالأثاث الجميل عن خسارة ما، ومن استعان بالموسيقى القسنطينية ليغطي على نواح داخلي لا يتوقف... رحت أسأل ناصر عن أخباره وعن سفره من ألمانيا إلى باريس إن كان وجد فيه مشقة. ردّ مازحاً: كانت الأسئلة أطول من المسافة! ثم أضاف أقصد الإهانات المهذبة التي تقدم إليك من المطارات على شكل أسئلة قال مراد مازحاً: واش تريد يا خويا.." وجه الخروف معروف"!
ردّ ناص: معروف بماذا؟ بأنه الذئب؟ أجاب مراد: إن لم تكن الذئب، فالذئاب كثيرة هذه الأيام. ولا أرى سبباً لغضبك. هنا على الأقل لا خوف عليك ما دمت بريئاً. ولا تشكل خطراً على الآخرين. أما عندنا فحتى البريء لا يضمن سلامته! ردّ ناصر متذمراً: نحن نفاصل بين موت وآخر، وذلّ وآخر، لا غير.
في الجزائر يبحثون عنك لتصفيتك جسدياً. عذابك يدوم زمن اختراق رصاصة. في أوروبا بذريعة إنقاذك من القتلة يقتلونك عرياً كل لحظة، ويطيل من عذابك أن العري لا يقتل بل يجردك من حميميتك ويغتالك مهانة. تشعر أنك تمشي بين الناس وتقيم بينهم لكنك لن تكون منهم، أنت عارٍ ومكشوف ومشبوه بسبب اسمك، وسحنتك ودينك. لا خصوصية لك برغم أنك في بلد حر.
أنت تحب وتعمل وتسافر وتنفق بشهادة الكاميرات وأجهزة التنصت وملفات الاستخبارات.
في زمن موت كرامة العربي، في زمن تهميشه في زمن احتقاره وامتهانه تضحي مساحة سرديات أحلام مستغانمي أوسع وأعمق، وبعيدة كل البعد عن روتينية الصنعة الروائية في استرسالاتها في انبعاثات أحداثها. فهي تؤدي مهمة تتجاوز الحدث، مخنوقة النفس العربية عموماً، الجزائرية على وجه الخصوص، مستلهمة من الواقع منولوجاتها الداخلية وحتى الخارجية، ممتزجة باليأس، وغارقة في لجج من الإحباطات.
تسترسل أحلام مستغانمي في انسياحاتها السردية متماهية مع الجزائري مع العربي في آلامه وأوجاعه. في محاولة لتشخيص مرض وإيجاد علاج. من خلال أسلوب أدبي رائع، وعبارات ومعانٍ تميل إلى الرمز حيناً، إلى الواقعية أحاييناً مستدرجة مشاعر القارئ وفكره للتماهي في رحلتها التي شرعتها مع عابر سرير.
美少女戦士セーラームーンが新装版になりました!
この版では、すべてのカバーが描き下ろしです。
José Saramago is a master at pacing. Readers unfamiliar with the work of this Portuguese Nobel Prize winner would do well to begin with The Cave, a novel of ideas, shaded with suspense. Spare and pensive, The Cave follows the fortunes of an aging potter, Cipriano Algor, beginning with his weekly delivery of plates to the Center, a high-walled, windowless shopping complex, residential community, and nerve center that dominates the region.
What sells at the Center will sell everywhere else, and what the Center rejects can barely be given away in the surrounding towns and villages. The news for Cipriano that morning isn't good. Half of his regular pottery shipment is rejected, and he is told that the consumers now prefer plastic tableware. Over the next week, he and his grown daughter Marta grieve for their lost craft, but they gradually open their eyes to the strange bounty of their new condition: a stray dog adopts them, and a lovely widow enters Cipriano's life.
When they are invited to live at the Center, it seems ungracious to refuse, but there are some strange developments under the complex, and a troubling increase in security, and Cipriano changes all their fates by deciding to investigate. In Saramago's able hands, what might have become a dry social allegory is a delicately elaborated story of individualism and unexpected love.
Sometimes grim, sometimes uproarious, and always captivating, Iceland’s Bell by Nobel Laureate Halldór Laxness is at once an updating of the traditional Icelandic saga and a caustic social satire.
At the close of the 17th century, Iceland is an oppressed Danish colony, suffering from extreme poverty, famine, and plague. A farmer and accused cord-thief named Jon Hreggvidsson makes an improper joke about the Danish king and soon after finds himself a fugitive charged with the murder of the king’s hangman.
In the years that follow, the hapless but resilient rogue Hreggvidsson becomes a pawn entangled in political and personal conflicts playing out on a far grander scale. Chief among these is the star-crossed love affair between Snaefridur, known as “Iceland’s Sun”, a beautiful, headstrong young noblewoman, and Arnas Arnaeus, the king’s antiquarian, an aristocrat whose worldly manner conceals a fierce devotion to his downtrodden countrymen.
As their personal struggle plays itself out on an international stage, Iceland’s Bell creates a Dickensian canvas of heroism and venality, violence and tragedy, charged with narrative enchantment on every page.
The Great Fire is a sweeping story of men and women struggling to reclaim their lives in the aftermath of world conflict. This is Shirley Hazzard's first novel since The Transit of Venus. The conflagration of her title is the Second World War.
In war-torn Asia and stricken Europe, men and women, still young but veterans of harsh experience, must reinvent their lives and expectations, and learn, from their past, to dream again. Some will fulfill their destinies, others will falter. At the center of the story, Aldred Leith, a brave and brilliant soldier, finds that survival and worldly achievement are not enough. Helen Driscoll, a young girl living in occupied Japan and tending her dying brother, falls in love, and in the process discovers herself.
In the looming shadow of world enmities resumed, and of Asia's coming centrality in world affairs, a man and a woman seek to recover self-reliance, balance, and tenderness, struggling to reclaim their humanity.
The son of a prosperous landowner and a former slave, Paul-Edward Logan is unlike any other boy he knows. His white father has acknowledged him and raised him openly—something unusual in post-Civil War Georgia. But as he grows into a man, he learns that life for someone like him is not easy.
Black people distrust him because he looks white. White people discriminate against him when they learn of his black heritage. Even within his own family, he faces betrayal and degradation.
So at the age of fourteen, he sets out toward the only dream he has ever had: to find land every bit as good as his father's and make it his own.
Once again inspired by her own history, Ms. Taylor brings truth and power to the newest addition to the Logan family stories.
Journey to the River Sea is a thrilling adventure set in turn-of-the-last-century Brazil. The story follows Maia, an English orphan, who is sent to live with distant relatives along the Amazon River. Expecting a world of brightly colored macaws, enormous butterflies, and curtains of sweetly scented orchids, Maia is instead greeted by her nasty, xenophobic cousins who forbid her from venturing beyond their coiffed compound.
Resourceful and determined, Maia soon finds herself intertwined in a web of excitement she never imagined. From a mysterious "Indian" with an inheritance, to an itinerant actor dreading his impending adolescence, Maia's journey takes her on a remarkable adventure down the Amazon River in search of the legendary giant sloth.
This lush historical adventure, penned by the acclaimed author Eva Ibbotson, is reminiscent of the beloved classics of Frances Hodgson Burnett and Louisa May Alcott. Readers of every generation will treasure this vivid exploration of the Amazon, filled with memorable characters and exciting plot twists.
An ancient sin. A long forgotten oath. A town with a deadly secret. Something sinister is at work in Hyde River, an isolated mining town in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. Something evil. Under the cover of darkness, a predator strikes without warning--taking life in the most chilling and savage fashion.
The community of Hyde River watches in terror as residents suddenly vanish. Yet the more locals are pressed for information, the more they close ranks, sworn to secrecy by their forefathers' hidden sins.
Only when Hyde River's secrets are exposed is the true extent of the danger fully revealed. What the town discovers is something far more deadly than anything they'd imagined. Something that doesn't just stalk its victims, but has the power to turn hearts black with decay as it slowly fills their souls with darkness.
He was the "Man in Black," a country music legend, and the quintessential American troubadour. An icon of rugged individualism, Johnny Cash had been to hell and back, telling the tale as never before.
In his unforgettable autobiography, Cash reveals the truth about the highs and lows, the struggles and hard-won triumphs, and the people who shaped him. In his own words, Cash sets the record straight and dispels a few myths, looking unsparingly at his remarkable life.
From the joys of his boyhood in Dyess, Arkansas to superstardom in Nashville, Tennessee, the road of Cash's life has been anything but smooth. He writes of the thrill of playing with Elvis, the comfort of praying with Billy Graham, his battles with addiction, and the devotion of his wife, June.
Cash shares his gratitude for life and thoughts on what the afterlife may bring. Here, too, are the friends of a lifetime, including Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, and Kris Kristofferson.
As powerful and memorable as one of his classic songs, Cash is filled with the candor, wit, and wisdom of a man who truly "walked the line."
Set in a world of ominous landscape and macabre menace, The Dark Tower features one of Stephen King’s most powerful creations—The Gunslinger, a haunting figure who embodies the qualities of the lone hero through the ages, from ancient myth to frontier Western legend.
As Roland crosses a desert of damnation in a macabre world that is a twisted image of our own, he moves ever closer to the Dark Tower of his dreams—and nightmares.
On the night of her twenty-fifth birthday, alone in her apartment, Air Force Sergeant Christine Canady wished for one thing: a little magic in her life. After drinking way too much champagne, she performed, of all crazy things, a goddess-summoning ritual, hoping that it would somehow make her life a little less ordinary...but she never believed the spell would actually work.
When her military plane crashes into the ocean, CC's mission overseas takes an unexpected turn. She awakens to find herself in a legendary time and place where magic rules the land—occupying the body of the mythic mermaid Undine. But there is danger in the waters and the goddess Gaea turns this modern, military gal into a beautiful damsel so that she can seek shelter on land.
CC is soon rescued (literally) by a knight in shining armor. She should be falling in love with this dream-come-true, but instead she aches for the sea and Dylan, the sexy merman who has stolen her heart.
Love in the Time of Cholera is a captivating saga that explores the depth of true love and the pain of unrequited affection. Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza experience a passionate romance in their youth. However, the story takes a turn when Fermina decides to marry a wealthy doctor, leaving Florentino heartbroken.
Despite his heartache, Florentino remains a hopeless romantic. His career takes off, and he engages in numerous affairs, yet his love for Fermina remains untouched. The narrative unfolds over the span of decades, with Florentino's unyielding devotion to Fermina coming to a head when her husband passes away. After fifty years, nine months, and four days, Florentino redeclares his love for Fermina, promising a tale of enduring love that transcends time.
The Art of Seduction is a mesmerizing exploration of the most subtle, elusive, and effective form of power. This masterful synthesis of historical examples and classic literature distills the essence of seduction, the ultimate power trip.
Charm, persuasion, and the ability to create illusions are just some of the dazzling gifts of the seducer, a compelling figure who manipulates, misleads, and gives pleasure all at once. When raised to the level of art, seduction has toppled empires, won elections, and enslaved great minds.
Discover the many faces of the seducer, including the Siren, the Rake, the Ideal Lover, the Dandy, the Natural, the Coquette, the Charmer, and the Charismatic. Immerse yourself in the twenty-four maneuvers and strategies of the seductive process, providing cunning instructions for mastering this fascinating form of influence.
The Art of Seduction is an indispensable primer on persuasion, revealing timeless truths about who we are, the targets we've become, or hope to win over.
The Deed of Paksenarrion revolves around the life of Paksenarrion Dorthansdotter, known as Paks. It takes place in a fictional medieval world comprised of kingdoms of humans, dwarves, and elves. The story begins by introducing Paks as a headstrong girl of 18, who leaves her home (fleeing a marriage arranged by her father) to join a mercenary company. Through her journeys and hardships, she comes to realize that she has been gifted as a paladin. The novel was originally published in three volumes in 1988 and 1989 and as a single trade edition of that name in 1992. The three books included are The Sheepfarmer's Daughter, Divided Allegiance and Oath of Gold.
From publisher Baen: "Paksenarrion, a simple sheepfarmer's daughter, yearns for a life of adventure and glory, such as was known to heroes in songs and story. At age seventeen she runs away from home to join a mercenary company and begins her epic life . . . Book One: Paks is trained as a mercenary, blooded, and introduced to the life of a soldier . . . and to the followers of Gird, the soldier's god. Book Two: Paks leaves the Duke's company to follow the path of Gird alone—and on her lonely quests encounters the other sentient races of her world. Book Three: Paks the warrior must learn to live with Paks the human. She undertakes a holy quest for a lost elven prince that brings the gods' wrath down on her and tests her very limits."