Rich Dad Poor Dad is Robert's story of growing up with two dads — his real father and the father of his best friend, his "rich dad" — and the ways in which both men shaped his thoughts about money and investing. The book explodes the myth that you need to earn a high income to be rich and explains the difference between working for money and having your money work for you.

After stumbling across a haunted go board, Hikaru Shindo discovers that the spirit of a master player named Fujiwara-no-Sai has taken up residence in his consciousness. Sai awakens in Hikaru an untapped genius for the game, and soon the schoolboy is chasing his own dream--defeating the famed go prodigy Akira Toya!

Hikaru ignores Sai's pleas to let him play go, and then one day Sai vanishes! Is he mad at Hikaru? Where has he gone? Will he ever come back? And will Hikaru be able to play without Sai's coaching...?

Based on the true story of Alexander Selkirk, who survived alone for almost five years on an uninhabited island off the coast of Chile, The Mysterious Island is considered by many to be Jules Verne’s masterpiece. Here is the enthralling tale of five men and a dog who land in a balloon on a faraway, fantastic island of bewildering goings-on and their struggle to survive as they uncover the island’s secret.

Michelina Bellsong is on a mission. She is following a missing family to the edge of America... to a place she never knew existed—a place of terror, wonder, and shattering revelation.

What awaits her there will change her life and the life of everyone she knows—if she can find the key to survival.

At stake are a young girl of extraordinary goodness, a young boy with killers on his trail, and Micky's own wounded soul. Ahead lie incredible peril, startling discoveries, and paths that lead through terrible darkness to unexpected light.

The War is over, won by Ender Wiggin and his team of brilliant child-warriors. The enemy is destroyed, the human race is saved. Ender himself refuses to return to the planet, but his crew has gone home to their families, scattered across the globe. The battle school is no more.

But with the external threat gone, the Earth has become a battlefield once more. The children of the Battle School are more than heroes; they are potential weapons that can bring power to the countries that control them. One by one, all of Ender's Dragon Army are kidnapped. Only Bean escapes; and he turns for help to Ender's brother Peter.

Peter Wiggin, Ender's older brother, has already been manipulating the politics of Earth from behind the scenes. With Bean's help, he will eventually rule the world.

Shadow of the Hegemon is the second novel in Orson Scott Card's Shadow Series.

Originally published from 1954 through 1956, J.R.R. Tolkien's richly complex series ushered in a new age of epic adventure storytelling. A philologist and illustrator who took inspiration from his work, Tolkien invented the modern heroic quest novel from the ground up, creating not just a world, but a domain, not just a lexicon, but a language, that would spawn countless imitators and lead to the inception of the epic fantasy genre.

During his travels across Middle-earth, the hobbit Bilbo Baggins had found the Ring. But the simple band of gold was far from ordinary; it was in fact the One Ring - the greatest of the ancient Rings of Power. Sauron, the Dark Lord, had infused it with his own evil magic, and when it was lost, he was forced to flee into hiding.

But now Sauron's exile has ended and his power is spreading anew, fueled by the knowledge that his treasure has been found. He has gathered all the Great Rings to him, and will stop at nothing to reclaim the One that will complete his dominion. The only way to stop him is to cast the Ruling Ring deep into the Fire-Mountain at the heart of the land of Mordor--Sauron's dark realm.

Fate has placed the burden in the hands of Frodo Baggins, Bilbo's heir...and he is resolved to bear it to its end. Or his own.

The Book That Started A Revolution

Since its original publication in 1975, this groundbreaking work has awakened millions of concerned men and women to the shocking abuse of animals everywhere. It has inspired a worldwide movement to eliminate much of the cruel and unnecessary laboratory animal experimentation of years past.

In this newly revised and expanded edition, author Peter Singer exposes the chilling realities of today's factory farms and product-testing procedures. He offers sound, humane solutions to what has become a profound environmental and social, as well as moral, issue.

An important and persuasive appeal to conscience, fairness, decency, and justice, Animal Liberation is essential reading for supporters and skeptics alike.

After surviving several horrifying years in the inferno of the Western Front, a young German soldier and his cohorts return home at the end of WW1. Their road back to life in the civilian world is made arduous by their bitterness about what they find in post-war society.

A captivating story, one of Remarque's best.

What real reader does not yearn, somewhere in the recesses of his or her heart, for a really literate, first-class thriller--one that chills the body, but warms the soul with plot, perception, and language at once astute and vivid? In other words, a ghost story written by Jane Austen?

Alas, we cannot give you Austen, but Susan Hill's remarkable Woman In Black comes as close as our era can provide. Set on the obligatory English moor, on an isolated causeway, the story has as its hero Arthur Kipps, an up-and-coming young solicitor who has come north from London to attend the funeral and settle the affairs of Mrs. Alice Drablow of Eel Marsh House. The routine formalities he anticipates give way to a tumble of events and secrets more sinister and terrifying than any nightmare: the rocking chair in the deserted nursery, the eerie sound of a pony and trap, a child's scream in the fog, and most dreadfully--and for Kipps most tragically--The Woman In Black.

The Woman In Black is both a brilliant exercise in atmosphere and controlled horror and a delicious spine-tingler--proof positive that this neglected genre, the ghost story, isn't dead after all.

A Fine Balance, by Rohinton Mistry, is a compelling narrative that captures the essence of India during a turbulent period. Set in 1975, an era marked by political unrest, the book introduces us to four diverse individuals: a spirited widow, a displaced student, and two tailors escaping caste violence. Fate intertwines their lives as they are thrown together in a cramped apartment amidst the chaos of a State of Emergency.

The story unfolds as the characters evolve from mutual distrust to friendship, and eventually, love. Through their journey, A Fine Balance paints a vivid panorama of human resilience and the indomitable spirit confronting an oppressive regime. Mistry's work is a testament to the enduring human spirit in the face of societal and political upheaval.

In the wake of unexpected planetary peace and the disappearance of the Dendarii payroll, mercenary captain Miles Naismith attempts to discover the link between the insufferable Captain Galeni and the Komarran rebel expatriates.

For some unexplained reason, the Dendarii payroll is missing and orders from the Barrayaran Imperial Command are being delayed by Miles's superior, Captain Galeni. What connects the impeccable, insufferable Captain Galeni and the Komarran rebel expatriates on Earth anyway?

But the most deadly question of all before Miles is more personal: are Miles's two identities, Admiral Naismith of the Dendarii and Lieutenant Lord Vorkosigan of Barrayar, splitting apart along the lines of his divided loyalties? And who is trying to assassinate which version of him?

When Miles unravels the answers, then the complications really begin.

In this classic, John le Carré's third novel and the first to earn him international acclaim, he created a world unlike any previously experienced in suspense fiction. With unsurpassed knowledge culled from his years in British Intelligence, le Carré brings to light the shadowy dealings of international espionage in the tale of a British agent who longs to end his career but undertakes one final, bone-chilling assignment. When the last agent under his command is killed and Alec Leamas is called back to London, he hopes to come in from the cold for good. His spymaster, Control, however, has other plans. Determined to bring down the head of East German Intelligence and topple his organization, Control once more sends Leamas into the fray -- this time to play the part of the dishonored spy and lure the enemy to his ultimate defeat.

Skallagrigg unites Arthur, a little boy abandoned many years ago in a grim hospital in northern England, with Esther, a radiantly intelligent young girl suffering from cerebral palsy, and Daniel, an American computer-games genius.

Skallagrigg—whatever the name signifies, whoever he is—will come to transform all their lives. William Horwood's inspired, heart-rending story of rescue and redemptive love will undoubtedly touch your life too.

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli is a poignant exploration of the highs and lows of nonconformity in the microcosm of high school society. At Mica Area High School, blending in is the unspoken rule, a norm that Leo Borlock adheres to without question. However, the arrival of Stargirl turns his world upside down. With her colorful attire, ukulele in hand, and home-schooled innocence, she captivates the student body with her unique charm.

But popularity in high school is fickle, and Stargirl's refusal to conform soon leads to her ostracization. Amidst the shifting social tides, Leo finds himself falling for her, drawn to the very differences that the school community shuns. Jerry Spinelli weaves an emotional narrative that delves into the fleeting nature of popularity, the courage it takes to be different, and the unforgettable thrill of first love.

Haunted all her life by feelings of terror and emptiness, forty-nine-year-old Urania Cabral returns to her native Dominican Republic - and finds herself reliving the events of 1961, when the capital was still called Trujillo City and one old man terrorized a nation of three million. Rafael Trujillo, the depraved ailing dictator whom Dominicans call the Goat, controls his inner circle with a combination of violence and blackmail. In Trujillo's gaudy palace, treachery and cowardice have become a way of life. But Trujillo's grasp is slipping. There is a conspiracy against him, and a Machiavellian revolution already underway that will have bloody consequences of its own.

In this masterpiece of Latin American and world literature, and one of the finest political novels ever written, Mario Vargas Llosa recounts the end of a regime and the birth of a terrible democracy, giving voice to the historical Trujillo and the victims, both innocent and complicit, drawn into his deadly orbit.

The Redemption of Althalus is a captivating stand-alone, single-volume high fantasy saga crafted by the renowned husband and wife team, David and Leigh Eddings. Known for their previous beloved series like the Belgariad and the Malloreon, the Eddingses offer readers a thrilling adventure full of daring escapades, sorcery, humor, and soaring imagination.

Althalus is a young thief and occasional killer, famed for his skill and extraordinary luck. His life takes a dramatic turn when he stumbles into a shrine dedicated to the fertility goddess Dweia. Soon after, he encounters the wizard Ghend, who hires him to steal a magical tome known as The Book, hidden in the enigmatic House at the End of the World.

In this mystical house, Althalus meets Dweia, who appears as a black cat, revealing herself as a goddess needing his aid in a cosmic battle against Ghend and her malevolent brother, the destroyer god Daeva. With the power of The Book, Althalus, Dweia, and a small group of unlikely heroes must confront Ghend's supernatural forces and armies, with the fate of humanity hanging in the balance.

This epic fantasy tale is a delightful blend of action, wit, and well-crafted storytelling, featuring clever satire on religion and high society. The Redemption of Althalus promises a polished and smooth narrative, culminating in a satisfying and gratifying finale.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is the remarkable true story of Harriet Jacobs, an individual's struggle for self-identity, self-preservation, and freedom. This autobiographical account chronicles Harriet's journey from a life of servitude and degradation in North Carolina to liberty and reunion with her children in the North.

Written and published in 1861 after Jacobs' harrowing escape from a vile and predatory master, the memoir delivers a powerful and unflinching portrayal of the abuses and hypocrisy of the master-slave relationship. Jacobs writes frankly of the horrors she suffered as a slave, her eventual escape after several unsuccessful attempts, and her seven years in self-imposed exile, hiding in a coffin-like "garret" attached to her grandmother's porch.

A rare firsthand account of a courageous woman's determination and endurance, this inspirational story also represents a valuable historical record of the continuing battle for freedom and the preservation of family.

Austerlitz is the story of a man’s search for the answer to his life’s central riddle. As a small child, Jacques Austerlitz arrives in England on a Kindertransport in the summer of 1939. He is raised by a Welsh Methodist minister and his wife who tell him nothing of his real family.

When Jacques is much older, fleeting memories return, and, obeying an instinct he only dimly understands, he follows their trail back to the world he left behind a half-century before. Faced with the void at the heart of twentieth-century Europe, he struggles to rescue his heritage from oblivion.

This haunting novel of sublime ambition and power unfolds over the course of a 30-year conversation that takes place in train stations and travellers’ stops across England and Europe. It dwells on various subjects – railway architecture, military fortifications, insects, plants and animals, the constellations, works of art, a small circus, and the three cities that loom over the book: London, Paris, and Prague.

In Jacques Austerlitz, Sebald embodies the universal human search for identity and the struggle to impose coherence on memory, a struggle complicated by the mind’s defences against trauma.

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, Terry Pratchett's first young-adult novel set in the enchanting Discworld, offers a delightful twist on the classic Pied Piper tale. At the heart of this adventure is Maurice, a cunning talking cat, and his band of unusually intelligent rats, who have names as unique as Big Savings, Nourishing, and Dangerous Beans. Together with a simple yet clever lad named Keith, they concoct a moneymaking scheme that involves infesting towns with their rat gang, only to later offer their "services" to rid the town of the problem for a fee.

Their plan seems foolproof until they encounter the town of Bad Blintz, which already has a rat problem of its own, complicated further by the presence of a young girl named Malicia, who possesses a wild imagination and a talent for finding trouble. Underneath the town lies a deadly maze of traps and poisons, and even more horrifying, a monster that not even Malicia could have envisioned. As Maurice and his educated rodents fight for survival, they encounter themes of life after death, good versus evil, and the sacrifice of the few for the many. While filled with Pratchett's trademark wit and humor, the story also explores darker undertones, making it a profoundly engaging read for young adults and older fans of the Discworld series alike.

The year is 1771, and war is coming. Jamie Fraser’s wife tells him so. Little as he wishes to, he must believe it, for hers is a gift of dreadful prophecy—a time-traveler’s certain knowledge. Claire’s unique view of the future has brought him both danger and deliverance in the past; her knowledge of the oncoming revolution is a flickering torch that may light his way through the perilous years ahead—or ignite a conflagration that will leave their lives in ashes.

Stephen Hawking, the brilliant theoretical physicist, invites readers on an extraordinary journey through the universe in his book, The Universe in a Nutshell. This sequel to his multimillion-copy bestseller, A Brief History of Time, is a lavishly illustrated work that unravels the mysteries of the major breakthroughs in physics since the release of his first acclaimed book.

In this major publishing event, Hawking takes us to the cutting edge of theoretical physics, where truth is often stranger than fiction. He explains in laymen’s terms the principles that control our universe, covering topics such as quantum mechanics, M-theory, general relativity, and superstrings. He guides us on his search to uncover the secrets of the universe—from supergravity to supersymmetry, and from holography to duality.

With characteristic exuberance, Professor Hawking invites us to be fellow travelers on this extraordinary voyage through space-time. The book is filled with copious four-color illustrations that help clarify this journey into a surreal wonderland where particles, sheets, and strings move in eleven dimensions. Here, black holes evaporate and disappear, taking their secrets with them, and the original cosmic seed from which our universe sprang was a tiny nut.

The Universe in a Nutshell is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the universe in which we live. It conveys the excitement felt within the scientific community as the secrets of the cosmos reveal themselves, making it a must-read for all curious minds.

Parable of the Talents is the Nebula Award-winning sequel to Parable of the Sower, continuing the gripping story of Lauren Olamina in a socially and economically depressed California in the 2030s.

Convinced that her community should colonize the stars, Lauren and her followers make preparations. However, the collapse of society and rise of fanatics result in Lauren's followers being enslaved, and her daughter stolen from her. Now, Lauren must fight back to save the new world order.

This novel explores themes of alienation and transcendence, violence and spirituality, slavery and freedom, and separation and community, to astonishing effect in the shockingly familiar, broken world of 2032.

Impish, foul-mouthed Zazie arrives in Paris from the country to stay with her uncle Gabriel. All she really wants to do is ride the metro, but finding it shut because of a strike, Zazie looks for other means of amusement.

Soon, she is caught up in a comic adventure that becomes wilder and more manic by the minute. Packed full of word play and phonetic games, Zazie in the Metro remains as stylish and witty today as it did back then.

Robert Ross, a sensitive nineteen-year-old Canadian officer, went to war - the War to End All Wars. He found himself in the nightmare world of trench warfare; of mud and smoke, of chlorine gas and rotting corpses. In this world gone mad, Robert Ross performed a last desperate act to declare his commitment to life in the midst of death.

The Wars is quite simply one of the best novels ever written about the First World War.

As the bloody Human-Covenant War rages on Halo, the fate of humankind may rest with one warrior, the lone SPARTAN survivor of another legendary battle... the desperate, take-no-prisoners struggle that led humanity to Halo--the fall of the planet Reach. Now, brought to life for the first time, here is the full story of that glorious, doomed conflict.

While the brutal Covenant juggernaut sweeps inexorably through space, intent on wiping out humankind, only one stronghold remains--the planet Reach. Practically on Earth's doorstep, it is the last military fortress to defy the onslaught. But the personnel here have another, higher priority: to prevent the Covenant from discovering the location of Earth.

Outnumbered and outgunned, the soldiers seem to have little chance against the Covenant, but Reach holds a closely guarded secret. It is the training ground for the very first "super soldiers." Code-named SPARTANs, these highly advanced warriors, specially bioengineered and technologically augmented, are the best in the universe--quiet, professional, and deadly.

Now, as the ferocious Covenant attack begins, a handful of SPARTANs stand ready to wage ultimate war. They will kill, they will be destroyed, but they will never surrender. And at least one of them--the SPARTAN known as Master Chief--will live to fight another day on a mysterious and ancient, artificial world called Halo...

In the year 1754, the stillness of Charlestown, New Hampshire, is shattered by the terrifying cries of an Indian raid. Young Miriam Willard, on a day that had promised new happiness, finds herself instead a captive on a forest trail, caught up in the ebb and flow of the French and Indian War.

It is a harrowing march north. Miriam can only force herself to the next stopping place, the next small portion of food, the next icy stream to be crossed. At the end of the trail waits a life of hard work and, perhaps, even a life of slavery. Mingled with her thoughts of Phineas Whitney, her sweetheart on his way to Harvard, is the crying of her sister’s baby, Captive, born on the trail.

Miriam and her companions finally reach Montreal, a city of shifting loyalties filled with the intrigue of war, and here, by a sudden twist of fortune, Miriam meets the prominent Du Quesne family, who introduce her to a life she has never imagined.

Based on an actual narrative diary published in 1807, Calico Captive skillfully reenacts an absorbing facet of history.

In 1558, while exiled by Queen Mary Tudor to a remote castle known as Perilous Gard, young Kate Sutton becomes involved in a series of mysterious events that lead her to an underground world peopled by Fairy Folk—whose customs are even older than the Druids’ and include human sacrifice.

As Kate navigates this enchanted realm, she uncovers secrets that intertwine with ancient myths and legends. Her journey is one of intrigue, courage, and discovery, as she confronts the magical and the unknown.

In today's world, freedom is our basic condition, and until we learn to live with that freedom, and learn to live by ourselves and with ourselves, we are denying ourselves the possibility of finding love and happiness with someone else.

Love can only happen through freedom and in conjunction with a deep respect for ourselves and the other. Is it possible to be alone and not lonely? Where are the boundaries that define "lust" versus "love"...and can lust ever grow into love?

In Love, Freedom, Aloneness you will find unique, radical, and intelligent perspectives on these and other essential questions. In our post-ideological world, where old moralities are out of date, we have a golden opportunity to redefine and revitalize the very foundations of our lives. We have the chance to start afresh with ourselves, our relationships to others, and to find fulfillment and success for the individual and for society as a whole.

Once in a great while, we encounter a novel in our voluminous reading that begs to be read aloud. Leif Enger's debut, Peace Like a River, is one such work. His richly evocative novel, narrated by an asthmatic 11-year-old named Reuben Land, is the story of Reuben's unusual family and their journey across the frozen Badlands of the Dakotas in search of his fugitive older brother. Charged with the murder of two locals who terrorized their family, Davy has fled, understanding that the scales of justice will not weigh in his favor. But Reuben, his father, Jeremiah—a man of faith so deep he has been known to produce miracles—and Reuben's little sister, Swede, follow closely behind the fleeing Davy.

Affecting and dynamic, Peace Like a River is at once a tragedy, a romance, and an unflagging exploration into the spirituality and magic possible in the everyday world, and in that of the world awaiting us on the other side of life. In Enger's superb debut effort, we witness a wondrous celebration of family, faith, and spirit, the likes of which we haven't seen in a long, long time—and the birth of a classic work of literature.

S@motność w Sieci is a novel so contemporary that it couldn't be more so: with the Internet, pagers, electronic flight tickets, genome decoding, and SMS messages. Yet, it remains as traditional as a classic love story. This is a tale of love in the Internet era. The ultimate love, the kind you dream of, the kind that makes you cry and takes your breath away.

Wiśniewski narrates this love analytically and enchantingly, creating an atmosphere of almost solemn tenderness, only to surprise a few lines later with bold eroticism. S@motność w Sieci is also a tribute to wisdom and knowledge. Intertwined with the love plot are fascinating stories about the molecules of emotions, who truly discovered DNA, and what happened to Einstein's brain after his death.

After reading S@motność w Sieci, one realizes that the virtuality of the Internet is merely an agreement and that an email doesn't have to differ from a letter delivered by a messenger's carriage.

"We should expect this young woman to be more powerful than our average novice, possibly even more powerful than the average magician." This year, like every other, the magicians of Imardin gather to purge the city of undesirables. Cloaked in the protection of their sorcery, they move with no fear of the vagrants and miscreants who despise them and their work—until one enraged girl, barely more than a child, hurls a stone at the hated invaders...and effortlessly penetrates their magical shield.

What the Magicians' Guild has long dreaded has finally come to pass. There is someone outside their ranks who possesses a raw power beyond imagining, an untrained mage who must be found and schooled before she destroys herself and her city with a force she cannot yet control.

Portrait in Sepia is a spellbinding family saga set against the backdrop of war and economic hardship. Completing the trilogy that includes her bestselling novels Daughter of Fortune and The House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende weaves a rich tapestry of memory, family secrets, and historical intricacies.

Aurora del Valle suffers a brutal trauma that erases all recollections of the first five years of her life. Raised by her regal and ambitious grandmother, Paulina del Valle, Aurora grows up in a privileged environment but is tormented by horrible nightmares. When she is forced to recognize her betrayal at the hands of the man she loves, and to cope with the resulting solitude, she decides to explore the mystery of her past. This extraordinary achievement is richly detailed, epic in scope, intimate in its probing of human character, and thrilling in the way it illuminates the complexity of family ties.

Here is the gorgeous and sinister story of Marius, patrician by birth, scholar by choice, one of the oldest vampires of them all, which sweeps from his genesis in ancient Rome, in the time of the Emperor Augustus, to his meeting in the present day with a creature of snow and ice. Thorne is a Northern vampire in search of Maharet, his 'maker', the ancient Egyptian vampire queen who holds him and others in thrall with chains made of her red hair, 'bound with steel and with her blood and gold'. When the Visigoths sack his city, Marius is there; with the resurgence of the glory that was Rome, he is there, still searching for his lost love Pandora, but bewitched in turn by Botticelli, the Renaissance beauty Bianca, with her sordid secrets, and the boy he calls Amadeo (otherwise known as the Vampire Armand).

Criss-crossing through the stories of other vampires from Rice's glorious Pantheon of the undead, haunted by Pandora and by his alter ego Mael, tracked by the Talamasca, the tale of Marius, the self-styled guardian of 'those who must be kept' is the most wondrous and mind-blowing of them all.

Since we all eat, we all must poop. All of us! Everyone!

This wonderful, modern-day toddler classic presents information that children both want and need in a refreshingly honest, informative, and age-appropriate way.

To find the keys to greatness, Collins's 21-person research team read and coded 6,000 articles, generated more than 2,000 pages of interview transcripts and created 384 megabytes of computer data in a five-year project. The findings will surprise many readers and, quite frankly, upset others.The ChallengeBuilt to Last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the very beginning. But what about the company that is not born with great DNA? How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness? The StudyFor years, this question preyed on the mind of Jim Collins. Are there companies that defy gravity and convert long-term mediocrity or worse into long-term superiority? And if so, what are the universal distinguishing characteristics that cause a company to go from good to great?The StandardsUsing tough benchmarks, Collins and his research team identified a set of elite companies that made the leap to great results and sustained those results for at least fifteen years. How great? After the leap, the good-to-great companies generated cumulative stock returns that beat the general stock market by an average of seven times in fifteen years, better than twice the results delivered by a composite index of the world's greatest companies, including Coca-Cola, Intel, General Electric, and Merck. The ComparisonsThe research team contrasted the good-to-great companies with a carefully selected set of comparison companies that failed to make the leap from good to great. What was different? Why did one set of companies become truly great performers while the other set remained only good? The FindingsThe findings of the Good to Great study will surprise many readers and shed light on virtually every area of management strategy and practice. The findings include:Level 5 Leaders: The research team was shocked to discover the type of leadership required to achieve greatness.The Hedgehog Concept (Simplicity within the Three Circles): To go from good to great requires transcending the curse of competence.A Culture of Discipline: When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the magical alchemy of great results. Technology Accelerators: Good-to-great companies think differently about the role of technology.The Flywheel and the Doom Loop: Those who launch radical change programs and wrenching restructurings will almost certainly fail to make the leap.

Naguib Mahfouz’s magnificent epic trilogy of colonial Egypt appears here in one volume for the first time. The Nobel Prize-winning writer's masterwork is the engrossing story of a Muslim family in Cairo during Britain's occupation of Egypt in the early decades of the twentieth century.

The novels of The Cairo Trilogy trace three generations of the family of tyrannical patriarch Al-Sayyid Ahmad Abd al-Jawad, who rules his household with a strict hand while living a secret life of self-indulgence. Palace Walk introduces us to his gentle, oppressed wife, Amina, his cloistered daughters, Aisha and Khadija, and his three sons–the tragic and idealistic Fahmy, the dissolute hedonist Yasin, and the soul-searching intellectual Kamal.

Al-Sayyid Ahmad’s rebellious children struggle to move beyond his domination in Palace of Desire, as the world around them opens to the currents of modernity and political and domestic turmoil brought by the 1920s. Sugar Street brings Mahfouz’s vivid tapestry of an evolving Egypt to a dramatic climax as the aging patriarch sees one grandson become a Communist, one a Muslim fundamentalist, and one the lover of a powerful politician.

Throughout the trilogy, the family's trials mirror those of their turbulent country during the years spanning the two World Wars, as change comes to a society that has resisted it for centuries. Filled with compelling drama, earthy humor, and remarkable insight, The Cairo Trilogy is the achievement of a master storyteller.

Written in the eleventh century, this portrait of courtly life in medieval Japan is widely celebrated as the world's first novel. The Tale of Genji is a very long romance, running to fifty-four chapters and describing the court life of Heian Japan, from the tenth century into the eleventh.

Thou Art That is a compilation of previously uncollected essays and lectures by Joseph Campbell that focus on the Judeo-Christian tradition. Here, Campbell explores common religious symbols, reexamining and reinterpreting them in the context of his remarkable knowledge of world mythology. According to Campbell, society often confuses the literal and metaphorical interpretations of religious stories and symbols. In this collection, he eloquently reestablishes these metaphors as a means to enhance spiritual understanding and mystical revelation.

With characteristic verve, he ranges from rich storytelling to insightful comparative scholarship. Included is editor Eugene Kennedy’s classic interview with Campbell in The New York Times Magazine, which brought the scholar to the public’s attention for the first time.

A gallery attendant at the Hermitage. A young jazz buff in Tokyo. A crooked British lawyer in Hong Kong. A disc jockey in Manhattan. A physicist in Ireland. An elderly woman running a tea shack in rural China. A cult-controlled terrorist in Okinawa. A musician in London. A transmigrating spirit in Mongolia. What is the common thread of coincidence or destiny that connects the lives of these nine souls in nine far-flung countries, stretching across the globe from east to west? What pattern do their linked fates form through time and space?

A writer of pyrotechnic virtuosity and profound compassion, a mind to which nothing human is alien, David Mitchell spins genres, cultures, and ideas like gossamer threads around and through these nine linked stories. Many forces bind these lives, but at root all involve the same universal longing for connection and transcendence, an axis of commonality that leads in two directions—to creation and to destruction. In the end, as lives converge with a fearful symmetry, Ghostwritten comes full circle, to a point at which a familiar idea—that whether the planet is vast or small is merely a matter of perspective—strikes home with the force of a new revelation. It marks the debut novel of a writer with astonishing gifts.

G. K. Chesterton's surreal masterpiece is a psychological thriller that centers on seven anarchists in turn-of-the-century London who call themselves by the names of the days of the week. Chesterton explores the meanings of their disguised identities in what is a fascinating mystery and, ultimately, a spellbinding allegory.

As Jonathan Lethem remarks in his Introduction, The real characters are the ideas. Chesterton's nutty agenda is really quite simple: to expose moral relativism and parlor nihilism for the devils he believes them to be. This wouldn't be interesting at all, though, if he didn't also show such passion for giving the devil his due. He animates the forces of chaos and anarchy with every ounce of imaginative verve and rhetorical force in his body.

Senhor José is a low-grade clerk in the city's Central Registry, where the living and the dead share the same shelf space. A middle-aged bachelor, he has no interest in anything beyond the certificates of birth, marriage, divorce, and death that are his daily routine.

But one day, when he comes across the records of an anonymous young woman, something happens to him. Obsessed, Senhor José sets off to follow the thread that may lead him to the woman. As he gets closer, he discovers more about her, and about himself, than he would ever have wished.

The loneliness of people's lives, the effects of chance, the discovery of love—all coalesce in this extraordinary novel that displays the power and art of José Saramago in brilliant form.

Sometimes the price of destiny is higher than anyone imagined...

Dark Magic, Hidden Destiny

For three centuries, a divine prophecy and a line of warrior queens protected Skala. But the people grew complacent, and Erius, a usurper king, claimed his young half-sister’s throne. Now, plague and drought stalk the land, war with Skala’s ancient rival Plenimar drains the country’s lifeblood, and to be born female into the royal line has become a death sentence as the king fights to ensure the succession of his only heir, a son.

For King Erius, the greatest threat comes from his own line — and from Illior’s faithful, who spread the Oracle’s words to a doubting populace. As noblewomen young and old perish mysteriously, the king’s nephew — his sister’s only child — grows toward manhood. But unbeknownst to the king or the boy, strange, haunted Tobin is the princess’s daughter, given male form by a dark magic to protect her until she can claim her rightful destiny.

Only Tobin’s noble father, two wizards of Illior, and an outlawed forest witch know the truth. Only they can protect young Tobin from a king’s wrath, a mother’s madness, and the terrifying rage of her brother’s demon spirit, determined to avenge his brutal murder.

Just as Norman Maclean writes at the end of A River Runs through It that he is "haunted by waters," so have readers been haunted by his novella. A retired English professor who began writing fiction at the age of 70, Maclean produced what is now recognized as one of the classic American stories of the twentieth century.

Originally published in 1976, A River Runs through It and Other Stories now celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary, marked by this new edition that includes a foreword by Annie Proulx. Maclean grew up in the western Rocky Mountains in the first decades of the twentieth century. As a young man, he worked many summers in logging camps and for the United States Forest Service. The two novellas and short story in this collection are based on his own experiences—the experiences of a young man who found that life was only a step from art in its structures and beauty. The beauty he found was in reality, and so he leaves a careful record of what it was like to work in the woods when it was still a world of horse and hand and foot, without power saws, "cats," or four-wheel drives.

Populated with drunks, loggers, card sharks, and whores, and set in the small towns and surrounding trout streams and mountains of western Montana, the stories concern themselves with the complexities of fly fishing, logging, fighting forest fires, playing cribbage, and being a husband, a son, and a father. By turns raunchy, poignant, caustic, and elegiac, these are superb tales which express, in Maclean's own words, "a little of the love I have for the earth as it goes by."

Le Morte d'Arthur is an exciting, magical interpretation of the legend of King Arthur. Originally published in 1485 by William Caxton, Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur remains the most exciting and magical interpretation of the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

For Arthurian fans worldwide, this stunning gift edition has a cloth binding, ribbon marker, and is packaged neatly in an elegant slipcase. Featuring a new introduction and the elegant illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley (1872–1898), this volume of Le Morte d'Arthur is an indispensable classic for every home library.

Hamilton's vampire-hunting Anita Blake faces a plethora of foes in her tenth outing. Just returned to St. Louis after six months away, Anita is still no closer to choosing between her lovers—Jean-Claude, a vampire, and Richard, a werewolf. But she has to rely on both for help after two of the wereleopards that she has been watching are abducted at a seedy club called Narcissus in Chains. Anita and her boyfriends rescue the wereleopards from the sinister people holding them, but Anita is wounded in the fight and put at risk of becoming a wereleopard herself. Richard angrily captures the wereleopard he believes is responsible and threatens to execute him.

Anita must now rescue that wereleopard from Richard and the werewolves he leads, even as she mourns the apparent end of her relationship with him. Then she realizes that those who kidnapped the first two wereleopards are targeting other lycanthropes. Maybe she will be next. With plenty of steamy sex and graphic violence, this is engaging reading for vampire cultists.

In this heart-pounding but touchingly romantic thriller, Detective Alex Cross pursues the most complex and brilliant killer he's ever confronted - a mysterious criminal who calls himself the Mastermind.

In a series of crimes that has stunned Washington, D.C., bank robbers have been laying out precise demands when they enter the building - and then killing the bank employees and their families if those instructions are not followed to the letter.

Detective Alex Cross takes on the case, certain that this is no ordinary bank robber at work - the pathological need for control and perfection is too great. Cross is in the midst of a personal crisis at home, but the case becomes all-consuming as he learns that the Mastermind is plotting one huge, last, perfect crime.

Forgotten Soldier recounts the horror of World War II on the eastern front, as seen through the eyes of a teenaged German soldier. At first an exciting adventure, young Guy Sajer’s war becomes, as the German invasion falters in the icy vastness of the Ukraine, a simple, desperate struggle for survival against cold, hunger, and above all the terrifying Soviet artillery.

As a member of the elite Gross Deutschland Division, he fought in all the great battles from Kursk to Kharkov. Sajer's German footsoldier’s perspective makes The Forgotten Soldier a unique war memoir, the book that the Christian Science Monitor said "may well be the book about World War II which has been so long awaited."

Now it has been handsomely republished containing fifty rare German combat photos of life and death at the eastern front. The photos of troops battling through snow, mud, burned villages, and rubble-strewn cities depict the hardships and destructiveness of war. Many are originally from the private collections of German soldiers and have never been published before. This volume is a deluxe edition of a true classic.

Revenge - When Eugenides, the Thief of Eddis, stole Hamiathes's Gift, the Queen of Attolia lost more than a mythical relic. She lost face. Everyone knew that Eugenides had outwitted and escaped her. To restore her reputation and reassert her power, the Queen of Attolia will go to any length and accept any help that is offered... she will risk her country to execute the perfect revenge.

...but - Eugenides can steal anything. And he taunts the Queen of Attolia, moving through her strongholds seemingly at will. So Attolia waits, secure in the knowledge that the Thief will slip, that he will haunt her palace one too many times.

...at what price? - When Eugenides finds his small mountain country at war with Attolia, he must steal a man, he must steal a queen, he must steal peace. But his greatest triumph - and his greatest loss - comes in capturing something that the Queen of Attolia thought she had sacrificed long ago.