Change is coming to Faha, a small Irish parish that hasn't changed in a thousand years.

For one thing, the rain is stopping. Nobody remembers when it started; rain on the western seaboard is a condition of living. But now – just as Father Coffey proclaims the coming of the electricity – the rain clouds are lifting. Seventeen-year-old Noel Crowe is idling in the unexpected sunshine when Christy makes his first entrance into Faha, bringing secrets he needs to atone for. Though he can't explain it, Noel knows right then: something has changed.

As the people of Faha anticipate the endlessly procrastinated advent of the electricity, and Noel navigates his own coming-of-age and his fallings in and out of love, Christy's past gradually comes to light, casting a new glow on a small world.

Harking back to a simpler time, This Is Happiness is a tender portrait of a community – its idiosyncrasies and traditions, its paradoxes and kindnesses, its failures and triumphs – and a coming-of-age tale like no other. Luminous and lyrical, yet anchored by roots running deep into the earthy and everyday, it is about the power of stories: their invisible currents that run through all we do, writing and rewriting us, and the transforming light that they throw onto our world.

In this atmospheric story, a group of kids play hockey on a frozen lake by moonlight. At once nostalgic and timely, this is a gorgeous book that will speak to readers young and old.

The beaver flood has finally frozen--perfect ice, without a bump or a ripple. For the kids in town, it's Christmas in November. They wait, impatiently, for the right moment. Finally, it arrives: the full moon. They huff and puff through logging trails, farms, back roads and tamarack swamps, the powdery snow soaking pant legs and boots, till they see it--their perfect ice, waiting. And the game is on.

When the Moon Comes is steeped in tradition and nostalgia: for hockey, for childhood, for a simpler time. The beauty of the text is matched by the brilliant, rich illustrations that wonderfully capture the magic of a moonlit night in winter.

From one of the most beloved and bestselling authors in the English language, comes a vivid, nostalgic, and utterly hilarious memoir of growing up in the 1950s. Bill Bryson was born in the middle of the American century—1951—in the middle of the United States—Des Moines, Iowa—in the middle of the largest generation in American history—the baby boomers. As one of the best and funniest writers alive, he is perfectly positioned to mine his memories of a totally all-American childhood for 24-carat memoir gold.

Like millions of his generational peers, Bill Bryson grew up with a rich fantasy life as a superhero. In his case, he ran around his house and neighborhood with an old football jersey with a thunderbolt on it and a towel about his neck that served as his cape, leaping tall buildings in a single bound and vanquishing awful evildoers (and morons)—in his head—as "The Thunderbolt Kid." Using this persona as a springboard, Bill Bryson re-creates the life of his family and his native city in the 1950s in all its transcendent normality—a life at once completely familiar to us all and as far away and unreachable as another galaxy.

It was, he reminds us, a happy time, when automobiles and televisions and appliances (not to mention nuclear weapons) grew larger and more numerous with each passing year, and DDT, cigarettes, and the fallout from atmospheric testing were considered harmless or even good for you. He brings us into the life of his loving but eccentric family, including affectionate portraits of his father, a gifted sportswriter for the local paper and dedicated practitioner of isometric exercises, and of his mother, whose job as the home furnishing editor for the same paper left her little time for practicing the domestic arts at home.

Warm and laugh-out-loud funny, and full of his inimitable, pitch-perfect observations, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid is as wondrous a book as Bill Bryson has ever written. It will enchant anyone who has ever been young.

A Christmas Memory is a heartwarming short story by Truman Capote, first published in 1956. This autobiographical recollection of Capote's rural Alabama boyhood has become a modern-day classic.

Seven-year-old Buddy knows that the Christmas season has arrived when his cousin, Miss Sook Falk, exclaims: "It's fruitcake weather!" Thus begins an unforgettable portrait of an odd but enduring friendship between two innocent souls—one young and one old—and the memories they share of beloved holiday rituals.

This reminiscence of a Christmas shared by a seven-year-old boy and a sixtyish childlike woman is filled with enormous love and friendship, capturing the essence of holiday spirit and nostalgia.

The Complete Calvin and Hobbes is a celebration of one of the most iconic comic strips of all time. This collection brings together every Calvin and Hobbes cartoon that was syndicated from its beginning in 1985 until its end in 1996. Presented in a beautiful three-volume, hardcover set within a sturdy slipcase, these four-color editions showcase the adventures of the imaginative Calvin and his real-only-to-him tiger companion, Hobbes.

Fans of the series will find all their favorite moments in these pages, with three daily black and white strips per page and full-color Sunday comics. Additional full-page color illustrations, poems, and stories from other collections are also included, making this a must-have for any Calvin and Hobbes enthusiast. With a heartfelt introduction by Bill Watterson himself, this compendium is a tribute to the timeless magic and humor of Calvin and Hobbes.

It's 1996, and Josh and Emma have been neighbors their whole lives. They've been best friends almost as long—at least, up until last November, when Josh did something that changed everything. Things have been weird between them ever since, but when Josh's family gets a free AOL CD in the mail, his mom makes him bring it over so that Emma can install it on her new computer.

When they sign on, they're automatically logged onto their Facebook pages. But Facebook hasn't been invented yet. And they're looking at themselves fifteen years in the future. By refreshing their pages, they learn that making different decisions now will affect the outcome of their lives later.

As they grapple with the ups and downs of what their futures hold, they're forced to confront what they're doing right—and wrong—in the present.

They're BACK! This summer, the original heroes in a half-shell make a triumphant return to comics! Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael reunite to bring their ninja aptitude and teenage attitude to IDW Publishing in this all-new, action-packed series.

Featuring a cast of familiar characters—Master Splinter, April O'Neill, Casey Jones, and more—and true to the spirit of the original comics created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, the TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES are bigger and badder than ever, and ready to rock old and new fans alike!

Dani se dedica a buscar niños desaparecidos. En el mismo instante en que su pareja hace las maletas para abandonarle, recibe la llamada de teléfono de un padre que, desesperado, le pide ayuda.

El caso le conducirá a Capri, lugar en el que aflorarán recuerdos de su niñez y de los dos personajes que marcaron su vida: el señor Martin y George.

El reencuentro con el pasado llevará a Dani a reflexionar sobre su vida, sobre la historia de amor con su pareja y sobre las cosas que realmente importan.

Riley and Alice, two sisters now in their twenties, and as fiercely different as they are loyal, have spent every summer at their parents’ modest beach house on New York’s Fire Island. Each year, they return to the house and community they have known since they were children—and to Paul, the boy next door. But this summer marks a season of change: budding love and sexual interest, an illness, and a deep secret force all three to confront the increasing complexities of their lives and friendships.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author George R. R. Martin comes the ultimate novel of revolution, rock ’n’ roll, and apocalyptic murder—a stunning work of fiction that portrays not just the end of an era, but the end of the world as we know it.

Onetime underground journalist Sandy Blair has come a long way from his radical roots in the ’60s—until something unexpectedly draws him back: the bizarre and brutal murder of a rock promoter who made millions with a band called the Nazgûl. Now, as Sandy sets out to investigate the crime, he finds himself drawn back into his own past—a magical mystery tour of the pent-up passions of his generation.

For a new messiah has resurrected the Nazgûl and the mad new rhythm may be more than anyone bargained for—a requiem of demonism, mind control, and death, whose apocalyptic tune only Sandy may be able to change in time . . . before everyone follows the beat.

As the first decade of Peanuts closes, it seems only fitting to bid farewell to that halcyon decade with a cover starring Patty, one of the original three Peanuts.

Major new additions to classic Peanuts lore come fast and furious here. Snoopy begins to take up residence atop his doghouse, and his repertoire of impressions increases exponentially. Lucy sets up her booth and offers her first five-cent psychiatric counsel. (Her advice to a forlorn Charlie Brown: "Get over it.")

For the very first time, Linus spends all night in the pumpkin patch on his lonely vigil for the Great Pumpkin (although he laments that he was a victim of "false doctrine," he's back 12 months later). Linus also gets into repeated, and visually explosive, scuffles with a blanket-stealing Snoopy, suffers the first depredations of his blanket-hating grandmother, and falls in love with his new teacher Miss Othmar.

Even more importantly, several years after the last addition to the cast ("Pig-Pen"), Charlie Brown's sister Sally makes her appearance—first as an (off-panel) brand new baby for Charlie to gush over, then as a toddler and eventually a real, talking, thinking cast member. (By the end of this volume, she'll already start developing her crush on Linus.)

All this, and one of the most famous Peanuts strips ever: "Happiness is a warm puppy." Almost one hundred of the 731 strips collected in this volume (including many Sundays) have never been collected in any book since their original release, with one hundred more having been collected only once in relatively obscure and now impossible-to-find books; in other words, close to one quarter of the strips have never been seen by anyone but the most avid Peanuts completists.

It seems like kids are always hearing stories about America in the "good old days." But, in fact, the 1950s and 1960s were not as carefree as they sometimes seem. Through fascinating stories, advertisements, facts, and photographs, Norman H. Finkelstein invites people of all generations to decide for themselves.

Explore the real history behind the myths and discover surprising truths about a pivotal era in American history.

For fifteen-year-old Haven, life is changing too quickly. She's nearly six feet tall, her father is getting remarried, and her sister—the always perfect Ashley—is planning a wedding of her own. Haven wishes things could just go back to the way they were.

Then an old boyfriend of Ashley's reenters the picture, and through him, Haven sees the past for what it really was, and comes to grips with the future.

During the summer of her divorced father's remarriage and her sister's wedding, fifteen-year-old Haven comes into her own by letting go of the myths of the past.

In My Mother's House & Sido, Colette explores the enchanting themes of childhood, family, and the profound influence of her mother. Sido, a vibrant and lively woman, cherished cities, music, theater, and books, yet devoted herself wholeheartedly to her village, Saint-Saveur, her garden, and above all, her children. Particularly, her youngest, whom she affectionately called Minet-Chéri.

Unlike Colette's other works, Gigi and Chéri, which delve into the complexities of sexual love, this book centers on a powerful, nurturing woman in late-nineteenth-century rural France. It beautifully conveys the impact Sido had on her community and her daughter, who grew up to become a renowned writer.

In a rural Kentucky river town, "Old Jack" Beechum, a retired farmer, sees his life again through the shades of one burnished day in September 1952. Bringing the earthiness of America's past to mind, The Memory of Old Jack conveys the truth and integrity of the land and the people who live from it.

Through the eyes of one man can be seen the values Americans strive to recapture as we arrive at the next century.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is the beloved American classic about a young girl's coming-of-age at the turn of the century. This poignant and moving tale is filled with compassion and cruelty, laughter and heartache. It's crowded with life, people, and vivid incidents.

The story follows the young, sensitive, and idealistic Francie Nolan and her bittersweet formative years in the slums of Williamsburg. The daily experiences of the unforgettable Nolans are portrayed with raw honesty and are tenderly threaded with family connectedness. Betty Smith's work is a brilliant literary piece that captures a unique time and place as well as incredibly rich moments of universal experience.

In the summer of 1977, Victoria Leonard's world changed forever—when Caitlin Somers chose her as a friend. Dazzling, reckless Caitlin welcomed Vix into the heart of her sprawling, eccentric family, opening doors to a world of unimaginable privilege, sweeping her away to vacations on Martha's Vineyard, a magical, wind-blown island where two friends became summer sisters...Now, years later, Vix is working in New York City. Caitlin is getting married on the Vineyard. And the early magic of their long, complicated friendship has faded. But Caitlin has begged Vix to come to her wedding, to be her maid of honor. And Vix knows that she will go—for the friend whose casual betrayals she remembers all too well. Because Vix wants to understand what happened during that last shattering summer. And, after all these years, she needs to know why her best friend—her summer sister—still has the power to break her heart...

On an Illinois farm in the 1920s, a man is murdered, and in the same moment, the tenuous friendship between two lonely boys comes to an end. In telling their interconnected stories, American Book Award winner William Maxwell delivers a masterfully restrained and magically evocative meditation on the past.

Many moons ago, the magic of Calvin and Hobbes first appeared on the funny pages and the world was introduced to a wondrous pair of friends -- a boy and his tiger, who brought new life to the comics page. To celebrate the tenth anniversary of this distinguished partnership, Bill Watterson prepared this special book, sharing his thoughts on cartooning and creating Calvin and Hobbes, illustrated throughout with favorite black-and-white and color cartoons.

Philip Latinowicz is a successful but disillusioned painter who returns to his hometown on Croatia's Danubian plain after an absence of twenty-three years. He hopes that revisiting his cultural roots will inspire him to create the perfect work of art and thereby restore his faith in both art and life.

Haunted by his troubled childhood, he falls in with shady characters and discovers the emotional, intellectual, and imaginative poverty of his background.

My ntonia, authored by Willa Cather, is a profound narrative set in the Nebraska heartland. This novel, the third in the Great Plains Trilogy, unfolds through the eyes of Jim Burden, a character whose voice is tinged with affection and admiration.

Readers are catapulted into the diverse experiences of immigrant life, where the bonds of community are both insistent and deep. A cast of compelling characters guides us through this journey: Russian brothers haunted by a tragic memory, ntonia's father who yearns for his homeland, and her mother, whose priorities often seem misplaced. At the core of this pastoral society is the enchanting ntonia, whose free spirit captivates all who know her.

Jim Burden's narrative is one of personal reflection as he remembers his youth and the poignant moments he shared with ntonia. Their relationship, oscillating between platonic affection and a deeper connection, offers a window into ntonia's life, her challenges, and her victories.

A Pale View of Hills is the highly acclaimed debut novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, a Nobel Prize winning author. This story unfolds the life of Etsuko, a Japanese woman now living alone in England, as she reflects on the tragic suicide of her daughter.

As Etsuko retreats into her past, she finds herself reliving a particular hot summer in Nagasaki, where she and her friends endeavored to rebuild their lives after the war. Amidst these memories, her recollections of a strange friendship with Sachiko—a wealthy woman reduced to vagrancy—begin to take on a disturbing cast.

The novel intricately explores themes of memory, guilt, and the haunting shadows of the past, set against the backdrop of post-war Japan.

Giorgio Bassani’s acclaimed novel of unrequited love and the plight of the Italian Jews on the brink of World War II has become a classic of modern Italian literature. The narrator, a young middle-class Jew in the Italian city of Ferrara, has long been fascinated from afar by the Finzi-Continis, a wealthy and aristocratic Jewish family, and especially by their enchanting daughter Micol.

But it is not until 1938 that he is invited behind the walls of their lavish estate. As local Jews begin to gather there to avoid the racial laws of the Fascists, the garden of the Finzi-Continis becomes an idyllic sanctuary in an increasingly brutal world.

Years after the war, the narrator returns in memory to his doomed relationship with the lovely Micol and to the predicament that faced all the Ferrarese Jews, in this unforgettable portrait of a community about to be destroyed by the world outside the garden walls.

قريتي العزيزة تسادا! ها أنا قد عدت إليك من ذلك العالم الضخم الذي رأى فيه والدي هذا العدد الكبير من العيوب. لقد جبته، هذا العام، ورأيت فيه الكثير من العجائب. لقد زاغت عيناي من فيض ما فيه من جمال دون أن تعرفا أين تستقران. كانتا تنتقلان من معبد رائع إلى آخر، ومن وجه إنساني رائع إلى آخر، لكني كنت أعرف أنه مهما كان الذي أراه اليوم رائعاً، فسأرى في الغد ما هو أروع منه.. فالعالم، كما تردن، لا نهاية له.

فلتغفر لي معابد الهند، وأهرامات مصر، وكاتدرائيات إيطاليا، ولتغفر لي طرقات أميركا العريضة، أرصفة باريس، وحدائق إنكلترا، وجبال سويسرا، لتغفر لي نساء بولونيا واليابان وروما. لقد نعمت بالنظر إليكن، لكن قلبي يخفق بهدوء، وإذا كان خفقه قد ازداد، فليس بالقدر الذي يجف فيه فمي ويدور رأسي.

لماذا خفق قلبي الآن في صدري، حين رأيت من جديد هذه البيوت السبعين التي تأوي إلى سفوح الجبل، فغاصت عيناي ودار رأسي كأني مريض أو سكران؟ هل هذه القرية الداغستانية الصغيرة أروع من البندقية أو القاهرة أو كالكوتا؟ وهل الفتاة الآفارية التي تسير في الطريق الجبلي الضيق وهي تحمل حزمة حطب أروع من السكندنافية المشيقة؟

أي تسادا! ها أنا أهيم في حقولك، وندى الصباح البارد يغسل قدمي المتعبتين. ثم لا أغسل وجهي بمياه السواقي الجبلية، بل بماء الينابيع. يقال: إذا أردت أن تشرب، فاشرب من العين. ويقال أيضاً: ووالدي كان يردد هذا: يمكن للرجل أن يرجع في حالتين: ليشرب من العين، وليقطف زهرة. وأنت عيني، يا تسادا.

ها أنا ذا أركع أمامك وأنهل من ينابيعك، فلا أرتوي. ما إن أرى حجراً حتى يتراءى لي فوقه طيف شفاف. هذا الطيف هو أنا. كما كنت قبل ثلاثين عاماً. أجلس عليه وأرعى أغنامي، على رأسي قلبق ذو وبر وفي يدي عصا طويلة، والغبار يغطي رجلي. ما أن أرى طريقاً جبلياً حتى يتراءى لي فيه طيف شفاف، هذا الطيف هو أنا أيضاً، كما كنت قبل ثلاثين عاماً. لماذا أنا ذاهب إلى القرية المجاورة؟ يبدو أن والدي هو الذي أرسلني.

في كل خطوة ألتقي بنفسي، بذاتي، بطفولتي، بفصول الربيع التي مرّت بي، بالأمطار والأزهار وأوراق الخريف المتساقطة. داغستان تلف البلاد المحلقة في سماء الخيال، هي أسطورة بكل ما فيها؛ بجبالها بوهادها بينابيعها وبأرضها وسمائها والأكثر برجالها الذين كثيراً ما جنح الخيال إلى تصور واحدهم بتلك السمات التي تستأثر بالنفس، بالإنسان من حيث رباطة جأشهم، وعنفوانهم.

في روايته هذه يأخذ رسول حمزاتوف القارئ إلى هدأة حلم صيفي يستقر في أفيائه ليعرض عليه مشاهده المنطلقة من بلاد اسمها داغستان. يرسم الروائي خطوط شخصياته بدقة، مستحضراً بذلك تاريخ أمة اشتهر رجالها بالقوة والاستبسال والعنفوان. يسترسل الكاتب في سردياته ليشيع في نفس القارئ ومن خلال أسلوبه الرائع ذاك الحس المرهف والاندماج إلى حد التماهي مع الشخصيات ومع الكاتب نفسه لتصبح تسادا ذاك الحلم الذي يحلق دائماً في مناخاته.

The summer of '28 was a vintage season for a growing boy. A summer of green apple trees, mowed lawns, and new sneakers. Of half-burnt firecrackers, of gathering dandelions, of Grandma's belly-busting dinner. It was a summer of sorrows and marvels and gold-fuzzed bees. A magical, timeless summer in the life of a twelve-year-old boy named Douglas Spaulding—remembered forever by the incomparable Ray Bradbury.

Woven into the novel are the following short stories: Illumination, Dandelion Wine, Summer in the Air, Season of Sitting, The Happiness Machine, The Night, The Lawns of Summer, Season of Disbelief, The Last--the Very Last, The Green Machine, The Trolley, Statues, The Window, The Swan, The Whole Town's Sleeping, Goodbye Grandma, The Tarot Witch, Hotter Than Summer, Dinner at Dawn, The Magical Kitchen, Green Wine for Dreaming.

A modern classic that no child should miss. Since it was first published in 1939, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel has delighted generations of children. Mike and his trusty steam shovel, Mary Anne, dig deep canals for boats to travel through, cut mountain passes for trains, and hollow out cellars for city skyscrapers -- the very symbol of industrial America. But with progress come new machines, and soon the inseparable duo are out of work. Mike believes that Mary Anne can dig as much in a day as one hundred men can dig in a week, and the two have one last chance to prove it and save Mary Anne from the scrap heap. What happens next in the small town of Popperville is a testament to their friendship, and to old-fashioned hard work and ingenuity.