The Lace Reader is a novel set in the mysterious town of Salem, Massachusetts, a place steeped in history and intrigue. The story revolves around Towner Whitney, a woman descended from a long line of mind readers and fortune tellers who can read the future in the patterns of lace.

Returning to Salem for some rest and relaxation, Towner's life is thrown into turmoil when her beloved aunt drowns under mysterious circumstances. As Towner delves deeper into her family's secrets, she must confront her painful past and the shocking truth about the death of her twin sister.

Through unreliable narratives and a blend of reality and imagination, the novel explores themes of family, memory, and the supernatural. The Whitney women's ability to read lace serves as both a gift and a curse, revealing hidden truths and challenging their perceptions of reality.

As the story unfolds, readers are drawn into a suspenseful, fast-paced tale that questions the boundaries between what is real and what is imagined. The novel's rich, evocative prose casts an enthralling spell, making it a compelling read for those who enjoy a mix of mystery, psychological drama, and historical fiction.

In Shadow Man, Cody McFadyen took the suspense thriller where other writers have feared to tread. He introduced readers to a heroine every bit as dark and edgy as the serial killers she hunts: Special Agent Smoky Barrett.

Now, in his latest novel, McFadyen brings Agent Barrett back to track down a killer who breaks all the rules. Get ready for a shattering confrontation with the very essence of human evil.

I want to talk to Smoky Barrett or I'll kill myself. The girl is sixteen, at the scene of a grisly triple homicide, and has a gun to her head. She claims The Stranger killed her adoptive family, that he's been following her all her life, killing everyone she ever loved, and that no one believes her. No one has. Until now.

Special Agent Smoky Barrett is head of the violent crimes unit in Los Angeles, the part of the FBI reserved for tracking down the worst of the worst. Her team has been handpicked from among the nation's elite law enforcement specialists and they are as obsessed and relentless as the psychos they hunt; they'll have to be to deal with this case.

For another vicious double homicide reveals a killer embarked on a dark crusade of trauma and death: an "artist" who's molding sixteen-year-old Sarah into the perfect victim—and the ultimate weapon. But Smoky Barrett has another, more personal reason for catching The Stranger—an adopted daughter and a new life that are worth protecting at any cost.

This time Smoky is going to have to put it all on the line. Because The Stranger is all too real, all too close, and all too relentless. And when he finally shows his face, if she's not ready to confront her worst fear, Smoky won't have time to do anything but die.

Light's latest machinations are putting a strain on even his formidable intellect as Near flies to Japan to beard Kira in his den. Near is sure that Light is Kira, but his sense of honor as L's heir will allow no doubts. He doesn't want to just stop the Kira murders; he wants to expose Light as the Death Note killer.

Light thinks he's up to the challenge, but will the pressures of his fiancée, his new flame, and his acolyte prove to be fatal distractions?

Blink is a book about how we think without thinking, about choices that seem to be made in an instant—in the blink of an eye—that actually aren't as simple as they seem. Why are some people brilliant decision makers, while others are consistently inept? Why do some people follow their instincts and win, while others end up stumbling into error? How do our brains really work—in the office, in the classroom, in the kitchen, and in the bedroom? And why are the best decisions often those that are impossible to explain to others?

In Blink, we meet the psychologist who has learned to predict whether a marriage will last, based on a few minutes of observing a couple; the tennis coach who knows when a player will double-fault before the racket even makes contact with the ball; the antiquities experts who recognize a fake at a glance. Here, too, are great failures of blink: the election of Warren Harding; "New Coke"; and the shooting of Amadou Diallo by police. Blink reveals that great decision makers aren't those who process the most information or spend the most time deliberating, but those who have perfected the art of "thin-slicing"—filtering the very few factors that matter from an overwhelming number of variables.

When young, pretty Catherine Bailey meets Lee Brightman, she can't believe her luck. Gorgeous, charismatic, and a bit mysterious, Lee seems almost too perfect to be true. But what begins as flattering attention and spontaneous, passionate sex transforms into raging jealousy, and Catherine soon discovers that there's a darker side to Lee. His increasingly erratic, controlling behaviour becomes frightening, but no one believes her when she shares her fears.

Increasingly isolated and driven into the darkest corner of her world, a desperate Catherine plans a meticulous escape. Four years later, Lee is behind bars and Catherine—now Cathy—compulsively checks the locks and doors in her apartment, trusting no one. But when an attractive upstairs neighbour, Stuart, comes into her life, Cathy dares to hope that happiness and love may still be possible... until she receives a phone call informing her of Lee’s impending release.

Soon after, Cathy thinks she catches a glimpse of the former best friend who testified against her in the trial; she begins to return home to find objects subtly rearranged in her apartment, one of Lee's old tricks. Convinced she is back in her former lover's sights, Cathy prepares to wrestle with the demons of her past for the last time.

Utterly convincing in its portrayal of obsession, Into the Darkest Corner is an ingeniously structured and plotted tour de force of suspense that marks the arrival of a major new talent.

Sometimes you don't wake up. But if you happen to, you know things will never be the same.

Three lives, three different paths to the same destination: Aspen Springs, a psychiatric hospital for those who have attempted the ultimate act—suicide.

Vanessa is beautiful and smart, but her secrets keep her answering the call of the blade. Tony, after suffering a painful childhood, can only find peace through pills. And Conner, outwardly, has the perfect life. But dig a little deeper and find a boy who is in constant battle with his parents, his life, himself.

In one instant each of these young people decided enough was enough. They grabbed the blade, the bottle, the gun—and tried to end it all. Now they have a second chance, and just maybe, with each other's help, they can find their way to a better life—but only if they're strong and can fight the demons that brought them here in the first place.

The Happiness Hypothesis is a compelling exploration of ancient wisdom through the lens of modern psychological science. In this widely praised book, award-winning psychologist Jonathan Haidt delves into the world's philosophical wisdom, offering insights that can enrich and transform our lives.

Haidt examines enduring maxims such as "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you" and "What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger", demonstrating how these ideas can be understood more deeply through scientific research. Each chapter attempts to savor one Great Idea discovered by several of the world's civilizations, questioning it in light of modern knowledge and extracting lessons applicable to our current lives.

This book is a journey into understanding the causes of human flourishing, providing a deeper appreciation of ancient wisdom and its relevance today.

The fiftieth Anniversary Edition of the groundbreaking international bestseller that has shown millions of readers how to achieve rich, productive lives by developing their hidden capacities for love. Most people are unable to love on the only level that truly matters: love that is compounded of maturity, self-knowledge, and courage. As with every art, love demands practice and concentration, as well as genuine insight and understanding.

In his classic work, The Art of Loving, renowned psychoanalyst and social philosopher Erich Fromm explores love in all its aspects—not only romantic love, steeped in false conceptions and lofty expectations, but also brotherly love, erotic love, self-love, the love of God, and the love of parents for their children.

There's a serial killer loose in Los Angeles and the local authorities need help fast. For some reason, the killer has been leaving a string of maddeningly arcane clues at each crime scene. Each of these clues, it seems, is an indecipherable roadmap to the next murder.

Onto the scene comes L, the mysterious super-sleuth. Despite his peculiar working habits—he's never shown his face in public—but this time, he needs help. Enlisting the services of an FBI agent named Naomi Misora, L starts snooping around the City of Angels. It soon becomes apparent that the killing spree is a psychotic riddle designed to specifically engage L in a battle of wits.

Stuck in the middle between killer and investigator, it's up to Misora to navigate both the dead bodies and the egos to solve the Los Angeles Murder Cases.

"We call you Saint." The name ignited a light in Carl's mind. Saint. He'd been covertly recruited for Black Ops and given his life to the most brutal kind of training any man or woman could endure. He was here because he belonged here—to the X Group. An assassin. The most effective killer in the world. And yet... Carl Strople struggles to retain fleeting memories that betray an even more ominous reality. He's been told part of the truth—but not all of it.

Invasive techniques have stripped him of his identity and made him someone new—for this he is grateful. But there are some things they can't take from him: the love of a woman, unbroken loyalties to his past, the need for survival.

From the deep woods of Hungary to the streets of New York, Saint takes you on a journey of betrayal in a world of government cover-ups, political intrigue, and one man's search for the truth. In the end, that truth will be his undoing.

Twelve Angry Men is a landmark American drama that inspired a classic film and a Broadway revival. It features an introduction by David Mamet and offers a blistering character study and an examination of the American melting pot and the judicial system that keeps it in check.

At its core, Twelve Angry Men holds a deeply patriotic faith in the U.S. legal system. The play centers on Juror Eight, who is at first the sole holdout in an 11-1 guilty vote. Eight is determined not to prove the other jurors wrong but to encourage them to view the situation in a clear-eyed way, unaffected by personal prejudices or biases.

Reginald Rose deliberately and carefully peels away the layers of artifice from the men, allowing a fuller picture to form of them—and of America, at its best and worst.

After the critically acclaimed teleplay aired in 1954, this landmark American drama went on to become a cinematic masterpiece in 1957 starring Henry Fonda, for which Rose wrote the adaptation. More recently, Twelve Angry Men had a successful, award-winning run on Broadway.

Angels Fall is an engrossing and passionate novel by #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts. Set against the breathtaking backdrop of the Grand Tetons, this story weaves together the mysteries of love, murder, and madness.

Reece Gilmore, the sole survivor of a brutal crime back East, finds herself in Angel's Fist, Wyoming. She's been on the run, battling the nightmares and panic attacks that haunt her. Temporarily settling in the small town, Reece takes a job at a local diner, hoping to find some semblance of peace.

While hiking in the mountains, Reece witnesses a terrifying scene: a man and woman on the opposite bank of the Snake River, embroiled in a violent altercation. As she watches, the man places his hands around the woman's throat. In shock, Reece seeks help from a gruff loner named Brody, but by the time they return to the scene, the couple has vanished without a trace.

Despite her insistence, no one in Angel's Fist believes Reece's story, except for Brody. As menacing events unfold, it becomes clear that someone wants Reece out of the way. She must rely on Brody—and her own instincts—to uncover the truth and determine whether there is indeed a killer lurking in Angel's Fist.

This novel is a thrilling blend of romance and suspense, exploring themes of trust, resilience, and the quest for justice.

Louis-Ferdinand Céline's revulsion and anger at what he considered the idiocy and hypocrisy of society explodes from nearly every page of this novel. Filled with slang and obscenities and written in raw, colloquial language, Journey to the End of the Night is a literary symphony of violence, cruelty and obscene nihilism.

This book shocked most critics when it was first published in France in 1932, but quickly became a success with the reading public in Europe, and later in America where it was first published by New Directions in 1952. The story of the improbable yet convincingly described travels of the petit-bourgeois (and largely autobiographical) antihero, Bardamu, from the trenches of World War I, to the African jungle, to New York and Detroit, and finally to life as a failed doctor in Paris, takes the readers by the scruff and hurtles them toward the novel's inevitable, sad conclusion.

The future belongs to a different kind of person with a different kind of mind: artists, inventors, storytellers—creative and holistic "right-brain" thinkers whose abilities mark the fault line between who gets ahead and who doesn't.

Drawing on research from around the world, Pink (author of To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Motivating Others) outlines the six fundamentally human abilities that are absolute essentials for professional success and personal fulfillment—and reveals how to master them. A Whole New Mind takes readers to a daring new place, and a provocative and necessary new way of thinking about a future that's already here.

Me & Emma follows the poignant and heart-wrenching journey of eight-year-old Carrie Parker, a timid and introverted young girl, and her fearless little sister, Emma. These two sisters live in a challenging and abusive environment, relying on their unstable mother who has never recovered from her husband's murder. Their stepfather is a constant threat, subjecting them to regular beatings, while their mother remains oblivious to their suffering.

Despite the bleak circumstances, Carrie is determined to protect Emma from the harsh realities of their world. The sisters' plan to escape from their oppressive home takes a shocking turn, leading to a revelation that alters everything. The narrative is filled with unexpected twists and turns, culminating in a spectacular finish that challenges the reader's perceptions and invites them to revisit the story from the beginning.

This emotionally charged thriller masterfully explores themes of survival, resilience, and the enduring bond between sisters. Me & Emma is a story that will resonate deeply, leaving a lasting impression on its readers.

From a brilliant new talent comes a riveting novel of chance, fate, and numbers, and one man's strange journey past the boundaries of the possible.

David Caine inhabits a world of obsession, rich rewards, and rapid, destructive downfalls. A compulsive gambler and brilliant mathematician prone to crippling epileptic seizures, he possesses the uncanny ability to calculate odds of any hand in the blink of an eye. But one night at an underground poker club, Caine makes a costly miscalculation, sending his life spinning out of control.

Desperate, he agrees to test an experimental drug with unnerving side effects: inexplicable visions of the past, present, and future. Unsure whether he's perceiving an alternate reality or suffering a psychotic breakdown, Caine embarks on a journey that stretches beyond the possible into the world of the improbable.

Gradually, he discovers the extent of his astonishing new ability -- but powerful, shadowy forces know Caine's secret. Now Caine must fight for his survival -- and his sanity.

Go Ask Alice is a haunting first-person account of a young girl's descent into the nightmarish world of drug addiction. It begins innocently enough when she is unwittingly served a soft drink laced with LSD at a party. Within months, she finds herself trapped in a downward spiral, moving from a comfortable home and loving family to the mean streets of an unforgiving city.

This journey strips her of her innocence, her youth, and ultimately, her life. The reader is invited to read her diary and enter her world—a world that will be impossible to forget.

HE IS ONE OF THE MOST HAUNTING CHARACTERS IN ALL OF LITERATURE. AT LAST THE EVOLUTION OF HIS EVIL IS REVEALED.

Hannibal Lecter emerges from the nightmare of the Eastern Front, a boy in the snow, mute, with a chain around his neck. He seems utterly alone, but he has brought his demons with him.

Hannibal’s uncle, a noted painter, finds him in a Soviet orphanage and brings him to France, where Hannibal will live with his uncle and his uncle’s beautiful and exotic wife, Lady Murasaki.

Lady Murasaki helps Hannibal to heal. With her help he flourishes, becoming the youngest person ever admitted to medical school in France.

But Hannibal’s demons visit him and torment him. When he is old enough, he visits them in turn.

He discovers he has gifts beyond the academic, and in that epiphany, Hannibal Lecter becomes death’s prodigy.

Child Parent Relationship Therapy offers a comprehensive survey of the historical and theoretical development of the filial therapy approach. It presents an overview of filial therapy training and processes, providing valuable insights for therapists and parents alike.

The book includes a transcript of an actual session, addressing common questions raised by parents, children, and therapists. It features additional resources and research summaries essential for understanding the approach.

Additional chapters delve into filial therapy with special populations and settings, offering flexible variations of the 10-session model for individual parents, training via telephone, and adaptable schedules.

Bailed out of jail and holed up in a low-rent motel, amnesiac Eric Ashworth's only memory is a woman's name: Desiree. With steadily increasing doses of a strange new hallucinogen, Eric finds that the drug allows him to reassemble his past in broken fragments. But as he begins to lose touch with the present, his distinction between truth and fantasy begins to crumble, creating a world where divisions between love and loss, violence and tenderness, and fact and fiction are less discernible than they ought to be.

Everyone knows that high IQ is no guarantee of success, happiness, or virtue, but until Emotional Intelligence, we could only guess why. Daniel Goleman's brilliant report from the frontiers of psychology and neuroscience offers startling new insight into our "two minds"—the rational and the emotional—and how they together shape our destiny.

Through vivid examples, Goleman delineates the five crucial skills of emotional intelligence, and shows how they determine our success in relationships, work, and even our physical well-being. What emerges is an entirely new way to talk about being smart. The best news is that "emotional literacy" is not fixed early in life. Every parent, every teacher, every business leader, and everyone interested in a more civil society, has a stake in this compelling vision of human possibility.

Nine-year-old Trisha McFarland strays from the path while she and her recently divorced mother and brother take a hike along a branch of the Appalachian Trail. Lost for days, wandering farther and farther astray, Trisha has only her portable radio for comfort. A huge fan of Tom Gordon, a Boston Red Sox relief pitcher, she listens to baseball games and fantasizes that her hero will save her. Nature isn't her only adversary, though - something dangerous may be tracking Trisha through the dark woods.

A Handbook of Play Therapy with Aggressive Children is an invaluable resource for both new and seasoned child practitioners. This comprehensive compilation of specific and practical techniques provides child and play therapists with the tools they need to address the challenges of treating aggressive children.

Authored by David A. Crenshaw and John B. Mordock, who together bring over fifty years of experience in the residential treatment of severely aggressive and often traumatized children, this book covers the essential elements of play therapy. Key topics include:

• The therapeutic alliance and aims of play therapy with aggressive children.
• Setting limits on destructive and obtrusive behaviors.
• Typical play themes of aggressive children and developing distancing and displacement through playful action.
• Teaching, modeling, and structuring action play.
• Creating more mature defenses and calming strategies.
• The role of interpretation and the use of spontaneous drawings as a bridge to fantasy play.
• Specific drawing techniques to access the inner world of children.
• Teaching and modeling pro-social skills and the language of feeling.
• Facilitating affect expression and modulation, contained reenactment of trauma, and children's ability to mourn tangible as well as intangible losses.

The authors also introduce the Play Therapy Decision Grid, a tool designed to guide therapists in selecting the most appropriate level of therapy for a child based on their resources and the anxiety provoked by the therapy process.

En este libro, el periodista estadounidense Malcolm Gladwell nos explica cómo pensamos sin pensar, de dónde proceden las decisiones que parece que tomamos en dos segundos, pero que no son tan simples como aparentan. ¿Por qué algunas personas son brillantes tomando decisiones y otras son torpes una y otra vez? ¿Por qué algunos siguen su instinto y triunfan, mientras que otros acaban siempre dando un paso en falso? ¿Cuál es el funcionamiento real del cerebro en el trabajo, en clase, en la cocina o en la cama? ¿Y por qué las mejores decisiones suelen ser las más difíciles de explicar?

Este libro revela que quienes son buenos tomando decisiones no son aquellos que procesan más información o que dedican más tiempo a deliberar, sino aquellos que han perfeccionado el arte de hilar fino, de extraer los pocos factores que realmente importan a partir de una cantidad desmesurada de variables.

Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America's Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing explores the enduring legacy of slavery and its impact on African Americans. While African Americans managed to emerge from chattel slavery and the oppressive decades that followed with great strength and resiliency, they did not emerge unscathed.

Slavery produced centuries of physical, psychological, and spiritual injury. This book lays the groundwork for understanding how the past has influenced the present and opens up the discussion of how we can use the strengths we have gained to heal.

Join the conversation on how to address historical trauma and foster healing in communities affected by this legacy.

Joseph Campbell famously defined myth as other people's religion. But he also said that one of the basic functions of myth is to help each individual through the journey of life, providing a sort of travel guide or map to reach fulfillment—or, as he called it, bliss. For Campbell, many of the world's most powerful myths support the individual's heroic path toward bliss.

In Pathways to Bliss, Campbell examines this personal, psychological side of myth. Like his classic best-selling books Myths to Live By and The Power of Myth, Pathways to Bliss draws from Campbell's popular lectures and dialogues, which highlight his remarkable storytelling and ability to apply the larger themes of world mythology to personal growth and the quest for transformation. Here he anchors mythology's symbolic wisdom to the individual, applying the most poetic mythical metaphors to the challenges of our daily lives.

Campbell dwells on life's important questions. Combining cross-cultural stories with the teachings of modern psychology, he examines the ways in which our myths shape and enrich our lives and shows how myth can help each of us truly identify and follow our bliss.

Jack Rally is an eighteen-year-old boy who is evil and witty. He receives an opportunity from an older film-maker named Mr. Bigsley whose films are films of actual murders. Jack takes the opportunity and runs with it, becoming a master of his murderous profession. Jack, the brutal young man that he is, enjoys murdering and causing havoc in this setting of a more brutal future for mankind and mankind's ways. The tale can be called a psychotic masterpiece and is unique in its content, psychological base, and theme.

Eighteen-year-old Eric has just been released from juvenile detention for murdering his parents. Now he's looking for tenderness—tenderness he finds in killing girls.

Fifteen-year-old Lori has run away from home again. Emotionally naive and sexually precocious, she is also looking for tenderness—tenderness that she finds in Eric.

Will Lori and Eric be each other's salvation or destruction?

Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow.

This improbable story of Christopher's quest to investigate the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog makes for one of the most captivating, unusual, and widely heralded novels in recent years.

Internationally renowned leadership authority and bestselling author Stephen R. Covey presents a personal hands-on companion to the landmark The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, which has become a touchstone for individuals, families, and businesses around the world. The overwhelming success of Stephen R. Covey's principle-centered philosophy is a testament to the millions who have benefited from his lessons, and now, with The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Personal Workbook, they can further explore and understand this tried-and-true approach.

With the same clarity and assurance Covey's fans have come to appreciate, this individualized workbook teaches readers to fully internalize the 7 Habits through private and thought-provoking exercises, whether they are already familiar with the principles or not.

From the New York Times bestselling author of All About Love, a brave and astonishing work that challenges patriarchal culture and encourages men to reclaim the best part of themselves.

Everyone needs to love and be loved—even men. But to know love, men must be able to look at the ways that patriarchal culture keeps them from knowing themselves, from being in touch with their feelings, from loving. In The Will to Change, bell hooks gets to the heart of the matter and shows men how to express the emotions that are a fundamental part of who they are—whatever their age, marital status, ethnicity, or sexual orientation.

But toxic masculinity punishes those fundamental emotions, and it's so deeply ingrained in our society that it's hard for men to not comply—but hooks wants to help change that. With trademark candor and fierce intelligence, hooks addresses the most common concerns of men, such as fear of intimacy and loss of their patriarchal place in society, in new and challenging ways. She believes men can find the way to spiritual unity by getting back in touch with the emotionally open part of themselves—and lay claim to the rich and rewarding inner lives that have historically been the exclusive province of women.

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.

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.

Oracle Night is a mesmerizing novel by Paul Auster that reads like an old-fashioned ghost story. But there are no ghosts here—only flesh-and-blood human beings, wandering through the haunted realms of everyday life.

Several months into his recovery from a near-fatal illness, thirty-four-year-old novelist Sidney Orr enters a stationery shop in the Cobble Hill section of Brooklyn and buys a mysterious blue notebook. It is September 18, 1982, and for the next nine days, Orr will live under the spell of this blank book, trapped inside a world of eerie premonitions and puzzling events that threaten to destroy his marriage and undermine his faith in reality.

Why does his wife suddenly break down in tears in the backseat of a taxi just hours after Sidney begins writing in the notebook? Why does M. R. Chang, the owner of the stationery shop, precipitously close his business the next day? What are the connections between a 1938 Warsaw telephone directory and a lost novel in which the hero can predict the future?

At once a meditation on the nature of time and a journey through the labyrinth of one man's imagination, Oracle Night is a narrative tour de force that confirms Auster's reputation as one of the boldest, most original American writers.

The Kreutzer Sonata is a gripping novella by Leo Tolstoy, exploring themes of jealousy, murder, and the complexities of marriage. When Marshal of the Nobility, Pozdnyshev, suspects his wife of having an affair with her music partner, his jealousy consumes him, leading to a tragic act of murder.

Controversial upon its publication in 1890, The Kreutzer Sonata illuminates Tolstoy’s then-feverish Christian ideals, his conflicts with lust, and the hypocrisies of nineteenth-century marriage. It also delves into his thoughts on the role of art and music in society.

This work remains relevant in understanding Tolstoy as an artist and offers insights into feminism and literature. The novella also includes Tolstoy’s sequel to the story, providing a deeper understanding of its themes.

In "The Blank Slate," Steven Pinker explores the idea of human nature and its moral, emotional, and political colorings. He shows how many intellectuals have denied the existence of human nature by embracing three linked dogmas: the Blank Slate (the mind has no innate traits), the Noble Savage (people are born good and corrupted by society), and the Ghost in the Machine (each of us has a soul that makes choices free from biology).

Each dogma carries a moral burden, so their defenders have engaged in desperate tactics to discredit the scientists who are now challenging them. Pinker injects calm and rationality into these debates by showing that equality, progress, responsibility, and purpose have nothing to fear from discoveries about a rich human nature. He disarms even the most menacing threats with clear thinking, common sense, and pertinent facts from science and history.

Despite its popularity among intellectuals during much of the twentieth century, he argues, the doctrine of the Blank Slate may have done more harm than good. It denies our common humanity and our individual preferences, replaces hardheaded analyses of social problems with feel-good slogans, and distorts our understanding of government, violence, parenting, and the arts.

Pinker shows that an acknowledgement of human nature that is grounded in science and common sense, far from being dangerous, can complement insights about the human condition made by millennia of artists and philosophers. All this is done in the style that earned his previous books many prizes and worldwide acclaim: wit, lucidity, and insight into matters great and small.

The Metamorphosis and Other Stories, by Franz Kafka, is a collection that showcases Kafka's mastery in storytelling, encapsulating the anxieties and alienation of modern life in a surreal, often absurd, manner.

The Metamorphosis is Kafka's most famous story, where Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman, wakes up one morning to find himself transformed into a giant insect. This harrowing yet amusing tale explores themes of alienation, family loyalty, and unconditional love.

Also included is The Judgment, which Kafka considered his breakthrough story, and The Stoker, the first chapter of his novel Amerika. These stories, along with The Metamorphosis, form a suite Kafka referred to as "The Sons," presenting a devastating portrait of the modern family.

Other notable stories in this collection include In the Penal Colony, which delves into the horrors of a torture machine, and A Hunger Artist, a tale of an artist's struggle to communicate with an uncomprehending public.

Kafka's lucid and succinct writing style captures the labyrinthine complexities and futility-laden horror of modern existence, making this collection a must-read for those interested in psychological and existential themes.

Charlotte Bront tells the story of orphaned Jane Eyre, who grows up in the home of her heartless aunt, enduring loneliness and cruelty. This troubled childhood strengthens Jane's natural independence and spirit - which prove necessary when she finds employment as a governess to the young ward of Byronic, brooding Mr Rochester.

As her feelings for Rochester develop, Jane gradually uncovers Thornfield Hall's terrible secret, forcing her to make a choice. Should she stay with Rochester and live with the consequences, or follow her convictions - even if it means leaving the man she loves? A novel of intense power and intrigue, Jane Eyre dazzled readers with its passionate depiction of a woman's search for equality and freedom.

This is the story of two men who first become friends in 1970s New York, of the women in their lives, of their sons, born the same year, and of how relations between the two families become strained.

First by tragedy, then by a monstrous duplicity which comes slowly and corrosively to the surface.

Do you feel like you are too nice? Sherry Argov's Why Men Love Bitches delivers a unique perspective as to why men are attracted to a strong woman who stands up for herself.

With saucy detail on every page, this no-nonsense guide reveals why a strong woman is much more desirable than a "yes woman" who routinely sacrifices herself. The author provides compelling answers to the tough questions women often ask:

• Why are men so romantic in the beginning and why do they change?
• Why do men take nice girls for granted?
• Why does a man respect a woman when she stands up for herself?

Full of advice, hilarious real-life relationship scenarios, "she says/he thinks" tables, and the author's unique "Attraction Principles," Why Men Love Bitches gives you bottom-line answers. It helps you know who you are, stand your ground, and relate to men on a whole new level.

Once you've discovered the feisty attitude men find so magnetic, you'll not only increase the romantic chemistry—you'll gain your man's love and respect with far less effort.

The Design of Everyday Things is a must-read for anyone involved in the creation or utilization of objects, from physical items to computer programs and conceptual tools. This book could forever change how you experience and interact with your physical surroundings.

It opens your eyes to the perversity of bad design and the desirability of good design, raising your expectations about how things should be designed. Through entertaining and insightful analysis, cognitive scientist Don Norman emphasizes the importance of excellent design in influencing consumer behavior.

With black and white photographs and illustrations throughout, this book provides simple rules for creating usable designs: make things visible, exploit natural relationships between function and control, and intelligently use constraints.

The Silence of the Lambs is an iconic work by Thomas Harris that delves into the chilling world of psychopaths and serial killers. The novel introduces us to Clarice Starling, a young FBI trainee, who is tasked with interviewing Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist and notorious psychopath. Lecter's profound insight into the criminal mind becomes pivotal in the hunt for another serial killer, known as Buffalo Bill.

Lecter's eerie ability to dissect the human psyche with his words sets a compelling backdrop for this masterful blend of horror and psychological suspense. Starling finds herself drawn into a complex relationship with Lecter, whose cryptic guidance sends her on a tense and harrowing journey that will leave readers captivated.

The Silence of the Lambs is not just a story of crime and pursuit; it's an exploration of the darkest corners of the mind, the nature of evil, and the fragile thread of sanity that separates them.

Disenfranchised Grief delves into the kind of grief that is not openly acknowledged, socially validated, or publicly mourned. This comprehensive work addresses the unique psychological, biological, and sociological issues involved in disenfranchised grief.

The contributing authors explore the concept of disenfranchised grief, helping to define and explain this type of grief. They offer clinical interventions to assist grievers in expressing their hidden sorrow.

In 1978, Susan Sontag wrote Illness as Metaphor, a classic work described by Newsweek as one of the most liberating books of its time. A cancer patient herself when she was writing the book, Sontag shows how the metaphors and myths surrounding certain illnesses, especially cancer, add greatly to the suffering of patients and often inhibit them from seeking proper treatment.

By demystifying the fantasies surrounding cancer, Sontag shows cancer for what it is—just a disease. Cancer, she argues, is not a curse, not a punishment, certainly not an embarrassment and, it is highly curable, if good treatment is followed.

Almost a decade later, with the outbreak of a new, stigmatized disease replete with mystifications and punitive metaphors, Sontag wrote a sequel to Illness as Metaphor, extending the argument of the earlier book to the AIDS pandemic.

These two essays, now published together, Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphors, have been translated into many languages and continue to have an enormous influence on the thinking of medical professionals and, above all, on the lives of many thousands of patients and caregivers.

Isserley picks up hitchhikers with big muscles. She, herself, is tiny—like a kid peering up over the steering wheel. She has a remarkable face and wears the thickest corrective lenses anyone has ever seen. Her posture suggests some spinal problem. Her breasts are perfect; perhaps implants. She is strangely erotic yet somehow grotesque, vulnerable yet threatening.

Her hitchhikers are a mixed bunch of men—trailer trash and traveling postgrads, thugs and philosophers. But Isserley is only interested in whether they have families and whether they have muscles. Then, it's only a question of how long she can endure her pain—physical and spiritual—and their conversation.

"Under the Skin" takes us on a heart-thumping ride through dangerous territory—our own moral instincts and the boundaries of compassion.

In his latest international bestseller, the celebrated author of The Alchemist addresses the fundamental questions asked by millions: What am I doing here today? and Why do I go on living?

Twenty-four-year-old Veronika seems to have everything she could wish for: youth and beauty, plenty of attractive boyfriends, a fulfilling job, and a loving family. Yet something is lacking in her life. Inside her is a void so deep that nothing could possibly ever fill it. So, on the morning of November 11, 1997, Veronika decides to die. She takes a handful of sleeping pills expecting never to wake up.

Naturally Veronika is stunned when she does wake up at Villete, a local mental hospital, where the staff informs her that she has, in fact, partially succeeded in achieving her goal. While the overdose didn't kill Veronika immediately, the medication has damaged her heart so severely that she has only days to live.

The story follows Veronika through the intense week of self-discovery that ensues. To her surprise, Veronika finds herself drawn to the confinement of Villete and its patients, who, each in his or her individual way, reflect the heart of human experience. In the heightened state of life's final moments, Veronika discovers things she has never really allowed herself to feel before: hatred, fear, curiosity, love, and sexual awakening. She finds that every second of her existence is a choice between living and dying, and at the eleventh hour emerges more open to life than ever before.

In Veronika Decides to Die, Paulo Coelho takes the reader on a distinctly modern quest to find meaning in a culture overshadowed by angst, soulless routine, and pervasive conformity. Based on events in Coelho's own life, Veronika Decides to Die questions the meaning of madness and celebrates individuals who do not fit into patterns society considers to be normal. Poignant and illuminating, it is a dazzling portrait of a young woman at the crossroads of despair and liberation, and a poetic, exuberant appreciation of each day as a renewed opportunity.

Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche is a powerful work of journalistic literature by the acclaimed author Haruki Murakami. On a clear spring day, Monday, March 20, 1995, five members of the religious cult Aum Shinrikyo conducted a chemical warfare attack on the Tokyo subway system using sarin, a poison gas twenty-six times as deadly as cyanide.

The unthinkable had happened: a major urban transit system had become the target of a terrorist attack. In this compelling investigation, Murakami delves into the minds of those who lived through the catastrophe—from a Subway Authority employee dealing with survivor guilt, to a fashion salesman harboring more resentment towards the media than the perpetrators, to a young cult member who condemns the attack yet remains with Aum.

Through these diverse voices, Murakami exposes intriguing facets of the Japanese psyche. As he uncovers the fundamental issues leading to the attack, readers achieve a clear vision of an event that could occur anytime, anywhere. Hauntingly compelling and inescapably important, this book provides a profound insight into a tragic event on Japanese soil that reverberated around the world.

The Power of Your Subconscious Mind has been a bestseller since its first publication in 1963, selling many millions of copies since its original publication. It is one of the most brilliant and beloved spiritual self-help works of all time which can help you heal yourself, banish your fears, sleep better, enjoy better relationships and just feel happier. The techniques are simple and results come quickly. You can improve your relationships, your finances, your physical well-being.

Dr. Joseph Murphy explains that life events are actually the result of the workings of your conscious and subconscious minds. He suggests practical techniques through which one can change one's destiny, principally by focusing and redirecting this miraculous energy. Years of research studying the world's major religions convinced him that some Great Power lay behind all spiritual life and that this power is within each of us.

The Power of Your Subconscious Mind will open a world of success, happiness, prosperity, and peace for you.