Opening with the exotic Lady Death entering the gumshoe-writer's seedy office in pursuit of a writer named Celine, Pulp demonstrates Bukowski's own brand of humour and realism, opening up a landscape of seamy Los Angeles.

A Clash of Kings transports us to a world of revelry and revenge, wizardry and warfare unlike any we have ever experienced. A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. Two great leaders—Lord Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon—who held sway over an age of enforced peace, are dead, victims of royal treachery.

From the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns as six factions struggle for control of a divided land. Amidst a backdrop of incest, fratricide, alchemy, and murder, the price of glory is measured in blood.

As the series continues, George R.R. Martin has created a work of unsurpassed vision, power, and imagination. A Clash of Kings is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and evildoers who come together in a time of grim omens.

Here a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress, and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside. At the center of the conflict, the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, as coveted as it is cursed, stands as a symbol of the conflict's harsh reality: when kings clash, the whole land trembles.

Sammy Keyes and her friend Marissa decide to escape their routine and take a bus to the seedy, insane town of Hollywood to surprise Sammy's mother, the elusive Lady Lana. Upon arrival, they discover that she has transformed herself into the glamorous, platinum-blonde, "25-year-old" actress Dominique Windsor. This new persona certainly could never have spawned a 12-year-old—let alone a scruffy, no-nonsense girl like Sammy.

The plot thickens as Lady Lana's masquerade backfires in the most dreadful of ways, leaving Sammy to save the day and solve the biggest mystery of her life. Hollywood is a world where everyone pretends and no one is who or what they seem. When a woman is killed in the room next door, Sammy is hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t have a motive—including her own mom.

This fast-paced, funny, and thoroughly modern mystery will keep readers on the edge of their seats. It's not just the mystery that's exciting, but also the drama in Sammy's personal life that keeps readers coming back for more.

Tales of a Female Nomad is the captivating story of Rita Golden Gelman, an ordinary woman leading an extraordinary life. At the age of forty-eight, on the verge of a divorce, Rita left an elegant life in L.A. to follow her dream of connecting with people across cultures around the globe.

In 1986, she sold her possessions and embraced the life of a nomad. Her journey took her from living in a Zapotec village in Mexico to sleeping with sea lions on the Galapagos Islands. She experienced life in various settings, from thatched huts to regal palaces.

Rita observed orangutans in the rainforests of Borneo, visited trance healers and dens of black magic, and cooked with women over open fires worldwide. Her example encourages us all to dust off our dreams and rediscover the joy, exuberance, and hidden spirit that we often bury as adults.

The book that helped make Michael Pollan, the New York Times bestselling author of Cooked and The Omnivore’s Dilemma, one of the most trusted food experts in America In 1637, one Dutchman paid as much for a single tulip bulb as the going price of a town house in Amsterdam. Three and a half centuries later, Amsterdam is once again the mecca for people who care passionately about one particular plant—though this time the obsessions revolves around the intoxicating effects of marijuana rather than the visual beauty of the tulip. How could flowers, of all things, become such objects of desire that they can drive men to financial ruin? In The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan argues that the answer lies at the heart of the intimately reciprocal relationship between people and plants. In telling the stories of four familiar plant species that are deeply woven into the fabric of our lives, Pollan illustrates how they evolved to satisfy humankinds’s most basic yearnings—and by doing so made themselves indispensable. For, just as we’ve benefited from these plants, the plants, in the grand co-evolutionary scheme that Pollan evokes so brilliantly, have done well by us. The sweetness of apples, for example, induced the early Americans to spread the species, giving the tree a whole new continent in which to blossom. So who is really domesticating whom? Weaving fascinating anecdotes and accessible science into gorgeous prose, Pollan takes us on an absorbing journey that will change the way we think about our place in nature.

For fans of Hatchet and Island of the Blue Dolphins comes Theodore Taylor’s classic bestseller and Lewis Carroll Shelf Award winner, The Cay. Phillip is excited when the Germans invade the small island of Curaçao. War has always been a game to him, and he’s eager to glimpse it firsthand–until the freighter he and his mother are traveling to the United States on is torpedoed.

When Phillip comes to, he is on a small raft in the middle of the sea. Besides Stew Cat, his only companion is an old West Indian, Timothy. Phillip remembers his mother’s warning about black people: “They are different, and they live differently.” But by the time the castaways arrive on a small island, Phillip’s head injury has made him blind and dependent on Timothy.

“Mr. Taylor has provided an exciting story…The idea that all humanity would benefit from this special form of color blindness permeates the whole book…The result is a story with a high ethical purpose but no sermon.”—New York Times Book Review

“A taut tightly compressed story of endurance and revelation…At once barbed and tender, tense and fragile—as Timothy would say, ‘outrageous good.’”—Kirkus Reviews

* “Fully realized setting…artful, unobtrusive use of dialect…the representation of a hauntingly deep love, the poignancy of which is rarely achieved in children’s literature.”—School Library Journal, Starred

“Starkly dramatic, believable and compelling.”—Saturday Review

“A tense and moving experience in reading.”—Publishers Weekly

“Eloquently underscores the intrinsic brotherhood of man.”—Booklist

"This is one of the best survival stories since Robinson Crusoe."—The Washington Star

Desecration: Antichrist Takes the Throne is the thrilling ninth installment in the Left Behind series. This gripping novel follows the Tribulation Force as they summon their courage against the menacing, newly-resurrected Carpathia. This malevolent figure shows a disturbing fondness for gruesome killings of those who dare to remain unloyal to him.

In a world teetering on the edge of chaos, Carpathia commits the ultimate act of desecration against the Judeo-Christian community, pushing the boundaries of evil. The stakes are unimaginably high, and the suspense is palpable as the characters navigate through this apocalyptic landscape.

Welcome to Battleschool.

Growing up is never easy. But try living on the mean streets as a child begging for food and fighting like a dog with ruthless gangs of starving kids who wouldn't hesitate to pound your skull into pulp for a scrap of apple. If Bean has learned anything on the streets, it's how to survive. And not with fists. He is way too small for that. But with brains.

Bean is a genius with a magician's ability to zero in on his enemy and exploit his weakness. What better quality for a future general to lead the Earth in a final climactic battle against a hostile alien race, known as Buggers. At Battleschool Bean meets and befriends another future commander - Ender Wiggins - perhaps his only true rival.

Only one problem: for Bean and Ender, the future is now.

Ender's Shadow is the book that launched The Shadow Series, and the parallel novel to Orson Scott Card's science fiction classic, Ender's Game.

Javier Marías's A Heart So White chronicles with unnerving insistence the relentless power of the past. Juan knows little of the interior life of his father Ranz; but when Juan marries, he begins to consider the past anew, and begins to ponder what he doesn't really want to know.

Secrecy—its possible convenience, its price, and even its civility—hovers throughout the novel. A Heart So White becomes a sort of anti-detective story of human nature. Intrigue; the sins of the father; the fraudulent and the genuine; marriage and strange repetitions of violence: Marías elegantly sends shafts of inquisitory light into the shadows and on to the costs of ambivalence.

"My hands are of your colour; but I shame/To wear a heart so white"—Shakespeare's Macbeth.

The Seven Daughters of Eve unveils one of the most thrilling stories of genetic discovery since The Double Helix. In 1994, Professor Bryan Sykes, a leading authority on DNA and human evolution, was tasked with examining the frozen remains of a man trapped in glacial ice in northern Italy. This man, known as the Ice Man, was over five thousand years old.

Sykes's groundbreaking work led to the identification of a genetic descendant of the Ice Man living in Great Britain today. How was this possible? Through meticulous research into a remarkable gene that passes undiluted from generation to generation through the maternal line.

By examining thousands of DNA sequences worldwide, Sykes identified that within Europeans and North American Caucasians, there are only seven distinct genetic groups. These groups trace back to seven women, the "Seven Daughters of Eve"—Ursula, Xenia, Helena, Velda, Tara, Katrine, and Jasmine.

Sykes maps the migratory patterns of millions of their descendants and paints vivid portraits of their ancient worlds. His stories range from identifying the remains of Tsar Nicholas and Tsarina Alexandra using DNA samples from living relatives, to tracking the ancestry of a Caribbean woman whose family was sold into slavery back to central Africa.

Ultimately, Sykes's investigation reveals that our commonalities as humans are deeply embedded in our DNA, transcending the differences that separate us.

Skilled, cautious, and anonymous, Jack Reacher is perfect for the job: to assassinate the vice president of the United States. Theoretically, of course.

A female Secret Service agent wants Reacher to find the holes in her system, and fast—because a covert group already has the vice president in their sights. They’ve planned well. There’s just one thing they didn’t plan on: Reacher.

Callie Hayes is living a life of fear and disillusionment when she volunteers for a psychology experiment that promises to turn her life around. As her orientation proceeds, Callie becomes frightened by the secrecy and evasion she encounters. When she demands to be released from the program, she is suddenly dropped into a terrifying alien world and into a perilous battle between good and evil.

With limited resources and only a few cryptic words to guide her, Callie embarks on a life-changing journey. Will she decipher the plans the Benefactor has established for her escape, or will she succumb to the deception of the Arena?

In these essays, Joseph Campbell explores the origins of myth and their role in everyday life – from Grimm fairy tales to Native American legends. He explains how the symbolic content of myth is linked to universal human experience and how myths and experiences change over time.

Included is his acclaimed essay “Mythogenesis,” which examines the rise and fall of a Native American legend. Campbell provides a deep dive into the form, function, and origin of myths, relating his work to archaeological findings and biological productions.

Imagine a young man on his way to a less-than-thirty second event — the loss of his left hand, long before he reached middle age. The Fourth Hand asks an interesting question: “How can anyone identify a dream of the future?” The answer: “Destiny is not imaginable, except in dreams or to those in love.”

While reporting a story from India, a New York television journalist has his left hand eaten by a lion; millions of TV viewers witness the accident. In Boston, a renowned hand surgeon awaits the opportunity to perform the nation’s first hand transplant. Meanwhile, in the distracting aftermath of an acrimonious divorce, the surgeon is seduced by his housekeeper. A married woman in Wisconsin wants to give the one-handed reporter her husband’s left hand—that is, after her husband dies. But the husband is alive, relatively young, and healthy.

This is how John Irving’s tenth novel begins; it seems, at first, to be a comedy, perhaps a satire, almost certainly a sexual farce. Yet, in the end, The Fourth Hand is as realistic and emotionally moving as any of Mr. Irving’s previous novels. The story offers a penetrating look at the power of second chances and the will to change.

Semi, Miranda, and Arnie are part of a group of 50 British Young Conservationists on their way to a wildlife conservation station deep in the rainforests of Ecuador. After a terrifying mid-air disaster and subsequent crash, these three are the sole survivors, stranded together on a deserted tropical island. Or so they think.

Semi, Miranda, and Arnie stumble into the hands of Dr. Franklin, a mad scientist who’s been waiting for them, eager to use them as specimens for his experiments in genetic engineering.

Turquoise Draka was once a happy teenager with a wonderful family and a full life. Now, she is a hunter.

In a deadly world filled with vampires, shapeshifters, and mercenaries, she'll track any prey if the price is right. Her current assignment: to assassinate Jeshikah, one of the cruelest vampires in history.

Her employer is an unknown contact who wants the job done fast. Her major obstacle: she'll have to hide her strength and enter Midnight, a fabled vampire realm, as a human slave.

Vulnerable and defenseless, Turquoise faces her greatest challenge ever in this dark and thrilling adventure.

Hell is the story of Ella, who prefers to be called Hell, a young woman entangled in the extravagant lifestyle of the rich and disenchanted. "I am a bitch," she declares, as she immerses herself into the superficial world where appearance is god, and consumerism is the creed.

Living in the affluent neighborhoods of Paris, Hell indulges in Prada shoes, cocaine, and exclusive clubs like the Cabaret and the Queen. Despite her privileged life, she finds herself "bored" and without desire, echoing the emptiness of her equally affluent friends.

Her world takes a turn when she meets a young man who is not like the others. He consoles her with "nihilistic speeches" and a touch of "incomparable perversity", introducing her to the complexities of love, which she describes as another form of hell.

Lolita Pille, at just 19, captures the rage and rebellion of youth, while weaving in literary references from Belle du Seigneur to Le Bleu du Ciel. Her debut novel is a raw exploration of a decadent lifestyle and the pursuit of meaning amidst chaos.

In 1903, a student at a military academy sent some of his verses to a well-known Austrian poet, requesting an assessment of their value. The older artist, Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926), replied to the novice in this series of letters — an amazing archive of remarkable insights into the ideas behind Rilke's greatest poetry. The ten letters reproduced here were written during an important stage in Rilke's artistic development, and they contain many of the themes that later appeared in his best works. The poet himself afterwards stated that his letters contained part of his creative genius, making this volume essential reading for scholars, poetry lovers, and anyone with an interest in Rilke, German poetry, or the creative impulse.

Cosmos has 13 heavily illustrated chapters, corresponding to the 13 episodes of the Cosmos television series. In the book, Sagan explores 15 billion years of cosmic evolution and the development of science and civilization. Cosmos traces the origins of knowledge and the scientific method, mixing science and philosophy, and speculates to the future of science. The book also discusses the underlying premises of science by providing biographical anecdotes about many prominent scientists throughout history, placing their contributions into the broader context of the development of modern science.

The book covers a broad range of topics, comprising Sagan's reflections on anthropological, cosmological, biological, historical, and astronomical matters from antiquity to contemporary times. Sagan reiterates his position on extraterrestrial life—that the magnitude of the universe permits the existence of thousands of alien civilizations, but no credible evidence exists to demonstrate that such life has ever visited earth.

On January 28, 1945, 121 hand-selected U.S. troops slipped behind enemy lines in the Philippines. Their mission: March thirty rugged miles to rescue 513 POWs languishing in a hellish camp, among them the last survivors of the infamous Bataan Death March. A recent prison massacre by Japanese soldiers elsewhere in the Philippines made the stakes impossibly high and left little time to plan the complex operation.

In Ghost Soldiers, Hampton Sides vividly re-creates this daring raid, offering a minute-by-minute narration that unfolds alongside intimate portraits of the prisoners and their lives in the camp. Sides shows how the POWs banded together to survive, defying the Japanese authorities even as they endured starvation, tropical diseases, and torture.

Harrowing, poignant, and inspiring, Ghost Soldiers is the mesmerizing story of a remarkable mission. It is also a testament to the human spirit, an account of enormous bravery and self-sacrifice amid the most trying conditions.

Five disparate voices inhabit Ali Smith's dreamlike, mesmerising Hotel World, set in the luxurious anonymity of the Global Hotel, in an unnamed northern English city.

The disembodied yet interconnected characters include Sara, a 19-year-old chambermaid who has recently died at the hotel; her bereaved sister, Clare, who visits the scene of Sara's death; Penny, an advertising copywriter staying in the room opposite; Lise, the Global's depressed receptionist; and the homeless Else who begs on the street outside.

Smith's ambitious prose explores all facets of language and its uses. Sara takes us through the moment of her exit from the world and beyond; in her desperate, fading grip on words and senses, she gropes to impart the meaning of her death in what she terms the "lift for dishes"—then comes a flash of clarity: "That's the name for it, the name for it; that's it; dumb waiter dumb waiter dumb waiter."

Blended with hers are other voices: Penny's bland journalese and Else's obsession with metaphysical poetry.

Hotel World is not an easy read: disturbing and witty by turns, with its stream-of-consciousness narrators reminiscent of Virginia Woolf's The Waves, its deceptively rambling language is underpinned by a formal construction. Exploring the "big themes" of love, death, and millennial capitalism, it takes as its starting point Muriel Spark's Momento Mori ("Remember you must die") and counteracts this axiom with a resolute "Remember you must live".

Ali Smith's novel is a daring, compelling, and frankly spooky read.

A Warning from the Publisher:

Many readers have questions about Lemony Snicket, author of the distressing serial concerning the trials of the charming but unlucky Baudelaire orphans, published under the collective title A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Before purchasing, borrowing, or stealing this book, you should be aware that it contains the answers to some of those questions, such as the following:

1. Who is Lemony?
2. Is there a secret organization I should know about?
3. Why does Lemony Snicket spend his time researching and writing distressing books concerning the Baudelaire orphans?
4. Why do all of Lemony Snicket's books contain a sad dedication to a woman named Beatrice?
5. If there's nothing out there, what was that noise?

Our advice to you is that you find a book that answers less upsetting questions than this one. Perhaps your librarian, bookseller, or parole officer can recommend a book that answers the question, "Aren't ponies adorable?"

Tales from Earthsea delves deeper into the enchanting world of Earthsea, presenting readers with five captivating tales. These stories unfold during times both preceding and succeeding the era chronicled in the original novels. Accompanying these tales is an insightful essay that invites readers to explore the rich tapestry of Earthsea—its people, languages, history, and the very essence of its magic.

The collection includes:

• The Finder
• Darkrose and Diamond
• The Bones of the Earth
• On the High Marsh
• Dragonfly

Readers are also treated to new maps and a special essay that delves into Earthsea's history, languages, literature, and magic, offering a comprehensive guide to this beloved fantasy realm.

Polly has two sets of memories...

One is normal: school, home, friends. The other, stranger memories begin nine years ago, when she was ten and gate-crashed an odd funeral in the mansion near her grandmother's house. Polly's just beginning to recall the sometimes marvelous, sometimes frightening adventures she embarked on with Tom Lynn after that. And then she did something terrible, and everything changed.

But what did she do? Why can't she remember? Polly must uncover the secret, or her true love — and perhaps Polly herself — will be lost.

When I was twelve, a fortune teller told me that my one true love would die young and leave me all alone. Everyone said she was a fraud, that she was just making it up. I'd really like to know why the hell a person would make up a thing like that.

Written with the snap, glitter, and wit of The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing, God-Shaped Hole is a memorable, poignant love story that will leave you weeping with laughter.

It is told in the wry, vulnerable voice of Beatrice "Trixie" Jordan who replies to a personal ad, "If your intentions are pure I am seeking a friend for the end of the world." In doing so, she meets Jacob Grace, a charming, effervescent thirty-something writer, a free spirit who is a passionate seeker of life.

He possesses his own turn of phrase and ways of thinking and feeling that dissonantly harmonize with Trixie's off-center vision as they roller coaster through the joys and furies of their wrenching romance. Along the way, they try to come to terms with the hurt brought about by their distant fathers who, in different ways, forsook them.

This story will prove so touching you will rush to share it with a friend or loved one or even a stranger.

Reveals low-wage America in all its tenacity, anxiety, and surprising generosity—a land of Big Boxes, fast food, and a thousand desperate stratagems for survival.

Millions of Americans work full-time, year-round, for poverty-level wages. In 1998, Barbara Ehrenreich decided to join them. She was inspired in part by the rhetoric surrounding welfare reform, which promised that any job equals a better life. But how can anyone survive, let alone prosper, on $6-$7 an hour? To find out, Ehrenreich moved from Florida to Maine to Minnesota, taking the cheapest lodgings available and accepting work as a waitress, hotel maid, house cleaner, nursing home aide, and Wal-Mart salesperson. She soon discovered that even the "lowliest" occupations require exhausting mental and physical efforts. And one job is not enough; you need at least two if you intend to live indoors.

Nickel and Dimed reveals low-wage America in all its tenacity, anxiety, and surprising generosity—a land of Big Boxes, fast food, and a thousand desperate stratagems for survival. Instantly acclaimed for its insight, humor, and passion, this book is changing the way America perceives its working poor.

Sharla Cody is only five, but has already lived a troubled life — only to find herself dumped on an elderly neighbor's doorstep when her mother takes off for the summer. Although Sharla is not the angelic child Addy Shadd had pictured when she agreed to look after her, the two soon forge a deep bond.

To Addy's surprise, Sharla's presence brings back memories of her own childhood in Rusholme, a town settled by fugitive slaves in the mid-1800s. She reminisces about her family, her first love, and the painful experience that drove her away from home.

Heartbreaking and wise, Rush Home Road tells the life story of Adelaide Shadd, who finds redemption in old age, and Sharla, a five-year-old mixed race girl abandoned to Addy’s care by her white mother. Born in the first decade of the 20th century in Rusholme (inspired by the real town of Buxton), in southwestern Ontario, an all-black community settled by fugitive slaves, Addy Shadd is raped as a teenager and forced to flee the family home. She makes her way on foot to Detroit, where she becomes the housekeeper for an elderly man and his grown son, both of whom develop a crush on her. When misfortune strikes again, she sets off to make a new life for herself in Canada.

Thrown off the train at Keating, not far from her birthplace, she meets and eventually marries the train porter, the wonderful Mose, with whom she has a daughter. But when tragedy strikes, Addy is left alone. Now an old woman, she lives a quiet existence in a trailer park near Chatham. Her whole world changes when a young mother asks her to babysit her daughter, as it soon becomes clear that the mother is never coming back. Addy is glad of the company, but not sure if she’s up to the job of mothering this sweet, awkward five-year-old. Nor is she sure how much longer she’ll be around to do so.

Written with verve, grace, and unflinching emotional acuity, Rush Home Road is an epic story that explodes our notions of identity, justice, and heroism, penetrating one of our darkest periods with profound insight and humanity. Addy Shadd is a protagonist like no other — full of quiet, steely bravery and tenderness of heart. This spellbinding novel will leave no reader untouched.

Mary Saunders, a lower-class London schoolgirl, was born into rough cloth but hungered for lace and the trappings of a higher station than her family would ever know. In 18th-century England, Mary's shrewd instincts will get her only so far, and she despairs of the plans made for her to carve out a trade as a seamstress or a maid. Unwilling to bend to such a destiny, Mary strikes out on a painful, fateful journey all her own.

Inspired by the obscure historical figure Mary Saunders, Slammerkin is a provocative, graphic tale and a rich feast of a historical novel. Author Emma Donoghue probes the gap between a young girl's quest for freedom and a better life and the shackles that society imposes on her.

Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail is a gripping memoir that reads like a political thriller. It tells the story of Malika Oufkir's turbulent and remarkable life.

Born in 1953, Malika Oufkir was the eldest daughter of General Oufkir, the King of Morocco's closest aide. Adopted by the king at the age of five, Malika spent most of her childhood and adolescence in the seclusion of the court harem, one of the most eligible heiresses in the kingdom, surrounded by luxury and extraordinary privilege.

Then, on August 16, 1972, her father was arrested and executed after an attempt to assassinate the king. Malika, her five younger brothers and sisters, and her mother were immediately imprisoned in a desert penal colony. After fifteen years, the last ten of which they spent locked up in solitary cells, the Oufkir children managed to dig a tunnel with their bare hands and make an audacious escape.

Recaptured after five days, Malika was finally able to leave Morocco and begin a new life in exile in 1996. This is a heartrending account of extreme deprivation and the courage with which one family faced its fate. Stolen Lives is an unforgettable story of one woman's journey to freedom.

From the author of the masterpiece All Quiet on the Western Front, The Black Obelisk is a classic novel of the troubling aftermath of World War I in Germany. A hardened young veteran from the First World War, Ludwig now works for a monument company, selling stone markers to the survivors of deceased loved ones. Though ambivalent about his job, he suspects there’s more to life than earning a living off other people’s misfortunes.

A self-professed poet, Ludwig soon senses a growing change in his fatherland, a brutality brought upon it by inflation. When he falls in love with the beautiful but troubled Isabelle, Ludwig hopes he has found a soul who will offer him salvation—who will free him from his obsession to find meaning in a war-torn world. But there comes a time in every man’s life when he must choose to live—despite the prevailing thread of history horrifically repeating itself.

The Prince and the Pauper, a novel by American author Mark Twain, marks Twain's first foray into historical fiction. Set in 1537, it weaves the tale of two young boys, born on the same day and identical in appearance: Tom Canty, a pauper dwelling with his abusive, alcoholic father in the squalid quarters of Offal Court off Pudding Lane in London, and Edward VI of England, the son of Henry VIII.

Fascinated by each other's life and their uncanny resemblance, they decide to switch places "temporarily". This decision leads to a series of adventures that highlight the stark contrasts between their lives. Edward, mistaken for Tom, experiences the brutal reality of a London pauper's life, while Tom, now mistaken for Edward, navigates the intricacies of royal court life, constantly fearing discovery.

Through their experiences, Twain critiques social hypocrisy and injustice, emphasizing the absurdity of basing one's worth on their social status. Edward's firsthand encounters with the harsh realities faced by the lower classes prompt him to vow for a more merciful reign, should he regain his rightful position.

Ultimately, The Prince and the Pauper is not just a story of mistaken identity but a commentary on the human condition, exploring themes of identity, empathy, and social justice.

To Hell and Back is the classic WWII memoir by America’s most decorated soldier, Audie Murphy. Originally published in 1949, this gripping narrative became a bestselling phenomenon and was later adapted into a major motion picture starring Murphy himself.

Rejected from both the marines and the paratroopers due to his size, Murphy was determined to serve his country. He eventually found a home with the infantry, fighting bravely through campaigns in Sicily, Italy, France, and Germany. Despite being under twenty-one on V-E Day, Murphy was credited with having killed, captured, or wounded 240 Germans.

He emerged from the war as America’s most decorated soldier, having received twenty-one medals, including the highest military decoration, the Congressional Medal of Honor. This memoir offers a vivid, mature picture of combat and remains a perennial classic of military nonfiction.

Have you ever stepped back to watch what really goes on when your children play? As psychologist Lawrence J. Cohen points out, play is children’s way of exploring the world, communicating deep feelings, getting close to those they care about, working through stressful situations, and simply blowing off steam. That’s why “playful parenting” is so important and so successful in building strong, close bonds between parents and children.

Through play, we join our kids in their world and help them to:

• Express and understand complex emotions
• Break through shyness, anger, and fear
• Empower themselves and respect diversity
• Play their way through sibling rivalry
• Cooperate without power struggles

From eliciting a giggle during baby’s first game of peekaboo to cracking jokes with a teenager while hanging out at the mall, Playful Parenting is a complete guide to using play to raise confident children. Written with love and humor, brimming with good advice and revealing anecdotes, and grounded in the latest research, this book will make you laugh even as it makes you wise in the ways of being an effective, enthusiastic parent.

Miles Vorkosigan graduates from the Academy, only to find himself embroiled in a whirlwind of unexpected events. He joins a mutiny, is placed under house arrest, and embarks on a secret mission. Along the way, he reconnects with his loyal Dendarii Mercenaries, rescues his Emperor, and thwarts an interstellar war.

This is just another day in the life if you're Miles.

When an infected bolt of cloth carries plague from London to an isolated village, a housemaid named Anna Frith emerges as an unlikely heroine and healer. Through Anna's eyes we follow the story of the fateful year of 1666, as she and her fellow villagers confront the spread of disease and superstition. As death reaches into every household and villagers turn from prayers to murderous witch-hunting, Anna must find the strength to confront the disintegration of her community and the lure of illicit love. As she struggles to survive and grow, a year of catastrophe becomes instead annus mirabilis, a "year of wonders."

Inspired by the true story of Eyam, a village in the rugged hill country of England, Year of Wonders is a richly detailed evocation of a singular moment in history.

Cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse is having a streak of bad luck. First her co-worker is killed, and no one seems to care. Then she comes face-to-face with a beastly creature that gives her a painful and poisonous lashing. Enter the vampires, who graciously suck the poison from her veins (like they didn't enjoy it).

The point is: they saved her life. So when one of the bloodsuckers asks for a favor, she obliges - and soon Sookie's in Dallas, using her telepathic skills to search for a missing vampire. She's supposed to interview certain humans involved, but she makes one condition: the vampires must promise to behave and let the humans go unharmed. But that's easier said than done, and all it takes is one delicious blonde and one small mistake for things to turn deadly....

From This American Life alum David Rakoff comes a hilarious collection that single-handedly raises self-deprecation to an art form. Whether impersonating Sigmund Freud in a department store window during the holidays, climbing an icy mountain in cheap loafers, or learning primitive survival skills in the wilds of New Jersey, Rakoff clearly demonstrates how he doesn’t belong–nor does he try to.

In his debut collection of essays, Rakoff uses his razor-sharp wit and snarky humor to deliver a barrage of damaging blows that, more often than not, land squarely on his own jaw–hilariously satirizing the writer, not the subject. Joining the wry and the heartfelt, Fraud offers an object lesson in not taking life, or ourselves, too seriously.

The Golden Age is set 10,000 years in the future in our solar system, an interplanetary utopian society filled with immortal humans.

Phaethon, of Radamanthus House, is attending a glorious party at his family mansion celebrating the thousand-year anniversary of the High Transcendence. There, he meets an old man who accuses him of being an imposter, and then a being from Neptune who claims to be an old friend.

The Neptunian tells him that essential parts of his memory were removed and stored by the very government that Phaethon believes to be wholly honorable. It shakes his faith. Is he indeed an exile from himself? He can't resist investigating, even though doing so could mean the loss of his inheritance and his very place in society.

His quest must be to regain his true identity and fulfill the destiny he chose for himself.

The Golden Age is just the beginning of Phaethon's story, which will continue in The Phoenix Exultant.

Meet Rachel Walsh. She has a pair of size 8 feet and such a fondness for recreational drugs that her family has forked out the cash for a spell in Cloisters – Dublin’s answer to the Betty Ford Clinic. She’s only agreed to her incarceration because she’s heard that rehab is wall-to-wall jacuzzis, gymnasiums and rock stars going tepid turkey – and it’s about time she had a holiday.But what Rachel doesn’t count on are the toe-curling embarrassments heaped on her by family and group therapy, the dearth of sex, drugs and rock’n’roll – and missing Luke, her ex. What kind of a new start in life is this?

At the turn of the twentieth century, Ellen Rimbauer became the young bride of Seattle industrialist John Rimbauer, and began keeping a remarkable diary. This diary became the secret place where Ellen could confess her fears of the new marriage, her confusion over her emerging sexuality, and the nightmare that her life would become.

The diary not only follows the development of a girl into womanhood, it follows the construction of the Rimbauer mansion—called Rose Red—an enormous home that would be the site of so many horrific and inexplicable tragedies in the years ahead.

The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red is a rare document, one that gives us an unusual view of daily life among the aristocracy in the early 1900s, a window into one woman's hidden emotional torment, and a record of the mysterious events at Rose Red that scandalized Seattle society at the time—events that can only be fully understood now that the diary has come to light.

Edited by Joyce Reardon, Ph.D. as part of her research, the diary is being published as preparations are being made by Dr. Reardon to enter Rose Red and fully investigate its disturbing history.

Within Cole Matthews lies anger, rage and hate. Cole has been stealing and fighting for years. This time he caught Peter Driscal in the parking lot and smashed his head against the sidewalk. Now, Peter may have permanent brain damage and Cole is in the biggest trouble of his life.

Cole is offered Circle Justice: a system based on Native American traditions that attempts to provide healing for the criminal offender, the victim, and the community. With prison as his only alternative, Cole plays along. He says he wants to repent, but in his heart, Cole blames his alcoholic mom, his abusive dad, wimpy Peter (everyone but himself) for his situation.

Cole receives a one-year banishment to a remote Alaskan island. There, he is mauled by a mysterious white bear of Native American legend. Hideously injured, Cole waits for death. His thoughts shift from anger to humility. To survive, he must stop blaming others and take responsibility for his life.

Rescuers arrive to save Cole's body, but it is the attack of the Spirit Bear that may save his soul.

Ben Mikaelsen paints a vivid picture of a juvenile offender, examining the roots of his anger without absolving him of responsibility for his actions, and questioning a society in which angry people make victims of their peers and communities. Touching Spirit Bear is a poignant testimonial to the power of a pain that can destroy, or lead to healing.

Reta Winters, a 44-year-old successful author of light summertime fiction, has always considered herself happy, even blessed. That is, until her oldest daughter Norah mysteriously drops out of college to become a panhandler on a Toronto street corner, silent, with a sign around her neck bearing the word Goodness.

Reta's search for what drove her daughter to such a desperate statement turns into an unflinching and surprisingly funny meditation on where we find meaning and hope. Warmth, passion, and wisdom come together in Shields' remarkably supple prose. Unless, a harrowing but ultimately consoling story of one family's anguish and healing, proves her mastery of extraordinary fictions about ordinary life.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms is an epic saga of brotherhood and rivalry, of loyalty and treachery, of victory and death, forming part of the indelible core of classical Chinese culture and continues to fascinate modern-day readers.

In 220 EC, the 400-year-old rule of the mighty Han dynasty came to an end and three kingdoms contested for control of China. Liu Pei, the legitimate heir to the Han throne, elects to fight for his birthright and enlists the aid of his sworn brothers, the impulsive giant Chang Fei and the invincible knight Kuan Yu. The brave band faces a formidable array of enemies, foremost among them the treacherous and bloodthirsty Ts'ao Ts'ao.

The bold struggle of the three heroes seems doomed until the reclusive wizard Chuko Liang offers his counsel, and the tide begins to turn.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms is China's oldest novel and the first of a great tradition of historical fiction. Believed to have been compiled by the playwright Lo Kuan-chung in the late fourteenth century, it is indebted to the great San-kuo chi (Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms) completed by the historian Ch'en Shou just before his death in 297 CE. The novel first appeared in print in 1522.

This epic saga of brotherhood and rivalry, of loyalty and treachery, of victory and death, forms part of the indelible core of classical Chinese culture and continues to fascinate modern-day readers.

In 220 EC, the 400-year-old rule of the mighty Han dynasty came to an end and three kingdoms contested for control of China. Liu Pei, the legitimate heir to the Han throne, elects to fight for his birthright and enlists the aid of his sworn brothers, the impulsive giant Chang Fei and the invincible knight Kuan Yu. The brave band faces a formidable array of enemies, foremost among them the treacherous and bloodthirsty Ts'ao Ts'ao.

The bold struggle of the three heroes seems doomed until the reclusive wizard Chuko Liang offers his counsel, and the tide begins to turn. Romance of the Three Kingdoms is China's oldest novel and the first of a great tradition of historical fiction.

Believed to have been compiled by the playwright Lo Kuan-chung in the late fourteenth century, it is indebted to the great San-kuo chi (Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms) completed by the historian Ch'en Shou just before his death in 297 CE. The novel first appeared in print in 1522. This edition, translated in the mid-1920s by C. H. Brewitt-Taylor, is based on a shortened and simplified version which appeared in the 1670s.

An Introduction to this reprint by Robert E. Hegel, Professor of Chinese and Comparative Literature at Washington University, provides an insightful commentary on the historical background to the novel, its literary origins, and its main characters.

Welcome to Empire Falls, a blue-collar town full of abandoned mills whose citizens surround themselves with the comforts and feuds provided by lifelong friends and neighbors and who find humor and hope in the most unlikely places, in this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Richard Russo.

Miles Roby has been slinging burgers at the Empire Grill for 20 years, a job that cost him his college education and much of his self-respect. What keeps him there? It could be his bright, sensitive daughter Tick, who needs all his help surviving the local high school. Or maybe it’s Janine, Miles’ soon-to-be ex-wife, who’s taken up with a noxiously vain health-club proprietor. Or perhaps it’s the imperious Francine Whiting, who owns everything in town–and seems to believe that “everything” includes Miles himself.

His life was like a recurring nightmare: a train to nowhere. But an ordinary life has a way of taking an extraordinary turn. Add a girl whose ears are so exquisite that, when uncovered, they improve sex a thousand-fold, a runaway friend, a right-wing politico, an ovine-obsessed professor and a manic-depressive in a sheep outfit, implicate them in a hunt for a sheep, that may or may not be running the world, and the upshot is another singular masterpiece from Japan's finest novelist.

A New York Times bestselling author—and “a mythmaker for the millennium, a wiseacre wiseman” (New York Times Book Review)—delivers a surreal and elaborate quest that takes readers from Tokyo to the remote mountains of northern Japan, where the unnamed protagonist has a surprising confrontation with his demons. An advertising executive receives a postcard from a friend and casually appropriates the image for an advertisement. What he doesn’t realize is that included in the scene is a mutant sheep with a star on its back, and in using this photo he has unwittingly captured the attention of a man who offers a menacing ultimatum: find the sheep or face dire consequences.

Mighty Kushiel, of rod and weal
Late of the brazen portals
With blood-tipp'd dart a wound unhealed
Pricks the eyen of chosen mortals

The land of Terre d'Ange is a place of unsurpassed beauty and grace. The inhabiting race rose from the seed of angels and men, and they live by one simple rule: Love as thou wilt.

Phèdre nó Delaunay was sold into indentured servitude as a child. Her bond was purchased by a nobleman, the first to recognize that she is one pricked by Kushiel's Dart, chosen to forever experience pain and pleasure as one. He trained Phèdre in the courtly arts and the talents of the bedchamber—and, above all, the ability to observe, remember, and analyze.

When she stumbled upon a plot that threatened the very foundations of her homeland, she gave up almost everything she held dear to save it. She survived, and lived to have others tell her story, and if they embellished the tale with fabric of mythical splendor, they weren't far off the mark.

The hands of the gods weigh heavily upon Phèdre's brow, and they are not finished with her. While the young queen who sits upon the throne is well loved by the people, there are those who believe another should wear the crown... and those who escaped the wrath of the mighty are not yet done with their schemes for power and revenge.

No Logo is a groundbreaking work of cultural criticism that delves into the insidious practices and far-reaching effects of corporate marketing. This provocative, well-written study serves as a front-line report on the battle against consumerism, exploring the powerful potential of a growing activist movement that is set to alter the course of the 21st century.

As global corporations compete for the hearts and wallets of consumers, a new generation has begun to battle consumerism with its own best weapons. The book reveals how the Nike swoosh has transformed from an athletic status-symbol into a metaphor for sweatshop labor. It also highlights how teenaged McDonald's workers are risking their jobs to join the Teamsters and how "culture jammers" utilize spray paint, computer hacking, and anti-propagandist wordplay to undercut the slogans of billboard ads.

No Logo challenges and enlightens students of sociology, economics, popular culture, international affairs, and marketing. Naomi Klein's analysis documents the forces opposing corporate rule and explores the cultural and economic conditions that made the emergence of that opposition inevitable.