Pedagogy of the Oppressed, first published in Portuguese in 1968 and subsequently translated and published in English in 1970, presents the methodology of the late Paulo Freire. His work has been instrumental in empowering countless impoverished and illiterate individuals globally. The book gains particular relevance in the United States and Western Europe as it addresses the increasing acceptance of a permanent underclass among underprivileged and minority populations in urban areas.

The 30th Anniversary Edition includes a significant new introduction detailing Freire's life and the profound influence of this book, contributed by Donaldo Macedo, a writer and authoritative voice on Freire's work. This edition aims to motivate a new wave of educators, students, and general readers to engage with Freire's influential teachings.

She Said Yes is a gripping account of the tragic events that unfolded on April 20, 1999, at a Colorado school. On this fateful day, two students, heavily armed, wreaked havoc in a perverse celebration of Hitler's birthday.

Confronted by these attackers, 17-year-old Cassie Bernall was asked a question that would define her legacy: Do you believe in God? Her courageous response, "Yes," was met with a laugh from the killer before he pulled the trigger.

While the world remembers Cassie as a modern martyr, her story is far more complex. Just three years earlier, Cassie had been on a troubling path, contemplating violence and suicide. She Said Yes delves into the dramatic transformation of Cassie's life, as recounted by her mother, Misty Bernall, leading up to her daughter's heroic stand.

Hubert Selby Jr. is one of the most acclaimed novelists in the English language. Known for his controversial cult classic, Last Exit to Brooklyn, Selby began his literary career as a writer of short fiction. He excels in this form, plunging the reader into the densely realized worlds of his protagonists, where the details of daily life intermingle with obsession and madness.

Although fundamentally concerned with morality, Selby's humility prevents him from preaching. Instead, he offers a passionate empathy for the ordinary dreams and aspirations of his characters, showcasing a brilliant ear for the urban vernacular and the voices of conscience and self-deceit that torment them.

Song of the Silent Snow is a collection that reflects these themes, offering a profound insight into the human condition through Selby's masterful storytelling.

Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this multi-million-copy New York Times bestseller is the definitive manual for anyone interested in gaining, observing, or defending against ultimate control – from the author of The Laws of Human Nature. In the book that People magazine proclaimed “beguiling” and “fascinating,” Robert Greene and Joost Elffers have distilled three thousand years of the history of power into 48 essential laws by drawing from the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, and Carl Von Clausewitz and also from the lives of figures ranging from Henry Kissinger to P.T. Barnum.

Some laws teach the need for prudence ("Law 1: Never Outshine the Master"), others teach the value of confidence ("Law 28: Enter Action with Boldness"), and many recommend absolute self-preservation ("Law 15: Crush Your Enemy Totally"). Every law, though, has one thing in common: an interest in total domination. In a bold and arresting two-color package, The 48 Laws of Power is ideal whether your aim is conquest, self-defense, or simply to understand the rules of the game.

London, 1898. The Victorian Era draws to a close and the twentieth century approaches. It is a time of great change and an age of stagnation, a period of chaste order and ignoble chaos. It is an era in need of champions.

In this amazingly imaginative tale, literary figures from throughout time and various bodies of work are brought together to face any and all threats to Britain. Allan Quatermain, Mina Murray, Captain Nemo, Dr. Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde, and Hawley Griffin, the Invisible Man, form a remarkable legion of intellectual aptitude and physical prowess: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Ageless. Sexless. Deathless. Timeless. Pilgrim is a man who cannot die, an astounding character in a novel about the cataclysmic contest between creation and destruction. It is 1912, and Pilgrim has been admitted to the Burghölzli Psychiatric Clinic in Zürich, Switzerland, having failed—once again—to commit suicide.

Over the next two years, it is up to Carl Jung, a self-professed mystical scientist of the mind, to help Pilgrim unlock his unconsciousness, etched as it is with myriad sufferings and hopes of history. Is Pilgrim mad, or is he condemned to live forever, a witness to the terrible tragedy and beauty of the human condition?

Both intimate and expansive in its scope, with an absorbing parade of characters—mythic, fictional, and historical—Pilgrim is a fiercely original and powerful story from one of our most distinguished artists.

Joe Kavalier, a young Jewish artist with training in the art of Houdini-esque escape, has just managed to smuggle himself out of Nazi-invaded Prague and lands in New York City. He is quickly joined by his Brooklyn cousin Sammy Clay, who is eager to find a partner to craft heroes, stories, and art for the latest American craze - the comic book.

With their combined fears and dreams fueling their creativity, Kavalier and Clay bring to life the Escapist, the Monitor, and Luna Moth, drawing inspiration from the enchanting Rosa Saks, who becomes deeply entwined in the lives of both men. Author Michael Chabon delivers an exhilarating narrative that captures the essence of American romance and the boundless possibilities of the era.

A heartstrong story of family and romance, tribulation and tenacity, set on the High Plains east of Denver.

In the small town of Holt, Colorado, a high school teacher is confronted with raising his two boys alone after their mother retreats first to the bedroom, then altogether. A teenage girl—her father long since disappeared, her mother unwilling to have her in the house—is pregnant, alone herself, with nowhere to go. And out in the country, two brothers, elderly bachelors, work the family homestead, the only world they've ever known.

From these unsettled lives emerges a vision of life, and of the town and landscape that bind them together—their fates somehow overcoming the powerful circumstances of place and station, their confusion, curiosity, dignity and humor intact and resonant. As the milieu widens to embrace fully four generations, Kent Haruf displays an emotional and aesthetic authority to rival the past masters of a classic American tradition.

Utterly true to the rhythms and patterns of life, Plainsong is a novel to care about, believe in, and learn from.

In the year 1492, the Inquisition has all of Spain in its grip. After centuries of pogrom-like riots encouraged by the Church, the Jews—who have been an important part of Spanish life since the days of the Romans—are expelled from the country by royal edict.

Many who wish to remain are intimidated by Church and Crown and become Catholics, but several hundred thousand choose to retain their religion and depart; given little time to flee, some perish even before they can escape from Spain.

Yonah Toledano, the 15-year-old son of a celebrated Spanish silversmith, has seen his father and brother die during these terrible days—victims whose murders go almost unnoticed in a time of mass upheaval. Trapped in Spain by circumstances, he is determined to honor the memory of his family by remaining a Jew.

On a donkey named Moise, Yonah begins a meandering journey, a young fugitive zigzagging across the vastness of Spain. Toiling at manual labor, he desperately tries to cling to his memories of a vanished culture. As a lonely shepherd on a mountaintop he hurls snatches of almost forgotten Hebrew at the stars, as an apprentice armorer he learns to fight like a Christian knight.

Finally, as a man living in a time and land where danger from the Inquisition is everywhere, he deals with the questions that mark his past. How he discovers the answers, how he finds his way to a singular and strong Marrano woman, how he achieves a life with the outer persona of a respected Old Christian physician and the inner life of a secret Jew, is the fabric of this novel.

The Last Jew is a glimpse of the past, an authentic tale of high adventure, and a tender and unforgettable love story. In it, Noah Gordon utilizes his greatest strengths, and the result is remarkable and moving.

This edition of Richard III features seven scenes, opening with the Duke of Gloucester’s villainous “Winter of our discontent” speech and followed by his audacious wooing of Lady Anne. Queen Margaret’s chilling curses, Richard’s string of murders, and the haunting chants of his victims’ ghosts are stage drama at its best. The climax is a gripping battle in which the Earl of Richmond slays Richard and becomes King of England.

There is also an essay by editor Nick Newlin on how to produce a Shakespeare play with novice actors, and notes about the original production of this abridgement at the Folger Shakespeare Library’s annual Student Shakespeare Festival.

The edition includes a preface by Nick Newlin, containing helpful advice on presenting Shakespeare in a high school setting with novice actors, as well as an appendix with play-specific suggestions and recommendations for further resources.

At the heart of this classic, seminal book is Julian Jaynes's still-controversial thesis that human consciousness did not begin far back in animal evolution but instead is a learned process that came about only three thousand years ago and is still developing.

The implications of this revolutionary scientific paradigm extend into virtually every aspect of our psychology, our history and culture, our religion — and indeed our future.

In this bitterly funny novel by the renowned Polish author Witold Gombrowicz, a writer finds himself tossed into a chaotic world of schoolboys by a diabolical professor who wishes to reduce him to childishness.

Originally published in Poland in 1937, Ferdydurke became an instant literary sensation and catapulted the young author to fame. Deemed scandalous and subversive by Nazis, Stalinists, and the Polish Communist regime in turn, the novel (as well as all of Gombrowicz's other works) was officially banned in Poland for decades.

It has nonetheless remained one of the most influential works of twentieth-century European literature. Ferdydurke is translated here directly from the Polish for the first time. Danuta Borchardt deftly captures Gombrowicz's playful and idiosyncratic style, and she allows English speakers to experience fully the masterpiece of a writer whom Milan Kundera describes as "one of the great novelists of our century."

The Starks are scattered. Robb Stark may be King in the North, but he must bend to the will of the old tyrant Walder Frey if he is to hold his crown. And while his youngest sister, Arya, has escaped the clutches of the depraved Cersei Lannister and her son, the capricious boy-king Joffrey, Sansa Stark remains their captive.

Meanwhile, across the ocean, Daenerys Stormborn, the last heir of the Dragon King, delivers death to the slave-trading cities of Astapor and Yunkai as she approaches Westeros with vengeance in her heart.

Airport is a gripping thriller that unfolds over the course of a single, chaotic evening at Lincoln International Airport outside Chicago. A ferocious blizzard wreaks havoc, pushing the airport and airline personnel to their limits as they try to cope with this unstoppable force of nature that endangers thousands of lives.

In the air, a lone plane struggles to reach its destination, battling the elements. Over the course of seven pulse-pounding hours, a tense human drama plays out as a brilliant airport manager, an arrogant pilot, a tough maintenance man, and a beautiful stewardess strive to avert disaster.

Featuring a diverse cast of vibrant characters, Airport is both a realistic depiction of the airline industry and a novel of nail-biting suspense.

Catch Me If You Can is the incredible true story of Frank W. Abagnale, one of the most daring con men, forgers, impostors, and escape artists in history. Abagnale, who assumed multiple aliases including Frank Williams, Robert Conrad, Frank Adams, and Ringo Monjo, lived a life full of adventure and deception.

Before he turned twenty-one, Abagnale had:

• Donned a pilot's uniform and co-piloted a Pan Am jet
• Masqueraded as a hospital management member
• Practised law without a license
• Passed himself off as a college sociology professor
• Cashed over $2.5 million in forged checks

Known as 'The Skywayman', Abagnale's escapades took him across the globe, allowing him to live a lavish lifestyle on the run until the law finally caught up with him. His story is a hilarious and thrilling account of deceit and ingenuity that reads like fiction.

Expecting Adam is a slyly ironic, frequently hilarious memoir about angels, academics, and a boy named Adam. This national bestseller serves as an important reminder that life is what happens when you're making other plans.

Put aside your expectations. This rueful, riveting, piercingly funny book is written by a Harvard graduate, but it tells a story where hearts trump brains every time. It's a tale about mothering a child with Down syndrome that opts for sass over sap, and it's a book of heavenly visions and inexplicable phenomena that's as down-to-earth as anyone could ask for.

This small masterpiece is Martha Beck's own story—of leaving behind the life of a stressed-out superachiever, opening herself to things she'd never dared consider, meeting her son for (maybe) the first time, and unlearning virtually everything Harvard taught her about what is precious and what is garbage.

Serena is being targeted by the Dark Side. Her power to read minds is what they need in order to destroy the Daughters of the Moon. And Serena has always had a rebellious side to her that may not be able to resist the seductive temptation of the Dark Side -- and Stanton, their sexy, mesmerizing leader.

Set in mystical desert raves and gritty L.A. streets, this second Daughters of the Moon is a provocative and powerful read.

Renowned psychic, spiritual teacher, and #1 New York Times bestselling author Sylvia Browne leads readers on an adventure of the spirit and gives them a surprising glimpse into the next world. Filled with stunning revelations and stories of those who have visited the other side, this uplifting book is the ultimate guide to finding peace in the afterlife.

Take a journey you will never forget and discover the answer to life’s greatest question: “What’s on The Other Side?” In this extraordinary and inspirational book, Sylvia reflects upon her past experiences, hypnosis sessions, and research to tell the truth about The Other Side. She explains the process of leaving this world for the next, and what circumstances foretell our next incarnation on Earth.

Martin Chuzzlewit is Charles Dickens' powerful black comedy that delves into themes of hypocrisy and greed. The story follows the lives of two Chuzzlewits, Martin and Jonas, who embody the characteristic Chuzzlewit selfishness.

Set partly in America, a country Dickens visited in 1842, the novel features a searing satire on the United States. It contrasts the diverse fates of moral redemption and worldly success for one, with increasingly desperate crime for the other.

This engaging tale is laced with blackmail and features some of Dickens' most grotesque characters, including the infamous Mrs. Gamp. With its vivid portrayal of family dynamics and societal conventions, Martin Chuzzlewit remains a timeless classic.

Time and again, Tom Clancy's novels have been praised not only for their big-scale drama and propulsive narrative drive but for their cutting-edge prescience in predicting future events.

In The Bear and the Dragon, the future is very near at hand indeed. Newly elected in his own right, Jack Ryan has found that being President has gotten no easier: domestic pitfalls await him at every turn; there's a revolution in Liberia; the Asian economy is going down the tubes; and now, in Moscow, someone may have tried to take out the chairman of the SVR—the former KGB—with a rocket-propelled grenade. Things are unstable enough in Russia without high-level assassination, but even more disturbing may be the identities of the potential assassins. Were they political enemies, the Russian Mafia, or disaffected former KGB? Or, Ryan wonders, is something far more dangerous at work here?

Ryan is right. For even while he dispatches his most trusted eyes and ears, including black ops specialist John Clark, to find out the truth of the matter, forces in China are moving ahead with a plan of truly audacious proportions. If they succeed, the world as we know it will never look the same. If they fail...the consequences will be unspeakable.

Blending the exceptional realism and authenticity that are his hallmarks with intricate plotting, razor-sharp suspense, and a remarkable cast of characters, this is Clancy at his best—and there is none better.

Milan Kundera initially intended to call this novel The Lyrical Age. The lyrical age, according to Kundera, is youth, and this novel, above all, is an epic of adolescence; an ironic epic that tenderly erodes sacrosanct values: childhood, motherhood, revolution, and even poetry.

Jaromil is in fact a poet. His mother made him a poet and accompanies him (figuratively) to his love bed, and (literally) to his deathbed. A ridiculous and touching character, horrifying and totally innocent ("innocence with its bloody smile"!), Jaromil is at the same time a true poet. He's no creep, he's Rimbaud. Rimbaud entrapped by the communist revolution, entrapped in a sombre farce.

Madame Bovary yearns for a life of luxury and passion of the kind she reads about in romantic novels. But life with her country doctor husband in the provinces is unutterably boring, and she embarks on love affairs to realize her fantasies. This new translation by Margaret Mauldon perfectly captures Flaubert's distinctive style.

'Would this misery go on forever? Was there no escape? And yet she was every bit as good as all those other women who led happy lives!' When Emma Rouault marries Charles Bovary she imagines she will pass into the life of luxury and passion that she reads about in sentimental novels and women's magazines. But Charles is a dull country doctor, and provincial life is very different from the romantic excitement for which she yearns. In her quest to realize her dreams she takes a lover, and begins a devastating spiral into deceit and despair. Flaubert's novel scandalized its readers when it was first published in 1857, and it remains unsurpassed in its unveiling of character and society. In this new translation Margaret Mauldon perfectly captures the tone that makes Flaubert's style so distinct and admired.

New York Times bestselling author Maeve Binchy has captured the hearts of millions with her unforgettable novels. Binchy's graceful storytelling and wise compassion have earned her the devotion of fans worldwide--and made her one of the most beloved authors of our time. Now she dazzles us once again with a new novel filled with her signature warmth, humor, and tender insight.

A provocative tale of family heartbreak, friendship, and revelation, Tara Road explores every woman's fantasy: escape, into another place, another life. "What if . . ." Binchy asks, and answers in her most astonishing novel to date.

Praise for Tara Road

• "Her best work yet . . . Tara Road is like a total immersion in a colorful new world, where the last page comes too soon."—Seattle Times
• "An irresistible tale."—Elle
• "Engrossing."—Wall Street Journal
• "Difficult to put down!"—Denver Post
• "One of Binchy's best."—Kirkus Reviews

Open House is a superb novel by the beloved author of Talk Before Sleep, The Pull of the Moon, and Until the Real Thing Comes Along. In this story, a woman re-creates her life after divorce by opening up her house and her heart.

Samantha's husband has left her, and after a spree of overcharging at Tiffany's, she settles down to reconstruct a life for herself and her eleven-year-old son. Her eccentric mother tries to help by fixing her up with dates, but a more pressing problem is money. To meet her mortgage payments, Sam decides to take in boarders.

The first is an older woman who offers sage advice and sorely needed comfort; the second, a maladjusted student, is not quite so helpful. A new friend, King, an untraditional man, suggests that Samantha get out, get going, get work. But her real work is this: In order to emerge from grief and the past, she has to learn how to make her own happiness.

In order to really see people, she has to look within her heart. And in order to know who she is, she has to remember—and reclaim—the person she used to be, long before she became someone else in an effort to save her marriage.

Open House is a love story about what can blossom between a man and a woman, and within a woman herself.

Low-rent bounty hunter Stephanie Plum reaches depths of personal experience that other women detectives never quite do. In Hot Six, for example, a sequence of new and hideous cars bite the dust. She finds herself lumbered with a policeman's multiply incontinent dog, and she has several bad skin days. All this when she is trying to prove her distinctly more competent colleague and occasional boyfriend, Ranger, innocent of a mob hit. She must avoid the heavies trailing her in the hope of finding him and cope with a wife-abusing bail defaulter with nasty habits, such as setting Stephanie on fire.

Stephanie's adventures are a blend of humor and thrilling suspense, making her journey both challenging and entertaining. Will she manage to keep her life intact while solving the mystery?

September 8, 1900, began innocently in the seaside town of Galveston, Texas. Even Isaac Cline, resident meteorologist for the U.S. Weather Bureau, failed to grasp the true meaning of the strange deep-sea swells and peculiar winds that greeted the city that morning. Mere hours later, Galveston found itself submerged in a monster hurricane that completely destroyed the town and killed over six thousand people, marking the greatest natural disaster in American history.

Isaac Cline found himself the victim of a devastating personal tragedy. Using Cline's own telegrams, letters, and reports, the testimony of scores of survivors, and our latest understanding of the science of hurricanes, Erik Larson builds a chronicle of one man's heroic struggle and fatal miscalculation in the face of a storm of unimaginable magnitude.

Meticulously researched and vividly written, Isaac's Storm is the story of what can happen when human arrogance meets the great uncontrollable force of nature. This book serves as a powerful reminder of the unpredictable might of hurricanes and the limits of human understanding.

Trumpet is a starkly beautiful and wholly unexpected tale by Jackie Kay that delves into the most intimate workings of the human heart and mind. It offers a triumphant story of loving deception and lasting devotion.

The death of legendary jazz trumpeter Joss Moody exposes an extraordinary secret, one that enrages his adopted son, Colman, leading him to collude with a tabloid journalist. Besieged by the press, his widow Millie flees to a remote Scottish village, seeking solace in memories of their marriage.

The reminiscences of those who knew Joss Moody render a moving portrait of a shared life founded on an intricate lie, one that preserved a rare, unconditional love.

It is the summer holidays and soon Harry Potter will be starting his fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry is counting the days: there are new spells to be learnt, more Quidditch to be played, and Hogwarts castle to continue exploring. But Harry needs to be careful - there are unexpected dangers lurking...

The Triwizard Tournament is to be held at Hogwarts. Only wizards who are over seventeen are allowed to enter - but that doesn't stop Harry dreaming that he will win the competition. Then at Hallowe'en, when the Goblet of Fire makes its selection, Harry is amazed to find his name is one of those that the magical cup picks out. He will face death-defying tasks, dragons and Dark wizards, but with the help of his best friends, Ron and Hermione, he might just make it through - alive!

With their message of hope, belonging and the enduring power of truth and love, the story of the Boy Who Lived continues to delight generations of new readers.

In 1842, thirteen-year-old orphan Maria Merryweather arrives at Moonacre Manor, her family's ancestral home in an charmed village in England's West Country, and she feels as if she’s entered Paradise. Her new guardian, her uncle Sir Benjamin, is kind and funny; the Manor itself feels like home right away; and every person and animal she meets is like an old friend.

But there is something incredibly sad beneath all of this beauty and comfort, that shadowing Moonacre Manor and the town around it. Maria is determined to learn about it, change it, and give her own life story a happy ending.

The enchanted valley of Moonacre is shadowed by a tragedy that happened years ago, and the memory of the Moon Princess and the mysterious little white horse. Determined to restore peace and happiness to the whole of Moonacre Valley, Maria finds herself involved with an ancient feud, and she discovers it is her destiny to end it and right the wrongs of her ancestors.

Maria usually gets her own way. But what can one solitary girl do?

A new-fashioned fantasy story that is as wonderful as the best classic fairy tales.

In Brooklyn, New York, in 1927, Carl Brown and Annie McGairy meet and fall in love. Though only eighteen, Annie travels alone to the Midwestern university where Carl is studying law to marry him.

Little did they know how difficult their first year of marriage would be, in a faraway place with little money and few friends. But Carl and Annie come to realize that the struggles and uncertainty of poverty and hardship can be overcome by the strength of a loving, loyal relationship. An unsentimental yet uplifting story, Joy in the Morning is a timeless and radiant novel of marriage and young love.

Harry White is a man haunted by a satyr's lust and an obsessive need for sin and retribution. The more Harry succeeds -- a good marriage, a good corporate job -- the more desperate he becomes, as a life of petty crime leads to fraud and murder and, eventually, to apocalyptic violence.

Author of the controversial cult classic, Last Exit to Brooklyn, Hubert Selby began as a writer of short fiction. He plunges the reader head-first into the densely realized worlds of his protagonists, in which the details of daily life rub shoulders with obsession and madness. Although fundamentally concerned with morality, Selby's own sense of humility prevents him from preaching. He offers instead a passionate empathy with the ordinary dreams and aspirations of his characters, a brilliant ear for the urban vernacular and for the voices of conscience and self-deceit that torment his characters.

Jack Reacher, ex-military policeman, was enjoying the laid-back life in Key West until everything changed. The tranquility was shattered when Costello, a friendly private investigator, turned up dead. This amiable PI had been hired in New York by the daughter of Reacher's mentor and former commanding officer, General Garber.

Garber's investigation into a Vietnam MIA sets Reacher on a collision course with the sinister hand-less "Hook" Hobie, who is mere hours away from pulling off his biggest score yet. As the plot unfolds, Reacher finds himself embroiled in a web of danger and deceit, forcing him to confront his own past.

Join Reacher on this thrilling journey filled with unexpected twists and turns, as he navigates a world where danger lurks around every corner.

This haunting, suspenseful tale of love and vengeance by the author of the international bestseller Silk surges with the hypnotic power of the ocean sea. In Ocean Sea, Alessandro Baricco presents a hypnotizing postmodern fable of human malady--psychological, existential, erotic--and the sea as a means of deliverance.

At the Almayer Inn, a remote shoreline hotel, an artist dips his brush in a cup of ocean water to paint a portrait of the sea. A scientist pens love letters to a woman he has yet to meet. An adulteress searches for relief from her proclivity to fall in love. And a sixteen-year-old girl seeks a cure from a mysterious condition which science has failed to remedy. When these people meet, their fates begin to interact as if by design. Enter a mighty tempest and a ghostly mariner with a thirst for vengeance, and the Inn becomes a place where destiny and desire battle for the upper hand.

Playful, provocative, and ultimately profound, Ocean Sea is a novel of striking originality and wisdom.

Go Tell It on the Mountain, originally published in 1953, is James Baldwin's first major work, a semi-autobiographical novel that has established itself as an American classic. This novel chronicles a fourteen-year-old boy's discovery of the terms of his identity as the stepson of the minister of a storefront Pentecostal church in Harlem one Saturday in March of 1935. Baldwin's rendering of his protagonist's spiritual, sexual, and moral struggle of self-invention opened new possibilities in the American language and in the way Americans understand themselves.

With lyrical precision, psychological directness, resonating symbolic power, and a rage that is at once unrelenting and compassionate, Baldwin tells the story of the stepson of the minister of a storefront Pentecostal church in Harlem. This "truly extraordinary" novel (Chicago Sun-Times) opened new possibilities in the American language and in the way Americans understand themselves.

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

Hikaru is horrified to find that he's losing all of his games at the insei school! The Young Lions Tournament is just three months away, and the insei who qualify will play against rookie pros, including Akira. Hikaru sees his chance to impress his rival, but can he turn his losing streak around in time?

Lilith Iyapo is in the Andes, mourning the death of her family, when war destroys Earth. Centuries later, she is resurrected by miraculously powerful unearthly beings, the Oankali. Driven by an irresistible need to heal others, the Oankali are rescuing our dying planet by merging genetically with mankind.

But Lilith and all humanity must now share the world with uncanny, unimaginably alien creatures: their own children.

This is their story, a thrilling, epic adventure of man's struggle to survive after Earth's destruction, and a provocative meditation on what it means to be human.

In 1993, Scott McCloud tore down the wall between high and low culture with the acclaimed international hit Understanding Comics, a massive comic book that explored the inner workings of the world's most misunderstood art form. Now, McCloud takes comics to the next level, charting twelve different revolutions in how comics are created, read, and perceived today, and how they're poised to conquer the new millennium.

Part One of this fascinating and in-depth book includes:

• The life of comics as an art form and as literature
• The battle for creators' rights
• Reinventing the business of comics
• The volatile and shifting public perceptions of comics
• Sexual and ethnic representation in comics

Then in Part Two, McCloud paints a breathtaking picture of comics' digital revolutions, including:

• The intricacies of digital production
• The exploding world of online delivery
• The ultimate challenges of the infinite digital canvas

First published in serial form as Der Golem in the periodical Die weissen Blätter in 1913–14, The Golem is a haunting Gothic tale of stolen identity and persecution, set in a strange underworld peopled by fantastical characters.

Among these characters are the red-headed prostitute Rosina, the junk-dealer Aaron Wassertrum, puppeteers, street musicians, and a deaf-mute silhouette artist. Lurking in its inhabitants’ subconscious is the Golem, a creature of rabbinical myth. Supposedly a manifestation of all the suffering of the ghetto, it comes to life every 33 years in a room without a door.

When the jeweller Athanasius Pernath, suffering from broken dreams and amnesia, sees the Golem, he realises to his terror that the ghostly man of clay shares his own face...

The Golem, though rarely seen, is central to the novel as a representative of the ghetto's own spirit and consciousness, brought to life by the suffering and misery that its inhabitants have endured over the centuries. Perhaps the most memorable figure in the story is the city of Prague itself, recognisable through its landmarks such as the Street of the Alchemists and the Castle.

Georgia Nicolson's year might just be the most fabbity fab fab ever! Between trying to reduce the size of her nose, stopping her mad cat Angus from terrorizing the neighborhood animals, and winning the love of handsome hunk Robbie, Georgia's life is anything but dull. Her diary captures the soaring joys and bottomless angst of being a teenager with humor and irreverence.

This wildly funny journal, in the spirit of Bridget Jones's Diary, will leave you laughing out loud. As Georgia would say, it's "Fabbity fab fab!"

Ramona the Pest is the second book in the popular series about Ramona Quimby. Ramona doesn't think she's a pest—she knows she isn't one on purpose. So, how does she always end up in trouble? Why does Davy run away whenever Ramona is near, and how does she manage to disrupt the entire kindergarten class during rest time?

Join Ramona as she navigates her first few months at kindergarten, meeting interesting people like Davy, whom she keeps trying to kiss, and Susan, whose springy curls seem to ask to be pulled. This charming tale captures the innocent yet mischievous spirit of childhood.

The Railway Children is a much-loved children's classic first published in 1906. It tells the story of three well-mannered siblings whose comfortable lives are greatly altered when their father is taken away by two mysterious men one evening.

With their family's fortunes considerably reduced in his absence, the children and their mother are forced to live in a simple country cottage near a railway station. There, the young trio—Roberta, Peter, and young Phyllis—befriend the porter and station master.

The youngsters' days are filled with adventure and excitement, including their successful attempt to avert a horrible train disaster. However, the mysterious disappearance of their father continues to haunt them.

The solution to that painful puzzle, along with many other details and events of the children's lives, come to vivid life in this perennial favorite. This story has captivated generations of readers and, more recently, delighted television and movie audiences. It continues to charm young readers with its warmth and appeal.

In the medieval and fantastic realm of Tortall, Keladry of Mindelan is the first girl to take advantage of the decree that permits females to train for knighthood. Up against the traditional hazing of pages and a grueling schedule, Kel faces only one real roadblock: Lord Wyldon, the training master of pages and squires. He is absolutely against girls becoming knights. So while he is forced to train her, Wyldon puts her on probation for one year. It is a trial period that no male page has ever had to endure and one that separates the good natured Kel even more from her fellow trainees during the tough first year. But Kel is not a girl to underestimate, as everyone is about to find out...

It is such an all-American story. A lanky kid from Plano, Texas, is raised by a feisty, single parent who sacrifices for her son, who becomes one of our country's greatest athletes. Given that background, it is understandable why Armstrong was able to channel his boundless energy toward athletic endeavors.

By his senior year in high school, he was already a professional triathlete and was training with the U.S. Olympic cycling developmental team. In 1993, Armstrong secured a position in the ranks of world-class cyclists by winning the World Championship and a Tour de France stage, but in 1996, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Armstrong entered an unknown battlefield and challenged it as if climbing through the Alps: aggressive yet tactical. He beat the cancer and proceeded to stun all the pundits by winning the 1999 Tour de France.

In this memoir, Armstrong covers his early years swiftly with a blunt matter-of-factness, but the main focus is on his battle with cancer. Readers will respond to the inspirational recovery story, and they will appreciate the behind-the-scenes cycling information. After he won the Tour, his mother was quoted as saying that her son's whole life has been a fight against the odds; we see here that she was not exaggerating.

A New York City chef who is also a novelist recounts his experiences in the restaurant business, and exposes abuses of power, sexual promiscuity, drug use, and other secrets of life behind kitchen doors.

Born Free is a story that has captivated audiences since its original publication in 1960. Joy Adamson's remarkable tale of a lion cub, Elsa, highlights the transition between captivity and the wild. This journey is a testament to the unique bond that can form between humans and animals, bridging the seemingly unbridgeable gap between their worlds.

Joy Adamson beautifully captures the abilities of both humans and animals to coexist and thrive. Her account is an idyll and a model for understanding the sanctity of the wild, especially in times when it is threatened by human development and natural disasters.

Illustrated with evocative photographs, this book invites readers to experience one of the most heartwarming associations between man and animal. Rediscover the magic of Elsa's story, a narrative that continues to inspire and enchant readers around the world.

Switters is a contradiction for all seasons: an anarchist who works for the government; a pacifist who carries a gun; a vegetarian who sops up ham gravy; a cyberwhiz who hates computers; a man who, though obsessed with the preservation of innocence, is aching to deflower his high-school-age stepsister (only to become equally enamored of a nun ten years his senior). Yet there is nothing remotely wishy-washy about Switters. He doesn't merely pack a pistol. He is a pistol.

And as we dog Switters's strangely elevated heels across four continents, in and out of love and danger, discovering in the process the "true" Third Secret of Fatima, we experience Tom Robbins—that fearless storyteller, spiritual renegade, and verbal break dancer—at the top of his game. On one level this is a fast-paced CIA adventure story with comic overtones; on another it's a serious novel of ideas that brings the Big Picture into unexpected focus; but perhaps more than anything else, Fierce Invalids is a sexy celebration of language and life.

Alistair MacLeod musters all of the skill and grace that have won him an international following to give us No Great Mischief, the story of a fiercely loyal family and the tradition that drives it.

Generations after their forebears went into exile, the MacDonalds still face seemingly unmitigated hardships and cruelties of life. Alexander, orphaned as a child by a horrific tragedy, has nevertheless gained some success in the world. Even his older brother, Calum, a nearly destitute alcoholic living on Toronto's skid row, has been scarred by another tragedy. But, like all his clansmen, Alexander is sustained by a family history that seems to run through his veins.

And through these lovingly recounted stories—wildly comic or heartbreakingly tragic—we discover the hope against hope upon which every family must sometimes rely.

The Stories of John Cheever is a remarkable collection of sixty-one stories that chronicle the lives of what has been called "the greatest generation." From the early wonder and disillusionment of city life in "The Enormous Radio" to the surprising discoveries and common mysteries of suburbia in "The Housebreaker of Shady Hill" and "The Swimmer," Cheever tells us everything we need to know about "the pain and sweetness of life."

This collection spans the duration of Cheever’s long and distinguished career, showcasing tales that have helped define the short story form. Cheever’s crowning achievement is his ability to be simultaneously generous and cynical, acknowledging that the absurd and the profound can reside in the same moment.