Divisadero

      Michael Ondaatje
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From the celebrated author of The English Patient and Anil's Ghost comes a remarkable, intimate novel of intersecting lives that ranges across continents and time. In the 1970s in Northern California a father and his teenage daughters, Anna and Claire, work their farm with the help of Coop, an enigmatic young man who makes his home with them. Theirs is a makeshift family, until it is shattered by an incident of violence that sets fire to the rest of their lives. Divisadero takes us from San Francisco to the raucous backrooms of Nevada's casinos and eventually to the landscape of southern France. As the narrative moves back and forth through time and place, we find each of the characters trying to find some foothold in a present shadowed by the past.

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    Love Overboard

      Janet Evanovich
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She's been called "side-splittingly funny" (Publishers Weekly), "a blast of fresh air" (Washington Post), and "a winner" (Glamour). She is, of course, Janet Evanovich, the award-winning, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Stephanie Plum mystery series. Now available for the first time in more than a decade comes Love Overboard, the hilarious story of a sinfully handsome schooner captain and the spirited woman who agrees to work on his cruise ship. It's a classic novel of comic mayhem from the incomparable Janet Evanovich.

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    A Journey to the Center of the Earth - Jules Verne: Annotated

      Jules Verne
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"A Journey to the Center of the Earth" is an 1864 science fiction novel by Jules Verne. The story involves German professor Otto Lidenbrock who believes there are volcanic tubes going toward the center of the Earth. He, his nephew Axel, and their guide Hans descend into the Icelandic volcano Snæfellsjökull, encountering many adventures, including prehistoric animals and natural hazards, before eventually coming to the surface again in southern Italy, at the Stromboli volcano. Jules Gabriel Verne (8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright best known for his adventure novels and his profound influence on the literary genre of science fiction. Translator : Frederic Amadeus Malleson (1819–1897)

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    Social Order

      Melissa de la Cruz
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They have it all: money, looks, popularity, anything their little platinum-encased hearts desire. They also have a new face. After Lauren Page's unexpected and brilliant maneuver at the fall VIP dance, she is in so tight with Ashley Spencer, the number one Ashley, that she might as well be Ashley's favorite pair of leggings. But a new website, www.ashleyrank.com, catches on like the flu in February, and for the first time since kindergarten it's open season in the popularity race. Lauren Page sees a way in, Ashley Li and Ashley Alito see a way up, and Ashley Spencer sees a way to prove there's only room for one at the top.

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    Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil

      Melina Marchetta
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When Bish Ortley, a suspended cop, receives word that a bus carrying his daughter has been bombed, he rushes to her side. A suspect has already been singled out: a 17-year-old girl who has since disappeared from the scene. The press has now revealed that she is the youngest member of one of London's most notorious families. Thirteen years earlier, her grandfather set off a suicide bomb in a grocery store, a bomb her mother confessed to building. Has the girl decided to follow in their footsteps? To find her, Bish must earn the trust of her friends and family, including her infamous mother, now serving a life sentence in prison--but as he delves into the deadly bus attack that claimed five lives, the ghosts of older crimes become impossible to ignore. A gripping fusion of literary suspense and family drama, Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil is a fast-paced puzzle of a novel that will keep readers feverishly turning pages.

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    Maybe the Moon: A Novel

      Armistead Maupin
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Maybe the Moon, Armistead Maupin's first novel since ending his bestselling Tales of the City series, is the audaciously original chronicle of Cadence Roth -- Hollywood actress, singer, iconoclast and former Guiness Book record holder as the world's shortest woman. All of 31 inches tall, Cady is a true survivor in a town where -- as she says -- "you can die of encouragement." Her early starring role as a lovable elf in an immensely popular American film proved a major disappointment, since moviegoers never saw the face behind the stifling rubber suit she was required to wear. Now, after a decade of hollow promises from the Industry, she is reduced to performing at birthday parties and bat mitzvahs as she waits for the miracle that will finally make her a star. In a series of mordantly funny journal entries, Maupin tracks his spunky heroine across the saffron-hazed wasteland of Los Angeles -- from her all-too-infrequent meetings with agents and studio moguls to her regular harrowing encounters with small children, large dogs and human ignorance. Then one day a lanky piano player saunters into Cady's life, unleashing heady new emotions, and she finds herself going for broke, shooting the moon with a scheme so harebrained and daring that it just might succeed. Her accomplice in the venture is her best friend, Jeff, a gay waiter who sees Cady's struggle for visibility as a natural extension of his own war against the Hollywood Closet. As clear-eyed as it is charming, Maybe the Moon is a modern parable about the mythology of the movies and the toll it exacts from it participants on both sides of the screen. It is a work that speaks to the resilience of the human spirit from a perspective rarely found in literature.

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    Bellewether

      Susanna Kearsley
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Some houses seem to want to hold their secrets. It’s 1759 and the world is at war, pulling the North American colonies of Britain and France into the conflict. The times are complicated, as are the loyalties of many New York merchants who have secretly been trading with the French for years, defying Britain’s colonial laws in a game growing ever more treacherous. When captured French officers are brought to Long Island to be billeted in private homes on their parole of honour, it upends the lives of the Wilde family—deeply involved in the treasonous trade and already divided by war. Lydia Wilde, struggling to keep the peace in her fracturing family following her mother’s death, has little time or kindness to spare for her unwanted guests. French-Canadian lieutenant Jean-Philippe de Sabran has little desire to be there. But by the war’s end they’ll both learn love, honour, and duty can form tangled bonds that are not broken easily. Their doomed romance becomes a local legend, told and re-told through the years until the present day, when conflict of a different kind brings Charley Van Hoek to Long Island to be the new curator of the Wilde House Museum. Charley doesn’t believe in ghosts. But as she starts to delve into the history of Lydia and her French officer, it becomes clear that the Wilde House holds more than just secrets, and Charley discovers the legend might not have been telling the whole story...or the whole truth.

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    Of the Divine

      Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
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The second novel in Amelia Atwater-Rhodes's dazzling Mancer trilogy, Of the Divine takes place seventy-one years before the events of Of the Abyss, in a world where sorcery is still practiced freely—but at what cost? Henna’s runes tell her that the future of Kavet is balanced on the edge of the knife. One of the most powerful sorcerers in the Order of Napthol, she is well-respected for her second sight. But the fragments she sees this time—blood, darkness, destruction—leave her unsure how to set the country and her lover, Verte, prince of Kavet, on the correct course. Meanwhile, the treaties between Kavet and the dragon-like race known as the Osei have become intolerable. The time has come for the royal house to wield their unique magic to challenge Osei dominion, with Prince Verte serving as the nexus for the powerful but dangerous spell, and Naples, an untested young sorcerer from the Order of Napthol, a volatile but critical support to its creation. Amid these plans, Dahlia Indathrone’s arrival in the city shouldn’t matter. She has no magic and no royal lineage, and yet, Henna immediately knows the young woman is important. She just can’t see why. And no vision could prepare her for the role Dahlia will come to play. In Of the Divine, the lives of Henna, Verte, Naples, and Dahlia become irrevocably linked, setting them, and all Kavet, on a perilous path. As they struggle to survive, they learn that they are but pawns in a larger game, one played by the forces of the Abyss and of the Numen—the infernal and the divine. A game no mortal can ever hope to win.

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    A Place in the Country

      W. G. Sebald
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A Place in the Country is W. G. Sebald’s meditation on the six artists and writers who shaped his creative mind—and the last of this great writer’s major works to be translated into English. This edition includes more than 40 pieces of art, all originally selected by W. G. Sebald. This extraordinary collection of interlinked essays about place, memory, and creativity captures the inner worlds of five authors and one painter. In his masterly and mysterious style—part critical essay, part memoir—Sebald weaves their lives and art with his own migrations and rise in the literary world. Here are people gifted with talent and courage yet in some cases cursed by fragile and unstable natures, working in countries inhospitable or even hostile to them. Jean-Jacques Rousseau is conjured on the verge of physical and mental exhaustion, hiding from his detractors on the island of St. Pierre, where two centuries later Sebald took rooms adjacent to his. Eighteenth-century author Johann Peter Hebel is remembered for his exquisite and delicate nature writing, expressing the eternal balance of both the outside world and human emotions. Writer Gottfried Keller, best known for his 1850 novel Green Henry, is praised for his prescient insights into a Germany where “the gap between self-interest and the common good was growing ever wider.” Sebald compassionately re-creates the ordeals of Eduard Mörike, the nineteenth-century German poet beset by mood swings, depression, and fainting spells in an increasingly shallow society, and Robert Walser, the institutionalized author whose nearly indecipherable scrawls seemed an attempt to “duck down below the level of language and obliterate himself” (and whose physical appearance and year of death mirrored those of Sebald’s grandfather). Finally, Sebald spies a cognizance of death’s inevitability in painter Jan Peter Tripp’s lovingly exact reproductions of life. Featuring the same kinds of suggestive and unexplained illustrations that appear in his masterworks Austerlitz and The Rings of Saturn, and translated by Sebald’s colleague Jo Catling, A Place in the Country is Sebald’s unforgettable self-portrait as seen through the experiences of others, a glimpse of his own ghosts alongside those of the men who influenced him. It is an essential addition to his stunning body of work. Praise for A Place in the Country *   “Measured, solemn, sardonic . . . hypnotic . . . [W. G. Sebald’s] books, which he made out of classics, remain classics for now.”—Joshua Cohen, The New York Times Book Review*** “In Sebald’s writing, everything is connected, everything webbed together by the unseen threads of history, or chance, or fate, or death. The scholarly craft of gathering scattered sources and weaving them into a coherent whole is transformed here into something beautiful and unsettling, elevated into an art of the uncanny—an art that was, in the end, Sebald’s strange and inscrutable gift.”—Slate “Magnificent . . . The multiple layers surrounding each essay are seamless to the point of imperceptibility.”—New York Daily News “Sebald’s most tender and jovial book.” —The Nation ** “Reading [A Place in the Country is] like going for a walk with a beautifully talented, deeply passionate novelist from Mars.”—*New York* From the Trade Paperback edition.

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    Metaphysics

      Aristotle
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Metaphysics (Greek: τὰ μετὰ τὰ φυσικά) is one of the principal works of Aristotle & the first major work of the branch of philosophy with the same name. The principal subject is "being qua being", or being understood as being. It examines what can be asserted about anything that exists just because of its existence & not because of any special qualities it has. Also covered are different kinds of causation, form & matter, the existence of mathematical objects, & a prime-mover God.

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    Best Friends: A Novel

      Thomas Berger
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Since childhood, Sam Grandy and Roy Courtright have been best friends. They grew up in the same prosperous community, went to the same prep school, and later entered the same university. After Sam's father died, Roy's father looked after him. At one point Sam dated Roy's sister, Robin. As best friends, they share a close and loving bond, often stronger than the relationships other men share with their girlfriends, siblings, or wives. But in the twenty years since their friendship began, their fundamental differences have become more apparent and their relationship has grown strained. More and more often they realize they are opposites -- one a womanizer, the other a devoted husband; one careless with money, the other frugal; one independent, the other needy. Do these differences threaten their friendship -- or are the dissimilarities what make it possible? Can they escape the ties of their past, or are they intrinsically bound until death? When Sam's health begins to falter, he draws Roy into his life again -- and into a chain of deceit, sex, delusion, death, and love such as only a best friend could. Thomas Berger has enthralled millions of readers for almost fifty years with his psychologically complex, sharp-sighted storytelling. With exquisite wit and insidious wisdom, Best Friends weaves a powerful tale about friendship -- and the complex loyalties involved.

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    Winter Kisses

      Addison Moore
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Librarian's Note: Alternate-cover edition for ASIN B00G7SUQ3A Laney Sawyer used to believe in love and all of the trappings that happily ever after could provide until Ryder Capwell crushed her heart. When Laney is auctioned off as a prize at the drama department fundraiser the last person she expects to trade cold hard cash for her company is Ryder. Ryder Capwell is in love with Laney Sawyer. One year ago she walked out of his life and took the light of his world right along with her. Ryder would do anything to have another chance with Laney, including purchasing her for the evening courtesy of Whitney Briggs University, and he does just that. One thing leads to whiskey, which leads to a one-night stand. She thinks it’s revenge sex—he thinks its make up sex. Things can only go wrong from here...

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    The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America

      Timothy Egan
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On the afternoon of August 20, 1910, a battering ram of wind moved through the drought-stricken national forests of Washington, Idaho, and Montana, whipping the hundreds of small blazes burning across the forest floor into a roaring inferno that jumped from treetop to ridge as it raged, destroying towns and timber in the blink of an eye. Forest rangers had assembled nearly ten thousand men  —  college boys, day workers, immigrants from mining camps  —  to fight the fire. But no living person had seen anything like those flames, and neither the rangers nor anyone else knew how to subdue them. Egan narrates the struggles of the overmatched rangers against the implacable fire with unstoppable dramatic force. Equally dramatic is the larger story he tells of outsized president Teddy Roosevelt and his chief forester, Gifford Pinchot. Pioneering the notion of conservation, Roosevelt and Pinchot did nothing less than create the idea of public land as our national treasure, owned by and preserved for every citizen. The robber barons fought Roosevelt and Pinchot’s rangers, but the Big Burn saved the forests even as it destroyed them: the heroism shown by the rangers turned public opinion permanently in their favor and became the creation myth that drove the Forest Service, with consequences still felt in the way our national lands are protected  —  or not —  today.

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    A Merry Little Kinkmas

      Tymber Dalton
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(Suncoast Society, BDSM, various pairings) Seth and Leah are putting on a kinky Christmas party for some of their closest friends in the Suncoast Society. How do kinksters celebrate the holidays? One thing’s for sure—sexy fun will most certainly be on the agenda. From singing kinky carols, to playing their own festive reindeer games, have a voyeuristic visit with some of your favorite characters. It gives a whole new meaning to “decking the halls.” And just wait until you get a load of Santa’s sack…

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    More Than Enough

      Jay McLean
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More Than Enough is book five in the More Than series and may be read as a standalone, though it is recommended to read in series order. Series reading order: More Than This (Book one) More Than Her (Book two) More Than Him (Book three) More Than Forever (Book four) -- There’s no emotion greater than fear. No ache greater than grief. No sound greater than silence. I’m grateful he showed up on my doorstep, pissed off and angry at the world. If he hadn’t, I wouldn’t be here. And I don’t just mean here on this journey with him. I mean here, in this world. * I wonder what events in all our lives—hers included—are The Turning Points? The points where we all determine that the fear of our pasts and the uncertainty of our futures are greater than our need for happiness. Here. Now. While time and everything around us stands unmoving… who’s to say we can’t have it all? We wanted it all. We wanted it with each other. We thrived on the chaos we created. And ignored the Mayhem that ensued. Because falling in love was easy. But sometimes, love isn’t enough.

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    The Client

      M. S. Parker
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**Stand-alone novella, approx. 100 pages. My life isn't going exactly the way I planned, but I can make ends meet and I have a fiancé I love. I'm one of those people who believes in working with what I've been given… I just never expected this kind of curveball. When a run through Central Park sets in motion events that change the course of Sara Carr's life, she never imagines that they will lead her to Dorian Forbes, a billionaire former fighter, and a new job as his personal trainer. A new job that comes with its own complications. Don't miss this steamy standalone by best-selling author M.S. Parker. **

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    Oceanic

      Greg Egan
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Collected together here for the first time are twelve stories by the incomparable Greg Egan, one of the most exciting writers of science fiction working today. In these dozen glimpses into the future Egan continues to explore the essence of what it is to be human, and the nature of what - and who - we are, in stories that range from parables of contemporary human conflict and ambition to far-future tales of our immortal descendants. Return to the universe of the meta-civilisation known as the Amalgam, which Egan explored in his critically acclaimed novel Incandescence: 'Riding the Crocodile', which recounts an epic endeavour a million years from now to bridge the divide between the Amalgam and the reclusive Aloof; 'Glory', set in the same future, in which two archaeologists strive to decipher the artefacts of an ancient civilisation, and 'Hot Rock', where an obscure, sunless world conceals mind-spinning technological marvels, bitter factional struggles, and a many-layered secret history. This superb collection also includes the title story, the Hugo Award-winning 'Oceanic': a boy is inducted into a religion that becomes the centre of his life, but as an adult he must face evidence that casts a new light on his faith. Contents: Border Guards (1999) Crystal Nights (2008) Dark Integers (2007) Glory (2007) Hot Rock (2009) Induction (2007) Lost Continent (2008) Oceanic (1998) Oracle (2000) Riding the Crocodile (2005) Singleton (2002) Steve Fever (2007)

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    The Big Seven

      Jim Harrison
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Jim Harrison is one of our most renowned and popular authors, and his last novel, The Great Leader, was one of the most successful in a decorated career: it appeared on the New York Times extended bestseller list, and was a national bestseller with rapturous reviews. His darkly comic follow-up, The Big Seven, sends Detective Sunderson to confront his new neighbors, a gun-nut family who live outside the law in rural Michigan. Detective Sunderson has fled troubles on the home front and bought himself a hunting cabin in a remote area of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. No sooner has he settled in than he realizes his new neighbors are creating even more havoc than the Great Leader did. A family of outlaws, armed to the teeth, the Ameses have local law enforcement too intimidated to take them on. Then Sunderson's cleaning lady, a comely young Ames woman, is murdered, and black sheep brother Lemuel Ames seeks Sunderson's advice on a crime novel he's writing which may not be fiction. Sunderson must struggle with the evil within himself and the far greater, more expansive evil of his neighbor. In a story shot through with wit, bedlam, and Sunderson's attempts to enumerate and master the seven deadly sins, The Big Seven is a superb reminder of why Jim Harrison is one of America's most irrepressible writers.

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    Hidden

      Marianne Curley
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For as long as Ebony can remember, she's been sheltered. Confined to her home in a secluded valley, home-schooled by her protective parents, and limited to a small circle of close friends. It's as if she's being hidden. But something is changing in Ebony. Something that can't be concealed. She's growing more beautiful by the day, she's freakishly strong, and then there's the fact that she's glowing. On one fateful night, Ebony meets Jordan and she's intensely drawn to him. It's as if something explodes inside of her--something that can be seen from the heavens. Ebony still doesn't know that she's a stolen angel, but now that the heavens have found her, they want her back.

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    The Perfect Husband

      Lisa Gardner
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BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Lisa Gardner's Love You More. What would you do if the man of your dreams hides the soul of a killer? Jim Beckett was everything she'd ever dreamed of...But two years after Tess married the decorated cop and bore his child, she helped put him behind bars for savagely murdering ten women. Even locked up in a maximum security prison, he vowed he would come after her and make her pay. Now the cunning killer has escaped--and the most dangerous game of all begins.... After a lifetime of fear, Tess will do something she's never done before. She's going to learn to protect her daughter and fight back, with the help of a burned-out ex-marine. As the largest manhunt four states have ever seen mobilizes to catch Beckett, the clock winds down to the terrifying reunion between husband and wife. And Tess knows that this time, her only choices are to kill--or be killed. Lisa Gardner sold her first...

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    Miss Communication

      Jennifer L. Holm
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Watch out, middle school! In her second foray out of graphic novels and into middle grade, Babymouse has a smartphone, and she's not afraid to use it. . . .Ping! Ping! The sound of texting is in the air. Everyone at middle school has a cell phone. Babymouse just has to get one, too.But having a phone is a lot of work! Building up a following on SoFamous, learning text lingo, keeping up with all the important koala videos . . . Babymouse is ready to tear her whiskers out. Why does it suddenly feel like she has no friends? Somehow, Babymouse needs to figure out how to stop worrying and love her smartphone . . . if Locker doesn't eat it first.#Typical.

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