Color Blind

      Lalla Squeglia
     Color Blind

Nancy Hale has spent the last year as a reclusive shadow, hiding from memories of that terrible afternoon. Cole Martin is a junkie, a nobody with secrets of his own. Can they put themselves back together in a world that doesn't care?Zoella Mya was raped when she turned fifteen by her Uncle. He was taken to jail and she moved away from the States to stay with her Greek Uncle. She's built a life, she's a successful musician and she's even about to get married to the man of her dreams. On the day she returns to pick her wedding dress at their shared apartment, she receives a disturbing letter. She has to attend a parole hearing to testify against the release of her attacker. Her past comes rushing back, and old insecurities take over. Robbie McClaire is about to marry Zoella Mya. They've been living together three years, and he's ready to give her his name. When she shows up at their shared apartment with another man days before their wedding, he is devastated. Will Robbie forgive Zoella so that they can face the future together? Or will he just let her go without finding out the real reason why she left?

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    A World Lost

      Wendell Berry
     A World Lost

Andy Catlett is nine years old when his Uncle Andrew is murdered and it destroys his sense of the order of things. Wendell Berry tackles the problem of truth and recollection as Andy Catlett gathers the details of this tragedy from the fragile memories of the townspeople. Tenderly, yet with directness, this short novel encompasses a changing way of life at the end of World War II.

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    Confronting Life

      Maxim Gorky
     Confronting Life

CONFRONTING Life, two people stood -- both discontent. And to the question, "What do you expect of me?" one made answer with weary voice: "I am distracted by the cruelty of thy contradictions. Feebly my reason strives to understand the meaning of existence, and with perplexing gloom my heart is filled before thee. My consciousness doth tell me man is the highest of creations."

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    Ode To A Protruding Gap Filler: A Multi-Themed Poetry Collection

      Donald Ray
     Ode To A Protruding Gap Filler: A Multi-Themed Poetry Collection

This book is a multi-themed poetry collection. The themes are: Romantic, Christian Faith, Christmas, Space and Science Fiction, and Miscellaneous. The title poem, "Ode to a Protruding Gap Filler" honors the brave crews of the Space Shuttle missions and disparages small-minded politicians. The poems are structured (no free verse for this poet): rhyming couplets, acrostic poems, and a haiku.This book is a multi-themed poetry collection that I have composed over many years. The themes are: Romantic, Christian Faith, Christmas, Space and Science Fiction, and Miscellaneous. The poem that is the title of this collection. "Ode to a Protruding Gap Filler", honors the brave crews of all the Space Shuttle missions and disparages small-minded politicians and others whose views and actions have led to, in my opinion, the abandonment of the dream of humanity in Space. The other poems are just fun. Since, first and foremost, I am a Christian, my relationship with My Lord, Jesus Christ, informs all my work. In my faith themed poems, you will read how Jesus strengthened me and can help other believers during difficult times. In my Christmas themed poems, you will read that Jesus is the "real reason for the Season". I liken myself to be the "Poet Laureate of Walmart" where I have worked for many years as a cashier. One of the poems in the Miscellaneous category in this book, "What's My Line?" is derived from my cashiering experiences. The poems in this collection have structure to them (no free verse for this poet!): rhyming couplets, acrostic poems, and a haiku. I enjoy challenging myself to write structured poems. This also demonstrates a philosophy of mine that one's emotions should be mediated by one's reason and intellect.

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    An Alternative Christmas Carol

      Robert Cubitt
     An Alternative Christmas Carol

Ebenezer Smooge is a banker who worships money. His hapless clerk Scratchit ekes out a living while his wife Elisa makes end with a bit of “curtain making” on the side, so her twelve children will be fed. On Christmas Eve Ebenezer is visited first by the ghost of his dead partner, Jacob Harley, and then by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. But will Smooge change his ways?When Charles Dickens wrote his morality tale, A Christmas Carol, he couldn’t know about the banking crisis, fat cat bankers with six figure bonuses or the selling off of state owned assets at knock down prices, so I’ve had to take his story of misanthropy and redemption and update it a little bit.Ebenezer Smooge is a banker who worships money and luxuriates in the possessions that his wealth brings. He corrupts all he touches and will never do a good deed if a bad deed can be done. His hapless clerk Scratchit ekes out a living working long hours for poor while his wife Elisa makes end meet by supplementing her income with a bit of “curtain making” on the side, just so her twelve children will be fed.As in the original, on Christmas Eve Ebenezer is visited first by the ghost of his dead partner, Jacob Harley, and then by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. Heeding the messages of these three shades Smooge wakes up on Christmas morning and sets out to enjoy the day along with everyone else.Does Smooge change his ways? Can a leopard change its spots? Read An Alternative Christmas Carol to find out.

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    The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold

      Evelyn Waugh
     The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold

The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold remains one of Eveyln Waugh's most remarkable and self-revealing works. Three years before he wrote it, Waugh suffered "a brief bout of hallucination" similar to the one that besets Mr. Pinfold in this wildly witty and occasionally frightening novel. A successful, middle-aged novelist with a case of "bad nerves," Gilbert Pinfold embarks on a recuperative trip to Ceylon. Almost as soon as the gagnplank lifts, Mr. Pinfold hears sounds coming out of the ceiling of his cabin: wild jazz bands, barking dogs, loud revival meetings. He can only infer that somewhere concealed in his room an erratic public-address system is letting him hear everything that goes on aboard ship. And then, instead of just sounds, he hears voices. But they are not just any voices. These voices are talking, in the most frightening intimate way, about him!

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    The Lost Art of Gratitude

      Alexander McCall Smith
     The Lost Art of Gratitude

ISABEL DALHOUSIE - Book 6 Nothing captures the charm of Edinburgh like the bestselling Isabel Dalhousie series of novels featuring the insatiably curious philosopher and woman detective. Whether investigating a case or a problem of philosophy, the indefatigable Isabel Dalhousie, one of fiction's most richly developed amateur detectives, is always ready to pursue the answers to all of life's questions, large and small. Isabel's son, Charlie, is now of an age--eighteen months--to have a social life, and so off they go to a birthday party, where, much to Isabel's surprise, she encounters an old adversary, Minty Auchterlonie, now a high-flying financier. Minty had seemed to Isabel a woman of ruthless ambition, but the question of her integrity had never been answered. Now, when Minty takes Isabel into her confidence about a personal matter, Isabel finds herself going another round: Is Minty to be trusted? Or is she the perpetrator of an enormous financial fraud? And what should Isabel make of the rumors of shady financial transactions at Minty's investment bank? Not that this is the only dilemma facing Isabel: she also crosses swords again with her nemesis, Professor Dove, in an argument over plagiarism. Of course her niece, Cat, has a new, problematic man (a tightrope walker!) in her life. And there remains the open question of marriage to Jamie--doting father of Charlie. As always, there is no end to the delight in accompanying Isabel as she makes her way toward the heart of every problem: philosophizing, sleuthing, and downright snooping in her inimitable--and inimitably charming--fashion.

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    A Line in the Dark

      Malinda Lo
     A Line in the Dark

The line between best friend and something more is a line always crossed in the dark. Jess Wong is Angie Redmond’s best friend. And that’s the most important thing, even if Angie can’t see how Jess truly feels. Being the girl no one quite notices is OK with Jess anyway. While nobody notices her, she’s free to watch everyone else. But when Angie begins to fall for Margot Adams, a girl from the nearby boarding school, Jess can see it coming a mile away. Suddenly her powers of observation are more curse than gift. As Angie drags Jess further into Margot’s circle, Jess discovers more than her friend’s growing crush. Secrets and cruelty lie just beneath the carefree surface of this world of wealth and privilege, and when they come out, Jess knows Angie won’t be able to handle the consequences. When the inevitable darkness finally descends, Angie will need her best friend. “It doesn’t even matter that she probably doesn’t understand how much she means to me. It’s purer this way. She can take whatever she wants from me, whenever she wants it, because I’m her best friend.” A Line in the Dark is a story of love, loyalty, and murder.

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    The Tsar of Love and Techno

      Anthony Marra
     The Tsar of Love and Techno

From the New York Times bestselling author of A Constellation of Vital Phenomena—dazzling, poignant, and lyrical interwoven stories about family, sacrifice, the legacy of war, and the redemptive power of art. This stunning, exquisitely written collection introduces a cast of remarkable characters whose lives intersect in ways both life-affirming and heartbreaking. A 1930s Soviet censor painstakingly corrects offending photographs, deep underneath Leningrad, bewitched by the image of a disgraced prima ballerina. A chorus of women recount their stories and those of their grandmothers, former gulag prisoners who settled their Siberian mining town. Two pairs of brothers share a fierce, protective love. Young men across the former USSR face violence at home and in the military. And great sacrifices are made in the name of an oil landscape unremarkable except for the almost incomprehensibly peaceful past it depicts. In stunning prose, with rich character portraits and a sense of history reverberating into the present, The Tsar of Love and Techno is a captivating work from one of our greatest new talents.

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