Twenty poems that express moments and events that happen to ordinary people written for ordinary people living through an 'ordinary' day. Sometimes what is ordinary for one may be extraordinary for another. In the end, we're all pretty extraordinary. So, yay us! Raise a toast. Oh, and there's Attila too. He slipped in at the end. Well...enjoy!Three different people from all walks of life are concealing mysteries so deep that even the very depths of the ocean could not hope to contain them. When Anthony Belzer boards the cruise ship Sovereign of the Seas, he has no idea of the journey that lay before him despite the warnings his dreams were trying to convey. He spent most of his life running from personal demons but now he unwittingly sets a course to come face to face with tragedies beyond his own.

Khan al-Khalili, * by Egyptian Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz, portrays the clash of old and new in an historic Cairo neighborhood as German bombs fall on the city. The time is 1942, World War II is at its height, and the Africa Campaign is raging along the northern coast of Egypt. Against this backdrop, Mahfouz's novel tells the story of the Akifs, a middle-class family that has taken refuge in Cairo's colorful and bustling Khan al-Khalili neighborhood. Believing that the German forces will never bomb such a famously religious part of the city, they leave their more elegant neighborhood and seek safety among the crowded alleyways, busy caf�s, and ancient mosques of the Khan. Through the eyes of Ahmad, the eldest Akif son, Mahfouz presents a richly textured vision of the Khan, and of a crisis that pits history against modernity and faith against secularism. Fans of Midaq Alley and The Cairo Trilogy* will not want to miss this engaging and sensitive portrayal of a family at the crossroads of the old world and the new. Translated from the Arabic by Roger Allen

At Zeppelin Bend, an outdoor education program designed to teach troubled youth the value of hard work, cooperation, and compassion, ten teens are left alone in the wild. The teens are a diverse group who come from all walks of life, and they were all sent to Zeppelin Bend as a last chance to get them to turn their lives around. They’ve just spent nearly two weeks learning to survive in the wilderness, and now their instructors have dropped them off eighteen miles from camp with no food, no water, and only their packs, and they’ll have to struggle to overcome their vast differences if they hope to survive. Inspired by The Canterbury Tales, Feral Youth features characters, each complex and damaged in their own ways, who are enticed to tell a story (or two) with the promise of a cash prize. The stories range from noir-inspired revenge tales to mythological stories of fierce heroines and angry gods. And while few of the stories are claimed to be based in truth, they ultimately reveal more about the teller than the truth ever could.

Naples, Italy, during four fateful days in the fall of 1943. The only people left in the shattered, bombed-out city are the lost, abandoned children whose only goal is to survive another day. None could imagine that they would become fearless fighters and the unlikeliest heroes of World War II. They are the warriors immortalized in Street Boys, Lorenzo Carcaterra’s exhilarating new novel, a book that exceeds even his bestselling Sleepers as a riveting reading experience. It’s late September. The war in Europe is almost won. Italy is leaderless, Mussolini already arrested by anti-Fascists. The German army has evacuated the city of Naples. Adults, even entire families, have been marched off to work camps or simply sent off to their deaths. Now, the German army is moving toward Naples to finish the job. Their chilling instructions are: If the city can’t belong to Hitler, it will belong to no one. No one but children. Children who have been orphaned or hidden by parents in a last, defiant gesture against the Nazis. Children, some as young as ten years old, armed with just a handful of guns, unexploded bombs, and their own ingenuity. Children who are determined to take on the advancing enemy and save the city—or die trying. There is Vincenzo Soldari, a sixteen-year-old history buff who is determined to make history by leading others with courage and self-confidence; Carlo Maldini, a middle-aged drunkard desperate to redeem himself by adding his experience to the raw exuberance of the young fighters; Nunzia Maldini, his nineteen-year-old daughter, who helps her father regain his self-respect— and loses her heart to an American G.I.; Corporal Steve Connors, a soldier sent out on reconnaissance, then cut off from his comrades—with no choice but to aid the street boys; Colonel Rudolph Van Klaus, the proud Nazi commander shamed by his own sadistic mission; and, of course, the dozens of young boys who use their few skills and great heart to try to save their city, their country, and themselves. In its compassionate portrait of the rootless young, and its pitiless portrayal of the violence that is at once their world and their way out, Street Boys continues and deepens Lorenzo Carcaterra’s trademark themes. In its awesome scope and pure page-turning excitement, it stands as a stirring tribute to the underdog in us all—and as a singular addition to the novels about World War II. From the Hardcover edition.

In trying to reunite with her mother, Winston discovers the many meanings of family and finds friendship in an unexpected place in this coming-of-age novel from the author of Waiting, which Kirkus Reviews, in a starred review, called "exceptional" and Glimpse, which Booklist called "gripping." Life is just fine for fourteen-year-old Winston. She loves her dog, Thelma, and although she never knew her dad, and her mom left ten years ago in search of Hollywood fame, Winston has family with Nanny, who is in her forties, and that doesn't even make her old. But a "just fine" life gets a lot more exciting when a letter arrives from Skye Harper, aka Judith Fletcher, aka Winston’s mother. She needs help, and Nanny says the best way to give it is to take a cross-country road trip—in a "borrowed" motor home—to go find Mama once and for all. Winston’s not so sure about this plan, but with a cute stowaway named Steve along for company and an adventure on the horizon, this is sure to be a summer to remember.

Venus in Furs describes the obsessions of Severin von Kusiemski, a European nobleman who desires to be enslaved to a woman. Severin finds his ideal of voluptuous cruelty in the merciless Wanda von Dunajew. This is a passionate and powerful portrayal of one man's struggle to enlighten and instruct himself and others in the realm of desire. Published in 1870, the novel gained notoriety and a degree of immortality for its author when the word "masochism"—derived from his name—entered the vocabulary of psychiatry. This remains a classic literary statement on sexual submission and control.  

Charley Partanna works as a hitman for the Prizzis, New York’s most dangerous crime family. Irene Walker does, too—an LA-based tax consultant, she moonlights as a hitwoman. And now she’s stolen a large sum of money for the mob—and it’s Charley’s job to find her. The catch? Charley is married to Irene. Faced with divided loyalties, he must make a choice—between the only family he’s ever known and the woman he loves. Prizzi’s Honor was made into an award-winning film in 1985 starring Jack Nicholson, Robert Loggia, Kathleen Turner, and Anjelica Huston, who won an Academy Award for her performance. A compelling page-turner fueled by rich characterization and fast-paced prose, this book is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Richard Condon (1915-1996) is a political novelist from New York who wrote over 26 satirical thrillers throughout a prolific career—dealing with themes of political corruption, greed, and abuse of power. Before his career as a novelist, Condon served in the US Merchant Marines and later became a Hollywood publicist, agent, and advertising writer. Condon’s best-selling works include The Manchurian Candidate and the Prizzi series, dealing with the life of a crime family in New York. The Manchurian Candidate was made into a movie twice, once in 1962 and again in 2004. The 1962 movie starred Frank Sinatra and Angela Lansbury, who was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress for her role.

If you liked the movies Elf and Shrek, you'll love THE ENCHANTED FILES—a magical, hilarious comedy series about fantastical creatures in the modern world by the bestselling author of My Teacher Is an Alien: Bruce Coville! Any troll worth their farts knows that a proper troll should: 1. Avoid thinking or feeling! (Feelings? Blech!) 2. Love burping and farting! (But who doesn't?) 3. And, most important, despise humans! But Ned is not just any troll. Even though Ned is nearly seven feet tall, with a nose the size of a pickle, Ned has a heart full of LOVE! A heart that swoons over poetry and craves true friendship! And when it comes to humans . . . it's complicated. So complicated that long ago, Ned fled the Enchanted Realm for the one place no one would notice a troll hiding in plain sight: NEW YORK CITY. But one human boy—Cody—has noticed. And Cody's snooping leads to a wild and hilarious...

Winner of the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2015. "What kind of a girl steals the clothes from a dead man's back and runs off to join the army? A desperate one. That's who." At the end of the American Civil War, Charley – a young African-American slave from the deep south – is ostensibly freed. But then her adopted mother is raped and lynched at the hands of a mob and Charley is left alone. In a terrifyingly lawless land, where the colour of a person's skin can bring violent death, Charley disguises herself as a man and joins the army. Soon she's being sent to the prairies to fight a whole new war against the "savage Indians". Trapped in a world of injustice and inequality, it's only when Charley is posted to Apache territory that she begins to learn what it is to be truly free.

America has been devastated by a second civil war. The people have spent years divided, fighting their fellow patriots. Now, as the regime crumbles and the bloody conflict draws to a close, the work of rebuilding begins.One lonely crew, bonded under fire in the darkest days of battle, must complete one last mission: to secure a war criminal whose secrets could destroy the fragile peace that has just begun to form.Bestselling author Lilith Saintcrow presents a timely and all-too-realistic glimpse of a future that we hope never comes to pass.For more from Lilith Saintcrow, check out:Cormorant RunBlood Call Bannon and ClareThe Iron Wyrm AffairThe Red Plague AffairThe Ripper AffairThe Damnation Affair (e-only)Dante Valentine NovelsWorking for the DevilDead Man RisingDevil's Right...