TransAtlantic

      Colum McCann
     TransAtlantic

Emily Ehrlich watches as two young airmen, Alcock and Brown, emerge from the carnage of the First World War to pilot the very first non-stop transatlantic flight from Newfoundland to the west of Ireland. Among the letters being carried on the aircraft is one which will not be opened for almost a hundred years. 1998. Senator George Mitchell criss-crosses the ocean in search of an elusive Irish peace. How many more bereaved mothers and grandmothers must he meet before an agreement can be reached? 1845. Frederick Douglass, a black American slave, lands in Ireland to champion ideas of democracy and freedom, only to find a famine unfurling at his feet. On his travels he inspires a young maid to go to New York to embrace a free world, but the land does not always fulfill its promises for her. From the violent battlefields of the Civil War to the ice lakes of northern Missouri, it is her youngest daughter Emily who eventually finds her way back to Ireland. Can we pass from the new world to the old? How does the past shape the future? In Transatlantic, National Book Award-winning Colum McCann has achieved an outstanding act of literary bravura. Intricately crafted, poetic and deeply affecting it weaves together personal stories to explore the fine line between what is real and what is imagined, between fiction and non-fiction and between promise and memory.

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    A Dance of Folly and Pleasure: Stories

      O. Henry
     A Dance of Folly and Pleasure: Stories

Step into the boarding houses and furnished rooms of New York City, or take a stroll around the park. Observe the tumult and glitter of Broadway on a Saturday night, and browse the silken stockings in Manhattan's most exclusive store. Hop onto the Coney Island ferry to join the lovesick shop-girl, the drunken down-and-out and the secret millionaire in the city's dance of folly and pleasure. Bringing to life the glamour and squalor of the 1900s, O. Henry's unmistakable tales are by turns hilarious or tragic, but always deeply poignant.

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    A Change in Altitude

      Anita Shreve
     A Change in Altitude

Margaret and Patrick have been married just a few months when they set off on what they hope will be a great adventure-a year living in Kenya. Margaret quickly realizes there is a great deal she doesn't know about the complex mores of her new home, and about her own husband. A British couple invites the newlyweds to join on a climbing expedition to Mount Kenya, and they eagerly agree. But during their harrowing ascent, a horrific accident occurs. In the aftermath of the tragedy, Margaret struggles to understand what happened on the mountain and how these events have transformed her and her marriage, perhaps forever. A Change in Altitude illuminates the inner landscape of a couple, the irrevocable impact of tragedy, and the elusive nature of forgiveness. With stunning language and striking emotional intensity, Anita Shreve transports us to the exotic panoramas of Africa and into the core of our most intimate relationships.

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    Naïve. Super

      Erlend Loe
     Naïve. Super

Troubled by an inability to find any meaning in his life, the 25-year-old narrator of this deceptively simple novel quits university and eventually arrives at his brother's New York apartment. In a bid to discover what life is all about, he writes lists. He becomes obsessed by time and whether it actually matters. He faxes his meteorologist friend. He endlessly bounces a ball against the wall. He befriends a small boy who lives next door. He yearns to get to the bottom of life and how best to live it. Funny, friendly, enigmatic and frequently poignant - superbly naive.

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    Panda-monium

      Stuart Gibbs
     Panda-monium

Teddy Fitzroy returns as FunJungle's resident sleuth when the zoo's newest addition goes missing—before she even arrives!—in Panda-monium, the latest novel in Stuart Gibbs's FunJungle series.FunJungle is frenzied, awaiting the arrival of its most thrilling animal yet—Li Ping—a rare and very expensive giant panda that the zoo went to enormous lengths to secure. But when the truck transporting Li Ping shows up, its precious cargo has vanished into thin air. The FBI steps in to investigate, and Teddy is happy to leave the job in their (supposedly) capable hands. After all, FunJungle has never encountered a crime this serious. But when someone threatens to blackmail Teddy's girlfriend, Summer, if he doesn't solve the crime, his involvement in this mystery is no longer black and white.

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    Out: A Schoolboy's Tale

      David Brining
     Out: A Schoolboy's Tale

When 15 year old Jonathan Peters falls in love for the first time, it is as unwelcome as it is unexpected because he falls in love with another boy. As his love deepens, his internal struggle with being homosexual spills into the open, impacting on his relationships with family, friends and teachers, who must all adjust their ambitions for him and the way they relate to himOut: A Schoolboy’s TaleWhen 15 year old Jonathan Peters falls in love for the first time, it is as unwelcome as it is unexpected because he falls in love with another boy. As his love deepens, his internal struggle with being homosexual spills into the open, impacting on his relationships with family, friends and teachers, who must all adjust their ambitions for him and the way they relate to him.

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    Insatiable Thirst

      Teresa Balin
     Insatiable Thirst

A normal, everyday worker is overcome by an insatiable thirst. Finding no outlet big enough to cure his thirst, it leads him from the water cooler, to draining a swimming pool, and to Niagra Falls, where he meets his ultimate doom.In the dying days of the Song Empire, Lian Flame would like nothing more than to end the man who murdered her parents. Her sister, Lian Jiang, would be content to forget. When Swordsman Xiang intrudes into their lives at Yongtai, the sisters find themselves confronting their familial enemy--and each other.Inspired by Chinese wuxia novels, Meandering River, Ardent Flame aims to incorporate the fast-moving martial arts action and riveting historical aspects of this genre into an entertaining and accessible drama.

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    Livingstone Saga, Book One: Birth

      Janell Rhiannon
     Livingstone Saga, Book One: Birth

Christianity has kept many secrets through the ages and none more powerful than the soulless exorcists: the GARGOYLES. Secretly carved from a cache of consecrated livingstone in the twelfth century, the gargoyle, Celestino, is brought to life by his Maker, a young woman called Iseo. Will he obey the required oath or betray everyone to follow his own desires?Christianity has kept many secrets through the ages and none more powerful than the soulless exorcists: the GARGOYLES. Secretly carved from a cache of consecrated livingstone in the twelfth century, the gargoyle, Celestino, is brought to life by his Maker, a young woman called Iseo. Once Celestino’s first breath is taken, his birth into the new world is complete and his training must begin. He is sequestered for his own safety in the hidden halls of the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela in España. There he learns about the world of man and their Heaven, existing for forty days as a man of flesh & blood, before resting for seven days as a stone chimera. Because he has been birthed by mortal hands, Celestino is a soulless creature with a powerful free will. He must choose to obey the Codex of Gargoyles, or become the very thing he was meant to destroy.Will he obey the required oath or betray everyone to follow his own desires? This book is for those who love:• gargoyles• historical fiction• the world of demons and angels• true love

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    Parable of the Promise

      Lowell Uda
     Parable of the Promise

A childless couple, the Man of the Forest and the Woman of the Forest, spend many happy years caring for God's creation but nurture one sadness in their life together. God makes them a promise: "Some day you will care not only for the trees, waterways and creatures of the forest, but also for your own children." But the years go by and the old couple remain barren.A Speculative Fiction Anthology.A haunted Ferris wheel...enchanted dice...the accidental end of the world...a doomed wartime love affair...the last tree on Earth...Five authors conjure imaginative tales to tickle your fancy and haunt your dreams. The fifteen stories in this collection will amuse, challenge, frighten, and always surprise. Open the book. Turn the page. You'll never know what's coming.

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    Shattered

      Stephanie D. Mitchell
     Shattered

The typical California girl is living her dream, when her mom takes a new job, which involves leaving Los Angeles. When tragedy strikes in the family, Jessica is forced to step up her game and change her attitude from brat to adult. While completing everyday task things go from bad to worst. Her outlook on things soon change quickly and Jessica chooses between life and death.What could have caused the dragons to decide they are tired of being pushed around by lesser beings? For the first time they've chosen to spread their wings and have taken over the second largest city in the Dwarven kingdom. Join with the Magical Seven as they react to this revolt.More than any other time in their history the Dwarves need heroes, a crazy inventor and his family are the ones who step up to the challenge. Dr. Kilgen is a Dwarf on a mission. Since the dragons attacked his village he has spent every minute that he isn’t saving Dwarves at the hospital inventing steam powered machines of mass dragon destruction.Can the Dwarven Dragon Hunters of THE DIRGE and the Magical Seven put down the dragon uprising and reclaim their fallen city? Or will the dragon's fire ultimately leave their inventions in a cloud of smoke?

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    Contra Ricardo: An Essay

      Edward E. Rochon
     Contra Ricardo: An Essay

David Ricardo and his ideas attacked: tariffs, free trade, comparative advantage in production, Iron Law of Wages discussed and refuted. Social issues and human nature looked at from historical and common sense perspective.A preface notes some basic concepts of David Ricardo and his background. Chapter 1 deals with comparative advantage as an economic theory. It notes that the real problem is the dissemination of wisdom, not a lack of specialization of labor. It notes that specialization results in economic problems, social strife, injustices of every sort. It notes that it hides the real source of wealth, the wisdom that guides labor and makes it worthwhile. Chapter 2 gives reasons why excessive division of labor has drawbacks that actually reduce wealth, ruin men's lives, passes the blame onto labor for faults in production, when the real problem lies in management. Chapter 3 discusses briefly the Iron Law of Wages. It maintains that employers are well advised to keep loyal employees by protecting their income to the benefit of both employer and employee, and the forces undermining this commonsense behavior. Chapter 4 discusses tariffs, the advantages of tariffs, how free trade can produce trouble, reduction in wealth. It notes how free trade hides the value of free dissemination of ideas as the real generator of wealth. I use the American tariff policy of the nineteenth century to illustrate the problems of the tariff.

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    Taming the Star Runner

      S. E. Hinton
     Taming the Star Runner

The classic YA story of a boy, a horse, and pursuit of a dream. TAMING THE STAR RUNNER written by celebrated novelist S.E. Hinton, now available as an eBook for the first time.With an absent mother and a domineering step-father, Travis uses his tough-guy exterior to hide his true passion: writing. After a violent confrontation with his step-father, Travis is sent to live on his uncle’s horse ranch - exile to a born-and-bred city kid. Angry and yearning for a connection, Travis befriends Casey, the horse-riding instructor at the ranch, and the un-tamable horse in her stable: the Star Runner. When a friend from the city visits with stories of other kids from the neighborhood facing jail time, Travis is more determined than ever that he needs to escape the life of juvenile delinquency he seems destined for. When the offer of a book deal comes through, Travis is hopeful that this is his chance to escape, if only his step-father will stop standing in the way of his dreams.From the author of THE OUTSIDERS, S.E. Hinton once again writes about what it feels like to be unaccepted, and the power in being true to yourself.“Hinton continues to grow more reflective in her books, but her great understanding, not of what teenagers are but of what they can hope to be, is undiminished.”—Kirkus ReviewsAn ALA Best Books for Young AdultsAn ALA Quick Pick

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    Call Me Irresistible

      Susan Elizabeth Phillips
     Call Me Irresistible

R.S.V.P. to the most riotous wedding of the year.... Lucy Jorik is the daughter of a former president of the United States. Meg Koranda is the offspring of legends. One of them is about to marry Mr. Irresistible—Ted Beaudine—the favorite son of Wynette, Texas. The other is not happy about it and is determined to save her friend from a mess of heartache. But even though Meg knows that breaking up her best friend's wedding is the right thing to do, no one else seems to agree. Faster than Lucy can say "I don't", Meg becomes the most hated woman in town—a town she's stuck in with a dead car, an empty wallet, and a very angry bridegroom. Broke, stranded, and without her famous parents at her back, Meg is sure she can survive on her own wits. What's the worst that can happen? Lose her heart to the one and only Mr. Irresistible? Not likely. Not likely at all. Call Me Irresistible is the book Susan Elizabeth Phillips's readers and listeners have long awaited. Ted, better known as "little Teddy", the nine-year-old heartbreak kid from Phillips's first best seller, Fancy Pants, and as "young Teddy," the hunky new college graduate in Lady Be Good, is all grown up now—along with Lucy from First Lady and Meg from What I Did for Love. They're ready to take center stage in a saucy, funny, and highly addictive tale fans will love.

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    The Paris Vendetta

      Steve Berry
     The Paris Vendetta

BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Steve Berry’s The Columbus Affair and a Cotton Malone dossier. When Napoleon Bonaparte died in exile in 1821, he took to the grave a powerful secret. As general and emperor, he had stolen immeasurable riches from palaces, national treasuries, and even the Knights of Malta and the Vatican. In his final days, his British captors hoped to learn where the loot lay hidden. But he told them nothing, and in his will he made no mention of the treasure. Or did he? Former Justice Department operative Cotton Malone isn't looking for trouble when it comes knocking at his Copenhagen bookshop. Actually, it breaks and enters in the form of an American Secret Service agent with a pair of assassins on his heels. Malone has his doubts about the anxious young man, but narrowly surviving a ferocious firefight convinces him to follow his unexpected new ally. Their first stop is the secluded estate of Malone's good friend, Henrik Thorvaldsen. The wily Danish tycoon has uncovered the insidious plans of the Paris Club, a cabal of multimillionaires bent on manipulating the global economy. Only by matching wits with a terrorist-for-hire, foiling a catastrophic attack, and plunging into a desperate hunt for Napoleon's legendary lost treasure can Malone hope to avert international financial anarchy. But Thorvaldsen's real objective is much more personal: to avenge the murder of his son by the larcenous aristocrat at the heart of the conspiracy. Thorvaldsen's vendetta places Malone in an impossible quandary—one that forces him to choose between friend and country, past and present. Starting in Denmark, moving to England, and ending up in the storied streets and cathedrals of Paris, Malone plays a breathless game of duplicity and death, all to claim a prize of untold value. But at what cost?

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