The Bookseller of Kabul

      Åsne Seierstad
     The Bookseller of Kabul

In spring 2002, following the fall of the Taliban, Åsne Seierstad spent four months living with a bookseller and his family in Kabul. For more than twenty years Sultan Khan defied the authorities—be they communist or Taliban—to supply books to the people of Kabul. He was arrested, interrogated and imprisoned by the communists, and watched illiterate Taliban soldiers burn piles of his books in the street. He even resorted to hiding most of his stock—almost ten thousand books—in attics all over Kabul. But while Khan is passionate in his love of books and his hatred of censorship, he also has strict views on family life and the role of women. As an outsider, Åsne Seierstad found herself in a unique position, able to move freely between the private, restricted sphere of the women—including Khan’s two wives—and the freer, more public lives of the men. It is an experience that Seierstad finds both fascinating and frustrating. As she steps back from the page and allows the Khans to speak for themselves, we learn of proposals and marriages, hope and fear, crime and punishment. The result is a genuinely gripping and moving portrait of a family, and a clear-eyed assessment of a country struggling to free itself from history.' to 'This mesmerizing portrait of a proud man who, through three decades and successive repressive regimes, heroically braved persecution to bring books to the people of Kabul has elicited extraordinary praise throughout the world and become a phenomenal international bestseller. The Bookseller of Kabul is startling in its intimacy and its details—a revelation of the plight of Afghan women and a window into the surprising realities of daily life in today’s Afghanistan.'

Read online

  • 723

    Joy in the Morning

      P. G. Wodehouse
     Joy in the Morning

Follow the adventures of Bertie Wooster and his gentleman’s gentleman, Jeeves, in this stunning new edition of one of the greatest comic novels in the English language. Steeple Bumphleigh is a very picturesque place. But for Bertie Wooster, it is a place to be avoided, containing not only the appalling Aunt Agatha but also her husband, the terrifying Lord Worplesdon. So when a certain amount of familial arm-twisting is applied, Bertie heads for the sticks in fear and trepidation despite the support of the irreplaceable Jeeves.

Read online

  • 723

    Outside Beauty

      Cynthia Kadohata
     Outside Beauty

"My mother had four daughters by four different men." There's only one way Shelby and her sisters can describe their mother: She's a sexpot. Helen Kimura collects men (and loans, spending money, and gifts of all kinds) from all over the country. Sure, she's not your typical role model, but she's also not just a pretty face and nail polish. She is confident and brave; she lives life on her own terms, and her four daughters simply adore her. These girls have been raised outside the traditional boundaries. They know how to take the back exit. They know how to dodge crazed lovers in highway car chases. They do not, however, know how to function without one another. Then suddenly they must. A late-night phone call unexpectedly shreds the family apart, catapulting the girls across the country to live with their respective fathers. But these strong-willed sisters are, like their mother, determined to live life on their own terms, and what they do to pull their family back together is nothing short of beautiful. At turns wickedly funny and insistently thought-provoking, Outside Beauty showcases Cynthia Kadohata's unerring ability to explore the bonds that bind.

Read online

  • 723

    Beauty Found

      Tillie Cole
     Beauty Found

EVEN IN HELL, THERE IS BEAUTY TO BE FOUND. There is life before the Hangmen. There is life before your soulmate is found. There is life even when all seems lost. Shane ‘Tank’ Rutherford is just seventeen when, escaping his father’s lethal fists, he ends up on the streets. Fighting for survival, he finds himself suddenly saved. Saved by a group that takes him under their wing. A group that everyone knows . . . the Texas Ku Klux Klan. Years later, Tank is disillusioned from the Klan and what they stand for. Recently released from prison, he is lost in a world he no longer knows. He is on his own. Until he picks up a woman hitchhiking on the side of a road. A beauty queen dressed in pink. Susan-Lee Stewart is done with the crowns. She’s done with the glitz and glamor of pageant life. And she’s done with the bruises . . . the bruises gifted by the one person who should love her unconditionally—her mother. Seconds after taking yet another pageant title, Susan-Lee makes a split decision and flees the stage. Flees the glossy life of a pageant queen, flees her violent mother . . . and jumps straight on the back of a tattooed muscled god’s motorcycle . . . And never looks back. As Susan-Lee holds tightly to Tank’s waist, neither of them know it’s a chance meeting that will change both their lives, and their hearts, forever. There are stories of how you find your other half. There are stories of how someone can save your soul when all hope is lost. Before they were Tank and Beauty, they were Shane and Susan-Lee. Two lost hearts who, together, were finally found. Contemporary dark romance. Contains scenes of violence, offensive language, mature topics and sexual situations. Beauty Found: A Novella (Hades Hangmen 6.5) is to be read AFTER Crux Untamed. Recommended for ages 18 and over.

Read online

  • 723

    Agnes Mallory

      Andrew Klavan
     Agnes Mallory

A chance encounter in the woods causes a recluse to dredge up old memoriesHe meets her in a stranger's backyard. Harry is a child walking home from school, and Agnes is a young girl playing in the creek behind her house. While their parents speak, the children play, and Agnes explains the supernatural. She uses cookie dough to make statues of ghosts, she tells him, which she sets free in the river. So begins an enchantment that will last the rest of Harry's life. Years later he is a disbarred lawyer, living a reclusive life outside a Westchester commuter town. Memories of Agnes, dead for a decade, haunt him. He befriends a shivering young runaway, an encounter which forces him to confront his past for the first time, unearthing a mystery which stretches back to the Holocaust, and revolves around that strange young girl he met so long ago.

Read online

  • 723

    The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die

      April Henry
     The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die

“Take her out back and finish her off.” She doesn’t know who she is. She doesn’t know where she is, or why. All she knows when she comes to in a ransacked cabin is that there are two men arguing over whether or not to kill her. And that she must run. In her riveting style, April Henry crafts a nail-biting thriller involving murder, identity theft, and biological warfare. Follow Cady and Ty (her accidental savior turned companion), as they race against the clock to stay alive.

Read online

  • 723

    Legends 3

      Robert Silverberg
     Legends 3

The great anthology of short novels by the masters of modern fantasy. Robert Jordan relates crucial events in the years leading up to The Wheel of Time in "New Spring." Ursula K. Le Guin adds a sequel to her famous books of Earthsea, portraying a woman who wants to learn magic, in "Dragonfly." Tad Williams tells a dark and enthralling story of a haunted castle in the age before Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, in "The Burning Man." Terry Pratchett relates an amusing incident in Discworld, of a magical contest and the witch Granny Weatherwax, in "The Sea and Little Fishes." Third volume of the three volume mass market reprint of the first Legends anthology

Read online

  • 723

    The Decameron (Day 1 to Day 5)

      Giovanni Boccaccio
     The Decameron (Day 1 to Day 5)

The Philosopher Zeno (Right Honourable, and my most worthily esteemed Lord) being demaunded on a time by what meanes a man might attaine to happinesse; made answere: By resorting to the dead, and having familiar conversation with them. Intimating thereby: The reading of ancient and moderne Histories, and endeavouring to learne such good instructions, as have bene observed in our Predecessors. A Question also was mooved by great King Ptolomy, to one of the learned wise Interpreters. In what occasions a King should exercise himselfe, whereto thus hee replyed: To know those things which formerly have bin done: And to read Bookes of those matters which offer themselves dayly, or are fittest for our instant affaires. And lastly, in seeking those things whatsoever, that make for a Kingdomes preservation, and the correction of evill manners or examples.Upon these good and warrantable grounds (most Noble Lord) beside many more of the same Nature, which I omit, to avoide prolixity, I dare boldly affirme, that such as are exercised in the reading of Histories, although they seeme to be but yong in yeares, and slenderly instructed in worldly matters: yet gravity and gray-headed age speaketh maturely in them, to the no meane admiration of common and vulgar judgement. As contrariwise, such as are ignorant of things done and past, before themselves had any being: continue still in the estate of children, able to speake or behave themselves no otherwise; and, even within the bounds of their Native Countries (in respect of knowledge or manly capacity) they are no more then well-seeming dumbe Images.In due consideration of the precedent allegations, and uppon the command, as also most Noble encouragement of your Honour from time to time; this Volume of singular and exquisite Histories, varied into so many and exact natures, appeareth in the worlds view, under your Noble patronage and defence, to be safely sheelded from foule-mouthed slander and detraction, which is too easily throwne upon the very best deserving labours.I know (most worthy Lord) that many of them have (long since) bene published before, as stolne from the first originall Author, and yet not beautified with his sweete stile and elocution of phrases, neither favouring of his singular morall applications. For, as it was his full scope and ayme, by discovering all Vices in their ugly deformities, to make their mortall enemies (the sacred Vertues) to shine the clearer, being set downe by them, and compared with them: so every true and upright judgement, in observing the course of these well-carried Novels, shall plainly perceive, that there is no spare made of reproofe in any degree whatsoever, where sin is embraced, and grace neglected; but the just deserving shame and punishment thereon inflicted, that others may be warned by their example. In imitation of witty Æsope; who reciteth not a Fable, but graceth it with a judicious morall application; as many other worthy Writers have done the like.For instance, let me heere insert one. A poore man, having a pike staffe on his shoulder, and travailing thorow a Countrey Village, a great Mastive Curre ran mainly at him, so that hardly he could defend himselfe from him. At the length, it was his chance to kill the Dogge: for which, the Owner immediately apprehending him, and bringing him before the Judge, alledged, that he had slaine his servant, which defended his life, house, and goods, and therefore challenged satisfaction. The Judge leaning more in favour to the Plaintiffe, as being his friend, neighbour, and familiar, then to the justice and equity of the cause; reprooved the poore fellow somewhat sharpely, and peremptorily commanded him, to make satisfaction, or els he would commit him to prison. That were injustice replyed the poore man, because I kilde the dogge in defence of mine owne life, which deserveth much better respect then a million of such Curres. Sirra, sirra, saide the Judge, then you should have turned the oth

Read online

  • 722

    Mail Order Millie

      Katie Crabapple
     Mail Order Millie

George has a hard time dealing with his farm and his four children after the death of his wife. When the ladies at his church raise money for a mail order bride for him, he doesn’t argue with them. Millie has a short time to find her own way in the world before she is kicked out of the orphanage where she was raised. George’s letter about his requirements for a bride fit in all ways but one.George has a hard time dealing with his farm and his four children after the death of his wife. When the ladies at his church raise money for a mail order bride for him, he doesn’t argue with them. He needs a caretaker for his family. Millie has a short time to find her own way in the world before she is kicked out of the orphanage where she was raised. George’s letter about his requirements for a bride fit in all ways but one. Will her lie keep them apart even after they’re married?

Read online

  • 722

    King Jesus

      Robert Graves
     King Jesus

King Jesus,is one of the most controversial historical novels of all time. In it, Robert Graves has summoned his superb narrative powers, his painstaking scholarship, his wit and unsurpassed ability to recreate the past, to produce a magnificent portrayal of the life of Christ on earth.

Read online

  • 722

    There Was a Knock at the Door

      LC Cooper
     There Was a Knock at the Door

How would you react if your family was violated by a trusted government agency? It happens every day ...We're all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at our shoes.It's 2010, and science has yet to discover how to harness electrical power. Amongst the young people, the music industry is everything you'd expect: ruthless, conceited, avaricious, shallow—save for only one difference: there is no way to amplify the human voice. Doctor John Doe has discovered a revolutionary new process to transform aspiring musicians into Singers. A few are brave enough to risk everything for fame and fortune—but at what cost?

Read online

  • 722

    Mary's Christmas Story Part 1

      Kathy Bosman
     Mary's Christmas Story Part 1

Have you ever wondered how Mary felt being pregnant with the Son of God? This is a short story of her romance with Joseph and her painful story in trying to convince her family that what was conceived in her was of the Holy Spirit.Disciples of the Damned A Biker Vampire SeriesShort story seriesDominic: Season 1 Episode OneAfter more than 200 years of horrific confinement in a steel coffin, vampire Dominic Kollar is released in the year 2012, only to find out that the rules have changed. Bounty Slayers are responsible for keeping Vampires in line.As Dom acclimates to the strange modern world, he discovers that he really likes two things: riding motorcycles and the sight of a mysterious, bewitching lady biker.Aided by an old vampire frenemy, Dom confronts human bikers in order to infiltrate their gang and find the object of his blood lust. As long as he can keep himself fed in this new world of challenges, Dominic Kollar will make a stand, avenge his past and attempt to destroy those who dared to cross his path.A longer short story with 10,800 words

Read online

  • 722

    A Burned-Over District

      Charles Hibbard
     A Burned-Over District

An alien spaceship touches down in the sage brush near a small mountain town – or does it? It might be a message from Heaven, a futuristic weapons test, Federal surveillance, or just a prank. The town's resident fundamentalist secular humanist thinks he can solve the problem, between changing diapers, visiting his ex-mistress, and trying to come to terms with his own mortality.An alien spaceship touches down in the sage brush near a small mountain town – or does it? Some in the town of Mildred think the spooky apparition is a message from Heaven, a futuristic weapons test, or maybe just a prank. In the view of the town's resident fundamentalist secular humanist, the town has gone nuts, and it's his duty to hold back the flood of crazy ideas while simultaneously changing diapers, visiting his ex-mistress, and tending to his dying cat. Not to mention that's he's recently begun to believe in his own mortality...

Read online

  • 722