Bridge of Sighs

      Richard Russo
     Bridge of Sighs

Louis Charles Lynch (also known as Lucy) is sixty years old and has lived in Thomaston, New York, his entire life. He and Sarah, his wife of forty years, are about to embark on a vacation to Italy. Lucy's oldest friend, once a rival for his wife's affection, leads a life in Venice far removed from Thomaston. Perhaps for this reason Lucy is writing the story of his town, his family, and his own life that makes up this rich and mesmerizing novel, interspersed with that of the native son who left so long ago and has never looked back. Bridge of Sighs, from the beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire Falls, is a moving novel about small-town America that expands Russo's widely heralded achievement in ways both familiar and astonishing. From the Trade Paperback edition.

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    Staring at the Sun

      Julian Barnes
     Staring at the Sun

Jean Serjeant, the heroine of Julian Barnes's wonderfully provocative novel, seems ordinary, but has an extraordinary disdain for wisdom. And as Barnes follows her from her childhood in the 1920s to her flight into the sun in the year 2021, he confronts readers with the fruits of her relentless curiosity: pilgrimages to China and the Grand Canyon; a catalog of 1940s sexual euphemisms; and a glimpse of technology in the twenty-first century (when The Absolute Truth can be universally accessed).

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    Morning and Evening Talk

      Naguib Mahfouz
     Morning and Evening Talk

This unusual epic from the Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz portrays five generations of one sprawling family against the upheavals of two centuries of modern Egyptian history.Set in Cairo, Morning and Evening Talk traces three related families from the arrival of Napoleon to the 1980s, through short character sketches arranged in alphabetical order. This highly experimental device produces a kind of biographical dictionary, whose individual entries come together to paint a vivid portrait of life in Cairo from a range of perspectives. The characters include representatives of every class and human type and as the intricate family saga unfolds, a powerful picture of a society in transition emerges. This is a tale of change and continuity, of the death of a traditional way of life and the road to independence and beyond, seen through the eyes of Egypt's citizens. Naguib Mahfouz's last chronicle of Cairo is both an elegy to a bygone era and a tribute to the Egyptian spirit. From the Trade Paperback edition.

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    What It Is Like to Go to War

      Karl Marlantes
     What It Is Like to Go to War

From the author of the New York Times bestseller Matterhorn, this is a powerful nonfiction book about the experience of combat and how inadequately we prepare our young men and women for war. War is as old as humankind, but in the past, warriors were prepared for battle by ritual, religion and literature -- which also helped bring them home. In a compelling narrative, Marlantes weaves riveting accounts of his combat experiences with thoughtful analysis, self-examination and his readings -- from Homer to the Mahabharata to Jung. He talks frankly about how he is haunted by the face of the young North Vietnamese soldier he killed at close quarters and how he finally finds a way to make peace with his past. Marlantes discusses the daily contradictions that warriors face in the grind of war, where each battle requires them to take life or spare life, and where they enter a state he likens to the fervor of religious ecstasy. Just as Matterhorn is already being acclaimed as a classic of war literature, What It Is Like To Go To War is set to become required reading for anyone -- soldier or civilian -- interested in this visceral and all too essential part of the human experience.

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    Doppler

      Erlend Loe
     Doppler

A bestseller in Scandinavia -- Doppler is the enchanting, subversive, and very unusual story about one man and his moose. This beguiling modern fable tells the story of a man who, after the death of his father, abandons his home, his family, his career, and the trappings of civilization for a makeshift tent in the woods where he adopts a moose-calf named Bongo. Or is it Bongo who adopts him? Together they devote themselves, with some surprising results, to the art of carefree living. Hilarious, touching, and poignant in equal measure -- you will read it with tear-stained cheeks and sore sides -- Doppler is also a deeply subversive novel and a strong criticism of modern consumer culture.

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    Changing Forever

      Lisa De Jong
     Changing Forever

I’ve always let my past dictate my future, letting it paint a picture of exactly what I don’t want to be. Where I don’t want to end up. Drake Chambers is as arrogant as I am stubborn. A college quarterback, a national star. I thought he was just another one of those guys … the type every girl should stay away from, but he’s carrying more than the weight of the football team on his shoulders. He unravels the feelings and beliefs I’ve held onto for so long. I thought we had it all figured out. Two people who’d finally found their happily ever after, but the past always has a way of sneaking into the present. With one decision, everything changes … forever.

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    Peter Pan Must Die

      John Verdon
     Peter Pan Must Die

In John Verdon’s most sensationally twisty novel yet, ingenious puzzle solver Dave Gurney brings his analytical brilliance to a shocking murder that couldn’t have been committed the way the police say it was. The daunting task that confronts Gurney, once the NYPD’s top homicide cop: determining the guilt or innocence of a woman already convicted of shooting her charismatic politician husband -- who was felled by a rifle bullet to the brain while delivering the eulogy at his own mother’s funeral.  Peeling back the layers, Gurney quickly finds himself waging a dangerous battle of wits with a thoroughly corrupt investigator, a disturbingly cordial mob boss, a gorgeous young temptress, and a bizarre assassin whose child-like appearance has earned him the nickname Peter Pan. Startling twists and turns occur in rapid-fire sequence, and soon Gurney is locked inside one of the darkest cases of his career – one in which multiple murders are merely the deceptive surface under which rests a scaffolding of pure evil.  Beneath the tangle of poisonous lies, Gurney discovers that the truth is more shocking than anyone had imagined. And the identity of the villain at the mystery’s center turns out to be the biggest shock of all.

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    Period 8

      Chris Crutcher
     Period 8

In this full-length novel from Chris Crutcher, his first since the best-selling Deadline, the ultimate bully and the ultimate good guy tangle during Period 8. Paul "the Bomb" Baum tells the truth. No matter what. It was something he learned at Sunday School. But telling the truth can cause problems, and not minor ones. And as Paulie discovers, finding the truth can be even more problematic. Period 8 is supposed to be that one period in high school where the truth can shine, a safe haven. Only what Paulie and Hannah (his ex-girlfriend, unfortunately) and his other classmates don't know is that the ultimate bully, the ultimate liar, is in their midst. Terrifying, thought-provoking, and original, this novel combines all the qualities of a great thriller with the controversy, ethics, and raw emotion of a classic Crutcher story.

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    Knight of Darkness

      Kinley MacGregor
     Knight of Darkness

For countless centuries, I've been the assassin for the infamous Merlin, even though the woman who birthed me sits at the right hand of our enemy, Morgen le Fey. Now both my mother and Morgen have decided that it's time I take my place on their side of this conflict. Normally, telling them no wouldn't be a problem, except for the fact that the good guys I protect think that I'm an even worse demon than the ones we fight. Hmm, maybe they're right. I have to say that I do enjoy maiming anyone who gets in my way. At least until my mother gives me a simple choice: join Morgen's Circle of the Damned or see an innocent woman die. I'm all for saving the innocent, but Merewyn isn't as innocent as she seems. And she's none too fond of the fact that her fate is in my dubious hands. Personally I'm all for taking the easy way out, but leaving her to Morgen is rough, even for me. Now the only way to save both our lives is to face the evilest forces ever known—my mother and Morgen. And two people who know nothing of trust must learn to rely on each other or die: provided we don't kill each other first.

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    The Black Widow

      Daniel Silva
     The Black Widow

#1 New York Times bestselling author Daniel Silva delivers another spellbinding international thriller—one that finds the legendary Gabriel Allon grappling with an ISIS mastermind.Gabriel Allon, the art restorer, spy, and assassin described as the most compelling fictional creation "since Ian Fleming put down his martini and invented James Bond" (Rocky Mountain News), is poised to become the chief of Israel's secret intelligence service. But on the eve of his promotion, events conspire to lure him into the field for one final operation. ISIS has detonated a massive bomb in the Marais district of Paris, and a desperate French government wants Gabriel to eliminate the man responsible before he can strike again.Acclaimed novelist Daniel Silva has thrilled, entertained and educated readers with eighteen thoughtful and gripping spy novels featuring a diverse cast of compelling characters and ingenious plots that...

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    Alpha Moon (Silver Moon, #0.5)

      Rebecca A. Rogers
     Alpha Moon (Silver Moon, #0.5)

Find out where Candra and Ben's ancestors came from, and how the werewolf curse came to pass, in this prequel to SILVER MOON.First love.First kiss.First . . . werewolf bite?Five hundred years ago, brothers Alaric and Ulric worked tirelessly on their father’s farm to keep mouths fed and sell remaining crops for scanty wages. With a rebellion stirring in northern England and a country at war over the throne, the heavy gloom felt for so long by brothers Alaric and Ulric finally dissipates when a new family settles into town.Daciana’s parents uproot her from London to begin a new life in Colchester. Here, she won’t be whisked off to decorative parties and elegant balls; she’ll have to put forth effort into back-breaking labor. But her thoughts of eloping from the quaint town subside when she meets Ulric. Together, it’s as if they’re exactly where they should be. During a late-night hunt for a wolf, Ulric and Daciana are attacked. Before their bodies can fully succumb to the wild animal inside, the town witch claims she holds the cure. Instead of healing their wounds, she places a curse on Ulric and Daciana, so they must live with who they truly are. In a town where secrets can’t be kept and betrayal runs thick, Ulric and Daciana are hunted for the monsters they’ve become, even by those they love.

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    Shep Dreams of Home

      Jason Matthews
     Shep Dreams of Home

It's a bedtime story and a children's story for all of us. Shep, an unwanted puppy with a big head and long teeth, is rejected by his owners for accidentally bumping into things, including them. All he wants is a good and loving home. Instead, he finds himself out on his own in a dangerous world.It's a bedtime story and a children's story for all of us. Shep, an unwanted puppy with a big head and long teeth, is rejected by his owners for accidentally bumping into things, including them.All he wants is a good and loving home. Instead, he finds himself out on his own in a dangerous world. His goal of finding someone who will accept him as he is, lands him in the home of the Lonely Man.Together, the two experience the joys of friendship. As Shep grows into his big head and teeth, he saves the day by using his natural gifts against an intruder.A feel good story for any age, perfect for an inspiring bedtime read for young kids.1,222 words.

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    My Very UnFairy Tale Life: Jenny’s First Adventure

      Anna Staniszewski
     My Very UnFairy Tale Life: Jenny’s First Adventure

How does an average girl become a magical adventurer, anyway? Travel back three years to see how Jenny's adventures first began in this short prequel to My Very UnFairy Tale Life! (Includes fun UnFairy bonus content!)Can a shy artist gain the upper hand in a face-off against her domineering twin?Will paint cans fly as two teams from vastly different backgrounds butt heads?Will a fun-loving volunteer find the courage to carve his own path?Follow three teens as they grapple with issues of love, loss, friendship, identity, and harbored prejudices in a race against time to complete their artwork in the 2nd Annual National High School Fresco Painting Competition.

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