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The Well Of Lost Plots: Thursday Next Book 3 (Thursday Next #3)
by Jasper FfordeThe third book in the phenomenal Thursday Next series from Number One bestselling author Jasper Fforde. In the words of one critic: 'Don't ask. Just read it.'Leaving Swindon behind her to hide out in the Well of Lost Plots (the place where all fiction is created), Thursday Next, Literary Detective and soon-to-be one parent family, ponders her next move from within an unpublished book of dubious merit entitled 'Caversham Heights'. Landen, her husband, is still eradicated, Aornis Hades is meddling with Thursday's memory, and Miss Havisham - when not sewing up plot-holes in 'Mill on the Floss' - is trying to break the land-speed record on the A409. But something is rotten in the state of Jurisfiction. Perkins is 'accidentally' eaten by the minotaur, and Snell succumbs to the Mispeling Vyrus. As a shadow looms over popular fiction, Thursday must keep her wits about her and discover not only what is going on, but also who she can trust to tell about it ... With grammasites, holesmiths, trainee characters, pagerunners, baby dodos and an adopted home scheduled for demolition, 'The Well of Lost Plots' is at once an addictively exciting adventure and an insight into how books are made, who makes them - and why there is no singular for 'scampi'.
The History of Texas: Made Up Of The History, Biography And Miscellany Of Texas And Its People (Fred H. And Ella Mae Moore Texas History Reprint Ser. #10)
by Robert A. Calvert Arnoldo De Leon Gregg CantrellThe History of Texas is fully revised and updated in this fifth edition to reflect the latest scholarship in its coverage of Texas history from the pre-Columbian era to the present. Fully revised to reflect the most recent scholarly findings Offers extensive coverage of twentieth-century Texas history Includes an overview of Texas history up to the Election of 2012 Provides online resources for students and instructors, including a test bank, maps, presentation slides, and more
Revenge: A Story Of 1920s Hollywood (Simon Serrailler)
by Susan HillA new Simon Serrailler short story from Susan Hill, throwing Simon into a case like no other: an effigy is hanging in the woods, and soldiers are on the run from demons in their pastSimon Serrailler is awoken into a hazy dawn by the sharp ringing of his phone. Called out to the scene, he’s told that there’s a body strung up in tranquil Harnham Woods. But on closer inspection it’s an effigy – a carefully made dummy, stirring in the breeze. Simon knows that this is no practical joke. It’s a message.The gruesome result of the search will show that he was right. And the trail will lead him into a dark history of deceit, subterfuge and the damaged lives of soldiers recently returned from Afghanistan. But the question remains: who has finally got their revenge?If you enjoyed 'Revenge', look out for the tenth Simon Serrailler thriller, The Benefit of Hindsight in October 2019
Filthy Shakespeare: Shakespeare's Most Outrageous Sexual Puns
by Pauline KiernanThe works of William Shakespeare contain at least 400 puns on male and female genitals. Despite the richness and breathtaking scope of his sexual language, too little attention has been paid to the sheer salacious inventiveness of his indecent puns - until now. His plays and poems pulsate with puns on body parts and what they do. Filthy Shakespeare presents over 70 sizzling examples of the Bard at his raciest, arranged under different categories from Balls to Buggery, from Cunnilingus to the Clap, from Homosexual to Transvestite. Each filthy Shakespearean passage is translated into modern English and the hidden sexual meanings of the words explained in a glossary. In her fascinating and lively Introduction, Pauline Kiernan shows how Shakespeare's sexual wordplay had its roots in the social and political reality of Elizabethan and Jacobean England, where the harsh facts of life were often disguised by bawdy, brutal punning, and in the era when the English secret service was born, deciphering secret codes became a national obsession.
Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts
by Lucy DillonBestselling author Lucy Dillon's heartwarming tale of unconditional love. Perfect for fans of Jojo Moyes and Katie Fforde. ROMANTIC NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2010.'Heart-warming, fun and romantic. Marley and Me fans will love it.' - CloserWhen the abandoned strays from a local dogs' home are matched with brand new owners, it turns out it might not just be the dogs who need rescuing.Rachel's aunt has left her a house, a Border Collie and, despite knowing nothing about dogs, a crowded kennel. But since her life has collapsed she's not sure she can deal with any more lost souls.Zoe's ex-husband has given their children a puppy. The kids are in love, but she's the one stuck training Toffee the impossible Labrador. She's nearly at the end of her tether - until Toffee leads her to a handsome doctor . . .Meanwhile Natalie and Johnny's marriage hasn't been easy since they started trying for a baby. But is a fridge-raiding, sofa-stealing Basset hound like Bertie really the child substitute they're looking for? As the new owners' paths cross on the town's dog-walking circuits, their lives become interwoven. And they - and their dogs - learn some important lessons about loyalty, companionship and unconditional love . . .
Picture Perfect
by Jodi PicoultTHE INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR'Picoult is a master manipulator, weaving gripping, dramatic plotlines. We defy you not to be gripped.' GlamourA woman is found in a graveyard in Los Angeles, unable to remember anything about herself or her life. No one is more surprised than she when her husband comes to the police station to take her home - and turns out to be Hollywood's leading film star. Bewildered by the perfect life that has been suddenly thrust upon her, Cassie finds herself living a dream. But there is something dark and disturbing behind this glamorous façade - and it is only as her memory gradually returns that it will all come crumbling down . . .Jodi's brand new novel, A SPARK OF LIGHT is publishing soon and is now available to pre-order!
Starship Troopers (S. F. Masterworks Ser.)
by Robert A. Heinlein5,000 years in the future, humanity faces total extermination. Our one defence: highly-trained soldiers who scour the metal-strewn blackness of space to hunt down a terrifying enemy: an insect life-form known only as 'Bugs.' This is the story of trooper Johnny Rico, from his idealistic enlistment in the infantry of the future through his rigorous training to the command of his own platoon. And his destiny is a war that will span the galaxy. Robert A. Heinlein announced himself as a master of modern science fiction with Starship Troopers, his controversial take on modern military politics. His best-known novels include The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Stranger in a Strange Land
Valley Boy: Adventures of the Renowned Venture Capitalist, Sillicon Valley Entrepreneur and One of the World's Most Successful Businessmen
by Tom PerkinsKnown for his idiosyncratic ideas and Midas touch, Tom Perkins, described by Newsweek as a titan of American business, is one of the business world s most intriguing figures. In Valley Boy he presents The truth as I see it, unvarnished, and as beautiful or ugly as you may find it and offers a fascinating, behind-the-scenes look at one of the most exciting and dynamic periods of technological and corporate development, revealing his involvement in the creation of American industries no one could have dreamed of a century ago.
Math Starters: 5- to 10-Minute Activities Aligned with the Common Core Math Standards, Grades 6-12
by Judith A. Muschla Gary Robert Muschla Erin MuschlaA revised edition of the bestselling activities guide for math teachers Now updated with new math activities for computers and mobile devices—and now organized by the Common Core State Standards—this book includes more than 650 ready-to-use math starter activities that get kids quickly focused and working as soon as they enter the classroom. Ideally suited for any math curriculum, these high-interest problems spark involvement in the day's lesson, help students build skills, and allow teachers to handle daily management tasks without wasting valuable instructional time. A newly updated edition of a bestselling title Ideal for math teachers in grades six through twelve Includes more than 650 ready-to-use starter problems
Foreign Body (Jack Stapleton and Laurie Montgomery #No. 8)
by Robin CookIn Robin Cook's Foreign Body, a series of unexplained deaths in foreign hospitals sends an idealistic medical student on a desperate search for answers.Jennifer Hernandez is a fourth-year medical student at UCLA whose world is shattered during an otherwise ordinary day. While half-listening to a news report on medical tourism, where first-world citizens travel to third-world countries for surgery, she hears her beloved grandmother’s name mentioned, and her own heart nearly stops: the reporter says Maria Suarez-Hernandez had died, a day after undergoing a hip replacement in New Delhi’s Queen Victoria Hospital. Maria raised Jennifer and her brothers from infancy, and their bond was unshakable. Still, the news that Maria had travelled to India is a shock to Jennifer, until she realizes it was the only viable option for the hardworking yet uninsured woman. Devastated, Jennifer takes emergency leave from school and heads to India, where relations with local officials go from sympathetic to sour as she presses for information. With the discovery of other unexplained deaths followed by hasty cremations, Jennifer reaches out to her mentor, New York City medical examiner Dr Laurie Montgomery. Laurie, along with her husband, Dr Jack Stapleton, rushes to the younger woman’s side. And as the death count grows, so do the questions, leading Laurie and Jennifer to unveil a sinister, multilayered conspiracy of global proportions.
Fall of Giants: Enhanced Edition (The Century Trilogy #1)
by Ken FollettThe first in Ken Follett's bestselling Century Trilogy, Fall of Giants is a captivating novel that follows five families through the world-shaking dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for votes for women.A world in chaos.1911, a thirteen-year-old boy, Billy Williams, begins working down the mines as George V is crowned king. The escalating arms race between the empire nations will put not only the king but this young boy in grave danger. A terrible war.Billy’s family is inextricably linked with the Fitzherberts, the aristocratic owners of the coal mine where he works. And when Maud Fitzherbert falls in love with Walter von Ulrich, a spy at the German embassy in London, their destiny also becomes entangled with that of Gus Dewar, an ambitious young aide to Woodrow Wilson, and two orphaned Russian brothers, the Peshkovs, whose plan to emigrate to America falls foul of conscription, revolution and imminent war.A revolution that will change everything.When Russia convulses in bloody revolution and the Great War unfolds, the five families’ futures are entwined forever, love bringing them closer even as conflict takes them further apart. What seeds will be sown for further tragedy in the twentieth century and what role will each play in what is to come?
Cure (Jack Stapleton and Laurie Montgomery #2)
by Robin CookThe master of the medical thriller Robin Cook returns with Cure, a heart-pounding crime mystery.With her young son’s potentially fatal neuroblastoma in complete remission, New York City medical examiner Laurie Montgomery returns to work at the Office of Chief Medical Examiner. Worried that she still has what it takes, Laurie finds her first case back to be a dangerous puzzler, involving organized crime and two start-up bio-tech companies caught in a zero-sum game. Satoshi Machita, a former Kyoto University researcher, is set to own a valuable patent controlling pluripotent stem cells destined to spark a trillion-dollar industry of regenerative medicine. When he dies on a crowded New York subway platform, Laurie must decide whether his death was natural – or something fiendish. Behind the scenes, there are people who would like to see Laurie as far away from the investigation as possible. Despite threats against her, Laurie presses on, until they extend to the person she loves most in the world: her son, JJ. Suddenly Laurie must face solving the crime – and saving her son’s life.
Death Benefit (A\medical Thriller Ser.)
by Robin CookDeath Benefit is an explosive thriller from New York Times bestselling author and master of the medical thriller Robin Cook.Pia Grazdani is an exceptional yet aloof medical student working closely with Columbia University Medical Center’s premier scientist. Their cutting edge research could revolutionize health care; creating replacement organs. Thorough her work with the brilliant molecular geneticist Dr Tobias Rothman, Pia knows she will not only be given the chance to fulfil her professional ambitions – but also maybe finally all push aside memories of her difficult, abusive childhood. However, tragedy strikes in the lab. Pia, with the help of infatuated classmate George Wilson, launches an investigation into the unforeseen calamity in the hospital’s supposedly secure biosafety lab. Meanwhile, two ex-Wall Street whiz-kids think they have found another lodestone in the nation’s multi-trillion dollar life insurance industry, and race to find ways to control the data – and make a killing. And as Pia and George dig deeper into the events at the lab, matters become increasingly suspicious . . .
Nano (A\medical Thriller Ser.)
by Robin CookFollowing Robin Cook's Death Benefit, in Nano embattled medical student Pia Grazdani decides to take a year off from her studies and escape New York City. Intrigued by the promise of the burgeoning field of medical technology, Pia takes a job at Nano, LLC, a lavishly funded, security-conscious nanotechnology institute in the picturesque foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. Nano, LLC is ahead of the curve in the competitive world of molecular manufacturing, including the construction of microbivores, tiny nano-robots with the ability to gobble up viruses and bacteria. But the corporate campus is a place of secrets. When Pia encounters a fellow employee on a corporate jogging path suffering the effects of a seizure, she soon realizes she may have literally stumbled upon one of Nano, LLC's human guinea pigs. Is the tech giant on the cusp of one of the biggest medical discoveries of the twenty-first century – a treatment option for millions – or have they already sold out to the highest bidder?
How to be Popular: When You're A Social Reject Like Me, Steph L
by Meg CabotSteph Landry's been a high school pariah – and the butt of every joke imaginable – ever since she spilt her red Super Big Gulp all over It Girl Lauren Moffat's white D&G mini-skirt. But now Steph's got a secret weapon – an ancient book, How to be Popular, which her soon-to-be step-grandmother once used to break into her A-crowd. All Steph has to do is follow the instructions in The Book and wait for the partying begin. But as Steph's about to discover, it's easy to become popular – it's less easy staying that way!How to be Popular is a heartwarming story of friendship and acceptance from Meg Cabot, author of The Princess Diaries.
The Lazarus Project
by Aleksandar HemonOn 2 March 1908, Lazarus Averbuch, a young Russian Jewish immigrant to Chicago, tried to deliver a letter to the city’s Chief of Police. He was shot dead. After the shooting, it was claimed he was an anarchist assassin and an agent of foreign operatives who wanted to bring the United States to its knees. His sister, Olga, was left alone and bereft in a city seething with tension. A century later, two friends become obsessed with the truth about Lazarus and decide to travel to his birthplace. As the stories intertwine, a world emerges in which everything and nothing has changed . . . 'Prose this powerful could wake the dead' Observer 'This is easily Hemon’s best work to date, an intricately tessellated portrait of flight, emigration, and the meaning of home' Evening Standard
Closing Time: A Memoir
by Joe QueenanBy turns hilarious and heartbreaking, Closing Time recounts Joe Queenan’s Irish Catholic upbringing in a family dominated by his erratic father, a violent yet oddly charming emotional terrorist whose alcoholism fuels a limitless torrent of self-pity, railing, destruction, and late-night chats with the Lord Himself. With the help of a series of mentors and surrogate fathers, and armed with his own furious love of books and music, Joe begins the long flight away from the dismal confines of his neighbourhood – with a brief misbegotten stop at a seminary – and into the wider world. Closing Time is an unforgettable account of the damage done to children by parents without futures and of the grace children find to move beyond these experiences. ‘Closing Time is unmistakably a tale of triumph, vindication and revenge . . . [an] enlightening account of the ways in which we are all, to some extent, casualties of our own childhoods.’ Sarah Churchwell, Guardian ‘A brutally executed coming-of-age story’ Esquire ‘Will have readers crying tears of both sorrow and hilarity’ Booklist
Scribbling the Cat: Travels with an African Soldier
by Alexandra FullerWhen Alexandra "Bo" Fuller was in Zambia a few years ago visiting her parents, she asked her father about a nearby banana farmer who was known for being a "tough bugger". Her father's response was a warning to steer clear of him: "Curiosity scribbled the cat," he told Bo. Nonetheless, Fuller began her strange friendship with the man she calls K, a white African and veteran of the Rhodesian War. With the same fiercely beautiul prose that won her such acclaim for Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, Fuller here recounts her friendship with K. He is, seemingly, a man of contradictions. Tattooed, battle-scarred, and weathered by farm work, K is a lion of a man, feral and bulletproof. Yet he is also a born-again Christian, given to weeping when he recollects his failed romantic life and welling up inside with memories of battle. For his war, like all wars, was a brutal one, marked by racial strife, jungle battles, brutal tortures, and the murdering of innocent civilians. Like all the veterans of the war, K has blood on his hands. Driven by K's memories, Fuller and K decide to enter the heart of darkness in the most literal way, by traveling from Zambia through Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) and Mozambique to visit the scenes of the war and to meet other veterans. What results from Fuller's journey is a remarkably unbiased and unsentimental glimpse at life in Africa, a land that besets its creatures with pests, plagues, and natural disasters, making the people there at once more hardened and more vulnerable than elsewhere.
The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China (The\cambridge China Library)
by Julia Lovell‘A gripping read as well as an important one.’ Rana Mitter, Guardian In October 1839, Britain entered the first Opium War with China. Its brutality notwithstanding, the conflict was also threaded with tragicomedy: with Victorian hypocrisy, bureaucratic fumblings, military missteps, political opportunism and collaboration. Yet over the past hundred and seventy years, this strange tale of misunderstanding, incompetence and compromise has become the founding episode of modern Chinese nationalism. Starting from this first conflict, The Opium War explores how China’s national myths mould its interactions with the outside world, how public memory is spun to serve the present, and how delusion and prejudice have bedevilled its relationship with the modern West. ‘Lively, erudite and meticulously researched’ Literary Review ‘An important reminder of how the memory of the Opium War continues to cast a dark shadow.’ Sunday Times
God is Dead
by Ron Currie'Disguised as a young Dinka woman, God came at dusk to a refugee camp in the North Dafur region of Sudan. He wore a flimsy cotton dress, battered leather sandals, hoop earrings, and a length of black-and-white beads around his neck.' So begins Ron Currie Jnr's blasphemous and heretical debut novel. God -- or Sora, as she's called -- has come to earth to experience its conflicts first hand, but of course, adopting a human form also means assuming human frailty and mortality, and when God is killed in action, so to speak, the nations of the world are stripped of all they once thought certain, everything they once held dear. Waves of panic, civil unrest and mass suicide sweep the globe -- but those who have survived the initial shock are subsequently even more shocked to find that life goes on. Somehow. And then, of course, they are faced with the dilema of how -- precisely -- to carry on living this new, God-less life of theirs; the question of who (or what) to believe in now God is dead. Like the holy grail of fiction, God is Dead is a debut novel that is truly -- and terrifyingly -- original. Both fantastic (in all senses of the word) and hypnotic, it promises to be the book of 2007 and beyond.
Hope: A Novel
by Shalom Auslander‘The humour, at times can leave you gasping . . . comic brilliance’ Sunday Times Solomon Kugel has had enough of the past and its burdens. So, in the hope of starting afresh, he moved his family to a small rural town where nothing of import has ever happened. Sadly, Kugel’s life isn’t that simple. His family soon find themselves threatened by a local arsonist and his ailing mother won't stop reminiscing about the Nazi concentration camps she didn’t actually suffer through. And when, one night, Kugel discovers a living, breathing, thought-to-be-dead specimen of history hiding in his attic, bad very quickly becomes worse. ‘Singularly inventive and superbly shocking . . . nothing short of genius’ Scotland on Sunday ‘He will make you laugh until your heart breaks’ New York Times Book Review
LAURA LAMONT'S LIFE IN PICTURES
by Emma StraubIrving snapped his fingers, so loudly that it echoed through the room, over all the chatting and flirting. Elsa was surprised that such a sharp, loud noise could come out of such a small person. "Laura Lamont," he said. "You want it? It's yours. Come see me when you're ready." When the most famous producer in 1930s Hollywood plucks Elsa Emerson from a party and gives her a brand-new name, a star of the silver screen is born. Step by step she succumbs to the consuming power of the studio. But her transformation is more profound than she could ever have foreseen . . .
The Vacationers
by Emma StraubTHE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERTwo weeks in a remote island villa with America's most dysfunctional family - what could possibly go wrong?It was set to be the family vacation of a lifetime.From Manhattan to Majorca, two weeks in a remote island villa, with the sort of relaxation, culture and cuisine that only Europe can offer. At least, that was Franny's plan. She wasn't counting on the extra baggage . . .Warm, wry and glowing with life, The Vacationers is a glorious novel of marriage, friendship, secrets, lies - and love.
Lie Down With Lions
by Ken FollettLie Down With Lions is the thrilling tale of suspense and deceit from master of the spy story, Ken Follett.A Dangerous RomanceIn Paris, rival spies Ellis and Jean-Pierre both fall in love with Jane, and all three become gripped in a tangled web of lust and deception as they battle terrorist conspiracies. Ultimately Jane can marry only one and chooses Jean-Pierre.A Fight for FreedomIn Afghanistan the Mujahedeen are fighting to free their country of the Soviet invasion and the newlyweds travel to the Valley of the Five Lions to help the cause as doctors. Fierce fighting means they must find a way out of the line of fire. A Perilous EscapeHelp unexpectedly comes in the form of her husband’s nemesis, Ellis, and knowing both men have dangerous secrets, Jane must once again choose who to trust if she is to make her escape over one of the most remote mountain ranges in the world . . .
Critical (Jack Stapleton Ser. #No. 7)
by Robin CookAngela Dawson, M.D., appears to have it all: at thirty-seven, she owns a fabulous New York City apartment, a stunning seaside house on Nantucket, and enjoys the perks of her prosperous lifestyle. With her controlling interest in three busy specialty hospitals in NYC and plans for others in Miami and Los Angeles, Angela's future looks very bright. But her climb to the top was rough, marked by a troubled childhood, a failed marriage, and the devastating blow of bankruptcy. Then a surge of drug-resistant staph infections in all three hospitals devastates Angela's carefully constructed world. Not only do the infections result in patient deaths, but the fatalities cause stock prices to tumble. Will Angela be able to hold her empire together? Newly married Medical examiners Laurie Montgomery and Jack Stapleton are professionally and personally intrigued by these deaths. With Jack facing surgery in one of the hospitals to repair a torn ligament, Laurie can't help investigating, opening a Pandora's box of corporate intrigue that threatens not just her livelihood, but her life with Jack as well.