![]() ![]() They have fled Miriam’s husband, escaping the violence he has inflicted on her for years. The story opens with Miriam North and her daughters Joan and Mya arriving at the family home in Memphis, where Miriam’s sister August still lives. A family tree contains multitudes.īut what of the setting? Readers of Memphis will find no shortage there, either. We can’t know where this family is going to take us, but we know there will be complexity and depth. ![]() These names, each with their birth, marriage, and death dates, are spread before the reader like a map. Stringfellow’s debut novel Memphis opens with the North family tree, simply but beautifully designed. While a map might do all these things, I tend to favor a different introduction to a book’s world: a family tree. To them, the map represents the imaginative world built by the author, one full of complexities and depth and a setting so fully realized as to require its own geography. There are readers who claim that every great novel must have a map in the front. ![]()
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![]() ![]() ![]() In an attempt to demonstrate Soviet strength, SMERSH plans to sabotage an international Grand Prix in the hot zone of West Germany. Meanwhile, the struggle for superiority between the Soviet Union and the West is escalating. As they settle down in London, the odds of Galore taming the debonair bachelor seem slim-but she herself is a creature not so easily caught. By his side is the glamorous and streetwise Pussy Galore, who played no small part in his success. The world's most famous spy, James Bond, has just returned victorious from his showdown with Auric Goldfinger in Fort Knox. Incorporating original, never-before-published material from 007 creator Ian Fleming, New York Times bestselling author Anthony Horowitz returns literary legend James Bond to his 1950s heyday in this exhilarating and dashing thriller. ![]() ![]() ![]() Farrow’s narrative is richly informed by interviews with whistleblowers, policymakers, and a warlord, from Henry Kissinger to Hillary Clinton. His firsthand experience in the State Department affords a personal look at some of the last standard-bearers of traditional statecraft, including Richard Holbrooke, who made peace in Bosnia and died while trying to do so in Afghanistan. In an astonishing account ranging from Washington, D.C., to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and North Korea in the years since 9/11, acclaimed journalist and former diplomat Ronan Farrow illuminates one of the most consequential and poorly understood changes in American history. We’re becoming a nation that shoots first and asks questions later. Offices across the State Department sit empty, while abroad the military-industrial complex has assumed the work once undertaken by peacemakers. ![]() ![]() ![]() Gordon emphasizes the crucial role of materials selection in structural design. “Engineering is the art of organizing and directing men, and of controlling the forces and materials of nature for the benefit of the human race.” Materials Selection in Structural Design Using a blend of historical anecdotes, scientific explanations, and real-world examples, Gordon presents a comprehensive overview of the fundamental concepts that underpin the design and construction of structures. Gordon, takes readers on a journey through the various structures that surround us, from bridges and buildings to airplanes and even living organisms. Through a series of engaging and thought-provoking discussions, the author, J.E. “Structures: Or Why Things Don’t Fall Down” is an insightful and informative book that explores the principles of engineering, materials science, and physics. ![]() ![]() I loved how the Western and the Middle Eastern settings meshed seamlessly, allowing Amani to showcase her powerful alter ego to fight against female oppression by her male counterparts. But she’s also trying to escape her fate of becoming one of her uncle’s many wives, so she dresses as a boy and becomes the famed “Blue Eyed Bandit”, entering into competitions to try and win her way out. ![]() Rebel of the Sands combines a rich desert setting with a Western flavour, with Amani as a sharpshooter from Dustwalk. ![]() And she'd never have predicted she'd fall in love with him.or that he'd help her unlock the powerful truth of who she really is. But in all her years spent dreaming of leaving home, she never imagined she'd gallop away on a mythical horse, fleeing the murderous Sultan's army, with a fugitive who's wanted for treason. When she meets Jin, a mysterious and devastatingly handsome foreigner, in a shooting contest, she figures he’s the perfect escape route. But there's nothing mystical or magical about Dustwalk, the dead-end town that Amani can't wait to escape from.ĭestined to wind up "wed or dead," Amani’s counting on her sharpshooting skills to get her out of Dustwalk. ![]() Mortals rule the desert nation of Miraji, but mystical beasts still roam the wild and barren wastes, and rumor has it that somewhere, djinni still practice their magic. She’s more gunpowder than girl-and the fate of the desert lies in her hands. ![]() Published by Allen & Unwin on March 8th 2016 ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() I devoured the book in one day (in-between family gatherings and kids). And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope. Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. ![]() But when a big science conference goes haywire, putting Olive's career on the Bunsen burner, Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support and even more unyielding.six-pack abs. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford's reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor-and well-known ass. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees. ![]() Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after was always going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks: Scientists require proof. When a fake relationship between scientists meets the irresistible force of attraction, it throws one woman's carefully calculated theories on love into chaos.Īs a third-year PhD candidate, Olive Smith doesn't believe in lasting romantic relationships-but her best friend does, and that's what got her into this situation. The Instant New York Times Best Seller and TikTok Sensation! Now see Adam pine for Olive in a special bonus chapter! ![]() ![]() Against all odds, she came to believe in God and then, even more miraculously, in herself. ![]() Lamott's faith isn't about easy answers, which is part of what endears her to believers as well as nonbelievers. And Traveling Mercies is a welcome return to those lives, as well as an introduction to new companions Lamott treats with the same candor, insight, and tenderness. The people in Anne Lamott's real life are like beloved characters in a favorite series for her readers-her friend Pammy, her son, Sam, and the many funny and wise folks who attend her church are all familiar. Since Operating Instructions and Bird by Bird, her fans have been waiting for her to write the book that explained how she came to the big-hearted, grateful, generous faith that she so often alluded to in her two earlier nonfiction books. Anne Lamott claims the two best prayers she knows are: "Help me, help me, help me" and "Thank you, thank you, thank you." She has a friend whose morning prayer each day is "Whatever," and whose evening prayer is "Oh, well." Anne thinks of Jesus as "Casper the friendly savior" and describes God as "one crafty mother."ĭespite-or because of-her irreverence, faith is a natural subject for Anne Lamott. ![]() ![]() In Africa, you do not view death from the auditorium of life, as a spectator, but from the edge of the stage, waiting only for your cue. The urgent, tugging winds themselves seem to whisper the message, memento mori, you too shall die. With more Zimbabweans dying in their early thirties now, mortality has a seat at every table. ![]() In my part of Africa, death is never far away. ![]() The origin of my permanent sense of unease, my general foreboding, is probably the fact that I have lived through just such change, such a sudden and violent upending of value systems. I always have the sense there that there is no equilibrium, that everything perpetually teeters on the brink of some dramatic change, that society constantly stands poised for some spasm, some tsunami in which you can do nothing but hope to bob up to the surface and not be sucked out into a dark and hungry sea. Most of us struggle in life to maintain the illusion of control, but in Africa that illusion is almost impossible to maintain. ![]() When I am back in New York, Africa immediately seems fantastical – a wildly plumaged bird, as exotic as it is unlikely. My head bulges with the effort to contain both worlds. “I feel to that the gap between my new life in New York and the situation at home in Africa is stretching into a gulf, as Zimbabwe spirals downwards into a violent dictatorship. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() I approached Rogue Justice with some trepidation because I had read what some reviewers on this website have said about it ("Like Rambo" for example). Rogue Male is a magnificent novel and one of the best spy thrillers (or thrillers of any kind, come to think of it) that I have ever read. Household also published an autobiography, 'Against the Wind' (1958), and several collections of short stories, which he himself considered his best work. In his later years, he lived in Charlton, near Banbury, Oxfordshire, and died in Wardington. After the War he lived the life of a country gentleman and wrote. During World War II, Household served in the Intelligence Corps in Romania and the Middle East. ![]() in English from Magdalen College, Oxford, and between 19 worked in commerce abroad, moving to the US in 1929. Household's fast-paced story foreshadowed such international bestsellers as Richard Condon's thriller 'The Manchurian Candidate' (1959), Frederick Forsyth's 'The Day of the Jackal' (1971), and Ken Follett's 'Eye of the Needle' (1978). Among his best-know works is' Rogue Male' (1939), a suggestive story of a hunter who becomes the hunted, in 1941 filmed by Fritz Lang as 'Man Hunt'. Household's flight-and-chase novels, which show the influence of John Buchan, were often narrated in the first person by a gentleman-adventurer. ![]() British author of mostly thrillers, though among 37 books he also published children's fiction. ![]() ![]() ![]() I dislike strange, cutesy spellings - no offense if you like them or your name is a unique spelling of a more common name. Only I read the book pronouncing it like how it’s spelled, with the short A sound. But for the first time in a lifetime of following the rules, Kahlen is determined to follow her heart.Īpparently Kahlen is pronounced like Kaylin, with a long A sound. Handsome, caring, and kind, Akinli is everything Kahlen ever dreamed of.įalling in love with a human breaks the Ocean’s rules. Kahlen is resigned to finishing her sentence in solitude…until she meets Akinli. ![]() Though a single word from Kahlen can kill, she can’t resist spending her days on land, watching ordinary people and longing for the day when she will be able to speak and laugh and live freely among them again. To repay her debt, she has served as a Siren ever since, using her voice to lure countless strangers to their deaths. Years ago, Kahlen was rescued from drowning by the Ocean. ![]() From Kiera Cass, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Selection series, comes a sweeping stand-alone fantasy romance. ![]() |