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Selections from Fragile Things, Volume Five
Selections from Fragile Things, Volume Five
Gaiman, Neil
¥10.86
The marvelous creations found in Fragile Things showcase the unparalleled invention and storytelling brilliance—as well as the terrifyingly dark and entertaining sense of humor—of the incomparable Neil Gaiman. By turns delightful, disturbing, and diverting, Fragile Things is a gift of literary enchantment from one of the most original writers of our time.In Selections from Fragile Things, Volume 5 you will find the following stories and poems sure to thrill and amaze.In the End“In the end,” starts the ultimate imagined biblical scene, a strange reversal of Genesis.GoliathDerived from the * of The Matrix, a giant man attempts to navigate a simple life on an Earth where even the most basic rules of time and travel are routinely broken.Pages from a Journal Found in a Shoebox Left in a Greyhound Bus Somewhere Between Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Louisville, KentuckyA rambling American journey in search of the evasive Scarlett, recorded in a journal and left in a shoebox of treasures for us to decipher.How To Talk To Girls At PartiesFifteen-year-old Enn has trouble talking to girls. His best friend Vic’s solutionWith practice comes comfort. But, this party, with its otherworldly guests, may produce just the opposite effect.The Day the Saucers CameYou would think the mass-landing of flying saucers would be hard to miss, unless of course you were distracted by the zombies or something equally consuming, as in Gaiman’s apocalyptic love poem. SunbirdWhat’s an Epicurean Club to do when it’s exhausted all the world’s finest delicacies, from flash-frozen mammoth, to unicorn flank tartare, to dung-beetle ballsHunt down a Sunbird and push the limits of gastronomic indulgence a bit further, of course. Inventing AladdinGaiman’s poem examines storytellers’ motivation through the most dire case, that of Scheherazade.
Summer Intern
Summer Intern
Karasyov, Carrie
¥43.09
Teen fans of The Devil Wears Prada will relish this inside scoop on high society fashion from bestselling authors Carrie Karasyov and Jill Kargman, star of the Bravo series Odd Mom Out.Meet Kira Parker, total teenage fashionista. At her summer internship with one of New York's preeminent fashion magazines, Kira's to-do list includes rounding up models, fetching high-price dry cleaning, and snagging invites to some of the hottest parties in town.When a prized position goes up for grabs, Kira finds herself pitted against Daphne Hughes, the magazine owner's daughter and girl with all the right connections. She's even dating Kira's crush.Daphne thinks she can get what she wants without lifting a diamond-adorned pinky, but Kira's about to give her a battle the catwalk will remember for summers to come.
Nightmare Academy #1
Nightmare Academy #1
Lorey, Dean
¥60.87
Join Charlie Benjamin on a "fast-paced, action-packed" adventure. When Charlie's nightmares bring monsters to Earth, Charlie gets a once-in-a-lifetime chance to learn to control his powers at the incredible Nightmare Academy. "marvelous creatures" greet Charlie and his new friends as they embark on "a straight-forward thrill ride" of "rip-roaring monster slayings" in a debut novel that's "pure entertainment."
The Return
The Return
Hislop, Victoria
¥88.56
From the internationally bestselling author of The Island comes a dazzling new novel of family betrayals, forbidden love, and historical turmoil.Sonia knows nothing of Granada's shocking past, but ordering a simple cup of coffee in a quiet café will lead her into the extraordinary tale of a family's fight to survive the horror of the Spanish Civil War. Seventy years earlier, in the Ramírez family's café, Concha and Pablo's children relish an atmosphere of hope. Antonio is a serious young teacher, Ignacio a flamboyant matador, and Emilio a skilled musician. Their sister, Mercedes, is a spirited girl whose sole passion is dancing, until she meets Javier and an obsessive love affair begins. But Spain is a country in turmoil. In the heat of civil war, everyone must take a side and choose whether to submit, to fight, or to attempt escape.
Undercover
Undercover
Kephart, Beth
¥50.47
Like a modern-day Cyrano de Bergerac, Elisa ghostwrites love notes for the boys in her school. But when Elisa falls for Theo Moses, things change fast. Theo asks for verses to court the lovely Lila—a girl known for her beauty, her popularity, and a cutting ability to remind Elisa that she has none of these. At home, Elisa's father, the one person she feels understands her, has left on an extended business trip. As the days grow shorter, Elisa worries that the increasingly urgent letters she sends her father won't bring him home. Like the undercover agent she feels she has become, Elisa retreats to a pond in the woods, where her talent for ice-skating gives her the confidence to come out from under cover and take center stage. But when Lila becomes jealous of Theo's friendship with Elisa, her revenge nearly destroys Elisa's ice-skating dreams and her plan to reunite her family. National Book Award nominee Beth Kephart's first young adult novel is a stunning debut.
Rotten School #10: The Rottenest Angel
Rotten School #10: The Rottenest Angel
Stine, R.L.
¥39.13
Angel Goodeboy is a perfect angel . . . You can almost picture a halo over his head! He even wears a T-shirt that says "Mommy's Little Angel."Bernie Bridges is horrified when Mrs. Heinie makes him share his room with Angel. She wants Angel's goodness to rub off on Bernie. But wait a minute—when no teachers are watching, Angel is no angel!The little sneak takes over Bernie's room. He steals away Bernie's friends. He charms Bernie's girlfriend. Everyone loves Angel—even Bernie's pets! There's only one way for Bernie to rule the school again. He's got to get rid of this kid! But how do you get rid of an angel?
Rotten School #11: Punk'd and Skunked
Rotten School #11: Punk'd and Skunked
Stine, R.L.
¥39.13
Bernie Bridges has always dreamed about going to PPP—the exclusive Preppy Prep Prep school. All the kids at PPP are rich, rich, rich! And if there is one thing that Bernie loves it's money, money, money!But how will Bernie get to PPPAll he and his buddies have to do is win the National School Make-a-Great-Invention Contest, and off they go to PPP for a week to compete in the final round. There's just one problem—their best ideas are a Hamster on a Stick and a light-up comb! With a little scheming and a lot of luck, Bernie and his guys manage to win their school contest. But when they get to Preppy Prep Prep, Bernie must come up with yet another invention—this one cleverer than the first. No sweat! But the filthy rich PPP kids are smarter and sneakier than any kid at Rotten School.Has Bernie finally met his match?
Rotten School #12: Battle of the Dum Diddys
Rotten School #12: Battle of the Dum Diddys
Stine, R.L.
¥72.71
Hey! Where Is Everyone?That's what Bernie Bridges wants to know when he can't find any of his friends. Everyone has disappeared! And when he finally does find them, they're acting really weird. For instance, his shy friend Chipmunk thinks he is a fearless warrior, and football star Jennifer Ecch thinks she is a princess. What is going onSoon Bernie realizes that everyone at Rotten School is acting! They are all playing parts in a big battle. A battle between the Dum Diddys and the Knighty Knight Knights. But it's not a real fight. It's a video game called Wungo Warriors—and everyone has to pay that spoiled rich kid Sherman Oaks to play.Bernie can't let Sherman get away with this. He has a plan to outsmart Sherman—by bringing the Wungo Warriors to life! What Bernie doesn't know, though, is that a real-life battle between the Dum Diddys and the Knighty Knight Knights could shut down Rotten School forever.
Reasons for and Advantages of Breathing
Reasons for and Advantages of Breathing
Peelle, Lydia
¥85.05
With this first book of fiction, a gifted young writer brings together eight superbly crafted stories that peer deeply into the human heart, exploring lives derailed by the loss of a vital connection to the land and to the natural world of which they are a part. "Mule Killers" evokes the end of an era and of a grandfather's dreams when he decides to replace animal power on his farm with tractors. Two restless young girls in "Sweethearts of the Rodeo" live out their last summer of innocence, riding ponies recklessly and spying on their boss and the wealthy women who visit him. In "Phantom Pain," the Tennessee woods are a sliver of what they once were, men now hunt with GPS and cell phones, and the rumor of a dangerous panther on the loose stirs up a small town. An unexpected vision of the beauty and mystery of life redeems the darkest moments in this stellar debut collection, a book that readers will want to read and reread.
The Last Summer of Her Other Life
The Last Summer of Her Other Life
Page, Jean Reynolds
¥78.55
From Jean Reynolds Page—the critically acclaimed author of The Space Between Before and After and one of the most compelling voices in contemporary women's fiction—comes a dazzling novel of loss and redemption, of relationships that damage and those that heal.Thirty-nine and pregnant by a man she's decided to leave behind in California, Jules' life is changing. Always the protected daughter, she must now relinquish that role and prepare to be a mother herself. But her efforts are upstaged by shocking allegations from a local teen in her North Carolina hometown. The boy has accused her of what the police are calling “inappropriate sexual contact.” Three men rally in her defense: Lincoln, her brother, who flies in from New York to help her; Sam, her high school boyfriend, who after so many years still offers unconditional support; and Walt, the uncle of the teen, who charms Jules with his intelligence and unanticipated kindness. Her search for the truth about the troubled teenager becomes, for Jules, a first step toward discovering the woman she wishes to be. But with so many wrong choices behind her, how can she trust herself with the future of her unborn child?
Bad Kitty
Bad Kitty
Jaffe, Michele
¥55.33
Meet Jasmine forensic supersleuth and unwitting victim of a naughty feline.All Jasmine really wants is to enjoy her family vacation in Las Vegas. And avoid her evil cousin Alyson and Alyson's best fiend, Veronique. And show her suspicious dad that she can be a Model Daughter. And maybe meet the hot guy she's been eyeing from across the pool. It that too much to ask?Apparently, yes. One moment she's an innocent bylounger, the next the central figure in a Las Vegas-sized mystery. Fortunately, Jasmine is both a forensics enthusiast and possessed of some very, well, special friends. Polly, Tom, and Roxy crash the vacation, BeDazzle Jasmine's wardrobe, and find themselves key players in the most outrageous adventure in a town known for outrageous adventures.All because of a very bad kitty.
The Mermaids Singing
The Mermaids Singing
Carey, Lisa
¥72.78
There is an island off the west coast of Ireland called Inis Murúch -- theIsland of the Mermaids -- a world where myth is more powerful than truth, and love can overcome even death. It is here that Lisa Carey sets her lyrical and sensual first novel, weaving together the voices and lives of three generations of Irish and Irish-American women.Years ago, the fierce and beautiful Grace stole away from the island with her small daughter, Gráinne, unable to bear its isolation. Now Gráinne is motherless at fifteen, and a grandmother she has never met has come to take her back. Her heart is pulled between a life in which she no longer belongs and a family she cannot remember. But only on Inis Murúch can she begin to understand the forces that have torn her family apart.
South of Shiloh
South of Shiloh
Logan, Chuck
¥56.07
A nameless sniper is targeting participants in popular Civil War battle reenactments, and Minnesota reenactor Paul Edin is killed at the mock Battle of Kirby Creek, near Corinth, Mississippi. His death is ruled an accident, but Paul's widow, Jenny, discovers that the sniper's bullet was meant for the man standing next to Paul, a cop named Kenny Beeman. To penetrate the Mississippi smokescreen, Jenny enlists the aid of her former lover, news photographer John Rane. Appealing to be covering a story, Rane pokes into the Tennessee-Mississippi border country and teams up with Beeman. With demons nipping at his heels, Rane picks a Sharps rifle and live ammunition and heads off to the Shiloh Battlefield—and a showdown with a killer.South of Shiloh is a pulse-pounding thriller from a master of the genre—a story that uses a popular national pastime as the springboard for a page-turning read.
A Nail Through the Heart
A Nail Through the Heart
Hallinan, Timothy
¥83.03
Travel writer Poke Rafferty was good at looking for trouble—so good that he made a little money writing a few offbeat travel guides for the young and terminally bored. But that was before Bangkok stole his heart. Now the expat American is happily playing family with Rose, the former go-go dancer he wants to marry, and with Miaow, the wary street child he wants to adopt. Yet just when everything is beginning to work out, trouble comes looking for Poke in the guise of good intentions. First he takes in Miaow's friend, a troubled and terrifying street urchin named Superman. Then he agrees to find a distraught Aussie woman's missing uncle—and accept an old woman's generous payment to find a blackmailing theif. Soon, these three seemingly disparate events begin to overlap, pulling Poke deeper into dark, unfamiliar terrain. Gradually he realizes that he's been gliding across the surface of a culture he really doesn't understand—and that what he doesn't know is about to hurt him and everyone he loves.Beautifully crafted, relentlessly paced, A Nail Through the Heart is an exciting and enticing read that will leave readers hungry for more from the gifted Timothy Hallinan.
Mutant Message Down Under
Mutant Message Down Under
Morgan, Marlo
¥88.56
Mutant Message Down Under is the fictional account of an American woman's spiritual odyssey through outback Australia. An underground bestseller in its original self-published edition, Marlo Morgan's powerful tale of challenge and endurance has a message for us all. Summoned by a remote tribe of nomadic Aborigines to accompany them on walkabout, the woman makes a four-month-long journey and learns how they thrive in natural harmony with the plants and animals that exist in the rugged lands of Australia's bush. From the first day of her adventure, Morgan is challenged by the physical requirements of the journey she faces daily tests of her endurance, challenges that ultimately contribute to her personal transformation. By traveling with this extraordinary community, Morgan becomes a witness to their essential way of being in a world based on the ancient wisdom and philosophy of a culture that is more than 50,000 years old.
My 15 Minutes
My 15 Minutes
Alterman, Sara Faith
¥84.16
There's something going on in this Great Land of ours -- more and more people are famous for being famous. Now, one of the Avon Trade program's brightest young voices examines what happens to an ordinary young woman who ends up in some pretty wild circumstances.When a Hollywood heartthrob moves in next door, Julie finds herself thrust into the spotlight and becomes a bona fide celebrity for no good reason at all! But the man known as "The Sexiest Man in Hollywood" is living in her somewhat shoddy building so he can "learn to live like the little people" while preparing for a new role. When Julie is caught by the paparazzi leaving his apartment, clad only in a bathrobe, the publicity machine takes over. Suddenly, Julie is the "new and normal" girlfriend. So fresh! She works as a waitress... So normal! She's a whopping size 10. Amazing, Julie and, by extension, her friends, even her mom, become famous simply for being, well, famous.
The Crack Cocaine Diet
The Crack Cocaine Diet
Lippman, Laura
¥10.98
New York Times bestselling author Laura Lippman has been hailed as one of the best crime fiction writers in America today, winning virtually every major award in the genre. The author of the enormously popular series featuring Baltimore P.I. Tess Monaghan as well as three critically lauded stand-alone novels, Lippman now turns her attention to short stories—and reveals another level of mastery.Lippman sets many of the stories in this sterling anthology, Hardly Knew Her, in familiar territory: her beloved Baltimore, from downtown to its affluent suburbs, where successful businessmen go to shocking lengths to protect what they have or ruthlessly expand their holdings, while dissatisfied wives find murderous ways to escape their lives. But Lippman is also unafraid to travel—to New Orleans, to an unnamed southwestern city, and even to Dublin, the backdrop for the lethal clash of two not-so-innocents abroad. Tess Monaghan is here, in two stories and a profile, aligning herself with various underdogs. And in her extraordinary, never-before-published novella, Scratch a Woman, Lippman takes us deep into the private world of a high-priced call girl/madam and devoted soccer mom, exploring the mystery of what may, in fact, be written in the blood.Each of these ingenious tales is a gem—sometimes poignant, sometimes humorous, always filled with delightfully unanticipated twists and reversals. For people who have yet to read Lippman, get ready to experience the spellbinding power of "one of today's most pleasing storytellers, hailed for her keen psychological insights and her compelling characterizations," (San Diego Union-Tribune), who has "invigorated the crime fiction arena with smart, innovative, and exciting work" (George Pelecanos). As for longtime devotees of her multiple award-winning novels, you'll discover that you hardly know her.
The Best Day of Someone Else's Life
The Best Day of Someone Else's Life
Reichs, Kerry
¥84.16
Despite being cursed with a boy's name, Kevin "Vi" Connelly is seriously female and a committed romantic. The affliction hit at the tender age of six when she was handed a basket of flower petals and ensnared by the "marry-tale." The thrill, the attention, the big white dress—it's the Best Day of Your Life, and it's seriously addictive. But at twenty-seven, with a closetful of pricey bridesmaid dresses she'll never wear again, a trunkful of embarrassing memories, and an empty bank account from paying for it all, the illusion of matrimony as the Answer to Everything begins to fray. As her friends' choices don't provide answers, and her family confuses her more, Vi faces off against her eminently untrustworthy boyfriend and the veracity of the BDOYL. Eleven weddings in eighteen months would send any sane woman either over the edge or scurrying for the altar. But as reality separates from illusion, Vi learns that letting go of someone else's story to write your own may be harder than buying the myth, but just might help her make the right choices for herself.
The Weight of Heaven
The Weight of Heaven
Umrigar, Thrity
¥94.10
When Frank and Ellie Benton lose their only child, seven-year-old Benny, to a sudden illness, the perfect life they had built is shattered. Filled with wrenching memories, their Ann Arbor home becomes unbearable, and their marriage founders. But an unexpected job half a world away offers them an opportunity to start again. Life in Girbaug, India, holds promise—and peril—when Frank befriends Ramesh, a bright, curious boy who quickly becomes the focus of the grieving man's attentions. Haunted by memories of his dead son, Frank is consumed with making his family right—a quest that will lead him down an ever-darkening path with stark repercussions. Filled with satisfyingly real characters and glowing with local color, The Weight of Heaven is a rare glimpse of a family and a country struggling under pressures beyond their control. In a devastating look at cultural clashes and divides, Umrigar illuminates how slowly we recover from unforgettable loss, how easily good intentions can turn evil, and how far a person will go to build a new world for those he loves.
Pony Girl
Pony Girl
Lippman, Laura
¥10.98
New York Times bestselling author Laura Lippman has been hailed as one of the best crime fiction writers in America today, winning virtually every major award in the genre. The author of the enormously popular series featuring Baltimore P.I. Tess Monaghan as well as three critically lauded stand-alone novels, Lippman now turns her attention to short stories—and reveals another level of mastery.Lippman sets many of the stories in this sterling anthology, Hardly Knew Her, in familiar territory: her beloved Baltimore, from downtown to its affluent suburbs, where successful businessmen go to shocking lengths to protect what they have or ruthlessly expand their holdings, while dissatisfied wives find murderous ways to escape their lives. But Lippman is also unafraid to travel—to New Orleans, to an unnamed southwestern city, and even to Dublin, the backdrop for the lethal clash of two not-so-innocents abroad. Tess Monaghan is here, in two stories and a profile, aligning herself with various underdogs. And in her extraordinary, never-before-published novella, Scratch a Woman, Lippman takes us deep into the private world of a high-priced call girl/madam and devoted soccer mom, exploring the mystery of what may, in fact, be written in the blood.Each of these ingenious tales is a gem—sometimes poignant, sometimes humorous, always filled with delightfully unanticipated twists and reversals. For people who have yet to read Lippman, get ready to experience the spellbinding power of "one of today's most pleasing storytellers, hailed for her keen psychological insights and her compelling characterizations," (San Diego Union-Tribune), who has "invigorated the crime fiction arena with smart, innovative, and exciting work" (George Pelecanos). As for longtime devotees of her multiple award-winning novels, you'll discover that you hardly know her.
The Shoeshine Man's Regrets
The Shoeshine Man's Regrets
Lippman, Laura
¥10.98
New York Times bestselling author Laura Lippman has been hailed as one of the best crime fiction writers in America today, winning virtually every major award in the genre. The author of the enormously popular series featuring Baltimore P.I. Tess Monaghan as well as three critically lauded stand-alone novels, Lippman now turns her attention to short stories—and reveals another level of mastery.Lippman sets many of the stories in this sterling anthology, Hardly Knew Her, in familiar territory: her beloved Baltimore, from downtown to its affluent suburbs, where successful businessmen go to shocking lengths to protect what they have or ruthlessly expand their holdings, while dissatisfied wives find murderous ways to escape their lives. But Lippman is also unafraid to travel—to New Orleans, to an unnamed southwestern city, and even to Dublin, the backdrop for the lethal clash of two not-so-innocents abroad. Tess Monaghan is here, in two stories and a profile, aligning herself with various underdogs. And in her extraordinary, never-before-published novella, Scratch a Woman, Lippman takes us deep into the private world of a high-priced call girl/madam and devoted soccer mom, exploring the mystery of what may, in fact, be written in the blood.Each of these ingenious tales is a gem—sometimes poignant, sometimes humorous, always filled with delightfully unanticipated twists and reversals. For people who have yet to read Lippman, get ready to experience the spellbinding power of "one of today's most pleasing storytellers, hailed for her keen psychological insights and her compelling characterizations," (San Diego Union-Tribune), who has "invigorated the crime fiction arena with smart, innovative, and exciting work" (George Pelecanos). As for longtime devotees of her multiple award-winning novels, you'll discover that you hardly know her.