万本电子书0元读

万本电子书0元读

No Man’s Land
No Man’s Land
Simon Tolkien
¥66.22
From the slums of London to the riches of an Edwardian country house; from the hot, dark seams of a Yorkshire coalmine to the exposed terrors of the trenches, Adam Raine’s journey from boy to man is set against the backdrop of a society violently entering the modern world. Adam Raine is a boy cursed by misfortune. His impoverished childhood in the slums of Islington is brought to an end by a tragedy that sends him north to Scarsdale, a hard-living coalmining town where his father finds work as a union organizer. But it isn’t long before the escalating tensions between the miners and their employer, Sir John Scarsdale, explode with terrible consequences. In the aftermath, Adam meets Miriam, the Rector’s beautiful daughter, and moves into Scarsdale Hall, an opulent paradise compared with the life he has been used to before. But he makes an enemy of Sir John’s son, Brice, who subjects him to endless petty cruelties for daring to step above his station. When love and an Oxford education beckon, Adam feels that his life is finally starting to come together – until the outbreak of war threatens to tear everything apart.
Hitman Anders and the Meaning of It All
Hitman Anders and the Meaning of It All
Jonas Jonasson
¥66.22
The bestselling novel from the author of The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TO START AGAIN. AND AGAIN. It’s always awkward when five thousand kronor goes missing. When it happens at a certain grotty hotel in south Stockholm, it’s particularly awkward because the money belongs to the hitman currently staying in room seven. Per Persson, the hotel receptionist, just wants to mind his own business, and preferably not get murdered. Johanna Kjellander, temporarily resident in room eight, is a priest without a vocation, and, as of last week, without a parish. But right now she has two things at her disposal: an envelope containing five thousand kronor, and an excellent idea . . . Featuring one violent killer, two shrewd business brains and many crates of Moldovan red wine, Hitman Anders and the Meaning of It All is an outrageously zany story with as many laughs as Jonasson’s multimillion-copy bestseller The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared.
Half a King (Shattered Sea, Book 1)
Half a King (Shattered Sea, Book 1)
Joe Abercrombie
¥66.22
A classic coming-of-age tale set in a vivid and richly-imagined world from Sunday Times bestselling author Joe Abercrombie. ‘A fast-paced tale of betrayal and revenge that grabbed me from page one and refused to let go’ GEORGE R.R. MARTIN Prince Yarvi has vowed to regain a throne he never wanted. But first he must survive cruelty, chains and the bitter waters of the Shattered Sea itself. And he must do it all with only one good hand. Born a weakling in the eyes of his father, Yarvi is alone in a world where a strong arm and a cold heart rule. He cannot grip a shield or swing an axe, so he must sharpen his mind to a deadly edge. Gathering a strange fellowship of the outcast and the lost, he finds they can do more to help him become the man he needs to be than any court of nobles could. But even with loyal friends at his side, Yarvi’s path may end as it began – in twists, and traps and tragedy…
The Namesake
The Namesake
Jhumpa Lahiri
¥66.22
‘The Namesake’ is the story of a boy brought up Indian in America. 'When her grandmother learned of Ashima's pregnancy, she was particularly thrilled at the prospect of naming the family's first sahib. And so Ashima and Ashoke have agreed to put off the decision of what to name the baby until a letter comes…' For now, the label on his hospital cot reads simply BABY BOY GANGULI. But as time passes and still no letter arrives from India, American bureaucracy takes over and demands that 'baby boy Ganguli' be given a name. In a panic, his father decides to nickname him 'Gogol' – after his favourite writer. Brought up as an Indian in suburban America, Gogol Ganguli soon finds himself itching to cast off his awkward name, just as he longs to leave behind the inherited values of his Bengali parents. And so he sets off on his own path through life, a path strewn with conflicting loyalties, love and loss… Spanning three decades and crossing continents, Jhumpa Lahiri's much-anticipated first novel is a triumph of humane story-telling. Elegant, subtle and moving, ‘The Namesake’ is for everyone who loved the clarity, sympathy and grace of Lahiri's Pulitzer Prize-winning debut story collection, ‘Interpreter of Maladies’.
Annihilation (The Southern Reach Trilogy, Book 1)
Annihilation (The Southern Reach Trilogy, Book 1)
Jeff VanderMeer
¥66.22
If J.J. Abrams and Margaret Atwood collaborated on a novel, it might look something like ‘Annihilation’, the first in an extraordinary trilogy. For thirty years, Area X, monitored by the secret agency known as the Southern Reach, has remained mysterious and remote behind its intangible border– an environmental disaster zone, though to all appearances an abundant wilderness. Eleven expeditions have been sent in to investigate; even for those that have made it out alive, there have been terrible consequences. ‘Annihilation’ is the story of the twelfth expedition and is told by its nameless biologist. Introverted but highly intelligent, the biologist brings her own secrets with her. She is accompanied by a psychologist, an anthropologist and a surveyor, their stated mission: to chart the land, take samples and expand the Southern Reach’s understanding of Area X. But they soon find out that they are being manipulated by forces both strange and all too familiar. An unmapped tunnel is not as it first appears. An inexplicable moaning calls in the distance at dusk. And while each member of the expedition has surrendered to the authority of the Southern Reach, the power of Area X is far more difficult to resist. ‘Annihilation’ is the first volume in Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach trilogy, which will be published throughout 2014: volume two (’Authority’) in May, and volume three (’Acceptance’) in September 2014.
The Crimson Crown (The Seven Realms Series, Book 4)
The Crimson Crown (The Seven Realms Series, Book 4)
Cinda Williams Chima
¥66.22
The stunning final book in the critically acclaimed Seven Realms epic fantasy series from Cinda Williams Chima A thousand years ago, two young lovers were betrayed – Alger Waterlow to his death, and Hanalea, Queen of the Fells, to a life without love. Now, once again, the Queendom of the Fells seems likely to shatter apart. For young queen Raisa ana’Marianna, maintaining peace even within her own castle walls is nearly impossible; tension between wizards and Clan has reached a fevered pitch. With surrounding kingdoms seeking to prey on the Fells’ inner turmoil, Raisa’s best hope is to unite her people against a common enemy. But that enemy might be the person with whom she's falling in love. Through a complicated web of lies and unholy alliances, former streetlord Han Alister has become a member of the Wizard Council of the Fells. Navigating the cut-throat world of blue blood politics has never been more dangerous, and Han seems to inspire hostility among Clan and wizards alike. His only ally is the queen, and despite the perils involved, Han finds it impossible to ignore his feelings for Raisa. Before long, Han finds himself in possession of a secret believed to be lost to history, a discovery powerful enough to unite the people of the Fells. But will the secret die with him before he can use it? A simple, devastating truth concealed by a thousand-year-old lie at last comes to light in this stunning conclusion to the Seven Realms series.
The Evil Within:Murdered by her stepbrother
The Evil Within:Murdered by her stepbrother
Darren Galsworthy
¥66.22
Previously published as Becky, this is the heartbreaking story behind the murder of 16-year-old Bristol schoolgirl Becky Watts, a crime that shocked the nation and tore a family in two. A vulnerable and shy girl, Becky Watts was brutally murdered and dismembered by her own step-brother on 19 February 2015. As her father Darren discovered the horrific details of what happened to his darling girl, his world fell apart. Writing about the darkest hours, Darren uncovers what Becky’s relationship with her step-brother Nathan, a child he had raised as his own son, was really like. He recalls the devastation of discovering the truth about the depravity with which Becky was torn from him in the safety of her own home. And he recounts the torment of the legal battle to see his step-son sentenced to life behind bars. Both heartfelt and haunting, searingly honest and unflinching, this is the ultimate story of a family tragedy.
The Snow Queen
The Snow Queen
Michael Cunningham
¥66.22
‘Luminously written … page-turningly enjoyable, this is a profound novel about love from a highly regarded, Pulitzer-winning novelist’ Sunday Times Walking through Central Park, Barrett Meeks sees a translucent light in the sky that regards him in a distinctly godlike way. Barrett doesn’t believe in visions – or in God – but he can’t deny what he’s seen. In nearby Brooklyn, Tyler, Barrett’s older brother, is trying – and failing – to write a wedding song for Beth, his wife-to-be, who is seriously ill. Barrett turns unexpectedly to religion, while Tyler grows convinced that only drugs can release his creative powers. The Snow Queen, beautiful and heartbreaking, comic and tragic, proves again that Cunningham is one of the great novelists of his generation.
The Northern Clemency
The Northern Clemency
Philip Hensher
¥66.22
SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2008. An epic chronicle of the last twenty years of British life from the Booker shortlisted and Granta Best of Young British novelist, Philip Hensher. Beginning in 1974 and ending with the fading of Thatcher's government in 1996, ‘The Northern Clemency’ is Philip Hensher's epic portrait of an entire era, a novel concerned with the lives of ordinary people and history on the move. Set in Sheffield, it charts the relationship between two families: Malcolm and Katherine Glover and their three children; and their neighbours, the Sellers family, newly arrived from London so that Bernie can pursue his job with the Electricity Board. The day the Sellers move in there is a crisis across the road: Malcolm Glover has left home, convinced his wife is having an affair. The consequences of this rupture will spread throughout the lives of both couples and their children, in particular ten-year-old Tim Glover, who never quite recovers from a moment of his mother's public cruelty and the amused taunting of fifteen-year-old Sandra Sellers, childhood crises that will come to a head twenty years later. In the background, England is changing: from a manufacturing- and industrial-based economy into a new world of shops, restaurants and service industries, a shift particularly marked in the North with the miners' strike of 1984, which has a dramatic impact on both families. Inspired by the expansive scale and webs of relationships of the great nineteenth-century Russian novels, ‘The Northern Clemency’ shows Philip Hensher to be one of our greatest chroniclers of English life.
The Twisted Citadel: Book Two of the Darkglass Mountain Trilogy
The Twisted Citadel: Book Two of the Darkglass Mountain Trilogy
Sara Douglass
¥66.22
Sara Douglass has won legions of fans around the world for her epic tales of sorcery, forbidden love, and heart-pounding action. Now, with the DarkGlass Mountain saga, she reveals her biggest adventure yet. Tencendor is no more. The land is gone. But a few Sunsoars still remain, and a new foe walks the world. Three new heroes have stepped forward: Ishbel Brunelle, priestess of the Serpent Coil; Isaiah, the Tyrant of Isembaard; and Maximillian, the Lord of Elcho Falling. Yet despite their best efforts, the dark god Kanubai has risen. And worse yet, war approaches, as the Darkglass Mountain has raised a vaste horde to ravage the land. As the trio struggle to keep their supporters and alliances alive, the Sunsoars have their own challenges…including the chance to finally rejoin the magical Star Dance, and the appearance of the Lealfast, long-lost kin to the Icarii who may be friends…or deadly enemies. As tensions rise between the two races, Axis Sunsoar revives his elite Strike Force in a desperate bid to stop the darkness.
Robin Hood Yard
Robin Hood Yard
Mark Sanderson
¥66.22
London, 1938. With a world war on the horizon, a shocking crime begins to unfold – and one reporter knows too much to be allowed to survive. An absorbing and gripping mystery from the critically acclaimed author of SNOW HILL. November, 1938. Europe is teetering on the edge of war…Anti-Semitism is on the rise in Britain, and a serial killer is at work in London. Johnny Steadman, investigative journalist, is called to the scene of a gruesome murder – a man has been tied to his bed, mutilated and left to bleed to death. This is the second time the killer has struck, and it won’t be the last. Together with DC Matt Turner, Johnny tries desperately to find a link between the victims. When the next Mayor of London is subjected to a vicious Anti-Semitic attack, Johnny begins to wonder if the two cases are connected. Against a backdrop of escalating violence in Nazi Germany, he uncovers a shocking conspiracy that could bring the United Kingdom to its knees. But will Johnny live to tell the tale?
Flashman (The Flashman Papers, Book 1)
Flashman (The Flashman Papers, Book 1)
George MacDonald Fraser
¥66.22
Coward, scoundrel, lover and cheat, but there is no better man to go into the jungle with. Join Flashman in his adventures as he survives fearful ordeals and outlandish perils across the four corners of the world. Expelled from Rugby for drunkenness, and none too welcome at home after seducing his father’s mistress, the young Flashman embarks on a military career with Lord Cardigan’s Hussars. En route to Afghanistan, our hero hones his skills as a soldier, duellist, imposter, coward and amorist (mastering all 97 ways of Hindu love-making during a brief sojourn in Calcutta), before being pressed into reluctant service as a secret agent. His Afghan adventures culminate in a starring role in that great historic disaster, the Retreat from Kabul.
The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher
The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher
Hilary Mantel
¥66.22
A brilliant – and rather transgressive – collection of short stories from the double Man Booker Prize-winning author of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. Including a new story The School of English. Hilary Mantel is one of Britain’s most accomplished and acclaimed writers. In these ten bracingly subversive tales, all her gifts of characterisation and observation are fully engaged, summoning forth the horrors so often concealed behind everyday fa?ades. Childhood cruelty is played out behind the bushes in ‘Comma’; nurses clash in ‘Harley Street’ over something more than professional differences; and in the title story, staying in for the plumber turns into an ambiguous and potentially deadly waiting game. Whether set in a claustrophobic Saudi Arabian flat or on a precarious mountain road in Greece, these stories share an insight into the darkest recesses of the spirit. Displaying all of Mantel’s unmistakable style and wit, they reveal a great writer at the peak of her powers.
Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary, together with Sellic Spell
Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary, together with Sellic Spell
J. R. R. Tolkien,Christopher Tolkien
¥66.22
The translation of Beowulf by J.R.R. Tolkien was an early work, very distinctive in its mode, completed in 1926: he returned to it later to make hasty corrections, but seems never to have considered its publication. This edition is twofold, for there exists an illuminating commentary on the text of the poem by the translator himself, in the written form of a series of lectures given at Oxford in the 1930s; and from these lectures a substantial selection has been made, to form also a commentary on the translation in this book. From his creative attention to detail in these lectures there arises a sense of the immediacy and clarity of his vision. It is as if he entered into the imagined past: standing beside Beowulf and his men shaking out their mail-shirts as they beached their ship on the coast of Denmark, listening to the rising anger of Beowulf at the taunting of Unferth, or looking up in amazement at Grendel’s terrible hand set under the roof of Heorot. But the commentary in this book includes also much from those lectures in which, while always anchored in the text, he expressed his wider perceptions. He looks closely at the dragon that would slay Beowulf ‘snuffling in baffled rage and injured greed when he discovers the theft of the cup’; but he rebuts the notion that this is ‘a mere treasure story’, ‘just another dragon tale’. He turns to the lines that tell of the burying of the golden things long ago, and observes that it is ‘the feeling for the treasure itself, this sad history’ that raises it to another level. ‘The whole thing is sombre, tragic, sinister, curiously real. The “treasure” is not just some lucky wealth that will enable the finder to have a good time, or marry the princess. It is laden with history, leading back into the dark heathen ages beyond the memory of song, but not beyond the reach of imagination.’ Sellic Spell, a ‘marvellous tale’, is a story written by Tolkien suggesting what might have been the form and style of an Old English folk-tale of Beowulf, in which there was no association with the ‘historical legends’ of the Northern kingdoms.
The Loss of Leon Meed
The Loss of Leon Meed
Josh Emmons
¥66.22
‘Josh Emmons is the real deal: a major league prose writer who has fun in every sentence; you want to keep reading him for the pure pleasure of his company’ Jonathan Franzen Over the course of one December, ten residents of Eureka, California, are brought together by a mysterious man, Leon Meed, who repeatedly and inexplicably appears – in the ocean, at a local music club, clinging to the roof of a barrelling truck, standing in the middle of Main Street’s oncoming traffic – and then, as if by magic, disappears. Each witness to these bewildering events – young and old, married and single, punk and evangelical, black, white and Korean – interprets them differently, yet all of their lives are irrevocably changed. Over time, these ten characters, previously only tenuously connected, form a strange community of shared experience. Highly original and brilliantly written, Josh Emmons’s award-winning debut is a mystery, a love story and something else entirely.
Hero Born (Seeds of Destiny, Book 1)
Hero Born (Seeds of Destiny, Book 1)
Andy Livingstone
¥66.22
It’s in the darkest hour, when all hope is lost, that heroes are born. After witnessing the deaths of everyone he holds dear, Brann is wrenched from his family home and thrust into a life of slavery. Now he must do everything he can to survive. Miles away, word is spreading of a growing evil; a deposed and forgotten Emperor is seeking a weapon to use in his bid to rise once again to power. Ruthless and determined, nothing and no one can stand in his way. Especially not a galley slave like Brann. But heroes can be forged in the most unlikely of ways, and Brann’s journey has only just begun.
Green Glowing Skull
Green Glowing Skull
Gavin Corbett
¥66.22
A breathtakingly original, darkly comic, surprisingly contemporary and deeply surreal tale from the author of THIS IS THE WAY, Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year. After fleeing his dying parents and the drudgery of work in Dublin for the Manhattan of his imagination – a place of romance and opulence, dark old concert halls and mellow front parlours quieted by the hiss of the phonograph cylinder – Rickard Velily hopes to be reborn as an Irish tenor, and to one day be reunited with the love of his life. At the very peculiar Cha Bum Kun Club, a masonic-style refuge for immigrants who can’t quite cut it in New York City, he meets Denny Kennedy-Logan and Clive Sullis, and a plan is enacted: to revive the art songs and ballads of another time for a hip young city in thrall to technology and money. But that is without reckoning on meddlesome sprites, the phantoms of the past – and more malign forces who plot to subjugate the human race. Green Glowing Skull is a half-crazed brain-shunt of a trip around the spirit world, the cyber world and a woozily recognisable real world – a darkly comic tale of mythologies, machines and the metaphysical swirl.
Peril’s Gate: Third Book of The Alliance of Light
Peril’s Gate: Third Book of The Alliance of Light
Janny Wurts
¥66.22
Where there is light, there must always be shadow… The fourth volume in Janny Wurts’s spectacular epic fantasy, now re-released with a striking new cover design along with the rest of the series. The curse that hangs over the Master of Shadow, Arithon, and Lord of Light, Lysaer, is drawing the two half-brothers ever closer towards direct conflict. For the Natural Balance to be maintained, the two must never fight. If they do, one is sure to perish and the Mistwraith will regain its evil power over their world. Even now, Lysaer – convinced of his own godhead and aided by the treacherous Koriani Sisterhood – is tracking Arithon the Masterbard through the snows and wastes of the winter-locked mountains and the Barrens of Daon Ramon. Arithon is tortured by the knowledge that for the sake of future generations he must not be killed, no matter the cost of others’ lives now. Fighting valiantly to prevent unnecessary suffering, he strikes out on his own; but he is injured and failing fast. Meanwhile, the ancient Paravians are stirring, summoned by trespassers on their sacred domain; and the Fellowship of Seven are battling on many other fronts, as the Mistwraith’s wards begin to break, and khadrim and free wraiths roam the land…
Concrete Island
Concrete Island
J. G. Ballard,Neil Gaiman
¥66.22
A chilling novel that pays twisted homage to Defoe’s ‘Robinson Crusoe’. Newly reissued with an introduction from Neil Gaiman. Robert Maitland, a 35 year-old architect, is driving home from his London offices when a blow-out sends his speeding Jaguar hurtling out of control. Smashing through a temporary barrier he finds himself, dazed and disorientated, on a traffic island below three converging motorways. But when he tries to climb the embankment or flag-down a passing car for help it proves impossible - and he finds himself imprisoned on the concrete island. Maitland must survive using only what he can find in his crashed car. As in all Ballard’s best work ‘Concrete Island’ provides an unnerving study of our modern lives and world. With his alienating, ‘Ballardian’ view of normal events, this is a unique novel from one of the twentieth century’s finest writers. This edition is part of a new commemorative series of Ballard’s works, featuring introductions from a number of his admirers (including Zadie Smith, Adam Philips, Adam Thirlwell and Robert Macfarlane) and brand-new cover designs from the artist Stanley Donwood.
A Bit of Difference
A Bit of Difference
Sefi Atta
¥66.22
A rich, fearless novel from the winner of the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa. Deola Bello is tired of London, but she’s not ready to give up on life. When her charity job takes her home to Nigeria, her thoughts turn to the future, as she questions whether her peripatetic existence is still right for her. Deola encounters changes in her family and her home, while a new friendship with Wale, a charming hotelier, offers more lasting potential. But is Deola really equipped to cope with the altered social mores that are part of modern Nigeria? Sefi Atta’s urgent, incisive voice guides us through this intricate and vivid narrative, challenging preconceived notions of Africa and bringing to life contemporary Nigeria. With boldness and refreshing honesty, A Bit of Difference looks at the complexities of our globalised world, through a very human lens.
The Family Tree
The Family Tree
Barbara Delinsky
¥66.22
A loving family, a child on the way, and a secret concealed generations ago that will tear their lives apart… ‘The Family Tree’ is issue-led women’s fiction perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult. Dana Clarke has it all – a husband, Hugh, who she adores, a beautiful home in a wealthy area, and a baby on the way. But, when her daughter, Lizzie, is born, what should be the happiest day of her life turns out to be the moment that her world falls apart. Lizzie is beautiful, healthy, and black… Born from two white parents, there are only two possibilities: that a distant relative was of African descent, or that Dana has had an affair. As the Clarke family reel from the shock, accusations are thrown and soon the trust that Dana and Hugh had prided themselves on is slipping away. So begins a poignant journey to uncover the truth about their past, to discover what legacy their ancestors left them. And, as the stability of the Clarke family is torn apart, the reader is forced to ask how much any one of us really knows about our own identity.