Today has to be perfect.Magic.I look at the clock.10:14 AM.Ten fourteen. One plus one is two plus four is six plus ten is sixteen minus one is fifteen minus two is thirteen. OK.I turn from the clock and walk into the hallway. "Ready."Saturday will be the third state soccer champion?ship in a row for Jake Martin. Three. A good number. Prime. With Jake on the field, Carson City High can't lose because Jake has the magic: a self-created protection generated by his obsession with prime numbers. It's the magic that has every top soccer university recruiting Jake, the magic that keeps his family safe, and the magic that suppresses his anxiety attacks. But the magic is Jake's prison, because sustaining it means his compulsions take over nearly every aspect of his life.Jake's convinced the magic will be permanent after Saturday, the perfect day, when every prime has converged. Once the game is over, he won't have to rely on his sister to concoct excuses for his odd rituals. His dad will stop treating him like he is some freak. Maybe he'll even make a friend other than Luc.But what if the magic doesn't stay?What if the numbers never leave?Acclaimed author Heidi Ayarbe has created an honest and riveting portrait of a teen struggling with obsessive compulsive disorder in this breathtaking and courageous novel.

The Gods have abandoned Ai Ling. Her mysterious power haunts her day and night, and she leaves home—with just the moon as her guide—overwhelmed by her memories and visions and an unbearable sense of dread. For Ai Ling knows that Chen Yong is vulnerable to corrupt enchantments from the under-world. How can she do nothing when she has the skill and power to fight at his sideA dream has told her where he is, the name of the ship he is traveling on, his destination. So she steals off and stows away on board.The ocean voyage brings with it brutal danger, haunting revelations, and new friendships, but also the premonition of a very real and terrifying threat. Zhong Ye—the powerful sorcerer whom Ai Ling believed she had vanquished in the Palace of Fragrant Dreams—is trapped in Hell, neither alive nor dead. Can he reach from beyond the grave to reunite with Silver Phoenix and destroy Chen YongAnd destroy whatever chance Ai Ling has at happiness, at love?In this sequel to the acclaimed novel Silver Phoenix, four lives are woven together and four destinies become one, now and forever.

How can Dane defeat an enemy that's already dead?Dane the Defiant is determined to free his beloved Astrid from her Valkyrie servitude. And he learns of a way—a dark and dangerous way. He must hunt and kill a savage foe: none other than his former nemesis, Thidrek the Terrifying, who has magically returned from the dead. Thidrek has been sent by the goddess Hel herself, ruler of the Underworld, to find the Ship of the Dead, a cursed vessel built from the bone and sinew of countless ill-fated sailors. If Dane and his fellow Rune Warriors fail to find the ship first, Thidrek will use it to lead Hel's ghastly army of dead, decayed soldiers in a violent overthrow of mankind.Can Dane find a way to save the world—and reunite with his one true love—in the face of indomitable evilThe fate of the Viking world hangs in the balance in this exhilarating final chapter of the epic RuneWarriors saga.

With the mystery and suspense of the Pretty Little Liars series, the Hollywood drama of Lauren Conrad's L.A. Candy, and the creepiness of Michelle Hodkin's The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, Vivian Divine Is Dead will thrill fans of emotionally charged, fast-paced, contemporary fiction.Teen celebrity Vivian Divine has had a rough six months—her movie-star mother was murdered, and her boyfriend cheated on her with her best friend. Through it all, she's had to smile for the camera—this is the stuff the tabloids live for, after all.When a death threat arrives with her fan mail, Vivian decides to run to Mexico, hoping to escape whoever it is who wants her dead. There, she finds an ally in the mysterious and charming Nick, but even he seems like he can't be trusted.As Vivian travels deeper into Mexico, she finds herself asking a horrifying question: If she can't hide from the paparazzi, what makes her think she can elude a madman?Filled with surprising twists, poignant moments, and the snark of a Hollywood starlet suddenly on her own, Vivian Divine Is Dead brings a fresh new voice to contemporary fiction.As New York Times bestselling author of the Beautiful Creatures series Kami Garcia says, Vivian Divine Is Dead is "a heartbreaking and magical story about love, second chances, and finding yourself."

The war against BioZenith is on. In the weeks since she first came into her mysterious new superpowers, Emily has watched one of her packmates disappear through an interdimensional portal; she's been hunted by creepy, body-snatching shadowmen; she's managed to form an alliance with the same telekinetic cheerleaders who once tried to take her down; and she's even discovered that her believed-to-be-dead mother is one of the BioZenith scientists responsible for her strange abilities.Now it's up to the Deviants to put together the last pieces of the puzzle, which includes tracking down their final missing member and forcing their parents to reveal why they mutated their own children. Emily fears the answer is far more sinister than anyone ever thought: After all, why would a parent risk a child's life unless the stakes were high—scary, world-ending highTired of being at the mercy of adult conspiracies, Emily forms a plan with the other Deviants: Destroy BioZenith before anyone can use the knowledge within the facility to aid the shadowmen. But that's only if BioZenith—or something worse—doesn't capture them first. . . .

From the bestselling author of Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism: John Shelby Spong's original groundbreaking classic, now newly revised, reveals the Jesus "behind the language of myth, magic, and superstition.""In this study I found a Lord, a center for my being. Behind the supernatural framework of the first century . . . I discovered a life I wanted to know; a life that possessed a power I wanted to possess; a freedom, a wholeness for which I had yearned for years."Illuminating the "figure who stands at the center of all the Christina Church is," John Shelby Spong explores Jesus under the light of the Hebrew tradition into which he was born. Candid, personal, and soundly argued, this is Spong's spiritual and intellectual pilgrimage to the Christ he discovered in Jesus of Nazareth.

Covering more than four decades, Tour of Duty is the definitive account of John Kerry's journey from war to peace. Written by acclaimed historian Douglas Brinkley, this is the first full-scale, intimate account of Kerry's naval career. In writing this riveting narrative, Brinkley has drawn on extensive interviews with virtually everyone who knew Kerry well in Vietnam, including all the men still living who served under him. Kerry also entrusted to Brinkley his letters home from Vietnam and his voluminous "War Notes" -- journals, notebooks, and personal reminiscences written during and shortly after the war. This material was provided without restriction, to be used at Brinkley's discretion, and has never before been published.John Kerry enlisted in the Navy in February 1966, months before he graduated from Yale. In December 1967 Ensign Kerry was assigned to the frigate U.S.S. Gridley; after five months of service in the Pacific, with a brief stop in Vietnam, he returned to the United States and underwent training to command a Swift boat, a small craft deployed in Vietnam's rivers. In June 1968 Kerry was promoted to lieutenant (junior grade), and by the end of that year he was back in Vietnam, where he commanded, over time, two Swift boats. Throughout Tour of Duty Brinkley deftly deals with such explosive issues as U.S. atrocities in Vietnam and the bombing of Cambodia. In a series of unforgettable combat-action sequences, he recounts how Kerry won the Purple Heart three times for wounds suffered in action and was awarded the Bronze Star and the Navy’s Silver Star for gallantry in action.When Kerry returned from Southeast Asia, he joined the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), becoming a prominent antiwar spokesperson. He challenged the Nixon administration on Capitol Hill with the antiwar movementcheering him on. As Kerry's public popularity soared in April-May 1971, the FBI considered him a subversive. Brinkley -- using new information acquired from the recently released Nixon tapes -- reveals how White House aides Charles Colson and H. R. Haldeman tried to discredit Kerry. Refusing to be intimidated, Kerry started running for public office, eventually becoming a U.S. senator from Massachusetts. But he never forgot his fallen comrades. Working with his friend Senator John McCain, he returned to Vietnam numerous times looking for MIAs and POWs. By the time Bill Clinton was elected president in 1992, Kerry was the leading proponent of "normalization" of relations with Vietnam. When President Clinton officially recognized Vietnam in 1995, Kerry's three-decade-long tour of duty had at long last ended.

In Sherman, Lee Kennett offers a brilliant new interpretation of the general's life and career, one that probes his erratic, contradictory nature. Here we see the making of a true soldier, beginning with the frontier society and the extraordinary family from which he came, his formative years at West Point, and the critical period leading up to the Civil War. Throughout the spirited battles at Bull Run and Shiloh, the siege of Vicksburg, and ultimately, the Great March, Sherman displayed a blend of drive, determination, and mastery of detail unique in the annals of war.By drawing upon previously unexploited materials and maintaining a sharp, lively narrative, Lee Kennett presents a rich, authoritative portrait of Sherman -- the man and the soldier -- who emerges from this work more human and more fascinating than ever before.

The only insider's account ever written on America's most powerful weapon in the war against terrorism

No musician has lived a more transformational, or more tragic, life than Charlie Parker, one of the most talented and influential figures of the twentieth century. From the start of his career in the late 1930s, Parker was a new kind of American artist: a revolutionary musician who internalized all of popular music and blew it back through his alto saxophone "at the tempo of emergency" even as he wrestled with a drug addiction that would ultimately contribute to his death at thirty-four.Yet no writer has fully captured the arc and texture of Parker's personal story . . . until now. Kansas City Lightning, the first in a two-volume life of Parker by Stanley Crouch, draws on decades of original interviews with peers, collaborators, and family members to reveal Parker as he emerged from the landscapes literal and artistic that he inhabited. A precocious child, shy yet self-possessed, Charlie ventured early into the nightlife of wide-open Depression Kansas City, a veritable stomping ground for such bandleaders as Walter Page, Bennie Moten, and Moten's successor, Count Basie, the king of Kansas City swing. Inspired by saxophonists Lester Young and Chu Berry, trumpeter Roy Eldridge, and his mentor Buster Smith, Parker endured initial humiliation on the bandstand yet persevered until he mastered the idiom and began to transcend it.Kansas City Lightning follows Parker from the "freak shows" and "spook breakfasts" of late-night Kansas City, to the segregated union halls of Chicago, and finally to New York's Harlem ballrooms. Most intimately, it brings us into young Charlie Parker's family circle, as he plunged headlong into a very adult world lured by both music and drugs, torn between his oddly protective mother and Rebecca Ruffin, the impressionable young woman whose romance with Charlie is at the bittersweet heart of this story.With the musical wisdom of a lifetime jazz scholar, the cultural insights of an indispensable social critic, and the narrative skill of a writer at the height of his powers, Crouch brings Parker back to glorious, surprising, and deeply moving life.

Loud rock, fast cars, and Cabo.This is the life of Sammy Hagar. For almost forty years, Sammy Hagar has been a fixture in rock music. From breaking into the industry with the band Montrose to his multiplatinum solo career to his ride as the front man of Van Halen, Sammy's powerful and unforgettable voice has set the tone for some of the greatest rock anthems ever written songs like "I Can't Drive 55," "Right Now," and "Why Can't This Be Love."In Red, Sammy tells the outrageous story of his tear through rock 'n' roll, detailing the backstage antics and nonstop touring that have made his voice instantly recognizable. Beginning with his musical coming-of-age in the blue-collar towns of California, Sammy traces his rough and determined rise to fame, working harder than anyone else out there and writing songs about the things he loved fast cars, loud parties, and lots of good times. But solo success was just the start, a prelude to his raucous and notorious decade as the front man for Van Halen, one of the biggest-selling rock groups in history. Filled with behind-the-scenes stories from his time with the band, Red offers the Van Halen story as Sammy saw it, holding nothing back about the worldwide stadium tours, the tensions with Eddie, the messy parties, the divided friendships, and, of course, his controversial and widely disputed exit from the band. After Van Halen, Sammy changed directions again, throwing himself headfirst into the tequila business and creating Cabo Wabo, one of the most successful tequila brands in the world. And all the while he continued to rock, touring the country with his bands the Waboritas and Chickenfoot, and eventually reuniting with Van Halen for a tour that became both a box-office smash and a personal catastrophe.From the decadence of being one of the world's biggest rock stars to the unfiltered story of being forced out of Van Halen, Sammy's account spares no one, least of all himself. His is a tale of a true rock 'n' roller someone who's spent decades bringing the party with him wherever he goes but always headin' back to Cabo for mas tequila.

In this gripping and colorful account of the American dream gone astray, Lewis Pinault provides the essential guidelines on how to get ahead and an enlightening perspective on the brutal infighting that can engulf even the most civilized consulting firm. This stunning expose of some of the most prestigious and respected names in the business leads you into a world where a client's interests are skillfully subordinated to those of the consultants, where money rules the day, and where principles and morals are unwelcome baggage.Humorous and insightful, this no-holds-barred account takes you behind the scenes of the dehumanizing indoctrination of an academic intellectual into an exploitative -- and exploited -- "global transformation contractor." Featuring new material dealing with the e-consulting industry's boom, bust, and its future, Consulting Demons offers the most complete look at an industry that exacts the highest prices for the most questionable standards of success.

The Mossad is widely recognized today as the best intelligence service in the world. It is also the most enigmatic, shrouded in secrecy. Mossad: The Greatest Missions of the Israeli Secret Service unveils the defi ning and most dangerous operations that have shaped Israel and the world at large from the agency's more than sixty-year history, among them: the capture of Adolf Eichmann, the eradication of Black September, the destruction of the Syrian nuclear facility, and the elimination of key Iranian nuclear scientists.Through intensive research and exclusive interviews with Israeli leaders and Mossad agents, authors Michael Bar-Zohar and Nissim Mishal re-create these missions in riveting detail, vividly bringing to life the heroic operatives who risked everything in the face of unimaginable danger. In the words of Shimon Peres, president of Israel, this gripping, white-knuckle read "tells what should have been known and isn't that Israel's hidden force is as formidable as its recognized physical strength."

In the critically acclaimed memoir Girl Meets God, Lauren F. Winner chronicled her sojourn from Judaism to Christianity. Now, in Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis, Winner describes how experiences of loss and failure unexpectedly slam her into a wall of doubt and spiritual despair: My belief has faltered, my sense of God’s closeness has grown strained, my efforts at living in accord with what I take to be the call of the gospel have come undone.”Witty, relatable, and fiercely honest, Winner lays bare her experience of what she calls the middle” of the spiritual life. In elegant and spare prose, she explores why in the midst of the overwhelming anxiety, loneliness, and boredom of her deepest questioning about where (or if) God is the Christian story still explains who she is better than any other story she’s ever known. Still is an absorbing meditation combining literary grace with spiritual wisdom. It is sure to resonate with anyone looking to sustain a spiritual life in the midst of real life.

The definitive life of Abraham Lincoln, With Malice Toward None is historian Stephen B. Oates's acclaimed and enthralling portrait of America's greatest leader. Oates masterfully charts, with the pacing of a novel, Lincoln's rise from bitter poverty in America's midwestern frontier to become a self-made success in business, law, and regional politics. The second half of the book examines his legendary leadership on the national stage as president during one of the country's most tumultuous and bloody periods, the Civil War years, which concluded tragically with Lincoln's assassination. In this award-winning biography, Lincoln steps forward out of the shadow of myth as a recognizable, fully drawn American whose remarkable life continues to inspire and inform us today.

Regain control of your children with simple, direct, nanny-tested measures!Is your life chaoticAre your kids running the showDo you feel like you're more of a zookeeper than a parent?Take heart, America. When your family's in trouble, Nanny 911 is there on the double. Because brats are not born, they're made. No one knows that better than Deborah Carroll and Stella Reid Nanny Deb and Nanny Stella the stars of the overnight hit television show on the Fox network. Each week, up to ten million viewers tune in to see the nannies take charge and transform one family's utter chaos into serenity. No matter how loud the tantrums or how clueless the parents, Nanny Deb and Nanny Stella help them become the families they always wanted to be.Now the nannies share their remarkable wisdom with millions of overwhelmed parents desperate for foolproof parenting advice at their fingertips. They'll show that parents need to change their behavior first because when there are no consequences for naughty behavior, kids quickly realize there's no reason for the naughtiness to stop. And when mom and dad just don't know what to do, the kids take over. You'll learn how to confront problems head-on, with firm but loving discipline, effective communication, and the implementation of clear House Rules.Nanny 911 is the perfect sourcebook for dealing with everyday problems that have escalated to levels that are out of control.For parenting emergencies call 911. Nanny 911, that is.With a Foreword by Head Nanny Lilian Sperling

Drawing on her research knowledge and clinical experience, internationally respected neurologist—and mother of two boys—Frances E. Jensen, M.D., offers a revolutionary look at the science of the adolescent brain, providing remarkable insights that translate into practical advice for both parents and teenagers. Driven by the assumption that brain growth was pretty much complete by the time a child began kindergarten, scientists believed for years that the adolescent brain was essentially an adult one—only with fewer miles on it. Over the last decade, however, the scientific community has learned that the teen years encompass vitally important stages of brain development. Motivated by her personal experience of parenting two teenage boys, renowned neurologist Dr. Frances E. Jensen gathers what we’ve discovered about adolescent brain functioning, wiring, and capacity and, in this groundbreaking, accessible book, explains how these eye-opening findings not only dispel commonly held myths about the teenage years, but also yield practical suggestions that will help adults and teenagers negotiate the mysterious world of adolescent neurobiology. Interweaving clear summary and analysis of research data with anecdotes drawn from her years as a parent, clinician, and public speaker, Dr. Jensen explores adolescent brain functioning and development in the contexts of learning and multitasking, stress and memory, sleep, addiction, and decision-making. Rigorous yet accessible, warm yet direct, The Teenage Brain sheds new light on the brains—and behaviors—of adolescents and young adults, and analyzes this knowledge to share specific ways in which parents, educators, and even the legal system can help them navigate their way more smoothly into adulthood.

In January 1961, three days before President Dwight D. Eisenhower passed the torch to John F. Kennedy, the president had one final mission.In the young readers’ edition of his New York Times bestselling book, Fox News anchor Bret Baier examines the historic transition and Eisenhower’s last chance to lead the country he loved through his legendary farewell address and his personal appeals to Kennedy. Baier paints a vivid picture of the contrasts between old and new at the beginning of a decisive decade in American history. Eisenhower and Kennedy were very different men. Eisenhower, at seventy, was an elder statesman, a five-star Army general during WWII, and one of the most popular Republican presidents of the past century. Kennedy, a forty-three-year-old Democrat, had captured the nation’s attention with his energy and youth, but was inexperienced.Eisenhower believed he had hard-won knowledge to pass on to his successor, but he didn’t know if Kennedy would listen. It was Eisenhower’s final mission as president to leave the new president, and the country, with the lessons he had learned and guidance for a direction forward.Meticulously researched, broad in scope, and full of timely insights—as well as historic photographs—this edition will enable young readers to experience a piece of “living history” and will inspire a deeper understanding of the pivotal moments that forged the next seventy-five years.

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue meets Jane Austen in this witty, winking historical romance with a dash of mystery!Lady Victoria Aston has everything she could want: an older sister happily wed, the future of her family estate secure, and ample opportunity to while her time away in the fields around her home. But now Vicky must marry—or find herself and her family destitute. Armed only with the wisdom she has gained from her beloved novels by Jane Austen, she enters society’s treacherous season.Sadly, Miss Austen has little to say about Vicky’s exact circumstances: whether the roguish Mr. Carmichael is indeed a scoundrel, if her former best friend, Tom Sherborne, is out for her dowry or for her heart, or even how to fend off the attentions of the foppish Mr. Silby, he of the unfortunate fashion sensibility. Most unfortunately of all, Vicky’s books are silent on the topic of the mysterious accidents cropping up around her…ones that could prevent her from surviving until her wedding day.

轻松爱情故事：女主人公贝卡因为被朋友嘲笑单身，假装自己在偷偷约会；而男主人公布雷特也常被问起感情问题，为了解决这个麻烦，他扮演起贝卡的神秘约会对象，避免别人继续刺探。而在这段虚假的感情里，他们发现了更多的共同点... A fun, flirty teen debut from Wattpad phenom Alex Light about a fake relationship and real love.It’s been years since seventeen-year-old Becca Hart believed in true love. But when her former best friend teases her for not having had a boyfriend, Becca impulsively pretends she’s been secretly seeing someone. Brett Wells has it all. As captain of the football team and one of the most popular guys in his school, he should have no problem finding someone to date, but he’s always been more focused on his future than who to bring to prom.When he overhears Becca’s lie, Brett decides to step in and be the mystery guy. It’s the perfect solution: he gets people off his back for not having a meaningful relationship and she can keep up the ruse that she’s got a boyfriend. Acting like the perfect couple isn’t easy, though, especially when you barely know the other person. But with Becca still picking up the pieces from when her world was blown apart years ago and Brett just barely holding his together now, they begin to realize they have more in common than they ever could have imagined.When the line between what is pretend and what is real begins to blur, they're forced to answer the question: Is this fake romance the realest thing in either of their lives?

"理查德?赖特影响深远的回忆录《黑孩子》75周年纪念特别版，增加了非裔美国作家约翰?埃德加?韦德曼撰写的新前言和作者的孙子马尔科姆?赖特的后记。 《黑孩子》首次出版时在美国引起激烈的讨论，《纽约时报》的奥维尔?普雷斯科特曾评价此书“如果有足够多的人写出这样的书，如果有足够多的人阅读它们，也许在某一天，当时机成熟时，会有更多的理解和更真实的民主。”而这本书也曾因为过分残酷的内容而被禁止进入学校。 这本曾经饱受争议，现在却备受赞誉的自传描述了南方种族歧视的残酷性，以及作为一个黑人男孩为了生存所需要的绝望意志。 赖特在密西西比州的森林里长大，忍受着贫穷、饥饿、恐惧、虐待和仇恨。 他渴望一种不同的生活方式，于是一路向北，终抵达芝加哥，在那里开始了他的作家生涯。 在《黑孩子》的结尾，赖特手持铅笔泰然自若地坐着，决心“把文字投入这片黑暗，等待回音”。 75年过去了，他的话仍然回荡在人们心中。 约翰?埃德加?韦德曼在前言中写道: “读《黑孩子》就是凝视黑暗的心灵。” 作为美国伟大的回忆录之一，赖特记录了他的忍耐、心酸和奋斗，也记录了他所处的那个时代。 A special 75th anniversary edition of Richard Wright's powerful and unforgettable memoir, with a new foreword by John Edgar Wideman and an afterword by Malcolm Wright, the author’s grandson.When it exploded onto the literary scene in 1945, Black Boy was both praised and condemned. Orville Prescott of the New York Times wrote that “if enough such books are written, if enough millions of people read them maybe, someday, in the fullness of time, there will be a greater understanding and a more true democracy.” Yet from 1975 to 1978, Black Boy was banned in schools throughout the United States for “obscenity” and “instigating hatred between the races.”Wright’s once controversial, now celebrated autobiography measures the raw brutality of the Jim Crow South against the sheer desperate will it took to survive as a black boy. Enduring poverty, hunger, fear, abuse, and hatred while growing up in the woods of Mississippi, Wright lied, stole, and raged at those around him—whites indifferent, pitying, or cruel and blacks resentful of anyone trying to rise above their circumstances. Desperate for a different way of life, he may his way north, eventually arriving in Chicago, where he forged a new path and began his career as a writer. At the end of Black Boy, Wright sits poised with pencil in hand, determined to “hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo.” Seventy-five year later, his words continue to reverberate. “To read Black Boy is to stare into the heart of darkness,” John Edgar Wideman writes in his foreword. “Not the dark heart Conrad searched for in Congo jungles but the beating heart I bear.” One of the great American memoirs, Wright’s account is a poignant record of struggle and endurance—a seminal literary work that illuminates our own time.