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万本电子书0元读

A Fatal Waltz
A Fatal Waltz
Alexander, Tasha
¥90.77
At her friend Ivy's behest, Emily reluctantly agrees to attend a party at the sprawling English country estate of Lord Fortescue, a man she finds as odious as he is powerful. But if Emily is expecting Lord Fortescue to be the greatest of her problems, she is wrong. Her host has also invited Kristiana von Lange, an Austrian countess who was once linked romantically with Emily's fiancé, the debonair Colin Hargreaves. What Emily believes will be a tedious evening turns deadly when Fortescue is found murdered, and his protégé, Robert Brandon—Ivy's husband—is arrested for the crime. Determined to right this terrible wrong and clear Robert's name, Emily begins to dig for answers, a quest that will lead her from London's glittering ballrooms to Vienna's sordid backstreets. Not until she engages a notorious anarchist in a game of wits does the shocking truth begin to emerge: the price of exonerating Robert can be paid only by placing Colin in deadly peril. To save her fiancé, Emily must do the unthinkable: bargain with her nemesis, the Countess von Lange.
The Fires
The Fires
Steinke, Rene
¥90.77
Smoke has as many different scents as skin. Part of the pleasure is not knowing what it will be -- sulfurous or closer to incense or airier and sweeter as I imagine the smell of clouds.Ella is a connoisseur of fire, a woman enthralled by it as other women are by love. She savors the seductive promise of a spark, the caress of a curling wisp of smoke, the all-consuming hunger of a spreading blaze. Ella's heart seethes with a rage that can be spoken only with tongues of flame.In her remarkable first novel, Rene Steinke has created a narrator so lyrical and lucid in her madness as to raise the book to the level of romance. Trapped in a sleepy Indiana town, torn by inner demons that drive her to pyromania and promiscuity, Ella is at once entirely original and unforgettably real.As she struggles to come to terms with her family's tormented past and her own uncertain future, she draws the mesmerized reader ever deeper into her scorched soul, revealing a sensuality that will spiral into final, fiery destruction -- unless it can be quenched by love.
5 Minutes and 42 Seconds
5 Minutes and 42 Seconds
Williams, Timothy
¥90.77
Cameisha Douglass has it all -- a sprawling home in a posh neighborhood, a fancy car, three healthy children, and a husband, Fashad, who is devoted to her. Her biggest worry is catching her daytime soap operas before the kids come home from school and her husband returns from work, "businesses" that everyone knows are mere fronts through which he launders his drug-dealing money. But as the emotional and sexual secrets of her family come to the surface, she can no longer deny that her life is not all that it seems. While family members point fingers at one another, the real threat may come from the outside, specifically from Smokey, a mixed-race twenty-year-old high school dropout and would-be rapper whose issues with sexual and racial identity fuel his inner rage.Written by a daring young author with a compelling voice, 5 Minutes and 42 Seconds is a fast-paced and edgy thriller that explores the questions of identity and sexuality with refreshing vigor.
Almost Dead
Almost Dead
Gavron, Assaf
¥90.77
Politically incorrect, provocative, and steeped in wit and irony, a fast-paced tragicomedy about the perfectly ordinary madness in today's Middle EastA thirtysomething Tel Aviv businessman, Eitan "Croc" Einoch's life is turned upside down when he narrowly escapes a suicide bombing on the minibus he rides to work. When he lives through a second attack, and then a third, he becomes, reluctantly, a national media celebrity. Naturally, the Palestinian terrorists responsible for the attacks are less than happy. This embarrassing symbol of their failure—this "CrocAttack"—must be neutralized. Meanwhile, Fahmi Sabih lies in a coma, quarrelling with his conscience. The young Palestinian suicide bomber has learned everything he knows about bombs, targets, and revenge from his brother. So why has Einoch survivedAs Fahmi's story unfolds, it becomes clear that their paths are destined to cross again—for there is another bombing still to come—and then luck will change drastically for one or both of them. But who, if anyone, has right on his side?
Unlocking The Sky
Unlocking The Sky
Shulman, Seth
¥90.77
Unlocking the Sky tells the extraordinary tale of the race to design, refine, and manufacture a manned flying machine, a race that took place in the air, on the ground, and in the courtrooms of America. While the Wright brothers threw a veil of secrecy over their flying machine, Glenn Hammond Curtiss -- perhaps the greatest aviator and aeronautical inventor of all time -- freely exchanged information with engineers in America and abroad, resulting in his famous airplane, the June Bug, which made the first ever public flight in America. Fiercely jealous, the Wright brothers took to the courts to keep Curtiss and his airplane out of the sky and off the market. Ultimately, however, it was Curtiss's innovations and designs, not the Wright brothers', that served as the model for the modern airplane.
Laying Down the Sword
Laying Down the Sword
Jenkins, Philip
¥90.77
Commands to kill, to commit ethnic cleansing, to institutionalize segregation, to hate and fear other races and religions all are in the Bible, and all occur with a far greater frequency than in the Qur’an. But fanaticism is no more hard-wired in Christianity than it is in Islam. In Laying Down the Sword, one of America’s best scholars of religion” (The Economist) explores how religions grow past their bloody origins, and delivers a fearless examination of the most violent verses of the Bible and an urgent call to read them anew in pursuit of a richer, more genuine faith.Christians cannot engage with neighbors and critics of other traditions nor enjoy the deepest, most mature embodiment of their own faith until they confront the texts of terror in their heritage. Philip Jenkins identifies the holy amnesia” that, while allowing *ural religions to grow and adapt, has demanded a nearly wholesale suppression of the Bible’s most aggressive passages, leaving them dangerously dormant for extremists to revive in times of conflict. Jenkins lays bare the whole Bible, without compromise or apology, and equips us with tools for reading even the most unsettling texts, from the slaughter of the Canaanites to the alarming rhetoric of the book of Revelation.Laying Down the Sword presents a vital framework for understanding both the Bible and the Qur’an, gives Westerners a credible basis for interaction and dialogue with Islam, and delivers a powerful model for how a faith can grow from terror to mercy.
Shadow of Empire
Shadow of Empire
Allan, Jay
¥90.77
The first installment in the Far Star series, a swashbuckling space saga that introduces the daring pirate Blackhawk and the loyal crew of the Wolf’s Claw, from the author of the bestselling Crimson Worlds saga.Smuggler and mercenary Arkarin Blackhawk and the crew of the ship Wolf’s Claw are freelance adventurers who live on the fringe of human society in the Far Stars. A veteran fighter as deadly with a blade as he is with a gun, Blackhawk is a man haunted by a dark past. Even his cynicism cannot banish the guilt and pain that threaten his sanity.Sent to rescue the kidnapped daughter of his longtime friend Marshal Augustin Lucerne, Blackhawk and his crew find themselves drawn into one deadly fight after another. When the Wolf’s Claw is damaged, they are forced to land on a remote planet subsumed by civil war. Pulled unwittingly into the conflict, they uncover disturbing information about secret imperial involvement that could upset the plans of Lucerne.For the Marshal is determined to forge a Far Stars Confederation powerful enough to eliminate all imperial influence and threats in the sector. He needs a skilled warrior like Blackhawk on his side, but the mercenary, plagued by dark memories from the past, refuses to join the cause. All too soon, though, he and his crew will have to take a stand.
The School for the Insanely Gifted
The School for the Insanely Gifted
Elish, Dan
¥90.77
Daphna Whispers is insanely gifted.At age two and a half, she composed her first sonata.At age eight, she completed an opera.And now, at eleven and three-quarters, she is orchestrating a piano rhapsody.With a résumé like that, it's no wonder she is a student at the prestigious Blatt School for the Insanely Gifted. But as sixth grade draws to a close, Daphna's mind is far from the upcoming "Insanity Cup" competition. She's preoccupied by her mother's disappearance two months ago. When a mysterious man breaks into Daphna's small New York apartment, Daphna discovers that her mother's disappearance wasn't a random accident. Her mother knew something—and now somebody is after Daphna. What starts out as a simple fact-finding trip to the basement with her friends spirals into an international expedition. And while Daphna hopes to uncover the secret of her mother's disappearance on her global trek, the last thing she expects to uncover is an outrageous secret about the Blatt School.And one insanely shocking secret about herself.
The Sweet Hereafter
The Sweet Hereafter
Banks, Russell
¥90.77
In The Sweet Hereafter, Russell Banks tells a story that begins with a school bus accident. Using four different narrators, Banks creates a small-town morality play that addresses one of life's most agonizing questions: when the worst thing happens, who do you blame?
So Big
So Big
Ferber, Edna
¥90.77
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and widely considered to be Edna Ferber's greatest achievement, So Big is a classic novel of turn-of-the-century Chicago. It is the unforgettable story of Selina Peake DeJong, a gambler's daughter, and her struggles to stay afloat and maintain her dignity and her sanity in the face of marriage, widowhood, and single parenthood. A brilliant literary masterwork from one of the twentieth century's most accomplished and admired writers, the remarkable So Big still resonates with its unflinching view of poverty, sexism, and the drive for success.
Mind Your Body
Mind Your Body
Harper, Joel
¥90.77
A personal trainer to the stars and regular contributor to The Dr. Oz Show, Joel Harper has spent twenty years helping people achieve their weight-loss goals and optimally balancing every category of their lives. Over his career, he has witnessed firsthand thousands of health transformations and personal breakthroughs. But he's also seen time and time again how different people following the exact same regime will produce stunningly different results. Some people flourish, while others simply throw in the towel. So Harper set out to figure out why. By investigating cutting-edge research in the fields of neuroscience and neuropsychology, Harper soon discovered that people who are stuck struggling with excess weight have one thing in common—destructive self-talk and negative thinking patterns. That's right. The missing solution to successful—and long-lasting—weight loss isn't another fad diet. The secret, according to Harper, lies in tapping the power of your mind. In Mind Your Body, Harper explores the crucial—and often overlooked—connection between meals, moves, and mindset: meals to keep you nourished, moves that can be done in the comfort of your home, and the mindset to keep you motivated, inspired, and thriving. And in the process, he provides a "whole-istic" three-step weight-loss program that will help you quadruple your weight loss, maximize your workouts by 85 percent, and boost your happiness and energy levels by more than 40 percent—in just fifteen minutes a day.With Harper's proven, fun, and effective program, you'll be able to finally blast through those frustrating plateaus and achieve—once and for all—the physical, mental, and emotional health you desire. Harper teaches you the ten optimal traits that lead to successful nutritional, physical, and mental fitness. If you are tired of yo-yo dieting, fed up with hitting weight-loss plateaus, and ready to finally achieve the health and happiness that seem so elusive, Mind Your Body is the self-empowering and life-changing mind-body solution you've been waiting for.
Red Sox Rule
Red Sox Rule
Holley, Michael
¥90.77
The story of the changing face of baseball and the inner workings of its finest organization After a hundred "cursed" years, the Boston Red Sox rose gloriously to baseball domination. Under the leadership of manager Terry Francona, an extraordinary team of wildly disparate personalities from the inscrutable Manny Ramirez to the affable David "Big Papi" Ortiz pulled off two improbable post-season comebacks to make it to the World Series twice in three years . . . and ultimately emerged victorious. In Red Sox Rule, Michael Holley, bestselling author of Patriot Reign, provides a fascinating, insightful, and surprising inside look at how it all happened.With the exclusive cooperation of Terry Francona and stories from the clubhouse and the conference room, Holley reveals the private sessions and the dugout and front-office strategies that have made the Red Sox a budding dynasty, overtaking their archrivals, the powerful New York Yankees, as the American League's elite team.
A-Rod
A-Rod
Roberts, Selena
¥90.77
Alex Rodriguez is the highest-paid player in the history of baseball, a once-in-a-generation talent poised to break many of the sport's most hallowed records. In 2007 he became the youngest player, at 32, ever to hit 500 home runs, solidifying his status as the greatest player in the modern game, and months later he signed a contract that would keep him with the Yankees through the end of his career. His reputation changed drastically in February 2009 when Selena Roberts broke the news in Sports Illustrated that A-Rod had used performance-enhancing drugs during his 2003 MVP season with the Texas Rangers. Her report prompted a contrite Rodriguez to admit illegal drug use during his 2001–2003 seasons with the Rangers, who had signed him to the most expensive contract in Major League Baseball history. Although he admitted to three seasons of steroid use, the man teammates call "A-Fraud" was still hiding the truth. In the first definitive biography of Alex Rodriguez, Roberts assembles the strands of a bizarre and extraordinary life: from his boyhood in New York and the Dominican Republic through his near-mythic high school career and fast track to the big leagues, the whole of A-Rod's career mirrors the rise and fall of the steroid generation. Roberts goes beyond the sensational headlines, probing A-Rod's childhood to reveal a man torn by obligation to his family and the pull of his insatiable hedonism, a conflict--epitomized by his relationship with Madonna and devotion to Kabbalah--that led to the end of his six-year marriage. Roberts sheds new light on A-Rod's abuse of performance-enhancing drugs, a practice he appears to have begun as early as high school and that extended into his Yankee years. She chronicles his secretive real estate deals, gets inside the negotiations for his latest record-breaking contract with the Yankees, and examines the insecurities that compel him to seek support from a motivational guru before every game. In A-Rod, Roberts captures baseball's greatest player as a tragic figure in pinstripes: the man once considered the clean exception of the steroid generation revealed as an unmistakable product of its greed and dissolution.
The Girl's Guide to Starting Your Own Business
The Girl's Guide to Starting Your Own Business
Friedman, Caitlin
¥90.77
Geared toward the unique challenges faced by self-employed businesswomen and updated for the social media-driven, post-financial crisis world The Girl's Guide to Starting Your Own Business offers solutions and advice for handling a range of issues, including how to write a business plan, how to secure funding, and how to hire (and fire) employees. Caitlin Friedman and Kimberly Yorio share practical information drawn from their own extensive experience in the public relations, marketing, and consulting fields. Their concise and engaging advice is explained through entertaining tips, lists, and quizzes that speak directly to women who are dreaming of starting, or have already started, their own businesses.
And Now We Shall Do Manly Things
And Now We Shall Do Manly Things
Heimbuch, Craig
¥90.77
In the tradition of Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods and A. J. Jacobs's The Know-It-All, Craig J. Heimbuch takes a wry look at some of our most deeply cherished cultural beliefsCraig J. Heimbuch had never even thought of owning a gun when, in his early thirties, he was given a twelve-gauge Winchester over-under shotgun by his father. The black sheep, so to speak, of his Midwestern family, Craig was possibly the only male Heimbuch never to have taken an animal. But now that he had a shotgun, he figured he might as well try it out, and in so doing, explore the meaning of manhood while getting closer to his hunting-enthusiast dad.And Now We Shall Do Manly Things is the witty, moving, and insightful story of one man's quest to free himself from the shackles of his domesticated suburban lifestyle by immersing himself for one year in the hunting culture his family has always cherished. Along the way Heimbuch learns what putting food on the table once entailed and what it means to be a man in America and discovers that it's possible to be a committed father, a loving spouse, and a hunter without being mistaken for a gun-toting lunatic.
The Abduction
The Abduction
Holt, Jonathan
¥90.77
The Abduction is an adrenaline-fuelled tale of mystery and intrigue that moves between the physical world of Venice, Italy, and its online counterpart, blurring the boundary between dark fantasy and even darker reality.Captain Kat Tapo of the Venice Carabinieri knows that the social media site Carnivia.com harbors disturbing secrets—she's already endured one encounter with this digital incarnation of Venice and its creator, the reclusive hacker Daniele Barbo. But she's shocked to discover a webcam feed that streams video of a terrified teenage girl, hooded and shackled. A strand of text repeatedly scrolls across the screen: Stressful Standing Is Not Torture.At the same time, Second Lieutenant Holly Boland is desperately trying to find the daughter of a US Army officer, missing from an American military base near the city. An intelligence analyst trained to look for clues that others miss, Holly is sure the kidnappers are after more than just money.When responsibility is claimed by a group demanding an end to US bases in Italy, it seems that the motive behind the kidnapping is clear. But the more the two women investigate, the more the case becomes as murky as the dark waters of Venice's lagoon itself.Uncooperative at the best of times, Daniele has never before allowed Carnivia.com to yield its hidden truths to the authorities. But when secrets from Italy's complicated wartime past begin to surface, revelations that could put them all in danger, he must make a difficult choice. How far will he let them inIf the shocking truth is not discovered, more than one innocent life will be sacrificed....With The Abduction, the second book in the Carnivia Trilogy, Jonathan Holt delivers a heart-pounding sequel to his acclaimed international thriller The Abomination.
Secondhand Souls
Secondhand Souls
Moore, Christopher
¥90.77
In San Francisco, the souls of the dead are mysteriously disappearing—and you know that can't be good—in this delightfully weird and funny sequel to the New York Times bestseller A Dirty JobSecondhand SoulsIt seems like only yesterday that Charlie Asher took on a very dirty job—collecting souls and keeping the Forces of Darkness at bay. The new gig came with the Big Book of the Dead and a host of other oddities: creatures under the streets, an evil trinity of ravenlike Celtic death goddesses, and one very bad Underworld dude attempting to conquer humanity. Along with a cohort of other oddballs, Charlie faced off against these denizens of darkness—and met his own end. But thanks to Audrey, his Buddhist-nun boo, his soul is still alive . . . inside a fourteen-inch-high body made from lunchmeat and spare animal parts. Waiting for Audrey to find him a suitable new body to play host, Charlie has squirreled himself away from everyone, including his adorable seven-year-old daughter, Sophie, who enjoys dressing up like a princess, playing with her glitter ponies, and—being the Luminatus—spouting off about her power over the Underworld and her dominion over Death.Just when Charlie and company thought the world was safe, some really freaky stuff hits San Francisco. People are dying, but their souls are not being collected. Someone—or something—is stealing them and no one knows where they are going, or why, but it has something to do with that big orange bridge. Then there's the Taser-wielding banshee keening about doom who's suddenly appeared while Sophie's guardian hellhounds, Alvin and Mohammed, have mysteriously vanished.Charlie is just as flummoxed as everyone else. To get to the bottom of this abomination, he and a motley crew of heroes will band together: the seven-foot-tall, two-hundred-and-seventy-five-pounds-of-lean-heartache Death Merchant Minty Fresh; the retired policeman-turned-bookseller Alphonse Rivera; the lunatic Emperor of San Francisco and his dogs, Bummer and Lazarus; Mike Sullivan, a bridge painter in love with a ghost; a gentle French-speaking janitor named Jean-Pierre Baptiste; and former Goth girl Lily Darquewillow Elventhing Severo, now a part-time suicide hotline counselor.With little Sophie babbling about the coming battle for the very soul of humankind, time is definitely not on their side. . . .Irresistibly zany, rich in humor, heart, and spirit, Secondhand Souls is vintage Christopher Moore.
The Bookseller
The Bookseller
Swanson, Cynthia
¥90.77
A mesmerizingly powerful debut novel about the ways in which past choices can irrevocably define the present—and the bittersweet confrontation of what might have been1962: It may be the Swinging Sixties in New York, but in Denver it's different: being a single gal over thirty in this city is almost bohemian. Still, thirty-eight-year-old Kitty Miller has come to terms with her unconventional single life. She was involved, once—with a doctor named Kevin—but when things didn't work out the way she had hoped, she decided to chart her own path. Now she dedicates herself to the bookstore she runs with her best friend, Frieda, returning home each evening to her cozy apartment. Without a husband expecting dinner, she can enjoy last-minute drinks after work with her friends; without children who need to get ready for school, she can stay up all night reading with her beloved cat, Aslan, by her side.Then the dreams begin.1963: Katharyn Andersson is married to Lars, the love of her life. They live in a picture-perfect home in a suburban area of Denver, close to their circle of friends. It's the ideal place in which to raise their children. Katharyn's world is exactly what Kitty once believed she wanted . . . but it exists only when she sleeps.At first, Kitty enjoys her nighttime forays into this alternate world. Even though there is no Frieda, no bookstore, no other familiar face, Kitty becomes increasingly reluctant to open her eyes and abandon Katharyn's alluring life.But with each visit to her dreamworld, it grows more real. As the lines between the two worlds begin to blur, Kitty faces an uncertain future. What price must she pay to stayWhat is the cost of letting go?
The Presumed Alliance
The Presumed Alliance
Vaca, Nicolas C., PhD
¥90.77
As Latino and African Americans increasingly live side by side in large urban centers, as well as in suburban clusters, the idealized concept of a "Rainbow Coalition" would suggest that these two disenfranchised groups are natural political allies. Indeed, as the number of Latinos has increased dramatically over the last ten years, competition over power and resources between these two groups has led to surprisingly antagonistic and uncooperative interactions. Many African Americans now view Latinos, because of their growth in numbers, as a threat to their social, economic, and political gains.Vaca debunks the myth of "The Great Union" and offers the hope he believes each community could learn from, in order to achieve a mutually agreed upon agenda. More than simply unveiling the problem, The Presumed Alliance offers optimistic solutions to the future relations between Latino and Black America.
Fallout
Fallout
Jones, Sadie
¥90.77
Four young people in 1970s London race toward the future, fueled by love, betrayal, and creative ambition.Luke Kanowski is a young playwright— intense, magnetic, and eager for life. He escapes a disastrous upbringing in the northeast and, arriving in London, meets Paul Driscoll, an aspiring producer, and the beautiful, fiery Leigh Radley, the woman Paul loves.The three set up a radical theater company, living and working together; a romantic connection forged in candlelit rehearsal rooms during power cuts and smoky late-night parties in Chelsea's run-down flats. The gritty rebellion of pub theater is fighting for its place against a West End dominated by racy revue shows and the giants of twentieth-century drama.Nina Jacobs is a fragile actress, bullied by her mother and in thrall to a controlling producer. When Luke meets Nina, he recognizes a soul in danger—but how much must he risk to save her?Everything he has fought for—loyalty, friendship, art—is drawn into the heat of their collision. As Luke ricochets between honesty and deceit, the promise of the future and his own painful past, the fallout threatens to be immense.
The First Phone Call From Heaven
The First Phone Call From Heaven
Albom, Mitch
¥90.77
"What if the end is not the end?" From the beloved author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven comes his most thrilling and magical novel yet—a page-turning mystery and a meditation on the power of human connection.One morning in the small town of Coldwater, Michigan, the phones start ringing. The voices say they are calling from heaven. Is it the greatest miracle everOr some cruel hoaxAs news of these strange calls spreads, outsiders flock to Coldwater to be a part of it.At the same time, a disgraced pilot named Sully Harding returns to Coldwater from prison to discover his hometown gripped by "miracle fever." Even his young son carries a toy phone, hoping to hear from his mother in heaven.As the calls increase, and proof of an afterlife begins to surface, the town—and the world—transforms. Only Sully, convinced there is nothing beyond this sad life, digs into the phenomenon, determined to disprove it for his child and his own broken heart.Moving seamlessly between the invention of the telephone in 1876 and a world obsessed with the next level of communication, Mitch Albom takes readers on a breathtaking ride of frenzied hope.The First Phone Call from Heaven is Mitch Albom at his best—a virtuosic story of love, history, and belief.