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万本电子书0元读

A Mystery of Heroism
A Mystery of Heroism
Crane, Stephen
¥22.03
Though best known for The Red Badge of Courage, his classic novel of men at war, in his tragically brief life and career Stephen Crane produced a wealth of stories—among them "The Monster," "The Upturned Face," "The Open Boat," and the title story—that stand among the most acclaimed and enduring in the history of American fiction. This superb volume collects stories of unique power and variety in which impressionistic, hallucinatory, and realistic situations alike are brilliantly conveyed through the cold, sometimes brutal irony of Crane's narrative voice.
An Episode of War
An Episode of War
Crane, Stephen
¥22.03
Though best known for The Red Badge of Courage, his classic novel of men at war, in his tragically brief life and career Stephen Crane produced a wealth of stories—among them "The Monster," "The Upturned Face," "The Open Boat," and the title story—that stand among the most acclaimed and enduring in the history of American fiction. This superb volume collects stories of unique power and variety in which impressionistic, hallucinatory, and realistic situations alike are brilliantly conveyed through the cold, sometimes brutal irony of Crane's narrative voice.
The Balance Thing
The Balance Thing
Dumas, Margaret
¥78.32
Rebecca "Becks" Mansfield has a boyfriend who sets her on the edge, a job catering to the whims of a cartoon vampire, and she's shortly to be a bridesmaid in the fairy-tale wedding from hell. How could this have happened to the brilliant, brash-talking, rising star of marketingHer three best friends tell her she's "date lazy," settling for the men who require the least effort. Maybe Becks isn't trying hard enough, but the "one" she's looking for isn't the perfect man—it's the perfect job.Of course, you can't always get what you want—a fact that's about to become crystal clear to Becks Mansfield. But sometimes you get what you need.
Displaced Persons
Displaced Persons
Schwarz, Ghita
¥84.16
Moving from the Allied zones of postwar Germany to New York City, an astonishing novel of grief and anger, memory and survival witnessed through the experiences of "displaced persons" struggling to remake their lives in the decades after World War II In May 1945, Pavel Mandl, a Polish Jew recently liberated from a concentration camp, lands near a displaced persons camp in the British occupation zone of newly defeated Germany. Alone, possessing nothing but a map, a few tins of food, a toothbrush, and his identity papers, he must scrape together a new life in a chaotic community of refugees, civilians, and soldiers. Gifted with a talent for black-market trading, Pavel soon procures clothing, false documents, and a modest house, where he installs himself and a pair of fellow refugees—Fela, a young widow who fled Poland for Russia at the outset of the war, and Chaim, a resourceful teenage boy whose smuggling skills have brought him to the Western zones. The trio soon form a makeshift family, searching for surviving relatives, railing against their circumscribed existence, and dreaming of visas to America.Fifteen years later, haunted by decisions they made as "DPs," Pavel and Fela are married and living in Queens with their young son and daughter, and Chaim has recently emigrated from Israel with his wife, Sima. Pavel opens a small tailoring shop with his scheming brother-in-law while Fela struggles to establish peace in a loosely traditional household; Chaim and Sima adapt cheerfully to American life and its promise of freedom from a brutal past. Their lives are no longer dominated by the need to endure, fight, hide, or escape. Instead, they grapple with past trauma in everyday moments: taking the children to the municipal pool, shopping for liquor, arguing with landlords.For decades, Pavel, Fela, and Chaim battle over memory and identity on the sly, within private groups of survivors. But as the Iron Curtain falls in the 1990s, American society starts to embrace the tragedy as a cultural commodity, and survivor politics go public. Clever and stubborn, tyrannical and generous, Pavel, Fela, and Chaim articulate the self-conscious strivings of an immigrant community determined to write its own history, on its own terms.In Displaced Persons, Ghita Schwarz reveals the interior despairs and joys of immigrants shaped by war—ordinary men and women who have lived through cataclysmic times—and illuminates changing cultural understandings of trauma and remembrance.
The Good Daughters
The Good Daughters
Maynard, Joyce
¥83.03
The bestselling author of Labor Day returns with a spellbinding novel about friendship, family secrets, and the strange twists of fate that shape our livesThe Good DaughtersThey were born on the same day, in the same small New Hampshire hospital, into families that could hardly have been less alike.Ruth Plank is an artist and a romantic with a rich, passionate, imaginative life. The last of five girls born to a gentle, caring farmer and his stolid wife, she yearns to soar beyond the confines of the land that has been her family's birthright for generations. Dana Dickerson is a scientist and realist whose faith is firmly planted in the natural world. Raised by a pair of capricious drifters who waste their lives on failed dreams, she longs for stability and rootedness.Different in nearly every way, Ruth and Dana share a need to make sense of who they are and to find their places in a world in which neither has ever truly felt she belonged. They also share a love for Dana's wild and beautiful older brother, Ray, who will leave an indelible mark on both their hearts.Told in the alternating voices of Ruth and Dana, The Good Daughters follows these "birthday sisters" as they make their way from the 1950s to the present. Master storyteller Joyce Maynard chronicles the unlikely ways the two women's lives parallel and intersect—from childhood and adolescence to first loves, first sex, marriage, and parenthood; from the deaths of parents to divorce, the loss of home, and the loss of a beloved partner—until past secrets and forgotten memories unexpectedly come to light, forcing them to reevaluate themselves and each other.Moving from rural New Hampshire to a remote island in British Columbia to the '70s Boston art-school scene, The Good Daughters is an unforgettable story about the ties of home and family, the devastating force of love, the healing power of forgiveness, and the desire to know who we are.
The Best Laid Plans
The Best Laid Plans
Sheldon, Sidney
¥155.07
Sidney Sheldon returns with a tale of two equally determined people headed on a collision course. One the governor of a small southern state, Oliver Russell is a man with a strategy to win the White House. The other is the beautiful and ambitious Leslie Stewart, a woman intent on seeing him lose everything. Soon they will both discover that even the best laid plans can go dangerously astray--with deadly consequences.
The Marrowbone Marble Company
The Marrowbone Marble Company
Taylor, Glenn
¥83.92
From the author of The Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggart, a finalist for the 2009 National Book Critics Circle Award, comes this sweeping novel of love and war, power and oppression, faith and deception, over the course of three defining american decades. 1941. Loyal Ledford works the swing shift tending furnace at the Mann Glass factory in Huntington, West Virginia. He courts Rachel, the boss's daughter, a company nurse with spike-straight posture and coal-black hair. But when Pearl Harbor is attacked, Ledford, like so many young men of his time, sets his life on a new course.Upon his return from service in the war, Ledford starts a family with Rachel, but he chafes under the authority at Mann Glass. He is a lost man, disconnected from the present and haunted by his violent past, until he meets his cousins, the Bonecutter brothers. Their land, mysterious, elemental Marrowbone Cut, calls to Ledford, and it is there, with help from an unlikely bunch, that the Marrowbone Marble Company is slowly forged. Over the next two decades, the factory grounds become a vanguard of the civil rights movement and the war on poverty, a home for those intent on change. Such a home inevitably invites trouble, and Ledford must fight for his family. Returning to the West Virginia territory of the critically acclaimed The Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggart, Glenn Taylor recounts the transformative journey of a man and his community. Told in clean and powerful prose in the tradition of Cormac McCarthy and John Irving, The Marrowbone Marble Company takes a harrowing look at the issues of race and class throughout the tumultuous 1950s and '60s. It is a story of struggle and loss, righteousness and redemption, and it can only be found in the hills of Marrowbone.
The Recipe Club
The Recipe Club
Israel, Andrea
¥88.56
Loyalty, loss, and the ties that bind. These are the ingredients of The Recipe Club, a "novel cookbook" that combines an authentic story of friendship with more than 80 delicious recipes. Lilly and Val are lifelong friends, united as much by their differences as by their similarities. Lilly, dramatic and confident, lives in the shadow of her beautiful, wayward mother and craves the attention of her distant, disapproving father. Val, shy and idealistic—and surprisingly ambitious— struggles with her desire to break free from her demanding housebound mother and a father whose dreams never seem to come true. In childhood, "LillyPad" and "ValPal" form an exclusive two-person club, writing intimate letters in which they share hopes, fears, deepest secrets—and recipes, from Lilly's "Lovelorn Lasagna" to Valerie's "Forgiveness Tapenade." Readers can cook along as the friends travel through time facing the challenges of independence, the joys and heartbreaks of first love, and the emotional complexities of family relationships, identity, mortality, and goals deferred. The Recipe Club sustains Lilly and Val's bond through the decades, regardless of what different paths they take or what misunderstandings threaten to break them apart . . . until the fateful day when an act of kindness becomes an unforgivable betrayal.Now, years later, while trying to recapture the trust they've lost, Lilly and Val reunite once more—only to uncover a shocking secret. Will it destroy their friendship, or bring them ever closer?
Close Contact
Close Contact
Allred, Katherine
¥55.91
GEPs just want to have fun . . .A Genetically Engineered Person and self-proclaimed "party girl," Echo Adams loves her diplomatic job entertaining alien bigwigs for the Galactic Federation. But the Bureau of Alien Affairs has discovered she's much more than she thinks—that a rogue scientist endowed her with skills and psi abilities dwarfing those of common GEPs. And suddenly Echo's luxury life is over, replaced with a far more dangerous one: a special agent expected to not only chase bad guys but eliminate them.Echo hates being stuck on Madrea—a planet of technophobes off limits to Federation visitors—hunting for a stolen quartz crystal with a powerful alien life form embedded inside. She despises the Bureau's restrictive rules—especially the one warning her away from the dangerously seductive commander of the king's army. And if she doesn't learn how to use her alleged super-psi powers soon, her partying days—in fact all of her days—will be over for good.
Knit in Comfort
Knit in Comfort
Sharpe, Isabel
¥77.49
In this wonderful new novel of friendship and knitting, a woman discovers that secrets can't be kept forever.Megan Morgan traded the constant mobility of her childhood for a quiet, stable life in Comfort, North Carolina, with a handsome husband, lively children, and a group of longtime friends who've formed a weekly knitting club, Purls Before Wine.Desperate to escape big-city anonymity and pressure from her marriage-minded boyfriend, a stranger, Elizabeth Detlaff, arrives unexpectedly, certain that fate has guided her to the Carolina mountains. She seems to think that in sleepy, unremarkable Comfort she's found paradise.Soon, Elizabeth has eagerly invaded Megan's life, living in the apartment over her garage, befriending her mother-in-law and children, fawning over her husband, and joining the Purls. It's not long before Elizabeth brings to light legends of Megan's Shetland ancestors, leading her to stumble over a painful, long-buried secret. Backed into a corner, Megan is forced to examine her choices and ultimately decide what kind of woman she wants to be.
Brilliant
Brilliant
Vail, Rachel
¥50.47
Everything is going to be fine . . . .Quinn Avery can handle change. It's just paint, rightBright, blinding white paint covering her once dazzling red bedroom walls. Quinn knows she shouldn't be angry at her mom—she's doing what she must to sell the house—but still, Quinn is beyond mad, and she doesn't know what to do about it.Until now, Quinn was doing a pretty good job at pretending to be her old self—calm and brilliant Avery daughter, responsible big sister to Allison and Phoebe, piano virtuoso, girl who makes everyone proud—but without the sanctuary of her room, a new, wild Quinn is emerging. Lying, sneaking out, partying, Quinn is practically asking to get caught. When Quinn adds kissing the wrong boys—including her sister's boyfriend and her own piano teacher—to her list of crimes, has she gone too far to save herself?Brilliant, the final book in Rachel Vail's critically acclaimed sisterhood series, which includes Lucky and Gorgeous, follows Quinn through a summer of change as she discovers that while letting go is never easy, hanging on can be even harder. Witty and poignant, Brilliant is the perfect ending to this addictive trilogy of interconnected sister stories.
The Chief
The Chief
Lipsyte, Robert
¥50.47
A fight for his people.Sonny Bear, the Tomahawk Kid, has a championship left hook. But his boxing career's going nowhere, and he's ready to hang it up.Then his manager, tough ex-cop Alfred Brooks, and his "writer," college boy Martin Malcolm Witherspoon, scheme Sonny into a glitzy Las Vegas match. Suddenly he's everybody's darling and headed for Hollywood stardom.But fame isn't all it's cracked up to be, and Sonny needs to make the fight of his life to decide where he really belongs.
In a Dark Wood
In a Dark Wood
Moring, Marcel
¥139.90
In a rich tapestry of styles, fantasy, and philosophical speculations, Marcel M?ring leads us on a voyage through the dark heart of the twentieth century and through a vivid exploration of loss and guilt. Loosely based on Dante's Inferno, this ambitious and enthralling novel—an in-depth study of Europeans' angst and fear after the Holocaust—confirms M?ring's place among "the ranks of the most important European writers of his generation" (Die Welt).1945. Jacob Noah emerges from hiding to discover that his family has perished under the Nazis. Rebuilding his life, Noah becomes a shoemaker in the Dutch town of Assen. Over the years, he patiently expands his business and eventually becomes the city's most influential entrepreneur. Yet success cannot alleviate his loneliness and suffering nor the tragedy of history.Nearly forty years later, this dispirited, loveless man veers off the road in a tragic accident. But instead of entering death's abyss, Noah finds himself on a journey through his soul. Guided by a peddler, he descends into the town's smoky center, a manmade hell reminiscent of Dante's Inferno. But it is not until he encounters a young man named Marcus Kolpa, a respected intellectual struggling with the implications of his Jewish identity and the shared history of his people, that Noah is able to truly understand the meaning of his own life and the tragedies he has experienced.
The Last Anniversary
The Last Anniversary
Moriarty, Liane
¥95.11
Sophie Honeywell always wondered if Thomas Gordon was the one she let get away. He was the perfect boyfriend, but on the day he was to propose, she broke his heart. A year later he married his travel agent, while Sophie has been mortifyingly single ever since. Now Thomas is back in her life because Sophie has unexpectedly inherited his aunt Connie's house on Scribbly Gum Island -- home of the famously unsolved MunroBabymystery.Sophie moves onto the island and begins a new life as part of an unconventional family where it seems everyone has a secret. Grace, a beautiful young mother, is feverishly planning a shocking escape from her perfect life. Margie, a frumpy housewife, has made a pact with a stranger, while dreamy Aunt Rose wonders if maybe it's about time she started making her own decisions.As Sophie's life becomes increasingly complicated, she discovers that sometimes you have to stop waiting around -- and come up with your own fairy-tale ending. As she so adroitly did in her smashing debut novel, Three Wishes, the incomparable Liane Moriarty once again combines sharp wit, lovable and eccentric characters, and a page-turning story for an unforgettable Last Anniversary.
Natural Flights of the Human Mind
Natural Flights of the Human Mind
Morrall, Clare
¥83.92
Peter Straker lives in a converted lighthouse on the Devon coast with a fine view of the sea, two cats, and no neighbors. That's just the way he likes it. He speaks to no one except in his dreams, where he converses with some of the seventy-eight people he believes he killed nearly a quarter-century earlier -- though he can't quite remember how it happened. But Straker's carefully preserved solitude is about to be invaded by Imogen Doody, a prickly and unapproachable school caretaker with a painful history herself. Against his will -- and hers -- Straker soon finds himself helping Imogen repair the run-down cottage she's inherited. There are forces gathering, however, as the twenty-fifth anniversary of Straker's crime approaches, and they're intent upon disturbing his precarious peace.
Our Red Hot Romance Is Leaving Me Blue
Our Red Hot Romance Is Leaving Me Blue
Cash, Dixie
¥83.03
Full-time hairdressers and part-time private detectives, Debbie Sue Overstreet and Edwina Perkins-Martin—the Domestic Equalizers—have dealt with cheating spouses, shady business deals, Elvis-obsessed shoe thieves, even murder. But ghostsThat's a whole new rodeo!Justin Sadler's just coming to terms with the absence of his dear departed Rachel—but now he's not so sure she's departed! Every time he goes home he knows someone's been there—and if it's not Rachel trying to communicate from beyond, it's someone else who's trying to drive him stark raving bonkers. So the Equalizers are on the case, with the help of an El Paso psychic who's so dead-on, it's scary. It's enough to make any good ol' gal's big hair stand on end!The investigation leads them toward one of their tiny West Texas town's more unsavory characters—and, all things considered, Debbie Sue would much rather be cuddling in the arms of her hubby, the sexiest cop in the whole nation of Texas. But the Equalizers will never say die . . . even when dealing with the restless dead.
Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill
Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill
Lovelace, Maud Hart
¥39.24
Betsy, Tacy, and Tib can't wait to be ten. After all, getting two numbers in your age is the beginning of growing up—exciting things are bound to happen. And they do! The girls fall in love with the King of Spain, perform in the School Entertainment, and for the first time, go all the way over the Big Hill to Little Syria by themselves. There Betsy, Tacy, and Tib make new friends and learn a thing or two. They learn that new Americans are sometimes the best Americans. And they learn that they themselves wouldn't want to be anything else. Ever since their first publication in the 1940s, the Betsy-Tacy stories have been loved by each generation of young readers.
Suspension
Suspension
Westfield, Robert
¥84.16
A dazzling, remarkably original dark comedy about a young New Yorker's failed attempts to isolate himself in a city that won't take solitude for an answerFor years it's been Andy Green's job to stump students nationwide by coming up with the wrong answers for their multiple-choice tests. Recently, however, his own life has become overwhelmed by wrong choices. When a love affair is mysteriously ended by a Post-it note and followed up by a random street assault, Andy locks himself in his Hell's Kitchen apartment. In solitude, he thinks, he might be able to get a grip on his life. But when he is forced to reemerge six months after the attacks of September 11, the city awaiting him is more bewildering than ever and all the people in his world seem to be part of a vast conspiracy.Equal parts noir, French farce, and homage to New York, Suspension is a surprisingly heartfelt novel about learning to live in a world where nearly everything is decided behind our backs.
Stranded
Stranded
Dutton, J. T.
¥107.82
My best friend, Katy, says a person with a sparkly two-part name like Kelly Louise should be guaranteed a little glamour and excitement and not be forced to move back to Mom's middle-of-nowhere hometown—now the center of a media frenzy since a farmer found an infant in his cornfield. (It just slipped from some mystery mother's body without anyone noticing.) Bizzaro.But Baby Grace shadows every hair flip, every wink, and is keeping me from losing my virginity, despite my dynamite new boots. Even Katy doesn't have any more good advice. The one boy around who rates anywhere near acceptable on the Maximum Man Scale only has eyes for my cousin, Natalie, who only has eyes for Jesus.But Natalie has a secret. Everyone is so busy burying the truth about Baby Grace, they can't see who they're burying alive.Welcome to Heaven, Iowa.
Coffee and Cake
Coffee and Cake
Rodgers, Rick
¥123.45
What better way to welcome friends and family than with a steaming cup of coffee and some delectable cake?In Coffee and Cake, acclaimed cookbook author Rick Rodgers presents dozens of recipe pairings for these classic and inseparable components. Rodgers starts with coffee, teaching the basics, from choosing the perfect beans to brewing a fabulous cup or pot. And he offers a selection of delicious international treats, both hot and iced, that can be whipped up at home—from Spiced Mocha and Thai Iced Coffee to a Coffee Frappe and even an Espresso Martini. Rodgers then provides an array of recipes for delicious cakes designed to be savored with coffee, whether it's for a special after-dinner dessert or a get-together with family, neighbors, or friends. Whip up a simple and rustic treat like Apple-Cranberry Ginger Loaf for a coffee klatsch. Indulge the young and the young at heart with Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Milk Chocolate Ganache. Here, too, are American-style cakes sure to bring back wonderful childhood memories, including Angel Food Cake with Coffee Cream, as well as Chocolate-Strawberry Sachertorte and more elaborate creations worthy of a European café.So make that next cup special—serve up a wonderful helping from Coffee and Cake.
Lanceheim
Lanceheim
Davys, Tim
¥84.16
A fast-paced literary and psychological drama in which the trials and tribulations of a group of stuffed animals illuminate the moral and philosophical dilemmas we all shareWhile finishing what was to be his greatest symphony, famed composer Reuben Walrus discovers he is going deaf. Desperate to stave off the encroaching silence, he embarks on an odyssey to find a fabled creature named Maximilian, rumored to have healing powers but only traceable via an underground network. But as Reuben gets closer to the truth, he must ask himself: Just who—or what—is Maximilian?The story of the legendary creature is recorded by Wolf Diaz, Maximilian's oldest friend and most loyal follower. Oddly, unlike the other stuffed animals of Mollisan Town, Maximilian did not arrive by green delivery truck. He cannot be identified as any particular species and is made from a material unlike any other with almost invisible seams. And most puzzling, he grows in size. As Maximilian matures, he begins to preach odd parables, attracting a legion of followers hoping to learn from his teachings. But his believers aren't the only stuffed animals paying attention as his growing influence threatens the power of the darker forces currently ruling Mollisan Town. Now Maximilian is in hiding . . . and time is running out for Reuben to find him. As his search widens, the composer encounters a detective mouse, a giraffe who swears Maximilian miraculously cured his stomach cancer, and a mink who may hold the key to Reuben's salvation. But it's a race against time as Reuben's world steadily goes silent, and his desperation may ultimately lead to his undoing.With biting prose and compelling plot twists, Lanceheim is a tour de force all the way to the last sentence, as the true natures of Wolf Diaz, Reuben Walrus, and Maximilian are uncovered. Through the stuffed animals living in the imaginative world he introduced in the critically acclaimed Amberville, Tim Davys explores the hopes and fears, strengths and weaknesses, that define humanity as he pens a story that is both gripping and extraordinary.