For almost thirty years, Patrick Swayze has been an American icon of masculinity and sex appeal, strong but sensitive, romantic yet dangerous. In this intimate and revealing biography, New York Times bestselling author Wendy Leigh shares the inspiring untold story of Patrick's incredible...  more

For almost thirty years, Patrick Swayze has been an American icon of masculinity and sex appeal, strong but sensitive, romantic yet dangerous. In this intimate and revealing biography, New York Times bestselling author Wendy Leigh shares the inspiring untold story of Patrick's incredible life: his show business childhood, his fairy-tale love affair with wife Lisa Niemi, his catapult into alcoholism after his father's untimely death, the daredevil exploits that almost killed him, and his courageous fight against pancreatic cancer, a fight that has off-ered hope and encouragement to others grap-pling with similar life-threatening illnesses. Ever since the steamy low-budget film Dirty Dancing skyrocketed Patrick to fame and cemented his place in the hearts of audiences around the world, he has been one of our most cherished public figures. Based on interviews with countless sources who have never spoken about Patrick before -- from the Texas beauty who shared his first kiss, to the woman he almost married, to the manager who worked closely with him from his teen idol days until his romantic tour de force in Ghost -- and many more, Leigh unveils surprising details about the charismatic actor's life on- and off-screen. Beginning with his training as a dancer with his choreographer mother and spanning his remarkable -- and at times challenging -- career, this groundbreaking biography of the un-forgettable entertainer is the mesmerizing, enduring, and definitive story of a man who captured our hearts.

At fourteen, I was a regular junior high school student in Clinton, Mississippi, when a modeling scout told me: You could be a supermodel. And then: But you'll have to lose a little weight. For glamour, fame, and escape, I lost 70 pounds. This is a photo of me at sixteen, when I...  more

At fourteen, I was a regular junior high school student in Clinton, Mississippi, when a modeling scout told me: You could be a supermodel. And then: But you'll have to lose a little weight. For glamour, fame, and escape, I lost 70 pounds. This is a photo of me at sixteen, when I signed a big modeling contract, moved to New York City, and started traveling around the world. It is also when I developed a ferocious case of anorexia and exercise bulimia, and began to lose my hair, develop frequent bruises, and experience frequent heart palpitations. And still my body refused to remain a size zero. As my weight rebelled, my mania escalated. I experimented with diet drugs and fainted between casting calls, slumping to the sidewalk of Madison Avenue. Until one day I realized that if I wanted to live, I could no longer starve. I had to get off the crazy-making treadmill. I had to nourish my body and feed my soul. So I ate. And ate. And I returned to my natural size 12 -- the size of the average American and the size I was when I really made it big. This is a photo of me at eighteen, when I became one of the most successful models in the industry today. Hungry charts the rise, fall, and rise of Crystal Renn, offering a behind-the-scenes peek into the modeling industry, as well as a trenchant look at our weight-obsessed culture. In this testament to the power of authenticity, Renn illustrates the ways in which the fashion industry is slowly changing and exposes the cold truths about size and sizeism. An inspiring and cautionary tale, Hungry will resonate with anyone who has battled society's small-minded definitions of beauty.

Do you know the real Paula Deen? You may think you know the butter-loving, finger-licking, joke-cracking queen of melt-in-your-mouth Southern cuisine. You may have even visited The Lady & Sons to taste for yourself the down-home delicacies that made her famous and even heard some version of her...  more

Do you know the real Paula Deen? You may think you know the butter-loving, finger-licking, joke-cracking queen of melt-in-your-mouth Southern cuisine. You may have even visited The Lady & Sons to taste for yourself the down-home delicacies that made her famous and even heard some version of her Cinderella story (a single mom with two teenage sons started a brown-bag lunch business with $200 and wound up with a thriving restaurant, a fairy-tale second marriage, and wildly popular television shows), but you have never heard the intimate details of her often bumpy road to fame and fortune.Courageously honest, downright inspiring, and just a little bit saucy, Paula shares the highs and lows of her life in the inimitable charming and irreverent style that you know from her television shows and personal appearances. She talks about long childhood summers spent in a bathing suit and roller skates and hard years living in the back of her father's gas station; a buzzing high school social life of sleepovers, parties, cheerleading, and boys; and a difficult marriage. The death of her beloved parents precipitated a debilitating agoraphobia that crippled her for years. But even when the going got tough, Paula never lost the good grace and sense of humor that would eventually help carry her to success and stardom. Of course, you can't get by on charm alone: as Paula has learned, you need plenty of willpower, hard work, and, above all, the love and support of family and friends to finance, sustain, and run a successful restaurant. In each chapter, Paula shares new recipes: there's serious comfort food like her momma's Chocolate-Dippy Doughnuts, Courage Chili for when you know life's going to get tough, Sexy Oxtails for seducing that special someone, and the recipe for her new mother-in-law's Banana Nut Delight Cake that Paula finally got just right. And you'll love the never-before-seen photos of her family. In this memoir, Paula Deen speaks as frankly and intimately as few women in the public eye have ever dared. Whether she's telling tales of good times or bad, her story is proof that the old-fashioned American dream is alive and kicking, and there still is such a thing as a real-life happy ending.

Given that Abrahams is now a stand-up comic and spoken-word poet, it makes perfect sense to begin her very funny memoir with her performance debut at the Pawtucket, Rhode Island, Kingdom Hall, at age 8 (her presentation was about freedom from demon possession). She describes the children’s...  more

Given that Abrahams is now a stand-up comic and spoken-word poet, it makes perfect sense to begin her very funny memoir with her performance debut at the Pawtucket, Rhode Island, Kingdom Hall, at age 8 (her presentation was about freedom from demon possession). She describes the children’s books she read as a child as a cross between “Dr. Seuss rhymes and tales of how sinners would scream and gnash their teeth at Armageddon.” In her world, Smurfs were “little blue demons” and yard sales were enticements from Satan. As a bored teenager with OCD, she didn’t know what to do with herself or how to make sense of the world. On the verge of 18, she married a 24-year-old part-time college math teacher because, even if his interest in her was, at best, halfhearted, she wanted a boyfriend and didn’t know any other Jehovah’s Witnesses who liked her. Anyway, she reasons, “this is what adults did, and I was an adult.” It wasn’t long before she longed to be out of the marriage. Between threats of suicide, she tried to be “disfellowshipped,” or shunned, by her congregation, which proved surprisingly difficult to accomplish. Abrahams is a natural writer whose prose flows effortlessly as she easily mixes throwaway humor and painful memories in a compelling narrative.

For twenty years, Ellen Greene kept a running list of the thoughtful, funny, touching things that her husband, Marsh, said and did. She wrote them down secretly, then shared those thoughts with him every Valentine's Day when he would find pages from her "Sweet Things List" tucked inside a card. ...  more

For twenty years, Ellen Greene kept a running list of the thoughtful, funny, touching things that her husband, Marsh, said and did. She wrote them down secretly, then shared those thoughts with him every Valentine's Day when he would find pages from her "Sweet Things List" tucked inside a card. Married and divorced at a young age, Greene raised two small children alone. After another failed relationship in her late thirties, she swore she'd never again subject herself or her kids to men who treated them poorly. Then she met Marsh Greene. In this beautiful tribute to a man and a marriage, Greene intersperses selections from her "Sweet Things List" with recollections from their years together. Written with grace and candor, Remember the Sweet Things captures the kindness, sharing, humor, and affection that defined the Greenes' marriage, and encourages us to acknowledge the goodness in our own lives and relationships.

If every picture tells a story, every slide tells an even deeper one. Tucked away in Sports Illustrated's photo archive sits 50 years worth of film, a frame-by-frame depiction of the history of sports over the last half a century. The stickers and scribbles along a single slide's border are like...  more

If every picture tells a story, every slide tells an even deeper one. Tucked away in Sports Illustrated's photo archive sits 50 years worth of film, a frame-by-frame depiction of the history of sports over the last half a century. The stickers and scribbles along a single slide's border are like tags on a streamer trunk, telling the story of that photo's journey from the playing field to the magazine. This book selects the most colorful of these slides and presents the mounts as objects of art in an oversized 176-page collection, complete with behind-the-scenes vignettes of how the shots came to be. Some slides capture classic SI cover images (Dwight Clark's catch in the 1982 NFC Championship Game or Brandi Chastain ripping her shirt off at the 1999 World Cup) while others are simply great photos (Pete Rose running at full speed or Joe Namath lounging poolside before Super Bowl III). The images themselves are iconic, but by seeing them as slides you get that extra step back. You can see the history that has been made from these flashes of an instant.

Color reproductions of twelve masterpieces are accompanied by questions that encourage young readers to learn through visual exploration and interaction. Works from artists such as Diego Rivera (Mexico), Fernando Botero (Columbia), and Ramon Frade (Puerto Rico) are included. Background...  more

Color reproductions of twelve masterpieces are accompanied by questions that encourage young readers to learn through visual exploration and interaction. Works from artists such as Diego Rivera (Mexico), Fernando Botero (Columbia), and Ramon Frade (Puerto Rico) are included. Background information ont he artist, the period, the medium, the technique, and the subject of the painting provide context for the art experience.

Thirteen-year-old Danny and his family are struggling to make ends meet in New York during the Great Depression. His father leaves to search for work, and Danny and his mother do what they can to survive. With his mother pregnant and unable to help, Danny is forced to beg for food. Through it...  more

Thirteen-year-old Danny and his family are struggling to make ends meet in New York during the Great Depression. His father leaves to search for work, and Danny and his mother do what they can to survive. With his mother pregnant and unable to help, Danny is forced to beg for food. Through it all, they retain their good humor and family pride, and in the end help arrives in a most unexpected guise. “Rich, rewarding historical fiction.”--Kirkus Reviews

Life is secure and peaceful for young Prosper, second son of Gerontius, until the day Prince Gorthyn arrives with his hunting party. Prosper's unusual daring in the hunt catches the prince's attention, and he promises to make Prosper his shield-bearer when he comes of age. Two years...  more

Life is secure and peaceful for young Prosper, second son of Gerontius, until the day Prince Gorthyn arrives with his hunting party. Prosper's unusual daring in the hunt catches the prince's attention, and he promises to make Prosper his shield-bearer when he comes of age. Two years later, three hundred princes are summoned to the king's fortress at Dyn Eidin, where they will prepare to fight the Saxon forces which are gaining strength in the east. Prosper, with Conn, his bondservant, leaves his father's lands to join Gorthyn in the rigorous training for battle. With the coming of spring, word reaches the Three Hundred Companions that the Saxon leader has taken yet another kingdom. They set out at once for the Saxon stronghold of Catraeth, where Prosper must face the greatest challenges of his life.  Adventure and heroism against impossible odds create a moving, robust tale set in Britain in the eighth century and based on actual events.

The only daughter of supermodel Katia Summers, witty and thoughtful Lizzie Summers likes to stick to the sidelines. The sole heir to Metronome Media and daughter of billionaire Karl Jurgensen, outspoken Carina Jurgensen would rather climb mountains than social ladders. Daughter of...  more

The only daughter of supermodel Katia Summers, witty and thoughtful Lizzie Summers likes to stick to the sidelines. The sole heir to Metronome Media and daughter of billionaire Karl Jurgensen, outspoken Carina Jurgensen would rather climb mountains than social ladders. Daughter of chart-topping pop icon Holla Jones, stylish and sensitive Hudson Jones is on the brink of her own music breakthrough. By the time freshman year begins, unconventional-looking Lizzie Summers has come to expect fawning photographers and adoring fans to surround her gorgeous supermodel mother. But when Lizzie is approached by a fashion photographer that believes she's "the new face of beauty," Lizzie surprises herself and her family by becoming the newest Summers woman to capture the media's spotlight.  

Horrified at having witnessed her father's murder and fearing that the killers are agents of Queen Elizabeth I, eleven-year-old Alice Tuckfield hides in the Yorkshire cathedral by disguising herself as one of the choirboys.

Buck Summerhill, a young soldier from West Virginia, faces the horrors of the Battle of Gettysburg knowing that his two cousins, Custis and Mason, may be fighting against him in the Army of northern Virginia.

Lorna Kepler was beautiful and willful, a loner who couldn't resist flirting with danger. Maybe that's what killed her. Her death had raised a host of tough questions. The cops suspected homicide, but they could find neither motive nor suspect. Even the means were mysterious: Lorna's body was...  more

Lorna Kepler was beautiful and willful, a loner who couldn't resist flirting with danger. Maybe that's what killed her. Her death had raised a host of tough questions. The cops suspected homicide, but they could find neither motive nor suspect. Even the means were mysterious: Lorna's body was so badly decomposed when it was discovered that they couldn't be certain she hadn't died of natural causes. In the way of overworked cops everywhere, the case was gradually shifted to the back burner and became another unsolved file. Only Lorna's mother kept it alive, consumed by the certainty that somebody out there had gotten away with murder. In the ten months since her daughter's death, Janice Kepler had joined a support group, trying to come to terms with her loss and her anger. It wasn't helping. And so, leaving a session one evening and noticing a light on in the offices of Millhone Investigations, she knocked on the door. In answering that knock, Kinsey Millhone is pulled into the netherworld of unavenged murder, where only a pact with the devil will satisfy the restless ghosts of the victims and give release to the living they have left behind.

Kinsey's skills are about to be sorely tested. She is about to meet her duplicitous match in a couple of world-class prevaricators who quite literally take her for the ride of her life. "L" Is for Lawless: Call it Kinsey Millhone in bad company. Call it a mystery without a...  more

Kinsey's skills are about to be sorely tested. She is about to meet her duplicitous match in a couple of world-class prevaricators who quite literally take her for the ride of her life. "L" Is for Lawless: Call it Kinsey Millhone in bad company. Call it a mystery without a murder, a treasure hunt without a map, a quest novel with truly mixed-up motives. Call it the return of Kinsey as bad girl -- quick-witted and quicksilvery, smart-mouthed and smartalecky-poking her nose into everyone's dirty laundry as she joins up with a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde in an Our Gang comedy that will take her halfway across the country and leave her with a major headache and an empty bank balance.

"M" is for money. Lots of it. "M" is for Malek Construction, the $40 million company that grew out of modest soil to become one of the big three in California construction, one of the few still in family hands. "M" is for the Malek family: four sons now nearing middle age who stand to inherit...  more

"M" is for money. Lots of it. "M" is for Malek Construction, the $40 million company that grew out of modest soil to become one of the big three in California construction, one of the few still in family hands. "M" is for the Malek family: four sons now nearing middle age who stand to inherit a fortune -- four men with very different outlooks, temperaments, and needs, linked only by blood and money. Eighteen years ago, one of them -- angry, troubled, and in trouble -- went missing. "M" is for Millhone, hired to trace that missing black sheep brother. "M" is for memories, none of them happy. The bitter memories of an embattled family. This prodigal son will find no welcome at his family's table. "M" is for malice. And in brutal consequence, "M" is for murder, the all-too-common outcome of familial hatreds. "M" is for malice . . . and malice kills.

Kinsey Millhone should have done something else -- she should have turned the car in the direction of home. Instead, she was about to put herself in the gravest jeopardy of her career. Tom Newquist had been a detective in the Nota Lake sheriff's office -- a tough, honest cop respected by...  more

Kinsey Millhone should have done something else -- she should have turned the car in the direction of home. Instead, she was about to put herself in the gravest jeopardy of her career. Tom Newquist had been a detective in the Nota Lake sheriff's office -- a tough, honest cop respected by everyone. When he died suddenly, the townsfolk were saddened but not surprised: Just shy of sixty-five, Newquist worked too hard, smoked too much, and exercised too little. That plus an appetite for junk food made him a poster boy for an American Heart Association campaign. Newquist's widow didn't doubt the coroner's report. But what Selma couldn't accept was not knowing what had so bothered Tom in the last six weeks of his life. What was it that had made him prowl restlessly at night, that had him brooding constantly? Selma Newquist wanted closure, and the only way she'd get it was if she found out what it was that had so bedeviled her husband. Kinsey should have dumped the case. It was vague and hopeless, like looking for a needle in a haystack. Instead, she set up shop in Nota Lake, where she found that looking for a needle in a haystack can draw blood. Very likely, her own. "N" Is for Noose: a novel in which Kinsey Millhone becomes the target and an entire town seems in for the kill.

Dr. Dowan Purcell had been missing for nine weeks when Kinsey got a call asking her to take on the case. A specialist in geriatric medicine, Purcell was a prominent member of the Santa Teresa medical community, and the police had done a thorough job. Purcell had no known enemies and seemed...  more

Dr. Dowan Purcell had been missing for nine weeks when Kinsey got a call asking her to take on the case. A specialist in geriatric medicine, Purcell was a prominent member of the Santa Teresa medical community, and the police had done a thorough job. Purcell had no known enemies and seemed contented with his life. At the time of his disappearance, he was running a nursing care facility where both the staff and the patients loved him. He adored his second wife, Crystal, and doted on their two-year-old son. It wasn't Crystal who called Kinsey. It was Purcell's ex-wife, Fiona. Everything about their meeting made Kinsey uneasy. Fiona's manner was high-handed and her expectations unrealistic. Kinsey's instincts told her to refuse the job, yet she ended up saying, "I'll do what I can, but I make no promises." It was a decision she'd live to regret. Pursuing the mysterious disappearance of Purcell, Kinsey crashes into a wall of speculation. It seems everyone has a theory. The cops think he went on a bender and is too ashamed to come home. Fiona is sure he ran off to get away from Crystal, and Crystal is just as sure he's dead. The staff at the nursing home is convinced he's been kidnapped, and one of his daughters, having consulted a psychic, is certain that he's trapped in a dark place, though she doesn't know where. Kinsey is awash in explanations and sorely lacking in facts. Then pure chance leads her in another direction, and she soon finds herself in a dangerous shadow land, where duplicity and double-dealing are the reality and, with the truth glinting elusively out of reach, she must stake her life on a thin tread of intuition.

Reba Lafferty was a daughter of privilege, the only child of an adoring father. Nord Lafferty was already in his fifties when Reba was born, and he could deny her nothing. Over the years, he quietly settled her many scrapes with the law, but he wasn't there for her when she was convicted of...  more

Reba Lafferty was a daughter of privilege, the only child of an adoring father. Nord Lafferty was already in his fifties when Reba was born, and he could deny her nothing. Over the years, he quietly settled her many scrapes with the law, but he wasn't there for her when she was convicted of embezzlement and sent to the California Institute for Women. Now, at thirty-two, she is about to be paroled, having served twenty-two months of a four-year sentence. Nord Lafferty wants to be sure she stays straight, stays at home and away from the drugs, the booze, the gamblers. It seems a straightforward assignment for Kinsey: babysit Reba until she settles in, make sure she follows all the rules of her parole. Maybe a week's work. Nothing untoward -- the woman seems remorseful and friendly. And the money is good. But life is never that simple, and Reba is out of prison less than twenty-four hours when one of her old crowd comes circling round.

Thirty-four years ago, Violet Sullivan put on her party finery and left for the annual Fourth of July fireworks display. She was never seen again. In the small California town of Serena Station, tongues wagged. Some said she'd run off with a lover. Some said she was murdered by her...  more

Thirty-four years ago, Violet Sullivan put on her party finery and left for the annual Fourth of July fireworks display. She was never seen again. In the small California town of Serena Station, tongues wagged. Some said she'd run off with a lover. Some said she was murdered by her husband. But for the not-quite-seven-year-old daughter Daisy she left behind, Violet's absence has never been explained or forgotten. Now, thirty-four years later, she wants the solace of closure. In S Is for Silence, Kinsey Millhone's nineteenth excursion into the world of suspense and misadventure, S is for surprises as Sue Grafton takes a whole new approach to telling the tale. And S is for superb: Kinsey and Grafton at their best.

A miser and a hoarder, Gus Vronsky is so crotchety that after he takes a bad fall, his only living relative is anxious to find him some hired help and get back home as soon as she can. In an effort to help, Gus's neighbor, private investigator Kinsey Millhone, runs a check on an...  more

A miser and a hoarder, Gus Vronsky is so crotchety that after he takes a bad fall, his only living relative is anxious to find him some hired help and get back home as soon as she can. In an effort to help, Gus's neighbor, private investigator Kinsey Millhone, runs a check on an applicant for the job, Solana Rojas. Social Security, driver's license, nursing certification: It all checks out. And it sounds like she did a good job for her former employers. So Kinsey gives her the thumbs-up, figuring Gus will be the ideal assignment for this diligent, experienced caregiver. And the real Solana Rojas was indeed an excellent caregiver. But the woman who has stolen her identity is not, and for her, Gus will be the ideal victim...

Sharon McCone's 16th adventure leads her to the Carribbean, Miami and California as she and her boyfriend Hy Ripinksi investigate the Diplo-bomber. The investigation concerns a terrorist bombing at the Consulate of an Arab Emirate and tries to save the consul general's granddaughter who has...  more

Sharon McCone's 16th adventure leads her to the Carribbean, Miami and California as she and her boyfriend Hy Ripinksi investigate the Diplo-bomber. The investigation concerns a terrorist bombing at the Consulate of an Arab Emirate and tries to save the consul general's granddaughter who has disappeared, leading Sharon on a high-stakes chase that ends up on the deadly streets of San Francisco. From the back cover: For months, the embassies of oil-rich nations have been the target of an elusive terrorist known only as the Diplo-Bomber. A federal task force, which includes one of Sharon McCone's closest police contacts, is stumped - until a botched bombing attempt threatens the San Francisco consulate of Azad, a progressive Arab emirate. At first McCone is thinking only of the $1 million reward offered by the FBI and the Azadis. But when she learns more about the consulate household, McCone suspects that someone inside the turbulent ruling family may be linked to the bombing. The Azadis' consul general is the western-educated Malika Hamid, one of only a few Muslim women to brave the world of international diplomacy. An intriguing mix of eastern traditions and modern ideas, Malika is fiercely controlling the lives of her playboy son and his beautiful, alcoholic American wife. Torn between her troubled parents is the lonely, nine-year-old Habiba, a mischievous imp of a girl who takes an immediate liking to McCone. When little Habiba disappears, McCone follows her trail to a desolate Caribbean island that has its own brand of justice. Now McCone and her allies, including her lover, Hy Ripinsky, find themselves in an arena far larger than any they have been in so far. Here McCone is risking not only her own life but those of many others as the mission takes her dangerously close to the edge of disaster. For this is a battle that could destabilize U.S. international relations - and one in which McCone must literally fight fire with fire.

For readers everywhere who are ga-ga for the Ya-Yas and clamoring for more and for those who are lucky enough to be discovering the Ya-Yas for the first time, comes a new book about the incomparable Sisterhood, bursting with life and funnier than ever.... An emotionally charged addition to...  more

For readers everywhere who are ga-ga for the Ya-Yas and clamoring for more and for those who are lucky enough to be discovering the Ya-Yas for the first time, comes a new book about the incomparable Sisterhood, bursting with life and funnier than ever.... An emotionally charged addition to Rebecca Wells' award-winning bestseller Little Altars Everywhere and #1 New York Times bestseller Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, YA-YAS IN BLOOM reveals the roots of the Ya-Yas' friendship in the 1930s and roars with all the raw power of Vivi Abbott Walker's 1962 T-Bird through sixty years of marriage, child-raising, and hair-raising family secrets. When four-year-old Teensy Whitman prisses one time too many and stuffs a big old pecan up her nose, she sets off the chain of events that lead Vivi, Teensy, Caro, and Necie to become true sister-friends. Told in alternating voices of Vivi and the Petite Ya-Yas, Siddalee and Baylor Walker, as well as other denizens of Thornton, Louisiana, YA-YAS IN BLOOM show us the Ya-Yas in love and at war with convention. Through crises of faith and hilarious lapses of parenting skills, brushes with alcoholism and glimpses of the dark reality of racial bigotry, the Ya-Ya values of unconditional loyalty, high style, and Cajun sass shine through. Necies wise credo, "Just think pretty pink and blue thoughts," helps too... But in the Ya-Yas' inimitable way, these four remarkable women also teach their children about the Mysteries: the wonder of snow in the deep South, the possibility that humans are made of stars, and the belief that miracles do happen. And they need a miracle when old grudges and wounded psyches lead to a heartbreaking crime...and the dynamic web of sisterhood is the only safety net strong enough to hold families together and endure. After two bestsellers and a blockbuster movie, the Ya-Yas have become part of American culture -- icons for the power of women's friendship. YA-YAS IN BLOOM continues the saga, giving us more Ya-Ya lore, spun out in the rich patois of the Louisiana bayou country and brim full of the Ya-Ya message to embrace life and each other with joy.

Trivia knowledge at it's best!

Two-page summaries of all-time great books... and more. The Bathroom Book's 130 book summaries -- with works ranging from Don Quixote to Swim with the Sharks, Life and Death in Shanghai to The Road Less Traveled -- are just right for leisure reading. These summaries, coupled with an...  more

Two-page summaries of all-time great books... and more. The Bathroom Book's 130 book summaries -- with works ranging from Don Quixote to Swim with the Sharks, Life and Death in Shanghai to The Road Less Traveled -- are just right for leisure reading. These summaries, coupled with an additional 90 research overviews, make for great reading -- wherever you love to read.

On tranquil Cape Cod, a young couple tries to escape from the horrors of their past -- only to become trapped in a nightmare beyond their understanding, beyond their control. Menley Nichols never stopped blaming herself for the accidental death of her two-year-old-son. Her marriage to Adam,...  more

On tranquil Cape Cod, a young couple tries to escape from the horrors of their past -- only to become trapped in a nightmare beyond their understanding, beyond their control. Menley Nichols never stopped blaming herself for the accidental death of her two-year-old-son. Her marriage to Adam, a high-profile criminal attorney, has started to fall apart -- but the birth of their daughter Hannah promises to revitalize their relationship. Adam decides to rent a house on Cape Cod, a serene haven that's ideal for Menley and Hannah. At Remember House, an eighteenth-century landmark with a sinister past, strange incidents force Menley to relive the accident in which she lost her son, and she begins to fear for Hannah's safety. Then Adam takes on a client suspected of murder after his wife drowns in a violent squall -- and the family is drawn into a rising tide of terror. On a dark, rainswept beach, Adam and Menley will confront their worst fears -- leading to a harrowing, suspenseful climax that only Mary Higgins Clark, America's Queen of Suspense, could have created.

Historian Jean Sheridan returns to Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York, excited about her twenty-year high-school reunion at Stonecroft Academy. But a dear friend of hers soon becomes the fifth woman in the class to meet a sudden, mysterious end. Then Jean receives a taunting fax about a child she gave...  more

Historian Jean Sheridan returns to Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York, excited about her twenty-year high-school reunion at Stonecroft Academy. But a dear friend of hers soon becomes the fifth woman in the class to meet a sudden, mysterious end. Then Jean receives a taunting fax about a child she gave up for adoption, whose existence she had kept a secret but whose life may now be in danger. For present at the reunion is The Owl, a murderer on a mission of vengeance against women who once humiliated him...and Jean is his final intended victim.

Martin Stillwater has a vivid imagination. It charms his loving wife, delights his two little daughters, and gives him all the inspiration he needs to write his highly successful mystery novels. But maybe Martin's imagination is a bit too vivid.... One rainy afternoon, a terrifying...  more

Martin Stillwater has a vivid imagination. It charms his loving wife, delights his two little daughters, and gives him all the inspiration he needs to write his highly successful mystery novels. But maybe Martin's imagination is a bit too vivid.... One rainy afternoon, a terrifying incident makes him question his grip on reality. A stranger breaks into his house, accusing Martin of stealing his wife, his children -- and his life. Claiming to be the real Martin Stillwater, the intruder threatens to take what is rightfully his. The police think he's a figment of Martin's imagination. But Martin and his family have no choice but to believe the stranger's threat. And run for their lives. But wherever they go -- wherever they hide -- he finds them...

It's a fear more paralyzing than falling. More terrifying than absolute darkness. More horrifying than anything you can imagine. It's the one fear you cannot escape, no matter where you run...no matter where you hide. It's the fear of yourself. It's real. It can happen to you. And facing it...  more

It's a fear more paralyzing than falling. More terrifying than absolute darkness. More horrifying than anything you can imagine. It's the one fear you cannot escape, no matter where you run...no matter where you hide. It's the fear of yourself. It's real. It can happen to you. And facing it can be deadly.Fear for your mind.

Susan Harris lived in self-imposed seclusion in a mansion featuring numerous automated systems controlled by a state-of-the-art computer. Every comfort was provided and in this often unsafe world of ours, her security was absolute. But now her security system has been breached, her sanctuary...  more

Susan Harris lived in self-imposed seclusion in a mansion featuring numerous automated systems controlled by a state-of-the-art computer. Every comfort was provided and in this often unsafe world of ours, her security was absolute. But now her security system has been breached, her sanctuary from the outside world violated by an insidious artificial intelligence which has taken control of her house. In the privacy of her own home, and against her will, Susan will experience an inconceivable act of terror. She will become the object of the ultimate computer's consuming obsession: to learn everything there is to know about the flesh...

Tide of Obsession Three hundred years ago a pirate buried his bounty on a treacherous island off the coast of Maine. Now a high-tech treasure hunter is bringing his million-dollar recovery team to Ragged Island Tide of Danger They have the best hardware, the best divers, and the...  more

Tide of Obsession Three hundred years ago a pirate buried his bounty on a treacherous island off the coast of Maine. Now a high-tech treasure hunter is bringing his million-dollar recovery team to Ragged Island Tide of Danger They have the best hardware, the best divers, and the perfectly planed operation. There's only one problem: this island kills. Tide of Evil First the computers fail. Then one man dies-and then another. Now the wind has begun to howl and the mysteries of Ragged Island are cracking open. Inside a rocky fortress of tunnels, traps, and tides, a priceless treasure lies waiting...And so does an unimaginable evil...

The bestselling guide to transforming an intimate relationship into a lasting source of love and companionship, revised and with a new afterword In Getting the Love You Want, Dr. Harville Hendrix presents the relationship skills that have helped hundreds of thousands of couples replace...  more

The bestselling guide to transforming an intimate relationship into a lasting source of love and companionship, revised and with a new afterword In Getting the Love You Want, Dr. Harville Hendrix presents the relationship skills that have helped hundreds of thousands of couples replace confrontation and criticism with a process of mutual support that facilitates healing and growth. This extraordinary practical guide describes the revolutionary technique of Imago Relationship Therapy, which combines a number of disciplines-including the behavioral sciences, depth psychology, social learning theory, Gestalt therapy, and interpersonal neurosciences, among others-to create a program that transforms conflict into creative tension that deepens connection and renews passion. In a new chapter and afterword, we learn the key ways in which Imago Therapy-now practiced by more than two thousand therapists worldwide-has evolved since its inception. One development lies in Hendrix's discovery that helping couples express their anger merely reinforces negative and critical thought patterns rather than defusing them, so today's Imago therapists have shifted focus toward helping couples eliminate all negativity from their daily interactions. This fundamental change has proven invaluable in couples therapy, and the importance of eliminating negativity has been integrated throughout the text, allowing readers of the 2008 edition to benefit from Hendrix's ongoing discoveries during his last two decades of work.

Do you wish you knew the rules for the game of love? In her #1 New York Times bestseller If Life Is a Game, These Are the Rules, Chérie Carter-Scott gave us ten rules for conquering life's challenges and managing its unpredictable ups and downs. Now, in If Love Is a Game, These Are the...  more

Do you wish you knew the rules for the game of love? In her #1 New York Times bestseller If Life Is a Game, These Are the Rules, Chérie Carter-Scott gave us ten rules for conquering life's challenges and managing its unpredictable ups and downs. Now, in If Love Is a Game, These Are the Rules, she presents ten simple rules to help us find true love and create long-lasting, authentic relationships.After twenty-five years of conducting workshops and seminars, Chérie has discovered that the most important--and often the most difficult--part of the human experience is partnership. Everyone is either looking for love or trying to find a way to sustain and feed the love that they already have. Chérie's ten rules are universal truths that we inherently know but often lose sight of in the confusing game of romance--rules as simple as "You Must Love Yourself First," "Communication Is Essential," and "You Must Nurture the Relationship for It to Thrive." Once understood and embraced, her rules help us learn more about our true selves and our needs--and make us better able to meet the needs of others.As the ten rules show, building and sustaining authentic love is a delicate process that requires negotiation and communication, and while love is often challenged by change, it provides a variety of opportunities for us to grow as individuals. In her inimitably warm and inviting style, Chérie shares her own insights into love's  journey, from building intimacy and taking the risk of commitment to rekindling the faded flame by bringing back the "sizzle factor." Her inspirational stories, coupled with practical exercises--such as creating a criteria list for a potential mate or making an outline for a formal relationship "check-in"--will bring out the authentic lover in each of us. Fresh and inspiring, If Love Is a Game, These Are the Rules is a perfect guide to living a real-life "happily ever after".

"I knew that one day I would write this book. I would write it out of my own need to put into words some of the most important things I have come to believe and know. And I would write it to help other people who might one day find themselves in a similar predicament. I would write it for an...  more

"I knew that one day I would write this book. I would write it out of my own need to put into words some of the most important things I have come to believe and know. And I would write it to help other people who might one day find themselves in a similar predicament. I would write it for an those people who wanted to go on believing, but whose anger at God made it hard for them to hold on to their faith and be comforted by religion. And I would write it for all those people whose love of God and devotion to Him led them to blame themselves for their suffering and persuade themselves that they deserved it."--Harold S. Kushner

Monty Roberts is a real-life horse whisperer--an American original whose gentle training methods reveal the depth of communication possible between man and animal. He can take a wild, high-strung horse who has never before been handled and persuade that horse to accept a bridle, saddle, and...  more

Monty Roberts is a real-life horse whisperer--an American original whose gentle training methods reveal the depth of communication possible between man and animal. He can take a wild, high-strung horse who has never before been handled and persuade that horse to accept a bridle, saddle, and rider in thirty minutes. His powers may seem like magic, but his amazing "horse sense"  is based on a lifetime of experience. Roberts started riding at the age of two, and at the age of thirteen he went alone into the high deserts of Nevada to study mustangs in the wild. What he learned there changed his life forever.     Monty Roberts has spent his whole life working with horses--schooling them, listening to them, and learning their ancient equine language. In The Man Who Listens to Horses, he tells about his early days as a rodeo rider in California, his problems with his violent horse-trainer father, who was unwilling to accept Monty's unconventional training methods, his friendship with James Dean, his struggle to be accepted in the professional horse-training community, and the invitation that changed his life--to demonstrate his method of "join-up"  to the Queen of England.     From his groundbreaking work with horses, Roberts has acquired an unprecedented understanding of nonverbal communication, an understanding that applies to human relationships as well. He has shown that between parent and child, employee and employer (he's worked with over 250 corporations, including General Motors, IBM, Disney, and Merrill Lynch), and abuser and abused, there are forms of communication far stronger than the spoken word and that they are accessible to all who will learn to listen. This inspirational and gentle man, first introduced to the American public on Dateline NBC, is part James Herriot, part Bill Gates, and part John Wayne. And his story is one you will never forget.

Two inseparable thirteen year old friends confront death when one is diagnosed with leukemia.

Rick Dockery was the third-string quarterback for the Cleveland Browns. In the AFC Championship game against Denver, to the surprise and dismay of virtually everyone, Rick actually got into the game. With a 17-point lead and just minutes to go, Rick provided what was arguably the worst single...  more

Rick Dockery was the third-string quarterback for the Cleveland Browns. In the AFC Championship game against Denver, to the surprise and dismay of virtually everyone, Rick actually got into the game. With a 17-point lead and just minutes to go, Rick provided what was arguably the worst single performance in the history of the NFL. Overnight, he became a national laughingstock and, of course, was immediately cut by the Browns and shunned by all other teams. But all Rick knows is football, and he insists that his agent, Arnie, find a team that needs him. Against enormous odds Arnie finally locates just such a team and informs Rick that, miraculously, he can in fact now be a starting quarterback-?for the mighty Panthers of Parma, Italy. Yes, Italians do play American football, to one degree or another, and the Parma Panthers desperately want a former NFL player?any former NFL player?at their helm. So Rick reluctantly agrees to play for the Panthers?-at least until a better offer comes along-?and heads off to Italy. He knows nothing about Parma, has never been to Europe, and doesn?t speak or understand a word of Italian. To say that Italy holds a few surprises for Rick Dockery would be something of an understatement.

Is a loved one missing some body parts? Are blondes becoming extinct? Is everyone at your dinner table of the same species? Humans and chimpanzees differ in only 400 genes; is that why a chimp fetus resembles a human being? And should that worry us? There's a new genetic cure for drug...  more

Is a loved one missing some body parts? Are blondes becoming extinct? Is everyone at your dinner table of the same species? Humans and chimpanzees differ in only 400 genes; is that why a chimp fetus resembles a human being? And should that worry us? There's a new genetic cure for drug addiction--is it worse than the disease?  We live in a time of momentous scientific leaps, a time when it's possible to sell our eggs and sperm online for thousands of dollars and to test our spouses for genetic maladies.  We live in a time when one fifth of all our genes are owned by someone else, and an unsuspecting person and his family can be pursued cross-country because they happen to have certain valuable genes within their chromosomes... Devilishly clever, Next blends fact and fiction into a breathless tale of a new world where nothing is what it seems and a set of new possibilities can open at every turn.     

They watched Danilo Silva for days before they finally grabbed him. He was living alone, a quiet life on a shady street in Brazil; a simple life in a modest home, certainly not one of luxury. Certainly no evidence of the fortune they thought he had stolen. He was much thinner and his face had...  more

They watched Danilo Silva for days before they finally grabbed him. He was living alone, a quiet life on a shady street in Brazil; a simple life in a modest home, certainly not one of luxury. Certainly no evidence of the fortune they thought he had stolen. He was much thinner and his face had been altered. He spoke a different language, and spoke it very well.But Danilo had a past with many chapters. Four years earlier he had been Patrick Lanigan, a young partner in a prominent Biloxi law firm. He had a pretty wife, a new daughter, and a bright future. Then one cold winter night Patrick was trapped in a burning car and died a horrible death. When he was buried his casket held nothing more than his ashes.From a short distance away, Patrick watched his own burial. Then he fled. Six weeks later, a fortune was stolen from his ex-law firm's offshore account. And Patrick fled some more.But they found him.

Catherin Marshall, America's most beloved spiritual writer, guides her readers toward a joyful new life of affirmative experiences in this collection of two of her most popular works. In Something More, Catherine blends autobiography, dramatic narrative and Biblical lessons as she shares...  more

Catherin Marshall, America's most beloved spiritual writer, guides her readers toward a joyful new life of affirmative experiences in this collection of two of her most popular works. In Something More, Catherine blends autobiography, dramatic narrative and Biblical lessons as she shares her spiritual quest through personal tragedy and self-doubt, searching for new answers and old truths while re-examining her own faith.  She offers sound and inspiring help for families suffering estrangements and other difficulties, realizing the joy of finding the One to whom you can turn for help.  Truth is always something that God has to share with us. In A Closer Walk, Catherine reveals her spiritual lifeline to God in selections from her personal journals.  Each passage of this moving book is radiant with the spiritual understanding that guided her in her attempts to overcome worry, illness, material temptation, the fear of death, resentment, impatience and much more.  Her struggles and discoveries as she studied the passages of Scripture will inspire you as you strive for a closer, more intimate walk with your Lord. In this heart-warming collection, Catherine Marshall shares her insights, comfort and encouragement to help you cope with the crises, both large and small, of everyday life.

On a clear night in late June 2005, four U.S. Navy SEALs left their base in northern Afghanistan for the mountainous Pakistani border. Their mission was to capture or kill a notorious al Qaeda leader known to be ensconced in a Taliban stronghold surrounded by a small but heavily armed force....  more

On a clear night in late June 2005, four U.S. Navy SEALs left their base in northern Afghanistan for the mountainous Pakistani border. Their mission was to capture or kill a notorious al Qaeda leader known to be ensconced in a Taliban stronghold surrounded by a small but heavily armed force. Less then twenty-four hours later, only one of those Navy SEALs remained alive. This is the story of fire team leader Marcus Luttrell, the sole survivor of Operation Redwing, and the desperate battle in the mountains that led, ultimately, to the largest loss of life in Navy SEAL history. But it is also, more than anything, the story of his teammates, who fought ferociously beside him until he was the last one left-blasted unconscious by a rocket grenade, blown over a cliff, but still armed and still breathing. Over the next four days, badly injured and presumed dead, Luttrell fought off six al Qaeda assassins who were sent to finish him, then crawled for seven miles through the mountains before he was taken in by a Pashtun tribe, who risked everything to protect him from the encircling Taliban killers. A six-foot-five-inch Texan, Leading Petty Officer Luttrell takes us, blow-by-blow, through the brutal training of America's warrior elite and the relentless rites of passage required by the Navy SEALs. He transports us to a monstrous battle fought in the desolate peaks of Afghanistan, where the beleaguered American team plummeted headlong a thousand feet down a mountain as they fought back through flying shale and rocks. In this rich , moving chronicle of courage, honor, and patriotism, Marcus Luttrell delivers one of the most powerful narratives ever written about modern warfare-and a tribute to his teammates, who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

A seasoned woman is spicy. She has been marinated in life experience. . . . She can be alternately sweet, tart, bubbly, mellow. She can be maternal and playful. Bossy and submissive. Strong and soft. . . . The seasoned woman knows who she is. She could be any one of us, as long as she is...  more

A seasoned woman is spicy. She has been marinated in life experience. . . . She can be alternately sweet, tart, bubbly, mellow. She can be maternal and playful. Bossy and submissive. Strong and soft. . . . The seasoned woman knows who she is. She could be any one of us, as long as she is committed to living fully and passionately in the second half of life.In her most groundbreaking work since Passages and The Silent Passage, bestselling author Gail Sheehy reveals a hidden cultural phenomenon–increased vitality in women’s sex and love lives after fifty. Sex and the Seasoned Woman is the story of an intimate revolution taking place under our very noses. Boomer generation women in midlife are open to sex, love, dating, new dreams, exploring spirituality, and revitalizing their marriages as never before. This is a new universe of passionate, liberated women–married and single–who are unwilling to settle for the stereotypical roles of middle age and are now realizing they don’t have to. As life spans grow longer and as societal constraints continue to loosen, older women–once free of the exhausting demands of young children, needy husbands, and demanding careers–find themselves ready to pursue the passionate life. They embrace their “second adulthood” as a period of reawakening.Written in Sheehy’s singularly compelling style, combining interviews and research, this book gives voice to more than a hundred fascinating and colorful women. The inspiring stories tell of wives who reinvigorate their marriages after their children leave the nest as well as divorced, widowed, and long-single women who find new dreams and new loves. Sheehy delineates a crucial link between cultivating a new dream and reopening the pathway to intimacy and sexual pleasure. She also examines the latest medical breakthroughs addressing symptoms that have unnecessarily curtailed women’s sex lives.From women who find their sexuality reawakened by a younger lover, to couples whose marriages survive health crises and grow stronger, to women who finally find a soulmate in their sixties, to stories from seasoned sirens in their seventies, eighties, and even nineties, these portraits cover an enormous range of experience. In them, Sheehy locates the universal patterns that enable us all to recognize and understand our own lives.

Since the publication of the widely hailed first edition in 1983, The Annapolis Book of Seamanship has set the standard by which other books on sailing are measured. Used throughout America as a textbook in sailing schools and Power Squadrons, The Annapolis Book of Seamanship thoroughly and...  more

Since the publication of the widely hailed first edition in 1983, The Annapolis Book of Seamanship has set the standard by which other books on sailing are measured. Used throughout America as a textbook in sailing schools and Power Squadrons, The Annapolis Book of Seamanship thoroughly and clearly covers the fundamental and advanced skills of modern sailing. This edition of Annapolis is a major overhaul. Over half the book has been revised; old topics and features have been updated, and many new ones have been introduced. The design has been modernized, and many color illustrations have been added. As big and detailed as Annapolis is, the wealth of technical information (including dozens of step-by-step instructions) is presented here in a way that is uniquely readable; it's both useful and easy to use. This is because John Rousmaniere and artist Mark Smith bring to Annapolis decades of experience both as sailors and as professional communicators. Annapolis emphasizes the standard skills and proven methods that eliminate error and confusion, ensure security in emergencies, and allow every sailor more time for enjoyment on the water. Much has changed on the water since 1983 when this book was originally published. Black buoys are now green, the Global Positioning Satellite navigation system (GPS) is almost universally used, new types of anchors and sails have appeared, safety skills and gear are vastly improved, many more women are commanding boats, and catamarans and trimarans are common where only monohulls used to sail. But for all these modern developments, the basic skills and spirit of sailing have not changed at all. Sail trimming, keeping up steerageway, maintaining the dead reckoning plot, heaving-to -- these fundamentals are as important now as ever and receive much attention here. Among the innovations in this edition are: * Basic skills in early chapters: Fundamental sailing and boat-handling skills and gear, which are introduced in chapters 1, 2, and 3. * "Hands On" segments: Three dozen special sections, each devoted to a particular seamanship problem and an expert solution. * More how-to tips: Additional rules of thumb that guide a crew quickly and successfully through seamanship problems. * New coverage of multihulls: Advice on evaluating, anchoring, and handling catamarans and trimarans under sail (including in storms). * More on emergencies: New material on emergencies, safety, and heavy-weather sailing, including a section on preparing a docked boat for a hurricane. * Equipment updates: Expanded coverage of the use and care of modern gear and hardware, including radar, GPS, rescue devices, and asymmetrical spinnakers. * Terminology: Full definition and illustration of major terms when they're first introduced, with alternative language provided in parentheses. * Gender: The use of feminine personal pronouns, which reflect the fact that more women are captaining and sailing boats than ever before. From navigation and seamanship to boat and gear maintenance, from pleasure cruising to heavy-weather sailing, here is the definitive, state-of-the-art guide that provides systematic step-by-step techniques to see you through every situation on deck and in the cockpit.

Christopher Lowell has done it again! In response to thousands of letters requesting a book on small-room decorating, the Emmy Award-winning star of the Discovery Channel's most popular decorating show applies his innovative thinking to the challenge of turning cramped quarters into a...  more

Christopher Lowell has done it again! In response to thousands of letters requesting a book on small-room decorating, the Emmy Award-winning star of the Discovery Channel's most popular decorating show applies his innovative thinking to the challenge of turning cramped quarters into a comfortable, stylish home. He takes the Seven Layers of Design system introduced in his first book one step further by applying it to small spaces and inspiring readers to create extraordinary rooms out of the ordinary.With his trademark energy and innovation, Lowell guides us through two modular homes, one designed in a traditional style, the other in a more modern decor, but both intended to offer the reader a myriad of design options and ideas. The traditional home features a Nantucket-style master bath, a sunroom with faux stone walls, a French-influenced guest bedroom, and a separate dining room. The modern home contains a kitchen finished in sophisticated stainless-steel paint, a living room-guest bedroom partitioned with sliding bookcases, and a Zen master bedroom with a space-saving platform bed.Room by room, Lowell tackles such problems as how to make the most of tiny master bedrooms, how to create several rooms from one, what to do with narrow hallways, how to conserve space by creating multipurpose rooms, and how to renovate a guest bathroom for under $100. Before and after pictures show how anyone can perform miracles just by "thinking outside the box." Once again, Christopher Lowell inspires readers to dream big, no matter how small their space.

These casual quilts are inspired by the past but rely on simplified techniques for today?s quilter. Each quilt spotlights reproduction-style fabrics that instantly give designs an old-time look. ? Ten lap- and wall-quilt patterns feature the classic colors of vintage quilts ? Snap-to-stitch...  more

These casual quilts are inspired by the past but rely on simplified techniques for today?s quilter. Each quilt spotlights reproduction-style fabrics that instantly give designs an old-time look. ? Ten lap- and wall-quilt patterns feature the classic colors of vintage quilts ? Snap-to-stitch projects include seasonal and everyday themes ? Traditional blocks are updated with modern sewing methods

From Library Journal Enthusiasm for quilting has generated shows, periodicals, and hundreds of books, with many fine titles serving aspiring quilters by providing careful, detailed instructions accompanied by beautiful examples. This book provides neither. While color photos precede the...  more

From Library Journal Enthusiasm for quilting has generated shows, periodicals, and hundreds of books, with many fine titles serving aspiring quilters by providing careful, detailed instructions accompanied by beautiful examples. This book provides neither. While color photos precede the instructions for the 21 quilts detailed here, the designs and colors depicted are unimaginative, the sewing and piecing sloppy, and some photos out of focus. The text and illustrations do not always correlate, and the text itself is occasionally inconsistent. In addition, Roen ( Country Quilts in a Day , Sterling, 1991) uses this book to showcase her own amateurish drawings.

Wreaths today can be more than circles of fresh evergreens hung on front doors. From a simple grapevine-and-dried flower wreath to an elaborate wire wreath incorporating rare and exotic materials, wreath making is an innovative and highly accessible art form. Included in this book is an...  more

Wreaths today can be more than circles of fresh evergreens hung on front doors. From a simple grapevine-and-dried flower wreath to an elaborate wire wreath incorporating rare and exotic materials, wreath making is an innovative and highly accessible art form. Included in this book is an explanation of the basic wreath bases, the tools needed, and the techniques involved, as well as a discussion on gathering materials and drying flowers. Each of the chapters--Wreath with Dried Flowers, Herbs and Grasses, Grapevine Wreaths, Cornhusk and Raffia Wreaths, and Christmas and Holiday Wreaths--is filled with colorful photographs of original wreath designs and explanations of how the wreaths were conceived and constructed. Included are simple and elaborate designs, traditional materials and objects you may have never considered for wreath making, wreaths for the holidays, and wreaths that are appropriate any time of year.

This book contains fifteen chapters on everything from Kitchens, Tabletops, and Entries, to Cozy Corners, Cheap Tricks, and Odd Sports. The first in a series of books on the Mary Engelbreit look-- certain to be a decorating and lifestyle favorite.

Step-by-Step Dried Flowers looks at every aspect of creating exquisite dried flower projects, from the initial selection of materials and the best method of preservation, whether air drying, drying in desiccants, or in the microwave, to assessing surroundings and customizing containers for a...  more

Step-by-Step Dried Flowers looks at every aspect of creating exquisite dried flower projects, from the initial selection of materials and the best method of preservation, whether air drying, drying in desiccants, or in the microwave, to assessing surroundings and customizing containers for a totally integrated design. The traditional crafts of making potpourri and pressing flowers are also covered, and special projects for autumn and winter festivals, using seasonal flowers and foliage, will ensure the home is decorated the year round. Stunning color photographs take the reader step-by-step through every part of the design, and additional photographs of finished projects are sure to provide further inspiration for flower arrangers of all abilities.

Over 150 glorious designs for pots, planters, boxes, baskets and tubs. Step-by-step instructions for choosing plants, preparing containers, and planting displays the whole year round. Beautiful designs in both traditional and contemporary styles. Practical ideas for creating seasonal...  more

Over 150 glorious designs for pots, planters, boxes, baskets and tubs. Step-by-step instructions for choosing plants, preparing containers, and planting displays the whole year round. Beautiful designs in both traditional and contemporary styles. Practical ideas for creating seasonal containers of all kingds, from hanging baskets and window boxes to terra-cotta pots and stone troughs. Brimming with ideas for instant planters to transform and embellish any outdoor or indoor space.

When Robin Romm's The Mother Garden was published, The New York Times Book Review called her "a close-up magician," saying, "hers is the oldest kind [of magic] we know: the ordinary incantation of words and stories to help us navigate the darkness and finally to hold the end at bay." In her...  more

When Robin Romm's The Mother Garden was published, The New York Times Book Review called her "a close-up magician," saying, "hers is the oldest kind [of magic] we know: the ordinary incantation of words and stories to help us navigate the darkness and finally to hold the end at bay." In her searing memoir The Mercy Papers, Romm uses this magic to expand the weeks before her mother's death into a story about a daughter in the moments before and after loss.With a striking mix of humor and honesty, Romm ushers us into a world where an obstinate hospice nurse tries to heal through pamphlets and a yelping grandfather squirrels away money in a shoe-shine kit. Untrained dogs scamper about as strangers and friends rally around death, offering sympathy as they clamor for attention. The pillbox turns quickly into a metaphor for order; questions about medication turn to musings about God. The mundane and spiritual melt together as Romm reveals the sharp truths that lurk around every corner and captures, with great passion, the awe, fear, and fury of a daughter losing her mother.The Mercy Papers was started in the midst of heartbreak, and not originally intended for an audience. The result is a raw, unsentimental book that reverberates with humanity. Robin Romm has created a tribute to family and an indelible portrait that will speak to anyone who has ever loved and lost.

BOTH A MEDICAL DRAMA AND MEDITATION ON MOTHERHOOD, THE WATER GIVER IS JOAN RYAN'S GRIPPING ACCOUNT OF HER SON'S NEAR-FATAL ACCIDENT.WHEN SHE FIRST CALLED TO THE HOSPITAL, Joan Ryan thinks it means only a few stitches and a wasted afternoon. Instead she spends months rather than hours with her...  more

BOTH A MEDICAL DRAMA AND MEDITATION ON MOTHERHOOD, THE WATER GIVER IS JOAN RYAN'S GRIPPING ACCOUNT OF HER SON'S NEAR-FATAL ACCIDENT.WHEN SHE FIRST CALLED TO THE HOSPITAL, Joan Ryan thinks it means only a few stitches and a wasted afternoon. Instead she spends months rather than hours with her son in the hospital and in rehab, watching him fight to survive a traumatic brain injury. Joan retraces the tumultuous, complicated relationship that delivers mother and son to this moment when, through his brush with death and his painful rehabilitation, they are challenged to redefine who they are and what they mean to each other.Never easy to parent, her son had spent most of his sixteen years lurching from one setback to the next, struggling to overcome learning disabilities and ADHD. Joan's grim determination to solve the puzzle of his odd and often defiant behavior left her confounded and exasperated. She became so controlling and judgmental, so focused on trying to fix him, that she became more his relentless reformer than his loving mother.When her son wakes from his coma, Joan gets a second chance at motherhood. She rejoices at his first word, his first step, his first spoon of food, his first attempt to write. She gets to be his mother all over again and for the first time recognizes what an amazing, heroic young man he is. The Water Giver is the universal story of a mother coming to terms with her limitations and learning that the best way to help her child is simply to love him.

How will the world work in the post-oil, post-coal future? Our transition could take the form of disastrous collapses in economic, political, and economic systems?or of a radical reinvention of energy. We could relapse into a new Dark Ages, or we could shift to a new economic model and...  more

How will the world work in the post-oil, post-coal future? Our transition could take the form of disastrous collapses in economic, political, and economic systems?or of a radical reinvention of energy. We could relapse into a new Dark Ages, or we could shift to a new economic model and international order that's not based on (the appropriately named) "fossil" fuels but on renewable energy. No matter what, global warming and resource scarcity will force us to do something. To avert environmental and economic disaster, we'll have to think beyond the weekly fluctuations in the price of gasoline and consider larger matters. In Fuel, writers and artists imagine the transition to a carbon-free future: an architect plans "Velo-city," a network of elevated bikeways; a designer models a perfectly internalized, tail-chasing energy system; an urbanist examines the new "Oil Cities" in Dubai and Saudi Arabia; a photographer documents the social and environmental damage done by the oil industry in Nigeria; and an architect proposes that oil rigs be turned into sanctuaries for marine and avian wildlife. Reading Fuel, we read our current energy moment in the broader context of a range of possible futures. Alphabet City 13

Azar Nafisi, author of the beloved international bestseller Reading Lolita in Tehran, now gives us a stunning personal story of growing up in Iran, memories of her life lived in thrall to a powerful and complex mother, against the background of a country’s political revolution. A...  more

Azar Nafisi, author of the beloved international bestseller Reading Lolita in Tehran, now gives us a stunning personal story of growing up in Iran, memories of her life lived in thrall to a powerful and complex mother, against the background of a country’s political revolution. A girl’s pain over family secrets; a young woman’s discovery of the power of sensuality in literature; the price a family pays for freedom in a country beset by political upheaval–these and other threads are woven together in this beautiful memoir, as a gifted storyteller once again transforms the way we see the world and “reminds us of why we read in the first place” (Newsday). Nafisi’s intelligent and complicated mother, disappointed in her dreams of leading an important and romantic life, created mesmerizing fictions about herself, her family, and her past. But her daughter soon learned that these narratives of triumph hid as much as they revealed. Nafisi’s father escaped into narratives of another kind, enchanting his children with the classic tales like the Shahnamah, the Persian Book of Kings. When her father started seeing other women, young Azar began to keep his secrets from her mother. Nafisi’s complicity in these childhood dramas ultimately led her to resist remaining silent about other personal, as well as political, cultural, and social, injustices.  Reaching back in time to reflect on other generations in the Nafisi family, Things I’ve Been Silent About is also a powerful historical portrait of a family that spans many periods of change leading up to the Islamic Revolution of 1978-79, which turned Azar Nafisi’s beloved Iran into a religious dictatorship. Writing of her mother’s historic term in Parliament, even while her father, once mayor of Tehran, was in jail, Nafisi explores the remarkable “coffee hours” her mother presided over, where at first women came together to gossip, to tell fortunes, and to give silent acknowledgment of things never spoken about, and which then evolved into gatherings where men and women would meet to openly discuss the unfolding revolution. 

Michael Tucker and his wife, Jill Eikenberry, are enjoying the early years of retirement in their dream house, a beautiful 350-year-old stone farmhouse in the central Italian province of Umbria, when life rears its ugly head on their summer plans. Jill?s mother?s second husband, Ralph, has...  more

Michael Tucker and his wife, Jill Eikenberry, are enjoying the early years of retirement in their dream house, a beautiful 350-year-old stone farmhouse in the central Italian province of Umbria, when life rears its ugly head on their summer plans. Jill?s mother?s second husband, Ralph, has passed away, and Michael and Jill must leave the respite of the Italian countryside and travel westward to console Lora, Jill?s mother, and help her plan her future. Thus begins Family Meals, a beautifully told memoir that explores the meaning of family and examines the sacrifices we make for those we love. After Ralph?s death, Lora begins a rapid decline into dementia, and Jill wrestles with the decision to move her from Santa Barbara to New York City. The Tuckers initially attempt to place Lora in a senior residence in New York, but when an apartment becomes vacant right across the hall from them, they grab it for Lora. Michael and Jill?s children, Alison and Max?much to their parents? happiness?decide not only to relocate to Manhattan but also move in together. Their family, which had been a loose network of individual strands, has become, remarkably, a unit. It?s all very Italian.

Despite their colossal achievements as founding fathers, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe all ended their lives impoverished and in debt. Ulysses S. Grant saved his family from a life of penury by finishing his bestselling memoirs on the very eve of his death. Having failed to address HIV-AIDS...  more

Despite their colossal achievements as founding fathers, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe all ended their lives impoverished and in debt. Ulysses S. Grant saved his family from a life of penury by finishing his bestselling memoirs on the very eve of his death. Having failed to address HIV-AIDS effectively as president, Bill Clinton directed groundbreaking efforts after leaving office to make life-saving AIDS drugs affordable. In Citizen-in-Chief, Leonard Benardo and Jennifer Weiss examine the dramatic, little-known, sometimes inspiring, and often heartrending post-presidential lives of former Oval Office occupants. From the high-profile humanitarianism of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton to the quiet achievements of Rutherford B. Hayes and Herbert Hoover, Citizen-in-Chief reveals that the true stories of great leaders are rarely complete once they leave the White House.

Imogene is young, beautiful, kisses like a movie star, and knows everything about every film ever made. She's also dead, the legendary ghost of the Rosebud theater, and one afternoon in 1945, a boy named Alec Sheldon will have an unforgettable encounter with her... in the dark... Arthur...  more

Imogene is young, beautiful, kisses like a movie star, and knows everything about every film ever made. She's also dead, the legendary ghost of the Rosebud theater, and one afternoon in 1945, a boy named Alec Sheldon will have an unforgettable encounter with her... in the dark... Arthur Roth is a lonely kid with a head full of big ideas and a gift for getting his ass kicked. It's hard to make friends when you're the only inflatable boy in town... Francis is unhappy. Francis is picked on. Francis doesn't have a life, a hope, a chance. Francis was human once, but that's behind him now. Francis is an eight-foot tall locust, and all of Calliphora, Nevada will shudder to hear him sing... John Finney is in trouble. The kidnapper locked him in a basement, a place stained with the blood of half a dozen other murdered children. With him, in his subterranean cell, is an antique phone, long since disconnected... but it rings at night, anyway, with calls from the dead... Eric is a twenty-something burnout, who just lost a girlfriend and a job. Once, though, he was the Red Bolt, and with his home-made cape he could fly. Now the cape is back in his hands, and Eric's future is looking up... and up... Nolan Lerner is guilty. His past is a thing choked with secrets, blood -- and sunflowers. Only Nolan can tell the story of what really happened one summer in 1977, when his younger brother, an idiot savant named Morris, built a vast cardboard fort, with secret doors inside, doors leading into other worlds... Best new horror -- 20th century ghost -- Pop art -- You will hear the locust sing -- Abraham's boys -- Better than home -- Black phone -- In the rundown -- Cape -- Last breath -- Dead-wood -- Widow's breakfast -- Bobby Conroy comes back from the dead -- My father's mask -- Voluntary committal

In 2001, journalist Jessica DuLong ditched her dot-com desk job for the diesel engines of a rusty antique fireboat, the John J. Harvey, and the storied waters of the Hudson River. My River Chronicles: Rediscovering America on the Hudson tells the story of this mechanic's daughter and Stanford...  more

In 2001, journalist Jessica DuLong ditched her dot-com desk job for the diesel engines of a rusty antique fireboat, the John J. Harvey, and the storied waters of the Hudson River. My River Chronicles: Rediscovering America on the Hudson tells the story of this mechanic's daughter and Stanford graduate who had left her blue-collar upbringing behind until the fireboat drew her back, offering a chance to become an engineer and a taste of home she hadn't realized she was missing.The more time DuLong spent toiling in the engine room, running the boat's finely crafted machinery, the more she wondered what America is losing in our shift away from handson work. These questions crystallized in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks, when the FDNY called the retired fireboat back into service, and DuLong and the rest of the boat's civilian crew pumped water to fight blazes at Ground Zero. As blue-collar workers clambered on the pile, DuLong was struck by the dignity of physical labor and the honor of having joined the world of skilled labor whose talents were useful at the site.DuLong brings her two worlds vibrantly to life in this beautifully written memoir that evokes the vitality of New York City's bygone working waterfront and the Hudson River, a birthplace of American industry. Blending four centuries of Hudson River history with unforgettable present-day characters and events, DuLong offers a porthole-view narrative of the river and its social tapestry as a microcosm of postindustrial America. As she tracks changes along the shoreline, where industrial sites give way to recreational respites, a celebration of American labor and craftsmanship emerges. While searching along the river's edge for the meaning of work in America, DuLong pays homage to our industrial past and raises important questions about the future at this pivotal moment in our national story.My River Chronicles is a journey with an extraordinary guide, a woman who bridges blue-collar and white-collar worlds and turns a phrase as deftly as she does a wrench. Soulful and illuminating, My River Chronicles is a deeply personal story of a unique woman's discovery of her own roots -- and America's -- as she runs the fireboat's diesels on the ever-changing river that flows both ways.

Devin Predire is your typical eighth grader who only cares about becoming the lead singer of his friend s heavy metal band, winning fights at Gracefield Junior High, girls, and avoiding an aiding and abetting wrap for the murder of one of his closest buddies. When the band gathers one night to...  more

Devin Predire is your typical eighth grader who only cares about becoming the lead singer of his friend s heavy metal band, winning fights at Gracefield Junior High, girls, and avoiding an aiding and abetting wrap for the murder of one of his closest buddies. When the band gathers one night to rehearse, Colin Mulroney arrives, and the group decides to turn out the lights and pretend no one s home. The four sneak out of the house while Colin stands outside begging to be let in. Fed up with Colins childish ways, Ethan, one of the band members decides to take out his aggressions by beating Colin with a fiberglass pole. Much to Ethans chagrin, Simon steps in before Colin is beaten to a bloody pulp. Colin becomes the sacrificial lamb to any ill intended men they encounter along the way. After failing miserably at the school talent show, the band decides to drown their sorrows at Alex s house. Opening the door for what should be the pizza delivery guy, The Band finds Colin badly beaten, neck broken.

Will Rogers once said he never met a man he didn't like. I feel the same about beer.George Wendt and beer have shared a lot over the years: good times, great stories, useless trivia, and a successful show business career. In Drinking with George, Wendt invites readers to crack open a cold one...  more

Will Rogers once said he never met a man he didn't like. I feel the same about beer.George Wendt and beer have shared a lot over the years: good times, great stories, useless trivia, and a successful show business career. In Drinking with George, Wendt invites readers to crack open a cold one and pull up a seat at the bar as he celebrates the indelible, intoxicating beverage.Through personal stories and fascinating facts, Wendt delivers an ode to beer and all its irresistible peculiarities. In between spinning hilarious and frank tales of his own imbibing adventures -- from taking a first sip of his grandfather's Bud as a child in Chicago to a beer-fueled impromptu performance with Woody Harrelson and the U.S. Women's Synchronized Swimming Team -- he leaves no stone unturned in his quest to reveal and relish every detail about his favorite beverage.What's the real difference between lager, stout, and ale? How do you convert your lady into a beer-lover? How many different ways are there to say "drunk"? What do you do when your beer is warm and you want to drink it now? Wendt answers all of these questions and more as he explores the vast cultural history of brews and tackles basic bar theory.The next best thing to a barstool and a pint, Drinking with George is all the fun -- without the hangover.

An all-new anthology of Chinese culture-inspired science fiction This unique collection of science fiction tales demonstrates the diversity of the Chinese experience around the world, merging China's rich heritage with new traditions, offering North American readers an opportunity to...  more

An all-new anthology of Chinese culture-inspired science fiction This unique collection of science fiction tales demonstrates the diversity of the Chinese experience around the world, merging China's rich heritage with new traditions, offering North American readers an opportunity to discover these exciting writers. Stories include: Character of the Hound by Tony Pi Fortunes of Mrs. Yu by Charles Tan Goin' down to Anglotown by William F. Wu Polar Bear Carries the Mail by Derwin Mak Lips of Ash by Emery Huang Man on the Moon by Crystal Gail Shangkuan Koo Across the Sea by Emily Mah Mortal Clay, Stone Heart by Eugie Foster Dancers with Red Shoes by Melissa Yuan-Innes Intelligent Truth by Shelly Li Bargains by Gabriela Lee Threes by E. L. Chen Son of Heaven by Eric Choi Shadow City by Susan Ee Water Weapon by Brenda W. Clough Right to Eat Decent Food by Urania Fung Papa and Mama by Wen Y. Phua Beidou by Ken Liu

On her first day on earth, laboring to breathe under an oxygen tent, Katie Trebing underwent a blood transfusion that would become the first of an expected lifetime of them. Diagnosed with a rare form of anemia that prevents bone marrow from producing red blood cells, Katie would require a...  more

On her first day on earth, laboring to breathe under an oxygen tent, Katie Trebing underwent a blood transfusion that would become the first of an expected lifetime of them. Diagnosed with a rare form of anemia that prevents bone marrow from producing red blood cells, Katie would require a transfusion every month. Without it, she would die. But even with a steady supply of red blood cells from donors, her prognosis was not encouraging. Eventually, doctors warned, iron from repeated transfusions would accumulate in her heart and liver, potentially destroying her organs by the time she reached forty. Faced with their daughter?s devastating prognosis, Stacy and Steve Trebing made the difficult decision to pursue the only known cure for Diamond Blackfan anemia: a bone marrow transplant from a genetic match. Using preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and in vitro fertilization, they would create a "savior sibling" for Katie, a complex process rife with setbacks and pitfalls. Only then could she undergo the perilous procedure that might save her life. In The Match, Pulitzer Prize?winning journalist Beth Whitehouse tells the Trebing family?s story, from the onset of Katie?s troubling health complications to the birth of her new brother and the culmination of her bone-marrow transplant. Whitehouse follows the Trebings each step of the way as they make the nail-biting decisions to create a genetically matched sibling and proceed with the risky transplant that could kill Katie rather than save her. With the family?s dramatic and emotional story as an entry point, Whitehouse delves head-on into the murky bioethics surrounding PGD: Is it ethical to create a life for the purpose of saving another? Who will protect the medical interests of the "savior sibling" created by scientific manipulation? And who will object if the child is later called upon to donate, say, an organ? Whitehouse asks these questions and many others, seeking answers from doctors and ethicists who deal with such matters daily. She explores the controversial use already made of PGD to select gender and the future possibility to choose traits such as eye color and even intelligence. The Match is a timely and provocative look at urgent issues that can only become more complex and pressing as genetic and reproductive technologies advance.

Something very strange is happening in Vermont. It's not The Game of Sunken Places - Brian and Gregory have been through that before, and there's not supposed to be another Game until they say there's a Game. But still . . . when they go to visit a relative in the Vermont woods, they find many...  more

Something very strange is happening in Vermont. It's not The Game of Sunken Places - Brian and Gregory have been through that before, and there's not supposed to be another Game until they say there's a Game. But still . . . when they go to visit a relative in the Vermont woods, they find many things are . . . off. Like, people aren't where they're supposed to be. And houses are everywhere. In fact, the houses seem to be taking over. If anyone in the universe can make high adventure out of supernatural urban sprawl . . . well, it's M. T. Anderson. And in The Suburb Beyond the Stars he brings both humor and intelligence to a thrill ride that's part quest, part mystery, part fantasy, and part Abbott and Costello.

Ambitious high school senior Efrain Rodriguez dreams of escaping the South Bronx for an Ivy League college like Harvard or Yale. But how is his family going to afford to pay for a prestigious university when Moms has to work insane hours to put food on the table as it is? And Efrain wouldn?t...  more

Ambitious high school senior Efrain Rodriguez dreams of escaping the South Bronx for an Ivy League college like Harvard or Yale. But how is his family going to afford to pay for a prestigious university when Moms has to work insane hours to put food on the table as it is? And Efrain wouldn?t dare ask that good-for-nothing father of his who has traded his family in for younger models. Left with few options, Efrain chooses to do something he never thought he would. He embarks on a double life?honor student by day, drug peddler at night?convinced that by temporarily capitulating to society?s negative expectations of a boy like him, he can eventually defy them.Sofia Quintero makes a stunning debut writing for young adults with this gritty, complex, and real exploration of the life of an urban teen whose attempt to leave one world behind for a better one could cost him everything.

Immaculee Ilibagiza grew up in a country she loved, surrounded by a family she cherished. But in 1994 her idyllic world was ripped apart as Rwanda descended into a bloody genocide. Immaculee’s family was brutally murdered during a killing spree that lasted three months and claimed the...  more

Immaculee Ilibagiza grew up in a country she loved, surrounded by a family she cherished. But in 1994 her idyllic world was ripped apart as Rwanda descended into a bloody genocide. Immaculee’s family was brutally murdered during a killing spree that lasted three months and claimed the lives of nearly a million Rwandans.     Incredibly, Immaculee survived the slaughter. For 91 days, she and seven other women huddled silently together in the cramped bathroom of a local pastor while hundreds of machete-wielding killers hunted for them.  It was during those endless hours of unspeakable terror that Immaculee discovered the power of prayer, eventually shedding her fear of death and forging a profound and lasting relationship with God. She emerged from her bathroom hideout having discovered the meaning of truly unconditional love -- a love so strong she was able seek out and forgive her family’s killers.  The triumphant story of this remarkable young woman’s journey through the darkness of genocide will inspire anyone whose life has been touched by fear, suffering, and loss.

With Cruel Shoes, Steve Martin proves that his humor more than translates to the written page; it excels there. Since he has always written his own material, books are a natural medium for Steve's comic genius. And his extravagant wit shines brightly indeed in this rollicking collection of...  more

With Cruel Shoes, Steve Martin proves that his humor more than translates to the written page; it excels there. Since he has always written his own material, books are a natural medium for Steve's comic genius. And his extravagant wit shines brightly indeed in this rollicking collection of short fabulous pieces.