DescriptionGrowing up in rural China during Mao's Cultural Revolution, Da Chen was part Horatio Alger, part Holden Caulfeld, befriending both a gang of young thugs, as well as an elegant, older Chinese woman who teaches him English - and opens the door to a new life. Chen's remarkable story of triumph is filled with the universal qualities that distinguish the very best memoirs as it masterfully recounts the concerns of childhood that transcend both time and place. From the excesses of boyhood to the strength of a family and the humor that defies adversity, Colors of the Mountain brings to life a piece of history brimming over with color and passion.
DescriptionFitz-James O'Brien was an Irish-born poet, journalist, and short-story writer who migrated to America in 1852. He died from an injury acquired during the Civil War. O'Brien was called "the preeminent writer of supernatural stories of his time", and he is best remembered for two or three widely anthologized stories that border on science fiction. Among them is this masterpiece.
DescriptionCharles Paris tackles his sixth case when, between acting jobs (what else is new?), he's hired by BBC Radio to research and write a program on Swinburne for a new series called "Who Reads Them Now?" Paris hasn't glanced at Swinburne since leaving Oxford nearly 30 years ago, but the pay is good and the surroundings congenial. Then a young studio manager is found dead, her wrists slashed. When Charles learns that she was involved with a shady American record producer who has also turned up dead - another apparent suicide - he begins an investigation.
DescriptionKinky Friedman, the original Texas Jew boy, guides readers through the sights, sounds, food, and sundry oddities of his favorite Texas city. Known for live music and food, Austin is also the home of Willie Nelson, Janis Joplin, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and a number of other music legends. In this slightly insane and surprisingly practical guide to the coolest city in Texas, you'll find out which restaurant President Bush thinks is the best burger joint; you'll get a glimpse of Willie Nelson's home; and the best view of the Mexican free-tailed bats as they make their nightly flights to and from the Congress Avenue Bridge.
Description"Living well is the best revenge..." Well, maybe. But when it came to a woman scorned, not to mention two women scorned, maybe revenge was the best revenge. Thus when Joan Hoffman and Liz Savoie, both systematically dumped by the men they thought they loved, worked out side-by-side at the gym one fine day, they formulated a plan. A club, if you will. Why not go after each other's husbands? See them. Seduce them. And drop them. The plan was simple. The reality, however, was complicated by pregnant mistresses, embittered new wives, surly grown children...and then one of the exes went missing. And the members of the Payback Club were in for it now: Would they get even? Would they get everything? Or would they get 20 years to life?
DescriptionAward-winning actor and playwright Ron McLarty is well known for his audiobook performances. What fewer people realize is that he's also an accomplished author. In this wonderfully quirky novel, available exclusively as an audiobook, McLarty takes readers on a quest to find hope and redemption with an unlikely hero. Smithson Ide is 43 years old and weighs 279 pounds when his parents die in an accident. Lost in memories of childhood, Smithson uncovers his old Raleigh bicycle in the garage and begins a cross-country journey to find his beautiful, but tragically psychotic sister. Keenly aware of how ridiculous he must appear, Smithson nonetheless perseveres through a journey that is hilarious and horrifying. It is a trip, he soon realizes, that might provide his last chance to become the person he has always wanted to be.
