A Pair of Silk Stockings

A Pair of Silk Stockings

Kate Chopin

Fiction

'At night, among the reeds on the bayou, Chicot could still hear the woman's wail, mingled now with the croaking of the frogs...' From one of the most daring writers of fin-de-siècle America, five stories of awakening that range from Louisiana's plantations and poverty-stricken bayous to its gilded cities.
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The Virgin and the Gipsy

The Virgin and the Gipsy

D. H. Lawrence

Literature & Fiction / Poetry / Travel

THE VIRGIN AND THE GIPSY affirms the powers of instinct and intuition in their struggle against the constraints of civilisation and anticipates LADY CHATTERLEY'S LOVER in its theme. in it Lawrence tells the reverent tale of a young girl's emnotionalawakening in the elemental presence of a gypsy. First published 1930.
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Promises to Keep

Promises to Keep

Kathryn Shay

Romance

By-the-book Secret Service Agent Joe Stonehouse is assigned to work with rebel Agent Luke Ludzecky on a task force to combat school violence. When they go undercover in Fairholm, NY, to a school flagged for an outbreak, they find that the institution is indeed in danger. But when Joe butts heads with principal Suzanna Quinn, and teacher Kelsey Cunningham gets close to her new student Luke, all their personal lives are turned upside down. In Book 1, PROMISES TO KEEP, follow the fast-paced plot ripped straight from the headlines and bask in the love stories that will make you believe in romance.Don't miss all five books in the Lean On Me Series, heart-wrenching stories of teens in jeopardy and the adults who've dedicated their lives to helping them: PROMISES TO KEEP, MICHAEL'S FAMILY, TRUST IN ME, WHEN A MAN LOVES A WOMAN and A PRICE WORTH PAYING.Praise for PROMISES TO KEEP:"Shay does an admirable job with a difficult subject, writing about school violence with sensitivity and...
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Shark Trouble: True Stories and Lessons About the Sea

Shark Trouble: True Stories and Lessons About the Sea

Peter Benchley

Mystery & Thrillers

Master storyteller Peter Benchley combines high adventure with practical information in Shark Trouble, a book that is at once a thriller and a valuable guide to being safe in, on, under, and around the sea. The bestselling author of Jaws, The Deep, and other works draws on more than three decades of experience to share information about sharks and other marine animals. “Shark attacks on human beings generate a tremendous amount of media coverage,” Benchley writes, “partly because they occur so rarely, but mostly, I think, because people are, and always have been, simultaneously intrigued and terrified by sharks. Sharks come from a wing of the dark castle where our nightmares live—deep water beyond our sight and understanding—and so they stimulate our fears and fantasies and imaginations.” Benchley describes the many types of sharks (including the ones that pose a genuine threat to man), what is and isn’t known about shark behavior, the odds against an attack and how to reduce them even further—all reinforced with the lessons he has learned, the mistakes he has made, and the personal perils he has encountered while producing television documentaries, bestselling novels, and articles about the sea and its inhabitants. He tells how to swim safely in the ocean, how to read the tides and currents, what behavior to avoid, and how to survive when danger suddenly strikes. He discusses how to tell children about sharks and the sea and how to develop, in young and old alike, a healthy respect for the ocean. As Benchley says, “The ocean is the only alien and potentially hostile environment on the planet into which we tend to venture without thinking about the animals that live there, how they behave, how they support themselves, and how they perceive us. I know of no one who would set off into the jungles of Malaysia armed only with a bathing suit, a tube of suntan cream, and a book, and yet that’s precisely how we approach the oceans.” No longer. Not after you’ve read Shark Trouble. From the Hardcover edition.
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Insurrection

Insurrection

Thomas M. Reid

Science Fiction & Fantasy

The War of the Spider Queen spreads...A hand-picked team of the most capable drow adventurers begin a perilous journey through the treacherous Underdark, all the while surrounded by the chaos of war. Their path will take them through the very heart of darkness, and the Underdark will be shaken to its core. If the powerful dark elves falter, the world below is open for Insurrection.
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The Rice Mother

The Rice Mother

Rani Manicka

Literature & Fiction / Fantasy / Paranormal

Nothing in Lakshmi's childhood, running carefree and barefoot on the sun-baked earth amid the coconut and mango trees of Ceylon, could have prepared her for what life was to bring her. At fourteen, she finds herself traded in marriage to a stranger across the ocean in the fascinating land of Malaysia. Duped into thinking her new husband is wealthy, she instead finds herself struggling to raise a family with a man too impractical to face reality and a world that is, by turns, unyielding and amazing, brutal and beautiful. Giving birth to a child every year until she is nineteen, Lakshmi becomes a formidable matriarch, determined to wrest from the world a better life for her daughters and sons and to face every new challenge with almost mythic strength. By sheer willpower Lakshmi survives the nightmare of World War II and the Japanese occupation -- but not unscathed. The family bears deep scars on its back and in turn inflicts those wounds on the next generation. But it is not until Lakshmi's great-granddaughter, Nisha, pieces together the mosaic of her family history that the legacy of the Rice Mother bears fruit.
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The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

Max Weber

Max Weber

In The Protestant Ethic, Max Weber opposes the Marxist concept of dialectical materialism and relates the rise of the capitalist economy to the Calvinist belief in the moral value of hard work and the fulfillment of one's worldly duties.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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Distant Shores

Distant Shores

Kristin Hannah

Literature & Fiction

Elizabeth and Jackson Shore married young, raised two daughters, and weathered the storms of youth as they built a future together. But after the children leave home, they quietly drift apart. When Jack accepts a wonderful new job offer, Elizabeth puts her needs aside to follow him across the country. Until the sudden death of her father changes everything. Grieving and alone, she retreats to an isolated beach house where she packs away the last remnants of her parents’ lives. There, the pieces of a past she never knew unfold to reveal a tender story of lasting devotion, the kind of steadfast commitment that Elizabeth admits is missing from her own marriage. Faced with her own disillusionment, she makes a terrifying decision, risking everything she has for a second chance at happiness. Enriched by soul-stirring emotion and an appreciation for the simple joy of everyday miracles, Distant Shores is an exquisite reminder of the most precious gifts in life: friends and family, children and lovers, the strength to change, and the courage to forgive-–all flawlessly captured by the graceful hands of Kristin Hannah.
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Giving In/Tied Up and Twisted/Cuffing Kate/Under His Hand/What She Needs/For Your Pleasure/Tie Me Up

Giving In/Tied Up and Twisted/Cuffing Kate/Under His Hand/What She Needs/For Your Pleasure/Tie Me Up

Lauren Hawkeye

Romance / Paranormal / Contemporary

Like Alice down the rabbit hole, seven women follow romance and desire beyond all limits...and discover a world they never imagined...Ellis' dream of a relaxing villa escape is shattered when she spies best friend Sasha in a compromising position. After being invited to join the other guests' intense games...Ellis musters up the courage.Hadley has changed since breaking up with her ex, Guy. She used to be Dom to his sub, but she's been fantasising about having someone control her for once. When Guy invites her to his studio, she finds the perfect candidate...When Kate's roommate ditches Jules for asking her to do something 'kinky', Kate's eager to know what he wants and to try and convince him that she's his perfect bed mate...Tess's Navy SEAL boyfriend, Drew, returned from his latest mission changed — filled with raw need and the desire to possess her...at whatever the cost.A nameless woman met a stranger in a...
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Fever and Spear

Fever and Spear

Javier Marías

Literature & Fiction

Part spy novel, part romance, part Henry James, Your Face Tomorrow is a wholly remarkable display of the immense gifts of Javier Marias. With Fever and Spear, Volume One of his unfolding novel Your Face Tomorrow, he returns us to the rarified world of Oxford (the delightful setting of All Souls and Dark Back of Time), while introducing us to territory entirely new--espionage. Our hero, Jaime Deza, separated from his wife in Madrid, is a bit adrift in London until his old friend Sir Peter Wheeler retired Oxford don and semi-retired master spy recruits him for a new career in British Intelligence. Deza possesses a rare gift for seeing behind the masks people wear. He is soon observing interviews conducted by Her Majesty's secret service: variously shady international businessmen one day, would-be coup leaders the next. Seductively, this metaphysical thriller explores past, present, and future in the ever-more-perilous 21st century. This compelling and enigmatic tour de force from one of Europe's greatest writers continues with Volume Two, Dance and Dream."
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Shadows and Light

Shadows and Light

Anne Bishop

Science Fiction & Fantasy / Romance

the breathtaking story of action and romance, good and evil, continues . Ever since the slaughter of the witches, the Fae - who should be shielding their long-lost cousins from danger - have ignored the needs of the rest of the world. And shadows are again gathering in the eastern villages - dark, potent shadows that threaten the lives of every witch, woman and Fae. Only three Fae can stand against the growing madness and help prevent more bloodshed: the Bard, the Muse, and the Gatherer of Souls. Aiden, the Bard, knows how desperately the world depends upon the Fae's protection. But the Fae refuse to heed his warnings about the wickedness lurking amid the trees. Now Aiden and his one true love - Lyrra, the Muse - must embark on a perilous journey to find the one Fae who can convince the rest to leave their secure perches to save the witches and mortals. Because if the Fae don't act soon, no one will survive .
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Guardian

Guardian

Joe Haldeman

Science Fiction & Fantasy

During the Alaskan gold rush, a woman pursues a destiny that will change the world in this alternate-history novel from a sci-fi legend. In the tradition of Robert Heinlein (Starship Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land), multiple Hugo and Nebula Award winner Joe Haldeman set a new standard for military science fiction and hard sci-fi with The Forever War and his phenomenal Worlds series.  Now the Science Fiction Writers of America Grand Master dabbles brilliantly in alternate-history fiction with the world-altering adventures of a remarkable woman during the gold rush in late nineteenth-century Alaska. Sent from her Georgia home to Philadelphia to escape the carnage of the Civil War, Rosa Coleman studied astronomy and mathematics, ultimately settling into a new life as the wife of a wealthy man and mother of young Daniel. But when she discovers an unforgiveable secret about her reprobate husband, Rosa takes the boy and flees to the West on a desperate escape that takes them from Dodge City to San Francisco one step ahead of the Pinkertons hired to bring them back home. On the run in a strange and exhilarating new world, Rosa and Daniel find a haven where they might never be found: the wilds of Alaska among the dreamers drawn to its magnificent wilderness by the promise of gold. It is here that her spiritual guide first appears to Rosa in the form of a raven—an incarnation of the trickster god of Native American and Eskimo lore—suggesting that her destiny lies not in sparkling riches but in something far greater. This mystical harbinger has come from a distant, alien place, and will set her on an astonishing course . . . A magnificent blending of historical and speculative fiction, Joe Haldeman’s Guardian is a breathtaking departure for the author whom Peter Straub calls “one of our most aware, comprehensive, and necessary writers” and David Brin praises as “one of the best prophetic writers of our times.”
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The Cathedral Within

The Cathedral Within

Bill Shore

Bill Shore

Bill Shore has written a wise and inspiring book that shows us how to make the most of life and do something that counts.Like the cathedral builders of an earlier time, the visionaries described in this memoir share a single desire: to create something that endures. The great cathedrals did not soar skyward because their builders discovered new materials or financial resources; rather, the builders had a unique understanding of the human spirit that enabled them to use those materials in a new way. So, too, have the extraordinary people Bill Shore has met in his travels as one of the nation's leading social entrepreneurs, a new movement of citizens who are tapping the vast resources of the private sector to improve public life. Among them are:-Gary Mulhair, who has created unprecedented jobs and wealth at the largest self-supporting human-service organization of its kind, Pioneer Human Services of Seattle-Denver chef Noel Cunningham, who has committed his...
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