Tuesday, February 3, 2004

A Painted House

A Painted House

A Painted House

Until that September of 1952, Luke Chandler had never kept a secret or told a single lie. But in the long, hot summer of his seventh year, two groups of migrant workers — and two very dangerous men — came through the Arkansas Delta to work the Chandler cotton farm. And suddenly mysteries are flooding Luke’s world.

A brutal murder leaves the town seething in gossip and suspicion. A beautiful young woman ignites forbidden passions. A fatherless baby is born ... and someone has begun furtively painting the bare clapboards of the Chandler farmhouse, slowly, painstakingly, bathing the run-down structure in gleaming white. And as young Luke watches the world around him, he unravels secrets that could shatter lives — and change his family and his town forever....


From the Paperback edition.

ISBN: 0385337930
Author: John Grisham
Publisher: Bantam
Rating: 3.64

Read Now

Download Book

 

Sunday, February 1, 2004

Life Is Short, Wear Your Party Pants

Life Is Short, Wear Your Party Pants

Life Is Short, Wear Your Party Pants

Loretta La Roche has helped millions of people find ways to lighten up and overcome stress. Now, in Life Is Short—Wear Your Party Pants, she gives you the tools you need to not only reduce feelings of tension, but also to bring joy, passion, and gusto into your life. Her techniques are a brilliant blend of old-world common sense and the most contemporary research in brain chemistry, psychology, and mind-body studies. Loretta gives you dozens of proven techniques for recognizing the ten simple truths that will lead you to an intense, happy, successful life: resilience, living in the moment, optimism, acceptance, humor, creativity, moderation, responsibility, meaning, and connection.

            Loretta’s wisdom evolved from her own life—one filled with the demands of being a single mother of three; of starting her own business when she was broke; and of the wacky invasiveness of her Italian family. She’s like all of us: real, flawed, stressed out, and on edge. Her magic comes from an ability to not take herself too seriously, and to always shift her focus away from the self-destructive and toward the truly important things in life.

            In her work, Loretta has seen tens of thousands of people who live their lives as if they’re sitting in a waiting room, hoping that their turn comes up next. This book will show you that life is not something to be endured, but is something to be truly appreciated. We need to remember how to access our inner abundance, which allows us to be heart-centered, joy-filled human beings.

            As Loretta says: “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift—that’s why they call it the present.”

ISBN: 1401901492
Author: Loretta LaRoche
Publisher: Hay House
Rating: 3.70

Read Now

Download Book

 

Monday, January 19, 2004

Salem s Lot

 Salem s Lot

Salem s Lot

A STEPHEN KING CLASSIC FINALLY AVAILABLE AS AN AUDIOBOOK

Stephen King's second novel, Salem's Lot, is the story of a mundane town under siege from the forces of darkness. Considered one of the most terrifying vampire novels ever written, it cunningly probes the shadows of the human heart -- and the insular evils of small-town America.

15 CDs, 17.5 hours

ISBN: 0743536967
Author: Stephen King
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Rating: 3.97

Read Now

Download Book

 

Tuesday, October 28, 2003

A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol

ENDURING LITERATURE ILLUMINATEDBY PRACTICAL SCHOLARSHIP

The best known and best loved of Dickens's tales, "A Christmas Carol" is the story of miserly Ebenezer Scrooge, who is shown the true spirit of Christmas by three ghosts.

THIS ENRICHED CLASSIC EDITION INCLUDES:

- An introduction that gives readers important background information

- Detailed explanatory notes

- Critical analysis, including contemporary and modern perspectives on the work

Enriched Classics offer readers affordable editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and insightful commentary. The scholarship provided in Enriched Classics enables readers to appreciate, understand, and enjoy the world's finest books to their full potential.

ISBN: 0743477375
Author: Charles Dickens
Publisher: Pocket Books
Rating: 3.99

Read Now

Download Book

 

A Christmas Story

A Christmas Story

A Christmas Story

A beloved, bestselling classic of humorous and nostalgic Americana—the book that inspired the equally classic Yuletide film.

The holiday film A Christmas Story, first released in 1983, has become a bona fide Christmas perennial, gaining in stature and fame with each succeeding year. Its affectionate, wacky, and wryly realistic portrayal of an American family’s typical Christmas joys and travails in small-town Depression-era Indiana has entered our imagination and our hearts with a force equal to It’s a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street.

This edition of A Christmas Story gathers together in one hilarious volume the gems of autobiographical humor that Jean Shepherd drew upon to create this enduring film. Here is young Ralphie Parker’s shocking discovery that his decoder ring is really a device to promote Ovaltine; his mother and father’s pitched battle over the fate of a lascivious leg lamp; the unleashed and unnerving savagery of Ralphie’s duel in the show with the odious bullies Scut Farkas and Grover Dill; and, most crucially, Ralphie’s unstoppable campaign to get Santa—or anyone else—to give him a Red Ryder carbine action 200-shot range model air rifle. Who cares that the whole adult world is telling him, “You’ll shoot your eye out, kid”?

The pieces that comprise A Christmas Story, previously published in the larger collections In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash and Wanda Hickey’s Night of Golden Memories, coalesce in a magical fashion to become an irresistible piece of Americana, quite the equal of the film in its ability to warm the heart and tickle the funny bone.


From the Hardcover edition.

ISBN: 0767916220
Author: Jean Shepherd
Publisher: Broadway Books
Rating: 4.04

Read Now

Download Book

 

Sunday, October 19, 2003

Hard Times

Hard Times

Hard Times

'Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else'

Coketown is dominated by the figure of Mr Thomas Gradgrind, school owner and model of Utilitarian success. Feeding both his pupils and his family with facts, he bans fancy and wonder from young minds. As a consequence his obedient daughter Louisa marries the loveless businessman and 'bully of humility' Mr Bounderby, and his son Tom rebels to become embroiled in gambling and robbery. And, as their fortunes cross with those of free- spirited circus girl Sissy Jupe and victimised weaver Stephen Blackpool, Gradgrind is eventually forced to recognise the value of the human heart in an age of materialism and machinery.

ISBN: 0321107217
Author: Charles Dickens
Publisher: Pearson Longman
Rating: 3.48

Read Now

Download Book

 

Wednesday, October 1, 2003

A Christmas Carol (Listening Library)

A Christmas Carol (Listening Library)

A Christmas Carol (Listening Library)

Ebenezer Scrooge is a heartless old miser who hates everything, especially Christmas. Then one mysterious Christmas eve, Scrooge is visited by three spirits who take him on a fantastic journey and teach him the true meaning of the season.

ISBN: 1400086027
Author: Charles Dickens
Publisher: Listening Library (Audio)
Rating: 3.99

Read Now

Download Book