Library Displays

In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell into the hands of Bilbo Baggins, as told in THE HOBBIT. In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.

The Fellowship is scattered. Some are bracing hopelessly for war against the ancient evil of Sauron. Some are contending with the treachery of the wizard Saruman. Only Frodo and Sam are left to take the accursed One Ring, ruler of all the Rings of Power, to be destroyed in Mordor, the dark realm where Sauron is supreme. Their guide is Gollum, deceitful and lust-filled, slave to the corruption of the Ring.

It's the eve of World War II, and King Edward VIII has abdicated the throne of England to marry the woman he loves. Never has the nation needed a leader more. But the new monarch, George VI--father of today's Queen Elizabeth II--is painfully shy and cursed with a terrible stammer. How can he inspire confidence in his countrymen when he cannot even speak to them? Help arrives in speech therapist Logue, who not only is a commoner, but Australian to boot. Will he be able to give King George his voice? The King's Speech tells an inspiring tale of triumph over adversity and the unlikely friendship between a reluctant king and the charismatic subject who saved the throne.

In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-Earth still it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell, by chance, into the hands of the Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins. On his eleventy-first birthday, Bilbo disappeared, bequeathing to his young cousin, Frodo, the Ruling Ring, and a perilous quest: to journey across Middle-Earth, deep into the shadow of the Dark Lord and destroy the Ring by casting it into the Cracks of Doom.

Join Frodo, Gandalf, Aragorn, and brave members of the Fellowship as they continue their quest to destroy the Ring of Power. As darkness descends on Middle-earth, a strange creature named Gollum leads the heroes to the Black Gates of Mordor. The rest of Middle-earth prepares for a battle that will decide the fate of all.

Frodo makes his way through the darkness to Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring. Aragon learns of his destiny as the true King and the others prepare for a massive battle that will determine the fate of Middle-Earth.

True Grit is Charles Portis's most famous novel--first published in 1968, and the basis for the movie of the same name starring John Wayne. It tells the story of Mattie Ross, who is just fourteen years of age when a coward going by the name of Tom Chaney shoots her father down in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and robs him of his life, his horse, and $150 in cash money. Mattie leaves home to avenge her father's blood. With the one-eyed Rooster Cogburn, the meanest available U.S. Marshal, by her side, Mattie pursues the homicide into Indian Territory. True Grit is eccentric, cool, straight, and unflinching, like Mattie herself. From a writer of true cult status, this is an American classic through and through.

Stunning a television audience of millions, Ram draws upon a store of street wisdom and accidental encounters that provides him with the essential keys not only to the quiz show but also to life itself.

Experience all seven books of C. S. Lewis's classic fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia, in one impressive paperback volume! Epic battles between good and evil, fantastic creatures, betrayals, heroic deeds, and friendships won and lost all come together in this unforgettable world, which has been enchanting readers of all ages for over sixty years. This edition presents the seven books: The Magician's Nephew; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; The Horse and His Boy; Prince Caspian; The Voyage of the Dawn Treader; The Silver Chair; and The Last Battle; unabridged and arranged in C. S. Lewis's preferred order. Each chapter is graced with an illustration by the original artist, Pauline Baynes.

It all comes down to this - a final faceoff between good and evil. You plan to pull out all the stops, but every time you solve one mystery, three more evolve. Do you stay the course you started, despite your lack of progress? Do you detour and follow a new lead that may not help? Do youlisten to your instincts, or your friends? Lord Voldemort is preparing for battle and so must Harry. With Ron and Hermione at his side, he's trying to hunt down Voldemort's Horcruxes, escape danger at every turn, and find a way to defeat evil once and for all. How does it all end?

Emboldened by the return of Lord Voldemort, the Death Eaters are wreaking havoc in both the Muggle and wizarding worlds. Hogwarts, once thought to be a safe haven, may no longer be safe. Harry suspects that new dangers may lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching. Harry will have to help him uncover a vital key to unlocking Voldemort's defenses, a critical piece of information known only to Horace Slughorn, Hogwarts' former Potions Professor. Dumbledore manipulates his old colleague into returning to his previous post with promises of more money, a bigger office and the chance to teach the famous Harry Potter.

Part 1 begins as Harry, Ron and Hermione set out on their perilous mission to track down and destroy the secret to Voldemort's immortality and destruction--the Horcruxes. On their own, without the guidance of their professors or the protection of Professor Dumbledore, the three friends must now rely on one another more than ever. But there are Dark Forces in their midst that threaten to tear them apart. Harry's only hope is to find the Horcruxes before Voldemort finds him.

The daughters of a ruthlessly ambitious family, Mary and Anne Boleyn are sent to the court of Henry VIII to attract the attention of the king, who first takes Mary as his mistress, in which role she bears him an illegitimate son, and then Anne as his wife.

Anne Boleyn is a doe-eyed vixen who is ordered by her power-hungry uncle to bewitch King Henry VIII. Her shy sister Mary has always been in Anne's shadow. Anne is prettier, more accomplished, and desired by many men. So when the King picks Mary as his mistress, Anne turns on her sister and schemes to become not only the King's consort, but his new queen. Though the Boleyn girls' mother points out that her 'daughters are being traded like cattle for the advancement of men,' it is Anne who ultimately throws her slight weight around to bully Henry into doing her bidding.

A young girl walks through a secret door that she has found in her new home and discovers an alternate version of her life. On the surface, this parallel reality is eerily similar to her real life, but much better. When her adventure turns dangerous, and her counterfeit parents, including the Other Mother, try to keep her forever, Coraline must count on her resourcefulness, determination, and bravery to get back home - and save her family.

When Coraline steps through a door in her family's new house, she finds another house, strangely similar to her own (only better). At first, things seem marvelous. The food is better than at home, and the toy box is filled with fluttering wind-up angels and dinosaur skulls that crawl and rattle their teeth. But there's another mother there and another father, and they want her to stay and be their little girl. They want to change her and never let her go. Coraline will have to fight with all her wit and all the tools she can find if she is to save herself and return to her ordinary life. This beloved tale has now become a visual feast. Acclaimed artist P. CraigRussell brings Neil Gaiman's enchanting nationally bestselling children's book Coraline to new life in this gorgeously illustrated graphic novel adaptation.

Isabella Swan moves to gloomy Forks, Washington to live with her father. She begins her junior year in high school and becomes fascinated by Edward Cullen. He holds a dark secret which is only known by his family. To Edward, Bella is what he has waited 90 years for, a true soul mate. But he knows the further they progress in their relationship the more he is putting Bella and those close to her at risk. Edward tries to warn Bella that she should leave him, but she refuses. A new vampire finds it a challenge to hunt Bella down for her irresistible blood. Now, the game is on and James will not stop until she is killed.

Bella is still very much in love with Edward. The rest of the vampire coven who call themselves the Cullens, especially Alice, decide to throw Bella a private party for her eighteenth birthday. Things go wrong when Bella cuts her finger and thirst overcomes the vampires. As a result of the danger Bella was put through, the Cullen family decide to leave Forks, Washington. Bella becomes so depressed that she exempts herself from all social activities. But, she realizes she can coexist with childhood friend, Jacob. As usual for Bella, things aren't what they seem. Something is happening to Jacob that he can't explain to Bella, and their friendship starts to deteriorate. But when Alice returns to tell her that Edward thinks she is dead, Bella must go on a journey to save Edward from wanting to die himself.

Readers captivated by Twilight and New Moon will eagerly devour Eclipse, the much anticipated third book in Stephenie Meyer's riveting vampire love saga. As Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob --- knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella has one more decision to make: life or death. But which is which?

When the Cullens, including her beloved Edward, leave Forks rather than risk revealing that they are vampires, it is almost too much for eighteen-year-old Bella to bear, but she finds solace in her friend Jacob until he is drawn into a "cult" and changes in terrible ways.

Here is the runaway bestseller that launched Tom Clancy’s phenomenal career. A military thriller so gripping in its action and so convincing in its accuracy that the author was rumored to have been debriefed by the White House. Its theme: the greatest espionage coup in history. Its story: the chase for a top secret Russian missile sub. Lauded by the Washington Post as “breathlessly exciting,” The Hunt for Red October remains a masterpiece of military fiction by one of the world’s most popular authors, a man whose shockingly realistic scenarios continue to hold us in thrall.

This is the tale of family, memory, love, and living told by 14-year-old Susie Salmon, who is already in heaven. Through the voice of a precocious teenage girl, Susie relates the awful events of her death and builds out of her family's grief a hopeful and joyful story.

A perennial favorite in the Norton Critical Editions series, "Pride and Prejudice" has been judiciously revised and updated by Donald Grey. R.W. Chapman's authoritative text is again reprinted, and has been sensibly annotated for undergraduate readers.

On November 15, 1959, in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, four members of the Clutter family were savagely murdered by blasts from a shotgun held a few inches from their faces. There was no apparent motive for the crime, and there were almost no clues. As Truman Capote reconstructs the murder and the investigation that led to the capture, trial, and execution of the killers, he generates both mesmerizing suspense and astonishing empathy. In Cold Blood is a work that transcends its moment, yielding poignant insights into the nature of American violence.

An electrifying first novel that shocks by its language, its circumstances, and its brutal honesty, Push recounts a young black street-girl's horrendous and redemptive journey through a Harlem inferno. For Precious Jones, 16 and pregnant with her father's child, miraculous hope appears and the world begins to open up for her when a courageous, determined teacher bullies, cajoles, and inspires her to learn to read, to define her own feelings and set them down in a diary.

This beautifully written, heartfelt memoir touched a nerve among both readers and reviewers. Elizabeth Gilbert tells how she made the difficult choice to leave behind all the trappings of modern American success (marriage, house in the country, career) and find, instead, what she truly wanted from life. Setting out for a year to study three different aspects of her nature amid three different cultures, Gilbert explored the art of pleasure in Italy and the art of devotion in India, and then a balance between the two on the Indonesian island of Bali. By turns rapturous and rueful, this wise and funny author (whom Booklist calls "Anne Lamott's hip, yoga- practicing, footloose younger sister") is poised to garner yet more adoring fans.

When Alice follows the White Rabbit down a rabbit hole, she finds herself in an enchanted world, filled with creatures like the Mad Hatter, the disappearing Cheshire Cat, and the Queen of Hearts. Alice quickly finds out that nothing is as it seems in the wild world of Wonderland...

A new technologically superior Soviet nuclear sub, the Red October, is heading for the United States coast under the command of Captain Ramius. The American government thinks Ramius is planning to attack. A lone CIA analyst has a different idea: he thinks Ramius is planning to defect, but he has only a few hours to find him and prove it. At the same time, the entire Russian naval and air commands are trying to find Ramius too.

A hard hitting docu-drama about two ex-cons who ruthlessly murder a Kansas family in 1959 in order to steal their non-existent stash of money.

Mr. Bennet is an English gentleman living in Hartfordshire with his overbearing wife and 5 daughters. There is the beautiful Jane, the clever Elizabeth, the bookish Mary, the immature Kitty and the wild Lydia. Unfortunately, if Mr. Bennet dies their house will be inherited by a distant cousin whom they have never met. The family's future happiness and security is dependent on the daughters making good marriages. Life is uneventful until the arrival in the neighbourhood of the rich gentleman Mr. Bingley, who rents a large house so he can spend the summer in the country. Mr Bingley brings with him his sister and the dashing, rich, but proud Mr. Darcy. Love soon buds for one of the Bennet sisters, while another sister may have jumped to a hasty prejudgment. For the Bennet sisters many trials and tribulations stand between them and their happiness.

In 1987, obese, illiterate, black 16-year-old Claireece 'Precious' Jones lives in Harlem with her dysfunctional family. She has been raped and impregnated twice by her father, Carl. She suffers constant physical, mental and sexual abuse from her unemployed mother, Mary. After getting pregnant for the second time, Precious is suspended from her school. Her principal arranges to have her attend an alternative school where her new teacher, Ms. Rain, helps Precious learn to read and she responds to this glimmer of hope. Precious also meets Mrs. Weiss, a social worker, and discovers the abuse and incest that Precious has had to endure. Her father dies of AIDS and Precious learns that she is now HIV-positive.

Alice, now 19 years old, returns to the whimsical world she first entered as a child and embarks on a journey to discover her true destiny.

The titular "blind side" is a right-handed NFL quarterback's left side. The defensive linemen rushing the quarterback from that side often arrive undetected and thus can inflict great damage on the opponent's key offensive player as he sets himself to pass. The key to minimizing quarterback damage is an effective offensive left tackle. Lewis describes the NFL's ever-growing obsession with left tackles as a means to counter defenders who seem to grow bigger, stronger, and more vicious each season. He juxtaposes that narrative with the unlikely story of Michael Oher, who was living on the streets of Memphis when he was 15 years old. He also happened to be six-feet-five-inches tall, weigh 350 pounds, and possess definite athletic talent. Almost through sheer serendipity, he is adopted by a wealthy family whose members make it their mission to see that he has an opportunity to benefit from his amazing physical gifts.

Julie Powell is 30 years old, living in a rundown apartment in Queens and working at a secretarial job. She needs something to break the monotony of her life, and she invents an assignment. She will cook all 524 recipes in Julia Child's 1961 classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking in the span of one year. At first she thinks it will be easy, but as she moves from simple potato soup into more complicated realms, she realizes there's more to Mastering the Art than meets the eye.

The story of a family in the making and the wondrously neurotic dog who taught them what really matters in life. Is it possible for humans to discover the key to happiness through a bigger-than-life, bad-boy dog? Just ask the Grogans.

An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Creatures once extinct now roam Jurassic Park, soon-to-be opened as a theme park. Until something goes wrong...and science proves a dangerous toy....

For Aron Ralston, a twenty-seven-year-old mountaineer and outdoorsman, a walk into the remote Blue John Canyon was a chance to get a break from a winter of solo climbing Colorado's highest and toughest. Eight miles from his truck, in a deep and narrow slot canyon, Aron was climbing down a wedged boulder when the rock suddenly came loose. Before he could get out of the way, the falling stone pinned his right hand and wrist against the canyon wall. With scant water and little food, no jacket for the painfully cold nights, and the terrible knowledge that he'd told no one where he was headed, he found himself trapped by an 800-pound boulder 100 feet down in the bottom of a canyon. What does one do in the face of almost certain death?

John and Jen are journalists who are a newly married couple. Marley is the adopted puppy that no one wants, a high-strung lab who is virtually untrainable. Marley shreds cushions, destroys floors and walls and most everything in between. Instead of taking him to the pound, they love their dog and he faithfully loves them in return. John and Jen eventually have three children and Jen gives up her career to be a mom. John's career continues to advance as he carves a niche as a local columnist. The family moves from Florida to Pennsylvania. John struggles with his own career direction, but Marley remains the constant. A memoir of Philadelphia Inquirer columnist John Grogan's life with his yellow Labrador retriever.

Julie Powell is a frustrated insurance worker who wants to be a writer. Trying to find a challenge in her life, she decides to cook her way through Julia Child's 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking' in one year, and to blog about it. As Julie begins to find her groove as a cook, and her voice as a writer, the project takes on a life of its own. The project provides the struggling young woman with her life's purpose, to her very pleasant surprise. Julia Child has an amazing love affair with her dashing husband, Paul, all while embracing life and French food. Julie lovingly celebrates the life of one of American food's most influential and beloved figureheads.

A wealthy entrepreneur invites a top paleontologist, a paleobotanist, a mathematician/theorist, and his two eager grandchildren to visit his secret island theme park featuring living dinosaurs created from prehistoric DNA.

Best friends Eduardo Saverin and Mark Zuckerberg had spent many lonely nights looking for a way to stand out among Harvard University's elite, comptetitive, and accomplished student body. Then, in 2003, Zuckerberg hacked into Harvard's computers, crashed the campus network, almost got himself expelled, and was inspired to create Facebook, the social networking site that has since revolutionized communication around the world. With Saverin's funding their tiny start-up went from dorm room to Silicon Valley. But conflicting ideas about Facebook's future transformed the friends into enemies. Soon, the undergraduate exuberance that marked their collaboration turned into out-and-out warfare as it fell prey to the adult world of venture capitalists, big money, and lawyers.

When world-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a mysterious symbol seared into the chest of a murdered physicist, he discovers evidence of the unimaginable: the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati. Langdon's worst fears, that the group has surfaced to carry out the final pahse of its legendary vendetta against the Catholic Church, are confirmed on the eve of the Vatican's holy conclave, when a messenger of the Illuminati announces they have hidden an unstoppable time bomb at the very heart of Vatican City. With the countdown under way, Langdon jets to Rome to join forces with Vittoria Vetra to assist the Vatican in a desperate bid for survival.

Based on detailed research, this book is a novelization of the last days of Leo Tolstoy. The book focuses on the tension between Sofya Andreyevna, Tolstoy's wife, and his latter-day retinue of assorted sychophants, led by Vladimir Chertkov.

The Ninth Legion marched into the mists of Northern Britain--and they were never seen again. Four thousand men disappeared and their eagle standard was lost. It's a mystery that's never been solved, until now . . . Marcus has to find out what happened to his father, who led the legion. So he sets out into the unknown, on a quest so dangerous that nobody expects him to return.

As children Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school secluded in the English countryside. It was a place of mercurial cliques and mysterious rules where teachers were constantly reminding their charges of how special they were. Now, years later, Kathy is a young woman. Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life. And for the first time she is beginning to look back at their shared past and understand just what it is that makes them special-and how that gift will shape the rest of their time together.

Bronte's infamous Gothic novel tells the story of orphan Jane, a child of unfortunate circumstances. Raised and treated badly by her aunt and cousins and eventually sent away to a cruel boarding school, it is not until Jane becomes a governess at Thornfield that she finds happiness. Meek, measured, but determined, Jane soon falls in love with her brooding and stormy master, Mr Rochester, but it is not long before strange and unnerving events occur in the house and Jane is forced to leave Thornfield to pursue her future.

In California's central valley, five women and one man join to discuss Jane Austen's novels. Over the six months they get together, marriages are tested, affairs begin, unsuitable arrangements become suitable, and love happens. With her eye for the frailties of human behaviour and her ear for the absurdities of social intercourse, Karen Joy Fowler has never been wittier nor her characters more appealing. The result is a delicious dissection of modern relationships.

"New York Times" bestselling author Connelly delivers his first legal thriller--an incendiary tale about a cynical defense attorney whose one remaining spark of integrity may cost him his life.

In Biloxi, Mississippi, a woman sues a tobacco company for the death of her husband from lung cancer. The protagonists are a jury fixer, that is a lawyer whose role is to assure a jury favorable to the company, and a rogue juror whom the fixer cannot eliminate or control. This is a landmark tobacco trial with hundreds of millions of dollars at stake which begins routinely, then swerves mysteriously off course. The jury is behaving strangely, and at least one juror is convinced he's being watched. Soon they have to be sequestered. Then a tip from an anonymous young woman suggests she is able to predict the jurors' increasingly odd behavior. Is the jury somehow being manipulated, or even controlled? If so, by whom? And, more important, why?

When the U.S. Marines -- or "jarheads" -- were sent to Saudi Arabia in 1990 for the first Gulf War, Anthony Swofford was there. He lived in sand for six months; he was punished by boredom and fear; he considered suicide, pulled a gun on a fellow marine, and was targeted by both enemy and friendly fire. As engagement with the Iraqis drew near, he was forced to consider what it means to be an American, a soldier, a son of a soldier, and a man.

The love story of Henry and Claire whose lives are punctuated by Henry's disappearance to different points in time--sometimes even back to visit Claire as a young woman. When Henry meets Claire, he is twenty-eight, and she is twenty. He's a hip, handsome librarian; she is an art student with Botticelli hair. Henry has never met Claire before; Claire has known Henry since she was six...

On the eve of publisher Mikael Blomkvist's story about sex trafficking between Eastern Europe and Sweden, two investigating reporters are murdered. And even more shocking for Mikael Blomkvist: the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to Lisbeth Salander--the troubled, wise-beyond-her-years genius hacker who came to his aid years before.

Follows "Swoff," a third-generation Marine enlistee, from a sobering stint in boot camp to active duty, sporting a sniper's rifle and a hundred-pound ruck on his back through the Middle East deserts. There is no cover from intolerable heat or from the Iraqi soldiers, who are always potentially just over the next horizon. Swoff and his fellow Marines sustain themselves with sardonic humanity and wicked comedy on blazing desert fields in a country they don't understand, against an enemy they can't see, for a cause they don't fully understand. Sergeant Sykes, a Marine lifer, heads up the scout/sniper platoon, while Troy, Swoff's friend and mentor, is a die-hard member of STA - the elite Marine Unit.

A group of six friends, in Sacramento, gather to distract themselves from loss - a newly dumped Sylvia, Prudie's repressed disappointment, or Jocelyn, who has a life of unrealized dreams. All are devoted Jane Austen fans, except the lone man, Grigg, who has an ulterior motive for joining the chick-lit gang. There's plenty of pride (Prudie), prejudice (Jocelyn), sense (Sylvia), and sensibility (Sylvia's daughter Allegra). Throw in a fair amount of persuasion. Relationships and alliances unfold over the months.

In a futuristic Los Angeles of 2019, detective Rick Deckard is a highly rated "Blade Runner" assigned to find and kill illegal cybernetic "replicants", genetic creations with superhuman abilities. Pulled unwillingly out of retirement, Deckard is forced into one last case, six exceptionally dangerous replicants who have escaped from slave labor and made their way into the city, apparently with plans to gain vengeance on the corporate masters who created them. In the course of investigation, Deckard falls in love with a beautiful woman who holds a disturbing secret, creating additional doubt and confusion in Deckard's mind. This 2007 "final cut" was remastered with improved visual and sound effects, and made some revisions to the 1992 "director's cut" revision.

Miranda, editor of "Runway" magazine, is a terror to everyone around her. Her first assistant strives to please her, but can't quite pull it off. Enter Andy, a young woman who knows nothing of the fashion industry and has never read the magazine. Nonetheless, Miranda, hires her as second assistant. When Miranda demands that she obtain the next unpublished Harry Potter manuscript, it forces Andy to dig it up in order to please her boss. With the help of one of the magazine's fashion editors, she gets a complete makeover and new security, and as she is whisked away to Paris with Miranda, Andy faces all of the glamor that could be hers and is forced to make the decision of where she wants to be in her life.

Film version of Shakespeare's tragedy in which two teenagers who fall in love, encounter opposition from their families, and take their own lives.
Presents the Franco Zefferelli production of Shakespeare's tragedy about two teenagers who fall in love, encounter opposition from their families, and take their lives.

It's 1963, a time in the United States when life was simple, straightforward and the lines between the sexes and sex roles were crisply drawn and severely delineated. Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist find themselves thrown together when they are hired to tend sheep in the remote area of Brokeback Mountain, Wyoming. Because of the job, the two are forced to spend many hours together alone in the wild. Ennis and Jack are inexorably drawn to each other through their proximity, loneliness and through a shared lack of tenderness and emotion in their lives and are emotionally, physically and psychically bonded to each other almost from the start.

While on vacation, a just-divorced writer buys a villa in Tuscany on a whim, hoping it will be the start of a change for the better in her life. Along the way she finds that sometimes what seems like a mistake is really a blessing.

After a man dies in a shooting incident, his wife files a lawsuit against the company that manufactured the gun. Her lawyer argues that the firm in question knew the shop which sold the weapon was not following federal regulations. As the case goes to trial, the firearm manufacturer takes no chances on the outcome, and they hire Rankin Fitch, a "jury consultant" who makes it his business to see that he knows enough about the jurors to be able to guarantee the result of the trial.

Clare has been in love with Henry her entire life. She believes they are destined to be together, even though she never knows when they will be separated: Henry is a time traveler, cursed with a rare genetic anomaly that causes him to live his life on a shifting timeline, skipping back and forth through his lifespan with no control. Despite the fact that Henry's travels force them apart with no warning, Clare desperately tries to build a life with her one true love.

Having a little sister like four-year-old Ramona isn't always easy for Beezus Quimby. With a wild imagination, disregard for order, and an appetite for chaos, Ramona makes it hard for Beezus to be the responsible older sister she knows she ought to be - especially when Ramona threatens to ruin Beezus's birthday party. Newbery Medal winner Beverly Cleary delivers a humorous tale of the ups and downs of sisterhood. Both the younger and older siblings of the family will enjoy this book.

Max is the hero of this beloved children's classic in which he makes mischief, sails away, tames the wild things and returns home for supper.

Horton is back! After his first appearance in Horton Hatches the Egg, everyone's favorite elephant returns in this timeless, moving, and comical classic in which we discover that "a person's a person, no matter how small." Thanks to the irrepressible rhymes and eye-catching illustrations, young readers will learn kindness and perseverance (as well as the importance of a good "Yopp") from the very determined--and very endearing--Horton the elephant.

As further evidence of his family's bad fortune which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself.

This Hugo Award-winning graphic novel chronicles the fall from grace of a group of super-heroes plagued by all-too-human failings. Along the way, the concept of the super-hero is dissected as the heroes are stalked by an unknown assassin. One of the most influential graphic novels of all time and a perennial bestseller, WATCHMEN has been studied on college campuses across the nation and is considered a gateway title, leading readers to other graphic novels such as V FOR VENDETTA, BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS and THE SANDMAN series.

Young Stanley Yelnats finds himself at Camp Green Lake, where digging a hole a day keeps the warden at bay and "builds character". An ancient family curse still dogs Stanley and he's thrown headlong into the adventure of his life. Stanley and his campmates will have to forge fast friendships to unearth the mystery of what's really going on in the desert.

One day, Horton the elephant hears a cry for help coming from a speck of dust. Even though he can't see anyone on the speck, he decides to help it. Good thing since as it turns out, the speck of dust is home to the Whos, who live in their city of Whoville. Horton agrees to help protect the Whos and their home. Unfortunately for Horton, this gives him nothing but torment from his neighbors. They refuse to believe that anything could survive on the speck. Still, Horton stands by the motto that, "After all, a person is a person, no matter how small."

Charlie and five others draw golden tickets from Wonka chocolate bars and win a guided tour of the legendary candy factory that no outsider has seen in 15 years. Dazzled by one amazing sight after another, Charlie is drawn into Wonka's fantastic world.

This is a collection of all the poems Transtromer has written over the past 40 years. His poems are often explorations of the borderland between sleep and waking, between the conscious and the dreaming states.

Tomas Tranströmer, 2011 recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature, was born in Stockholm in 1931. He has written thirteen books of poems and is the recipient of such honors as the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, the Bonnier Award for Poetry, Germany's Petrarch Prize, the Bellman Prize, and the Swedish Academy's Nordic Prize. His poetry has been translated into over sixty languages.

Tomas Tranströmer, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, is Sweden's most acclaimed poet. Known for sharp imagery, startling metaphors and deceptively simple diction, his luminous poems offer mysterious glimpses into the deepest facets of humanity, often through the lens of the natural world. These new translations by Patty Crane, presented side by side with the original Swedish, are tautly rendered and elegantly cadenced. They are also deeply informed by Crane's personal relationship with the poet and his wife during the years she lived in Sweden, where she was afforded greater insight into the nuances of his poetics and the man himself.

The Sorrow Gondola was the great Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer's first collection of poems after his stroke in 1990. Translated by Michael McGriff, Tranströmer's great work is available in its first single-volume English edition. Tomas Tranströmer was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2011.

Tranströmer’s is a style best described as engaged with the liminal. He probes the connections between the realms of the conscious and subconscious, the visible and the invisible. His poems often begin in the empirical world and leap forth into the mysteries of the unseen. 20 Poems is deftly translated, and represents the period of Tranströmer’s writing that established him as an important and influential poetic figure.

The Swedish poet's works reflect the technological nature of his homeland, including poems in Swedish and English which tell of man's alienation, bleak landscapes, and confrontations which yield connections.

Tomas Tranströmer, Swedish lyrical poet noted for his spare but resonant language, particularly his unusual metaphors—more transformative than substitutive—which have been associated with a literary surrealism. His verse was at once revelatory and mysterious. Tranströmer was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2011. Bly’s first translation of an entire book by Tranströmer was Mörkerseende (1970; “Seeing in the Dark”; Eng. trans. Night Vision), written during a difficult time for the Swedish poet.

Of this volume, the New York Times said: "Tomas Transtromer, who is today one of Sweden's most distinguished poets . . . can compare Lake Malar at dawn with a blue lamp, the islands creeping over the grass like nocturnal butterflies. He can make his imagery credible. His work is very much a poetry centered on specific moments: the short minute that brings sudden relief, the sense of turning the back to everyday life and opening the window for a brief flash just to listen to the birds and the wind. "

Quasicrystals are metallic alloys that exhibit atomic scale order, but not periodic order. Atomic scale properties of these materials are different from single crystalline material, for example, extraordinary mechanical properties, electrical and thermal transport properties, and electronic structure. This book presents topical research in the study of quasicrystals, including vacancies in quasicrystals; the formation of quasicrystals in bulk metallic glasses and their effects on mechanical behaviour; the electrical transport observed in Al-Pd-Mn quasicrystals; logarithmic periodicity in quasicrystals; and, positron annihilation studies of quasicrystals.

Alessandro Duranti explores the way traditional oratory in a Samoan village is shaped by the needs of the political process and shows how language insulates ceremonial speakers from the perils of everyday confrontation. He proposes a "moral flow hypothesis" in discourse, to describe a grammar that distributes praise and blame and in that way defines the standing of individuals in the community. This ethnographic journey from linguistic to political anthropology demonstrates that the analysis of grammar in context needs ethnography just as much as the conduct of politics needs grammatical analysis.

A travel guide for the Samoan Islands and Tonga, this text includes practical information on how to explore the volcanic peaks, discover the waterfalls, beaches and other geographic features of the area.

The body is a central reality of culture and a fundamental site at which culture is expressed in action and in thought. Yet anthropological analyses continue to regard the body as a cultural artifact - something static, objectifiable, and removed from the everyday experiences of living in society. These are the central ideas in Elusive Fragments: Making Power, Propriety & Health in Samoa. In this book, the author argues for another way of thinking about the body and bodies. Based on ongoing field research in Samoa, the author describes everyday processes of village and family life as the primary sites through which the body works as an agent of cultural production. By locating the body as a process of awareness and enactment, he links it with Samoan concerns for dignity, humility, and strength, thereby illuminating central dynamics within Samoan culture.

Vignettes of villagers enliven this exploration into how traditional customs and values influence economic development among Samoan planters. Emphasis on research design and fieldwork combines with an intimate portrayal of a modern Polynesian nation in transition.

Examining a variety of intriguing issues, this sociological study analyzes the impact global culture has had on the flora and fauna, people, economies, languages, and cultures of the Pacific for many centuries. The survey draws on findings from a 40-year research partnership, illustrating the effects of globalization from the perspective of a typical Samoan village and documenting the country's shift from baskets to buckets, from religious authority to a questioning democracy, and from in-kind work to a cash economy. Delving into many interesting questions, this argument contends that contemporary changes are presenting a more profound challenge to Samoan social institutions and society than at any other time in the past. Comprehensive and accessible, this guide is essential for those interested in the way global forces are shaping change in small Pacific nations.

Robert Louis Stevenson is one of the best-loved writers in the English language. Over 30 biographies have been written about him, yet this highly readable account of the last years of his life and his death in Samoa is very different. Treasured Islands is the account of Stevenson's desperate search for health, and his fulfillment of a life-long ambition of crossing broad oceans in tall ships to gain an understanding of what it means to share a cultural world beyond the frontiers of civilized society. It describes life in the late 1880s on these islands, European economic exploitation, cultural stability and change of indigenous populations, and the day-to-day life aboard commercial sailing vessels. An eager student of Polynesian cultures, Stevenson lived in the South Pacific for the remainder of his short life.

Rarely do science and literature come together in the same book. When they do -- as in Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, for example -- they become classics, quoted and studied by scholars and the general public alike. Margaret Mead accomplished this remarkable feat not once but several times, beginning with Coming of Age in Samoa. It details her historic journey to American Samoa, taken where she was just twenty-three, where she did her first fieldwork. Now this groundbreaking, beautifully written work as been reissued for the centennial of her birth, featuring introductions by Mary Pipher and by Mead's daughter, Mary Catherine Bateson.

In 1928 Margaret Mead announced her stunning discovery of a culture in which the storm and stress of adolescence didn't exist. The resulting book, "Coming of Age in Samoa" has since become a classic - and the best-selling anthropology book of all time. Within the nature-nurture controversy that still divides scientists, Mead's evidence has long been a crucial "negative instance", an apparent proof of the sovereignty of culture over biology. In this book, the author presents startling but wholly convincing evidence that Mead's proof is false. On the basis of years of patient fieldwork and historical research, Freeman refutes Mead's characterization of Samoan society and adolescence point for point.

Mr. Holmes' study is the basic stuff of competent ethnography, that combination of science and art in which the details of daily life are systematically observed, analyzed and constructed into a cultural account. He concludes that Margaret Mead was essentially correct in her depiction of coming of age in Samoa in 1925, concerned as she was to compare it with adolescence in the United States at that time. Thanks to Holmes' compelling review of the great debate, we see all these things more clearly because he is acting as more than just an informed guide to the facts and the issues; he is providing an insightful exposition on the nature of anthropological inquiry.

In 1928 Margaret Mead published "Coming of Age in Samoa," a fascinating study of the lives of adolescent girls that transformed Mead herself into an academic celebrity. In 1983 anthropologist Derek Freeman published a scathing critique of Mead's Samoan research, badly damaging her reputation. Resonating beyond academic circles, his case against Mead tapped into important public concerns of the 1980s, including sexual permissiveness, cultural relativism, and the nature/nurture debate. "The Trashing of Margaret Mead" reminds readers of the pitfalls of academia. It urges scholars to avoid personal attacks and to engage in healthy debate. The book redeems Mead while also redeeming the field of anthropology. By showing the uniqueness of the Mead-Freeman case, Shankman places his continued confidence in academia, scholars, and the field of anthropology.

The manufacture of tapa cloth, made from the inner bark of certain trees, is one of the most distinctive products of the cultures of the Pacific islands. In several parts of Melanesia from New Guinea to Vanuatu in Fiji and on most of the high islands of Polynesia from Hawaii to Tahiti, the Marquesas, Tonga, Samoa, Niue, the Cook Islands and New Zealand, the manufacture of barkcloth is an ancient craft which has been practised for thousands of years.

Comprising thousands of islands and hundreds of cultural groups, Polynesia and Micronesia cover a large part of the vast Pacific Ocean, from the dramatic mountains of Hawaii to the small, flat coral islands of Kiribati. The Pacific Arts of Polynesia and Micronesia offers a superb introduction to the rich artistic traditions of these two regions, traditions that have had a considerable impact on modern western art through the influence of artists such as Gauguin. From the textiles of Tonga to the canoes of Tahiti, Adrienne Kaeppler sheds light on religious and sacred rituals and objects, carving, architecture, tattooing, personal ornaments, basket-making, clothing, textiles, fashion, the oral arts, dance, music and musical instruments--even canoe-construction--to provide the ultimate introduction to these rich and vibrant cultures.

A broad survey of the Samoan arts has not been published since the 1930s. This volume presents a contemporary survey of art in Samoa, drawing on the extensive research base that exists and reintroducing this information in a refreshing and accessible text with extensive illustrations.

On the Road of the Winds synthesizes the grand sweep of human history in the Pacific Islands, beginning with the movement of early people out from Asia more than 40,000 years ago, and tracing the development of myriad indigenous cultures up to the time of European contact in the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. This book provides an up-to-date synthesis of archaeological and historical anthropological knowledge of these fascinating indigenous cultures. In particular, Kirch focuses on human ecology and island adaptations, and also draws on his own original field research conducted on many islands, ranging from the Solomons to Hawai'i, as he takes us on an intellectual voyage into the Oceanic past.

Summarizes the literature and research on kava's botany, chemistry, ethnobotany, pharmacology, social usage, distribution and economic potential. The information should provide insights for researchers in many different disciplines, including prehistory, anthropology and pharmacology.

In Nafanua, Paul Alan Cox describes his research & adventures in Samoa, work that led to his being hailed as a hero of medicine. Working closely with native healers, Cox studied traditional rainforest remedies & is credited with finding natural drugs that can be used in treating AIDS & breast cancer, discovering a rare species of flying fox, launching an international campaign to save a 30,000-acre rainforest & helping to rebuild a village destroyed by a hurricane. Cox's respect for the traditional villagers & his excitement & perseverance make Nafanua a compelling story of scientific & personal discovery.

This is the first account of the Lapita peoples, the common ancestor of the Polynesians, Micronesians, and Austronesian-speaking Melanesians who over the last 4000 years colonized the islands of the Pacific, including New Zealand and territories as far afield as Fiji and Hawaii. The author describes Lapita sites, communities and landscapes, the development of their decorated ceramics, and their shell-tool industry. He reveals the means by which they accomplished such prodigious voyages and explains why they undertook them. He illustrates his account with specially drawn maps and with a wide range of photographs, many published for the first time. Drawing on the latest research in archaeology, anthropology, biology and linguistics, and written in clear, non-specialized language, this is an outstanding book of great importance to the history of South-East Asia and the Pacific.

An accessible, concise reference source on Polynesia's complex mythology, product of a culture little known outside its home. It also includes an annotated bibliography of the major introductory commentaries on Polynesian mythology and culture as well as an annotated listing of websites on a broad range of topics related to Polynesian mythology and an extensive glossary focusing on English translations, equivalents, and interpretations of Polynesian words and phrases.

Samoa consists of two major islands. Western Samoa is inhabited by a very proud race of people. Catherine and John try to understand Fa Samoa, the source of intense pride in their culture. They visit Robert Louis Stevenson's house. They witness the Samoan art of tattooing, covering most of body.

After more than sixty years of obscurity, this diary brings to light the mind and heart of the remarkable woman who shared Robert Louis Stevenson's last years on a South Sea Island. Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne, Stevenson's American wife, sailed with him from San Francisco in June, 1888. She was not to see America again until years after her husband's death, for on Samoa they found at last the only climate which meant life and comparative health for Louis. This is the record of a witty and valiant lady struggling with an alien environment, which included everything from volcanoes in the garden to Louis' political championing of a deposed native king - all with a contagious enjoyment. And through these pages rich in personality and event come the overtones of mutual concern and sympathy which made up that unusual marriage so few have understood until now.

From the South Seas: Studies of Adolescence and Sex in Primitive Societies is a compendium of three related works by anthropologist Margaret Mead: Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilization (1928), Growing Up in New Guinea: A Comparative Study of Primitive Education (1930), and Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies (1935). Also included is a new general introduction by the author in which Mead suggests that the three books followed one another naturally, as did the studies that they relate.

In this insightful and revealing book, Nancy Lutkehaus explains how and why Mead became the best-known anthropologist and female public intellectual in twentieth-century America. Using photographs, films, television appearances, and materials from newspapers, magazines, and scholarly journals, Lutkehaus explores the ways in which Mead became an American cultural heroine. The author shows that Mead came to represent a new set of values and ideas--about women, non-Western peoples, culture, and America's role in the twentieth century--that have significantly transformed society and become generally accepted today. Margaret Mead is an engaging look at how one woman's life and accomplishments resonated with the issues that shaped American society and changed her into a celebrity and cultural icon.