Best of
Novels

2004

Hannah Coulter


Wendell Berry - 2004
    Hannah, the now-elderly narrator, recounts the love she has for the land and for her community. She remembers each of her two husbands, and all places and community connections threatened by twentieth-century technologies.

This Lullaby/The Truth About Forever


Sarah Dessen - 2004
    Her boyfriend is going away. Shes stuck with a dull-asdishwater job at the library. And shell spend all of her free time studying for the SATs or grieving silently with her mother over her fathers recent unexpected death. But everything changes when Macy is corralled into helping out at one of her mothers open house events, and she meets the chaotic Wish Catering crew. Before long, Macy joins the Wish team. She loves everything about the work and the people. But the best thing about Wish is Wes artistic, insightful, and understanding Wes who gets Macy to look at life in a whole new way, and really start living it. THIS LULLABY: When it comes to relationships, Remy doesnt mess around. After all, shes learned all there is to know from her mother, whos currently working on husband number five. But theres something about Dexter that seems to defy all of Remys rules. He certainly doesnt seem like Mr. Right. For some reason, however, Remy just cant seem to shake him. Could it be that Remys starting to understand what those love songs are all about? From acclaimed author Sarah Dessen, this is a captivating novel about a tough-as-nails girl and the unexpectedly charming boy whos determined to soften her up. (from paperbackswap.com)

The Dead Don't Dance


Charles Martin - 2004
    The end of summer and a baby about to be born. But in the midst of hope and celebration comes unexpected tragedy, and Dylan Styles must come to terms with how much he's lost. Will the music of his heart be stilled forever—or will he choose to dance with life once more, in spite of sorrow and heartbreak?The Dead Don't Dance is a bittersweet yet triumphant love story—a tale of one man's spiritual journey through the darkness of despair and into the light of hope.

Vampire Rites Trilogy


Darren Shan - 2004
    In 'Trials of Death', Darren has to pass five deadly trials to prove himself to the vampire clan. And in 'The Vampire Prince', can Darren outwit a cunning foe?

Philippa Gregory Box Set - Constant Princess, The Other Boleyn Girl, Boleyn Inheritance


Philippa Gregory - 2004
    

Tainted Lives


Mandasue Heller - 2004
    Trying to live with the rejection is bad enough, but no one could have prepared her for the pain that was yet to come. Harry Shaw is the boy that everyone bullies, the kid whose own mother locked him in a cupboard so she wouldn't have to look at his face, and then left him there. When he meets Sarah for the first time, a friendship is instantly forged. And out of a desire to be loved an alliance is born. Then into their lives comes Vinnie Walker, a good-looking and calculating thirteen-year-old who will change both their lives forever.

Messiah's Handbook: Reminders for the Advanced Soul


Richard Bach - 2004
    Part of Shimoda's secret was a small book, bound in what looked like suede: Messiah's Handbook, Reminders for the Advanced Soul. "Open it," he said, "and whatever you need to know is there. "Lost for decades and rediscovered, here it is in print at last--reminders for those who have outgrown cynicism and doubt.

Birds Without Wings


Louis de Bernières - 2004
    The setting is a small village in southwestern Anatolia in the waning years of the Ottoman Empire. Everyone there speaks Turkish, though they write it in Greek letters. It’s a place that has room for a professional blasphemer; where a brokenhearted aga finds solace in the arms of a Circassian courtesan who isn’t Circassian at all; where a beautiful Christian girl named Philothei is engaged to a Muslim boy named Ibrahim. But all of this will change when Turkey enters the modern world. Epic in sweep, intoxicating in its sensual detail, Birds Without Wings is an enchantment.

Wizard of the Crow


Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o - 2004
    His aim in Wizard of the Crow is, in his own words,nothing less than “to sum up Africa of the twentieth century in the context of two thousand years of world history.”Commencing in “our times” and set in the “Free Republic of Aburĩria,” the novel dramatizes with corrosive humor and keenness of observation a battle for control of the souls of the Aburĩrian people. Among the contenders: His High Mighty Excellency; the eponymous Wizard, an avatar of folklore and wisdom; the corrupt Christian Ministry; and the nefarious Global Bank. Fashioning the stories of the powerful and the ordinary into a dazzling mosaic, Wizard of the Crow reveals humanity in all its endlessly surprising complexity.Informed by richly enigmatic traditional African storytelling, Wizard of the Crow is a masterpiece, the crowning achievement in Ngugl wa Thiong’o’s career thus far.

Torture the Artist


Joey Goebel - 2004
    He is painfully unaware that these torments are due to the secret manipulations of New Renaissance, an experimental organization that is testing the age-old idea that art results from suffering. Since culture is so significantly influenced by music, movies, and television, New Renaissance hopes to improve the mindless mainstream by raising writers who emphasize artistic quality over commerce. As part of its top-secret sub-project, New Renaissance hires reluctant ex-musician Harlan Eiffler to manipulate its most promising prodigy, Vincent. Wickedly antisocial and deeply disgusted by what passes for entertainment in the twenty-first century, Harlan clandestinely pulls the strings so that Vincent remains a true artist. All the while, he poses as Vincent's manager, simultaneously nurturing his prolific career and torturing his soul.

Hunting and Gathering


Anna Gavalda - 2004
    She barely eats, works at night as a cleaner and lives in a tiny attic room. Downstairs in a beautiful, ornate apartment, lives Philibert Marquet de la Durbellière, a shy, erudite, upper-class man with an unlikely flatmate in the shape of the foul-mouthed but talented chef, Franck. One freezing evening Philibert overcomes his excruciating reticence to rescue Camille, unconscious, from her garret and bring her into his home.As she recovers Camille learns more about Philibert; about Franck and his guilt for his beloved but fragile grandmother Paulette, who is all he has left in the world; and about herself. And slowly, this curious quartet of misfits all discover the importance of food, friendship and love.

My Sister's Keeper


Jodi Picoult - 2004
    Now she tells the emotionally riveting story of a family torn apart by conflicting needs and a passionate love that triumphs over human weakness. Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age 13 she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate—a life and a role that she has never challenged ... until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister—and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable, a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves. My Sister's Keeper examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, a good person. Is it morally correct to do whatever it takes to save a child's life, even if that means infringing upon the rights of another? Is it worth trying to discover who you really are if that quest makes you like yourself less? Should you follow your own heart or let others lead you? Once again, in My Sister's Keeper, Jodi Picoult tackles a controversial real-life subject with grace, wisdom, and sensitivity.

The Book of Everything


Guus Kuijer - 2004
    Tropical fish swimming in the canals. The magic of Mrs. Van Amersfoort, the Beethoven-loving witch next door. The fierce beauty of Eliza with her artificial leg. And the Lord Jesus, who tells him, "Just call me Jesus." Thomas records these visions in his "Book of Everything." They comfort him when his father beats him, when the angels weep for his mother's black eyes. And they give him the strength to finally confront his father and become what he wants to be when he grows up: "Happy."

The Swarm


Frank Schätzing - 2004
    Toxic, eyeless crabs poison Long Island's water supply. The North Sea shelf collapses, killing thousands in Europe. Around the world, countries are beginning to feel the effects of the ocean's revenge as the seas and their inhabi-tants begin a violent revolution against mankind. In this riveting novel, full of twists, turns, and cliffhangers, a team of scientists discovers a strange, intelligent life force called the Yrr that takes form in marine animals, using them to wreak havoc on humanity for our ecological abuses. Soon a struggle between good and evil is in full swing, with both human and suboceanic forces battling for control of the waters. At stake is the survival of the Earth's fragile ecology -- and ultimately, the survival of the human race itself.The apocalyptic catastrophes of The Day After Tomorrow meet the watery menace of The Abyss in this gripping, scientifically realistic, and utterly imaginative thriller. With 1.5 million copies sold in Germany -- where it has been on the bestseller list without fail since its debut -- and the author's skillfully executed blend of compelling story, vivid characters, and eerie locales, Frank Schatzing's The Swarm will keep you in tense anticipation until the last suspenseful page is turned.(front flap)

Overkill


James Barrington - 2004
    They team up with al-Qaeda in order to neutralise America and take political and economic control of western Europe.Only one man can stop them – a British intelligence agent: Paul Richter.Richter discovers that Europe has been seeded with neutron bombs, with more lethal nuclear devices planted in strategic cities throughout the US… Now the American government is about to be handed an ultimatum – abandon Europe to Russian forces or see millions of its citizens destroyed. What the renegade Russians don't realise is their own allies have an even deadlier agenda.Richter is the only man that can stop them. But time is running out. From thundering plane chases above Siberia, to a thrilling showdown in Gibraltar, this gripping espionage thriller is perfect for fans of Robert Ludlum, Tom Cain and Andy McNab Watch out for more Agent Paul Richter thrillers Manhunt Overkill Pandemic Foxbat Timebomb Payback

Refiners Fire Pack, #1-3


Lynn Austin - 2004
    Each book in this powerful Civil War trilogy from award-winning novelist Lynn Austin's powerful Civil War trilogy offers a unique and shattering perspective on the conflict while exploring the deep affect the war had on the faith of a nation.

Man Tiger


Eka Kurniawan - 2004
    The inequities and betrayals of family life coalesce around and torment this magical being. An explosive act of violence follows, and its mysterious cause is unraveled as events progress toward a heartbreaking revelation.Lyrical and bawdy, experimental and political, this extraordinary novel announces the arrival of a powerful new voice on the global literary stage.

Ordinary Wolves


Seth Kantner - 2004
    Kantner’s vivid and poetic prose lets readers experience Cutuk Hawcly’s life on the Alaskan plains through the character’s own words — feeling the pliers pinch of cold and hunkering in an igloo in blinding blizzards. Always in Cutuk’s mind are his father Abe, the legendary hunter Enuk Wolfglove, and the wolves — all living out lives on the unforgiving tundra. Jeered and pummeled by native children because he is white, Cutuk becomes a marginal participant in village life, caught between cultures. After an accident for which he is responsible, he faces a decision that could radically change his life. Like his young hero, Seth Kantner grew up in a sod igloo in the Alaska, and his experiences of wearing mukluks before they were fashionable, eating boiled caribou pelvis, and communing with the native tribes add depth and power to this acclaimed narrative.

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'hoole


Kathryn Lasky - 2004
    The Capture, Book One. Soren is born in the forest of Tyto, a tranquil kingdom where the Barn Owls dwell. But evil lurks in the owl world, and Soren is captured and imprisoned in a dark canyon where there is a mysterious school. It's called an orphanage, but Soren believes it's something far worse. He and his new friend, the clever and scrappy Gylfie, know that the only way out is up. To escape, they will need to do something these fledglings have never done before--fly. And so begins a magical journey. Along the way, Soren and Gylfie meet Twilight and Digger. The four owls band together to seek the truth, be reunited with their families, and protect the owl world from a great danger. The Journey, Book Two. It began as a dream, a quest for the Great Ga'Hoole Tree, a mythic place where an order of owls rises each night to perform noble deeds. There, Soren, Gylfie, Twilight, and Digger hope to find inspiration to fight the evil that dwells in the owl kingdom. The journey is long and harrowing. When Soren and his friends finally arrive at the Great Ga'Hoole Tree, they face challenges they never imagined. If they can learn from their leaders and from one another, they will become true Ga'Hoolian owls: honest and brave, wise and true. The Rescue, Book Three. Ever since Soren was kidnapped, he has longed to see his sister, Eglantine. Now, Eglantine is back is Soren's life, but she's been through an ordeal too terrible for words. At the same time, Soren's mentor, Ezylryb, has mysteriously disappeared and may be in danger. Something deep within Soren tells him there is a connection between these mysterious events. To rescue Ezylryb, Soren must face a force more dangerous than anything that even the evil rulers of the owl orphanage could have devised.

டாலர் தேசம் [Dollar Dhesam]


Pa Raghavan - 2004
    Dollar dhesam is a novel that completely covers the political history of America in view with all of its presidents answering pertinent questions such as why dollar is valued in premium? WHen, how did america become superpower? etc., Written in Tamil is a pleasant read indeed.

Wolf Totem


Jiang Rong - 2004
    There has been much international excitement too-to date, rights have been sold in thirteen countries. Wolf Totem is set in 1960s China-the time of the Great Leap Forward, on the eve of the Cultural Revolution. Searching for spirituality, Beijing intellectual Chen Zhen travels to the pristine grasslands of Inner Mongolia to live among the nomadic Mongols-a proud, brave, and ancient race of people who coexist in perfect harmony with their unspeakably beautiful but cruel natural surroundings. Their philosophy of maintaining a balance with nature is the ground stone of their religion, a kind of cult of the wolf. The fierce wolves that haunt the steppes of the unforgiving grassland searching for food are locked with the nomads in a profoundly spiritual battle for survival-a life-and-death dance that has gone on between them for thousands of years. The Mongols believe that the wolf is a great and worthy foe that they are divinely instructed to contend with, but also to worship and to learn from. Chen's own encounters with the otherworldly wolves awake a latent primitive instinct in him, and his fascination with them blossoms into obsession, then reverence. After many years, the peace is shattered with the arrival of Chen's kinfolk, Han Chinese, sent from the cities to bring modernity to the grasslands. They immediately launch a campaign to exterminate the wolves, sending the balance that has been maintained with religious dedication for thousands of years into a spiral leading to extinction-first the wolves, then the Mongol culture, finally the land. As a result of the eradication of the wolves, rats become a plague and wild sheep graze until the meadows turn to dust. Mongolian dust storms glide over Beijing, sometimes blocking out the moon. Part period epic, part fable for modern days, Wolf Totem is a stinging social commentary on the dangers of China's overaccelerated economic growth as well as a fascinating immersion into the heart of Chinese culture.

Broken Paradise


Cecilia Samartin - 2004
    Food becomes scarce, religion is forbidden, and disease is rampant. Alicia stays behind while Nora emigrates to the United States and struggles in an unfamiliar land. Both of their identities are challenged as they try to adapt to the changes forced upon them.The situation in Cuba deteriorates and Alicia is beset by bad fortune, while Nora painfully assimilates into middle-class U.S. culture. Her heart, however, remains in Cuba. Letters between the cousins track their lives until Alicia's situation becomes so difficult that Nora is forced to return and help. But what she finds in Cuba is like nothing she has ever imagined."Broken Paradise" is an extraordinarily powerful novel about passion, love, and the heart's yearning for home.

Jimmy


Robert Whitlow - 2004
    Jimmy's world is a place where a boy can grow to be a man, even if he's "special." Where angels hover, mostly unseen. Where danger can happen, and hearts can falter--but love is never wasted. From best-selling author Robert Whitlow...a poignant tale of innocence and courage in the tradition of Huckleberry Finn and To Kill A Mockingbird.

Hell-Heaven


Jhumpa Lahiri - 2004
    Soon he was one of the family. From the winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, a staggeringly beautiful and precise story about a Bengali family in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the impossibilities of love, and the unanticipated pleasures and complications of life in America.  “Hell-Heaven” is Jhumpa Lahiri’s ode to the intimate secrets of closest kin, from the acclaimed collection Unaccustomed Earth.  An eBook short.

The Seas


Samantha Hunt - 2004
    An occasional chambermaid, granddaughter to a typesetter, and daughter to a dead man, awkward and brave, wayward and willful, she is in love (unrequited) with an Iraq War veteran thirteen years her senior. She is convinced that she is a mermaid. What she does to ease the pain of growing up lands her in prison. What she does to get out is the stuff of legend. In the words of writer Michelle Tea, The Seas is "creepy and poetic, subversive and strangely funny, [and] a phenomenal piece of literature."

Truth Be Told


Victoria Christopher Murray - 2004
    She had won her seat on a Christian platform, which was important to her. But soon Grace's whole world is turned upside-down when she discovers that her husband has a child by another woman--a revelation that could ruin her career and her marriage. It could also reveal some of her own skeletons. At the same time, Grace is also in the middle of a major conflict with her older sister, Starlight, who has become more of a false prophet than an speaker, and Grace wants nothing to do with her. As Grace deals with drama from everyone she holds dear, she'll have to rely on Gods love for them and the bond they all share.

Whose Names Are Unknown


Sanora Babb - 2004
    In the belief that Steinbeck already adequately explored the subject matter, Babb's lyrical novel about a farm family's relentless struggle to survive in both Depression-era Oklahoma and in the California migrant labor camps gathered dust for decades. Rescued from obscurity by the University of Oklahoma Press, the members of the poor but proud Dunne family and their circle of equally determined friends provide another legitimate glimpse into life on the dust-plagued prairies of the Southwest and in the fertile, but bitterly disappointing, orchards and vineyards of the so-called promised land. Babb, a native of Oklahoma's arid panhandle and a volunteer with the Farm Security Administration in Depression-era California, brings an insider's knowledge and immediacy to this authentically compelling narrative. A slightly less political, more female-oriented, companion piece to The Grapes of Wrath.

Poirot: The Perfect Murders


Agatha Christie - 2004
    It seems Hercule Poirot can never escape murder -- and in this collection, the crimes are probably the finest he has ever had to solve. Locked rooms, wealth and jealousy -- outwardly all very similar, but when the detective begins to dig, the motives and solutions couldn't be more different. . . The Murder of Roger Ackroyd In the quiet village of King's Abbot, a wealthy widower is found stabbbed to death in his study. . . Murder on the Orient Express A wealthy American dies of multiple stab wounds on a train bound for Paris. . . Murder in the Mews A widow is murdered in her apartment. . . Hercule Poirot's Christmas A sadistic old man is brutally murdered in his locked study. . .

Cloud Atlas


David Mitchell - 2004
    Dick. The result is brilliantly original fiction as profund as it is playful. Now in his new novel, David Mitchell explores with daring artistry fundamental questions of reality and identity.Cloud Atlas begins in 1850 with Adam Ewing, an American notary voyaging from the Chatham Isles to his home in California. Along the way, Ewing is befriended by a physician, Dr. Goose, who begins to treat him for a rare species of brain parasite. . . .Abruptly, the action jumps to Belgium in 1931, where Robert Frobisher, a disinherited bisexual composer, contrives his way into the household of an infirm maestro who has a beguiling wife and a nubile daughter. . . . From there we jump to the West Coast in the 1970s and a troubled reporter named Luisa Rey, who stumbles upon a web of corporate greed and murder that threatens to claim her life. . . . And onward, with dazzling virtuosity, to an inglorious present-day England; to a Korean superstate of the near future where neocapitalism has run amok; and, finally, to a postapocalyptic Iron Age Hawaii in the last days of history.But the story doesn’t end even there. The narrative then boomerangs back through centuries and space, returning by the same route, in reverse, to its starting point. Along the way, Mitchell reveals how his disparate characters connect, how their fates intertwine, and how their souls drift across time like clouds across the sky.As wild as a videogame, as mysterious as a Zen koan, Cloud Atlas is an unforgettable tour de force that, like its incomparable author, has transcended its cult classic status to become a worldwide phenomenon.

The River and the Source


Margaret A. Ogola - 2004
    Now reprinted, it remains in great demand. An epic story spanning cultures, it tells the lives of three generations of women. It traces the story of Akoko in her rich traditional Luo setting, through to the children who live and die in the 20th century.

The Dark Side of Love


Rafik Schami - 2004
    He was a Muslim officer and he was murdered. But when Detective Barudi sets out to interrogate the man s mysterious widow, the Secret Service takes the case away from him. Barudi continues to investigate clandestinely and discovers the murderer s motive: it is a blood feud between the Mushtak and Shahin clans, reaching back to the beginnings of the 20th century. And, linked to it, a love story that can have no happy ending, for reconciliation has no place within the old tribal structures.Rafik Schami s dazzling novel spans a century of Syrian history in which politics and religions continue to torment an entire people. Simultaneously, his poetic stories from three generations tell of the courage of lovers who risk death sooner than deny their passions. He has also written a heartfelt tribute to his hometown Damascus and a great and moving hymn to the power of love

Blindness / Seeing


José Saramago - 2004
    She becomes a guide for a group of seven strangers and serves as the eyes and ears for the reader in this profound parable of loss and disorientation. We return to the city years later in Saramago’s Seeing, a satirical commentary on government in general and democracy in particular. Together here for the first time, this beautiful edition will be a welcome addition to the library of any Saramago fan.

The Madman's Tale


John Katzenbach - 2004
    Francis Petrel was barely out of his teens when his family committed him to the asylum, after his erratic behavior culminated in a terrifying outburst. Now middle-aged, he leads an aimless, solitary life housed in a cheap apartment, periodically tended to by his sisters, and perpetually medicated to quiet the chorus of voices in his head. But a reunion on the grounds of the shuttered institution stirs something deep in Francis’s troubled mind: dark memories he thought he had laid to rest, about the grisly events that led to Western State Hospital’s demise. It begins in 1979, when twenty-one-year-old Petrel descends into the state-run purgatory of an overcrowded, understaffed Massachusetts mental hospital. Surrounded by inmates roaming the halls like drugged zombies and raving behind locked doors, well-meaning orderlies, jaded nurses, and patronizing doctors, Francis finds friendship with a motley assortment of fellow patients: a would-be Napoleon, a wise ex-firefighter, and a man obsessed with battling imagined devils. But there’s nothing imaginary about the young nurse found sexually assaulted and brutally murdered late one night after lights-out.The police suspect an inmate, while patients whisper about visions of a white-shrouded “angel.” But the striking and mysterious prosecuting attorney who arrives to investigate has her own chilling theory—about the grim, telltale “signature” left on the victim’s body, a string of unsolved sex killings, and a very real devil who, by chance or design, has come to turn a madhouse into a slaughterhouse.Now, with the past creeping back to haunt his thoughts, and nothing but a pencil and the bare walls of his bleak apartment, Francis surrenders to the overwhelming need to tell the story of those nightmarish days. But because the crime was never solved, it’s a story doomed to remain unfinished. Until, like Francis’s long-buried recollections, the killer resurfaces . . . with a vengeance.A tour de force narrative journey through the eerily unpredictable mind of an utterly unusual hero, The Madman’s Tale will keep even the most astute thriller reader uncertain, unnerved, and unable to resist the tantalizing twists and turns of this fiendishly suspenseful shadow show.From the Hardcover edition.

Small Island


Andrea Levy - 2004
    Her husband, Gilbert Joseph, returns from the war expecting to be received as a hero, but finds his status as a black man in Britain to be second class. His white landlady, Queenie, raised as a farmer's daughter, befriends Gilbert, and later Hortense, with innocence and courage, until the unexpected arrival of her husband, Bernard, who returns from combat with issues of his own to resolve. Told in these four voices, Small Island is a courageous novel of tender emotion and sparkling wit, of crossings taken and passages lost, of shattering compassion and of reckless optimism in the face of insurmountable barriers---in short, an encapsulation of the immigrant's life.

Resident Evil: Genesis


Keith R.A. DeCandido - 2004
    With computerized defenses and heavily armed human backup, the Hive is impregnable and invulnerable. Or so Umbrella believes.But something has gone fatally wrong. The Hive has lost containment of its most lethal and horrific creation: a virus that kills and reanimates human life, reducing the entire facility staff of five hundred men and women to mindless creatures with a single driving force -- hunger. And the key to stopping them rests with one young woman who cannot even remember who she is.

The Virtues of War


Steven Pressfield - 2004
    I have known no other life. So begins Alexander’s extraordinary confession on the eve of his greatest crisis of leadership. By turns heroic and calculating, compassionate and utterly merciless, Alexander recounts with a warrior’s unflinching eye for detail the blood, the terror, and the tactics of his greatest battlefield victories. Whether surviving his father’s brutal assassination, presiding over a massacre, or weeping at the death of a beloved comrade-in-arms, Alexander never denies the hard realities of the code by which he lives: the virtues of war. But as much as he was feared by his enemies, he was loved and revered by his friends, his generals, and the men who followed him into battle. Often outnumbered, never outfought, Alexander conquered every enemy the world stood against him–but the one he never saw coming. . . .

Cloud Busting: Puffin Poetry


Malorie Blackman - 2004
    He thinks Davey is a Grade A moron. But when the two are thrown together Sam discovers that Davey's eccentric way of looking at the world makes life a lot more fun. Until the day something terrible happens...A funny and sad story, told completely in verse.

The Hungry Tide


Amitav Ghosh - 2004
    Piya Roy, a young American marine biologist of Indian descent, arrives in this lush, treacherous landscape in search of a rare species of river dolphin and enlists the aid of a local fisherman and a translator. Together the three of them launch into the elaborate backwaters, drawn unawares into the powerful political undercurrents of this isolated corner of the world that exact a personal toll as fierce as the tides.

Brother Fish


Bryce Courtenay - 2004
    All they have in common is a tough beginning in life.Jack McKenzie is a harmonica player, soldier, dreamer and small-time professional fisherman from a tiny island in Bass Strait. Nicole Lenoir-Jourdan is a strong-willed woman hiding from an ambiguous past in Shanghai. Larger than life, Private Jimmy Oldcorn was once a street kid and leader of a New York gang. Together they reap a vast and not always legitimate fortune from the sea.Brother Fish is an inspiring human drama of three lives brought together and changed forever by the extraordinary events of recent history. But most of all it is about the power of friendship and love.In my experience, friendship is the companion that walks beside love and is often the more enduring of the two. In this book I write about friendship of the deep and abiding kind, unshakeable and unconditional. Three people, seemingly worlds apart, demonstrate the capacity all humans have to reach out and touch each other. I do hope you enjoy Brother Fish.Bryce Courtenay

Stigmata


Colin Falconer - 2004
    Riveting!" - Historical Novel Review 1206: When Fabricia Berenger is struck by lightning in the main square of Toulouse, her troubles are only just beginning. Soon she develops mysterious wounds on her hands and feet - and the other villagers say she can perform miracles. To keep her safe, her family flee into the mountains of the Languedoc and hide her in a Convent. But still the crowds follow her there in search of healing. Even Philip of Vercy comes from far away in France. He has lost his beloved wife, now his four-year-old son is dying. He sets off to find Fabricia and bring her back to help his boy. But he reaches Toulouse just as the Pope orders a crusade against the Cathars in the south. Soon Philip is not the only one looking for Fabricia; the Inquisition are searching for her as well. As the Languedoc convulses into flame and revolt, Philip is drawn into a vortex of passion, vengeance and mystery. One more step, and he knows he can never, ever, go back. “The story moves along at a cracking pace, the narrative fraught with action and tension at every turn. Stigmata is a powerful tale of religious heresy, crusades, loss and love.” - Historical Novel Society

Vintage Munro


Alice Munro - 2004
    “In Munro’s hands, as in Chekhov’s, a short story is more than big enough to hold the world—and to astonish us again and again.” —Chicago TribuneIn an unbroken procession of brilliant, revelatory short stories, Alice Munro has unfolded the wordless secrets that lie at the heart of all human experience. She has won three Governor General’s Literary Awards in her native Canada, as well as the National Book Critics Circle Award. Vintage Munro includes stories from throughout her career: The title stories from her collections The Moons of Jupiter; The Progress of Love; Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage; “Differently,” from Selected Stories, and “Carried Away,” from Open Secrets.

Murambi, The Book of Bones


Boubacar Boris Diop - 2004
    sank in such appalling violence." --Radio France InternationalIn April of 1994, nearly a million Rwandans were killed in what would prove to be one of the swiftest, most terrifying killing sprees of the 20th century. In Murambi, The Book of Bones, Boubacar Boris Diop comes face to face with the chilling horror and overwhelming sadness of the tragedy. Now, the power of Diop's acclaimed novel is available to English-speaking readers through Fiona Mc Laughlin's crisp translation. The novel recounts the story of a Rwandan history teacher, Cornelius Uvimana, who was living and working in Djibouti at the time of the massacre. He returns to Rwanda to try to comprehend the death of his family and to write a play about the events that took place there. As the novel unfolds, Cornelius begins to understand that it is only our humanity that will save us, and that as a writer, he must bear witness to the atrocities of the genocide.From the novel:"If only by the way people are walking, you can see that tension is mounting by the minute. I can feel it almost physically. Everyone is running or at least hurrying about. I meet more and more passersby who seem to be walking around in circles. There seems to be another light in their eyes. I think of the fathers who have to face the anguished eyes of their children and who can't tell them anything. For them, the country has become an immense trap in the space of just a few hours. Death is on the prowl. They can't even dream of defending themselves. Everything has been meticulously prepared for a long time: the administration, the army, and the [militia] are going to combine forces to kill, if possible, every last one of them."

The Apple Tree


Elvi Rhodes - 2004
    The villagers are friendly and she is made aware of the mystery surrounding the previous ownder of her house, Ben Thornton. As Frances brings both the ancient house and its magnificent apple tree back to life, she finds out more about the house and its previous occupants - and at the same time begins to rebuild her own life.

Telephone


Percival Everett - 2004
    Expert in a very narrow area—the geological history of a cave forty-four meters above the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon—he is a laconic man who plays chess with his daughter, trades puns with his wife while she does yoga, and dodges committee work at the college where he teaches.After a field trip to the desert yields nothing more than a colleague with a tenure problem and a student with an unwelcome crush on him, Wells returns home to find his world crumbling. His daughter has lost her edge at chess, she has developed mysterious eye problems, and her memory has lost its grasp. Powerless in the face of his daughter’s slow deterioration, he finds a mysterious note asking for help tucked into the pocket of a jacket he’s ordered off eBay. Desperate for someone to save, he sets off to New Mexico in secret on a quixotic rescue mission.A deeply affecting story about the lengths to which loss and grief will drive us, Telephone is a Percival Everett novel we should have seen coming all along, one that will shake you to the core as it asks questions about the power of narrative to save.

Flight to Eden


Douglas Hirt - 2004
    Satan has caused the fall of man and now wants complete control of earth. His chief problem is the annoying line of humans descended from Seth. They insist on honoring the Creator.His other problem is the prophecy spoken in the Garden of Eden. There's a Redeemer coming who has the power to "crush his head" and ultimately defeat him. Satan is determined to stop this from happening. Knowing the Redeemer must be born of a human to be truly both human and God,Satan initiates a grand scheme to pollute the human bloodline and prevent the prophesy from coming to pass! Based on Genesis 6, this story will inspire readers as it transports them to an ancient time in the development of Christ's lineage!Download the Readers' Guide.

Cane Mutiny: How the Miami Hurricanes Overturned the Football Establishment


Bruce Feldman - 2004
    Feldman has penned the inside story of the Miami Hurricanes--the college football dynasty they call the Miami Vice.

Maeve Binchy Value Collection: The Copper Beach, Circle of Friends, The Glass Lake


Maeve Binchy - 2004
    And at the heart of every Maeve Binchy novel, the lives and loves of vividly drawn characters are deftly woven into unforgettable, beautifully realized tales. Now, in this charming audio set, three of Maeve Binchy's classic coming-of-age tales are collected together. These wonderful audio presentations represent the very best work of one of the world's most celebrated authors. And listening to her comforting stories feels just like coming home.The Copper BeechCarved on the trunk of the mighty copper beech tree that embraces the schoolyard in Sharcarrig are declarations of love, hope, and identity--the youthful dreams of the children who studied there. Now grown, yet shaped by their years in the schoolhouse, they lead different lives. The Copper Beech tells the story of these eight dreamers.Circle of FriendsCircle of Friends begins with the pair of Benny Hogan and Eve Malone from the village of Knockglen until they leave for university in Dublin and are joined by Nan Mahon and Jack Foley. Long-hidden lies emerge to test the meaning of love and the strength of ties held within the fragile gold bands of a circle of friends.The Glass LakeIn The Glass Lake, Maeve Binchy explores the unspoken language between mothers and daughters in an extraordinary story of a mother's secret, a daughter's courage, and the hidden bond between them that neither deceit nor death can destroy.

Old Filth


Jane Gardam - 2004
    Yet through it all he has carried with him the wounds of a difficult and emotionally hollow childhood. Now an eighty-year-old widower living in comfortable seclusion in Dorset, Feathers is finally free from the regimen of work and the sentimental scaffolding that has sustained him throughout his life. He slips back into the past with ever mounting frequency and intensity, and on the tide of these vivid, lyrical musings, Feathers approaches a reckoning with his own history. Not all the old filth, it seems, can be cleaned away.Borrowing from biography and history, Jane Gardam has written a literary masterpiece reminiscent of Rudyard Kipling's Baa Baa, Black Sheep that retraces much of the twentieth century's torrid and momentous history. Feathers' childhood in Malaya during the British Empire's heyday, his schooling in pre-war England, his professional success in Southeast Asia and his return to England toward the end of the millennium, are vantage points from which the reader can observe the march forward of an eventful era and the steady progress of that man, Sir Edward Feathers, Old Filth himself, who embodies the century's fate. Old Filth was nominated for the 2005 Orange Prize.

Camilla's Roses


Bernice L. McFadden - 2004
    McFadden now turns her storytelling talents to an unforgettable and deeply troubled woman named Camilla. Unfolding in a progression of stirring and powerful chapters, Camilla’s Roses presents a life haunted by the past. Camilla’s childhood was immersed in chaos and love, and steeped in the myth of perfection. As an adult, she never looked back, refusing to acknowledge the people and places that had scarred her so many years ago. But a legacy of cancer proves inescapable, forcing Camilla to embrace the past—no matter how painful it may be—and to salvage what is left of her love in order to save her daughter. As Camilla discovers the bittersweet limitations of motherhood and reconciliation, she also awakens an inspiring message about the mortality issues we all must face. The author of four bestselling novels, Bernice L. McFadden receives consistent accolades from reviewers coast to coast, and has captured the hearts of thousands of readers. With Camilla’s Roses, she is poised to win over her widest audience yet.

The Avalon Collection: Web of Magic, Books 4-6


Rachel Roberts - 2004
    

Pleasant Hell


John Dolan - 2004
    You'll cry. You'll feel angry, ecstatic, scared, sad. enlightened. You will feel the disturbingly-awesome, terrible glory of. life. There is nothing more fascinating than a desperate, yearning, misanthropic. humanist. For when he's done with you in the purgatory of Pleasant Hell you'll feel braver, wiser more alive and cleaner than you've ever been. None of which, of course, he intended.

Homesick


Eshkol Nevo - 2004
    Noa is studying photography in Jerusalem and Amir is a psychology student in Tel Aviv. They choose a small apartment in a village in the hills, midway between the two cities. Originally called El-Kastel, the village was emptied of its Arab inhabitants in 1948 and is now the home of Jewish immigrants from Kurdistan. Not far from the apartment lives a family grieving for their eldest son who was killed in Lebanon. The younger brother left behind, Yotam, forgotten by his parents, turns to Amir for support. Further down the street, Saddiq watches the house while he works at a building site. He knows that this house is the one from which his family was driven by the Jews when he was a boy, and to which his mother still has a rusty key. Despite friendships that develop and lives that become entwined, tensions among this melting pot of characters seem to be rising to the surface.This enchanting and irresistible novel offers us windows into the characters’ lives. Each comes from somewhere different but we gradually see that there’s much about them that’s the same. Homesick is a beautiful and moving story about history, love, family and the true meaning of home.

Sight Hound


Pam Houston - 2004
    Dante is the catalyst for change in other characters as well, and they step forward with their narratives: Rae's house-tender; her therapist; two veterinarians; and an anxiety-ridden actor, Howard, who turns out to be as stalwart as Dante himself. As the "seer" who hunts by sight rather than smell, Dante has some things to add, as does Rose, another dog who lives at Rae's heels, and Stanley the cat. Among and above these myriad voices, Rae voices her own challenges. With the wit and dead-on candor we've come to expect from Pam Houston, Sight Hound unfolds a story that illuminates the intangible covenant between loved ones. Here, dogs and humans are simply equal creatures, looking to connect and holding on for dear life when they do. Reading group guide included.

The Turtle Warrior


Mary Relindes Ellis - 2004
    By 1967 the Lucas farm has fallen into disrepair, thanks to the hard drinking of John Lucas, who brutalizes his wife and two sons. When the eldest, James, escapes by enlisting to fight in Vietnam, he leaves young Bill alone to protect his mother with only his own will and the spirit of his brother to guide him. Beautifully written and deeply felt, The Turtle Warrior takes readers from the heartland of America to the battlefields of World War II and Vietnam weaving a haunting tale of an unforgettable world where the physical and spiritual, the past and the present, merge.

The Sinister Trophy


John Kiriamiti - 2004
    The action takes place in Nairobi and Tanzania and Son of Fate finds himself involved with car chases and murder as he becomes embroiled in the chase.

The Cobra Trilogy


Timothy Zahn - 2004
    Outnumbered and on the defensive, Earth made a desperate decision. It would attack the aliens not from space, but on the ground-with forces the Trofts did not even suspect. Thus were created the Cobras, a guerilla force whose weapons were surgically implanted, invisible to the unsuspecting eye, yet undeniably deadly. But power brings temptation . . . and not all the Cobras could be trusted to fight for Earth alone. Jonny Moreau would learn the uses-and abuses-of his special abilities, and what it truly meant to be a Cobra.

A Horse Called Freedom


Angela Dorsey - 2004
    Her only consolation is that she can bring Keeta, her beautiful pinto mare, with her. But adventures await. While cleaning out the barn on their new property, Jani sees a swirl of movement beside the black, twisted stone in the corner. The barn is haunted! With the help of a new friend, Jani sets out to solve the mystery behind the wild, angry spirit and set it free.

Behind Those Eyes


T.P. Carter - 2004
    Her new love, Derrick, is everything she's ever wanted in a man. Until she meets Nathaniel Woods. Nat is Derrick's best friend - happily married with a wonderful wife, beautiful daughter, and a booming career. But when he meets Derrick's new girlfriend, he can't take his eyes off her.

The Pink Institution


Selah Saterstrom - 2004
    As the impoverished decay of the Deep South expresses itself through their bloodlines, a new impression of Southern history and heritage emerges. The lyrical gravity and singular style of this unforgettable debut novel will transform the reader in its wake.Selah Saterstrom’s writing has appeared in 3rd Bed and Pitkin Review. She is the editor of Soul Collections, a collection of prose and poetry written by at-risk teenagers in North Carolina. Born in Mississippi in 1974, she now lives in Asheville, North Carolina, where she teaches at Warren Wilson College.

The Switchers Trilogy


Kate Thompson - 2004
    Kate Thompson went on to write two more unputdownable sequels Midnight`s Choice and Wild Blood, featuring Tess and Kevin, and here are all three novels together in one volume for nine-year-olds and above. Tess and Kevin are Switchers - they can change into any creature at will. And when they discover they share this gift, they find that together they have powers beyond belief, enabling the two of them to save the world from icy destruction. But there are other more sinister characters among the Switchers and when Tess is dragged into the dark night-time world of Martin, she finds herself facing the most terrifying choice of her life. What is more she is approaching her fifteenth birthday, at which point she must make up her mind about who or what she will become in her final permanent Switch - from which there is no going back-

True North


Jim Harrison - 2004
    The scion of a family of wealthy timber barons, David Burkett has grown up with a father who is a malevolent force more than a father, and a mother made vague and numb by alcohol and pills. He and his sister, Cynthia, a firecracker who scandalizes the family at fourteen by taking up with the son of their Finnish-Native American gardener, are mostly left to make their own way, and often to play parent to their dissolute elders. As David comes to adulthood - often guided and enlightened by the unforgettable, intractable, courageous women he loves - he realizes he must come to terms with his forefathers' rapacious destruction of the woods of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, as well as the working people who made their wealth possible. In the course of thirty years of searching for the truth of what his family has done and trying to make amends, David looks closely at the root of his father's evil - and threatens to destroy himself.

Trouble in Paradise


Pip Granger - 2004
    The end to hostilities will bring her violent husband Charlie home. It also sets off a chain of events that brings more strife and destruction to the people of Paradise Gardens, Hackney - including Zeldas squabbling family and the mysterious local healer, Zinnia Makepeace - than did the Blitz.That's not all. A new boss is making Zelda's life difficult. Zelda's nephew, Tony, is hanging around Brian Hole, a one-boy crime wave and only child of Ma Hole, leader of the local spivs.But Tony can sing - he has, in fact, the voice of an angel - and Miss Makepeace knows a voice coach in Soho. The people Zelda meets there change her life. Bert and Maggie Featherby offer her a way out of Hackney and her failed marriage, while the local hood, Maltese Joe, decides to take on Ma Hole.

The Last Juror


John Grisham - 2004
    To the surprise and dismay of many, ownership was assumed by a 23-year-old college dropout, named Willie Traynor. The future of the paper looked grim until a young mother was brutally raped and murdered by a member of the notorious Padgitt family. Willie Traynor reported all the gruesome details, and his newspaper began to prosper.The murderer, Danny Padgitt, was tried before a packed courthouse in Clanton, Mississippi. The trial came to a startling and dramatic end when the defendant threatened revenge against the jurors if they convicted him. Nevertheless, they found him guilty, and he was sentenced to life in prison. But in Mississippi in 1970, life didn't necessarily mean life, and nine years later Danny Padgitt managed to get himself paroled. He returned to Ford County, and the retribution began.

No Dogs Allowed!


Bill Wallace - 2004
    It's just too heartbreaking. So when her father surprises her with a new puppy for her birthday, Kristine is furious! With a new sister on the way, who need a wriggling, messy, noisy yellow ball of fur to look after? But how can an animal-loving girl resist the sweet brown eyes of a puppy that just wants to be loved?

The Weather Fairies: #1-7


Daisy Meadows - 2004
    Now they're helping the Weather Fairies, who use their magical feathers to bring weather to Fairyland. At least that's what they're supposed to do -- but when the feathers disappear, the weather gets all mixed up! Can Rachel and Kirsty help their friends find their feathers? Includes Crystal the Snow Fairy, Abigail the Breeze Fairy, Pearl the Cloud Fairy, Goldie the Sunshine Fairy, Evie the Mist Fairy, Storm the Lightning Fairy, and Hayley the Rain Fairy.

In the Heart of the Heart of Another Country


Etel Adnan - 2004
    Adnan writes, “Contrary to what is usually believed, it is not general ideas and grandiose unfolding of great events that impress the mind during times of heightened historic upheavals, but rather the uninterrupted flow of little experiences, observations, disturbances, small ecstasies, or barely perceptible discouragements that make up day-to-day living.”Etel Adnan, a Lebanese American poet, painter, and essayist, lives in Paris, Beirut, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Among her books, the novel Sitt Marie Rose is considered a classic of Middle Eastern literature. She has been a powerful voice for compassion and empowerment in feminist and antiwar movements.

Fate/Stay Night


NOT A BOOK - 2004
    

U.S. Army Ranger Handbook


U.S. Department of Defense - 2004
    These highly-trained, easily-deployable, and widely-skilled infantrymen specialize in airborne assault, raids, recovery of personnel and equipment, and airfield seizure, among other difficult and dangerous missions. Drawing from over two centuries of bloody lessons learned in special operations combat, this guide gives modern soldiers the best advice possible. In straightforward language and a no-frills style, it covers deception, stealth, communications, escape and evasion, ambush operations, perimeter defense, counterintelligence, and much more. Handy and concise, this manual was designed so Rangers could easily carry it into the field. Now it is the ultimate resource for anyone who wants to know how Rangers think and work.

Death and Thraxas


Martin Scott - 2004
    Overweight and somewhat uncouth, Thraxas may not look like a man of action, (and he'd rather pass on the action, thank you, and order another beer), but if you're in trouble in Turai this portly private eye is probably your only hope. Not that Thraxas himself has much hope in the first of the two complete novels in this volume-A judge has fined him almost every guran he has, two old enemies have threatened his life, and his old commander in the army, after promising a solution to Thraxas' problems, has just turned up dead. Naturally, Thraxas is the prime suspect . . . . In his second case, Thraxas has received a message from an old friend in trouble in the Elvish Isles, and since the elves have no experience in investigating, Thraxas is hired to do the legwork. Naturally, as soon as he arrives in the Isles, things start getting weird. But when the going gets weird, Thraxas gets going. . . .

The Work of Wolves


Kent Meyers - 2004
    Years later, Carson, now a skilled and respected horse trainer, grudgingly agrees to train Magnus's horses and teach his wife to ride. But as Carson becomes disaffected with the power-hungry Magnus, he also grows more and more attracted to the rancher's wife, and their relationship sets off a violent chain of events that unsettles their quiet reservation border town in South Dakota. Thrown into the drama are Earl Walks Alone, an Indian trying to study his way out of the reservation and into college, and Willi, a German exchange student confronting his family's troubled history. In this unforgettable story of horses, love, and life, Carson and the entire ensemble of characters learn, in very different ways, about the strong bonds that connect people to each other and to the land on which they live.

Scaredy Dog: Understanding and Rehabilitating Your Reactive Dog


Ali Brown - 2004
    Well-illustrated with photos.

The View from Delphi


Jonathan Odell - 2004
    Two young mothers have each lost a child, but they overcome their racial differences to bring about justice in a pre-Civil Rights Mississippi town.

Five Great Science Fiction Novels


H.G. Wells - 2004
    G. Wells: The First Men in the Moon, The Invisible Man, The Time Machine, The Island of Dr. Moreau,and The War of the Worlds. Five remarkably prescient works by the "father" of modern science fiction include The First Men in the Moon, a 1901 novel about lunar life; The Invisible Man, the story of a scientist whose experiments take a terrifying turn; The Time Machine, a journey into the future; The Island of Dr. Moreau, the exploits of a mad surgeon; and The War of the Worlds, a grippingly realistic tale of hostile invaders from Mars.

The Grrl Genius Guide to Sex (with Other People): A Self-Help Novel


Cathryn Michon - 2004
    Armed with the information from Cathryn's Wild Sexual Animal Kingdom research and her "Love is Important but Chocolate is Essential" Chocolate Fun Facts, her posse of Grrl Geniuses struggle with singlehood, married life, sexual preferences, widowhood, and friendship. Cathryn's journey veers from a "nails-on-chalkboard-scratchingly-awful" divorce and the botched kidnapping of her own dog, to pretending to be a lesbian, seeing her old lingerie sold on her old front lawn by her ex-husband's girlfriend, losing her job, and a tragic industrial accident-level bikini wax. And through everything, Cathryn searches for the answer to the most important relationship question of all: why are all the best men gay?If you've ever been tempted to have sex with another person, this is an essential read. If you've ever felt inadequate to a task or a failure at love or in any way anything less than a genius and you've sunk so low that even a new pair of cute shoes won't help, Cathryn Michon can show you the way to relationship happiness-all you have to do is learn from her very funny mistakes. However badly you think you've done anything, Cathryn has done it even worse, and reveals lessons learned in the wryly witty and devastatingly honest style that has made her the favorite of aspiring geniuses everywhere!

Wolverine: Weapon X


Marc Cerasini - 2004
    Before joining the X-Men, Wolverine was simply a directionless loner mutant named Logan. Weapon X isn't just another story about the Wolverine you know and love. It's the cruel story of Logan's transformation into Wolverine, as seen through the eyes of his tormentors. Spearheading the Weapon X program are Dr. Benjamin Cornelius and Carol Hines -- their goal is to create the ultimate weapon, an indestructible man -- and then enslave him. Their gift of invulnerability comes at a price to all those involved...especially their victim. Logan will lose his humanity, and many people will lose their lives. As Logan manages to free himself from his captors, a brutal wave of violence affects all those involved. From the bloody aftermath of Logan's transformation, all involved in the Weapon X program endure their own personal change...via guilt, ambition, and humanity. Can anyone survive the carnage of this bioengineering team's twisted dream? Chances are slim, as the lines between man, beast, and monster are blurred for all the players in this closed experiment. Best-selling author, Marc Cerasini has spent time on the New York Times and USA Today best-seller's lists. His writing spans from children's picture books and young adult novels to adult mystery and military nonfiction. Along the way, he's managed to ghostwrite for Tom Clancy.

The House on Falling Star Hill


Michael Molloy - 2004
    Why are there no flowers anywhere? Who is the weeping woman wandering through midnight streets? And what is the secret of the empty house on Falling Star Hill? The mystery deepens when Tim meets Sarre, a girl from another world. She leads Tim to the place she comes from--a magical, old-fashioned land connected to our own by falling stars, where flowers are guarded like treasures. It is there that all secrets will be revealed. And it is there that Tim will find his destiny.

Thomas Wingfold, Curate, Volume 1


George MacDonald - 2004
    You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Waiting for Teddy Williams


Howard Frank Mosher - 2004
    From this remote village, noted for its fervent devotion to the Red Sox, comes Ethan “E.A.” Allen, a young man with a chance to change baseball history. Homeschooled, fatherless, and living on the wrong side of the tracks, E.A. is haunted by a dark mystery in his family’s past until a drifter named Teddy arrives in his life, determined to teach E.A. everything he knows about baseball. Filled with an engaging array of rambunctious, memorable characters and brimming with faith, Waiting for Teddy Williams is an irresistible read that reminds us that dreams—no matter how far-fetched—sometimes do come true.

Boy A


Jonathan Trigell - 2004
    A bad apple. Jack has spent most of his life in juvenile institutions; he's about to be released with a new name, new job, and a new life. At 24, he is utterly innocent of the world, yet guilty of a monstrous childhood crime. To his new friends, he is a good guy with occasional flashes of unexpected violence. To his girlfriend, he is strangely naive and unreachable. To his case worker, he’s a victim of the system and of media-driven hysteria. And to himself, Jack is on permanent trial: he struggles to start from scratch, forget the past, become someone else. At a time when the privacy of the individual is under threat from all sides, BOY A raises fundamental questions about the morality of the media.

Peach Blossom Paradise


Ge Fei - 2004
    The Hundred Days’ Reform that followed was a moment of unprecedented change and extraordinary hope—brought to an abrupt end by a bloody military coup. Dashed expectations would contribute to the revolutionary turn that Chinese history would soon take, leading in time to the deaths of millions.Peach Blossom Paradise, set at the time of the reform, is the story of Xiumi, the daughter of a wealthy landowner and former government official who falls prey to insanity and disappears. Days later, a man with a gold cicada in his pocket turns up at his estate and is inexplicably welcomed as a relative. This mysterious man has a great vision of reforging China as an egalitarian utopia, and he will stop at nothing to make it real. It is his own plans, however, which come to nothing, and his “little sister” Xiumi is left to take up arms against a Confucian world in which women are chattel. Her campaign for change and her struggle to seize control over her own body are continually threatened by the violent whims of men who claim to be building paradise.

Can I Come Home, Please?


Phil Robins - 2004
    Using taped interviews from the Imperial War Museum's Sound Archive, Phil Robins gathered together this compelling collection of first-hand accounts from people who grew up during the Second World War.

Expelled from Eden: A William T. Vollmann Reader


William T. Vollmann - 2004
    Vollmann is one of our greatest living writers. Masterworks such as You Bright and Risen Angels, The Royal Family, and Rising Up and Rising Down—his latest work, a stunning 3,300-page tour-de-force—have launched him into the literary stratosphere. He stands today as one of America's leading contenders for a future Nobel Prize in literature. Here is his long-awaited "best-of" collection, intended both as an introduction for the curious reader, and as a necessary addition to the existing fan's collection. With excerpts from all of Vollmann's novels (including several not yet published), journalistic pieces, essays, correspondence, and poetry, Expelled from Eden creates a unique, kaleidoscopic portrait of one of America's most notorious, protean, devastating, and necessary writers.

Omega Minor


Paul Verhaeghen - 2004
    While a group of neo-Nazis are preparing an anniversary bash of disastrous proportions, an old physics professor returns to Potsdam to atone for his sins, an Italian postdoc designs an experiment that will determine the fate of the universe, and, in a room at Le Charit?, a Holocaust survivor tells his tale to the willing ear of a young psychologist. Who is that talking cat, why do ghosts of SS soldiers roam the city, and what is Speer's favorite actress up to?

Iron Coffin


John Mannock - 2004
     Strafed by American bombers, reeling from damage, and with supplies running low, a German U-boat limps along toward the coastal bayous of Louisiana-where the crew's only chance of survival rests in the hands of an isolated group of people who recognize no government and no war. There, in the heart of the enemy, Nazi gold can buy help. But gold can also buy betrayal...

All That Matters


Wayson Choy - 2004
    His writing has a quiet integrity and an exquisite grace."—Maclean'sWinner of the 2005 Trillium Book Award, finalist for the 2004 Giller Prize, and long-listed for the 2006 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, All That Matters is the eagerly anticipated sequel to Wayson Choy's award-winning first novel, The Jade Peony.Kiam-Kim is three years old when he arrives by ship at Gold Mountain with his father and his grandmother, Poh-Poh. From his earliest years, Kiam-Kim is deeply conscious of his responsibility to maintain the family's honor and to set an example for his younger siblings. However, his life is increasingly complicated by his burgeoning awareness of the world outside Vancouver's Chinatown. Choy once again accomplishes the extraordinary: blending a haunting evocation of tenacious, ancient traditions with a precise, funny, and very modern coming-of-age story.

Frišta


Petra Procházková - 2004
    A grandfather who is a feminist, an adopted young boy who astounds with his intellect, and Freshta, who will do anything to run away from her abusive husband.Like the other women in the family, Herra wears a burka and hides in a closet when guests arrive. She soon starts a new job with an American woman, Heidi, who has little understanding of the way women live in Afghanistan, and still less that not everybody wants to be saved by Westerners.Freshta is a stunning debut about conceptions of human faith in a war-stricken country. It is a deeply moving story that will make you laugh and cry at the same time, a universal tale of husbands and wives, lovers and friends, who all seek happiness and acceptance against the backdrop of the unexpected events playing around them.Translated by Julia Sherwood.

The Way of Women


Lauraine Snelling - 2004
    St. Helens’ historic eruption, three women must face the mountain: two to search for their missing husbands; the third, to rediscover her life…After a local mountain becomes a deadly and imminent threat, three strikingly different women become linked in a desperate mission. Children’s author Katherine Sommers is searching for her depressed husband, David, and their son Brian, camping together on Mt. St. Helens’ tumultuous north slope. Mellie Sedor seeks her husband, Daniel, who has taken a logging job to pay for their daughter’s chemotherapy. Fashion photographer Jen Stockton joins Cowlitz County Sheriff Frank McKenzie, himself the victim of a brutal loss, in his quest to evacuate the awakening volcano.Jen came to the mountain in an effort to recover the peace she experienced as a child. Instead, she finds destruction and heroism, tragedy and friendship. When Women Strive Together, They Can Face Even the Unthinkable. Written by best-selling and award-winning author Lauraine Snelling, The Way of Women celebrates the resilience and strength of women, both individually and collectively, in the face of extraordinary crisis.

The Art of the Picts: Sculpture and Metalwork in Early Medieval Scotland


George Henderson - 2004
    Tribal Celtic-speaking warriors and farmers in what is now Scotland, the Picts were one of the major peoples of early medieval Britain, but their culture and their beautiful art have puzzled historians for centuries.George and Isabel Henderson’s acute analysis reveals an art form that both interacted with the currents of “Insular” art and was produced by a sophisticated society capable of sustaining large-scale art programs. The illustrations include specially commissioned drawings that help one understand the mysterious symbols found in the art.

Grace Will Lead Me Home


Katherine Valentine - 2004
    Dorsetville is all aflutter. The housekeeper at St. Cecilia’s rectory, Mrs. Norris, has quit in a huff, and the rectory is beginning to look like a college dorm. Father Dennis could lend a hand, but since his cooking show, The Fat Friar, has gained popularity, he’s become, well, moody. Nellie Anderson and Harry Clifford are about to tie the knot—that is if someone can find the missing wedding invitations. Bungling Deputy Hill has been left in charge since the sheriff is sick, but will the town survive in the meantime? Meanwhile, Father James is helping an ex-convict learn to resume his life. Valerie Kilbourne, a single mother, needs money for a very expensive operation for her twin daughters. And Lori Peterson, who has had her share of tragedies, will be asked to face another. Katherine Valentine’s keen insights into human nature and extraordinary sense of humor make for characters you’ll want to know for years.

Pauper's Child


Meg Hutchinson - 2004
    Repulsed by his advances, Callista postpones the evil day until it is too late. Homeless and destitute, Callista finds refuge with Abigail and Daniel Roberts, a kindly couple, potters by trade. Taught by her father to appreciate beauty, Callista proves to have a feeling for the clay and with Daniel's help comes to be mistress of the Leabrook Pottery. But there is no happy ending yet; an unseen enemy, a depraved woman, lurks in the shadows, intent on harm to the pauper's child.

Everworld Books I & II (Everworld, #1-2)


Katherine Applegate - 2004
    School. Friends. Girlfriends. Actually, Senna was probably the oddest aspect of his life. She was beautiful. Smart. But there was something very different about her. Something strange.Then one day it began. One moment, Senna was with him. The next, she was swallowed up by the earth. David couldn't just let her go and neither could their friends. So David, April, Jalil, and Christopher followed Senna to a world they never could have imagined. Wolves the size of elephants, beings who consider themselves immortal, mythological gods.Now the four friends have to find Senna and get home without losing their lives. Or their minds. Or both...

In Aunt Lucy's Kitchen/A Little Shopping


Cynthia Rylant - 2004
    Illustrations.

Livin' in High Cotton


Jennifer Youngblood - 2004
    One night her father, who has come home drunk, tries to molest her. Frightened, she fights him off and flees. But, through her many difficulties, she learns that blessings can come in unexpected ways. This novel addresses several fundamental human longings.

Sober Justice


Joe Hilley - 2004
    While defending his client, Connolly stumbles into a conspiracy and quickly finds himself in the midst of a complicated web of intrigue and deceit.The action builds to a dramatic and surprising conclusion as Connolly faces certain death and learns that sometimes even time and circumstance must yield to the purposes of God.Click Here to Meet the Author Download the Readers' Guide.

Kitty


William Corlett - 2004
    But the world is a dangerous and frightening place for a homeless young dog, and unable to cross the busy motorway it looks as though her travels will never get started. And then she meets Bailey, another stray, who soon becomes her beloved companion and trusted friend. Together they journey through Spain until they find the peace and sanctity of the magic garden.

The Legacy


Jewel Adams - 2004
    When amazing blessings come to her, she wonders if she will ever feel worthy enough to deserve them.Australian-born Ingo Kelly is thrown for an emotional loop when he visits his aunt in Utah and meets Cisely for the first time. He falls for her hard and fast. But getting her to accept his love is a challenge he is more than willing to take on.Adagio St. John is Ingo's best friend and the two are as close as brothers. When Adagio travels to Utah from his home in Italy to attend Ingo and Cisely's wedding, he is overjoyed that his friend has found happiness with such an amazing woman. He hopes he can find the same happiness one day and end the loneliness he struggles with on a daily basis. There are prospects aplenty, but none of the shallow beauties can capture his heart.When love does finally come to Adagio, will he allow himself to embrace it or continue to go it alone?

Pupshaw and Pushpaw


Jim Woodring - 2004
    Two characters from his well-known comic series, Frank, set out on a fun-filled day of adventure. It is a book with no words, just pictures.

Crown & Covenant 3 Volume Set


Douglas Bond - 2004
    Duncan and Angus, brothers in a Covenanter family in seventeenth-century Scotland, come of age in the midst of physical and spiritual battles.

The Fun Day Fairies: #1-7


Daisy Meadows - 2004
    Rainbow Magic Fairies 7 Book Set The Weekday Fairies: Megan the Monday Fairy, Tara the Tuesday Fairy, Willow the Wednesday Fairy, Thea the Thursday Fairy, Felicity the Friday Fairy, Sienna the Saturday Fairy, Sarah the Sunday Fairy

Damned if I Do


Percival Everett - 2004
    An old man ends up in a high-speed car chase with the cops after stealing the car that blocks the garbage bin at his apartment building. A stranger gets a job at a sandwich shop and fixes everything in sight: a manual mustard dispenser, a mouthful of crooked teeth, thirty-two parking tickets, and a sexual-identity problem.Percival Everett is a master storyteller who ingeniously addresses issues of race and prejudice by simultaneously satirizing and celebrating the human condition.