In "The Nigger of the 'Narcissus'" a ship's crew struggles with morale as a black member of the crew lay dying. In the shorter work "The Secret Sharer" a captain on his night watch discovers an officer that has come aboard has been accused of a murder. In both works through the context of a voyage at sea Conrad masterfully explores the psychological and moral issues that are at the heart of mankind.

    Jessica Chase escape The Mine?

    Available for free to members of the CL Taylor Book Club.

    A genius of social satire delivered with a very dry wit, Powell builds his comedies on the foibles of British high society between the wars, delving into subjects as various as psychoanalysis, the film industry, publishing, and (of course) sex. More explorations of relationships and vanity than plot-driven narratives, these slim novels reveal the early stirrings of the unequaled style, ear for dialogue, and eye for irony that would reach their caustic peak in Powell’s epic A Dance to the Music of Time.  From a View to a Death takes us to a dilapidated country estate where an ambitious artist of questionable talent, a family of landed aristocrats wondering where the money has gone, and a secretly cross-dressing squire all commingle among the ruins.   Written from a vantage point both high and necessarily narrow, Powell’s early novels nevertheless deal in the universal themes that would become a substantial part of his oeuvre: pride, greed, and what makes people behave as they do. Filled with eccentric characters and piercing insights, Powell’s work is achingly hilarious, human, and true.

    She hates the hardships of life in Kfar Etzion - an isolated kibbutz south of Jerusalem - clearing rocky hillsides, bathing in rationed cups of trucked-in water, and being confined behind barbed wire. Her own dreams have nothing to do with national self-realization; she longs for steaming bubble baths and down comforters, but most of all for a place on earth where she can feel safe. She is in love with Amos, but refuses to acknowledge these feelings. She knows he will never leave his homeland and Tonia plans to emigrate to America. But can she really begin a new life there? Tonia's story in The Lonely Tree is interwoven with the true story of Kfar Etzion, a kibbutz that was overrun by the Arab Legion during pre-War of Independence hostilities.

     Six days a week, Joel Beer hunts for books in Denver. He stalks them in bookstores and thrift stores, at yard sales and estate sales, his eyes scanning spines quickly and ruthlessly, searching for the $0.25 gem that he can resell for $250. If he were the only scout in town, he might be able to make a living, but there are close to a dozen full-timers now -- including his archrival, Popeye Lamonica -- and Joel is having trouble paying his rent. Facing eviction, Joel and his partner -- a slow-witted vagrant named Lacy -- go on the hunt. They are about to give up when they find an estate sale offering a $0.50 copy of Walter Behr's Something for Nothing that is worth $500. But Popeye sees it, too. To make this treasure his, Joel will do whatever it takes -- even if it means sacrificing his career.

    He is a mysterious figure about whom little is known. In the tradition of "The Robe" and "Ben Hur", Alexandra Ripley, the author who brought Margaret Mitchell's Scarlett O'Hara back to millions of readers worldwide, has written an extraordinary new epic depicting another unforgettable character. National ads/media.

    But his most difficult battle was lost years later, when his beloved wife Sophie succumbed to cancer. Since then, he has waged a private war against both loneliness and the terrible memory of a day in 1945 that went horribly wrong-and has haunted him ever since.His grandson Andrew, a scared and angry high school sophomore, has been expelled and is heading down a path of self-destruction. Mead agrees to take the boy in for three weeks, to set him right. At first, the two circle warily around each other, finding little in common. Then Andrew befriends a widow named Evelyn, and Mead busies himself fending off the match, even as he feels a reluctant attraction to this cheerful woman who seems to understand his grandson.One afternoon, rummaging through the garage, Andrew discovers an antique Luger, the deadly memento of his grandfather's war. In a final effort to save his grandson from himself, Mead takes the teenager on a journey to the beaches, bunkers, and cemeteries of Normandy, where both of them confront the secrets they have been trying to forget.

    Broken Things is the exciting short story prequel to Jodi's new novel, Wish You Were HereNine-year-old Diana keeps a tally of every day her mother is gone, counting down until she will see her again. A world-renowned photographer, Hannah O'Toole is rarely at home, always travelling the globe, chasing the next disaster. She has missed most of Diana's birthdays, so Diana isn't surprised when her mother announces she will be photographing the effects of a drought in Oklahoma instead of staying in New York for Diana's tenth birthday. Diana is thrilled when her father decides to take her for a surprise visit to spend her birthday with her mother, but she can't fail to see that her mother isn't quite as excited. And when the drought is unexpectedly broken by a Force 4 tornado, Hannah must make a choice between her daughter and her passion.

    Originally published as a companion book fellow with Algonquin Round Table member Franklin P. Adams' Women I'm Not Married to. The two books have since frequently been published in a single volume.

    Always & Forever by Linda Howard\Linda Lael Miller\Heather Graham Pozzessere released on Feb 20, 1998 is available now for purchase.

    Vita Nuova showcases Hrabal’s legendarybohemian intellectual life, particularly his relationship with VladimírBoudník. Hrabal creates a shrewd, lively portrait of Eastern Europeanintellectual life in the mid-twentieth century.

    If a man is not eager for adventure at the age of twenty-two, the enticement of romantic possibilities will never come to him.