It seeks to clarify such questions as: does correctness matter?; and is it more important to speak fluently and write imaginatively or to communicate one's message?

    Pawel Huelle skilfully creates a credible scenario for this influential period in Hans Castorp’s development, imagining what happened when the rational German student was exposed to the Slavonic eastern edge of the Prussian empire. He comes across people, events and ideas that anticipate some of the encounters he will experience in years to come, including an enigmatic Polish woman who becomes his obsession. Set at the dawn of the twentieth century, Castorp faithfully recreates the atmosphere of central Europe as the storm began that would lead to two world wars. Beautifully written, full of humour, mystery and eccentricity, this is a moving tribute to a masterpiece of European literature.

    Visit Krakow's stunning Main Market Square, Warsaw's historical Royal Way, or Gdansk's Main Town Hall, featuring Golden Age decorations. You'll get firsthand advice on the best sights, eating, sleeping, and nightlife, and the maps and self-guided tours will ensure you make the most of your experience. More than just reviews and directions, a Rick Steves Snapshot guide is a tour guide in your pocket.

    In this poignant and insightful account, he gives an insider’s view of a country set on a path of wrenching change while simultaneously confronting ghosts from the wartime and communist past. In chronicling the resurrection of the nation from war and the Holocaust, Moran paints a portrait of cities lost and gained, monumental castles, primeval forests, and picturesque landscape gardens among the finest yet least-known in Europe. This captivating journey into the heart of Poland is a timely and brilliant celebration of the return to the European fold of a valiant and richly cultured nation.

    Playing Booth DeWitt's cruel ex-wife in his semiautobiographical film is the chance of a lifetime. Not only that, she's secretly in the middle of a custody battle for her brother's son. The last thing she has time for is a complicated relationship with a moody screenwriter, yet Ariel can't get sexy Booth out of her mind. Ever since his very public breakup with his ex-wife, Booth has had serious trust issues. All the same, he can't help it when Ariel makes her way into his life--and into his heart.THE BEST MISTAKEEx-model Zoe Fleming is now a hardworking single mom--and she wouldn't have it any other way. That being said, she needs a tenant to share household expenses. What she gets is confirmed bachelor J. Cooper McKinnon. Coop has no intentions of settling down anytime soon, but when he meets Zoe's son, Keenan, he can't help but bond with the young boy--and fall for his independent mother. But Zoe has zero room in her life for a man! Either this was a recipe for disaster or the best mistake she's ever made. Previously Published.

    Balding, octogenarian, and partial to a polyester jumpsuit, Edward Cooper makes an unlikely literary muse. But to his son he looms larger than life, an overwhelming and baffling presence. Edward's ambivalent regard for his son is the springboard from which this deeply intelligent memoir takes flight. By the time the author receives his inheritance (which includes a message his father taped to the underside of a safe deposit box), and sees the surprising epitaph inscribed on his father's headstone, The Bill from My Father has become a penetrating meditation on both monetary and emotional indebtedness, and on the mysterious nature of memory and love.

    

    A masterpiece of post-war Polish literature, Stone Upon Stone is Wiesław Myśliwski’s grand epic in the rural tradition—a profound and irreverent stream of memory cutting through the rich and varied terrain of one man’s connection to the land, to his family and community, to women, to tradition, to God, to death, and to what it means to be alive.Wise and impetuous, plainspoken and compassionate Szymek, recalls his youth in their village, his time as a guerrilla soldier, as a wedding official, barber, policeman, lover, drinker, and caretaker for his invalid brother.Filled with interwoven stories and voices, by turns hilarious and moving, Szymek’s narrative exudes the profound wisdom of one who has suffered, yet who loves life to the very core.

    When the narrator moves into the area, she discovers everyone--and everything--has a story. With the help of Marta, her enigmatic neighbor, the narrator accumulates these stories, tracing the history of Nowa Ruda from the its founding to the lives of its saints, from the caller who wins the radio quiz every day to the man who causes international tension when he dies straddling the border between Poland and Czechoslovakia.Each of the stories represents a brick and they interlock to reveal the immense monument that is the town. What emerges is the message that the history of any place--no matter how humble--is limitless, that by describing or digging at the roots of a life, a house, or a neighborhood, one can see all the connections, not only with one's self and one's dreams but also with all of the universe.Richly imagined, weaving anecdote with recipes and gossip, Tokarczuk's novel is an epic of a small place. Since its publication in 1998 it has remained a bestseller in Poland. House of Day, House of Night is the English-language debut of one of Europe's best young writers.

    . . Their subject is the frailty of modern civilization."

    The writing of Polish history, like Poland itself, has frequently fallen prey to interested parties. Professor Norman Davies adopts a sceptical stance towards all existing interpretations and attempts to bring a strong dose of common sense to his theme. He consequently presents a comprehensive survey of this frequently maligned and usually misunderstood country.

    In Prague in Black and Gold, Peter Demetz strips away sentimentalities and distortions and shows how Czechs, Germans, Italians, and Jews have lived and worked together for over a thousand years. .

    But it quickly becomes clear that nothing is as easy as it seems. The bid is quickly undercut as twisted corporate politics and personal vendettas take over. When the buyout becomes all or nothing for the management buyout team, it all spins out of control: marriages fall apart, dark secrets are discovered, life savings are spent on the stock market, illegal insider dealing becomes a matter of fact and blackmail, theft, betrayal and manipulation are the new rules of the game. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity turns into a lurid nightmare. Buyout is a gripping and compulsive page-turner about the power of money to unveil the deepest in human nature. It's also a story about chasing one extraordinary dream. At an extraordinary price. financial thrillers series, legal thrillers best sellers, blackmailed, corruption series, business thriller, financial thrillers, legal thrillers series

    These cases include:Brenda Spencer, 16, who after shooting at elementary school children for no apparent reason explained to a reporter: "I hate Mondays."Wayne Lo, 18, a brilliant Taiwanese student and violin prodigy, who embraced white supremacist rhetoric. One night he stalked the campus of Simon Rock's College with a semi-automatic rifle, picking victims at random.Evan Ramsey, 16, who went on a shooting rampage in Anchorage, alerting some 25 friends beforehand so they could observe the mayhem.Luke Woodham, 17, who claimed to have been controlled by demons when he killed his classmates.With his grasp of the elements of abnormal psychology, developmental psychology, sociology, and neurology that contribute to the homicidal mindset, Fast offers us a means of understanding and coming to terms with these shootings, and provides examples of what we should look for as early signs to prevent further tragedies.

    While paying tribute to Slovakia's resilience and struggle for survival, it describes contributions to European civilization in the Middle Ages; the development of Slovak consciousness in response to Magyarization; its struggle for autonomy in Czechoslovakia after the Treaty of Versailles; its resistance, as the first Slovak Republic, to a Nazi-controlled Europe; its reaction to Communism; and the path that led to the creation of the second Slovak Republic. Now fully updated to the present day, the book examines the vagaries of Slovak post-Communist politics that led to Slovakia's membership in NATO and the European Union.