Extended Family


Patrick Kendrick - 2012
    Harmon Gettys is the perfect man: tall, dark, handsome, and brilliant. He’d seemingly be a catch for any woman—especially those who desire an apparently charmed offspring. But Gettys uses his seed for murder, to create a legacy of violence.For Fire Marshal Greymon Gift, gruesome burn-related murders are nothing new. But a sudden spike in his jurisdiction has Gift on high alert. When an FBI investigation links multiple arson scenes to the deceased Dr. Gettys, Gift is pulled even deeper into a case that’s hot enough to start a conflagration. He knows that even if Gettys were alive, such an assortment of violent crimes could never be committed by just one man. So who is spreading these horrors from coast to coast?Gift and FBI Agent Rose Cleary partner up to stop the growing number of savagely murdered victims, but can they uncover the truth before they wind up on the list of the dead? Extended Family offers a thrilling look into the heart of darkness. Horrifying and suspenseful, the novel explores the idea that evil can be passed like a torch from one generation to the next. As Gettys proved—and Gift is about to find out—sometimes all it takes is a spark to set the family tree ablaze.

The Gray House


Mariam Petrosyan - 2009
    Not that it matters to anyone living in the House, a hulking old structure that its residents know is alive. From the corridors and crawl spaces to the classrooms and dorms, the House is full of tribes, tinctures, scared teachers, and laws—all seen and understood through a prismatic array of teenagers’ eyes.But student deaths and mounting pressure from the Outsides put the time-defying order of the House in danger. As the tribe leaders struggle to maintain power, they defer to the awesome power of the House, attempting to make it through days and nights that pass in ways that clocks and watches cannot record.

Letters from Russia


Astolphe de Custine - 1843
    It is also a wonderful piece of travel writing. Custine, who met with people in all walks of life, including the Czar himself, offers vivid descriptions of St. Petersburg and Moscow, of life at court and on the street, and of the impoverished Russian countryside. But together with a wealth of sharply delineated incident and detail, Custine's great work also presents an indelible picture--roundly denounced by both Czarist and Communist regimes--of a country crushed by despotism and "intoxicated with slavery."Letters from Russia, here published in a new edition prepared by Anka Muhlstein, the author of the Goncourt Prize-winning biography of Custine, stands with Tocqueville's Democracy in America as a profound and passionate encounter with historical forces that are still very much at work in the world today.

Lenin's Embalmers


Ilya Zbarsky - 1997
    Between 1924 and the fall of communism in 1991, hundreds of millions of visitors paid their respects to the embalmed bodies of Lenin and later, Stalin. This text reveals the story of Zbarski, his family and of those who worked in the mausoleum laboratory."

Setting the East Ablaze: Lenin's Dream of an Empire in Asia


Peter Hopkirk - 1984
    Their dream was to "liberate" the whole of Asia, and their starting point was British India, the richest of all imperial possessions.The bloody struggle that ensued, the full story of which has never been told, marked a dramatic new twist in the Great Game. Among the players were British Indian intelligence officers and the armed revolutionaries of the Communist International. There were also Muslim visionaries and Chinese warlords-as well as a White Russian baron who roasted his Bolshevik captives alive.Pieced together from secret archives, intelligence reports, and the long-forgotten memoirs of the players involved, here is an extraordinary tale of intrigue and treachery. Like Hopkirk's bestselling The Great Game, its theme is ominously topical in view of the violent events that still grip this turbulent region-from the Caucasus to Afghanistan-where the Great Game never really ended.

Maximus the Confessor: Selected Writings


St. Maximus the Confessor - 1985
    During the seventh century when the monothelite heresy (belief that Christ had only one will-----a divine one) plagued the Church, Maximus eloquently demonstrated that Christ had both human and divine natures. Writing in the introduction to this volume Jaroslav Pelikan highlights the relevance of Maximus' writings for today: "It was the genius of Maximus Confessor that, in a measure that has been granted only to a few, he was fully bilingual, affirming by means of negation and speaking both the language of spirituality and the language of theology with equal fluency. From the looks of things within both Western and Eastern Christendom-------and beyond------that gift of being bilingual is one that people of faith will need more than ever in the years to come."

The Ship of Widows


I. Grekova - 1981
    The narrative traces the ebb and flow of their relationships and the changes wrought in their lives by the birth of a son to one of the women. Grekova conveys vividly not only the decisive differences between the postwar generation and those who participated in the defense of their country, but also the extraordinary capacity of human nature to endure and overcome seemingly unendurable suffering and deprivation. Above all, this text spotlights female experiences of the war: the fate of those who did not engage in battle at the front, but fought just as desperately to survive starvation, cold, and exhaustion, to maintain homes and, in a sense, a country to which soldiers could return. Ship of Widows provides a cultural key to an understudied period of Russia's history and an understudied segment of its population - women. This new paperback edition includes an illuminating foreword by Helena Goscilo.

Dostoevsky in 90 Minutes


Paul Strathern - 2004
    He brings their lives and ideas to life in entertaining and accessible fashion. Far from being a novelty, each book is a highly refined appraisal of the writer and his work, authoritative and clearly presented.

The Triads (Classics of Western Spirituality Series)


Gregory Palamas
    This, his greatest work, presents a defense in support of the monastic groups known as the hesychasts, the originators of the Jesus Prayer.

The Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus


Mathetes
    The Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus is one of the earliest examples of Christian apologetics, and is written to defend Christianity from its accusers.

So Forth: Poems


Joseph Brodsky - 1996
    Joseph Brodsky's last volume of poems in English, So Forth, represents eight years of masterful self-translation from the Russian, as well as a substantial body of work written directly in English.

The Mushroom Book For Beginners: A Mycology Starter or How To Be A Backyard Mushroom Farmer And Grow The Best Edible Mushrooms At Home


Frank Randall - 2012
    It's a great project for families and foodies alike, and all you need to start off is this book, a specialist mushroom growing kit, and a small space in which to grow them!In this book I aim to teach you the basics that you need to know to grow mushrooms at home. You'll take a step back in time and learn about the history of mushrooms as food, and why it has taken centuries for home mushroom growing to really catch on. I'll let you know exactly which are the best types of mushrooms for you to start with. If you aren't sure what tools you'll need, don't worry - this book has that covered too. And I'll explain how to make sure that your mushrooms grow quickly and pest free, and the best ways to harvest, preserve and store your crop.But where should you grow your mushrooms? That's a good question! Contained within the pages of this book are tips on how to set up a mushroom patch in your back yard, as well as how to grow them inside. Is it really better to grow them completely in the dark? You are about to find out!So, whether you like shiitakes, portobellos or oyster mushrooms, stop buying them in stores. I'll teach you how to grow your own and keep your entire family well supplied.In as little as a few weeks you can have the perfect fresh mushrooms grown and ready to eat. Yum!This easy to read, beginners book, summarizes the essential information I have learned over the years, and is written to help you decide if mycology is for you, and if so, which route to take.

My Life in Christ: Moments of Spiritual Serenity and Contemplation, of Reverent Feeling, of Earnest Self-Amendment, and of Peace in God: Extracts from the Diary of St. John of Kronstadt


John of Kronstadt - 1894
    It is a reflection of the profound spiritual experience and elevated theological reflection of its author, St. John of Kronstadt. Appropriate both for beginners in the spiritual life and for those more experienced, no one can come away from reading this work without profit. This is the kind of book you will return to time and time again. Appropriate, relevant, and edifying reading for all Christians.

Great Russian Short Stories


Paul NegriLeo Tolstoy - 2003
    Twelve powerful works of fiction, including Pushkin's "The Queen of Spades," Gogol's "The Overcoat," Turgenev's "The District Doctor," Dostoyevsky's "White Nights," Tolstoy's "How Much Land Does a Man Need?," plus "The Clothes Mender" by Leskov, "The Lady with the Toy Dog" by Chekhov, "Twenty-Six Men and a Girl" by Gorky, "Lazarus" by Andreyev, and more.

Doctor Zhivago


Boris Pasternak - 1957
    One of the results of its publication in the West was Pasternak's complete rejection by Soviet authorities; when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958 he was compelled to decline it. The book quickly became an international best-seller.Dr. Yury Zhivago, Pasternak's alter ego, is a poet, philosopher, and physician whose life is disrupted by the war and by his love for Lara, the wife of a revolutionary. His artistic nature makes him vulnerable to the brutality and harshness of the Bolsheviks. The poems he writes constitute some of the most beautiful writing featured in the novel.