In this chilling yet enormously entertaining tale by acclaimed Chinese writer Su Tong, a pampered and naïve 14-year-old prince finds himself, suddenly and unexpectedly, named Emperor and placed in the position of lord and ruler over an entire nation. A boy of few talents and limited interests, he soon grows drunk on his own power and learns to wield an iron fist in dealing with subjects inside and outside the palace. Narrated in retrospect by the ex-Emperor, this is a mesmerizing story of cruelty and decadence, of concubines and eunuchs, of lethal imperial rivalries and royal court intrigue. Su Tong is one of the most celebrated Chinese writers today. The New York Times calls him "an imaginative and skillful storyteller." The publication of this book--his first in almost ten years--was an international literary event. His innovative, deftly constructed novels remain at the forefront of a growing body of work by a coterie of writers who have exposed new facts about China's past and posed vital questions regarding the country's future.

    It is a journey memorable for its hilarious and bewildering success.

    Wigley, who gave us Falling Into A Manhole. This memoir starts with the author's getting lost, and ends with his finding home, the sacred space where he finds joy and fulfillment. Between getting lost and finding home, Wigley's quest takes us to all liminal regions--places in the world and places of the heart--that shaped him, making the journey emotional as well. He makes us laugh at his own foibles, weep over his narratives of loss and betrayal, hope that life gets better because his did, and still does. Jack Wigley is not only a gifted raconteur who can keep you turning the pages, but one with a high level of self-awareness who compels you to pause time and again, no matter how much you want to know what happens next, to savor his insights and reflect. Do yourself a favor--read this book.

    Thousand Star Hotel confronts the silence around racism, police brutality, and the invisibility of the Asian American urban poor.From “with thanks to Sahra Nguyen for the refugee style slogan”:They give the kids candy to bet.My daughter loses the first four rounds,she’s a quiet wire as they take her candy away, piece by piece.When she finally wins, I ask if she wants to play again.No! she shouts, grabbing her candy, I want to go home!True refugee style:take everything you got and run with it.

    It is the mid-1800s. Fela, taken from Africa, is working at her second sugar plantation in colonial Puerto Rico, where her mistress is only too happy to benefit from her impressive embroidery skills. But Fela has a secret. Before she and her husband were separated and sold into slavery, they performed a tribal ceremony in which they poured the essence of their unborn child into a very special stone. Fela keeps the stone with her, waiting for the chance to finish what she started. When the plantation owner approaches her, Fela sees a better opportunity for her child, and allows the man to act out his desire. Such is the beginning of a line of daughters connected by their intense love for one another, and the stories of a lost land.Mati, a powerful healer and noted craftswoman, is grounded in a life that is disappearing in a quickly changing world.Concha, unsure of her place, doesn't realize the price she will pay for rejecting her past.Elena, modern and educated, tries to navigate between two cultures, moving to the United States, where she will struggle to keep her family together.Carisa turns to the past for wisdom and strength when her life in New York falls apart.The stone becomes meaningful to each of the women, pulling them through times of crisis and ultimately connecting them to one another. Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa shows great skill and warmth in the telling of this heartbreaking, inspirational story about mothers and daughters, and the ways in which they hurt and save one another.

    It reveals her truamatic childhood and institutionalization, followed by her escape to the quiet cul-de-sac where her psychoanalysist lived. There, for many years, she made the journey towards recovery through Freudian analysis.

    Finn and Derval Dove, desperate to escape from their cruel stepfather, make a dangerous journey across England and Ireland to find their grandmother.

    The author has sought to utlilize the technology now available for the teaching and learning of calculus. The hand-held graphics calculator is one such form of technology that has been integrated into the book. Topics in algebra, trigonometry, and analytical geometry appear in the Appendix.

    The authors of the essays on recent criticism and productions are Heather DuBrow, University of Wisconsin at Madison, and William Liston, Ball State University, respectively.

    Prasads A Background to the Study of English Literature is an expanded , updated and comprehensive study of English Literature giving greater attention to the trends in those genres of Literature that have developed rapidly in the last half century. This book provided the basics of English Poetry , to make English literature interesting and easy for the student. Content Section I-Poetry Section II-Drama Section III - Prose About the Author: B Prasad B Prasad, Late Head of the Development of English , Agra College, Agra , had authored several books with the aim to make the student understand and appreciate English Literature. Dr. Haripriya Ramadoss has several years of experience of teaching English Literature. She obtained her Ph.D from Purdue University , Lafayette, Indiana , USA

    He was in trouble with the law from the age of 12. He stole hundreds of horses and cattle. He robbed two banks. He killed three men.Yet, when Ned was sentenced to death, thousands of people rallied to save his life. He stood up to the authorities and fought for what he believed in. He defended the rights of people who had no power.Was he a villain? Or a hero?What do you think?Black Snake tells the story of the short but amazing life of Ned Kelly, Australia’s most famous bushranger. Although this book is non-fiction, each chapter begins with a short piece of fiction. These fictional pieces look at Ned from the point of view of different people: some who loved him, some who hated him; some who admired him, some who thought he was a monster.Reviews“Carole Wilkinson takes the reader beyond the surface of the Ned Kelly legend… She brings the story alive through the everyday life and struggles of this unkilely hero… Wilkinson leads readers to ponder how Ned became an Australian icon in an accessible text which consummately uses fact and fictional reconstructions to achieve its purposes.”CBC Book of the Year Judges’ Report 2003“With Black Snake, Carole Wilkinson turns her hand from historical fiction to factual reportage, retelling the familiar story of the Ned Kelly legend. Factually, simple and without bias, Black Snake presents the circumstances behind the events as well as the conflicts between the personalities. It can be used as a biography, or read as an adventure. “Through her consummate research and a deep empathy with the characters which she has resurrected, Carole Wilkinson has that rare ability to bring the past to life, in all of its authentic, ‘warts-and-all’ realism. Recommended.”Magpies November 2002

    My husband said he would love me no matter what. It turns out that was a lie. He send me packing without anything, not even the jewelry he bought me. Three years later, I came back for revenge, with another man...

    From online dating to beauty pageants, Greek mythology to road trips, Leigh Stein gives us resilient young women in longing and in love. Post-confessional—like Sylvia Plath raised on MTV, or Anne Sexton on Twitter—the poems seduce with a narrative hook or startle with a pop culture reference, all the while wrestling fresh meaning out of our fantasy-saturated modern lives.

    In stories as darkly comic as they are unflinching, people isolated by geography, emotion, or circumstance cut imperfect paths to peace—they have no other choice. A Russian mail-order bride in Finland is rendered silent by her dislocation and loss of language, the mother of a severely disabled boy writes him postcards he'll never read on a cruise ship held hostage by pirates, and an Iowa actuary wanders among the reincarnations of those she's known in her 127 lives. Horrocks' women find no simple escapes, and their acts of faith and acts of imagination in making do are as shrewd as they are surprising.

    Happy in her marriage, she tries to look the other way when her genial husband, Alec, takes to the bottle. When Elspeth, Margaret's sister, comes to live with them, the young woman is immediately captivated by the beauty and vitality of the farm, and by the affection she receives from those around her. But as summer turns into fall, and the friendship between Alec and Elspeth deepens, Margaret finds her spirit tested by a series of events that seem as cruel and inevitable as the endless prairie winters.Long out of print, Remembering Laughter (1937) marked Wallace Stegner's brilliant literary debut.