Lake


Frank D. Gilroy - 2011
    Gilroy won the Pulitzer Prize for his play "The Subject Was Roses," and 43 years since he began work on "Lake." In the vein of Edgar Lee Masters's "Spoon River Anthology," Gilroy tells the story of a summer vacation community in Northern New Jersey over the course of 25 years, the early 1920's through the late '40's. Each chapter is the voice of another character; some are monologues, some more interior than that. The story works its way around the lake, catching a vignette/snapshot/moment from each turn of the wheel. It's a remarkable read from an 86-year-old writer, still at the top of his game.

A Dream Life


Claire Messud - 2021
    Residing in a grand manor on the glittering Sydney Harbour, her family finds their life has turned upside down. As she navigates this strange new world, Alice must weave an existence from its shimmering mirage.Lies and self-deception are at the heart of this keenly observed story. This is a sharp, biting, and playful tale with a cast of unscrupulous characters adrift in a dream life of their own making. Written with the characteristic delicacy of touch, humor, and emotional insight that make Claire Messud one of our greatest writers."A novelist of unnerving talent." --The New York Times Book Review"[Messud is] among our greatest contemporary writers." --The New Yorker"A perfect frolic of a book, puffed on breezes of beauty and wit: it waltzes you through a little fear, a little darkness, and tips you out, refreshed and laughing, into the sun." --Helen Garner

A Gangsta's Son


Rio - 2013
    “You know I just worked a twelve-hour shift. Gotta get me right before I go to sleep.” He smiled his ugly smile and opened the screen door. “I’ll take you shoppin’ when I wake up; spend a couple bands on you.”He put his key in the lock and turned it… But the door was snatched open before Mone’s hand could even reach the doorknob.Lacresha’s eyes opened wide with fear as she witnessed a tall masked man step from behind the door and raise a gun to Mone’s face.“Payback’s a bitch, ain’t it?” The masked man stated coldly.

The Black Brook


Tom Drury - 1998
    Paul and Mary Emmons were having lunch in a diner called Happy's when Mary happened to notice a dog in a car in the parking lot with his head turned upside down." Thus begins the strange and captivating saga of Paul Nash, a.k.a. Paul Emmons, a fallen accountant whose inadvisable return to New England, the region of his crimes, sets the stage for this darkly comic novel of love, death, guilt, redemption, and the various forms of clam chowder. More than a dog's head gets turned upside down in the course of Paul's transatlantic misadventures. Through it all Paul strives to find and accomplish his mission in life, and myriad characters contrive to tell their stories -- of unkept promises, nightmarish evenings, identities lost and found.

Short Stories (by Sally Rooney)


Sally Rooney - 2015
    All the works here are avaiable for free at The White Review (At the Clinic), The Dublin Review (Concord 34 and Even if you beat me), New Statesman (Robbie Brady's astonishing late goal takes its place in our personal histories), The Irish Times (Mr. Salary) and The New Yorker (Color and Light).We just wanted to put those stories together to read them better and more confortable. Sally Rooney has all the rights of this work reserved. Even the cover of this e-book is an adaptation of the cover of Two Stories's audiobook, by Sally Rooney and published by Faber & Faber.Thank you for everything, Sally Rooney! Your stories make the world happier <3

Hot Pink


Adam Levin - 2012
    Told with lust and affection, karate and tenderness, slapstickery, ferocity, and heart, Hot Pink is the work of a major talent in his sharpest form.*Hot Pink comes in three resplendent colors (pink, gray and blue).

Only When the Sun Shines Brightly


Magnus Mills - 1999
    The wind tries first, but however hard it blows it fails to make any progress because the traveller simply buttons his coat even tighter than before. Only when the sun shines brightly does he finally remove it, and the wind roars away in a bad temper.

Eating Naked


Stephen Dobyns - 2000
    Marriages unravel, well-laid plans dissolve, and placid lives are turned upside down in this sharp, funny, and profound collection of short fiction.

Legends of the Fall


Jim Harrison - 1979
    This magnificent trilogy also contains two other superb short novels. In Revenge, love causes the course of a man's life to be savagely and irrevocably altered. Nordstrom, in The Man Who Gave up his Name, is unable to relinquish his consuming obsessions with women, dancing and food.'

Witchita Stories


Troy James Weaver - 2015
    Told through the eyes of a young man who yearns to find excitement, truth, and a deeper family bond in his life, Weaver's approachable and revealing stories, lists, fragments, and memories delve into the weird, funny, and sometimes unsettling world of a midwest kid finding his own path."Thank god you can come across a writer like Troy James Weaver. In the future people will just say these stories are like Troy James Weaver stories and you'll know exactly what they mean." --Scott McClanahan "There are moments, reading Witchita Stories, where everything dropped away, and I was speechless, or at least whatever the equivalent of speechless is when you're not talking in the first place. There is a deep sadness to these stories, and humor, but most importantly, honesty. This feels real and heavy and it's just about the best thing I've read in a long time." --J. David Osborne

My Hard Bargain


Walter Kirn - 1990
    The exalted, memorable characters in Kirn's acclaimed debut short story col lection confront the real hard bargains in life that spring up from the business of simply living, and Kirn transforms these hard-luck stories into strapping moral lessons which evoke the bonds that unite us all.

Hunters and Gatherers


Geoff Nicholson - 1991
    The narrator, Steve Geddes, is a writer doing a book on collectors, especially those with "unlikely, bizarre, or exceptionally useless collections." His research leads him to the Havergals, a wealthy, eccentric couple. They "collect people"; that is, she does the "collecting" while he watches-"a bout of troilism," as Geddes calls it. By accident, Geddes learns that reclusive "cult author" Thornton McCain may have written a book that Geddes hasn't heard of. Geddes the observer becomes both obsessed collector and, for the randy Havergals, object to be collected. An insightful delight from start to finish; recommended for all fiction collections.

Braid: Three Twisted Stories


S.G. Redling - 2012
    In ‘Cora Lee is Stupid’ a young girl takes vengeance on an abusive older sister. In ‘Dead Weight’ three bank robbers get more than they bargained for during their getaway. In ‘Rosetta Stone’ a bitter young man comes face to face with the end of the world.

Death of a Laird (Hamish Macbeth)


M.C. Beaton - 2022
    

Cleared For Planting


Janice Cole Hopkins - 2014
    Emma has high hopes when her family moves to the North Carolina mountains. Her father appears to have finally quit drinking, and he plans to settle their family once and for all near the Linville River. Here Emma meets Edgar Moretz, an intelligent, passionate, and godly young man. Things are looking up for her, but when she is captured by a Cherokee raiding party, Emma’s problems have just begun. Years later, Clifton has finally finished his medical training and plans to spend some time at his family’s mountain farm until he can decide his next step. He also hopes God will send him a special woman to become his wife. But when she arrives unexpectedly, he finds that the road to happiness is not always smooth.