When the Emperor Was Divine

When the Emperor Was Divine

The debut novel from the PEN/Faulkner Award Winning Author of The Buddha in the Attic On a sunny day in Berkeley, California, in 1942, a woman sees a sign in a post office window, returns to her home, and matter-of-factly begins to pack her family's possessions. Like thousands of other Japanese Americans they have been reclassified, virtually overnight, as enemy aliens and are about to be uprooted from their home and sent to a dusty internment camp in the Utah desert. In this lean and devastatingly evocative first novel, Julie Otsuka tells their story from five flawlessly realized points of view and conveys the exact emotional texture of their experience: the thin-walled barracks and barbed-wire fences, the omnipresent fear and loneliness, the unheralded feats of heroism. When the Emperor Was Divine is a work of enormous power that makes a shameful episode of our history as immediate as today's headlines.

  • ASIN: 0385721811
  • ISBN: 0385721811
  • Brand: Anchor Books
  • Manufacturer: Anchor

The Partner: A Novel

The Partner: A Novel

  • ASIN: B003B02O14
  • Manufacturer: Dell

The Sparrow: A Novel (The Sparrow Series)

The Sparrow: A Novel (The Sparrow Series)

A visionary work that combines speculative fiction with deep philosophical inquiry, The Sparrow tells the story of a charismatic Jesuit priest and linguist, Emilio Sandoz, who leads a scientific mission entrusted with a profound task: to make first contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life. The mission begins in faith, hope, and beauty, but a series of small misunderstandings brings it to a catastrophic end.   Praise for The Sparrow   “A startling, engrossing, and moral work of fiction.”—The New York Times Book Review   “Important novels leave deep cracks in our beliefs, our prejudices, and our blinders. The Sparrow is one of them.”—Entertainment Weekly   “Powerful . . . The Sparrow tackles a difficult subject with grace and intelligence.”—San Francisco Chronicle   “Provocative, challenging . . . recalls both Arthur C. Clarke and H. G. Wells, with a dash of Ray Bradbury for good measure.”—The Dallas Morning News   “[Mary Doria] Russell shows herself to be a skillful storyteller who subtly and expertly builds suspense.”—USA Today

  • ASIN: 0449912558
  • ISBN: 0449912558
  • Brand: Ballantine Books
  • Manufacturer: Ballantine Books

Stardust

Stardust

  • ASIN: B000FC13Y0
  • Manufacturer: William Morrow

The Testament: A Novel

The Testament: A Novel

  • ASIN: B003B02O7I
  • Manufacturer: Dell

The Firm: A Novel

The Firm: A Novel

When Mitch McDeere signed on with Bendini, Lambert & Locke of Memphis, he thought that he and his beautiful wife, Abby, were on their way. The firm leased him a BMW, paid off his school loans, arranged a mortgage, and hired the McDeeres a decorator. Mitch should have remembered what his brother Ray–doing fifteen years in a Tennessee jail–already knew: You never get nothing for nothing. Now the FBI has the lowdown on Mitch’s firm and needs his help. Mitch is caught between a rock and a hard place, with no choice–if he wants to live.

  • ASIN: 0440245923
  • ISBN: 0440245923
  • Brand: Dell Publishing Company
  • Manufacturer: Dell

The Birthday of the World: And Other Stories

The Birthday of the World: And Other Stories

  • ASIN: B000FC10U2
  • Manufacturer: HarperCollins e-books

Birds of America: Stories (Vintage Contemporaries)

Birds of America: Stories (Vintage Contemporaries)

“Fluid, cracked, mordant, colloquial…. Stand[s] by itself as one of our funniest, most telling anatomies of human love and vulnerability.” —The New York Times Book Review The celebrated collection of twelve stories from one of the finest authors at work today.A New York Times Book of the Year A National Book Critics Circle Award FinalistWinner of the Salon Book AwardA Village Voice Book of the Year“A marvelous collection…. Her stories are tough, lean, funny, and metaphysical…. Birds of America has about it a wild beauty that simply makes one feel more connected to life.” —The Boston Globe “At once sad, funny, lyrical and prickly, Birds of America attests to the deepening emotional chiaroscuro of her wise and beguiling work.” —The New York Times “Stunning…. There’s really no one like Moore; in a perfect marriage of art form and mind, she has made the short story her own.” —Milwaukee Journal Sentinel  “Birds of America stands as a major work of American short fiction…. Absolutely mastered.” —Elle  “Wonderful…. These stories impart such terrifying truths.” —Philadelphia Inquirer  “Lorrie Moore soars with Birds of America.... A marvelous, fiercely funny book.” —Newsweek “Fifty years from now, it may well turn out that the work of very few American writers has as much to say about what it means to be alive in our time as that of Lorrie Moore.” —Harper’s Magazine

  • ASIN: 0307474968
  • ISBN: 0307474968
  • Brand: Vintage Books USA
  • Manufacturer: Vintage

I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away

I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away

A CLASSIC FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF ONE SUMMER After living in Britain for two decades, Bill Bryson recently moved back to the United States with his English wife and four children (he had read somewhere that nearly 3 million Americans believed they had been abducted by aliens—as he later put it, "it was clear my people needed me"). They were greeted by a new and improved America that boasts microwave pancakes, twenty-four-hour dental-floss hotlines, and the staunch conviction that ice is not a luxury item. Delivering the brilliant comic musings that are a Bryson hallmark, I'm a Stranger Here Myself recounts his sometimes disconcerting reunion with the land of his birth. The result is a book filled with hysterical scenes of one man's attempt to reacquaint himself with his own country, but it is also an extended if at times bemused love letter to the homeland he has returned to after twenty years away.

  • ASIN: 076790382X
  • ISBN: 076790382X
  • Brand: Broadway Books
  • Manufacturer: Broadway Books

I'll Be There for You: The One about Friends

I'll Be There for You: The One about Friends

A Bustle Book to Know in October An InStyle 10 Books You Won't Be Able to Put Down This OctoberSIX FRIENDS THAT BECAME A FAMILY.A TELEVISION SHOW THAT BECAME A PHENOMENON.Today, Friends is remembered as an icon of ’90s comedy and the Must See TV years. But when the series debuted in 1994, no one anticipated the sensation it would become. From the first wave of Friends mania to the backlash and renaissance that followed, the show maintained an uncanny connection to its audience, who saw it both as a reflection of their own lives and an aspirational escape from reality. In the years since, Friends has evolved from prime-time megahit to nostalgic novelty, and finally, to certified classic. Ross, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Joey and Phoebe have entered the pantheon of great television characters, and yet their stories remain relevant still.I’ll Be There for You is a deep dive into Friends history and lore, exploring all aspects of the show, from its unlikely origins to the societal conditions that amplified its success. Journalist and pop culture expert Kelsey Miller relives the show’s most powerful moments, sheds light on its sometimes dated and problematic elements, and examines the worldwide trends that Friends catalyzed, from contemporary coffee culture to the wildly popular ’90s haircut The Rachel. Taking readers behind the scenes, Miller traces the cast’s rise to fame and untangles the complex relationship between the actors and their characters. Weaving in revelatory interviews and personal stories, she investigates the role of celebrity media, world-changing events and the dawning of the digital age—all of which influenced both the series and its viewers.I’ll Be There for You is the definitive retrospective of Friends, not only for fans of the series, but for anyone who’s ever wondered what it is about this show—and television comedy—that resonates so powerfully.

  • ASIN: 1335928286
  • ISBN: 1335928286
  • Manufacturer: Hanover Square Press