Arriving in the New World, Europeans were awestruck by acontinent awash with birds. Today tens of millions of Americansbirders have made a once eccentric hobby into something somainstream it's (almost) cool. Scott Weidensaul traces the colorfulevolution of American birding: from the frontier ornithologists whocollected eggs between border skirmishes to the society matrons whoorganized the first effective conservation movement; from theluminaries with checkered pasts, such as convicted blackmailerAlexander Wilson and the endlessly self-mythologizing John JamesAudubon, to the awkward schoolteacher Roger Tory Peterson, whose "AField Guide to the Birds" prompted the explosive growth of modernbirding. Spirited and compulsively readable, "Of a Feather"celebrates the passions and achievements of birders throughoutAmericcan history.

The President's son and daughter are abducted, and DetectiveAlex Cross is one of the first on the scene. But someone veryhigh-up is using the FBI, Secret Service, and CIA to keep him offthe case and in the dark. A deadly contagion in the water supply cripples half of thecapital, and Alex discovers that someone may be about to unleashthe most devastating attack the United States has everexperienced. As his window for solving both crimes narrows, Alex makes adesperate decision that goes against everything he believes--onethat may alter the fate of the entire country. KILL ALEX CROSS isfaster, more exciting, and more tightly wound than any Alex Crossthriller James Patterson has ever written!

胖查理在伦敦过着正常的生活，当他给住在美国、久已疏远的父亲打电话，请他来参加自己的婚礼时，却发现父亲刚刚过世了。胖查理去佛罗里达参加了父亲的葬礼，于是惊心动魄的故事逐一上演…… 因为他发现两件事：，他的父亲是化作人形的蜘蛛神阿纳西，一个来自非洲的骗子之神；第二，他还有个叫“蜘蛛”的兄弟继承了父亲的部分神力。蜘蛛拥有胖查理所没有的一切优点：幸运、快活、充满自信，还有父亲的如簧巧舌和追求女人的天份。他的出现把胖查理有条不紊的生活被蜘蛛搅得天翻地覆，他偷走了胖查理的工作、未婚妻，甚至是家中好的房间，更糟的是，他还害胖查理被警方当作挪用公款和谋杀客户的嫌疑犯…… 胖查理身陷囹圄，只得回到佛罗里达，试图摆脱兄弟的干扰。他借助于魔法，进入了图腾动物神祗们居住的灵魂世界，但故

"I am going to take a heroine whom no-one but myself will muchlike," Jane Austen wrote, but young Emma Woodhouse, in spite of herweaknesses, has charmed generations of readers. Bossy, a littlespoilt, and too eager to control other's lives for what shebelieves is their own good, she creates misunderstandings withevery tactic she employs. But when her attempts to match-make goawry, she learns a hard lesson about life, love, and growing up.The world's greatest works of literature are now available inbeautiful keepsake volumes. Bound in real cloth, and featuring giltedges and ribbon markers, these beautifully produced books are awonderful way to build a handsome library of classic literature.These are the essential novels that belong in every home. They'lltransport readers to imaginary worlds and provide excitement,entertainment, and enlightenment for years to come. All of thesenovels feature attractive illustrations and have an unequalledperiod feel that will grace the library, the bedside table orbureau.

Book De*ion Remember when flying was glamorous and sexy, even fun? Whenairline food was gourmet, everyone dressed up for a flight, andstewardesses catered to our every need-at least in ourimaginations? This classic memoir by two audaciously outspokenyoung ladies, who lived and loved the free-spirited stewardesslife, jets you back to those golden days of air travel-from thecaptain who's as subtle as a 747 when he's on the make to thepassenger who mistakes the overhead luggage rack for an upperberth; from the names of celebrities who were a pleasure to serve(and some surprising notables on the "bad guy" list) to the originsof some naughty stereotypes-Spaniards "are" the best lovers, actorsthe most foul-mouthed. This huge bestseller, a First Class jet-agejournal, offers a hilarious gold mine of outrageous anecdotes fromthe high-flying and amorous lives of those busty, lusty,adventuresome young women of the swinging '60s known as"stews." About Author Trudy Baker and Rachel Jones were name

Don Juan, the "Seducer of Seville," originated as ahero-villain of Spanish folk legend, is a famous lover andscoundrel who has made more than a thousand sexual conquests. Oneof Molire's best-known plays, Don Juan was written while Tartuffewas still banned on the stages of Paris, and shared much with theoutlawed play. Modern directors transform Don Juan in every newera, as each director finds something new to highlight in thistimeless classic. Richard Wilbur's flawless translation will be thestandard for generations to come, as have his translations ofMolire's other plays. Witty, urbane, and poetic in its prose, DonJuan is, most importantly, as funny now as it was for audienceswhen it was first presented.

Together in one extraordinary boxed set- "Naked in Death,""Glory in Death," and "Immortal in Death"-the first three In Deathnovels featuring New York Police Lieutenant Eve Dallas. Naked inDeath Eve Dallas is a New York police lieutenant using herinstincts to hunt for a ruthless killer. Breaking every rule, Evegets involved with Roarke, an Irish billionaire-and a suspect inEve's murder investigation. But passion and seduction have rulesall their own. Glory in Death Police Lieutenant Eve Dallas has noproblem finding connections between two violent crimes. Bothvictims were beautiful and highly successful women whose intimaterelations with men of great power and wealth provide Eve with along list of suspects-including her own lover, Roarke. Immortal inDeath A top model is dead, the victim of a brutal murder. PoliceLieutenant Eve Dallas puts her professional life on the line totake the case when suspicion falls on her best friend, the otherwoman in a fatal love triangle. And beneath the facade of glamour,Ev

Tertuliano Maximo Afonso is a divorced, depressed historyteacher. To lift his spirits, a colleague suggests he rent acertain video. Tertuliano watches the film, unimpressed. But duringthe night, when he is awakened by noises in his apartment, he goesinto the living room to find that the VCR is replaying the video.He watches in astonishment as a man who looks exactly like him-or,more specifically, exactly like he did five years before,mustachioed and fuller in the face-appears on the screen. He sleepsbadly. Against his better judgment, Tertuliano decides to pursuehis double. As he roots out the man's identity, what begins as awhimsical story becomes a "wonderfully twisted meditation onidentity and individuality" (The Boston Globe). Saramago displayshis remarkable talent in this haunting tale of appearance versusreality.

"While a single short story may have a difficult time raisingenough noise on its own to be heard over the din of civilization,short stories in bulk can have the effect of swarming bees,blocking out sound and sun and becoming the only thing you canthink about," writes Ann Patchett in her introduction to The BestAmerican Short Stories 2006. This vibrant, varied sampler of theAmerican literary scene revels in life's little absurdities,captures timely personal and cultural challenges, and ultimatelyshares subtle insight and compassion. In "The View from CastleRock," the short story master Alice Munro imagines a fictionalaccount of her Scottish ancestors' emigration to Canada in 1818.Nathan Englander's cast of young characters in "How We Avenged theBlums" confronts a bully dubbed "The Anti-Semite" to both comic andtragic ends. In "Refresh, Refresh," Benjamin Percy gives aforceful, heart-wrenching look at a young man's choices when hisfather -- along with most of the men in his small town -- isdeployed to Ir

The inspiration for the major motion picture starring BradPitt and Cate Blanchettaplus eighteen other stories by the belovedauthor of "The Great Gatsby" IN THE TITLE STORY, a baby born in1860 begins life as an old man and proceeds to age backward. F.Scott Fizgerald hinted at this kind of inversion when he called hisera aa generation grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought,all faiths in man shaken.a Perhaps nowhere in American fiction hasthis aLost Generationa been more vividly preserved than inFitzgeraldas short fiction. Spanning the early twentieth-centuryAmerican landscape, this original collection captures, withFitzgeraldas signature blend of enchantment and disillusionment,America during the Jazz Age.

One of Vonnegut's major works, this is an apocalyptic tale ofthe planet's ultimate fate, featuring a cast of unlikelyheroes.

One of the greatest French novelists, Balzac was also anaccomplished writer of shorter fiction. This volume includes twelveof his finest short stories many of which feature characters fromhis epic series of novels the Comedie Humaine. Compelling tales ofacute social and psychological insight, they fully demonstrate themastery of suspense and revelation that were the hallmarks ofBalzac's genius. In The Atheist's Mass, we learn the true reasonfor a distinguished atheist surgeon's attendance at religiousservices; La Grande Breteche describes the horrific truth behindthe locked doors of a decaying country mansion, while The Red Innrelates a brutal tale of murder and betrayal. A fascinatingcounterpoint to the renowned novels, all the stories collected herestand by themselves as mesmerizing works by one of the finestwriters of nineteenth-century France.

It's an unquestioned truth of modern life: we are starved fortime. We tell ourselves we'd like to read more, get to the gymregularly, try new hobbies, and accomplish all kinds of goals. Butthen we give up because there just aren't enough hours to do itall. Or if we don't make excuses, we make sacrifices- taking timeout from other things in order to fit it all in. There has to be a better way...and Laura Vanderkam has found one.After interviewing dozens of successful, happy people, she realizedthat they allocate their time differently than most of us. Insteadof letting the daily grind crowd out the important stuff, theystart by making sure there's time for the important stuff. Whenplans go wrong and they run out of time, only their lesserpriorities suffer. Vanderkam shows that with a little examination and prioritizing,you'll find it is possible to sleep eight hours a night, exercisefive days a week, take piano lessons, and write a novel withoutgiving up quality time for work, family, and other things thatr

Rand is on the run with Min, but his destination is a mysteryto Cadsuane. Mazrim Taim, leader of the Black Tower, is revealed tobe a liar, but his purpose remains shrouded in secrecy. Perrin ishunting desperately for Faile, now a prisoner of Sevanna's sept.With Elyas Machera, Berelain, the Prophet, and a very mixed army ofdisparate forces, he is moving through country rife with banditsand roving Seanchan ...while the man called Slayer is stalking theWolf Dream and Tel'aran'rhiod. In Tar Valon, the schemers andcounter-schemers in Elaida's White Tower are shaken to the corewhen Egwene and the rebels appear suddenly outside the walls. InEbou Dar, the Seanchan princess known as Daughter of the Nine Moonsarrives - and Mat, who has been recuperating in the Tarasin Palace,is introduced to her. Will the marriage that has been foretold comeabout? WINTER'S HEART is a triumph of epic storytelling, and amagnificent addition to a landmark series in the fantasy genre.

Shots rang out in Savannah's grandest mansion in themisty,early morning hours of May 2, 1981. Was it murder orself-defense? For nearly a decade, the shooting and its aftermathreverberated throughout this hauntingly beautiful city of moss-hungoaks and shaded squares. John Berendt's sharply observed,suspenseful, and witty narrative reads like a thoroughly engrossingnovel, and yet it is a work of nonfiction. Berendt skillfullyinterweaves a hugely entertaining first-person account of life inthis isolated remnant of the Old South with the unpredictabletwists and turns of a landmark murder case. It is a spellbinding story peopled by a gallery of remarkablecharacters: the well-bred society ladies of the Married Woman'sCard Club; the turbulent young redneck gigolo; the hapless reclusewho owns a bottle of poison so powerful it could kill every man,woman, and child in Savannah; the aging and profane Southern bellewho is the "soul of pampered self-absorption"; the uproariouslyfunny black drag queen; the ace

Vicki Forman gave birth to Evan and Ellie, weighing just a poundat birth, at twenty-three weeks gestation. During the delivery shebegged the doctors to "let her babies go" she knew all too wellthat at twenty-three weeks they could very well die and, if theysurvived, they would face a high risk of permanent disabilities.However, California law demanded resuscitation. Her daughter diedjust four days later; her son survived and was indeed multiplydisabled: blind, nonverbal, and dependent on a feeding tube. ThisLovely Life tells, with brilliant intensity, of what became of theForman family after the birth of the twins the harrowing medicalinterventions and ethical considerations involving the sanctity oflife and death. In the end, the longdelayed first steps of afive-year-old child will seem like the fist-pumping stuff of atriumph narrative. Formans intelligent voice gives a sensitive,nuanced rendering of her guilt, her anger, and her eventualacceptance in this portrait of a mothers fierce love for herchildren.

The autobiographical novel of a journey from the Britishcolony of Trinidad to the ancient countryside of England.

The set, boxed in a lavish silver metallic, features The Best American Travel Writing 2006, edited by Tim Cahill; The Best American Spiritual Writing 2006, introduced by Peter J. Gomes; and, like the first set, The Best American Short Stories 2006, edited by Ann Patchett.

Kenneth Trachtenberg, the witty and eccentric narrator of"More Die of Heartbreak," has left his native Paris for theMidwest. He has come to be near his beloved uncle, theworld-renowned botanist Benn Crader, self-described aplantvisionary.a While his studies take him around the world, Benn, arestless spirit, has not been able to satisfy his longings afterhis first marriage and lives from affair to affair and from ablissto breakdown.a Imagining that a settled existence will end hisanguish, Benn ties the knot again, opening the door to a flood ofnew torments. As Kenneth grapples with his own problems involvinghis unusual lady-friend Treckie, the two men try to figure out whygifted and intelligent people invariably find themselves aknee-deepin the garbage of a personal life.a