A city is hit by an epidemic of "white blindness" that sparesno one. Authorities confine the first to go blind to an emptymental hospital, but there the criminal element holds everyonecaptive, stealing food rations and assault-ing women. There is oneeyewitness to this nightmare who guides seven strangers through thebarren streets to freedom--a procession as uncanny as thesurroundings are harrowing. Blindness is an unsettling portrait of man's inhumanity toman-and of humankind's resilient spirit. Discussion guide available at www.HarcourtBooks.com .
Thick Face, Black Heart is a profound distillation of ancientChinese wisdom and experience filtered through a modern Asianbusiness perspective. Blending stories and principles drawn fromChinese military history and modern entrepreneurship, author Chushows that success is achievable by anyone who follows the lessonsin this invaluable guide and learns how to: develop and employintuition as a business tool, master defeat, acquire a killerinstinct, solve the mystery of money, thrive among the cunning andruthless, and much more.
In "The Persian Expedition", Xenophon, a young Athenian noblewho sought his destiny abroad, provides an enthralling eyewitnessaccount of the attempt by a Greek mercenary army - the Ten Thousand- to help Prince Cyrus overthrow his brother and take the Persianthrone. When the Greeks were then betrayed by their Persianemployers, they were forced to march home through hundreds of milesof difficult terrain n adrift in a hostile country and underconstant attack from the unforgiving Persians and warlike tribes.In this outstanding de*ion of endurance and individualbravery, Xenophon, one of those chosen to lead the retreating army,provides a vivid narrative of the campaign and its aftermath, andhis account remains one of the best pictures we have of Greeksconfronting a 'barbarian' world.
This true story about the love between a spiritual mentor and his pupil has soared to the bestseller list for many reasons。For starters：it reminds us of the affection and gratitude that many of us still feel for the significant mentors of our past。It also plays out a fantasy many of us have entertained：what would it be like to look those people up again。tell them how much they meant to us。 maybe even resume the mentorship？ Plus。we meet Morrie Schwartz——a one of a kind professor。whom the author describes as looking like a cross between a biblical prophet and Christmas elf。And finally we are privy to intimate moments of Morrie’s final days as he lies dying from a terminal illness。Even on his deathbed。this twinkling-eyed mensch manages to teach us all about living robustly and fully。Kudos to author and acclaimed sports columnist Mitch Albom for telling this universally touching story with such grace and humility。 作者简介： MITCH ALBOM iS the author ofthe internationa
Since the series' inception in 1915, the annual volumes of TheBest American Short Stories have launched literary careers,showcased the most compelling stories of each year, and confirmedfor all time the significance of the short story in our nationalliterature. Now THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES OF THE CENTURYbrings together the best -- fifty-six extraordinary stories thatrepresent a century's worth of unsurpassed achievements in thisquintessentially American literary genre. This expanded editionincludes a new story from The Best American Short Stories 1999 toround out the century, as well as an index including every storypublished in the series. Of all the writers whose work has appearedin the series, only John Updike has been represented in each of thelast five decades, from his first appearance, in 1959, to his mostrecent, in 1998. Updike worked with coeditor Katrina Kenison tochoose the finest stories from the years since 1915. The result is"extraordinary . . . A one-volume literary history of thi
本书主要内容：约翰23岁时，高中毕业便不再升学，终日不知所以地换了一份又一份工作，惶惶然地在酒吧饮酒作乐度过，恋情不断却未见真爱。直到有一天，他毅然投效军旅，并于放假回家时，在家乡的艳阳下、沙滩上，偶然结识正值花样年华的莎文娜。21岁的莎文娜，成长背景与约翰相去甚远，不同于约翰的放浪形骸，她单纯、善良、率真，有坚定的理念与信仰，有清楚而明确的目标。透过莎文娜，约翰重新认识了自己，也重新认识了爱情。甜蜜的相处时光总是短暂，约翰必须回到军队，甚至被派驻海外。时间一天又一天地过去，这段靠书信维系、偶而得以见上一面的远距离恋情，终因莎文娜的一封分手信而划下句点。陷入心碎绝境的约翰，没有立刻打电话给莎文娜，也没有立刻飞回家乡，只是把信折好放回信封，决定去哪里都带着它，像是带着上战场所
When the Good Friday peace accords are shattered by threesavage acts of terrorism, Northern Ireland is blown back into thedepths of conflict. And after his father-in-law is nominated tobecome the new American ambassador to London, retired CIA agentMichael Osbourne is drawn back into the game. He soon discoversthat his father-in-law is marked for execution. And that he himselfis once again in the crosshairs of a killer known as October, oneof the most merciless assassins the world has ever known...
"Last Night I Dreamt I Went To Manderley Again." So the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter remembered the chilling eventsthat led her down the turning drive past ther beeches, white andnaked, to the isolated gray stone manse on the windswept Cornishcoast. With a husband she barely knew, the young bride arrived atthis immense estate, only to be inexorably drawn into the life ofthe first Mrs. de Winter, the beautiful Rebecca, dead but neverforgotten...her suite of rooms never touched, her clothes ready tobe worn, her servant -- the sinister Mrs. Danvers -- still loyal.And as an eerie presentiment of evil tightened around her heart,the second Mrs. de Winter began her search for the real fate ofRebecca...for the secrets of Manderley. --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.
#1 "New York Times" bestselling author Nora Roberts invitesreaders to the wedding event of the year #1 "New York Times"bestselling author Nora Roberts presents her first trade original-anovel of love, friendship, and family-Book One in the BrideQuartet. Wedding photographer Mackensie "Mac" Elliot is most athome behind the camera, but her focus is shattered moments beforean important wedding rehearsal when she bumps into thebride-to-be's brother...an encounter that has them both seeingstars. A stable, safe English teacher, Carter Maguire is definitelynot Mac's type. But a casual fling might be just what she needs totake her mind off bridezillas. Of course, casual flings can turninto something more when you least expect it. And Mac will have toturn to her three best friends-and business partners-to see her wayto her own happy ending.
The ultimate battle between good and evil
In Style Parties: The Complete Guide to Easy, ElegantEntertaining is the one-stop guide to making every event stylishand personal, and it proves once and for all that entertaining athome can be easy, fabulous, and fun. Organized in three sections,the book includes: * The basics of party preparation, including what to serve andhow to create the perfect atmosphere * Complete party guides for every occasion, from dinner partiesfor 8 to cocktail parties for 30 * A listing of the country's top resources for food, drink, anddecor, from artisanal cheeses and exotic chocolates to flowers andflatwear With its elegant illustrations and vibrant images ofcelebrity-studded events, colorful drinks, luscious foods, andsophisticated decor, In Style Parties puts the fun of partiesfirst. This beautifully designed, all-purpose, indispensable guideshows readers how to think like a movie star while organizing likea caterer. The reward is in enjoying your own party as much as yourguests. And In Style
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Imagine a year without Christmas. No crowded malls, no corny officeparties, no fruitcakes, no unwanted presents. That’s just whatLuther and Nora Krank have in mind when they decide that, just thisonce, they’ll skip the holiday altogether. Theirs will be the onlyhouse on Hemlock Street without a rooftop Frosty, they won’t behosting their annual Christmas Eve bash, they aren’t even going tohave a tree. They won’t need one, because come December 25 they’resetting sail on a Caribbean cruise. But as this weary couple isabout to discover, skipping Christmas brings enormousconsequences—and isn’t half as easy as they’d imagined. A classic tale for modern times, Skipping Christmas offers ahilarious look at the chaos and frenzy that have become part of ourholiday tradition.
Alienated from society, Harry Hailer is the Steppenwolf:wild,strange and shy. His despair and desire for death draw himintoan enchanted Faustian underworld. Through a series ofshadowyencounters - romantic, freakish and savage by turn -Hailer beginsto rediscover the lost dreams of his youth. Adopted by the sixties' counterculture,Steppenwolf captured the mood of a disaffected generation that wasbeginning to question everything.
When Atlantic Monthly Press relaunched her Commissario GuidoBrunetti series. Donna Leon was hailed as "the best mystery writeryou've never heard of...She uses the relatively small andcrime-free canvas of Venice for riffs about Italian life, sexualstyles and--best of all--the kind of ingrown business and politicalcorruption that seems to lurk just below the surface" ("ChicagoTribune). Now "Blood from a Stone brings her celebrated characterCommissario Guido Brunetti back on the scene: On a cold Venetiannight shortly before Christmas, a street vendor is killed in ascuffle in Campo San Stefano. The closest witnesses to the eventare the tourists who had been browsing the man's wares before hisdeath--fake handbags of every designer label. The dead man had beenworking as a "vu cumpra, one of the many African immigrantspurveying goods outside normal shop hours, trading without workpermits. Commissario Brunetti's response is that of everybodyinvolved: Why would anyone kill an illegal immigrant? With fewsocial c
Vehicles move through the murky night, carrying highly secret material. And that clandestine material will only be available--after midnight--to those who have signed non-disclosure notices. The plot of the new Dan Brown novel? No, it’s actually how reviewers such as myself obtained our copies of the much-anticipated The Lost Symbol, the follow-up to the Da Vinci Code. And as we read it in (literally) the cold light of dawn, we wonder: is it likely to match the earlier book’s all-conquering, phenomenal success? Firstly, it should be noted that The Lost Symbol has incorporated all the elements that so transfixed readers in The Da Vinci Code: a complex, mystifying plot (with the reader set quite as many challenges as the protagonist); breathless, helter-skelter pace (James Patterson's patented technique of keeping readers hooked by ending chapters with a tantalisingly unresolved situation is very much part of Dan Brown’s armoury). And, of course, the winning central character, resourceful symbologi
On election day in the capital, it is raining so hard that noone has bothered to come out to vote. The politicians are growingjittery. Should they reschedule the elections for another day?Around three o'clock, the rain finally stops. Promptly at four,voters rush to the polling stations, as if they had been ordered toappear. But when the ballots are counted, more than 70 percent areblank. The citizens are rebellious. A state of emergency isdeclared. But are the authorities acting too precipitously? Or evenblindly? The word evokes terrible memories of the plague ofblindness that hit the city four years before, and of the one womanwho kept her sight. Could she be behind the blank ballots? A policesuperintendent is put on the case. What begins as a satire ongovernments and the sometimes dubious efficacy of the democraticsystem turns into something far more sinister. A singular novelfrom the author of Blindness.
Set during the Napoleonic wars at a time of national economicstruggles, Shirley is an unsentimental yet passionatedepiction of conflict among classes, sexes, and generations.Struggling manufacturer Robert Moore considers marriage to thewealthy and independent Shirley Keeldar, yet his heart lies withhis cousin Caroline. Shirley, meanwhile, is in love with Robert’sbrother, an impoverished tutor. As industrial unrest builds to apotentially fatal pitch, can the four be reconciled?
Roland the Gunfighter and his two companions continue the quest for the tower at the portal of all the worlds...in this third volume in the epic that continues to dominate the bestseller lists.
"A very funny book... no character is minor: they're allhilarious." --"Houston Chronicle." "In The Road To Gandolfo,"Robert Ludlum introduced us to the outrageous General MacKenzieHawkins and his legal wizard, Sam Devereaux, whose plot to kidnapthe Pope spun wildly out of control into sheer hilarity. NowLudlum's two wayward heroes return with a diabolical scheme toright a very old wrong -- and wreak vengeance on the (expletivedeleted) who drummed the hawk out of the military. Their outragedopposition will be no less than the White House. ByzantineTreachery. Discovering a long-buried 1878 treaty with an obscureIndian tribe, the hawk -- a.k.a. Chief Thunder Head -- hatches abrilliant plot that will ultimately bring him and his reluctantlawyer Sam before the Supreme Court. Their goal: to reclaim achoice piece of American real estate -- the state of Nebraska.Which just happened to the headquarters of the U.S. Strategic AirCommand Will they succeed against the powers that be? Will theWopotami tribe ever hav
Late one night, exploring her father's library, a young womanfinds an ancient book and a cache of yellowing letters addressedominously to 'My dear and unfortunate successor'. Her discoveryplunges her into a world she never dreamed of - a labyrinth wherethe secrets of her father's past and her mother's mysterious fateconnect to an evil hidden in the depths of history. In those fewquiet moments, she unwittingly assumes a quest she will discover isher birthright - a hunt for the truth about Vlad the Impaler, themedieval ruler whose barbarous reign formed the basis of theDracula myth. Deciphering obscure signs and hidden texts, readingcodes worked into the fabric of medieval monastic traditions, andevading terrifying adversaries, one woman comes ever closer to thesecret of her own past and a confrontation with the very definitionof evil. Elizabeth Kostova's debut novel is an adventure of monumentalproportions - a captivating tale that blends fact and fantasy,history and the present with an assurance
