Balram Halwai is a complicated man. Servant. Philosopher. Entrepreneur. Murderer. Over the course of seven nights, Balram tells us the terrible and transfixing story of how he came to be a success in life--having nothing but his own wits to help him along. And with a charisma as undeniable as it is unexpected, Balram teaches us that religion doesn't create virtue, and money doesn't solve every problem--but decency can still be found in a corrupt world, and you can get what you want out of life if you eavesdrop on the right conversations. Amoral, irreverent, deeply endearing, and utterly contemporary, this novel is an international sensation--and a startling, provocative debut.

In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter....

Laura Chase's older sister Iris, married at eighteen to a politically prominent industrialist but now poor and eighty-two, is living in Port Ticonderoga, a town dominated by their once-prosperous family before the First War. While coping with her unreliable body, Iris reflects on her far from exemplary life, in particular the events surrounding her sister's tragic death. Chief among these was the publication of The Blind Assassin, a novel which earned the dead Laura Chase not only notoriety but also a devoted cult following. Sexually explicit for its time, The Blind Assassin describes a risky affair in the turbulent thirties between a wealthy young woman and a man on the run. During their secret meetings in rented rooms, the lovers concoct a pulp fantasy set on Planet Zycron. As the invented story twists through love and sacrifice and betrayal, so does the real one; while events in both move closer to war and catastrophe. By turns lyrical, outrageous, formidable, compelling and funny, this is a novel fi

After 103 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and with four million copies of The Kite Runner shipped, Khaled Hosseini returns with a beautiful, riveting, and haunting novel that confirms his place as one of the most important literary writers today. Propelled by the same superb instinct for storytelling that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once an incredible chronicle of thirty years of Afghan history and a deeply moving story of family, friendship, faith, and the salvation to be found in love. Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss and by fate. As they endure the ever escalating dangers around them-in their home as well as in the streets of Kabul-they come to form a bond that makes them both sisters and mother-daughter to each other, and that will ultimately alter the course not just of their own lives but of the next generation. With heart-wrench

A rich, authoritative look at a material that plays anessential role in human culture Wood has been a central part of human life throughout the world forthousands of years. In an intoxicating mix of science, history, andpractical information, historian and woodworker Harvey Greenconsiders this vital material's place on the planet. What makes onewood hard and one soft? How did we find it, tame it? Where does itfit into the histories of technology, architecture, andindustrialization, of empire, exploration, and settlement? Spanningthe surprising histories of the log cabin and Windsor chair, thedeep truth about veneer, the role of wood in the AmericanRevolution, the disappearance of the rain forests, the botanybehind the baseball bat, and much more, Wood is a deep andsatisfying look at one of our most treasured resources.

In these eight tales, Munro evokes the devastating power of old love suddenly recollected. She tells of vanished schoolgirls and indentured frontier brides and an eccentric recluse who, in the course of one surpassingly odd dinner party, inadvertently lands herself a wealthy suitor from exotic Australia. And Munro shows us how one woman's romantic tale of capture and escape in the high Balkans may end up inspiring another woman who is fleeing a husband and lover in present-day Canada. "Open Secrets is a book that dazzles with its faith in language and in life."--New York Times Book Review

In five elegant autobiographical meditations Calvino delves intohis past, remembering awkward childhood walks with his father, alifelong obsession with the cinema and fighting in the ItalianResistance against the Fascists. He also muses on the socialcontracts, language and sensations associated with emptying thekitchen rubbish and the shape he would, if asked, consider theworld. These reflections on the nature of memory itself areengaging, witty, and lit through with Calvino's alchemicalbrilliance.

Wayward daughters. Missing Husbands. Philandering partners. Curious conmen. If you've got a problem, and no one else can help you, then pay a visit to Precious Ramotswe, Botswana's only - and finest - female private detective. Her methods may not be conventional, and her manner not exactly Miss Marple, but she's got warmth, wit and canny intuition on her side, not to mention Mr J. L. B. Matekoni, the charming proprietor of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors. And Precious is going to need them all as she sets out on the trail of a missing child, a case that tumbles our heroine into a hotbed of strange situations and more than a little danger ...Delightfully different, THE NO.1 LADIES' DETECTIVE AGENCY offers a captivating glimpse of an unusual world.

When Isabella Swan moves to the gloomy town of Forks and meets the mysterious, alluring Edward Cullen, her life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. With his porcelain skin, golden eyes, mesmerizing voice, and supernatural gifts, Edward is both irresistible and impenetrable. Up until now, he has managed to keep his true identity hidden, but Bella is determined to uncover his dark secret. What Bella doesn't realize is that the closer she gets to him, the more she is putting herself and those around her at risk. And it might be too late to turn back... Deeply seductive and irresistibly compelling, Twilight is an extraordinary love story that will stay with you long after you have turned the final page.

二十一岁的巴特与十八岁的新兵莫菲，於美国出兵伊拉克前夕于军中相识，两人一见如故，巴特答应莫菲母亲，会平安带著她儿子归来，但二○○五年，只剩巴特独自一人退伍返国。莫菲在伊拉克战场上因饱受死亡威胁，精神崩溃逃出军营，巴特与士官长施大林发现他时，莫菲已遭不明人士虐杀，全身赤裸，不仅眼睛被挖出，耳朵、鼻子被割掉，生殖器也几乎被切断，两人在怕事的心态下将莫菲丢入河中佯装失踪，巴特事后假扮莫菲写了封信给莫菲之母。然而等到巴特退伍回国后，莫菲的尸体浮现在底格里斯河与幼发拉底河的汇流处…… A novel written by a veteran of the war in Iraq, The YellowBirds is the harrowing story of two young soldiers trying to stayalive. "The war tried to kill us in the spring." So begins thispowerful account of friendship and loss. In Al Tafar, Iraq,twenty-one-year old Private Bartle and eighte

In 1925, four-year-old Michael Tolkien lost his beloved toydog on the beach. To console him, his father, J.R.R. Tolkien,improvised a story about Rover, a real dog who is magicallytransformed into a toy and is forced to seek out the wizard whowronged him in order to be returned to normal. This charming tale,peopled by a sand-sorcerer and a terrible dragon, by the king ofthe sea and the Man-in-the-Moon, endured several drafts over theyears. Now, more than seventy years later, the adventures of Roverare published for the first time. Rich in wit and wordplay,Roverandom is edited and introduced by Christina Scull and Wayne G.Hammond and illustrated with Tolkien's own delightful drawings.

Then one day Lenny vanishes,his yacht discovered abandoned far out at sea.The police believe his death was no accident;that his involvement in a spectaculay financial fraud was about to be exposed to the world.But Grace can't accept the terrible allegations now coming to light,and she will learn the truth...even if that truth destroys her.

The New York Times bestseller and Booker Prize contender that"delivers...a ghost story that creeps up your spine" (SeattleTimes). One post-war summer in rural Warwickshire, Dr. Faraday is calledto a patient at lonely Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family forover two centuries, the Georgian house, once impressive andhandsome, is now in decline. Its owners-mother, son, anddaughter-are struggling to keep pace with a changing society, aswell as with conflicts of their own. But are the Ayreses haunted bysomething more sinister than a dying way of life? Little does Dr.Faraday know how closely, and how terrifyingly, their story isabout to become intimately entwined with his.

There was a time when love was the mostimportant thing in the world. People would go to the end of theearth to find it. They would tell lies for it. Even kill for it.Then, at last, they found the cure. Now, everything is different.Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the government demandsthat all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. LenaHaloway has always looked forward to the day when she'll be cured.A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured,predictable, and happy. But then, with only ninety-five days leftuntil her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable.

"Simpty [has] to go down in gossip history....Just read this novel for the heir of it and enjoy....It's horribty funny." -Liz Smith "Bring on the screeching fashion whores-this is pure gossipy pteasure....Juicy dish." -Chicago Sun-Tirues "Thits season's must-have accessory....Weisberger nails the so-called glamour of New York's fashion world,"-Rocky Mountain News

A third wonderfully moving novel from internationally bestselling author Mitch Albom, whose books have touched the hearts of millions around the world. A compelling exploration of faith and spirituality - always moving, often profound - is the cornerstone of Albom's work. Have a Little Faith, like his first two novels, is a poignant and inspiring read - one that will enchant fans old and new.