BC HCDJ Michele Slung: I Shudder at Your Touch 145852

A sensational anthology of sex, horror from Stephen King (who also reads his story), Ruth Rendell, Patrick McGrath, and Thomas M. Disch....

Rose is spunky with an inborn talent for theatrics, but being slightly overweight and unpopular at the fancy new school where she's a scholarship student is bad enough. It doesn't help that her single mother is at war with her; her fisherman father lives practically next door with his own wife and kids; and the whole of their insular, gossipy community knows she's an illegitimate child. On the other hand, maybe it isn't so bad being related to half the town and unofficially adopted by everyone.John Casey's magnificent new novel follows Rose and the complex constellation of family, friends, and foes that circle around her as the years go by, working their slow but irreversible changes on one another and on the rugged, magical landscape they inhabit, with its salt marshes, its creeks and rivers, and the ever-present ocean, whose rhythms and moods shape and reshape the lives of the men and women of Rhode Island.An extraordinary family saga from the beloved National Book Award–winning author

On the pavement, Hannah Bernstein was trying to haul herself up, clutching at the railings as Dillon got to her. "You're all right, just hold on to me." But there was blood coming down her face, and he was afraid. In Jack Higgins's acclaimed bestseller Dark Justice, intelligence operative Sean Dillon and his colleagues in Britain and the United States beat back a terrible enemy, but at an equally terrible cost. One of them was shot, another run down in the street. Both were expected to survive-but only one of them does. As Detective Superintendent Hannah Bernstein of Special Branch lies recuperating in the hospital, a dark shadow from her and Dillon's past, scarred deep by hatred, steals across the room and finishes the job. Consumed by grief and rage, Dillon, Blake, Ferguson, and all who loved Hannah swear vengeance, no matter where it takes them. But they have no idea of the searing journey upon which they are about to embark-nor of the war that will change them all.

From CountrywideÂ's former Senior VP of Marketing, the first engrossing inside look at Countrywide Home Loans, how the mortgage crisis startedÂ?and where it may end.In July 2004, Adam Michaelson entered Â?The VaultÂ?Â?an underground bunker at Countrywide headquartersÂ?for a meeting about a new loan product that would allow borrowers to pay less than their minimum monthly payment. After the Â?finance jocksÂ? proudly made their case, Michaelson asked one question: Â?Are you nuts?Â? CountrywideÂ's decision-makers believed these new exotic loans were Â?worth the risk.Â? The booming housing market would only get bigger, with ever-increasing home values supporting homeowners in a never-ending cycle of borrowing against the virtual value of their homes and refinancing later. They were dead wrong. With both an insiderÂ's knowledge and thorough reporting on the ripple effects on American families and the economy, this fascinating, witty, and wide-ranging book not only examines the moralit

In the tenth book of The Wheel of Time from the New York Times #1 bestselling author Robert Jordan, the world and the characters stand at a crossroads, and the world approaches twilight, when the power of the Shadow grows stronger.Fleeing from Ebou Dar with the kidnapped Daughter of the Nine Moons, whom he is fated to marry, Mat Cauthon learns that he can neither keep her nor let her go, not in safety for either of them, for both the Shadow and the might of the Seanchan Empire are in deadly pursuit.Perrin Aybara seeks to free his wife, Faile, a captive of the Shaido, but his only hope may be an alliance with the enemy. Can he remain true to his friend Rand and to himself? For his love of Faile, Perrin is willing to sell his soul.At Tar Valon, Egwene al'Vere, the young Amyrlin of the rebel Aes Sedai, lays siege to the heart of Aes Sedai power, but she must win quickly, with as little bloodshed as possible, for unless the Aes Sedai are reunited, only the male Asha

In the tradition of Michele Slung's I Shudder at Your Touch, the ard-winning author of Children of the Night explores the fascinating relationship between eroticism and horror in an original collection of psycho-sexual themes, some touched by the supernatural.

Michele Slung has collected an enchantingly rich bouquet of captivating, memorable, and frequently surprising stories about gardens and gardening. Eudora Welty, James Thurber, Doris Lessing, Lisa St. Aubin, Saki, V.S. Prichett, Colette, and Robert Graves are included, along with unexpected finds from Stephen King, J.G. Ballard, Sandra Cisneros, Jane Smiley, and Garrison Keillor, among others. The gardens featured in these stories are both cultivated and wild, while the gardeners can be lethal, lazy, rueful, or philandering. There are moments of nearly overpowering sensuousness, and there are moments of tenderness that will touch your heart. Whether you've nurtured a solitary houseplant on a windowsill, acres of glorious blooming flowerbeds, or simply a bright gleam of imagination, The Garden of Reading will remind you of the magic and wonder of the world around us.

On September 6, 2007, an African Grey parrot named Alex died prematurely at age thirty-one. His last words to his owner, Irene Pepperberg, were "You be good. I love you."What would normally be a quiet, very private event was, in Alex's case, headline news. Over the thirty years they had worked together, Alex and Irene had become famous—two pioneers who opened an unprecedented window into the hidden yet vast world of animal minds. Alex's brain was the size of a shelled walnut, and when Irene and Alex first met, birds were not believed to possess any potential for language, consciousness, or anything remotely comparable to human intelligence. Yet, over the years, Alex proved many things. He could add. He could sound out words. He understood concepts like bigger, smaller, more, fewer, and none. He was capable of thought and intention. Together, Alex and Irene uncovered a startling reality: We live in a world populated by thinking, conscious creatures.The fame that resulted was extraordinar

Dodson (sociology, Boston College) describes an underground, if unorganized, world of resistance to economic abuse at the intersection of middle-income and lower-income Americans, such as the mother who leaves work secretly in order to care for her children or the manager who pads his employees' time cards because he knows they are just barely getting by. She explores the ethical views of middle-income and lower-income Americans in work, educational, and health cares settings with regards to economic disparities of pay and treatment and discusses how often people are driven to subverting the rules of their workplaces in order to address what they see as injustice, although she keeps description of the actual tactics and strategies deployed deliberately vague. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

The #1 New York Times Bestselling AuthorA Stephanie Plum NovelJanet Evanovich's novels are the hottest bestsellers in America!# 1 New York Times# 1 Wall Street Journal#1 Los Angeles Times#1 Entertainment Weekly#1 Publishers WeeklyStephanie Plum's got rent to pay, people shooting at her, and psychos wanting her dead every day of the week (much to the dismay of her mother, her family, the men in her life, the guy who slices meat at the deli . . . oh, the list goes on). An ordinary person would cave under the pressure.But hey, she's from Jersey.Stephanie Plum may not be the best bounty hunter in beautiful downtown Trenton, but she's pretty darn good at turning bad situations her way . . . and she always gets her man. In To the Nines, her cousin Vinnie (who's also her boss) has posted bail on Samuel Singh, an illegal immigrant. When the elusive Mr. Singh goes