A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1) by George R. R. Martin (Author)
NOW THE ACCLAIMED HBO SERIES GAME OF THRONES?THE MASTERPIECE THAT BECAME A CULTURAL PHENOMENON
Winter is coming. Such is the stern motto of House Stark, the northernmost of the fiefdoms that owe allegiance to King Robert Baratheon in far-off King?s Landing. There Eddard Stark of Winterfell rules in Robert?s name. There his family dwells in peace and comfort: his proud wife, Catelyn; his sons Robb, Brandon, and Rickon; his daughters Sansa and Arya; and his bastard son, Jon Snow. Far to the north, behind the towering Wall, lie savage Wildings and worse?unnatural things relegated to myth during the centuries-long summer, but proving all too real and all too deadly in the turning of the season.
Yet a more immediate threat lurks to the south, where Jon Arryn, the Hand of the King, has died under mysterious circumstances. Now Robert is riding north to Winterfell, bringing his queen, the lovely but cold Cersei, his son, the cruel, vainglorious Prince Joffrey, and the queen?s brothers Jaime and Tyrion of the powerful and wealthy House Lannister?the first a swordsman without equal, the second a dwarf whose stunted stature belies a brilliant mind. All are heading for Winterfell and a fateful encounter that will change the course of kingdoms.
Meanwhile, across the Narrow Sea, Prince Viserys, heir of the fallen House Targaryen, which once ruled all of Westeros, schemes to reclaim the throne with an army of barbarian Dothraki?whose loyalty he will purchase in the only coin left to him: his beautiful yet innocent sister, Daenerys.
A Gentleman in Moscow: A Novel by Amor Towles (Author)
A New York Times ?Readers? Choice: Best Books of the 21st Century? Pick
The mega-bestseller with more than 2 million readers?Now a Paramount+ with Showtime series starring Ewan McGregor as Count Alexander Rostov
From the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Lincoln Highway and Table for Two, a beautifully transporting novel about a man who is ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel
In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel?s doors. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery.
Brimming with humor, a glittering cast of characters, and one beautifully rendered scene after another, this singular novel casts a spell as it relates the count?s endeavor to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a man of purpose.
A Girl Is A Body of Water by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi (Author)
?Makumbi is such an honest, truthful writer. . . . I loved every single page.? ?Tayari Jones, author of An American Marriage
A Best Book of the Year at TIME; The Washington Post; O, the Oprah Magazine; BBC
Winner of the Jhalak Prize
In her thirteenth year, Kirabo confronts a piercing question: who is my mother? Kirabo has been raised by women in the small Ugandan village of Nattetta?her grandmother, her best friend, and her many aunts?but the absence of her mother follows her like a shadow. Seeking answers from Nsuuta, the local witch, Kirabo learns about the woman who birthed her, who she discovers is alive but not ready to meet. Nsuuta also helps Kirabo understand the emergence of a mysterious second self, a headstrong and confusing force inside her?this, says Nsuuta, is a streak of the ?first woman?: an independent, original state that has been all but lost to women.
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder
A History of the Popes: From Peter to the Present by John W. O’Malley SJ (Author)
A History of the Popes tells the story of the oldest living institution in the Western world?the papacy. From its origins in Saint Peter, Jesus' chief disciple, through Pope Benedict XVI today, the popes have been key players in virtually all of the great dramas of the western world in the last two thousand years. Acclaimed church historian John W. O'Malley's engaging narrative examines the 265 individuals who have claimed to be Peter's successors. Rather than describe each pope one by one, the book focuses on the popes that shaped pivotal moments in both church and world history. The author does not shy away from controversies in the church, and includes legends like Pope Joan and a comprehensive list of popes and antipopes to help readers get a full picture of the papacy.
This simultaneously reverent yet critical book will appeal to readers interested in both religion and history as it chronicles the saints and sinners who have led the Roman Catholic Church over the past 2000 years. The author draws from his popular audio CD lecture series on the topic, 2,000 Years of Papal History, available through Now You Know Media (www.nowyouknowmedia.com).
A House Without Windows: A Novel by Nadia Hashimi (Author)
A vivid, unforgettable story of an unlikely sisterhood?an emotionally powerful and haunting tale of friendship that illuminates the plight of women in a traditional culture?from the author of the bestselling The Pearl That Broke Its Shell and When the Moon Is Low.
For two decades, Zeba was a loving wife, a patient mother, and a peaceful villager. But her quiet life is shattered when her husband, Kamal, is found brutally murdered with a hatchet in the courtyard of their home. Nearly catatonic with shock, Zeba is unable to account for her whereabouts at the time of his death. Her children swear their mother could not have committed such a heinous act. Kamal?s family is sure she did, and demands justice.
Barely escaping a vengeful mob, Zeba is arrested and jailed. As Zeba awaits trial, she meets a group of women whose own misfortunes have also led them to these bleak cells: thirty-year-old Nafisa, imprisoned to protect her from an honor killing; twenty-five-year-old Latifa, who ran away from home with her teenage sister but now stays in the prison because it is safe shelter; and nineteen-year-old Mezhgan, pregnant and unmarried, waiting for her lover?s family to ask for her hand in marriage. Is Zeba a cold-blooded killer, these young women wonder, or has she been imprisoned, as they have been, for breaking some social rule? For these women, the prison is both a haven and a punishment. Removed from the harsh and unforgiving world outside, they form a lively and indelible sisterhood.
Into this closed world comes Yusuf, Zeba?s Afghan-born, American-raised lawyer, whose commitment to human rights and desire to help his motherland have brought him back. With the fate of this seemingly ordinary housewife in his hands, Yusuf discovers that, like Afghanistan itself, his client may not be at all what he imagines.
A moving look at the lives of modern Afghan women, A House Without Windows is astonishing, frightening, and triumphant.
A Killing on the Hill by Robert Dugoni (Author)
A gripping new thriller from New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni.
The Great Depression. High-level corruption. And a murder that?s about to become Seattle?s hottest mystery. It?s the kind of story that can make a reporter?s career. If he lives to write about it.
Seattle, 1933. The city is in the grips of the Great Depression, Prohibition, and vice. Cutting his teeth on a small-time beat, hungry and ambitious young reporter William ?Shoe? Shumacher gets a tip that could change his career. There?s been a murder at a social club on Profanity Hill?an underworld magnet for vice crimes only a privileged few can afford. The story is going to be front-page news, and Shoe is the first reporter on the scene.
The victim, Frankie Ray, is a former prizefighter. His accused killer? Club owner and mobster George Miller, who claims he pulled the trigger in self-defense. Soon the whole town?s talking, and Shoe?s first homicide is fast becoming the Trial of the Century. The more Shoe digs, the more he?s convinced nothing is as it seems. Not with a tangle of conflicting stories, an unlikely motive, and witnesses like Ray?s girlfriend, a glamour girl whose pretty lips are sealed. For now.
In a city steeped in Old West debauchery, Shoe?s following every lead to a very dangerous place?one that could bring him glory and fame or end his life.
A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire (Blood and Ash Book 2)
A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire: A Blood and Ash Novel by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Author)
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout comes a new novel in her Blood and Ash series?
Is Love Stronger Than Vengeance?
A Betrayal?Everything Poppy has ever believed in is a lie, including the man she was falling in love with. Thrust among those who see her as a symbol of a monstrous kingdom, she barely knows who she is without the veil of the Maiden. But what she does know is that nothing is as dangerous to her as him. The Dark One. The Prince of Atlantia. He wants her to fight him, and that?s one order she?s more than happy to obey. He may have taken her, but he will never have her.A Choice?.Casteel Da?Neer is known by many names and many faces. His lies are as seductive as his touch. His truths as sensual as his bite. Poppy knows better than to trust him. He needs her alive, healthy, and whole to achieve his goals. But he?s the only way for her to get what she wants?to find her brother Ian and see for herself if he has become a soulless Ascended. Working with Casteel instead of against him presents its own risks. He still tempts her with every breath, offering up all she?s ever wanted. Casteel has plans for her. Ones that could expose her to unimaginable pleasure and unfathomable pain. Plans that will force her to look beyond everything she thought she knew about herself?about him. Plans that could bind their lives together in unexpected ways that neither kingdom is prepared for. And she?s far too reckless, too hungry, to resist the temptation.A Secret?But unrest has grown in Atlantia as they await the return of their Prince. Whispers of war have become stronger, and Poppy is at the very heart of it all. The King wants to use her to send a message. The Descenters want her dead. The wolven are growing more unpredictable. And as her abilities to feel pain and emotion begin to grow and strengthen, the Atlantians start to fear her. Dark secrets are at play, ones steeped in the blood-drenched sins of two kingdoms that would do anything to keep the truth hidden. But when the earth begins to shake, and the skies start to bleed, it may already be too late.
A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire: A Blood and Ash Novel (Blood And Ash Series) by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Author)
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout comes a new novel in her Blood and Ash series?
Is Love Stronger Than Vengeance?
A Betrayal?Everything Poppy has ever believed in is a lie, including the man she was falling in love with. Thrust among those who see her as a symbol of a monstrous kingdom, she barely knows who she is without the veil of the Maiden. But what she does know is that nothing is as dangerous to her as him. The Dark One. The Prince of Atlantia. He wants her to fight him, and that?s one order she?s more than happy to obey. He may have taken her, but he will never have her.A Choice?.Casteel Da?Neer is known by many names and many faces. His lies are as seductive as his touch. His truths as sensual as his bite. Poppy knows better than to trust him. He needs her alive, healthy, and whole to achieve his goals. But he?s the only way for her to get what she wants?to find her brother Ian and see for herself if he has become a soulless Ascended. Working with Casteel instead of against him presents its own risks. He still tempts her with every breath, offering up all she?s ever wanted. Casteel has plans for her. Ones that could expose her to unimaginable pleasure and unfathomable pain. Plans that will force her to look beyond everything she thought she knew about herself?about him. Plans that could bind their lives together in unexpected ways that neither kingdom is prepared for. And she?s far too reckless, too hungry, to resist the temptation.A Secret?But unrest has grown in Atlantia as they await the return of their Prince. Whispers of war have become stronger, and Poppy is at the very heart of it all. The King wants to use her to send a message. The Descenters want her dead. The wolven are growing more unpredictable. And as her abilities to feel pain and emotion begin to grow and strengthen, the Atlantians start to fear her. Dark secrets are at play, ones steeped in the blood-drenched sins of two kingdoms that would do anything to keep the truth hidden. But when the earth begins to shake, and the skies start to bleed, it may already be too late.
A Light in the Flame: A Flesh and Fire Novel by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Author)
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout comes book two in her Flesh and Fire series?
The only one who can save Sera now is the one she spent her life planning to kill.
The truth about Sera?s plan is out, shattering the fragile trust forged between her and Nyktos. Surrounded by those distrustful of her, all Sera has is her duty. She will do anything to end Kolis, the false King of Gods, and his tyrannical rule of Iliseeum, thus stopping the threat he poses to the mortal realm.
Nyktos has a plan, though, and as they work together, the last thing they need is the undeniable, scorching passion that continues to ignite between them. Sera cannot afford to fall for the tortured Primal, not when a life no longer bound to a destiny she never wanted is more attainable than ever. But memories of their shared pleasure and unrivaled desire are a siren?s call impossible to resist.
And as Sera begins to realize that she wants to be more than a Consort in name only, the danger surrounding them intensifies. The attacks on the Shadowlands are increasing, and when Kolis summons them to Court, a whole new risk becomes apparent. The Primal power of Life is growing inside her, pushing her closer to the end of her Culling. And without Nyktos?s love?an emotion he?s incapable of feeling?she won?t survive her Ascension. That is if she even makes it to her Ascension and Kolis doesn?t get to her first. Because time is running out. For both her and the realms.
