August Gone, Massacra Nella Testa


Book Description

There is no time but the one weare in. Maybe she is there and maybe she is somewhere else. A man can only lose his mind running through the agesaand it leaves him in the middle of himself with nothing but time to recall the past. Somewhere between Europe and Africa and a lost sense of reality, a man walks in the world and remembers the time from whence he came, finding himself all alone and missing the ones he loves. Stan Funnel searches for the purpose of it all by running through the seasons, spilling all the noodles, while he waits for a world that will not come to him. Travel with the mind of a schizophrenic who finds himself without a core and no home to come back to. Learn how to start all over again in August Gone.




We Need to Talk About Kevin


Book Description

The inspiration for the film starring Tilda Swinton and John C. Reilly, this resonant story of a mother’s unsettling quest to understand her teenage son’s deadly violence, her own ambivalence toward motherhood, and the explosive link between them remains terrifyingly prescient. Eva never really wanted to be a mother. And certainly not the mother of a boy who murdered seven of his fellow high school students, a cafeteria worker, and a much–adored teacher in a school shooting two days before his sixteenth birthday. Neither nature nor nurture exclusively shapes a child's character. But Eva was always uneasy with the sacrifices and social demotion of motherhood. Did her internalized dislike for her own son shape him into the killer he’s become? How much is her fault? Now, two years later, it is time for her to come to terms with Kevin’s horrific rampage, all in a series of startlingly direct correspondences with her estranged husband, Franklin. A piercing, unforgettable, and penetrating exploration of violence and responsibility, a book that the Boston Globe describes as “impossible to put down,” is a stunning examination of how tragedy affects a town, a marriage, and a family.




Columbine


Book Description

Ten years in the works, a masterpiece of reportage, this is the definitive account of the Columbine massacre, its aftermath, and its significance, from the acclaimed journalist who followed the story from the outset. "The tragedies keep coming. As we reel from the latest horror . . ." So begins a new epilogue, illustrating how Columbine became the template for nearly two decades of "spectacle murders." It is a false script, seized upon by a generation of new killers. In the wake of Newtown, Aurora, and Virginia Tech, the imperative to understand the crime that sparked this plague grows more urgent every year. What really happened April 20, 1999? The horror left an indelible stamp on the American psyche, but most of what we "know" is wrong. It wasn't about jocks, Goths, or the Trench Coat Mafia. Dave Cullen was one of the first reporters on scene, and spent ten years on this book-widely recognized as the definitive account. With a keen investigative eye and psychological acumen, he draws on mountains of evidence, insight from the world's leading forensic psychologists, and the killers' own words and drawings-several reproduced in a new appendix. Cullen paints raw portraits of two polar opposite killers. They contrast starkly with the flashes of resilience and redemption among the survivors. Expanded with a New Epilogue




The Hotel New Hampshire


Book Description

“The first of my father’s illusions was that bears could survive the life lived by human beings, and the second was that human beings could survive a life led in hotels.” So says John Berry, son of a hapless dreamer, brother to a cadre of eccentric siblings, and chronicler of the lives lived, the loves experienced, the deaths met, and the myriad strange and wonderful times encountered by the family Berry. Hoteliers, pet-bear owners, friends of Freud (the animal trainer and vaudevillian, that is), and playthings of mad fate, they “dream on” in a funny, sad, outrageous, and moving novel by the remarkable author of A Son of the Circus and A Prayer for Owen Meany.




After the Weekend


Book Description

What Graham and Avery thought would be a single night of pleasure turned into so much more. Their needs and desires lined up perfectly, and by the time they parted after three glorious days, they both knew there was far more than lust between them.Living in different towns makes continuing their relationship challenging, but Graham visits Avery most weekends, and their bond deepens. Avery thinks Graham is the best Daddy ever and Graham loves nothing more than taking care of Avery and challenging his need to surrender. But both men are unsure exactly how far they want this relationship dynamic to go. There are so many hard questions to answer when both men would prefer to live in a fantasy world during their limited time together.But reality is calling. Graham and Avery both have friends who need their help with major life decisions, inquisitive family members, and a growing desire to spend more time together. In order to continue their relationship, they must figure out where their boundaries lie and what they want from each other outside the bedroom.




The Guest


Book Description

Based on actual events, The Guest is a profound portrait of a divided people haunted by a painful past, and a generation's search for reconciliation. During the Korean War, Hwanghae Province in North Korea was the setting of a gruesome fifty-two day massacre. In an act of collective amnesia the atrocities were attributed to American military, but in truth they resulted from malicious battling between Christian and Communist Koreans. Forty years later, Ryu Yosop, a minister living in America returns to his home village, where his older brother once played a notorious role in the bloodshed. Besieged by vivid memories and visited by the troubled spirits of the deceased, Yosop must face the survivors of the tragedy and lay his brother's soul to rest. Faulkner-like in its intense interweaving narratives, The Guest is a daring and ambitious novel from a major figure in world literature.




The Hanged Man


Book Description

The Hanged Man is the astonishing true story of a man surrounded by trauma and violence who is forced to become a superman in order to survive. The events that forge Ron Van Clief are brought on by harsh circumstances, fierce racism, and tragic choices, however Van Clief does not succumb to victimization. With an iron will, he becomes “The Black Dragon”: the first black martial arts film star, and one of the greatest martial artists of all time. His determination to win – despite horrific odds–exacts a heavy toll and his life becomes a roller coaster ride with spectacular highs, devastating lows, and more than a few cliff-hangers. Ron's biography reads like a microcosm of the American experience in crisis. His father is so abusive that as a teenager Ron plots his murder. Only a few years later Ron is actually lynched by a gang of racists and left to die. In Vietnam he is forced to become a killing machine. On the Lower East Side of New York, drug lords try to gun down Ron and his child. He tears through countless unhappy relationships with women. He is by turns wealthy and homeless. There is serious damage inside, and one tragic loss still haunts him to this day. Despite these struggles, Ron miraculously attains excellence and fame being a man among men.




The Order Has Been Carried Out


Book Description

On March 24, 1944, Nazi occupation forces in Rome killed 335 unarmed civilians in retaliation for a partisan attack the day before. Portelli has crafted an eloquent, multi-voiced oral history of the massacre, of its background and its aftermath. The moving stories of the victims, the women and children who survived and carried on, the partisans who fought the Nazis, and the common people who lived through the tragedies of the war together paint a many-hued portrait of one of the world's most richly historical cities. The Order Has Been Carried Out powerfully relates the struggles for freedom under Fascism and Nazism, the battles for memory in post-war democracy, and the meanings of death and grief in modern society.




Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2018


Book Description

The entertainment world lost many notable talents in 2018, including movie icon Burt Reynolds, "Queen of Soul" Aretha Franklin, celebrity chef and food critic Anthony Bourdain, bestselling novelist Anita Shreve and influential Chicago blues artist Otis Rush. Obituaries of actors, filmmakers, musicians, producers, dancers, composers, writers, animals and others associated with the performing arts who died in 2018 are included. Date, place and cause of death are provided for each, along with a career recap and a photograph. Filmographies are given for film and television performers.




Rome the Cosmopolis


Book Description

A collection of essays exploring key aspects of the relationship between Rome and its empire.