Download or read book Stone Mattress written by Margaret Atwood and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2014-09-16 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the bestselling author of The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments—a thrilling, funny, and thought-provoking collection of stories that affirms Atwood as our greatest creator of worlds—and as an incisive chronicler of our darkest impulses. “Alphinland,” the first of three loosely linked tales, introduces us to a fantasy writer who is guided through a stormy winter evening by the voice of her late husband. In “Lusus Naturae,” a young woman, monstrously transformed by a genetic defect, is mistaken for a vampire. And in the title story, a woman who has killed four husbands discovers an opportunity to exact vengeance on the first man who ever wronged her. Stone Mattress is a collection of unforgettable tales that reveal the grotesque, delightfully wicked facets of humanity.
Download or read book Bluebeard s Egg written by Margaret Atwood and published by Emblem Editions. This book was released on 2010-12-17 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By turns humorous and warm, stark and frightening, Bluebeard's Egg infuses a Canada of the 1940s, '50s and '80s with glowing childhood memories, the harsh realities of parents growing old, and the casual cruelty that men and women inflict on each other. Here is the familiar outer world of family summers at remote lakes, winters of political activism, and seasons of exotic friends, mudane lives and unexpected loves. But here too is the inner world of hidden places and all that emerges from them—the intimately personal, the fantastic and the shockingly real...whether it's what lies in a mysterious locked room or in the secret feelings we all conceal.
Download or read book Moral Disorder written by Margaret Atwood and published by Emblem Editions. This book was released on 2009-03-31 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In these ten dazzling interrelated stories Atwood traces the course of a life and also the lives intertwined with it, while evoking the drama and the humour that colour common experiences—the birth of a baby, divorce and remarriage, old age and death. With settings ranging from Toronto, northern Quebec, and rural Ontario, the stories begin in the present, as a couple no longer young situate themselves in a larger world no longer safe. Then the narrative goes back in time to the forties and moves chronologically forward toward the present. In “The Art of Cooking and Serving,” the twelve-year-old narrator does her best to accommodate the arrival of a baby sister. After she boldly declares her independence, we follow the narrator into young adulthood and then through a complex relationship. In “The Entities,” the story of two women haunted by the past unfolds. The magnificent last two stories reveal the heartbreaking old age of parents but circle back again to childhood, to complete the cycle. By turns funny, lyrical, incisive, tragic, earthy, shocking, and deeply personal, Moral Disorder displays Atwood’s celebrated storytelling gifts and unmistakable style to their best advantage. This is vintage Atwood, writing at the height of her powers.
Download or read book The Princess and the Pea written by Hans Christian Andersen and published by Twin Sisters®. This book was released on 2017-03-02 with total page 27 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Simple text and captivating illustrations are paired with beautiful music and fun sound-effects to help tell the classic tale of "The Princess and the Pea." Prince Fastidious travels the world to find his perfect princess. But something is not quite right about any of them. They either talk too much, or not at all. Some are too old for him, or too young. Others are spoiled or have too many noisy, little dogs. Find out what happens when Princess Rose accidentally comes to the castle at night because of a fierce storm. How does she prove to the Queen that she’s a real princess? A happy ending adds interest to this fairy tale and encourages a lifelong love for reading.
Download or read book Surfacing written by Margaret Atwood and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-03-27 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of the New York Times bestselling novels The Handmaid’s Tale—now an Emmy Award-winning Hulu original series—and Alias Grace, now a Netflix original series. Part detective novel, part psychological thriller, Surfacing is the story of a talented woman artist who goes in search of her missing father on a remote island in northern Quebec. Setting out with her lover and another young couple, she soon finds herself captivated by the isolated setting, where a marriage begins to fall apart, violence and death lurk just beneath the surface, and sex becomes a catalyst for conflict and dangerous choices. Surfacing is a work permeated with an aura of suspense, complex with layered meanings, and written in brilliant, diamond-sharp prose. Here is a rich mine of ideas from an extraordinary writer about contemporary life and nature, families and marriage, and about women fragmented...and becoming whole.
Download or read book Wilderness Tips written by Margaret Atwood and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2011-06-08 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Handmaid's Tale In each of these tales Margaret Atwood deftly illuminates the shape of a whole life: in a few brief pages we watch as characters progress from the vulnerabilities of adolescence through the passions of youth into the precarious complexities of middle age. The past resurfaces in the present in ways both subtle and dramatic: the body of a lost Arctic explorer emerges from the ice, a 2,000-year-old bog man turns up in an archeological dig, a man with dark secrets marries his lover’s sister, a girl who disappears on a canoe trip haunts her friend many decades later. The richly layered stories in Wilderness Tips map interior landscapes shaped by time, regret, and lost chances, endowing even the most unassuming of lives with a disquieting intensity.
Download or read book Young House Love written by Sherry Petersik and published by Artisan. This book was released on 2015-07-14 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This New York Times bestselling book is filled with hundreds of fun, deceptively simple, budget-friendly ideas for sprucing up your home. With two home renovations under their (tool) belts and millions of hits per month on their blog YoungHouseLove.com, Sherry and John Petersik are home-improvement enthusiasts primed to pass on a slew of projects, tricks, and techniques to do-it-yourselfers of all levels. Packed with 243 tips and ideas—both classic and unexpected—and more than 400 photographs and illustrations, this is a book that readers will return to again and again for the creative projects and easy-to-follow instructions in the relatable voice the Petersiks are known for. Learn to trick out a thrift-store mirror, spice up plain old roller shades, "hack" your Ikea table to create three distinct looks, and so much more.
Download or read book Honour written by Caroline Goode and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2020-03-26 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Rahmat Sulemani reported his girlfriend Banaz missing, it quickly became clear to DCI Caroline Goode that something was very wrong. In fact, Banaz had contacted her local police station multiple times before, even listing the names of the men she expected to murder her in a so-called 'honour' killing. Her parents didn't seem worried, but Banaz had already accused them of being part of the plot. DCI Goode's team took on the investigation before they even had proof that a murder had taken place. What emerged was a shocking story of betrayal and a community-wide web of lies, which would take the team from suburban south London to the mountain ranges of Kurdistan, making covert recordings and piecing together cell phone data to finally bring the killers to justice.
Download or read book Dancing Girls written by Margaret Atwood and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-03-27 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A splendid collection of short stories from the author of the New York Times bestselling novel The Handmaid’s Tale—the inspiration behind the award-winning Hulu original series. Margaret Atwood brings her singular voice to this unforgettable volume of short stories filled with rare intensity and exceptional intelligence. With brilliant flashes of fantasy, humor, and unexpected violence, the stories reveal the complexities of human relationships and bring to life characters who touch us deeply, evoking terror, laughter, compassion and recognition—and dramatically demonstrate why Margaret Atwood is one of the most important writers in English today.
Download or read book Firefly Lane written by Kristin Hannah and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2008-02-05 with total page 532 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the New York Times bestselling author Kristin Hannah comes a powerful novel of love, loss, and the magic of friendship. . . . now a #1 Netflix series! In the turbulent summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the eighth-grade social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the "coolest girl in the world" moves in across the street and wants to be her friend. Tully Hart seems to have it all---beauty, brains, ambition. On the surface they are as opposite as two people can be: Kate, doomed to be forever uncool, with a loving family who mortifies her at every turn. Tully, steeped in glamour and mystery, but with a secret that is destroying her. They make a pact to be best friends forever; by summer's end they've become TullyandKate. Inseparable. So begins Kristin Hannah's magnificent new novel. Spanning more than three decades and playing out across the ever-changing face of the Pacific Northwest, Firefly Lane is the poignant, powerful story of two women and the friendship that becomes the bulkhead of their lives. From the beginning, Tully is desperate to prove her worth to the world. Abandoned by her mother at an early age, she longs to be loved unconditionally. In the glittering, big-hair era of the eighties, she looks to men to fill the void in her soul. But in the buttoned-down nineties, it is television news that captivates her. She will follow her own blind ambition to New York and around the globe, finding fame and success . . . and loneliness. Kate knows early on that her life will be nothing special. Throughout college, she pretends to be driven by a need for success, but all she really wants is to fall in love and have children and live an ordinary life. In her own quiet way, Kate is as driven as Tully. What she doesn't know is how being a wife and mother will change her . . . how she'll lose sight of who she once was, and what she once wanted. And how much she'll envy her famous best friend. . . . For thirty years, Tully and Kate buoy each other through life, weathering the storms of friendship---jealousy, anger, hurt, resentment. They think they've survived it all until a single act of betrayal tears them apart . . . and puts their courage and friendship to the ultimate test. Firefly Lane is for anyone who ever drank Boone's Farm apple wine while listening to Abba or Fleetwood Mac. More than a coming-of-age novel, it's the story of a generation of women who were both blessed and cursed by choices. It's about promises and secrets and betrayals. And ultimately, about the one person who really, truly knows you---and knows what has the power to hurt you . . . and heal you. Firefly Lane is a story you'll never forget . . . one you'll want to pass on to your best friend.
Download or read book Warm and Snug written by Lawrence Wright and published by Sutton Publishing. This book was released on 2004 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a detailed and amusing look at the place where we spend a third of our lives - bed! Examples include a Neolithic stone bed from Skara Brae in the Orkneys, ornate early Renaissance beds, a mid-18th century bed from Chippendale's Chinese period and American metal folding beds.
Download or read book Stone Arabia written by Dana Spiotta and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-07-12 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the National Book Award nominated author of Innocents and Others and Wayward, “a smart, subtle, moving story about the complicated business of knowing the people you love” (Book Forum). In the sibling relationship, “there are no first impressions, no seductions, no getting to know each other,” says Denise Kranis. For Denise and her brother, Nik, now in their forties, no relationship is more significant. They grew up in Los Angeles in the late seventies and early eighties. Nik was always the artist, always wrote music, always had a band. Now he makes his art in private, obsessively documenting the work but never testing it in the world. Denise remains Nik’s most passionate and acute audience; she is also the crucial support for Nik and for their aging mother, whose dementia seems to threaten her own memory. When Denise’s daughter, Ada, decides to make a film about Nik, everyone’s vulnerabilities escalate. In Stone Arabia, Dana Spiotta “explores the inner workings of celebrity, family, and other modern-day mythologies” (Vogue).
Download or read book Stone Mattress written by Margaret Atwood and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2016-05-13 with total page 33 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Vintage Shorts “Short Story Month” Selection The author of such towering novels as The Handmaid’s Tale, The Blind Assassin, and Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood proves her imaginative prowess dazzles just as vividly in her short fiction. “Stone Mattress,” from her collection of the same name is witty, grotesque, and utterly hilarious—an exemplar of Atwood’s tremendous capacity for capturing our darkest impulses on the page. Verna, aging widow, boards a cruise ship bound for the Arctic in search of her next husband. The last four had suffered regrettable tragedies and left Verna wickedly wealthy in their wake. But, instead of finding another wealthy suitor, Verna finds unwitting Bob, the first man to have ever wronged her. Single, reasonably near his grave, ordinary, and attracted to her like all the others—Bob is all-too-easy prey for Verna’s merciless revenge. An ebook short.
Download or read book The Living Sea of Waking Dreams written by Richard Flanagan and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2021-05-25 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the acclaimed Booker Prize-winning author comes a dazzling novel of family, love and love's disappointments Anna's aged mother is dying. Condemned by her children's pity to living, subjected to increasingly desperate medical interventions, she turns her focus to her hospital window, through which she escapes into visions of horror and delight. When Anna's finger vanishes and a few months later her knee disappears, Anna too feels the pull of the window. She begins to see that all around her, others are similarly vanishing, yet no one else notices. All Anna can do is keep her mother alive. But the window keeps opening wider, taking Anna and the reader ever deeper into an eerily beautiful story of grief and possibility, of loss and love and orange-bellied parrots. Hailed on publication in Australia as Richard Flanagan's greatest novel yet, The Living Sea of Waking Dreams is a rising ember storm illuminating what remains when the inferno beckons: one part elegy, one part dream, one part hope.
Download or read book Athena s Choice written by Adam Boostrom and published by Thinker Books. This book was released on 2019-01-18 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What if a stray virus accidentally killed all the men on earth? "One of the Best Books of 2019" -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review). Winner of the 2019 National Indie Excellence Award for Visionary Fiction. Winner of the 2019 Maxy Award for Science Fiction. Finalist for the 2019 IAN Book of the Year Awards. Finalist for the 2019 NIEA for Science Fiction. "A daring book that will stay in readers' minds long after the final page." -Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Athena Vosh lives just like any other teenager from the year 2099. She watches reality shows with her friends, eats well, and occasionally wonders to herself: what would life be like if men were still alive? It has been almost 50 years since an experimental virus accidentally killed all the men on earth. However, a controversial project is currently underway to bring men back. There's just one catch. The project has been sabotaged. So begins the award-winning novel, Athena's Choice. When the police of 2099 are tasked with finding the saboteur, they receive a mysterious command to investigate the otherwise innocuous Athena Vosh. After it becomes clear that the young girl might know more than she lets on, Athena is brought in to participate in the official investigation. Simultaneously, the girl begins to experience a series of cryptic dreams featuring a ruined library and an old book containing the saboteur’s true identity. As the police close in on their prize, Athena finds herself on a journey of her own. Her clue-filled dreams and incorruptible spirit bring her face-to-face with a pair of forgotten truths about happiness and gender. The world waits to see if men will return as Athena fights a separate battle all on her own, culminating in the choice that will define her and other's lives forever. "I have spent days thinking of nothing except this book and I can honestly say, without hesitation, that I loved it." -Mackey S, Macsbooks "The story is thought-provoking, troubling, fascinating, and compelling. This is science fiction at its best." -Chris, Amazon Reviewer "An interesting concept that the author uses in full force to tell an incredible, lush story." -Hannah S, Librarian
Download or read book If You Want to Make God Laugh written by Bianca Marais and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2020-07-07 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A rich, unforgettable story of three unique women in post-Apartheid South Africa who are brought together in their darkest time and discover the ways that love can transcend the strictest of boundaries. In a squatter camp on the outskirts of Johannesburg, seventeen-year-old Zodwa lives in desperate poverty, under the shadowy threat of a civil war and a growing AIDS epidemic. Eight months pregnant, Zodwa carefully guards secrets that jeopardize her life. Across the country, wealthy socialite Ruth appears to have everything her heart desires, but it's what she can't have that leads to her breakdown. Meanwhile, in Zaire, a disgraced former nun, Delilah, grapples with a past that refuses to stay buried. When these personal crises send both middle-aged women back to their rural hometown to heal, the discovery of an abandoned newborn baby upends everything, challenging their lifelong beliefs about race, motherhood, and the power of the past. As the mystery surrounding the infant grows, the complicated lives of Zodwa, Ruth, and Delilah become inextricably linked. What follows is a mesmerizing look at family and identity that asks: How far will the human heart go to protect itself and the ones it loves?
Download or read book Payback written by Margaret Atwood and published by House of Anansi. This book was released on 2008 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores debt as a central historical component of religion, literature, and societal structure, while examining the idea of humanity's debt to the natural world.
