It tells the story of Tashi, an African woman and a minor character in Walker''s earlier novel The Color Purple. Now in the US she comes from Olinka, Alice Walker''s fictional African nation where female genital mutilation is practiced. Tashi marries an American man named Adam then left Olinka because of the war. Tashi chooses go back to Olinka to undergo circumcison because she is a woman torn between two cultures, Olinkan and Western. Instead of feeling free from not having the procedure done as a child it ends up bothering her. She wants to honor her Olinkan roots and has the operation in her teen years, although it is usually performed on female children. Tashi later sees several psychiatrists because she goes crazy due to the trauma she has suffered before finding the strength to act. The novel is told in many different voices, which are the characters in the novel. The novel explores what it means to have one''s gender culturally defined and emphasizes that, according to Walker, "Torture is not culture."

Possessing the Secret of Joy

In the seventh book of this series, not long into his years as a Prince, Darren is once again visited by Desmond Tiny (the creator of vampires and Little People). He explains that the three hunters must find and hunt down the Vampaneze Lord if they have any hopes to win the war. He announces that two of them are Darren and Mr. Crepsley, but the third one they must find on their way. The hunters are told by Mr. Tiny that they will cross paths with the Lord of the Vampaneze four times throughout their quest, and have only those four chances to destroy him. They leave and go to Lady Evanna for help as they were instructed by Mr.Tiny. On the way they meet with Vancha March, another Vampire Prince and the last hunter. Vancha''s skin is a dark shade of red, due to his constant battle with the sun (he thinks that the sun, like any other enemy of the creatures of the night, can be defeated) and does not like to use weapons, using his bare hands instead. Though, he does use the shurikens that are strapped to his belt when necessary. He prefers to wear only clothes made from animals, and doesn''t care for having many manners. He claims to be a ladies man, though Darren perceives him as someone whom all women dislike. The three get to Evanna''s house, and she lets them stay with her for a few days so they can discuss what Mr.Tiny said and where they should go next. Leaving Lady Evanna''s house, they set their sites back towards the Cirque Du Freak, following Darren''s gut feeling as a Vampire Prince and the main hunter. While they are staying there, Darren notices Lady Evanna leaving the Cirque one night and follows her to a nearby forest. He witnesses Lady Evanna meeting with a group of Vampaneze and fears the worst. Darren gets the others, and they prepare an attack. After launching what seemed to be a successful strike on the group of Vampaneze, two of them get away. One being Vancha''s brother, and the other being a servant of the Vampaneze. Vancha lets them get away after realizing that one is his brother. However, little to their knowledge, the servant was actually a disguise and it turned out to be the Lord of the Vampaneze! After a few more nights at the Cirque to once again come up with a strategy, they set off to once more try to encounter the Lord and destroy him to end the War of the Scars. Preview the Book. fa:شکارچیان غروب

Hunters of the Dusk

The book opens with the Finch family''s ancestor, Simon Finch, a Cornish Methodist fleeing religious intolerance in England, settling in Alabama, becoming wealthy and, contrary to his religious beliefs, buying several slaves. The main story takes place during three years of the Great Depression in the fictional "tired old town" of Maycomb, Alabama. It focuses on six-year-old Scout Finch, who lives with her older brother Jem and their widowed father Atticus, a middle-aged lawyer. Jem and Scout befriend a boy named Dill who visits Maycomb to stay with his aunt each summer. The three children are terrified of, and fascinated by, their neighbor, the reclusive "Boo" Radley. The adults of Maycomb are hesitant to talk about Boo and for many years few have seen him. The children feed each other''s imagination with rumors about his appearance and reasons for remaining hidden, and they fantasize about how to get him out of his house. Following two summers of friendship with Dill, Scout and Jem find that someone is leaving them small gifts in a tree outside the Radley place. Several times, the mysterious Boo makes gestures of affection to the children, but, to their disappointment, never appears in person. Atticus is appointed by the court to defend Tom Robinson, a black man who has been accused of raping a young white woman, Mayella Ewell. Although many of Maycomb''s citizens disapprove, Atticus agrees to defend Tom. Other children taunt Jem and Scout for Atticus'' actions, calling him a "nigger-lover". Scout is tempted to stand up for her father''s honor by fighting even though he has told her not to. For his part, Atticus faces a group of men intent on lynching Tom. This danger is averted when Scout, Jem, and Dill shame the mob into dispersing by forcing them to view the situation from Atticus'' and Tom''s points of view. Because Atticus does not want them to be present at Tom Robinson''s trial, Scout, Jem and Dill watch in secret from the colored balcony. Atticus establishes that the accusers—Mayella and her father, Bob Ewell, the town drunk—are lying. It also becomes clear that the friendless Mayella was making sexual advances towards Tom and her father caught her and beat her. Despite significant evidence of Tom''s innocence, the jury convicts him. Jem''s faith in justice is badly shaken, as is Atticus'', when a hopeless Tom is shot and killed while trying to escape from prison. Humiliated by the trial Bob Ewell vows revenge. He spits in Atticus'' face on the street, tries to break into the presiding judge''s house and menaces Tom Robinson''s widow. Finally, he attacks the defenseless Jem and Scout as they walk home on a dark night from the school Halloween pageant. Jem''s arm is broken in the struggle, but amid the confusion, someone comes to the children''s rescue. The mysterious man carries Jem home, where Scout realizes that he is Boo Radley. Maycomb''s sheriff arrives and discovers that Bob Ewell has been killed in the struggle. The sheriff argues with Atticus about the prudence and ethics of holding Jem or Boo responsible. Atticus eventually accepts the sheriff''s story that Ewell simply fell on his own knife. Boo asks Scout to walk him home, and after she says goodbye to him at his front door, he disappears again. While standing on the Radley porch, Scout imagines life from Boo''s perspective and regrets that they never repaid him for the gifts he had given them.

To Kill a Mockingbird

The book tells a day in the life of most fauna of Early Cretaceous Liaoning in China, 124 million BC. *Unidentified Salamanders (mentioned at the beginning) *Callobatrachus *Unidentified Dragonflies *Jinzhousaurus *Unidentified Beetles (seen being kicked up by the Jinzhousaurus herd members) *Eomaia *Sinornithosaurus *Eosipterus *Dendrorhynchoides *Unidentified Striped Fish (seen dead and being squabbled over by the 2 Pterosaurs) *Confuciusornis *Caudipteryx *Manchurosuchus *Manchurochelys *Unidentified Freshwater Clams (seen on the lake bottom) *Unidentified Snails (mentioned in the lake description) *Unidentified Worms (listed in the Dragonfly nymph prey list) *Unidentified Freshwater Crustaceans (listed in the Dragonfly nymph prey list) *Unidentified Mayfly (nymph) *Unidentified Predatory Fish (seen in the distance, hidden under some Water Lilies) *Protosephurus *Lycoptera *Hyphalosaurus *Unidentified Cicadas (seen on page 20) *Beipiaosaurus *Sinosauropteryx *Unidentified Lizards *Unidentified Striped Moth (mentioned on page 23) *Microraptor *Psittacosaurus (dead) *Protopteryx *Protarchaeopteryx

Feathered Dinosaurs of China

The book starts with an unnamed black cat investigating the run-down former living quarters of the wizard Merlin of Arthurian Legend with the implied intent of trying to find something worth stealing. While there she meets a Northern Spotted Owl who takes her through the house and explains Merlin''s life, magical abilities, and what the book describes as ''The Pendragon Alchemy'', a philosophy of life that says that giving nets greater rewards, both monetary and emotional, than taking. The book deviates from previous Arthur legends and tells of Merlin protecting an unnamed princess from a cadre of evil sorcerers (and in the process creating a ring of stones in Avebury), and falling in love with Nimue, The Lady of the Lake, here described as being a water sprite princess. During this it is revealed simultaneously that the black cat is Nimue and the owl is Merlin, who resume their love. Nimue retrieves the Merlin''s Wand in order to give it to the aforementioned evil sorcerers to free them in the misguided belief that they will begrudgingly help save the magical world. However, in trying to defend Merlin she accidentally uses the wand on him, shattering his soul and destroying both his body and his wand in a large fiery flash. Merlin''s last magical act is to rescind Nimue''s human form, and she becomes the water of the lake near the cave where Merlin was destroyed. However, Merlin has become the mountain and cave next to the lake, and the two remain, insubstantial but together, until, as Merlin explains, ''The seeker'' (here to mean the reader) casts ''the spell'' (the solution to the puzzle) and causes the wand (the reward for solving the puzzle) to appear.

The Merlin Mystery

The story begins with Evangeline Harker, an associate producer of the television news program, The Hour, and the daughter of a rich Texan magnate, is engaged to her boyfriend Robert, looking forward to their honeymoon. When she is given an assignment to investigate the Eastern European crime lord Ion Torgu in Romania, she worries about it. However, she accepts anyway. Arriving at Romania, she meets a young companion named Clementine Spence. Together, they travel to a disclosed location. There, Evangeline disappears after meeting with Torgu. She is then infected with vamparism; she then kills Clemmie by slicing her throat and drinking her blood; she disappears. The staff at The Hour is filled with guilt and dismay. Mysterious tapes appear, infecting the entire audio system with a weird noise. Two months later, Evangeline is found. Her memories are scrubbed, but slowly return. However, their terror only drives her insane. She is forced to attack anyone. Robert, meanwhile gets attacked by Torgu. However, Evangeline defeats Torgu in the final battle.

Fangland

It is the story of a 17th century Italian nobleman, Roberto della Griva, who is the only survivor of a shipwreck during a fierce storm. He finds himself washed up on an abandoned ship in a harbour through which, he convinces himself, runs the International Date Line. Although he can see land, his inability to swim leaves him marooned and he begins to reminisce about his life and his love. He becomes obsessed about his allegedly evil twin brother, who is split from his own persona through a process reminiscent of the doppelganger effect, and thus accusing him of all the bad things that happened in his life. The brother takes blame mainly for his bad choices and is present to sweeten the disappointments of life. Through this reminiscence he becomes convinced that all his troubles will end, if only he can reach the land. The story is told from the point of view of a modern editor who has sorted through the man''s papers. Exactly how the papers were preserved and eventually handed down to the editor remains a point of conjecture. bg:Островът от предишния ден cs:Ostrov včerejšího dne de:Die Insel des vorigen Tages es:La isla del día de antes fr:L''Île du jour d''avant it:L''isola del giorno prima he:האי של יום האתמול hu:A tegnap szigete nl:Het eiland van de vorige dag pl:Wyspa dnia poprzedniego pt:L''isola del giorno prima ro:Insula din ziua de ieri ru:Остров накануне sk:Ostrov včerajšieho dňa fi:Edellisen päivän saari tr:Önceki Günün Adası uk:Острів попереднього дня

The Island of the Day Before

Set in the small-time boxing circuit of Stockton, California in the late 1950s, the novel concerns the revival of a semi-retired Billy Tully''s career and the first fights of a novice, Ernie Munger. At twenty-nine years old and discouraged not only by his defeat to another lightweight fighter in Panama, but also from the desertion of his wife two years earlier, Tully meets Munger at the local YMCA and remarks on his talent, suggesting he visit his former trainer Ruben Luna. Disgusted by his lack of fitness and power, Tully entertains the idea of returning to the ring in a bid to reclaim his self-respect and possibly his ex-wife. Munger meanwhile impregnates his girlfriend, Faye, and marries her out of obligation, vowing to support his young family by winning fights. After losing his first amateur bout he attains some success and, despite his anxieties about marriage, seems poised to ascend the circuit ranks. Tully, meanwhile is wracked by uncertainty and divides his time between working as a low-paying farm laborer and drinking heavily in seedy bars and motels. After a brief affair with an alcoholic barfly named Oma, Tully strengthens his resolve and makes a concerted effort to prepare for a fight with a moderately well-known but aging Mexican fighter named Arcadio Lucero. Tully narrowly wins the fight on a bill with Munger, who is also victorious in his professional debut. Though momentarily bolstered by his victory, Tully pines for Oma, his ex-wife, or any woman, realizing that his career is over and the past can not be reclaimed. Alone and without any future prospects, he descends into an abyss of inebriation, becoming just another unshaven face at the bar recalling former greatness. Munger continues to fight and, hitchhiking home from a fight in Salt Lake City alone, he is picked up by two young women who eject him from the car on a stretch of highway in the dark of night after an awkward exchange revealing Munger''s lustful longing. The novel ends with the suggestion that Ernie Munger may be starting down the same desperate and well-worn path as Billy Tully.

Fat City

In this book we meet some of the trilogy''s leading characters: Dr. Rowan Mayfair, a brilliant neurosurgeon who is ignorant of her family history; Michael Curry, a contractor who specializes in the restoration of old homes while dreaming of his childhood in New Orleans and yearning to return there; Aaron Lightner, a psychic scholar and member of the Talamasca; Lasher, a spirit with wicked motives; and the Mayfair Witches, an old Southern family with a taste for poetry and incest. They have a talent for secretiveness and successful business ventures. The majority of the Mayfair Witches are female (with the exception of Julien), and the family line matriarchal in lineage; i.e. families pass down the maiden name "Mayfair" instead of adopting the respective husband''s last name. Rowan and Michael fall in love after she saves him from drowning, and when he decides to return to New Orleans, she follows him to learn the secrets of her past against the wishes of her adoptive mother. Aaron has studied the Mayfairs and Lasher from afar for years. He tracks down Michael to share with him the history of the family and the spirit, whom Michael has seen since he was a boy. (He was also interested in Michael because of the psychometric power he purportedly developed since waking from a near drowning experience.) What follows is a gruesome story filled with murder, incest, and betrayal. There are, however, many gaps which can only be filled in by Lasher himself. Rowan and Michael marry despite all this, and Rowan takes on the responsibilities of the Designee of the Mayfair Legacy. She dreams of a medical center where anyone, regardless of age, race, or financial status, can be treated and healed. She conceives, and it seems as if she and Michael may escape the curse of the Legacy. This is not to be, however, as Lasher finally reveals himself to Rowan, and explains his wish: to be made flesh so that he may walk the earth again and sets about slowly seducing Rowan through many intense intimate encounters. Secretly thinking that she can outwit this spirit, she agrees to send Michael away from the house on Christmas Day so that Lasher can fulfil his centuries-old ambition. Her plan (to bind Lasher to ''weak matter'' which can be destroyed by her mental killing abilities) backfires as Lasher enters her womb, and makes himself at home in the fetus. Rowan immediately goes into labor, which is violent and bloody, and Lasher is born. Michael returns to the house then, and seeing what has become of the child that he had desperately wished for, he throws himself at the creature, thinking to kill him. Lasher is much too strong, though, and attempts to drown Michael in the pool. Upon this second near death experience Michael loses the power in his hands. Terrified for Michael''s life, Rowan drags the creature away, and they run off together. Throughout the novel there are mentions of the "Thirteen Witches" and the Thirteenth being the "Doorway". This is in reference to Lasher selectively manipulating the Mayfair bloodline so that the thirteenth witch, Rowan, would be more powerful than all the others. Lasher required a witch as powerful as Rowan because she possessed the ability to make him live again. Lasher had possessed dead bodies with the help of Mary Beth and Julien Mayfair (two of the most powerful witches in the family), but due to limits in medical knowledge at the time, he could not reanimate the corpse and was unable to transform the bodies into Taltos form. When Lasher possesses Rowan''s baby, the child effectively dies and as Lasher exchanges the cells, Rowan''s diagnostic/healing abilities, along with her medical knowledge, are required to keep Lasher from dying. es:La hora de las brujas fr:Le Lien maléfique it:L''ora delle streghe ru:Час ведьмовства

The Witching Hour

The narrator describes the character "The Great Mahlke" from their youth together through to Mahlke''s disappearance near the end of the Second World War. Much of the action of the story is on a half-submerged sunken minesweeper of the Polish Navy, on which the narrator, Mahlke, and their friends meet each summer. Mahlke explores the shipwreck by diving through a hatch, and with his ever-present screwdriver salvages various items (information plaques, objects left behind by the crew, and even a gramophone) to sell or collect for himself. Over the course of the novella Mahlke steals an Iron Cross from a visiting U-boat captain, and is expelled from school. He joins a Panzer division and himself receives an Iron Cross thanks to his successes in battle. Returning to the school from which he was expelled, however, the principal forbids him from making a speech to the students, on the grounds of his former disgrace. The narrative in the story is often fairly incoherent. For instance, the timeline of the narration is often treated flexibly, moving from the narrator''s perspective to different points within his memory of the events. There is also disunity about whether Mahlke is addressed in the second- or third-person, with Grass sometimes changing the form of address within a single sentence, possibly indicating the narrator''s inability to remove his own emotions and feelings of guilt from an objective account of Mahlke. Mahlke, with the help of the narrator, returns to the shipwreck. Mahlke''s main reason for entering the war in the first place was to make a speech at his school afterwards. Since he is denied that wish, Mahlke deserts his post, seeing no other reason to fight. Desertion implies treason and in consequence death. Pilenz, whose relationship to Mahlke becomes increasingly ambivalent, takes advantage of the situation and pressures an unwell Mahlke to dive into the wreck once more to hide, aware that Mahlke might not survive the dive. Pilenz never sees Mahlke again.

Cat and Mouse

The book''s key proposition is that a great deal of products sold to the public - particularly pharmaceuticals and food products - are released with little regard or knowledge of how these products adversely impact the consumer. Corporations, often knowingly, release products which either do not do what they purport to, or have dangerous side effects or defects. Furthermore, many officials and government departments, namely the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, have fallen victim to regulatory capture. The book goes on to state that the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 is not effective in arresting these trends, and real reform or consumer protection is obstructed by the powerful connections that offending corporations have with the government. "If the poison is such that it acts slowly and insidiously, perhaps over a long period of years (and several such will be considered in later chapters), then we poor consumers must be test animals all our lives; and when, in the end, the experiment kills us a year or ten years sooner than otherwise we would have died, no conclusions can be drawn and a hundred million others are available for further tests". The authors develop ideas such as synergy effects, and the precautionary and substitution principles. They claim that many toxic substances, even in low concentrations, can act together to cause much more harmful effects than each substance would individually. Prolonged exposure to low amounts of toxic substances, even at very mild concentrations, can potentially have serious negative health impacts that consumers are not made aware of. These impacts are felt by all consumers because harmful substances are being ingested by consumers due to the use of dangerous pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals in food production. Preservatives are particularly criticized, and the increase in canned or packaged foods in cited as evidence of an increasing risk of such synergy effects due to the high amount of chemical byproducts these products include. The book argues that many products would not be sold if properly labeled, and this has been a key failing of the Food and Drug Administration. Extensive reform and overhaul in government regulation and inspection of the food and drug industry is needed in order to adequately protect consumers from corporations and manufacturers who do not place the health of the consumer before profit. Examples cited include beauty products, which in the first quarter of the 20th century were found to contain arsenic, lead and even radium - the health effects of which were not understood or known to consumers at the time. The true label for a pineapple pie, they argue, would be closer to this: "corn starch-filled, glucose-sweetened pie with made with sub-standard canned pineapple, artificial (citric acid) lemon flavor and artificial coal tar color". The book takes particular aim at the pharmaceutical market in the United States during the period, citing extensive lists of drugs which are often the subject of very strong and widespread campaigns of media promotion as &#39;wonder-drugs&#39;, yet which do not have any effect on the conditions they purport to cure, and often carry with them serious side effects that are not revealed to consumers. The authors claim that advertising for these drugs is deliberately misleading and use a variety of dishonest techniques from false testimonials to fake experts. The authors also questioned the value of statements made by scientists who vouched for the safety of products, citing the example of a dean of the College of Pharmacy of Columbia University who had vouched for the safety of a drug that later proved fatal to many. In the final analysis, the authors encourage consumers to be more active and questioning in their purchasing habits. Consumers should be vigilant in finding out more information about products and ingredients, and boycotting products with dangerous ingredients and their producers. They also call for stronger laws, tougher penalties for offending companies, and a much more concerted effort from authorities to implement consumer protection laws. The book concludes with the statement that &#34;Above all, let your voice be heard loudly and often, in protest against indifference, ignorance, and avarice responsible for the uncontrolled adulteration and misrepresentation of foods, drugs, and cosmetics&#34;.

100,000,000 Guinea Pigs

After a childhood of poverty and petty crime in the slums of London, William Thornhill is sentenced to death for stealing wood, however, in 1806 his sentence is changed to transportation to New South Wales for the term of his natural life. With his wife Sal and children in tow, he arrives in a harsh land that feels at first like a death sentence. However, there is a way for the convicts to buy freedom and start afresh. Away from the infant township of Sydney, up the Hawkesbury River, Thornhill encounters men who have tried to do just that: Blackwood, who is attempting to reconcile himself with the place and its people, and Smasher Sullivan, whose fear of this alien world turns into brutal depravity towards it. As Thornhill and his family stake their claim on a patch of ground by the river, the battle lines between old and new inhabitants are drawn. The early life of William Thornhill is one of poverty, depredation and criminality, which is also seen in Charles Dickens. The early settlements are described passionately by the author. Though Thornhill is a loving husband and a good father, his interactions with Indigenous inhabitants are villainous. Thornhill dreams of a life of dignity and entitlement, manifested in his desire to own land. After befriending Blackwood under his employ, Thornhill finds a patch of land he believes will meet his needs, but alas, his past comes back to haunt him. His interactions with the Aboriginal people progress from fearful first encounters to (after careful observation) appreciation. The desire for him to own the land contrasts with his wife wanting to return to England. The clash is one between a group of people desperate for land and another for whom the concept of ownership is bewildering.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

Possessing the Secret of Joy

By Alice Walker

Hunters of the Dusk

By Darren Shan

To Kill a Mockingbird

By Harper Lee

Feathered Dinosaurs of China

No Author Listed

The Merlin Mystery

No Author Listed

Fangland

By John Marks

The Island of the Day Before

By Umberto Eco

Fat City

By Leonard Gardner

The Witching Hour

By Anne Rice

Cat and Mouse

By Günter Grass

100,000,000 Guinea Pigs

By Arthur Kallet

The Secret River

By Kate Grenville