As Greg Heffley is getting ready for middle school, he is teased by his older brother Rodrick Heffley because his mom, Susan Heffley, bought him supplies for school, including a blank red diary,instead of his mom buying him a journal like he asked her to. He has a little brother, Manny who is "spoiled rotten" because he gets everything he wants and also gets away with everything he does wrong, unlike Greg, who gets in trouble for everything he does wrong. His father Frank Heffley does not encourage Greg''s way of life - playing video games all day - rather than going outside and playing sports. Greg, during the first day of school, is immediately rejected and is forced to sit with another outcast who lives near Greg, Fregley, from whom Greg tries to keep "a safe distance". He is initially unsure of Rowley Jefferson being able to fit in, and tries to change Rowley, who Greg considers immature. Greg and Rowley decide to participate in wrestling at school, although Greg quits after losing a match against Fregley. On Halloween, Greg and Rowley go trick-or-treating, but are challenged by there of teens who they irritate and enrage and spray them with a fire extinger. The two friends barely escape to safety so they decide to go and stay in Gregs grandmother''s house until the teens leave them alone. After getting few presents for Christmas, Greg decides to play a game with Rowley in which Rowley must ride a Big Wheel while Greg tries to knock him off. On one of Greg''s tries, the ball gets under the front wheel, which causes Rowley to fall off and break his arm. The next day, a bunch of girls crowd around Rowley so they could feed him. Greg and Rowley decide to enroll in the Safety program in which they walk younger kids to their homes. One day, as Greg is walking the kids by himself,he chases the young children, only after scaring them with a stick with worms on it. A neighbor contacts the school and tells them about Greg''s unusual behavior. The principal suspects Rowley, as Greg was wearing Rowley''s coat. Rowley is quickly fired. Greg initially wants to tell him it is his fault that he was fired, but doesn''t, only to let the truth slip later. This leads to Rowley breaking off his friendship with Greg. Greg tries to befriend Fregley to make Rowley jealous, although he is uncomfortable around Fregley. Resorting to auditioning for the school play (based on The Wizard of Oz) Greg lands the role as a tree, while Patty is cast as Dorothy, the protagonist of the novel. During the show''s opening performance, Rodrick unexpectedly brings a camera to film the play. Greg becomes too nervous to sing, confusing the other "trees" who also fail to sing. Patty gets frustrated and angers Greg, who then throws props at Patty, and then everyone gets in the fight, ending the play in chaos. Rowley confronts Greg, which leads to a non-physical fight. The teens return and the younger kids scatter. The teens force Greg and Rowley to eat the "Cheese Touch," a moldy piece of cheese that had been left on the grounds of the school. Greg refuses, dishonestly claiming that he is allergic to cheese and will die if he eats it, thus leaving Rowley to eat it. The other students notice that the Cheese is gone, assuming that someone has destroyed it; however, Greg takes the blame instead of Rowley as he feels pity on him. He and Rowley again become friends and Greg begins to anticipate a relaxing summer of playing video games.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

This novel puts Marlowe in the position of turning against his client. We are at the beginning of 1952 (some 18 months after the parting of Marlowe and Linda Loring in The Long Goodbye). An unknown client hires Marlowe (via intermediaries) to follow a woman traveling under the name Eleanor King (whose real name is Betty Mayfield). Marlowe traces Mayfield to the small coastal resort town of Esmeralda in California, where he is given the runaround by practically everyone. During her train ride west, Mayfield was recognized by a man who then seeks to blackmail her, for reasons disclosed at the end of the novel. While Marlowe is poking around Esmeralda, the blackmailer is found dead on Mayfield''s hotel room balcony. She panics and calls Marlowe for help. Marlowe encounters a variety of characters with dubious motivations, including a taciturn lawyer and his smart secretary (with whom Marlowe had a sexual encounter), a ''retired'' gangster, overconfident would-be tough guys of varying morals, a hired killer (whose wrists Marlowe smashes), decent police officers, an affectingly desperate example of the American immigrant underclass of the 1950s. Marlowe also had a striking encounter in a hotel lobby with a reflective elderly gentleman, Henry Clarendon IV, which gives rise to an extended philosophical conversation. Marlowe learns that Betty Mayfield had been married to the son of Henry Cumberland, a big shot in a small North Carolina town. The son, Lee Cumberland, had suffered a broken neck during the Second World War and, though mobile and not paralyzed, for safety he regularly wore a neck brace. One day there was a quarrel between them, and later, the husband was found dead, with Mayfield re-fixing the neck brace on his body. The case drew widespread newspaper publicity (which is why the blackmailer recognized Mayfield on the train), and due to Cumberland''s influence on the jury, the jury found Mayfield guilty of murder. But the jury''s verdict was set aside by the judge, who saw more than a reasonable doubt and rejected the jury verdict as tainted. Cumberland vowed to hound Mayfield wherever she went, which is why she fled to Esmeralda; Cumberland was presumably behind Marlowe being hired in the first place. Cumberland arrives in Esmeralda to hound Mayfield in person, but with the help of the local police captain, Marlowe scares off Cumberland. (In the British edition of the novel, and the screenplay version by Chandler, see below, Cumberland''s name is Kinsolving). Mayfield decides to marry a local criminal-turned-respectable, who has taken a romantic interest in her. Marlowe lets her go ahead but has a frank talk with the ex-criminal, who obviously hasn''t quite mended his ways, as he was behind the killing of the blackmailer. At the book''s conclusion, Marlowe is rewarded by providence when an old flame (Linda Loring from the previous novel, The Long Goodbye), gets back in touch.

Playback

The Scooby Gang are coming to the end of their Senior year at High School, Buffy Summers is busy making battle plans. Willow has time to pick up the High School Yearbook for her. Once the gang could relax knowing that high school truly was over, Xander, Oz, Cordelia, Giles, Angel and others scrawled notes in Buffy''s yearbook to make it special. It is now full of notes, photos and in-jokes only the Scoobies understand and appreciate, having fought on the Hellmouth for three years and survived High School. This book was an oddity in the release of Buffy publications by Pocket Books, it was neither a novelization of an episode, nor an original novel, but instead a fictional school yearbook. It featured "inscriptions" from characters on the front inside cover; Willow, Xander, Oz, Giles, Cordelia, Angel, Anya, Wesley, Snyder, Joyce, Jonathan, Harmony, Larry, and Devon. It also included inscriptions from the crew-folk on the back inside cover. In the "In Memoriam" section Willow mentions Harmony''s absence but she doesn''t know Harmony is dead until "The Harsh Light of Day".

Sunnydale High Yearbook

Dictation Approximately 15,000 Words. This story is about the secretaries of Henry James and Joseph Conrad. The two women have a brief lesbian affair, and hatch a scheme to switch a paragraph form each of their bosses new works. Actors Approximately 8,000 words, originally published in The New Yorker, and later in “Cynthia Ozick Collected Stories.” This story is about a post-middle-aged Jewish actor with an Irish-sounding stage name who has just landed the role of King Lear in an off-Broadway play written by the daughter of a famous Yiddish actor. At Fumicaro Approximately 11,000 words, originally published in The New Yorker and later in “Cynthia Ozick Collected Stories.” This story is about an American from New York who goes to Fumicaro, Italy for a conference on Catholicism. He meets a young, Italian chambermaid who is pregnant out of wedlock and decides to marry her and take her back home to America. The story takes place in the 1930s after Benito Mussolini has taken over. The characters in the story portray an eerie ambivalence to the idea of fascism. What Happened to the Baby Approximately 10,000 words, published in The Atlantic and “Cynthia Ozick Collected Stories.” This story is about an elderly man who is in the middle of a life long ambition to create a new universal language called “GNU”, and his niece Vivian who has been charged by her mother to take care of him after his wife divorced him.

Dictation: A Quartet

Isse Tower is a House of the Stormriders. Stormriders, also known as Relayers, are messengers of the air for people of the high status. The Stormriders fly on winged steeds called eotaurs, and Windships that levitate above the ground because of sildron. Sildron is one of the most valuable metals in the empire of Erith. The metal sildron has the property of repelling the ground, thus, lifting objects. This metal is used to make the shoes of the Eotaurs and in the building of the Windships to sail the skies. There is only one other metal that can abolish the effect of sildron; andalum. The foundling has no memory of who he was before he was found, but knows only that he is different from all others. Soon, he becomes sick of being treated badly and plans to escape to a city to find a cure for his paradox-ivy poisoning. He stows away on a Windship to escape, but shortly after he is discovered, the ship is attacked by pirates. He is captured by the pirates, and makes friends with one of them: Sianadh, who names the mute, Imrhien ("Butterfly"). During this time he discovers that he is really a she, and when danger threatens is rescued by Sianadh by jumping off the wind ship together. They travel through the forest following a map of Sianadh''s, which points them towards a sildron mine. Through the forest, they encounter magical creatures called wights. There are two different types of wights: seelie, mischievous and unseelie, evil. Much to Imrhien''s surprise, they actually find the mine. Due to an injury Sianadh has sustained, Imrhien is the only one who can climb the side to an entrance to the cave. Once in the mine, Sianadh and Imrhien find that they are immensely wealthy. They decide to sail down the river to the major city to meet up with Sianadh''s family. Imrhien''s mind is still set on finding a cure for the facial deformity. When in the city, a wizard promises to cure the deformity, but instead makes it even worse. This coupled with Sianadh''s vow to get revenge on the wizard causes his family to be closely watched. When Sianadh and his nephew go back to the mine, Imrhien and Sianadh''s niece are kidnapped. They are eventually saved, but then hear that Sianadh is killed. Ethlinn sends her children (Diarmid and Muirne) and Imrhien on a caravan to Caermelor. The caravan is attacked by the Wild Hunt and any survivors scattered. Diarmid, Sianadh''s nephew, and Imrhien find each other and travel together in a hope to find Muirne, Diarmid''s sister. Along the way they are discovered by one of the King Emperor''s Dainnan rangers, Thorn. Everything about Thorn seems perfect. At first, Diarmid is jealous, but he comes to marvel at the Dainnan''s knowledge and skill. Imrhien falls in love with him, but is ashamed of her face and knows that no one could love someone so ugly. With Thorn''s help, the trio easily traverse the wilderness. Through a series of adventures, Muirne is found and Imrhien continues the journey with the Dainnan, Thorn, to find the Carlin who might heal the deformities. Before they part, Thorn takes three of Imrhien''s hairs and wraps them around his finger in a ring. When he asks Imrhien what she wants (since she won''t return to court with him) she signs to him saying that she would like to wish him a safe journey with her voice. He unexpectedly kisses her and leaves. Imrhien travels the last part of the road leading to the Carlin''s house and receives treatment for the facial scars caused by paradox ivy. The book ends with two of Imrhien''s afflictions healed, though not all.

The Ill-Made Mute

Colin is a wealthy young man with a resourceful and stylish man-servant, Nicolas, as well as a fantastic olfactory-musical invention: the pianocktail. With dizzying speed, Colin meets and weds Chloé in a grand ceremony. Generously, Colin bequeaths a quarter of his fortune to his friends Chick and Alise so they too may marry. Happiness should await both couples but Chloé falls ill upon her honeymoon with a water lily in the lung, a painful and rare condition that can only be treated by surrounding her with flowers. The expense is prohibitive and Colin soon exhausts his funds. Meanwhile, Chick''s obsession with the philosopher, Jean-Sol Partre, causes him to spend all his money, effort and attention upon collecting Partre''s literature. Alise hopes to save Chick financially and renew his interest in her by persuading Partre to stop publishing books. She kills him when he refuses and seeks revenge upon the booksellers. Colin struggles to provide flowers for Chloé to no avail and his grief at her death is so strong his pet mouse commits suicide to escape the gloom.

Froth on the daydream

At the start of the novel, the United States, having won over Japan, is in no mood to enter a new war, and Americans accept the fait accompli of German domination over Europe. An alternate Cold War seems in the offing; even the British, with a German-dominated Europe at their doorstep, squander much of their resources on a colonial war in the former French Indochina. US President Andrew Harrison (a fictional character) has a summit with Hitler at Reykjavík, Iceland. The meeting goes badly, the two leaders sharply confront each other, and Hitler secretly decides to accelerate preparations for a surprise attack on both the US and Britain. As part of these preparations, a beautiful German spy seduces and suborns the White House Chief of Staff and makes him a key German spy. The book''s protagonist, Lieutenant Commander James Martel, at the incipient Head of Naval Intelligence at the American Embassy in Berlin, is one of the few who suspects the gathering storm, watching the new weapons displayed at the parade commemorating Germany''s victory over the Soviet Union and encountering the well-known commando Otto Skorzeny who is his main opponent throughout the book. Skorzeny makes meticulous secret preparations for raids to destroy the US atomic bomb programs in Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory. (During the war with Japan, because the Manhattan Project was put on the backburner so that in 1945, the US is far from already possessing a nuclear bomb.) The bulk of the book is devoted to Martel, back in the US, getting a glimmering of the threatened attack and unsuccessfully trying to sound a warning. The German raid takes place, and though the Germans are eventually beaten back, the raid causes great damage, killing key scientists and setting the US nuclear program behind Germany''s; moreover, the Germans seize the uranium mines in the Congo region, while launching all-out war against the United Kingdom. The book ends with a cliffhanger: Erwin Rommel invades Scotland, the British facing a desperate fight, and Churchill imploring the Americans "come quickly, this is much worse than 1940", but a promised sequel, provisionally called Fortress Europa, has yet to be written, though many years have passed and the writers had meanwhile completed a different alternate history trilogy (beginning with Gettysburg: A Novel of the Civil War). In our history, "Fortress Europe" was the Nazi concept of making German-occupied Europe impregnable to the invasion, which was clearly coming since the Allies started massing their forces in Britain in 1943. In D-Day this "fortress" was decisively breached. The projected book''s name seems to suggest that the same would happen in this alternate history, some years behind schedule.

1945

Logan Moore is a troubled 14-year-old boy living with his mother Marianne and stepfather Robert in Newburg, Oregon. Logan does not get along well with Robert or his mother, and holds a grudge against his biological father for leaving when he was young. After an incident at a barbecue, Robert decides to purchase a Labrador Retriever in order to teach Logan responsibility. Eager to rebel against his stepfather, Logan convinces his mother to adopt a dog from an animal shelter. He plans to choose an ugly dog and teach it destructive behavior. At the shelter, Logan encounters a young female mutt who immediately takes a liking to him. Logan adopts the dog and names her Jack after Robert''s former dog. Meanwhile, a new prion disease named Psychotic Outburst Syndrome (or POS) is affecting dogs, causing friendly pets to become violent. Officials struggle to control the disease and immediately terminate any dogs that catch it. Humans soon begin to contract the disease. Logan quickly bonds with Jack and values her as his only friend. After getting into trouble whilst attempting to protect her, Logan is sent to boot camp while Jack remains at home. Both he and Jack manage to escape, find each other, and begin traveling together. During their journey, they encounter another dog called White Paws: Jack''s brother who has become infected with POS. White Paws attacks Jack and severely wounds her before dying. Logan worries that Jack may have contracted the disease through contact with White Paws. The pair continue their journey until they reach the town of Dayville. Logan faintly remembers that his biological father lives in the town and decides to find his father and confront him. While Logan is shoplifting food, Jack is found by three men who, fearing that she may be infected, beat her. Logan is arrested and manages to find his father''s address at the police station before escaping. He returns to find Jack nearly dead and carries her, attempting to find his father''s house, until he faints from exhaustion. He awakens in the house of his biological father, Dr. Craig Westerly, who had found Logan unconscious by his car. Logan learns from Craig that he had not abandoned him and his mother, but that Marianne had divorced him. Logan fears for Jack''s life, afraid that she is infected or will be euthanized. Craig runs tests on the dog and learns that Jack, despite having been in contact with POS, isn''t infected: she is immune. Craig decides to take Jack to a doctor so that a vaccine can be created. During the meeting, Rudy Stagg, a man infected with POS who had been killing dogs in order to contain the outbreak, stumbles into their room. Rudy ignores pleas to spare Jack and shoots at her, but Logan dives in front of the dog and is shot instead. Logan suffers a collapsed lung and falls into a coma. He awakens weeks later and learns that Jack is on life support. He says a final goodbye to Jack before her life support is turned off. Jack''s immunity to POS leads to the creation of a vaccine and cure, and Logan is finally able to reconcile with Robert, Craig, and Devon Wallace&mdash;a childhood enemy whose dog died due to POS. The novel''s epilogue, written as a newspaper article, reveals Logan and his family hold a private ceremony to honor Jack.

The Last Dog on Earth

In The Letter of Marque, Jack Aubrey, now a civilian, prepares the Surprise to sail as a privateer. The term "Letter of Marque" comes from the legal letters given to captains of private vessels allowing them to wage war in the name of the King against the King''s enemies. While Jack often associated "privateers" with legalised pirates, he agrees to sail the Surprise, but always refers to the ship under the more respectable term "Letter of Marque." Jack is bitter and low-spirited about his dismissal from the Navy List, and dreads affronts and disrespectful treatment from any Royal Navy vessels and their officers. However, he is strongly supported by his crew - notably a group of smugglers and Sethian religious fanatics recruited at the little port of Shelmerston (fictional) in south-west England. The downfall of the traitors Wray and Ledward in the previous book has restored order in British intelligence circles, and Maturin - now the secret owner of Surprise - plans to use her privateering as cover for a covert anti-Spanish mission to South America. The ship is therefore under official protection to an extent and Aubrey''s innocence is known privately to many, though the spies are still at large and politics will make his rehabilitation impossible without extraordinary deeds on his part. They depart on a cruise, during which Maturin''s servant Padeen becomes a secret laudanum addict after painful dental surgery, diluting Maturin''s own supplies with brandy in order to conceal his theft. Maturin is thus unknowingly weaned off his own addiction (though he later substitutes it with the practice of chewing Coca leaves). The Surprise captures an American privateer''s consort, the Merlin, and then boards the privateer Spartan itself, retrieving its valuable cargo of quicksilver, looted from the Spanish barque Azul, as well as tricking her five prizes out of Horta harbour. These, together with his success in the cutting-out of the frigate Diane from the French port of Saint Martin-de-Rey despite serious wounds, make Aubrey both wealthy again and a popular hero. He is offered the opportunity to seek a free pardon, but angrily declines on the grounds that he is innocent and his friends fear that he has missed his chance of redemption. However, Aubrey''s embarrassing father, a fugitive since his part in the stock-jobbing affair, is found dead in a ditch, and Aubrey is offered a Parliamentary seat by his cousin, Edward Norton, who owns the borough of Milport. This extra influence is enough for him to receive private assurances from Lord Melville, First Lord of the Admiralty, that he will indeed be restored to the Navy List as soon as the time is right. Maturin, in possession once more of Diana''s magnificent Blue Peter diamond, decides to take it to her in Sweden. He sails part of the way on the old Leopard, now sadly reduced to a lowly transport ship, before re-joining the Surprise. He meets his wife Diana in Stockholm and is unsurprised to learn that the letter he sent to her from Gibraltar via Wray, accounting for his supposed infidelity, was never delivered. She also tells him she has not been unfaithful with Jagiello, and has been supporting herself by ascending - whilst mounted on a small Arab horse - in a hot-air balloon before an audience. Maturin is seriously injured in a fall after taking his usual dose of laudanum to soothe himself after their initial meeting, unaware that his tolerance has been reduced by Padeen''s actions. Diana nurses him back to health and they become reconciled once more. When the Surprise returns from a trip to Riga to buy poldavy, Maturin hears from Martin about Padeen''s laudanum addiction, discovered after he was caught siphoning laudanum from one of the carboys and replacing the tincture with brandy. Stephen is well enough to be finally transported back to the ship, accompanied by Colonel Jagiello''s escort, and Diana embarks with him and Jack for home.

The Letter of Marque

The headquarters of "The Hostel of Righteousness" is an old monastery on the small Greek island Kalivari. But this does not imply that the organization is a particularly holy one. On the contrary, Dr. Thaddeus Pilgrim and his followers are among the most unholy people you could have the misfortune of meeting. By chance, Willie Garvin and Modesty Blaise are targeted by Dr. Pilgrim, who has an obsession for creating "interesting scenarios". Dr. Pilgrim sends Sibyl and Kazim, his two top assassins, to England to capture Willie Garvin and bring him to Kalivari under heavy sedation. There Dr. Janos Tyl subjects Willie to the most diabolical brainwashing possible for him; he is made to think that a woman called Delilah has brutally murdered Modesty, and that he must now avenge Modesty''s death by killing Delilah. Willie is shown pictures of this she-devil Delilah, in reality pictures of Modesty Blaise. In other words, Willie is now programmed to kill Modesty on sight, at which point he will regain his memory, and presumably go insane when he realizes what he has done. Modesty manages to pick up Willie''s trail, and she eventually arrives at Kalivari, waiting until after dark to go ashore. Dr. Pilgrim has ensured that Modesty and Willie encounter each other in the old amphitheater, suddenly seeing each other when the spotlights are switched on. Willie doesn''t hesitate a moment, he draws his throwing knife and throws it. The story does not end here, and soon Dr. Pilgrim''s obsession with interesting scenarios goes horribly wrong (for him) when Sibyl and Kazim are killed in gladiator-style duels and Dr. Janos Tyl is felled by a heavy round shield thrown frisbee-style by Willie. And finally, the ungodly Dr. Pilgrim meets his fate at the hands of one of his own assassins.

Dead Man''s Handle

Soraya, Kavi and Jiaan have agreed to work together to defeat the Hrum and free Farsala. However, distrust of Kavi is impeding this effort. The three attempt to work together, but it becomes difficult. Luckily, they have finally uncovered the secret of watersteel, with the help of Kavi''s ability to "speak" to metal. Only a few months remain in the Hrums self-imposed limit to conquer Farsala. The three youths learn that Garren, the Strategus in charge of the conquest, has more riding on the conquest than just Farsala. His father, a member of the Senate of the Hrum Empire, stated that Garren would conquer Farsala with only ten thousand troops. In addition, his father stated that he will resign from the Senate if this is not accomplished. He did these things in order to secure the assignment of the Farsalan conquest to his son. Garren''s father''s enemies are eager for this to happen. When Garren requisitions gold to hire Kadeshi aid and circumvent the troop sanction, the Senate sends a delegation to review the conquest. Kavi, Jiaan and Soraya decide to capture the gold before it reaches the Kadeshi, as a Kadeshi warlord has informed Jiaan that if he chooses to pay, the warlord will order the troops he sent Garren to betray the Hrum, crippling the army. Jiaan, Kavi and Soraya do not wish for this to happen. Soraya, with Kavi accompanying her, visits the bandits and convinces them to rob the Senate committee, which will arrive at the nearby harbor of Dugaz. They believe that if the delegation is robbed during its stay, it will demonstrate to the Senate that Garren does not have the country under control. However, upon arriving at the bandits'' lair, Shir, their leader, informs Kavi and Soraya that the Senate arrived a week ago, and the bandits failed to rob them. Disappointed, the two promise Shir that in exchange for letting them go, they will get the Suud to try to develop a cure for the swamp fever plaguing the bandits. The gold arrives in Setesafon, and under Garren''s close supervision. Using stolen Hrum disguises, Kavi infiltrates the palace, attempting to uncover the passwords into the vault, but is captured. Before he is captured he burns the words into his mule''s saddle, which Jiaan and Soraya find. Jiaan and Soraya enter the palace under a guise that Jiaan has captured Soraya. They release the gold into barrels in the river. After the gold is discovered missing Garren orders Kavi tortured, but Kavi withstands it. Garren publicly declares that if Sorahb does not fight Garren as a champion of Farsala, Kavi will be slain. While Jiaan believes the challenge to be a trap and does not think Kavi will be killed, Fasal accepts the challenge. After Fasal breaks Garren''s blade with the newly-developed Farsalan watersteel, Garren orders Fasal killed. The Farsalans begin rioting and Soraya, outraged, uses magic to kill Garren with lightning. The senate committee is convinced Farsala is not subdued, and decides the Hrum shall leave Farsala as an allied state. The remaining people send delegates, and Kavi, much to his annoyance, is elected to be a "councilherd" of the council; to make things run smoothly. Jiaan is invited to accompany the Hrum on their next campaign, that in Kadesh; he accepts. Soraya decides to live with the Suud.

Forging the Sword

The novel takes place in Three Rivers, Connecticut. Dominick Birdsey''s identical twin, Thomas, suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. With medication, he can function properly and work at a coffee stand, but occasionally he has severe episodes of his illness. Thinking he is making a sacrificial protest that will stop the war in the Middle East, Thomas cuts off his own hand in a public library. Dominick sees him through the ensuing decision not to attempt to reattach the hand, and makes efforts on his behalf to free him from what he knows to be an inadequate and depressing hospital for the dangerous mentally ill. In the process, Dominick reviews his own difficult life as Thomas''s normal brother, his marriage to his gorgeous ex-wife, which ended after their only child died of SIDS, and his ongoing hostility toward his stepfather. Dominick also displays classic symptoms of PTSD, as a result of stressors in his adult life. First in Thomas''s interests, and then for his own sake, he sees a therapist, Dr. Rubina Patel, an Indian psychologist, employed by the hospital. She helps Dominick come to understand Thomas''s illness better and the family''s accommodations or reactions to it. In the course of Thomas''s treatment, Dominick is covertly informed of sexual abuse taking place in the hospital, and helps to expose the perpetrators. He succeeds in getting Thomas released, but Thomas soon dies, apparently by suicide. After Thomas''s death, Dominick discovers the identity of their birth father, who was part African American and part Native American--a secret their mother had shared with Thomas, but not with him. In the midst of this, Dominick is also reading the autobiography of his grandfather, Italian/Sicilian-born Domenico Tempesta, which discloses details about the legacy of twins in their family. Dominick learns about himself and his mother through learning about his grandfather. He also learns that his live-in girlfriend, Joy, has been seeing a man on the side, who is her bisexual half-uncle, as well as letting him watch her and Dominick during sex. She is also HIV-positive, having contracted it from her secret lover. She asks Dominick to raise her baby if she dies. At first he resists, but later, after having found his way back into a relationship with his ex-wife, Dessa, they decide to remarry each other and adopt Joy''s daughter. The book ends with Dominick able to cope with the considerable loss, failure, and sadness in his personal and family history.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

By Jeff Kinney

Playback

By Raymond Chandler

Sunnydale High Yearbook

By Nancy Holder

Dictation: A Quartet

By Cynthia Ozick

The Ill-Made Mute

By Cecilia Dart-Thornton

Froth on the daydream

By Boris Vian

1945

By William R. Forstchen

The Last Dog on Earth

No Author Listed

The Letter of Marque

By Patrick O''Brian

Dead Man's Handle

By Peter O''Donnell

Forging the Sword

By Hilari Bell

I Know This Much Is True

By Wally Lamb