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

Park''s full name is Parkington Waddell Broughton V. He knows he has ancestors who have distinguished themselves and the name he shares with four generations of them. But his father, a U.S. Marine Corps pilot, died in Vietnam when Park was three, and he has never met his father''s family. Though he is nearly twelve, his mother still avoids answering any questions about his father. Finally, to satisfy his curiosity, Park gets on a bus for the short ride from his home to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC. There he finds his father''s name. There he also resolves to get some of his questions answered. After a painful conversation, his mother puts him on a bus for a two-week vacation in south-western Virginia where his grandfather and uncle maintain the farm on which his father grew up. His grandfather has had a stroke and is now inarticulate, able to communicate in only the most rudimentary ways. His uncle has a Vietnamese wife, and shares his home with a Vietnamese girl about Park''s age whose origin and status is not clear to Park until he discovers, after a number of uncomfortable encounters, that she is his half-sister, and that because of his father''s infidelity, his mother divorced him before his second, and fatal, term in Vietnam. Park, whose fantasies about his father''s past and his own future have been highly romanticized, does some important growing up in the short visit that puts him in touch with a more complex idea of family, grief, forgiveness, and acceptance than he has ever before had to develop.

Park''s Quest

This gothic story deals with two aging sisters, Jane and Blanche Hudson, who are living alone together in a decaying Hollywood mansion. Jane, a former child star of early vaudeville known as "Baby Jane", was spoiled, pampered, and doted upon by her father due to her success; her ignored older sister, Blanche, lived in Jane''s shadow. However, their roles were reversed after the death of their parents due to influenza, when both children moved to Los Angeles to live with an aunt. Blanche was favored for her brown hair and regal beauty, and was even encouraged to pursue a film career. Blanche became a star while Jane, whose films were failures, languished in her shadow. Blanche had a clause in her contract stipulating that her studio create a film starring Jane for every Blanche Hudson picture. Years later, Jane, a slatternly alcoholic who still dresses as if she were 10 years old, and Blanche, disabled after a mysterious car accident involving Jane, continue to live together in the same mansion in a declining neighborhood. Jane resents having to live in the shadow of her sister, who became more famous than she ever was, and who is now being remembered because of a revival of her films on television. She hates having to cook, clean, and care for Blanche, who, although stuck upstairs in her bedroom, has nevertheless managed to keep her good looks, while Jane is now aged and ugly. Blanche, whose only other contact with the outside world is cleaning woman Elvira Stitt and her telephone conversations with her doctor and attorney, realizes that Jane is becoming increasingly unstable. She calls her lawyer and tells him she is planning to sell. She hears the extension downstairs click. Jane, who eavesdrops on her sister''s calls, believes that Blanche wants to sell the house and have her committed to a mental hospital. When Blanche sees Jane''s sinister mood swings beginning, she tries to talk to her sister about her decision. Jane does not listen, however. Jane begins to get even crazier, taking Blanche''s phone and making her afraid to eat by serving, first, her dead pet bird on a salad and, later, a large rat from the cellar. In a drunken daze, Jane decides to revive her childhood singing and dancing act of Baby Jane, reasoning that Fanny Brice had success with Baby Snooks. She then hires a musical accompanist, Edwin Flagg, through a want ad. As reality topples crazily into eerie fantasy, Jane abuses her sister with monstrous cruelty while embezzling her money to buy liquor and revive her childhood act as "Baby Jane Hudson". Elvira comes to find out why Blanche can''t be reached on the phone and why Jane won''t let her go upstairs to Blanche''s room. Opening the door and finding Blanche tied to the bed with her mouth taped shut, she tries to help. Jane kills Elvira with a hammer from behind before she can help. That night, Jane dumps the body. A day or two later police officers come questioning Jane about Elvira''s disappearance, so Jane panics, grabs her barely conscious sister and heads for the location of some of her happiest childhood memories, the beach. It was there some fifty years before that crowds used to gather around and watch Baby Jane practice her songs and dances while Daddy played the banjo. While lying on the beach, Jane plays in the sand while Blanche lies there wrapped in a blanket. Realizing that she may be dying, Blanche reveals to Jane that it was actually she, and not Jane, who had driven the car on the fateful night. Jane had spent the evening teasing and mimicking Blanche at a party. As Jane unlocked the gates, Blanche tried to run her down with the car, but Jane moved out of the way. The car then slammed into the metal gate, snapping Blanche''s spine, crippling her. She managed to crawl out of the car and up to the gate and when the police arrived, they assumed Jane had been driving. Jane had been too drunk to know what had happened and could not refute the accusations. Jane says at times the truth had almost come to her, but assumed she had dreamed it. She goes to buy an ice cream and is recognized by the police. At first she is confused by the crowd of people who gather around to stare at her. She then realizes what they must want, so she begins to dance.

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

This is a story about a young man, Ezio Auditore, seeking revenge for the killing of his family. On his mission for vengeance he finds out truths about his father and his father''s history. Guided by assassins, his skill as an assassin is honed until finally he is one of them. Ezio becomes involved in a war between the Assassin Order and the Knights Templar, who both seek an ancient Vault in Italy which contains super-advanced technology that can alter human minds. Set entirely in 15th century Italy, the plot features non-fictional characters such as Rodrigo Borgia, who is here portrayed as the antagonist. Unlike the game Assassin''s Creed II, it does not span over a vast period of time (the game''s plot also takes place as late as 2012) and takes its own liberties for the sake of creativity. There is no mention of the modern day events of the Assassin''s Creed universe, including Desmond Miles looking back on his ancestor''s memories. Some of the book, including Ezio''s long-running relationship with Christina, were left out of the novel and were instead included as playable repressed memories in Assassin''s Creed: Brotherhood.

Assassin''s Creed: Renaissance

In the mid-19th century, Father Gstir is sent from Bavaria to Canada to minister to German-Catholic communities. He is drawn to Shoneval, a farming town situated in a valley in Ontario, and is determined to build a stone church with a bell. Joseph Becker, a master woodcarver, helps him. Later, Becker tries to pass on his carving skills to his grandson, Tilman, but the boy is unenthusiastic. Tilman suffers from constant restlessness and is unable to stay in one place, often running away from the settlement for weeks at a time. Aged 12 he leaves for good. Becker''s granddaughter, Klara, by contrast, is eager to learn the carving trade and Becker reluctantly teaches her. Klara falls in love with Eamon, the silent son of an Irish family, but she is hurt when he leaves her to fight in World War I. After he is reported as ''missing'' Klara is devastated, and attempts to shut out her memory of him and her emotions, and lives the life of a spinster. After leaving home, Tilman spends several years as a hobo on the roads and rails. He eventually meets up with a tramp named Refuto, who had left home because he felt guilty for indirectly killing his brother. Later, Refuto decides to try returning home, fearful that his family will not forgive his wrongs. Refuto brings Tilman with him to the Italian district of Hamilton; Tilman befriends Refuto''s son Giorgio and lives with the family for a time. But when war comes Tilman serves in the trenches of France, where he is ''injured out'' after losing his leg in battle at Vimy Ridge. Aged in his 40s, Tilman returns to Shoneval, and Klara is reunited with the brother who had been assumed dead years ago. She becomes determined to travel to France with Tilman to help carve the massive Vimy Memorial being built by Walter Allward. After overcoming her brother''s reluctance they travel to France and start work on the monument, Klara disguised as a man. After some weeks, and without permission, Klara sculpts Eamon''s face on a key statue on the top of the memorial. Despite his initial anger, Allward sees how the change personalises and enhances the monument. He retains the alteration. Klara falls in love with Giorgio, who is also working on the monument, and for the first time since Eamon''s death she opens up her emotions. Tilman also opens himself up to physical intimacy for the first time, with a war-wounded French chef. The novel ends with the imposing memorial completed, Allward all but forgotten, and Klara and Tilman now leading emotionally fulfilling lives with their partners in Canada, having memorialised the people they knew who had been taken by the war.

The Stone Carvers

Arkarian is kidnapped by the Order of Chaos, who plan to weaken the Guard by erasing his birth. Isabel is determined to save him, but that means defying Lorian''s orders, risking her life, and facing the underworld itself. Going through many hardships in the underworld with her friend Ethan, and brother Matt. They meet a new friend along the way ( John Wren ) but also rescuing Ethan''s sister who got killed when he was a boy ( she is a ghost/spirit ) - ( a wren is a birdlike creature but still has somewhat the appearance of a human ). When rescuing Arkarian, they gain another member of the guard Dillon who was working for the Order of Chaos but came to the good side. Arkarian and Isabel realise they love each other and Arkarian saves them by opening a rift. When they return Lorian summons Isabel to a hearing and Arkarian pleas for her life and finds out Lorian is his father. At the hearing Isabel is pardonned and Lorian grants her the power to cease ageing so she and Arkarian can be together.

The Dark

The novel is written in the first-person, continuing the aesthetic of Ellis'' earlier Less Than Zero, and is told from the points of view of multiple characters. The main narrators are three students: Paul, Sean, and Lauren. A number of other characters also provide first-hand accounts throughout the story, which takes place at the fictional Camden College, a liberal arts school on the East Coast of the United States. The three main characters (who rarely attend class) end up in a love triangle within a sequence of drug runs, "Dress to Get Screwed", and "End of the World" parties. The story begins midway through a sentence (the first word being ''and'') in order to give the effect that it begins somewhere closer to the middle, rather than at a true beginning (in medias res). Another interpretation is that the story has neither a beginning nor an ending, signifying the endless cycle of debauchery in which the characters of the novel engage. This is sometimes mistaken by readers as a typographical error or the result of a missing page, but was purposely done by Ellis. The novel ends in a similar fashion, with the last sentence cut off before it ends.

The Rules of Attraction

The novel is told from the first person perspective of a woman, Helen, who lives in Melbourne near her family. A friend Nicola, who is ill with bowel cancer, comes to stay with Helen in order to pursue alternative therapy for her disease, which is considered terminal by her doctors. Helen is suspicious of the treatment and becomes more so as she sees it in action and its deletrious health effects. As the three weeks of the novel progress Helen becomes increasingly angry with Nicola for denying the seriousness of her illness, forcing those around her to do emotional work on her behalf in confronting her death, and in making light of them for doing so. At the end of the novel, Nicola returns to mainstream oncology treatment, and the doctors find that some of her symptoms are due to cancer having destroyed part of her vertabrae. The novel flashes forward to the months ahead, where Nicola returns to Sydney and eventually dies. A number of friends and family, including Helen, take turns as her caretaker. Nicola only truly embraces her death when a Buddhist friend tells her that in dying, she has something to teach them. The novel draws heavily on both events and details from Garner''s life. The narrator Helen lives next door to her daughter Eva and Eva''s children, as Garner does with her daughter Alice Garner and her children, and plays the ukulele as Garner does. The events in the novel are based on Garner''s spending a period caring for her friend Jenya Osborne when Osborne was dying. Garner chose to use her own first name for the narrator character as she wanted to admit to the least attractive or acceptable emotions that she felt as her friend died.

The Spare Room

Bern Thorkellson, a young Erling man living on Rabady Island has stolen a horse belonging to the island''s governor, who has died. Attempting to find a way to flee the island, Bern seeks the assistance of the local Volur seer, who offers to make him invisible if he has sex with her. The seer''s trickery is revealed by a young acolyte who assists Bern to escape from Rabady. Elsewhere, in Cyngael, a Jaddite priest named Ceinon discovers Alun ap Owyn and his older brother Dai, two Princes of Cadyr, about to carry out a cattle raid at Brynnfell, the house of Brynn ap Hywll, a renowned fighter and leader of another Cyngael province. The princes are persuaded by Ceinon to forget the raid and to accompany him to Brynn''s house, where Dai ap Owyn becomes strongly attracted to Brynn''s daughter Rhiannon who in turn is enamoured of Alun. In an attack by Erling raiders, Dai is killed and his soul is taken by a fairy to the fairy queen, and even wtinessed by Alun who begins a relationship with one of the faeries. Among the Erlings who participated in the attack is Bern''s father, Thorkell Einarsson, who alone is spared among the Erling captives, and becomes a retainer in Brynn''s household. Bern Thorkellson himself travels to Jormsvik, a fortress for elite Erling mercenaries with some parallels to the Viking Jomsvikings of Jomsborg, with the intent of seeking admittance to the ranks of the mercenaries, which is traditionally done by way of defeating another Erling from the fortress in single combat. On his arrival at Jormsvik Bern narrowly escapes being killed even before he can issue his challenge, but is hidden by a prostitute, Thira, who lives in the settlement outside the walls of the fortress. Defeating a Jormsvik captain, Bern is accepted as a member of the mercenaries and joins a raiding part heading from Vinmark to Anglcyn under the patronage of Ivarr Ragnarsson. Ivarr''s famed grandfather was killed by Brynn ap Hywll and is hoping to avenge his grandfather''s death and he persuades the Jormsvik Erlings to participate in the venture by falsely assuring them that Anglcyn''s defences remain vulnerable. Anglcyn is ruled by Aeldred, who in his youth saved the kingdom from Erling conquest. Equally interested in the broader aspects of nation-building, Aeldred has begun to collect manuscripts and foster scholarship. One of the scholars he wishes to attract to his court is Ceinon, who is unwilling to give up his role as leader of the Jaddite faith among the Cyngael. Although he is a great hero to his people and endeavours to be a good Jaddite, Aeldred suffers from periodic debilitating fevers and spiritual confusion as he had encounters with the half-world of faeries in his youth, and cannot reconcile his knowledge of the faerie-world with the tenets of his acknowledged religion. Aeldred and his wife have four children: Aldred''s heir, Aethelbert; two daughters Judit and Kendra; and a younger son, Gareth. The Erlings attack Anglcyn, killing one of Aeldred''s lifelong friends, but are defeated by Aeldred''s fyrd, or army. Bern and Thorkell have a brief reunion, but Bern rejoins the Erlings who set sail for the land of the Cyngael, to attack Brynfell, kill Brynn ap Hwyll and regain the sword of Ivarr Ragnarsson''s grandfather, although Ivarr himself is killed. Alun determines to warn Brynn and his family, deciding to seek a way through the enormous spirit wood that separates the Anglcyn settlements from the lands of the Cyngael in the west. The forest is a place of great dread for Cyngael, Anglcyn and Erling alike. On this journey Alun is joined by Thorkell, and then by Aethelbert. The ancient god creature that dwells in the forest suffers the three men to pass through after Thorkell pledges that they will kill nothing on their journey. In the wood Alun meets the faerie he first met the night of his brother Dai''s death and persuades her to travel to Brynfell to warn Brynn of the approaching Erlings. It is decided to determine the conflict between the Erlings and the Cyngael by a contest of single combat. Thorkell who offers himself as the champion of the Cyngael, is slain; but while Brynn suspects Thorkell of having sacrificed himself he honours the wager and allows the Erlings to depart. After the combat Alun uses the sword of Ivarr''s grandfather to kill the souls of mortals that had been taken as the faerie-queen''s lovers and later discarded, including the soul of his own brother Dai. With the discovery of the psychic link between himself and Kendra, Alun''s own relationship with the faerie is ended.

The Last Light of the Sun

Brian, who is now sixteen years old, is canoeing through the Canadian wilderness. He realizes that the woods are now his home and he will never be happy in modern society, with its noise, pollution, and fake people. He now spends his time in the wild, hunting, fishing, and home schooling himself. While Brian does not miss human contact, he finds his thoughts frequently turning to Kay-gwa-daush (also known as Susan), the teenage daughter of the Cree family who rescued him at the end of Brian''s Winter. Though he has only seen her photograph, her family has described her as an adventurous, self-reliant young woman, and Brian wonders if she might be a kindred spirit. While canoeing, Brian finds a seriously wounded Malamute dog, which he nurses back to health. The dog is clearly domesticated, and Brian begins to worry that whatever maimed the dog may have done the same to her owners. He remembers his Cree friends and decides to go check on them. When Brian reaches their cabin, he finds that it was a bear that had killed the parents and apparently chased Susan into hiding. Brian returns her to her home, radios for help, and buries the family. The authorities arrive to take Susan to relatives in Winnipeg. Brian, along with the dog, stays behind in order to hunt down and kill the bear, knowing very well that the hunt could cost him his life. Brian, using skills he had learned in past books like Hatchet and Brian''s Winter, searches for the bear that killed his friends. But soon, the hunter becomes the hunted. Brian finds bear tracks on an island and begins to follow them. He later realizes that he was walking in a circle. The bear is actually hunting Brian. The next day, instead of moving on, he waits for the bear, and after a hard fought battle with the bear, Brian is triumphant.

Brian''s Hunt

The setting of the book is Gordon High School in 1969. Even though this book has changed some names, etc., it still has the same meaning. The plot of the book revolves around a history teacher Mr. Ben Ross, his high school students, and an experiment he conducts in an attempt to teach them about how it may have been living in Nazi Germany. Unsatisfied with his own inability to answer his students'' earnest questions of how and why, Mr Ross initiates the experiment in hopes that it answers the question of why the Germans allowed Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party to rise to power, acting in a manner inconsistent with their own pre-existing moral values. At Gordon High School, history teacher Ben Ross is teaching his class about World War II and the Holocaust. His students are upset by the footage of concentration camps and question why the German people allowed this to happen, insisting they wouldn''t be so easily duped. Ben Ross considers this and plans an experiment: the next day, he starts to indoctrinate the class using the slogan STRENGTH THROUGH DISCIPLINE. The class reacts well to this, embracing the sense of empowerment it gives them, and they continue their newly disciplined behavior into a second day of class, surprising Ross. He decides to take the experiment further and create a group, The Wave, adding two more slogans --STRENGTH THROUGH COMMUNITY and STRENGTH THROUGH ACTION - which leads to further rules of conduct and an organizational structure. Laurie, a student in Mr. Ross'' class, starts to think that The Wave is having too much of an impact. Laurie receives a letter for the paper detailing how members try to recruit others with bullying. That weekend, the football team is unable to win against Clarkstown, as their newfound drive does not compensate for a lack of proper training and planning. David is confused by this turn of events, while Laurie and her staff on The Grapevine plan a special issue of the paper devoted exclusively to The Wave and the negative impact it has had on the school. While some thank her, especially the teachers and the principal, others do not. Laurie''s boyfriend David, who has been in The Wave since the beginning, tries to get her to stop bad-mouthing The Wave. He eventually shoves her to the ground and this makes him realize how dangerous The Wave really is. Now united in the belief that The Wave must be stopped, Laurie and David go to the home of the Rosses in order to convince Ben Ross to terminate the program. He tells them he will do exactly that, but that they must trust his moves the next day. He calls a Wave meeting in the auditorium and requests that only Wave members be present. They gather in a similar fashion to the Nazi rallies, even equipped with banners and armbands emblazoned with the Wave. Ben tells The Wave members that they are only one in many schools across the nation that is involved in the Wave, and that they are about to see the leader of the whole organization and that he is going to speak to all of them on television to create a National Wave Party for Youths. Everyone is shocked when Mr. Ross projects the image of Adolf Hitler. He explains that there is no leader, and that there is no National Wave Party. If there were a leader, it would be the man on the projection screen. He explains how their obedience led them to act like Nazis. The shocked students drop all their Wave-branded trinkets and items, and slowly leave the room. As Ben turns to leave, the one person who really flourished in the Wave, Robert, is standing alone, upset that The Wave ended. During The Wave, he was finally accepted as an equal, no one picked on him, he had friends, but his new-found social status is now worthless without The Wave. Mr. Ross tries to cheer him up by commenting on his tie and suit, and they walk out together to grab "a bite to eat".

The Wave

After a battle, the Nightlord Steel Brightblade finds Palin Majere, nephew of the famed mage Raistlin. He allows him to return with the bodies of his two brothers, slain in the battle, to their parents, Caramon and Tika. The Knights of Takhisis visit an island where the hidden race of Irda make their home. The Irda hide themselves with an illusion, pretending to be primitive humans, and the knights leave. This fearful encounter causes the Irda to believe that another invasion will come, and convinces them to break open a magical item known as the Greygem of Gargath. The Irda did not know that the Graygem holds the entity known as Chaos inside it, long thought too dangerous to dabble with, which sets in motion the Chaos War. Among the Irda is Usha, an orphaned human girl they had raised among them. They believed while their kind would be immune to the effect of the Greygem, that she, being a human, might be affected by it. So they decided to send her away, giving her a message to deliver to Lord Dalamar, master of the Tower of High Sorcery in Palanthas. After she is gone, they crack open the Graygem and release the god Chaos.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

Sunnydale High Yearbook

By Nancy Holder

Park's Quest

By Katherine Paterson

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

No Author Listed

Assassin's Creed: Renaissance

No Author Listed

The Stone Carvers

By Jane Urquhart

The Dark

By Marianne Curley

The Rules of Attraction

By Bret Easton Ellis

The Spare Room

By Helen Garner

The Last Light of the Sun

By Guy Gavriel Kay

Brian's Hunt

By Gary Paulsen

The Wave

By Todd Strasser

Dragons of Summer Flame

By Margaret Weis