The focus is on the struggles between the pioneers to establish a new social order now that they have left Basilica. The new society is opposite to that of the previous societies - male dominated instead of female dominated, monogamous and lifelong marriages instead of the yearly contracts of Basilica. The struggles between the characters ultimately come down to the struggles between Nafai and Elemak, two sons of Volemak. Nafai leads the faction who have faith in the Oversoul, while Elemak leads the faction who want desperately to return to the civilization of doomed Basilica. Both are ostensibly under the leadership of Volemak (and not Rasa, as they had been in the city). The settlers, after years of traveling, finally arrive in a land lost in ancient times which holds the secret of the Oversoul. Also many children are born, all in their preparation for the ultimate journey to Earth. The book offers an interesting justification of the social structures of the Hebrew tribes in Genesis, all while the originally powerful female characters gradually succumb to the new hierarchy of "men" and "wives." Only one character - Shedemei, the brilliant geneticist, thinks about this problem. The focus in on the group dynamics of the new tribe as they journey where the Oversoul guides them. Prophetic dreams abound, mostly involving giant rats and bats ("diggers" and "angels"). The Oversoul discovers itself.

The Ships of Earth

Following the events of 1634: The Galileo Affair, Pope Urban VIII had been won over to the actions of the Americans after being saved from his attempted assassination and his subsequent pardon of Galileo Galilei. However, Pope Urban''s relations with the Americans and their allies earned the scorn of his historical enemy Cardinal Gaspar Borja y Velasco, who had been loudly critical of the actions, or inactions, of the Holy See in regard to Gustavus Adolphus, Galileo, and now Cardinal Larry Mazzare, and had been briefly banned from Rome by Urban. Cardinal Borja returned to Rome, though living in the outskirts of the city, and having cultivated allies with the Spanish element of the Vatican and acquiring the aid of Francisco de Quevedo y Villega, a mercenary agent provocateur, is ordered by King Philip IV of Spain to stir up trouble within Rome with the efforts of discrediting Urban and turning him into a lame duck pope after Urban failed to support Spain in her war against the United States of Europe (USE). Borja exceeds these orders, orchestrating a military coup to overthrow Urban, which also caused the deaths of Urban''s political allies including his cardinal-nephew Antonio Barberini, and replace him with a Spanish puppet. Fortunately, Urban escaped from his second attempted death with the help from the American Roman embassy, leading to Borja being declared an Anti-Pope, with only Spain and its satellites recognizing his authority as the new Pope.

1635: The Cannon Law

The novel is set in the late nineteenth century, during the British Raj, and follows the adventures of a Rajput prince who is heir to a fictional kingdom based in Deori (roughly comparable to modern Chhattisgarh). He has just returned from his education in England. As a sign of his Anglicisation he plans to build a dam and a cricket pitch on disused land in Konpara, a backward and neglected part of his realm. However, when work begins, a fragment of an ancient statue is recovered. Such is its beauty and sensuousness that it is nicknamed the "Venus of Konpara". He decides to excavate the area in search of other remains. Meanwhile, he has been seduced by a Dravidian dancing girl, who becomes his live-in lover and who seems to have a mysterious control over the local people. The prince''s uncle, however, plans to displace him as successor to the throne and works in tandem with other mysterious hidden factions to disrupt the investigations. The local British administrator assists the prince, though with some reservations. The administrator is deeply resentful of his liberated wife, an artist who works in an avant-garde style similar to Manet. Her creativity disturbs his rigid and sexually repressed personality. As excavations proceed it becomes clear that there are systematic attempts to misdirect the dig, and even to threaten the lives of the central characters, who are attacked by the local Gond tribesmen. The British administrator is drawn into the plot against the prince, and the dancing girl is abducted. All ends happily for the main characters after the administrator is killed when he pricks himself with a poisoned arrow meant for the prince. The dancing girl is rescued and marries the prince. The administrator''s widow marries another character who admires her work, and she becomes a famous artist.

The Venus of Konpara

Medraut, the illegitimate son of Artos the king, returns from his travels in Africa and elsewhere to watch over his younger half-brother, Lleu. Though Medraut, a child of incest, can never be High King, Artos knows that Medraut is a far better statesman and fighter than his younger brother; thus, Artos gives Medraut the task of making Lleu fit to be High King, promising Medraut the position of Regent in return. Medraut doesn''t know if he loves or hates his brother; even from the beginning, he is disgusted by Lleu''s naïve, careless use of power and jealous of Lleu''s easy claim to Artos''s affection. Their relationship intensifies when Medraut''s lessons begin to stick, and Lleu starts to seem a suitable High King. Matters are further complicated by the entrance of Medraut''s mother Morgause, whose disturbing similarities to Medraut are revealed even as she tries to slowly poison Lleu. Expecting Medraut''s tacit approval of the poisoning, Morgause is unhappily surprised when Medraut protects Lleu and reveals Morgause''s treachery to Artos. Artos banishes Morgause from the castle, and Morgause vows to erode Medraut''s loyalty to Lleu. At first, Morgause''s vow seems an empty threat. But while Lleu becomes more and more competent, an accident strips Medraut of his power and (he thinks) his father''s affections. Resentment simmers between Medraut and Lleu, and by the time Morgause visits again, Medraut barely needs a catalyst. He kidnaps Lleu, intending to turn him over to Morgause, who in turn, plans to trade Lleu''s life for the throne. But when Lleu steals Medraut''s weapons and attempts to escape, the brothers are put in a unique situation; Medraut is ill and weaponless, Lleu is completely lost, and both are stranded in the middle of the woods. Medraut, struggling with regret as well as with his own envious desire to break Lleu''s spirit, proposes a sadistic bargain; if Lleu can stay awake and alert for five days straight, Medraut will betray Morgause and lead him back to Camlan. Lleu agrees to the bargain, but as Lleu begins to hallucinate from lack of sleep, Medraut realizes that nothing his brother has said or done should have pushed him to this extreme. The book ends with Medraut carrying Lleu back to Camlan, where Lleu, in turn, invokes his power as High King to save Medraut from being punished as a traitor.

The Winter Prince

In this sequel in the Fudge'' series, Fudge takes up an obsessive and greedy love for money and his family decides to take him to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington to show how money is made hoping that his obsession would stop there. That plan doesn''t work, and instead they meet up with their long-lost cousins, the Howie Hatchers. There is Howie, a park ranger who resides in Hawaii and is traveling the country, his pregnant wife Eudora, their perfect, slightly overindulged twin daughters Flora and Fauna who are sometimes nicknamed the "Natural Beauties," and the "Heavenly Hatchers," and last but not least, three-year-old Farley Drexel Hatcher, which is also Fudge''s real name. The boys are left alone with their cousins and find out that the Natural Beauties have been trying to find a nickname for Farley and try to use Fudge''s own nickname. He tries to save his nickname from being taken by the Natural Beauties for Farley''s own use by yelling and gets bitten in the leg. After the two are broken up, Peter suggests the natural beauties call Farley "Mini-Fudge," but when the other Fudge disagrees, the name is changed to Mini-Farley. Peter is having a rough time throughout this because his best friend Jimmy has left Manhattan and moved far off to the SoHo section of New York City. He still goes to the same school but Peter feels lonely. Fudge begins to start hating Mini, and the Natural Beauties then annoy Peter more when they are invited to perform at an assembly at his school. Mini lets Uncle Feather, Fudge''s myna bird who has stopped talking out of his cage and he has a near-death incident (which causes him to begin talking again, although it is never explained why he stopped in the first place), Fudge goes trick-or-treating with Mini on Halloween and they get stuck in a elevator. Near the end of the story, in a semi-homage to the ending of the original Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Mini swallows Fudge''s baby tooth that just fallen out. The Howies quickly depart from the Hatchers'' apartment because he was throwing a fit, and after writing a note to the Tooth Fairy to explain what happened, he still tries to get some more Tooth Fairy money by using a box of Peter''s old baby teeth. He takes it back and places it under his own pillow because, as Peter says, "Hey, you never know

Double Fudge

As in Star Maker, the book begins with a single human observer staring at the sky and considering the immensity of the cosmos. From that point, however, the similarities end. The narrator of Nebula Maker immediately sees the face of the creator - an ever-shifting mask of constant change, human then alien, demonic then angelic. The narrator watches in wonder as this vision of God creates our universe. The universe is peopled at first by the immense, bizarre lifeforms whose history takes up the rest of the manuscript - the nebulae. Singularly or in clusters, these vast entities come to consciousness and express their passions through a frenzied cosmic dance. Some, however become perverted and fanatical, and war breaks out in the heavens. It is discovered that nebulae can journey to other nebulae if they feed on the dead "flesh" of their fellows, and this development fuels aeons of conflict. The novel then focuses on two individual nebulae, Bright Heart and Fire Bolt, who embody the human types Stapledon was most fascinated by - the saint and the revolutionary. Bright Heart preaches peace, and is martyred for his troubles; Fire Bolt brings about revolution and changes the social order of the cosmos. With Bright Heart dead, and Fire Bolt crumbling into senescence, the remaining nebulae attempt to bring about universal peace and harmony, but a quarrel over how this is to be done once again results in war. The history of the nebulae is thus one of tragedy, and as they dissolve into the stars and planets of our own cosmical time, the narrator wonders at the creator who could author such a complex dance of hope and futility.

Nebula Maker

In 1933 Reza Shah signed a deal selling Iranian oil extraction rights to the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, later called British Petroleum (BP). Though Iran was officially neutral at the start of World War II, its monarch was friendly towards the Axis. Following the 1941 Allied Invasion of Iran, Reza Shah was forced to abdicate in favour of his son Mohammad Reza Shah, who upheld the oil agreement with APOC, which by then had been renamed the "Anglo-Iranian Oil Company". When the first democratically elected parliament and prime minister in Iran took power in 1950 they planned to seize the oil assets in Iran that had been developed by the British, violating the still running oil contract with British Petroleum. The British Government followed to court in Belgium''s International Court and lost the case against Iran''s new government. Great Britain reacted by blockading the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, halting Iran''s trade and economy. The US was concerned that Iranian prime minister Mohammad Mossadegh was seeking help from local superpower, the Soviet Union, in the case against Great Britain. The Dwight D. Eisenhower administration agreed with the Churchill government to restore the pro-western Shah to power. In the summer of 1953, the CIA and Britain''s MI6 arranged a coup in Tehran. The Iranian prime minister was successfully overthrown. Mossadegh spent the rest of his life on his country estate under house arrest, and Iran remained a staunch Cold War ally of the West. After more than 20 years of the Shah''s rule, there was a bloody revolution in 1979 after which Iran became the Islamic Republic it is today. Regarding US policy as it developed towards Iran in the early 1950s, the book portrays it as having been variously driven by the fear of annoying the British, or attempting to be an honest broker, or as being motivated by efforts to stop the spread of Communism. The fact (stated at the end of the book) that US companies were granted the majority of the oil concessions from the Shah''s government after the coup, does not feature significantly in the earlier part of the narrative. However, that this was the chief reason for the coup is the tacit conclusion of the book. The British critic David Pryce-Jones takes strong issue with this conclusion in his essay "A Very Elegant Coup" (link below). In his view, the attempted Communist takeover of Iran was the chief issue, and the portrayal of the CIA by Kinzer as ''arrogant, thuggish and immoral'' was originally a notion put forward by leftists who sympathized with the attempt.

All the Shah''s Men

Romantic novelist Edith Hope is staying in a hotel on the shores of Lake Geneva, where her friends have advised her to retreat following an unfortunate incident. There she meets other English visitors, including Mrs Pusey and her daughter Jennifer, and an attractive middle-aged man, Mr Neville. Edith reaches Hotel du Lac in a state of bewildered confusion at the turn of events in her life. A secret and often lonely affair with a married man and an aborted marriage later, she is banished by her friends, who advise her to go on "probation" so as to "grow up," and "be a woman," atoning for her mistakes. Edith comes to the hotel swearing not to change. The silent charms of the hotel and her observations of the guests there all tug at Edith with questions of her identity, forcing her to examine who she is and what she has been. At the hotel, she observes people from different walks of life — Mrs Pusey and her daughter, Jennifer and their love for each other and the splendid oblivious lives they live; Mme de Bonneuil, who lives at the hotel in solitary expulsion from her son; and Monica, who came to the hotel, acceding to her husband''s demands. She falls for the ambiguous smile of Mr Neville, who asks for her hand. She considers a life of recognition the married state would confer but ultimately rejects the possibility of a relationship with him when she realises he is an incorrigible womaniser. This also finally leads her to realize what her life is expected to be. Once again, she breaks chains and decides to take things into her own hands.

Hotel du Lac

Set in the projects of Brooklyn, New York, The Coldest Winter Ever is the story of Winter Santiaga (aptly named because she was born during one of New York''s worst snowstorms), the rebellious, pampered teenage daughter of a notorious drug dealer. Ricky Santiaga, Winter''s father, has attained substantial wealth through his illegal drug empire and lavishes his wife, Winter, and Winter''s three younger sisters, Porsche, Lexus, and Mercedes, with the best things money can (and cannot) buy. Unknown to her father, Winter uses her hustling tricks to get whatever she wants. Winter''s world is turned upside down on her 16th birthday, when her father suddenly decides to relocate his family and his growing business to Long Island, but she is determined not to sever ties with the old neighborhood. Her life spirals downward when her mother is shot in the face by foes of her father. Shortly afterward, the FBI arrives at the Santiaga mansion while Winter is at a party, seizes the family''s possessions, and sends the drug lord to prison. At this juncture, Winter''s sisters are placed in child custody, rather than in their unemployed mother''s custody. Winter escapes by pretending to not be her parents’ daughter. Winter stays with a man just for his money for a while, but when his girlfriend comes back, Winter goes to live with an aunt. While with the Aunt, Winter''s location is revealed, and she is turned over to the Bureau of Child Welfare. Winter''s location was probably divulged by Natalie, a former friend of Winter''s, who suspected that Winter was trying to date her boyfriend. While visiting her father in jail, she finds out that he had an infant son and was cheating on her mother, which tears her apart. Also, her father murdered someone while in jail. After being taken out of her aunt’s home, Winter starts living at the House of Success, a group home for teenage girls. Her new surroundings do not stop her from hustling: she makes money by selling clothes and cigarettes to her housemates, and she does their hair. Winter obtains the goods she sells from her friend Simone, who is a booster who steals designer clothes for her. Winter continues making money this way until Simone is arrested. Winter does not bail out now-pregnant Simone, but Simone gets out another way. Upon her release, Simone gathers some friends to wait so that they can beat up Winter. Winter escapes the beating by running and never returns. Then Simone falls and has a miscarriage. Rashida, one of Winter''s House of Success housemates, thinks that Winter needs help and persuades her to go to a friend''s house. Winter doesn''t know that the friend is Sister Souljah, whom Winter boldly stated she never liked in the book''s introduction. Under Souljah''s tutelage, Winter volunteers at a benefit for people with HIV/AIDS, but Winter still does whatever she can to get money. Winter steals money from the AIDS benefit and rushes home to pack. Suspicious of Winter leaving, Lauren, Souljah''s sister, switches the bag into which Winter has put her prized belongings. Winter takes a cab to a New Jersey hotel, and realizes that she has no money, no jewels, and no protection. Winter hooks up with an old boyfriend named Bullet, who has money. She finds out that she is pregnant with the baby of a man who tricked her into believing he was hip-hop MC GS. Months later, Winter''s world crashes again when she is attacked in a car by Simone. A crowd gathers to watch the fight, and Winter loses focus when she sees Bullet cause the crowd to disperse by waving a gun in the air. Once Winter looks away, Simone slashes her across the face with a broken bottle. Winter is led back to the car by Bullet and, shortly afterward, the police arrive. Bullet leaves Winter, who gets a mandatory 15-year prison sentence for transporting drugs in his rental car. Soon, her old friends Natalie and Simone join her in prison, and her younger sister eventually becomes just like her. The ending surprises: after her father was jailed, Winter talked about being let out of prison to attend her mother’s funeral.

The Coldest Winter Ever

The novel''s protagonist, mild-mannered, middle-aged Joe Boyd, is depicted as a lifelong fan of the hapless Washington Senators. As the novel begins, the Senators are losing ground in the American League to their longtime nemesis, the New York Yankees. The discouraged Boyd runs into an unexpected offer from a fast-talking confidence man, who introduces himself as "Mr. Applegate." "Applegate" offers to transform Joe Boyd into Joe Hardy, a young baseball superstar, and facilitate his signing with the Senators'' front office so that Hardy can help salvage the Senators'' lost season. Boyd, suspicious, negotiates with "Applegate" and extracts a promise that the transformation will only be temporary and, after helping the Senators win a suitable number of games, Hardy will be able to re-transfer himself back to his Joe Boyd personality. The transformation takes place, Hardy joins the Senators, and all begins to develop as "Applegate" had predicted. However, the new baseball superstar begins to realize that his deal with "Applegate" may not be so temporary and he may have let himself in for more than he had expected to get. As Hardy''s doubts grow over his predicament, "Applegate" presents Hardy with love interest Lola, depicted as a glamorous temptress in the style of the 1950s.

The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant

;1 :Ong Gou''er, 48-year-old special investigator, gets a lift with a "lady trucker" (that he is quite taken with) to the Mount Luo Coal Mine, Liquorland (a fictional Chinese province), where he has been sent to investigate claims of cannibalism: claims of baby boys prepared as gourmet dishes. He is greeted by the Mine Director and Party Secretary and immediately taken to a banquet in his honour. ;2 :Introductory letter from Li Yidou ("one-pint Li") to Mo Yan. Li is a PhD candidate in liquor studies at Brewers College in Liquorland, and aspiring author. He includes a short story (Alcohol) that he wrote after watching Red Sorghum, the film adaption of Mo Yan''s novel of the same name. ;3 :Mo Yan''s reply to Li Yidou. Mo informs Li that he has sent his story to the editors of Citizens'' Literature. ;4 :Li Yidou''s short story, Alcohol. ;1 :The Mine Director and Party Secretary treat Ding to an expansive feast, and goad him into drinking copious amounts of alcohol. Ding does not hold his alcohol well. Deputy Head Diamond Jin, a Party official with a notorious capacity for drink, also joins them. ;2 :Second letter from Li to Mo, and Li''s second story, Meat Boy, which he calls "grim realism". Li is now bolder, in his requests to Mo''s assistance to become a published author, comparing himself to Lu Xun and saying, "If you have to host a meal [to get it published], go ahead. If a gift is required, you have my blessing." ;3 :Mo''s reply to Li, commenting on Meat Boy. ;4 :Li''s short story, Meat Boy. One day two parents prepare their baby boy for a special event. The father, Jin Yuanbao, takes the boy on a journey to the Special Purchasing Section of the Culinary Academy in a village across the river. He waits with other parents and sons, perturbed by the presence of a small red demon. His son is eventually assessed by the staff there and judged to be "top grade". Jin is paid 2140 yuan. ;1 :The centrepiece of the banquet is revealed, "Stork Delivering a Son". It appears to be a whole human baby boy, sitting up in a dish, and smells delicious. Ding draws his gun and accuses his company of cannibalism. Diamond Jin insists the dish is a culinary masterpiece -- a fake child. Ding panics and fires his gun wildly, shooting the baby boy in the head and collapses, drunk. The serving girls bring him sobering-up soup and he recovers somewhat. Diamond Jin explains how the fake boy is created and convinces Ding to eat a lotus root arm. :After further drinking, Ding has an out of body experience where he witnesses the serving girls taking his comatose body to an underground hotel room. While his body is there, a "scaly-skinned demon" enters the room and strips his body of useful implements. ;2 :Third letter from Li to Mo. ;3 :Short story Child Prodigy by Li, in the style of "demonic realism" (according to Li). It follows the children who were sold at the Special Purchasing Section, and the little demon''s attempt to lead them away. ;4 :Mo''s reply to Li.

The Republic of Wine

The novel is the story of Jamie Towfeek, a teenager living in Sydney''s western suburbs. Jamie wants to be the real thing. From the roots of her dyed blonde hair... There are a lot of things Jamie hates about her life: her dark hair, her dad''s Stone Age Charter of Curfew Rights, her real name - Jamilah Towfeek. For the past three years, Jamie has hidden her Lebanese/Muslim background from everyone at school. It''s only with her email friend John that she can really be herself. But now life is getting more complicated. The most popular boy in school is interested in her, but there''s no way he would be if he knew the truth. Then there''s Timothy the school loner, who for some reason Jamie just can''t stop thinking about. As for John, he seems to have a pretty big secret of his own. To top it all off, Jamie''s school formal is coming up. And her band at her Muslim school is performing at the formal. The only way she''ll be allowed to attend is by revealing her true identity. But who is she ... Jamie or Jamilah? Various other stories also happen in this book. Her older sister Shereen is a human rights and anti-war protester, and their father wants her to settle down. She gets closer to her friend Amy, and tries to find the reason why she has suddenly become more secretive to her. She is the first person she tells that she is a Muslim and at the end, the two become best friends, and leave their other friend, Liz behind with the other discriminatory students at school.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

The Ships of Earth

By Orson Scott Card

1635: The Cannon Law

By Eric Flint

The Venus of Konpara

By John Masters

The Winter Prince

By Elizabeth E. Wein

Double Fudge

By Judy Blume

Nebula Maker

By Olaf Stapledon

All the Shah's Men

By Stephen Kinzer

Hotel du Lac

By Anita Brookner

The Coldest Winter Ever

By Sister Souljah

The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant

By Douglass Wallop

The Republic of Wine

By Mo Yan

Ten Things I Hate About Me

By Randa Abdel-Fattah