At first it appears to be the autobiography of Harry Hubbard, which is made up of anecdotes of his life and actions with the CIA, the aftermath of the Cuban Revolution, the Mafia in the 60''s and the assassination of JFK. The very beginning of the book starts with Harry being told by a friend that his mentor Hugh Montague (a top level CIA officer) has either been assassinated or committed suicide on his boat. He then is told by his wife, Kittredge (a CIA member), that she has been unfaithful and is in love with another high level CIA intelligence officer. Under perceieved threat of his own assassination by the CIA he escapes to Moscow. It is there that he rereads in a hotel room the dense manuscript of his life at the CIA which he has documented and kept secret over his career. At that point, the book really begins. It details the life of a CIA inelligence officer who has connections to the highest levels of the CIA. It raises basic questions about the fight against Communism and goes into the Cuban Revolution and the Cuban Missle Crisis and perhaps most importantly raises questions about the assassination of JFK and who was ultimately responisble. Well written (the book is a lyrical treasure at times) it is considered by some to be Mailer''s masterpiece work. The book ends in 1984 with the words "To be continued."

Harlot''s Ghost

When Marco sees a news report about a downed nuclear submarine, he and the other Animorphs set out to find it in dolphin morphs. When the warheads in the submarine detonate, however, the group finds themselves transported through time by a Sario rip, to the era of dinosaurs (the Late Cretaceous period, to be exact). Rachel and Tobias are eaten by a kronosaurus and believed dead by the other Animorphs. The other Animorphs make their way to land, where they encounter a number of dinosaurs, including the Tyrannosaurus rex, which attempts to eat Jake. Jake morphs while inside the beast, injuring it and causing it to spit him out, and die but not before the other three Animorphs acquire it. Tobias and Rachel, meanwhile had escaped from the kronosaurus, and make their own way to land. Tobias'' wing has been broken and was unable to be healed by morphing, most likely as a result of the time travel. The two of them have a run-in with a pack of deinonychus, but both manage to acquire the pack''s leader and escape. Later they encountered by a vicious antlike alien race known as the Nesk, who attempt to kill Rachel and Tobias. The six Animorphs find themselves reunited above a large canyon on a force field with an artificial city at its bottom. After investigating it, they are welcomed by an alien race known as the Mercora, who had fled their own planet which was destroyed and intend on making Earth their new home. However, they are at war with the Nesk, and do not have the technology to help the Animorphs return to their own time. The Nesk, however, do—so the Animorphs storm the Nesk''s camp in order to steal a warhead to recreate the explosion that sent them into the past. The Nesk angrily flee Earth, but divert the path of a nearby comet towards the planet. The Mercora respectfully ask the Animorphs to surrender their warhead, thinking they can use it to dissolve the comet, and Tobias agrees to let them have it. However, realizing that the Mercora must have died in the explosion as they are not a current part of Earth and that the comet will cause the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, he tells Ax to render it useless. The Animorphs escape back into the ocean, and the force of the comet propels them back to their own time. They are unable to use their dinosaur morphs following this book.

In the Time of Dinosaurs

As the story begins, Honor returns to her Steading on Grayson, having just been promoted to Commodore for her actions in Honor Among Enemies. During a party celebrating her promotion, she engages in a heated debate with Earl White Haven, her superior, and the two realize they have mutual unspoken romantic feelings for each other. In an attempt to escape her own feelings, Honor goes with Alistair McKeon on a convoy escort mission to the Adler system, which has been captured by Citizen Rear Admiral Lester Tourville of the DuQuesne base, under the orders of Thomas Theisman, in order to capture or destroy a large chunk of Manticoran shipping. Spotting the ambush and after salvaging what she can of her convoy from Havenite attack, Honor orders McKeon to surrender. After learning of Honor''s capture Cordelia Ransom, the People''s Republic''s Secretary for Public Information, demands that the Manticorans be surrendered to her for propaganda uses. Unable to deny Ransom and her StateSec enforcers, Admiral Theisman capitulates. The crew are transferred to the Havenite battlecruiser PNS Tepes, Ransom''s personal flagship, bound for the Havenite prison planet of Hades, where Ransom intends to execute Honor for a death sentence handed down by the prior government. Ransom gives any crew member serving under Harrington a chance to defect and Senior Chief Petty Officer Harkness takes up the offer claiming that Manticore have never really done anything for him. Unbeknownst to StateSec, Harkness has no intention of truly defecting, and after fooling his assigned watchdogs, hacks into the security and communication systems, eventually disabling them and causing massive explosions in the boat bays. Freeing the rest of the crew, they manage to destroy the Tepes and land on Cerberus B 2, facing a well-provided for prison camp and unknown amounts of space forces.

In Enemy Hands

Instead of focusing on the more famous examples of baroque drama from around the world, such as Pedro Calderón de la Barca and William Shakespeare, Benjamin chose to write about the minor German dramatists of the 16th and 17th century: Martin Opitz, Andreas Gryphius, Johann Christian Hallmann, Daniel Caspar von Lohenstein, and August Adolf von Haugwitz. For him, these playwrights – who were seen as too crude, dogmatic, and violent by earlier critics to be considered true artists – best reflected the unique cultural and historical climate of their time. Benjamin singles out the theme of "sovereign violence" as the most important unifying feature of the German "trauerspiel" or "mourning play." In their obsessive focus on courtly intrigue and princely bloodlust, these playwrights break with the mythic tradition of classical tragedy and create a new aesthetic based on the tense interplay between Christian eschatology and human history. Foreshadowing his later interest in the concept of history, Benjamin concludes that, in these plays, history "loses the eschatological certainty of its redemptive conclusion, and becomes secularized into a mere natural setting for the profane struggle over political power."

The Origin of German Tragic Drama

A young man (William Bloom), at the deathbed of his father (Edward Bloom), tries to reconcile his memories of his dad with who he really is. Whereas he always saw his father as an irresponsible liar, he comes to understand his dad''s exaggerations and their roots in reality. The book is written in a chronological (although they may not appear so at first) series of tall tales. Despite the novel''s first-person narration, there is no present tense part of the book. The various stories are Will''s retelling of tales that Ed has told about his life. The ''My Father''s Death Take'' chapters are William planning out his final conversation with his father in his head and how it will go, so that when the actual conversation takes place, he will be able to get to bottom of the truth and find a way of truly understanding his father. The book draws elements from the epic poem The Odyssey, James Joyce''s Ulysses, and American tall tales. The story of Edward Bloom also includes at least seven of the Twelve Labors of Hercules. The subtitle "A Novel of Mythic Proportions" may be a reference to the dimensions of the Penguin edition, which make a Golden ratio. Conversely, the dimensions of the Penguin edition may derive from the subtitle. The Golden ratio dimensions carry through the bodies of type on each page, and are most apparent on the opening pages of each chapter.

Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions

The books begins with the characters Carlos Eduardo da Maria, João da Ega, Afonso da Maia and Vilaça in the family''s old house with plans to reconstruct it. The house, nicknamed "Ramalhete" (bouquet), is located in Lisbon. Its name comes from a tiled panel depicting a bouquet of sunflowers set on the place where the stone with the coat of arms should be. As the introductory scene goes on, the story of the Maia family is given, in a flashback style by Afonso. Afonso da Maia, a Portuguese well-mannered man, is married to Maria Eduarda Runa and their marriage only produces one son - Pedro da Maia. Pedro da Maia, who is given the typical romantic education, becoming a weak, low-spirited and sensible man. He is very close to his mother and is inconsolable after her death. He only recuperates when he meets a beautiful woman called Maria Monforte with whom he gets married despite his father''s objection. The marriage produces a son, Carlos Eduardo, and a daughter, whose name is not revealed until much later. Some time later, Maria Monforte falls in love with Tancredo (an Italian who is staying at their house after being accidentally wounded by Pedro) and runs away to Italy with him, betraying Pedro and taking her daughter along. When Pedro finds out, he is heartbroken and goes with his son to his father''s house where he, during the night, commits suicide. Carlos stays at his grandfather''s house and is educated by him, receiving the typical British education (as Afonso would have liked to have raised his son). Now back to the present, Carlos is a wealhty, elegant gentleman who is a doctor and opens his own office. Later he meets a gorgeous woman at the Hotel Central during a dinner organized by João da Ega (his friend and accomplice from University who lives with Carlos) in honor of Baron Cohen, the director of the National Bank. After many comical and disastrous adventures he finally discovers the woman''s name - Maria Eduarda, and ends up meeting her. The two fall in love and have dozens of nights together, drinking and having sex. However, the two start seeing each other in secret after an incident where a redneck-like man named Dâmaso, Carlo''s ex-friend and rival, writes an article in a newspaper, accusing, humiliating, making fun of and revealing the past of Carlos and Maria. Eventually Carlos finds out that Maria lied to him about her past and he starts fearing the worst. Mr. Guimarães, a good friend of Maria''s mother and an uncle-like figure to her, talks to Ega and gives him a box meant to be given "to your friend Carlos... or to his sister!". Ega doesn''t understand this statement, because Carlos supposedly never had a sister. Ega is horrorized and in state of shock when he realizes that Maria is Carlos''s sister. Ega, in despair, tells everything to Vilaça (the Maia family attorney) who informs Carlos about the incest. Carlos informs his dying grandfather, and Afonso becomes shocked with these news. However, Carlos cannot forget his love and doesn''t tell anything to Maria. Afonso dies because of apoplexy. At last, Carlos informs his newfound sister that they are siblings and that they cannot live like this anymore. Maria says one last goodbye to his former lover and to her friends before going away to an unknown future. Carlos, to forget his tragedies, goes for a trip around the world. The book ends with a famous scene in Portugal, where Carlos returns to Lisbon 10 years after he left. He meets Ega and combie a boys-only night to have fun together. At one point, they agree that there is nothing in the world that is worth running for. Ironically, as soon as they go out to the street, they realize that they missed the last cable car and they start running after it, shouting "We can still catch it, we can still catch it...!", closing the story in a both philosophical and comic way.

Os Maias

New school year starts. Chloe''s friend, Emma, left school and she feels lonely. Luckily she finds a new friend, Jasmin Johnson. Jasmin helps her with sending an e-mail to Jack Kempton - a boy, whom she met during holidays in Greece. Meanwhile, Sinéad meets her friends from Burnthedge - Bianca and Abby. The girls receive presents from Sinéad - a pearl and a bracelet. When they realise how much money Sinéad''s family has, they start to make Sinéad spend it for their clothes and accessories. Sinéad does not see anything wrong in it, until she overhears Bianca''s and Abby''s conversation about her. She ends friendship with them and finds a new friend - Chloe, who was her enemy for a while. Nick starts new school, but he is very upset. He meets Sanjay Fraser, who is short and everybody from his class think he is a weirdo. Nick talks to him, but Sanjay is sad, because Nick is tall and he always knows, what to say. Luckily, he discovers that Nick is not as self-confident as he looks and they become friends. Sanjay is very pleased with Nick being nice to his sister, Rani. Chloe has a birthday party at Jasmin''s parents'' cafe. She invites Nick, Sanjay, Jasmin and Sinéad. Sanjay talks to Jasmin and he falls in love with her. Sinéad wants to impress Nick, but she knows that he''s in love with Chloe and she can''t change it.

Best Friends Together

The plot opens up with successful Los Angeles lawyer and hunter named Madec, who hires Ben, a timid college student to help him find bighorn sheep in the nearby Mojave Desert after receiving a rare permit to hunt them. Ben has experience working in the desert as he is studying to be a geologist, but he is also low on money, so he accepts. Things take a deadly turn when Madec accidentally shoots an old prospector, as he was a man of importance who does not have time to sit in jail. Ben thinks that the honest thing to do is for the two of them to report the accidental shooting, and although Madec tries to reason with him, Ben remains stubborn and refuses to comply with Madec. As a result, Madec gives Ben two choices. Madec could shoot Ben on the spot, or Ben could make an attempt to escape the desert by walking 45 miles to the nearest highway without clothes, food or water. Worst of all, Madec would make sure Ben wouldn''t make it and that he would be watching him the whole way and aiming at him with his .358 Norma Magnum. Ben tries to climb a butte and signal for help while finding water on it, but is shot in the arm by Madec causing him to fall and injuring his back. Now time is running out as he begins to hallucinate, suffering from dehydration, hunger, sunburn, gunshots, and heat. However, Ben gets the upper hand when he finds water in a cave and eats a lizard and hunts some birds with the prospector''s slingshot. Later, Madec attempts to scale the butte where Ben''s cave is. However, Ben buries himself in the sand and breathes through the tubes of his slingshot. While Madec is on the other side of the butte, Ben unearths himself and creates a distraction by setting Madec''s tent on fire. This brings Madec closer and allows Ben to, using the slingshot, shoot several buckshots into Madec with the slingshot that he found in the prospectors tent. Ben overpowers Madec, ties him up, and escapes the desert in his Jeep CJ. Ben travels back to the town with the old man and Madec. Madec offers Ben $10,000 to just forget everything, but that doesn''t happen. They get back and Madec makes up a lie that everyone believes, making Ben guilty. The doctor in the town finds evidence in the bodies to prove that Ben was right. The doctor also found the slingshot, and says that Madec tried to throw it away when he first came into the hospital. This truth made Madec guilty. In the end, Ben only wanted to report the an accident.

Deathwatch

Joshua Wilde, a theatre producer, attempts to sue his former partner Nicholas Creel, alleging that Creel concealed a promising script until after the company’s split. Wilde alleged that Creel had hidden the script in order to be the play''s sole producer, gaining a larger share of the profits. Scott Jordan, who represents Wilde in the suit, finds a dead body in Creel’s apartment. Creel returns to find Jordan alone in his apartment with the body, calls the police, and furiously accuses him of the apparent murder. Jordan protests that he was let in by a brunette, but that he did not know her name; she had disappeared before Creel had returned. Jordan is arrested and later released when accusers can produce no motive or evidence that Jordan ever met the deceased. Creel drops the charges of breaking and entering after his wife, Hildegard, testifies that Creel was having an affair with a small brunette meeting Jordan’s description, lending credibility to Jordan’s testimony that he was let in rather than forcing entry. The body in Creel’s apartment remained unexplained; Creel was naturally the first suspect, but a witness, Julian St George (Hildegard’s uncle), had brought him straight to his apartment from his office, where he had been all day, and his secretary was able to corroborate his alibi. Scott resumes his search for the author of the script in order to confirm the date of submission, thereby proving his client’s case that Creel had intentionally hidden it from his partner. Scott discovers that the real author died before the script was produced, yet an “author” continues to receive royalty checks, addressed to Willard Thorne, a fabricated name. Scott begins to suspect that Creel, impersonating the author, was receiving royalty checks as well as revenues from the produced play. Gladys, Creel’s former secretary who tells Scott the true identity of the author, is found strangled the day after he speaks with her, and Scott begins to fear for his own life. Scott and Lieutenant John Nola, a police detective, although unable to find a solid link between Creel and the murders acknowledge that the circumstances seem to indicate his guilt, and they decide to question him, hoping to back him into a corner. When they arrive, they find Creel dead, stabbed with a knife belonging to Hildegard; Hildegard said that the knife had been stolen the night before. The knife was an heirloom passed down to Hildegard from her uncle Julian. Scott notices that the hilt opens, revealing a hollow tube and remembers a photograph found in Creel’s apartment curled like a scroll to a roll the width of a pencil. The image is a wedding photograph of Julian and Eva St George, and Scott notices that the photo shows Julian to be definitely shorter than Eva, whereas the Julian he knows is very tall. Julian St George was receiving substantial annuity payments every month, and since his father had set up the policy for him long before he was married, upon Julian''s death, the policy would be terminated, and his wife Eva would no longer receive anything. Scott, upon seeing the height discrepancy, realizes that the real Julian St George had died years ago, but to continue receiving the annuity, Eva had gotten an impersonator, someone who looked exactly like Julian except for the unfortunate difference in height. Creel had discovered the photograph concealed in his wife’s knife heirloom and was blackmailing the St Georges, extorting thousands of dollars and forcing them to receive checks as Willard Thorne in order to give him the money once the checks were cashed. In an effort to destroy the one piece of evidence remaining of the former Julian St George, the impersonator had stolen the knife. Wanting to remove the remaining witness to their scheme, he had killed Nicholas Creel. When Scott confronts the St Georges with his theory, the impersonator draws a gun, planning to kill Scott as well. Lieutenant Nola enters just in time to save Scott, starting a gunfight in which the impersonator is shot and killed.

You Can''t Live Forever

The story is narrated by Sonoko Kakiuchi, a young woman from Osaka. At the start of the novel she lives comfortably with her husband Kotaro, and attends art classes at a local women''s school. Rumors spread around the school that Sonoko is having a lesbian affair with another student, the beautiful young Mitsuko. Sonoko finds herself drawn to Mitsuko, though she barely knows her, and she proceeds to forge a friendship with her. Soon, she invites Mitsuko to her house to pose nude for her figure drawing. Mitsuko agrees, but insists on covering herself with a sheet. The sexual tension comes to a head when Sonoko rips the sheet away, thus sealing her infatuation. The two begin a fiery affair. Things are complicated by the arrival of Watanuki Eijiro, Mitsuko''s sometime fiance. The effeminate, impotent Watanuki reveals that Mitsuko had intended to marry him, but now refuses unless he allows her affair with Sonoko to continue. Sonoko begins to sense that Mitsuko has been manipulating them both, but is far too mired in her infatuation – the quicksand of the title – to back out. Meanwhile, Sonoko''s husband Kotaro has taken notice of her infatuation with Mitsuko. He attempts to put an end to it, but Sonoko will not be dissuaded. After a few chance meetings, Kotaro falls under Mitsuko''s spell as well, and attempts to get closer to her. One evening when all three are sleeping in bed together, Sonoko awakens to find Kotaro having intercourse with Mitsuko. Knowing that their ménage à trois is doomed, Sonoko, Kotaro, and Mitsuko form a suicide pact, in which they will kill themselves with poison-laced sleeping powder. In the event, however, Sonoko wakes up, realizing that Kotaro and Mitsuko have withheld the poison from her dose, a final betrayal.

Quicksand

12-year-old Chloe and her brothers: Jordy, 12, and Alex, 10, have the adventure of a lifetime. Chloe and Alex''s father died of a heart attack when they were just 8 and respectively, 6. Their mother, Dipa has been trying to find a new husband since her children''s father died. When she does, the kids have a surprise: they are gonna have a new brother. Jordy, three months older than Chloe, is the exact opposite of Chloe and Alex, so they are not so happy when they find out their family enlarges to five members. Ben, Jordy''s father and Chloe and Alex''s stepfather is a paramedic and Dipa, a doctor, so the kids are used not having their parents at home. But when they move to Winchester to a rented apartment everything is going to change. Mr. John Grantham, the old man that rented them half of the house he lives in, tells Chloe about the girl he loved in the 1930s and 1940s. Susan married a much richer and older man. Though, Susan gave him a clock that sings Frère Jacques, a clock that he cannot find. Chloe offers to take her brothers and go in the attic and so the adventure begins. On their way, Chloe, Jordy and Alex discover all sorts of dark secrets of the attic, that they named "Attica", and all sorts of weird characters, such as Atticans, a weird race of creatures with bumps on their heads that think that all humans are ghosts and monsters of the Attic.

Attica

The four Clans of warrior cats, ThunderClan, ShadowClan, RiverClan and WindClan, discover a lake which serves as their new home, replacing their old home which is destroyed by humans. The Clans temporarily set up camp by the lakeshore and decide that, the next day, they sort out their respective territories and look for a Gathering place to hold their monthly meetings under a truce. During a meeting, Firestar, leader of ThunderClan, calls up Squirrelpaw, his daughter who is an apprentice, and promotes her to the status of warrior, giving her the warrior name Squirrelflight. The next day, the leaders call upon the four remaining cats that go on the journey to the sun-drown-place in Midnight, Brambleclaw, Squirrelflight, Crowfeather, and Tawnypelt, as well as Mistyfoot of RiverClan to explore around the lake and find camps for each Clan. The cats come across a location that seems ideal for RiverClan''s fishing lifestyle. Continuing on, they find a coniferous forest which seems to suit ShadowClan. Desperate to prove herself by finding ThunderClan a camp, Squirrelflight runs ahead and accidentally falls down a large circular stone hollow. She recovers and realizes that it is a perfect place for a well-sheltered ThunderClan camp. The cats later cross a moorland which Crowfeather thinks suits WindClan''s lifestyle of chasing rabbits. The five cats return and announce their findings to all of the other cats. The Clans decide to leave for their new camps the next day. After the Clans move into their new camps, Barkface, the WindClan medicine cat, goes to Firestar and tells him that Tallstar, leader of WindClan, is dying. Firestar asks Brambleclaw to follow him as well as Onewhisker of WindClan, at Tallstar''s request. Tallstar tells them that he does not wish for Mudclaw, the WindClan deputy, to lead WindClan, and wishes to switch to Onewhisker as deputy. He dies soon after telling the cats. The next morning, Firestar and Onewhisker announce this to the other Clans, much to Mudclaw''s anger. Onewhisker appoints Ashfoot as his deputy, although he has not yet received his nine lives and leader name from StarClan, the cats'' ancestors. The medicine cats worry about whether there is another Moonstone (a sacred stone in the old territory) for Onewhisker to visit for his leadership ceremony. During Gatherings and times when the Clans are together, Brambleclaw spends more time with his half-brother Hawkfrost, which does not sit well with Squirrelflight. Brambleclaw has a dream in which he sees Tigerstar, his evil dead father, and Hawkfrost. Tigerstar praises Brambleclaw and Hawkfrost for their courage during the change in territory and tells them that he has great plans for them. There is also tension erupting in WindClan, which seems to be divided in two groups consisting of Mudclaw''s supporters and Onewhisker''s supporters. One night, Spottedleaf, a former ThunderClan medicine cat, now deceased, goes to Leafpaw, a ThunderClan medicine cat apprentice, and tells her to follow her. Leafpaw''s friend Sorreltail accompanies Leafpaw, and the two of them go far up on ThunderClan''s territory near the border with WindClan. Spottedleaf takes Leafpaw to her destination: a pool of water which reflects the stars and moonlight. Leafpaw sees all of the cats of StarClan and realizes this could be the replacement for the Moonstone. Bluestar, former leader of ThunderClan tells her that this place, the Moonpool, is where medicine cats come to share tongues with StarClan. She goes back to tell Cinderpelt, ThunderClan''s medicine cat, and the two of them tell all of the other medicine cats. Later, during the half-moon, Leafpaw receives her full medicine cat name, Leafpool. The next day, Mistyfoot rushes into ThunderClan camp and says that Mudclaw and Hawkfrost have been meeting at night. She then says that Hawkfrost and a patrol went out at dawn that day and had not returned, and she suspects that they have gone to attack Onewhisker''s followers in WindClan. Firestar assembles a patrol to accompany him to fight, and sure enough, a battle starts on WindClan territory. Leafpool is left behind with a couple of other ThunderClan warriors in the camp. Two ShadowClan warriors invade and almost kill Leafpool when Crowfeather comes to her rescue. Crowfeather confesses he loves her, and she realizes she loves him too. During the battle, Brambleclaw fights Mudclaw. Although Mudclaw has the advantage over Brambleclaw, Hawkfrost saves Bramblelcaw. Mudclaw claims that he and Hawkfrost had an agreement: Mudclaw would take over and make Hawkfrost the deputy, despite the fact that Hawkfrost is from RiverClan. Hawkfrost denies this when lightning suddenly strikes a tree, crushing Mudclaw and making a bridge to an island, making it the new Gathering place.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

Harlot's Ghost

By Norman Mailer

In the Time of Dinosaurs

By K. A. Applegate

In Enemy Hands

By David Weber

The Origin of German Tragic Drama

No Author Listed

Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions

By Daniel Wallace

Os Maias

By José Maria Eça de Queiroz

Best Friends Together

No Author Listed

Deathwatch

No Author Listed

You Can't Live Forever

By Harold Q. Masur

Quicksand

By Jun''ichirō Tanizaki

Attica

By Garry Kilworth

Starlight

By Erin Hunter