The narrator suggests writing an article on Neil Paraday; his new editor agrees. The former spends a week with Neil and writes the article whilst there, alongside reading Paraday''s latest book. His editor rejects the article however; he decides to write an article for another newspaper, but it goes unnoticed. Neil Paraday gets excited about writing another book, despite the fact that he doesn''t seem successful still. However the narrator comes across a praiseful review in The Empire. Mr Morrow, a journalist suddenly interested in writing about Neil Paraday''s life now that he is successful, comes round and ends up scaring the writer; the narrator manages to see him off. He tells Mr Morrow all there is to know about Paraday is in his work; the journalist is not amused. Later, he publishes an article on Neil''s house in the Tatler. Embracing his fame, Paraday takes to going to London luncheons with women. The narrator meets Miss Hurter, an American admirer of the writer''s, in his house. As the writer is again busy with Mrs Wimbush, he explains to the girl that the best thing she can do is not to bother Paraday and only admire him from afar, so as not to interfere with his writings. Nevertheless, he keeps her autograph album to show it to him. Later, he meets with her to read passages from Paraday; once while they are at the opera he points Paraday out to her. The narrator is annoyed with Mrs Wimbush for inviting Paraday to a party at Prestidge. Subsequently, he quotes from a letter sent to Miss Hunter while he was at the party. In this mise en abyme, he describes the way the other guests have not read Paraday''s works; worse still, Lady Augusta confesses to having mislaid the text is expected to read out the next day - there is no extra copy. Paraday falls gravely ill; the guests, enhanced by the Princess, are merry since the party seems to be a success. Dora Forbes joins them - later to become Mrs Wimbrush''s next ''henpecked'' writer. The party is called off on doctors order; the Princess lets him pass away in one of her houses. Before his death, Paraday had asked the narrator to publish an unfinished text by him. Although the one lost by Lady Augusta has not been found again, the narrator and Miss Hunter shall keep Paraday''s memory alive through their dedication to his texts.

The Death of the Lion

In 1960, 58-year-old Jim Fergesson decides to sell his Oakland-based auto repair business and retire. This threatens to greatly inconvenience his business tenant, used car salesman Al Miller, who rents a lot from Fergesson to sell his battered but superficially reconditioned old jalopies. Chris Harmon, an entrepreneur, advises Fergesson to invest in a new super-garage located in Marin Country Gardens. Jim takes a fall in the mud and has a minor heart attack during a visit to the property to personally verify its existence. Miller is convinced that Harmon is corrupt and makes an amateurish attempt at blackmailing him over his alleged (then-illegal) sale of salacious audio recordings. At the same time Al enters employment with Harmon as a curiously unqualified salesman of Classical Music. This, as it turns out, was an innocent administrative error. Al''s actual assignment now involves the mass marketing of, wait for it now, Barbershop Music. He sees conspiracies, machinations and double-dealings where there are none and strives mightily, but ultimately fails, to disrupt the final contract-signing between Fergesson and Harmon by playing on old Jim''s paranoia. The strain of it all takes its toll on a recently injured, weakened, ailing Fergesson and he dies later that night at home. Al then discovers that his used car lot has been ferociously vandalised, although the exact time and date remain uncertain. This plays an unexpectedly important role in the unfoldment of subsequent events. Things are not quite what they seem, and coincidence plays a starring role here. His wife Julie quits her job and they run off together across Nevada, whilst Lydia, Jim''s widow, discovers that her late husband''s deal with Harmon was, contrary to what Al had sincerely believed, completely legitimate. Al is temporarily detained after Lydia threatens to sue him for fraud. Julie leaves him forever. In a moment of true serendipity Al starts a new relationship with his married real estate vendor, a vivacious, attractive "colored" woman by the name of Mrs. Lane.

Humpty Dumpty in Oakland



The Thursday Murder Club is the first book in Richard Osman’s series of mystery crime novels. It follows four elderly friends living in a retirement village in England as they attempt to solve local crimes and mysteries. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron form the Thursday Murder Club, meeting in the village hall each week to discuss unsolved cases. When a suspicious death occurs in their village, the four friends decide to investigate and uncover a series of dark secrets and conspiracies that had been hidden away. With the help of a local detective, they are able to follow the clues and piece together the puzzle, ultimately leading them to the murderer. Along the way, the group discovers a lot about themselves as well as about their village, and the reader is taken on a thrilling journey of suspense and intrigue as the mystery unfolds. The Thursday Murder Club is a gripping and fast-paced novel that will keep readers on the edge of their seats until the very end.  As the group looks into these murders, Osman also deals humorously and thoughtfully with things like aging, grief, dementia, and so forth. It makes for an entertaining read that gives it a little extra compared to your typical genre mystery.

The Thursday Murder Club: (The Thursday Murder Club 1)

The Lab is an action book, whose protagonist is a 16 year old superhuman, named Agent "Six of Hearts". Six was created to be the ultimate soldier by a group called The Lab which is a ruthless division of the company ChaoSonic. In this futuristic setting there is only one known city left in the world, and it is run by ChaoSonic. ChaoSonic took over the city and has obliterated all their competitors and enemies. Six is an agent of a vigilante organization called "The Deck" which survives by attacking ChaoSonic subsidiaries that are acting unethically, arresting the people involved and then selling off their assets. Only the King of Hearts, who saved Six from the Lab as a child, and is now his boss, is aware of the fact that Six is a superhuman developed by ChaoSonic. Six and King keeps this a secret, as the Spades, another division of the Deck, would imprison Six if they knew he was a ChaoSonic creation, in case he was a threat. Six is the best agent in the Deck, having a 100% mission success rate. The Deck then begins to investigate "The Lab" and King gives Six the assignment to stop anyone from discovering his true identity. On his mission he meets Kyntak. Kyntak is genetically identical to Six, designed in the Lab''s ''Project Falcon'' alongside him. In a twisted way, they are brothers. This discovery prompts Six to re-ex When he arrives, he discovers that Lab soldiers have invaded the Deck and captured the agents. Six sets off on a mission to infiltrate the Lab and rescue the agents. The agents manage to get out, but Six is killed in the attempt. However, the Lab brings Six back to life, using parts from a clone of him to repair his body. Their leader, Methryn Crexe, then offer Six a job working for them, as they believe he has the perfect personality for a soldier, which theyamine his own sense of humanity. Kyntak is locked up when he and Six arrive at the Deck, but is soon released on the orders of one of the Jokers, the shadowy leaders of the Deck. One of the Jokers is Grysat, who usually poses as the Deck''s receptionist, but the identity of the other Joker is unknown, and he is the Joker that released Kyntak. Six and King are worried that the Joker and Kyntak might be working for ChaoSonic, but they keep quiet in case the Spades find out the truth about Six when investigating Kyntak. The Deck then spies on a meeting between the Lab and a potential customer, but one of the guards recognizes Six. Six chases the man, but he escapes, using superhuman abilities. Six returns to the Deck with his first ever mission failure. want to replicate with the next soldiers they grow. They then plan to use those soldiers to crush all resistance in the city. Six refuses the offer, and tries to escape, but is almost killed. Kyntak then arrives and rescues him. Before they leave, they find a new baby superhuman, a girl, which they take with them.

The Lab

Kyp Durron continued his rampage to destroy the Galactic Empire with the Sun Crusher to avenge his brother (whom he inadvertently kills when he destroys Carida). Luke, who was in a suspended animation state after the fight between himself and Exar Kun, made every attempt he can to save his body from the evil spirit of Exar Kun. After reaching out to the Jedi twins, he warns them about the danger. In the end, all the apprentices unite and Exar Kun is destroyed. After the death of Exar Kun, Kyp comes to the light side again. Luke forgives Kyp but many throughout the galaxy, especially the Empire, shall hate him forever. Kyp takes the Sun Crusher into the Maw to destroy it. After Wedge Antilles and his group of fighters reach the Maw Installation, the last of Admiral Daala''s ships, the Gorgon, limps back to Imperial installation in the Maw near Kessel. After destroyong the Installation and blowing an ionic asteroid, Admiral Daala successfully fakes her death and escapes. Meanwhile, Bevel Lemelisk and his group of scientists escape on the prototype Death Star. Before they could go far, Kyp crashes his ship, the Sun Crusher into the prototype and hauls both ships into a black hole. Kyp escapes by getting into a pod. Now Kyp has redeemed himself to the Jedi Order, himself, and Luke.

Champions of the Force

The middle-class Baxter family enjoys a comfortable and placid life until the summer when their neighbors, the Parcher family, play host to an out-of-town visitor, Lola Pratt. An aspiring actress, Lola is a “howling belle of eighteen” who talks baby-talk “even at breakfast” and holds the center of attention wherever she goes. She instantly captivates William with her beauty, her flirtatious manner, and her ever-present prop, a tiny white lap dog, Flopit. William is sure he has found True Love at Last. Like the other youths of his circle, he spends the summer pursuing Lola at picnics, dances and evening parties, inadvertently making himself obnoxious to his family and friends. They, in turn, constantly embarrass and humiliate him as they do not share his exalted opinion of his "babytalk lady." William steals his father’s dress-suit and wears it to court Lola in the evenings at the home of the soon-regretful Parcher family. As his lovestruck condition progresses, he writes a bad love poem to “Milady,” hoards dead flowers Lola has touched, and develops, his family feels, a peculiar interest in beards and child marriages among the ‘Hindoos.’ To William''s constant irritation, his ten-year-old sister Jane and the Baxters'' Negro handyman, Genesis, persist in treating him as an equal instead of the serious-minded grown-up he now believes himself to be. His parents mostly smile tolerantly at William’s lovelorn condition, and hope he will survive it to become a responsible, mature adult. After a summer that William is sure has changed his life forever, Lola leaves town on the train. The book concludes with a Maeterlinck-inspired flash-forward, showing that William has indeed survived the trials of adolescence.

Seventeen

The Night Circus is a phantasmagorical fairy tale set near an ahistorical Victorian London in a wandering magical circus that is open only from sunset to sunrise. Le Cirque des Rêves, the Circus of Dreams, features such wonders and "ethereal enigmas" as a blooming garden made all of ice, acrobats soaring without a net, and a vertical cloud maze where patrons who get lost simply step off and float gently to the floor. The circus has no set schedule, appearing without warning and leaving without notice; they travel in a train disguised as an ordinary coal transport. A network of devoted fans styling themselves "rêveurs" ("dreamers") develops around the circus; they identify to each other by adding a splash of red to garb that otherwise matches the characteristic black and white of the circus tents. The magical nature of the circus is occluded under the guise of legerdemain; the illusionist truly transforms her jacket into a raven and the fortune teller truly reads the uncertain future, and both are applauded for their ingenuity. The circus serves a darker purpose beyond entertainment and profit. The magicians Prospero the Enchanter and the enigmatic Mr. A.H— groom their young proteges, Celia and Marco, to proxy their rivalry with the exhibits as a stage. Prospero teaches his daughter to hone her innate talents by holding ever larger and more complex magical workings in her mind. Celia takes her position on the game board as the illusionist who makes true transformations, adding tents and maintaining wondrous aspects from the inside. Mr. A.H— trains his orphan ward with books in the ways of glyphs and sympathetic magic and illusory worlds that exist only in the mind of the beholder. Marco takes a position as majordomo to the producer of the circus; he works from the outside in, connected to the circus but not a part of it. The two beguile the circus goers and each other with nightly wonders, soon falling in love despite being magically bound to a deadly competition with rules neither understands; the magical courtship strains the fate laid out for them and endangers the circus that has touched the lives of so many and cannot survive without the talents of both players.

The Night Circus

In Italy, wealthy families often hire bodyguards to protect family members from the threat of kidnapping. When Rika Balletto urges her husband Ettore, a wealthy textiles producer living in Milan, to hire a bodyguard for their daughter Pinta, he is doubtful but agrees. After some searching, he finally settles for an American named Creasy. Creasy, once purposeful and lethal, has become a burnt-out alcoholic. To keep him occupied, his companion Guido suggests that Creasy should get a job, and offers him to set him up as a bodyguard; thus he is being hired by the Ballettos, where he meets his charge, Pinta. Creasy barely tolerates the precocious child and her pestering questions about him and his life. But slowly, she chips away at his seemingly impenetrable exterior, his defenses drop, and he opens up to her. They become friends and he replaces her parents in their absences, giving her advice, guidance and help with her competition running; he is even spurred to give up his drinking and return to his former physical prowess. But Creasy''s life is shattered when Pinta is kidnapped by the Mafia, despite his efforts to protect her. Creasy is wounded during the kidnapping, and as he lies in a hospital bed Guido keeps him informed of the goings on. Soon enough, Guido returns with the news that the exchange went bad, and Pinta was found dead in a car, suffocated on her own vomit. She had also been raped by her captors. Out of hospital, Creasy returns to Guido''s pensione, and outlines his plans for revenge against the men who took away the girl who convinced him it was all right to live again; anyone who was involved, or profited from it, all the way to the top of the Mafia. Told by Guido he can stay with in-laws on the island of Gozo in Malta, Creasy accepts the offer, in order to train for his new mission. While on Gozo, Creasy trains for several months, getting into shape and re-familiarizing himself with weaponry. But, to his surprise, he also discovers he has another reason to live after his suicidal mission against the Mafia; he finds himself accepted by and admiring the Gozitans, and falls in love with Nadia, the daughter of his host. Soon enough, he is fit and leaves for Marseille where he stocks up on supplies, weapons and ammunition; from there he travels back to Italy, and then the war between Creasy and the Mafia begins. From low-level enforcers to the capos in Milan and Rome, and all the way to the head Don in Sicily, Creasy cuts through their organization, murdering anyone who had something even remotely to do with Pinta''s kidnapping. After Creasy reveals to Rika that Ettore allowed her to be kidnapped for the insurance money, Ettore commits suicide. Finally, after killing the Don, a severely wounded Creasy is taken to hospital, but pronounced dead; a funeral is held and Creasy is thought to be gone. But, unknown to all, Creasy was in fact alive, and makes it back to Gozo where he is reunited with Nadia.

Man on Fire

Leeming is every sergeant''s worst nightmare &mdash; immune to discipline and punishment, and given to random acts of defiance, such as wearing his cap backwards on parade for no particular reason. Thus when a mission to fly a prototype spaceship behind enemy lines comes up, he is the ideal candidate to fly it. The ship is untested but should be able to outrun anything else in the galaxy. It carries no arms but is an ideal spy vessel for discovering the movements of the ships of the Lathians and their allies. Since the odds of returning alive are pretty slim, it is also an ideal way of dealing with Leeming. For his part, Leeming is ready to jump at any alternative to life in barracks and the stockade. He is equipped with a survival kit designed by a top bureaucratic committee, so it contains an exquisite miniature camera that is of no conceivable use if he needs to survive on an alien world, as well as the usual inedible food. For a while the mission goes well, and Leeming relieves some of the boredom by listening in on routine ship-to-ship messages. He overhears conversations in a language that sounds exactly like English, but used to make bizarre statements, such as "Mayor Snorkum shall lay the cake", "What for the cake will be laid by Snorkum ?", "I shall lambast my mother!". Leeming starts tossing in his own comments, resulting in an aggrieved response "Clam shack?" Later, the ship malfunctions and Leeming is forced to land on an alien world, which turns out to be inhabited by the speakers of quasi-English. They are a dour, reptilian race who make ideal prison guards. On being locked up, Leeming is told by the guard "We shall bend Murgatroyd''s socks" to which he can only reply "Dashed decent of you". Leeming winds up in one half of a POW camp, of which the other half is inhabited by members of another allied race. Unfortunately they have never seen a human and so do not trust him. To find a way out, he learns the alien language and tries to get the other prisoners to trust him. He begins to cultivate an imaginary friend whom he calls Eustace. He convinces the guards that Eustace can go anywhere and spy for him, and also that every human has a Eustace who can do the same. In addition, Eustaces can wreak revenge on those who harm their partners. Events help him here, in that one guard he threatens with Eustace is shot for allowing a mass escape attempt of the other prisoners. Furthermore, Leeming alleges that the Lathians, the leaders of the enemy alliance, also have invisible companions called Willies, although these are far inferior to Eustaces. He tells the aliens to ask human prisoners on other planets two questions : "Do the Lathians have the Willies ?" and "Are the Lathians nuts ?", a ''nut'', according to Leeming, being someone with an invisible companion. Naturally the answers all come back as positive, and Leeming''s captors are convinced that if they start accepting human prisoners they will have thousands of invisible Eustaces running wild across their planet, spying and causing mayhem. They immediately release Leeming and smuggle him home, at the same time withdrawing from their alliances and convincing other races to do the same. The enemy alliance collapses and the Lathians have to make peace. The plot has obvious similarities to E. H. Jones''s The Road to En-Dor – an account of that author''s escape from the Yozgad prisoner of war camp in Turkey during World War I.

Next of Kin

When the family of Sheila Tubman, Peter Hatcher''s rival from the Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, as well as Superfudge, takes a trip to Tarrytown with her family. The family reside in the house of Sheila''s father''s friend, Professor George Egran. Sheila pretends that she is fearless and confident. The truth, however, is that many things terrify her. The family vacation forces her to confront some of her many secret fears, including the dark, swimming, ghosts, lightning, spiders and dogs. Sheila attends a day camp where she meets a girl named Merle "Mouse" Ellis, who is skilled at many activities that Sheila fears and is an exceptional yo-yo champion. In spite of envying Mouse for her multiple talents, Sheila befriends her and tries to mask her cowardice with a more courageous, talented personality. Mouse does not appear to have many fears and according to Sheila, Mouse is able to do everyhing. Unforunately for Sheila, she is afraid of dogs and is unable to swim. Mouse, on the other hand, loves dogs and is a swimming champion. The Egrans own a pet dog named Jennifer that Sheila fears. Mrs. Tubman has her daughter take swimming lessons with an instructor named Marty. Sheila is deeply reluctant about this arrangement but is forced to pull through with it anyway, and becomes acquainted with Mouse''s younger sister Betsy, who is a phenomenal swimmer and pulls an empty box called "Ootch" around, pretending that it is a pet dog, since her allergies prevent her from being able to adopt an actual dog, and the Van Arden twins, Sondra and Jane. Sheila also signs up to write a portion of the camp newspaper entitled "Newsdate by Sheila the Great," where she writes about her fellow campers, but is forced to give up her position after two boys complete her crossword puzzle and she has no other reward to give to them after promising whoever filled the crossword puzzle with a prize. Even though Sheila''s relationship with her new friends from camp appears to be turning out smoothly, one night at a sleepover party, when the girls fill out "slam books" and give each other their true opinions on one another, Sheila discovers that the others wrote rather negative comments about her and that the other guests'' slam books are also quite offensive. Antagonized by these writings, the group winds up tossing toy models belonging to the Egrans'' son Bobby (whose bedroom Sheila is sleeping in) at each other, only to be faced with repairing these items afterward. Jennifer mates with a neighboring dog named Mumford and is expecting a litter of puppies. Sheila''s older sister Libby urges her parents to adopt one of the puppies after they have been born as the Egrans have offered, whereas Sheila protests against this, fearing the idea of owning a pet dog. However, gradually, Marty''s encouragement with Sheila in the water helps her conquer her fear of swimming, and soon she is comforted slightly in her fear of dogs also, although not entirely.

Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great

The novel concerns a boy named Laughing Boy who is in search for wealth and popularity among his Navajo tribe, located in T''o Tlakai. He comes upon a woman whom he really likes, Slim Girl. They later marry without the full approval of his family. They move to Slim Girl''s residence where they live for about four years. She secretly makes money from another man just for being around him. She tells Laughing Boy that she works for a woman in town. While he makes his money from designing and producing jewelry of his own and selling horses. They live a happy life together for many years bringing things from each other''s culture into their relationship. When Laughing Boy chases a stallion for many days in order to make a good sell he runs into an American man at whom he shoots. While doing so he accidentally catches Slim Girl with an arrow unknowing of her presence, as this is where she made her money. He soon heals her while she tells him everything that has been going on and all of her past life. They become even closer. They decide to move up North where they can settle and have kids. On their long journey an ungrateful friend of Slim Girl shoots at the couple three times, as they flee from the gunfire Slim Girl reveals that she has been shot. She slowly dies in Laughing Boy''s arms. He mourns her death for a total of four days before moving on. He comes across a small tribe and decides to rest and settle there for a while. He knows he will always be lonely but never alone.

Laughing Boy

This book focuses on two rather large and epic events. First the wizard duel between Gromph and the Lichdrow Lord Dyrr. Gromph Baenre, after being transported by Dyrr to "Halfling Heaven" returns and is near victory over the lichdrow when Nimor Imphraezl interferes. The spell duel continues until Dyrr polymorphs himself into a Gigant and petrifies Gromph. Only with Triel''s help does Gromph continue the fight and finally destroy the Lichdrow''s physical body by breaking his staff, releasing a devastating magical discharge. Nimor flees from the battle after he is warned that Lloth is awakening. The second major event in the book is the duel between Jeggred Baenre and Ryld Argith. Danifae sends Jeggred to kill Ryld using of a portal. The battle takes place in a large swamp where Jeggred doggedly pursues Ryld even after being interrupted by many local beasts. The duo finally crash into a human logging camp where events become rather chaotic. Jeggred slaughters most of the loggers and uses their leader''s enchanted axe to break Splitter. Ryld is killed moments later and a victorious Jeggred eats his heart in triumph. The group consisting of Quenthel Baenre, Pharaun Mizzrym, Danifae, and Valas Hune make very little progress in their quest to travel to the Abyss. They spend most of their time on the ship of chaos feeding it and making it ready for their journey. But, they finally do begin their journey with the help of Aliisza. Halisstra Melarn it seems has fully turned from the worship of Lloth and moves forward with her intentions of destroying the deity with Eilistraee''s sword.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

The Death of the Lion

By Henry James

Humpty Dumpty in Oakland

By Philip K. Dick

The Thursday Murder Club: (The Thursday Murder Club 1)

By Richard Osman

The Lab

By Jack Heath

Champions of the Force

By Kevin J. Anderson

Seventeen

By Booth Tarkington

The Night Circus

By Erin Morgenstern

Man on Fire

By A. J. Quinnell

Next of Kin

By Eric Frank Russell

Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great

By Judy Blume

Laughing Boy

By Oliver La Farge

Annihilation

By Philip Athans