The first part of the book covers the 17 years in the lives of this group of friends after Karen’s lapse into a coma. Richard has to cope with losing Karen but gaining a daughter, Megan, as fatherhood is thrust upon him: the outcome of their mutual loss of virginity just hours before Karen fell into her coma. Wendy throws herself into work and Linus loses himself, looking for that which is lost. Pamela becomes a supermodel and Hamilton a demolition expert, but none of the friends’ lives turn out how they imagined. Broken and lacking, they return to the suburbs of their youth to try to pull themselves together until one day, almost two decades after she fell asleep, Karen regains consciousness. The book is divided into three parts. The first chapter of the book is narrated by Jared, a ghost of a friend of the character''s who died of leukemia at a young age. The rest of Part 1 is narrated by Richard, in the first person, as he tells the story of what happened in the 17 years. The second part of the book, with no narrator, deals with Karen''s return to the world. It also begins to explain where she had been all those years and the reality she had hoped to escape. Then, suddenly, the world ends. This section is narrated in the third person, with insight into all the characters'' minds. The final part of the book details life after everyone except these seven people have fallen asleep and not reawakened. This section is again narrated by Jared. The characters have to deal with the end of the world as predicted by Karen in her coma.

Girlfriend in a Coma

It is about a young woman named Elena, the daughter of a wealthy gentleman. After the death of her mother, her father married a devious social climber with two daughters of her own. Not long after the marriage, Elena''s father dies and her stepmother relegates her into the position of a house servant. She seems to be the perfect Cinderella candidate, except the prince of the land is many years younger than she - he is eleven. Also, she is 21, when most fairy-tale endings for girls normally happen at 16 or 18. One day, Elena''s stepmother and stepsisters plan a temporary excursion out of town, for the purpose of ensnaring a new rich husband so they can pay the numerous debts they owe. Left alone in the house, Elena goes to the hiring fair in hopes of finding work as a servant. At the end of the day, a fairy godmother appears and offers to take Elena on as her apprentice. Elena accepts and moves to the godmother''s cottage, where she meets the four brownies that help with household duties. The latter half of the book deals with Elena''s time as a full-fledged godmother and her problems with turning an arrogant prince named Alexander into a decent person.

The Fairy Godmother

When the Oracle of Ammon tells Alexander that he is the son of Zeus, the young Macedonian king finds even more inner strength and will to conquer new lands and rule the biggest Empire ever known. His army then crosses the Tigris and the Euphrates to reach Babylon, which is then raged by the Macedonians. The palace of Persepolis, the most beautiful palace in the world, is burnt to ashes by Alexander himself. This marks the end of Darius III''s Persian Empire and the beginning of Alexander''s. The Macedonian King, Pharaoh of Egypt and Great King of Persia is now also nomined Great Leader by the Pan-Hellenic League and he aims for India and Arabia to expand his Empire even further. His army seems unstoppable and unbeatable, driven forward by a man that defies human capabilities. Yet, when he tries to make his dream of a great unite Empire between Macedonians and Persians reality, his army starts to doubt his ideals and to critique his way of adapting to Persian customs at court. As his companions slowly yet gradually wonder about their king''s choices, Alexander''s life gets a sorrowful turn. He loses his wife Barsine, his loved horse Bucephalus, his best friend Hephaestion and his tutor Leonidas in the most brutal of ways. Even his own life is now in danger, with some of his warriors planning to kill him twice. He has to execute the warriors who planned for his assassination as well as a friend of his that had heard of the plan but did not inform him. This torments him, but he knows he does not have choice. He finds refuge in the Iliad and other poems, where in the past he found sources of inspiration for battle tactics. He stops eating food and falls ill, and the only thing that gives him strength to go on and chase his immense dream is love. He meets and falls in love with Queen Roxane, who also gives the great gift of becoming father of a son. He is also named Alexander. He then tries to push forward towards India, as conquering it would mean that the whole of Asia would be in his hands, but his warriors'' homesickness gets too much to bear. He then has to march backwards towards the now far Macedonia and, during this very last part of his journey, he falls ill again. His friends get really worried about his deteriorating conditions and it seems nothing can save the man whom pushed the boundaries of human capability. During the last few days of his life, unable to walk, he lets every one of his warriors walk into his tent and by its bed for a last farewell. And it also gives the opportunity to the sorrowful Macedonian soldiers to pay their tribute to their epic and heroic king.

The Ends of the Earth

A good portion of the book details the life of spaceship-captain Robert Singh (including his running a marathon race on the Lunar surface and uprooting his life and moving to Mars). When it is discovered that the asteroid Kali is likely to hit Earth, Singh''s ship Goliath makes an emergency voyage to Kali with a load of thrusters to set up on the asteroid, hopefully nudging the rock''s orbit just enough to push it clear of Earth. In the meantime, a religious sect called Chrislam, originally founded by a female veteran of the Persian Gulf War, believes that they can convert a human being into a few terabytes of computer information, and then transmit this data across space to Sirius (where they believe aliens reside); members of the sect also come to believe that the asteroid is meant to destroy the Earth. They thus sneak a bomb on board the Goliath and ruin the thrusters. While Singh uses the Goliath itself as a thruster to move the asteroid, the world government on Earth rushes to reconstruct one of the planet''s long-decommissioned nuclear weapons, hoping to break the peanut-shaped Kali in two.

The Hammer of God

Charlotte and Emma Makepeace are children living with their grandfather, Elijah, in a country house in the South Downs in southern England. Named Aviary Hall, the house is decorated with stuffed birds and images of birds. On the way to their small English village school, they meet and befriend a mysterious boy who tells them that he is able to teach them to fly. Over the following days and weeks, the boy teaches Charlotte to fly, and then the other children at the school learn this ability. The boy remains invisible to the adults, with the exception of the schoolteacher, Miss Hallibutt, who herself, as a child, had wished that she could fly. The boy tells her that he is unable to teach her to fly: he can only teach children. The children spend an idyllic summer flying above their village and the downs. As summer draws to an end, the boy offers to take the children on a journey, and the children prepare to go with the boy. Charlotte realises that the boy is not telling them the whole truth, and forces the boy to admit the truth. The boy reveals that while he wants to take them back to his country where the can fly forever, and be children forever, without adult responsibilities, the cost of following him is that they will never be able to return to their homes and their loved ones. The children decide that this indeed is too high a price to pay, and all decline to travel with the boy, with the exception of one girl, who has neither parents, nor a happy life to return to. The children return to their homes and prepare to begin a new term at school.

The Summer Birds

Prologue In Palomir, the priest of Franca, Salmson, calls forth the Worm, a giant worm that spews a black ash cloud from its mouth that melts the flesh off of whomever it touches, through the use of blood sacrifices. Using a hair of the Lady he restrains it and gives it into the keeping of Archas, a pirate. Salmson tells him that he must always possess the talisman, or the Worm will devour all the world as it did to its own. Upon summoning the worm, they see through to the worms home world, it is barren, lifeless, and completely covered in a grey ash. The Main Events Following the events of The Mirror of Worlds Garric, Sharina, Cashel and Ilna have been reunited on Pandah, the new capital of the continent. When they begin receiving reports of rat armies moving forth from Palomir under the influence of its Emperor and the forbidden gods (Franca in particular), they are forced to separate to save the kingdom. Garric and Tenoctris take the army to Haft where they have reports that an army of Rat men are advancing. Garric leaves control of the city in the hands of Sharina as his regent. Upon arriving in Haft Garric is met by his father Reise, who urges him to return to Barca''s Hamlet and visit his mother. The Army moves to Barca''s Hamlet and Garric visits his mother, assuring her that despite the lack of blood relationship she is still the only mother he has ever known. We next find Garric on the march, his troops run into a foraging party of the rat men, Garric rides out to meet them with a squadron of cavalry and a regiment of infantry. In the course of the brief battle Garric discovers that the scent of the Rat men causes horses to either run in fear, or attack in a fit of rage. Garric is almost killed in the course of the battle but is saved by a platoon of infantrymen. Garric orders the recovery of some of the bodies and brings one to Tenoctris, who upon examining the corpse discovers how they are made. She informs Garric that the rats are created by stealing the souls of the dead, and putting them in the bodies of rats. She also informs him that they must venture into a different plane of existence to find Lord Munn and ask him to close the Ivory Gate, through which the souls of the dead are being stolen. Guided by a boatman, they come to a temple and awaken Lord Munn, who then closes the Ivory Gate, halting the creation of further rat legions. Returning to their own world, Garric and Tenoctris battle the legions of the Emperor and defeat them. Cashel travels with Liane and Rasile to Dariada. There they hope to stop the Worm, which now approaches the city to destroy it. They take counsel from the Tree Oracle and journey to awaken the hero Gorand, who had defeated the Worm once before and then was driven from Dariada by its people. Coming to a different world, they defeat the Lord and then pass through a gate where they defeat a pair of wizards and awake Gorand. While he is reluctant to return, he follows them out. In Dariada, he possesses the Tree Oracle, and destroys the worm. In the midst of the fighting, Cashel becomes the Shepherd, the last of the Gods to return. Ilna goes south at the request of former Admiral Zettin where she searches for one of his relatives. There she is taken by a wizard who convinces her to steal a box that belonged to the wizards deceased husband. They go down to his grave and there Ilna opens the box, meeting Usun. She travels on and comes to a new land where she meets King Perus, Princess Perrine and Prince Perrin slaves to a great ape who wants to be King and God of all. Ilna defeats the ape with her weaving and battles Hili, the Queen of Hell. Upon killing Hili, Ilna becomes the Sister, the second of the returned gods. Sharina remains on Pandah as regent where she is confronted by a new religion worshiping Lord scorpion. A mysterious figure Black enters Sharina''s dreams and tells her that she is to be the high priestess of this new religion. Scorpions now run loose through the city, working as spies. Sharina befriends Burne, a speaking rat, who acts as her personal scorpion catcher. Brune is instrumental in capturing one of the new priests of the scorpion cult, a former priest of the Shepherd. When the priest is questioned he reveals that Black always appears in his dreams, and tells him where to preach, confirming for Sharina that she was not merely having a bad dream. As Black''s plot is unveiled, Sharina besieges the former Temple of the Shepherd where Black has made a fortress. She defeats a large scorpion with the help of the army and then duels Black alone. Upon his doom she becomes the Lady, the first of the returned gods. Epilogue King Garric and his wife Liane supervise the erection of a new temple devoted to the three gods. They carve statues for Sharina, the Lady; Cashel, the Shepherd; and Ilna, the Sister. With the help of the Gods, Garric says, they will rule.

The Gods Return

The story concerns a family who move to "Three Chimneys", a house near the railway, after the father, who works at the Foreign office, is imprisoned as a result of being falsely accused of selling state secrets to the Russians. The three children, Roberta (Bobbie), Peter and Phyllis (Phil), find amusement in watching the trains on the nearby railway line and waving to the passengers. They become friendly with Albert Perks, the station porter, and with the Old Gentleman who regularly takes the 9:15 down train. He is eventually able to help prove their father''s innocence, and the family is reunited. The family take care of the Russian exile, Mr Szczepansky, who came to England looking for his family (later located) and Jim, the grandson of the Old Gentleman, who suffers a broken leg in a tunnel. The theme of an innocent man being falsely imprisoned for espionage and finally vindicated might have been influenced by the Dreyfus Affair, which was a prominent worldwide news item a few years before the book was written. And the Russian exile, persecuted by the Tsars for writing "a beautiful book about poor people and how to help them" and subsequently helped by the children, was most likely an amalgam of the real-life dissidents Sergius Stepniak and Peter Kropotkin who were both friends of the author.

The Railway Children

When Ray and Georgia McKenna-Nye are killed in a horrific car crash, leaving their daughter Keefer Kathryn an orphan, the couple''s respective families both believe they are the right people to raise the girl, and consequently file for custody. This book is essentially about the events surrounding the ensuing legal process which will decide Keefer''s future. Keefer''s maternal family are the McKennas, a Catholic family of Irish descent, and of modest means, living in rural Wisconsin. Prior to their deaths, Ray and Georgia had lived nearby and the family are fairly close. The paternal family, meanwhile, are the Nyes, born again Christians living in Florida who, though much more financially better off than the McKennas, do not appear to be as close. The McKennas are initially given guardianship of Keefer after managing to file their case first. However, Georgia''s parents, Mark and Lorraine, realise that they may be too old to adopt the girl, so Georgia''s brother, Gordon, is encouraged to seek custody of his niece. There are problems here, though, as Gordon is single, while he and Georgia were adopted, and adopted children do not have the same rights under Wisconsin law as blood relatives. As a result of these factors, Gordon''s petition is eventually turned down by a Wisconsin judge and interim custody granted to the Nyes with a view to Keefer eventually being adopted by her father''s relatives. Gordon is given permission to appeal the decision and quickly decides to do so. The driving force behind the Nyes plan to adopt Keefer are Ray''s parents, Raymond Senior and his wife Diane. However, they do not personally seek custody of Keefer either, and because of circumstances, their children are also unable to. So, their niece (Ray''s cousin) Delia, and her husband Craig, file for custody. Delia already has a teenage daughter, Alex, from a previous marriage, but she and Craig believe they are unable to have children. They also live in Wisconsin, and are seen by the social services as having a more suitable family structure for raising a young girl. While Keefer is living with Craig and Delia, the McKennas launch a campaign to have the law changed in a bid to prevent other adopted people from facing similar problems in the future. Their efforts bring them to the attention of local politician Phil Kay, who champions their cause in the Wisconsin legislature, and the relative changes are passed unanimously. Shortly before the appeal is to be held, it emerges that Delia is suffering from Multiple Sclerosis, and has also become pregnant. She is unable to take her medication during her pregnancy and is not coping very well with having to look after a young child. At the appeal, the judge advises the two families that it would be better for everyone concerned, and particularly Keefer, if they were able to sort things out between themselves rather than through the courts. Taking this on board, Gordon decides to give up his bid to adopt Keefer, but only on the proviso that Delia and Craig stay in the area until Keefer is at least five. An agreement is reached and the adoption process begins. However, shortly after giving birth to a boy, who is named Hugh, Delia suffers a severe brain haemorrhage and is placed on a life support machine. When the McKennas learn what has happened, they go to the hospital to offer Craig their support. He is at first reluctant to accept this, but as Delia''s condition deteriorates, he begins to realise the full gravity of the situation. He and Gordon then have a heart to heart in which they discuss Keefer''s future. The final chapter of the book catches up with Keefer as a ten year old, and she narrates the events of the intervening years. She is adopted by Gordon after Delia dies. Delia''s daughter, Alex, goes to live with her father, while Craig raises Hugh with Gordon''s help and advice, and the two become good friends. Gordon and Alex then meet again some years later when Alex becomes a counsellor at Keefer''s school. They have a relationship and the story concludes with Alex giving birth to a daughter.

A Theory of Relativity

During World War One, German warships controlled Lake Tanganyika, which is the longest Lake in the world and was of great strategic advantage in Central Africa at the time. The British had no naval craft at all upon ''Tanganjikasee'' (as the Germans called it). After the destruction of the Belgian warship - Del Commune and through the actions of a British informant known as Lee and his observations of the two German Warships, including the Hedwig von Wissman, the British Admiralty and Admiral Sir David Gamble decided that a naval expedition was needed to retake the Lake from the Germans. They were unaware of the existence of a much larger German vessel on the lake, the Graf von Götzen. So, in June 1915, a force of 28 men was dispatched from Britain on a vast journey. Their chief was an eccentric naval officer, Geoffrey Spicer-Simson who was known for being the oldest Lt. Commander in the Royal Navy, a man court martialled for wrecking his own ships and a complete liar. He was given command of two small gunboats, which he named Mimi and Toutou (childish onomatopoeia for "Cat" and "Dog" in French). After a month long journey to South Africa via the Atlantic Ocean, the boats and expedition travelled by train to the Congo. In the Congo, with great difficulty, the expedition carried the two boats, with the aid of steam engines and mules, to the edge of Lake Tanganyika. They captured one ship, the Kigani, and named her Fifi, sank the Hedwig von Wissman, but did not engage the formidable Graf von Götzen, which remained dominant on the lake until it was scuttled in the wake of an Anglo-Belgian attack by land on German positions.

Mimi and Toutou Go Forth. The Bizarre Battle for Lake Tanganyika

The novel is a fictionalised biography of the Godolphin Arabian, an ancestor of the modern thoroughbred. The story starts with Man o'' War''s victory over Sir Barton in a race. The fans expect Man o'' War to race at Newmarket, but his owner chooses to end his racing career early. When questioned about his decision, he tells the story of the Godolphin Arabian. The story starts in Morocco, as the fast of Ramadan is ending with the setting sun. The boys in the Sultan''s stables begin to hungrily feast, but Agba, a mute orphan, ignores the end of the fast and continues to tend to his favorite mare. She refuses to eat, even though all the horses were forced to participate in the Ramadan fast along with the humans, and Agba worries for her. The Chief Groom realizes this, and that tonight is her birthing hour. Agba, sleeping in the mare''s stall, wakes to find a new foal in the stable. He notices a white spot on his hind heel, considered the emblem of swiftness and good luck. The Chief Groom, upon entering the stall spots a wheat ear on the foal''s chest, a sign of bad luck. He attempts to kill it, but Agba intervenes and points out the white spot. The Chief Groom considers this, then leaves, prophesying that the mare will die. Agba, undaunted, names the colt Sham because of his golden coat. Within a few days, the prophecy is fulfilled. Agba attempts to run away from the stables, but is knocked into a camel. This gives him an idea, and he feeds Sham on camel''s milk and wild honey, promising that someday he will be King of The Wind. Sham matures into a promising racehorse, beating all of the other horses. Sham sees Agba as a mother, and they develop a close bond. The Sultan summons six horseboys to his palace, including Agba, and charges them to accompany six horses to the French king, one chestnut, one yellow dun, one dark gray, one white, one black, and one bay touched with gold. Sham fits the requirements and accompanies Agba to France. The horseboy is to remain with that horse until death, then return to Morocco. Here, the supposedly great racehorses are frowned upon by the French, who believe that they are not ''lusty'' enough to be racehorses. Five are sent to work in the army, but Sham remains behind to be a kitchen horse. He does not take to this well, and when Agba is gone one afternoon, causes such a mess that the cook sells him. Agba searches desperately for Sham, finally finding him pulling water in the streets of Paris. He becomes a slave to Sham''s owner, and meets Grimalkin the cat along the way. Sham is bought by a Quaker man and taken to England. He refuses to have the Quaker''s nephew ride him, and is sold to an inn. When Agba is caught sneaking in to see him, he goes to jail. The jailer destroys Sham''s pedigree. Fortunately, Agba is bailed by the Quaker''s housekeeper who is quite fond of him, and Sham is released from his cruel treatment at the inn. She finds him a job with the Earl of Godolphin. The Earl treats Sham as a workhorse, albeit kindly. The true celebrity in the Godolphin stables is Hobgoblin, whom Sham detests. Lady Roxana, a mate meant for Hobgoblin, arrives, and Sham fights Hobgoblin for her. Lady Roxana enjoys his company, but the Earl is embarrassed. He sentences Sham, Agba, and Grimalkin to life in Wicken Fen, and they depart. Two years later, the Earl''s Chief Groom comes back and reveals that Lady Roxana had a foal with Sham, who was left alone and left untrained due to his skinniness. Lath, however, one day jumps the fence and outruns some of the colts that the Earl is training, proving his worth. The trio come back to Godolphin, and Sham is named the Godolphin Arabian. He has two more foals with Lady Roxana, Cade and Regulus. After the Earl reveals that he is near bankruptcy, they decide to race Sham''s sons in Newmarket. Agba kept his promise! Sham is King of the Wind They win the races and the Queen''s purse, and Agba contemplates his life with Sham. As a footnote, it is revealed the Godolphin Arabian lived long and had many successful descendants. The Earl has left his grave blank, and Agba has returned to Morocco. After the Earl''s death, the dates and name of the Godolphin Arabian are put on the grave, but time is slowly erasing the words.

King of the Wind

The novel is set in South Africa, home to five distinct populations: Bantu (native Black tribes), Coloured (the result of generations of miscegenation between persons of European descent and the indigenous occupants of South Africa along with slaves brought in from Angola, Indonesia, India, Madagascar and the east Coast of Africa), English, Afrikaner, and Indian, Chinese, and other foreign workers. The novel traces the history, interaction, and conflicts between these populations, from prehistoric times up to the 1970s. Michener writes largely from the point of view of the Afrikaners, descendants of Dutch settlers and French Huguenot immigrants who traveled to South Africa to practice freedom of worship in the Calvinist tradition, and other European groups (such as the Germans), all of whom were absorbed by the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch Reformed Church. The Afrikaners, whose Dutch ancestors first established a trading and refueling stop at Cape Town in the 17th century to service ships moving between Holland and Java, and whose ranks were augmented by Huguenot and other northern European immigrants, considered themselves the "New Israelites". They found in the Old Testament verification for their belief that God favored their conquest of the new land. Their strict, fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible supported them through the Great Trek of the 19th century; battles against Zulu and other Bantu tribes, who also laid claim to lands to the north; the Anglo-Boer War (when small guerrilla bands of a few hundred Afrikaner farmers were able to hold off tens of thousands of British regulars); and their institution of Apartheid in the 20th century, when they insisted on racial purity, separatism, and white supremacy, per the moral expectations of the God of Israel in the Old Testament and their own determination to keep political power in the hands of Whites of European descent. Michener suggests that the Afrikaner oppression of Blacks was partly due to Dutch animosity towards the English, who assumed political and financial control of southern Africa in 1795 and fought against the traditional way of life, including slavery, pursued by Afrikaner farmers, or Boers. As one Bantu character observes, "no matter whether the English or the Dutch win, the Blacks always lose." Both historical and fictional characters appear throughout the novel. The experiences of the fictional van Doorn family illustrate the Dutch and Huguenot heritage of South Africa, and in the 1970s also illustrate the differences between liberal and conservative Afrikaners. The fictional Saltwood family represents the English settlement of the area. The Nxumalo family illustrates the area''s black heritage and culture. African Zulu leader Shaka appears in the novel, during the chapter on the Mfecane.

The Covenant

The frame story of Dragon''s Time is set during ten days of year 508 AL (years After Landing on Pern). Now it is summer, about six months after the start of the "Third Pass" of the Red Star and its attendant Threadfall. Much of the action takes place during a long episode of time travel led by Fiona of Fort Weyr, who is the Telgar Weyrwoman now (508 AL). The primary purpose of the expedition is to survive, and to mature or to convalesce, and thus to gain man- and dragonpower in the present crisis. In all this, Dragon''s Time matches Todd''s Dragonheart, two books back. The differences: It is now six months rather than a few weeks after the start of the Third Pass. The refuge is in the near past, but distant in space: the smaller and unknown Western Continent (as readers of the series know it), on the other side of Pern from the settled Northern Continent. There is a secondary purpose, or opportunity: both humans and dragons may reproduce (the childbearing of leading women is a theme). Fiona and the temporary Weyr she leads compose a smaller part of the story than in Dragonheart. She shares the lead, and often her queen dragon Talenth, with Lorana. Lorana was the protagonist of Dragonsblood, Todd McCaffrey''s first solo effort, three books back, but ending early in this year 508. She is the expert time traveler, who led Fiona and others on the backward journey in Dragonheart, and risked the first forward journey at the end of Dragongirl. In this book she makes many short-duration trips, some of them distant in time. "You can''t break time, but you can cheat it", and Lorana is the expert cheater.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

Girlfriend in a Coma

By Douglas Coupland

The Fairy Godmother

By Mercedes Lackey

The Ends of the Earth

By Valerio Massimo Manfredi

The Hammer of God

By Arthur C. Clarke

The Summer Birds

By Penelope Farmer

The Gods Return

No Author Listed

The Railway Children

By E. Nesbit

A Theory of Relativity

No Author Listed

Mimi and Toutou Go Forth. The Bizarre Battle for Lake Tanganyika

By Giles Foden

King of the Wind

By Marguerite Henry

The Covenant

By Michael Falconer Anderson

Dragon's Time

By Anne McCaffrey