Showing results by narrator "George Newbern" in All Categories

A rural working-class New England town elects as its mayor a New York hedge fund millionaire in this inspired novel for our times - fiction in the tradition of Jonathan Franzen and Jennifer Egan. Here are the dramas of 21st-century America - rising inequality, working class decline, a new authoritarianism - played out in the classic setting of some of our greatest novels: the small town. The Locals is that rare work of fiction capable of capturing a fraught American moment in real time.

After observing his cat, Ziggy, for years, Stephane Garnier became convinced that cats have life down to an art form, so he set out to share Ziggy's je ne sais quoi with the world. Highlighting 40 trademark cat qualities that are (almost) entirely applicable to human daily living, Garnier provides insights that are delightfully useful as well as tips for living a day in the life of a cat - and a Q&A to test your cat quotient to see how much work you have to do learn the subtle art of living like a feline.

In this "sophisticated international thriller" ( The New York Times Book Review), an American antiques dealer turned reluctant private eye must use his knowledge of Japanese culture to unravel a major murder in San Francisco - before he and his daughter become targets themselves. San Francisco antiques dealer Jim Brodie receives a call one night from a friend at the SFPD: An entire family has been senselessly gunned down in the Japantown neighborhood of the bustling city.

George Chakiris famously played the angry gang leader Bernardo in the film version of West Side Story (1961), for which he won an Oscar for best supporting actor. My West Side Story is an insider's look at how this theatrical and cinematic landmark evolved from a conversation in Jerome Robbins's Manhattan apartment between him, Arthur Laurents, and Leonard Bernstein to ten Oscars, three Golden Globes, two Tony Awards, and a Grammy.

Ever since the cops revoked his private investigator's license, Charlie Bradshaw has been adjusting to life as a regular senior citizen. But reading, sitting around the house, and making amateur home repairs is a far cry from his past life as Saratoga Springs' most successful everyman detective. So when Charlie discovers the sprawled corpse of Saratoga Springs' biggest nuisance on his sidewalk, the ex-P.I. is torn.

Vix Leonard is twelve when she meets dazzling, reckless Caitlin Somers. Invited to spend holidays on Martha's Vineyard with Caitlin and her eccentric, mysterious family, Vix is welcomed into a life totally unlike her own. As days of bold adventure give way to nights of shy discovery, she and Caitlin come together in the complications of growing up; the refuge of belonging; the pact to Never Be Ordinary . . . Until one devastating summer when a local boy changes everything.

Tony Wolf, a troubled man and the FBI’s most esteemed undercover agent, is back after mysteriously vanishing without a trace. A specialist at infiltrating criminal organizations and taking them down from the inside, he lives his life in the shadows. But when he’s forced into the open during the rescue of two kidnapped children, Wolf becomes caught up in a massive federal manhunt. Faced with a traitorous agent and a ruthless, renegade biker gang he has crossed paths with before, Wolf finds himself in danger.

Young Leon Hubbard was arrogant and near psychotic. So when he was killed on a South Philadelphia construction site, everyone who knew him wanted to bury the bad news with the body. All, that is, except two - Leon's mother and the local columnist for the common man. Now back in print, God's Pocket is the powerful first novel from the National Book Award-winning author of Paris Trout.

Part Primary Colors, part House of Cards, The Means takes you deep into high-stakes politics where everyone has something to hide. Tom Pauley is a conservative trial attorney in Durham, NC, who is tapped by GOP leaders to campaign for the Governor's mansion. His bold style makes him a favorite for a run at the White House. Mitchell Mason is the president-elect of the United States, pushed into politics by a father determined to create a political dynasty.

Snow-White, fair-haired, quiet, and shy, and Rose-Red, dark-haired, outspoken, and lively, are two little girls living with their mother in a small cottage by the woods. They give shelter on a winter night to a kindly bear, who treats them gently and returns every night. In the summer, the girls encounter a wicked dwarf whose beard is stuck in a tree. Freeing the dwarf, the girls are met with loud ungrateful recriminations for cutting his beard.

Devastated after both my fiancée and best friend betrayed me, I traveled to a distant isle in the Pacific Northwest, clinging to a job as an artist's assistant to escape my broken heart. Little did I know that I would find something else entirely when I met Briggs Tutheridge. His kindness and sensitivity were not at all what I expected. Still, his reputation was well-known and notorious, with bevies of admirers who wanted nothing more than a brief affair. That wasn't me. I was a wallflower destined to live in the shadows, and no amount of wishing could change that.

With help from Pondside Manor’s quirky, 20-something kitchen worker Foster Kresowik, resident Robert Kallman creates The World of Pondside, a video game that delights the nursing home’s residents by allowing them to virtually relive blissful moments from days long past—or even create new ones. Robert’s game enlivens the halls of Pondside Manor, but chaos ensues when he is found dead, submerged in the pond, still strapped into his wheelchair. If any resident witnessed his death, they’re not telling—either covering up or, quite possibly, forgetting.

In September 2014, a Chinese company that most Americans had never heard of held the largest IPO in history - bigger than Google, Facebook, and Twitter combined. Alibaba, now the world's largest ecommerce company, mostly escaped Western notice for over 10 years, while building a customer base larger than Amazon's and handling the bulk of ecommerce transactions in China. How did it happen? And what was it like to be along for such a revolutionary ride?

When the city is hit by a colossal snowstorm, only one superhero can save the day. But who is this mysterious hero, and why does he disappear once his job is done?

Max Fend's world orbits around the marvels of the stars above. As an integral cog in the imminent Artemis moon mission and the heartbeat of Fend Aerospace, he's accustomed to challenges that stretch beyond the Earth's atmosphere. Yet he's entirely unprepared for the force of nature that is Gus Gomez. Gus isn't just a brilliant Peruvian immigrant harboring an indigenous leather pouch steeped in mystery, she's a maelstrom of history, fleeing dark shadows while simultaneously careening toward a cosmic destiny. The pouch she carries contains a crucible of secrets.

David Hajdu begins Love for Sale, his personal history of recorded pop music, in an unexpected place - not with nostalgic reminiscences of the 45s of his youth but with the sheet music era at the end of the 19th century. It was not so much the beginning of popular music - many songs were already popular - as it was the beginning of the popular music industry. And if he's going to understand what his 45s meant to him, this is the place to start.

The year is 2029, and nothing is as it should be. The very essence of American life, the dollar, is under attack. In a coordinated move by the rest of the world's governments, the dollar loses all its value. The American president declares that the States will default on all its loans; prices skyrocket, currency becomes essentially worthless, and we watch one family struggle to survive through it all. The Mandibles can count on their inheritance no longer, and each member must come to terms with this in their own way.

Anyone who has lived near New Haven, Connecticut, in the past forty-plus years has surely heard of Toad's Place. With a capacity of 750, Toad's has served as the perfect spot for musicians who prefer smaller venues.

A collection of 15 stories, 11 of which have never been previously published, from the early career of best-selling American master Elmore Leonard.

The Camera Lies unpacks Hitchcock's legacy both as a director who continuously taught audiences to distrust appearance and as a man with an uncanny insight into the human capacity for deceit and misinterpretation.