Banana Yoshimoto's novels have made her a sensation in Japan and all over the world, and Kitchen, the dazzling English-language debut that is still her best-loved book, is an enchantingly original and deeply affecting book about mothers, love, tragedy, and the power of the kitchen and home in the lives of a pair of free-spirited young women in contemporary Japan. Mikage, the heroine of Kitchen, is an orphan raised by her grandmother, who has passed away. Grieving, she is taken in by her friend Yoichi and his mother (who was once his father), Eriko. As the three of them form an improvised family that soon weathers its own tragic losses, Yoshimoto spins a lovely, evocative tale that recalls early Marguerite Duras. Kitchen and its companion story, "Moonlight Shadow," are elegant tales whose seeming simplicity is the ruse of a writer whose voice echoes in the mind and the soul.

A critically acclaimed #1 bestseller in France—a novel of art, desire, and time lost and regained, from Nobel Prize winner Patrick Modiano "Pithy and introspective. . . . Modiano delivers wondrous images of the tricks memory plays, sharply translated by Polizzotti. . . . Readers will savor this wistful narrative."—Publishers Weekly (starred review) Paris, 1960s. A young dancer and single mother, who might or might not be the narrator's love interest, is revisited by menacing figures from her past, even as she tries to escape that past through her art. Set in the shimmering world of the Paris ballet, a world populated by giants such as Balanchine and Nureyev, Ballerina revisits the themes of memory, desire, and ineffable danger that have become hallmarks of Patrick Modiano's fiction. Focusing on the dancer's troubled relations with her young son, her enigmatic involvement with the narrator, her mysterious...

Includes bibliographical references (p. 465-467)

Three nights of terror at the house called Edbrook. Three nights in which David Ash, there to investigate a haunting will be victim of horrifying and maleficent games. Three nights in which he will face the blood-chilling enigma of his own past. Three nights before Edbrook's dreadful secret will be revealed . . . And the true nightmare will begin.

"I'm proud to say I knew the man who wrote this book," writes Elmore Leonard of cult crime writer Charles Willeford's moving memoir of his youth. "It is pure writing, never pretentious or forced, never melodramatic, but honest storytelling of the highest order. This is how to do it, if anyone wants to know: how to write simple prose from a young boy's point of view and hold the reader spellbound." I Was Looking for a Street tells the story of the author's childhood and adolescence as an orphan, as he moves from railroad yards to hobo tent cities, to soup kitchens and deserts around Los Angeles and across the United States. The ensuing tale is at once a picaresque adventure through Depression-era America and a portrait of the writer as a young man of seemingly little promise but great spirit. Written after Willeford's later literary success with Cockfighter, Miami Bluesand The Woman Chaser, this memoir is the work of a writer at the height of his powers, looking back without nostalgia or regret, and preserving in his clear and powerful prose the great American adventure of his youth. "Willeford's spare, laconic, unflinching memoir is one of his essential books—one of the essential books in the American vernacular, let's say."—Jonathan Lethem

Is this really goodbye for the recent graduates of Westerly High as they get ready to start their new lives? High school is over, graduation already fading into memory. Kip, Anne, Beth Rose, Emily, and Molly are getting ready for one last party before they head off in different directions. Anne has a great new job that will take her all over the world. But it means leaving Con, the boy she loves, behind. Kip is going off to college, a thrilling—and terrifying—prospect. Emily’s engaged, but now Matt is making her think twice about marrying him. Beth will be the only one staying in Westerly . . . with Molly, who never belonged to the in-crowd in the first place, and now there’s no in-crowd left. For these girls of summer, their last night together has to be perfect. It will be a time of goodbyes and new romance as they all wonder: Will they ever belong to any place or person again? Ever have friends like these again? Ever see one other again? 

Newly repackaged, here is the runaway bestseller that launched Dale Brown's phenomenal career. "A superbly crafted adventure." (W.E.B. Griffin) "Suspenseful and spellbinding." (Clive Cussler)From Publishers WeeklyIt is not the Reagan Administration that has secretly been developing a Strategic Defense Initiative in this first book by retired USAF Captain Brown, but the Soviets, and as soon as the system comes on line, the Russians flagrantly attack American intelligence and military craft with their laser weapon. The President and his advisors appeal to the UN Security Council; they even dispatch sophisticated B-1 bombers and a new, armed space satellite, but both are thwarted, and the U.S. is left dangerously incapable of detecting a missile launch from the eastern U.S.S.R. Desperate, they decide to send a souped-up veteran B-52 bomber, the Old Dog, and its expert navigator Patrick McLanahan on a crucial mission into Siberia to neutralize the death ray. Brown knows his airborne and naval high-tech equipment and the cockpit bantering of crews, and can tell a basically interesting story. He does not, however, examine the frightening political consequences of the superpowers trading shots. The novel's excitement is essentially that of a boy's adventure fantasy rather than the well-realized suspense of a credible thriller. 75,000 first printing; $75,000 ad/promo; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club selections; Military Book Club selection; author tour. Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. Review“A superbly crafted adventure…Exciting.” —W.E.B. Griffin, bestselling author of the Brotherhood of War series “Suspenseful and spellbinding.” —Clive Cussler “A page-turner…an adventure story with an eerie sense of reality…a premise that is possibly the most frightening since Fail Safe.” —Richmond Times-Dispatch “Excitement…Brown knows his airborne and Naval high-tech.” —Publishers Weekly “Terrific…a gripping thriller…a shattering climax.” —Stephen Coonts

For a group of five girls at Westerly High, the last dance of the year will be filled with magic, moonlight, and end-of-year romance—or will it? Midnight will mark the end of one era . . . and the beginning of another. Kip wishes she could turn back the clock. A few months ago, two boys were competing for her. Now she has no one—just four younger brothers who drive her crazy. One kiss, and Gary turned Beth Rose into a princess. But her Prince Charming has moved on, and Beth’s date for the New Year’s Eve Ball is a friend’s kid brother. Moving in with Anne saved Emily when her parents separated. She may not have Anne’s poise or beauty, but she has Matt, a boy who seems to truly love her. Anne isn’t the same girl she was last year. And she’s lost Con, the love of her life. Molly hates the other girls. And when this night is over, revenge will be sweet indeed. In the grand ballroom of a hotel, on the last Saturday night of the year, New Year’s Eve will bring joy, heartbreak, one surprise proposal . . . and unexpected love. 

They're lean, they're mean, they're the pride of Stoneybrook. Who are they? They're Kristy's Krushers! When Kristy sees how much her little brothers and sister want to play softball, she starts a rag-tag team of her own. Maybe Kristy's Krushers aren't world champions (how could they be, with Jackie Rodowsky, walking disaster, playing for them?), but nobody beats them when it comes to team spirit. Now Bart's Bashers have challenged the Krushers to a real live game. It's bad enough that the Bashers truly are lean and mean-but what's worse is that Kristy has a crush on the Bashers' coach. A crush with a capital C!

The Andean Cloud Forest in Ecuador is mysterious and beautiful. Trace Rawlings is a man who lives by his own rules. Ruthless and domineering, he takes what he wants. But Cynthia is used to someone trying to manipulate her, having dealt with her father all her life. She feels sure she can handle Trace. After all, he's just there to guide her through the treacherous forest, right?

Everyone knows Sam Krupnik. He's Anastasia's pesty but lovable younger brother. This is Sam's big chance to tell things exactly the way he sees them.  He has his own ideas about haircuts, nursery school, getting shots, and not eating broccoli.  Sam thinks a lot about being bigger and stronger, about secret codes and show-and-tell. Make way for your little brother, Anastasia.  Here for the first time is Sam Krupnik's life story.  What a life!

(my conversion)This collection of twenty-two tales depicting the marvels of the universe includes the story of a little guy who gets sweet revenge, an antigravity field day with a flying saucer fan, and a chess game to end the human race

Publisher's Weekly''The fifth Jimmy Flannery mystery should delight old readers and win new ones,'' said PW. This time out, sewer inspector Jimmy tracks rumors of a black Mass held at St. Pat's and becomes embroiled in Church and city politics, with the ever-present possibility--this is Chicago--of scandal. (Mar.) Library JournalSeries protagonist Jimmy Flannery lands in a neighborhood dilemma when Father Mulrooney is found dead amidst evidence of an apparent Black Mass in a Catholic church in South Chicago. St. Ulric's boys' school next door, Mulrooney's recently deceased cat Ignatius, and the church cemetery (sold to an oil company for a gas station site) provide sources of conjecture, politics, and drama before Flannery finds out what really happened. A tidy little set piece, featuring a grammatically fractured but warm-hearted narrator, lively characterization, and just a smidgen of humor. REK

Up to now the good people of Winton, Oregon had done a lot of things right. The town was prosperous, the buildings well-constructed and in a good state of repair. The law was upheld and all seemed orderly. The elderly judge was eloquent in his praise for the respectable nature of the citizens.Trouble was, just before the man called Edge rode in to town, things had started to go all wrong. A woman had been brutally murdered and a man hurriedly tried and hanged. The wrong man.And now a person or persons unknown had set up a protest movement. Not by waving banners but by setting up nooses. And beginning to kill, one by one, all the people responsible.That was when bad law became lynch law and the formerly neatly swept streets became all littered with the bodies of those recently responsible people.