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  Melville in Love - The Secret...

  Michael Shelden

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  Herman Melville's epic novel, Moby-Dick, was a spectacular failure when it was published in 1851, effectively ending its author's rise to literary fame. Because he was neglected by academics for so long, and because he made little effort to preserve his legacy, we know very little about Melville, and even less about what he called his "wicked book." Scholars still puzzle over what drove Melville to invent Captain Ahab's mad pursuit of the great white whale.In Melville in Love Michael Shelden sheds light on this literary mystery to tell a story of Melville's passionate and clandestine affair with a married woman named Sarah Morewood, whose libertine impulses encouraged and sustained Melville's own. In his research, Shelden discovered documents suggesting that, in their shared resistance to the "iron rule" of social conformity, Sarah and Melville had forged an illicit and enduring romantic and intellectual bond. Emboldened by the thrill of courting Sarah in secret, the pleasure of falling in love, and the excitement of spending time with literary luminaries, Melville found the courage to take the leap from light works of adventure to the hugely brilliant, utterly subversive Moby-Dick.

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  The Question of God - CS Lewis...

  Armand M. Nicholi

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  "This elegantly written and compelling comparison of the worldviews of Sigmund Freud and C. S. Lewis provides a riveting opportunity to consider the most important questions mankind has ever asked: Is there a God? Does he care about me? This profound book is for anyone who is earnestly seeking answers about truth, the meaning of life, and God's existence."  -- Francis Collins, Director, National Human Genome Research Institute  Many of history's greatest thinkers have wrestled with the ultimate question of belief and nonbelief in God. Though it might seem unlikely that any new arguments could possibly be raised on either side, the twentieth century managed to produce two men who each made brilliant, new, and lasting arguments, one in favor of belief and one opposed. Few spokesmen have ever championed their respective positions better than Sigmund Freud and C. S. Lewis. Sadly, as far as we know, they never met or debated each other directly.  In The Question of God their arguments are placed side by side, as if they were standing at podiums in a shared room. Both thought carefully about the flaws and alternatives to their positions; each considered the other's views. Both men considered the problem of pain and suffering, the nature of love and sex, and the ultimate meaning of life and death. Here, with their debate made explicit, we can take ringside seats at one of history's most profound encounters.  For more than twenty-five years Armand Nicholi has studied the philosophical writings of both men, and has taught a popular course at Harvard that compares the two worldviews. In The Question of God he presents the fruits of years of labor among the published and unpublished writings of Lewis and Freud, including an extensive exploration of their private letters. He allows them to speak for themselves on every major question of belief and nonbelief, but also skillfully draws conclusions from their own lives. Why did Freud have such difficulty maintaining lifelong friendships? How did Lewis's friendships change after his transition from atheism to belief? Why was Freud unable to willfully ignore his own internal moral sense, even though he believed it to be purely a product of socialization and not in any way eternally "true"? The Question of God may be the best book about belief and nonbelief ever written, since it does not presuppose which answer is correct. Instead, it uses two of history's most articulate spokesmen to present arguments on both sides. In the end, readers must join Nicholi's hundreds of former students in deciding for themselves which path to follow.

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  Dean Corll: The True Story of...

  Jack Rosewood

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  In an area of Houston known as the Heights, boys had been going missing for years, but it was the peace-and-love 1970s, so police just called them runaways, even if they’d left with little more than a swimsuit and some change.When the truth was uncovered, and police – and the rest of Houston – realized the boys had become victims of notorious American serial killer Dean Corll, Houston recoiled in horrified shock. Residents realized that they had not only become the site of the most grisly mass murder in Texas history, but the worst mass murder in all of U.S. history. The word serial killer had not yet been coined, and as body after decomposing body was uncovered from the dirt floor of the boat shed where Corll and his two young accomplishes had buried most of the victims, there were hardly words for what this sadistic lust killer had done. The depraved evil that Corll and his accomplices – two teen boys themselves who were promised money but eventually developed a thrill for the kill - was revealed as one of the cohorts, Wayne Henley, calmly, affably, told the stories of how after Corll sexually assaulting them and tortured them in unimaginable fashion, they would kill them and take the boys’ bodies away to bury them beneath the dirt.This serial killer’s biography will haunt you, especially as you learn more about the sadistic torture methods lust killer Corll used on his young victims, all lured to his various apartments by people they believed were their friends.While Corll is dead, killed by Henley during the lust killer’s last night of depravity, the case remains entwined in Houston history, and unforgettable for the families of those who lived it.

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  A Narrative of the Most...

  Ukawsaw Gronniosaw

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  Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, also known as James Albert, (born ca. 1705 - 1775) was a freed slave and autobiographer. His autobiography is considered the first published by an African in Britain. Gronniosaw's autobiography was produced in Kidderminster in the late 1760s. Its full title is A Narrative of the Most remarkable Particulars in the Life of James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, an African Prince, As related by himself. It was the first Slave narrative in the English language. Published in Bath in 1772, it gives a vivid account of Gronniosaw's life, from his capture in Africa through slavery to a life of poverty in Colchester and Kidderminster. It is devoid of the anti-slavery backlash ubiquitous in subsequent slave narratives. (Summary modified from Wikipedia) 
   
  Note to those who dislike incongruities: This is read by a North American woman.

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  The Dream Maker

  Jean-Christophe Rufin

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  “Rufin offers his readers a return . . . to a time when the wildest dreamer could be a wealthy merchant—Jacques Coeur, the treasurer poet” (Les Echos). 
   
  After a brilliant career as a trader, Jacques Coeur was summoned to the court of Charles VII and appointed Master of the Mint in 1436. He rose to become the King of France’s visionary First Banker who, with his tours of the Far East, his opposition to the crusades, and his efforts to develop trade, brought France out of the darkness toward the Renaissance and modernity. At the height of his success, his ill-considered infatuation with Agnès Sorel, King Charles VII’s favorite mistress, precipitated Coeur’s fall from grace. 
   
  In Rufin’s delectable prose this true story becomes a gripping tale of adventure, a novel of ideas, and a moving love story. 
   
  “The Dream Maker blends with skill and efficiency politics, business, travel and love. All of this written in a classic, elegant prose, of which Jean-Christophe Rufin has long had a command.” —Le JDD 
   
  “Rufin bestows such immediacy to this artist of finance, such vitality that we hear the sound of Coeur’s own voice telling us his life.” —Télérama 
   
  “Rufin has re-established his eloquence and spirit, that of the great novelist of the people. . . . His new novel is both a chivalric odyssey and a brilliant reflection on power.” —Lire 
   
  “The vivid portraits of Charles VII and Agnès Sorel give readers an intimate glimpse into court intrigue in 15th-century France.” —Washington Independent Review of Books 
   
  “A fascinating novel.” —Historical Novel Society

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  Up All Day

  Rebecca Weller

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  From the author of the bestselling sobriety memoir, A Happier Hour, comes the long-awaited sequel, Up All Day… 
  Rebecca Weller talked about a lot of things she ‘intended to do’, when she was drinking. Big, bold plans written on the backs of napkins, shared with friends over their tenth round, and drunkenly scrawled into her journal late at night. Plans that magically evaporated like stardust in the morning light. 
  On the verge of celebrating two years of sobriety, and as determined as ever to ‘reach her full potential’, she thinks she’s got it all figured out. But when she’s offered a place in a book course and a chance at becoming a Real Writer, will she dare to confront her secret lifelong dream? 
  She's about to discover that her hard-won sober status will only take her so far. What comes next is up to her. 
  Up All Day is an uplifting true story about overcoming our limiting beliefs and embracing our dreams - especially when they appear in a form we didn't expect. It’s about being brave, and doing hard things (even if you might fail), because of how they change you. 

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