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"Princep's Fury" by Jim Butcher

From BarnesandNoble.com:

Tavi of Calderon, now recognized as Princeps Gaius Octavian and heir to the crown, has achieved a fragile alliance with Alera’s oldest foes, the savage Canim. But when Tavi and his legions guide the Canim to their lands, his worst fears are realized. The dreaded Vord—the enemy of Aleran and Canim alike—have laid waste to the Canim homeland. And the Alerans find themselves trapped alongside their former enemies.

Meanwhile, war-torn Alera rebuilds while politicians and nobles vie for power. But from the south comes the news: the Vord have come to Alera. For a thousand years, Alera and her furies have withstood every enemy, and survived every foe. But the thousand years are over...

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"Captain's Fury" by Jim Butcher

From BarnesandNoble.com:

After two years of bitter conflict with the hordes of invading Canim warriors, Tavi of Calderon, now Captain of the First Aleran Legion, realizes that a peril far greater than the Canim exists—the mysterious threat that drove the savage Canim to flee their homeland.

Tavi proposes attempting an alliance with the Canim against their common foe, but his warnings go unheeded. For the Senate’s newly-appointed military commander has long desired to wipe out the Canim “scourge,” and their slave allies.

Now, Tavi must find a way to overcome centuries-old animosities if an alliance is to be forged, and he must lead his legion in defiance of the law, against friend and foe—or none will have a chance of survival...

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"Sinking of the Titanic: Eyewitness Accounts" by Jay Henry Mowbray

From BarnesandNoble.com:

Published in 1912 within months of the sinking of the Titanic, this "memorial edition" of first-hand accounts by survivors, people in rescue boats, and other on-the-scene witnesses, offers heart-wrenching testimony about the great disaster, steeped in the sentiments of the day.

Surviving passengers recount heart-breaking tales of parting with loved ones, watching the great ship sink while the steadfast band played "Nearer, My God, to Thee," and floating helplessly for long hours on icy seas. The search for responsibility began amid the grief of widows and orphans aboard the rescue vessel Carpathia, with accusations of ignored warnings, reckless attempts at record-setting, and the woefully inadequate supply of lifeboats.

Enhancing the text are drawings of the ship's decks and luxurious interiors, along with numerous rare photographs of celebrity passengers, captain and crew, poignant images of survivors huddled in lifeboats, and many more striking scenes. Readers will be spellbound by the gripping, you-are-there quality of this unique volume and its remarkable vision of one of the great maritime disasters of history.

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"George Washington's Secret Six" by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger

From BarnesandNoble.com:

When George Washington beat a hasty retreat from New York City in August 1776, many thought the American Revolution might soon be over. Instead, Washington rallied—thanks in large part to a little-known, top-secret group called the Culper Spy Ring. He realized that he couldn’t defeat the British with military might, so he recruited a sophisticated and deeply secretive intelligence network to infiltrate New York.

Drawing on extensive research, Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger have offered fascinating portraits of these spies: a reserved Quaker merchant, a tavern keeper, a brash young longshoreman, a curmudgeonly Long Island bachelor, a coffeehouse owner, and a mysterious woman. Long unrecognized, the secret six are finally receiving their due among the pantheon of American heroes.

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"The Dewsweepers" by James Dodson

From BarnesandNoble.com:

In The Dewsweepers, New York Times bestselling author James Dodson tells the story of an eclectic, eccentric group of men: the "Dewsweepers." The first players off the tee every weekend morning, they literally sweep the dew from the course. Adopted by the Dewsweepers, Dodson joins them in their early morning games. In poignant and sometimes hilarious tales Dodson chronicles one all-too-brief golf year among friends while examining his life and his own golf roots.

As the friendships deepen and each man's tale unfolds, Dodson's own life is tested, examined, and changed for the better. Through laughter and tears, he reveals intimate details, and finds that each Dewsweeper needs golf and friendship at the core of his life.

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"Me of Little Faith" by Lewis Black

From BarnesandNoble.com:

What do we believe? And for God's sake why?These are the thorny questions that Lewis Black, the bitingly funny comedian, social critic, and bestselling author, tackles in his new book, Me of Little Faith. And he's come up with some answers. Or at least his answers.

In more than two dozen essays that investigate everything from the differences between how Christians and Jews celebrate their holidays, to the politics of faith, to people's individual search for transcendence, Black explores his unique odyssey through religion and belief.

Growing up as a nonpracticing Jewish kid near Washington, D.C., during the 1950s, Black survived Hebrew school and a bar mitzvah (barely), went to college in the South during the tumultuous 1960s, and witnessed firsthand the unsettling parallels between religious rapture and drug-induced visions (even if none of his friends did). He explored the self-actualization movements of the 1970s (and the self-indulgence that they produced), and since then has turned an increasingly skeptical eye toward the politicians and televangelists who don the cloak of religiouos rectitude to mask their own moral hypocrisy.

What he learned along the way about the inconsistencies and peculiarities of religion infuriated Black, and in Me of Little Faith he gives full vent to his comedic rage. Black explores how the rules and constraints of religion have affected his life and the lives of us all. Hilarious experiences with rabbis, Mormons, gurus, psychics, and even the joy of a perfect round of golf give Black the chance to expound upon what we believe and why—in the language of a shock jock and with the heart of an iconoclast.

"To put it as simply as I can," Black writes, "this is a book about my relationship with religion, where my—dare I say it?—spiritual journey has taken me...what it's meant and not meant to me, and why it makes me laugh." By the end of Me of Little Faith, you'll be a convert.

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"Spook" by Mary Roach

From BarnesandNoble.com:

"What happens when we die? Does the light just go out and that's that—the million-year nap? Or will some part of my personality, my me-ness persist? What will that feel like? What will I do all day? Is there a place to plug in my lap-top?" In an attempt to find out, Mary Roach brings her tireless curiosity to bear on an array of contemporary and historical soul-searchers: scientists, schemers, engineers, mediums, all trying to prove (or disprove) that life goes on after we die.

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"A Life in Parts" by Bryan Cranston

From BarnesandNoble.com:

Bryan Cranston began his acting career at the age of seven, when his father, a struggling actor and sometime director, cast him in a commercial for United Way. By fifth grade he was starring in the school play, spending hours at the local movie theater, and re-enacting favorite scenes with his brother in their living room. Cranston seemed destined to be an actor. But then his father left. And his family fell apart. Troubled by his father’s missteps, Cranston abandoned his acting aspirations and resolved to pursue a steadier career in law enforcement. Then, on a two-year cross-country motorcycle journey, Cranston re-discovered his talent for acting and found his mission and his calling.

In this “must-read memoir” (The Philadelphia Inquirer), Cranston traces the many roles he inhabited throughout his remarkable life, both on and off screen. For the first time he shares the story of his early years as an actor on the soap opera Loving, his recurring spots on Seinfeld, and his time as bumbling father Hal on Malcolm in the Middle, to his tour-de-force, Tony-winning performance as Lyndon Baines Johnson in Broadway’s All the Way, to his most iconic role of all: Breaking Bad’s Walter White.

“An illuminating window into the actor’s psyche” (People), Cranston has much to say about creativity, devotion, and craft, as well as innate talent and its challenges and benefits and proper maintenance. “By turns gritty, funny, and sad” (Entertainment Weekly), ultimately A Life in Parts is a story about the joy, the necessity, and the transformative power of simple hard work.

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"Flying to Valhalla" by Charles Pellegrino

Summary:

Having harnessed the power of anti-matter, humankind sets out for the stars. As the relativistic spacecraft Valkyrie approaches the inhabited fourth wold of Alpha Centauri A, pilots Christopher and Clarice Wayville prepare for Man's first contact with a benign and intelligent marsupial species.

But recent transmissions from the star-traveling vessel have revealed a mind seriously unbalanced - causing grave concern amount the mission's master on Earth. For Chris Wayville - the man who may control the ultimate destiny of an unsuspecting alien race - is quite possibly, and perhaps, dangerously, insane.

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"Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family" by Nicholas Pileggi

From BarnesandNoble.com:

Nicholas Pileggi’s vivid, unvarnished, journalistic chronicle of the life of Henry Hill—the working-class Brooklyn kid who knew from age twelve that “to be a wiseguy was to own the world,” who grew up to live the highs and lows of the mafia gangster’s life—has been hailed as “the best book ever written on organized crime” (Cosmopolitan).

This is the true-crime bestseller that was the basis for Martin Scorsese’s film masterpiece GoodFellas, which brought to life the violence, the excess, the families, the wives and girlfriends, the drugs, the payoffs, the paybacks, the jail time, and the Feds…with Henry Hill’s crackling narration drawn straight out of Wiseguy and overseeing all the unforgettable action. 

Read it and experience the secret life inside the mob—from one who’s lived it.

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"Forward the Foundation" by Isaac Asimov

From BarnesandNoble.com:

A stunning testament to his creative genius. Forward The Foundation is a the saga's dramatic climax — the story Asimov fans have been waiting for. An exciting tale of danger, intrigue, and suspense, Forward The Foundation brings to vivid life Asimov's best loved characters: hero Hari Seldon, who struggles to perfect his revolutionary theory of psychohistory to ensure the survival of humanity; Cleon II, the vain and crafty emperor of the Galactic Empire.

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"Prelude to Foundation" by Isaac Asimov

From BarnesandNoble.com:

It is the year 12,020 G.E. and Emperor Cleon I sits uneasily on the Imperial throne of Trantor. Here in the great multidomed capital of the Galactic Empire, forty billion people have created a civilization of unimaginable technological and cultural complexity. Yet Cleon knows there are those who would see him fall - those whom he would destroy if only he could read the future. Hari Seldon has come to Trantor to deliver his paper on psychohistory, his remarkable theory of prediction. Little does the young Outworld mathematician know that he has already sealed his fate and the fate of humanity. For Hari possesses the prophetic power that makes him the most wanted man in the Empire... the man who holds the key to the future - an apocalyptic power to be know forever after as the Foundation.

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"Foundation and Earth" by Isaac Asimov

From BarnesandNoble.com:

The fifth novel in Asimov's popular Foundation series opens with second thoughts. Councilman Golan Trevize is wondering if he was right to choose a collective mind as the best possible future for humanity over the anarchy of contentious individuals, nations and planets. To test his conclusion, he decides he must know the past and goes in search of legendary Earth, all references to which have been erased from galactic libraries. The societies encountered along the way become arguing points in a book-long colloquy about man's fate, conducted by Trevize and traveling companion Bliss, who is part of the first world/mind, Gaia.

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"Foundation's Edge" by Isaac Asimov

From BarnesandNoble.com:

At last, the costly and bitter war between the two Foundations had come to an end. The scientists of the First Foundation had proved victorious; and now they retum to Hari Seldon's long-established plan to build a new Empire that the Second Foundation is not destroyed after all-and that its still-defiant survivors are preparing their revenge. Now the two exiled citizens of the Foundation-a renegade Councilman and the doddering historian-set out in search of the mythical planet Earth. . .and proof that the Second Foundation still exists. Meanwhile someone-or something-outside of both Foundations sees to be orchestrating events to suit its own ominous purpose. Soon representatives of both the First and Second Foundations will find themselves racing toward a mysterious world called Gaia and a final shocking destiny at the very end of the universe!

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"How the Irish Saved Civilization" by Thomas Cahill

From BarnesandNoble.com:

Every year millions of Americans celebrate St. Patrick's Day, but they may not be aware of how great an influence St. Patrick was on the subsequent history of civilization. Not only did he bring Christianity to Ireland, he instilled a sense of literacy and learning that would create the conditions that allowed Ireland to become "the isle of saints and scholars" — and thus preserve Western culture while Europe was being overrun by barbarians.

In this entertaining and compelling narrative, Thomas Cahill tells the story of how Europe evolved from the classical age of Rome to the medieval era. Without Ireland, the transition could not have taken place. Not only did Irish monks and scribes maintain the very record of Western civilization — copying manuscripts of Greek and Latin writers, both pagan and Christian, while libraries and learning on the continent were forever lost — they brought their uniquely Irish world-view to the task.

As Cahill delightfully illustrates, so much of the liveliness we associate with medieval culture has its roots in Ireland. When the seeds of culture were replanted on the European continent, it was from Ireland that they were germinated.

In the tradition of Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror, How The Irish Saved Civilization reconstructs an era that few know about but which is central to understanding our past and our cultural heritage. But it conveys its knowledge with a winking wit that aptly captures the sensibility of the unsung Irish who relaunched civilization.

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"Death's Mistress" by Terry Goodkind

From BarnesandNoble.com:

Onetime lieutenant of the evil Emperor Jagang, known as "Death's Mistress" and the "Slave Queen", the deadly Nicci captured Richard Rahl in order to convince him that the Imperial Order stood for the greater good. But it was Richard who converted Nicci instead, and for years thereafter she served Richard and Kahlan as one of their closest friends--and one of their most lethal defenders.

Now, with the reign of Richard and Kahlan finally stablized, Nicci has set out on her own for new adventures. Her first job being to keep the unworldly prophet Nathan out of trouble...

This will launch an entirely new series and cast of characters centered on one of best-loved characters in the now-concluded Sword of Truth.

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"More of Paul Harvery's The Rest of the Story" by Paul Aurandt

From BarnesandNoble.com:


Paul Harvey is the most listened-to radio personality in America. Millions of loyal listeners have tuned in to his "The Rest of the Story" broadcasts for their unique blend of true historical facts laced with mystery. Now, in Paul Harvey's The Rest Of The Story, you'll enjoy 101 incredible stories chronicling the foibles, passions, and eccentricities of the famous and infamous told in Paul Harvey's unique, inimitable, and unforgettable style. Here is the startling, shocking, and outrageous truth about the world you only thought you knew. How the world could have spared the menace and heartbreak of Adolf Hitler.


Why the passengers of the Titanic did not have to die. The real fate of America's most famous outlaws--Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. How the secret career of one of television's most famous faces could change his reputation forever.


How divine intervention saved a Baptist choir from fiery annihilation. From the scandalous to the miraculous, here are true stories that will amaze and astound you--stories that reveal the mystery behind some of history's strangest facts by daring to tell "the rest of the story."

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"Nothing's Sacred" by Lewis Black

From Thriftbooks.com:

Comedian Lewis Black unleashes his trademark subversive wit while recounting his own life story in his New York Times bestselling memoir.You've seen him on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart offering up his trademark angry observational humor on everything from politics to pop culture. You've seen his energetic stand-up performances on HBO, Comedy Central, and in venues across the globe.

Now, for the first time, Lewis Black translates his volcanic eruptions into book form in Nothing's Sacred, a collection of rants against stupidity and authority, which oftentimes go hand in hand. With subversive wit and intellectual honesty, Lewis examines the events of his life that shaped his antiauthoritarian point of view and developed his comedic perspective.

Growing up in 1950s suburbia when father knew best and there was a sitcom to prove it, he began to regard authority with a jaundiced eye at an early age. And as that sentiment grew stronger with each passing year, so did his ability to hone in on the absurd. True to form, he puts common sense above ideology and distills hilarious, biting commentary on all things politically and culturally relevant.