Through the desert wastes of North Africa...the rugged hills of Sicily...the bloody beaches of Normandy...Belgium and the Battle of the Bulge...and on to Berlin...the great First Infantry Division cut a fiery swath of irreversible conquest and unforgettable human drama. This is the First Division's story--lived through the destinies of five men. Men who share moments of reckless heroism and paralyzing fear. Men who know exhilarating triumph and the grim satisfaction of simple survival. Men who find unexpected love amid the ruins, as they endure the dirty, daily business of war. Ordinary men, except for one difference--they were soldiers in The Big Red One.--Back cover.

Selected as one of Oprah.com s 20 Tantalizing Beach Reads Celebrated essayist Phillip Lopate proves himself a master of the short novel form in this inspired pairing of novellas portraying two less-than-perfect unions.The Stoic's Marriage chronicles the life of newlyweds Gordon and Rita. Well-off, idle Gordon, a lifelong student of philosophy who has always had "a stunted capacity for happiness," first meets the enchanting Rita when she comes to his home as a nurse's aid sent to care for his dying mother. The attraction is instant and a marriage proposal ensues. Gordon turns to his diary to record his uxoriousness and to expound on the merits of Stoicism, the philosophy he's adopted as his "substitute religion." When Rita's cousin from the Philippines arrives one Christmas, setting in motion an outrageous and hilarious sequence of events, both Gordon's stoicism and marriage vows are put to the test. Eleanor, or, The Second Marriage recounts one seemingly golden weekend in the lives of Eleanor and Frank, whose Brooklyn townhouse is a gathering place for their circle of cultured, cosmopolitan friends.It is Saturday morning, and Frank and Eleanor are planning the dinner they will host to celebrate the visit of a famous actor friend. These preparations are interrupted by the arrival of Frank's son, a young man deeply troubled by his own aimlessness. Other guests arrive, and in the midst of great conviviality, simmering tensions erupt into raucous emotional dramas. Elegant, concise, and comically devastating, Two Marriages illuminates the ways in which love is inseparable from deceit."

"A novel about the life-changing journey of a young man who travels from New Jersey to Khrushchev's Russia and the beaches of Southern France as he finds love and discovers the long-hidden secrets about his heritage." --

On the night of May 4, 1886, during a peaceful demonstration of labor activists in Haymarket Square in Chicago, a dynamite bomb was thrown into the ranks of police -trying to disperse the crowd. The officers immediately opened fire, killing a number of protestors and wounding some two hundred others. Albert Parsons was the best-known of those hanged; Haymarket is his story. Parsons, humanist and autodidact, was an ex-Confederate soldier who grew up in Texas in the 1870s, and fell in love with Lucy Gonzalez, a vibrant, outspoken black woman who preferred to describe herself as of Spanish and Creole descent. The novel tells the story of their lives together, of their growing political involvement, of the formation of a colorful circle of "co-conspirators"-immigrants, radical intellectuals, journalists, advocates of the working class-and of the events culminating in bloodshed. More than just a moving story of love and human struggle, more than a faithful account of a watershed event in United States history, Haymarket presents a layered and dynamic revelation of late nineteenth-century Chicago, and of the lives of a handful of remarkable individuals who were willing to risk their lives for the promise of social change.

Basis for the film Hannah Lee: An American Primitive MACKINLAY KANTOR Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Andersonville "Well," Montgomery challenged him, "how many people have you killed?" The young man stopped laughing. His face turned into black stone. "Sixty-seven." To Western cattle barons in 1899 the encroaching homesteaders were like cinders eyes. But they were legal. Even the rustlers among them seldom were brought to justice for lack of evidence. There seemed to be only one way to pry loose those on the land, and discourage others from settling: scare them off. To do just that some of the ranchers met in Pearl City in secret conclave. They agreed to hire the most notorious professional killer then known-Bus Crow. They figured that a small dose of Bus Crow would quickly clear the ranges, and keep them clear. WICKED WATER is the story of the bloody descent of Bus Crow on the homesteaders of Pearl County. It is the story, too, of the woman who loved him in spite of herself, who bowed to justice in spite of her love. Against a background of driving action, MacKinlay Kantor probes the mysteries of a killer's mind, of the dark rebellion that made him cry: I'll always kill. I'll shoot them down ... get a gun and keep killing and killing. A NOVEL ABOUT A KILLER-BY THE AUTHOR OFMIDNIGHT LACE & GENTLE ANNIE

"Begley writes with a contemplative wisdom that permeates his work....[He] has captured some of the wispy melancholy of midcentury fiction, and this feat in itself is mellifluous to both ear and spirit." THE BOSTON GLOBE A man without a country or family, a Holocaust survivor, Ben long ago left the wreckage of Europe and recreated himself as a brilliant financier. He rejects the comforts of love and is shocked to discover Veronique--beautiful, unwisely married, and all that Ben suddenly knows he has always needed. In their stolen hours and weekends, their deep commitment to one another fills their lives as nothing ever has. But the question remains: Can Ben finally take what he has always denied himself...? From the author of WARTIME LIES. "From the Trade Paperback edition.

She was determined to be the best wife, mother, and professional; something had to give...For weeks Woman of Valor topped Israel's best-seller lists, conquering hearts. In trenchant and colorful prose, Lihi Lapid tells a true-life story of women (and men) struggling to live up to expectations (most of all their own): a story about shattered dreams, and about finding the strength to gather up the pieces and learn to smile again. Woman of Valor is a must-read for every mother.Lihi Lapid's best-selling novel starts where most love stories leave off: at the beginning of real life. Woman of Valor follows the lives of two women in their first years of motherhood. One is a fictional character trying to live happily ever after. The second woman is the author herself, who courageously and honestly relates her true-life experiences as a wife, mother, professional, and parent of a special needs child. Interspersed are actual letters from readers of Lapid's popular newspaper column, sharing the most intimate moments of their lives.

Leib Goldkorn, aged musician, first appeared almost a quarter-century ago in The Steinway Quintet. Now Leib has replaced his magic flute with his phallus: it is love, longing, and the quest for sexual fulfillment that must stave off both his own death and the imminent destruction of the Jews. In Ice he rescues the celebrated skater Sonja Henie from Hitler's clutches. In Fire his paramour is Carmen Miranda. And in Water he engages in a South Sea Island intrigue with a famous swimming star of the 1940s. Meanwhile, in the present, Leib seeks consummation with three other inamoratas: Clara, his wife; Hustler model Miss Crystal Knight; and the critic Michiko Kakutani (causing a real-life literary scandal). In this "wickedly funny" (Elle) and no less heartbreaking novel, Leib Goldkorn emerges as one of American literature's most enduring, and endearing, creations. A New York Times Notable Book; a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year.

"Delia Welegtabit discovered two things during her childhood on a South Pacific island: her love for mathematics and a novel that isn't supposed to exist. But the elusive book proves unexpectedly dangerous. Oskar Lens, a science fiction-obsessed mobster in the midst of an existential crisis, will stop at nothing to find the novel. After Delia's husband Levi goes missing, she seeks help from Daniel Chase, a young, face-blind book dealer. The infamous novel Lode Stars was written by the infamous Eugene Charles Hartley: legendary pulp science-fiction writer and founder of the Church of the All-Seeing Eyes. In Hartley's novel, a doppelganger of Delia searches for her missing father in a strange star system. But is any of Lode Stars real? Was Hartley a cynical conman on a quest for wealth and immortality, creating a religion he did not believe in? Or was he a visionary who truly discovered the secrets of the universe?"--

"Perfect for your summer trip to the beach" (O, The Oprah Magazine), Kathi Kamen Goldmark's hilarious novel of musicians, love, family, sex, and success is now in paperback. Follow Sarah Jean Pixlie as she catapults from struggling back-up singer to blazing star on the country music scene. Along the way, she pours out her savvy soul in the humorous lyrics from more than two dozen original songs, including "Put Me on the Guest List (To Your Heart)," "Hell on Heels," and "My Baby Used to Hold Me (Now He's Putting Me on Hold)." "Funny, authentic, and moving," raves Dave Barry about this first novel, which Scott Turow says is "the best thing to happen to country music since the broken heart."

"Katz lives up to her first novel's potential in this moving, funny, wholly original picaresque about a nice Jewish girl. . . . The pasts and common destiny of two remarkable women--related with perfect timing in Sofia's convincing Yiddish-tinged English--come together beautifully in this nicely crafted, emotionally satisfying, and well-researched historical fiction."-- Publishers Weekly " The Escape Artist , a brilliant work of historical fiction . . . fast-paced and gorgeously written novel" -- Liberty Press Set in the brothels and gangster dens of Jewish Buenos Aires at the beginning of the twentieth century, The Escape Artist catapults us into the lives of Sofia Teitelbaum and Hankus Lubarsky. Sofia, a nice Jewish girl from Poland, is lured away from home by Tutsik Goldenberg, a wealthy traveling businessman who claims to be a lonely Argentine diamond merchant in search of a wife. Upon arriving in Buenos Aires, Tutsik dumps Sofia at his sister's brothel. Hankus, also a nice Jewish girl from Poland, is passing as a man. Having escaped the pogroms of Poland that killed her family, she lives her life as a handsome and mysterious magician and escape artist. When Tutsik spots the talented juggler and acrobat Hankus he envisions success as his manager, seeing Hankus as the means to get out from under his sister's thumb. Sofia and Hankus fall in love and their attempts to walk the tightrope of love, freedom, and independence are quickly put to the test. Sex, deception, magic, and love are the main ingredients of this tour de force novel by Lambda Literary Award winner Judith Katz. In The Escape Artist , Katz reveals that all human interactions consist of love and hate, deception and candor, altruism and self-interest. This is as true in our lives today as it was in an immigrant community at the turn of the last century. Judith Katz is the author of two published novels, The Escape Artist and Running Fiercely Toward a High Thin Sound , which won a Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Fiction. She has received Bush Foundation, McKnight Foundation, and National Endowment fellowships for fiction.

Flight without End (German: Die Flucht ohne Ende) is a 1927 novel by the Austrian writer Joseph Roth. The novel is set in the period between August 1916 and 27 August 1926. It starts in the city of Irkutsk and ends in Paris. During his journey the protagonist lives in Ukraine, Baku, Vienna and an unspecified German university town on the Rhine. The novel starts with protagonist Franz Tunda, born 1894, escaping confinement in Russia and finding a home with Baranowicz from Poland, who lives in Werchne-Udisnk. In the spring of 1919 the lieutenant hears of the end of the war and decides to go to Vienna to meet his fiancee, Miss Irene Hartmann. By September Tunda has made it to Ukraine. Caught up in the Russian Civil War, he first falls into the hands of the White Army, but later he ends up with the Red Army. Tunda falls in love with his supervisor, a Russian woman named Natascha Alexandrowna, becomes a revolutionary himself and gives passionate speeches in support of Communism. Later, in Moscow, Tunda has to manage his postwar life. He is asked to join the Communist Party, but leaves to Georgia and falls in love with a woman called Alja. They get married in Baku. Tunda takes care of a French delegation from Paris, shows them around and sleeps with Mrs. G., the only woman in the delegation. Later he is regarded as a spy by the French. When saying goodbye, Mrs G. tells Tunda her address in France. Tunda leaves his wife, gets Austrian identity papers and later lives in Vienna on unemployment benefit. He misses his home in Siberia just as much as he misses to Irene. On his way to Paris, he visits his brother, a well-off bandmaster who lives in the Rhineland, but they don't have anything to talk about. Tunda publishes a book about his experiences and sends his wife in Baku a bit of money. In Paris, he meets Mrs G. again, but everyone in France seems to know that he is broke. Tunda and Irene pass each other once, but neither recognizes the other. Baranowicz writes a letter from Siberia: Alja has just arrived at his place and they are both waiting for Tunda. Tunda can now go back to the region of Irkutsk but he doesn't know what to do. The novel was adapted into a 1985 film directed by Michael Kehlmann. A stage adaptation by Steve Waters was performed at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in May 2006. (wikipedia.org)

True Beethoven fans know that Beethoven is the greatest composer of all time, but in recent years Mozart's followers have grabbed most of the good tunes. Beethoven is admired but he is lost in our affection. John Suchet both admires Beethoven and likes him, and his three-volume fictional biography, THE LAST MASTER is a carefully researched labour of love. Not a street name or coffee-house in Vienna has gone unchecked. There are many studies of Beethoven and his music, but fewer biographies. His work is complex, and his letters are not immediately revealing in the way that Mozart's are. John Suchet makes his aims clear: within the framework of the historical evidence, he allows himself to imagine episodes which could have happened. Anything which turned out to be impossible has been rewritten until it met this criterion. The result is an awesomely impressive feat of scholarship as well as a compelling read.

A world where "the family" stood above all else...where murder was a cure for treachery...where respectability could be purchased for vast sums of money...where love struggled to survive in a climate of corruption and violence...where memories of a penniless immigrant past still fired his consuming ambition...and vengeance could still come suddenly, totally, from friends, from family, from the most unexpected places.

Modern Japanese Short Stories is a remarkable collection of Japanese stories from the pioneers of contemporary Japanese literature. This volume's twenty-five stories by as many authors display a wide range of style and subject matter--offering a revealing picture of modern Japanese culture and society. The stories in this anthology include: "Tattoo" by Junichiro Tanizaki--a large spider tattooed on the back of a young woman results in unexpected changes "Autumn Mountain" by Ryunosuke Akutagawa--vivid memories of a beautiful painting leads a man to wonder if the it ever actually existed "The Priest and His Love" by Yukio Mishima--a Buddhist priest finds his path to enlightenment challenged after falling in love "The Moon on the Water" by Nobel Prize winner Yasunari Kawabata--a young woman who cared for her ailing first husband through most of their marriage regrets remarrying after his death Featuring a new foreword by Japanese literary scholar Seiji Lippit and striking woodcut illustrations by Masakazu Kuwata, the stories are translated by the editor, Ivan Morris, and Edward Seidensticker, George Saito, and Geoffery Sargent. This collection of short stories shows why Japanese literature is so highly valued today--it teaches not only about Japan, but about the human condition and the possibilities of art.

The dread shadow of Nazism falls upon the Carnovsky family, three generations of Jews who believe themselves totally assimilated into German society. David, who has prospered in "enlightened, civilized" Berlin and considers himself "more German than the Germans”, cannot rationalize the momentous events engulfing him. His son Georg, a famous doctor, taught by his father to be "Jewish at home, a German in the street", is stripped of his practice, his possessions, and ultimately his illusions. And his young son Jegor is pulled between his love for the fatherland and the Jewishness he scorns. A tragedy of torn loyalties, this powerful and panoramic novel has become one of the classics of our time.

A captivating coming-of-age novel about love, sisterhood, secrets and betrayal[Bokinfo]

Married (again) and divorced (again), Isadora Wing is a single parent with an adorable daughter, an irritating ex-husband, and a startling assortment of suitors: an unorthodox rabbi, a poetic disc jockey, the son of a famous sex therapist, and WASPily handsomest of all: Berkeley Sproul III. Isadora and Berkeley meet at a health club, and he's fourteen years her junior. Of course their affair is tortuous and sexy, but is it love? Or does the stud just want a free trip to Venice, compliments of a famous author? Either way, Erica Jong wrote this romance with "a mixture of eloquence and savage wit as good as anything she has ever written," said The Wall Street Journal.

First published in 1997, Inventing Memory is about four generations of remarkable women from a Jewish-American family-their triumphs, tragedies, scandals, and love affairs-as related by Sara Solomon, the youngest of these women. While trying to chronicle their history, the story becomes essentially hers, as she comes to understand the nature of memory, the way all of us both invent and assimilate our ancestors. In learning about the women in her family, Sara discovers how to create her own future.

From a small, bogside cabin in rural New England, 38-year-old Aimee Slater unravels the story of her life, attempting to make sense of the tangled thread that leads from her mother's house-a short, unbridgeable distance away-to the world she now inhabits. It is soon after the Civil War; Aimee lives alone, but is graced with visits from two friends, a crippled man and a troubled eleven-year-old girl. She is perpetually caught between the sensual world she so desires and the divine retribution passed down to her by her mother's scorn. How Aimee ultimately creates a life for herself and bridges that distance makes for a moving story of love and loss. Told in a voice of spare New England lyricism, Unravelling is a remarkably haunting account of the power of redemption.