The Laments

by  George Hagen

*Condition of the book is as you see in the pictures. Click on the images to enlarge.
*Firsthand copy. Read once.   
*Some spine creases. 
*Some browning pages and age spots on the sides. 
*Large paperback. 

Product Description (via amazon.com)

Meet the Laments—the affably dysfunctional globetrotting family at the center of George Hagen’s exuberant debut novel.

Howard is an engineer who dreams of irrigating the Sahara and lives by the motto “Laments move!” His wife Julia is a fiery spirit who must balance her husband’s oddly peripatetic nature with unexpected aspirations of her own. And Will is the “waif with a paper-thin heart” who is given to Howard and Julia in return for their own child who has been lost in a bizarre maternity ward mishap. As Will makes his way from infancy to manhood in a family that careens from continent to continent, one wonders where the Laments will ever belong.

Undeniably eccentric, the Laments are also universal. Every family moves on in life. Children grow up, things are left behind; there is always something to lament. Through the Lament’s restlessness, responses to adversity, and especially their unwieldy love for one another, George Hagen gives us a portrait of every family that is funny, tragic, and improbably true.

RM 8

(postage not included)

Almost Moon

by Alice Sebold

*Condition of the book is as you see in the pictures. Click on the images to enlarge.
*Firsthand copy, NEVER READ. 
*Cover slightly scratched.
*Otherwise excellent condition. Practically new as I've not even read it.

Product Description (via amazon.com)

A woman steps over the line into the unthinkable in this brilliant, powerful, and unforgettable new novel by the author of The Lovely Bones and Lucky. 

For years Helen Knightly has given her life to others: to her haunted mother, to her enigmatic father, to her husband and now grown children. When she finally crosses a terrible boundary, her life comes rushing in at her in a way she never could have imagined. Unfolding over the next twenty-four hours, this searing, fast-paced novel explores the complex ties between mothers and daughters, wives and lovers, the meaning of devotion, and the line between love and hate. It is a challenging, moving, gripping story, written with the fluidity and strength of voice that only Alice Sebold can bring to the page.

Book Quote:

“Poison and medicine are often the same thing, given in different proportions” - Alice Sebold, Almost Moon

RM 8

(postage not included)

Open House

by Elizabeth Berg 

*Condition of the book is as you see in the pictures. Click on the images to enlarge.
*Firsthand copy. Read once.   
*Some printing defects on the last part of the page. Nothing that'll interfere with your reading though. Just some minor rollar lines. 
*Page 236 has a minor paper defect in which the paper is so thin, a small hole has formed kind of like a small moth hole in clothing but this is not near any text. This is a production defect and was not caused by my human hands. Ask me for pictures if you are concerned. 
*Other than the bits mentioned above the book is overall in excellent shape, no signs of 'old age'. 

Product Description (via amazon.com)

Samantha's husband has left her, and after a spree of overcharging at Tiffany's, she settles down to reconstruct a life for herself and her eleven-year-old son. Her eccentric mother tries to help by fixing her up with dates, but a more pressing problem is money. To meet her mortgage payments, Sam decides to take in boarders. The first is an older woman who offers sage advice and sorely needed comfort; the second, a maladjusted student, is not quite so helpful. A new friend, King, an untraditional man, suggests that Samantha get out, get going, get work. But her real work is this: In order to emerge from grief and the past, she has to learn how to make her own happiness. In order to really see people, she has to look within her heart. And in order to know who she is, she has to remember--and reclaim--the person she used to be, long before she became someone else in an effort to save her marriage. Open House is a love story about what can blossom between a man and a woman, and within a woman herself.

Book Quote:

“I remove my wedding rings and put them in the jewelry box. So many others have done this. I am not the only one. I am not the only one. But here, I am the only one.”  ― Elizabeth Berg, Open House

RM 5

(postage not included)

The Tiger's Wife

by Tea Obreht 

*Condition of the book is as you see in the pictures. Click on the images to enlarge.
*Firsthand copy. Read once.   
*Winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction 2011
*National Book Awards finalist 
*New York Times Bestseller 

Product Description (via amazon.com)

In a Balkan country mending from war, Natalia, a young doctor, is compelled to unravel the mysterious circumstances surrounding her beloved grandfather’s recent death. Searching for clues, she turns to his worn copy of The Jungle Book and the stories he told her of his encounters over the years with “the deathless man.” But most extraordinary of all is the story her grandfather never told her—the legend of the tiger’s wife.

Book Quote:

“Come on, is your heart a sponge or a fist?”

“In the end, all you want is someone to long for you when it comes time to put you in the ground.” ― Tea Obreht, The Tiger's Wife

RM 8

(postage not included)

The House Gun

by Nadine Gordimer 

*Condition of the book is as you see in the pictures. Click on the images to enlarge.
*Firsthand copy. NEVER READ. 
*Age spots. Discolored pages.  

Product Description (via amazon.com)

A house gun--kept like a house cat: a fact of ordinary life at the end of this century where violence is in the air. With that gun the architect son of Harald and Claudia has committed what is to them the unimaginable act--shot dead the intimate friend he discovered making love to his woman. And the relationship between the three is revealed to have unimaginable meaning....

How has Duncan come to abandon the sanctity of human life they taught him? What kind of loyalty do parents owe a self-confessed murderer? In post-apartheid South Africa the defense of their son's life is in the hands of a black man: Hamilton Motsamai, a flamboyant, distinguished advocate returned from political exile. The balance of everything in the parents' world is turned upside down.

The House Gun is a passionate narrative of that final text of complex human relations we call love, moving from the intimate to the general condition. If it is a parable of present violence it is also an affirmation of the will to reconciliation that starts where it must, between individual men and women.

Book Quote:

“I'm a candle flame that sways in currents of air you can't see. You need to be the one who steadies me to burn.” ― Nadine Gordimer, The House Gun

RM 5   Now RM 3

(postage not included)

Waves

by Sharon Doger

*Condition of book is as seen in the picture. Click for better clarity.

*I actually bought this book by mistake and didn't realize that it's for young adults. Although I like young adult fiction but this one is just not my cup of tea.

*It looks just as I bought it and I've never read it.

Product Description (via amazon.com)

When Hal's family makes the heart-wrenching decision to leave Charley, their comatose daughter, behind in a hospital ward while they spend the summer on the west coast of England, Hal finds it harder than ever to shake his sister's presence. What power is letting him share her memories? And will they reveal the deep, dark truth behind her tragic "accident"? Set at a beach where growing up goes wrong, WAVES is a coming-of-age story about first love and first loss; about a family drowning in sorrow, and the remarkable son who is struggling against the tide to save them.

Book Quotes:

"Sometimes, i think the sea nearly killed her, loved her so much that it didn't want to give her back. Other times i just hate Charley for ever existing in the first place."

"And she's alive, so alive that even the sun wants a piece of her, and that's what hurts most of all. That someone so alive could possibly be dying. And worse, that as she dies, we all seem to be dying too, somehow, especially Mum."
— Sharon Dogar (Waves)

RM 8  NOW RM 5 

(postage not included)

Yesterday's Daughter

by Patricia Calvert

*Condition of book is as seen in the picture. Click for clearer details. 

*Firsthand copy from old home library collection.
*Seasoned book. Note that it has ancient brown pages so it's discolored and does look and feel old. However, it is still very readable.

Product Description (via amazon.com)

Sixteen-year-old Leenie was conceived during a one-time encounter between two naive high-school students and left to be raised by her maternal grandparents. Ever since third grade, when she learned the meaning of "illegitimate," Leenie has been unable to accept her yesterday, which makes facing today almost too painful to bear. "Today" includes the return of her mother, Mary Alice, who now wants a relationship with Leenie. It also includes Axel, an attractive young photographer. Her emotional struggles are told in a fast-paced, tightly-written narrative. In a literary world filled with fluffy teen-age romance, it is refreshing to read a story that offers insight and depth of feeling.

FREE with any purchase

Limited to 1 free book per order 

(postage not included)