Splash of Color with Cherry Blossom

Splash of Color with Cherry Blossom
Author: Sharrie Neumann
Publisher: Page Publishing Inc
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2014-07-29
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1628385529

Enter the world of Berry Sweets where oddly colorful folk much like yourself reside, leading ordinary, sometimes extraordinary lives. And in the busy little town of Sugar Valley, the Chiffon family seems to be leading a sugary sweet life. All Cherry Blossom Chiffon ever wanted was to feel part of the family. Growing up with pink-and-white brothers, sisters, and parents, purple Cherry is constantly reminded of how different she is from the rest of the pink-and-white perfection of her family. Des

How to Grow Practically Everything

How to Grow Practically Everything
Author: DK
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 450
Release: 2010-03-01
Genre: Gardening
ISBN: 0756670012

From planting herbs to creating a kitchen garden, How to Grow Practically Everything gives beginning gardeners the confidence to grow flowers, fruits, and more. Whether readers want to grow a lemon from a seed, care for a houseplant, or plant a rose arch, each gardening project is presented with clear instructions and photography, sharing the best time to plant, when to expect results, and the equipment and time required.

The Last Cherry Blossom

The Last Cherry Blossom
Author: Kathleen Burkinshaw
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 206
Release: 2016-08-02
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1634506944

Following the seventieth anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, this is a new, very personal story to join Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. Yuriko was happy growing up in Hiroshima when it was just her and Papa. But her aunt Kimiko and her cousin Genji are living with them now, and the family is only getting bigger with talk of a double marriage! And while things are changing at home, the world beyond their doors is even more unpredictable. World War II is coming to an end, and since the Japanese newspapers don’t report lost battles, the Japanese people are not entirely certain of where Japan stands. Yuriko is used to the sirens and the air-raid drills, but things start to feel more real when the neighbors who have left to fight stop coming home. When the bombs hit Hiroshima, it’s through Yuriko’s twelve-year-old eyes that we witness the devastation and horror. This is a story that offers young readers insight into how children lived during the war, while also introducing them to Japanese culture. Based loosely on author Kathleen Burkinshaw’s mother’s firsthand experience surviving the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, The Last Cherry Blossom hopes to warn readers of the immense damage nuclear war can bring, while reminding them that the “enemy” in any war is often not so different from ourselves.

Enfolding Silence

Enfolding Silence
Author: Brett J. Esaki
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2016-05-02
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0190251433

This book demonstrates how Japanese Americans have developed traditions of complex silences to survive historic moments of racial and religious oppression and how they continue to adapt these traditions today. Brett Esaki offers four case studies of Japanese American art-gardening, origami, jazz, and monuments-and examines how each artistic practice has responded to a historic moment of oppression. He finds that these artistic silences incorporate and convey obfuscated and hybridized religious ideas from Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Shinto, indigenous religions, and contemporary spirituality. While silence is often thought of as the binary opposite and absence of sound, Esaki offers a theory of non-binary silence that articulates how multidimensional silences are formed and how they function. He argues that non-binary silences have allowed Japanese Americans to disguise, adapt, and innovate religious resources in order to negotiate racism and oppressive ideologies from both the United States and Japan. Drawing from the fields of religious studies, ethnic studies, theology, anthropology, art, music, history, and psychoanalysis, this book highlights the ways in which silence has been used to communicate the complex emotions of historical survival, religious experience, and artistic inspiration.

All These Perfect Strangers

All These Perfect Strangers
Author: Aoife Clifford
Publisher: Alibi
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2016-07-12
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0399593934

In this intimate debut thriller in the vein of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, an award-winning mystery writer delves into the mind of a young woman who’s closer to murder than she’d like to admit. “This is about three deaths. Actually more, if you go back far enough. I say deaths but perhaps all of them were murders. It’s a grey area. Murder, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.” Within six months of her arrival at a university campus, three of Penelope Sheppard’s new friends are dead. And only Pen knows why. This isn’t Pen’s first encounter with violence, and she’s an expert at keeping secrets—especially ones as dark and dangerous as her own. Reputations have a way of haunting you—they’re easy to make, hard to shake. After Pen leaves her isolated hometown to escape the judgmental stares of her neighbors and carve out a new identity for herself, she’s free from the stigma of her past mistakes. At school, Pen is anonymous, surrounded by an eclectic collection of perfect strangers. But when someone begins to uncover the deadly secrets she thought she’d left behind, how far will Pen go to protect her new life? Six months later, Pen is back home, the victim of a violent trauma and a pariah once again. Now, reluctantly, she must recount her story from start to finish: to her shrink, to the police, even to herself. Because until she tells the whole truth, there will be no escaping the past. Praise for All These Perfect Strangers “Best book I’ve read this year. Fabulous writing.”—Fiona Barton, New York Times bestselling author of The Widow “All These Perfect Strangers gripped me and didn’t let go until the last page. Aiofe Clifford creates a disturbing but compelling cast of characters, leaving the reader constantly guessing what’s around the corner. It’s a cleverly woven plot, a wonderful, compelling read that lingers long after the book is closed.”—Jane Harper, award-winning author of The Dry “Unputdownable.”—Marie Claire (Australia) “A picture of death and betrayal across the sexually charged canvas of a first year on a university campus . . . tense, sparse . . . The gripping plot challenges and subverts the notion of innocence until the very last page.”—Monocle “A compulsively readable mystery set on a college campus, with one girl at the heart of it all, All These Perfect Strangers is a seething conflagration of lies and betrayal that explodes to a shocking conclusion. I couldn't put it down!”—Carla Buckley, author of The Good Goodbye “Aoife Clifford has given us one terrific yarn. All These Perfect Strangers is tender and cruel, naïve and complex, hopeful and crushing. In other words, real to the broken and bloody bone. A phenomenal debut novel that will make you forget you have other things to do. Read this book and spend the next week captivated by our hero, Pen Sheppard.”–T. E. Woods, author of the Justice series “Intrigue, betrayal and murder . . . deliciously dark.”–T.R. Richmond, author of What She Left “Aoife Clifford’s debut novel twists and turns and twists again. All These Perfect Strangers is really a perfect blend of storytelling and psychological suspense. I can’t wait to see what Clifford does next.”—Nichole Christoff, author of The Kill List

The Year's Best Science Fiction

The Year's Best Science Fiction
Author: Gardner R. Dozois
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 678
Release: 1999
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0312209630

The 21st edition of the award-winning annual compilation of the year's best science fiction stories.

The Year's Best Science Fiction: Sixteenth Annual Collection

The Year's Best Science Fiction: Sixteenth Annual Collection
Author: Gardner Dozois
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Total Pages: 676
Release: 1999-07-30
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0312264747

The past through tomorrow are boldly imagined and reinvented in the twenty-five stories collected in this showcase anthology. Many of the field's finest practitioners are represented here, along with stories from promising newcomers, including: William Barton * Rob Chilson * Tony Daniel * Cory Doctorow * Jim Grimsley * Gwyneth Jones * Chris Lawson * Ian McDonald * Robert Reed * William Browning Spencer * Allen Steele * Michael Swanwick * Howard Waldrop * Cherry Wilder * Liz Williams A useful list of honorable mentions and Dozois's insightful summation of the year in sf round out this anthology, making it indispensable for anyone interested in SF today.

The Music Box

The Music Box
Author: T. Davis Bunn
Publisher: Baker Books
Total Pages: 134
Release: 1996-10-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1441270841

Bestselling Gift Book from T. Davis Bunn T. Davis Bunn has inspired and entertained thousands of readers with his charming little gift books. The Quilt and The Gift soared onto the best-seller lists. The Messenger was hailed as "a book of great wisdom...a sweet teacher of simple, priceless truths." Now Davis presents his most tender and romantic story yet, The Music Box. Chrissy, a young girl who lost her mother to illness, has a beautiful singing voice. She is befriended by a music teacher who is coming to terms with her own personal tragedies. One day, upon hearing a certain melody, Chrissy bursts into tears and refuses to sing again. This crisis draws the teacher into a conflict with the girl's father, one which gradually softens into a sense of involvement and even affection. In a story of love and faith triumphing over loneliness, the key to their happiness lies hidden within Chrissy's most precious possession. Readers will be breathless to discover the key.