The Day the Call Came

The Day the Call Came
Author: Thomas Hinde
Publisher:
Total Pages: 138
Release: 2013
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781939140586

'It would be hard to imagine a novel more quietly terrifying than this sunlit nightmare of a book.' - Robert Baldick, "Daily Telegraph" '[A]s profound as anything put out by names like Graham Greene, Patrick White and the rest. This establishes Thomas Hinde as one of our finest and most individual novelists. A superb book - deep, rapid, thrilling, disturbing.' - Anthony Burgess 'The cleverest book I have read this year . . . a macabre high comedy by an author whose lynx-eyed social observation is matched by his power to bring forth nightmares in broad daylight.' - Irving Wardle, "The Observer" The hero of Thomas Hinde's classic of paranoia is Harry Bale, a married father of two with a house in the suburbs and a penchant for gardening. Affable and mild-mannered, he is to all outward appearance perfectly ordinary. No one-not even his wife-knows what he is really up to. Harry is awaiting a call from his superiors on the radio transmitter hidden beneath the attic floorboards. There are signs the call will come soon: he has begun to receive sinister messages by letter and telephone, and he thinks he has uncovered a monstrous conspiracy involving his neighbours. But when one day the call finally does come and Harry receives his deadly assignment, nothing will ever be the same again. . . . Frightening in its implications and darkly humorous in its execution, Thomas Hinde's thriller "The Day the Call Came" (1964) earned rave reviews on its initial appearance but has been long out of print. This edition features a new introduction by Ramsey Campbell and the original jacket art by Victor Reinganum.

The Day They Came to Arrest the Book

The Day They Came to Arrest the Book
Author: Nat Hentoff
Publisher: Laurel Leaf
Total Pages: 176
Release: 2010-09-22
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 0307765237

Who would have believed that The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn could cause the worst crisis in the history of George Mason High School? Certainly not Barney Roth, editor of the school paper. But when a small but vocal group of students and parents decide that the book is racist, sexist, and immoral--and should be removed from reading lists and the school library--Barney takes matters into his own hands. When the Huck Finn issue comes up for a hearing, Barney decides to print his story about previous censorship efforts at school. He's sure that investigative reporting and publicity can help the cause. But is he too late to turn the tide of censorship?

Then We Came to the End

Then We Came to the End
Author: Joshua Ferris
Publisher: Little, Brown
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2007-03-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0759572283

Winner of the Hemingway Foundation / PEN Award, this debut novel is "as funny as The Office, as sad as an abandoned stapler . . . that rare comedy that feels blisteringly urgent." (TIME) No one knows us in quite the same way as the men and women who sit beside us in department meetings and crowd the office refrigerator with their labeled yogurts. Every office is a family of sorts, and the Chicago ad agency depicted in Joshua Ferris's exuberantly acclaimed first novel is family at its best and worst, coping with a business downturn in the time-honored way: through gossip, elaborate pranks, and increasingly frequent coffee breaks. With a demon's eye for the details that make life worth noticing, Joshua Ferris tells an emotionally true and funny story about survival in life's strangest environment—the one we pretend is normal five days a week. One of the Best Books of the Year Boston Globe * Christian Science Monitor * New York Magazine * New York Times Book Review * St. Louis Post-Dispatch * Time magazine * Salon

The Day the World Came to Town

The Day the World Came to Town
Author: Jim DeFede
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2011-07-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 0062103288

The True Story Behind the Events on 9/11 that Inspired Broadway’s Smash Hit Musical Come from Away, Featuring All New Material from the Author When 38 jetliners bound for the United States were forced to land at Gander International Airport in Canada by the closing of U.S. airspace on September 11, the population of this small town on Newfoundland Island swelled from 10,300 to nearly 17,000. The citizens of Gander met the stranded passengers with an overwhelming display of friendship and goodwill. As the passengers stepped from the airplanes, exhausted, hungry and distraught after being held on board for nearly 24 hours while security checked all of the baggage, they were greeted with a feast prepared by the townspeople. Local bus drivers who had been on strike came off the picket lines to transport the passengers to the various shelters set up in local schools and churches. Linens and toiletries were bought and donated. A middle school provided showers, as well as access to computers, email, and televisions, allowing the passengers to stay in touch with family and follow the news. Over the course of those four days, many of the passengers developed friendships with Gander residents that they expect to last a lifetime. As a show of thanks, scholarship funds for the children of Gander have been formed and donations have been made to provide new computers for the schools. This book recounts the inspiring story of the residents of Gander, Canada, whose acts of kindness have touched the lives of thousands of people and been an example of humanity and goodwill.

The Day that Elvis Came to Town

The Day that Elvis Came to Town
Author: Jan Marino
Publisher: Avon Books
Total Pages: 212
Release: 1993
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 9780380716722

Wanda feels betrayed when her parents' glamorous boarder doesn't introduce her to Elvis Presley, and it takes a near-tragedy to reunite them and to help her face the truth about her family and herself.

Call If You Need Me

Call If You Need Me
Author: Raymond Carver
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 323
Release: 2015-05-25
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1101970545

The complete uncollected fiction and nonfiction, including the five posthumously discovered “last” stories, published here in book form for the first time—from “one of the great short story writers of our time—of any time” (The Philadelphia Inquirer). Call If You Need Me includes all of the prose previously collected in No Heroics, Please, four essays from Fires, and those five marvelous stories that range over the period of Carver’s mature writing and give his devoted readers a final glimpse of the great writer at work. The pure pleasure of Carver’s writing is everywhere in his work, here no less than in those stories that have already entered the canon of modern literature.

Such a Fun Age

Such a Fun Age
Author: Kiley Reid
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2019-12-31
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0525541926

A Best Book of the Year: The Washington Post • Chicago Tribune • NPR • Vogue • Elle • Real Simple • InStyle • Good Housekeeping • Parade • Slate • Vox • Kirkus Reviews • Library Journal • BookPage Longlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize An Instant New York Times Bestseller A Reese's Book Club Pick "The most provocative page-turner of the year." --Entertainment Weekly "I urge you to read Such a Fun Age." --NPR A striking and surprising debut novel from an exhilarating new voice, Such a Fun Age is a page-turning and big-hearted story about race and privilege, set around a young black babysitter, her well-intentioned employer, and a surprising connection that threatens to undo them both. Alix Chamberlain is a woman who gets what she wants and has made a living, with her confidence-driven brand, showing other women how to do the same. So she is shocked when her babysitter, Emira Tucker, is confronted while watching the Chamberlains' toddler one night, walking the aisles of their local high-end supermarket. The store's security guard, seeing a young black woman out late with a white child, accuses Emira of kidnapping two-year-old Briar. A small crowd gathers, a bystander films everything, and Emira is furious and humiliated. Alix resolves to make things right. But Emira herself is aimless, broke, and wary of Alix's desire to help. At twenty-five, she is about to lose her health insurance and has no idea what to do with her life. When the video of Emira unearths someone from Alix's past, both women find themselves on a crash course that will upend everything they think they know about themselves, and each other. With empathy and piercing social commentary, Such a Fun Age explores the stickiness of transactional relationships, what it means to make someone "family," and the complicated reality of being a grown up. It is a searing debut for our times.

These Precious Days

These Precious Days
Author: Ann Patchett
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2021-11-23
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0063092808

The beloved New York Times bestselling author reflects on home, family, friendships and writing in this deeply personal collection of essays. "The elegance of Patchett’s prose is seductive and inviting: with Patchett as a guide, readers will really get to grips with the power of struggles, failures, and triumphs alike." —Publisher's Weekly “Any story that starts will also end.” As a writer, Ann Patchett knows what the outcome of her fiction will be. Life, however, often takes turns we do not see coming. Patchett ponders this truth in these wise essays that afford a fresh and intimate look into her mind and heart. At the center of These Precious Days is the title essay, a surprising and moving meditation on an unexpected friendship that explores “what it means to be seen, to find someone with whom you can be your best and most complete self.” When Patchett chose an early galley of actor and producer Tom Hanks’ short story collection to read one night before bed, she had no idea that this single choice would be life changing. It would introduce her to a remarkable woman—Tom’s brilliant assistant Sooki—with whom she would form a profound bond that held monumental consequences for them both. A literary alchemist, Patchett plumbs the depths of her experiences to create gold: engaging and moving pieces that are both self-portrait and landscape, each vibrant with emotion and rich in insight. Turning her writer’s eye on her own experiences, she transforms the private into the universal, providing us all a way to look at our own worlds anew, and reminds how fleeting and enigmatic life can be. From the enchantments of Kate DiCamillo’s children’s books (author of The Beatryce Prophecy) to youthful memories of Paris; the cherished life gifts given by her three fathers to the unexpected influence of Charles Schultz’s Snoopy; the expansive vision of Eudora Welty to the importance of knitting, Patchett connects life and art as she illuminates what matters most. Infused with the author’s grace, wit, and warmth, the pieces in These Precious Days resonate deep in the soul, leaving an indelible mark—and demonstrate why Ann Patchett is one of the most celebrated writers of our time.

The Day The Martians Came

The Day The Martians Came
Author: Frederik Pohl
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 260
Release: 1989-11-15
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780312917814

Henry Steegman is hardly "Mr. Personality" aboard the Mars-bound Algonquin 9. Yet it is he who bungles upon the spectacular Macy's-like city beneath the Red Planet's crust. For better or worse, the name Steegman will be immortalized by a discovery that will transform millions of lives. For a struggling screenwriter, the Martian beings could mean a big story, big bucks, headlines...and more women than any many his size has ever known... For an exhiled Russian rocket man, the are a possible route to America's space program, and the land of opportunity... For a flying-saucer faker of flickering fame, the possibilities are out of this world. In a brilliant near-future look at the human condition, Frederick Pohl has honed his satire-sharp science fiction to a steely new edge.

The Day I Was Sent to the Principal's Office

The Day I Was Sent to the Principal's Office
Author: Steve Russo
Publisher: iUniverse
Total Pages: 105
Release: 2013-04
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1475985517

From the time he was a child, Steve Russo knew that he wanted to be an educator. It was his dream to be a teacher, to influence and shape young lives and minds, and he has lived that dream for twenty-eight years. As with many teachers, he didn't get into the field for money, but his rewards have been many and rich over his career. As an administrator, he encouraged his teachers to remember the daily opportunity to influence and inspire their students and to make those influences powerfully positive ones. It's a rule he tries to live by every day. He starts with the story of his first trip to the principal's office as a young student. In a deliciously ironic turn, he has returned to that same office this time, behind the desk, as the principal. Now he shares some of his favorite memories from a life lived as a public school administrator. These stories are not only a representation of his career in education but also a reflection of his life. All the stories are true, with no details exaggerated to enhance the stories because in the life of an administrator, fact can be more amusing than fiction.