Winged Obsession

Winged Obsession
Author: Jessica Speart
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2012-03-27
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0062207040

One of the world's most beautiful endangered species, butterflies are as lucrative as gorillas, pandas, and rhinos on the black market. In this cutthroat $200 million business, no one was more successful—or posed a greater ecological danger—than Yoshi Kojima, the kingpin of butterfly smugglers. In Winged Obsession, author Jessica Speart tells the riveting true story of rookie U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agent Ed Newcomer's determined crusade to halt the career of a brazen and ingenious criminal with an almost supernatural sixth sense for survival. But the story doesn't end there. Speart chronicles her own attempts, while researching the book, to befriend Kojima before betraying him—unaware that the cagey smuggler had his own plans to make the writer a player in his illegal butterfly trade.

New Haven Noir

New Haven Noir
Author: Amy Bloom
Publisher: Akashic Books
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2017-07-25
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1617755575

“In an Ivy League town, Bloom turns Yale’s motto—Lux et Veritas—on its head, finding darkness and deceit in every corner of New Haven.” —Kirkus Reviews The image of a charming college town serves New Haven well, but its natives know that the city has been built on a rich—and violent—history that still seeps out from between the cracks in the sidewalks and the halls of learning. Now, New York Times–bestselling author—and Connecticut resident—Amy Bloom masterfully curates a star-studded cast of contributors, featuring Michael Cunningham, Stephen L. Carter, and Roxana Robinson, to portray New Haven’s underbelly. Highlights of the anthology include Lisa D. Gray’s “The Queen of Secrets,” which won the Robert L. Fish Memorial Award and John Crowley’s “Spring Break,” winner of the Edgar Award for Best Short Story. Tales by Alice Mattison, Chris Knopf, Jonathan Stone, Sarah Pemberton Strong, Karen E. Olson, Jessica Speart, Chandra Prasad, David Rich, Hirsh Sawhney, and Bloom herself round out this impressive collection. “Town-gown tensions highlight several of the 15 stories in this stellar Akashic noir anthology set in the Elm City . . . This [volume] is particularly strong on established authors, many of whom have impressive credentials outside the genre.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “The anthology brings together writers who take varied approaches to the idea of noir in the Elm City. Some stories are historical, some are contemporary. All the classic New Haven landmarks are there, including plenty of Yale . . . The full sweep of New Haven’s character is on display in the anthology.” —Connecticut Magazine

For Belgium

For Belgium
Author: Wilfrid Blair
Publisher:
Total Pages: 40
Release: 1914
Genre: World War, 1914-1918
ISBN:

Treacherous

Treacherous
Author: Sara Rosett
Publisher: Sara Rosett
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2017-11-15
Genre:
ISBN:

A mysterious package, a rumor about a missing painting, and a dangerous game of hide and seek… Zoe loves working as a consultant for a company that specializes in the recovery of stolen art. Her only complaint is that the jobs are few and far between, so when she meets an eccentric collector who is on the hunt for a painting of a blue butterfly that might—or might not—exist, she jumps at the chance to look for it. She comes across shady dealers and a confusion of clues as her search for the elusive painting takes her from tropical destinations to the cobblestone streets of Madrid. Treacherous is the sixth installment of the lighthearted On The Run series from USA Today bestselling author Sara Rosett, which features globetrotting art heists and international intrigue.

Killer Story

Killer Story
Author: Matt Witten
Publisher: Oceanview Publishing
Total Pages: 359
Release: 2023-01-17
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1608095258

How far will she go to catch the killer—and make her podcast a hit? Talented and idealistic young reporter Petra Kovach is on the brink of being laid off from her third failing newspaper in a row. To save her job, she pitches the launch of a true crime podcast about a sensational, unsolved murder. Years earlier, an alt-right YouTuber was killed in her Harvard dorm room, and the case went cold. Petra knew the victim—she was once her camp counselor and loved her like a little sister, despite their political differences. Petra's investigation gets off to a rocky start, as her promising leads quickly shrivel up. In her passionate quest for justice—and clicks—Petra burns sources and breaks laws, ultimately putting her own life on the line. Even as her star rises, she worries it could all come crashing down at any moment if her actions are exposed. When her machinations start to backfire, there's only one way to fix everything and solve the murder—even though it may cost her everything she loves. Perfect for fans of Karin Slaughter and Harlan Coben

Forest World

Forest World
Author: Margarita Engle
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2017-08-29
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1481490591

From Young People’s Poet Laureate and award-winning author Margarita Engle comes a lively middle grade novel in verse that tells the story of a Cuban-American boy who visits his family’s village in Cuba for the first time—and meets a sister he didn’t know he had. Edver isn’t happy about being shipped off to Cuba to visit the father he barely knows. Why would he want to visit a place that no one in Miami ever mentions without a sigh? Yet now that travel laws have changed and it’s a lot easier for divided families to be reunited, his mom thinks it's time for some father-son bonding. Edver doesn’t know what this summer has in store, but he’s definitely expecting to meet a sister he didn’t know existed! Luza is a year older and excited to see her little brother, until she realizes how different their lives have been. Looking for anything they might have in common, they sneak onto the internet—and accidentally catch the interest of a dangerous wildlife poacher. Edver has fought plenty of villains in video games. Now, to save the Cuban jungle they love, he and Luza are going to have to find a way to conquer a real villain!

Winged Words

Winged Words
Author: Piero Boitani
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 277
Release: 2007-05-15
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0226065618

Flight has always fascinated human minds, but until a century ago it remained a dream—the exclusive domain of birds, gods, and mythological heroes. From the myths of the ancients to the poetry of Pindar and Yeats, Winged Words traces the imprint of the human impulse to fly from premodern times to the age of terrorism in both literature and history. Piero Boitani begins his analysis with an account of the way the myths of Pegasus and Icarus have persisted from classical to twentieth-century politics and literature. He then takes up the figure of Hermes; the roles of halcyons and eagles in classical, biblical, and later literatures; and literary response to Pieter Brueghel’s The Fall of Icarus. Honing in on modern figures and concerns, Boitani also offers a fascinating discussion of author-pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and concludes with a meditation on the flight of the hijacked airliners on 9/11. Throughout, Winged Word brings a remarkable range of men of action, politicians, theologians, writers, and artists into dialogue with each other: Shakespeare with T. S. Eliot, Horace with Ovid, Leonardo with Milton, Leopardi with Mallarmé, Saint-Exupéry with Faulkner and Rilke, and the Ulysses of Homer with the Ulysses of Dante. Ultimately, by showing how writers and fliers have looked to the ancients for inspiration, Boitani testifies to the modern relevance of poetry and the classics.

Much Ado About Mothing

Much Ado About Mothing
Author: James Lowen
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 385
Release: 2021-05-27
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1472966996

James Lowen narrates a year-long quest to see Britain's rarest and more remarkable moths. Although mostly unseen by us, moths are everywhere. And their capacity to delight astounds. Inspired by a revelatory encounter with a Poplar Hawk-moth – a huge, velvety-winged wonder wrapped in silver – James Lowen embarks on a year-long quest to celebrate the joy of Britain's rarest and most remarkable moths. By hiking up mountains, wading through marshes and roaming by night amid ancient woodlands, James follows the trails of both Victorian collectors and present-day conservationists. Seeking to understand why they and many ordinary folk love what the general public purports to hate, his investigations reveal a heady world of criminality and controversy, derring-do and determination. From Cornwall to the Cairngorms, James explores British landscapes to coax these much-maligned creatures out from the cover of darkness and into the light. Moths are revealed to be attractive, astonishing and approachable; capable of migratory feats and camouflage mastery, moths have much to tell us on the state of the nation's wild and not-so-wild habitats. As a counterweight to his travels, James and his young daughter track the seasons through a kaleidoscope of moth species living innocently yet covertly in their suburban garden. Without even leaving home, they bond over a shared joy in the uncommon beauty of common creatures, for perhaps the greatest virtue of moths, we learn, is their accessibility. Moths may be everywhere, but above all, they are here. Quite unexpectedly, no animals may be better placed to inspire the environmentalists of the future.

Airs and Graces

Airs and Graces
Author: Toby Bishop
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 356
Release: 2008
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780441015566

When Duke William, succumbs to madness, leaving the coast open to Aesk raiders who strike at will, Larkyn, one of the finest students at the Academy of the Air, is caught in a desperate batte to save the world of Oc from ruin.

Inventing the Renaissance Putto

Inventing the Renaissance Putto
Author: Charles Dempsey
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2001
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9780807826164

The figure of the putto (often portrayed as a mischievous baby) made frequent appearances in the art and literature of Renaissance Italy. Commonly called spiritelli, or sprites, putti embodied a minor species of demon, in their nature neither good