Same As It Never Was

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Katherine Silver

"It is spring 1986 in the city of Santiago and Augusto Pinochet is losing his grip on power. In one of the city's many poor neighborhoods, the Queen of the Corner, a hopeless and lonely romantic, embroiders linens for the wealthy and listens to boleros to drown out the gunshots and rioting in the streets. Along comes Carlos, a young, handsome man who befriends the aging homosexual and uses his house to store mysterious boxes and hold clandestine meetings. Thus begins a friendship and a love that will have unexpected though vastly different consequences for both." "My Tender Matador is an extraordinary novel of revolution and forbidden love, and a stirring portrait of Chile at a historical crossroads. By turns funny and profoundly moving, Pedro Lemebel's lyrical prose offers an intimate window into the world and mind of Pinochet himself. As Carlos and the Queen negotiate their unspoken complicity and mismatched affections to the beat of the bolero and the threat of repression, Pinochet contends with revolutionary upstarts, negative world opinion, fascistic reveries, terrifying nightmares, and an endlessly chattering wife who has more respect and affection for her hair stylist than for her husband."--Jacket.

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Rudy Delson

Maynard Gogarty is a defeated musician, a reformed misanthrope who makes a hobby of surreptitiously filming the fashion faux pas of New York City commuters. On an uptown 6 train in the sweltering summer of 2000 he meets Jennica Green, a nostalgic Californian who calculates that she's been lonesome 68.53 percent of her adult life. Though their initial acquaintance is fleeting, when fate next brings them together, at a screening of Maynard's film, romance intrudes. And as with most things in life, everyone has an opinion. In the case of Maynard & Jennica, everyone includes many living and some dead relatives, a sultry scam artist who may or may not be Russian or Israeli or German, a hip-hop impresario named Puppy Jones, several dubious lawyers, a long-lost best friend, and a freelance contributor to The New Yorker. Maynard and Jennica introduces an astonishing number of narrators - thirty-five in all - while remaining true to the relationships at its heart.

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Jonathan Lethem

From the incomparable Jonathan Lethem, a raucous romantic farce that explores the paradoxes of love and art Lucinda Hoekke spends eight hours a day at the Complaint Line, listening to anonymous callers air their random grievances. Most of the time, the work is excruciatingly tedious. But one frequent caller, who insists on speaking only to Lucinda, captivates her with his off-color ruminations and opaque self-reflections. In blatant defiance of the rules, Lucinda and the Complainer arrange a face-to-face meeting--and fall desperately in love.Consumed by passion, Lucinda manages only to tear herself away from the Complainer to practice with the alternative band in which she plays bass. The lead singer of the band is Matthew, a confused young man who works at the zoo and has kidnapped a kangaroo to save it from ennui. Denise, the drummer, works at No Shame, a masturbation boutique. The band's talented lyricist, Bedwin, conflicted about the group's as-yet-nonexistent fame, is suffering from writer's block. Hoping to recharge the band's creative energy, Lucinda "suggests" some of the Complainer's philosophical musings to Bedwin. When Bedwin transforms them into brilliant songs, the band gets its big break, including an invitation to appear on L.A.'s premiere alternative radio show. The only problem is the Complainer. He insists on joining the band, with disastrous consequences for all.Brimming with satire and sex, You Don't Love Me Yet is a funny and affectionate send-up of the alternative band scene, the city of Los Angeles, and the entire genre of romantic comedy, but remains unmistakably the work of the inimitable Jonathan Lethem.

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Margaret Mayo

Every paradise has to have its serpent An island in the Indian Ocean as a wedding present! Cathy was delighted with both her future husband and so lovely a gift. Unsuspecting, she happily traveled out to inspect the place--only to discover that all was not as Eric had told her. Grant Howard--the arrogant and dangerously attractive owner of Samora--had no intention of selling. Cathy was stunned and confused, but realized the sooner she got away from Grant the better!