by Anand Giridharadas (2014)
Days after 9/11, an avowed "American terrorist" named Mark Stroman, seeking revenge, walked into the Dallas minimart where Raisuddin Bhuiyan, a former Bangladesh Air Force officer, has found temporary work and shoots him, nearly killing him. Giridharadas traces the making of these two men, Stroman and Bhuiyan, and of their fateful encounter, following them as they rebuild shattered lives. Ten years after the shooting, an Islamic pilgrimage seeds in Bhuiyan a strange idea: if he is ever to be whole, he must reenter Stroman's life. He publicly forgives Stroman, and wages a legal and public-relations campaign to have his attacker spared from the death penalty.
Jim Thompson
Sometimes a man and woman love and hate each other in equal measure that they can neither stay together nor break apart. Some marriages can only end in murder and some murders only make the ties of love and hatred stronger. This book proves just that.
Furui Yoshikichi
"Furui Yoshikichi's work has long dealt with the human dramas of growing up and growing old, but by probing further into the recesses of the mind and memory, he also touches upon the deepest mysteries of human existence. As if to balance the somber themes of madness and death, Furui shows a great sensitivity to the dark humor inherent in everyday life. White-haired melody is no exception; it is the record of the daily experiences of a man approaching old age. It delves into the essential but hidden nature of his daily life, employing prose that is relentless in its re-creation of detail. This novel is a meditative exploration of the strange borderland around the inner experience of aging and approaching death. Yet, rather than follow a conventional plot, the novel develops by means of an intricate weaving together through time of key experiences of the narrator and his friends to build a compelling portrait of human experience. Those familiar with Furui's writings will find here a fascinating new development of earlier themes. White-haired melody, a work by one of Japan's finest contemporary novelists writing at the height of his power, is not to be missed."--BOOK JACKET.
Andrea Gibson
Andrea Gibson's dynamic and energetic first book, <em>Pole Dancing to Gospel Hymns</em>, challenges us to not only read, but to react. Hauntingly vivid, the poems march through a soldier's lingering psychological wounds, tackle the curious questions of school children on the meaning of "hate," and tangle with a lover's witty and vibrant description of longing. Gibson's poems deconstruct the current political climate through stunning imagery and careful crafting. With the same velocity, the poignant and vacillating love poems sweep the air out of the room. It's word-induced hypoxia. <em>Pole Dancing to Gospel Hymns</em> whispers with a bold and unforgettable internal voice rich with the kind of questioning that inspires action.
Joan Mauch
"Eleanor Hurley is a woman leading a life of quiet desperation, when a single moment of violence changes everything. Eleanor kills a homicidal man to save a group of children. With this lethal act she is released from her former existence, yet her freedom comes with a price: Eleanor's not repulsed by her capacity for violence, but rather exhilarated by her unsuspected power to take a life. Frightened by the darkness within she flees to Halifax, but cannot run away from herself, or from the troubles that lie ahead. Author Joan Mauch delves into the psychology of the average person and discovers that what lies beneath the surface is something complex, disturbing and altogether unexpected."--Back cover