Reading House

Best-selling author Deborah E. Harkness explores the streets, shops, back alleys, and gardens of Elizabethan London, where a boisterous and diverse group of men and women shared a keen interest in the study of nature. These assorted merchants, gardeners, barber-surgeons, midwives, instrument makers, mathematics teachers, engineers, alchemists, and other experimenters, she contends, formed a patchwork scientific community whose practices set the stage for the Scientific Revolution.

In a rare and gorgeous departure, beloved novelist Alice Hoffman weaves a web of tales, all set in Blackbird House. This small farm on the outer reaches of Cape Cod is a place that is as bewitching and alive as the characters we meet. These interconnected narratives are as intelligent as they are haunting, as luminous as they are unusual. Inside Blackbird House more than a dozen men and women learn how love transforms us and how it is the one lasting element in our lives.

Where did the tree house come from? Before Jack and Annie can find out, the mysterious tree house whisks them back to the prehistoric past. Now they have to figure out how to get home. Can they do it before dark, or will they become a dinosaur's dinner?

When Mariah Kimball inherits a seaside house from a great-grandmother she never knew existed, she steps into a world steeped in mystery and family secrets. Cora Warren's tragic story is a tapestry of betrayal, loss, and the haunting legacy of a death ruled an accident—one that Detective Jerry Keating was convinced was murder. As Mariah settles into Cora's old house, she is unnerved to discover that its former residents—Cora, her daughter Meghan, and granddaughter Kathleen—appear to relive pivotal moments from their lives. These spectral visits unveil a dark history, revealing how ...

Every Thursday morning for two years in the Islamic Republic of Iran, a bold and inspired teacher named Azar Nafisi secretly gathered seven of her most committed female students to read forbidden Western classics. As Islamic morality squads staged arbitrary raids in Tehran, fundamentalists seized hold of the universities, and a blind censor stifled artistic expression, the girls in Azar Nafisi's living room risked removing their veils and immersed themselves in the worlds of Jane Austen, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henry James, and Vladimir Nabokov.

Demonstrating once again her gift for spellbinding storytelling, Anne Rice makes real for us a great dynasty of four centuries of witches—a family given to poetry and incest, murder and philosophy, a family that over the ages is itself haunted by a powerful, dangerous, and seductive being called Lasher who haunts the Mayfair women. Moving in time from today's New Orleans and San Francisco to long-ago Amsterdam and the France of Louis XIV, from the coffee plantations of Port-au-Prince to Civil War New Orleans and back to today, Anne Rice has spun a mesmerizing tale.

Are you curious about different magical practices but don't know where to start or who to trust? Are you struggling to find beginner-friendly information to embrace ancient traditions and turn them into practical magic for the modern Witch? Are you looking for easy-to-follow explanations to safely cast highly effective spells and rituals and finally accomplish your goals? If your answer is yes to even one of these questions, then indeed, you feel the need to unlock all the magical potential of your inner Witch. And this comprehensive 7-book collection is the perfect place to start listening...

Little Heroes, Big Hearts Best Inspiring Stories for Kids: Little Heroes, Big Hearts 25 Tales of Kindness and Courage for Ages 8-12 Short Stories for Kids Discover the extraordinary power of everyday kindness in "Little Heroes, Big Hearts," a heartwarming collection of 25 captivating short stories designed to inspire children ages 8-12. Each story introduces young readers to relatable characters who find the courage to make a difference through simple acts of compassion, empathy, and bravery. From helping a new classmate feel welcome to standing up against bullying, rescuing a lost pet, or ...

For the last 20 years, George Saunders has been teaching a class on the Russian short story to his MFA students at Syracuse University. In A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, he shares a version of that class with us, offering some of what he and his students have discovered together over the years. Paired with iconic short stories by Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Gogol, the seven essays in this book are intended for anyone interested in how fiction works and why it’s more relevant than ever in these turbulent times.

Weaving a vibrant tapestry of fact and fiction, Into the Wilderness sweeps us into another time and place...and into the heart of a forbidden, incandescent affair between a spinster Englishwoman and an American frontiersman. Here is an epic of romance and history that will captivate readers from the start.

It is the summer of 1919, and Constance Haverhill is without prospects. Now that all the men have returned from the front, she has been asked to give up her cottage and her job at the estate she helped run during the war. While she looks for a position as a bookkeeper or—horror—a governess, she’s sent as a lady’s companion to an old family friend who is convalescing at a seaside hotel. Despite having only weeks to find a permanent home, Constance is swept up in the social whirl of Hazelbourne-on-Sea after she rescues the local baronet’s daughter, Poppy Wirrall, from a social faux pas.

*** Honors: 2018 Readers' Favorite Gold Medal Winner -- Seen on NBC, ABC, CBS and FOX *** What happenings and environments wrought the most hated man in history? How does a child become a young man who evolved into a self-proclaimed messiah? Why did this one man become a psychotic who was responsible for the deaths of more than 50 million people? This book follows the first, formative years of Adolf Hitler's life. Presented as a personal journal, this is a fact-supported re-telling of a desperate existence, as viewed by Hitler, and tracks the points of pain that forged his beliefs. From a ...

Fifteen years have passed since the end of the war with demons, creatures of darkness who have hunted the night and plagued humanity since time out of mind. The heroes of humanity’s hour of need have become legend, and those who remain struggle to escape their shadows.

Recently graduated from Harvard University, Michelle Kuo arrived in the rural town of Helena, Arkansas, as a Teach for America volunteer, bursting with optimism and drive. But she soon encountered the jarring realities of life in one of the poorest counties in America, still disabled by the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow. In this stirring memoir, Kuo, the child of Taiwanese immigrants, shares the story of her complicated but rewarding mentorship of one student, Patrick Browning.

Welcome to Sugar Land, Texas—a vibrant, diverse community near Houston known for its cultural festivals, global dining and family‑friendly activities. In this heart‑warming first installment of the English Short Stories Learn Words series, a newcomers family begin a new life in America. Their new home is in Fort Bend County, one of the nation’s most diverse regions where beautifully designed, family‑friendly neighborhoods make newcomers feel welcome. As readers explore the family’s first days, they’ll experience the excitement of moving into a two‑story house, meeting ...

It is the spring of 1802, and the village of Paradise is still reeling from the typhoid epidemic of the previous summer. Elizabeth and Nathaniel Bonner have lost their two-year-old son, Hannah’s half brother Robbie, but they struggle on as always: the men in the forests, the twins Lily and Daniel in Elizabeth’s school, and Hannah as a doctor in training, apprenticed to Richard Todd. Hannah is descended from healers on both sides - one Scots grandmother and one Mohawk - and her reputation as a skilled healer in her own right is growing.

Each of us holds gifts deep within, and with tarot, we have the power to unlock those gifts and make transformative discoveries. For beginner tarot readers, learning the cards - all 78 of them - and understanding how to use spreads may seem daunting. Tarot expert Stefanie Caponi explains that interpreting the cards is a blend of knowing the card meanings, listening to your heart, and trusting your intuition. In her book, she offers easy exercises to nurture and grow your intuition, not only to understand the cards' universal meanings, but to channel your own meanings.

Food trucks have become more than an easy stop for a quick bite. Whether you are a professional foodie or a casual eater, no one can deny the charm and satisfaction that a great meal from a food truck provides. This is why the food truck business has continued to grow worldwide, especially in recent times. Food trucks are easier and cheaper to set up than other food businesses than restaurants. If you’re a devoted food lover and looking for the best food service business to launch, you should consider a food truck! In this guide, we will be walking you through everything you need to know ...

Royalty...it was more than just a word to her. It was her life. But not for long. Marlie loved her family dearly, even when she didn’t like them very much, but their life wasn’t the life she wanted for herself. Maggie had always fulfilled her responsibilities, exactly as she was expected to...she knew no other way. Until now...until after reading a letter from her father suggesting she visit her niece, to learn how to do as she pleased every once in a while, including eating pizza at her slightest whim. The last thing Maggie expected when she showed up at her niece’s front door, was ...

More bodies have washed up on the shores of a small island. Another overfilled, ill-equipped, dilapidated ship has sunk under the weight of its too many passengers: Syrians, Ethiopians, Egyptians, Lebanese, Palestinians, all of them desperate to escape untenable lives back in their homelands. But miraculously, someone has survived the passage: nine-year-old Amir, a Syrian boy who is soon rescued by Vänna. Vänna.