Bill Bryson was born in the middle of the American century1951in the middle of the United StatesDes Moines, Iowain the middle of the largest generation in American historythe baby boomers.As one of the best and funniest writers alive, he is perfectly positioned to mine his memories of a totally all-American childhood for 24-carat memoir gold. Like ...more
For many centuries the shelves of a library in South America held a terrible secret. Sitting on these shelves was a book with no name, written by an anonymous author. Everyone who ever read it ended up dead, yet the book always found it's way back to the library. In 2005 a special government investigator uncovered the truth about the book and it's ...more
Madness, cruelty, and sexuality permeate the household in which Lilian Una Singer is raised-an upper-crust Victorian world of teacups and servants. But Lilian, shielded by layers of fat, an iron will, and an indomitable spirit, has her sights set on an education, love, and-finally-her own transcendent forms of independence.
The Khao San Road, Bangkok--first stop for the hordes of rootless young Westerners traveling in Southeast Asia. On Richard's first night there, in a low-budget guest house, a fellow traveler slashes his wrists, bequeathing to Richard a meticulously drawn map to "the Beach." The Beach, as Richard has come to learn, is the subject of a legend among...more
It takes guts to write a novel that combines an ancient secret brotherhood, the Swiss Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire, a papal conclave, mysterious ambigrams, a plot against the Vatican, a mad scientist in a wheelchair, particles of anti-matter, jets that can travel 15,000 miles per hour, crafty assassins, a beautiful Italian physici...more
While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher. While working to solve the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the wor...more
Dwarfish Charlie Boylan carries a loaded pistol into the House of Commons. He was a police spy for nearly forty years, and now he wants a pension and knows what will get it. Did he, between Waterloo and Wellington's funeral, cause the Peterloo riot to happen? Was it Charlie who fingered the Cato Street Conspirators? Did Shelley really drown by acci...more
On September 27, 1066, Duke William of Normandy sailed for England with hundreds of ships and over 8,000 men. King Harold of England, weakened by a ferocious Viking invasion from the north, could muster little defense. At the Battle of Hastings of October 14, he was outflanked, quickly defeated, and killed by William's superior troops. The course o...more
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