He was my best friend before he was my enemy. I'm a nobody at Black Falls High. When the school's mean queen forces me to my knees in front of the student body, everything changes. Now, I'm back on my former best friend's radar. And this time, he has his new crew and "no" isn't part of their vocabulary. When a night out puts me in a compromising position, I'm at their mercy. If they don't keep my secret, it could destroy more than my friendship. They own me. And my former best friend is making it his mission to ruin me. But not if I ruin them first. In Ruins is a #whychoose romance with four hot-as-fire guys. Due to dark content, this book is recommended for eighteen and older.
This stunning companion to Kate Atkinson's #1 bestseller Life After Life, "one of the best novels I've read this century" (Gillian Flynn), follows Ursula's brother Teddy as he navigates an unknown future after a perilous war. "He had been reconciled to death during the war and then suddenly the war was over and there was a next day and a next day. Part of him never adjusted to having a future." Kate Atkinson's dazzling Life After Life explored the possibility of infinite chances and the power of choices, following Ursula Todd as she lived through the turbulent events of the last century over and over again. A God in Ruins tells the dramatic story of the 20th Century through Ursula's beloved younger brother Teddy -- would-be poet, heroic pilot, husband, father, and grandfather -- as he navigates the perils and progress of a rapidly changing world. After all that Teddy endures in battle, his greatest challenge is living in a future he never expected to have. An ingenious and moving exploration of one ordinary man's path through extraordinary times, A God in Ruins proves once again that Kate Atkinson is one of the finest novelists of our age.
She wanted to start again. To be someone--anyone--different . . . Freedom. When Carleigh Stanger thought of college, that was the word that came to mind. Freedom from her unhappy home life. Freedom from high school mistakes. Freedom from the memory of that terrible morning. Only instead of bringing a sweet escape, Carleigh's first campus party traps her in the scornful gaze of the last person she wants to see, Tucker Green. It wasn't long ago that being close to Carleigh was everything Tucker wanted. But that was before he realized she was just another scheming girl who'd do whatever it took to get her way. Even lie to the guy she claimed to love. Unfortunately while Tucker's brain remembers the pain Carleigh caused, his body only remembers the pleasure . . .
Tracing the roots of the modern American University in German philosophy and in the work of British thinkers such as Newman and Arnold, Bill Readings argues that the integrity of the modern University has been linked to the nation-state, which it has served by promoting and protecting the idea of a national culture. But now the nation-state is in decline, and national culture no longer needs to be either promoted or protected.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Trapped in the Mexican jungle, a group of friends stumble upon a creeping horror unlike anything they could ever imagine in "the best horror novel of the new century" (Stephen King). Also a major motion picture! Two young couples are on a lazy Mexican vacation—sun-drenched days, drunken nights, making friends with fellow tourists. When the brother of one of those friends disappears, they decide to venture into the jungle to look for him. What started out as a fun day-trip slowly spirals into a nightmare when they find an ancient ruins site ... and the terrifying presence that lurks there. "The Ruins does for Mexican vacations what Jaws did for New England beaches.” —Entertainment Weekly “Smith’s nail-biting tension is a pleasure all its own.... This stuff isn’t for the faint of heart.” —New York Post “A story so scary you may never want to go on vacation, or dig around in your garden, again.” —USA Today
One of the questions Geoff Nicholson is frequently asked is whether he has a favourite walk? In 'The Lost Art of Walking' he answers 'no' but this isn't quite the case. Geoff doesn't have a favourite walk but he does have favoured walks and these almost always involve ruins. 'Walking with Ruins' describes some of these walks - which are mainly in Britain and the USA - and reflects on both what constitutes a ruin and on what makes them attractive.
Dare to find out why readers are binging on this complete post-apocalyptic romance series from Jami Gray! In a world gone to hell, better to choose the devil you know… The world didn't end in fire and explosions, instead after an intensifying panic of disease, food shortages, wild weather, and floundering economies, it collapsed like slow falling dominoes, until what remained of humanity battles for survival in a harsh new reality. As a ‘Hound, Charity puts the lethal survival skills learned at an early age to use by sniffing out pivotal secrets for one of the most powerful leaders on what remains of the west coast. Her work is deceptive, deadly, and best performed solo, but when her path crosses with a member of the notorious mercenary group known as Fate’s Vultures, she’s faced with a less than stellar choice – join the sexy as hell Ruin in a mockery of teamwork or waste her valuable time shaking him loose. As one of Fate’s Vultures, a nomadic band of ruthless arbitrators, Ruin knows well the type of carnage created by the corruption and greed of what remains of humanity, so when he rides into a brutal murder scene and discovers his friend has been taken hostage, he’ll use whatever resources he can to save him. Even if one of those resources is a damn ‘Hound who’s clearly trouble. Trouble, Ruin knows he should avoid, especially since the suspicious circumstance of Charity’s involvement leaves every cell of his body skeptical - and painfully aroused. But Fate has other plans, especially when Ruin and Charity realize they have a common enemy. Can they set aside their distrust to achieve their mutual goal of justice and revenge? Sometimes, it's better to stick with the devil you know... ****** ****** ****** ****** ****** ****** ****** ****** Dare to find out why readers are binging on this complete post-apocalyptic romance series from Jami Gray with this first in series, LYING IN RUINS and claim your copy now! Meet a new breed of warriors, Fate’s Vultures, a mercenary band who live by a code in a world gone to hell – loyalty to each other, but for the right price, they’ll be the shield for those without. In the ravaged aftermath of the post-apocalyptic these evocative couples will stop at nothing to claim their future. Welcome to the world of The Collapse. "This is a sexy Mad Max that keeps you turning the pages." - Amazon Review "I'm always looking for a good post-apocalyptic romance to sink my teeth into. This book delivered!" - Amazon Review ****** ****** ****** ****** ****** ****** ****** ****** *This is a revised edition of previously released title
The Architecture of Ruins: Designs on the Past, Present and Future identifies an alternative and significant history of architecture from the sixteenth century to the twenty-first century, in which a building is designed, occupied and imagined as a ruin. This design practice conceives a monument and a ruin as creative, interdependent and simultaneous themes within a single building dialectic, addressing temporal and environmental questions in poetic, psychological and practical terms, and stimulating questions of personal and national identity, nature and culture, weather and climate, permanence and impermanence and life and death. Conceiving a building as a dialogue between a monument and a ruin intensifies the already blurred relations between the unfinished and the ruined and envisages the past, the present and the future in a single architecture. Structured around a collection of biographies, this book conceives a monument and a ruin as metaphors for a life and means to negotiate between a self and a society. Emphasising the interconnections between designers and the particular ways in which later architects learned from earlier ones, the chapters investigate an evolving, interdisciplinary design practice to show the relevance of historical understanding to design. Like a history, a design is a reinterpretation of the past that is meaningful to the present. Equally, a design is equivalent to a fiction, convincing users to suspend disbelief. We expect a history or a novel to be written in words, but they can also be delineated in drawing, cast in concrete or seeded in soil. The architect is a ‘physical novelist’ as well as a ‘physical historian’. Like building sites, ruins are full of potential. In revealing not only what is lost, but also what is incomplete, a ruin suggests the future as well as the past. As a stimulus to the imagination, a ruin’s incomplete and broken forms expand architecture’s allegorical and metaphorical capacity, indicating that a building can remain unfinished, literally and in the imagination, focusing attention on the creativity of users as well as architects. Emphasising the symbiotic relations between nature and culture, a building designed, occupied and imagined as a ruin acknowledges the coproduction of multiple authors, whether human, non-human or atmospheric, and is an appropriate model for architecture in an era of increasing climate change.
Paris 1870. Raised for a life of parties and servants, Camille and Mariele have much in common, but it takes the horrors of war to bring them together to fight for the city and people they love. The story of two women whose families were caught up in the defense of Paris is deeply moving and suspenseful ~~ Margaret George, author of Splendor Before the Dark: A Novel of the Emperor Nero Tod is not only a good historian, but also an accomplished writer … a gripping, well-limned picture of a time and a place that provide universal lessons ~~ Kirkus Reviews. A few weeks after the abdication of Napoleon III, the Prussian army lays siege to Paris. Camille Noisette, the daughter of a wealthy family, volunteers to nurse wounded soldiers and agrees to spy on a group of radicals plotting to overthrow the French government. Her future sister-in-law, Mariele de Crécy, is appalled by the gaps between rich and poor. She volunteers to look after destitute children whose families can barely afford to eat. Somehow, Camille and Mariele must find the courage and strength to endure months of devastating siege, bloody civil war, and great personal risk. Through it all, an unexpected friendship grows between the two women, as they face the destruction of Paris and discover that in war women have as much to fight for as men. War has a way of teaching lessons—if only Camille and Mariele can survive long enough to learn them. M.K. Tod's elegant style and uncanny eye for time and place again shine through in her riveting new tale, Paris in Ruins ~~ Jeffrey K. Walker author of No Hero’s Welcome
