Roy's just an ordinary teenager. So when he relocates to a non-descript town in Middle America, he decides to invent himself a new life with crazy stories and tales about his heroic escapades with his secret-agent dad. But after a freak storm, all his attempts at creating a persona pail in comparison to a strange new world in which he finds himself as the lynch-pin to a cosmic event in which he must navigate his way through multiple worlds, fight off evil wizards, battle mechanized warriors, and handle an army of the undead while trying to save the universe
This is a must-read for World War II buffs! The narrative was written from the perspective of an Eastern European youngster growing up on the losing side of the conflict during the war years. This is a saga that spans Paris in the 1930s to Sofia, Bulgarias capital, in May 1940, just prior to the victorious Nazi armies that paraded in Paris on June 14, 1940. At the time of their arrival in Sofia, Bulgaria remained neutral. On March 1, 1941, Bulgaria joined the Axis and later on declared war on the USA and Great Britain. That action invited the systematic bombing of Sofia, resulting in the family having to relocate to a safer location. The chosen location was in what used to be Northern Greece, a city called Serres, where the family lived until the fall of 1944 when the German armies were forced to retreat, which meant that the family had to move back to Sofia. At the end of the war, the family decided to leave Bulgaria as soon as possible. In spite of many obstacles, the family was able to reunite in Prague and, from there, spent some time in a couple of displaced persons (DP) camps in Rome and Naples. Eventually, they sailed from Naples to Buenos Aires and five years later, flew to New York City, the final desired destination.
You know the type of book. Some insufferable backpacker leaves behind his perfectly good life in the U.S. for a hot, disease-infested hellhole to eat grub worms, catch giardia and build mud huts with the locals - then has the nerve to claim the experience was enlightening! This is not that type of book. This is travel from a whole new perspective - that of the worst traveler in the world, Dan Fazio. He hasn't written another "Eat, Pray, Love" - it's actually more like "Panic, Sweat, Curse." Fazio's idea of international travel involves relaxing in a Mediterranean villa and stuffing himself with various cured meats. Unfortunately, his wife was drawn to the whole grub worms and giardia thing, and she managed to drag him along on a grueling 10-month death march through Europe, Southeast Asia, South America and Mexico. Shattering romantic travel illusions about swimming in waterfalls or picking olives on a pastoral Tuscan ranch, Fazio reads a bit like Chuck Klosterman if he were being carted around the globe in Bill Bryson's backpack - and reveals that the average traveler spends most of his time puking, being puked on, about to die in a fiery bus crash - or all of the above simultaneously.
Addressing a broad range of losses, The Reluctant Traveler provides space for journaling, as well as tips and tools for working through the grieving process. In addition to many real-life examples, it provides a combination of meditations, guided exercises, and suggested readings.
Meredith and her troubled teenage niece Kimberly find themselves in an unknown, medieval-like land, the home of her exotic childhood friends. Meredith eventually reunites with Lox-a man even more charismatic and intriguing than the boy she remembered-but the pleasure of their reunion soon evaporates in a cloud of confusion and betrayal.
"Daddy, tell us a story." That is what my sister and I would tell our father as he tucked us into bed each night. The stories were always about London, Siberia, China or Japan. We realized, as we grew older that these were true stories of a great adventure he had experienced. This book is a historical novel based on the true story of a young deserter from the British Army during the little known Allied Intervention into Russia and Siberia after the Russian Revolution, during 1918 and 1919.
Riley, a teen orphan boy living in Victorian London, has had the misfortune of being apprenticed to Albert Garrick, an illusionist who has fallen on difficult times and now uses his unique conjuring skills to gain access to victims' dwellings. On one such escapade, Garrick brings his reluctant apprentice along and urges him to commit his first killing. Riley is saved from having to commit the grisly act when the intended victim turns out to be a scientist from the future, part of the FBI's Witness Anonymous Relocation Program (WARP) Riley is unwittingly transported via wormhole to modern day London, followed closely by Garrick. In modern London, Riley is helped by Chevron Savano, a nineteen-year-old FBI agent sent to London as punishment after a disastrous undercover, anti-terrorist operation in Los Angeles. Together Riley and Chevie must evade Garrick, who has been fundamentally altered by his trip through the wormhole. Garrick is now not only evil, but he also possesses all of the scientist's knowledge. He is determined to track Riley down and use the timekey in Chevie's possession to make his way back to Victorian London where he can literally change the world.
From the author of the award-winning Moth Smoke comes a perspective on love, prejudice, and the war on terror that has never been seen in North American literature. At a café table in Lahore, a bearded Pakistani man converses with a suspicious, and possibly armed, American stranger. As dusk deepens to night, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful meeting. . . Changez is living an immigrant’s dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by Underwood Samson, an elite firm that specializes in the “valuation” of companies ripe for acquisition. He thrives on the energy of New York and the intensity of his work, and his infatuation with regal Erica promises entrée into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore. For a time, it seems as though nothing will stand in the way of Changez’s meteoric rise to personal and professional success. But in the wake of September 11, he finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned, and his budding relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past. And Changez’s own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and perhaps even love. Elegant and compelling, Mohsin Hamid’s second novel is a devastating exploration of our divided and yet ultimately indivisible world. “Excuse me, sir, but may I be of assistance? Ah, I see I have alarmed you. Do not be frightened by my beard: I am a lover of America. I noticed that you were looking for something; more than looking, in fact you seemed to be on a mission, and since I am both a native of this city and a speaker of your language, I thought I might offer you my services as a bridge.” —from The Reluctant Fundamentalist
If Saul and Agnes don't do something their den will be destroyed. But the title deeds that could save it were lost in 1914. Good job they know the secret of time travel!Still, is travelling back in time to a world on the verge of war really a good idea? When Agnes disappears Saul has no choice -- he can't let her go to the past on her own.100 years before their own time, Saul and Agnes meet a brother and sister, servants at a big house where a sinister visitor is expected. Together the new friends try to uncover the mystery but Saul and Agnes know time is running out. Soon a war will begin: can they risk altering the past, the present and their future?This fun, time-twisting sequel to The Accidental Time Traveller -- winner of the Scottish Children's Book Award 2013 -- is full of historical details about World War One and will bring early-twentieth-century Scotland to life for young readers.
Follow a reluctant wife and her excited husband through two humorously-conflicted years of RV travel. He wanted to go; she wanted to stay. They both learn, grow, and change as a new level of freedom evolves. This book is light-hearted and humorous but at the same time serious. While not a How-To book, it gives lots of basic information about RVing. And while not a travelogue, it touches upon many travel destinations in the United States and Canada. On deeper levels, the book is about marital relationships, retiring and getting old, and finding a new kind of freedom through a minimalistic lifestyle. After reading this book, you'll never again look at one of those huge monstrosities driving down the road in quite the same way. The book answers questions for non-RVers and triggers chuckles of recognition from experienced RVers.
