Random House, Inc.

The Dud Avocado follows the romantic and comedic adventures of a young American who heads overseas to conquer Paris in the late 1950s. Edith Wharton and Henry James wrote about the American girl abroad, but it was Elaine Dundy's Sally Jay Gorce who told us what she was really thinking. Charming, sexy, and hilarious, The Dud Avocado gained instant cult status when it was first published and it remains a timeless portrait of a woman hell-bent on living. I had to tell someone how much I enjoyed The Dud Avocado. It made me laugh, scream, and guffaw (which, incidentally, is a great name for a law firm).

Masanobu Fukuoka's book about growing food has been changing the lives of readers since it was first published in 1978. It is a call to arms, a manifesto, and a radical rethinking of the global systems we rely on to feed us all. It is also the memoir of a man whose spiritual beliefs underpin and inform every aspect of his innovative farming system. Equal parts farmer and philosopher, Fukuoka is recognized as one of the founding thinkers of the permaculture movement. Fukuoka perfected his so-called do-nothing technique, a way of farming that seeks to work with nature rather than make it over through increasingly elaborate-and often harmful — methods. His farm became a gathering place for people from all over the world who wished to adapt his ways to their own local cultures.

Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum's life is set to blow sky high when international murder hits dangerously close to home, in this dynamite novel by Janet Evanovich. Before Stephanie can even step foot off Flight 127 Hawaii to Newark, she's knee deep in trouble. Her dream vacation turned into a nightmare, and she's flying back to New Jersey solo. Worse still, her seatmate never returned to the plane after the L.A. layover. Now he's dead — and a ragtag collection of thugs and psychos, not to mention the FBI, are all looking for a photograph he was supposed to be carrying. Only one person has seen the missing photo: Stephanie Plum. Now she's the target. An FBI sketch artist helps Stephanie re-create the person in the photo, but Stephanie's descriptive skills are lacking. Until she can improve them, she'll need to watch her back. Over at the bail bonds agency things are going from bad to worse. Vinnie's temporary HQ has gone up in smoke. Stephanie's wheelman, Lula, falls for their largest skip yet. Lifetime arch nemesis Joyce Barnhardt moves into Stephanie's apartment. And everyone wants to know what happened in Hawaii? Morelli, Trenton's hottest cop, isn't talking about Hawaii. Ranger, the man of mystery, isn't talking about Hawaii. And all Stephanie is willing to say about her Hawaiian vacation is... It's complicated.

The partners at Finley & Figg — all two of them — often refer to themselves as a boutique law firm. Boutique, as in chic, selective, and prosperous. They are, of course, none of these things. What they are is a two-bit operation always in search of their big break, ambulance chasers who've been in the trenches much too long making way too little. Their specialties, so to speak, are quickie divorces and DUIs, with the occasional jackpot of an actual car wreck thrown in. After twenty plus years together, Oscar Finley and Wally Figg bicker like an old married couple but somehow continue to scratch out a half-decent living from their seedy bungalow offices in southwest Chicago.

Simplicity looks easy. It's not. It's easier to complicate than simplify. This book presents stunningly simple examples of concepts that have changed the world — from the single piece of paper that became the American Declaration of Independence, giving birth to the most powerful nation in the history of the world, to the symbol and line that enables us to write music. Thought-provoking and incisive, Brutal Simplicity of Thought is the distillation, in words and pictures, of the Saatchi method of creativity. Whether you are a student, a manager, self-employed or a CEO, this book has something to teach us all: simplicity rules.

Lorraine Bracco loves The Silent Girl, saying She did it to me again! I can't get anything done when Tess puts out a new book and this one caught me as I was starting work on Season 2 of Rizzoli & Isles. So instead of memorizing my lines, I was sucked up into Boston's Chinatown with Jane, Maura, and company and could not put this one down. Just like the other books. Every time. And to top it off, now I have to wait for the NEXT one to come out — you're killing me, Tess! So good...

The closing of the grand old Fauborg Hotel in Beverly Hills is a sad occasion for longtime patrons Alex Delaware and Robin Castagna, who go there one last time for cocktails. But even more poignant — and curious — is a striking young woman in elegant attire and dark glasses, alone there and waiting in vain. Two days later, police detective Milo Sturgis comes seeking his psychologist comrade's insights about a grisly homicide. To Alex's shock, the brutalized victim is the same beautiful woman whose lonely hours sipping champagne at the Fauborg may have been her last. But when a sordid revelation finally cracks the case open, the secrets that spill out could make Alex and Milo's best efforts to close this crime not just impossible but fatal.

Thirteen year old Madison has problems: she's overweight, ignored by her movie star parents, and in love with her adopted brother. She's also dead. But not just dead. Madison is in Hell. Chuck Palahniuk's latest, Damned, takes us on Madison's journey through Hell, as she navigates the Hillocks of Discarded Nail Pairings and the River of Vomit, meeting everyone from Charles Darwin to Marilyn Monroe, with a colorful cast of characters (damned for unspeakable acts, like wearing white shoes after Labor Day), to determine why she's really there, and whether she will be damned for eternity. In Damned, Hell really does exist, as a place where your only career choice is telemarketer (yes, that's where those calls actually originate), the currency is Halloween candy, and 'the in-flight movie is always The English Patient, never The Breakfast Club'. With witty, laugh-out-loud prose, and a twist like only Palahniuk can write, this dark comedic novel is sure to be ranked among his best.

Set against the backdrop of the collapsing Ottoman Empire, the Gallipoli campaign and the subsequent bitter struggle between Greeks and Turks, Birds Without Wings traces the fortunes of one small community in south-west Anatolia — a town in which Christian and Muslim lives and traditions have co-existed peacefully for centuries. When war is declared and the outside world intrudes, the twin scourges of religion and nationalism lead to forced marches and massacres, and the peaceful fabric of life is destroyed. Philothei, a Christian girl of legendary beauty, and Ibrahim the Goatherd who has courted her since infancy are but two of the many casualties. With the end of a community that once transcended religious differences, their great love seems destined to end in tragedy and madness...

The publication of Feel: Robbie Williams by Chris Heath in September 2004 caused shockwaves of controversy, delight and book-buying. Finally, after years of rumour and lies, the complete, intimate story of Robert P Williams has been written. Spanning his childhood through Take That to his current status as rock icon, probing his love life and his family relationships, this book takes you closer than you ever thought you'd get to Robbie Williams. Written by Chris Heath, who spent nearly two years working with Rob on this book, every word is imbued with Rob's humour, charisma, talent, memories and complexity. But more than ever before, this book tells the truth about his extraordinary life. Billy Connolly told his story through his wife, and with Rolling Stone journalist, Chris Heath, Robbie's own story has been brilliantly and insightfully told. You may have seen his face a million times, heard his music every day, followed him from the beginning of Take That, but this is a man with some serious surprises in store. This is a groundbreaking book; truly original and brilliantly written; a grippingly honest story of an extraordinary man.

'Surround yourself with human beings, my dear James. They are easier to fight for than principles'. In Casino Royale, the first of Fleming's 007 adventures, a game of cards is James Bond's only chance to bring down the desperate SMERSH agent Le Chiffre. But Bond soon discovers that there is far more at stake than money.

The benefits of living in a digital, globalised society are enormous; but so too are the dangers. The world has become a law enforcer's nightmare and every criminal's dream. We bank online, shop online, date, learn, work and live online. But have the institutions that keep us safe on the streets learned to protect us in the burgeoning digital world? Have we become complacent about our personal security — sharing our thoughts, beliefs and the details of our daily lives with anyone who cares to relieve us of them? In this fascinating and compelling book, Misha Glenny explores the three fundamental threats facing us in the 21st century: cyber crime, cyber warfare and cyber industrial espionage. The result is simply unputdownable. DarkMarket is authoritative and completely engrossing. It's a must-read for everyone who uses a computer: the essential crime book for our times.

The meticulously dismembered body of a woman is discovered in the grounds of an abandoned monastery. 'Too decomposed for standard autopsy. Request anthropologic expertise'. Enter Dr Temperance Brennan, Director of Forensic Anthropology for the province of Quebec, who has been researching recent disappearances in the city. Despite the deep cynicism of Detective Claudel who heads the investigation, Brennan is convinced that a serial killer is at work. Her forensic expertise finally convinces Claudel, but only after the body count has risen... Tempe takes matters into her own hands, but her determined probing places those closest to her in mortal danger. Can Tempe make her crucial breakthrough, before the killer strikes again?

In the winter of 1952, Isabel Carey moves to the East Riding of Yorkshire with her husband Philip, a GP. With Philip spending long hours on call, Isabel finds herself isolated and lonely as she strives to adjust to the realities of married life. Woken by intense cold one night, she discovers an old RAF greatcoat hidden in the back of a cupboard. Sleeping under it for warmth, she starts to dream. And not long afterwards, while her husband is out, she is startled by a knock at her window. Outside is a young RAF pilot, waiting to come in. His name is Alec, and his powerful presence both disturbs and excites her. Her initial alarm soon fades, and they begin an intense affair. But nothing has prepared her for the truth about Alec's life, nor the impact it will have on hers...

Semyon is disturbed. He has woken up in the living room with blood on his shirt, an angry wife and no idea where he was the night before. After waking to find his boots and overcoat damp on several mornings in a row, Semyon realises his excursions are a nightly occurrence. Concerned for his own safety and for the security of his marriage, he asks his friend and business partner Volodka to follow him on his nocturnal wanderings. The next morning, Volodka gives Semyon a full report. He left the apartment a little after 2 a.m. and walked several blocks until he encountered a tall blonde, whom he kissed and accompanied to her door. But when he visits the address in the daytime, the bemused Semyon doesn't recognise the location. And stranger yet, someone has been watching Volodka watching Semyon. As the adventure unfurls, an unemployed sniffer-dog handler makes a dangerous discovery, a single mother provides breast milk for an unusual recipient, and a vengeful cat is on the loose. All in all, there are some very strange goings-on in Kiev.

A successful lawyer and loving mother, Nina Bloom would do anything to protect the life she's built in New York — including lying to everyone, even her daughter, about her past. But when an innocent man is framed for murder, she knows that she can't let him pay for the real killer's crimes. Nina's secret life began eighteen years ago. She had looks to die for, a handsome police-officer husband, and a carefree life in Key West. When she learned she was pregnant with their first child, her happiness was almost overwhelming. But Nina's world is shattered when she unearths a terrible secret that causes her to run for her life and change her identity. Now, years later, Nina risks everything she's earned to return to Florida and confront the murderous evil she fled. In a story of wrenching suspense, James Patterson gives us his most head-spinning, action-filled story yet — a Hitchcock-like blend of unquenchable drama and pleasure.

One of the world's most brilliant economists and the bestselling author of The End of Poverty, Jeffrey Sachs has written a book that is essential reading for everyone — politicians, people in business and industry, and you. Setting out a bold and provocative, yet responsible and achievable, plan, The Price of Civilization reveals why we must — and how we can — change our entire economic culture in this time of crisis. The world economy remains in a precarious state after the recent global recession — where quick fixes were implemented instead of sustainable solutions to systemic problems. Jeffrey Sachs argues powerfully for a new co-operative, common-sense political economy, one that stresses practical partnership between government and the private sector, demands competence in both arenas and occasionally insists on carefully chosen public and private sacrifices. In this new era of global capitalism, Sachs believes that we have to forget partisanship and solve these enormous problems together, clinically and holistically, just as one would approach the eradication of a disease. The Price of Civilization explains how government can be made to reform corporate culture by fairly policing compensation but not stifling competition and forced to improve our energy infrastructure by both taxing emissions and providing market incentives for innovation. Sachs shows how government, business and citizens can find common ground — on bank accountability, the decentralising of social services and taxing the super-rich — as a way to achieve our shared goals of efficiency, equity and sustainability. Sparing no-one but potentially benefiting us all, The Price of Civilization is a masterful roadmap, a programme designed to bridge seemingly impossible divides in our society and a way forward that we — and our leaders — ignore at our peril.

Robert Sheckley was science fiction's in-house reply to the black humorists of the 1950s and 60s: Bruce Jay Friedman, Terry Southern, and the young Thomas Pynchon were his nonetoo-distant relatives; Mort Sahl's comedy, Charles Schultz's cartoons, and Tom Lehrer's songs all mined similar veins. Sheckley targeted the conformity and consumerism of our mid-century technotopia while it was still under construction. His new worlds, alternate universes, and future dystopias have only become more present with the passing years, even as his career, played out both in the pulp magazines and in front-line venues like «Playboy» and «Omni» is a glimpse of a time when «science fiction writer» could be a kind of hipster credential. Mordant, absurdist, and deadpan, the best of Sheckley's dissident farces represent science fiction's high-water mark as an allegorical clearinghouse for twenty-century angst.

For five hundred years, the survivors of the Great Wars lived peacefully in a valley sanctuary shielded by powerful magic from the dangerous outside world. But the enchanted barriers have crumbled, and the threat of annihilation looms large once more. As he lay dying, Sider Ament, bearer of the last black staff and protector of the valley, gave stewardship of the powerful talisman to the young Tracker Panterra Qu. Now the newly anointed Knight of the Word must take up the battle against evil wherever it threatens: from without, where an army of bloodthirsty Trolls is massing for invasion; and from within, where the Elf king of Arborlon has been murdered, his daughter stands accused, and a heinous conspiracy is poised to subjugate the kingdom. But even these affairs will pale beside the most harrowing menace Panterra is destined to confront — a nameless, merciless agent of darkness on a relentless mission: to claim the last black staff... and the life of whoever wields it.

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. And a strange collection of very curious photographs. It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children who once lived here — one of whom was his own grandfather — were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a desolate island for good reason. And somehow — impossible though it seems — they may still be alive. A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.

While Lady Angeline Dudley's pedigree dictates that she must land a titled gentleman, the irrepressible beauty longs for a simple, ordinary suitor. So when Edward Ailsbury, the new Earl of Heyward, defends her honor with unmatched civility, Angeline thinks that she has found true love. Persuading the earl is another matter entirely. From her unconventional fashion sense to her hoydenish antics, Angeline is the last woman on earth for Edward. And yet a stolen kiss awakens something primal within him. Naturally, being a gentleman, he does the right thing after compromising a lady: He offers marriage. The proposal is born of duty, but will Angeline cause Edward to forget about decorum behind closed doors, where sensuality and seduction play wicked games? For a proper wife by day can become a husband's secret mistress by night, when delicious desire rules.

Zagazoo is a baby like no other. In this quite exceptional picture book, young readers will be delighted by the hilarious and unexpected changes in his behaviour as Zagazoo grows up. Parents may detect some strange echoes of family life.

W. Somerset Maugham was one of the seminal writers of the twentieth century, and his travel writing has long been considered among his finest work. Now, acclaimed travel writer Pico Iyer maps out a masterful tour of these vivid, evocative pieces that are collected here for the first time. Maugham worked as a secret agent in Russia, published novels in London, staged plays in New York, and traveled throughout Europe, Asia, India, and the United States, chronicling his travels, wherever he went, with exceptional insight. Beginning with In the Land of the Blessed Virgin and culminating in A Partial View, Iyer selects vignettes of Maugham's razor-sharp prose that track his transformation from a boyish traveler in Spain to a worldly man of letters. This is Maugham at his most keenly observant, direct, and powerful.

A brilliant new translation of the work that Herman Hesse called the first great masterpiece of European storytelling. In the summer of 1348, with the plague ravaging Florence, ten young men and women take refuge in the countryside, where they entertain themselves with tales of love, death, and corruption, featuring a host of characters, from lascivious clergymen and mad kings to devious lovers and false miracle-makers. Named after the Greek for ten days, Boccaccio's book of stories draws on ancient mythology, contemporary history, and everyday life, and has influenced the work of myriad writers who came after him. J. G. Nichols's new translation, faithful to the original but rendered in eminently readable modern English, captures the timeless humor of one of the great classics of European literature.