Staff Picks

"Since they shot her at point-blank range while she was being kissed, she confused the pain of love with that of death." Rosario Tijeras is the violent, violated character at the center of Jorge Franco's delicately balanced novel, set in self-destructing 1980s Medellin. Her very name evoking bespeaks her conflict as a woman who becomes a contract killer to insulate herself from the random violence of the streets (in a country where it is common practice...

"Durante su larga y fecunda trayectoria profesional, Jorge Bucay ha recurrido siempre a los cuentos no sólo como un mecanismo para ayudar a sus pacientes, sino también como un medio para reflexionar, junto con ellos, en torno a algunas de las preocupaciones fundamentales del ser humano. Este libro, uno de sus más leídos, reúne muchas de estas inspiradoras historias. Se trata de relatos que nos acompañan en el camino e iluminan nuestro...

The monkeys steal the peddler's caps while he is asleep. A band of mischievous monkeys steals every one of a peddler's caps while he takes a nap under a tree. Caps for Sale is a timeless classic, in print for over fifty years, and beloved by generations of readers. This easy-to-read story about a peddler and a band of mischievous monkeys is filled with warmth, humor, and simplicity. Children will delight in following the peddler's efforts to outwit...

"Jane Austen's final novel is her most mature and wickedly satirical. It follows the story of Anne Elliott, a teenager engaged to a seemingly ideal man, Frederick Wentworth. But after being persuaded by her friend Lady Russell that he is too poor to be a suitable match, Anne ends their engagement. When they are reacquainted eight years later, their circumstances are transformed: Frederick is returning triumphantly from the Napoleonic War, while Anne's...

Focusing on the intricate nature of the world around us, as well as the personal relationship we all have to the weather, a National Book Award finalist and visionary writer combining personal stories with history, interviews, scientific research and full-color photos explores the transformative power of weather. --Publisher

In this book Bill Bryson explores the most intriguing and consequential questions that science seeks to answer and attempts to understand everything that has transpired from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization. To that end, Bill Bryson apprenticed himself to a host of the world's most profound scientific minds, living and dead. His challenge is to take subjects like geology, chemistry, paleontology, astronomy, and particle physics and see if...

"When a foreign exchange student comes to live with a typical suburban family, he brings with him a boundless sense of curiosity--and a stream of unexpected questions (which his hosts are never quite sure how to answer). But when the moment comes to say good-bye, a beautiful surprise awaits, and a gift the family will never forget."--Publisher's website.

Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.' A lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic novel - a black man charged with the rape of a white girl.

Ten-year-old Auggie Pullman, who was born with extreme facial abnormalities and was not expected to survive, goes from being home-schooled to entering fifth grade at a private middle school in Manhattan, which entails enduring the taunting and fear of his classmates as he struggles to be seen as just another student.