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Joseph DiMercurio

Joe DiMercurio works as a librarian in Southern California.  Well into his third career, he started in the private sector, taught ESL and English at the middle and high school levels and is finally at home where his love of reading and interest in gadgets and technology come together.  He lives with his wife and cats in a suburb of Los Angeles.

Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott

Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott

Sat, May 01, 2010

English schoolmaster and theologian, best known as the author of the mathematical satire and religious allegory Flatland (1884), Edwin Abbott was educated at the City of London School and at St John's College, Cambridge, where he took the highest honors in classics, mathematics and theology, and became fellow of his college. He succeeded G. F. Mortimer as headmaster of the City of London School in 1865 at the early age of twenty-six. He retired in 1889, and devoted himself to literary and theological pursuits. Dr. Abbott's liberal inclinations in theology were prominent both in his educational views and in his books. His Shakespearian Grammar (1870) is a permanent contribution to English philology. In 1885 he published a life of Francis Bacon. His theological writings include three anonymously published religious romances - Philochristus (1878), Onesimus (1882), and Sitanus (1906).

Known to Evil by Walter Mosley

Known to Evil by Walter Mosley

Sat, May 01, 2010

A genre-bending author who can move from science-fiction to mysteries, Walter Mosley is perhaps best-known -- and loved -- for his 1940s and ‘50s noir crime novels starring the cool, complex detective Easy Rawlins.

The Zimmerman Telegram by Barbara Tuchman

The Zimmerman Telegram by Barbara Tuchman

Tue, Jun 01, 2010

Barbara W. Tuchman achieved prominence as a historian with The Zimmermann Telegram, and international fame with The Guns of August -- a huge bestseller and winner of the Pulitzer Prize. There followed other successes, including The Proud Tower, Stilwell and the American Experience in China (also awarded the Pulitzer Prize), A Distant Mirror, The First Salute, and The March of Folly.

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Tue, Jun 01, 2010

Joseph Conrad was born in the Ukraine in 1857 and grew up under Tsarist autocracy. In 1874 Conrad traveled to Marseilles, where he served in French merchant vessels before joining a British ship in 1878 as an apprentice. In 1886 he obtained British nationality. Eight years later he left the sea to devote himself to writing, publishing his first novel, Almayer's Folly, in 1895. The following year he settled in Kent, where he produced within fifteen years such modern classics as Youth, Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, Typhoon, Nostromo, The Secret Agent and Under Western Eyes. He continued to write until his death in 1924.

Freeze Frame by Peter May

Freeze Frame by Peter May

Sun, Aug 01, 2010

Peter May won the Scottish Young Journalist of the Year Award at 21 and had his first novel published at 26. He went on to become a successful Scottish television dramatist. He lives in France with his wife Janice Halley.

Dark is the Sun by Philip Jose Farmer

Dark is the Sun by Philip Jose Farmer

Wed, Sep 01, 2010

Three-time Hugo Award winner, Philip Jose Farmer is best known for his Riverworld Series

The Sheen on the Silk by Anne Perry

The Sheen on the Silk by Anne Perry

Wed, Sep 01, 2010

Anne Perry is the bestselling author of two acclaimed series set in Victorian England: the William Monk novels and the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novels She is also the author of the World War I novels No Graves As Yet, Shoulder the Sky, Angels in the Gloom, At Some Disputed Barricade, and We Shall Not Sleep, as well as six holiday novels, most recently A Christmas Grace. Anne Perry lives in Scotland.

Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson

Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson

Fri, Oct 01, 2010

Neal Stephenson is the author of seven previous novels. He lives in Seattle, Washington.

*Odalisque by Neal Stephenson

*Odalisque by Neal Stephenson

Sun, May 01, 2011

Neal Stephenson is the author of the three-volume historical epic “The Baroque Cycle” (Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World) and the novels Cryptonomicon, The Diamond Age, Snow Crash, and Zodiac.

The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey by Walter Mosley

The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey by Walter Mosley

Sun, May 01, 2011

Walter Mosley is one of America's most celebrated and best-known writers. His books have been translated into more than twenty-one languages. He is the winner of numerous awards, including an O. Henry Award, a Grammy, and PEN America's Lifetime Achievement Award.

Notes from the Underground  by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Mon, Nov 01, 2010

Born in Moscow in 1821, Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoevsky is regarded as one of the greatest writers who ever lived. Literary modernism and various schools of psychology and theology have been deeply changed by his ideas. He died in 1881 in St Petersburg, Russia.

The Sign of the Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Sign of the Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Sun, Oct 31, 2010

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) published the first Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet, in 1887, and the popularity of the famed sleuth singularly determined the author's enduring legacy. But in addition to his mysteries, nonfiction, and historical works, Doyle enjoyed many adventures of his own. In 1900 he traveled to South Africa as a war-time physician in Cape Town; his treatise on the Boer War earned him a knighthood in 1902. During World War I, Conan Doyle served as a war correspondent. And from 1920 until his death in 1930, the author wrote, traveled, and lectured to promote his belief in spiritualism.

*King of the Vagabonds by Neal Stephenson

*King of the Vagabonds by Neal Stephenson

Wed, Dec 01, 2010

Neal Stephenson is the author of seven previous novels. He lives in Seattle, Washington.

Zero History by William Gibson

Zero History by William Gibson

Tue, Feb 01, 2011

William Gibson lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, with his wife. He is the author of Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive, Burning Chrome, Virtual Light, Idoru, All Tomorrow's Parties, Pattern Recognition, and Spook Country.

Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd

Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd

Tue, Mar 01, 2011

William Boyd is the author of ten novels, including A Good Man in Africa, winner of the Whitbread Award and the Somerset Maugham Award; An Ice-Cream War, winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and shortlisted for the Booker Prize; Brazzaville Beach, winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize; Any Human Heart, winner of the Prix Jean Monnet; and Restless, winner of the Costa Novel of the Year.

The Calcutta Chromosome by Amitav Ghosh

The Calcutta Chromosome by Amitav Ghosh

Sun, May 01, 2011

Writer and anthropologist Amitav Ghosh was born in Calcutta in 1956 and spent his childhood in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and northern India. He studied in Delhi, Oxford and Egypt, and has taught in various Indian and American universities.He is the author of three books:The Circle of Reason, The Shadow Lines and In An Antique Land and has written for The New Yorker, Granta, The New Republic andThe New York Times. Mr. Ghosh and his wife, Deborah Baker, live in New York with their two children.

Velocity by Alan Jacobson

Velocity by Alan Jacobson

Thu, Sep 01, 2011

Actress, voiceover artist and singer/songwriter Deanna Hurst captures this complicated story with its multiple characters and frantic story line

All Cry Chaos by Leonard Rosen

All Cry Chaos by Leonard Rosen

Sat, Jan 01, 2011

“Usually a nonfiction writer, Leonard Rosen blends finance, religion, science and intrigue into a story as intricate as it is compelling.”

*A Thousand Cuts by Simon Lelic

*A Thousand Cuts by Simon Lelic

Wed, Feb 01, 2012

In most mysteries it is who that is the question but, in A Thousand Cuts who is never in question.

The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco

The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco

Thu, Mar 01, 2012

“Narrator George Guidall’s reading is spot on in his characterizations of Simonini, Dalla Piccola and the myriad of historical figures that populate The Prague Cemetery.”

Currency by Neal Stephenson

Currency by Neal Stephenson

Sun, Apr 01, 2012

". . . raucous, tangled, funny and totally engaging