Other books that might interest you

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  Late City

  Robert Olen Butler

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  A visionary and poignant novel centered around former newspaperman Sam Cunningham as he prepares to die, Late City covers much of the early twentieth century, unfurling as a conversation between the dying man and a surprising God. As the two review Sam's life, from his childhood in the American South to his fledgling newspaper career in Chicago in the Roaring Twenties and the decades that follow, snippets of history are brought sharply into focus. 
   
   
   
  Sam grows up in Louisiana, with a harsh father, who he comes to resent both for his physical abuse and for what Sam eventually perceives as his flawed morality. Eager to escape and prove himself, Sam enlists in the army as a sniper while still underage. The hardness his father instilled in him helps him make it out of World War I alive, but, as he recounts these tales on his deathbed, we come to realize that it also prevents him from contending with the emotional wounds of war. Back in the US, Sam moves to Chicago to begin a career as a newspaperman. There he meets his wife and has a son, whose fate counters Sam's at almost every turn. 
   
   
   
  As he contemplates his relationships—with his parents, his brothers in arms, his wife, his editor, and most importantly, his son—Sam is amazed at what he still has left to learn about himself after all these years.

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  Murder in the Gunroom

  H. Beam Piper

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  The Lane Fleming collection of early pistols and revolvers was one of the best in the country. When Fleming was found dead on the floor of his locked gunroom, a Confederate-made Colt-type percussion .36 revolver in his hand, the coroner's verdict was "death by accident." But Gladys Fleming had her doubts. Enough at any rate to engage Colonel Jefferson Davis Rand-better known just as Jeff-private detective and a pistol-collector himself, to catalogue, appraise, and negotiate the sale of her late husband's collection.There were a number of people who had wanted the collection. The question was: had anyone wanted it badly enough to kill Fleming? And if so, how had he done it? Here is a mystery, told against the fascinating background of old guns and gun-collecting, which is rapid-fire without being hysterical, exciting without losing its contact with reason, and which introduces a personable and intelligent new private detective. It is a story that will keep your nerves on a hair trigger even if you don't know the difference between a cased pair of Paterson .34's and a Texas .40 with a ramming-lever.(Summary from the text)

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  Merton of the Movies

  Harry Leon Wilson

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  Merton of the Movies is a comedy that centers around Merton Gill, an aspiring dramatic artist from Simsbury, Illinois who makes his way to Hollywood to become a serious actor. How could Merton fail in attaining his dreams after finishing a correspondence course from the General Film Production Company of Stebbinsville, Arkansas, certifying him to be a competent screen actor?Harry Leon Wilson, the author, was a very popular humor writer in the first decades of the 20th century. This book was made into film several times, the last in 1947 starring Red Skelton. (Summary written by Margaret.)

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  Canary Island Song

  Robin Jones Gunn

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  Prodded by her grown daughter to "get a life," Carolyn takes a break from her widowed San Francisco existence to celebrate her mother's 70th birthday in the Canary Islands. As her mother's gentle affection and the islands' soothing allure soften Carolyn's heart, a Flamenco dance lesson, a defining camel ride, and the steady gaze of an old flame reawaken feelings she thought were forever gone. "Gunn is adept at . imbuing [light fiction] with the hallmarks of literary fiction. The characters are multidimensional and ring true ." -Publishers Weekly

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  The Uncertain Land and Other Poems

  Patrick O’Brian, Nikolai Tolstoy

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  The first ever collection of poems by the acclaimed author of the Aubrey/Maturin series of Napoleonic naval adventures. 
  As we have stood with Jack and Stephen on the deck of the Surprise and other ships, readers around the world have been transported to a place and time at once familiar and exotic, routine and dramatic. 
  At all times, Patrick O’Brian’s deep knowledge of the period and profound empathy with the landscape of the sea has ensured there is always a firm hand on the tiller. The writer’s command of language is combined with the poet’s eye for visual detail to remarkable, and unforgettable effect. 
  In The Uncertain Land and Other Poems, those same strengths are vividly displayed as O’Brian leads us on a journey through his own life. Here, we see a writer full of a young man’s spirit, challenging life, and here an author reflecting an old man’s melancholy at youth gone; in between, as he describes the places that he lived and people that he encountered, are poems of sly observation, wry humour and delicate beauty. 
  Through more than 100 poems, O’Brian reveals insights into the world that captivated him while he was at work on a succession of novels that would reach its apotheosis in the Aubrey/Maturin adventures, which would secure his reputation as ‘the Homer of the Napoleonic Wars’. Intensely personal, allusive and unique, this is the work of a lifetime, published now for the very first time. 
  In The Uncertain Land and Other Poems, bestselling author Patrick O’Brian showcases his historical and literary expertise. His wry humour and sly observation, combined with his deep understanding of the Napoleonic era, make this collection a top pick for fans of short fiction and a testament to O’Brian’s status as a bestseller. 
  For fans of Simon Scarrow (Eagles of the Empire I, II, and III), Iain Pears (The Dream Of Scipio), Antoine Vanner (Britannia's Guile), Robert Harris (V2), and Robert Holdstock (Mythago Wood).

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  Finisterre

  Graham Hurley

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  October, 1944: For the Thousand Year Reich, time is running out. Desperate to avoid the humiliation of unconditional surrender, German intelligence launch Operation Finisterre: a last-ditch plan to enable Hitler to deny the savage logic of a war on two fronts. Success depends on two individuals: Stefan Portisch, a German naval officer washed ashore after the loss of his U-boat and Hector Gomez, who was planted at the American atomic bomb complex. Both men will find themselves fighting for survival as Operation Finisterre plays itself out.

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