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NBS recommends gripping reads

PostPosted: November 14th, 2011, 9:35 am
by admin
NBS recommends gripping tales
(The Philippine Star) Updated November 13, 2011 12:00 AMComments (0)




Inheritance
By Christopher Paolini
P695
MANILA, Philippines - Not so very long ago, Eragon — Shadeslayer Dragon Rider — was nothing more than a poor farm boy, and his dragon, Saphira, only a blue stone in the forest. Now, the fate of an entire civilization rests on their shoulders. While long months of training and battle have brought victories and hope, they have also brought heartbreaking losses. However, the real battle still lies ahead: they must confront Galbatorix — and when they do, they will have to be strong enough to defeat him, because if they cannot, no one else can. The Rider and his dragon have come farther than anyone else has dared to hope, but can they topple the evil king and restore justice to Alagaësia? If so, at what cost? This is the much-anticipated, astonishing conclusion to the worldwide bestselling Inheritance cycle.

Zero Day
By David Baldacci
P615
John Puller is a combat veteran and the best military investigator in the US Army’s Criminal Investigative Division. His father was an Army fighting legend, and his brother is serving a life sentence for treason in a federal military prison. Puller has an indomitable spirit and an unstoppable drive to find the truth. Now, Puller is called out on a case in a remote, rural area in West Virginia coal country, far from any military outpost. Someone has stumbled onto a brutal crime scene — a family slaughtered — and the local homicide detective, a headstrong woman with personal demons of her own, joins forces with Puller in this investigation. As Puller digs through deception after deception, he realizes that absolutely nothing he’s seen in this small town, and no one in it, are what they seem. Facing a potential conspiracy that reaches far beyond the hills of West Virginia, he is one man on the hunt for justice against an overwhelming force.

The Lady Of The Rivers
By Philippa Gregory
P1,095
Descended from Melusina, the river goddess, Jacquetta has always had the gift of second sight. As a child visiting her uncle, she met his prisoner, Joan of Arc, and saw her own power reflected in the young woman accused of witchcraft. They shared the mystery of the tarot card of the wheel of fortune before Joan was taken to a horrific death at the hands of the English rulers of France. Jacquetta understands the danger for a woman who dares to dream. Married to the Duke of Bedford, English regent of France, Jacquetta is introduced by him to a mysterious world of learning and alchemy. Her only friend in the great household is the duke’s squire Richard Woodville, who is at her side when the duke’s death leaves her a wealthy young widow. The two become lovers and marry in secret, returning to England to serve at the court of the young King Henry VI, where Jacquetta becomes a close and loyal friend to his new queen. The Woodvilles soon achieve a place at the very heart of the Lancastrian court, though Jacquetta can sense the growing threat from the people of England and the danger of royal rivals. Not even their courage and loyalty can keep the House of Lancaster on the throne. Henry the King slides into a mysterious sleep; Margaret the queen turns to untrustworthy favorites for help; and Richard, Duke of York, threatens to overturn the whole kingdom for his rival dynasty. Jacquetta fights for her king, her queen, and for her daughter Elizabeth for whom Jacquetta can sense an extraordinary and unexpected future, a change of fortune, the throne of England, and the white rose of York.

Lost In The City
By Edward P. Jones
P559

The nation’s capital that serves as the setting for the stories in Edward P. Jones’s prizewinning collection, Lost in the City, lies far from the city of historic monuments and national politicians. Jones takes the reader beyond that world into the lives of African American men and women who work against the constant threat of loss to maintain a sense of hope. From “The Girl Who Raised Pigeons” to the well-to-do career woman awakened in the night by a phone call that will take her on a journey back to the past, the characters in these stories forge bonds of community as they struggle against the limits of their city to stave off the loss of family, friends, memories, and, ultimately, themselves. Critically acclaimed upon its publication, Lost in the City introduced Jones as an undeniable talent and a writer whose unaffected style is not only evocative and forceful but is also filled with insight and poignancy.

The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao
By Junot Diaz
P595

Things have never been easy for Oscar, a sweet but disastrously overweight, lovesick Dominican ghetto nerd. From his home in New Jersey, where he lives with his old-world mother and rebellious sister, Oscar dreams of becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien and, most of all, of finding love. But he may never get what he wants, thanks to the fukú — the curse that has haunted Oscar’s family for generations, dooming them to prison, torture, tragic accidents, and, above all, ill-starred love. Oscar, still waiting for his first kiss, is its most recent victim. This is the long-awaited first novel from one of the most original and memorable writers working today.

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