Publisher's description: Celebrated novelist, poet, and MacArthur fellow Ishmael Reed pushes the boundaries once again in the publication of From Totems to Hip Hop--a truly all-inclusive multicultural anthology-a literary event which will finally even the playing field. This collection synthesizes and presents broad swaths of work from poets of all races and backgrounds, as only Reed can, ranging from Gertrude Stein to Ai, from Bessie Smith to Askia...

What happens when the living risk their lives to save the souls of the dead? Every summer, in an isolated Japanese village, a celebration known as the Festival of Shadows takes place. The villagers are entrusted to assist the troubled souls or "shadows" of those who died tragically, and to help them come to terms with their deaths and find eternal peace. Naoko, a young girl born in the village, is given a year to save the soul of a mysterious young...

The works of poets from Europe, Israel and America. In History and Reality, Stephen Spender writes: "She felt a kind of envy for / Those who stood naked in their truth: / Where to be of her people was / To be one of those millions killed."

30 years, 30 stories, 30 filmmakers: 30 years of sports covered in 30 stories by 30 different film directors. Kings ransom: "On August 9, 1988, the NHL was forever changed with the single stroke of a pen when the Edmonton Oilers sent Wayne Gretzky to the Los Angeles Kings. Acclaimed director Peter Berg (Friday night lights, The kingdom) presents the captivating story of the trade that knocked the wind out of an entire country and placed a star-studded...

John Updike's sixth collection of essays and literary criticism opens with a skeptical overview of literary biographies, proceeds to five essays on topics ranging from China and small change to faith and late works, and takes up, under the heading "General Considerations," books, poker, cars, and the American libido. The last, informal section of Due Considerations assembles more or less autobiographical pieces--reminiscences, friendly forewords,...

"In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward...

When Jemima, a young orphaned blue jay, is brought to wildlife rehabilitator Julie Zickefoose, she is a virtually tailless, palm-sized bundle of gray-blue fluff. But she is starved and very sick. Julie's constant care brings her around, and as Jemima is raised for eventual release, she takes over the house and the rest of the author's summer. Shortly after release, Jemima turns up with a deadly disease. But medicating a free-flying wild bird is a...