The Birmingham Library.exe

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Polyamorous psychotherapist Jessica Fern breaks new ground by extending attachment theory into the realm of consensual nonmonogamy. Using her nested model of attachment and trauma, she expands our understanding of how emotional experiences can influence our relationships. Then, she sets out six specific strategies to help you move toward secure attachments in your multiple relationships. Polysecure is both a trailblazing theoretical treatise and a practical guide.

With Madoka Kaname’s sacrifice, the hopeless cycle that once bound every magical girl to a terrible fate was broken at last. Or was it…? All does not seem right with the world, and as Homura pulls at the loose threads of the girls’ new reality, is it possible that an even darker destiny looms ahead?

A collection of 13 short stories by the acclaimed Chilean author Roberto Bolaño. The book, published shortly before his death, explores themes prevalent in his work, including sexuality, violence, youth, and the struggle of the uprooted.

Kobayashi Akio, lover of all things flora, but not particularly fond of people. Oohashi Umi, is a man whose relationships never seem to progress past one-night-stands with the same sex. Now, these two attend the same college, and are staying in the same dorm. Umi begins to warm up to Akio, and in turn Akio slow lets Umi worm his way into his good graces.

Ran Uruma can’t wait to grow up and become a sorceress like her mother, so with the help of a magical pair of sneakers, she transforms into an adult and sets off! Her father and older brother Jin try to keep her home safe, but Ran is determined to advance her powers and have adventures of her own! Even though Ran looks like an adult during her transformation, she doesn’t really know what perils the outside world holds. When she meets rich playboy Otaro Mikado, does she gain a friend or foe?

With Ran’s powers growing stronger day by day, Grand Sorceress Shizuka decides that it’s time for Ran to begin her magical training and sends a master instructor to the human world to look after her. Meanwhile, a deadly insect has escaped from the confines of the Door and must be destroyed before havoc ensues!

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In a dreamlike adventure, one woman travels through an apparently unending night with a porcelain girlfriend, mist-monsters and villainous monkeys; a sister mourns her invisible brother whom only she can still see, while the rest of her family welcome his would-be wife into their home; and an accident with a snake leads a shop girl to discover the snake-families everyone else seems to be concealing.

In little more than a century, industrial practices have altered every aspect of the cheesemaking process, from the bodies of the animals that provide the milk to the microbial strains that ferment it. Reinventing the Wheel explores what has been lost as raw-milk, single-farm cheeses have given way to the juggernaut of factory production. In the process, distinctiveness and healthy rural landscapes have been exchanged for higher yields and monoculture. However, Bronwen and Francis Percival find reason for optimism. Around the world—not just in France, but also in the United States, England, and Australia—enterprising cheesemakers are exploring the techniques of their great-grandparents. At the same time, using sophisticated molecular methods, scientists are upending conventional wisdom about the role of microbes in every part of the world. Their research reveals the resilience and complexity of the indigenous microbial communities that contribute to the flavor and safety of cheese. One experiment at a time, these dynamic scientists, cheesemakers, and dairy farmers are reinventing the wheel.

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Away from her home in India to study Spanish, Bonita sits on a bench in El Jardin de San Miguel, Mexico, basking in the park’s lush beauty, when she slowly becomes aware that she is being watched. An elderly woman approaches her, claiming that she knew Bonita’s mother—that they had been friends when Bonita’s mother had lived in Mexico as a talented young artist. Bonita tells the stranger that she must be mistaken; her mother was not a painter and had never travelled to Mexico. Though the stranger leaves, Bonita cannot shake the feeling that she is being followed.

On the last night of 1937, twenty-five-year-old Katey Kontent is in a second-rate Greenwich Village jazz bar when Tinker Grey, a handsome banker, happens to sit down at the neighboring table. This chance encounter and its startling consequences propel Katey on a year-long journey into the upper echelons of New York society—where she will have little to rely upon other than a bracing wit and her own brand of cool nerve.

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Jesus, the Son of God. Buddha, the Enlightened One. Two of history's most important figures whose sagely deeds have been told and retold. After a few millennia of helping humanity, they have decided to take some time off and rent an apartment together in modern-day Tokyo. But even their saintly status hasn't fully prepared them to navigate the ups and downs of life in 21st century Japan, from theme parks, to shopping for rice cookers, to the wonderful world of manga. Follow this pair on a goofy, light-hearted, and pun-filled adventure in friendship.

Buddha, the Enlightened One, and Jesus, Son of God, continue their goofy adventures through modern-day Tokyo, with escha-pades aplenty. The wise guys of Tachikawa, along with their band of saintly companions and immortal foes, immerse themselves even deeper into daily life among their new neighborhood acquaintances. As the seasons turn, new adventures await them around every corner: from the blissful highs of bullet train travel and gaming with friends to the mundane challenges of staying on budget when you have to pay for rent and groceries, not to mention Valentine's chocolates when you are filled with love for all of humankind...

Taro Sakamoto was once a legendary hit man considered the greatest of all time. Bad guys feared him! Assassins revered him! But then one day he quit, got married, and had a baby. He’s now living the quiet life as the owner of a neighborhood store, but how long can Sakamoto enjoy his days of retirement before his past catches up to him?!

Shin faces off with a strange assassin who’s targeting Mr. Sakamoto, but how will he manage against a foe whose thoughts are unreadable? Then, the Sakamoto gang does their best to enjoy a peaceful family outing at the amusement park, only to be rudely interrupted by a pair of menacing assassins. Can Mr. Sakamoto and his buddies take care of them without his family noticing?

Team Sakamoto enters an airsoft tournament organized by the shopping arcade in the hopes of winning the million-yen prize. However, things don’t go as planned and they find themselves teaming up with a not-so-sharp sniper called Heisuke. Meanwhile, some shady characters connected to the secret organization that raised Shin are on their way to Sakamoto’s...

Source title: Saqueo (CMYK) (Spanish Edition)

Ever since his parents disowned him for being gay, Shun has been living with his aunt on a small island near Okinawa. One day, he meets Mio, a high school student who recently lost his own parents and now spends his days sitting by the sea. The two young men begin to open up to each other…until Mio reveals that he’s leaving. Three years later, an adult Mio returns to the island to confess his true feelings, but is Shun ready for a relationship?

Shun has had no contact with his family since the day he revealed that he's gay. Now he's headed home to Hokkaido to visit his ailing father, and he's taking his new boyfriend, Mio. The trip will be unpleasant enough for Shun, but what will it bring up for Mio, who knows all too well the pain of losing a parent?

After returning to Shun's hometown -- and moving into his family's old shop -- Shun and Mio have begun their new, if slightly offbeat, life. But just as they're settling in, Shun's younger brother, Fumi, catches these two lovers in the act! With Sakurako's help, Shun tells Fumi the unvarnished truth. Will his family finally be able to accept him for who he is?

When Shun and Mio attend Visitors' Day at Fumi's elementary school, Shun runs into his former classmate and crush, Wada. Though Shun is shaken, Mio grows strangely close to this carefree character from his lover's past. And if that weren't stressful enough, the novel Shun's been agonizing over is about to be published!

It's been five years since Mio and Shun came to stay with Shun's parents. By all accounts, their life is great. Shun has taken a temporary break from writing novels, and Mio is working as a mechanic. But with stability comes ennui, leading both to begin quietly questioning their relationship. And an even more turbulent storm is brewing, as Shun's now-teenage brother, Fumi, has entered a rebellious phase!

For five years Mio and Shun have been living with Shun's family in Hokkaido, far from the sunny Okinawan island where they first met. But when an unexpected accident forces the couple to re-think their living situation, they decide to return to Shun's old stomping grounds: Tokyo! Shun even decides to go back to work while Mio takes a much-needed break. Now that they have a place of their own for the very first time, will they finally be able to rekindle the spark that's been absent from their relationship?

A woman invites a famous artist to use her guesthouse in the remote coastal landscape where she lives with her family. Powerfully drawn to his paintings, she believes his vision might penetrate the mystery at the center of her life. But as a long, dry summer sets in, his provocative presence itself becomes an enigma―and disrupts the calm of her secluded household.

Seventy-five percent of all new restaurant ventures fail, and of those that do stick around, only a few become icons. Danny Meyer started Union Square Cafe when he was 27, with a good idea and hopeful investors. He is now the co-owner of a restaurant empire. How did he do it? How did he beat the odds in one of the toughest trades around? In this landmark book, Danny shares the lessons he learned developing the dynamic philosophy he calls Enlightened Hospitality. The tenets of that philosophy, which emphasize strong in-house relationships as well as customer satisfaction, are applicable to anyone who works in any business. Whether you are a manager, an executive, or a waiter, Danny’s story and philosophy will help you become more effective and productive, while deepening your understanding and appreciation of a job well done.

Ryoko Kui, the master storyteller behind the beloved manga series Delicious in Dungeon, pens seven brand-new tales that will delight fantasy fans and manga devotees equally. Covering a broad range of themes and time periods, no two stories in this collection are alike!

Source title: Sexually, I'm More of a Switzerland: Personal Ads from the London Review of Books

Shingo Shimazaki was kidnapped as a boy by the LEL, an international terrorist organization who turned him into an elite covert operative in their war against the international community. After thirty years, he has finally escaped their clutches and returned to his native Japan. All he wants now is to live in peace…but what will happen when his past catches up to him? The acclaimed, action-packed slice-of-life adventure begins here!

Forced to become a covert operative for the international terrorist group LEL, Shingo Shimazaki has escaped and is back in his native Japan, doing his best to live a peaceful life. He has a job at a local coffee shop, where he feels happy and comfortable—until the arrival of a certain wayward young man brings a world of trouble down on his beloved Café Lupaso. Will Shimazaki be forced to use the skills he learned in war to secure his own peace—?

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Ako finds herself coasting along, watching her twenties pass her by. Work at the video rental store, see her boyfriend, repeat... Her days are becoming an indistinguishable, listless blur. Until she encounters a skateboarder practicing a trick--and she's a girl! For some reason, Ako feels a pull toward the sport. Slowly, all the dreams and ambitions she gave up on and the futures she imagined for herself come flooding back, and Ako resolves to change herself now, before it's too late. But is it ever really too late to discover something new?

Ako's love of skateboarding continues to grow as she goes to another lesson with her coworker, Shiho. The two of them buy their own boards and officially become skater girls! But as Ako struggles to learn her second trick, she begins to wonder if she’ll ever truly be able to skateboard...

At age forty-five, office worker Sasaki has had enough of the corporate grind. His only solace is smoking—and the friendly smile of supermarket cashier Yamada. When Sasaki can't find Yamada after a particularly trying day, a striking woman invites him to smoke with her. The despondent man thinks he's made a new smoking buddy in the cool, teasing Tayama, but Sasaki doesn't realize he already knows her!

After the stress of a medical misdiagnosis, Sasaki resumes his strange yet calming nighttime smokes with Tayama. Yet he's still unaware that Tayama and Yamada, his therapeutic idol, are the same woman! Sasaki and Yamada are merely customer and cashier inside the store, but as more quirky supermarket employees enter the mix, will Sasaki's relationship with Tayama begin to change?

As the end of the year approaches, Yamada feels blindsided by a coworker’s claim that Sasaki is a married man! Naturally, misunderstandings ensue. Later, on Christmas Eve, Sasaki has a chance encounter with a super-shy supermarket employee. And as the new year begins, Sasaki receives a message that shakes up the smoking buddies’ relationship again…

The new year starts strong for Sasaki when the beleaguered salaryman forgets his own birthday. But his days turn around when he meets Daigoro's owner and discovers a new side of Tayama. Sasaki begins to realize the importance of the bond he shares with Tayama, even through her lighthearted teasing. This part of his life has become a collection of strange and gentle moments that he hopes never end, but will one night change everything?

After smoking away from the supermarket together for the first time, Yamada and Sasaki begin to realize their fleeting feelings for each other are taking shape. Sasaki is too hesitant to move forward, and Yamada—shackled by the past—resolves to take the secret of "Tayama" to her grave! Sasaki hears of Tayama's relationship with a coworker who's been transferred back to the store. Will jealousy finally spur him to action?

Urasawa’s characters confront fantastical elements ranging from psychic powers to attacks by giant monsters. On the flip side, the author philosophizes about his real-world experiences with the wild and wacky international music scene.

IT WAS THE SUMMER of 1994, more than six years ago now, when I first heard about Rafael Sanchez Mazas facing the firing squad.

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Master spy Twilight is unparalleled when it comes to going undercover on dangerous missions for the betterment of the world. But when he receives the ultimate assignment—to get married and have a kid—he may finally be in over his head!

Twilight must infiltrate the prestigious Eden Academy to get close to his target Donovan Desmond, but has he ruined his daughter Anya’s chances with his outburst during the admissions interview? Perhaps the truly impossible mission this time is making sure Anya both becomes an exemplary student and befriends Donovan’s arrogant son Damian!

Twilight has overcome many challenges in putting together the Forger family, but now all his hard work might come undone when Yor’s younger brother Yuri pops in for a surprise visit! Can Twilight outsmart Yuri, who actually works for the Ostanian secret service?!

The bond between Yoshiki and Hikaru is a welcome escape from their isolated village. But one day when the two boys meet up, Yoshiki can immediately tell something is off. Though the person standing before him looks and acts exactly like Hikaru, Yoshiki knows that his friend is…gone. Someone―no, something has taken Hikaru’s place. And with so many eerie incidents happening in town lately, Yoshiki is becoming increasingly conflicted. Although things will never be as they once were, he would prefer this Hikaru to no Hikaru at all.

Yoshiki tried to pretend nothing was wrong, but the truth cannot be ignored. Hikaru is gone. “Hikaru” is here. This new version is dangerous...or perhaps not? One thing’s for sure―Yoshiki doesn’t seem to be in harm’s way. In fact, “Hikaru” seems to want nothing more than to befriend and protect him. Despite Rie’s warnings, Yoshiki chooses to extend the hand of friendship, hoping it will help “Hikaru” become more human. But in doing so, what might Yoshiki become...?

“Hikaru’s” sudden disappearance from the mountain has not gone unnoticed...and his presence in town has begun to raise suspicions as well. Spirits from the other side grow restless, while the people sensitive to them begin taking steps to uncover the truth. As Yoshiki continues to struggle with the true identity of “Hikaru,” he is reminded once again that his friend no longer shares his understanding of life and death―and that if you play with fire, someone is sure to get burned eventually...

While “Hikaru” is not the Hikaru he once knew, Yoshiki must admit that this new entity has become a friend in his own right. But his true identity remains a mystery…even to the impostor himself! When their research into the town’s history brings them to the library, the boys discover an unsettling clue about the mysterious happenings in the region. Though, the question still stands of what “Hikaru” and the Nounuki-sama mentioned in Hikaru’s note might be―and whether they aren’t in fact one and the same...

“Hikaru’s” unexpectedly violent encounter with the mysterious hamster-toting Tanaka only worsens his already weakened condition. Without knowing Tanaka’s intentions, the boys must act quickly to uncover the mountain’s secrets. Investigating the Indou family’s “sin” will be difficult now that Hikaru’s dad has passed, but they may be able to get some answers out of his closest friend―if Yoshiki’s father is willing to talk...

Kenji is your typical teenage misfit. He's good at math, bad with girls, and spends most of his time hanging out in the all-powerful, online community known as OZ. His second life is the only life he has - until the girl of his dreams, Natsuki, hijacks him for a starring role as a fake fiancée at her family reunion. Things only get stranger from there.

When the death of her aunt brings Liz Remolina back to San Ojuela, the prospect fills her with dread. The isolated desert town was the site of a harrowing childhood accident that left her clairvoyant, the companion of wraiths and ghosts. Yet it may also hold the secret to making peace with a dark family history and a complicated personal and cultural identity.

As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes. Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves. When Haymitch's name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He's torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who's nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he's been set up to fail. But there's something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.

Two brown girls dream of being dancers—but only one, Tracey, has talent. The other has ideas: about rhythm and time, about black bodies and black music, what constitutes a tribe, or makes a person truly free. It's a close but complicated childhood friendship that ends abruptly in their early twenties, never to be revisited, but never quite forgotten, either.

While tackling subjects such as identity, politics, religion, art, and history, these autobiographical tales are written with a biting humor, placing Vowell solidly in the tradition of Mark Twain and Dorothy Parker. Vowell searches the streets of Hoboken for traces of the town's favorite son, Frank Sinatra. She goes under cover of heavy makeup in an investigation of goth culture, blasts cannonballs into a hillside on a father-daughter outing, and maps her family's haunted history on a road trip down the Trail of Tears.

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The Age of Light tells the story of Vogue model turned renowned photographer Lee Miller, and her search to forge a new identity as an artist after a life spent as a muse. Lee’s journey takes her from the cabarets of bohemian Paris to the battlefields of war-torn Europe during WWII, from inventing radical new photography techniques to documenting the liberation of the concentration camps as one of the first female war correspondents. Through it all, Lee must grapple with the question of whether it’s possible to stay true to herself while also fulfilling her artistic ambition — and what she will have to sacrifice to do so.

Source title: The Art of American Whiskey: A Visual History of the Nation's Most Storied Spirit, Through 100 Iconic Labels

Toshiko Tomura is a genius; the darling of the intelligentsia. A modern-day Michelangelo, this twenty year-old is already an established international stage actress, an up-and-coming architect, and the next recipient of the prestigious Akutagawa Prize as Japan's best new writer. Her actions make headlines in the papers, and inspire radio and television programming. And like many great talents, her troubled past is what motivates her to greatness. She has the amazing ability to emulate the talents of others. Toshiko is also the mastermind behind a series of murders. The ultimate mimic, she has plagiarized, blackmailed, stolen and replicated the works of scores of talents. And now as her star is rising within the world of the elites and powerful she has amassed a long list of enemies frustrated by the fact that she has built critical and financial acclaim for nothing more than copying others' work. Neglected as a child, she is challenging the concepts of gender inequality while unleashing her loneliness upon the world as she climbs the social ladder one body at a time.

The Nobel Prize–winner’s richest, most sweeping and ambitious novel yet follows the comet-like rise and fall of a mysterious, messianic religious leader as he blazes his way across eighteenth-century Europe. In the mid-eighteenth century, as new ideas—and a new unrest—begin to sweep the Continent, a young Jew of mysterious origins arrives in a village in Poland. Before long, he has changed not only his name but his persona; visited by what seem to be ecstatic experiences, Jacob Frank casts a charismatic spell that attracts an increasingly fervent following. In the decade to come, Frank will traverse the Hapsburg and Ottoman empires with throngs of disciples in his thrall as he reinvents himself again and again, converts to Islam and then Catholicism, is pilloried as a heretic and revered as the Messiah, and wreaks havoc on the conventional order, Jewish and Christian alike, with scandalous rumors of his sect’s secret rituals and the spread of his increasingly iconoclastic beliefs. The story of Frank—a real historical figure around whom mystery and controversy swirl to this day—is the perfect canvas for the genius and unparalleled reach of Olga Tokarczuk. Narrated through the perspectives of his contemporaries—those who revere him, those who revile him, the friend who betrays him, the lone woman who sees him for what he is—The Books of Jacob captures a world on the cusp of precipitous change, searching for certainty and longing for transcendence. In a nod to books written in Hebrew, The Books of Jacob is paginated in reverse, beginning on p. 955 and ending on p. 1 – but read traditionally, front cover to back.

In post-Arthurian Britain, the wars that once raged between the Saxons and the Britons have finally ceased. Axl and Beatrice, an elderly British couple, set off to visit their son, whom they haven't seen in years. And, because a strange mist has caused mass amnesia throughout the land, they can scarcely remember anything about him. As they are joined on their journey by a Saxon warrior, his orphan charge, and an illustrious knight, Axl and Beatrice slowly begin to remember the dark and troubled past they all share.

Source title: The Changeling: A Novel

When a young man’s girlfriend mysteriously vanishes, he is heartbroken – and determined to find the imaginary town where he suspects she has taken up residence. Thus begins a lifelong search that takes the man into middle age, to a job in a remote library with mysteries of its own, and on a journey between the real world and this otherworld: a shadowless city where unicorns roam and willow trees grow. There he finds his beloved working in a different library – a dream library. But she has no memory of their life together and, as the seasons pass and the man grows more uncertain about the porous boundaries between these two worlds, he must decide what he is willing to lose.

Walt Whitman's verse gave the poetry of America a distinctive national voice. It reflects the unique vitality of the new nation, the vastness of the land and the emergence of a sometimes troubled consciousness, communicated in language and idiom regarded by many at the time as shocking. Whitman's poems are organic and free flowing, fit into no previously defined genre and skilfully combine autobiographical, sociological and religious themes with lyrical sensuality. His verse is a fitting celebration of a new breed of American and includes 'Song of Myself', 'Crossing Brooklyn Ferry', the celebratory 'Passage to India', and his fine elegy for the assassinated President Lincoln, 'When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd'.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 461-464).

Working retail is tough enough with regular human customers, but what about when they’re owls, wolves, koalas…and a woolly mammoth? Welcome to the Hokkyoku Department Store, where new employee Akino’s customers are talking animals–including extinct species! Just like any shopper, each has their own complicated request that Akino must strive to satisfy. From a wealthy laughing owl searching for the perfect present to delight his wife to a thespian sea mink attempting to find a gift for a long-awaited reunion with her father, Akino must learn to meet their needs, while also dealing with her challenging coworkers and elusive floor manager.

Akino, the new concierge, continues to work to meet the challenging whims of her animal customers, including a Barbary lion on the hunt for the perfect perfume to give to the girl he has his eye on, a dodo who is in the throes of despair after losing his confectionery shop, and a young quagga who runs out of a restaurant out of sheer boredom... Join the heroine as she uses her quick thinking and zeal for the job to solve her adorable customers’ problems and deal with her interesting management and coworkers!

Source title: The Devil in the Kitchen: Sex, Pain, Madness, and the Making of a Great Chef

Still drinking Cabernet after that one bottle you liked five years ago? It can be overwhelming if not intimidating to branch out from your go-to grape, but everyone wants their next wine to be new and exciting. How to choose the right one? Award-winning wine critic Alice Feiring presents an all-new way to look at the world of wine. While grape variety is important, a lot can be learned about wine by looking at the source: the ground in which it grows. A surprising amount of information about a wine’s flavor and composition can be gleaned from a region’s soil, and this guide makes it simple to find the wines you’ll love.

One night in an isolated college town in the hills of Southern California, a first-year student stumbles into her dorm room, falls asleep—and doesn’t wake up. She sleeps through the morning, into the evening. Her roommate, Mei, cannot rouse her. Neither can the paramedics, nor the perplexed doctors at the hospital. When a second girl falls asleep, and then a third, Mei finds herself thrust together with an eccentric classmate as panic takes hold of the college and spreads to the town. A young couple tries to protect their newborn baby as the once-quiet streets descend into chaos. Two sisters turn to each other for comfort as their survivalist father prepares for disaster.