Adult

Already heaped with accolades, Karen Russell is a gifted writer who likely will get plenty more for her eerie fantasy about a sleeplessness epidemic. The dystopian riffs are sharp and imaginative, but what sets the novella apart are its poignant intimations of moral doubt and personal loss: more Hamlet than Hunger Games.

Michael Korda paints a vivid and admiring portrait of Robert E. Lee as a brilliant general, devoted family man, and principled gentleman who disliked slavery and disagreed with secession, yet who refused command of the Union Army in 1861 because he could not "draw his sword" against his beloved Virginia. CLOUDS OF GLORY analyzes Lee's command during the Civil War and explores his failed strategy for winning the war.

Detective Gerald Holman is dead, and Lucian Connally wants to know what drove him to take his own life. With the clock ticking on the birth of his first grandchild, Sheriff Walt Longmire learns that the by-the-book detective might have suppressed evidence concerning three missing women. Digging deeper, Walt uncovers an incriminating secret so dark that it threatens to claim other lives even before the sheriff can serve justice --- Wyoming style.

Korea has endured a "fractured, shattered 20th century," and this updated edition of KOREA'S PLACE IN THE SUN brings Bruce Cumings's leading history of the modern era into the present. The small country, overshadowed in the imperial era, crammed against great powers during the Cold War, and divided and decimated by the Korean War, has recently seen the first real hints of reunification. But positive movements forward are tempered by frustrating steps backward.

In this Newbery Medal-winning book set in 12th century Korea, Tree-ear, a 13-year-old orphan, lives under a bridge in Ch’ulp’o, a potters' village famed for delicate celadon ware. He wants nothing more than to watch master potter Min at work, and he dreams of making a pot of his own someday. When Min takes him on as his helper, Tree-ear  is determined to prove himself --- even if it means taking a long, solitary journey on foot to present Min’s work in the hope of a royal commission.

It was the first war we could not win. At no other time since World War II have two superpowers met in battle. Now Max Hastings, preeminent military historian, takes us back to the bloody bitter struggle to restore South Korean independence after the Communist invasion of June 1950. Using personal accounts from interviews with more than 200 vets --- including the Chinese --- Hastings follows real officers and soldiers through the battles.

"Looking for a Mr. Kim in Seoul" has the same meaning as "finding a needle in a haystack" in English as Kim is one of the most popular family name in Korea. Expressions reflect the culture and the history of its people. Even if you know the meaning of each word, you probably will not understand the entire expression without understanding the culture. LOOKING FOR A MR. KIM IN SEOUL makes enjoyable the discovery of the connection between its language and the Korean people and their history and culture.