Urban City

En el verano de 1940 Vivian Morris llega a Manhattan con 19 años y tan solo una maleta y una máquina de coser, empujada por sus desesperados padres. Aunque su especial talento con la aguja y su dedicación a lograr el peinado perfecto no le han servido de gran cosa en la prestigiosa universidad de Vassar, la convertirán en la modista estrella del Lily Playhouse, el decadente teatro de variedades de su poco convencional tía Peg.

Exploring the power of naming to shape experience and our sense of place, Joshua Jelly-Schapiro traces the ways in which native Lenape, Dutch settlers, British invaders, and successive waves of immigrants have left their marks on New York City’s map. He excavates the roots of many names, from Brooklyn to Harlem, that have gained iconic meaning worldwide. He interviews the last living speakers of Lenape, visits the harbor’s forgotten islands, lingers on street corners named for ballplayers and saints, and meets linguists who study the estimated 800 languages now spoken in New York.

The Magpie Wing is set on football fields, in sharehouses, at punk gigs and in dilapidated and gentrifying pubs. Max Easton’s debut novel moves from the nineties to the present, and between the suburbs and the inner city, exploring how communities that appear worlds apart—underground music scenes, rugby league clubs, communist splinter groups—often share unexpected roots.

As the boss of a high-end nightclub in the West End and with a never-ending string of gorgeous women on his arm, Tony is the darling of the tabloids. However, despite his success, the little boy who lived on the streets is never far away. Desperate for respect, he’s driven to achieve more and more. Most of all, he craves the acceptance of Ralph Gold and to become a bigger part of his extensive web of organised crime.

"Weißt du, Charly, im Leben muss man lieben und zwar sehr. Diejenigen, die den Schmerz fürchten, glauben nicht an das Leben." Der kleine Charly verliert in den berüchtigten Pariser Vorstädten seine Mutter. Mutig macht er sich auf die Suche nach ihr und nimmt die Hörerschaft mit auf eine Reise, die von Warmherzigkeit sowie Poesie geprägt ist und eine gänzlich neue Perspektive schafft.

Eight-year-old TC skips school to explore the city’s overgrown, forgotten corners. Sophia, 78, watches with concern as he slips past her window, through the little park she loves. She’s writing to her granddaughter, Daisy, whose privileged upbringing means she exists in a different world from TC - though the two children live less than a mile apart.

After years of IVF, Kirsten White is a devoted mum to Harriet - and she can’t believe the time has come to send her little girl off to school. But Harriet has now turned five, and she can’t stay Kirsten’s baby forever. It might be hard, but it’s time to entrust her daughter’s care to her new teacher...the classroom is the one place she should be safe. Miriam Robertson has been waiting for the perfect little girl to walk into her class. She’s very picky...but when Harriet walks in, Miriam knows: this is the child she’s been waiting for.

Storie viste dal marciapiede, dal basso di chi nei luoghi sta. Cartoline, brevi lettere, trenta racconti scritti come si fa quando si parte per davvero e si racconta una storia a qualcuno che si ama. Con lo stesso titolo era già uscito un altro racconto di Erri De Luca, alla fine degli anni Novanta. In quell'edizione c'erano le storie dei suoi viaggi nella Bosnia in guerra, nel pieno della Guerra civile jugoslava. In questo altro Pianoterra quelle storie non ci sono quasi più. Resta però identica la prospettiva di chi guarda. Perché questo audiolibro è un "atto di residenza".

"Quella di cui godevo in quei giorni afosi, camminando sui larghi marciapiedi di viale Manzoni e di via Merulana al riparo del fogliame dei platani, era indubbiamente una felicità partorita da un'illusione: l'illusione di un piccolo numero di strade e incroci capace di suggerirmi la sensazione, razionalmente insana, che esistesse per me, come di farmi sentire a casa, qualunque disastro fosse in corso o mi pendesse sulla testa..."

La luce lo sveglia. Per un attimo pensa di essere a casa, poi sente la gamba informicolita e la maglietta incollata alla schiena dal sudore freddo. È disteso su tre poltroncine. Alza gli occhi, la discoteca è sgombra. Un estuario di luce l'empie dalla porta di sicurezza spalancata. In mezzo alla pista, un ometto, impegnato a lustrare il finto alabastro con uno spazzolone, vede questo tipo che si sveglia sconvolto, che si gratta la testa: "Buongiorno, eh!" gli ride di laggiù. Il Mella si alza, si stira, che è successo, già le sei, le sette?

"Si sorprende di scorgere la punta di un timpano di Santa Croce che si conficca nel cielo nero, abbassa gli occhi come a riparare lo sguardo nella pace di un lembo di piazza e intanto pensa che davvero Firenze è infinita, e si potrebbe andare avanti e girarla in lungo e in largo per giorni, con la certezza che di Sante Croci ce ne sono almeno cento (e di punti da cui sbirciarla, mille) e chissà quante vie dei Pepi ancora da scoprire, una babele di marmo e torri dalla testa mozza." E dopo Santa Croce c'è San Miniato, il Cimitero degli Inglesi e il Forte Belvedere, borgo Pinti.

As soon as he graduated high school, Wink jumped head first into the drug game. He hardened his heart and did whatever he had to in order to rise through the ranks. In The Good Life Part 2, Wink takes things to the next level. His father plugs him in with a cocaine pipeline from prison. Soon, Wink is at the top of his game, handling enough cocaine to supply the entire Midwest. But he will learn, just as hustlers before him have, that every run has its end.

In book two, Ava's journey continues as she searches inside the mainframe to find Chief Morray. She locates his archive files, sending her way back to the early days. Society was collapsing, but young, idealistic William Morray had hoped his father's acclaimed Repatterning Program - a precursor to the brilliant New Agenda - could manage the upheaval and get things back on track. They said the Repatterning Program was for the greater good, but like most advertising, it was a lie.

White Americans have long been comfortable in the assumption that they are the cultural norm. Now that notion is being challenged, as white people wrestle with what it means to be part of a fast-changing, truly multicultural nation. Facing chronic economic insecurity, a popular culture that reflects the nation’s diverse cultural reality, a future in which they will no longer constitute the majority of the population, and with a Black president in the White House, whites are growing anxious.

In Seattle for her best friend's wedding, curvy Grace is immediately attracted to the best man, Kingston Meade. He's equally interested in her, especially since his bear insists she is their mate. The attraction is undeniable, but she still doesn't know he's a polar bear shifter. There's also the added problem of leucistic panther-shifter Ashley, who is determined to get her claws into Kingston, and she's willing to slash Grace out of his life to do it. Will the bear king of Emerald City win and keep his curvy human queen?

In the hood, a snitch is the worst thing a person can possibly be. Rolling over on your best friend, who has been with you through thick and thin, hungry and full, freedom and state bids - that’s “the cruelest lie told in silence”. While Jovan experiences the fruits of the hustle during his partner’s first stint, Bilal humbly does his time like a true soldier, taking a manslaughter charge for his one true friend. When these two are finally reunited on the streets, a chain of events lands them both behind bars facing multiple charges.

While waiting for brain surgery, high school grad Chad Wilde's otherwise carefree world of video games and pizza takes a necromantic turn for the worse when an old Latin spellbook is used to summon zombies. Joined by fellow-gamer and best friend Ricky Sharp and intellijock frenemy Mark Lloyd, Chad must take on the daunting undead legions and nethermagics of an angst-ridden, psycho, community college coed.

It's time for Ruby Achera to complete the quest and become the Mist Elves' new Mirra—or die trying. Will the venture into the unknown bring new threats? Well, of course. It's Magic City. Meanwhile, the anti-human sentiment is coming out into the open. Julianna Sloane is plotting to bring not just one casino, but all of them, under her control. Overshadowing it all is the Paranormal Defense Agency.

Never Ran, Never Will tells the story of the working-class, mostly black neighborhood of Brownsville, Brooklyn; its proud youth football team, the Mo Better Jaguars; and the young boys who are often at the center of both. Oomz, Gio, Hart, and their charismatic, vulnerable friends come together on a dusty football field. All around them, their community is threatened by violence, poverty, and the specter of losing their homes to gentrification. Their passionate, unpaid coaches teach hard lessons about surviving American life with little help from the outside world.

Billy Sothern's Down in New Orleans illustrates, in very human and heartbreaking ways, how the horrors that emerged during and following Hurricane Katrina existed long before the storm. These beautifully composed stories not only reveal the dignity—and amazing grit and grace—of the hurricane's survivors; they also illuminate larger truths about the urgent issues of our day.