Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

Now in paperback, AMAZING GRACIE is a moving, funny, and inspirational canine rags-to-riches story. "Tears will stain the pages as you read about Gracie," says USA Today. The Chicago Tribune advises, "If you're short on inspiration, read Amazing Gracie." "You don't have to be obsessed with dogs to love this story" (Philadelphia Enquirer), "Two paws up" (Portland Oregonian), "humorous yet poignant" (ASPCA Animal... (more)

Bitter Harvest

by Ann Rule, Mary Beth Hurt

GIFTED WITH A BRILLIANT MIND, BLESSED WITH A BEAUTIFUL FAMILY -- AND CURSED WITH A DESTRUCTIVE MADNESS In this harrowing New York Times bestseller, Ann Rule is at her masterful best as she winnows horrific truths from the ashes of what seemed like paradise in Prairie Village, Kansas. Rule probes the case of Debora Green, a doctor and a loving mother who seemed to epitomize the dreams of the American... (more)

Presence-centered Youth Ministry: Guiding Students into Spiritual Formation

Presence-centered Youth Ministry: Guiding Students into Spiritual Formation

by Mike King

About the Book How many programs does it take to change a youth group? That question has bothered youth workers for decades, and the cracks in its logic are beginning to show. In place of the contrived, artificial mechanisms employed so widely in modern youth outreach and discipleship, Mike King proposes a ministry centered in the presence of God. Young people encounter Christ not in the flash and pop... (more)

Pretty Little Dirty

by Amanda Boyden

Lisa sees the life of her gorgeous best friend Celeste as just about perfect: she has a gigantic house, two older sisters to coach her through the hazards of high school, and loving, lively parents. As Lisa's own home has long been a place devoid of joyful noise—her mother has shut herself off in her bedroom for years—Lisa joins the Diamond household, slipping into their routine of sit-down suppers and soaking in... (more)

Blue Beat Syncopation: Selected Poems, 1977-2002

Blue Beat Syncopation: Selected Poems, 1977-2002

by Stanley Banks

The poems in this collection celebrate the first 25 years of Banks's writing career. Banks chronicles his own observations of violence, death, and hope in urban America. Banks grew up on Kansas City's famous Vine Street, reared by his grandmother, a sometime preacher and bootlegger whose presence pervades many of the poems.

One O'Clock Jump: A Dorie Lennox Mystery

One O'Clock Jump: A Dorie Lennox Mystery

by Lise McClendon

Halfway around the world, war has begun, but for Dorie Lennox, a newly-minted private-eye on her first tail, danger is more immediate. The dark streets of Kansas City of 1939 offer swing music, fast cars, gangsters, and the chance to forget about the Depression and her own murky past. But first Dorie must conquer her fears and save a woman on a bridge high above the muddy Missouri. When the woman takes a dive,... (more)

Soul on Soul: The Life and Music of Mary Lou Williams

Soul on Soul: The Life and Music of Mary Lou Williams

by Tammy L. Kernodle

Pianist, composer, and arranger, Mary Lou Williams (1910–1981), was one of the most significant and influential artists in the history of jazz. A versatile musical genius who experimented with and mastered most of the emerging styles in jazz's evolution, Williams wrote and arranged for such greats as Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, and she was friend, mentor, and teacher to the likes of Thelonious Monk, Charlie... (more)

Dark Places: A Novel

by Gillian Flynn

I have a meanness inside me, real as an organ. Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in “The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.” As her family lay dying, little Libby fled their tiny farmhouse into the freezing January snow. She lost some fingers and toes, but she survived–and famously testified that her fifteen-year-old brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, Ben... (more)

Open City: True Story of the KC Crime Family 1900-1950

Open City: True Story of the KC Crime Family 1900-1950

by William Ouseley

A riveting new biography about organized crime in Kansas City, Open City documents an era that continues to hold great fascination for history buffs as well as lovers of mystery and drama. It relates the roots of the secret crime societies of Southern Italy and Sicily. When they arrived in Kansas City, they became known as the Black Hand. From modest beginnings, the development of the criminal outfit is traced... (more)

The Dead Man

by Joel Goldman

Careful What You Dream. Milo Harper wants former FBI agent Jack Davis' help. People in Harper's study of the human brain are starting to die - and dying exactly in the very ways they have dreamed...Harper wants Jack to get to the truth and counter lawsuits aimed at the foundation. But when Jack investigates, the truth explodes: a serial killer is lurking inside one of the most advanced research facilities in the... (more)

House of Cards

by David Ellis Dickerson

An original and hilarious memoir by an ex-greeting card writer, virgin fundamentalist, and This American Life contributor that chronicles how, in the belly of the "social expression" industry, he learned to love, thrive, and finally feel comfortable in his own skin. David Dickerson's dream is to write greeting cards-Valentine's Day, sympathy, and holiday cards. Greeting cards offer him the chance to indulge... (more)

Mrs. Bridge

by Evan S. Connell

Before Betty Friedan wrote The Feminine Mystique there was Mrs. Bridge , an inspired novel set in the years around World War II that testified to the sapping ennui of an unexamined suburban life. India Bridge, the title character, has three children and a meticulous workaholic husband. She defends her dainty, untouched guest towels from son Douglas, who has the gall to dry his hands on one, and earnestly... (more)

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Amazing Gracie: A Dog's Tale

by Dan Dye, Mark Beckloff