Arcadia Public Library

"Four short stories set in a hutong, or residential alleyway, of Beijing, China. Yu'er, her grandfather, and their eccentric neighbors experience the magic of everyday life."--

At the end of first Incidents in the Night, David B. met an uncertain demise in a bizarre cliffhanger. In Book 2, the worlds of Epileptic and Incidents in the Night become entangled as the author's dead brother, Jean-Christophe, joins the cast to solve the mystery and uncover the occult machinations of the mad editor, Émile Travers. Book 2 is another treat for lovers of books and literary mysteries. Once again the translation is by acclaimed novelist...

A hell called "Angola," the biggest high-security prison in the United States, surrounded by swamps and crushed by the sweltering Louisiana sunshine. And then just to put the cherry on the cake, the Scarfo clan has put a price on his head, and there are a whole load of Sicilians among Tyler's fellow inmates. If Tyler ever manages to get out of this penitentiary hell, it sure won't be for good conduct.

"Xinyue and his brother are seekers, hunting Aweto--a rare, plantlike treasure--along the Silk Road. When Xinyue discovers the child of a deity that creates Aweto, it disrupts his already turbulent life."--

"It is spring 2012 and 40,000 people have died since the start of the Syrian Arab Spring. In the wake of this, Yasmine has set up a clandestine hospital in the north of the country. Her town is controlled by Assad's brutal regime, but is relatively stable. However, as the months pass, the situation becomes increasingly complex and violent. Told in stark, beautiful black-and-white imagery, Freedom Hospital illuminates a complicated situation with gut-wrenching...

The day his mother dies, Meursault notices that it is very hot on the bus that is taking him from Algiers to the retirement home where his mother lived; so hot that he falls asleep. Later, while waiting for the wake to begin, the harsh electric lights in the room make him extremely uncomfortable, so he gratefully accepts the coffee the caretaker offers him and smokes a cigarette. The same burning sun that so oppresses him during the funeral walk will...

Judith is barely out of her teens when a tumor begins pressing on her brain, ushering in a new world of seizures, memory gaps, and loss of self. Suddenly, the sentence of her normal life has been interrupted by the opening of a parenthesis that may never close. Based on the real experiences of cartoonist Élodie Durand, Parenthesis is a gripping testament of struggle, fragility, acceptance, and transformation which was deservedly awarded the Revelation...

Explore community through a common, often overlooked object: the park bench.

"Enter a land of monsters and buried secrets. A land once known as...Japan. More than two centuries have passed since Japan was devastated by nuclear war. Cut off from the world, the island is now a place of terror and mysteries: wonders of science some believe best forgotten, monuments to a bygone era of human decadence, and irradiated monsters ready to tear apart any humans foolish enough to set foot there. After being wrenched from his family and...