Two And Two

A deeply stirring memoir of fathers, sons, and the oldest bar in New York City. Since it opened in 1854, McSorley's Old Ale House has been a New York institution. This is the landmark watering hole where Abraham Lincoln campaigned and Boss Tweed kicked back with the Tammany Hall machine. Where a pair of Houdini's handcuffs found their final resting place. And where soldiers left behind wishbones before departing for the First World War, never to return and collect them. Many of the bar's traditions remain intact, from the newspaper-covered walls to the plates of cheese and raw onions, the sawdust-strewn floors to the tall-tales told by its bartenders. But in addition to the bar's rich history, McSorley's is home to a deeply personal story about two men: Rafe Bartholomew, the writer who grew up in the landmark pub, and his father, Geoffrey "Bart" Bartholomew, a career bartender who has been working the taps for forty-five years. On weekends, Rafe Bartholomew would tag along for the early hours of his dad's shift, polishing brass doorknobs, watching over the bar cats, and handling other odd jobs until he grew old enough to join Bart behind the bar. McSorley's was a place of bizarre rituals, bawdy humor, and tasks as unique as the bar itself: protecting the decades-old dust that had gathered on treasured artifacts; shot-putting thirty-pound grease traps into high-walled Dumpsters; and trying to keep McSorley's open through the worst of Hurricane Sandy. But for Rafe, the bar means home. It's the place where he and his father have worked side by side, serving light and dark ale, always in pairs, the way it's always been done. Where they've celebrated victories, like the publication of his father's first book of poetry, and coped with misfortune, like the death of Rafe's mother. Where Rafe learned to be part of something bigger than himself and also how to be his own man. By turns touching, crude, and wildly funny, Rafe's story reveals universal truths about family, loss, and the bursting history of one of New York's most beloved institutions.

In this New York Times bestseller, a single father discovers the true nature of unconditional love when a new chance at happiness turns his world upside down. At 32, Russell Green has it all: a stunning wife, a lovable six year-old daughter, a successful career as an advertising executive, and an expansive home in Charlotte. He is living the dream, and his marriage to the bewitching Vivian is at the center of it. But underneath the shiny surface of this perfect existence, fault lines are beginning to appear . . . and no one is more surprised than Russ when every aspect of the life he has taken for granted is turned upside down. In a matter of months, Russ finds himself without a job or a wife, caring for his young daughter while struggling to adapt to a new and baffling reality. Throwing himself into the wilderness of single parenting, Russ embarks on a journey at once terrifying and rewarding -- one that will test his abilities and his emotional resources beyond anything he's ever imagined. When a chance encounter with an old flame tempts him to take a chance on love again, he will navigate this new opportunity with trepidation and wonder. But with the loyal support of his parents, the wisdom of his older sister, Marge, and in the hard-won lessons of fatherhood, Russ will finally come to understand the true nature of unconditional love -- that it is a treasure to be bestowed, not earned.

Putting Two and Two Together is a humorous and quirky collection of unusual, ingenious, and beautiful morsels of mathematics. Authors Burkard Polster (YouTube's Mathologer) and Marty Ross delve into mathematical puzzles and phenomena in engaging stories featuring current events, sports, and history, many flavored with a distinctive bit of Australiana. Each chapter ends with “puzzles to ponder” that will spur further reflection. These stories were written for a general audience, and originally appeared in the Maths Masters column in The Age newspaper. The book offers mathematical entertainment for curious readers of all ages, and assumes a minimum of mathematical background. Polster and Ross are masters of the genre this book represents: a cornucopia of offerings, from across the mathematical spectrum. Their articles are entertaining, captivating, and informative, and will appeal to everyone from interested amateurs to old pros. On top of all that, the prose is clear, concise and a lot of fun—happily with a charmingly Aussie flavo(u)r. Crack the spine and enjoy! —Michael Berg, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles The American Mathematical Society must be congratulated on publishing a singularly amusing synthesis of cultural anthropology coupled with mathematical entertainment. —Tushar Das, University of Wisconsin–La Crosse Polster and Ross are as good as the original master, Martin Gardner! They are also as good as that other great popularizer of mathematics, Ian Stewart, who took up Gardner's mantle, and as good as Douglas Hofstedter, who also followed in Gardner's footsteps as popularizers of mathematics within regular columns in “Scientific American”, and elsewhere. I recommend this new book very highly! Like Poster and Ross's first collection of columns, it is one that you can happily read from cover to cover, or dip into at any random point, and find treasures. You will then often return, savouring, and often laughing, while also learning, and responding to thoughtful challenges! —John Gough, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia

No ark since Noah's own has shown such colour and diversity of life as that of Barbara Reid! To save his family from the big flood, Noah builds a boat. It has to be HUGE, because two of every animal are coming to stay for forty days and forty nights. First in a trickle, then in a flood, animals of every colour and kind make their way into the hold. Bees and boas, camels and cats, every pair finds a place in these pages. Two by Two has been a classic for 20 years, and it is now available in a chunky board book format for the youngest readers.

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In this intimate debut thriller in the vein of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, an award-winning mystery writer delves into the mind of a young woman who’s closer to murder than she’d like to admit. “This is about three deaths. Actually more, if you go back far enough. I say deaths but perhaps all of them were murders. It’s a grey area. Murder, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.” Within six months of her arrival at a university campus, three of Penelope Sheppard’s new friends are dead. And only Pen knows why. This isn’t Pen’s first encounter with violence, and she’s an expert at keeping secrets—especially ones as dark and dangerous as her own. Reputations have a way of haunting you—they’re easy to make, hard to shake. After Pen leaves her isolated hometown to escape the judgmental stares of her neighbors and carve out a new identity for herself, she’s free from the stigma of her past mistakes. At school, Pen is anonymous, surrounded by an eclectic collection of perfect strangers. But when someone begins to uncover the deadly secrets she thought she’d left behind, how far will Pen go to protect her new life? Six months later, Pen is back home, the victim of a violent trauma and a pariah once again. Now, reluctantly, she must recount her story from start to finish: to her shrink, to the police, even to herself. Because until she tells the whole truth, there will be no escaping the past. Praise for All These Perfect Strangers “Best book I’ve read this year. Fabulous writing.”—Fiona Barton, New York Times bestselling author of The Widow “All These Perfect Strangers gripped me and didn’t let go until the last page. Aiofe Clifford creates a disturbing but compelling cast of characters, leaving the reader constantly guessing what’s around the corner. It’s a cleverly woven plot, a wonderful, compelling read that lingers long after the book is closed.”—Jane Harper, award-winning author of The Dry “Unputdownable.”—Marie Claire (Australia) “A picture of death and betrayal across the sexually charged canvas of a first year on a university campus . . . tense, sparse . . . The gripping plot challenges and subverts the notion of innocence until the very last page.”—Monocle “A compulsively readable mystery set on a college campus, with one girl at the heart of it all, All These Perfect Strangers is a seething conflagration of lies and betrayal that explodes to a shocking conclusion. I couldn't put it down!”—Carla Buckley, author of The Good Goodbye “Aoife Clifford has given us one terrific yarn. All These Perfect Strangers is tender and cruel, naïve and complex, hopeful and crushing. In other words, real to the broken and bloody bone. A phenomenal debut novel that will make you forget you have other things to do. Read this book and spend the next week captivated by our hero, Pen Sheppard.”–T. E. Woods, author of the Justice series “Intrigue, betrayal and murder . . . deliciously dark.”–T.R. Richmond, author of What She Left “Aoife Clifford’s debut novel twists and turns and twists again. All These Perfect Strangers is really a perfect blend of storytelling and psychological suspense. I can’t wait to see what Clifford does next.”—Nichole Christoff, author of The Kill List

A grandfather and grandchild go to the zoo, where they count animals from one to ten.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "[A] delectable double bio . . . Talk about Victoria’s secret. . . . A fascinating portrait of a genuine love match, but one in which the partners dealt with surprisingly modern issues.” —USA Today It was the most influential marriage of the nineteenth century—and one of history’ s most enduring love stories. Traditional biographies tell us that Queen Victoria inherited the throne as a naïve teenager, when the British Empire was at the height of its power, and seemed doomed to find failure as a monarch and misery as a woman until she married her German cousin Albert and accepted him as her lord and master. Now renowned chronicler Gillian Gill turns this familiar story on its head, revealing a strong, feisty queen and a brilliant, fragile prince working together to build a family based on support, trust, and fidelity, qualities neither had seen much of as children. The love affair that emerges is far more captivating, complex, and relevant than that depicted in any previous account. The epic relationship began poorly. The cousins first met as teenagers for a few brief, awkward, chaperoned weeks in 1836. At seventeen, charming rather than beautiful, Victoria already “showed signs of wanting her own way.” Albert, the boy who had been groomed for her since birth, was chubby, self-absorbed, and showed no interest in girls, let alone this princess. So when they met again in 1839 as queen and presumed prince-consort-to-be, neither had particularly high hopes. But the queen was delighted to discover a grown man, refined, accomplished, and whiskered. “Albert is beautiful!” Victoria wrote, and she proposed just three days later. As Gill reveals, Victoria and Albert entered their marriage longing for intimate companionship, yet each was determined to be the ruler. This dynamic would continue through the years—each spouse, headstrong and impassioned, eager to lead the marriage on his or her own terms. For two decades, Victoria and Albert engaged in a very public contest for dominance. Against all odds, the marriage succeeded, but it was always a work in progress. And in the end, it was Albert’s early death that set the Queen free to create the myth of her marriage as a peaceful idyll and her husband as Galahad, pure and perfect. As Gill shows, the marriage of Victoria and Albert was great not because it was perfect but because it was passionate and complicated. Wonderfully nuanced, surprising, often acerbic—and informed by revealing excerpts from the pair’s journals and letters—We Two is a revolutionary portrait of a queen and her prince, a fascinating modern perspective on a couple who have become a legend. BONUS: This edition contains a reader's guide.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The thrilling sequel to the beloved worldwide bestseller Ready Player One, the near-future adventure that inspired the blockbuster Steven Spielberg film. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST • “The game is on again. . . . A great mix of exciting fantasy and threatening fact.”—The Wall Street Journal AN UNEXPECTED QUEST. TWO WORLDS AT STAKE. ARE YOU READY? Days after winning OASIS founder James Halliday’s contest, Wade Watts makes a discovery that changes everything. Hidden within Halliday’s vaults, waiting for his heir to find, lies a technological advancement that will once again change the world and make the OASIS a thousand times more wondrous—and addictive—than even Wade dreamed possible. With it comes a new riddle, and a new quest—a last Easter egg from Halliday, hinting at a mysterious prize. And an unexpected, impossibly powerful, and dangerous new rival awaits, one who’ll kill millions to get what he wants. Wade’s life and the future of the OASIS are again at stake, but this time the fate of humanity also hangs in the balance. Lovingly nostalgic and wildly original as only Ernest Cline could conceive it, Ready Player Two takes us on another imaginative, fun, action-packed adventure through his beloved virtual universe, and jolts us thrillingly into the future once again.

TO EVERY GOOD LOVE STORY, THERE IS A TWIST. Times Two is about two women meeting, falling madly in love, and realizing that they are so crazy about each other that they want to have a family together. The fact that they both get pregnant at the exact same time is where things start to get interesting. Sarah Kate Ellis, a high-powered magazine executive, and Kristen Henderson, a laid-back rock star, decide it’s time to start their family. After determining that Sarah should get pregnant first while Kristen works on her band’s new CD, they head to a fertility doctor to start the process. But after months of drug treatments, miscarriages, and heartbreak, Kristen decides to start trying, too. That’s when the utterly improbable happens: Sarah and Kristen find out that they are both pregnant—and are due three days apart. Overjoyed by the news that they are both expecting, Sarah and Kristen are also overwhelmed by all that lies ahead. Both have successful, demanding careers. Both have large, close-knit families nearby, including two strongly opinionated mothers who immediately want to be involved with everything. And both are completely clueless about the challenges they’re about to face. They soon realize that none of their previous accomplishments has prepared them for the highs and lows of impending motherhood: not Kristen’s stint touring with The Rolling Stones, nor Sarah’s march up the corporate ladder in the world of women’s magazines. They go through everything first-time parents-to-be experience—but twice over. They’re producing double the hormones, double the morning sickness, double the cravings, and have double the ups and downs. From the start, Sarah and Kristen think of their babies as twins, each woman carrying half of a set. But for two women who’ve always finished each other’s sentences, they suddenly find themselves on opposite ends of the mothers-to-be spectrum, with different opinions on almost everything. One wants a drug-free birth, while the other wants an epidural at the first sign of a contraction. One is dying to know the baby’s gender, but the other refuses to find out until she hears the baby’s first cry in the delivery room. The difficulties of having two pregnant women under the same roof are multiplied by the legal and social obstacles of being a gay couple. Told from Kristen and Sarah’s insightful and hilarious she said/she said perspective, this touching, modern family adventure will entertain, enlighten, and resonate with readers of all stripes.