Although Hood is considered a "Southern" writer, her sensibilities are universal. In this impressive collection of short fiction, she uses simple phrases to capture a character perfectly; at the same time, she knows when to unleash her controlled prose, freeing it for poetic evocations of landscapes or moments. Above all, she tells good stories. "After Moore" traces the dissolution of a marriage as told to a marriage counselor by all the family members. Hood manages to be both funny and perceptive as she adopts the voice of each character in turn. The title piece is an ambitious novella in which Hood's experiments with time do not quite work, but she deftly renders a family's complex relationships and at the same time creates the ambience of a mill-town community. Hood, who won the 1984 Flannery O'Connor Award for her first book of stories, How Far She Went, is a talented writer with a distinctive, memorable voice.

For generations, mothers and daughters have struggled to say the right thing -- or have said nothing at all -- when the time has come to discuss sex. VENUS IN BLUE JEANS brings refreshing hope and guidance for every mother who has been undone by such questions as "Mom, what’s French kissing" or "What’s oral sex?" or who has agonized over her teenage daughter’s newfound interest in boys. In this wise and radiant book, Nathalie Bartle tackles some of the toughest topics of sexual education: What do girls know about sex? When is the right time to begin talking with them about sex? How can mothers get the conversation right? Today’s teenagers face enormous pressures to become sexually active; by age nineteen more than 50 percent of American girls have had intercourse. From billboards to cyberspace, society is awash in sexual images. Parents assume that teens possess abundant sexual knowledge, but information gleaned from the media or the teenage grapevine can be woefully inaccurate: many teens list AIDS as the only sexually transmitted disease; others assume they can’t get pregnant "the first time." We need a new dialogue for this generation of young women, Bartle argues. Combining her own stories of raising a daughter with the generously honest voices of mothers and daughters who have struggled firsthand with this topic, she illuminates the invaluable role that mothers can play in their daughters’ sexual education -- without encouraging them to be sexually active. Adolescent girls crave information, but they may be too afraid or embarrassed to ask for it, worried that their moms will think less of them or assume they are preparing for sex. The rich stories here help dispel common myths, encourage candid conversation, and reveal the importance of placing sexual information within the broader context of relationships and a moral framework. Filled with strategies, keen understanding, and a warm sense of humor, VENUS IN BLUE JEANS will inspire mothers and others to persevere with these vital conversations and will empower girls to think of their sexuality as a natural part of adolescence rather than something they need be defiant about or shamed by. This is an indispensable book for anyone concerned with guiding today’s young women safely through the upsets, infatuations, and intimacies of adolescence.

When did my life start resembling a Hallmark movie? I suppose it all started when my charming fiancé turned out to be anything but, and I decided I wanted to push the reset button on my life. So, I packed up my business and moved to a small town in the Texas Hill Country, complete with the cast of small-town characters you’d expect and the ridiculously sexy new veterinarian. Being the new kids in town, Cal and I kept finding ourselves thrown togetherand even though men were the absolute last thing on my mind... one thing led to another. Now someone’s threatening my business, but I’m not the same woman I was when I arrived. And I’m ready to fight for what’s mine. Each book in the Konigsburg series is STANDALONE: * Venus in Blue Jeans * Wedding Bell Blues * Be My Baby * Long Time Gone * Brand New Me * Don’t Forget Me * Fearless Love * Hungry Heart

A comprehensive and authoritative text on the formation and evolution of planetary atmospheres, for graduate-level students and researchers.

The award-winning, New York Times bestselling literary masterpiece of Shirley Hazzard—the story of two beautiful orphan sisters whose fates are as moving and wonderful, and yet as predestined, as the transits of the planets themselves A Penguin Classic Considered "one of the great English-language novels of the twentieth century" (The Paris Review), The Transit of Venus follows Caroline and Grace Bell as they leave Australia to begin a new life in post-war England. From Sydney to London, New York, and Stockholm, and from the 1950s to the 1980s, the two sisters experience seduction and abandonment, marriage and widowhood, love and betrayal. With exquisite, breathtaking prose, Australian novelist Shirley Hazzard tells the story of the displacements and absurdities of modern life. The result is at once an intricately plotted Greek tragedy, a sweeping family saga, and a desperate love story.

When a woman discovers the depths of her own erotic nature, her enthusiasm for the games of love becomes a threat to her husband. Her older sister defies the conventions of Parisian society by living openly with her lover, a man destined to deceive her. Together, these beautiful sisters tread the path of erotic delight -- first in the arms of men, and then in the embraces of their own more subtle, and more constant, sex.