With Bin Laden dead, Pakistan threatened by internal power struggles, relationships between the United States and Pakistan at an all-time low, and as the US and Britain begin their withdrawal from Afghanistan, what are the possibilities-and hazards-facing the world's most unstable region? Where is the Taliban now, and how do they figure in the future of Pakistan as well as Afghanistan? What does the immediate future hold, and what are the choices that Pakistan, Afghanistan and the West can make?

These are some of the crucial questions that Ahmed Rashid takes on in this follow-up to his acclaimed Descent into Chaos. Rashid correctly predicted that the Iraq war would need to be refocused into Afghanistan, and that Pakistan would emerge as the leading player through which American interests and actions would have to be directed.

Now, as Washington and the rest of the West wrestle with negotiating with unreliable and unstable "allies" in Pakistan, there is no better guide to the dark future than Ahmed Rashid. He focuses on the long-term problems: the changing casts of characters, the future of international terrorism, and the actual policies and strategies both within Pakistan and Afghanistan and among the Western allies. As he has done so well in the past, Pakistan on the Brink offers sensible solutions and provides a way forward for all countries involved, while the world tries to bring some stability to a fractured region saddled with a legacy of violence and corruption. ...

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Aren't we the good guys? Don't Americans spend billions of dollars coming to the aid of Muslim countries when they are subject to calamities? Didn't we save millions of Muslims from slaughter in Bosnia? So why do so many Muslims hate us?

Veteran journalist Irfan Husain points out in his important new book, Fatal Faultlines: Pakistan, Islam and the West that there are two sides to every argument. And though you may not agree with the other side it is imperative that we at least understand the mind-set of people whose hearts and mind have been lost by the West and the United States.

Using personal experiences, anecdotes and history, Irfan Husain weaves a compelling and highly readable narrative that gives us a different perspective on world affairs and American involvement with the Middle East and the Muslim world....

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On November 21, 2008, ten men boarded a boat in Karachi and hijacked an Indian fishing trawler, killing four of the vessel's crewmen and forcing its captain to sail toward India. Four miles off the coast of Mumbai, these men abandoned the trawler for inflatable speedboats, and within hours they began hitting multiple targets in Mumbai in a series of simultaneous and well-coordinated attacks. Over the course of three days, more than 170 people were killed and more than 300 injured. The victims included members of the Indian elite as well as Jews and Westerners.

The Mumbai attacks placed Lashkar-e-Taiba high on the list of the world's most fearsome terrorist groups. A complex and powerful organization that rose to prominence with Pakistani state support, Lashkar has sent scores of fighters to Iraq and Afghanistan and provides them with essential strategic and tactical help. Lashkar was formed by men with years of training in the trenches of Kashmir, and its skill in executing efficient and effective insurgencies has made the organization extremely attractive to dissidents. Nevertheless, Lashkar is afraid to associate too closely with al-Qaeda, which is closely tied to Pakistan's government, and al-Qaeda is afraid to ally itself too intimately with Lashkar, which would jeopardize its partnership with the Pakistani state. Show More

Were the Mumbai attacks evidence of Lashkar's increasing infiltration of al-Qaeda's domain, or were they simply the latest in a series of attacks on Pakistan's historic rival? Stephen Tankel traces the development of Lashkar from a small resistance group to the largest, most feared organization operating in Kashmir, India, and Pakistan today. He considers the threat Lashkar now poses to Pakistan, India, and the West, and how this danger may evolve in coming decades....

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Thirty years have passed since eleven-year-old Paul Tracy watched his troubled father, Warren, a pitcher for the New York Mets, clash with his childhood hero, the Cubs' golden-boy Joe Castle, in a contest from which no winners emerged.

Now the news that his father is dying brings the memory of that day flooding back. Deciding that it's time to face up to what really happened on that baseball field in 1973, father and son make their way to Calico Rock, Arkansas, where either redemption or rejection awaits them....

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New York, 1939. Tom Bradshaw is arrested for first degree murder. He stands accused of killing his brother. When Sefton Jelks, a top Manhattan lawyer, offers his services for nothing, penniless Tom has little choice but to accept his assurance of a lighter sentence. After Tom is tried, found guilty and sentenced, Jelks disappears, and the only way for him to prove his innocence would be to reveal his true identity – something that he has sworn never to do in order to protect the woman he loves. Meanwhile, the young woman in question travels to New York, leaving their son behind in England, having decided she'll do whatever it takes to find the man she was to marry – unwilling to believe that he died at sea. The only proof she has is a letter. A letter that has remained unopened on a mantelpiece in Bristol for over a year. In Jeffrey Archer's epic novel, family loyalties are stretched to their limits as secrets unravel, and the story moves from the backstreets of Bristol to the boardrooms of Manhattan....

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A NEW ORIGINAL SERIES, NOW ON HBO.

Here is the first volume in George R. R. Martins magnificent cycle of novels that includes A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords. As a whole, this series comprises a genuine masterpiece of modern fantasy, bringing together the best the genre has to offer. Magic, mystery, intrigue, romance, and adventure fill these pages and transport us to a world unlike any we have ever experienced. Already hailed as a classic, George R. R. Martin’s stunning series is destined to stand as one of the great achievements of imaginative fiction. GAME OF THRONES

Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdoms protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens.

Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; and a determined woman undertakes the most treacherous of journeys. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones. ...

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Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she's made it out of the bloody arena alive, she's still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what's worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss's family, not her friends, not the people of District 12. Powerful and haunting, this thrilling final installment of Suzanne Collins's groundbreaking The Hunger Games trilogy promises to be one of the most talked about books of the year....

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Very few French writers have ventured to write on the social, religious, political and cultural issues of Pakistani society, but Claudine is an exception. She is one of those writers who not only made frequent visits to Pakistan but also watched some very sensitive prevailing issues from a close angle. Her fine sensibilities and eye for detail is a hallmark of her writing skills which also makes her an accomplished writer. In Hira Mandi her strong pen has beautifully succeeded in capturing the true identity of the society.

Hira Mandi is a remarkable piece where Claudine has rolled out a tale that would make the readers spellbound. Hira Mandi sounds a forbidden subject for many who are familiar with the name as it is an area located in the walled city of Lahore which in its hey days was notoriously known as pleasure seekers paradise but Claudine s expressions, portrayal of feelings and glaring social dichotomies are unparallel....

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Presents the story of Esma a young Kurdish woman in London trying to come to terms with the terrible murder her brother has committed. Esma tells the story of her family stretching back three generations; back to her grandmother and the births of her mother and Aunt in a village on the edge of the Euphrates.

My mother died twice. I promised myself I would not let her story be forgotten'. And so begins the story of Esma a young Kurdish woman in London trying to come to terms with the terrible murder her brother has committed. Esma tells the story of her family stretching back three generations; back to her grandmother and the births of her mother and Aunt in a village on the edge of the Euphrates. Named Pembe and Jamila, meaning Pink and Beautiful rather than the names their mother wanted to call them, Destiny and Enough, the twin girls have very different futures ahead of them all of which will end in tragedy on a street in East London in 1978. A powerful, brilliant and moving account of murder, love and family set in a Kurdish village, Istanbul and London....

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Lucy Marinn is a glass artist living in beautiful, inspiring Friday Harbour, Washington. Creatively fulfilled and in love, she is content with her life, until she is stunned by the worst kind of betrayal: her boyfriend Kevin announces he's leaving Lucy to be with her younger sister. Facing the disapproval of Lucy's parents, Kevin asks his friend Sam Nolan, one of the owners of the Rainshadow vineyard, to 'romance' Lucy and help her get over her anger. But when Sam and Lucy begin to fall in love, things become complicated, especially when Kevin starts to have second thoughts. And when Lucy discovers that the new relationship in her life began under false pretences, her world is shattered, and she is forced to question everything....

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Blue Dust is an emotional, philosophical and cultural journey that maps the relationships, dreams, hopes and fears of three generations of a family in Pakistan and the Middle East. The central character is a highly volatile and loving girl/woman who struggles largely with her own insecurities in her relationships with her father, husband and sister and the world she is born into (from a social and religious point of view ultimately blurring her sense of identity). A significant thread of the narrative is the impact her relationship with her sister has on her life and personality and the strength of that bond is one of the most enduring forces.

Her daughter also plays a pivotal role in encapsulating the emotional mood and tone of the book particularly in exploring dichotomies of reality and perception and the power of memory and dreams in articulating how these people respond to the events of their lives.

Through the story of this family the author also explores issues in Pakistan relevant to class, religious and social distinctions and the barriers caused by these, and a society which perpetuates and at the same time ignores issues of paedophilia and sexual repression.

Blue Dust is a misty, dream like, touching but often bloody portrayal of intensely self reflexive dramas of these individual people but relevant to the wider issues and concerns of Pakistani society as well....

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