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Afterlife - by Julia Alvarez
AFTERLIFE is a beautifully written short book about life after losing a loved one.
Antonia Vega, the immigrant writer at the center of Afterlife, has had the rug pulled out from under her. She has just retired from the college where she taught English when her beloved husband, Sam, suddenly dies. And then more jolts: her bighearted but unstable sister disappears, and Antonia returns home one evening to find a pregnant, undocumented teenager on her doorstep. Antonia has always sought direction in the literature she loves—lines from her favorite authors play in her head like a soundtrack—but now she finds that the world demands more of her than words.
The Alice Network – by Kate Quinn
In an enthralling new historical novel, two women—a female spy recruited to the real-life Alice Network in France during World War I and an unconventional American socialite searching for her cousin in 1947—are brought together in a mesmerizing story of courage and redemption.
1947: In the chaotic aftermath of World War II, American college girl Charlie St. Clair is pregnant, unmarried, and on the verge of being thrown out of her very proper family. She's also nursing a desperate hope that her beloved cousin Rose, who disappeared in Nazi-occupied France during the war, might still be alive. So when Charlie's parents banish her to Europe to have her "little problem" taken care of, she breaks free and heads to London. She is determined to find out what happened to the cousin she loves like a sister.
1915: A year into the Great War, Eve Gardiner burns to join the fight against the Germans and unexpectedly gets her chance when she's recruited to work as a spy. Sent into enemy-occupied France, she's trained by the mesmerizing Lili, the "Queen of Spies", who manages a vast network of secret agents right under the enemy's nose.
Thirty years later, haunted by the betrayal that ultimately tore apart the Alice Network, Eve spends her days drunk and secluded in her crumbling London house. Until a young American barges in uttering a name Eve hasn't heard in decades, and launches them both on a mission to find the truth…no matter where it leads. (From the publisher.)
The Apple Orchard – by Susan Wiggs
Tess Delaney makes a living restoring stolen treasures to their rightful owners. People like Annelise Winther, who refuses to sell her long-gone mother's beloved necklace—despite Tess's advice. To Annelise, the jewel's value is in its memories. But Tess's own history is filled with gaps: a father she never met, a mother who spent more time traveling than with her daughter. So Tess is shocked when she discovers the grandfather she never knew is in a coma. And that she has been named in his will to inherit half of Bella Vista, a hundred-acre apple orchard in the magical Sonoma town called Archangel. The rest is willed to Isabel Johansen. A half-sister she's never heard of. Against the rich landscape of Bella Vista, Tess begins to discover a world filled with the simple pleasures of food and family, of the warm earth beneath her bare feet. A world where family comes first and the roots of history run deep. A place where falling in love is not only possible, but inevitable. And in a season filled with new experiences, Tess begins to see the truth in something Annelise once told her: if you don't believe memories are worth more than money, then perhaps you've not made the right kind of memories. (From the publisher.)
Aurora Rising - by Amie Kaufman
Behind closed doors - by B.A. Paris
"Everyone knows a couple like Jack and Grace. He has looks and wealth; she has charm and elegance. He's a dedicated attorney who has never lost a case; she is a flawless homemaker, a masterful gardener and cook, and dotes on her disabled younger sister. Though they are still newlyweds, they seem to have it all. You might not want to like them, but you do. You're hopelessly charmed by the ease and comfort of their home, by the graciousness of the dinner parties they throw. You'd like to get to know Grace better. But it's difficult, because you realize Jack and Grace are inseparable. Some might call this true love. Others might wonder why Grace never answers the phone. Or why she can never meet for coffee, even though she doesn't work. How she can cook such elaborate meals but remain so slim. Or why she never seems to take anything with her when she leaves the house, not even a pen. Or why there are such high-security metal shutters on all the downstairs windows. Some might wonder what's really going on once the dinner party is over, and the front door has closed…"
Bookworm: a memoir of childhood reading – by Lucy Mangan
When Lucy Mangan was little, stories were everything. They opened up new worlds and cast light on all the complexities she encountered in this one. She was whisked away to Narnia and Kirrin Island and Wonderland. She ventured down rabbit holes and womble burrows into midnight gardens and chocolate factories. She wandered the countryside with Milly-Molly-Mandy and played by the tracks with the Railway Children. With Charlotte's Web she discovered death, and with Judy Blume it was boys. No wonder she left the house only for her weekly trip to the library or to spend her pocket money on amassing her own at home.
In Bookworm, Lucy revisits her childhood reading with wit, love and gratitude. She relives our best-beloved books and their extraordinary creators and looks at the thousand subtle ways they shape our lives. She also disinters a few forgotten treasures to inspire the next generation of bookworms and set them on their way. Lucy brings the favourite characters of our collective childhoods back to life – prompting endless rereadings, rediscoveries, and, inevitably, fierce debate – and brilliantly uses them to tell her own story, that of a born and unrepentant bookworm.
Challenger deep - by Neal Shusterman
A captivating novel about mental illness that lingers long beyond the last page, Challenger Deep is a heartfelt tour de force by New York Times bestselling author Neal Shusterman.
Caden Bosch is on a ship that's headed for the deepest point on Earth: Challenger Deep, the southern part of the Marianas Trench. Caden Bosch is a brilliant high school student whose friends are starting to notice his odd behavior. Caden Bosch is designated the ship's artist in residence to document the journey with images. Caden Bosch pretends to join the school track team but spends his days walking for miles, absorbed by the thoughts in his head. Caden Bosch is split between his allegiance to the captain and the allure of mutiny. Caden Bosch is torn.
The Cousins - by Karen McManus
The Storys are the envy of their neighbours: owners of the largest property on their East Coast island, they are rich, beautiful, and close. Until it all falls apart. The four children are suddenly dropped by their mother with a single sentence: You know what you did. They never hear from her again. Years later, when 18-year-old cousins Aubrey, Milly and Jonah Story receive a mysterious invitation to spend the summer at their grandmother's resort, they have no choice but to follow their curiosity and meet the woman who's been such an enigma their entire lives. This entire family is built on secrets, right? It's the Story legacy. This summer, the teenagers are determined to discover the truth at the heart of their family. But some secrets are better left alone.
The Cuckoo's Calling – by Robert Galbraith
After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office. Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man. You may think you know detectives, but you've never met one quite like Strike. You may think you know about the wealthy and famous, but you've never seen them under an investigation like this. Introducing Cormoran Strike, this is the acclaimed first crime novel by J.K. Rowling, writing under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. (From the publisher.)
Dear Edward - by Ann Napolitano
A heart-wrenching, life-affirming novel about a 12-year-old boy who is the sole survivor of a deadly plane crash. One summer morning, a flight takes off from New York to Los Angeles. There are 216 passengers aboard: among them a Wall Street millionaire; a young woman taking a pregnancy test in the airplane toilet; a soldier returning from Afghanistan; and two beleaguered parents moving across the country with their adolescent sons. When the plane suddenly crashes in a field in Colorado, the younger of these boys, 12-year-old Edward Adler, is the sole survivor. Dear Edward recounts the stories of the passengers aboard that flight as it hurtles toward its fateful end, and depicts Edward's life in the crash's aftermath as he tries to make sense of the loss of his family, the strangeness of his sudden fame, and the meaning of his survival. As Edward comes of age against the backdrop of sudden tragedy, he must confront one of life's most profound questions: how do we make the most of the time we are given?
Dear Justyce - by Nic Stone
New York Times bestseller author, Nic Stone delivers an unflinching look into the flawed practices and silenced voices in the American juvenile justice system.
Vernell LaQuan Banks and Justyce McAllister grew up a block apart in the Southwest Atlanta neighborhood of Wynwood Heights. Years later, though, Justyce walks the illustrious halls of Yale University . . . and Quan sits behind bars at the Fulton Regional Youth Detention Center.
Through a series of flashbacks, vignettes, and letters to Justyce–the protagonist of Dear Martin–Quan's story takes form. Troubles at home and misunderstandings at school give rise to police encounters and tough decisions. But then there's a dead cop and a weapon with Quan's prints on it. What leads a bright kid down a road to a murder charge? Not even Quan is sure.
The dry - by Jane Harper
After getting a note demanding his presence, Federal Agent Aaron Falk arrives in his hometown for the first time in decades to attend the funeral of his best friend, Luke. Twenty years ago when Falk was accused of murder, Luke was his alibi. Falk and his father fled under a cloud of suspicion, saved from prosecution only because of Luke's steadfast claim that the boys had been together at the time of the crime. But now more than one person knows they didn't tell the truth back then, and Luke is dead.
Amid the worst drought in a century, Falk and the local detective question what really happened to Luke. As Falk reluctantly investigates to see if there's more to Luke's death than there seems to be, long-buried mysteries resurface, as do the lies that have haunted them. And Falk will find that small towns have always hidden big secrets.
Educated - by Tara Westover
Tara Westover grew up preparing for the End of Days, watching for the sun to darken, for the moon to drip as if with blood. She spent her summers bottling peaches and her winters rotating emergency supplies, hoping that when the World of Men failed, her family would continue on, unaffected. She hadn't been registered for a birth certificate. She had no school records because she never set foot in a classroom, and no medical records because her father didn't believe in doctors or hospitals. According to the state and federal government, she didn't exist. As she grew older, her father became more radical, and her brother, more violent. At sixteen Tara decided to educate herself. Her struggle for knowledge would take her far from her Idaho mountains, over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge. Only then would she wonder if she travelled too far. If there was still a way home. Educated is an account of the struggle for self-invention. It is a tale of fierce family loyalty, and of the grief that comes with the severing of the closest of ties. With the acute insight that distinguishes all great writers, from her singular experience Westover has crafted a universal coming-of-age story that gets to the heart of what an education is and what it offers: the perspective to see one's life through new eyes, and the will to change it.
Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine – by Gail Honeyman
Smart, warm, uplifting, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is the story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey.
No one's ever told Eleanor that life should be better than fine. Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she's thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy.
But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymond's big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.
Smart, warm, uplifting, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is the story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes…the only way to survive is to open your heart.
The fault in our stars - by John Green
"The greatest romance story of this decade." —Entertainment Weekly
Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.
Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars brilliantly explores the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.
Gabriel's Inferno – by Sylvain Reynard
Professor Gabriel Emerson, a specialist in Dante and the art of seduction, believes he has already earned his exile to the lower circles of hell. Since redemption is impossible, there is no reason to refrain from indulging in a life of pleasurable sin, using his notorious good looks and sophisticated charm as a means to gratify his every whim. But when he meets Julia Mitchell, a brilliant, lovely, and innocent grad student with the achingly familiar eyes of an angel, all of his cynical convictions are challenged. Her mysterious allure and the havoc she wreaks on his self-satisfied existence cause him to lash out at her, while her quiet beauty and innate goodness consistently undermine his control, tempting him beyond measure. Despite surviving a traumatic childhood, nothing has shaken Julia's faith that redemption is possible for everyone-everyone but her. Her unworthiness torments her, since the only man she will ever love has managed to forget her very existence, failing to even recognize her when they reconnect. Too naive to see that Gabriel's hostility is a mask for his increasing obsession with her, Julia forces him to come to grips with his past while she continues to unwittingly torment his senses. His fascination grows into a dangerous preoccupation, for Julia is forbidden fruit . . . Will Gabriel survive the inferno, or will he succumb to the flames?
The girl in the mirror - by Rose Carlyle
Identical twins only look the same … Beautiful twin sisters Iris and Summer are startlingly alike, but beyond what the eye can see lies a darkness that sets them apart. Cynical and insecure, Iris has long been envious of open-hearted Summer's seemingly never-ending good fortune, including her perfect husband Adam. Called to Thailand to help sail the family yacht to the Seychelles, Iris nurtures her own secret hopes for what might happen on the journey. But when she unexpectedly finds herself alone in the middle of the Indian Ocean, everything changes. Now is her chance to take what she's always wanted – the idyllic life she's always coveted. But just how far will she go to get the life she's dreamed about? And how will she make sure no one discovers the truth?
The glass castle: a memoir - by Jeannette Walls
The Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir of resilience and redemption, and a revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant. When sober, Jeannette's brilliant and charismatic father captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Her mother was a free spirit who abhorred the idea of domesticity and didn't want the responsibility of raising a family. The Walls children learned to take care of themselves. They fed, clothed, and protected one another, and eventually found their way to New York. Their parents followed them, choosing to be homeless even as their children prospered.
The Handmaid's Tale - by Margaret Atwood
In the world of the near future, who will control women's bodies? Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are only valued if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the days before, when she lived and made love with her husband Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now.
Funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing, The Handmaid's Tale is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and tour de force. (From the publisher.)
The Illuminae files. 1, illiminae - by Amie Kaufman
The year is 2575, and two rival mega-corporations are at war over a planet that's little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, exes Kady and Ezra – who are barely even talking to each other – are forced to fight their way onto the evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit. But the warship is the least of their problems. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results. The fleet's AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what the hell is going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it's clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she'd never speak to again. Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth and the courage of everyday heroes.
Island of the lost - by Joan Druett
It is 1864, and Captain Thomas Musgrave's schooner, the Grafton, has just wrecked on Auckland Island, a forbidding piece of land 285 miles south of New Zealand. Battered by year-round freezing rain and constant winds, it is one of the most inhospitable places on earth. To be shipwrecked there means almost certain death.
Incredibly, at the same time on the opposite end of the island, another ship runs aground during a storm. Separated by only twenty miles and the island's treacherous, impassable cliffs, the crews of the Grafton and the Invercauld face the same fate. And yet where the Invercauld's crew turns inward on itself, fighting, starving, and even turning to cannibalism, Musgrave's crew bands together to build a cabin and a forge—and eventually, to find a way to escape.
Using the survivors' journals and historical records, award-winning maritime historian Joan Druett brings to life this extraordinary untold story about leadership and the fine line between order and chaos.
The jetsetters - by Amanda Eyre Ward
When seventy-year-old Charlotte Perkins submits a sexy essay to the Become a Jetsetter contest, she dreams of reuniting her estranged children: Lee, an almost-famous actress; Cord, a handsome Manhattan venture capitalist who can't seem to find a partner; and Regan, a harried mother who took it all wrong when Charlotte bought her a Weight Watchers gift certificate for her birthday. Charlotte yearns for the years when her children were young, when she was a single mother who meant everything to them.
When she wins the contest, the family packs their baggage—both literal and figurative—and spends ten days traveling from sun-drenched Athens through glorious Rome to tapas-laden Barcelona on an over-the-top cruise ship, the Splendido Marveloso. As lovers new and old join the adventure, long-buried secrets are revealed and old wounds are reopened, forcing the Perkins family to confront the forces that drove them apart and the defining choices of their lives.
Can four lost adults find the peace they've been seeking by reconciling their childhood aches and coming back together? In the vein of The Nest and The Vacationers, The Jetsetters is a delicious and intelligent novel about the courage it takes to reveal our true selves, the pleasures and perils of family, and how we navigate the seas of adulthood.
The Kitchen House – by Kathleen Grissom
Orphaned while on board ship from Ireland, seven-year-old Lavinia arrives on the steps of a tobacco plantation where she is to live and work with the slaves of the kitchen house. Under the care of Belle, the master's illegitimate daughter, Lavinia becomes deeply bonded to her adopted family, though she is set apart from them by her white skin. Eventually, Lavinia is accepted into the world of the big house, where the master is absent and the mistress battles opium addiction. Lavinia finds herself perilously straddling two very different worlds. When she is forced to make a choice, loyalties are brought into question, dangerous truths are laid bare, and lives are put at risk. The Kitchen House is a tragic story of page-turning suspense, exploring the meaning of family, where love and loyalty prevail. (From the publisher.)
Lady in waiting - by Anne Glenconner
Discover untold secrets with this extraordinary memoir of drama and tragedy by Anne Glenconner—a close member of the royal circle and lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret.
Anne Glenconner has been at the center of the royal circle from childhood, when she met and befriended the future Queen Elizabeth II and her sister, the Princess Margaret. Though the firstborn child of the 5th Earl of Leicester, who controlled one of the largest estates in England, as a daughter she was deemed "the greatest disappointment" and unable to inherit. Since then she has needed all her resilience to survive court life with her sense of humour intact.
A unique witness to landmark moments in royal history, Maid of Honor at Queen Elizabeth's coronation, and a lady in waiting to Princess Margaret until her death in 2002, Anne's life has encompassed extraordinary drama and tragedy. In Lady in Waiting, she will share many intimate royal stories from her time as Princess Margaret's closest confidante as well as her own battle for survival: her broken-off first engagement on the basis of her "mad blood"; her 54-year marriage to the volatile, unfaithful Colin Tennant, Lord Glenconner, who left his fortune to a former servant; the death in adulthood of two of her sons; a third son she nursed back from a six-month coma following a horrific motorcycle accident. Through it all, Anne has carried on, traveling the world with the royal family, including visiting the White House, and developing the Caribbean island of Mustique as a safe harbor for the rich and famous-hosting Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Raquel Welch, and many other politicians, aristocrats, and celebrities.
With unprecedented insight into the royal family, Lady in Waiting is a witty, candid, dramatic, at times heart-breaking personal story capturing life in a golden cage for a woman with no inheritance.
The Language of Flowers – by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
A mesmerizing, moving, and elegantly written debut novel, The Language of Flowers beautifully weaves past and present, creating a vivid portrait of an unforgettable woman whose gift for flowers helps her change the lives of others even as she struggles to overcome her own troubled past. The Victorian language of flowers was used to convey romantic expressions: honeysuckle for devotion, asters for patience, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it's been more useful in communicating grief, mistrust, and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster-care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings. Now eighteen and emancipated from the system, Victoria has nowhere to go and sleeps in a public park, where she plants a small garden of her own. Soon a local florist discovers her talents, and Victoria realizes she has a gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them. But a mysterious vendor at the flower market has her questioning what's been missing in her life, and when she's forced to confront a painful secret from her past, she must decide whether it's worth risking everything for a second chance at happiness.
Legacy - by Whiti Hereaka
Seventeen-year-old Riki is worried about school and the future, but mostly about his girlfriend, Gemma, who has suddenly stopped seeing or texting him. But on his way to see her, he's hit by a bus and his life radically changes. Riki wakes up one hundred years earlier in Egypt, in 1915, and finds he's living through his great-great-grandfather's experiences in the Maori Contingent. At the same time that Riki tries to make sense of what's happening and find a way home, we go back in time and read transcripts of interviews Riki's great-great-grandfather gave in 1975 about his experiences in this war and its impact on their family. Gradually we realise the fates of Riki and his great-great-grandfather are intertwined.
The light between the oceans – by M.L. Stedman
After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day's journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby's cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby. Tom, whose records as a lighthouse keeper are meticulous and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom's judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them. M. L. Stedman's mesmerizing, beautifully written novel seduces us into accommodating Isabel's decision to keep this "gift from God." And we are swept into a story about extraordinarily compelling characters seeking to find their North Star in a world where there is no right answer, where justice for one person is another's tragic loss.
Little & Lion - by Brandy Colbert
When Suzette comes home to Los Angeles from her boarding school in New England, she isn't sure if she'll ever want to go back. L.A. is where her friends and family are (along with her crush, Emil). And her stepbrother, Lionel, who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, needs her emotional support.
But as she settles into her old life, Suzette finds herself falling for someone new…the same girl her brother is in love with. When Lionel's disorder spirals out of control, Suzette is forced to confront her past mistakes and find a way to help her brother before he hurts himself–or worse.
Little fires everywhere - by Celeste Ng
From the bestselling author of Everything I Never Told You, a riveting novel that traces the intertwined fates of the picture-perfect Richardson family and the enigmatic mother and daughter who upend their lives.
In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is planned — from the layout of the winding roads, to the colors of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead.
And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules. Enter Mia Warren – an enigmatic artist and single mother — who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenaged daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the mother-daughter pair.
But Mia carries with her a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community. When old family friends of the Richardsons attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town — and puts Mia and Elena on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Elena is determined to uncover the secrets in Mia's past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs.
Little Fires Everywhere explores the weight of secrets, the nature of art and identity, and the ferocious pull of motherhood – and the danger of believing that following the rules can avert disaster. (From the publisher.)
Little Women - by Louisa May Alcott
How can you forge your own path in times of war, uncertainty and hardship? Meg longs for marriage; Amy wants to be a painter; Beth is content to stay at home; while Jo wants adventure and a life without limits. Four decidedly different sisters, growing up during the American Civil War, each facing their own unique challenge. Little Women tells the story of the March sisters. Through parties, travel, illness, arguments, dinners, love affairs and ice skating escapades, we follow these unforgettable women as they come of age.
A man called Ove - by Fredrik Backman
Meet Ove. He's a curmudgeon—the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him "the bitter neighbor from hell." But must Ove be bitter just because he doesn't walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time?
Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove's mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents' association to their very foundations.
A feel-good story in the spirit of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, Fredrik Backman's novel about the angry old man next door is a thoughtful exploration of the profound impact one life has on countless others. "If there was an award for 'Most Charming Book of the Year,' this first novel by a Swedish blogger-turned-overnight-sensation would win hands down" (Booklist, starred review).
The marsh king's daughter - by Karen Dionne
The mesmerizing tale of a woman who must risk everything to hunt down the dangerous man who shaped her past and threatens to steal her future: her father.
Helena Pelletier has a loving husband, two beautiful daughters, and a business that fills her days. But she also has a secret: she is the product of an abduction. Her mother was kidnapped as a teenager by her father and kept in a remote cabin in the marshlands of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Helena, born two years after the abduction, loved her home in nature, and despite her father's sometimes brutal behavior, she loved him, too … until she learned precisely how savage he could be.
More than twenty years later, she has buried her past so soundly that even her husband doesn't know the truth. But now her father has killed two guards, escaped from prison, and disappeared into the marsh. The police begin a manhunt, but Helena knows they don't stand a chance. Knows that only one person has the skills to find the survivalist the world calls the Marsh King — because only one person was ever trained by him: his daughter. (From the publisher.)
Me Before You - by Jojo Moyes
They had nothing in common until love gave them everything to lose. Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life — steady boyfriend, close family — who has never been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex–Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair, bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life — big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel — and now he's pretty sure he cannot live the way he is. Will is acerbic, moody, and bossy — but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living. A Love Story for this generation, ME BEFORE YOU brings to life two people who couldn't have less in common — a heartbreakingly romantic novel that asks, What do you do when making the person you love happy also means breaking your own heart?
Mr Nobody - by Catherine Steadman
When a man is found on a Norfolk beach, drifting in and out of consciousness, with no identification and unable to speak, interest in him is sparked immediately. From the hospital staff who find themselves inexplicably drawn to him; to international medical experts who are baffled by him; to the nationalpress who call him Mr Nobody; everyone wants answers. Who is this man? And what happened to him? Neuropsychiatrist Dr Emma Lewis is asked to assess the patient. This is her field of expertise, this is the chance she's been waiting for and this case could make her name known across the world. But therein lies the danger. Emma left this same small town in Norfolk fourteen years ago and has taken great pains to cover all traces of her past since then. But now something – or someone – is calling her back. And the more time she spends with her patient, the more alarmed she becomes. Has she walked into danger?
The night circus - by Erin Morgenstern
The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Reves, and it is only open at night.
But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors.
Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.
True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.
Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart. (From the publisher.)
Only, mostly, devastated - by S. Gonzales
When his aunt's illness keeps Ollie in North Carolina, he hopes his summer fling with Will can grow into something more, but at school Will proves to be a completely different–and firmly closeted–man.
Will Tavares is the dream summer fling, and Ollie thinks he's found his happily ever after. Then Will stops texting him back, and a family emergency has Ollie uprooted and enrolled at a new school in North Carolina. Turns out Collinswood High is where Will goes to school– but here he is a class clown, closeted– and a bit of a jerk. When Will starts popping up in every area of his life, Ollie would be an idiot to trust him again. Right?
Orphan train - by Christina Baker Kline
Between 1854 and 1929, so-called orphan trains ran regularly from the cities of the East Coast to the farmlands of the Midwest, carrying thousands of abandoned children whose fates would be determined by pure luck. Would they be adopted by a kind and loving family, or would they face a childhood and adoles-cence of hard labor and servitude?
As a young Irish immigrant, Vivian Daly was one such child, sent by rail from New York City to an uncertain future a world away. Returning east later in life, Vivian leads a quiet, peaceful existence on the coast of Maine, the memories of her upbringing rendered a hazy blur. But in her attic, hidden in trunks, are vestiges of a turbulent past.
Seventeen-year-old Molly Ayer knows that a community-service position helping an elderly widow clean out her attic is the only thing keeping her out of juvenile hall. But as Molly helps Vivian sort through her keepsakes and possessions, she discovers that she and Vivian aren't as different as they appear. A Penobscot Indian who has spent her youth in and out of foster homes, Molly is also an outsider being raised by strangers, and she, too, has unanswered questions about the past.
Moving between contemporary Maine and Depression-era Minnesota, Orphan Train is a powerful tale of upheaval and resilience, second chances, and unexpected friendship. (From the publisher.)
Paris by the Book – by Liam Callanan
A missing person, a grieving family, a curious clue: a half-finished manuscript set in Paris. Heading off in search of its author, a mother and her daughters find themselves in France, rescuing a failing bookstore and drawing closer to unexpected truths.
Once a week, I chase men who are not my husband…
When eccentric novelist Robert Eady abruptly vanishes, he leaves behind his wife, Leah, their daughters, and, hidden in an unexpected spot, plane tickets to Paris. Hoping to uncover clues—and her husband—Leah sets off for France with her girls. Upon their arrival, she discovers an unfinished manuscript, one Robert had been writing without her knowledge … and that he had set in Paris.
The Eady women follow the path of the manuscript to a small, floundering English-language bookstore whose weary proprietor is eager to sell. The whole store? Today? Yes, but Leah's biggest surprise comes when she hears herself accepting the offer on the spot. As the family settles into their new Parisian life, they can't help but trace the literary paths of some beloved Parisian classics, including Madeline and The Red Balloon, hoping more clues arise. But a series of startling discoveries forces Leah to consider that she may not be ready for what solving this mystery might do to her family—and the Paris she thought she knew.
At once haunting and charming, Paris by the Book follows one woman's journey as her story is being rewritten, exploring the power of family and the magic that hides within the pages of a book. (From the publisher.)
The Paris Wife - by Paula McLain
A deeply evocative story of ambition and betrayal, The Paris Wife captures a remarkable period of time and a love affair between two unforgettable people: Ernest Hemingway and his wife Hadley. Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a quiet twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness—until she meets Ernest Hemingway and her life changes forever. Following a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group—the fabled "Lost Generation"—that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. Though deeply in love, the Hemingways are ill prepared for the hard-drinking and fast-living life of Jazz Age Paris, which hardly values traditional notions of family and monogamy. Surrounded by beautiful women and competing egos, Ernest struggles to find the voice that will earn him a place in history, pouring all the richness.
The Rosie project - by Graeme Simsion
The art of love is never a science: Meet Don Tillman, a brilliant yet socially inept professor of genetics, who's decided it's time he found a wife. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which Don approaches all things, he designs the Wife Project to find his perfect partner: a sixteen-page, scientifically valid survey to filter out the drinkers, the smokers, the late arrivers.
Rosie Jarman possesses all these qualities. Don easily disqualifies her as a candidate for The Wife Project (even if she is "quite intelligent for a barmaid"). But Don is intrigued by Rosie's own quest to identify her biological father. When an unlikely relationship develops as they collaborate on The Father Project, Don is forced to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie―and the realization that, despite your best scientific efforts, you don't find love, it finds you.
Arrestingly endearing and entirely unconventional, Graeme Simsion's distinctive debut "navigates the choppy waters of adult relationships, both romantic and platonic, with a fresh take (USA TODAY). "Filled with humor and plenty of heart, The Rosie Project is a delightful reminder that all of us, no matter how we're wired, just want to fit in" (Chicago Tribune).
The salt path - by Raynor Winn
Just days after Raynor Winn learns that Moth, her husband of thirty-two years, is terminally ill, their house and farm are taken away, along with their livelihood. With nothing left and little time, they make the brave and impulsive decision to walk the 630 miles of the sea-swept South West Coast Path, from Somerset to Dorset, through Devon and Cornwall. Carrying only the essentials for survival on their backs, they live wild in the ancient, weathered landscape of cliffs, sea, and sky. Yet through every step, every encounter, and every test along the way, their walk becomes a remarkable and life-affirming journey. Powerfully written and unflinchingly honest, The Salt Path is ultimately a portrayal of home–how it can be lost, rebuilt, and rediscovered in the most unexpected ways.
The secret history - by Donna Tartt
Richard Papen had never been to New England before his nineteenth year. Then he arrived at Hampeden College and quickly became seduced by the sweet, dark rhythms of campus life — in particular by an elite group of five students, Greek scholars, worldly, self-assured, and at first glance, highly unapproachable.
Shtum - by Jem Lester
"In this darkly funny and emotive debut, Ben Jewell has hit a breaking point. His profoundly autistic ten-year-old son, Jonah, has never spoken, and Ben and his wife Emma are struggling to cope. When Ben and Emma fake a separation–a strategic, yet ill-advised, decision to further Jonah's case in an upcoming tribunal to determine the future of his education–father and son are forced to move in with Georg, Ben's elderly and cantankerous father. In a small house in north London, three generations of men–one who can't talk; two who won't–are thrown together. As Ben confronts single fatherhood, he must battle a string of well-meaning social workers and his own demons to advocate for his son, learning some harsh lessons about accountability from his own father along the way. As the tribunal draws near, Jonah, blissful in his innocence, becomes the prism through which all the complicated strands of personal identity, family history, and misunderstanding are finally untangled."
Still Alice - by Lisa Genova
Alice Howland, happily married with three grown children and a house on the Cape, is a celebrated Harvard professor at the height of her career when she notices a forgetfulness creeping into her life. As confusion starts to cloud her thinking and her memory begins to fail her, she receives a devastating diagnosis: early onset Alzheimer's disease. Fiercely independent, Alice struggles to maintain her lifestyle and live in the moment, even as her sense of self is being stripped away. In turns heartbreaking, inspiring and terrifying, Still Alice captures in remarkable detail what it's like to literally lose your mind…
The tattooist of Auschwitz - by Heather Morris
A beautiful, illuminating tale of hope and courage based on interviews that were conducted with Holocaust survivor and Auschwitz-Birkenau tattooist Ludwig (Lale) Sokolov–an unforgettable love story in the midst of atrocity. In April 1942, Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, is forcibly transported to the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. When his captors discover that he speaks several languages, he is put to work as a Tätowierer (the German word for tattooist), tasked with permanently marking his fellow prisoners. Imprisoned for over two and a half years, Lale witnesses horrific atrocities and barbarism–but also incredible acts of bravery and compassion. Risking his own life, he uses his privileged position to exchange jewels and money from murdered Jews for food to keep his fellow prisoners alive. One day in July 1942, Lale, prisoner 32407, comforts a trembling young woman waiting in line to have the number 34902 tattooed onto her arm. Her name is Gita, and in that first encounter, Lale vows to somehow survive the camp and marry her. A vivid, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful re-creation of Lale Sokolov's experiences as the man who tattooed the arms of thousands of prisoners with what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust.
The Thirteenth Tale – by Diane Setterfield
Biographer Margaret Lea returns one night to her apartment above her father's antiquarian bookshop. On her steps she finds a letter. It is a hand-written request from one of Britain's most prolific and well-loved novelists. Vida Winter, gravely ill, wants to recount her life story before it is too late, and she wants Margaret to be the one to capture her history. The request takes Margaret by surprise—she doesn't know the author, nor has she read any of Miss Winter's dozens of novels. Late one night, while pondering whether to accept the task of recording Miss Winter's personal story, Margaret begins to read her father's rare copy of Miss Winter's Thirteen Tales of Change and Desperation. She is spellbound by the stories and confused when she realizes the book only contains twelve stories. Where is the thirteenth tale? Intrigued, Margaret agrees to meet Miss Winter and act as her biographer. As Vida Winter unfolds her story, she shares with Margaret the dark family secrets that she has long kept hidden as she remembers her days at Angelfield, the now burnt-out estate that was her childhood home. Margaret carefully records Miss Winter's account and finds herself more and more deeply immersed in the strange and troubling story. In the end, both women have to confront their pasts and the weight of family secrets. As well as the ghosts that haunt them still. (From the publisher.)
The two lives of Lydia Bird - by Josie Silver
Lydia and Freddie. Freddie and Lydia. They've been together for almost a decade, and Lydia thinks their love is indestructible. But she's wrong. Because on her 27th birthday, Freddie dies in a tragic accident. So now it's just Lydia, and all she wants to do is hide indoors and sob 'til her eyes fall out. But Lydia knows that Freddie would want her to live her life well. So, enlisting the help of his best friend and her sister Elle, she takes her first tentative steps into the world and starts to live – perhaps even to love – again. Then something unbelievable happens, and Lydia gets another chance at her old life with Freddie. But what if there's someone in her new life who wants her to stay?
The water dancer - by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Young Hiram Walker was born into bondage. When his mother was sold away, Hiram was robbed of all memory of her, but was gifted with a mysterious power. Years later, when Hiram almost drowns in a river, that same power saves his life. This brush with death births an urgency in Hiram and a daring scheme: to escape from the only home he's ever known. So begins an unexpected journey that takes Hiram from the corrupt grandeur of Virginia's proud plantations to desperate guerrilla cells in the wilderness, from the coffin of the deep South to dangerously utopic movements in the North. Even as he's enlisted in the underground war between slavers and the enslaved, Hiram's resolve to rescue the family he left behind endures. This is the dramatic story of an atrocity inflicted on generations of women, men, and children, the violent and capricious separation of families, and the war they waged to simply make lives with the people they loved. Written by one of today's most exciting thinkers and writers, The Water Dancer is a propulsive, transcendent work that restores the humanity of those from whom everything was stolen.
Unbroken: a World War II story of survival, resilience, and redemption - by Laura Hillenbrand
On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane's bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War.
The lieutenant's name was Louis Zamperini. In boyhood, he'd been a cunning and incorrigible delinquent, breaking into houses, brawling, and fleeing his home to ride the rails. As a teenager, he had channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics and within sight of the four-minute mile. But when war had come, the athlete had become an airman, embarking on a journey that led to his doomed flight, a tiny raft, and a drift into the unknown.
Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a foundering raft, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will.
In her long-awaited new book, Laura Hillenbrand writes with the same rich and vivid narrative voice she displayed in Seabiscuit. Telling an unforgettable story of a man's journey into extremity, Unbroken is a testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit. (From the publisher.)
Untamed - by Glennon Doyle
For many years, Glennon Doyle denied her own discontent. Then, while speaking at a conference, she looked at a woman across the room and fell instantly in love. Three words flooded her mind – There She Is. At first, Glennon assumed these words came to her from on high. But she soon realised they had come to her from within. This was her own voice – the one she had buried beneath decades of numbing addictions, cultural conditioning and institutional allegiances. This was the voice of the girl she had been before the world told her who to be. Glennon decided to stop abandoning herself and to instead abandon the world's expectations of her. She stopped being good so she could be free. She stopped pleasing and started living. Soulful and uproarious, forceful and tender, Untamed is both an intimate memoir and a galvanising wake-up call. It is the story of how one woman learned that a responsible mother is not one who slowly dies for her children, but one who shows them how to fully live. It is also the story of how each of us can begin to trust ourselves enough to set boundaries, make peace with our bodies, honour our anger and heartbreak, and unleash our truest, wildest instincts. Untamed shows us how to be brave. And, as Glennon insists, 'The braver we are, the luckier we get'.
We never asked for wings - Vanessa Diffenbaugh
After getting a note demanding his presence, Federal Agent Aaron Falk arrives in his hometown for the first time in decades to attend the funeral of his best friend, Luke. Twenty years ago when Falk was accused of murder, Luke was his alibi. Falk and his father fled under a cloud of suspicion, saved from prosecution only because of Luke's steadfast claim that the boys had been together at the time of the crime. But now more than one person knows they didn't tell the truth back then, and Luke is dead.
Amid the worst drought in a century, Falk and the local detective question what really happened to Luke. As Falk reluctantly investigates to see if there's more to Luke's death than there seems to be, long-buried mysteries resurface, as do the lies that have haunted them. And Falk will find that small towns have always hidden big secrets.
Where the crawdads sing - by Delia Owens
For years, rumors of the "Marsh Girl" have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. She's barefoot and wild; unfit for polite society. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark. But Kya is not what they say. Abandoned at age ten, she has survived on her own in the marsh that she calls home. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life lessons from the land, learning from the false signals of fireflies the real way of this world. But while she could have lived in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world — until the unthinkable happens.
The wives of Los Alamos - by TaraShea Nesbit
An emotionally charged tale told in the collective voices of the wives of the team who created the atom bomb traces their struggles to adapt and raise children in a rugged military town where everything their husbands are doing is an intense secret.
Or start your own Book Club with our Book Club Sets:
Does your Book Club know that the Masterton District Library has Book Club sets?
We now have sets of 10 books of the same title. The library currently has 31 different titles available .
Each Book Club set contains:
- A sheet to record the members holding each of the numbered books
- 10 numbered copies of the selected title
- Discussion questions
- Author background information
- Resources for readers
The kits are available for 6 weeks loan by contacting the library. All you need is a library card number and password to access the bookings. The person holding the card is responsible for returning the complete set or a Book Club card can be registered at the library circulation desk.
Book Clubs are welcome to recommend titles for purchase. Please indicate that the suggestion is for a book club set.
New titles will be added regularly according to the demand.


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High-performance computation is a necessity in modern finance. In general, the current value of a financial instrument, such as a stock option, can only be estimated through a complex mathematical simulation that weighs the probability of a range of future possible scenarios. Computing the value at risk in a portfolio of such instruments requires running a large number of such simulations, and optimizing a portfolio to maximize return or minimize risk requires even more computation. Finally, these computations need to be run continuously to keep up with constantly changing market data.
Although a large amount of computation is a necessity, doing it efficiently is crucial since financial datacenters are under severe power and cooling constraints. Multicore processors promise improved computational efficiency within a fixed power and cooling budget. However, achieving high efficiency execution on these processors is non-trivial. In the case of finance, new algorithms are constantly being developed by application specialists called quantitative analysts (or "quants"). Time is literally money in finance, and so high-productivity software development is just as important as efficient execution.
In this article, we will discuss high-productivity strategies for developing efficient financial algorithms that can take advantage of multicore processors, including standard x86 processors but also manycore processors such as GPUs and the Cell BE processor. These strategies can lead to one and even two orders of magnitude improvement in performance per processor.
Multicore processors allow for higher performance at the same power level by supporting multiple lightweight processing elements or "cores" per processor chip. Scaling performance by increasing the clock speed of a single processor is inefficient since the power consumed is proportional to (at least) the square of the clock rate. At some point, it is not practical to increase the clock rate further, as the power consumption and cooling requirements would be excessive. The air-cooling limit in particular was reached several years ago, and clock rates are now on a plateau. In fact, clock rates on individual cores have been decreasing slightly as processor vendors have backed away from the ragged edge in order to improve power efficiency. However, achievable transistor density is still increasing exponentially, following Moore's Law. This is now translating into an exponentially growing number of cores on each processor chip.
Processors from Intel and AMD supporting the x86 instruction set are now available with four cores, but six and eight core processors are expected soon. Manycore processors such as GPUs and the Cell BE can support significantly more cores, from eight to more than sixteen. In addition, in modern multicore processors each core also supports vector processing, where one instruction can operate on a short array (vector) of data. This is another efficient way to increase performance via parallelism. Vector lengths can vary significantly, with current x86 processors and the Cell BE supporting four-way vectors and GPUs supporting anywhere from five to thirty-two. Vector lengths are also set to increase significantly on x86 processors, with the upcoming Intel AVX instruction set supporting 8-way vectors and the Intel Larrabee architecture supporting 16-way vectors.
Developing software for multicore vectorized processors requires fine-grained parallel programming. A fine-grained approach is needed because the product of the number of cores and the vector length in each core, which defines the number of numerical computations that can be performed in each clock cycle, can easily be in the hundreds. The other difference between modern multicore processors and past multi-processor parallel computers is that all the cores on a multicore processor must share a finite off-chip bandwidth. In order to achieve significant scalability on multicore processors, optimizing the use of this limited resource is absolutely necessary. In fact, in order to hide the latency of memory access it may be necessary to expose and exploit even more algorithmic parallelism, so one part of a computation can proceed while another is waiting for data.
The financial community has significant experience with parallel computing in the form of MPI and other cluster workload distribution frameworks. However, MPI in particular is too heavyweight for the lightweight processing elements in multicore processors (not to mention manycore processors) and cannot, by itself, optimize memory usage or take advantage of the performance opportunities made available through vectorization. Some alternative strategies are needed to get the maximum performance out of multicore processors.
We will now discuss financial workloads. Option pricing is one of the most fundamental operations in financial analytics workloads. More generally, the current value of an "instrument," of which an option is one example, needs to be evaluated through probabilistic forecasting.
Monte Carlo methods are often used to estimate the current value of such instruments in the face of uncertainty. In a Monte Carlo simulation, random numbers are used to generate a large set of future scenarios. Each instrument can then be priced under each given future scenario, the value discounted back to the current time using an interest calculation (made complicated by the fact that interest rates can also vary with time), and the results averaged (weighted by the probability of the scenario) to estimate the current value.
Simple versions of Monte Carlo seem to be trivially parallelizable, since each simulation can run independently of any other. However, even "simple" Monte Carlo simulations have complications. First, high-quality random numbers need to be generated and we must ensure that each batch of parallel work gets a unique set of independent, high-quality random numbers. This is harder than it sounds. The currently accepted pseudo-random number generators such as Mersenne Twister are intrinsically sequential algorithms, and may involve hundreds of bytes of state.
Typically a lookup table of starting states needs to be generated so that the random number sequence can be restarted at different points in a parallel computation. Since restarting the state of a random number generator is significantly more expensive than stepping serially to the next value, in practice the parallelism is done over "batches" of Monte Carlo experiments, with each batch using a serial subsequence of the random number generator's output. The size of the batch should be tuned to match the amount of local memory and number of cores in the processor. Also, despite the name, random number generators need to be deterministic and repeatable. For various reasons (including validation, legal and institutional), pricing algorithms need to give the same answer every time they run. Given these issues, some infrastructure that supports parallel random number generation in a consistent way is essential.
The last step in Monte Carlo algorithms can also be troublesome: averaging. First, high precision is often needed here. In practice, the results of millions of Monte Carlo experiments need to be combined. Unfortunately, sum of more than a million numbers cannot easily be done reliably using only single precision, since single precision numbers themselves only have about six to seven digits of precision. Fortunately, manycore accelerators have recently added double-precision capabilities. Second, different strategies for doing the summation, a form of what is often called "reduction," are possible by exploiting the associativity of the addition operation. There is no single strategy of parallelism for reduction that is optimal for all processors. As with random number generation, in order to make an implementation portable it is useful if reduction operations are abstracted and done by a parallel runtime platform or framework.
Not all Monte Carlo simulations are "simple." More sophisticated examples manipulate data structures to allow the reuse of results, or use "particle filters" to iteratively focus computation on more important parts of the search space in order to improve accuracy. Simple Monte Carlo simulations often scale very well because they use relatively little memory bandwidth. More sophisticated versions that reuse results via data structures may not scale as well unless care is taken to ensure that memory access does not become a bottleneck. Reuse of results and theoretical improvements in convergence rates need to be weighed against the reduced efficiency of more complex algorithms. However, with some care taken to ensure that the data locality present in a complex algorithm is properly exploited, good scalability is possible even for algorithms with a lot of data reuse and communication.
In order to achieve significant performance improvement on multicore processors, two things are needed: efficient use of low-level operations such as vector instructions, and second, an appropriate choice of parallelization and data decomposition strategy. The latter is obviously important, but how can it be achieved without interfering with the former, or vice-versa? The solution is to use a meta-strategy based on code generation. The dataflow pattern gives the decomposition strategy, and this is managed by one level of abstraction. After the computation has been laid out, it can be optimized for a particular set of low-level operations using a second stage of compilation.
Fortunately, good decomposition strategies can be designed for a relatively small number of recurring patterns. We'd like to figure out how to implement these patterns once, encapsulate them, and then reuse them for all occurrences of the pattern. The trick is to abstract the strategies for dealing with these patterns without introducing additional runtime overhead. Staged code generation accomplishes this. First, a high-level program serves as scaffolding for describing the dataflow of the computation, but is not involved in the actual execution. Instead, the scaffolding only serves to collect the computation into components and organize it for vectorization. Once each component is collected, a second stage of code generation can be used to perform low-level optimizations. This strategy is simpler to implement than it sounds, given the support of a suitable software development platform.
Multicore and manycore processors provide many opportunities for increased performance and greater efficiency. However, actually obtaining good scalability on any multicore processor requires both a fine-grained parallelization strategy and a dataflow design that optimizes memory usage. Memory bandwidth in particular is a limiting resource in multicore processors. Using a high-level framework, it is possible to abstract patterns of dataflow and strategies for dealing with them so they can be used efficiently, while still maintaining processor independence.
About the Authors
Dr. Michael McCool is chief scientist and co-founder of RapidMind and an associate professor at the University of Waterloo. He continues to perform research within the Computer Graphics Lab at the University of Waterloo. Professor McCool has a diverse set of published papers, and his research interests include high-quality real-time rendering, global and local illumination, hardware algorithms, parallel computing, reconfigurable computing, interval and Monte Carlo methods and applications, end-user programming and metaprogramming, image and signal processing, and sampling. He has degrees in Computer Engineering and Computer Science.
Stefanus Du Toit is chief architect and co-founder of RapidMind, and has led the development and evolution of the RapidMind platform since 2003. Stefanus has extensive experience in the areas of graphics, GPGPU, systems programming and compilers. He holds a Bachelors of Mathematics degree in Computer Science.

subset: commoncrawl


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Part One:
Whether you want 200 visitors or 200,000 visitors, you can explore the list of ad networks below and find the one that meets your needs, sign up, create your campaign and start sending visitors to your site.
Pay attention though to learn how the network operates before placing a lot of money in any of the networks. You must know what you are doing or else you risk to lose your money.
How each networks operates is out of the scope of this guide (it would take hundreds of hours of video or e-books to explain that for all networks)
But you can start small and test the traffic. Some networks allow you to start with small budget.
I recommend you make a search on Google for "Network name how to" or "Network name secrets" or "Network name tips"
Example–" Adwords how to"
If you find something that's selling (a converting offer) then you can scale the whole thing up (invest more $$$) and lead thousands of visitors to the great offer. Then, reap the rewards. (commissions or sales)
And always remember that as long as you remain in this ad-network industry you will learn more and more and gain experience.
You will always discover new things or answers to questions you had. This is how life works.
So, here's the list of (SECRET) ad networks for quality traffic, PPC, Contextual advertising etc.
Be sure to understand how the whole system works with each site and then make a small deposit at first and drive traffic.
You will notice there are networks selling cheap traffic. This does not mean that this traffic is junk. You have to test it with a specific offer and then make a judgment yourself.
Don't get carried away by these websites as they are really huge!
Most ordinary people like you and me have never even heard the names of these networks but believe me they are big.
1. Trellian
This is a very special network and as such it remains unknown to most people and even to most marketers.
This network gets about 200 million unique visitors per month. Here we have no ads, just pure targeted traffic redirected to your website. This is the same traffic search engines buy and they sell it with the PPC model to advertisers.
Trellian network has cut out all the middlemen so that you can buy your traffic for a fraction of the cost…This is a resource of Real High value !
Here is an overview on how to set up your campaign on Trellian.
Once you've signed up and set up your account , go to 'New Campaign'
Once you've named your campaign, you can now add keywords to it.
Set your maximum bid, daily limit, target URL and your Geo Target here. Trellian DSN works differently in two ways here.
First you won't know the bids you'll need when adding keywords; the dashboard will show you once you've added them.
Trellian allows Geo targeting only by US or All. You can't target by specific countries if you're looking to do that.
Once you've added your keywords, you will be taken to the campaign dashboard:
As mentioned earlier, your bids will appear only after you've added your keywords. The 1st rank bid for the keyword "make money online" at $0.06 per view.
Some niches have other bidders which you can get in bidding wars with so be careful if that's the case.
When researching keywords for Trellian DSN campaigns, I use their built-in keyword research tool and Google Adwords Keyword Planner to get the highest volume and CPC keywords. High CPC Keywords cost that much for a reason, they convert better so they are more valuable.
When starting a new campaign I suggest you don't add too many keywords, especially if you're testing a campaign in a new niche.
I'd start with 1-3 keywords and test the traffic and see what works before scaling up.
I've found that direct linking works as long as the advertiser/merchant's landing page has a high conversion rate. Direct search navigation works for both Clickbank offers and CPA offers.
2. DirectCPV
Give your online offer/website/landing page the boost it needs with this network's Pay Per View advertising solution.
Starting from just $0.01 for URL, keyword and category campaigns and $0.004 (!) for Run of Network advertising, DirectCPV is one of the most affordable ad networks in the world.
ZEDO is a platform of products and services for publishers and advertisers, including high impact video advertising formats to provide advertisers unduplicated consumer reach.
ZEDO's range of offerings includes full featured ad serving, high impact display formats, ad network optimization, innovative rich media, behavioral targeting data built into a cloud-based ad server, a self-service tool where advertisers to buy directly from publishers, outsourced ad ops and globally renowned customer support.
These offerings are integrated into one technology platform that can be purchased modularity or together.
This network (ZEDO) is a great traffic source for affiliates and advertisers.
If you want to reach a specific audience then ZEDO is a great choice. It allows you to reach specific audience segments at the top of the impressions chain.
ZEDO serves your ad to the right user (They determine the users they send based on behavioral targeting) at the right time (first few impressions users see).


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Introducing Greenstone - Environment Friendly Worksurfaces
Durcon Incorporated joins the "Green Building Movement� with the introduction of Greenstone™ worksurfaces to help protect the environment and preserve the Earth's resources.
Greenstoneâ"¢ is a specially developed modified epoxy resin worksurface containing certified post consumer recycled glass. This new material features a similar appearance, chemical resistance and physical durability characteristics to the epoxy resin products Durcon has provided for the past 35 years. The only difference now, Greenstoneâ"¢ is more suitable than its predecessors for owners, designers and contractors who want to consider materials specifically developed for the Green marketplace.
How can Durcon help you achieve the LEED Certification on your next green building project? First, by specifying Greenstoneâ"¢ with its 10% recycled glass component, you have added a major contributor to M&R Credit 4.1, Recycled Content. This glass was selected for its ability to mix well the silica in the current formulation. Greenstoneâ"¢ contains a minimum of 10% post-consumer recycled glass; or about 1.2 lbs. of recycled content per square foot. That means, for a lab needing 2000 square feet of worksurfaces, you have removed over one ton of used material from our landfills! For the experienced designer the remaining LEED Credit opportunities may be obvious but still are worthy of mention.
Projects located within 500 miles of our Taylor, TX, plant can apply for M&R Credit 5.1, Local or Regional Materials. Greenstoneâ"¢ will contribute to the credit for Low Emitting Materials. The product has been tested to ASTM-E-595-06 to determine % of Total Mass Loss, % of Collected Volatile Condensable Materials and the % Water Vapor Regain. This is the same test used for screening materials for use by NASA of spacecraft materials; an extremely critical environment. Historically, a TML of 1.00% and a CVCM of 0.10% have been used for levels of rejection. Greenstoneâ"¢ had an average TML of 0.054% and an average CVCM of 0.011%.
For further information, please contact one of our customer service representatives at 512.595.8000.
First ISO Certification in the Industry
Taylor, TX, March 25, 2008 - Durcon Incorporated, the world's leading supplier of epoxy resin work surfaces, today announces that it has received ISO (International Organization for Standardization) 9001: 2000 certification for all US based manufacturing operations, making Durcon the first epoxy work surface company to achieve the distinction.
ISO 9001:2000 is an internationally recognized quality management system standard which requires certified companies to implement a comprehensive quality management system that addresses all areas of operation - from internal staff training practices to manufacturing, delivery and customer service.
David VerColen, Durcon's Taylor, TX, Plant Manager stated, "This was a team effort and the results are really impressive! We have developed a well-documented system, company-wide, that is demonstrating continual improvement.�
Durcon Incorporated is focused on providing the highest quality products and solutions for our customers and their businesses. For more information, call Durcon Incorporated at 512.595.8000 or visit us on the web at: www.durcon.com.
Durcon Dedicated To Keeping Costs Down
Durcon continues to do everything we can to minimize the costs passed on to you by becoming more efficient. We are also looking at ways to work with customers to help our industry become more efficient as price hikes for raw materials, energy and transportation continue to affect our businesses. Among the steps we've taken are:
- Durcon is leveraging our volume buying power for better raw material and shipping pricing.
- Durcon's extensive use of best practices at both manufacturing facilities continues to realize production efficiencies.
- Durcon's two manufacturing facilities continue to evaluate and consolidate our product offering in order to provide the best worksurface systems available while eliminating out of use styles.
- Durcon continues to closely monitor the impact of energy and raw material prices in order to provide sufficient advanced notice of any future price increases.
We want to retain open lines of communication with customers through this period of pricing instability and we hope you'll share successful cost saving tips with us. We appreciate your business, and look forward to your comments.
Beauty & Durability...Competively Priced... Durcon Incorporated has created an altogether new surfacing product for high use and highly impacted interiors – Durastone™.
Durcon Incorporated Earns NSF/ANSI 51 Certification
Durcon Incorporated Earns NSF/ANSI 51 Certification - Durcon Incorporated epoxy resin work surfaces are now certified with the highest NSF/ANSI 51 ratings for Food Zones and Splash Zones based on test results for...
- Surface cleanability
- Corrosion resistance
- Abrasion resistance
- Impact resistance
- Heat resistance
- Adhesion ability
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Pinpointing the exact value of a kitchen transform in Queens is not always easy as a result of there are a variety of things that can affect the overall worth. Having gone via a significant kitchen transform five years in the past in my very small home, your estimates seem very low. Counter tops can begin at $5 per sq. foot for a butcher's block or laminate, a synthetic material. Changing the layout of the kitchen may additionally require you to maneuver shops and fixtures.
The Price Vs. Value report that the NAR commissions from Reworking magazine is much more correct than this report. Your subsequent large finances merchandise re: supplies will be your kitchen home equipment: your cooktop/range, your dishwasher, your refrigerator, microwave, vary hood, warming ovens, wine coolers, etc.
It took a long time to compile the data for this submit and to jot down it, nevertheless it was value it if it helps Hadley Court docket's readers – and owners in all places – understand what the real costs are of a quality kitchen remodel and the money saving advantages of working with skilled kitchen designers.
Homeowners keen on kitchen remodel estimates are normally shuttled to one thing referred to as the Cost vs. Worth Report, issued every year by Remodeling Magazine. If you wish to make a quick and fairly inexpensive update with a giant visible affect, putting in a brand new kitchen backsplash is the best way to go!
Replacement windows: For those who plan to exchange 10 home windows and frames to save in your power invoice, the associated fee will range between $8,500 (vinyl) and $20,000 (wooden). I put in cherry wooden cabinets construct from a cupboard maker that's the place most of the price went along with electrician and plumber.


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The Art of Boxing
Jamie Wadman explains why the traditional training undertaken by boxers is unsuitable and how it could be improved.
Go into any amateur boxing club today, and you will see the athletes go through four activities:
Typical routine
For years this has been the training layout in the typical boxing gym. Usually, 3 to 4 rounds of each exercise will be performed with bodyweight circuit training at the end of the night.
A typical circuit training session is composed of:
Ten repetitions per exercise are the typical standard of practice when performing this circuit. You will see nothing wrong with the layout, and it is the way 99% of clubs do it so it must be right? Wrong!
Boxing is a very complex sport needing a scientific approach to training. Boxers have been successful using the same regime for years, but the reality is they could have been so much better. The first thing that can be improved is circuit training.
A typical boxing bout is four 2-minute rounds with one minute's rest in between. So where is the logic of performing a set of exercises for ten repetitions day in and day out?
Circuits need to mimic actual fights; therefore, it would be more useful to perform a set of exercises for 30 seconds until 2 minutes of activity have been completed, let us look at an example:
This routine makes up 2 minutes of intense exercise, and with boxing being 80% anaerobic this format makes more sense. After one round has been completed, rest one minute then repeat 3 to 5 times. It is best to exercise one more round then you will be fighting to overload the system, remember, fight night is much more demanding than a few exercises! You can be creative when creating the round drills, and you can use shuttle runs, skipping, and all forms of press-ups - the list is endless. Let us look at another example:
Each round you do can incorporate different exercises, be creative and have fun!
Another common mistake
Something else I am used to seeing in gyms is shadowboxing in front of mirrors. The mistake here is that in performing in front of a mirror, you will tend to keep looking at yourself and lack movement. This can develop bad habits inside the ring - if you are used to always looking around at a mirror when shadow boxing then it is likely that you will lack concentration inside the ring. Perform your shadowboxing routine at an intense pace inside the ring, with no mirrors. Use the space you have and imagine your opponent is standing in front of you.
A myth shattered
The most popular myth among boxers and trainers alike is that weight training is counterproductive, and some think you will lose mobility and become muscle-bound; nothing could be further from the truth. Research has shown that a properly designed program can increase the range of motion as well as speed and power. Muscular endurance and strength are both improved through weight training, therefore, you should find time for a good weight training routine; you will thank me on fight night! It is important to remember that you must train in a manner that is specific to boxing (we are not bodybuilders); slow weight training is not the best way to train. As I said earlier, boxing is mostly anaerobic; therefore, our training should reflect this.
During anaerobic work, involving maximum effort, the body is working so hard that the demands for oxygen and fuel exceed the rate of supply and the muscles have to rely on the stored reserves of fuel. For boxers, this creates an oxygen debt that we must pay back between rounds. It is clear to see that lifting weights at a faster pace is the most effective way to train, but it is not the only way. Every 4 to 6 weeks, it would be a good idea to change the routine slightly. We can also work on explosive strength to get us ready for fighting entire rounds with explosive speed and power.
We must focus on maximizing speed and explosive power, and plyometrics is the way to go if we are going to achieve this objective. Plyometrics consists of bounding, jumping, and hopping exercises and teaches the body to react quickly and explosively. Plyometric training emphasizes quality, not quantity - each exercise should consist of 10 to 20 repetitions for 1 to 4 sets.
These exercises combine strength and speed to create power essential for the sport of boxing. Plyometric training in a boxer's routine should be performed 2 times per week e.g. Monday and Friday.
Putting it together
So far, we have looked at round drills, weight training, and plyometric training, but when do we perform all these exercises? These are all pieces to a larger puzzle that must be put in the right places. I would recommend that the same exercise is not performed on consecutive days, e.g. weight training should not be conducted on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The following is an example of a week's training program:
The training objectives change throughout the week, and in the build-up to a fight, it is advised that weight training and plyometrics are stopped at least one week before the competition. It is also essential to progress over the course of the season, i.e. if you have six weeks to prepare for a fight, then it makes sense to build up the intensity of your training slowly. Sparring should not be done at full pace until the last couple of weeks, and round drills should gradually increase leading up to a peak in anaerobic conditioning.
The following is an example six-week program involving the round drills:
Week 4 does not progress as it is important not to overload the body too quickly, and it also gives you time to get used to 4 intense rounds.
Skill training
This is the most important part of the puzzle, without skills, all the fitness in the world would not help you in the ring. Shadow boxing is typically used to warm up and comprises a couple of rounds at a slow pace. Shadowboxing needs to be done at an intense pace in the ring and should be conducted before and after training to get you used to performing under fatigue. An approach similar to the round drills program above can also be used for shadowboxing, building up from 2 rounds to 5 rounds. This can be done up to a couple of days before the fight, but always make sure you get complete rest the day before
Skill training after sparring
After sparring, it is common to take your gloves off and head for the showers - this is the wrong thing to do. It would help if you got used to fighting through fatigue, and the gym is the perfect place to start. After sparring you should keep the gloves on and hit the bag, hard! Move left and right constantly throwing punches.
Boxers always tell me how they run 4 to 5 miles every morning, and my response to this is - why? What is a nice long-distance jog going to do for you in an eight-minute fast-paced fight? Boxing is 80% anaerobic; therefore, the training needs to reflect this. Interval running is not easy, and this probably explains why many boxers do not do them. The following is an example of an interval session:
After completing this 2-minute run rest for one minute and repeat 3 to 5 times.
What about the other 20%?
I have said that boxing is 80% anaerobic, but what about the 20% aerobic part of our sport? The aerobic part of a fight is when you are circling the ring without throwing punches at a fast pace. We still need to train the aerobic part to have a fitness base on which to work. I recommend aerobic running (no more than two miles) 1 to 2 times per week with interval running 3 to 4 times per week. You should not devote more time than this to your aerobic training as this would mean you are training your slow-twitch muscle fibres as much as your fast-twitch muscle fibres. This could be counterproductive because this would mean your slow-twitch fibres may become dominant, which in turn would slow you down in the ring. As fighters, we need to remain explosive in the ring, so the majority of our training needs to be explosive.
It is clear to see that boxing is more than just a few rounds of skipping, bag work, etc. We need to run, lift weights, perform plyometrics and undertake the punishing round drills. Many clubs today continue to use the same routine day in day out, week after week with no apparent progression. Our training is a complex puzzle, and to maximize performance, coaches need to start taking the time to plan their training cycles, being careful not to introduce overload too often or not often enough. This is harder than it seems, but if we are to move the sport forward with advances in sports science, then we must take this time to improve our athletes.
Train hard and smart!
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About the Author
Jamie Wadman is a boxing coach and personal trainer and is currently coaching several professional boxers.


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Sympathy is a feeling and concern. Or the perception, understanding, and reaction to the distress or need of another human being. This empathic concern is driven by a switch in viewpoint, from a personal perspective to the perspective of another group or individual who is in need. Empathy and sympathy are often used interchangeably. Sympathy is a feeling, but the two terms have distinct origins and meanings.
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Thursday 26 March 2015
Sunrise to Sunset
12 comments:
I love your sky shots, I'm buggy about your bugs and what about that rainbow! Tom The Backroads TravellerReplyDeleteReplies
Thanks. I love watching the sky change, like the beach it never seems to be the same twice.Delete
A beautiful post as always. The sunrise and roadside photos are beautiful. And the dragonfly - great capture. Love the colour contrast of the green and black, and the detail. Awesome photos.ReplyDeleteReplies
Thank you. The roadside is definitely different to where you are. The dragonfly was so nice coming back again and again and sitting still.Delete
What a lovely series of shots. The barn was worth the trouble to get the photograph. I love how you freely admit to taking 'too many' pictures because I do, too!ReplyDeleteReplies
Thank you. Oh ask Mr Sparky, way too many photos but each one is a bit different to the next even if that means in focus ;) Old barns are always worth the trouble.Delete
Wonderful photos! You live in a very beautiful place.ReplyDelete
Great dragonfly shots!
love the name of your blog!ReplyDelete
gorgeous nature and sunups. Good to see a dragonfly :)ReplyDelete
I really love your shots of the dragonfly!ReplyDelete
Lovely shots.ReplyDelete
Wonderful series of very creative shots! Love the dragonfly although all your shots hold special nature delight!ReplyDelete
Happy Weekend to you,
artmusedog and carol


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Original watercolour – framed.
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Exhibited as part of Nature Table, our exhibition at the Town House in London from 19th-30th September 2018.
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text: Vintage postcard, AMARILLO HOTEL Amarillo Texas, linen picturing the old hotel, unused. See pictures for details on the condition. Size is 3 1/2" x 5 1/2". The black border is so all the edges can be seen and is not part of the postcard itself. NOTE: All of the postcards I have listed are guaranteed to be 100% authentic originals. They are all clean and ready for display. Thank you for your purchase, I appreciate it.


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rescued" from a dumpster and is perfectly situated for watching TV and gazing lovingly at my stash while I sew:-)
IKEA and Dave and Audrey spent the weekend assembling my new Billy bookcases and Lillhöjden chair.
Maillardville Manor we added strips of molding to join the bookcases together and then added a shelf on top to bridge the gap in the corner and get the look of built-ins.
fancy folding all of my fabric. Is anyone surprised that I have an entire bookcase just for pink? Eventually I hope to have it all nicely folded but for now it's enough to have it visible and accessible. It's like having my own fabric store stocked with all my favorite fabrics:-) I've also got plans to recover the loveseat... I'm thinking pink!
Get more sewing studio inspiration at Pink Chalk's Where I Sew Month!


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Considering how far behind the Fellow and I are on all of the superhero movies out there, you'd never guess that we actually enjoy a good comic book movie.
We hadn't been watching many things together lately. It's hard to find something that we both want to watch. I'm not a fan of straight out space movies, and he doesn't like British dramas or crime shows. But we do have good luck on most Netflix Originals.
That is why I was SO excited to see The Umbrella Academy pop up on the "Recommended for You" tab.
The Umbrella Academy follows the stories of 7 children who are adopted by an eccentric billionaire and raised in his private academy where he trains them in their "powers." Now that they are adults they have to overcome things from their childhoods, stop the oncoming apocalypse, and save the world.
I love the diversity of the characters, and the actors really do an amazing job (especially Klaus). I will say it's a tiny bit predictable, but as with most superhero stories, you don't really need to be surprised by the identity of the villains. You just have to know that the hero will defeat them.
One fun thing to watch out for is the show's logo during the opening scenes. Maybe I have a soft spot for umbrella imagery after Gilmore Girls, but I LOVE the little surprise each episode. I won't say more. You'll have to check it out for yourself!


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Cat. » Apple
The Apple iPhone 5 is the first iPhone with a larger, 4-inch screen. At the same time, it has become thinner, with a more elongated body. The iPhone 5 is powered by a new A6 chip that's twice as powerful as the chip on the preceding iPhone 4S. It's also the first iPhone with 4G LTE, supporting not just American frequencies,
Apple new iPad 3 Review: The innovative Apple new iPad 3 features quad-core graphics processor that makes everything incredibly responsive and fast, from swipe, scrolling and pinching to big effects like photo editing in iPhoto, changing titles and transitions effect in iMovie.
Apple iPhone 4S Review: The Apple iPhone 4S is currently one of the best smartphones available in the market. The Apple iPhone 4S is much famous and known for its natural Siri commands which lessens your work and gives you faster way to approach new commands and application with just questioning to Siri.
Apple iPhone 4 Review: Apple iPhone 4 is a dominant mobile launched by Apple which comes with lists of features and tons of applications. It is equipped with 5 megapixels auto-focus camera with touch focus. Apple iPhone 4 Features include 3.5inch IPS TFT capacitive touch-screen display.