Sam Bennett needs new shoes. His old ones are full of holes. And Sam is growing up. With new shoes, he will now be able to help his pa plow the fields and sheer the sheep. Yet when Sam’s new shoes arrive, he learns that his old shoes still have a purpose. Together, Sam and his pa hide his old shoes in the walls of the house to bring the family good luck.

Sam is excited about getting new shoes, and as he grows into the shoes he becomes old enough to help his father on the farm, eventually becoming a farmer himself.

In Vibrant Matter the political theorist Jane Bennett, renowned for her work on nature, ethics, and affect, shifts her focus from the human experience of things to things themselves. Bennett argues that political theory needs to do a better job of recognizing the active participation of nonhuman forces in events. Toward that end, she theorizes a “vital materiality” that runs through and across bodies, both human and nonhuman. Bennett explores how political analyses of public events might change were we to acknowledge that agency always emerges as the effect of ad hoc configurations of human and nonhuman forces. She suggests that recognizing that agency is distributed this way, and is not solely the province of humans, might spur the cultivation of a more responsible, ecologically sound politics: a politics less devoted to blaming and condemning individuals than to discerning the web of forces affecting situations and events. Bennett examines the political and theoretical implications of vital materialism through extended discussions of commonplace things and physical phenomena including stem cells, fish oils, electricity, metal, and trash. She reflects on the vital power of material formations such as landfills, which generate lively streams of chemicals, and omega-3 fatty acids, which can transform brain chemistry and mood. Along the way, she engages with the concepts and claims of Spinoza, Nietzsche, Thoreau, Darwin, Adorno, and Deleuze, disclosing a long history of thinking about vibrant matter in Western philosophy, including attempts by Kant, Bergson, and the embryologist Hans Driesch to name the “vital force” inherent in material forms. Bennett concludes by sketching the contours of a “green materialist” ecophilosophy.

A Colorado ranch hand and a New York window dresser find love in the Big Apple during the holiday season in this romance by a New York Times bestseller. THE SWEETEST GIFTS . . . Sam Bennett left a snowbound Colorado ranch for the glittering steel canyons of Manhattan—temporarily. Hard work was never this much fun as he sets up Christmas trees all around town. And now he’s met Nicole Young, a gorgeous window designer. Four weeks won’t be enough to romance her the way he wants to . . . ARE THE ONES YOU DON'T EXPECT But with Christmas around the corner, every day together feels like a blessing. And as the spirit of the season takes hold, playing Santa and helping a small boy with a big holiday wish is a joy Sam and Nicole can’t resist. Neither of them imagines that they'll be rewarded—with the kind of love that lasts forever . . . Praise for Janet Dailey and her Christmas novels “The spirit of Christmas permeates this charming holiday romance.” —RT Book Reviews on Merry Christmas, Cowboy “In what has become a delightful annual tradition, Dailey creates a lovely Christmas romance.” —RT Book Reviews on A Cowboy Under My Christmas Tree “A definite stocking stuffer.” —Library Journal “A surefire winner.” —Publishers Weekly

“A smart and eminently readable examination of the life and career of one of the twentieth century’s most influential movie critics.”—Los Angeles Times “Engrossing and thoroughly researched.”—Entertainment Weekly • A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of 2011 • The first major biography of the most influential, powerful, and controversial film critic of the twentieth century Pauline Kael was, in the words of Entertainment Weekly's movie reviewer Owen Gleiberman, "the Elvis or Beatles of film criticism." During her tenure at The New Yorker from 1968 to 1991, she was the most widely read and, often enough, the most provocative critic in America. In this first full-length biography of the legend who changed the face of film criticism, acclaimed author Brian Kellow (author of Can I Go Now?: The Life of Sue Mengers, Hollywood's First Superagent) gives readers a richly detailed view of Kael's remarkable life—from her youth in rural California to her early struggles to establish her writing career to her peak years at The New Yorker.

The thrilling novel that launched #1 New York Times bestseller Jeffrey Archer's career, Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less. THE SWINDLE IS INGENIOUS The conned: an Oxford don, a revered society physician, a chic French art dealer, and a charming English lord. They have one thing in common. Overnight, each novice investor lost his life's fortune to one man. The con: Harvey Metcalfe. A brilliant, self-made guru of deceit. A very dangerous individual. And now, a hunted man. SO IS THE REVENGE With nothing left to lose, four strangers are about to come together—each expert in their own field. Their plan: find Harvey, shadow him, trap him, and penny-for-penny, destroy him. From the luxurious casinos of Monte Carlo to the high-stakes windows at Ascot to the bustling streets of Wall Street to fashionable London galleries, their own ingenious game has begun. It's called revenge—and they were taught by a master.