My Big Sister Lives In A Fantasy World Volume 1

One day, first year high school student Yuichi Sakaki suddenly awakens the power of "Soul Reader" within him, and he can see words above peoples heads that describe their true nature! With just a glance at the people around him, he sees crazy things like "Zombie", "Witch", and "Vampire"... That would be bad enough, but then there is "Serial Killer" Natsuki Takeuchi walking straight toward him... Nobody would ever believe him! Well, except for his older sister Mutsuko: This kind of stuff is right up her alley.

The Divine Vessels War is reaching its conclusion. But with Soul Reader gone, Yuichi wants nothing more than to drop out! But will he really be able to go back to the normal life he's always wanted? And if he does, will Mutsuko ever speak to him again?!

Yuichi hasn't yet unraveled the secret behind his magical sight, but the end of his first school term is still as busy and can be! He's got survival club activities led by his big sister Mutsuko, early morning combat training with the serial killer Natsuki Takeuchi, and a first date with the vampire Aiko Noro (with his little sister tagging along, for some reason). Then, in the midst of it all, Aiko reveals that her big brother Kyoya -- whose world domination-plotting middle school syndrome has been growing worse and worse lately -- has gone missing!

Between a secret battle to reassemble a dismembered evil god and a threat from destiny-altering beings waiting in the wings, the world's strongest little brother seems to have enough on his mind. But there's even more waiting in store for Yuichi Sakaki, and things are about to get more chaotic by the week. Soon, a yakuza gang is stalking his little sister, a demon doll is stalking Aiko, an overzealous archer is stalking him... and that's only the beginning!

With his stunning debut novel, She's Come Undone, Wally Lamb won the adulation of critics and readers with his mesmerizing tale of one woman's painful yet triumphant journey of self-discovery. Now, this brilliantly talented writer returns with I Know This Much Is True, a heartbreaking and poignant multigenerational saga of the reproductive bonds of destruction and the powerful force of forgiveness. A masterpiece that breathtakingly tells a story of alienation and connection, power and abuse, devastation and renewal--this novel is a contemporary retelling of an ancient Hindu myth. A proud king must confront his demons to achieve salvation. Change yourself, the myth instructs, and you will inhabit a renovated world. When you're the same brother of a schizophrenic identical twin, the tricky thing about saving yourself is the blood it leaves on your bands--the little inconvenience of the look-alike corpse at your feet. And if you're into both survival of the fittest and being your brother's keeper--if you've promised your dying mother--then say so long to sleep and hello to the middle of the night. Grab a book or a beer. Get used to Letterman's gap-toothed smile of the absurd, or the view of the bedroom ceiling, or the influence of random selection. Take it from a godless insomniac. Take it from the uncrazy twin--the guy who beat the biochemical rap. Dominick Birdsey's entire life has been compromised and constricted by anger and fear, by the paranoid schizophrenic twin brother he both deeply loves and resents, and by the past they shared with their adoptive father, Ray, a spit-and-polish ex-Navy man (the five-foot-six-inch sleeping giant who snoozed upstairs weekdays in the spare room and built submarines at night), and their long-suffering mother, Concettina, a timid woman with a harelip that made her shy and self-conscious: She holds a loose fist to her face to cover her defective mouth--her perpetual apology to the world for a birth defect over which she'd had no control. Born in the waning moments of 1949 and the opening minutes of 1950, the twins are physical mirror images who grow into separate yet connected entities: the seemingly strong and protective yet fearful Dominick, his mother's watchful "monkey"; and the seemingly weak and sweet yet noble Thomas, his mother's gentle "bunny." From childhood, Dominick fights for both separation and wholeness--and ultimately self-protection--in a house of fear dominated by Ray, a bully who abuses his power over these stepsons whose biological father is a mystery. I was still afraid of his anger but saw how he punished weakness--pounced on it. Out of self-preservation I hid my fear, Dominick confesses. As for Thomas, he just never knew how to play defense. He just didn't get it. But Dominick's talent for survival comes at an enormous cost, including the breakup of his marriage to the warm, beautiful Dessa, whom he still loves. And it will be put to the ultimate test when Thomas, a Bible-spouting zealot, commits an unthinkable act that threatens the tenuous balance of both his and Dominick's lives. To save himself, Dominick must confront not only the pain of his past but the dark secrets he has locked deep within himself, and the sins of his ancestors--a quest that will lead him beyond the confines of his blue-collar New England town to the volcanic foothills of Sicily 's Mount Etna, where his ambitious and vengefully proud grandfather and a namesake Domenico Tempesta, the sostegno del famiglia, was born. Each of the stories Ma told us about Papa reinforced the message that he was the boss, that he ruled the roost, that what he said went. Searching for answers, Dominick turns to the whispers of the dead, to the pages of his grandfather's handwritten memoir, The History of Domenico Onofrio Tempesta, a Great Man from Humble Beginnings. Rendered with touches of magic realism, Domenico's fablelike tale--in which monkeys enchant and religious statues weep--becomes the old man's confession--an unwitting legacy of contrition that reveals the truth's of Domenico's life, Dominick learns that power, wrongly used, defeats the oppressor as well as the oppressed, and now, picking through the humble shards of his deconstructed life, he will search for the courage and love to forgive, to expiate his and his ancestors' transgressions, and finally to rebuild himself beyond the haunted shadow of his twin. Set against the vivid panoply of twentieth-century America and filled with richly drawn, memorable characters, this deeply moving and thoroughly satisfying novel brings to light humanity's deepest needs and fears, our aloneness, our desire for love and acceptance, our struggle to survive at all costs. Joyous, mystical, and exquisitely written, I Know This Much Is True is an extraordinary reading experience that will leave no reader untouched.

Yuichi, and the survival club are finally heading off for their summer training camp, to a luxurious villa in a remote seaside resort. Will anime-style swimsuit episode shenanigans ensue? If his big sister has anything to say about it, yes! But while the gang enjoys some much needed fun in the sun, a darker plot lurks just offshore. The world's strongest little brother is about to face his greatest challenge yet!

My name is Amber Reynolds. There are three things you should know about me: 1. I’m in a coma. 2. My husband doesn’t love me anymore. 3. Sometimes I lie. Amber wakes up in a hospital. She can’t move. She can’t speak. She can’t open her eyes. She can hear everyone around her, but they have no idea. Amber doesn’t remember what happened, but she has a suspicion her husband had something to do with it. Alternating between her paralyzed present, the week before her accident, and a series of childhood diaries from twenty years ago, this brilliant psychological thriller asks: Is something really a lie if you believe it's the truth?

Yuichi's not-very-restful summer vacation came to an end, and the new school term isn't looking much better. Immortal demons are trying to kill him, his new teacher is a superpowered sociopath, and all kinds of bizarre events are happening around the school. What does Kanako's new novel have to do with the bizarre goings on at Seishin High? Once again, it's up to the world's strongest little brother, and his highly delusional sister, to find out!