Postcards From Venice

Twelve-year-old Skyler is in for a summer of adventure in Venice, Italy, as she pursues a dream opportunity in this hilarious MIX novel that’s a companion to The BFF Bucket List. Skyler is about to go on the biggest adventure of her life. Her mother has been relocated to Venice, Italy, and there is the possibility it could be a permanent move. While there, Skyler will be blogging and writing about the city as part of an informal internship that could lead to bigger things for her if all goes well. One of her fellow interns, Logan is cool, cute, and Australian. But the other intern, Zara, isn’t quite as nice, and seems determined to sabotage all of Skyler’s suggestions. And with a big assignment coming up, Skyler is stumped as to what to write about. Skyler wishes she has someone to talk to, but the first person who comes to mind isn’t even on the same continent: her BFF, Ella. Skyler knows that Ella would probably have to solution to a lot of her problems, especially the writer’s block, but they didn’t leave on the best of terms after a bucket list went a little awry. Thanks to technology, Skyler and Ella slowly begin to talk like old times. But when one of Skyler’s blog posts gets replaced with one she never intended anyone to see, she isn’t sure if she can ever belong anywhere. With the help of some Italian magic and her oldest friend, can Skyler learn to love her new city?

As more than a few of its citizens would claim, Venice, California, has gone through numerous reincarnations. In the 1970s, it was the roller-skating capital of the world. In the 1930s, it was a haven for sunbathing beauties and their hopeful consorts. At its inception in 1905, Venice was the imaginative solution to one man's lifelong struggle with asthma. Replete with gondolas, wooden rollercoasters, and a miniature train that encircled the town, Venice was, and continues to be, best described through picture postcards. Delores Hanney has spent years collecting the pictures that made Venice real, not only to its visitors but also to their friends back home. In Venice, California, she shares these unique images with us: a camel ride, a wide canal, a brightly-painted Moorish-style building. Venice, California is an exquisite rendering of a town whose history was nearly indistinguishable from its surfaces. It will delight art historians, scholars of cultural studies, and anyone who appreciates Americana and the carnival.

Santa Monica was founded in 1875 and by 1887, the area was caught up in the real estate frenzy of the time with advertisements suggesting that it had "one of the grandest panoramic views the human eye has ever rested on . . . " In over 200 vintage postcards, here is Santa Monica in all its coastal splendor, including views of the bathing beaches, the Roosevelt Highway, and private citizens' beautiful Chinese Gardens.

The Rough Guide to Venice and the Veneto is the definitive handbook to Europe''s most beautiful city and its hinterland. The guide includes detailed accounts of all Venice''s monuments and museums, from San Marco to the far-flung islands. There is vivid background on the city''s history and culture, with the lowdown on the Biennale, Carnevale and other special events. For every area, there are comprehensive reviews of restaurants, bars and accommodation in every price range. Finally, there is detailed coverage of Verona, Padua, Vicenza, Treviso and a host of other Veneto towns and sights.

Bringing together an international group of scholars, this collection offers a fresh assessment of Kazuo Ishiguro’s evolving significance as a contemporary world author. The contributors take on a range of the aesthetic and philosophical themes that characterize Ishiguro’s work, including his exploration of the self, family, and community; his narrative constructions of time and space; and his assessments of the continuous and discontinuous forces of history, art, human psychology, and cultural formations. Significantly, the volume attends to Ishiguro’s own self-identification as an international writer who has at times expressed his uneasiness with being grouped together with British novelists of his generation. Taken together, these rich considerations of Ishiguro’s work attest to his stature as a writer who continues to fascinate cultural and textual critics from around the world.