Wish list

Koushun Takami's notorious high-octane thriller is based on an irresistible premise: a class of junior high school students is taken to a deserted island where, as part of a ruthless authoritarian program, they are provided arms and forced to kill one another until only one survivor is left standing. Criticized as violent exploitation when first published in Japan - where it then proceeded to become a runaway bestseller - Battle Royale is a Lord of the Flies for the 21st century, a potent allegory of what it means to be young and (barely) alive in a dog-eat-dog world. Made into a controversial hit movie of the same name, Battle Royale is already a contemporary Japanese pulp classic, now available for the first time in the English language.

Un caso insólito tiene desorientada a la policía de Barcelona: en el túnel de una estación de metro abandonada, aparece un cadáver en unas condiciones difíciles de explicar y más difíciles de creer. Al cadáver le han arrancado parte del rostro y en su lugar han colocado una máscara del teatro noh tradicional de Japón. Cuando en la unidad policial al cargo del caso están intentando comprender qué ha podido llevar a una persona a cometer semejante crimen, aparece un segundo cadáver en parecidas condiciones. Junto a él, la documentación de la exnovia del inspector Andreu Martí, que se enfrentará al caso más difícil de su carrera.

Like his father and grandfather before him, Kino is a poor diver, gathering pearls from the gulf beds that once brought great wealth to the kings of Spain and now provide Kino, Juana, and their infant son with meager subsistence. Then, on a day like any other, Kino emerges from the sea with a pearl as large as a sea gull’s egg, as “perfect as the moon.” With the pearl comes hope, the promise of comfort and of security… A story of classic simplicity, based on a Mexican folk tale, The Pearl explores the secrets of man’s nature, greed, the darkest depths of evil, and the luminous possibilities of love.

Simon and Marie can't seem to have a baby. And so they flee the city for an idyllic village, where things will certainly be better. But the town is gloomy, even hostile—things haven't been the same since the factory closed down and a broadcast antenna was erected. Now there are no birds singing, and people have started disappearing.