Central Skagit Library District

"The greatest writer of his time."-Edmund Wilson "One of the great poets of the novel, a genius of his art"-Edgar Johnson "His characters are marvelous, his insights wonderful…you don't expect reality but you get something bigger and better."-Ruth Rendell The Old Curiosity Shop was initially published in a weekly serial, "Master Humphrey's Clock", between 1840 and 1841. Charles Dickens' story of the frail and innocent orphan had become such...

"When the Jensen family sends a new generation out into the world, they always keep the homefires burning - and rifles loaded - just in case they bring trouble back with them. Smoke Jensen's daughter Denny can outride, outrope, and outshoot any man who gets in her way. But being a pretty woman, Denny sometimes attracts the attention of unsavory suitors. Like the lecherous Count Malatesta. Denny met the seductive Sicilian on her trip to Europe - and...

This one hour drama centers on an intuitive tough guy named Chester "Ace" Bernstein, who has always been involved with gambling, from bookmaking and money laundering to casino operations. Recently released from prison after three years, he teams with Gus Demitriou, his longtime chauffeur and muscle, to craft a complex plan involving the Santa Anita Racetrack in California.

Amarillo Slim Preston has won $300,000 from Willie Neslon playing dominoes and $2 million from Larry Flynt playing poker. He has shuffled, dealt, and bluffed with some of twentieth-century's most famous figures. He beat Minnesota Fats at pool with a broom, Bobby Riggs at table tennis with a skillet, and Evel Knievel at golf with a carpenter's hammer. Amarillo Slim has gambled with 'em all, and left most of them wishing they hadn't. The memoirs...

A Barbary Coast saloonkeeper and a Nob Hill impresario are rivals for the affections of a beautiful singer, both personally and professionally in 1906 San Francisco.

She's betting on a ghost. And taking a chance on love...

Losing her memory in a mysterious tragedy years before left Mojo Sheepshanks not knowing who she is or how to get on with her life. Now the wisecracking Mojo, who hangs out at Bad-Ass Bert's Biker Saloon in Cave Creek, Arizona, suddenly begins seeing ghosts...and discovering clues to her real identity. Meanwhile, sexy cop Tucker Darroch has her heart racing and her passions revved

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A down-on-his-luck gambler finds himself in debt to a dangerous loan shark. Desperate for cash, he reluctantly takes on the job of coaching a youth baseball team. The team turns out to be a ragtag group of tough-talking kids from Chicago's inner city. Now, as he must wrestle with his past, the kids start to teach him some lessons that will forever change his future.

A charismatic jeweler makes a high-stakes bet that could lead to the windfall of a lifetime. In a precarious high-wire act, he must balance business, family, and adversaries on all sides in pursuit of the ultimate win.

"Laymon writes eloquently and honestly about the physical manifestations of violence, grief, trauma, and abuse on his own body. He writes of his own eating disorder and gambling addiction as well as similar issues that run throughout his family. Through self-exploration, storytelling, and honest conversation with family and friends, Heavy seeks to bring what has been hidden into the light and to reckon with all of its myriad sources, from the most...

Musical extravaganza which celebrates the loves and heartbreaks of a Mississippi riverboat troupe, starting with a young girl whose heart is stolen by a dashing gambler.