A dramatization of the American Helene Hanff's 20-year correspondence with a London antiquarian bookshop. Also on this cassette is a witty duologue... between a elderly general and his wife, played by John Mills and Peggy Ashcroft.

In this gorgeously elliptical memoir, the acclaimed author of "The Pharmacist's Mate" examines motherhood, childhood and the unexpected effects of past... events and present actions. The mania of early motherhood, the intimacy of marriage and the quest for healing are raw materials from which critically acclaimed writer Amy Fusselman has wrought her latest work - a daring exploration of the perversities of time. The same idiosyncratic and inimitable form Fusselman created in the astonishingly original "The Pharmacist's Mate" - short, staccato paragraphs, some reading like journal entries - lends intimacy to her reflections and observations. From her experiences with the man she calls 'my paedophile' to the more domestic trials of sleep training her infant son or her obsession with a Beastie Boys song, Fusselman moves from one subject to the next with the freeform exuberance of a child at play. Sometimes the topic is abstract and grand, such as her contemplation of what Time is; other times, she focuses on the seemingly trivial and mundane aspects of life. The idea of learning through repetition and the automatic motions of humans are metaphorically represented by the countless figure eights she performed as a child on the ice. Family is ever present in 8, and Fusselman writes with inclusive tenderness, extending this intimacy to the reader as well. Her efforts to come to terms with the ideas of innocence, aging and the healing power of touch draw the reader in still deeper - the uplifting revelations staying with you long after the last page is turned.

Dismissed by the police as mere adjuncts to or gofers for male gangs, girl gang members are in fact often as emotionally closed off and dangerous as... their male counterparts. Carrying razor blades in their mouths and guns in their jackets for defense, they initiate drive-by shootings, carry out car jackings, stomp outsiders who stumble onto or dare to enter the neighborhood, viciously retaliate against other gangs and ferociously guard their home turf.But Sikes also captures the differences that distinguish girl gangs-abortion, teen pregnancy and teen motherhood, endless beatings and the humiliation of being forced to have sex with a lineup of male gangbangers during initiation, haphazardly raising kids in a household of drugs and guns with a part-time boyfriend off gangbanging himself. Veteran journalist Gini Sikes spends a year in the ghettos following the lives of several key gang members in South Central Los Angeles, San Antonio, and Milwaukee. In 8 Ball Chicks, we discover the fear and desperate desire for respect and status that drive girls into gangs in the first place--and the dreams and ambitions that occasionally help them to escape the catch-22 of their existence.