Amazon.com review:
There are vampires, a Lovecraft homage, enchanted birds and animals, shapeshifters, adult fairy tales, ghosts, and even a hunted muse. The best are Byatt's sensuous, enchanting "Cold"--about an ice princess who marries a glass-blowing desert prince--and Straub's novella, "Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff", a black comedy of revenge gone awry. The reference material includes each editor's review of the year's best novels, collections and anthologies, magazines, related nonfiction, children's books, and art.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Wild Berries / Yevgeny Yevtushenko
Written by the famous Russian poet, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, The Wild Berries is essentially a series of vignettes.
The kulaks (rich peasants) are being persecuted in the Soviet Union. A cynical look at the 'worker's paradise' in which your fate can depend on denouncement by a casual enemy.
The kulaks (rich peasants) are being persecuted in the Soviet Union. A cynical look at the 'worker's paradise' in which your fate can depend on denouncement by a casual enemy.
What's Bred in the Bone / Robert Davies
From Library Journal:
In this extraordinary fictional biography, the highly gifted Davies makes use of guardian angels to tell his remarkable tale. Francis Cornish endures a secretive childhood in a remote town, fascinating encounters with its embalmer, and time in prewar Oxford where he studied art and philosophy. He eventually discovers his superior artistic talents and the problem of finding his own unique style. Author Davies has produced a gripping story of artistic triumph and heroic deceit, told with deep insight into the worlds of art and international espionage.
In this extraordinary fictional biography, the highly gifted Davies makes use of guardian angels to tell his remarkable tale. Francis Cornish endures a secretive childhood in a remote town, fascinating encounters with its embalmer, and time in prewar Oxford where he studied art and philosophy. He eventually discovers his superior artistic talents and the problem of finding his own unique style. Author Davies has produced a gripping story of artistic triumph and heroic deceit, told with deep insight into the worlds of art and international espionage.
The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts / Louis De Bernieres
Amazon.com review:
Louis de Bernières's sardonic pen has concocted a spicy olla podrida of a novel, set in a fictitious Latin American country, with all the tragedy, ribaldry, and humor Bernières can muster from a debauched military, a clueless oligarchy, and an unconventional band of guerrillas. There's a plague of laughing, a flood of magical cats, and a torture-happy colonel. The cities, villages, politics, and discourse are an inspired amalgam of Latin Americana, but the comedy, horror, adventure, and vibrant individuals are pure de Bernières.
Louis de Bernières's sardonic pen has concocted a spicy olla podrida of a novel, set in a fictitious Latin American country, with all the tragedy, ribaldry, and humor Bernières can muster from a debauched military, a clueless oligarchy, and an unconventional band of guerrillas. There's a plague of laughing, a flood of magical cats, and a torture-happy colonel. The cities, villages, politics, and discourse are an inspired amalgam of Latin Americana, but the comedy, horror, adventure, and vibrant individuals are pure de Bernières.
The Unabridged Edgar Allen Poe
Under-appreciated in his own time, Poe's unique genius for exploring the darker corridors of the human imagination raised nightmares to the level of art. This collection includes poetry and prose, including "The Conqueror Worm", "The Fall of the House of Usher", "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", and "The Pit and the Pendulum".
A Thousand Days in Venice / Marlena De Blasi
From Library Journal:
Venice is almost synonymous with romance, and in this charming account de Blasi spares no detail in telling us how she fell under its spell. A journalist, restaurant critic, and food consultant, de Blasi left her home, her grown children, and her job as a chef in St. Louis to marry Fernando, a Venetian she barely knew. In defiance of the cynics who think true love in middle age is crazy, her marriage flourished, as these two strangers made a life together. Food comforted the newlyweds when their conflicting cultures almost divided them, and in the end marital harmony reigns. Is this book a romance, a food guide, or an exhortation for us to come to Venice and experience the magic? Ultimately, it is all three, and there is even an appendix that includes recipes for dishes described in the text.
Venice is almost synonymous with romance, and in this charming account de Blasi spares no detail in telling us how she fell under its spell. A journalist, restaurant critic, and food consultant, de Blasi left her home, her grown children, and her job as a chef in St. Louis to marry Fernando, a Venetian she barely knew. In defiance of the cynics who think true love in middle age is crazy, her marriage flourished, as these two strangers made a life together. Food comforted the newlyweds when their conflicting cultures almost divided them, and in the end marital harmony reigns. Is this book a romance, a food guide, or an exhortation for us to come to Venice and experience the magic? Ultimately, it is all three, and there is even an appendix that includes recipes for dishes described in the text.
The Sleeping Dragon / Joel Rosenberg
A group of gamers are transported into the alternate fantasy world they play in, becoming the actual characters they had been pretending to be. The only way they can see Earth again is to find the legendary Gate between Worlds - a place guarded by a terrifying dragon.
Service of all the Dead / Colin Dexter
From amazon.com review:
In the Service for All Dead Morse walks the dark pathways of the mind. He almost backs into the lives of seven people entwined with St. Frideswide's parish in Oxford. With a keen understanding of human nature, much akin to that of Reinhold Niebuhr, he begins to untangle a series of crimes that began two years before. With a chain of deductions and intuition Morse takes you to a breathless and satisfying conclusion to five and perhaps six murders.
In the Service for All Dead Morse walks the dark pathways of the mind. He almost backs into the lives of seven people entwined with St. Frideswide's parish in Oxford. With a keen understanding of human nature, much akin to that of Reinhold Niebuhr, he begins to untangle a series of crimes that began two years before. With a chain of deductions and intuition Morse takes you to a breathless and satisfying conclusion to five and perhaps six murders.
Scraps of Heaven / Arnold Zable
From The Age review:
Scraps of Heaven works over much the same ground as Arnold Zable's wildly successful novel Cafe Scheherazade, in which he shares the stories of migrants who congregate in a St Kilda cafe. But in Scraps of Heaven it is as if Zable follows these characters home from the cafe - from the stories of survival they tell each other, to the stories of horror they can't stop telling themselves.
Scraps of Heaven works over much the same ground as Arnold Zable's wildly successful novel Cafe Scheherazade, in which he shares the stories of migrants who congregate in a St Kilda cafe. But in Scraps of Heaven it is as if Zable follows these characters home from the cafe - from the stories of survival they tell each other, to the stories of horror they can't stop telling themselves.
The Ravishing of Lol Stein / Marguerite Duras
From the book:
Lol Stein is a beautiful young woman, securely married, settled in a comfortable life - and a voyeur. Returning with her husband and children to the town where, years before, her fiance had abandoned her for another woman, she is drawn inexorably to recreate that long-past tragedy. She arranges a rendezvous for her friend Tatiana and Tatiana's lover. She arranges to spy on them. And the, she goes one step further ...
Lol Stein is a beautiful young woman, securely married, settled in a comfortable life - and a voyeur. Returning with her husband and children to the town where, years before, her fiance had abandoned her for another woman, she is drawn inexorably to recreate that long-past tragedy. She arranges a rendezvous for her friend Tatiana and Tatiana's lover. She arranges to spy on them. And the, she goes one step further ...
Barbara Kingsolver / The Poisonwood Bible
The book follows an evangelical Baptist minister's family to the Congo in the late 1950s, entwining their fate with that of the country during three turbulent decades. Nathan Price's determination to convert the natives of the Congo to Christianity is, we gradually discover, both foolhardy and dangerous, unsanctioned by the church administration and doomed from the start by Nathan's self-righteousness.
Philip Roth / The Plot Against America
From amazon.com review:
The Plot Against America explores a wholly imagined thesis and sees it through to the end: Charles A. Lindbergh defeats FDR for the Presidency in 1940. Lindbergh, the "Lone Eagle," captured the country's imagination by his solo Atlantic crossing in 1927 in the monoplane, Spirit of St. Louis, then had the country's sympathy upon the kidnapping and murder of his young son. He was a true American hero: brave, modest, handsome, a patriot. According to some reliable sources, he was also a rabid isolationist, Nazi sympathizer, and a crypto-fascist. It is these latter attributes of Lindbergh that inform the novel.
The Plot Against America explores a wholly imagined thesis and sees it through to the end: Charles A. Lindbergh defeats FDR for the Presidency in 1940. Lindbergh, the "Lone Eagle," captured the country's imagination by his solo Atlantic crossing in 1927 in the monoplane, Spirit of St. Louis, then had the country's sympathy upon the kidnapping and murder of his young son. He was a true American hero: brave, modest, handsome, a patriot. According to some reliable sources, he was also a rabid isolationist, Nazi sympathizer, and a crypto-fascist. It is these latter attributes of Lindbergh that inform the novel.
The Pengium Book of Horror Stories
From AudioFile:
J.A. Cuddon has selected some of the best classic short stories of all time. Each story adds its own plot, pace or auditory spice to the mix. And Cuddon has seasoned his soup perfectly. Nigel Davenport, Rula Lenska, Andrew Sachs and David Rintoul bring out the best in each piece. Some use classic "dark and stormy night" voices. Others add chilling horror through their very lighthearted lack of concern. The evil spirits in these tales will send delicious chills up the spine.
J.A. Cuddon has selected some of the best classic short stories of all time. Each story adds its own plot, pace or auditory spice to the mix. And Cuddon has seasoned his soup perfectly. Nigel Davenport, Rula Lenska, Andrew Sachs and David Rintoul bring out the best in each piece. Some use classic "dark and stormy night" voices. Others add chilling horror through their very lighthearted lack of concern. The evil spirits in these tales will send delicious chills up the spine.
Outsider in Amsterdam / Janwillem van de Wetering
From amazon.com review:
Van De Wetering's descriptions of the city are crisp and well defined and his characters are intriguing and convincingly written. It was a good mystery as well. The motivations of all the characters seemed true enough, and for this, the novel could just as well be classified as literature. The translation maintains European syntax, so the Dutch character of work is not lost. It was a fun little novel, and great mind candy. The next day I bought two more of the series. If you need something, quick, light and exotic to read this is a good one. It's always nice to read about someone else's city.
Van De Wetering's descriptions of the city are crisp and well defined and his characters are intriguing and convincingly written. It was a good mystery as well. The motivations of all the characters seemed true enough, and for this, the novel could just as well be classified as literature. The translation maintains European syntax, so the Dutch character of work is not lost. It was a fun little novel, and great mind candy. The next day I bought two more of the series. If you need something, quick, light and exotic to read this is a good one. It's always nice to read about someone else's city.
Oscar and Lucinda / Peter Carey
From amazon.com review:
This book is pure characterization. Carey's characters are dense and human and live before the book begins and after it ends. It's a love story, but not a conventional one. The love between Oscar and Lucinda builds and builds with every written word, up to an ending which even the most astute and well-read reader will never expect.
This book is pure characterization. Carey's characters are dense and human and live before the book begins and after it ends. It's a love story, but not a conventional one. The love between Oscar and Lucinda builds and builds with every written word, up to an ending which even the most astute and well-read reader will never expect.
The Nightmare of Reason: A Life of Franz Kafka / Ernst Pawel
A comprehensive and interpretative biography of Franz Kafka that is both a monumental work of scholarship and a vivid, lively evocation of Kafka's world.
Mistress of Mistresses / E.R. Eddison
From amazon.com review:
It is set in a fantasy world similar to 16th Century Europe. The book demands concentration, a knowledge of philosophy and poetry. But beware. It will send you off on a lifelong hunt into these fields. You may end up learning Ancient Greek or Latin. You will fall in love with the women and follow the heroes blindly. Read, enjoy and return to. Like a good wine it matures well.
It is set in a fantasy world similar to 16th Century Europe. The book demands concentration, a knowledge of philosophy and poetry. But beware. It will send you off on a lifelong hunt into these fields. You may end up learning Ancient Greek or Latin. You will fall in love with the women and follow the heroes blindly. Read, enjoy and return to. Like a good wine it matures well.
The Mezentian Gate / E.R. Eddison
From wikipedia:
The Mezentian Gate is the third novel in the Zimiamvian Trilogy by Eric Rücker Eddison. It is primarily a history of the rule of the fictional King Mezentius (the Tyrant of Fingiswold), and his methods of gaining and holding the Three Kingdoms of Fingiswold, Meszria and Rerek in sway.
Published posthumously, The Mezentian Gate is only partially completed as prose. In many of the central chapters, only the plot outline is presented.
The Mezentian Gate is the third novel in the Zimiamvian Trilogy by Eric Rücker Eddison. It is primarily a history of the rule of the fictional King Mezentius (the Tyrant of Fingiswold), and his methods of gaining and holding the Three Kingdoms of Fingiswold, Meszria and Rerek in sway.
Published posthumously, The Mezentian Gate is only partially completed as prose. In many of the central chapters, only the plot outline is presented.
Literary Murder / Batya Gur
From amazon.com review:
As always, Batya Gur has crafted an excellent story, and an ambiance which makes us feel we are in Israel. Detective Michael Ohayon is, as usual, brilliant. Gur writes well above the usual "mystery" genre, and her books are worth reading for their literary merit by anyone who enjoys good fiction.
As always, Batya Gur has crafted an excellent story, and an ambiance which makes us feel we are in Israel. Detective Michael Ohayon is, as usual, brilliant. Gur writes well above the usual "mystery" genre, and her books are worth reading for their literary merit by anyone who enjoys good fiction.
Love in the Time of Cholera / Gabriel Garcia Marquez
From Publishers Weekly:
In this chronicle of a unique love triangle, the Nobel laureate's trademark "ironic vision and luminous evocation of South America" persist. "It is a fully mature novel in scope and perspective, flawlessly translated, as rich in ideas as in humanity," praised PW . 250,000 first printing.
In this chronicle of a unique love triangle, the Nobel laureate's trademark "ironic vision and luminous evocation of South America" persist. "It is a fully mature novel in scope and perspective, flawlessly translated, as rich in ideas as in humanity," praised PW . 250,000 first printing.
The Lost Symbol / Dan Brown
From Daphne Durham:
Nothing is as it seems in a Robert Langdon novel, and The Lost Symbol itself is no exception--a page-turner to be sure, but Brown also challenges his fans to open their minds to new information. Skeptical? Imagine how many other thrillers would spawn millions of Google searches for noetic science, superstring theory, and Apotheosis of Washington. The Lost Symbol is brain candy of the best sort--just make sure to set aside time to enjoy your meal.
Nothing is as it seems in a Robert Langdon novel, and The Lost Symbol itself is no exception--a page-turner to be sure, but Brown also challenges his fans to open their minds to new information. Skeptical? Imagine how many other thrillers would spawn millions of Google searches for noetic science, superstring theory, and Apotheosis of Washington. The Lost Symbol is brain candy of the best sort--just make sure to set aside time to enjoy your meal.
In Cold Blood / Truman Capote
Amazon.com review:
Author Truman Capote contributed to a style of writing in which the reporter gets so far inside the subject, becomes so familiar, that he projects events and conversations as if he were really there. The style has probably never been accomplished better than in this book. Capote combined painstaking research with a narrative feel to produce one of the most spellbinding stories ever put on the page. Two two-time losers living in a lonely house in western Kansas are out to make the heist of their life, but when things don't go as planned, the robbery turns ugly. From there, the book is a real-life look into murder, prison, and the criminal mind.
Author Truman Capote contributed to a style of writing in which the reporter gets so far inside the subject, becomes so familiar, that he projects events and conversations as if he were really there. The style has probably never been accomplished better than in this book. Capote combined painstaking research with a narrative feel to produce one of the most spellbinding stories ever put on the page. Two two-time losers living in a lonely house in western Kansas are out to make the heist of their life, but when things don't go as planned, the robbery turns ugly. From there, the book is a real-life look into murder, prison, and the criminal mind.
Hotel Du Lac / Brookner
From Amazon.com review:
In the beginning of this novel, we know only that Edith Hope, "a writer of romantic fiction under a more thrusting name" has been banished to the Hotel du Lac, a "quiet hotel ... in which she could be counted upon to retrieve her serious and hard-working personality and to forget the unfortunate lapse which had led to this brief exile." Penelope, the friend and neighbor responsible for sending Edith away for her as-yet-unexplained act is prepared to forgive only when Edith becomes "properly apologetic." She ponders accepting the proposal of a man she doesn't love: "I shall settle down now. I shall have to, for I doubt if I have anything more to look forward to." But can she? Or will she, as she fears, "turn to stone" if she settles for less than her kind of love?
In the beginning of this novel, we know only that Edith Hope, "a writer of romantic fiction under a more thrusting name" has been banished to the Hotel du Lac, a "quiet hotel ... in which she could be counted upon to retrieve her serious and hard-working personality and to forget the unfortunate lapse which had led to this brief exile." Penelope, the friend and neighbor responsible for sending Edith away for her as-yet-unexplained act is prepared to forgive only when Edith becomes "properly apologetic." She ponders accepting the proposal of a man she doesn't love: "I shall settle down now. I shall have to, for I doubt if I have anything more to look forward to." But can she? Or will she, as she fears, "turn to stone" if she settles for less than her kind of love?
Thursday, December 2, 2010
The Hard Life / Flann O'Brien
From Library Journal
Critics have placed O'Brien in the upper echelon of Irish novelsts. This 1961 comic novel relates the lives of two orphaned Dublin brothers sent to live with their fiery uncle. "The conversation is a delight," said LJ 's reviewer, "it seems no Irishman can be dull when talking--and the atmosphere of a lower-middle-class family, with its cheerless, shabby, restricted way of life, is well done."
Critics have placed O'Brien in the upper echelon of Irish novelsts. This 1961 comic novel relates the lives of two orphaned Dublin brothers sent to live with their fiery uncle. "The conversation is a delight," said LJ 's reviewer, "it seems no Irishman can be dull when talking--and the atmosphere of a lower-middle-class family, with its cheerless, shabby, restricted way of life, is well done."
H is for Homicide
From Publishers Weekly
This eighth in an alphabetically titled mystery series-- the book finds sleuth Kinsey Millhone undercover in a Los Angeles barrio. Some 178,000 hardcover copies of this Literary and Mystery Guild selection have been sold.
This eighth in an alphabetically titled mystery series-- the book finds sleuth Kinsey Millhone undercover in a Los Angeles barrio. Some 178,000 hardcover copies of this Literary and Mystery Guild selection have been sold.
A Fish Dinner in Memison / E.R. Eddison
From wikipeida
The second novel in the Zimiamvian Trilogy by Eric Rücker Eddison.
A Fish Dinner in Memison is a novel centering on the characters of King Mezentius and Fiorinda; much is revealed about the links between principal characters and the separate worlds of the novel, not fully resolved in the other novels in the trilogy. The character of Lessingham is also resolved to its greatest extent in all the novels of the trilogy.
A Fish Dinner in Memison overlaps chronologically with The Mezentian Gate, but since the action starts later than in that work, it can be considered chronologically as the second novel in the series.
The second novel in the Zimiamvian Trilogy by Eric Rücker Eddison.
A Fish Dinner in Memison is a novel centering on the characters of King Mezentius and Fiorinda; much is revealed about the links between principal characters and the separate worlds of the novel, not fully resolved in the other novels in the trilogy. The character of Lessingham is also resolved to its greatest extent in all the novels of the trilogy.
A Fish Dinner in Memison overlaps chronologically with The Mezentian Gate, but since the action starts later than in that work, it can be considered chronologically as the second novel in the series.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands / Jorge Amado
It surprises no one that the charming but wayward Vadinho dos Guimaraes–a gambler notorious for never winning—dies during Carnival. His long suffering widow Dona Flor devotes herself to her cooking school and her friends, who urge her to remarry. She is soon drawn to a kind pharmacist who is everything Vadinho was not, and is altogether happy to marry him. But after her wedding she finds herself dreaming about her first husband’s amorous attentions; and one evening Vadinho himself appears by her bed, as lusty as ever, to claim his marital rights.
The Deptford Trilogy / Robertson Davies
Amazon.com Review
A series of three novels by Robertson Davies, consisting of Fifth Business (1970), The Manticore (1972), and World of Wonders (1975). Throughout the trilogy, Davies interweaves moral concerns and bits of arcane lore. The novels trace the lives of three men from the small town of Deptford, Ont., connected and transformed by a single childhood event. Much of the book describes the course of Jungian analysis undertaken by Boy's son David. World of Wonders tells the story of Paul Dempster. Kidnapped as a boy by a magician, he learns the trade and eventually becomes Magnus Eisengrim, one of the most successful acts on the European continent.
A series of three novels by Robertson Davies, consisting of Fifth Business (1970), The Manticore (1972), and World of Wonders (1975). Throughout the trilogy, Davies interweaves moral concerns and bits of arcane lore. The novels trace the lives of three men from the small town of Deptford, Ont., connected and transformed by a single childhood event. Much of the book describes the course of Jungian analysis undertaken by Boy's son David. World of Wonders tells the story of Paul Dempster. Kidnapped as a boy by a magician, he learns the trade and eventually becomes Magnus Eisengrim, one of the most successful acts on the European continent.
Death of An Expert Witness / PD James
An evil-tempered forensic scientist is put to death, putting many of his colleagues out of misery. Commander Adam Dalgliesh must exhume the secrets of Dr. Lorrimer's laboratory in order to lay bare the murderous motive hidden in one human heart.
'C' is for Corpse / Sue Grafton
From Publishers Weekly
The corpse in private eye Kinsey Millhone's third adventure ("A" Is for Alibi and "B" Is for Burglar is that of Bobby Callahan, a young man she first meets while both are working out in a local gym. Bobby is convinced the car crash he'd been injured in was really an attempt on his life and, fearful of another assault, persuades Kinsey to investigate. A few days later, Bobby is indeed killed, and Kinsey stays on the case. She is befriended by Bobby's wealthy mother, his opportunistic stepfather and druggie, anoretic stepsister. She learns Bobby was having an affair with a friend of his mother's whose first husband had been killed in a suspicious burglary, and whose second is county pathologist. While the almost hard-boiled Kinsey ferrets out the ugly secrets behind Bobby's death, she's also trying to save her elderly landlord from the schemes of the scam-operating senior lady he's smitten with. Kinsey Millhone is nobody's fool; she's also sensitive, funny and very likable. Writing with a light, sure touch, Grafton has produced a fast-moving California story about quirky, believable people.
The corpse in private eye Kinsey Millhone's third adventure ("A" Is for Alibi and "B" Is for Burglar is that of Bobby Callahan, a young man she first meets while both are working out in a local gym. Bobby is convinced the car crash he'd been injured in was really an attempt on his life and, fearful of another assault, persuades Kinsey to investigate. A few days later, Bobby is indeed killed, and Kinsey stays on the case. She is befriended by Bobby's wealthy mother, his opportunistic stepfather and druggie, anoretic stepsister. She learns Bobby was having an affair with a friend of his mother's whose first husband had been killed in a suspicious burglary, and whose second is county pathologist. While the almost hard-boiled Kinsey ferrets out the ugly secrets behind Bobby's death, she's also trying to save her elderly landlord from the schemes of the scam-operating senior lady he's smitten with. Kinsey Millhone is nobody's fool; she's also sensitive, funny and very likable. Writing with a light, sure touch, Grafton has produced a fast-moving California story about quirky, believable people.
A Confederacy of Dunces / John Kennedy Toole
Review
Narrator Barrett Whitener renders Toole's cast of caricatures with verve enough to satisfy admirers. Toole wrote this novel in Puerto Rico during a hitch in the U.S. Army. In 1966 it was rejected by Simon & Schuster. In 1969 Toole committed suicide. Toole's mother then tried to get it published. After seven years of rejection she showed it to novelist Walker Percy, under whose encouragement it was published by Louisiana State University Press. Many critics praised it as a comic masterpiece that memorably evokes the city of New Orleans and whose robust protagonist is a modern-day Falstaff, Don Quixote, or Gargantua. Toole's prose is energetic, and his talent, had it matured, may have produced a masterpiece. However, listeners who do not feel charmed or amused by a fat, flatulent, gluttonous, loud, lying, hypocritical, self-deceiving, self-centered blowhard who masturbates to memories of a dog and pretends to profundity when he is only full of beans are not likely to survive the first cassette.
Narrator Barrett Whitener renders Toole's cast of caricatures with verve enough to satisfy admirers. Toole wrote this novel in Puerto Rico during a hitch in the U.S. Army. In 1966 it was rejected by Simon & Schuster. In 1969 Toole committed suicide. Toole's mother then tried to get it published. After seven years of rejection she showed it to novelist Walker Percy, under whose encouragement it was published by Louisiana State University Press. Many critics praised it as a comic masterpiece that memorably evokes the city of New Orleans and whose robust protagonist is a modern-day Falstaff, Don Quixote, or Gargantua. Toole's prose is energetic, and his talent, had it matured, may have produced a masterpiece. However, listeners who do not feel charmed or amused by a fat, flatulent, gluttonous, loud, lying, hypocritical, self-deceiving, self-centered blowhard who masturbates to memories of a dog and pretends to profundity when he is only full of beans are not likely to survive the first cassette.
A Brother's Blood / Michael C. White
Amazon.com Review
This novel is set in a small Maine village, where, back in 1945, German prisoners worked in a logging camp. When the brother of an ex-prisoner turns up seeking information on the murder of his brother after he escaped from the camp, it rouses old and disturbing memories for Libby Pelletier. Though Libby is reluctant to remember what she knows, much less talk about it, she finds it inevitable when violence returns and her brother is killed. The link between the murders is the mystery that drives this story of passion, cruelty, and ignorance.
This novel is set in a small Maine village, where, back in 1945, German prisoners worked in a logging camp. When the brother of an ex-prisoner turns up seeking information on the murder of his brother after he escaped from the camp, it rouses old and disturbing memories for Libby Pelletier. Though Libby is reluctant to remember what she knows, much less talk about it, she finds it inevitable when violence returns and her brother is killed. The link between the murders is the mystery that drives this story of passion, cruelty, and ignorance.
Brazzaville Beach / William Boyd
From Publishers Weekly
Boyd's adroitly written tale of romantic suspense is told from the point of view of a woman who flees marital difficulties in England to study chimpanzees in Africa.
Boyd's adroitly written tale of romantic suspense is told from the point of view of a woman who flees marital difficulties in England to study chimpanzees in Africa.
The Best Mysteries of Isaac Asimov
From School Library Journal
Although not an author whom average readers would associate with mysteries, Asimov has actually written several good ones. This collection contains 31 short pieces that are among his personal favorites. Two sections contain his series stories, the ``Black Widower'' and the ``Union Club'' mysteries. Brief introductions to each section and story will serve to acquaint readers with the general background of the series. A third section contains miscellaneous mysteries. All are clear and entertaining. This is a book to be read on ``a little here, a little there'' basis. The stories are short, and prolonged reading results in a series of mental stops and starts that are wearying. Also, the stories are written according to a set formula. However, read on the installment plan, the book is worth the effort. If the recent spate of series in juvenile publishing is any guide, this collection should please adolescents, including reluctant readers.
Although not an author whom average readers would associate with mysteries, Asimov has actually written several good ones. This collection contains 31 short pieces that are among his personal favorites. Two sections contain his series stories, the ``Black Widower'' and the ``Union Club'' mysteries. Brief introductions to each section and story will serve to acquaint readers with the general background of the series. A third section contains miscellaneous mysteries. All are clear and entertaining. This is a book to be read on ``a little here, a little there'' basis. The stories are short, and prolonged reading results in a series of mental stops and starts that are wearying. Also, the stories are written according to a set formula. However, read on the installment plan, the book is worth the effort. If the recent spate of series in juvenile publishing is any guide, this collection should please adolescents, including reluctant readers.
Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life / Roald Dahl
From Publishers Weekly:
An antique dealer posing as a clergyman to help his business turn a larger profit is one of the con artists, poachers and thieves who inhabit the rustic community introduced in these seven stories. According to PW , "Dahl shrewdly uses ostensibly simple fables as vehicles for richly mordant examinations of human foibles."
An antique dealer posing as a clergyman to help his business turn a larger profit is one of the con artists, poachers and thieves who inhabit the rustic community introduced in these seven stories. According to PW , "Dahl shrewdly uses ostensibly simple fables as vehicles for richly mordant examinations of human foibles."
Friday, August 27, 2010
The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge
Product Description
Forty years ago the University of California Press published an unusual manuscript by an anthropology student named Carlos Castaneda. The Teachings of Don Juan initiated a generation of seekers dissatisfied with the limitations of the Western worldview. Castaneda's now classic book remains controversial for the alternative way of seeing that it presents and the revolution in cognition it demands. Whether read as ethnographic fact or creative fiction, it is the story of a remarkable journey that has left an indelible impression on the life of more than a million readers around the world.
Forty years ago the University of California Press published an unusual manuscript by an anthropology student named Carlos Castaneda. The Teachings of Don Juan initiated a generation of seekers dissatisfied with the limitations of the Western worldview. Castaneda's now classic book remains controversial for the alternative way of seeing that it presents and the revolution in cognition it demands. Whether read as ethnographic fact or creative fiction, it is the story of a remarkable journey that has left an indelible impression on the life of more than a million readers around the world.
The Hunt for Red October / Tom Clancy
Amazon.com Review
Somewhere under the Atlantic, a Soviet sub commander has just made a fateful decision: the Red October is heading west. The Americans want her. The Russians want her back. And the most incredible chase in history is on. The Hunt for Red October is the runaway bestseller that launched Tom Clancy's phenomenal career. A military thriller so accurate and convincing that the author was rumored to have been debriefed by the White House. Its theme: the greatest espionage coup in history. Its story: the chase for a runaway top secret Russian missile sub.
Somewhere under the Atlantic, a Soviet sub commander has just made a fateful decision: the Red October is heading west. The Americans want her. The Russians want her back. And the most incredible chase in history is on. The Hunt for Red October is the runaway bestseller that launched Tom Clancy's phenomenal career. A military thriller so accurate and convincing that the author was rumored to have been debriefed by the White House. Its theme: the greatest espionage coup in history. Its story: the chase for a runaway top secret Russian missile sub.
Postmortem / Patricia Cornwell
From Publishers Weekly
Cornwell sets her first mystery in Richmond, Va. Chief medical officer for the commonwealth of Virginia, Dr. Kay Scarpetta, the narrator, dwells on her efforts to identify "Mr. Nobody," the strangler of young women. The doctor devotes days and nights to gathering computer data and forensic clues to the killer, although she's hampered by male officials anxious to prove themselves superior to a woman. Predictably, Scarpetta's toil pays off, but not before the strangler attacks her; a reformed male chauvinist, conveniently nearby, saves her. Although readers may be naturally disposed to admire Scarpetta and find the novel's scientific aspect interesting, they are likely to be put off by her self-aggrandizement and interminable complaints, annoying flaws in an otherwise promising debut.
Cornwell sets her first mystery in Richmond, Va. Chief medical officer for the commonwealth of Virginia, Dr. Kay Scarpetta, the narrator, dwells on her efforts to identify "Mr. Nobody," the strangler of young women. The doctor devotes days and nights to gathering computer data and forensic clues to the killer, although she's hampered by male officials anxious to prove themselves superior to a woman. Predictably, Scarpetta's toil pays off, but not before the strangler attacks her; a reformed male chauvinist, conveniently nearby, saves her. Although readers may be naturally disposed to admire Scarpetta and find the novel's scientific aspect interesting, they are likely to be put off by her self-aggrandizement and interminable complaints, annoying flaws in an otherwise promising debut.
My Uncle Oswald / Roald Dahl
Amazon.com Review
The nameless narrator has revealed snippets of the lovable, lascivious Uncle Oswald's life in other collections, but this is the only novel--brief though it is--dedicated solely to the diaries of "the greatest fornicator of all time." Inspired by stories of the aphrodisiac powers of the Sudanese blister beetle, the palpable seductiveness of the lovely Yasmin Howcomely, and the scientific know-how of Professor A. R. Woresley, Uncle Oswald anticipates the concept of the Nobel sperm bank by some 40 years, flimflamming crowned heads, great artists, and eccentric geniuses into making "donations." The life of a commercial sperm broker has a few surprises even for a sophisticated bon vivant, and Dahl manages his signature sting-in-the-tail ending even in one of his lightest comic works.
The nameless narrator has revealed snippets of the lovable, lascivious Uncle Oswald's life in other collections, but this is the only novel--brief though it is--dedicated solely to the diaries of "the greatest fornicator of all time." Inspired by stories of the aphrodisiac powers of the Sudanese blister beetle, the palpable seductiveness of the lovely Yasmin Howcomely, and the scientific know-how of Professor A. R. Woresley, Uncle Oswald anticipates the concept of the Nobel sperm bank by some 40 years, flimflamming crowned heads, great artists, and eccentric geniuses into making "donations." The life of a commercial sperm broker has a few surprises even for a sophisticated bon vivant, and Dahl manages his signature sting-in-the-tail ending even in one of his lightest comic works.
The Gold Coast / Nelson DeMille
From Publishers Weekly
What happens to a priggish, WASPy, disillusioned Wall Street lawyer when a Mafia crime boss moves into the mansion next door in his posh Long Island neighborhood? He ends up representing the gangster on a murder rap and even perjures himself so the mafiosostet lc can be released on $5 million bail. That's the premise of DeMille's bloated, unpersuasive thriller. Attorney John Sutter has problems that would daunt even Fitzgerald's Jay Gatsby. His marriage is crumbling, despite kinky sex games with his self-centered wife, Susan, who's the mistress of his underworld client Frank Bellarosa. The IRS is after Sutter, and his law firm wants to dump him. As a sardonic morality tale of one man's self-willed disintegration, the impact is flattened by its elitist narrator's patrician tones. A comic courtroom scene and some punches at the end, however, redeem the novel somewhat.
What happens to a priggish, WASPy, disillusioned Wall Street lawyer when a Mafia crime boss moves into the mansion next door in his posh Long Island neighborhood? He ends up representing the gangster on a murder rap and even perjures himself so the mafiosostet lc can be released on $5 million bail. That's the premise of DeMille's bloated, unpersuasive thriller. Attorney John Sutter has problems that would daunt even Fitzgerald's Jay Gatsby. His marriage is crumbling, despite kinky sex games with his self-centered wife, Susan, who's the mistress of his underworld client Frank Bellarosa. The IRS is after Sutter, and his law firm wants to dump him. As a sardonic morality tale of one man's self-willed disintegration, the impact is flattened by its elitist narrator's patrician tones. A comic courtroom scene and some punches at the end, however, redeem the novel somewhat.
The Riddle of the Third Mile / Colin Dexter
Product Description
Inspector Morse isn't sure what to make of the truncated body found dumped in the Oxford Canal, but he suspects it may be all that's left of an elderly Oxford don last seen boarding the London train several days before. Whatever the truth, the inspector knows it won't be simple--it never is. As he retraces Professor Browne-Smith's route through a London netherworld of topless bars and fancy bordellos, his forebodings are fulfilled. The evidence mounts; so do the bodies. So Morse downs another pint, unleashes his pit bull instincts, and solves a mystery that defies all logic.
Inspector Morse isn't sure what to make of the truncated body found dumped in the Oxford Canal, but he suspects it may be all that's left of an elderly Oxford don last seen boarding the London train several days before. Whatever the truth, the inspector knows it won't be simple--it never is. As he retraces Professor Browne-Smith's route through a London netherworld of topless bars and fancy bordellos, his forebodings are fulfilled. The evidence mounts; so do the bodies. So Morse downs another pint, unleashes his pit bull instincts, and solves a mystery that defies all logic.
Lord Foul's Bane: The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Book One
Product Description
The first book in one of the most remarkable epic fantasies ever written, the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Unbeliever. He called himself Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever because he dared not believe in the strange alternate world in which he suddenly found himself. Yet he was tempted to believe, to fight for the Land, to be the reincarnation of its greatest hero.
The first book in one of the most remarkable epic fantasies ever written, the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Unbeliever. He called himself Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever because he dared not believe in the strange alternate world in which he suddenly found himself. Yet he was tempted to believe, to fight for the Land, to be the reincarnation of its greatest hero.
The Illearth War: The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Book Two / Stephen R. Donaldson
Product Description
The second volume in the epic Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. Thomas Covenant found himself once again summoned to the Land. The Council of Lords needed him to move against Foul the Despiser who held the Illearth Stone, ancient source of evil power. But although Thomas Covenant held the legendary ring, he didn't know how to use its strength, and risked losing everything.
The second volume in the epic Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. Thomas Covenant found himself once again summoned to the Land. The Council of Lords needed him to move against Foul the Despiser who held the Illearth Stone, ancient source of evil power. But although Thomas Covenant held the legendary ring, he didn't know how to use its strength, and risked losing everything.
The Power that Preserves: The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Book Three / Stephen R. Donaldson
Reviews
'An irresistible epic! imagination, heroism, excitement, made all the more real by Donaldson's deft handling of the rich history of the Land.' Chicago Daily News 'Donaldson has a vivid and unrestrained imagination! he writes well and wields symbols powerfully.' Washington Post 'Something entirely out of the ordinary! you'll want to go straight through Lord Foul's Bane, The Illearth War and The Power that Preserves at one sitting' The Times 'The Thomas Covenant saga is a remarkable acheivement which will certainly find a place on the small list of all true classics' Washington Post 'A feast for epic fantasy addicts' Publishers Weekly
'An irresistible epic! imagination, heroism, excitement, made all the more real by Donaldson's deft handling of the rich history of the Land.' Chicago Daily News 'Donaldson has a vivid and unrestrained imagination! he writes well and wields symbols powerfully.' Washington Post 'Something entirely out of the ordinary! you'll want to go straight through Lord Foul's Bane, The Illearth War and The Power that Preserves at one sitting' The Times 'The Thomas Covenant saga is a remarkable acheivement which will certainly find a place on the small list of all true classics' Washington Post 'A feast for epic fantasy addicts' Publishers Weekly
Doctor Fischer of Geneva or the Bomb Party / Graham Greene
Product Description
Mr Jones, a quiet unprepossessing man who works as a translator in a Swiss chocolate factory, meets and falls in love with Anna-Luise, many years his junior and the daughter of Doctor Fischer, the notorious toothpaste millionaire.
Mr Jones, a quiet unprepossessing man who works as a translator in a Swiss chocolate factory, meets and falls in love with Anna-Luise, many years his junior and the daughter of Doctor Fischer, the notorious toothpaste millionaire.
The Ministry of Fear / Graham Greene
Product Description
For Arthur Rowe, the trip to the charity fete was a joyful step back into adolescence, a chance to forget the nightmare of the blitz—and the aching guilt of having mercifully murdered his sick wife. He was surviving alone, aside from the war, until he happened to guess both the true and the false weight of the cake. From that moment, he finds himself ruthlessly hunted, the quarry of malign and shadowy forces, from which he endeavors to escape with a mind that remains obstinately out of focus.
For Arthur Rowe, the trip to the charity fete was a joyful step back into adolescence, a chance to forget the nightmare of the blitz—and the aching guilt of having mercifully murdered his sick wife. He was surviving alone, aside from the war, until he happened to guess both the true and the false weight of the cake. From that moment, he finds himself ruthlessly hunted, the quarry of malign and shadowy forces, from which he endeavors to escape with a mind that remains obstinately out of focus.
Dog Years / Gunter Grass
Review
Dog Years is a meditation on modern history in the guise of a novel, a study of Germany before, during and after the Second World War, a tale of the interrelated fortunes of two friends, Walter Matern, Aryan, and Eddi Amsel, half-Jew. In its well-nigh stupefying length, in its almost ritual use of distortions, shifting perspectives, and completely unaccommodating, dispassionate weaving of minutiae (at once quaint, brutal, and poetic), and in the terrible geniality of its denunciatory spirit and in its disgusts, it is without doubt one of the most astonishing literary performances since Finnegans Wake. It is also, naturally, one of the most troubling.
Dog Years is a meditation on modern history in the guise of a novel, a study of Germany before, during and after the Second World War, a tale of the interrelated fortunes of two friends, Walter Matern, Aryan, and Eddi Amsel, half-Jew. In its well-nigh stupefying length, in its almost ritual use of distortions, shifting perspectives, and completely unaccommodating, dispassionate weaving of minutiae (at once quaint, brutal, and poetic), and in the terrible geniality of its denunciatory spirit and in its disgusts, it is without doubt one of the most astonishing literary performances since Finnegans Wake. It is also, naturally, one of the most troubling.
"F" is for Fugitive / Sue Grafton
Product Description
When Kinsey Millhone first arrives in Floral Beach, California, it’s hard for her to picture the idyllic coastal town as the setting of a brutal murder. Seventeen years ago, the body of Jean Timberlake—a troubled teen who had a reputation with the boys—was found on the beach. Her boyfriend Bailey Fowler was convicted of her murder and imprisoned, but he escaped. After all this time, Bailey’s finally been captured. Believing in his son’s innocence, Bailey’s father wants Kinsey to find Jean’s real killer. But most of the residents in this tight-knit community are convinced Bailey strangled Jean. So why are they so reluctant to answer Kinsey’s questions?
When Kinsey Millhone first arrives in Floral Beach, California, it’s hard for her to picture the idyllic coastal town as the setting of a brutal murder. Seventeen years ago, the body of Jean Timberlake—a troubled teen who had a reputation with the boys—was found on the beach. Her boyfriend Bailey Fowler was convicted of her murder and imprisoned, but he escaped. After all this time, Bailey’s finally been captured. Believing in his son’s innocence, Bailey’s father wants Kinsey to find Jean’s real killer. But most of the residents in this tight-knit community are convinced Bailey strangled Jean. So why are they so reluctant to answer Kinsey’s questions?
The First Stone / Helen Garner
Product Description
When two young women students claimed they had been indecently assaulted at a party by the Master of Ormond at Melbourne University, the shock not only split the college and university communities but focused sharply the larger social debate about sexuality and power.
When two young women students claimed they had been indecently assaulted at a party by the Master of Ormond at Melbourne University, the shock not only split the college and university communities but focused sharply the larger social debate about sexuality and power.
The Silence of the Lambs / Thomas Harris
From Publishers Weekly
In this thrillingly effective follow-up to Harris's masterful 1981 suspense novel Red Dragon, the heroine is new, but the villain isn't: Dr. Hannibal Lecter, the evil genius who played a small but crucial role in the earlier novel, returns, to mesmerizing effect. When a serial killer known as Buffalo Bill (he kidnaps, slays and skins young women) begins a crosscountry rampage, FBI trainee Clarice Starling tries to interview Lecter, a psychiatrist whose brilliant insights into the criminally insane are matched only by his bloodlusthe's currently imprisoned for nine murders, and would like nothing more than the chance to kill again. Lecter, a vicious gamesman, will offer clues to the murderer's pattern only in exchange for information about Clarice, analyzing her with horrible accuracy from the barest details. When Bill strikes again, the agent begins to realize that Lecter may know much more, and races against time and two twisted minds.
In this thrillingly effective follow-up to Harris's masterful 1981 suspense novel Red Dragon, the heroine is new, but the villain isn't: Dr. Hannibal Lecter, the evil genius who played a small but crucial role in the earlier novel, returns, to mesmerizing effect. When a serial killer known as Buffalo Bill (he kidnaps, slays and skins young women) begins a crosscountry rampage, FBI trainee Clarice Starling tries to interview Lecter, a psychiatrist whose brilliant insights into the criminally insane are matched only by his bloodlusthe's currently imprisoned for nine murders, and would like nothing more than the chance to kill again. Lecter, a vicious gamesman, will offer clues to the murderer's pattern only in exchange for information about Clarice, analyzing her with horrible accuracy from the barest details. When Bill strikes again, the agent begins to realize that Lecter may know much more, and races against time and two twisted minds.
Damage / Josephine Hart
From Library Journal
The unnamed narrator of this chilling, uncomfortable first novel lives a life many men work vainly all their lives to attain: wealth, successful political career, beautiful wife, two attractive children. At the age of 50, however, the narrator has yet to feel passionately about anything--or anyone--in his life. Then his son brings home the woman he plans to marry, the enigmatic Anna Barton, and he recognizes in Anna the passion for which he will eagerly lay to waste everything and everyone in his life. Anna, tragedy ever-present in her life, warns, "Damaged people are dangerous. They know they can survive." Unheeding, he does not veer from a path which can lead only to damage for everyone except, ultimately, perhaps Anna herself. Compulsively readable enough to be devoured in a single sitting, this novel is brilliant, but unsettling. Obsession and its aftermath can be fascinating, but never comfortable, reading.
The unnamed narrator of this chilling, uncomfortable first novel lives a life many men work vainly all their lives to attain: wealth, successful political career, beautiful wife, two attractive children. At the age of 50, however, the narrator has yet to feel passionately about anything--or anyone--in his life. Then his son brings home the woman he plans to marry, the enigmatic Anna Barton, and he recognizes in Anna the passion for which he will eagerly lay to waste everything and everyone in his life. Anna, tragedy ever-present in her life, warns, "Damaged people are dangerous. They know they can survive." Unheeding, he does not veer from a path which can lead only to damage for everyone except, ultimately, perhaps Anna herself. Compulsively readable enough to be devoured in a single sitting, this novel is brilliant, but unsettling. Obsession and its aftermath can be fascinating, but never comfortable, reading.
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Product Description
This novel by James Joyce shocked contemporary readers on its publication in 1916. The book's treatment of the minutiae of daily life was found indecorous and its central character unappealing. Was it art or was it filth? The novel charts the intellectual, moral and sexual development of Stephen Dedalus, from his childhood listening to his father's stories through his schooldays and adolescence to the brink of adulthood and independence and his awakening as an artist. Growing up in a Catholic family in Dublin in the final years of the 19th century, Stephen's consciousness is forged by Irish history and politics, by Catholicism and culture, language and art. The story of Stephen mirrors that of Joyce himself.
This novel by James Joyce shocked contemporary readers on its publication in 1916. The book's treatment of the minutiae of daily life was found indecorous and its central character unappealing. Was it art or was it filth? The novel charts the intellectual, moral and sexual development of Stephen Dedalus, from his childhood listening to his father's stories through his schooldays and adolescence to the brink of adulthood and independence and his awakening as an artist. Growing up in a Catholic family in Dublin in the final years of the 19th century, Stephen's consciousness is forged by Irish history and politics, by Catholicism and culture, language and art. The story of Stephen mirrors that of Joyce himself.
Silent Partner / Jonathan Kellerman
From Publishers Weekly
Kellerman bares a dark, brooding side of his appealing series' detective, child psychologist Alex Delaware, in this complex tale of guilt, greed and expiation. Although his beloved girlfriend Robin has left him, Delaware decides against seeing former lover Sharon Ransom, when she asks to meet. Stricken with guilt when he reads of her suicide the next day, he is driven to understand the circumstances that led to her death. Delaware traces Sharon's life back through their relationship and into the many versions of her childhood he discovers. Aided by his friend, gay LAPD detective Milo Sturgis, he travels from L.A.'s mansion-strewn hills to its seamy underside, from the countryside west of Claremont to the hi-tech desert abode of a Howard Hughes-like recluse, uncovering a generation-spanning web of deception that leaves Delaware as uncertain of his own worth as he is of others'.
Kellerman bares a dark, brooding side of his appealing series' detective, child psychologist Alex Delaware, in this complex tale of guilt, greed and expiation. Although his beloved girlfriend Robin has left him, Delaware decides against seeing former lover Sharon Ransom, when she asks to meet. Stricken with guilt when he reads of her suicide the next day, he is driven to understand the circumstances that led to her death. Delaware traces Sharon's life back through their relationship and into the many versions of her childhood he discovers. Aided by his friend, gay LAPD detective Milo Sturgis, he travels from L.A.'s mansion-strewn hills to its seamy underside, from the countryside west of Claremont to the hi-tech desert abode of a Howard Hughes-like recluse, uncovering a generation-spanning web of deception that leaves Delaware as uncertain of his own worth as he is of others'.
Call for the Dead / John Le Carre
Product Description
With the incomparable opening chapter of Call for the Dead, titled "A Brief History of George Smiley," John Le Carré introduces his legendary spy and immediately ensnares you in the shadowy world Smiley inhabits. Pulled back from overseas duty during World War II, Smiley was redirected to face the threats of the Cold War. He had been asked to interview Samuel Fennan of the Foreign Office after an anonymous letter accused Fennan of Communist Party membership. Smiley's report cleared him of the allegations, so he was stunned to learn that Fennan had died the day after the interview, leaving a suicide note that claimed his career had been ruined. Investigating circumstances that make no sense to him, Smiley gradually uncovers a spy ring and in so doing is led into a lethal duel of wits with the best of his war-time pupils. Call for the Dead marks the beginning of John Le Carré's brilliant literary career, just as it launches the life of one of the most memorable fictional characters of the twentieth century.
With the incomparable opening chapter of Call for the Dead, titled "A Brief History of George Smiley," John Le Carré introduces his legendary spy and immediately ensnares you in the shadowy world Smiley inhabits. Pulled back from overseas duty during World War II, Smiley was redirected to face the threats of the Cold War. He had been asked to interview Samuel Fennan of the Foreign Office after an anonymous letter accused Fennan of Communist Party membership. Smiley's report cleared him of the allegations, so he was stunned to learn that Fennan had died the day after the interview, leaving a suicide note that claimed his career had been ruined. Investigating circumstances that make no sense to him, Smiley gradually uncovers a spy ring and in so doing is led into a lethal duel of wits with the best of his war-time pupils. Call for the Dead marks the beginning of John Le Carré's brilliant literary career, just as it launches the life of one of the most memorable fictional characters of the twentieth century.
The Little Drummer Girl / John Le Carre
Product Description
John le Carré has earned worldwide acclaim with novels that navigate the shadow worlds of espionage. In The Little Drummer Girl, one of his most enduring works, le Carré presented an original canvas that remains stunningly fresh and topical. It was then, and is now, a thrilling, moving, and courageous novel of Middle Eastern intrigue. Charlie is a promiscuous, unsuccessful, English actress in her twenties. Vacationing on the Greek island of Mykonos with friends, she longs for commitment. But to what? To whom? Intrigued by a handsome, solitary bather, Charlie finds herself lured into the "theatre of the real." For the mysterious man is Kurtz, an embattled Israeli intelligence officer out to stop the bombing of Jews in Europe. Forced to play her most challenging role, Charlie is plunged into a deceptive and delicate trap set to ensnare an elusive Palestinian terrorist...and soon proves herself a double agent of the highest order.
John le Carré has earned worldwide acclaim with novels that navigate the shadow worlds of espionage. In The Little Drummer Girl, one of his most enduring works, le Carré presented an original canvas that remains stunningly fresh and topical. It was then, and is now, a thrilling, moving, and courageous novel of Middle Eastern intrigue. Charlie is a promiscuous, unsuccessful, English actress in her twenties. Vacationing on the Greek island of Mykonos with friends, she longs for commitment. But to what? To whom? Intrigued by a handsome, solitary bather, Charlie finds herself lured into the "theatre of the real." For the mysterious man is Kurtz, an embattled Israeli intelligence officer out to stop the bombing of Jews in Europe. Forced to play her most challenging role, Charlie is plunged into a deceptive and delicate trap set to ensnare an elusive Palestinian terrorist...and soon proves herself a double agent of the highest order.
Doctor Faustus / Thomas Mann
From Kirkus Reviews
A work written in old age and suffused with Mann's moral despair over his country's complacent embrace of Nazism, Doctor Faustus unrelentingly details the rise and fall of Adrian Leverkuhn, a gifted musician who effectively sells his soul to the devil for a generation of renown as the greatest living composer. Woods's vigorous translation works brilliantly on two counts: It catches both the logic and the music of Mann's intricate mandarin sentences (if one reads closely, the rewards are great); and it gives the novel's narrator a truly distinctive voice, making him more of an involved character than a rhetorical device. Mann's most Dostoevskyan novel should, in this splendid new version, speak more powerfully than ever to contemporary readers.
A work written in old age and suffused with Mann's moral despair over his country's complacent embrace of Nazism, Doctor Faustus unrelentingly details the rise and fall of Adrian Leverkuhn, a gifted musician who effectively sells his soul to the devil for a generation of renown as the greatest living composer. Woods's vigorous translation works brilliantly on two counts: It catches both the logic and the music of Mann's intricate mandarin sentences (if one reads closely, the rewards are great); and it gives the novel's narrator a truly distinctive voice, making him more of an involved character than a rhetorical device. Mann's most Dostoevskyan novel should, in this splendid new version, speak more powerfully than ever to contemporary readers.
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt / Edmund Morris
Product Description
Described by the Chicago Tribune as "a classic", The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt stands as one of the greatest biographies of our time.
Described by the Chicago Tribune as "a classic", The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt stands as one of the greatest biographies of our time.
The Eight / Katherine Neville
From Publishers Weekly
Even readers with no interest in chess will be swept up into this astonishing fantasy-adventure, a thoroughly accomplished first novel. Catherine Velis, a computer expert banished to Algeria by her accounting firm, gets caught up in a search for a legendary chess set once owned by Charlemagne. An antique dealer, a Soviet chess master, KGB agents and a fortune-teller who warns Catherine she's in big trouble all covet the fabled chess pieces, because the chess service, buried for 1000 years in a French abbey, supplies the key to a magic formula tied to numerology, alchemy, the Druids, Freemasonry, cosmic powers. Daring, original and moving, this spellbinder seems destined to become a cult classic.
Even readers with no interest in chess will be swept up into this astonishing fantasy-adventure, a thoroughly accomplished first novel. Catherine Velis, a computer expert banished to Algeria by her accounting firm, gets caught up in a search for a legendary chess set once owned by Charlemagne. An antique dealer, a Soviet chess master, KGB agents and a fortune-teller who warns Catherine she's in big trouble all covet the fabled chess pieces, because the chess service, buried for 1000 years in a French abbey, supplies the key to a magic formula tied to numerology, alchemy, the Druids, Freemasonry, cosmic powers. Daring, original and moving, this spellbinder seems destined to become a cult classic.
The Last of the Renshai, Book 1 / Mickey Zucker Reichert
Product Description
First in a bold, magical trilogy of a world living in the shadow of an ancient prophecy of war. Enemies band together to attack the Renshai, the mightiest, most hated and feared of all warrior races. One Renshai escapes, determined to keep the memory of his people alive and to claim his vengeance on the slayers of his race.
First in a bold, magical trilogy of a world living in the shadow of an ancient prophecy of war. Enemies band together to attack the Renshai, the mightiest, most hated and feared of all warrior races. One Renshai escapes, determined to keep the memory of his people alive and to claim his vengeance on the slayers of his race.
The Western Wizard: The Last of the Renshai, Book 2 / Mickey Zucker Reichert
Product Description
As the victorious Renshai struggle to place the rightful king of Bearn on his throne, word of the Western Wizard's death arrives, and Shadimar, the Wizard of the East, must find a mortal to replace him.
As the victorious Renshai struggle to place the rightful king of Bearn on his throne, word of the Western Wizard's death arrives, and Shadimar, the Wizard of the East, must find a mortal to replace him.
The Witching Hour / Anne Rice
From Publishers Weekly
"We watch and we are always here" is the motto of the Talamasca, a saintly group with extrasensory powers which has for centuries chronicled the lives of the Mayfairs--a dynasty of witches that brought down a shower of flames in 17th-century Scotland, fled to the plantations of Haiti and on to the New World, where they settled in the haunted city of New Orleans. Rice (The Queen of the Damned) plumbs a rich vein of witchcraft lore. Newly annointed is Rowan Mayfair, a brilliant California neurosurgeon kept in ignorance of her heritage by her adoptive parents. She returns to the fold after bringing back Michael Curry from the dead; he, too, has unwanted extrasensory gifts and, like Rowan and the 12 Mayfairs before her, has beheld Lasher: devil, seducer, spirit. Now Lasher wants to come through to this world forever and Rowan is the Mayfair who can open the door. This massive tome repeatedly slows, then speeds when Rice casts off the Talamasca's pretentious, scholarly tones and goes for the jugular with morbid delights, sexually charged passages and wicked, wild tragedy.
"We watch and we are always here" is the motto of the Talamasca, a saintly group with extrasensory powers which has for centuries chronicled the lives of the Mayfairs--a dynasty of witches that brought down a shower of flames in 17th-century Scotland, fled to the plantations of Haiti and on to the New World, where they settled in the haunted city of New Orleans. Rice (The Queen of the Damned) plumbs a rich vein of witchcraft lore. Newly annointed is Rowan Mayfair, a brilliant California neurosurgeon kept in ignorance of her heritage by her adoptive parents. She returns to the fold after bringing back Michael Curry from the dead; he, too, has unwanted extrasensory gifts and, like Rowan and the 12 Mayfairs before her, has beheld Lasher: devil, seducer, spirit. Now Lasher wants to come through to this world forever and Rowan is the Mayfair who can open the door. This massive tome repeatedly slows, then speeds when Rice casts off the Talamasca's pretentious, scholarly tones and goes for the jugular with morbid delights, sexually charged passages and wicked, wild tragedy.
Letters to a Young Poet / Rainer Maria Rilke
Amazon.com Review
It would take a deeply cynical heart not to fall in love with Rainer Maria Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet. At the end of this millennium, his slender book holds everything a student of the century could want: the unedited thoughts of (arguably) the most important European poet of the modern age. Rilke wrote these 10 sweepingly emotional letters in 1903, addressing a former student of one of his own teachers. The recipient was wise enough to omit his own inquiries from the finished product, which means that we get a marvelously undiluted dose of Rilkean aesthetics and exhortation. Every page is stamped with Rilke's characteristic grace, and the book is free of the breathless effect that occasionally mars his poetry. Those looking for an alluring image of the solitary artist--and for an astonishing quotient of wisdom--will find both in Letters to a Young Poet.
It would take a deeply cynical heart not to fall in love with Rainer Maria Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet. At the end of this millennium, his slender book holds everything a student of the century could want: the unedited thoughts of (arguably) the most important European poet of the modern age. Rilke wrote these 10 sweepingly emotional letters in 1903, addressing a former student of one of his own teachers. The recipient was wise enough to omit his own inquiries from the finished product, which means that we get a marvelously undiluted dose of Rilkean aesthetics and exhortation. Every page is stamped with Rilke's characteristic grace, and the book is free of the breathless effect that occasionally mars his poetry. Those looking for an alluring image of the solitary artist--and for an astonishing quotient of wisdom--will find both in Letters to a Young Poet.
Solo Faces / James Salter
Product Description
This novel exposes the obsession that draws climbers away from civilization to test themselves against the most intimidating and inaccessible mountains in the world. James Salter captures the adventure of Gary, a roofer of churches, who feels restrained by conventions and flat ground. Unable to find happiness in his life, he travels to southern France to climb to the summits of the Alps. He finds peace and happiness within himself soon after. But when fellow climbers are trapped on the mountain, he makes a daring one-man rescue during a storm that brings him the notice he has always shunned. But the glory quickly dissapates and he returns to the anonymity he prefers, having thoroughly satisfied himself.
This novel exposes the obsession that draws climbers away from civilization to test themselves against the most intimidating and inaccessible mountains in the world. James Salter captures the adventure of Gary, a roofer of churches, who feels restrained by conventions and flat ground. Unable to find happiness in his life, he travels to southern France to climb to the summits of the Alps. He finds peace and happiness within himself soon after. But when fellow climbers are trapped on the mountain, he makes a daring one-man rescue during a storm that brings him the notice he has always shunned. But the glory quickly dissapates and he returns to the anonymity he prefers, having thoroughly satisfied himself.
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency / Alexander McCall Smith
From Publishers Weekly
The African-born author of more than 50 books turns his talents to detection in this artful, pleasing novel about Mma (aka Precious) Ramotswe, Botswana's one and only lady private detective. A series of vignettes linked to the establishment and growth of Mma Ramotswe's "No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" serve not only to entertain but to explore conditions in Botswana in a way that is both penetrating and light thanks to Smith's deft touch. Mma Ramotswe's cases come slowly and hesitantly at first. The desultory pace is fine, since she has only a detective manual, the frequently cited example of Agatha Christie and her instincts to guide her. Mma Ramotswe's love of Africa, her wisdom and humor, shine through these pages as she shines her own light on the problems that vex her clients. Images of this large woman driving her tiny white van or sharing a cup of bush tea with a friend or client while working a case linger pleasantly. General audiences will welcome this little gem of a book just as much if not more than mystery readers.
The African-born author of more than 50 books turns his talents to detection in this artful, pleasing novel about Mma (aka Precious) Ramotswe, Botswana's one and only lady private detective. A series of vignettes linked to the establishment and growth of Mma Ramotswe's "No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" serve not only to entertain but to explore conditions in Botswana in a way that is both penetrating and light thanks to Smith's deft touch. Mma Ramotswe's cases come slowly and hesitantly at first. The desultory pace is fine, since she has only a detective manual, the frequently cited example of Agatha Christie and her instincts to guide her. Mma Ramotswe's love of Africa, her wisdom and humor, shine through these pages as she shines her own light on the problems that vex her clients. Images of this large woman driving her tiny white van or sharing a cup of bush tea with a friend or client while working a case linger pleasantly. General audiences will welcome this little gem of a book just as much if not more than mystery readers.
The Prime Minister / Anthony Trollope
Product Description
Much against his will, the Duke of Omnium consents to lead a coalition government. The Duchess quickly becomes a social figure of great power striving to consolidate his support. Together they make their way to the centre of society and, like Phineas Finn before them, they find it hollow. The novel is haunted by the mysterious Ferdinand Lopez whose pernicious influence the Duke and Duchess cannot escape. Though their relationship is far from perfect, their love for one another is as convincingly and movingly portrayed as any in English fiction. The Prime Minister (1876), described by Tolstoy as a 'beautiful book', is the fifth of the six Palliser novels (1864-80). Together they provide an exceptionally rich and telling exposé of the British way of life during the period of its greatest prestige.
Much against his will, the Duke of Omnium consents to lead a coalition government. The Duchess quickly becomes a social figure of great power striving to consolidate his support. Together they make their way to the centre of society and, like Phineas Finn before them, they find it hollow. The novel is haunted by the mysterious Ferdinand Lopez whose pernicious influence the Duke and Duchess cannot escape. Though their relationship is far from perfect, their love for one another is as convincingly and movingly portrayed as any in English fiction. The Prime Minister (1876), described by Tolstoy as a 'beautiful book', is the fifth of the six Palliser novels (1864-80). Together they provide an exceptionally rich and telling exposé of the British way of life during the period of its greatest prestige.
Burr / Gore Vidal
Product Description
Gore Vidal's Narratives of Empire series spans the history of the United States from the Revolution to the post-World War II years. With their broad canvas and large cast of fictional and historical characters, the novels in this series present a panorama of the American political and imperial experience as interpreted by one of its most worldly, knowing, and ironic observers. Burr is a portrait of perhaps the most complex and misunderstood of the Founding Fathers. In 1804, while serving as vice president, Aaron Burr fought a duel with his political nemesis, Alexander Hamilton, and killed him. In 1807, he was arrested, tried, and acquitted of treason. In 1833, Burr is newly married, an aging statesman considered a monster by many. Burr retains much of his political influence if not the respect of all. And he is determined to tell his own story.
Gore Vidal's Narratives of Empire series spans the history of the United States from the Revolution to the post-World War II years. With their broad canvas and large cast of fictional and historical characters, the novels in this series present a panorama of the American political and imperial experience as interpreted by one of its most worldly, knowing, and ironic observers. Burr is a portrait of perhaps the most complex and misunderstood of the Founding Fathers. In 1804, while serving as vice president, Aaron Burr fought a duel with his political nemesis, Alexander Hamilton, and killed him. In 1807, he was arrested, tried, and acquitted of treason. In 1833, Burr is newly married, an aging statesman considered a monster by many. Burr retains much of his political influence if not the respect of all. And he is determined to tell his own story.
The Color Purple / Alice Walker
Product Description
Celie is a poor black woman whose letters tell the story of 20 years of her life, beginning at age 14 when she is being abused and raped by her father and attempting to protect her sister from the same fate, and continuing over the course of her marriage to "Mister," a brutal man who terrorizes her. Celie eventually learns that her abusive husband has been keeping her sister's letters from her and the rage she feels, combined with an example of love and independence provided by her close friend Shug, pushes her finally toward an awakening of her creative and loving self. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize.
Celie is a poor black woman whose letters tell the story of 20 years of her life, beginning at age 14 when she is being abused and raped by her father and attempting to protect her sister from the same fate, and continuing over the course of her marriage to "Mister," a brutal man who terrorizes her. Celie eventually learns that her abusive husband has been keeping her sister's letters from her and the rage she feels, combined with an example of love and independence provided by her close friend Shug, pushes her finally toward an awakening of her creative and loving self. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize.
The Ninth Talisman (Annals of the Chosen, Vol 2 / Lawrence Watt-Evans
From Publishers Weekly
A few years after Sword, a young man once known as Breaker, destroyed the Dark Lord of the Galbek Hills in The Wizard Lord (2006), his short-lived respite from defending the land of Barokan comes to an end in this solid second installment in Watt-Evans's Annals of the Chosen trilogy. As one of the eight magically empowered Chosen, Sword must protect Barokan against the possibility of its Wizard Lord going rogue. Now, the Wizard Lord's strange behavior has begun to worry the Chosen, and they must determine if his motivation to modernize Barokan is benevolent or if he intends to do away with magic in order to consolidate power. Though Sword's ambivalence about his violent duties makes him a reluctant hero, when it comes time for him to act, he does so swiftly and decisively. Fans of Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Dragonlance saga will find this series much to their taste.
A few years after Sword, a young man once known as Breaker, destroyed the Dark Lord of the Galbek Hills in The Wizard Lord (2006), his short-lived respite from defending the land of Barokan comes to an end in this solid second installment in Watt-Evans's Annals of the Chosen trilogy. As one of the eight magically empowered Chosen, Sword must protect Barokan against the possibility of its Wizard Lord going rogue. Now, the Wizard Lord's strange behavior has begun to worry the Chosen, and they must determine if his motivation to modernize Barokan is benevolent or if he intends to do away with magic in order to consolidate power. Though Sword's ambivalence about his violent duties makes him a reluctant hero, when it comes time for him to act, he does so swiftly and decisively. Fans of Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Dragonlance saga will find this series much to their taste.
Empire Falls / Richard Russo
From Publishers Weekly
In his biggest, boldest novel yet, the much-acclaimed author of Nobody's Fool and Straight Man subjects a full cross-section of a crumbling Maine mill town to piercing, compassionate scrutiny, capturing misfits, malefactors and misguided honest citizens alike in the steady beam of his prose. Wealthy, controlling matriarch Francine Whiting lives in an incongruous Spanish-style mansion across the river from smalltown Empire Falls, dominated by a long-vacant textile mill and shirt factory, once the center of her husband's family's thriving manufacturing dominion. In his early 40s, passive good guy Miles Roby seems helpless to escape his virtual enslavement as longtime proprietor of the Whiting-owned Empire Grill, the town's most popular eatery. Miles's wife, Janine, is divorcing him and has taken up with an aging health club entrepreneur. In her senior year in high school, their creative but lonely daughter, Tick, is preoccupied by her parents' foibles and harassed by the bullying son of the town's sleazy cop who, like everyone else, is a puppet of the domineering Francine. Even the minor members of Russo's large cast are fully fleshed, and forays into the past lend the narrative an extra depth and resonance. When it comes to evoking the cherished hopes and dreams of ordinary people, Russo is unsurpassed.
In his biggest, boldest novel yet, the much-acclaimed author of Nobody's Fool and Straight Man subjects a full cross-section of a crumbling Maine mill town to piercing, compassionate scrutiny, capturing misfits, malefactors and misguided honest citizens alike in the steady beam of his prose. Wealthy, controlling matriarch Francine Whiting lives in an incongruous Spanish-style mansion across the river from smalltown Empire Falls, dominated by a long-vacant textile mill and shirt factory, once the center of her husband's family's thriving manufacturing dominion. In his early 40s, passive good guy Miles Roby seems helpless to escape his virtual enslavement as longtime proprietor of the Whiting-owned Empire Grill, the town's most popular eatery. Miles's wife, Janine, is divorcing him and has taken up with an aging health club entrepreneur. In her senior year in high school, their creative but lonely daughter, Tick, is preoccupied by her parents' foibles and harassed by the bullying son of the town's sleazy cop who, like everyone else, is a puppet of the domineering Francine. Even the minor members of Russo's large cast are fully fleshed, and forays into the past lend the narrative an extra depth and resonance. When it comes to evoking the cherished hopes and dreams of ordinary people, Russo is unsurpassed.
H.M.S. Unseen / Patrick Robinson
Product Description
The most highly efficient and lethal underwater ship ever built, H.M.S. Unseen, vanishes into the depths while on a training mission, baffling British and American military intelligence, including wily National Security Adviser Admiral Arnold Morgan. One year later, the Concorde, the world's safest and most secure domestic plane, disappears without a trace over the North Atlantic. Days later, the brand new Starstriker jet is missing. The disappearances seem to be unrelated, until Air Force Three, carrying the vice-president of the United States, is blown from the sky. Morgan devises a chilling theory. Not only is Unseen out there, but it's been modified to become the most dangerous anti-aircraft weapon at sea. And the admiral is convinced that only one man could have masterminded it. Now Morgan's attention is on Iraq's Commander Benjamin Adnam, the world's most cunning terrorist spy. Before all is said and done, the two intense warriors will come face to face...and only one will emerge alive.
The most highly efficient and lethal underwater ship ever built, H.M.S. Unseen, vanishes into the depths while on a training mission, baffling British and American military intelligence, including wily National Security Adviser Admiral Arnold Morgan. One year later, the Concorde, the world's safest and most secure domestic plane, disappears without a trace over the North Atlantic. Days later, the brand new Starstriker jet is missing. The disappearances seem to be unrelated, until Air Force Three, carrying the vice-president of the United States, is blown from the sky. Morgan devises a chilling theory. Not only is Unseen out there, but it's been modified to become the most dangerous anti-aircraft weapon at sea. And the admiral is convinced that only one man could have masterminded it. Now Morgan's attention is on Iraq's Commander Benjamin Adnam, the world's most cunning terrorist spy. Before all is said and done, the two intense warriors will come face to face...and only one will emerge alive.
Gilead / Marilynne Robinson
From Publishers Weekly
Fans of Robinson's acclaimed debut Housekeeping (1981) will find that the long wait has been worth it. From the first page of her second novel, the voice of Rev. John Ames mesmerizes with his account of his life—and that of his father and grandfather. Ames is 77 years old in 1956, in failing health, with a much younger wife and six-year-old son; as a preacher in the small Iowa town where he spent his entire life, he has produced volumes and volumes of sermons and prayers, "[t]rying to say what was true." But it is in this mesmerizing account—in the form of a letter to his young son, who he imagines reading it when he is grown—that his meditations on creation and existence are fully illumined. Robinson's prose is beautiful, shimmering and precise; the revelations are subtle but never muted when they come, and the careful telling carries the breath of suspense. Many writers try to capture life's universals of strength, struggle, joy and forgiveness—but Robinson truly succeeds in what is destined to become her second classic.
Fans of Robinson's acclaimed debut Housekeeping (1981) will find that the long wait has been worth it. From the first page of her second novel, the voice of Rev. John Ames mesmerizes with his account of his life—and that of his father and grandfather. Ames is 77 years old in 1956, in failing health, with a much younger wife and six-year-old son; as a preacher in the small Iowa town where he spent his entire life, he has produced volumes and volumes of sermons and prayers, "[t]rying to say what was true." But it is in this mesmerizing account—in the form of a letter to his young son, who he imagines reading it when he is grown—that his meditations on creation and existence are fully illumined. Robinson's prose is beautiful, shimmering and precise; the revelations are subtle but never muted when they come, and the careful telling carries the breath of suspense. Many writers try to capture life's universals of strength, struggle, joy and forgiveness—but Robinson truly succeeds in what is destined to become her second classic.
Ishmael / Daniel Quinn
From Library Journal
Winner of the Turner Tomorrow Fellowship, a literary competition intended to foster works of fiction that present positive solutions to global problems, this book offers proof that good ideas do not necessarily equal good literature. Ishmael, a gorilla rescued from a traveling show who has learned to reason and communicate, uses these skills to educate himself in human history and culture. Through a series of philosophical conversations with the unnamed narrator, a disillusioned Sixties idealist, Ishmael lays out a theory of what has gone wrong with human civilization and how to correct it, a theory based on the tenet that humanity belongs to the planet rather than vice versa. While the message is an important one, Quinn rarely goes beyond a didactic exposition of his argument, never quite succeeding in transforming idea into art.
Winner of the Turner Tomorrow Fellowship, a literary competition intended to foster works of fiction that present positive solutions to global problems, this book offers proof that good ideas do not necessarily equal good literature. Ishmael, a gorilla rescued from a traveling show who has learned to reason and communicate, uses these skills to educate himself in human history and culture. Through a series of philosophical conversations with the unnamed narrator, a disillusioned Sixties idealist, Ishmael lays out a theory of what has gone wrong with human civilization and how to correct it, a theory based on the tenet that humanity belongs to the planet rather than vice versa. While the message is an important one, Quinn rarely goes beyond a didactic exposition of his argument, never quite succeeding in transforming idea into art.
The Painted Veil / W. Somerset Maugham
From Library Journal
Shallow, poorly educated Kitty marries the passionate and intellectual Walter Fane and has an affair with a career politician, Charles Townsend, assistant colonial secretary of Hong Kong. When Walter discovers the relationship, he compels Kitty to accompany him to a cholera-infested region of mainland China, where she finds limited happiness working with children at a convent. But when Walter dies, she is forced to leave China and return to England. Generally abandoned, she grasps desperately for the affection of her one remaining relative, her long-ignored father. In the end, in sharp, unexamined contrast to her own behavior patterns, she asserts that her unborn daughter will grow up to be an independent woman.
Shallow, poorly educated Kitty marries the passionate and intellectual Walter Fane and has an affair with a career politician, Charles Townsend, assistant colonial secretary of Hong Kong. When Walter discovers the relationship, he compels Kitty to accompany him to a cholera-infested region of mainland China, where she finds limited happiness working with children at a convent. But when Walter dies, she is forced to leave China and return to England. Generally abandoned, she grasps desperately for the affection of her one remaining relative, her long-ignored father. In the end, in sharp, unexamined contrast to her own behavior patterns, she asserts that her unborn daughter will grow up to be an independent woman.
Mathilda Savitch / Victor Lodato
From Publishers Weekly
The first novel from poet and playwright Lodato is a stunning portrait of grief and youthful imagination. Narrator Mathilda Savitch is an adolescent girl negotiating life after the death of her older sister, Helene. Her parents, especially her alcoholic mother, are too traumatized to give her the comfort she needs, so she lives in an elaborate world of her own invented logic. Mathilda evaluates sex, religion and national tragedy in language that is constantly surprising, amusing and often heartbreaking. She speaks with the bold matter-of-factness of a child, but also reveals a deep understanding of life far beyond her years: I wondered why god would unlock a door just to show you emptiness, she says. It made me wonder if maybe he was in cahoots with infinity. Lodato chooses every word with extreme care; Mathilda's observations read like a finely crafted epic poem, whose themes and imagery paint an intricate map of her inner life. She's a metaphysical Holden Caulfield for the terrifying present day.
The first novel from poet and playwright Lodato is a stunning portrait of grief and youthful imagination. Narrator Mathilda Savitch is an adolescent girl negotiating life after the death of her older sister, Helene. Her parents, especially her alcoholic mother, are too traumatized to give her the comfort she needs, so she lives in an elaborate world of her own invented logic. Mathilda evaluates sex, religion and national tragedy in language that is constantly surprising, amusing and often heartbreaking. She speaks with the bold matter-of-factness of a child, but also reveals a deep understanding of life far beyond her years: I wondered why god would unlock a door just to show you emptiness, she says. It made me wonder if maybe he was in cahoots with infinity. Lodato chooses every word with extreme care; Mathilda's observations read like a finely crafted epic poem, whose themes and imagery paint an intricate map of her inner life. She's a metaphysical Holden Caulfield for the terrifying present day.
Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot / Al Franken
From Publishers Weekly
Franken, a writer and performer on Saturday Night Live and in feature films, does to Limbaugh what the conservative talk-show host has been doing to Democratic politicians for years. Using admitted half-truths and out-of-context quotes, he skewers Rush & Friends as no liberal has done in years. Franken also doesn't have anything nice to say about Newt Gingrich, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Phil Gramm and others of the haranguing right. A mean-spirited, albeit funny, diatribe that will delight liberals.
Franken, a writer and performer on Saturday Night Live and in feature films, does to Limbaugh what the conservative talk-show host has been doing to Democratic politicians for years. Using admitted half-truths and out-of-context quotes, he skewers Rush & Friends as no liberal has done in years. Franken also doesn't have anything nice to say about Newt Gingrich, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Phil Gramm and others of the haranguing right. A mean-spirited, albeit funny, diatribe that will delight liberals.
The Names / Don Delillo
From the inside flap:
Set against the backdrop of a lush and exotic Greece, The Names is considered the book which began to drive "sharply upward the size of his readership" (Los Angeles Times Book Review). Among the cast of DeLillo's bizarre yet fully realized characters in The Names are Kathryn, the narrator's estranged wife; their son, the six-year-old novelist; Owen, the scientist; and the neurotic narrator obsessed with his own neuroses. A thriller, a mystery, and still a moving examination of family, loss, and the amorphous and magical potential of language itself, The Names stands with any of DeLillo's more recent and highly acclaimed works.
Set against the backdrop of a lush and exotic Greece, The Names is considered the book which began to drive "sharply upward the size of his readership" (Los Angeles Times Book Review). Among the cast of DeLillo's bizarre yet fully realized characters in The Names are Kathryn, the narrator's estranged wife; their son, the six-year-old novelist; Owen, the scientist; and the neurotic narrator obsessed with his own neuroses. A thriller, a mystery, and still a moving examination of family, loss, and the amorphous and magical potential of language itself, The Names stands with any of DeLillo's more recent and highly acclaimed works.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
A Year in Provence / Peter Mayle
From Publishers Weekly
An account of the author's first frustrating but enlightening year in Provence opens with a memorable New Year's lunch and closes with an impromptu Christmas dinner. "In nimble prose, Mayle . . . captures the humorous aspects of visits to markets, vineyards and goat races, and hunting for mushrooms," said PW.
An account of the author's first frustrating but enlightening year in Provence opens with a memorable New Year's lunch and closes with an impromptu Christmas dinner. "In nimble prose, Mayle . . . captures the humorous aspects of visits to markets, vineyards and goat races, and hunting for mushrooms," said PW.
Doubt: A Parable / John Patrick Shanley
Terry Teachout, The Wall Street Journal
The best new play of the season. That rarity of rarities, an issue-driven play that is unpreachy, thought-provoking, and so full of high drama that the audience with which I saw it gasped out loud a half-dozen times at its startling twists and turns. Mr. Shanley deserves the highest possible praise: he doesn’t try to talk you into doing anything but thinking-hard-about the gnarly complexity of human behavior.
The best new play of the season. That rarity of rarities, an issue-driven play that is unpreachy, thought-provoking, and so full of high drama that the audience with which I saw it gasped out loud a half-dozen times at its startling twists and turns. Mr. Shanley deserves the highest possible praise: he doesn’t try to talk you into doing anything but thinking-hard-about the gnarly complexity of human behavior.
Monsignor Quixote / Graham Greene
Product Description
In this later novel by Graham Greene—featuring a new introduction—the author continues to explore moral and theological dilemmas through psychologically astute character studies and exciting drama on an international stage. The title character of Monsignor Quixote is a village priest, elevated to the rank of monsignor through a clerical error, who travels to Madrid accompanied by his best friend, Sancho, the Communist ex-mayor of the village, in Greene’s lighthearted variation on Cervantes.
In this later novel by Graham Greene—featuring a new introduction—the author continues to explore moral and theological dilemmas through psychologically astute character studies and exciting drama on an international stage. The title character of Monsignor Quixote is a village priest, elevated to the rank of monsignor through a clerical error, who travels to Madrid accompanied by his best friend, Sancho, the Communist ex-mayor of the village, in Greene’s lighthearted variation on Cervantes.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows / J. K. Rowling
From Amazon Review
Readers beware. The brilliant, breathtaking conclusion to J.K. Rowling's spellbinding series is not for the faint of heart--such revelations, battles, and betrayals await in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows that no fan will make it to the end unscathed. Luckily, Rowling has prepped loyal readers for the end of her series by doling out increasingly dark and dangerous tales of magic and mystery, shot through with lessons about honor and contempt, love and loss, and right and wrong. Fear not, you will find no spoilers in our review--to tell the plot would ruin the journey, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is an odyssey the likes of which Rowling's fans have not yet seen, and are not likely to forget. But we would be remiss if we did not offer one small suggestion before you embark on your final adventure with Harry--bring plenty of tissues.
Readers beware. The brilliant, breathtaking conclusion to J.K. Rowling's spellbinding series is not for the faint of heart--such revelations, battles, and betrayals await in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows that no fan will make it to the end unscathed. Luckily, Rowling has prepped loyal readers for the end of her series by doling out increasingly dark and dangerous tales of magic and mystery, shot through with lessons about honor and contempt, love and loss, and right and wrong. Fear not, you will find no spoilers in our review--to tell the plot would ruin the journey, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is an odyssey the likes of which Rowling's fans have not yet seen, and are not likely to forget. But we would be remiss if we did not offer one small suggestion before you embark on your final adventure with Harry--bring plenty of tissues.
Friday, March 26, 2010
The Night Inspector / Frederick Busch
From Publishers Weekly
Sweeping pathos, historical knowledge, philosophical density and gruesome violence make Busch's 19th work of fiction both profound and a page-turner. Busch's articulate narrator, William Bartholomew, served as a Union sniper in the Civil War until an explosion maimed his face; now it's 1867, and Bartholomew works as an investor in New York City, hiding his scars behind a pasteboard mask. The Civil War may be over, but slavery isn't: slave children are stuck at a Florida school, and Jessie, a Creole prostitute romantically involved with Bartholomew, entangles him in a plot to bring them North to freedom. Busch's rich work can be savored simply as historical suspense, or as a detailed picture of Civil War combat and post-Civil War New York. Buttressed by Bartholomew's backstory and all the characters' thoughts, The Night Inspector becomes a serious, nuanced meditation on history, redemption, commerce, conscience and literary vocation, as well as a gripping read.
Sweeping pathos, historical knowledge, philosophical density and gruesome violence make Busch's 19th work of fiction both profound and a page-turner. Busch's articulate narrator, William Bartholomew, served as a Union sniper in the Civil War until an explosion maimed his face; now it's 1867, and Bartholomew works as an investor in New York City, hiding his scars behind a pasteboard mask. The Civil War may be over, but slavery isn't: slave children are stuck at a Florida school, and Jessie, a Creole prostitute romantically involved with Bartholomew, entangles him in a plot to bring them North to freedom. Busch's rich work can be savored simply as historical suspense, or as a detailed picture of Civil War combat and post-Civil War New York. Buttressed by Bartholomew's backstory and all the characters' thoughts, The Night Inspector becomes a serious, nuanced meditation on history, redemption, commerce, conscience and literary vocation, as well as a gripping read.
Queen of Sorcery: The Belgariad, Book 2 / David Eddings
Product Description
The master Sorcerer Belgarath and his daughter Polgara the arch-Sorceress were on the trail of the Orb, seeking to regain its saving power before the final disaster prophesized by the legends. And with them went Garion, a simple farm boy only months before, but now the focus of the struggle. He had never believed in sorcery and wanted no part of it. Yet with every league they traveled, the power grew in him, forcing him to acts of wizardry he could not accept.
The master Sorcerer Belgarath and his daughter Polgara the arch-Sorceress were on the trail of the Orb, seeking to regain its saving power before the final disaster prophesized by the legends. And with them went Garion, a simple farm boy only months before, but now the focus of the struggle. He had never believed in sorcery and wanted no part of it. Yet with every league they traveled, the power grew in him, forcing him to acts of wizardry he could not accept.
Magician's Gambit: The Belgariad, Book 3 / David Eddings
Product Description
Ce'Nedra, Imperial Princess of Tolnedra, had joined a dangerous mission to recover the stolen Orb that supposedly protected the West from the evil God Torak. And somehow, she found herself feeling quite tender for Garion, the innocent farm boy, who would be forced into the strange tower in the center of all evil to retrieve the Orb by himself.
Ce'Nedra, Imperial Princess of Tolnedra, had joined a dangerous mission to recover the stolen Orb that supposedly protected the West from the evil God Torak. And somehow, she found herself feeling quite tender for Garion, the innocent farm boy, who would be forced into the strange tower in the center of all evil to retrieve the Orb by himself.
Castle of Wizardry: The Belgariad, Book 4 / David Eddings
Product Description
This continues the magnificent epic of The Belgariad, begun in Pawn of Prophecy, Queen of Sorcery, and Magician's Gambit--a fantasy set against a background of the war of men, Kings, and Gods that had spanned seven thousand years--a novel of fate, strange lands, and a prophecy that must be fulfilled!
This continues the magnificent epic of The Belgariad, begun in Pawn of Prophecy, Queen of Sorcery, and Magician's Gambit--a fantasy set against a background of the war of men, Kings, and Gods that had spanned seven thousand years--a novel of fate, strange lands, and a prophecy that must be fulfilled!
Enchanters' End Game: The Belgariad, Book 5 / David Eddings
Product Description
The quest was over. Here is the brilliant conclusion to the epic of The Belgariad, which began in Pawn of Prophecy--a novel of fate, strange lands, and a Prophecy that must be fulfilled--the resolution of the war of men, Kings, and Gods that had spanned seven thousand years!
The quest was over. Here is the brilliant conclusion to the epic of The Belgariad, which began in Pawn of Prophecy--a novel of fate, strange lands, and a Prophecy that must be fulfilled--the resolution of the war of men, Kings, and Gods that had spanned seven thousand years!
'A' is for Alibi (A Kinsey Millhone Mystery) / Sue Grafton
Product Description
A tough-talking former cop, private investigator Kinsey Millhone has set up a modest detective agency in a quiet corner of Santa Teresa, California. A twice-divorced loner with few personal possessions and fewer personal attachments, she’s got a soft spot for underdogs and lost causes. Eight years ago, Nikki Fife was convicted of killing her philandering husband. Now she’s out on parole and needs Kinsey’s help to find the real killer. If there's one thing that makes Kinsey feel alive, it's playing on the edge. When her investigation turns up a second corpse, more suspects, and a new reason to kill, Kinsey discovers that the edge is closer—and sharper—than she imagined.
A tough-talking former cop, private investigator Kinsey Millhone has set up a modest detective agency in a quiet corner of Santa Teresa, California. A twice-divorced loner with few personal possessions and fewer personal attachments, she’s got a soft spot for underdogs and lost causes. Eight years ago, Nikki Fife was convicted of killing her philandering husband. Now she’s out on parole and needs Kinsey’s help to find the real killer. If there's one thing that makes Kinsey feel alive, it's playing on the edge. When her investigation turns up a second corpse, more suspects, and a new reason to kill, Kinsey discovers that the edge is closer—and sharper—than she imagined.
'B' is for Burglar (A Kinsey Millhone Mystery) / Sue Grafton
Product Description
Although business has been slow lately for P.I. Kinsey Millhone, she’s reluctant to take on the case of locating Beverly Danziger’s sister Elaine Boldt. It’s a small matter that Beverly should be able to handle herself. So why is she enlisting Kinsey’s services? Beverly claims she needs Elaine’s signature on some documents so that she can collect a small inheritance. But the whole affair doesn’t sit well with Kinsey. And if there’s something she’s learned in her line of work, it’s to always follow your instincts…
Although business has been slow lately for P.I. Kinsey Millhone, she’s reluctant to take on the case of locating Beverly Danziger’s sister Elaine Boldt. It’s a small matter that Beverly should be able to handle herself. So why is she enlisting Kinsey’s services? Beverly claims she needs Elaine’s signature on some documents so that she can collect a small inheritance. But the whole affair doesn’t sit well with Kinsey. And if there’s something she’s learned in her line of work, it’s to always follow your instincts…
Blood Memory / Greg Iles
From Publishers Weekly
In Natchez, Miss.; New Orleans; and the Mississippi delta, a serial predator has been killing middle-aged men. Forensic odontologist Cat Ferry, an expert on teeth and the damage they can inflict, is called in by the New Orleans PD to explain the bite marks found on the bodies. Cat, the alcoholic granddaughter of Dr. William Kirkland, owner of the sprawling Malmaison estate and the richest, most powerful man in Natchez, has solved previous murders with her married detective lover, Sean Regan. This time, though, she's pregnant with Sean's baby, and this plus the discovery of old bloody footprints hidden in the carpet fibers of her Malmaison childhood bedroom threaten to plummet her into depression. She thinks one footprint might be hers, made on the night her father died of an ill-explained gunshot wound. Iles weaves in dark strains of child sexual abuse and the resulting repressed memories as Cat searches for the serial killer and for answers about her father's death. This overlong novel lacks the scintillating originality that made Iles's last outing so memorable, but he ties up all the loose ends in an exciting climax.
In Natchez, Miss.; New Orleans; and the Mississippi delta, a serial predator has been killing middle-aged men. Forensic odontologist Cat Ferry, an expert on teeth and the damage they can inflict, is called in by the New Orleans PD to explain the bite marks found on the bodies. Cat, the alcoholic granddaughter of Dr. William Kirkland, owner of the sprawling Malmaison estate and the richest, most powerful man in Natchez, has solved previous murders with her married detective lover, Sean Regan. This time, though, she's pregnant with Sean's baby, and this plus the discovery of old bloody footprints hidden in the carpet fibers of her Malmaison childhood bedroom threaten to plummet her into depression. She thinks one footprint might be hers, made on the night her father died of an ill-explained gunshot wound. Iles weaves in dark strains of child sexual abuse and the resulting repressed memories as Cat searches for the serial killer and for answers about her father's death. This overlong novel lacks the scintillating originality that made Iles's last outing so memorable, but he ties up all the loose ends in an exciting climax.
The Penal Colony / Franz Kafka
Product Description
This collection brings together all the stories Kafka allowed to be published during his lifetime. Those titles include "Meditation", "The Metamorphosis", "The Country Doctor" and "In the Penal Colony".
This collection brings together all the stories Kafka allowed to be published during his lifetime. Those titles include "Meditation", "The Metamorphosis", "The Country Doctor" and "In the Penal Colony".
A Wizard of Earthsea: The Earthsea Cycle, Book 1 / Ursula Le Guin
Amazon.com Review
Often compared to Tolkien's Middle-earth or Lewis's Narnia, Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea is a stunning fantasy world that grabs quickly at our hearts, pulling us deeply into its imaginary realms. Four books (A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, and Tehanu) tell the whole Earthsea cycle--a tale about a reckless, awkward boy named Sparrowhawk who becomes a wizard's apprentice after the wizard reveals Sparrowhawk's true name. The boy comes to realize that his fate may be far more important than he ever dreamed possible. Le Guin challenges her readers to think about the power of language, how in the act of naming the world around us we actually create that world. Teens, especially, will be inspired by the way Le Guin allows her characters to evolve and grow into their own powers.
In this first book, A Wizard of Earthsea readers will witness Sparrowhawk's moving rite of passage--when he discovers his true name and becomes a young man. Great challenges await Sparrowhawk, including an almost deadly battle with a sinister creature, a monster that may be his own shadow.
Often compared to Tolkien's Middle-earth or Lewis's Narnia, Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea is a stunning fantasy world that grabs quickly at our hearts, pulling us deeply into its imaginary realms. Four books (A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, and Tehanu) tell the whole Earthsea cycle--a tale about a reckless, awkward boy named Sparrowhawk who becomes a wizard's apprentice after the wizard reveals Sparrowhawk's true name. The boy comes to realize that his fate may be far more important than he ever dreamed possible. Le Guin challenges her readers to think about the power of language, how in the act of naming the world around us we actually create that world. Teens, especially, will be inspired by the way Le Guin allows her characters to evolve and grow into their own powers.
In this first book, A Wizard of Earthsea readers will witness Sparrowhawk's moving rite of passage--when he discovers his true name and becomes a young man. Great challenges await Sparrowhawk, including an almost deadly battle with a sinister creature, a monster that may be his own shadow.
The Tombs of Atuan: The Earthsea Cycle, Book 2 / Ursula Le Guin
Amazon.com Review
In this second book of Le Guin's Earthsea series, readers will meet Tenar, a priestess to the "Nameless Ones" who guard the catacombs of the Tombs of Atuan. Only Tenar knows the passageways of this dark labyrinth, and only she can lead the young wizard Sparrowhawk, who stumbles into its maze, to the greatest treasure of all. Will she?
In this second book of Le Guin's Earthsea series, readers will meet Tenar, a priestess to the "Nameless Ones" who guard the catacombs of the Tombs of Atuan. Only Tenar knows the passageways of this dark labyrinth, and only she can lead the young wizard Sparrowhawk, who stumbles into its maze, to the greatest treasure of all. Will she?
The Farthest Shore: The Earthsea Cycle, Book 3 / Ursula Le Guin
From the Publisher
Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea cycle has become one of the best-loved fantasies of our time. The windswept world of Earthsea is one of the greatest creations in all fantasy literature, frequently compared with J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth or C.S. Lewis' Narnia. The magnificent saga begins with A Wizard Of Earthsea, continues in The Tombs Of Atuan and The Farthest Shore, and concludes with Tehanu --each book a treasure of wisdom, wonder, and literary wizardry. The magic had gone out of the world. All over Earthsea the mages had forgotten their spells, the springs of wizardry were running dry. Ged, Dragonlord and Archmage, set out with Arren, a highborn young prince, to seek the source of the darkness. This is the tale of their harrowing journey beyond the shores of death to heal a wounded land.
Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea cycle has become one of the best-loved fantasies of our time. The windswept world of Earthsea is one of the greatest creations in all fantasy literature, frequently compared with J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth or C.S. Lewis' Narnia. The magnificent saga begins with A Wizard Of Earthsea, continues in The Tombs Of Atuan and The Farthest Shore, and concludes with Tehanu --each book a treasure of wisdom, wonder, and literary wizardry. The magic had gone out of the world. All over Earthsea the mages had forgotten their spells, the springs of wizardry were running dry. Ged, Dragonlord and Archmage, set out with Arren, a highborn young prince, to seek the source of the darkness. This is the tale of their harrowing journey beyond the shores of death to heal a wounded land.
Tehanu: The Earthsea Cycle, Book 4 / Ursula Le Guin
From Publishers Weekly
The publication of Tehanu will give lovers of LeGuin's enchanted realm of Earthsea cause for celebration. In Tehanu, LeGuin spins a bittersweet tale of Tenar and Ged, familiar characters from the classic Earthsea trilogy. Tenar, now a widow facing obscurity and loneliness, rescues a badly burned girl from her abusive parents. The girl, it turns out, will be an important power in the new age dawning on Earthsea. Ged, now broken, is learning how to live with the great loss he suffered at the end of the trilogy. Tenar's struggle to protect and nurture a defenseless child and Ged's slow recovery make painful but thrilling reading. Sharply defined characterizations give rich resonance to Tehanu 's themes of aging, feminism and child abuse as well as its emotional chords of grief and loss. Tehanu is a heartbreaking farewell to a world that is passing, and is full of tantalizing hints of the new world to come. Fans of the Earthsea trilogy will be deeply moved.
The publication of Tehanu will give lovers of LeGuin's enchanted realm of Earthsea cause for celebration. In Tehanu, LeGuin spins a bittersweet tale of Tenar and Ged, familiar characters from the classic Earthsea trilogy. Tenar, now a widow facing obscurity and loneliness, rescues a badly burned girl from her abusive parents. The girl, it turns out, will be an important power in the new age dawning on Earthsea. Ged, now broken, is learning how to live with the great loss he suffered at the end of the trilogy. Tenar's struggle to protect and nurture a defenseless child and Ged's slow recovery make painful but thrilling reading. Sharply defined characterizations give rich resonance to Tehanu 's themes of aging, feminism and child abuse as well as its emotional chords of grief and loss. Tehanu is a heartbreaking farewell to a world that is passing, and is full of tantalizing hints of the new world to come. Fans of the Earthsea trilogy will be deeply moved.
Friday, March 5, 2010
A Transatlantic Love Affair: Letters to Nelson Algren / Simone de Beauvoir
From Publishers Weekly
This engrossing collection is the first publication in America of the 300-plus letters that de Beauvoir wrote to her lover, Algren (The Man with the Golden Arm), between February 1947 and November 1964. At a time when transatlantic phone calls were rare, de Beauvoir used letter-writing to charm her "beloved Chicago man," to outline her progress on what would become The Second Sex and The Mandarins, and to describe the postwar Parisian intelligentsia surrounding her, Sartre and their monthly, Les Temps Modernes. There is more gossip here than philosophical or political debate. But her detached descriptions of places, events and parties are ultimately more interesting than her often condescending opinions of people and her need to reiterate to Algren how many women are attracted to her. Written in often awkward yet energetically chatty English, de Beauvoir's letters are both guarded and vulnerable. One frustration here is the lack of Algren's voice, although there are some brief summaries of letters or pertinent meetings. If those expecting steamy love letters will be disappointed, this one-sided correspondence provides invaluable primary material for scholars of the Paris intelligentsia and while doing so, reveals a woman alternately feisty, catty, proud and unsure.
This engrossing collection is the first publication in America of the 300-plus letters that de Beauvoir wrote to her lover, Algren (The Man with the Golden Arm), between February 1947 and November 1964. At a time when transatlantic phone calls were rare, de Beauvoir used letter-writing to charm her "beloved Chicago man," to outline her progress on what would become The Second Sex and The Mandarins, and to describe the postwar Parisian intelligentsia surrounding her, Sartre and their monthly, Les Temps Modernes. There is more gossip here than philosophical or political debate. But her detached descriptions of places, events and parties are ultimately more interesting than her often condescending opinions of people and her need to reiterate to Algren how many women are attracted to her. Written in often awkward yet energetically chatty English, de Beauvoir's letters are both guarded and vulnerable. One frustration here is the lack of Algren's voice, although there are some brief summaries of letters or pertinent meetings. If those expecting steamy love letters will be disappointed, this one-sided correspondence provides invaluable primary material for scholars of the Paris intelligentsia and while doing so, reveals a woman alternately feisty, catty, proud and unsure.
Meditations from a Movable Chair / essays by Andre Dubus
From Publishers Weekly
The 1986 highway accident that resulted in Dubus being largely confined to a wheelchair is an event that is by now familiar to readers of his award-winning short stories (Dancing After Hours, etc.) and previous collection of personal essays (Broken Vessels, 1991). In these 25 spare and luminous essays, most of which have previously appeared in magazines like the New Yorker, Harper's and Yankee, the author lingers over experiences past and present, from the everyday trials of life in a wheelchair to his thoughts on being a writer, a divorced Catholic and father. "Song of Pity" combines simmering rage at public indifference to the handicapped with recollections of an earlier time when he was the one pushing a wheelchair. Other essays recall his encounters as a young writer with Kurt Vonnegut and Ralph Ellison in Iowa City, and Norman Mailer, whom he meets at the Algonquin during a whirlwind trip to New York to meet with his editor in 1967. In Dubus's sharply distilled prose, these meditations are as starkly tangible as they are resonant, providing a vision of his own life before and after the accident, a life united finally by a passion for love, life and craft.
The 1986 highway accident that resulted in Dubus being largely confined to a wheelchair is an event that is by now familiar to readers of his award-winning short stories (Dancing After Hours, etc.) and previous collection of personal essays (Broken Vessels, 1991). In these 25 spare and luminous essays, most of which have previously appeared in magazines like the New Yorker, Harper's and Yankee, the author lingers over experiences past and present, from the everyday trials of life in a wheelchair to his thoughts on being a writer, a divorced Catholic and father. "Song of Pity" combines simmering rage at public indifference to the handicapped with recollections of an earlier time when he was the one pushing a wheelchair. Other essays recall his encounters as a young writer with Kurt Vonnegut and Ralph Ellison in Iowa City, and Norman Mailer, whom he meets at the Algonquin during a whirlwind trip to New York to meet with his editor in 1967. In Dubus's sharply distilled prose, these meditations are as starkly tangible as they are resonant, providing a vision of his own life before and after the accident, a life united finally by a passion for love, life and craft.
Beyond the River / Ann Hagedorn
From Booklist
The town of Ripley, located on the Ohio River between the slave state of Kentucky and the free state of Ohio, was the site of clashes between abolitionists and slave hunters long before the start of the Civil War. Hagedorn brings to life lesser-known activists in the abolitionist movement who led double lives in a small town torn up over the issue of slavery. She focuses on the Reverend John Rankin, spurred by religious fervor to become a leading abolitionist, helping escaped slaves travel on to Canada during the early 1820s. Using historical documents, newspapers, and letters, Hagedorn captures a fervent era, when the Missouri Compromise, the invention of the cotton gin, and growing slave revolts all set the stage for roiling debate on slavery. Rankin and his family were part of a network of abolitionists that included Harriet Beecher Stowe and John Parker, a free black man who ventured south to guide slaves to freedom. Readers interested in the history of the abolitionist movement in the U.S. will appreciate this look at unsung heroes of the era.
--Vanessa Bush
The town of Ripley, located on the Ohio River between the slave state of Kentucky and the free state of Ohio, was the site of clashes between abolitionists and slave hunters long before the start of the Civil War. Hagedorn brings to life lesser-known activists in the abolitionist movement who led double lives in a small town torn up over the issue of slavery. She focuses on the Reverend John Rankin, spurred by religious fervor to become a leading abolitionist, helping escaped slaves travel on to Canada during the early 1820s. Using historical documents, newspapers, and letters, Hagedorn captures a fervent era, when the Missouri Compromise, the invention of the cotton gin, and growing slave revolts all set the stage for roiling debate on slavery. Rankin and his family were part of a network of abolitionists that included Harriet Beecher Stowe and John Parker, a free black man who ventured south to guide slaves to freedom. Readers interested in the history of the abolitionist movement in the U.S. will appreciate this look at unsung heroes of the era.
--Vanessa Bush
The Dick Gibson Show / Stanley Elkin
From Library Journal
"Most of Elkin's prose is alive, with its wealth of detail and specifically American metaphors, and the surreal elements in the narrative are tightly controlled," said LJ's reviewer of this odd novel (LJ 6/1/71), which concerns the host and guests of a late-night radio call-in show. Though no doubt tame compared to the daily insanity of the Jerry Springer show, this remains "compulsively readable."
"Most of Elkin's prose is alive, with its wealth of detail and specifically American metaphors, and the surreal elements in the narrative are tightly controlled," said LJ's reviewer of this odd novel (LJ 6/1/71), which concerns the host and guests of a late-night radio call-in show. Though no doubt tame compared to the daily insanity of the Jerry Springer show, this remains "compulsively readable."
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