books tagged “Fiction” (fiction)

books tagged “Fiction”

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Alias Grace
by Margaret Atwood

ISBN 1417671963 (1-4176-7196-3)
Hardcover, Bt Bound

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Book summary:
In Alias Grace, bestselling author Margaret Atwood has written her most captivating, disturbing, and ultimately satisfying work since The Handmaid's Tale. She takes us back in time and into the life of one of the most enigmatic and notorious women of the nineteenth century.

Grace Marks has been convicted for her involvement in the vicious murders of her employer, Thomas Kinnear, and Nancy Montgomery, his housekeeper and mistress. Some believe Grace is innocent; others think her evil or insane. Now serving a life sentence, Grace claims to have no memory of the murders.

Dr. Simon Jordan, an up-and-coming expert in the burgeoning field of mental illness, is engaged by a group of reformers and spiritualists who seek a pardon for Grace. He listens to her story while bringing her closer and closer to the day she cannot remember. What will he find in attempting to unlock her memories? Is Grace a female fiend? A bloodthirsty femme fatale? Or is she the victim of circumstances? [via]
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Bleak House
by Charles Dickens, Tatiana M. Holway

ISBN 1593083114 (1-59308-311-4)
Softcover, Sterling Pub Co Inc

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Book summary:
Bleak House is a satirical look at the Byzantine legal system in London as it consumes the minds and talents of the greedy and nearly destroys the lives of innocents--a contemporary tale indeed. Dickens's tale takes us from the foggy dank streets of London and the maze of the Inns of Court to the peaceful countryside of England. Likewise, the characters run from murderous villains to virtuous girls, from a devoted lover to a "fallen woman," all of whom are affected by a legal suit in which there will, of course, be no winner. The first-person narrative related by the orphan Esther is particularly sweet. The articulate reading by the acclaimed British actor Paul Scofield, whose distinctive broad English accent lends just the right degree of sonority and humor to the text, brings out the color in this classic social commentary disguised as a Victorian drama. However, to abridge Dickens is, well, a Dickensian task, the results of which make for a story in which the author's convoluted plot lines and twists of fate play out in what seems to be a fast-forward format. Listeners must pay close attention in order to keep up with the multiple narratives and cast of curious characters, including the memorable Inspector Bucket and Mr. Guppy. Fortunately, the publisher provides a partial list of characters on the inside jacket. (Running time: 3 hours; 2 cassettes) [via]
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Bleak House
by Peter Ackroyd

ISBN 074930765X (0-7493-0765-X)
Softcover, Heinemann

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- Bleak House: ISBN 074930765X (0-7493-0765-X)
  Softcover, Heinemann
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Bleak House: An Authoritative and Annotated Text, Illustrations, a Note on the Text, Genesis and Composition, Backgrounds, Criticism
by Charles Dickens, Sylvere Monod, George Harry Ford

ISBN 0393093328 (0-393-09332-8)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc

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Book summary:
Bleak House is a satirical look at the Byzantine legal system in London as it consumes the minds and talents of the greedy and nearly destroys the lives of innocents--a contemporary tale indeed. Dickens's tale takes us from the foggy dank streets of London and the maze of the Inns of Court to the peaceful countryside of England. Likewise, the characters run from murderous villains to virtuous girls, from a devoted lover to a "fallen woman," all of whom are affected by a legal suit in which there will, of course, be no winner. The first-person narrative related by the orphan Esther is particularly sweet. The articulate reading by the acclaimed British actor Paul Scofield, whose distinctive broad English accent lends just the right degree of sonority and humor to the text, brings out the color in this classic social commentary disguised as a Victorian drama. However, to abridge Dickens is, well, a Dickensian task, the results of which make for a story in which the author's convoluted plot lines and twists of fate play out in what seems to be a fast-forward format. Listeners must pay close attention in order to keep up with the multiple narratives and cast of curious characters, including the memorable Inspector Bucket and Mr. Guppy. Fortunately, the publisher provides a partial list of characters on the inside jacket. (Running time: 3 hours; 2 cassettes) [via]
More editions of Bleak House: An Authoritative and Annotated Text, Illustrations, a Note on the Text, Genesis and Composition, Backgrounds, Criticism:
- Bleak House: An Authoritative and Annotated Text, Illustrations, a Note on the Text, Genesis and Composition, Backgrounds, Criticism: ISBN 0393093328 (0-393-09332-8)
  Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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Bleak House: Riverside Edition
by Charles Dickens

ISBN 0395051045 (0-395-05104-5)
Softcover, Houghton Mifflin College Div

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- Bleak House: Riverside Edition: ISBN 0395051045 (0-395-05104-5)
  Softcover, Houghton Mifflin College Div
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Breakfast of Champions
by Kurt Vonnegut

ISBN 0385334206 (0-385-33420-6)
Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group

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Book summary:
"We are healthy only to the extent that our ideas are humane." So reads the tombstone of downtrodden writer Kilgore Trout, but we have no doubt who's really talking: his alter ego Kurt Vonnegut. Health versus sickness, humanity versus inhumanity--both sets of ideas bounce through this challenging and funny book. As with the rest of Vonnegut's pure fantasy, it lacks the shimmering, fact-fueled rage that illuminates Slaughterhouse-Five. At the same time, that makes this book perhaps more enjoyable to read.
Breakfast of Champions is a slippery, lucid, bleakly humorous jaunt through (sick? inhumane?) America circa 1973, with Vonnegut acting as our Virgil-like companion. The book follows its main character, auto-dealing solid-citizen Dwayne Hoover, down into madness, a condition brought on by the work of the aforementioned Kilgore Trout. As Dwayne cracks, then crumbles, Breakfast of Champions coolly shows the effects his dementia has on the web of characters surrounding him. It's not much of a plot, but it's enough for Vonnegut to air unique opinions on America, sex, war, love, and all of his other pet topics--you know, the only ones that really count. [via]
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Brideshead Revisited
by Evelyn Waugh, Frank Kermode

ISBN 0679423001 (0-679-42300-1)
Hardcover, Random House Inc

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Book summary:
A departure from Evelyn Waugh's normally comic theater, Brideshead Revisited concerns the tale of Charles Ryder, a captain in the British Army in post-World War I England. Unlike Waugh's previous narrators, Ryder is an intelligent man, looking back on much of his life from his current post in Oxford. He strikes a special friendship with Lord Sebastian Flyte as the setting moves to the Brideshead estate and a baroque castle that recalls England's prior standing in the world. Ryder falls for Flyte's sister while families, politics and religions collide. What makes the book extraordinary is Waugh's sharp, vivid style and his use of dialect and minor characters. This is one of Waugh's finest accomplishments and a superb book. [via]
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- Brideshead Revisited: ISBN 0816134006 (0-8161-3400-6)
  Hardcover, G K Hall & Co
- Brideshead Revisited: ISBN 0679423001 (0-679-42300-1)
  Hardcover, Random House Inc
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Como Agua Para Chocolate / Like Water for Chocolate
by Laura Esquivel

ISBN 8439702469 (84-397-0246-9)
Softcover, Random House Mondadori

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Book summary:
Earthy, magical, and utterly charming, this tale of family life in turn-of-the-century Mexico became a best-selling phenomenon with its winning blend of poignant romance and bittersweet wit. The classic love story takes place on the De la Garza ranch, as the tyrannical owner, Mama Elena, chops onions at the kitchen table in her final days of pregnancy. While still in her mother's womb, her daughter to be weeps so violently she causes an early labor, and little Tita slips out amid the spices and fixings for noodle soup. This early encounter with food soon becomes a way of life, and Tita grows up to be a master chef. She shares special points of her favorite preparations with listeners throughout the story.

The Spanish language edition of the best-selling Like Water For Chocolate is a remarkable success in its own right. Now, in this mass market edition, thousands of new readers will be able to partake in the sumptuous, romantic, and hilarious tale of Tita, the terrific cook with an extra special something in her sauce.

From the Paperback edition. [via]
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The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics
by C. S. Lewis

ISBN 0060506083 (0-06-050608-3)
Hardcover, Harper San Francisco

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Book summary:
For the first time ever, these seven essential volumes by C. S. Lewis are available in a single edition. This remarkable book presents the classic works Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, The Problem of Pain, Miracles, A Grief Observed, and Lewis's prophetic examination of universal values, The Abolition of Man. Beautiful and timeless, this is a vital collection by one of the greatest literary figures of the twentieth century. Lewis reached a vast audience during his lifetime, and books such as Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters continue to be regarded as among the best spiritual writing of all time. With his uncanny grasp of human nature, Lewis offers a refreshing antidote to the modern world's consumerism and moral relativism. This new edition of his most celebrated books highlights Lewis's compassion for humanity and his relevance for the twenty-first century. [via]
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- The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics: ISBN 0060506083 (0-06-050608-3)
  Hardcover, Harper San Francisco
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Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
by Douglas Adams

ISBN 0671746723 (0-671-74672-3)
Softcover, Pocket Books

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Book summary:
What do a dead cat, a computer whiz-kid, an Electric Monk who believes the world is pink, quantum mechanics, a Chronologist over 200 years old, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (poet), and pizza have in common? Apparently not much; until Dirk Gently, self-styled private investigator, sets out to prove the fundamental interconnectedness of all things by solving a mysterious murder, assisting a mysterious professor, unravelling a mysterious mystery, and eating a lot of pizza -- not to mention saving the entire human race from extinction along the way (at no extra charge). To find out more, read this book (better still, buy it, then read it) -- or contact Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. 'A thumping good detective-ghost-horror-whodunnit-time travel-romantic-musical-comedy epic.' The author [via]
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Don Delillo
by Harold Bloom

ISBN 079107031X (0-7910-7031-X)
Hardcover, Facts on File

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Book summary:
Harold Bloom suggests Don DeLillo's work holds a proleptic sense of the triumph of terror. This text offers critical views on numerous DeLillo novels, including The Names, Mao II, Libra, White Noise, and Underworld. This edition of Bloom's Major Novelists will help any student delve into the work of this contemporary writer.
This series is edited by Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of the Humanities, Yale University; Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Professor of English, New York University Graduate School; preeminent literary critic of our time. Titles include detailed plot summaries of the novel, extracts from scholarly critical essays on the novels, a complete bibliography of the writer's novels, and more. [via]
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- Don Delillo: ISBN 079107031X (0-7910-7031-X)
  Hardcover, Facts on File
Don Delillo's White Noise
by Harold Bloom, Jesse Zuba

ISBN 0791070441 (0-7910-7044-1)
Hardcover, Facts on File

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  Hardcover, Facts on File
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Everything Is Illuminated
by Jonathan Safran Foer

ISBN 0060529709 (0-06-052970-9)
Softcover, Harpercollins

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Book summary:
The simplest thing would be to describe Everything Is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer's accomplished debut, as a novel about the Holocaust. It is, but that really fails to do justice to the sheer ambition of this book. The main story is a grimly familiar one. A young Jewish American--who just happens to be called Jonathan Safran Foer--travels to the Ukraine in the hope of finding the woman who saved his grandfather from the Nazis. He is aided in his search by Alex Perchov, a naïve Ukrainian translator, Alex's grandfather (also called Alex), and a flatulent mongrel dog named Sammy Davis Jr. Jr. On their journey through Eastern Europe's obliterated landscape they unearth facts about the Nazi atrocities and the extent of Ukrainian complicity that have implications for Perchov as well as Safran Foer. This narrative is not, however, recounted from (the character) Jonathan Safran Foer's perspective. It is relayed through a series of letters that Alex sends to Foer. These are written in the kind of broken Russo-English normally reserved for Bond villains or Latka from Taxi. Interspersed between these letters are fragments of a novel by Safran Foer--a wonderfully imagined, almost magical realist, account of life in the shtetl before the Nazis destroyed it. These are in turn commented on by Alex, creating an additional metafictional angle to the tale.
If all this sounds a little daunting, don't be put off; Safran Foer is an extremely funny as well as intelligent writer who combines some of the best Jewish folk yarns since Isaac Bashevis Singer with a quite heartbreaking meditation on love, friendship, and loss. --Travis Elborough, Amazon.co.uk [via]
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If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
by Italo Calvino

ISBN 0156439611 (0-15-643961-1)
Softcover, Harcourt

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Book summary:
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler is a marvel of ingenuity, an experimental text that looks longingly back to the great age of narration--"when time no longer seemed stopped and did not yet seem to have exploded." Italo Calvino's novel is in one sense a comedy in which the two protagonists, the Reader and the Other Reader, ultimately end up married, having almost finished If on a Winter's Night a Traveler. In another, it is a tragedy, a reflection on the difficulties of writing and the solitary nature of reading. The Reader buys a fashionable new book, which opens with an exhortation: "Relax. Concentrate. Dispel every other thought. Let the world around you fade." Alas, after 30 or so pages, he discovers that his copy is corrupted, and consists of nothing but the first section, over and over. Returning to the bookshop, he discovers the volume, which he thought was by Calvino, is actually by the Polish writer Bazakbal. Given the choice between the two, he goes for the Pole, as does the Other Reader, Ludmilla. But this copy turns out to be by yet another writer, as does the next, and the next.
The real Calvino intersperses 10 different pastiches--stories of menace, spies, mystery, premonition--with explorations of how and why we read, make meanings, and get our bearings or fail to. Meanwhile the Reader and Ludmilla try to reach, and read, each other. If on a Winter's Night is dazzling, vertiginous, and deeply romantic. "What makes lovemaking and reading resemble each other most is that within both of them times and spaces open, different from measurable time and space." [via]
More editions of If on a Winter's Night a Traveler:
- If on a Winter's Night a Traveler: ISBN 0151436894 (0-15-143689-4)
  Hardcover, Harcourt
- If on a Winter's Night a Traveler: ISBN 0156439611 (0-15-643961-1)
  Softcover, Harcourt
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If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
by William Weaver, Italo Calvino

ISBN 0679420258 (0-679-42025-8)
Hardcover, Alfred a Knopf Inc

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Book summary:
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler is a marvel of ingenuity, an experimental text that looks longingly back to the great age of narration--"when time no longer seemed stopped and did not yet seem to have exploded." Italo Calvino's novel is in one sense a comedy in which the two protagonists, the Reader and the Other Reader, ultimately end up married, having almost finished If on a Winter's Night a Traveler. In another, it is a tragedy, a reflection on the difficulties of writing and the solitary nature of reading. The Reader buys a fashionable new book, which opens with an exhortation: "Relax. Concentrate. Dispel every other thought. Let the world around you fade." Alas, after 30 or so pages, he discovers that his copy is corrupted, and consists of nothing but the first section, over and over. Returning to the bookshop, he discovers the volume, which he thought was by Calvino, is actually by the Polish writer Bazakbal. Given the choice between the two, he goes for the Pole, as does the Other Reader, Ludmilla. But this copy turns out to be by yet another writer, as does the next, and the next.
The real Calvino intersperses 10 different pastiches--stories of menace, spies, mystery, premonition--with explorations of how and why we read, make meanings, and get our bearings or fail to. Meanwhile the Reader and Ludmilla try to reach, and read, each other. If on a Winter's Night is dazzling, vertiginous, and deeply romantic. "What makes lovemaking and reading resemble each other most is that within both of them times and spaces open, different from measurable time and space." [via]
More editions of If on a Winter's Night a Traveler:
- If on a Winter's Night a Traveler: ISBN 0679420258 (0-679-42025-8)
  Hardcover, Alfred a Knopf Inc
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Like Water for Chocolate
by Laura Esquivel

ISBN 0785721665 (0-7857-2166-5)
Hardcover, Bt Bound

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Book summary:
FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. This novel includes recipes, romances, and home remedies. [via]
More editions of Like Water for Chocolate:
- Like Water for Chocolate: ISBN 0785721665 (0-7857-2166-5)
  Hardcover, Bt Bound
Like Water for Chocolate
by Thomas Christensen, Laura Esquivel, Carol Christensen

ISBN 0792717848 (0-7927-1784-8)
Softcover, Chivers North Amer

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- Like Water for Chocolate: ISBN 0792717848 (0-7927-1784-8)
  Softcover, Chivers North Amer
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Lost in a Good Book
by Jasper Fforde

ISBN 0142004030 (0-14-200403-0)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA

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Book summary:
Thursday Next, literary detective and newlywed is back to embark on an adventure that begins, quite literally on her own doorstep. It seems that Landen, her husband of four weeks, actually drowned in an accident when he was two years old. Someone, somewhere, sometime, is responsible. The sinister Goliath Corporation wants its operative Jack Schitt out of the poem in which Thursday trapped him, and it will do almost anything to achieve this - but bribing the ChronoGuard? Is that possible? Having barely caught her breath after The Eyre Affair, Thursday must battle corrupt politicians, try to save the world from extinction, and help the Neanderthals to species self-determination. Mastadon migrations, journeys into Just William, a chance meeting with the Flopsy Bunnies, and violent life-and-death struggles in the summer sales are all part of a greater plan. But whose? and why? [via]
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No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
by Alexander McCall Smith

ISBN 1400031346 (1-4000-3134-6)
Softcover, Random House Inc

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Book summary:
Penzler Pick, July 2001: Working in a mystery tradition that will cause genre aficionados to think of such classic sleuths as Melville Davisson Post's Uncle Abner or Robert van Gulik's Judge Dee, Alexander McCall Smith creates an African detective, Precious Ramotswe, who's their full-fledged heir.
It's the detective as folk hero, solving crimes through an innate, self-possessed wisdom that, combined with an understanding of human nature, invariably penetrates into the heart of a puzzle. If Miss Marple were fat and jolly and lived in Botswana--and decided to go against any conventional notion of what an unmarried woman should do, spending the money she got from selling her late father's cattle to set up a Ladies' Detective Agency--then you have an idea of how Precious sets herself up as her country's first female detective. Once the clients start showing up on her doorstep, Precious enjoys a pleasingly successful series of cases.
But the edge of the Kalahari is not St. Mary Mead, and the sign Precious orders, painted in brilliant colors, is anything but discreet. Pointing in the direction of the small building she had purchased to house her new business, it reads "THE NO. 1 LADIES DETECTIVE AGENCY. FOR ALL CONFIDENTIAL MATTERS AND ENQUIRIES. SATISFACTION GUARANTEED FOR ALL PARTIES. UNDER PERSONAL MANAGEMENT."
The solutions she comes up with, whether in the case of the clinic doctor with two quite different personalities (depending on the day of the week), or the man who had joined a Christian sect and seemingly vanished, or the kidnapped boy whose bones may or may not be those in a witch doctor's magic kit, are all sensible, logical, and satisfying. Smith's gently ironic tone is full of good humor towards his lively, intelligent heroine and towards her fellow Africans, who live their lives with dignity and with cautious acceptance of the confusions to which the world submits them. Precious Ramotswe is a remarkable creation, and The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency well deserves the praise it received from London's Times Literary Supplement. I look forward with great eagerness to the upcoming books featuring the memorable Miss Ramotswe, Tears of the Giraffe and Morality for Beautiful Girls, soon to be available in the U.S. --Otto Penzler [via]
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The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
by R. A. McCall Smith

ISBN 0375423877 (0-375-42387-7)
Hardcover, Random House Inc

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Book summary:
Penzler Pick, July 2001: Working in a mystery tradition that will cause genre aficionados to think of such classic sleuths as Melville Davisson Post's Uncle Abner or Robert van Gulik's Judge Dee, Alexander McCall Smith creates an African detective, Precious Ramotswe, who's their full-fledged heir.
It's the detective as folk hero, solving crimes through an innate, self-possessed wisdom that, combined with an understanding of human nature, invariably penetrates into the heart of a puzzle. If Miss Marple were fat and jolly and lived in Botswana--and decided to go against any conventional notion of what an unmarried woman should do, spending the money she got from selling her late father's cattle to set up a Ladies' Detective Agency--then you have an idea of how Precious sets herself up as her country's first female detective. Once the clients start showing up on her doorstep, Precious enjoys a pleasingly successful series of cases.
But the edge of the Kalahari is not St. Mary Mead, and the sign Precious orders, painted in brilliant colors, is anything but discreet. Pointing in the direction of the small building she had purchased to house her new business, it reads "THE NO. 1 LADIES DETECTIVE AGENCY. FOR ALL CONFIDENTIAL MATTERS AND ENQUIRIES. SATISFACTION GUARANTEED FOR ALL PARTIES. UNDER PERSONAL MANAGEMENT."
The solutions she comes up with, whether in the case of the clinic doctor with two quite different personalities (depending on the day of the week), or the man who had joined a Christian sect and seemingly vanished, or the kidnapped boy whose bones may or may not be those in a witch doctor's magic kit, are all sensible, logical, and satisfying. Smith's gently ironic tone is full of good humor towards his lively, intelligent heroine and towards her fellow Africans, who live their lives with dignity and with cautious acceptance of the confusions to which the world submits them. Precious Ramotswe is a remarkable creation, and The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency well deserves the praise it received from London's Times Literary Supplement. I look forward with great eagerness to the upcoming books featuring the memorable Miss Ramotswe, Tears of the Giraffe and Morality for Beautiful Girls, soon to be available in the U.S. --Otto Penzler [via]
More editions of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency:
- The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency: ISBN 0375423877 (0-375-42387-7)
  Hardcover, Random House Inc
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Quicksilver
by Neal Stephenson

ISBN 0060593083 (0-06-059308-3)
Softcover, Harpercollins

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Book summary:
In Quicksilver, the first volume of the "Baroque Cycle," Neal Stephenson launches his most ambitious work to date. The novel, divided into three books, opens in 1713 with the ageless Enoch Root seeking Daniel Waterhouse on the campus of what passes for MIT in eighteenth-century Massachusetts. Daniel, Enoch's message conveys, is key to resolving an explosive scientific battle of preeminence between Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz over the development of calculus. As Daniel returns to London aboard the Minerva, readers are catapulted back half a century to recall his years at Cambridge with young Isaac. Daniel is a perfect historical witness. Privy to Robert Hooke's early drawings of microscope images and with associates among the English nobility, religious radicals, and the Royal Society, he also befriends Samuel Pepys, risks a cup of coffee, and enjoys a lecture on Belgian waffles and cleavage-all before the year 1700.
In the second book, Stephenson introduces Jack Shaftoe and Eliza. "Half-Cocked" Jack (also know as the "King of the Vagabonds") recovers the English Eliza from a Turkish harem. Fleeing the siege of Vienna, the two journey across Europe driven by Eliza's lust for fame, fortune, and nobility. Gradually, their circle intertwines with that of Daniel in the third book of the novel.
The book courses with Stephenson's scholarship but is rarely bogged down in its historical detail. Stephenson is especially impressive in his ability to represent dialogue over the evolving worldview of seventeenth-century scientists and enliven the most abstruse explanation of theory. Though replete with science, the novel is as much about the complex struggles for political ascendancy and the workings of financial markets. Further, the novel's literary ambitions match its physical size. Stephenson narrates through epistolary chapters, fragments of plays and poems, journal entries, maps, drawings, genealogic tables, and copious contemporary epigrams. But, caught in this richness, the prose is occasionally neglected and wants editing. Further, anticipating a cycle, the book does not provide a satisfying conclusion to its 900 pages. These are minor quibbles, though. Stephenson has matched ambition to execution, and his faithful, durable readers will be both entertained and richly rewarded with a practicum in Baroque science, cypher, culture, and politics. --Patrick O'Kelley [via]
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Remains of the Day
by Kazuo Ishiguro

ISBN 0679731725 (0-679-73172-5)
Softcover, Random House Inc

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Book summary:
The novel's narrator, Stevens, is a perfect English butler who tries to give his narrow existence form and meaning through the self-effacing, almost mystical practice of his profession. In a career that spans the second World War, Stevens is oblivious of the real life that goes on around him -- oblivious, for instance, of the fact that his aristocrat employer is a Nazi sympathizer. Still, there are even larger matters at stake in this heartbreaking, pitch-perfect novel -- namely, Stevens' own ability to allow some bit of life-affirming love into his tightly repressed existence. [via]
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The Screwtape Letters
by C. S. Lewis

ISBN 0060652934 (0-06-065293-4)
Softcover, Harpercollins

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Book summary:
This adaptation of C.S. Lewis's biting satire received a 1999 Grammy nomination for best spoken-word performance, and it's easy to see why--the story fits the format perfectly. It's relatively brief (the unabridged reading takes a mere four hours), and contains only one character--the demon Screwtape, who writes letters to his novice nephew Wormwood, instructing him on how to best tempt his "patient" (a wayward soul on earth) into the bosom of "our Lord below."
Obviously, the book wasn't written with former Monty Python John Cleese in mind, but it's hard to imagine a better Screwtape. Cleese's voice provides the perfect vehicle for Lewis's dry, razor-edged wit. His uncanny comic timing and ability to milk each phrase for maximum effect betray an infectious enthusiasm for the story. It's clear that he's having a great time reading, and it's impossible not to laugh along with him. This inspired pairing of two of the 20th century's greatest wits makes for a meditation on the dark side of spiritual guidance that's as relevant and funny today as it was in Lewis's war-torn England. (Running time: 4 hours, 3 cassettes) --Andrew Neiland [via]
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The Screwtape Letters & Screwtape Proposes a Toast
by C. S. Lewis

ISBN 0809436582 (0-8094-3658-2)
Hardcover, Time-Life Books

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More editions of The Screwtape Letters & Screwtape Proposes a Toast:
- The Screwtape Letters & Screwtape Proposes a Toast: ISBN 0809436582 (0-8094-3658-2)
  Hardcover, Time-Life Books
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The Screwtape Letters/Book & Study Guide
by C. S. Lewis

ISBN 0800783360 (0-8007-8336-0)
Softcover, Baker Pub Group

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Book summary:
Book [via]
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- The Screwtape Letters/Book & Study Guide: ISBN 0800783360 (0-8007-8336-0)
  Softcover, Baker Pub Group
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Underworld
by Don Delillo

ISBN 0684842696 (0-684-84269-6)
Hardcover, Simon & Schuster

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Book summary:
While Eisenstein documented the forces of totalitarianism and Stalinism upon the faces of the Russian peoples, DeLillo offers a stunning, at times overwhelming, document of the twin forces of the cold war and American culture, compelling that "swerve from evenness" in which he finds events and people both wondrous and horrifying. Underworld opens with a breathlessly graceful prologue set during the final game of the Giants-Dodgers pennant race in 1951. Written in what DeLillo calls "super-omniscience" the sentences sweep from young Cotter Martin as he jumps the gate to the press box, soars over the radio waves, runs out to the diamond, slides in on a fast ball, pops into the stands where J. Edgar Hoover is sitting with a drunken Jackie Gleason and a splenetic Frank Sinatra, and learns of the Soviet Union's second detonation of a nuclear bomb. It's an absolutely thrilling literary moment. When Bobby Thomson hits Branca's pitch into the outstretched hand of Cotter--the "shot heard around the world"--and Jackie Gleason pukes on Sinatra's shoes, the events of the next few decades are set in motion, all threaded together by the baseball as it passes from hand to hand.
"It's all falling indelibly into the past," writes DeLillo, a past that he carefully recalls and reconstructs with acute grace. Jump from Giants Stadium to the Nevada desert in 1992, where Nick Shay, who now owns the baseball, reunites with the artist Kara Sax. They had been brief and unlikely lovers 40 years before, and it is largely through the events, spinoffs, and coincidental encounters of their pasts that DeLillo filters the Cold War experience. He believes that "global events may alter how we live in the smallest ways," and as the book steps back in time to 1951, over the following 800-odd pages, we see just how those events alter lives. This reverse narrative allows the author to strip away the detritus of history and pop culture until we get to the story's pure elements: the bomb, the baseball, and the Bronx. In an epilogue as breathless and stunning as the prologue, DeLillo fast-forwards to a near future in which ruthless capitalism, the Internet, and a new, hushed faith have replaced the Cold War's blend of dread and euphoria.
Through fragments and interlaced stories--including those of highway killers, artists, celebrities, conspiracists, gangsters, nuns, and sundry others--DeLillo creates a fragile web of connected experience, a communal Zeitgeist that encompasses the messy whole of five decades of American life, wonderfully distilled. [via]
More editions of Underworld:
- Underworld: ISBN 0684842696 (0-684-84269-6)
  Hardcover, Simon & Schuster
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White Noise
by Don Delillo

ISBN 0140077022 (0-14-007702-2)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA

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Winner of the National Book Award in 1985, White Noise is the story of Jack and Babette and their children from their six or so various marriages. They live in a college town where Jack is Professor of Hitler Studies (and conceals the fact that he does not speak a word of German), and Babette teaches posture and volunteers by reading from the tabloids to a group of elderly shut-ins. They are happy enough until a deadly toxic accident and Babette's addiction to an experimental drug make Jake question everything. White Noise is considered a postmodern classic and its unfolding of themes of consumerism, family and divorce, and technology as a deadly threat have attracted the attention of literary scholars since its publication. This Viking Critical Library edition, prepared by scholar Mark Osteen, is the only edition of White Noise that contains the entire text along with an extensive critical apparatus, including a critical introduction, selected essays on the author, the work and its themes, reviews, a chronology of DeLillo's life and work, a list of discussion topics, and a selected bibliography.
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Cartas Del Diablo a Su Sobrino
by C. S. Lewis, Miguel Marias

ISBN 006114004X (0-06-114004-X)
Softcover, Harpercollins

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Book summary:
El eterno clásico sobre "las últimas novedades del Infierno y las irrebatibles respuestas del Cielo"
Esta clásica obra maestra de sátira ha entretenido e iluminado a lectores alrededor del mundo con su irónica y astuta representación de la vida y las debilidades humanas desde el punto de vista de Escrutopo, el asistente de alto rango de "Nuestro Padre de Abajo." En este divertidísimo, muy serio y excepcionalmente original libro, C. S. Lewis comparte con nosotros la correspondencia entre el viejo diablo y su sobrino Orugario, un novato demonio encargado de asegurarse de la condenación de un joven hombre.
Cartas del Diablo a Su Sobrino es la historia más atractiva acerca de la tentación -- y el triunfo sobre ella -- jamás escrita.
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More editions of Cartas Del Diablo a Su Sobrino:
- Cartas Del Diablo a Su Sobrino: ISBN 006114004X (0-06-114004-X)
  Softcover, Harpercollins
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Como Agua Para Chocolate / Like Water for Chocolate
by Not Available

ISBN 9706907483 (970-690-748-3)
Softcover, Planeta Pub Corp

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Book summary:
Earthy, magical, and utterly charming, this tale of family life in turn-of-the-century Mexico became a best-selling phenomenon with its winning blend of poignant romance and bittersweet wit. The classic love story takes place on the De la Garza ranch, as the tyrannical owner, Mama Elena, chops onions at the kitchen table in her final days of pregnancy. While still in her mother's womb, her daughter to be weeps so violently she causes an early labor, and little Tita slips out amid the spices and fixings for noodle soup. This early encounter with food soon becomes a way of life, and Tita grows up to be a master chef. She shares special points of her favorite preparations with listeners throughout the story.

The Spanish language edition of the best-selling Like Water For Chocolate is a remarkable success in its own right. Now, in this mass market edition, thousands of new readers will be able to partake in the sumptuous, romantic, and hilarious tale of Tita, the terrific cook with an extra special something in her sauce.

From the Paperback edition. [via]
More editions of Como Agua Para Chocolate / Like Water for Chocolate:
- Como Agua Para Chocolate / Like Water for Chocolate: ISBN 9706907483 (970-690-748-3)
  Softcover, Planeta Pub Corp
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LA Primera Detective De Botsuana
by Alexande McCall

ISBN 8495618389 (84-95618-38-9)
Softcover, Umbriel Editores

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En Botswana nunca había habido una mujer detective... hasta el día en que Mma Ramotswe decide abrir su pequeña oficina al pie del monte Kgale, cerca del desierto de Kalahari. Le basta con unas sillas, dos mesas, un teléfono y una secretaria... además de unas tazas para invitar a los clientes a tomar un té. ¿Qué otra cosa se requiere para resolver misterios? Al fin y al cabo, ¿no se han dedicado siempre las mujeres a escuchar y a intentar solucionar los problemas de los demás frente a una taza de té?
Mma Ramotswe no es una irónica intelectual ni una aguerrida ex policía, sino una mujer alegre y rolliza, cargada de sentido común y con un firme deseo de ayudar al prójimo. En su opinión, muchas personas no saben distinguir el bien del mal, y hay que enseñarles la diferencia. Huérfana, superviviente de un matrimonio infernal y madre por sólo cinco días, esta Miss Marple africana sabe reconocer el dolor ajeno, y quiere contribuir a aliviarlo. Sus métodos son tal vez poco ortodoxos, pero también lo son sus casos, así como sus atribulados clientes.
Con sus acertadas descripciones y sus sensatos comentarios, la protagonista de esta novela nos introduce paso a paso en la realidad de un país lejano y desconocido, donde la teconología convive con las tradiciones mágicas, y donde resulta más fácil conocer las noticias de boca de las vecinas que leyendo la prensa. [via]
More editions of LA Primera Detective De Botsuana:
- LA Primera Detective De Botsuana: ISBN 8495618389 (84-95618-38-9)
  Softcover, Umbriel Editores
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Retorno a Brideshead
by Evelyn Waugh

ISBN 8472237435 (84-7223-743-5)
Softcover, Ediciones Urano

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El retorno de Charles Ryder a Brideshead la elegante mansión de lord Marchmain, convertida ahora en cuartel devuelve a su memoria aquellos tiempos, anteriores a la guerra, en que paseaba embelesado por sus hermosos jardines y salones y se dejaba sucumbir al hechizo de sus singulares habitantes. En realidad, nunca pudo Charles librarse de su ambigua amistad con el inquieto Sebastian, ni de su obsesivo amor por la hermana de éste, lady Julia, ni de la oscura y contradictoria fatalidad que dejó marcada para siempre la atribulada vida de los Marchmain con su huella de drama y desvarío. / In this classic tale of British life between the World Wars, Waugh parts company with the satire of his earlier works to examine affairs of the heart. Charles Ryder finds himself stationed at Brideshead, the family seat of Lord and Lady Marchmain. Exhausted by the war, he takes refuge in recalling his time spent with the heirs to the estate before the war--years spent enthralled by the beautiful but dissolute Sebastian and later in a more conventional relationship with Sebastian's sister Julia. Ryder portrays a family divided by an uncertain investment in Roman Catholicism and by their confusion over where the elite fit in the modern world. Although Waugh was considered by many to be more successful as a comic than as a wistful commentator on human relationships and faith, this novel was made famous by a 1981 BBC TV dramatization. Irons's portrayal of Ryder catapulted Irons to stardom, and in this superb reading his subtle, complete characterizations highlight Waugh's ear for the aristocratic mores of the time. Fervent Anglophiles will be thrilled by this excellent rendition of a favorite; Irons's reading saves this dinosaur from being suffocated by its own weight. Cahners Business Information [via]
More editions of Retorno a Brideshead:
- Retorno a Brideshead: ISBN 8472237435 (84-7223-743-5)
  Softcover, Ediciones Urano

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Se Una Notte D'Inverno UN Viaggiatore
by Italo Calvino

ISBN 8804482001 (88-04-48200-1)
Softcover, Mondadori

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  Softcover, Mondadori

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